I Do Not Own Harry Potter.

Severus sat in his office three weeks after Eva had been released from the hospital. He was surprised that she had not complained about her punishment yet. She seemed to be taking it rather well, actually. It made him suspicious.

Eva had always made her mind known when she thought something was unfair. She'd voiced her opinion about Severus' imposed courtesy towards Pansy Parkinson in the hospital, but he'd expected some show of defiance once she was back at school. Maybe he'd gone too far? Had he broken her spirit instead of her will? Severus shook his head to scatter the thought of doubt. Only time would tell if he'd done the right thing and he had work to do right now.

He sat at his desk and pulled the parchments closer. He really hated marking papers; they were always so badly written. The first on his pile was Pansy's. "Well that figures," he said aloud. He really wondered how the girl had gotten an 'O' in her Potions O.W.L., she was hopeless in the subject. He perused the paper making marks as he went along. He was surprised at how much better her work was getting. He sensed that it was not the result of Pansy applying herself more, that would not be something a Slytherin would do. He put the paper aside and went on to the next one: Eva's.

Comprehension dawned on him. Eva had really helped Pansy. Probably not out of the goodness of her heart, but she'd helped her fellow Housemate, nonetheless. Severus sat and stared at the parchment. He had a choice: either tell Eva that she was no longer on punishment, or let it continue and see how long she would obey him. Severus decided on the latter. He knew it wasn't the nicest thing to do, but, then again, being a parent did not mean you only got to do nice things all the time.

The night flew by and he decided to go and check on Eva. She was probably miserable in her rooms all by herself. He locked his office and made his way to the East Tower stairs. Severus didn't even bother knocking on her door, he just walked right in.

Eva was sitting on her sofa staring into the fire. It was only a few minutes ago that Harry, Hermione and Ron had left. Draco had excused himself shortly after and now she was alone. Funny, though, she didn't feel as lonely as she had the first week back. Her Gryffindor friends had come to see her almost every night and they'd sometimes bring Neville and Ginny with them. They always left before curfew, and Severus had not yet discovered their little scheme. Eva sighed contentedly and snuggled deeper into the sofa.

She was wearing her favorite pajamas: the old t-shirt that Harry had loaned her. She had kept it since the night of the Yule Ball and he'd never asked for it, so she figured it was all right to keep it.

Severus approached the sofa slowly. Eva seemed very happy tonight. "Did you win the Witch Weekly Smile Contest?" he asked softly.

Eva nearly jumped out of her skin. She'd not expected her father to come up to her rooms. He'd not been in them since Christmas. "Dad, you gave me a fright," she said, catching her breath.

"Sorry, love. I was just wondering why you looked so contented?"

"Just, happy tonight, I guess. No trouble from Pansy, I'm caught up on my work, life is good."

"About Pansy. How are you getting on?" Severus sat down on the sofa and draped his robe on Eva's lap. The shirt she was wearing just barely covered her.

"Good. If you think that her constantly asking me to do her homework, carry her books and clean her dormitory is what you consider good."

"She's asked you to carry her books?"

"Only this week. Not like I can say no, is it?"

"Eva, I only asked you to be nice to her, not to be her slave," said Severus.

"Well, you really should have made that clear to her. She keeps implying that she will run off and tell you if I don't do what she asks."

"Eva, I'm sorry she's taking advantage of you. From now on, just do whatever you think is reasonably nice." Severus knew that if he just said reasonable, Eva would hex the girl into next year.

"What about being with my Gryffindor friends? Can I eat with them?"

Severus sighed loudly. "Let me think about that." He held up his hand at her attempt to make an argument. "I still think that you could get along better with your own Housemates. You seem to have befriended some of them, but they are all younger than you. Why can't you get along with students your own age?"

"Because they're all gits," she snapped. "None of them is interested in anything, but my last name and how much money I'll have when you and Mum snuff it."

"What?!"

"It's true. I heard Millicent Bullstrode saying that if Mum dies, I'd be the richest witch in all of the United Kingdom and Ireland. I know it's true, but they're so mean about it."

Severus put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her head. "Let me think about it, all right?"

"All right, just don't go dawdling about it," she replied. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

Severus stood and took his robe from Eva. "Do you have to wear that old thing?" he asked pointing at the tiny t-shirt.

"It's the closest I'll get to seeing him every night. I can't concentrate enough in training, so I asked Dumbledore to take over for me."

Severus studied his daughter for a few moments. He'd never known her to be so distracted that she couldn't do her work. It was not like her to just quit at something. He'd really have to think about her punishment.

Eva fidgeted under her father's scrutiny. "Goodnight, Dad," she finally said. She reached up, exposing her silk panties, and hugged him. She pulled the t-shirt down as soon as she pulled away.

"Goodnight, Darling," said Severus before leaving Eva's room to do some much needed thinking in his own chambers.

Ginny did not know what happened. One minute she'd been walking down the steps from Gryffindor Tower to the library, the next, she was in the infirmary with her brother, Harry, Hermione and Eva sitting by her bed. They all rushed to her when her eyes opened and she'd told them she couldn't remember anything.

Everyone looked concerned for Ginny and Eva went to fetch Madame Pomfrey from her office. The students left the infirmary and went to their separate classes. Eva joined Hermione in their Arithmancy class, and tried to concentrate. There was a doubt nagging Eva.

"Hermione?" whispered Eva across the table.

"Yes?"

"Have you noticed anything strange about Ginny, lately?"

"Not really. Why?"

Eva looked over her shoulder to make sure the Professor was not looking in their direction. "There's just something about Ginny's accident that's not sitting right with me. She's not clumsy, so it's not like this is something that is normal. Those stairs are not charmed, so she couldn't have tripped . . ."

Hermione put down her quill and leaned closer to Eva. "What are you getting at?"

Eva was about to answer when the Professor cleared her throat, loudly, in their direction. "I'll tell you after class."

The two girls were the first to leave the class that day. They ran into the girls' loo on the first floor, where only Moaning Myrtle could overhear them. Eva had had some time to think about her idea and it just became stronger and stronger in her mind.

"What do you think happened, Eva?" asked Hermione.

"I don't think Ginny fell down those stairs by accident," Eva said.

"You think someone pushed her?" Hermione asked incredulously. "Ginny has no enemies. Who would want to do that to her?"

"Ginny might not have enemies, but her friends do. Did you not think it was strange that no one was on those stairs, but Ginny? There are always students going up and down those stairs. And why can't she remember what happened?"

"Who do you have in mind?"

Eva raised her eyebrow at Hermione. The obvious look she gave the Gryffindor showed that she couldn't believe Hermione had not figured it out. "Parkinson," stated Eva. "I think that Pansy created some sort of diversion that made students avoid that staircase for a while. She made sure that Ginny was the only one there and then pushed her down. I'm not sure, but I think she may have used some type of memory-altering charm that erased only that memory from Ginny's mind."

"Those are a lot of allegations, Eva," said Hermione.

"I know, but I just have this feeling that Pansy was the one who did it."

"Why would she want to hurt Ginny?"

"Because she's not really my friend, per se. She's my friend's sister."

Hermione watched as Eva paced the room. The Slytherin was obviously trying to figure out how this whole thing happened. Hermione had her fair share in experience with these kinds of things so she figured it was only right to help Eva. "I can do some research on the charm she may have used. I'm sure I can get permission from Flitwick to go into the Restricted Section of the library."

Eva did not stop her pacing. "Good, that's good. I'll see what I can find out from the Slytherins. I'm sure I can get some information from the common room."

Hermione watched Eva and grew concerned for her friend. She really did not look well. She had not been the same since her return from St Mungo's. She was always stressed and jumpy. Watching her pace in the girls' lavatory, Hermione thought she looked like a caged animal. "Eva, are you all right?"

The Slytherin girl stopped pacing and looked at her friend. Eva could see the look of concern on Hermione's face. She was going to say that nothing was wrong, she was just worried about Ginny, but Eva knew that Hermione deserved more than that. "I'm not sure," she finally admitted.

"You want to talk about it?" asked Hermione, taking a seat on the tiled floor.

Eva copied her and sat against the opposite side of the walkway. "It's strange, actually. I always wanted to find my father, but now that I've found him, I'm not sure if I want him anymore. Is that bad?"

"Of course it's not, Eva! You're just confused about your relationship with your Dad. It's normal for that to happen when you've just recently met him. It may take a while to get used to."

"But it has been a while and I was used to it. I don't know what's wrong with me," Eva said, as she put her head in her hands.

"There's nothing wrong with you, Eva." Hermione crawled over and sat next to her friend.

"I should be happy that I found him, not angry that he's acting like most father's act. I know his punishment is not fair, but he's still my Dad and I shouldn't feel like running away."

Hermione was caught by surprise by the last statement. "You want to run away? From Hogwarts?"

Eva lifted her face and looked at Hermione. Tracks of tears were on her face. "The only reasons I'm staying are Draco, Harry, Neville, Ron and you. I would have nothing to gain staying here besides keeping in touch with my friends."

"You don't like it here?"

"I like school, Hermione. It's just that so many bad things have happened here that I want to get away from all the bad. I do what I want at home, and I miss that." Eva sighed and wiped at her face. "There's no use thinking about these things. I'm not leaving here any time soon. I'm glad that you let me get that all out."

"No problem," said Hermione. "I wish you'd had a better experience of Hogwarts. It's really a great place."

"I know it is, 'Mione. I have some happy memories; more happy than bad and I'm glad for that."

Hermione and Eva left the lavatory and made their way to the library. They had missed their next class and decided that the best thing to do would be to look at some books about the possible memory charm. They had ten books each and were flipping through them when Hermione looked up at Eva.

"I don't really know why we're doing this, really. I doubt that Pansy would have scoured the library for a memory charm, just for Ginny."

"You'd be surprised at how the mind of a Slytherin works. She may not have even looked it up, 'Mione. Remember that her parents are dark wizards, they may have taught her some things at home."

Hermione was about to ask Eva if she had an idea of what charm Pansy could have used, but decided that a question like that would imply that her Grandfather had been a dark wizard. She just went back to looking through her book and that's how they spent the next few hours.

Harry and Ron went looking for them, since they had missed Care of Magical Creatures. They were filled in on the theory they were laboring under. Ron enthusiastically took a book that was on top of Hermione's side of the table and sat down to scour the pages for clues. Harry took a book from Eva's pile and sat next to her to study the contents.

Severus found the four students in the library going through the books and was tempted to go and ask Eva what she was doing. He realized, however, that it was more than logical for her to be studying in the library; he had no reason to interrupt them. Eva looked up and saw him. She raised her hand to beckon him closer. He made his way over and saw that she whispered something to Hermione before he reached them.

"Professor Snape, I was wondering if I could have permission to look in the Restricted Section of the library?"

"Is this for a project in one of your classes?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. It's a group project for Charms," Eva responded.

Hermione was surprised at how cool a liar Eva was. She had not even flinched at Snape's question, but then, she was a Slytherin. She'd just smoothly fed him the lie. Hermione noticed that Snape was looking at her for a rather long time before he said anything.

"Very well, come with me and I will inform Madame Pince that you have my permission to enter the Restricted Section."

Eva stood from her seat and followed her father to the desk where the school librarian sat. She waited patiently as he informed the older witch that Eva was permitted in the Restricted section. She looked him straight in the eye when he turned to her again.

"I was grading your papers last night and noticed that Miss Parkinson did considerably better than she has done in the past."

"You should let her know. I'm sure she would appreciate it."

"I just wanted to let her tutor know that she has done quite enough to help her."

Eva's eyes searched her father's face. "Really?"

Severus just nodded and twitched a corner of his lips up quickly. There was no way he was going to break out in a smile in front of students and a member of the staff. He nodded his head and turned.

Eva returned to the table with a smile on her face.

"Good news?" asked Hermione.

"Great news. I don't have to help Pansy anymore." Eva nodded her head towards the Restricted Section and the other students followed her and began to take some volumes off the shelves.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the library. They took breaks for dinner and working on other homework, but then went right back to searching.

"I think I've got one," Harry said around nine o'clock that night.

Eva's eyes had been blurring the words on the page for the last hour and she was glad for a reason to rest them. She sat back and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palms. "What's it say?"

"The Immemorata Charm is a spell which will allow the caster to select specific memories to be removed from the victims mind. It is often used to remove specific encounters with Wizards from Muggles. The Immemorata Charm cannot be reversed and is only traceable up to forty-eight hours from the time of placement." Harry put the book down and looked at the other students around the table.

"It's only been a few hours since Ginny had her accident," said Hermione.

"We don't know how to trace the charm, though," said Harry.

"What if we tell Dumbledore?" asked Eva.

"We really should," agreed Hermione. "If Pansy used this charm on her, she could be a real danger to the rest of the students."

"You people are only now noticing this?" Eva said sarcastically. "Listen, I'm really tired. How about we wait until morning to tell Dumbledore? Until then, I will go to the Slytherin common room and see what I can find out from some students there."

"No Slytherin is going to rat out another," said Harry.

"Maybe not to a teacher, but Slytherins have this way of boasting to their fellow Housemates and it's easy to get them to talk." Eva picked up her bag and threw it on her shoulder. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

The Gryffindors gathered their things from the table and left to their own common room. They were looking forward to telling Dumbledore about their finds in the morning. They had no idea that it would not be necessary.