Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

XXX

Harry felt too ashamed to fall asleep again, his body ached from the trashing around and his throat was sore from the screaming he had done as he relived one of the many beatings he had received over the summer. Nevertheless, Harry was glad that none of the other boys had complained about him waking them up, instead they just gave him looks of pity and went back to sleep. It only made him feel worse, being embarrassed because you had a nightmare was one thing, but getting pity because of it was another.

Harry sighed as he lay against his pillows, the embarrassment slowly leaking away as he felt himself relax, not enough to fall asleep, but just enough for him to feel comfortable. For the first time he wanted to be somewhere other than Hogwarts, back at Grimmauld place where he could at least speak to Elizabeth while Ron and Hermione decontaminated the house. Maybe he should have told her his secret. Maybe telling someone would stop the nightmares.

XXX

The Great Hall wasn't as lively as it was the night before. The usual loud conversations were nothing but a dull roar as Harry entered. He was exhausted, he had managed to stay awake until the alarm clock went off, but now he wasn't so sure that skipping sleep was a good idea. As long as he could make it to the end of the day, he knew he would be fine.

XXX

Elizabeth felt as if her chest would explode. She had wanted to tell her father about what she thought about Harry's home life, but in the end she just couldn't. She didn't think she could handle it if her father rejected her theory but she knew that if and when she had enough evidence to prove it, it would hit him hard. He knew how it felt to be abused and he did his best to keep it out of his house, but what would he do if the Boy-Who-Lived endured the same pain his snakes did? There was only one way to answer that, but she would have to wait until the time was just right, for timing was everything.

"You're doing it again Elizabeth." Blaise Zabini stated as he flashed his hand in front of his friend's face.

"Sorry, Blaise." Elizabeth murrmured as she snapped out of her thoughts, all of the typical sounds of the Great Hall finally registering.

"You alright?" Blaise asked as he gave the girl a questioning look over the piece of paper in his hands.

"Yep, perfect." Elizabeth lied, the words rolling off of her tongue with practiced ease. The last thing she wanted was for her other classmates to know who she was thinking about.

"I don't believe you." Zabini replied as he gracefully placed his schedule on the table.

"Then I don't know what to tell you." Elizabeth said as she tore her eyes away from the boy in front of her to see Harry walking in behind Weasley and Granger. It was apparent that Harry was tired as he moved almost listlessly to the empty space at the Gryffindor table. Yet again it seemed as though she was the only one to notice his strange behavior. The urgency in finding out what really happened in the teen's home life became more pronounced, the only problem now was getting Harry to talk about it.

XXX

"Mind if I sit here?" The all too familiar voice questioned making Harry turn around to see Elizabeth standing beside the empty chair to his right.

"No, not at all." Harry replied as he smiled a bit, he had been hoping that she would sit by him. He wanted to talk to her, even if it was while they made some complicated potion.

"You seem tired." Elizabeth noted as she took the chair next to him with. She seemed to be at ease despite the rest of the room's stares. Even Professor Snape seemed to be surprised to see one of his snakes sit next to the Golden Boy. But for once Harry didn't mind the stares. For once they were for something he enjoyed: Elizabeth's company. Harry couldn't help but smirk as he watched Elizabeth ignore all the questioning stares she received from their fellow peers. She was right; nothing was going to change between them, even in class. She wasn't going to only sit by her house; she was going to give the interhouse relationship a try, even in public.

"She's definitely a Death Eater." Ron stated as the bell rang and Elizabeth joined her friends in the corridor. "She probably told them that she got to know you and now she's spying on you."

"Come off it." Harry replied as he felt his temper flare up. "You don't know her so just stop with all the accusations. "

"It's not that, Harry. " Hermione said as they walked to transfiguration. "It's just that we don't really know her."

"You don't know her because you don't want to." Harry muttered. "You just don't like the fact that she's different from the typical Slytherin and you use the Death Eater thing to explain her behavior." Harry felt proud of himself as he watched Hermione become flustered at him and his statements, but they deserved to know how he felt when he talked about the girl that had just risked everything on the first day back for him.

XXX

"Are you sure you are fine?" Blaise asked Elizabeth as they walked behind Malfoy and his gang of goons.

"Yes, Blaise, I am fine." Elizabeth replied. She, like her father, didn't enjoy explaining herself.

"So why did you sit next to Potter?" Malfoy's voice came from in front of them, making Elizabeth feel even more uneasy.

"Because I felt like it." Elizabeth said with a smirk as the blond boy in front of her stopped and turned to face her.

"You felt like it?" Malfoy sneered as he stared at Elizabeth skeptically. "I suppose we can't expect anymore from a supposed to be fourth year."

"You're just upset because I did something you utterly failed to do." Elizabeth stated calmly. "And so what if I am still fourteen? Last time I checked I was still smarter than you and Pansy fused together."

"You better watch yourself, Brooks, if not you'll be sorry." Malfoy stressed Elizabeth's last name, making her roll her hazel eyes. This was certainly nothing new for Draco had always tried to bully her into following him, even when they were little.

"Sometimes I forget who you are," Blaise whispered to Elizabeth as they continued on to their next class, this time out of Draco's earshot.

"That's fine" Elizabeth answered, "considering very few people know I am the descendant of our great potion's master."

XXX

Author's notes: another chapter completed. And I promise soon that you get to know what that lovely letter says.