RedShirt1453 - Yess, you're all caught up! I'm also a fan of the dark turn of events and what that brings out in a character. We all go through those transformative patches at some point or another and I think from the abuse that Cornelia goes through we can't expect her to be 'strong' all the time. The strength will lie in whether she can come out the other side of this and not be completely devoured by depression. Time will tell! Also glad to see you're also a Remus fan, he's one of my favs.

Alexa - I'm working on it!

It took Cornelia a lot longer than she would have liked to find her way out of the forest having blundered blindly into it in the first place. After no small amount of panic, she was extremely relieved when warm rays of sunlight cascaded through the leaves of the thinning trees and she could hear the distant shouts of students out enjoying the weather.

She took a moment to straighten her clothes and attempt to drag her fingers through her knotted hair before stepping out from behind the trees and making her way quickly up to the castle. She didn't quite run, but she was still out of breath by the time she reached the wooden bridge that crossed the border between grounds and castle courtyards, and she didn't stop to catch it, barging through crowds of students that were spilling onto the grounds to enjoy their lunch break.

She stormed the stairs inside the castle, a searing pain in her side and her throat dry but refusing to slow, until finally she stepped quickly over the threshold of the Hospital Wing, her mind focused and singular on finding Draco. However, when her eyes fell on the occupied bed with the familiar shock of silver hair strewn across the pillow, she stopped dead in her tracks.

Draco wasn't alone. Pansy Parkinson was leaning over his bed, her hand laid upon his unwounded arm, concern and desperation etched onto her face as she gazed adoringly into his face. That Cornelia could have dealt with, she'd known Pansy had been harbouring a crush on Draco since last year, but what she couldn't stomach was the way Draco returned her gaze with a soft one of his own, clearly relishing the attention.

Something clenched inside Cornelia's chest as she took in the proximity of the two, it stopped her racing heart and made a cold chill spill down her spine. It was unlike anything she had felt before and it was incredibly unpleasant. She wanted to turn around and go back the way she'd came, maybe all the way back into the depths of the forest, and she also wanted to hex the both of them in horrific and painful ways right there and then. All she knew was that she thought that soft expression on Draco's face was reserved for her, and she didn't like to share.

As it was, she didn't have a chance to do either of these things as her hectic entrance drew the attention of them both. Pansy didn't move, keeping her hand steadily upon Draco, a smug smirk creeping onto her lips. Draco's eyes widened as he took in her flustered appearance, but he quickly hardened his expression into one of dismissive disapproval and Cornelia's cold and heavy heart lurched inside her. He was angry with her.

Desperately swallowing the bitter taste of that inexplicable emotion that had hold of her, she edged closer to him, her eyes sweeping down to his arm that was encased in a sling.

"Are you okay?" She murmured quietly, firing looks at Pansy that very clearly told her to piss off. She didn't budge.

"What do you care?" Draco replied coldly, and his words felt like ice in Cornelia's chest. She stopped a good few foot away from his bed and stared at him, clueless about how to continue. After a few moments of silence Draco shifted and sighed, relenting slightly. "It nearly took my arm off." His tone was sulky and stand-offish, and Cornelia knew that he was exaggerating then. Still, she couldn't afford to roll her eyes and call him out on it, not with Pansy hanging onto his every word like he was on his death bed. She dared to step a little closer, much to Pansy's distaste.

"Where were you?" Pansy's voice was accusing and usually it would have triggered an outburst of rage from Cornelia, but her question threw her off balance as she didn't know how to respond. She couldn't very well say "off beating myself to a pulp in the forest" could she?

Draco, despite his own obvious annoyance at her absence, seemed to recognise her lack of usual fighting spirit and came to her defence. "It doesn't matter." He said sharply to Pansy, who looked extremely hurt as he pulled his arm out from beneath her hand and shuffled into a seated position, his eyes on Cornelia.

Taking triumph in his shutting down of Pansy, Cornelia approached fully now, taking a seat by his bed.

"Does it really hurt?" She let a small amount of light humour colour her voice, and it danced in her eyes as she captured Draco's clouded blue gaze. She could see that he was desperately trying to cling onto his irritation with her, but he was too curious and concerned as well as relieved at her eventual appearance. Not to mention that she was speaking for the first time in days.

She noticed his eyes shifted ever so slightly in Pansy's direction before he answered. "You try being hit by a Hippogriff and see how you like it." It wasn't a real answer to her question and Cornelia was a weird combination of pleased and disappointed that whilst he had clearly exaggerated the pain with Pansy, he couldn't do the same to her.

Pansy was now sat back in her own seat, watching the two of them with a nasty look on her face. Cornelia revelled in it.

"I think I'd hit you if you called me ugly too. Wouldn't you, Pansy?" She turned a sugary sweet gaze upon Pansy, who eyed her hatefully.

"I would never hit Draco." She returned pompously, and her words stung. Cornelia had, of course, hit Draco.

"Oh that's nice, isn't it?" Her voice dripping with sarcasm, Cornelia turned back to Draco who looked quite uncomfortable with the new turn in conversation.

"Erm… yeah, thanks." He mumbled, flashing confused glances at Cornelia.

They sat in awkward silence for a few moments, and Cornelia seethed as Pansy refused to move. Draco cleared his throat and sat even straighter in his bed, speaking loudly as if to make up for the lack of conversation between the two girls. "Father's going to be furious of course. I've made sure Snape contacted him immediately."

Cornelia flinched automatically at the mention of Lucius and then berated herself for her show of weakness. Pansy on the other hand leant forward eagerly and said "As he should. That idiot Hagrid should never have been made a Professor in the first place. He didn't even finish school!"

Draco wasn't paying attention to her though, her words seemed to make him uncomfortable as he watched Cornelia's expression darken, she wasn't even attempting to hide the loathing in her eyes as she glared at Pansy.

"R-right." He attempted a smile at Pansy, covering up that he hadn't listened to a word she'd said. "Well, thanks for staying with me, anyway." He blushed as he stumbled his way through his clear dismissal, stepping carefully as he tried to avoid offending Pansy or making Cornelia any more furious than she already was.

To her credit, Pansy got the message quickly and shot to her feet, attempting to arrange her features into what would be a carefree expression, but her cheeks were burning. "Oh! Well… it's fine." She spluttered before sending another vicious glare at Cornelia. "I wouldn't have wanted you to be alone." She said pointedly, and then turned on her heel and flounced from the room.

Cornelia and Draco both watched her as she left, Draco looking thoroughly disturbed whilst Cornelia was practically gleeful, grinning at her retreating back. Draco wacked the back of her head with his good hand and she spun back around, her eyes gleaming. Draco couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips in response.

"What's your problem?" He tried to sound serious but failed.

"I don't know what you mean!" Cornelia leant forward onto his bed with her elbows and cupped her chin in her hands, batting her eyelashes innocently up at Draco.

"Yeah you do." Draco was smirking now. "Are you jealous?"

"Urgh, no!" Cornelia exclaimed, jolting back up. "Why would I be jealous?"

"Oh you know, Pansy fawning all over me." He sighed dramatically, but his mischievous smirk never left his face.

"I feel sorry for you." Cornelia scoffed, slumping back onto her elbows heavily. But his words had touched a nerve, why had it bothered her so much to see Draco and Pansy together?

"Yeah right." Draco laughed, and without thinking Cornelia slapped his arm closest to her which happened to be the one Buckbeak had slashed. When Draco winced, Cornelia shot up, fresh guilt soaring through her and began fussily apologising and tentatively touching his arm.

"It's fine, it's fine." Draco grinned, and Cornelia faltered when she recognised that the warmth with which she had caught him looking at Pansy didn't come close to how he looked at her. Without realising what she was doing, her hand went to his hair and pushed it away from his face. It was there, her fingers gently rested upon his forehead and head bent towards his where their eyes met, and time seemed to stop still.

His eyes which were so familiar to her looked different all of a sudden, as if she were seeing them beneath a new light. She noticed that the summer sky blue was marbled with flecks of navy and lilac and deep black pupils that stared with the warmth of home up at her. They were framed with long light brown eyelashes that brushed the curve of his brow bone as he gazed up into her own eyes, and she realised that they were beautiful. As this thought crossed her mind she wrenched away, slamming herself forcefully back into her seat and staring at her clasped hands before her.

Draco was the first to break the silence that followed, and in contrast to Cornelia, he sounded cheerful. When Cornelia stole a glance at him, he looked positively pleased with himself. "You know she wouldn't have been here if you had been. Where were you?"

"I was in the forest." Cornelia mumbled, still reeling from the odd moment that had just passed between them.

"The forest? Are you mad?!"

Cornelia met his eyes again then, one eyebrow raised in a way that said 'obviously'. Draco's expression softened, and he looked a little sad.

"Are you okay?" He asked and Cornelia shrugged before resting her head upon her arms on the bed. She closed her eyes and let out a long slow breath, relaxing into the mattress. Exhaustion was creeping over her and she felt mentally drained, her panic attack and dash to the hospital wing catching up with her.

She wasn't okay, she knew that. She didn't know when the chaos would return but something told her it would just be a matter of time. She had crossed into new territory in the forest, and thoughts like that didn't just disappear never to return. But she felt practically happy now, resting beside Draco, and she just had to seize that whilst it was here. She didn't want to waste this rare moment of peace by worrying about what lurked just around the corner.

"I saw a wolf in the forest." She mumbled sleepily into the sheets and Draco snapped his wandering attention back to her.

"Did it see you?" He asked sharply and Cornelia nodded. "What happened?"

"Nothing. It just looked at me and then left."

Draco released a long, weary sigh and Cornelia lifted her head to peer at him curiously. He was watching her with eyes that burned with a million questions, but his lips were pressed into a thin line as he held them back. Cornelia didn't take too kindly to questions these days. It looked as if he were just about to let one fly anyway when a commotion echoing in the hallways beyond the Hospital Wing drew their attention; it seemed to be fast approaching.

The stomping of several pairs of feet against the flagged floor got louder and louder and the angry hum of voices became more distinct, and Cornelia's heart spiked in her chest as one of the voices whipped through her like ice. Mere seconds after that moment of realisation, none other than Lucius Malfoy came striding into the chamber and Cornelia scrambled to her feet, every remnant of peace shattering in his narrowed cool eyes and clenched jaw that spelled trouble. In his wake followed a harassed looking Professor Mcgonagall, emotionless Professor Snape, and mean looking man in dark grey robes. Professor Mcgonagall was protesting loudly about something.

"-completely unnecessary! Professor Dumbledore will not be happy to hear of this!"

"Father!" Draco cried, swinging his legs off the bed and making to stand up, but Lucius's eyes flashed and he swept his arm in a sharp downward motion.

"Don't get up Draco." He demanded, his voice quietly furious, Professor Mcgonagall's words falling upon deaf ears.

As he strode closer, Cornelia staggered out of his way to the end of the bed. Lucius barely glanced at her, his eyes focused on Draco who sat ram-rod straight in bed, alert and excited.

"What happened?" Lucius asked barely louder than a whisper, and yet the words sliced through the wing, silencing Professor Mcgonagall.

"Hagrid brought a Hippogriff to class and it attacked me." He responded quickly. You didn't leave Lucius waiting for an answer.

"Now I don't think –" Professor Mcgonagall began but Lucius raised his hand so violently that she stammered into silence once more, outrage burning in her eyes and she glared accusingly at Professor Snape.

"What wounds do you have?" Lucius continued his interrogation, every syllable ringing with authority. Draco withered slightly beneath it.

"It tore a hole in my arm." Draco dutifully replied, his voice slightly questioning as he attempted to interpret what answer his father wanted.

"Can you use it?"

Cornelia, who was on the other side of the bed and, along with Draco, the only one who could fully see Lucius's face, noticed the minuscule shake of his head, more a tremor than anything.

"No, it hurts too much." Draco answered without hesitation, his voice unwavering now, his eyes burning with as much malice as his father's.

Another look just for Draco settled on Lucius's face, the tiniest upturning of his lips – a look of appraisal. It disappeared as he spun on his heel to face the other adults present, clouded over with rage.

"My son-" He spat "has suffered grievous bodily harm because of that imbecile you have teaching classes. I will not stand for this!"

Professor Mcgonagall who had looked slightly nervous at Draco's statement puffed herself up to full height when Lucius's eyes fell upon her. "You know yourself from attending here, Lucius, that there are risks involved in all of our classes. Draco is not permanently harmed. Madam Malkin-"

"How dare you suggest that loss of limb is one of the 'risks' involved of attending third year classes!"

"Loss of limb?!" Professor Mcgonagall scoffed, but Lucius turned towards the man that Cornelia didn't recognise now, his voice low and quick.

"You've seen with your own eyes what this maniac has done to my son. Not only has he impacted his education, but we are lucky that he still has his arm. I want him and that creature brought to justice."

The man steadily met Lucius's gaze and nodded solemnly at his words. "You can count on that, Lucius. Fudge will hear of this."

Professor Mcgonagall's mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water before she gasped "This is absurd!"

"Absurd?" Lucius took a step closer to her, towering threateningly over her. Mcgonagall, however, didn't seem intimidated at all. "What is absurd is that that creature was allowed to teach in the first place. What is absurd is the management of this place. I will stand by and watch that old fool you all so dote on make a mockery of this school, but when it affects my son – I will not allow it."

Professor Mcgonagall had just opened her mouth to give Lucius what looked to be a severe piece of her mind when Professor Snape's voice slithered between them.

"Perhaps it would be best if we continued this conversation away from our patient? Rest will help to speed along his recovery."

Blinking furiously, Mcgonagall nodded curtly once.

"Shall we return to my office?" Snape inquired, sounding ultimately bored of the entire situation.

Sneering, Lucius turned back to Draco and placed a hand upon his head. "You heard Professor Snape, Draco. Rest until your arm recovers." His words were heavy with connotations, and Draco nodded, returning Lucius's sneer with one of his own.

"Yes, Father."

Lucius's eyes darted to Cornelia, and the glimmer in them hardened momentarily before he turned on his heel and stalked from the room along with the other adults. It had been a look of conquest, a confidence in the control he held over her, and it met with a flat and undeniable hatred inside of her.

It didn't take long for Cornelia to follow Lucius's exit and she was soon prowling into the halls of the castle, unable to remain beside Draco's smug side after his father's brief visit. She brooded as her feet carried her, the very sight of Lucius sparking a nervous restlessness in her. He was like a poison, whatever he touched or looked upon became tarnished, bending to his will or rotting away. He spread through Draco's very veins, conducting him into behaving just like him, his arrogance thick in his blood. She couldn't stand it. And she couldn't stand how much he spooked her, the unexpected visit scattering the brief spell of peace she had felt by Draco's side.

Draco remained in the Hospital Wing for the rest of that day, playing his part in whatever scheme he and Lucius were hatching with delight. Cornelia struggled through the day alone, feeling neither here nor there. There was a rumbling of unrest within her, but her cloak of numbness had long since been shed and she had no clue how to get it back. Instead, she hovered on the edges of the remaining classes, her eyes skittering against her will over to where Theodore and Blaise were together, seemingly oblivious to her looks or even her presence.

Ugly emotions gnawed at her as the day wore on, bringing a whole array of unwelcome thoughts with them. Cornelia couldn't, just couldn't, bring herself to approach Theodore and Blaise. What would they want with someone like her? She was terrible company, she had outwardly humiliated Blaise's mother, ignored Theodore for days and was constantly on a knife's edge. Watching them talk and laugh amongst themselves felt like confirmation to these thoughts, and it simmered like acid inside her. She was so lonely.

The next day Draco decided to grace classes with his presence once more, and where Cornelia was at first relieved, she very quickly wished that he had remained in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the week.

He had been in the common room when she made her way up to it that morning, and he was surrounded by other students. Cornelia's stomach sank as she made her way over to him, not in the mood to talk to other people, although that was nothing out of the ordinary. He barely glanced at her when she took a place just to the right of him, completely absorbed in telling a grossly exaggerated version of what had happened in Care of Magical Creatures and the damage that had been done to his arm.

Pansy was there, of course, clinging onto his every word and stood altogether too close to where he leant against a chair arm for Cornelia's liking. Where she might have done something about it jyesterday, Cornelia didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to herself today - her spirits were still dangerously low.

And so, she had trailed after Draco and his new-found fans into the Great Hall for breakfast and then again up to their first class of the day, all without exchanging a word with him. She tried not to look too longingly over at where Theodore and Blaise were sat eating their breakfast in blissful peace and quiet, and that heavy feeling of loneliness settled in her stomach once more.

By lunchtime she had abandoned Draco (who didn't seem to notice she was missing at all) and stole a couple of sandwiches away in her bag, taking her lunch outside. She spent the hour in her own company, wallowing in her misery, before making her way slowly up to their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year.

This time, Draco did look up when she approached the line of students already waiting outside the classroom door, but now when his face lit up at the sight of her, Cornelia wished that he hadn't noticed her at all. She could see from the wide smile and the glint in his eyes that Draco was in high spirits, and she didn't have the energy to pretend that she anything other than fucking miserable. Still, when he waved her over, she knew she couldn't ignore him.

"Hey! Where were you at lunch?" He asked, confidence oozing from every pore, his hair oddly tousled as if he'd been dragging his fingers through it often.

Urgh. Was all Cornelia could think.

She shrugged and simply stated "Outside."

Draco's confidence faltered for just a moment at her tone, but then a hand appeared on his elbow and Pansy stepped out from behind him.

"You mustn't over-exert yourself in class today Draco." She tutted, and her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, even breaking through Cornelia's misery enough that she had to refrain from hissing at her like a cat.

Draco however just laughed and, indeed, raked his free hand through his hair. "I doubt I'll miss out on anything overly exciting. Have you seen the new Defence Professor?"

Pansy's answering giggle was nauseatingly high and forced. "I'm surprised he can even afford a wand!"

Draco agreed, and as the two launched into picking apart the Professor, Cornelia sank into the shadows, her eyes glazing over as she attempted to close herself off from hearing the two of them at all.

The classroom door swinging open shook Cornelia from her stupor, and the man that had handed her the chocolate on the train stepped briskly out, his eyes glittering and alert as they swept across the students in the hallway.

"I've got something exciting for you all today – this way!" He spoke as if it were just the two of them and he was sharing a secret, before turning on his heel and pacing down the hall.

Despite herself, Cornelia met Draco's ludicrous expression with raised eyebrows as they began to follow the Professor through the halls, but Pansy quickly engaged him in conversation again.

Professor Lupin guided them through the castle all the way to the staffroom, explaining over his shoulder as they went. "I came across this this morning, had to convince Snape to keep it where it was, it's a great opportunity for you third years."

However, when asked outright what it was he was leading them to, his eyes just crinkled warmly "Ah, you'll soon see for yourself!"

Even through her moping, Cornelia found herself becoming more and more curious the further through the castle they ventured. Professor Lupin had a way of capturing and holding attention; he seemed fuller of life than the other Professors', younger in mind and spirit and more on the students' wavelengths. She had noticed it when she had first met him on the train, surprised by how personable he was and how reassuring he had been, and she could see it again now – he was genuinely excited by whatever he had planned for them all.

Finally, they all filtered into the narrow teacher's lounge, eyeing the room suspiciously for whatever thing Lupin had mentioned. Lupin himself had placed himself at the far end of the room beside a large, very old looking wardrobe, a wide smile on his scarred face.

A hush fell across the students. It seemed everyone was eager to find out what was going on, even Draco and Pansy had fallen silent and were watching the Professor through narrowed eyes. That was when the closet beside him trembled as if something enormous had rattled around inside it. A few of the students closest to it shuffled backwards nervously.

Cornelia's throat constricted and sinking feeling descended in her stomach, she gulped as she stared wide eyed between the wardrobe and Lupin. She knew what lingered in the darkness within those walls, she had read about it when she was younger with a morbid fascination of dangerous creatures. It was a boggart.

Hermione confirmed, literally, her worst fears, and Lupin clapped his hands together in delight at her quick answer. He seemed completely unfazed by what lurked so nearby, practically brushing his shoulder against the dark wood of the wardrobe. Cornelia however, was not prepared in the slightest to face a boggart. Her mind reeled with the possibilities of what it could show her, and she was disturbed to find there were so many of them.

Had she always been terrified of so many things? She didn't think so. She remembered back to when she had arrived at Hogwarts and all she'd worried about was not making any friends and Uncle Lucius's punishments. She hadn't stopped being scared of those things, in fact, they had become even larger and all-consuming than they were before with a billion more worries spiralling off from them. The control that Lucius's punishments represented, the imprisonment, the fresh hatred between the two of them, his presence in Draco. Being alone because of who she was – bitter, angry, sullen and crazy like her mother. Her mother…

Her thoughts trailed off as Lupin ordered them all to form a line, and her classmates began bustling energetically around, shoving and crowding to get as close to the front of the line as possible. She wasn't amongst them, and she ignored Draco's hushed encouragement to get to the front, instead making her way directly to the back of the line. Hopefully they would run out of time before the boggart could work its way through them all. When she turned back to look at the wardrobe, she caught Lupin's eye. He had clearly watched her determined stalk to the back of the line, and he now took in her white face and thin-lipped glare with an expression that made Cornelia think that he understood some of what was going through her mind, even if that was impossible.

As the class progressed and the boggart shifted and shaped into student's worst nightmares, Cornelia shrank back even further, seriously considering fleeing the room altogether. Nobody seemed to have fears like hers. She watched as Ron's spider fell about on rollerblades and Parvati's snake became a jack-in-the-box and didn't find it even remotely funny, unlike the rest of the class. What would their reaction be when that boggart became Uncle Lucius baring down on her with a cane? Or her tearing her hair out or punching herself in the head to escape intrusive thoughts? She couldn't think of anything less amusing and drew a blank as to how she could make that 'riddikulus'.

She had just decided that she would save herself from that situation and indeed leave the room immediately when Potter stepped forward for his turn to face the boggart. An odd cry stopped her in her tracks, and she watched as Lupin flung himself in front of Harry, arms outstretched. The boggart warped and changed and eventually settled on a large glowing orb… no, it was the moon, full and bright.

"Riddikulus!" He bellowed, and either the confusion of the growing laughter in the room had finally become too much for the boggart or the strength behind Lupin's spell destroyed it completely, and it exploded into tendrils of dark mist that curled and disappeared in the air.

The breath whooshed out of Cornelia in relief at the resulting quiet and the threat of the boggart being removed, but she seemed to be the only one. Shocked faces stared at Lupin, disappointment beginning to grow on the student's that were just a few places behind Potter, and Lupin seemed to recognise that he had put his foot in it. Potter in particular seemed the be bracing himself against an onslaught of embarrassment and was staring stonily at the point where the boggart had exploded, refusing to meet Lupin's darting looks.

"Right, well, we're out of time with that! Don't want to have too much of a good thing!" He blustered and began ushering them all out of the room. Potter was the first to leave, Ron and Hermione in tow, and Cornelia caught the pained expression on Lupin's face as he watched them leave.

He knew that he had hurt Harry in his attempt to shield him from the boggart, that he had embarrassed him in front of his peers, and he clearly felt bad about the whole thing – so why had he done it?

Maybe, a little voice in her head whispered, maybe Potter's boggart might not have been so different from yours. If that were the case, then Lupin had sheltered both him and the class from being faced with those images. She couldn't help but wonder if he would have done the same for her.

Apologies this chapter was much later than my usual update schedule. I've been moving house and also I've been caught up in the planning of a non-fan-fic novel that I'm hoping to get around to publishing at some point this year! Here's a bit of a longer chapter to make up for it.

What form do you think Cornelia's boggart would have taken?

Until next time.