AN: I am soooo, sorry about how long this has taken, especially when I promised it would be quick, I've just been so snowed under for the last few months with school and re sits and work I haven't had time to finish off this chapter.

I have most of the next coupled of chapters (the last two) written but I can't promise they'll be up any time soon.

Fingers crossed I'll get a chance over the Easter holiday. If I don't go made from revision that is.

Chapter Seven:

I hate Snape. The stupid bastard has been training me for two months now. That means for the last two months I've had to go and spend at least an hour in the training room he set up in one of the rooms in the dungeons while he throws knives at me in between abuse every single day. He escorts me out of Hogwarts then apparates us to various vampire hotspots, or just lets me loose in the forbidden forest almost every night and he's still an annoying greasy git.

I don't want favouritism from him but could he at least act like I'm something more than something stuck to his shoe. He knows exactly what I have to go through, he's the only one that does, and he actually seems to enjoy tormenting me with it.

All my teachers have noticed my decline in standard. I can't exactly help it though. I have to train everyday, slay every night, attend my classes, do all my homework and sleep. That takes up a lot more hours than I have in the day, I would kill to have that time turner back this year. Literally.

Harry and Ron have been annoying me this term too. I've been acting differently for two whole months, I hardly have any time for them, and the only time they notice is when I slept through a lesson and they want to borrow my notes. I know I can't tell my friends and I should be glad they don't suspect anything, but I just seem to hate them for not noticing what I'm going through. I feel so alone, I just want to talk to someone other than Snape about it. I can't help but think as well that, Adrian would have been nicer about it. He would have helped me, tried to make me feel better, Snape would never try and make me feel better, he goes out of his way to make me feel worse, every day.

Snape actually seems to be harder on me about homework. He's the only teacher in the whole damn school who actually knows why I'm acting differently and he's harder on me. Yesterday was the worst though. We had something of a shouting match in the middle of potions. He'd made me spend an extra two hours practicing with a sword so I hadn't actually had time to write his essay. Try explaining that to him.

"You don't have your essay Miss Granger" he stated, pretty obvious, it was what I'd just said to him

"I didn't have time" praying for once he'd just go easy on me

"Make time" he said. We'd finished at two that morning, I was exhausted, what the hell did he expect? My temper was rising a little.

"Make me" I challenged

"Don't get full of yourself Granger; you still have much to learn. Mr Grant may have had the utmost faith in you, but I have a feeling he was wrong"

"Don't talk about him that way" I said, he didn't deserve to get to talk about Adrian, Adrian was so much better than him.

"What way?" he asked

"Like he meant nothing"

"He failed". He replied simply.

"I thought his failure was measured by my life, and if I'm still here then he didn't die failing." I said, remembering what Adrian had told me about most watchers outliving their slayers. That many were considered failures for this reason.

"Rest assured Miss Granger I would rather live and fail than die to succeed. You are just one silly little girl in a whole line of them and when your time is up some other girl will come and sit in your seat and the world will not know the difference. Are we clear?"

"Crystal" I said, I picked up my bag and walked out of his class, much to the confusion of everybody else who'd had no idea what the hell we were talking about.

Harry later told me I'd been given a detention that night. In Snape language that meant a training session where he'd throw lots of sharp things at me and hope I didn't move out of the way in time. I didn't go, and I ignored the first year who was sent to remind me. In fact, I caught up with some homework and went to bed reasonably early, it was great.

I woke up this morning feeling better than I had in a few days. Better still Professor Snape wasn't in Breakfast, so I managed to enjoy that meal. I had double transfiguration first thing, I'd done the essay that was due so I enjoyed the lesson today as I didn't have McGonagall looking at me disapprovingly all lesson.

I managed to get through the entire day without seeing Snape, and I took it as a good sign. Unfortunately the last lesson of the day was potions.

"Hermione" called Harry just as I set off towards the dungeons. "We don't have potions now" he told me grinning ear to ear.

"Why not?"

"Dunno? One of the lower years told me, Snape hasn't taught all day, there's a note attached to his door saying all lessons are cancelled. Ron and I are gonna go play chess, wanna come?"

I did. I wanted to go play chess, do some homework and ignore Snape. But I knew I couldn't, something was wrong. "I can't" I told Harry. "I'll catch up with you later" I went down to the dungeon, the knowledge that something was wrong getting stronger with every step I took.

Sure enough on the door to the potions room was a hurriedly scribbled note in Snape's handwriting saying that all lessons were cancelled. I knocked politely on the door, when that didn't work I knocked harder.

"Can't you read Granger? Professor Snape isn't teaching today" said Draco Malfoy as he approached the door.

"I need to speak to him about something. What are you doing here?"

"That's none of your business" he said leaning against the wall.

I was about to respond when I caught a whiff of something bad. I could smell dried blood from the other side of that door. I drew my wand, "alohomara" I said aiming at the lock.

"That was stupid" said Malfoy. "Trying to break into a classroom with a prefect present"

"I am a prefect Malfoy" I replied, getting pissed off, I needed to get in. "Know any lock picking spells?" I asked

He frowned, confused at why I would ask him. "None that would get through Snape's defences, there are dangerous ingredients in there, did you really think a first year level spell would work?"

"I guess not. I don't suppose you're gonna be leaving any time soon?" I asked hopefully.

"No" said Malfoy, enjoying annoying me. I sighed, I had to get in there and there was only one way I could think of brute force.

"Don't say I didn't warn you" I muttered, then gathering all my strength I kicked the door off the hinges.

"What the fuck?" said Malfoy; his mouth was wide open as he stared at me in shock.

I didn't have time to bother with him. I walked into the room; sure enough there was a large patch of drying blood on the desk. The papers were thrown everywhere, and the ink pot was smashed, the blue merging with the red in odd patterns.

"What does that mean?" asked Malfoy, looking at the chalk board.

The red writing wasn't chalk and it wasn't red paint this time either. It was blood, and I knew in the pit of my stomach it was Snape's blood. I read it and the knot in my stomach tightened until I emptied my breakfast on the floor.

I tried to kid myself that that note was from someone else, but I knew who K, was. "I owe you one bitch, the watcher is alive for now, but unless you come to the 'Shrieking Shack' soon he joins the last one, K"

Malfoy turned to me. "It's for you isn't it?" he asked, already knowing the answer. I just nodded. "So what does it mean?"

"It means, we have to get out of here, repair the door, and you have to shut up until at least morning."

"Not gonna happen Granger. I want an explanation now! Where's Snape?"

"The Shrieking Shack I hope" I replied, I had to satisfy him here. I needed time to arm myself and get out of school before anybody came looking for me. I'd preferably like to return with a living watcher before anybody noticed I was gone.

"So you're gonna go get him?" he asked, not really believing it.

"I have to, and I don't have a hell of a lot of time. He didn't give a time limit, it just said soon, the notes been up all day so…" realisation dawned on me. They were vampires, they came when they could safely get in and out in darkness. "He was taken last night. Sometime before dawn, he's been there all day, dear God; they might have killed him already." I took a deep breath. I didn't have time to panic, I could freak out later, now was a time for acting. "Draco" I tried using his first name, after all I was about to beg. "You're head of house is gone, he's hurt but I may be able to save his life. I'm the only one that can because they want me. He's just the bait. If you or anybody else stops me and I don't get to them he will die. No ifs, no maybes, he will die a painful death, I've seen it. I know what they'll do. I'm going now. Just give me half an hour to get the hell out this school safely" I turned and walked out of the classroom. I didn't have time to argue, he'd either do it or not, and if not I needed a head start.

"You've got till morning" he called. "If you fuck this up you're dead Granger"

I turned to look at him. He was trying to be menacing, he wouldn't kill me though, I could see it, he's not the killing type. I smiled, and it wasn't a happy smile. "You have no idea"