- Messages to my reviewers -

Brianne - Never call me that again. On a lighter note, thanks for always keeping interested and telling me when it sucks, (and when it's pretty damn amazing too, lol.) Love ya lots!

Earelen - Yeah, I agree Drea's awesome. The dance gets worse in chapter nine, but you'll have to wait for that one, although I did write 2500 words in 2 hours, so it's coming along fairly well. For the meanwhile, I hope this keeps you occupied. I hope you find the new method in which Drea finds out that Draco's jealous, I felt that the old one was too OOC. Sorry it took so long to update, stuff started happening in my life and I just couldn't bring myself out of my closet to come write. I'm definitely back in the game now, so keep checkin' in for updates!

A/N: I was re-reading chapter seven and I realised that Draco sooooooo wouldn't tell Drea that he's jealous of Ron yet, so I re-wrote that part. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's all right, I probably just changed it before you read it. Okay so here it is.

"With that redhead? Or does that not count because he's a pureblood?"

"Blood had nothing to do with that."

"Obviously."

"Weasley and I have our reasons."

"I'm sure."

"We do! The first time I me-"

"I don't care what your excuses are, Draco, I'm never going to forgive you for it."

"I didn't ask you to forgive me."

"Why are you here then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I wanted you to understand."

Chapter Eight - Jealousy and Confrontation

It was only nine days before Halloween and Drea still hadn't decided what she would wear. She still hadn't spoken to Draco, either. He had given her significant glances for the first few days, but had eventually stopped. Now Drea barely even saw the blonde, and had to admit that she wasn't all that disappointed. She was lonely, knowing that she had nobody that she could trust, save the dark-haired professor, (who she had seldom spoken to, even in class.) Thankfully, she had been distracted from this thought by the schoolwork and her friends during the day, but found that she was kept up later each night, thinking about the things that one usually refuses to think about during sunlit hours, such as the arrival of the Durmstrang students. Her and Xander had become closer, and had even gone for a butterbeer in Hogsmeade a few times, which had helped her to cope with her feelings, as he proved to be a very good listener.

Drea walked into the Potions class carrying her potions text, as she had charms next and needed only her wand. She took her usual seat beside Candra and said hello, then zoned out, thinking about what she could possibly dress up as. It had been so much simpler when she had been a child. She had been a vampire, a goblin, a giant, and various other 'scary' creatures, but now that she was older, she didn't find them as frightening. Her hair was black today, as it had been for the past couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance to ask Candra if she had any ideas, because Professor Snape had just entered the room with a grand flourish of his robes followed by the deafening sound of the thick wooden door slamming shut. Evidently, Hallowe'en was not the Professor's favourite holiday, as he had become more irritable the closer the holiday got.

They spent this lesson preparing an anti-oxidizing potion, of which Drea felt quite confident, until she heard Professor Snape's tone when she handed it in.

"See me after class, Ms Daray," he said in his intimidatingly deep voice.

"Yes Sir," Drea replied, returning to her spot. She furrowed her brow, wondering what had gotten the Professor into such a foul mood. She spent the last few minutes of class cleaning up her potion ingredients, making sure that she had prepared each one satisfactorily. She was finally content that she had followed all of the directions correctly and took her seat, only to stand up at the dismissal of the rest of the class. She put her potions text under her arm and walked cautiously toward the Professor, who was now standing at the door, frowning upon the students that walked past him, their heads bent. She waited until all of the students had left, then spoke to the surely man.

"You asked to see me, sir?"

"I demanded you see me, Ms Daray." Drea noticed the twitch in the corner of his mouth and found herself smiling. Even when the Professor was in the worst of moods, he still had his twisted sense of humour, which Drea found that she enjoyed. Drea decided to play along.

"Of course, sir. But how would you have reacted had I said 'you demanded my attention?'"

Professor Snape, who had been about to sit down, paused momentarily. He studied Drea, and a smile played on his lips. She was certainly one of the most fascinating people that he had ever met, and he had the feeling that he could tell her anything and that she would understand, or at least pretend to.

"I would have said, 'Have a seat, Ms Daray,'" he said, smirking.

"After raising an eyebrow and giving me detention, yes, you probably would have," Drea said, returning the smirk.

Severus subconsciously did raise an eyebrow, wondering to himself how this girl knew him so well when they had spent only minutes speaking. He dismissed it, and returned to what her had originally planned on talking to her about.

"As I understand it, you came from Durmstrang, correct?"

"Yes sir," Drea replied, realising that the fun in the conversation was over.

"If you are as intelligent as the quality of your potions suggests, you have no doubt realised that it may be difficult for you when the Durmstrang students arrive."

Drea allowed the pride that she felt from the compliment, but hid it on her face, not wanting to stray from the topic at hand. "Of course, sir," she replied instead. "I've been dreading it all month."

"I want you to know that if anything happens, you can speak to me about it and I will be sure to see that they are punished in the strictest of ways."

Drea paused before deciding to voice what she was thinking in her head. She finally decided that it couldn't hurt anything, and asked, "What are you doing this evening?"

"Correcting the rest of these foul potions, although an excuse to put it off would be well appreciated," he replied, once again raising an eyebrow and using humour to speak for his confusion.

"Would it be alright if I came to speak to you?"

"Of course, Ms Daray. Any time after I have left the Great Hall would be fine."
"Thank you sir."

"You're quite welcome."

"…Sir?" she began hesitantly. "I'm late for my next class, and wondered if I needed a note?"

Severus looked at her with amusement, then pulled out a long green quill, some parchment and a bottle of ink and scribbled down an excuse note. Drea remarked that Professor Snape had very nice penmanship, although it was kept masculine, which was rare.

"Thank you sir" Drea replied after taking the note.

"You're welcome. Now get to class."

"Yes sir."

Drea left the room mentally slapping herself in the head. What am I possibly going to say to him? He's going to think that I'm just another stupid teenage girl! Drea sighed and walked into Charms class. She brought her note up to Professor Flitwick, then took her spot next to Candra. This week had been a consistent review for her, so she let herself zone out. Only when the teacup next to her fell to the ground with a crash did she return to the real world.

The boy sitting next to her looked embarrassed. She had never really noticed him before, even though she had been in most of her classes with him for two months. He had medium brown hair and eyes to match, and at the moment his face was bright red. Most of the class was laughing at him, including Candra. To save the boy the horror of having to look at the broken shards of porcelain on the ground in front of him, Drea quickly cleaned it up. The laughter stopped with the removal of the fractions of teacup. The boy looked over at her with surprise then quickly thanked her.

"I'm Sanen, by the way. I don't think we've ever been properly introduced."

"Drea Daray," she responded, shaking his hand awkwardly, as their shoulders were still facing toward the front of the class.

"Oh, you're the girl from Durmstrang, right?"

"Yeah," she said, bracing herself for the question that she was sure would follow. It never came.

"I've heard a lot about that school. My father went there, but my mother wanted me to come here. She knows quite a few of the teachers, and thought that I'd do better here. I don't have much magical talent, for some reason, and she figured that I might get more personal instruction."

"More than likely," Drea agreed. "Durmstrang only gives special attention to the very gifted."

"I take it you know this from experience?"

Drea did her own equivalent of blushing; she crossed her ankles under her chair. "Yes, I normally got quite a bit of attention. Mostly in potions, though. I'm lousy when it comes to transfiguration, and I've never taken Care of Magical Creatures, although it seems okay."

"I'm quite good at Care Of, and Herbology is a breeze for me too."

"That's good."

An awkward pause followed, both students having run out of anything to talk about. Drea resumed the conversation after a few minutes, just as abruptly as it had begun.

"So what are you doing for Hallowe'en?" she asked the brunette.

"I'm not sure yet. And yourself?"

"Probably going in to Hogsmead or something. All I know is that I'm not going to be in this school."

"Why not?"

"Durmstrang is going to be here," she stated matter-of-factly.

Sanen looked confused for a few moments, then asked, "...And?"

"Durmstrang is a very competitive school, and somehow I get the feeling that they aren't going to be overly enthused that I left that school for this one."

"Ah... I understand now," he said, nodding. "There's a par - "

Sanen didn't get a chance to finish his sentence; the bell rang and Professor Flitwick dismissed them promptly. Drea tried to scan the crowd for him, but he was already gone. Ah well, I'll talk to him in the common room tonight.

Drea moved through the motions of lunch, not really paying attention to what was going on. She was strangely nervous about going to talk to the Professor, and was trying to decide how she should word what she had to say without sounding stupid.

Arithmancy was surprisingly difficult. Hermoine, who normally turned around after every paragraph to make sure that she was 'interpreting it correctly,' was silent, scribbling furiously on her parchment. Drea wrote down the sections that she thought would be important later on, then started on the assignment that they been given. At the end of class, Professor Vector informed them that the assignment would be due on Friday, then dismissed them.

Care of Magical Creatures was normal, or at least as normal as it ever was. The usual shrieking of the girls and even the occasional boy was present, though Drea barely noticed it. She was so busy worrying about her meeting with Professor Snape that she hardly noticed when her Skrewt stung her. It wasn't until after class, when she had taken her Skrewt back to Hagrid, that she even noticed the wound. Unfortunately, the blister had popped, and was releasing a combination of blood and green puss, not a pleasant thing to see. Drea explained to Candra that she would be a few minutes before she arrived at the Great Hall, then walked briskly to her room in the Slytherin dungeons.

She pulled out a bottle of potion that she had left over from when she had done Skrewts in 2nd year and put it on the wound. She watched in amazement as the puss dried up and cracked until there was nothing left. The blood was pulled back into her hand, but she was left with a nasty gash where the blister had broken. She put a bandage on it, then put her suitcase back under her bed. She was about to leave the room when she noticed that a paper dragon was sitting on her pillow. She picked it up and it immediately changed into a sheet of parchment on which a familiar writing was present. She folded the paper up and stuck it into her pocket, then ran to the Great Hall.

Xander saw Drea walk into the Great Hall and waved her over to where they were sitting. Chase, Jadon and Xander were almost completely finished their meals, and Candra was half finished.

"What took you so long?" Chase asked through a mouth-full of food.

"The stupid Skrewt stung me today in Care of Magical Creatures, so I had to run down to my room and fix it up."

"Why didn't you just go see Madam Pomfrey?" Xander asked after swallowing.

"I don't know. I never thought of it I guess," Drea replied, putting food onto her plate. She stared silently at the food, unfocussing her eyes until it all appeared to be the same colour.

"Drea?" Xander asked cautiously.

"What?" she answered, blinking her eyes a few times.

"Nothing, you just seemed a little spacey, that's all."

"Oh. Okay."

"What happened with you and Draco today?" Chase asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Drea asked, confused. "I haven't even spoken to him today. What do you mean? Did he say something?"

"No, he's staring at you."

"What?" Drea exclaimed, turning her head. Draco was, in fact, staring at her. "Oh, so he is," she said, letting no emotion show through her voice.

"So what happened then?"

"Nothing. I don't know what his problem is."

"Oh, all right," Chase said, but the tone of his voice let Drea know that he didn't believe her.

"I've got to go," Drea said, getting up from the table.

"Why?" Xander asked.

"I've got to go see Professor Snape."

"Uh oh," Chase, Xander and Candra all said at the same time.

"It's not a big deal."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Chase said, chewing his last bite of supper. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Drea said, raising an eyebrow. She walked out of the Great Hall and down to the Potions Room, then sat outside the door and took the letter out of her pocket.

Drea,

I thought about what you said about me having to put other people down to make myself feel good, and I think you're wrong. On the other hand, I still feel the need to explain myself, at least when it comes to Weasley.

I'm going to let you know something that nobody knows about me. I'm jealous. Not of Weasley, of course; I wouldn't want to be him for all the money and power in the world. I'm jealous of the fact that his family actually cares about one another. You probably don't think that this is a good enough reason for the way I treat him, but I do. You can't understand what it's like to live with two people who don't give a rat's ass about you. I just thought that maybe you would start talking to me if you could understand my side of it.

Draco

Drea re-read the letter three times, the folded it up and put it back into her pocket.

Why does he care what I think? she wondered curiously. Most of the Slytherins worship him like some sort of god, why should my opinion matter? I guess that makes sense, in a weird way, she thought to herself, cocking her head to the side. He wants everyone to treat him that way, not just most people. On the other hand, maybe he does just want someone to understand him.

she wondered curiously. she thought to herself, cocking her head to the side.

Drea sighed and stood up, then knocked quietly on the door to the classroom.

"Come in," said a distracted, deep voice.

Drea opened the door and walked into the classroom. There was a slightly iridescent, blue potion stuck to one of the tables. It was still steaming and gave off a faint smell of monkshood and apples. She took a seat directly in front of the Professor's desk and waited patiently for him to finish what he was working on.

After a couple of minutes, the Professor put down his quill and looked at Drea. She looked back at him, neither of them saying a thing. Finally, the dark-haired man broke the silence.

"What was it you wanted to see me for, Ms Daray?" he asked.

Drea drew in her breath, still unsure whether she wanted to discuss this topic with the intimidating man. It was something that she could never have spoken to Xander about, and Drea wasn't one to open up to females; they enjoyed gossiping too much. She eventually decided that, yes, she wanted someone to talk to and this man could quite possibly be the right choice.

"Sir, I know this is childish and you probably aren't concerned with the problems of a teenage girl, but I somehow think that you could be someone that I could trust." She paused for a moment, then continued. "I… the arrival of the Durmstrang students frightens me. I mean, I'm really, really worried. The school was so competitive, even within itself, and now that I've transferred here…" Drea trailed off, unsure of how to continue. The truth was, she had never put her fear into words before, even in her head.

"Ms Daray, I'm quite sure that nothing will happen. The security in the school will certainly be heightened, and as I have mentioned before, you can let me know if anything does end up happening."

"Sir, I don't mean that kind of thing."

Severus furrowed his brow in concern and confusion. He raised an eyebrow questioningly, but didn't ask her to clarify, as he didn't know if it was something that he was ready to handle.

"I mean… oh, never mind, it's nothing Sir, thank you for your time," Ms Daray said, rising from her desk.

"Ms Daray, have a seat," he said, hoping that he didn't sound too abrupt.

"Yes Sir," she said, sitting back down.

Severus took a deep breath. "I do want to hear what you have to say, Ms Daray."

"Alright," she said, tugging on her ear lobe. "I don't think that the Durmstrang students are going to attempt to hurt me physically or with magic, though if they did decide to, they could probably get around the teachers here. It's just that, the students there know a lot more about my past than the students here do, and I was hoping to keep it that way. I'm just worried that they might try to hurt me by giving me a reputation I'd rather not have."

Severus sat there, watching the girl and wondering what the appropriate thing to say might be. Nobody had ever come to him with problems of this sort before, and he found himself quite confused.

"What sort of things might they say, if you don't mind my asking?" he asked, hoping that perhaps his interest might help to reassure her.

"Probably a lot about my family that I'd rather keep hidden, and maybe some stuff about past relationships. It's also quite likely that they will throw in a load of bull to keep it interesting."

"I see," he said, understanding the power that a reputation can have. Still, he was curious why such an obviously individual and strong character such as Ms Daray would care about something like that. "Why does this bother you so much?" he asked in what he hoped was a soothing voice.

"I'm not really sure. It isn't exactly what they'll do that frightens me. It's something else…" she said. She sounded defeated, as though bothered by the fact that she couldn't explain what was bothering her.

"Try to explain it, Ms Daray. I have lots of time," she said, looking the girl in the eyes. She looked down at her lap, picking absently at the chipped dark green nail polish on her nails. Finally, crossing her ankles, she looked up to meet his gaze.

"I guess I'm just afraid of confrontation. I… it was just easier to be afraid of their words than to admit that I was afraid of them. I guess I just convinced myself that it was true," she finished.

Severus looked into the girl's eyes and knew that she was telling the truth. He wished that he could say the right thing, something to comfort her. "Ms Daray, facing your old classmates will probably be harder for you than the entire Triwizard tournament will be," he started. Off to an excellent start, Severus, he thought sarcastically to himself. "However, you seem like a very strong girl, especially after what you've been through in your life, and I'm sure that somehow, you will make it through this."

The girl's eyes lit up behind the small layer of tears. "Thank you, Sir," she said, rising from her desk.

"Of course, Ms Daray. Anytime."

"No, really Sir, you can't understand how much this meant to me," she said, smiling sadly. She then turned from him and walked quickly out of the room.

Severus put his head into his hands and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure what he had said that had reassure the girl so much, but was glad that he had managed to say something right. He rubbed his temples, then went back to correcting the fourth year potions.

Drea walked out of the room feeling relieved, like a giant weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The stress of not having someone to trust was gone. More than that, the professor hadn't treated her like a stupid emotional teenager, he had listened and tried to understand what she was saying.

She decided to explore the castle further and clear her mind before she headed back to the Common Room. She walked through the West half of the school, all seven floors of it, then decided to venture outside. The sun had already set and the moon was up, but the sky was still too bright for stars. It was, after all, only 7 o'clock.

Drea walked down to the lake and sat quietly on a rock. She watched a giant squid swimming gracefully beneath the surface of the water. She shifted her position on the rock, the sound of the letter crunching in her pocket disturbing the awesome silence that surrounded her. She sighed and slid off the front of the rock, using it as a back support for her new seat on the grass.

Professor Snape was certainly a different kind of man. His personality was so defined, he never strayed from it, and yet every time Drea spoke to him, she saw something new in him, something that she hadn't seen before. There was something that she was missing about him, or maybe he missing it even himself.

Sighing again, Drea flopped onto her back and gazed up at the constantly darkening sky. Stars were fully visible now, and she could feel the chill of the frost melting, then soaking into her sweatshirt. She shivered and, realising how late it was getting, started her walk back into the castle.

Drea felt the warmth of the castle as soon as she entered the doors. She explored the East half of the castle, then walked back down to the dungeons. The moisture in her sweatshirt started to cool down, therefore she used a spell to dry it out. The Common Room was nearly empty, so Drea got a book out of her room, changed into her pyjamas, then walked back out to the Common Room and curled up on a huge black chair in front of the fireplace to read.

When Drea finally looked up from her book, the Common Room was completely empty. Looking up at the clock, she realised that it was 1 o'clock in the morning. She was in a very strange position; her head was on the seat and her feet were slung over the top of the chair. She tried to get off of the chair carefully, but ended up falling off and causing a huge noise. Cursing and hoping that she hadn't woken anyone, she got up off the floor and sat on the chair properly.

She sat there for a few moments, gazing into the flames, then heard someone coming. She looked over at the hallway where the rooms were, hoping that it wasn't the female Prefect. Drea had gotten into some pretty petty arguments with the girl, mostly concerning completely untrue accusations about Xander, and didn't know how she would react, finding her out of bed at this hour.

Drea felt a strange mix of relief and horror when she realised that it was the one and only Draco Malfoy. He looked concerned, a look that she had seldom seen on the blonde.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "What happened?"

"I just fell off the chair, I'm fine," she responded, embarrassed but not showing it.

"Oh… alright then," Draco said awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"Yeah. So what are you doing up so late?" she asked, trying to ease the tension.

"I have trouble sleeping most nights, especially lately. It's strange," he added after a thoughtful pause, "Because when I was young I used to sleep all the time."

"Maybe your body is just making up for that," Drea suggested, not really meaning it.

"How about you? Why were you out here anyway?"

"I was reading and I forgot about the time," she said, lifting the book to help him understand, though she later realised how stupid that had been.

"What book are you reading?" he asked, walking over to her.

"'Wizards and Witches of the 13th century,'" she said, showing him the cover.

"Looks interesting."

"It is."

Another pregnant pause filled the room, the awkwardness of the situation returning like a headache when the medicine wears off.

"Well, I guess I'm going to get to bed. I'm actually fairly tired now that I've looked at the time."

"Alright."

"I still haven't forgiven you, you know."

"But do you understand?"

Drea stopped walking and turned to face the blonde. His facial expression was one of curiosity, but his eyes held desperation and pain. "Yes, Draco, I think I do."

"That's all I ever asked for," he said, his eyes doing the smiling for him.

"I know," she said, turning the corner and walking down the hallway, then into her room. She fell asleep only minutes later with a smile on her lips.

Alright, so let me know what worked and what didn't. I'm trying my best from now on to update about twice a month...(Crosses fingers)... but the main point is that I'm back in action. No more of this leaving the story for 5 months.

In my defense, I wrote a 25000 word novel in French (not my first language) in 30 days for school, so after that I kinda died. I was a bit tired of writing, but I should be okay now.

REVIEW PLEASE, IT HELPS KEEP ME INSPIRED. I don't mind flames either, I can pick through them and find my errors so those can be helpful.