"And that concludes our lesson." Professor Moody said, as the clock chimed, signaling that the school day has ended… well, at least for the other students. Not for you, however. There was still Professor Snape to see today. You packed up your things, and went to make sure that Draco wasn't showing how intimidated he was by Professor Moody. The blonde's eyes were literally all over the place, minus the place where Professor Moody's face was. "It's alright, Draco. Class is over, you don't have to in his terrifying presence anymore."

He quickly puffed out his chest and sat up straight. "Now wait a minute! I'm just here to protect the fair maiden who specifically described his presence as terrifying. I myself am not affected by him in any way!" Professor Moody appeared behind the lad and snarled in his ear. "Oh, I beg to differ, sunny!" "AHH!" Draco yelped, scurrying out of the classroom like a ferret. You couldn't help but laugh at him. Professor Moody winked at you. "Nice job last night, girly, putting all those blackbirds in their place." You snorted at the comment. "Yes, it was quite worth it, but it still landed me in trouble. I'd better get going. Professor Snape has summoned me to his dingy dungeon lair to serve out my punishment, this afternoon." "Oh? And why Professor Snape? You swore out the Ravenclaws in front of everyone, not just Professor Snape." "Because, it's one thing to swear in front of a teacher. It's another thing, entirely, to swear in front of your father." You said, walking out the door. "Have a nice weekend, Professor."

"Were you actually having a conversation with that madman?!" Draco asked, as you walked up to him with an amused smile on your face. "Yes. Yes, I was." You gloated. "Why? Are you upset with yourself that you were too busy hiding from him to come protect the 'fair maiden'?" "No!" He said, as you latched onto his arm, and walked with him down to the dungeons. "I'm simply saying that you shouldn't expose yourself to people like him. It's dangerous for an old mountain troll like him to know too much about a young lady like you." "He's not a mountain troll, Draco." You said, rolling your eyes. "Honestly, you call people such offensive names. No wonder I'm practically the only non-Slytherin that doesn't hate you."

"Aside from you, I don't care about the non-Slytherins." He said. "Nor do I really care about most of the Slytherins either. I just tolerate them more." You rolled your eyes and found yourself outside the door of Professor Snape's classroom. "Thank you for walking me down here, Draco." You said, before letting him leave for the Slytherin Common Room. You knocked on the door, and stepped back to let him open it. After he opened the door and revealed his face, you said, "Good afternoon, Professor," with a curt nod. "Miss Y/N," He greeted you, stepping to the side, as to let you in. The potions room was as it should be, minus a chair sitting across from his desk.

"Sit." He instructed. You sat, while he closed the door. "What exactly do you have planned, Professor?" "I know how you feel about me being able to acknowledge our family bond, while you are forbidden from doing so, but I must implore you to cooperate." He said, not answering your question. You were silent until he sat in front of you. "I insist that you cooperate." He said. "… Yes, father." You finally said. He cleared his throat, disapprovingly. "… Yes… Professor." You said, begrudgingly. "Good. Now, I want you listen carefully to what I am about to tell you and you must not repeat it to anyone." He said, leaning closer to you. You remained upright. "There is a threat that is coming. A threat more dangerous than anything you or the students in this school have faced in the past thirteen years."

This caused you to lean forward. "... Even more dangerous than the Basilisk?" You asked. "Far more dangerous than the monster itself, is he to whom the monster answers." He replied. "I think you can only imagine to whom I might be referring." You gazed away from him for a minute to think. The Basilisk was kept in the chamber of secrets… Only the heir of Slytherin could open the chamber… Only the heir of Slytherin could control the monster within… the Basilisk. "The heir of Slytherin?" You whispered. "Yes." Snape confirmed. "Who is the heir? Professor Dumbledore never disclosed that." You asked. "To most of the wizarding community, it is safest for you not to utter his name."

You went pale. You knew that your father wouldn't lie to you about anything and considering the fact that he telling you outright without you even asking a simple question meant that he was worried. Especially if this involved… Voldemort. "So…" You began. "He is coming?" "Yes." Your father said. "And, as my daughter, I fear for your safety." A warm feeling spread through your chest. "And so I must prepare you for the danger ahead. I feel it is best for you to be trained in the art of occlumency." The warm feeling went away. He'd used nonverbal legilimency on you before. He saw your thoughts and emotions regarding him. And now you harbored a secret. A secret he could not know of. It was also a rather painful experience. Still, you had agreed to cooperate.

You closed your eyes. "Alright." You finally huffed. "I'll do it." He stood abruptly, and you stood as well. A defensive habit. "Sit." He ordered. "When attacked directly with legilimency for the first time, it is common for the victim to react badly. I don't need you fainting from this experience." You sat, albeit, while turning your chair to watch him as he unrolled a sleeve. Multiple wands were kept inside. A chill ran down your spine. He'd never talked about having multiple wands… "In the past, the dark lord found pleasure in creeping his way inside the minds of his victims and concocting images meant to drive them insane. Only after he had them begging him to kill them would he finally do so. That way it could almost be seen as some twisted version of a merciful death."

You tried to hide all fear from your eyes as his black combo of irises and pupils demanded that you look at them. With a certain wand chosen from his sleeve, he had moved towards you during his explanation of why this was necessary. He now towered over you, sitting in the chair, in a very intimidating manor. You couldn't help but swallow the lump in your throat. "Used properly, occlumency can shield and protect your conscience from his influence." He said, quietly, calmly. Too quietly. Too calmly. "In these lessons, I will attempt to penetrate your mind and you will attempt to keep me from doing so." He said. You nodded.

"Prepare yourself, Y/N. Put up all your defenses, and quickly." You nodded again, closing your eyes and imaginings six walls forming a cube around your perspective. "Legilimens!" The walls almost broke. This was nothing like before. You grit your teeth, desperately trying to patch up the cracks in the walls. It was like someone was clawing at the place between your eyes, trying to get to your skull and smash through it. Every time the cracks were sealed, they just took even more damage. It was then that you realized that this wasn't working. You abandoned the walls and thought of the black void and emptiness. The walls exploded and the void was seen. You were breathing heavily. This was draining. A blinding white light started filling the void. Let it be then. Even he will eventually tire. "Do you really think so, daughter mine?" Snape asked. Your head flew back, and you writhed in agony.

The light started forming images of you with your Shakespeare journal. Snape was there reading from a page. "I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike; so is the will of living daughter curbed by the will of a death father." You quickly responded by snatching the book away. "Don't you try to quote Shakespeare at me! That is my thing!" You said in the memory, quickly returning to the dark void. The only things that existed in the void were you and him, so you quickly grabbed hold of his shirt collar and trapped you both in a box. Wrestling around with him, you kept him distracted long enough for the walls to crush you both.

When you opened your eyes, you were thoroughly annoyed. "There. I've kept you at bay. Are you happy?" You asked, panting. "You did well for your first true experience with legilimency." Snape said. "We can still improve your skill. But, for now, I'm satisfied." He went to put the wand away. "How long did that take?" You asked. "About an hour for you to fend me off." "An hour?!" You asked. "It felt like five minutes!" "The mind is a weird portion of a person's being. Time is warped there. I'm not surprised that you felt like you were very efficient in forcing me out of your subconscious." He said, rolling up the sleeve. "Efficient?! What about endurance?! Does that count for anything?!" "Yes. You were quite adept at conserving your strength for your first endeavor. I am impressed. We will resume these lessons on monday." He said.

You nodded. "Yes, Fa-... Professor." "The lesson is over, you may leave." "Yes, Professor." You left without another word. Oh thank god you were able to keep your encounter with Harry from him… Once you were gone, Professor snape picked up a quill and a piece of spare parchment. "I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike; so is the will of living daughter curbed by the will of a death father." He wrote. "~ Shakespeare." Meanwhile, you'd made your way to Ravenclaw tower. "If the day after tomorrow is yesterday, then today will be as far from Friday as today was Friday with the day before yesterday was tomorrow. What day is today?" You just looked at the knocker. "Both literally and when answering the riddle, today is Friday." You said with no emotion in your voice.

The door opened. Cho, Padma, and Luna were at the bottom of the stairwell to the girl's dorms. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall were there as well. "Ah, there you are Miss Snape." Professor McGonagall said. "Good afternoon, Professors." You replied. "Have you fixed the staircase yet?" "We need to check." Professor Flitwick said. "If you would be so kind, Miss Snape?" You nodded, going to the staircase. You quickly flew back into your roommates. "AHH!" You yelped. "Oof!" The other girls groaned. "Sorry." You said. "Oh dear. It appears we will have to keep working on it." Professor McGonagall said. "However… if we can't fix it by curfew, where will Miss Y/N be sleeping?" "I slept on one of the sofas last night." You said. "I'll be fine, so long as one of my roommates brings me down my pajamas and maybe some weekend wear for tomorrow. I can change in the bathrooms."

"Absolutely not. What if something happened in the night? What if an intruder broke into Ravenclaw Tower? You'd be the first one in harm's way. Then, your father would have my head on spike." Professor Flitwick said. "As head of Ravenclaw house, it would be my responsibility to house you when you are currently unable to get to your own dorm, but I believe that it would be a violation against the codes of conduct for a female student to lodge with me, even if you are a Ravenclaw." "Then where should I sleep?" I asked, turning to Professor McGonagall. "I'd say that you should sleep in the guest bed in my quarters, but you're not in my house, so it would be rather questionable." She replied. "What of your father? It would make sense to lodge with a relative."

You pursed your lips. "He's not going to like it. Even over the weekend, he won't like the idea of us blatantly displaying our blood relationship." "And you had lunch with him, as a father and daughter?" Professor Flitwick asked. You closed your eyes. "Alright listen, I only told Professor Binns that because I didn't want detention. I had done nothing wrong and when I explained the situation to him he completely undermined what I was saying. I'll admit that I lied, but I really didn't want to fight with a teacher over something as petty as supposedly sleeping in his class after all my work was done and turned in." Professor McGonagall put her hand on her forehead. "Miss Snape, what are we going to do with you?" She asked. "I've served my punishment. Let it rest." I said, hunching my shoulders. "Still. We need to arrange a sleeping place for you, and for you to lodge with your father is the best option." She replied.

"That is, if we don't resolve this." I said. "I'll run the idea by him at dinner. You know, just let him know that if things don't get better that this is what we're doing. We'll let him know if we have to go through with this as it gets closer to curfew." You then looked around for a certain something. After not finding it at first and second glance, you wielded your wand and uttered "Accio: The Merchant of Venice." The book came flying from the ottoman chest where you had hidden it, straight into your hand. You placed it in your bag. "For later…" You murmured. "Luna, would you care to read some Shakespeare with me?" "Sure." She chirped, settling beside you on the sofa. "I'm saving The Merchant of Venice for Draco, so do you mind if we read Hamlet?" "I have no problem with anything that we read."