Thank you so much, Faith 16: Yup, I know who you is. You is the only person reading this story. sniff No one else is, they don't like me anymore. wah! Kidding.  (I'm allowed to do that, right, sis?) I'm glad you like the blondie comment, it seemed appropo. As for the hair, what can I say? I was inspired by that picture we saw of him in that mag. You remember that one.

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Draco sat on a bench, head bowed over arms that rested on his knees. The stars played with the red highlights in his hair, no longer perfectly platinum or brushed to perfection. No longer did he aspire to emulate his father in looks or actions.

Seeing Lucius bowed down, humbly prostrating himself to a diseased wizard had killed any respect he had for his father.

The robes he wore were stained with Neville's latest potions disaster, old because he'd been forced to go to the meeting again. He absently rubbed at one such spot, glaring at it angrily through misty eyes. "Stupid redhead," he muttered bitterly. "Taking my place as potions wizard. About the only thing I really did well and I lose it to some stupid muggle born." The last was spoken in a highly ironic tone of voice.

It was no secret that the two had become good natured rivals in class. She was good, had a daft hand in potions, but she didn't wave it in everyone's face. So, unlike his feelings for Granger, he respected Rosenberg-as far as her skills went-until she'd surpassed him.

Then she had taken his place as head of the class and as Snape's favored student, as though it was her rightful place. A place he had worked hard to attain and keep, there was no bribery or trickery involved there. He earned that place of respect.

Thinking of his head of house and favorite professor deepened the scowl on his face.

At long last, Professor Snape had totally succumbed to the legend of bloody Harry Potter. Before they had come to this wretched town, the two couldn't stand in the same room without fighting in one form or another.

Now they went practically everywhere together. Potter hung on him, as though he had every right to be there-and looked ill if his Professor Snape was away for very long.

"Bloody stupid Potter!" he snarled viciously, rising to his feet with a jerk. "Gets fame he doesn't want without effort. Breaks rules without punishment of any true kind, just one for show. Has loyal friends he doesn't need to question. Earned my father's grudging respect. And now he has my teacher." As he was speaking, power built up around him.

Angry destructive power that unleashed itself on the park. "I hate him!"

The cry echoed into the night, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

Buffy came running when she heard the breaking and tearing sounds, terrified by what she might find. In her hand, she held a stake at the ready, hoping that she wouldn't be overwhelmed. She skidded to a stop, nearly losing the stake, startled by the sight that met her eyes. Standing in the epicenter was a young man her age, throwing what might've been in a younger person, a temper tantrum.

"Always, always Potter. Potter this and Potter that. Oh, did you see what Potter just did? Heard about the latest wonder the 'boy who lived' performed."

"Excuse me?" Buffy asked, seconds before her fist connected with his jaw. "Do you mind not destroying my town with your juvenile hissy fit?"

Draco blinked up at the blonde in shock, fingering his sore jaw. "Who do you think you are attacking me like that?"

"The Slayer. It's my job to take care of threats to the world that enter my territory." She studied him for a moment, continuing to speak in a voice of one used to dealing with immature children. "And you must be one of the wizards Willow's living with. If you're done acting like a toddler, I think it's time to walk you home."

"I can take care of myself, blondie," he snapped, irritated by her words. Rising to his feet, he glared at her, a little upset to find them the same height. No one but Professor Snape had the right to talk to him like that. No one.

"Sure you can," her reply was soothing but clearly humoring him. "That would explain your mature behavior. And why you brought every demon within five miles of this place to your side."

The Slytherin looked around, paling a bit before remembering who he was. He'd never seen even half of these demons before. It was quite…unnerving. "I meant to do that, Slayer." Gray eyes sent a challenge her way, wondering how she'd react.

"Buffy. And since you wanted them here, I'll let you take care of them." Though as she looked at him, she knew that she couldn't let him do it. Even with his imperious attitude, there was a vulnerability in him.

"Fine," he snapped, moving away from her, stung by her reply. Giving himself a shake, he reminded himself that he didn't need her help anyway. "I don't need your help. Or anyone else's," he added loudly, seeing Professor Lupin round the corner.

But let's flashback for a moment and see how this all came about-because I, as the author, feel like being mean and doing so.

Willow walked into the mansion and looked around. The authoritative clap of hands startled her, as did the sounds of approaching feet from above. Looking up, she saw a steady stream of students line up at the top of the stairs. Dressed all in uniform black, with only bright scarves in red and gold or green and silver to denote a difference about them though she wasn't quite sure what they were supposed to mark.

"Students, this is Miss Willow Rosenberg. You remember meeting her at the school we toured a few days ago. She will be staying with us and learning from us. Please make us her feel welcome while she is here," Remus spoke with quiet authority. "Willow, you will stay with Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil, Blaise Zabini, Lavender Brown, and Pansy Parkinson. Girls?"

Stepping forward, they introduced themselves and led her upstairs. "I want the rest of you to introduce yourselves to her over the next few days. We do not want to overwhelm her."

Severus nodded to the Slytherins, indicating that they should join him in the study. "I would advise all of you-and I will also speak with Pansy and Blaise-to tread carefully around our guest. She is untutored with the wand and quite comfortable with wandless magic. If you cannot do so, try to her avoid her. Are we clear?"

"As crystal," they chorused.

"Excellent. Now," he settled into the chair and they circled around him, "how have you all been doing? Any particular troubles in your studies?"

Remus looked between the closed door and the remaining confused students with a sigh, his gaze resting on Harry particularly. The boy had become close to the potions master, almost thinking of him as his substitute father. May be this place really was cursed, he thought idly. After all, why else would the boy think of Severus Snape in that capacity. Certainly no one else, other than his own house, did that. Other than Harry getting along better with Snape, this trip was not going according to plan. Headmaster Dumbledore was sure to be disappointed in them.

He resolved to talk to Severus about the situation. They couldn't go on like this for much longer, to much was at stake. And he would not be put off with any of his side-stepping.

Upstairs, Hermione showed Willow the room and which bunk she could have. It took effort to stifle her curiosity about the strange girl who'd entered their lives so suddenly. She knew they'd met in front of the library but she also recognized her from earlier. Now, when was that? She thought, oh, yes. When the bus broke down, she was with the blonde and the bloke who'd helped fix the bus.

"What's that?" Willow interrupted her thoughts, pointing to the table by the bed.

"What?" the brown haired girl saw only her wand resting on the night table.

The redhead picked it up, holding it out. "This."

"That's my wand," her answer sounded strained. Seeing her wand in the other girl's hand sent a wave of possessiveness through her. The strength of it shocked her.

Willow picked up on the undercurrent, as well as the distrust and hate from the other girls in the room. Although, there was one neutral one in the room-Lavender Brown. Handing the wand to her, she mused thoughtfully, "I thought wands were only used in fairy tales."

"Are you daft?" The one called Zabini scoffed, looking at her piteously. "Wands are, how shall I put this so that the dimwitted American can understand..."

Whatever she had been going to say was cut off rather violently when she was thrust against the wall and held there. Green eyes stared at her hard before flicking her hand-letting her fall to the ground. "I would advise you to govern your tongue. I will not tolerate such rudeness. From anyone-save Queen C," she ended with a frosty smile. "Understand?"

Blaise shakily stood up, nodding slightly. It hurt to even do that and she resolved to ask her professor for a potion to ease the pain.

"Good," Willow spoke firmly, ignoring the frightened looks and wide berth the girls were now giving her. Stifling a sigh, she began to settle into the room. First, she pulled out a night shirt and her palm pilot. The rest of her things, she left in her trunk and placed a spell on her things to protect them from any invasion. She was as wary of them as they were of her.

Parvati spoke up, getting tired of the tense silence. "Whose this Queen C you mentioned? I've never heard of her and I thought that I knew of all the royals."

Laughing, the girl from Sunnydale tried to explain her 'friend'. "Her name is Cordelia Chase, and she's not really a royal, though she should be. I've never seen anyone who has half her dignity or presence. Besides, she acts like a queen. Be careful of her, her way with words is the most dangerous weapon known to mankind." Though it was said jokingly, there was a ring of truth in the words.

"So, when did you realize that you could do magic?" Lavender finally entered the conversation. She was a girl of medium height, with shoulder length auburn hair. Currently, she was curled up on her headboard. Bright eyes watched Willow curiously. There was something about the girl that spoke of secrets and yet, she also sensed that the redhead was rather shy. Friendly, but shy and felt truly unhappy about the way this meeting had gone over.

"Hmmm...that's a rather difficult question," she sat on the bed, cross legged. After chewing on her hair for a moment, she cleared her throat and began to speak. "I never really found out that I was gifted, I was just curious about magic. My friend, Amy Madison, is an accomplished witch-in my opinion at least. She inherited the power through her mother, I don't know that much about her father. Anyway, she used to invite me over and ask for help with a few minor things. Potions, charms, spell writing, that sort of thing. When Giles-he's my guardian-found out, he started to have me do a bit more regulated spells. The biggest thing that tipped us off to the fact that I might possess actual power was when we tried to exorcise some spirits doomed to repeat their last, tragic days. That didn't work but I was able to create bodies for them. Through this, I was able to help them resolve and move on. It confirmed that there was a gift within me."

"You created temporal bodies for spirits?" Hermione was awed, that was power beyond what they knew. There was nothing in any of the books she read that even touched power like this. What kind of girl was this?

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Blaise, Pansy, a moment of your time. The rest of you, its lights out. No grumbling or trying to evade this. I will know and your punishment will be severe beyond your imagination," Severus warned.

Willow sighed in relief, climbing under the covers, glad to have the interview over. How will I ever fit in with these students? A few tears leaked out from her eyes. For the first time in a long time, she felt truly alien. Unknown to her, they felt the same way towards her-especially those who were forced to share a room with her.

Professor Snape frowned at his girls upon hearing what had happened between Blaise and Willow, though he was grateful the injury wasn't worse. "I meant to warn you about her wandless tendencies. She has an innate grasp on magic and its source but no conception on how to focus or channel it properly. As for knowing about limitations, I am afraid that I will have to teach her that too. In the future, refrain from such behavior. I would hate to send you home."

"She's that good?" Pansy asked doubtfully.

"That risky. I don't like unstable magic and that Miss. Rosenberg is definitely what I call a possessor of unstable magic," he corrected gently, briefly touching their shoulders. "Don't worry, she's no threat. What I want to do is keep her that way. Now, get some sleep and girls?"

They turned on the stairs, giving him their full attention.

"Thank you for respecting Professor Lupin." He watched them go upstairs before turning to enter the library. "Lupin," he greeted the waiting professor coolly.

"Severus," he replied pointedly, if quietly.

Severus sat down, crossed his arms, and waited, his eyebrow raised in silent query.

"You must be wondering why I asked to see you," Remus cleared his throat, nervously. His colleague was giving him that look, the one reserved for the worst of his students. The one that always made him feel more than a little insignificant. "I am sure you remember why Albus sent us out with only the Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses, instead of all as originally planned."

The potions master stared at him blankly. For once, truly at sea, "I fail to see where this conversation is going, Lupin. Would you mind terribly if I asked you to come to the point?"

"The point, as you put it, Severus, is that you continue to exclude the Gryffindors from your attentions. You give the Slytherins your attention, your time, and every night, you take them aside to catch up on their days. When you go out on expeditions, they go with you. You take none of the other students, except Harry. If not for Headmaster Dumbledore's telling you to watch him, you would leave him behind as well. The Slytherins get the full benefit, the full depth of your not inconsiderable knowledge of magic. What about the Gryffindors?"

"What of them?" he was bored with this line of conversation.

Remus' fist slammed against the desk, jolting Severus out of his lethargy. "Don't you think for one moment that they might benefit from your teachings? And before you give me that same old line about them having no real interest in what you have to teach, may I remind you that I know exactly what goes on in those lessons through our mutual student, Harry Potter?"

Severus ground his teeth in frustration. Drat the boy! Couldn't he just learn not to speak when there was no need? "Lupin, I have no desire to further my acquaintance with Gryffindors. Under your able care and understanding, they have been putting aside grudges and played nice. My classes have never been so smooth."

"Yes," he interrupted harshly, "but then you throw all my work away by pulling a stunt like what happened tonight!"

"I do not pull stunts, Professor." He spoke icily, offended deeply by the mere suggestion that he would do so, "to what are you referring to?"

"Pulling the Slytherins aside and giving them the full of your attention!" he repeated. "Severus, did you not even realize that Harry was outside the door, waiting for you to let him in? To include him in as you have been doing ever since arriving here? He wants that inclusion so bad, I think it truly frightens him at times-and yet, he is comforted as well."

Severus rolled his eyes, "Slytherins require a special touch, Lupin. As for Potter, he is only my responsibility when I leave the mansion. Any other time he is your concern."

The other man barely held in a growl of frustration, the professor was making it very hard to remain calm, to remain in control of himself. He even felt it was a deliberate attempt to see if he could force an end to their conversation. "Are you daft? Harry looks up to you. Whether you intended it or not, he looks up to you as some kind of father!"

"What is this you speak of? Lupin, have you lost what sense you had?" He stood up and paced the length of the room, truly disturbed. "Where did you get such an idea? It's just what I needed, for my enemy's own son to find in me a father figure. Lupin, you have gone completely nutters!" He never would have used such a term but, in his agitation, he could think of no better word to describe what he thought of Lupin's mental state, such as it was.

"I say again, Severus, look at him. Really look at him."

"This is pure nonsense. And I will have no more of it!"

"You will sit down, Severus, until we've finished this," Remus growled, watching the professor sit slowly back down. "We'll discuss the situation with Harry later. But I must insist that you pay a little more attention to the Gryffindors. Your behavior makes them feel like outsiders!"

"Good. Now they know how it feels to be one of my house. We are usually the ones who feel that way-only it is all the time. It will be so for the rest of our lives," he paused, studying the wolf across from him. "From the moment, nay, the very second that hat places us in Slytherin, we are written off as worthless by teachers. And the very embodiment of evil by the whole student population. Unredeemable by the rest of society.

"We are good enough when people want things done-the ambition thing comes in handy-but are damned to walk alone. Even in our own house, we are not totally accepted because we need to be strong on our own. We need to be the Captains of our fate. That is the way it has been since the founding of the school. The great schism occurred and Slytherin was sent away, his view point lost because people wanted to think he was at fault.

"Now he is remembered, not for helping to build our school or for being a part of the glorious rise of our world's safety, but for hating muggle borns. For wanting to exclude them from our society and for teaching the Dark Arts without fear of what that meant. It never once occurred to anyone that may be he wasn't against them but the poison that some would bring into our world because of the influences they've felt at home. All Dark Lords have come from Slytherin House, that is the truth. But no one ever dares to say that they have all been from muggle born families. Shall I go on?" he challenged, staring at his colleague's shocked face

"I thought not. I am not going to apologize for my past slighting of the Gryffindors. If it will comfort you, I will take them on tomorrow's trip to the vineyard. As for right now, I must excuse myself. I have work to do," it was a frosty parting.

And still Remus sat, he didn't move. He felt unable to wrap his mind around the things he'd heard-especially the slightest sound of disappointment in Severus' voice.

End, Part 2