A/N: Hello, my lovelies! Thank you for the support that you've given. And now I've come bringing you a gift for the New Year that we've found ourselves in. Yep! It's an update. A short one, but an update nonetheless. So, without further ado, here's the little update! Enjoy!

OOOOOOOOO

Avonlea could hardly sleep the night after the ball. Her dreams swam with blood and the horrified face of Severus Snape. She knew better than to believe that he'd be willing to save her, so the nightmares of becoming a vampire dominated her sleeping hours. She'd woken up in a cold sweat with her blankets twisted and clinging to her trembling body.

"Get a grip on yourself," she whispered, staring up at the canopy over her bed. "You knew that this was going to happen when you came to answer of who your mate was. You knew that the nightmares would come true. It's just a matter of time and nothing is going to stop it."

Her eyes closed against a fresh wave of tears and she rolled over on the bed, her back facing the door. She drifted in and out of a light sleep, seeing things that she didn't want to see. An hour into that, Avonlea forced herself to wake up and get out of bed.

The Veela Halfling wandered down into the common room and saw that a House-Elf or two had been busy in the room. A roaring fire blazed in the fireplace and different breakfast foods littered the table where Avonlea and Carissa usually did their homework. Two large steaming mugs of hot chocolate sat on either side of the table, marshmallows floating on the top. Avonlea moved next to the fire, trying to get herself warm.

She knew that it was no use trying to get warm by the fire's edge. Her body wasn't physically cold, so the physical heat couldn't do anything. The cold came from within her and she didn't know if it would ever go away. If she became a vampire, she'd never know warmth ever again. It would always be associated with the things that could hurt her and the past life that she could have lived better.

"Morning, Lea," Carissa said, breaking into Avonlea's thoughts as she came downstairs, rubbing her eyes. "How'd you sleep?"

Avonlea bit her bottom lip. "Not so good. I was too hyped up from the ball to sleep much."

Carissa smiled wickedly. "And the dreams of having my dad in your bed probably kept you up too, huh?"

Giving her friend a dirty look, Avonlea threw the nearest pillow at Carissa's head. Carissa dodged the pillow and took a seat at the table.

"I'm kidding," she said, plucking up a piece of buttered toast. "But seriously, when are you and my dad going to save your skin and do the horizontal bop?"

"I told you already," Avonlea muttered, taking her seat across from her best friend. "We're going to get together when the moment is right. Okay?"
"Not okay. Lea, you're running out of time. If you don't do anything with him before New Year's, then you are going to end up becoming a vampire and I cannot be friends with a vampire. Even if that vampire is you."

"Gee, thanks for pointing that out, Rissa. I'm so happy to hear that if I become a vampire that my only best friend in the world will stop being my best friend forever."

"Well, I don't want you to feel tempted to bite me every time that you see me." She tapped her finger against one of her teeth. "You know that me giving up my blood to you now is a bit of a pain. Imagine if that's the only way that you could survive. I can't give you that much blood, Lea. My body couldn't survive that kind of thing. Not for very long."

Avonlea frowned and looked down at her food. "I know, Rissa. I know."

Carissa reached across the table and placed a hand on top of Avonlea's. "Hey, we won't have to worry about living that kind of life, Lea. Now that my dad knows that he's your mate, you're going to have the salvation that you need. He'll give up his blood to you and you'll be able to live like you have for the past sixteen years. You'll just have a boyfriend this time…"

The Veela Halfling didn't say anything and didn't crack a smile.

"Lea, don't look so sad like that. You're not going to become a vampire. My father may be a jerk to everyone, but he's growing close to you. I've seen the way that he's looked at you for the past year and it's changed a little bit with each passing day. He wants to be with you, even if he doesn't understand why and he's going to realize that he needs you as much as you need him now that he knows that he's your mate." She squeezed her friend's fingers. "He's going to sweep in and save the day. You'll see. He'll make sure that you're not going to go through this alone. He will love you. Forever. Okay?"

Avonlea looked up at her best friend and turned her hand over so that she could squeeze her hand back. "Okay."

Carissa beamed and started talking about the plans she was making for the holiday away from school. Avonlea tried to listen actively to what her friend was saying, but her thoughts kept going back to how time was running out on her humanity. She was seeing her best friend as less of a person and more of a food supply with each passing day and that scared her.

The sooner she leaves for the holiday vacation is the sooner she's going to be safest, Avonlea told herself, mustering a smile for her friend. And the sooner I can make the preparations that are necessary to protect everyone in this school…

OOOOOOOOO

Snape's dreams were unpleasant in the manner of how he was now seeing his dream partner. Gone was the vagueness of who she could have been. He could now clearly see the face of her daughter's best friend in his dreams. He could feel her all over his body and see the way that her face flickered with pure pleasure as he took her closer and closer to the edge of ecstasy. It was wrong on so many levels and had him waking up with a start and an unwanted arousal.

He quickly dealt with the straining problem before climbing out of bed. Snape brushed his dark hair out of his face and looked in a small mirror that was in the room. His face was flushed with heat and his eyes were haunted by the images that his mind had conjured as he had slept. His eyes lowered to the mostly empty vial of Sleeping Draft that he had used before falling asleep after the Ball's revelations.

It did not work, Snape mused, picking up that small glass container. It should have worked. I brewed it the way that I normally do. Something must have gone wrong. I shouldn't have had any dreams last night. Perhaps this potion has gone bad. He turned it around in his hand. I haven't touched it often since it was brewed…It must have expired in its use by now.

The dark professor turned and threw the vial across the room, not caring when it shattered against the wall. He headed into his private bathroom and jumped into the icy spray of his shower. Seeking relief from the heat that his dreams of Avonlea had conjured in him, Snape shivered under the spray of water.

It did very little good to subdue that heat though. He knew that the heat had come from within and had no real physical dominion over his body. It was all in his head and nothing could help him in the physical world.

Except taking her into my bed, Snape thought unwillingly.

He lifted his face to the spray and let the cold water run over his face, blinking against the water that kept him from seeing Avonlea's passionate face in his mind's eye. Snape could feel his body thrum with desire for that girl, but he fought against its awakening. He remembered the words that the Veela Halfling had told him.

They just couldn't jump into bed with one another. If they just had sex, she would still turn into a vampire at the end of the year. Their mating had to mean something for both of them and he had to want to give himself to her fully.

The thought was odd to him. He had always thought of Avonlea Raven as a shy little girl, born of a whore, and a girl that never rose up to any argument. She had been a quiet mouse compared to the people around her. And she'd always been viewed as the good half of his only child. Just thinking about her in a romantic way seemed taboo on so many levels.

Yet now, he couldn't stop thinking about how she had looked the night before. How her dress had clung to the right curves and made her appear far more beautiful than many of the other young women in the room. He could see her smile and the way that it lit up under the lights of the Great Hall. Gone was her innocent girlhood; she had reached the precipice of womanhood and Snape found himself thinking about how she would look at his side.

"Damn," he spat, lowering his gaze from the cold spray.

Snape's hands clenched into fists, his nails biting into his flesh. He had never truly loved anyone except for Lily Evans and she had chosen to be with James Potter. He had mustered some feelings for Carissa's mother, the only whore that would have him in her bed. After Carissa had been born, he had shown no affection to any woman. No one had touched him and he hadn't wanted to touch anyone. He had been happy in his solitude and had thought that he would always been content by himself.

But was that true now?

"Damn that girl!" Snape growled, turning the water off.

OOOOOOOOO

Avonlea watched her friend run around the common room, grabbing random things and shoving them in a bag. It was amusing to see her friend trip over the rug or her own feet while juggling numerous oddities. Carissa was preparing her stuff for the journey on the Hogwarts Express the following day because she wanted to be able to leave and get the choicest car on the long train. Avonlea was going to remain at Hogwarts under the lie that she was going to spend more alone time with Severus Snape.

"You'll come using Floo Powder on New Year's Day, right?" Carissa asked for the thousandth time since breakfast, turning with a couple books in her hand. "And you'll bring Dad with you?"
"I'll come," Avonlea promised, wrapping her arms around her knees as she sat on one of the overstuffed chairs by the fire. "And I'll bring Snape with me. Okay?"

Carissa nodded and smiled brightly, looking like an exact opposition of her father. Avonlea looked over at the fire as her friend started rushing around the room once more. She hoped that Carissa would disappear in search of her lovers and leave her alone for a few hours.

"Oh! That reminds me," Carissa said, dropping her belongings on the table. "I promised that I would let you have a feeding last night…" She shoved her sleeve up and moved over to Avonlea. "Why didn't you remind me, Lea?"

"It slipped my mind," Avonlea told her, trying very hard not to think of her friend as a walking meal as Carissa knelt before her. "With everything that's happened in the last twenty four hours, can you blame me?"

The dark haired witch offered Avonlea her arm and smiled softly. "You know, this is probably going to be the last time that you'll ever feed on me. After you and my dad become a true pair, he's going to be the only person that you'll ever feed on – once or twice a year. I can't remember which, but you won't have to feed on blood to survive. Isn't that great?"

Avonlea nodded and took her friend's arm lightly in her hands. "Yeah."

"Let's do this!" Carissa said with a smile. "To the last time that you'll ever feed on a person's blood! Hallelujah!"

I wouldn't count on that, Avonlea thought, letting her fangs extend and she bit down on her friend's pale flesh.

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: I had some fun making this chapter and I hope that you enjoyed it too. Let me know what you think in the little review box and I'll probably talk back to you. No real promises though as I'm lousy at keeping in contact with people. Anyway, thank you for reading and supporting this story. You're all great people! (throws confetti) Have a great week everyone, okay? –Scarlet