A/N: Hello Everyone! Thanks for the support that I've gotten so far for this story's few chapters. I am thankful for all the reviewers and the silent people who support this little tale. I hope that you're year is going well, despite all the wonderful people that we have lost in such a short time. This chapter is sort of in dedication to Alan Rickman since I can't create a real tribute to him and his character. Raise your wands for Professor Snape and please enjoy this little update.

OOOOOOOOO

Avonlea felt hands caressing her body, pulling her closer to another source of heat. Her body moved under his body, her hips arching up to meet his in the most primal of dances. She could feel him moving inside of her, hitting all the right places with just the right amount of force. Her nails bit into his back and her fingers tugged at his hair as he moved within in her, guiding her to the edge of sanity with each powerful stroke. She moaned loudly as he drove in harder, listening to the commands that she had uttered in breathless whispers.

"Come with me," he whispered in a husky voice as his lips touched the shell of her ear before claiming her lips with his once more.

"Oh!" Avonlea gasped, her eyes flying open to find herself staring at the ceiling above her bed.

She pressed her thighs together, trying to ignore the burning need that had formed between her legs. Her teeth bit down on her bottom lip as she remembered the feeling of her dream partner's body on her flesh, driving into her. Angry tears filled her eyes as she slid a hand under the covers, realizing that pinching herself would do little good in chasing away this burning feeling this time. Her hand took up the job that her dream partner had started, but she didn't feel as much satisfaction in it as she would have if he had been there.

When her body shuddered around her fingers and the burning desire was gone, Avonlea pulled her hand free of her covers and grabbed her wand with her other hand. Whispering a small cleaning spell, Avonlea rid herself and her bed of all traces of her desire. The young witch rolled out of bed moments later and grabbed her robe, pulling it tightly around herself.

This really needs to end, Avonlea thought, heading into the common room that she shared with Carissa. I'm going to wake up one day and find myself in his bed without realizing how I got there because of these stupid, stupid dreams.

The blonde raked her fingers through her tangled hair and sat down on the overstuffed chair that was in front of the fire. She watched the fire's tendrils move in an intricate dance as it consumed the logs within. It took her a moment to realize that there was something tapping urgently at the window.

Avonlea turned her gaze to the window and saw a handsome black owl tapping at the glass, glowering at her through proud gold eyes. She recognized the bird as her mother's and thought about ignoring it. Yet, she knew that her mother would find some other way to contact her and would probably chastise her for being such a rude daughter. With a heavy sigh, Avonlea left her warm seat and opened the window for the owl.

"Hello Valoris," she muttered, stroking the bird's head with a finger. "Do you want to come in out of the cold? Or is this just a drop off situation?"

Valoris stuck his leg out, presenting the small roll of parchment that her mother had entrusted him with. Avonlea untied it and stepped back. Valoris gave her a small glare before turning around and flying off into the early morning light. Avonlea watched him until he was a speck in the sky and locked the window securely once more.

"I wonder what she wants now," Avonlea muttered, returning to her seat by the fire.

Avonlea dear, I hope that you're thinking about the upcoming Yule Ball that Hogwarts is throwing this year. I want you to be dressed in the best and look presentable. I'm sending you some instructions on how you could possibly style your hair for the event. I trust that you could find someone to do your hair, if you can't work the magic out right. I also trust that you're going to make up your face to be perfect for finding that one successful man that I know is destined to be your mate. You must remember that you're only going to be successful in catching him if you look your best – and more beautiful than all the other girls that will be there. As a half-Veela, you should have no trouble in being more beautiful than all the others and my genes should help you there as well.

My dear, I hope that you won't let anyone stop you from having a good time at the Ball. You deserve to have some good fun and get dressed up like the belle of the ball. You are beautiful; you just need to learn how to use that. I will be sending you money for the dress that you'll need for this ball in a few days. Please let me know if you need more. My little girl shall have whatever she needs to get the man that will take care of her for the rest of time. – Love Your Mother

Avonlea glanced over the instructions that her mother had enclosed at the bottom of the short letter. The instructions for each were simple enough and her mother had drawn out what the styles should look like in the end. She heard Carissa coming from her room and crumbled the letter up into a tight ball. Without hesitating, she threw the crumpled paper into the fire and watched it blacken and burned into a fine ash.

"Let me guess," Carissa said, stretching her arms up towards the ceiling. "Your mama sent you an early morning message about the Yule Ball and how she wants you to look perfect."

Avonlea nodded. "Yeah…How'd you know?"

"Because your mom always sends you a message about looking perfect whenever a big event comes to the places you're at." Carissa yawned. "And I'm developing a psychic ability to go with the repetition that your mom does every month or so."

"Right." Avonlea climbed to her feet and adjusted the knot of her robe. "Do you want to get dressed and head down for breakfast? It's early, so there should be plenty of food for us to get our hands on before the crowd gets in."

"Uh-huh," Carissa agreed. "I'll message Katia and Cassius about it. Hopefully they won't mind waking up after everything that we did last night." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Don't you wish you had someone to spend the night with, Lea? Someone like –"

Avonlea threw a pillow at her best friend. "Shut it!"

Carissa laughed loudly and dodged the pillows. "You can't deny it! You want to be with him! In the bed! In the shower! In the library! Everywhere! You want him bad!"

The dark haired girl ran up to her room, cackling madly. Avonlea was tempted to follow her and hit her with spells and fists in random order. She stood in their common room, pillow in hand, but didn't move. Because she knew her friend was right.

She wanted her mate bad.

OOOOOOOOO

Snape was never one to sleep in, even during the weekends or holidays, so he always took up the role of chaperone during the breakfast hours. He sat at the professor's table and poured himself some tea before helping himself to the different breakfast foods that littered the table. He acknowledged his fellow early-bird professors with a curt nod, not welcoming any conversation in his direction. Not that the others were trying to communicate with him. The silence suited him just fine.

He heard the sound of his daughter laughing as she entered the Great Hall and looked up for just a moment to scowl at her. The smile on her face didn't falter as she skipped over to the Slytherin table with her lovers at her side. She reached behind her and grabbed the Halfling's hand, pulling her after the three of them.

Avonlea was smiling as she was being pulled along. Snape saw a new life in the girl's eyes and found himself staring at her as she crossed the floor to the empty end of the table. Her hair shimmered in the light of the room when she tossed it over her shoulder. Snape was horrified to realize that he was watching the way her hips swayed when she walked like some simple dance that the world gave to women naturally.

Snape pinched himself under the table and quickly lowered his gaze in a vain attempt to distract himself from that creature and her actions. He concentrated in cutting up the meat on his plate, hunching over slightly at the shoulders to ward off any chance of communication with his peers. He kept his eyes focused on the way the knife went back and forth through the tender meat, slicing it into thin pieces.

His eyes closed when he heard the Halfling's laughter rise up from the Slytherin House table. The sound irritated him and yet, caused something to stir within his dark insides. Setting his knife and fork down, Snape threw aside all notions of eating and moved away from the professor's table, heading out of the Great Hall without looking at anyone. He could feel eyes on his back as he retreated, but didn't care.

There were potions that needed brewing and homework to be graded. Food could wait for a few more hours, if he found his appetite once more. Under his cloak, Snape pinched himself again for good measure, telling himself that he really needed to find something better to keep his mind off of the pest that Avonlea Raven was becoming.

And those dreams of a mystery woman have not helped in the slightest, Snape thought, heading down into the dungeons of the castle. There is no end to them anymore. Every night. Several times a night. I should take a Sleeping Draft that bids no dreams in the night. Perhaps then I will be able to sleep in peace.

Snape shook his head. It would be a waste of time to brew that potion over and over again, depleting the stores of ingredients that he had. And he hated the idea of wasting time for something so trivial as blocking out dreams that would never come to light. It should be something that he could control or easily dismiss as something that his overtaxed mind was playing over and over again. Taking potions would only delay the ending of these erotic dreams, but allowing them to continue would, he thought, allow them to come to an end and free his mind of those images and rid his body of that pulsing need that he constantly woke up with.

The dreams will end without the aid of potions. They will go through their cycle and then leave my mind for good. I know that they will, Snape thought, opening the door to his dungeon office. For the sake of everyone. They absolutely have to.

OOOOOOOOO

Avonlea had noticed that Snape left the Great Hall in a hurry, but dismissed it as probably meaning that he was late for something or had been summoned to take care of something elsewhere. She chatted with Carissa and Carissa's lovers while eating more food than she had in a long time. It didn't slip her notice that several of the Slytherin boys who had ignored and tormented her for years earlier were looking at her from down the table with drool sliding from the corner of their lips. Her eyes saw that there were a lot of boys her age and slightly younger staring at her from their seats at the table.

"Carissa," she whispered, setting aside the Daily Prophet that landed near her. "Why is everyone staring at me?"

Carissa swallowed her mouthful of scrambled egg and leaned forward, glancing down the table in both directions. She smiled widely and looked back at Avonlea, putting a hand on her friend's hand.

"Honey, I think they're falling for your Veela charms," Carissa purred. "If you don't call back your charms, I think that there's going to be a new lake in the castle and a lot of boys rushing to kiss your feet… among other things." Her eyes snapped over onto Cassius's face and she wagged a finger at him. "Don't you dare fall into the Veela charm that Lea's putting off, Cassius dear. You're mine and Katia's. Not hers. We're not going to share you with her. Right Katia?"

"Right." Katia elbowed Cassius in the side. "We can't share you three ways."

Cassius quickly lowered his gaze to the food on his plate, a pink hue coloring his cheeks. Avonlea sighed and closed her eyes, trying to calm her body down. She knew that she had very little control over the Veela part of her and yet, she really wished that she could control all of it at the moment. She didn't like being stared at by anyone, but she could feel the eyes of the early crowd of boys on her skin, branding it with intense heat.

"So much for avoiding the crowd," she muttered, opening her eyes. "Seriously, how can pretty people stand having the attention on them? I don't like it. It's – it's weird."

"Get used to it, honey," Carissa said, patting Avonlea's hand. "You're going to come into your Veela heritage and boys will be staring at you for the rest of your life. And nothing is going to change that. Even if you find your mate – which you have – they won't stop undressing you with their eyes."

Avonlea squirmed in her seat. "Thanks for that, Carissa. As if I wasn't paranoid enough."

"Anytime."

"She found her mate?" Katia asked, looking at Carissa with wide eyes.

"No!" Avonlea said, slapping a hand over Carissa's mouth. "I haven't and the less you know about the situation, the safer we will all be when we're around people who can use Occlumency. Please Katia, Cassius, don't ask for any information about my mate. I can't let anyone find out and use it against me. Please."

Cassius and Katia looked at each other for several moments in silence before nodding.

"We won't pry," Cassius promised.

"But we want to know what happens when it's safe to know," Katia added.

"Deal."

They looked up as a large owl appeared over their table. Avonlea moved her plate to the side to let it land with a heavy sound. Attached to the poor owl's leg was a heavy bag and a note. Avonlea quickly relieved the owl of her burden and offered her a bit of meat. The owl gratefully accepted the treat before ruffling her feathers and flying away.

"It's from Mom," Avonlea muttered, pulling her plate back into its original position before looking at the small note. "She wants me to let her know if this isn't enough."

Carissa reached over and emptied the contents of the bag onto the table. "I think you'll have enough to buy the entire store of dresses," she commented. "There must be two hundred Galleons here."

"Mom never was good at math," Avonlea muttered, staring at the small pile of gold coins on the table. "And she did say that she wanted the best for me, no matter what." She sighed and touched one of the coins. "I won't use all of these. I can't use all of these on one dress. Do you guys want some so you can buy some nice clothes for the Yule Ball?"

Katia and Cassius nodded, practically drooling over the pile of money that they couldn't take their eyes off of. Carissa scooped the money back into the bag and set it by Avonlea's elbow.

"You hold onto that money until we can go to Hogsmeade for dress shopping," Carissa said, returning to her meal. "We can buy all of our dresses and Cassius's outfit in one go. It'll save time and money, trust me."

"Okay," Avonlea said. "But you better make sure that we use it all. I don't want Mom to think that I wasn't using the money to the fullest advantage. It must have taken ten men to earn this money."

Carissa nodded. "Or less, if she found the right Purebloods in her bed." She leaned her elbow on the table. "What color do you want to wear to the Ball?" she asked. "Not green, right? We're surrounded by that too much. And no gold or red or yellow, we don't want to look like we're supporting the other Houses."

Avonlea shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know what color I want to wear. I guess if I find a dress that I like, that'll be the dress I'll pick. No matter what color it is."

"Fair enough. The boys will still drool over you the same, no matter what color or style you wear."

Heat flooded Avonlea's face again. "Carissa!"

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: Not long, but things have begun to happen here. Yes? Please remember to leave a little review in the box, even if it's criticism. I can only improve as an author with your help. Thanks everyone in advance! -Scarlet