Christine woke up the next morning, her head absolutely pounding with pain. 'Hm, I wonder why, I did fall asleep on my bruise. Damn how stupid could I get?'

She pulled off the covers and swung her legs over the bed and pushed off, landing hard on the floor. She grabbed a hold of the nightstand to get up and saw the bottle of potion. She took it and walked into the bathroom, grabbing a change of clothes and a towel on the way. She put the potion carefully on the counter next to her change of clothes and put the towel on the rack, so that she could easily get it when she was finished. She turned on the water of the shower and waited a bit until it turned warm. She stepped in and allowed the water to flow over her body, whishing it could wash away the memories. She looked down at herself as she washed; bruises were covering her body, gifts from none other than Jordan, along with a few scratches over her body. She had hand prints on her ankles, a black and blue bruise over her stomach, purple hand prints absolutely covering her arms, and a few places where she had been punched or kicked scattered about. She finished washing and stepped out of the shower, covering herself with the towel. While her shower was the greatest part of her day was her shower, it was also the most humiliating. To have to see herself like that was absolute torture. She grabbed the potion and washcloth and began to put it on herself, watching the marks fade, but omitting the one on her stomach, no one ever saw it anyway, so why should she bother? Once it had dried and she made sure she hadn't missed anything, she dressed and made her way down to breakfast. She got to the table and saw only Severus and Alex there. She took a seat away from the two boys who were presently glaring at each other across the table and grabbed an orange and started to peal it.

"Where are Jordan and Ashley?" She directed her attention to her glaring brother.

Without taking his eyes off of Severus he answered, "Ashley is off somewhere with Maxine, they ate about an hour ago. Jordan is in our room talking to Fred. I would not expect to see much of any one today, with Lucius coming and all."

She groaned, "Did you have to remind me?"

He still had his eyes on Severus, "Sorry."

"And you are down here because..."

He took his eyes off of Severus and finally looked her in the eyes; his gaze softened and emitted a sort of empathy towards his baby sister, "I wanted to check up on you." His voice sounded slightly embarrassed and Christine could have sworn his cheeks when the slightest shade of pink.

She just shrugged, "Alex, I'm not going to run away or kill myself, and what I said last night, I was joking." She added that last part to ensure her brother knew she hadn't meant what she said, Alex looked absolutely murderous towards Severus, "and about that I'm fine."

He looked slightly pleased and then moved up from the table, "Oh well, ok then. See you later."

She muttered a small goodbye before returning to her orange, she shoved in a piece and ate with Severus in a comfortable silence. After a few minutes however, she noticed Severus had abandoned his eggs and was now pouring over a book. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

"What are you reading?"

"Hogwarts, a History"

She cocked her eyebrow, "Haven't you read that like 10 times before?"

"Yes, so?"

"So, why are you reading it again?"

"I am trying to figure something out."

"Oh, ok then, that works." She gave him a small smile and took a sip of her juice.

"So, how is your cheek this morning?"

She smiled; something really was different about him lately, "Oh its fine, thank you so much for helping me last night. I promise I will make it up to you soon."

"You don't have to, don't worry about it."

"Oh hush, of course I do. Anyway, when is Lucius coming?"

Severus regained his cold voice, "In about an hour."

She shrugged; this was not going to be a fun summer, "Oh peachy keen, well I have to go restock on my potions. Have fun reading."

"Goodbye."

She got up from the table and made her way up the stairs and into her room. It was a fairly warm day outside so Christine decided she would shrug off her robes and wear some cooler muggle clothes. She grabbed a dark green spaghetti strap shirt with the bra built in and some black Sophie shorts. She grabbed her cauldron and all of the necessary ingredients. She didn't need a book; she already knew the recipe from heart, having made it so much in the past. She also grabbed some pre labeled vials to put the potion in when she was done. She lit the fire under her cauldron the muggle way, with matches. She always enjoyed the smell of burning sulfur in the air, something you missed out on if you lit things the magic way. She then started to put the ingredients in the potion with perfection. She took in the scent it made, so calming, so peaceful. Nothing on earth could compare to this, with the exception of one thing. She was pulled from her distant memories when she heard a knock on the door.

'I wonder who that could be, knocking on my door while I'm doing potions.'

She had to restrain a laugh, "Come on in Severus."

She looked back at him; he looked somewhat taken back, "How did you know it was me?"

"Easy," she replied, "Who else would come by my room while I'm working on a potion? Couldn't resist the tempting smell could you?"

He simply shrugged, "So, what are you working on?"

He walked up beside her and looked into the cauldron, "Take a wild guess." Sarcasm laced her voice.

"Healing potion" He stated simply.

She gave him a small smile, "You are a smart one eh? Well, I'm done now, would you like to help me put it into bottles?"

"Sure, do you have another ladle?"

She looked around," Oh yeah, here, um" She handed him the ladle she was holding and walked back over to her trunk, she rummaged through it for a second and with a triumphant cry jumped up with a new one. "There we go. I knew I had a spare somewhere."

Severus just shook his head and laughed slightly. The two of them worked for about 15 minutes and filled up 10 bottles of the hauntingly green substance. When they were finished, she looked at him, gratitude filling every inch of her face, "Thank you again Sev. I think we are done." She walked over to her bed and threw up her arms and collapsed.

"Oh no problem." He turned around to look at her and in a flash his face filled with concern, "Christine, what is that on your stomach."

She looked confused for a second and then looked down; her shirt had come up, revealing her bruise on her stomach. She cursed herself and quickly stood up and pulled her shirt down. Her mind was in a state of panic 'Oh no, how could I be so stupid? He wasn't supposed to know, last night was supposed to be a one time thing for him, oh god, oh god, OH GOD!'

"Christine, did your brother-"

She cut him off, "Yes, my brother did that to me, no big deal, don't worry about it."

"When?"

He wasn't going to let up, "A week ago."

"But why?"

"He thought I was eves dropping."

His face grew cold again, anger building in his eyes, "He should not have done that."

"Well he did Severus, no bid deal. It doesn't even hurt; I'm used to it by now so could you please not make it into a big deal."

She was pleading with him now; she didn't want any more light shed on the situation than had already been. This needed to stay in the dark; it was her problem, no one else's. He caught her gaze and slowly made her way over to her, his deep brown eyes boring into her, searching her should almost. He came close to her, their faces mere centimeters apart, he wrapped his arms around her waist, her stomach gave an involnentary flutter, and this was just too much for her. She was about to protest or pull away, but then she felt one of his hands snake under her shirt, his touch was electrifying, she wanted to stay there, that is, until he pushed ever so gently on the spot on her stomach. She winced and stepped back in pain, her eyes met his again, yet they weren't as intense as before, they were softer, compassionate.

"Doesn't hurt anymore?"

She grew angry, how could he just do that to her? It just wasn't right, A. He had COMPLETLY overstepped his boundaries, if Jordan and Alex knew he had his hand up her shirt, even if it was just her stomach, they would kill him and B. He tricked her; he wasn't supposed to trick her. She was angry, she was frustrated, she needed to vent, so she did, on the only person in the room.

Her voice was shaking as she spoke, "Why do you care?"

Severus looked slightly taken back by her comment but still looked calm and calculating none the less. "What are you talking about?"

She couldn't control herself, she was so angry at everyone, everything. She didn't even realize that the words were coming out of her mouth, "Severus, why do you care? Before yesterday you never took a second look at me, I was always just another girl you put down, ridiculed, tossed aside. You never paid any attention to me, you never sat down with me, you never talked to me, and you never smiled at me or said once nice word to me. Why now? Why the sudden change? Did I just all of a sudden become 'worthy' of your friendship? Please, let me know. I'm ever so curious as to why you've taken such a sudden interest in me and my personal life."

With each word she spoke his face grew colder. The slight smile that used to be in his eyes faded. Pain slowly crept in, though he would never admit it, his eyes betrayed him for a moment. She felt horrible the second the words were out of her mouth. "Well, Christine, it seems you have figured me out. God forbid I should show any human emotion at all, or be capable of compassion or any other feeling at all. No, of course not, Severus can't feel, everyone knows it. I'm just a robot with a big greasy nose and hair that looks like a wet mop. That is all I will ever be. Now, if you don't mind, Lucius will be here momentarily, goodbye."

He swept out of the room with such grace, later on in his life, it would cause him to be compared to a bat, with his robes billowing behind him, but for now, it was a sign of rage. He was furious with her, and for good reason. She had torn him to pieces bit by bit. She sat on her bed and just stared at the door, whishing she could just press a rewind button and fix what just happened. She looked up at the clock and saw that Lucius would arrive in mere moments, not wanting to be there when he did; she picked up a book and ran out her door. It wasn't long before she collided into someone, Severus, of all people.

"Oh no, not again." She groaned, why did she always run into him?

She was on the floor while he had remained standing. He just stared down at her, unmoving, unblinking, just glaring. Lucius, looking slightly uncomfortable by the situation, reached down his hand for her to take hold of; he pulled her up and grabbed her book that she had dropped.

"Well, hello Christine."

Thanks Lucius, nice to see you. Now if you would please excuse me, I have some reading to catch up on."

She heard Severus let out a derisive snort and she just glared at him.

"Why certainly, Goodbye."

She hurried past them and ran downstairs, out the doors, and into the familiar garden. She threw herself onto the Weeping Willow and poured over her book. She completely lost track of time and missed both lunch and dinner. She barley made it back into the castle before midnight. Jordan however, made sure that she wouldn't forget to go to meals. Christine, however, didn't care. She missed meals over the next week and paid for them. She was almost out of healing potion and made a mental note to make some more the next day, she didn't expect to be beaten that night, seeing as how she had done exactly what Jordan had wanted her to. She felt too cooped up in her room and didn't want to go out to the gardens, so she walked around the Manor. She had walked around for a bit on the third floor and was about to head back when she heard voices. Knowing that they belonged to the twins and Fred, she quickly made her way away from the door, not wanting to get caught for eve's dropping yet again. She was however walking by to fast and tripped over herself and smacked her head on the door. She heard the voices stop and crawled as far away from the door as she could, knowing what was about to happen, but praying she could become invisible.

Jordan threw open the door, looking positively livid. She had never seen him this angry, he was absolutely shaking with anger, his eyes blazing, and she swore she could see flames flickering inside of them. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up so high that her feet no longer were touching the ground, she was swinging in the air by her hair. "What were you doing out there?"

She was petrified beyond belief, "I...I was...I was taking a walk...and I...I tripped and...Hi-hit the door I didn't mean to, I swear."

Jordan however, didn't look convinced, "You looked like you were spying."

Her breath was ragged, her head was on fire, she was so petrified, and she could hardly think straight, "No, no I wasn't, I swear."

She saw his eyes flash a moment, sending another wave of fear down her spine. "Then why do you have such a guilty look on her face?"

He didn't give her any time to react; he dropped her on the ground and grabbed her by the hair again into the bathroom across the hair. She closed her eyes and waited for it to end; this was how she got through it, though nothing that he had done to her before compared to this. She tried to think of happy things, like the smell of the earth after a rain storm, the entrancing colors of a fresh brewed potion, the time her father had actually said he was proud of her when she was little. She felt it stop and heard the door open and close. She waited a moment to make sure he wouldn't come back and tried to stand up. The pain was almost unbearable but she had to get through it. Breathing hurt like hell, she knew he had broken or at least bruised a few of her rips, she could feel the blood pouring over her entire body, her arms were on fire, her head swollen almost shut, her legs were threatening to give way under her, but she somehow managed to make it to her door. Then the thought dawned on her, she had no potion left, she had used it two nights before and had not gotten around to making some more. She hated that she had to go to him for help, but she had no other choice. She burst through his door and stumbled in. At first he looked livid, not liking to be woken up by her of all people, but then when he saw the state she was in, his face turned immediately. Christine could only get out a few slurred words; her lip was cut and was severely swollen.

"Severus, please, help."

She blacked out.