This chapter really would have been up sooner, but my son got the flu. Needless to say, I had a horrible weekend, (of course, so did he). Thank you for all the reviews. I'm happy to see some new fans. This chapter isn't all that interesting, but I had to include it. I promise chapter 14 will feature the first detention. Happy readings!

Chpt. 13- Late

"That's settled then," Albus Dumbledore said without emotion. "Lyric, you better be off to class. Severus, I plan to have a talk with the students at dinner this evening."

"Don't bother," Snape frowned, "the damage is done. I plan to have a discussion with my students; I doubt an incident like this will ever be repeated." Lyric thought that sounded a bit like a threat, but she just gathered her book bag and headed out the door.

Lyric started down the staircase and into the hallway. She stopped wanting to go back and explain herself to her uncle, but when she turned, she saw Snape staring at her in the hallway. She wanted to apologize, but she couldn't make herself do it.

"Miss Dumbledore, I think we shall start this evening. Meet me in my office. You can help me test the potions my first years made yesterday. Eight o'clock sharp," and with that, Snape turned and walked down the hall the other direction.

Lyric watched him until he disappeared behind the corner. She thought again about going to talk to her uncle, but she just couldn't face him. She knew she had let him down. Lyric was angry. Angry with Tristan for publishing that photo. Angry with herself for taking the picture. And most of all, she was angry with Snape for forcing her to spend even more time with the man she dreaded. At this point, Lyric thought that she would rather leave the school. There was no point in staying, as she was sure her uncle now hated her. Lyric once adored the opportunity to spend time with him, and no she couldn't image talking to him.

'But where would I go?' she thought to herself. She couldn't go live with her mother again, she could barely stand her for the short summer months. She doubted she could get a Muggle job. She wondered if the Three Broomsticks needed a bartender. Not that she knew how to do that, but it seemed like as good an idea as any. Lyric put aside the thoughts for her future and headed to Divination.

Lyric poked her head through the door, and no one seemed to notice her at first. Lyric was relieved to find that no one knew the story. Yet. Rita was good with gossip, but no one was that fast. Professor Trelawney, seemingly oblivious to the morning's events, asked Lyric where she had been.

"You should know," she shot at the professor, before quickly adding, "I was with my uncle."

"Of course you were, I knew that" said Trelawney, "now please take a seat, we will be writing horoscopes for our partners."

Lyric started to head towards Iona, but Iona had already paired up with Gretchen Hart. She tried to get Iona's attention, but she was avoiding Lyric. The only person without a partner was Griselda. Lyric groaned audibly. This day could not get any worse. She took her seat next to Griselda who was trying to look busy.

"I don't need a partner, thank you," Griselda said without looking up from her star charts.

"You do, now get over it. What's your birthday?" Lyric just wanted this to be as civil as possible.

"Why should I tell you, I don't need a partner," Griselda was defiant.

"Listen Griselda, I know you're stubborn as an ass and twice as ugly," so much for civility, "but I have had a really bad day and it's not even noon. Pull that stick out of your ass for a second and let me do this assignment, got it?"

Griselda was a little taken aback. But she quickly gave in to Lyric, perhaps only because she was scared of her. "July 23, and you?" Griselda asked, feigning happiness.

"February 14. Make a joke about being born on Valentine's Day and I'll hex you in your sleep." Lyric said before burying herself in her book. Lyric thought she could get used to this being callous to everyone. It sure made dealing with the assholes a lot easier.

After completing Griselda's horoscope, Lyric turned it in to Trelawney and asked if she could leave class a few minutes early to visit to loo. Lyric didn't want to have to talk to any of the other students, at least not right now. Lyric attended the rest of her classes and remained nasty to everyone. She avoided going to lunch. Even if she had been hungry, she wasn't ready to face the entire school, not to mention her uncle. Lyric decided to hang out in her room until her afternoon classes started.

When she entered the Gryffindor common room she saw Tristan lounging on the couch in front of the fireplace. Lyric wanted to be calm when she confronted Tristan.

"Shouldn't you be off screwing over another friend of yours?" Lyric asked. Obviously, she had not had the chance to calm down.

Tristan shot off the couch. "I did you a favor," he said, annoyance in his voice.

"A favor?" Lyric asked sarcastically, "Do you want to know what your 'favor' earned me? Detention, three nights a week, until Easter. You call that a favor?"

"I didn't earn you that detention. That bitch Skeeter was going to take the fall for those pictures. I framed her perfectly, and you had to go and confess. I assume you took all the blame, since I'm still here."

"You can thank me for not ratting you out. You deserve it. You ought to be the one in detention, not me!" Lyric screamed.

"You think Snape would be happy with letting me get off with detention? He would have insisted that Dumbledore put me on the next broomstick out of Hogsmeade. You got off easy, Lyric. Another perk of being headmaster's niece." Tristan was now yelling.

"You know better than anyone that I get no special treatment from my uncle. And why the hell are you yelling at me? You're the one who betrayed me and sold me out. If anyone should be yelling, it's me," Lyric screamed at Tristan.

"You are yelling," Tristan shouted back. Lyric and Tristan were both silent for a minute, then Tristan began laughing.

"What is so funny?" Lyric asked him, devoid of amusement.

"Nothing, it's just, you being mad. It's a funny sight. C'mon, Lyric, you know you can't stay mad at me. I'm sorry for what I did. It was wrong." Tristan's good nature and happy grin had returned.

Lyric looked like she was likely to explode. "You think that a simple apology is going to fix all of this?" Lyric's voice had dropped and became somewhat calmer. "I don't know if this is forgivable Tristan. I can't imagine ever being happy with you again."

Tristan looked heartbroken. "Please, Lyric, don't let seven years of friendship be wiped out by my stupidity."

"Why did you do it?"

"It was your idea, you wanted revenge," Tristan responded.

"No, why did you publish those pictures? I told you not to, and you did it anyway. Why?"

Tristan remained silent.

"WHY?" Lyric screamed at her friend.

"I can't tell you that," Tristan said meekly.

"Then I have nothing more to say to you," Lyric said sadly, she then headed up to her room.

Lyric remained in her room until her next class was about to start. When she walked through the common room, Tristan was nowhere to be seen. Lyric was thankful for that. Throughout the rest of her classes, Lyric remained quiet and she dare not make eye contact with anyone. Rita had been hard at work clearing her name in fingering Lyric as the true offender. The students could talk of nothing else that day, so whenever Lyric entered a room, it became very quiet.

Just before Potions began, Lyric locked herself in the girls' bathroom. She didn't want to face Snape or Tristan. Lyric finally rationed that not attending class would be worse, since her first detention was tonight. She collected herself as best she could and headed to class. When she entered the room, no one was chatting as they had been in previous classes. Lyric looked to the front of the classroom as saw why. Snape was perched behind his desk staring angrily at the class. Lyric froze when Snape's gaze reached her.

"Sit!" he commanded loudly, so that the entire class snapped their head in Lyric's direction.

Shaking, Lyric took her seat next to Iona.

"After certain events this morning," Snape began while still staring at Lyric, "I believe that it is necessary to teach my students the importance of obedience. Much like the Imperius Curse, the Acquiescence Potion commands a certain amount of submission. Be warned, students, that the potion is illegal to use and will earn you a lifetime sentence in Azkaban, unless of course, you have permission from the Ministry to administer it. I would hate to have to apply for a permit to administer the potion to one of my students."

Lyric's face had turned bright red and she tried hard to keep from crying.

"There has been precedent in the past when a teacher was allowed to administer it to a student, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Ministry were to grant me that right. Consider this a warning."

Lyric wasn't sure if Snape was addressing the class or just her.

When class ended, Lyric shot out of her seat, eager to get away. Iona was faster than her though.

"Iona!" Lyric called after her in the hallway. Iona either didn't hear her, or was ignoring her. "Iona!" she said, finally catching up to her and grabbing her shoulder. "Is there any reason you've been ignoring me all day?"

"No, I mean… I haven't been ignoring you," Iona said, desperate to get away. Several students were eagerly trying to eavesdrop onto the conversation.

"Don't lie to me, what is the problem?" Lyric said, ignoring her audience.

Iona lowered her voice so that no one could hear, "Rita's trying to pin what happened on someone else, and since Tristan had an alibi with Filch, I'm the one she's looking at. I figure distancing myself from you would keep from giving Rita the chance to "interview" us."

"Iona, that's ridiculous. No one believes what she writes anyway, and besides half of Gryffindor saw you in our common room last night." Lyric was pleading with her friend.

"Listen, Lyric can we talk later? People are staring." Iona was cold.

"Fine," Lyric mumbled as she let go of her friend's shoulder.

Lyric opted not to go to dinner that night. She was starving, but that really didn't matter. Lyric went to her room and decided to take nap. She had just barely closed her eyes when she heard people in her room. She sat up groggily to see Amaryllis and Amarantha walk into the room.

"Where have you been?" asked Amarantha, "You missed dinner."

"Didn't much feel like eating," Lyric replied.

"So," Amaryllis ventured, "how are you?" Sweet Amaryllis, she could tell Lyric was upset, and didn't want to upset her even more.

"Okay, I guess." Lyric was short in her reply.

"Okay? Please, you've done the worst thing any student has ever done at Hogwarts, and from what Tristan tells us, you're in for the punishment of a lifetime." Amarantha clearly didn't care who she upset.

Lyric jumped at the word punishment. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Quarter past eight," said Amarantha.

"Oh God!" Lyric jumped out of her bed, down the stairs, and out of the common room. She couldn't believe she was going to be late for detention with Snape. Lyric was running as fast as she could, though it didn't matter since she was already late. Lyric reached a corner and turned, running into something hard. She felt a pain explode in her head as she fell and a pain explode in her bottom when she hit the ground.

"OW!" she screamed, "What the hell!" she said looking at the feet in front of her, her pain subsided and was replaced by fear as she looked up slowly at the person she had run into. It was none other than Severus Snape.