When Elizabeth woke up the next morning, she thought it was Severus' arms around her for one, golden moment.

"Good morning, my love," she murmured and opened her eyes to silvery hair, rather than the jet she had been expecting. "Draco!"
She pushed herself away from him and out of the bed onto the cold flagstones. She stopped for a moment, staring at him in horror and then left the room at top speed.
Her dorm was, blissfully, empty, when she went and got changed. Once she were clad in the school's uniform, skirt and all, Elizabeth returned to the common room with Draco's pyjamas folded over her arm.

"I'm sorry, Draco, I can't," she said, handing him the garments. She then exited into the corridors and turned left, which would lead her deeper into the bowels of the castle. She didn't stop until she reached an obsidian-encrusted, ebony door.

"Remember, remember!" she said in a pleading tone. It was the password she had set, but the heavy door remained unmoved. "Remember, remember!" she half-sobbed in desperation. When it still did not budge, she started hammering on the abrasive surface of the door. Several minutes, once her fist were raw, she put her back against the door and slid to the floor. "Severus!" she cried, forlornly.

On the other side of the black-hearted barrier, Severus was sat at his desk marking third-year essays and nursing a mug of coffee. When the intricate web of cast-iron vines and serpents, which was the locking mechanism that held the door in place, had started to uncurl, he had cast an immobilising charm on it. He did not want any visitors, especially none that knew the password.
However, as hard as he tried to block it out, he still heard the banging and then his name being called. His heart clenched as he recognised the voice of his unexpected guest. He abandoned the essays and began to pace his study.

'I can't! She's a student.
'Yesterday, she dumped Nott in front of the whole school! And now, she's here; just on the other side of the door, crying for you!
'She's still a student in my care.
'You didn't have these reservations the night before the Battle of Hogwarts.
'Then, we were Voldemort's lieutenants, equals apart from her extra services for him. Now, she should be rebuilding her life and forgetting all of us.
'But she isn't; she's playing politics with Lucius. She's still the woman you let go at the end of the summer.'

Severus, however, woke out of his musings too late.

She had been sat with her back to Severus' door and crying, when Professor McGonagall appeared before her.

"What is the matter, Miss Havisham?" she asked in her usual, curt tone.

"I just needed a word with Professor Snape, professor." Elizabeth sounded unconvincing even to her ears, which was odd as she was normally a brilliant liar.

"What could you possibly have to say to Professor Snape that couldn't wait until you see him later?" the older woman asked, shrewdly.

"OK," Elizabeth answered, sounding defeated which was worrying. "I wanted a word with Severus," she sighed and looked up tiredly at the Scottish witch.

"Why don't you come have breakfast with me? If Severus grows up, he can come and find you." This last she said loud enough to carry through the thick door, unfortunately Severus was too deep in thought to hear.

Once he was decided, he disappeared in to his bedroom, where he threw on his dark green, cashmere robe over the black suit trousers and shirt that he was already wearing. He strode over to the door and flung it wide, only to find that the corridor was empty.

"Blast!" he muttered, vehemently. "Please, no..." he whispered in fear of the thought which had just flashed into his mind. After a moment's indecision, he swept off in the direction of the Great Hall, still in his best dress robe. He was resolved to forget what had happened, unless she mentioned it, just in case it had not, in fact, happened outside of his imagination.

Elizabeth realised that she was nearly of a height with the headmistress as they swiftly made their way to the Great Hall. When they entered the hall, Elizabeth started for the Slytherin, but McGonagall threw her arm around her shoulders and purposefully led her to the top table. Once there, the ex-Transfiguration teacher waved the present-day courtier into the chair to the left of the throne. Even though Elizabeth was unaware of the fact, she was sat in Severus' seat.

"So, what is wrong between you and our boy, Sev?" asked the headmistress, piling bacon and toast onto the Slytherin's plate. The 19-year-old looked at the elder in amazement. "Did you really think that only those you told knew?" Elizabeth sighed and brushed aside the grilled tomatoes that the headmistress was trying to force on her.

"We decided to split up at the end of the summer, so as not to violate student-teacher protocol." Elizabeth was a convincing liar, when she put all her effort to it. McGonagall, however, saw right through this and indicated as much by arching her eyebrow at the ex-double agent. "OK, he decided we ought to split up." The Scot nodded and sighed, while Elizabeth started to get food down her innards.

"He does have a tendency to deny himself that which he wants and needs most."
Just then the over-grown bat himself swept in through the side door, but he stopped dead when he saw the woman in his seat.

"Ah," was all he was able to utter.

"Morning, Sev," chirped Headmistress McGonagall. "Aren't you going to join us for breakfast?" Her eye held an all-to-familiar twinkle as she waved him to the seat on Elizabeth's other side. The Potions Master acquiesced and sat by the woman he had tried to distance himself from.

"I take it, considering your current position, you were outside my door earlier?"

"Ah, so you were ignoring me," she said, sadly. Under the cover of the table, he took her hand, which caused her to look up at him in surprise.

"I'm sorry, I truly am. I was wrong, you were right, I should have let my heart guide me just this once." She laughed, causing heads to turn at the Slytherin table.

"Don't remind me what I said that night, I said a lot of things I didn't mean and many more that you didn't want or weren't ready to hear."

"But I should still have granted you the courtesy of listening."

"So should have a lot of people in my past, at least you lived to apologise for it," she said, darkly, and took her hand back, so she could eat more of her breakfast. After a few minutes' frantic scoffing, Severus' silky tones filtered into her mind.

"Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about earlier?" To a practised ear, like Elizabeth or Minerva, he sounded uncomfortable.

"I'm losing it, Severus," she murmured, so McGonagall was unable to hear, tears were threatening to overcome her again. "I was joking with Draco last night about the Hogwarts gossip mill and I slipped back into the woman He loved." He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.

"Come to my rooms half an hour after I leave breakfast," he muttered in her ear and she nodded, before turning to talk to the headmistress about the Wizengamot's ruling on the Caverly case.

EG

An hour and a half later, Elizabeth was once again stood outside the solid black door.

"Remember, remember," she enunciated. The door swung open towards her and she paced in, acting the queen like she did everywhere else. As soon as the door was shut, whatever had been keeping her erect deserted her and she collapsed in a heap to the floor. When Severus walked in five minutes later, his nose in his notes on safely concentrating the Draught of Living Peace, he found her still flat on the floor with her feet under her.

"Elizabeth," he gasped, dropping his precious notes and rushing to her. Severus scooped her up in his arms and sat on the couch, Elizabeth on his lap. "What's wrong, Beth?" he asked, stroking her hair.

"I'm crumbling and that... demon is starting to take me over again," she moaned, her mouth pressed against his neck.

"It's OK, we'll get through it." He stroked her hair and kissed her everywhere from her collarbone up. "Girl, you always know that it's us against the world." She raised her head as he continued soothing her and smiled at him, love pouring out to him.

"I have missed you, so much. It's been so hard; seeing you, every day, everywhere I go, every time I turn around." She kissed him and he kissed her back just as fiercely.

"I'm sorry. I've missed you too. Every day I've had to fight the urge to come and carry you in here. Then you came to me and I snapped. We'll move your stuff back in here today?" he sounded, heart-meltingly hopeful and so she did melt in to him.

"I see we're throwing teacher-student protocol out the window completely."

"Of course. I'm not going to push you out again. I couldn't live with doing that ever again."

"Good," she murmured, before sinking into his arms entirely.
After several fulfilled minutes, they surfaced and then uncurled from the sofa. Once they'd stretched, they left for the seventh year girls' dorm-room.

EG

Elizabeth opened the dorm door, Severus' arm around her waist. They were laughing as the door swung inwards to admit them.

"You WHORE!!! You stole my Draco and now SNAPE too?!?!" Pansy shrieked, the moment she saw them.

"Oh, please, stop. You're giving me a headache. Besides, I broke up with Theo because he didn't know his place, unlike Draco. Young Mr Malfoy knows I am his superior. And Draco dropped you because of a new law and because you have become an embarrassment to him and the old families as a whole." Elizabeth may not have been raised to this life, but she had acquired an air of superiority that suited her only too well.

"An embarrassment? How did you work that one out? Asked Marvolo?" sneered Pansy.

"How dare you even utter his name?" said Elizabeth, her voice dangerously low. "You have made an embarrassment of yourself by trailing after Draco as if you were his spaniel." – Severus chuckled at the reference – "Did you not understand your duty to him and the families? You were to marry him, bear him an heir and play hostess whenever he entertained. You were NOT to fall in love with him. If he wanted to take his pleasure, it would not be with you." Elizabeth's sneer was firmly back in place. "I believe Mr Warrington is in need of a wife," she said as her things packed themselves into her trunk.

"Warrington?" quavered Pansy, in fear. Her fear was well placed, everyone knew that he had killed his last two wives. "Surely not even you or Draco's father would be that cruel?"

"It is, now, up to your father alone to decide your... fate," she spat at the girl. "And I wish him luck!"

"Why do you say it like that?"Pansy asked, anxiously, as Elizabeth and Severus were about to leave.

"Because Lucius and I have denounced you to the families for what you are and they are extremely unlikely to turn against we who are in power. So, getting you married could very well be regarded as an impossible dream." Elizabeth and Severus laughed and she opened the door, sent her truck out ahead and then left with Severus' arm around her waist.

When they reached the common room, Draco came up to Elizabeth and pulled her into a tight hug.

"You have no idea how happy I am for both of you. My father and I have been wondering how long it would take you to, finally, bring him to his senses."

"When you say 'wondering', you mean 'betting', don't you?" she smirked up at him, drawing back just enough to look him in the face.

"All right, yeah. But he won," said Draco in a rush, before she got the impression that he was only pleased to see them together because of the bet. Elizabeth laughed, before kissing him on the cheek.

"Pass my compliments along with your father's winnings." She laughed again, she seemed to be full of joy today. "Oh, and I dealt with the banshee."

"Thanks," Draco laughed. "And I will. Now, go on with the pair of you."

"Thank you," said Severus, grabbing Elizabeth into him and wandered into his quarters with her.

EG

Several hours later, they had finished arranging her things to their mutual satisfaction and had spent a couple of hours getting back into the swing of things.

"Now, I would suggest going to lunch or people are going to cast aspersions on your virtue."

"All right," moaned Elizabeth, setting down her book and stretching, narrowly missing Severus' face.

"Oi!" he exclaimed in consternation and then started tickling her mercilessly.

"Hey! Hey!" she laughed, trying to fight her way out from under him, several minutes later. "What were you say about my, precious, virtue?"

"Yeah, you're right," he sighed and pushed himself up off of her. "We wouldn't anyone thinking you're not a virgin any more." He held out a hand to help her up off of the sofa.

"Of course, don't want to give them the wrong impression," she said, sardonically, heaving herself to her feet by means of his hand.

"No need to be like that, we're going to do this properly this time," he said, quietly, spinning her in close to him.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Just like 'Love Actually'. You know I appreciate it, don't you?" she whispered into his shoulder.

"And you know I love you, don't you?"

"Yes, and thank you. You and your love has saved me."

"Come on, you," he said and pulled her out into the corridor with him. They walked to the bottom of the steps that lead up into the Entrance Hall with his arms encircling her. They separated before going up into the throngs.