It had been one week. One week of them not looking at me, speaking to me or even cursing me. We were still partnered together in most classes but even then it had only taken one glance from Riddle at the beginning of each class to make it clear to me that I wasn't to speak or help them in assignments. After that initial warning neither of them had even glanced my way. I hadn't realized how much of my social life was based upon their tormenting, if not for other students casually casting the occasional hex my way I might have never interacted with anybody beyond teachers and Jennifer.

"Locomoto Wibbly." I heard the jinx before I felt my feet go out from under me. Knees scraping the stone floor and harshly thrown out of my musing, I landed in a heap beneath several giggling paintings on the first floor.

"Damn…" students around me dodged my fallen form, apparently so used to the image that I blended away. Carefully pulling myself out of the danger of being stepped on, I leant my back against the wall and checked for injuries. Blood welled beneath the thick material of my tights, staining them red. Wincing I pulled on them a little bit, but already the wounds were healing around the material. So far the only good thing I had discovered about my newly emerging gifts was the ability to heal faster, sadly it came at a price. With every injury I sustained, I got a little bit weaker as my body healed it. Riddle and Malfoy's blood had given me quite a bit of magical reserve, but I knew it was running out quick. And I couldn't allow myself to consume anymore, already I could feel the urge to complete the bond with them. We had obviously skipped a step or two when Riddle had me simply feed on them.

"Are you quite alright Miss Zima?" A soft voice asked from above me, startled I glanced up into the constantly sparkling eyes of Professor Dumbledore.

Wincing slightly at the feel of the tights stuck in my skin pulling, I accepted his help standing. "Yes, I just fell over Professor."

"Hmm," offering me his arm he led me through the throngs of students rushing to their next class. "Might I make a suggestion my dear?" I nodded. "It might be an idea to pay more attention to your surroundings, there are ways to avoid such accidents."

I blushed lightly, Dumbledore must have seen me flinch slightly before the hex hit me. "Thank you sir, I'll keep that in mind." It would be pointless to step aside from any 'prank' a fellow student pulled on me, they would just be twice as mean if I avoided the first.

We thankfully reached the Transfiguration classroom before he could ask me any questions or offer anymore advice. Stopping outside he released my arm. "Miss Zima, is there anything you would like to tell me?"

The words were on the tip of my tongue. I so wanted to confess what Riddle and Malfoy had done to me, what I now knew I was and beg him to help me reverse what they had put in motion. But I held it back, instead offering a tight smile and shake of my head.

"Very well." The two words from Dumbledore that always managed to make me feel about three inches tall. Opening the door to his class he walked in, leaving it a little ajar for me to follow. As per usual the students were already in their assigned seating, which meant Slytherin green surrounded Hufflepuff yellow. Stiffly I shuffled over to my seat, right between the only two Slytherins that weren't currently cursing me every time they got a chance. Riddle stared stoically ahead, not even bothering to glance my way; Malfoy's back stiffened considerably when my leg accidentally brushed up against him.

"Sorry," I mumbled. Jaw and fists clenching he didn't reply. It was then I noticed how gaunt they both looked. Riddle had black circles under his eyes and a gaunt look to his face, Malfoy was much the same. Curious I studied them further, hopefully without them noticing. It seemed that every few minutes Malfoy's leg moved closer to mine and then darted away, as though he had to forcibly stop himself from touching me. Riddle on the other hand was staring studiously ahead at Dumbledore, all the while his fists clenched and released atop the table.

Shaking my head at their odd behaviour, I fell into my pattern of ignoring them as they did me, I pulled out my books and prepared to take notes. Dumbledore began his lecture by reminding us where we had left off last time; the spell for turning a quill into a bird. Brow furrowed I looked through my notes, Jennifer had always teased me about my abysmal organization skills. I had a habit of writing all over the parchment in random places, none of the sentences really connected in any way that was noticeable except to me. Finally locating the three separate pages that mentioned the spell, I spread them out in front of me. Without really noticing I began pulling at my tights, hissing slightly in surprise when they re-opened the wound from before. A creak in the chair was the only reason I noticed that I had a pair of eyes on me, slowly I turned my head and looked up. Riddle was glaring at my knee with such intensity that for a second I thought he might be trying to catch my tights on fire. Instead he looked down at me and mouthed one word, "Who?"

My throat constricted, making any actual words impossible, so a shrug was my best answer.

I could practically feel the anger fumes coming off the young man next to me. Stay strong and look ahead, words that were becoming almost a constant mantra in my mind. I could understand why he would be mad. The more blood I lost the harder it became for me to not feed from them, and after only one week I had lost more of the precious fluid then I cared to think about. But then again he couldn't possibly know that I was feeling the hunger again, I had been extra careful to not look their way more than was absolutely necessary.

The volatile Head Boy next to me seemed to get twitchier the more I ignored his question. With Riddle it was less about what he showed when he was angry and more about what he didn't display. There was no more obligatory answering of Professor Dumbledore's questions, nor even a subtle eye roll at the antics of the girls in the class currently trying to get his attention. Instead he was dead still, and now only the finger holding that ugly heavy ring of his twitched. But I was determined to ignore them for the rest of the lesson, which was thankfully the last one of the week before the holidays began (a time when most students, including my least favourite snakes, went home for the holidays).

The period was an easy one, thankfully it didn't require me to do any actual spells, and it couldn't end soon enough. My leg was healing and then bleeding again every time I moved, and with each little shift I could sense something was off. My strength was truly starting to wean.

"Thank you students for being such a wonderful audience. Especially considering how eager you must all be to pack your trunks and return home for the holidays. For those who won't be leaving for the holidays, I admire your dedication to your education in deciding to spend all those weeks here with us studying." The class tittered politely at the joke. "Now, I shall see you all at the feast this evening." He clapped his hands once and students began dispersing the room quickly.

Packing my papers up I silently listened to those around me excitedly discuss their holiday plans. Mine were simple, and exactly what Professor Dumbledore had joked about, I intended to stay here at Hogwarts and study. There was only one term left before final exams, and while I had no great ambitions or ideas about life after Hogwarts, I did know that I wouldn't be able to achieve anything if I didn't figure out some way to actually pass those practical exams.

Sticking as close to the walls as I could, I edged my way around the happily bouncing students and out of the classroom into the hallways, sadly also filled with happily bouncing students. Muttering under my breath and wincing a little from the still very present gash on my knee, I slowly made my way through the throngs and up to the Hufflepuff dorms. Regrettably they weren't as empty as I might have hoped. Passing through the entrance and into the warm common room, housemates were at this moment speaking excitedly about some Slytherin party after the feast. I bypassed them all the hurried into my dorm room, once again the space was occupied.

"I hear Malfoy has managed to get his hands on three cases of Fire Whisky, and some rather rare vintages he intends to share with his special lady for the night." Emma practically gushed as she spoke, her face taking on the colour of an unfortunately coloured orange.

Isabelle giggled into her fingers while Madeline, a sixth year, was sitting on Emma's bed wide eyed at the story.

Pretending I wasn't listening in and honestly trying not to, I placed my bag on my bed and flopped down next to it, the curtains closed on their own. If I had been able to I would have silenced the air around me, so I wouldn't have to hear their drabble, but as it was I couldn't even levitate a feather let alone charm my bed space.

"What do you mean 'special lady', does he have a lot of them." Questioned Madeline, from her tone I could sense she was already enamoured with the blond snake.

Isabelle snorted, "he has a new one every week. Always beautiful and always Purebloods."

"Can you blame him? Muggleborns aren't exactly horrifying, but they certainly don't have the class of a Pureblood, or even a Halfblood."
The three girls laughed, clearly well aware of the fact that I could hear them. Clenching my teeth, I sluggishly stood up and walked down into the common room. I was used to comments made about my blood, but it was too much for me to handle at this moment. My body was worn out and my leg was still bleeding, I needed to go somewhere quiet so I could lie down and heal in peace.

"Hey Zima! Coming to the Slytherin party?" the question was accompanied by laughter. Knowing that the young man in question who spoke would continue to harass me if I didn't 'play along', I allowed for a momentary pause in my search for a quiet place to rest. Billy Knuckle gracefully pushed his tall form out of the couch he had been sitting in. Clearly he was looking for something to waste time on before the feast, and it was lucky me that he had chosen to bully tonight.

One of his cronies piped up from their chair, "as if the Slytherins would allow somebody as pathetic as her into their parties."

Chuckling softly Billy sauntered over until he was only centimetres in front of me, "Oh I don't know Flax, little Zima here isn't looking so bad lately." He pulled softly on one of my curls, startled I jumped back a step. "Ohhh, feisty." Narrowing his eyes he gripped my arm and yanked me back close, "Tell you what Zima… You suck my cock and I might just let you be my plus one." The entire common room erupted into laughter.

"What's going on here?" A harsh voice broke through the laughter, instantly silencing it. I didn't need to turn my head to know that Riddle and Malfoy were now covering the only exit from this room.

"N—Nothing Riddle." Billy released my arm, wiping his hand on his robes in an obvious attempt to appease the Head Boy.

Lip curling Malfoy stepped forward from his position behind his master, "it doesn't look like nothing. Here we were ready to invite you all to the party I am throwing this evening after the feast, and you seem to be harassing a fellow Housemate?"

There was a moment of silence as the room absorbed the fact that both Riddle and Malfoy were defending me. Floundering for a moment Billy, clearly attempting to console the furious Slytherins, patted my arm where he had gripped me.

My nose wrinkled at the idea of him touching me. As if in slow motion Riddle raised his hand and flicked his fingers, Billy went flying into one of the couches. The force Riddle used was so strong that on his little 'journey' Billy knocked over several of my housemates and the couch itself. He landed with a nauseating crack on the ground, the couch quickly falling on top of him.

The entire room terrified, excluding Malfoy of course who was smiling almost gleefully at Billy's bent form, were all looking at Riddle. The only sound in the room being pained whimpers, I jumped when Riddle silently pointed a finger at me. I quickly glanced behind me, yup he's pointing at me… Preparing myself to go flying backwards like Billy had, I relaxed my body and fought the urge to close my eyes tight.

"Antoinette." I jumped, but then so did everybody else. The hand pointing at me turned over and he made a 'come here' motion. Jerkily I obeyed. The students around us trying to get as far away from me as possible, crowding against the walls like mice hiding from a cat. When I got within grasping distance Riddle gripped my hand and gently pulled me closer. I didn't think my eyes could get any wider, but then he pulled up my sleeve and inspected the damage Billy had left. There was only the faint outline of fingers, barely even red. Puffing out a breath he finally met my confused gaze, and for a second the gaunt looking young man was gone, in his place was the same stunning creature that so many girls at the school fawned on. Still holding my hand he pushed me back behind him, and coincidentally into the arms of Malfoy. Immediately the blond buried his face in my hair, breathing deep. If anything the room seemed more shocked by this. The beautiful and pure Abraxas holding a Mudblood as if she were his lover?!

I didn't see Riddle's hand move, but then my vision was slightly obstructed, all I knew was Billy suddenly started screaming and withering on the floor. At one point his leg kicked the couch so hard I practically felt his bones shattering. Without thought I pulled myself from Malfoy's arms, and gripped Riddle's shoulders, yanking him back and breaking the spell. Panting and furious Riddle turned to see who had interrupted him. When his gaze met me I shrank back, expecting to be cursed like Billy. At this no-so-subtle flinch Riddle breathed deep and seemed to calm himself, running a hand through his tussled hair.

"Why did you stop me?" he didn't sound angry, only frustrated.

I gaped for a second before finding my voice, "you would have killed him."

Curling his lip, Riddle looked back at Billy's twitching body. "He deserved it. He hurt you. Nobody gets to do that…"

"But you?" I finished for him, my mind flashing back to all the times that he had hurt me. The times they had both hurt me.

"No." Came the quick reply.

"No?"

Malfoy finally decided to cut in. "Tom means we won't hurt you anymore. And we warned all those who might to refrain, or face punishment. He was merely punishing that fool for disobeying."

"This is a warning." Riddle faced the full room and pointed at Billy, "I won't be so lenient next time should anybody harm our Mudblood."

Ok so still considers me less than dirt, good to know... wait… theirs?

Smirking a very Riddle smirk, Malfoy bowed to the room. "Oh and please do feel free to both come to the party and pass on what happened here tonight." Spinning around he flounced from the room with a very un-sophisticated bounce in his step. Rolling his eyes, but seeming amused, Riddle gripped my hand tighter and pulled my completely stunned self from the Common room.

Greetings readers, been awhile since I updated and the usual reasons are behind that. Work, too much gaming and too much eating to be had. But I hope you enjoyed this little slice of Antoinette's life, and if you thought two Slytherins tormenting her was difficult to bear than wait until you read what they do to her in the next chapter…

As always Review and Follow if you find my story worthy, and I do apologise if I made any mistakes in this chapter. Am rather sick at this moment in time and head's a bit wonky.

Xoxo

Future