Charity never went down to the feast. After Severus had discussed her extra lessons with her, she was exhausted. Too much had happened in one day. Dumbledore had noticed that she had not been at the feast. Lupin had noticed as well. Severus had also refrained from going, simply because he got the feeling that his newest Slytherin did not desire complete solitude. Though the two had not actually been in the same room, the knowledge that there was another in the dungeons was enough for the young Slytherin girl. She had spent the evening reading a romance novel in front of the fire.

Eventually, she had fallen asleep in her chair. Severus had gone to speak with the Headmaster and Remus Lupin about her classes and had seen her. Something inside him softened a bit when he laid eyes upon her sleeping form. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her neck and shoulders like a golden waterfall and her blue eyeshadow sparkled innocently at him. Her emerald seamed robes clashed magnificently with her slightly pale complexion. He would have moved her to her room, except for the fact that he didn't know which one it was. Not to mention the fact of how that would have looked.

The next morning, Charity opened her eyes to find her book flat open on her face. She sat up, her whole body aching from staying in one position all night, and threw the book on the floor.

"It's about time you woke up," said a voice nearby. She jumped slightly and looked around. On the couch next to her sat a blonde haired boy. He was sipping at a cup of coffee. "Damn stuff tastes horrid," he mumbled.

"Then why do you drink it?" she asked in only slight annoyance.

He grinned and took the cup down from his lips. "What else is going to keep me awake for the day?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Draco Malfoy," he said, standing up and reaching his hand toward her.

She looked at it for a moment before taking it. He pulled her to her feet.

"Charity Riker," she replied with a faint smile.

"Ah. The new girl right?" He released her hand.

She nodded.

"I thought you were a Muggle-born though?"

"I am." Seeing his face, she added, "Don't ask how I wound up in Slytherin. I honestly don't know myself."

He was silent as he took another sip of his coffee. When he had swallowed, he spoke again.

"What class do you have first?" he inquired. She glared at him.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," she replied. "But I'm not going. Because I'm in seventh year and have never cast a spell in my life, I'm getting extra lessons."

"Who's teaching you?" Draco asked curiously.

"I believe Professor Lupin."

"But he teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I know-someone's filling in for him I guess."

Draco looked at her suspiciously for a moment, but finally nodded. "Well, I suppose I should get going," he said, sighing in exaggerated fatigue. He nodded curtly to her and left the room. Charity, on the other hand, snatched her water bottle from beside her chair, ran a brush through her hair and pulled it into a ponytail and then also left. She searched until she found a door with Professor R. J. Lupin written on it. She knocked twice. The door opened after a moment.

"Hello Miss Riker," Remus greeted. He smiled warmly at her.

"Hello Professor Lupin." He ushered her into the medium sized office.

Remus stood before her as she sat down in a chair.

"I have been instructed to teach you basic spells today, and only basic spells," he began, looking at her. She looked different than the day before, mostly because her hair was in a ponytail. "I trust you have brought your wand?"

She nodded and removed it from it's casing.

He reached his hand out toward it. "If I may...?"

She handed it to him. After a moment of examining it, he nodded in what appeared to be satisfaction, though his eyes narrowed in what was unmistakably confusion.

"What is it sir?" she asked curiously.

"It's just...odd-that you would have the brother wand of one of Hogwarts' most famous students. Two of them actually," Remus replied, sitting down in the chair opposite her.

"Who?"

"Harry Potter-and-Lord Voldemort."

Charity shuddered. Something in his voice gave her the chills. It took her a moment to notice that he was watching her intently. She immediately shook her head and said, "Are we going to start or what Professor?"

"Do you know who Lord Voldemort is?"

She shook her head but shuddered again.

After studying her for a moment longer, he sighed. "Probably best that you didn't know," he said softly.

"No-I-I want to know." Charity looked directly into his blue-brown eyes.

"As I said before, it is best that you didn't know."

"Then why did you ask me?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Do not push me, Miss Riker. You will regret it."

She inhaled sharply at this statement. "Fine," she breathed. "Then please, let's start sir."

Remus nodded and began going over simple wrist movements and charms.

That evening, Charity was feeling much more confident in her work. She had mastered everything Remus has showed her in a very short amount of time. At lunch, she had been joined by Draco, whom was the only student she would talk to at the moment. She was sitting in the same chair, reading her book when Draco came in. He sat down at the couch and sighed.

"Only this year and I'm out of this place!" he exclaimed halfheartedly.

"Wonderful Draco," she replied sarcastically.

"Why are you always so negative? It's like you hate me or something."

She put her book down and turned to face him. "I don't hate you Draco Malfoy...I just hate it when people ask me that question."

"Ah." He shook his head and got up to leave. "Goodnight Charity."

Charity watched him leave and then continued reading her book. After a while, she again fell asleep in the chair.

Severus Snape walked towards the dungeons late that night. When he came into the Slytherin common room, he saw that once again, Charity was asleep in her chair. He shook his head. He noticed the book on the floor and picked it up. It was called You Belong To Me, by Mary Higgins Clark. How absurd that she was reading a book with that title when she had specifically told him she belonged to no one. She shifted her position suddenly and he started slightly. He set the book back in its place and started to walk away. But something stopped him. He wasn't sure what compelled him to do it, but he conjured up a heavy blanket and lay it down upon his student gently.

He heard her breathe in sharply as the blanket touched her skin. He froze, standing in an almost unnatural stillness and only when he heard her exhale did he leave the common room.

"What am I doing?" Severus muttered to himself the next morning in his office. "I cannot allow her to sleep in the common room any longer...yet I do!" He was arguing with himself over Charity's-ways. Even though he had only known her for two days, he had already noticed that whenever he saw her, something inside him lurched in an aggrivating way. Why? That was the only question he could ask himself. Why had he felt the need to cover her with the blanket the night before? Why had her placing into Slytherin shocked, yet pleased him so? And why the hell was she affecting him this way? He slammed his fist down onto the coffee table in front of him, causing his hot tea to splash onto his face.

"Damn!" he spat, rushing to find a wet cloth to wipe the boiling liquid from his face. After he had calmed down a considerable amount, Severus left the office for the Great Hall. He saw that Charity was still sleeping. After a moment of thinking and arguing with his conscience(which had won), he moved toward the chair and tried to wake her.

"Miss Riker!" he said in a loud whisper, trying not to alert any others in the dungeons of his actions. When she failed to awake, he hesitantly gripped her shoulder and shook her gently.

"GET AWAY!" she screamed suddenly, sitting bolt upright, eyes widened and breathing hard. Severus practically leapt backwards in alarm.

'That is the second time this child has caught me off guard,' he thought bitterly. He wasn't usually jumpy.

"I apologize if I may have frightened you, Miss Riker," Severus said coolly, quickly regaining his composure.

Her eyes were still slightly widened, but it was clear she was back on earth.

"Oh-you didn't frighten me sir...you just-startled me," she said, shaking her head vigorously.

"I see. The reason I chose to wake you Miss Riker, is because I feel that you must eat some breakfast. I have only seen you in the Great Hall once in the small amount of time I have known you." He waited for her reply.

"You should have let me sleep, sir. I never eat in the morning."

His dark eyes bore into hers.

"Then it is time for you to change your routine, Miss Riker."

"Why?"

He knelt down so his eyes were level with her own.

"Do you remember, Miss Riker, what the rules I described to you previously are?" He paused in waiting for an answer.

She said nothing.

"You will do whatever it is that I ask of you, as well as what others may ask as well."

"What are you playing at?" she shot suspisciously.

"I assure you Miss Riker, I am 'playing' at nothing. I am simply stating that you come down to the Great Hall to eat your breakfast." He nodded in closing and waited for her to get up from the couch and preceed him to the Great Hall.