Ely was extremely happy when the dress finally came in, and to her surprised fit her exactly how it was supposed to. She gasped as she looked at herself in the mirror. The blue made her pale skin glow, the silver in her dress accentuating her gray eyes. Ely was thankful that it covered up her shoulders, showing no sign of her scar. She frowned as she sat the scar on her face. Both of them had noticed her change in demeanor, and quickly tried to fix it.

"You look amazing Ely!" Lily squealed and Ely blushed, while Bella gave her a smile of approval.

"Both of you are amazing!" She hugged the both of them before panic finally took hold. "The dance is tonight!"

"We already knew that. What is your point Ely?" Bella said as she chuckled slightly when Ely paled. "If you're worried about your hair and make-up, I will gladly do it for you."

"I'll help too." Lily added as Ely sat down at the vanity. She smiled thankfully at them before she excused herself to change. It was still a few hours before the dance, and most of the older kids were now leaving to Hogsmeade.

After a few minutes they all departed, as Lily needed to finish her report and Ely wanted to walk around the lake. Bella was originally going to go with Ely, but shocked Ely and Lily when she asked if she could keep Lily company. Lily was flabbergasted at first, but Ely smiled at Bella.

"What gave you the change of heart Bella?" Ely asked to which Bella shrugged.

"Considering that none of my friends are pure-bloods and the ones that I have met that are have been nothing but pricks, it seemed rather stupid to keep my parents' prejudices."

Lily smiled brightly and hugged Bella. Saying a quick farewell to Ely was once more, she grabbed Bella and sprinted towards the library, Bella's laughter echoing behind them.

Ely shook her head with a giggle escaping her lips as she turned on her heel and started walking towards the lake. She was just about to exit the castle when she noticed the older students leaving out to Hogsmeade.

She hid slightly so that none of them would notice her, narrowly missing Lucius' line of vision as he checked around himself. However, two people saw her when she cast a disillusionment charm.

Matthew walked up to her from behind and whispered, "You're not trying to sneak off are you?"

Ely jumped a bit and gave him a slight glare as the disillusionment fell. She pouted and he laughed.

"For your information, I was actually heading towards the lake for a bit of a walk seeing as it is the weekend. I was just waiting until all of you left so I could go in peace." Ely explained herself, to which Matt shrugged.

"Suit yourself, I was actually going to try and help you if that was your plan." He looked up quickly and realized he needed to get going. "I have to go to pick up my robes. I will see you tonight." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before hightailing towards the others.

Ely blushed as she realized McGonagall was standing there the whole time. She gave Ely a small smile before following the others to Hogsmeade. Once she saw McGonagall go out of sight, she continued her walk towards the lake.

She was just about to turn around and walk towards the way she came from when she noticed Severus standing there. The content smile that was on her face dropped and she turned and started to hightail it towards the other side of the castle.

Severus quickly realized that Ely was trying to run away from him, and ran to catch up to her. He was thankful at that moment that he decided to not wear his robes since it made it easier to run.

Ely knew he was quickly catching up to her, and she cursed under her breath that she didn't have muggle sneakers. Mary Jane's were comfortable and practical, but not so much for running purposes. He almost had caught her wrist when she turned around and trained her wand at him.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Her wand was pointed at his chest and he held his arms up in defense. "You have no right, you slimy Slytherin!"

"Oh, so now I'm a slimy Slytherin now? You're in Slytherin!"

"But I didn't turn my back on my friends!" She had angry tears starting to form in her eyes, "I at least know who my true friends are. I know who will have my back when I need it most, and who will at least try and warn me if harm is coming my way."

He flinched when she mentioned that he knew they were going to attack her in the common room. He still hadn't quite forgiven himself for not telling her before they did it. He knew that they had planned on attacking her, but he just didn't know when.

"What, now the infamous Severus Snape has nothing to say for himself? Used up all your Slytherin cunningness and ambition?" She poked him with her wand. "Be a man, fight! You wanted to side with the house, now fight me like the rest of them did."

"I will not fight you Elanora. I refuse to do so and it would utterly ridiculous for me to even try."

She spelled him with a small spell to push him away from her, causing him to land on his bum. She stared at him wide eyed in shock and he just looked at her with remorse.

"Like I said Elanora, I refuse to fight you. While I'm at it I am also refusing to stand, since by your current actions I will just get hexed again, even though it was completely unfair for you to hit me while I don't have a wand out to defend myself with."

She pointed her wand at him again and he flinched, bracing for the impact. He felt himself being elevated very slowly, and then he was set on his feet. She glared at him as he wiped dirt off himself.

"I refuse to fight someone that will not fight, just like I don't fight those who are defenseless. If this is your way of an apology, you're going to have to try a lot harder."

He sighed before nodding. As she was walking away he asked, "Can you at least tell Lily that I tried?"

Ely turned around and hit him with the same spell except it was a bit harder. He was about to say something when she muffled him.

"Do you ever do anything except think about yourself?" The tears finally fell as she looked at him hard. "If that's what you want than fine, I'll do it. I'll tell Lily everything is fine between us to make her happy. I'll make up an excuse every time she wants to hang out with the two us so you won't have to deal with me. But mark my words Snape this will be the last time I will out of my own free will try to speak to you since you obviously don't want to speak to me. I won't ask you for help, I won't sit next to you, hell I won't even look at you. You will have Lily just like you always wanted, and you won't ever have to worry about me being in the way of that again."

Her voice was shaky as she said this, the unbreakable vow magic swirling around her. She almost wanted to take it back, but she didn't see the reason in it since she realized that Severus could never love her like she loved him. She was pulling herself out of the equation to prevent him hurting her. She released the muffle and walked away, tears streaming down her face.

Severus was cursing like a sailor was he brushed himself off. He was doing fairly well with Ely until he mentioned Lily. He didn't think she would get so defensive. But, she was right. Why else did he talk to her other than for Lily's sake? At least, that's what he thought it was. He refused to admit that he found her quick wit and intellect a bit of refreshing air compared to everyone else in their year. He found the fire in her heart when she was passionate about something or someone fascinating, and she always had an air about her that made him believe she knew about things that he didn't. A part of him wanted to know her secrets, but the other wanted to stay cautious since she was after all an outsider to him still. Making his way back to the castle, he thought about how the next few days could possibly pan out, a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as he walked away.