A flash of lightning broke the night sky. The electric light flickered against Thorn's face as she watched the display. A quickening wind lifted her hair. Severus studied her. She seemed to be a very kind girl underneath the layers of thicker skin. He wondered what could have happened to make her wear a mask. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"I counted to four. We better move before we get rained on," she said.

When Severus made no reply, she pushed past him urgently. "Come on. That storm's moving fast. It'll be here any minute."

Just as he opened his mouth to ask how she knew, rain began to pour down on Severus, soaking his robes and hair. Thorn ventured out of the shelter of the open doorway to grab his wrist. She pulled hard, hissing "Come on!"

She shut the door behind him and glanced down the halls.

"We can't be caught!" Severus whispered.

"I know. Come on, let's go."

Together they ran down hallway after hallway as noiselessly as possible. When they left the carpeted floors and landed hard on bare stone Thorn noted grimly how loud their footsteps sounded.

"Stop, stop, stop!" she hissed, pulling on Severus's sleeve.

He shot her a questioning look. Thorn kneeled down and began to unlace her shoes.

"Take your shoes off!"

Obediently, Severus began to fumble with the laces. He imitated Thorn by tying his shoes together and, pulling her to her feet, he dashed down the halls again. He barely noticed her weight as he dragged her with him by her hand. He could only think about getting back to the Slytherin common room safely.
Severus and Thorn took a sharp turn, causing them to sped up. They were almost there, the stairwell leading down to the dungeons and to the common room straight ahead. Light suddenly flooded the hall as a teacher surveyed for sneaking students. Silently, Severus pushed Thorn into a crevice behind one of the enormous, unlit torches that lined the castle's corridors.

"What are you-" Thorn began sharply.

Severus cut her off by covering her mouth and placing a finger to his lips. Thorn peeked around the concrete torch and watched the light grow closer. She crept back and crouched down. Severus did the same and they pressed themselves into the cold stone at their backs. Anxiously they waited for the light to fade back to darkness. Severus felt his heart sink as the light grew more intense.

"It's Filch," Thorn whispered.

Severus rolled his eyes. Of course he had to come down this way.

They inched their way around the stone block as Filch passed. When he turned and disappeared, Severus and Thorn darted out from their hiding place. They descended the steep stairway carefully, wary of their footing. One wrong move could send a person tumbling down into the dungeon below. The two stopped short of a bare stone wall. Thorn glanced nervously around while Severus whispered the password. Stones scraped together as they disassembled and moved to create a passage into the room concealed behind. Silently they slunk inside and faced eachother, exhilarated. The stones slid back into place behind them.
A grin broke out across Thorn's face and she giggled. Severus smiled back and began to laugh with her. He didn't know why, but there was something funny about this strange girl standing in front of him without shoes on.

"How did we manage that?" she asked through her laughter.

Severus shrugged. "No idea," he replied.

"We definitely should have been caught!"

"Definitely."

A door opened and closed softly as a student emerged from the boys' dormitory. Groggily, he rubbed his eyes and stretched.

"Would you mind keeping it down? Some of us are trying to sleep," he said.

As he caught sight of the pair, he froze. A sneer twisted his face and disdain laced his voice.

"Awe, has Snivellus got himself a little girlfriend? That's cute," the boy continued, looking down his nose at Thorn.

Severus interjected as Thorn opened her mouth to object. "Robbie, please don't."

Robbie looked Thorn up and down and snorted. "She looks like a freak to me. You two must be perfect for eachother."

Thorn slumped slightly at Robbie's words. 'Freak', she mouthed to herself.

"That's right," Robbie said sweetly, " A freak. You don't belong in Hogwarts, you dirty skank. You're a disgrace to Slytherin. This house is a place for purebloods, not mudbloods."

Thorn straightened at the two discriminating words. She held Robbie's gaze, anger flashing in her gray eyes. She wound back her right arm and threw what would have been a well-aimed punch at Robbie had he not stepped out of the way.

"How dare you! Don't contaminate me with your disgusting mudblood germs!"

"Don't speak to her like that!" Severus hissed.

"Shut it, you filthy halfblood! You're just as bad as the rest of them," Robbie growled, gesturing to Thorn.
"You should be grateful you were even accepted into Hogwarts! You're just as naïve and worthless as muggles. You should be honoured to even be in the presence of a pureblood. We are above you."

Severus was taken aback. He lowered his eyes as Thorn gaped in shock at the cruel words.

"That's better," Robbie sneered. Snatching a quick, disapproving glimpse of Thorn again, he turned on his heel and marched back to his dorm.

"For the record, I am a pureblood!" she called after him.

Robbie sniffed indignantly and muttered to himself as he melted into the dorm. When he was gone, she turned to face Severus again.

"Does he talk to you like that often?" Thorn asked in a low voice, her arms tucked tightly behind her back.

Severus nodded. "All the time. Everyone does."

"And you let them?" Thorn cocked an eyebrow. Severus didn't reply.
"Is he why you were outside?" she pressed.

He shook his head. "No," he said quietly.

"Then why?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Severus dismissed her after a pause.

"Well, okay, but I'm here if you ever need to talk to someone," she said, offering a timid smile.

"I meant never mind," Severus snapped.

Thorn narrowed her eyes. "Well, fine, forget I offered anything then."

His eyes followed her as she moved to sit in an armchair. She stared absently into the empty fireplace. Severus immediately felt bad for snapping at her.
Thorn had tucked her left leg up underneath her and left her arms draped over the armrests of her chair. In the greenish glow of the common room, she looked sickly and perhaps a little too thin. She sat motionless save for blinking and the slight rise and fall of her chest. In the low light her skin seemed to glow, making her seem almost transparent. Like a ghost, Severus observed.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare or are you going to go to bed?" Thorn asked sharply.

Turning away from her, Severus replied, "I'm going to go. Goodnight, then."

Thorn snorted as he disappeared into the boys' dormitory.

Yeah it's still too short. More detail coming.

~Vixen