Sarah's stomach was tying knots. She aproached her father's classroom and peeked in. He was sitting at his desk grading papers. For some reason, he seemed scarier today than usual. Sarah took a deep breath and stepped inside. He didn't hear her come in and continued to work. She stepped slowly up to his desk and he looked up.

"Uh... dad," she stammered.

"Make it quick, I have a lot of work to do," he said looking back down to his papers.

"I really need to talk to you about s-something." she said softly.

"Not now. I have a lot to do right now." Sarah nodded and left quietly. Snape looked up and raised an eyebrow. He normally didn't care, but he had a nagging feeling that this was something he should have listened to.

Sarah walked away from the room, tears overwhelmed her eyes. This had been her one chance she needed to talk to her father and she had given up too easily. She walked to the edge of the stairs and sat down crying. She realized that now more than ever she was a screw up like her father had made her out to be. Her being an anarexic was exactly the kind of thing that he would expect from her. Another reason for him to be disappointed in her. She sighed and started to walk back to the common room.

Snape couldn't take it anymore. He threw down his pen and got up to go find her. He soon spotted her, hugging herself tightly and heading down the halls. Something was eating at her, and, though he didn't want to, he decided to attempt to talk to her. He watched for a minute, then saw a man and a woman step into the halls. Sarah paused for a minute and ran to the woman and hugged her. Snape watched from behind a corner.

"Mom!" cried Sarah. "What are you doing here?" Her mother laughed.

"Bud and I came to see how you were doing." Sarah looked at Bud, but did not smile.

"How did he get in here?" she asked.

"The same way you did, runt." said Bud gruffly. Sarah winced at him.

"How's it going with you're father." asked Samantha. Sarah sighed.

"Okay I guess."

"Well, I need to speak to Dumbledore about something. Do you know where he is?"

"No," said Sarah. "But I think he's in the dinning hall still."

"Alright. I'll be right back then." Samantha left, and Sarah was left alone with Bud.

"Turning into a skeleton are we?" he asked with a menacing smile as if the thought pleased him. "You haven't told them anything have you?" he growled.

"No," said Sarah softly.

"Good because you know what will happen if you do." she nodded and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." Bud struck her hard across the face, catching her completely by surprise. Sarah gasped in pain, but did not scream. Instead she reached up and touched the spot on her face, tears falling down her face again. Bud grabbed her by the collar.

"Do NOT smart mouth me you brat." Sarah struggled to get free. She punched him in the stomach and he let go, but the look on his face told her that she had made a deadly mistake. Following her instincts, she turned to run, but he was too quick. He took her by the arm and slammed her against the stone wall. Sarah broke down and began to plead for her life.

"Bud, I'm sorry. I won't do it again." But reached in his pocket and pulled out a knife.

"Damn right you're sorry." He ran the knife roughly down her arm, giving her a long, but not deep, cut that began to bleed a few seconds later. Sarah did everything she could to restrain herself from screaming. The cut didn't hurt much, but the fear of what he could do to her was overwhelming and she wished she had the strength to scream. Snape, who had been watching the whole, thing did not realize his hands beginning to form fists. Sarah began to cry harder now. Bud pulled out the knife and turned her so her back was facing him. "I'm gonna hurt you so bad!" he snarled. He took the knife, pulled up her shirt till the edge of her bra was showing and made many cuts and punched bruises down her back. Sarah was deadly still and bitting her lip till it bled. Snape was ready to pull out his wand and attack the sick bastard. When he finished he let her go. "Next time," he warned. "You won't get off so lucky." Sarah cringed.

"There won't be a next time, Bud." Bud made as though to hurt Sarah again, when someone walked in. "Mom," said Sarah. Samantha noticed Sarah's tears.

"Are you alright honey?" she asked. Immediatly all signs of pain were gone, and a mask was placed on, making her appear to be fine. Snape could only guess that she had done this before.

"Fine." Snape was horrified at how well she was with hiding this. He could only imagine she had done this many times before.

"Well, I need to go now, but I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Okay," said Sarah. She gave her mother a hug and watched her leave. Bud gave her another dirty look. "Stop standing there looking like a jackass. Just go!" she shouted. Bud grabbed her by the hair and forced her to the stone stairs. He pushed her down them, and she landed on top of her ankle witch snapped and broke upon impact. A scream was restrained in Sarah's throat as the pain came, but she was determined not to get her mom's attention. Bud sneered at her once more and left. Once he was gone, Sarah collapsed, gasping in pain and tears falling down her face. She burried her face in her arm and sobbed, unable to move as her ankle began to swell.

Snape watched Bud leave and moved swiftly down the stairs to Sarah who was now curled up and crying. He got down on his knees and looked at her. Sarah looked up at him with a look of hatred mixed with absolute pain.

"This," she said in a voice scratchy from crying. "This is who you left me with. Is this exactly what you think I deserve for being a muggle?" Snape shook his head.

"Sarah, why haven't you said anything?" he asked cooly.

"Because I can't. And I did try. I wrote to you. But you didn't care. Well guess what, I don't care either. I don't need you! I didn't need you before, I don't need you now, and I won't need you when I go back home to that creep!" She tried to get up, but Snape caught her by the wrist.

"Come on," he said softly. "Let's get you cleaned up."

"My ankle's broken," she spat. Snape scooped her up in his arms and carried her down to the hospital wing. He laid her himself into a bed and waited till Madam Pomfrey was there to fret over her wounds. He left, without explaining what had happened and went back to his classroom, knowing that he would have to be there when the sixth years came to class. That day he made class a study time for incase Pomfrey came with news on Sarah. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were some of the many that found this weird. After a while Dumbledore popped in. Snape saw him and walked to him swiftly.

"Is she alright?" he asked quietly.

"Poppy wants to see you in the hospital wing. I'll take care of your classes," said Dumbledore. Snape nodded and left quietly. He knew something wasn't good if Dumbledore didn't tell him directly. He walked down to the hospital wing and found Pomfrey.

"Well?" he asked.

"It isn't good," said Madame Pomfrey. "She recieved some bad injuries, and is covered in many of them. But there's something else that bothers me." He knew this would be the big one.

"What?"

"She's too thin for someone of her age. She doesn't even weigh 100lbs." Snape's eyes widened.

"What?!"

"She has anarexia. If her habits don't change, she will die." Snape nodded.

"Can I see her?"

"She's asleep, but yes." Snape walked in the room and saw Sarah had been moved to the farthest bed in the room, most likely so she wouldn't attract attention. He moved over to a seat near the bed and sat down. Bruises were starting to form where Bud had struck her. Snape wished that he had stopped Bud when he had the chance. He reached over and took her hand. He couldn't think of anything to say to her so he just sat there for a while.

Her pale face seem whiter than normal, and her black hair covered a good portion of the bed. She was wheezing with each breath. The outline of her skull was revolting and, if he wished, he could wrap his fingers all the way around her arm. This, he thought to himself, was his fault. None of this would have happened if he had only let her know he gave a damn. If only he had realized it sooner. "I'm sorry I let you down. I should have listened when you came to talk to me." he muttered. He stood up and left quietly.

(A/N: Alright! Alright! I screwed up yet again and yet that seems to shock some of you! Sarah is 17 not 14 okay? Sheesh! Actually originally she was going to be 14 but I changed my mind about half way through so I tried to go back and fix them all. Guess I missed one. But she's 17!!! 17 not 14. Repeat after me, 17 not 14! had waaay too much caffeine today... Now enough with the confusion already! STOP THE MADNESSS!!!! MWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!)