Disclaimer: This is what I have done since the last time I posted:
# of times I had play practice: 18
# of times this practice was after 7 o'clock: 3
# of times I skipped Algebra homework: 5
# of times I went to church with my sister: 4
# of times I ate on campus with her afterwards: 3
# of huge reports due in same week: 3
# of huge reports due, total: 4
# of English Stenos I put off: 7
# of times I was babysitting: 6
# of football games I had to play for band at: 3
# of times I went to GS meetings: 2
# of times I used the restroo- Wait.... ^_^
Well, I'm not JK Rowling. You may have mistaken me for her as I put you through such a long wait, and that is certainly JKR behavior. However, she does not have play practice, Algebra homework, huge reports, English Stenos, football games to go to, or Girl Scouts. Nor does she have an obligation to go to church with her sister, or to babysit two other sisters.

AN: I know, I know... So, I have been really busy, but I have been writing in my notebook a lot at school and play practice. The good news is also that the play's last performance just ended. So, be happy! Hopefully, I'll be able to get on the computer more.

WARNING: This chapter kinda sucks... But, keep in mind that whenever I was writing it, I was either in class and supposed to be doing homework, or was at home or at play practice half-asleep.

~*~*~**~*~*~

Severus had grown accustomed to having his hair clean, and suddenly just leaving it to itself again left his hair feeling extremely gross. So, he had taken a shower, and his hair was nice and clean again. He was still being mean, but it just didn't have the same effect when his hair was clean.

It was nearing the end of November, and was getting much colder in the castle. It seemed that Shaylee was extremely sensitive to the cold, as she wore gloves and a scarve of the colors blue and green (it was Severus' guess that those were her house colors from when she went to Beauxbatons) over her school robes.

She walked into lunch with Scott that day. She was talking to him with a grin on her face, while rubbing her hands together, trying to create some friction.

They reached the Gryffindor table and Scott left to sit down. Shaylee continued to the High Table. She sat down on her chair and tossed the end of her scarf over her shoulder so that it wouldn't get in her food.

She was nibbling on a cinnamon roll when the mail came. Hundreds of different kinds of owls swooped into the Great Hall and one nondescript barn owl landed on her plate. She picked up the letter from the owl's clutches. She scoffed. "Oh yeah... Sure..."

She opened the letter, planning to skimm through it, then toss it in the trash. She hit the first sentence, her eyes narrowed, and she went back to read it again.

Her eyes widened and her hands began to tremble. Severus looked at her strangely as she dropped the letter as if it were something vile and disgusting.

She cleared her throat, stood up abruptly, and walked quickly out the teacher's door.

Severus watched after her, confused. He then turned back around and picked up the letter.

Ms. Weasley,

We regret to inform you that your father was among the ten residents attacked upon last night as part of a violent and most disturbing assault from a group of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's Death Eaters.
If you look at this morning's Daily Prophet, there will be an article describing this attack in further detail.
We offer condolensces to you and your family and reassure you that the St. Mungo's staff did everything in their power to stop these criminals.
Again, we are terribly sorry for your loss and we're fully prepared to provide payment for any funerals or memorial services you may wish to hold.

Regretfully,
Sheehan O'Conner

Sheehan O'Conner,
President and Lead-Healer of
St. Mungos Hospital

Severus squeezed his eyes shut as he realized the pain that Shaylee must be experiencing. He quickly pocketed the letter and walked out of the door to the side of the High Table.

At first glance, the room appeared to be empty. The painting, Violet, was not in her frame.

Then, he heard the sobbing. It was coming from a high-backed chair facing the other way. When he circled to the other side, he saw Shaylee curled up in the fetal position with an agonizing look of pain on her face.

"Shaylee?" he asked cautiously. She didn't acknowledge him. "Shaylee?" Still nothing. "Shaylee!!"

Her crying abruptly stopped and was replaced with a loud hiccup. "I'm sorry. My-"

"You don't need to explain. You left this at the table," Severus said, not wanting to put her though the pain of telling the story.

It didn't work, however, as she started wailing agin for no reason and fell against Severus. He patted her back awkwardly, not having much experience with grieving 26-year-olds.

In the course of a few minutes, her crying grew quieter until she was finally just burrowed in Severus' now wet shoulder, sniffling. "Sevvy?" she asked timidly.

"Yes?"

"Will you teach my morning classes for me? It's just Defense. I'll do PE this afternoon."

Severus nodded. "You didn't really have to ask."

Shaylee smiled softly and stood up. "I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're just confused. Go get some sleep. We'll talk about it later."

Shaylee nodded and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Thanks."

~*~*~**~*~*~

Severus stood in front of the 5th year DADA class, growing aggravated from the questions they were asking. He didn't know how much, if anything, Shaylee wanted him to say, so he wasn't answering any questions.

"Get to work, or you'll have another foot added to your essay!" he finally snapped. The class glared at him loathingly, but went back to work on their essays.

~*~*~**~*~*~

At lunch, Severus had been sitting alone for most of the meal when he was surprised by Shaylee flopping into the chair beside him.

"Hey," she greeted.

He looked up. "Are you OK?"

"Better."

"Good. You should eat something. You didn't have much at breakfast this morning."

"How do you know?"

Severus' face turned slightly red. "I was watching you."

The corners of Shaylee's mouth turned up and she picked up her fork, ready to eat.

BOOM!

The clattering sound of the door being thrust open echoed through the hall. Every head turned to see a tall redheaded man dressed in showy robes entering the Great Hall.

Shaylee's head snapped up and she did a double-take.

She grinned. "FLYNN!!" She stood up and ran to give the man a hug.

The man held his arms open and hugged her back. Shaylee leaned back and said something. He smiled, asked her something and she nodded.

She shrugged, pulled on his hand and began tugging him towards the High Table.

Severus watched this whole scene, very confused, and very jealous.

As they neared the table, Shaylee frowned at something he was saying, then looked up at Severus' puzzled face. She smiled again.

"Flynn, this is Sevvy. Sevvy, this is my brother, Flynn."

"It's nice to meet you, Professor," Flynn said.

Severus acknowledged him with a nod.

Flynn looked towards his sister skeptically. She rolled her eyes at him. "Come on. You can sit up here with me."

She led him over to her seat and conjured him up a spot right beside her, so that she was sitting in between her brother and Severus.

"But, you were saying something about Donnelly?"

"Yes, I talked to him this morning. The picture of a grieving son." Flynn seemed aggravated.

Shaylee nodded. "I'd expect that." She looked at him critically. "But, I mean, weren't you a little s-..." She cut herself off. "Oh yeah... Never mind."

Flynn nodded. "Yeah. Exactly." He sounded sarcastic. "Anyway, he said he'd take care of the memorial service."

"What?"

"He didn't exactly seem like he wanted our input either."

"What?!"

"Shaylee, calm down," Flynn said, touching her shoulder gently.

Shaylee looked towards Severus, who she knew was listening, but was not looking at them.

"I have to go talk to Flynn. I'll see you later, OK?"

Severus nodded at her while she and Flynn left, whispering to each other.

~*~*~**~*~*~

"So, what you're saying is that the asshole doesn't want us involved in our father's funeral..."

"Well, I'm sure if you pushed your way into it, he'd be too worried about his reputation to actually tell you that."

Shaylee sighed. "No..." She was still annoyed, but now seemed resigned. "He's the one who knows dad the best anyway..."

"Knew," Flynn reminded her gently.

Shaylee closed her eyes. "Yes... Knew..." She covered her mouth as she began to cry again.

Flynn shook his head and pulled Shaylee in for a hug. "Shaylee, it'll be fine."

"I don't know, Flynn...... It feels like..." She stopped, sniffling her nose and trying to think of a word that fit.

"It feels like you'll never laugh again, never be happy," Flynn conceded. "Yeah. It's a terrible feeling."

Flynn shook his head. "Shaylee, every single person who knows you thinks of you as a fun-loving, slightly crazy person." Shaylee smiled weakly. "You will laugh again."

There was silence as Shaylee gave her brother a thankful hug and pulled away.

"Now, girl, we have got to talk about your taste in guys."

Shaylee smiled up at him. "Isn't he cute?"

Flynn coughed. "Well..."

Shaylee slapped his arm indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"A bit serious for your tastes, isn't he?"

Shaylee glared at him. "So, what wrong wi--... Wait... You don't like him, do you?" She paused, then shook her head. "Never mind."

Flynn laughed. "Ha! I almost had you with that!"

"Jerk..."

~*~*~**~*~*~

I laughed at your reviews... Everyone seemed to think I was gonna kill Shaylee. Wow.... Paranoid... Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and certain death threats I got... Hehe... ^_^ I really am sorry. But, just keep in mind that I surrendered the A Honor Roll for you guys. There were a couple of times I wrote instead of doing Algebra homework. Then, I got an 89.1% in Algebra... Poo, that made me mad... Grr.... Oh well, I should be able to live not being in the top 3.... Thanks again to reviewers and sorry about the wait!! Ok, it is freezing in my house, so I'm wearing gloves while typing these. Please excuse any typos.

Princess Brittny: Illegal space chickens.... Wow... ^_^ Ah, yes, there have been many times when my family thinks I'm nuts because I'm laughing at a fic.... Once my mom thought I was having an asthma attack... And I don't even have asthma.... Quite paranoid, that woman... ^_^ Thanks for reviewing!
LE: Hehe... How long has it been now? I'm really sorry about the wait, but your review made me at least get my butt in gear, cuz U made me feel guilty. ^_^
x.Green.x: LOL... Another psychotic one... Naw, I'm just kidding! Crazy people are fun! ^_^
Kaleigh aka Narwa: Well, if you're talking to yourself, it didn't matter anyway, because I could read what was written NEway... ^_^ And thanks for that little tidbit of info! I'm now not going as insane as I was headed! ^_^ But, since I already made Blaise a boy... He'll stay that way for this fic... Don't want to make any controversy over that... (heehee)
Heather Malfoy: LOL. Hehe, thanks. I'm glad someone understood! ^_^ Thanks for reviewing! And, LOL, for your other review too... Yes, congrats on the hug... ^_~
Lizzie Malfoy1: Um... Eventually, everyone will die. Please tell me that you get that, and don't think that I just said I'm gonna kill every character... I get that a lot... ^_^
ShadowRogue: LOL. Thanks! And thanks for reviewing, too!
MoongirlCeridwen: Heehee! Yay! ^_^
Silbara: Sorry about that. And, don't worry about there not being a happy ending. I mean, almost every fanfic/story/book has a happy ending. And the ones that don't are written by either sad people, depressed people, or people who just like writing sad, depressed things, to make the readers sad and depressed, so we can have more sad and depressing fanfics/stories/books out there. And, I'm not sad, nor depressed! LOL, I really should go now.... ::Goes off to a corner and starts sharpening knife:: Oh, did I mention that crazy people are likely to do that also? ^_^
Loretta Weasley: Hehe... Sorry 'bout that.
redwicca: The sequel to this fic will have them in it also. So, don't worry about them!
Natalie Garner: Heheee.. Yeah, everyone likes that picture... ^_^
Tickled Purple Monkey: LOL.... That's something to think about... ^_^
Spunx182: Well... Do you mean in a romantic sense or a friendly sense? Hmmm.... Let me think.... LOL, I'm just kidding! Just trying to torture you! ^_^
Dracos-Mistress06: LOL... Wow, that's scary...
Pyrope: Heehee, of course I made him degreasify!! ^_^
Davie Ni: Heehee... Oh well is right... ^_^ Sorry about the wait...
miranda rae: LOL... Shaylee lives for now... Thanks for your funny review! ^_^
Jared +Nicole: Heehee. Thanks a bunch.
Draco-Malfoy-Severus-Luva: LOL. Thnks. It's good to know that some1 else is having overload probs as well... Thanks for reviewing!
Malfoyeress: LOL. When I come across some time, I'll go read your fic and leave some pointers in a review. No one really thinks their stuff is any good. I know mine isn't up to my potential. But, anyway, thank you for reviewing!
Mystic Snow: Hehe. You'll hafta wait and see!
Svenisbest: Don't worry, sometime in this fic... ::static due to keyboard probs:: ... end. But, I hope that doesn't matter and you keep reading! ^_^ LOL, sorry... Thanks for R/R... ing... ^_^
Sarah: That's OK. We can't all agree every time. Thanks for reviewing!
Crazy Courtney: OK, sorry about the long wait. Hehe. And, if I ever need help or a reader's opinion, I'll email U. Thanks!
dracosgurl_chrissy: Heehee... Nothing extremely terrible is going to happen to Shay. At least I'm not planning anything to. ^_^ Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Static Wolf: LOL... Don't worry; I'm a strong believer in happy endings! ^_^
Faith: Thanks, and I'll do that!
Svenisbest: lol. Thanks bunches!
Sarah: LOL. Thanks for the compliment, and thank you for reviewing.
lavender baby: ^_^ Thank you!
Lady Coia: Heehee! Thanks! ^_~
Genevieve Jones: Don't worry. They'll all be happy sooner or later... ^_^
Melinda: Um.... I'm sorry, is she dead? ^_^
chelsea: Ah yes... I read while I'm supposed to be babysitting all the time... Thanks, also. I swear I'm alive, really! ^_~
skyleia: LOL. Yes, that was very fun to write... ^_^ That's very true... I guess she's been hanging around Draco too long.
emster: Hehe. OK, deal. I'm still writing really, just not typing as often... Hehe... Stupid homework. And thanks so much! ^_^
Meg: You've got the Hermione thing right, yes. But the thing with Shaylee was that he was trying to mentally hurt her. But, after the next chapter, that might change. Oh, crap.... I did not just say that. Oh well, you still hafta figure out what it means... ^_^
Kat Davi: LOL... I hate it when that happens to me (about the guys). But, you weren't exactly correct on the Shaylee thing. Sorry. I mentioned that it seemed worse than what I'd make it... ^_^
ChickFlick004: HA! Yes! That was where I got the idea for that scene! I love that movie... ^_^ And, Shaylee can't really help it... She's trying to be nice, it just isn't working.... ^_^
Dying Angel1: Good thing it was a joke, or I'd be dead now! ^_^ And, sorry... No torturing yet... ^_~
Lyra Silvertongue2: LOL. Yes... It was slightly mean, now that I think about it... ::shrugs:: Oh well.... ^_^
Sapphire Raine: Yep. The 'kinda' is the keyword tho... ^_^
wowsergirl: OK, I guess this part really confused a lot of people... But, Draco and Blaise had their little talk that was mentioned in the locker room. I didn't put it in the fic, just implied that they had had it when they walked out of the locker room together. Sorry if that confused you along with everyone else... ^_^ Thanks for reviewing!
BellethePhilosopher'sCookie: LOL... Good point... ::starts salivating::