AN: To comment on a review I got awhile ago from IrishLOVEhp. 1) I'm sorry I do make some spelling errors and grammar. I try to look over my stuff and catch them but sometimes I don't notice, I do read very quickly and sometimes I don't catch them and sometimes the grammar sounds right to me so I don't catch it. I'm sorry if it bothers you, I do my best to get updates out quickly when they story is done I'll be going back and revising but right now I don't have time. So you'll have to deal with it. If something really bothers you message me and I'll tell you what it's suppose to mean. 2) I am aware that the English say sweets and not candy, I am aware that they say jumper and not sweater. However I am not English, I am Canadian and I said quite clearly when I began this story I believe it's in bold that I was only going to slip the English phrases in here or there. I feel that a story should either be quite authentic in that sense or not at all. I feel that I keep the language quite proper, I don't have the characters speak like "Hey playyaaa, what's crackin" so I feel like it is quite believable. I am also sorry that me using 'awesome' offended you so. This wasn't meant to attack you but I've been meaning to reply for a few months and couldn't do so, it's been festering in my mind.
To everyone else: I do apologize for the long wait, life gets away from you and I go through phases where I write and phases where I don't. Thank you for sticking with the story if you were with it before. Message if you have any questions. I think where I was going with it before regarding plot may change now because I am a different writer then when I first started. I could probably use a co-writer or something to bounce ideas off of, so if you're interested in that message me. I hope you enjoy though!
It had been months. Now nearing Christmas Break I was no closer to what I had planned to do then I had been the first day of class.
My plan was simple, divide and conquer. It was a lot harder then I had initially anticipated though since they all seemed to move in packs. It was pretty simple however, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom were the hardest people in the world to get alone. I understood why it was hard for me to get them alone though, they were being careful though not very careful since they had ended up in detention last week after getting caught breaking into Severus' office. I mean really, in what world is that a good idea? Idoits.
Luna wasn't an issue she was more or less glued to my side, several times I had publicly tormented her when she'd pass by when I was tolerating the company of a few Slytherins. I felt cruel doing it but I couldn't show any sympathy for her, as far as anyone knew I was the cold daughter of the Death Eater Headmaster and Luna Lovegood just didn't get the hint to leave me alone. I told them that she had followed me around since she had no real friends and assumed I needed the company, they were pretty stupid to believe it though and I would often catch Draco looking as me in confusion when I'd snap at Luna when she'd walk by. Perhaps I was going overboard? Luna understood though, I had eventually taken her and sat her down one night in the Common Room after everyone had went to bed. Several, and I mean several, Privacy Charms later she had been told to keep her mouth shut and avoid eye contact with Snape for now the best she could.
Feeling like I had a friend helped my stress levels, my classwork wasn't being done to my usual standards for myself but I was managing to scrape by. It wasn't unusual for me to either sit quietly beside Luna in the Common Room or for me to put some privacy charms around my bed and block out the world. The new Hogwarts wasn't a place you wanted to be in, the Carrows', thankfully, left me alone. I was strong and kept my guard up around them but I could say the same for my other classmates. The first time Neville hit the ground in Muggle Studies it took all I had to stay in my seat and not help him. Neville had it the worst, I wasn't sure as to where he got his gonads from all of the sudden but it was pretty brave, brave and stupid. I knew he was responsible for the graffiti that would pop up around the school, another stupid move on their part but I will admit to putting preservation charms on the words when I passed by in the hall. Seeing Dumbledores Army written on the wall did brilliant things to one's mood sometimes. The bundle I had gotten from Dumbledore had a modified Permanent Sticking Charm, the words stayed on bright and continued to get brighter every time someone tried to spell them off.
I lean against the wall outside of the Charms room waiting for the class currently inside to file out, I knew for a fact that Ginny had this class and I had a solid plan to get her alone, and to get her and Neville to meet with me. I hear the scrape of chairs and wait while students file out, most of them giving me curious looks as they swiftly move through the corridor. I flash of red snaps my eyes up and I flick my wand at her bag watching as it slipped off of her shoulder suddenly becoming the weight of a small elephant. She swears and I wince hoping that I hadn't damaged her shoulder. As she bends down to examine it I step out from behind her and give Luna a small smile as she stands beside her red-headed friend and who was curiously tapping her bag with her wand.
"Snape" she snaps looking up, her eyes flashing dangerously. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what my brother found so charming about her in this moment. I glance around casting a privacy charm quickly and shove my hand into my pocket digging out an old DA coin that I had transferred from my old trunk. That alone had been quite the feat seeing as my trunk had stayed in Gryffindor tower, with some urging from McGonagall I had asked her to get it to her office so I could get some of my old school things.
"I know you know what this is," I tell her holding it in front of her face watching as her eyes go wide, "bring Neville and meet me in the old meeting place before dinner. Luna you come too, I have to speak with all of you. Don't look at Snape, avoid eye contact but be discreet about the fact you're not looking at him. Tell no one." Is it just me or did that sound more dramatic then it should have?
With that I flick my wand and turn away not wanting to stand near them any longer, also not giving her a chance to protest. I was putting a target on my back as it was. Merlin I must be crazy.
Getting to the Room of Requirement was the easy part, getting to the room unnoticed however was quite difficult. Granted getting around places now was much easier then it was before I mean I didn't really have any friends that were concerned for my well being. I didn't have Harry wondering where I was or checking that map of his for my location constantly. I didn't have Hermione insisting I went to the Library with her and I also didn't have Ron following me around when he got bored and decided that he was going to do some bonding with me. Bonding which I knew for a fact he didn't do with his actual sister mainly consisted of him beating me in multiple games of chess after betting me I'd lose.
Now, well now I just had Luna for the time being. She was rather stuck to my side but she understood well enough to keep away when were were out of the Common Room for classes or meals. Parkinson and Zabini on the other hand were harder to shake at times. They kept an oddly close eye on me and would usually show up when I least wanted them to. They were the soul reason that it had taken me from September to December to be able to converse with Ginny or Neville. They were like annoying little lap dogs and also asking questions about my father who had becoming increasingly annoyed with me and had taken to showing up unannounced outside my classes hoping to catch me alone.
"You should come down to our Common Room, Victoria, I'm sure no one would object." Parkinson offers, I look over seeing Zabini nodding and gestures towards the path to the dungeons. Shaking my head I hoist my bag onto my shoulder suppressing a flinch as one of the Carrows walks by giving us a slight nod. "I have some work to take care of in the Library, I want to get Slughorn's essay done before dinner."
"It's twelve inches!" Parkinson whines, "how do you expect to get that done in an hour?"
Rolling my eyes I stride away towards the stairs, "Ravenclaw remember, wit beyond measure and all that junk. If worst comes to worst I'll force some Hufflepuff to do it." I lie giving them a short wave before quickly making my way up the staircase. Getting away from them was hard enough I had just been thankful that Draco hadn't been around he usually insisted on accompanying me if I tried to go off on my own. It was hard enough to be around him, I usually kept the conversation to a minimum afraid that I would let something out that he had told me as Lizzie. He looked quite down though most of the time these days so he didn't seem to notice my twitchy mood around him.
Getting to the seventh floor had been easy enough after my initial ditching of the Slytherins, I was tired though and momentarily let my mask drop allowing my real emotions to grace the surface. On any regular day you would see Victoria Snape striding through the corridors with confidence, indifference and disinterest her usual visible emotion with cold eyes glaring down at anyone who spoke to her. It was the moments I got alone that I let the facade drop though, those rare moments when I was entirely alone or hidden by my bed hangings I let the real me show. I let Lizzie through, I was tired, I was probably borderline depressed. I knew as soon as the Glamor Charm dropped I would have bags under my eyes and an unhealthy pale look to me. I didn't sleep much my dreams always interrupted with the face of my brother, he was tired too, looking for something, what it was though I didn't know. I couldn't force food down, and ate very little there were rare moments where McGonagall would ask me to stay after class and she would press an apple or roll into my hand before giving me a stern look. Most of the time I just felt useless and it was the moments that I allowed my actual emotion to show that I would feel just how dramatically my face would fall, my shoulders would sag and my heart ache.
As I approach the familiar tapestry a door appears and I take a deep breath before stepping through the door letting it close behind me. It only took a moment before two wands were pointed directly at my neck.
"Normally I would be quite thrilled that you were being so careful but I'm too tired for this." I huff smacking their wands away the best I could fixing them with a glare. The room was smaller then the one we had our DA meetings in with a few couches and a warm fire. Fixing both Ginny and Neville with a glare I push past them dropping down onto the closest couch feeling Luna sit down beside me.
"Luna..." Ginny starts nervously looking at the small gap of space between us, annoyed I look up seeing both her and Neville standing their wands angled down towards me.
"Really? Put those down, mines not even out. Since when did you two loose your manners?" I ask slipping my own wand out of my pocket and setting it on the table in front of us. I eye Neville as he bends down to snatch it before him and Ginny both sit on the opposite couch glancing between the both of us. Really what did they think I was going to do? Even if I was going to do something cursing me and leaving me here wouldn't accomplish much.
"What do you want?" Neville questions after a moment making me smile. He had grown some serious gonads over the last few months, I felt like a proud mother watching her baby grow up. Even if he often got the crap kicked out of him. I choose to ignore his question sitting back further into the couch, "I got pretty good marks on the Herbology work you did for me, how did your date with Hannah turn out? Hopefully good I mean you did ditch me for it."
I smile seeing his mouth drop open as he struggles to find words, I let him contemplate this for a moment seeing Ginny frown in confusion before turning to her. "I'm deeply hurt that Harry got a birthday cake and I didn't, I demand a snitch cake as well! I spent the day with a house elf and no well wishes it was highly depressing." By the time I had finished both Neville and Ginny's eyes were the size of dinner plates.
"Lizzie?"
"Oh are we allowed to talk about it now?" Luna asks looking at the other two. I smile tiredly over to her as Ginny launches herself off of the couch towards me.
Maybe now... now I wouldn't be so alone.
The spell had been easy enough to do, it felt good to look up during dinner and feel warmth in Neville's eyes if they met with mine. I trusted them, and I trusted them even more because I knew my brother did. After Ginny had stopped hugging me and going on about what a relief it had been to know that I was okay since no one knew where I actually was. Apparently everyone just assumed I was with my brother, I assumed that was a good thing until they realized that I wasn't. When my brother reportedly broke into the Ministry of Magic they assumed I had managed to get away quickly even though their had been no eyewitness accounts. According to the article they had all be yelling "Run Lizzie!" just before they to disappeared. Apparently I was invisible or something, who knows, but they had been smart to do that. Neville, well he had taken it differently then Ginny had, after realizing who I was he had grabbed me and squeezed me until I couldn't breath anymore. He even seemed shocked by his actions when he let me go, only for a moment though before he pulled me in for another hug this time lighter an allowing me to relax in his arms.
It had felt nice to relax, to be comfortable for once, to feel comfort. Even if it had come from Neville who I was sure was about five minutes away from crying in relief. I had been tested by them eventually before I preformed the charm, just so they knew.
"How many times have you crawled into my bed when I was sleeping?" That had been Neville's question, he'd only woken up three times when I did it, once Harry had dragged me out before he noticed so our number had been slightly different but they resulted in laughter. Laughter, something I hadn't done it months. I had been carefree and let my guard down enough to laugh, it had felt wonderful.
"Victoria, I think the Headmaster is trying to get your attention." Lisa mumbles from my left. I refuse to look up keeping my head down. "He likes to check up on me sometimes, he thinks I'm a baby. Just ignore him." I tell her quietly. It had been like this for months, he couldn't drag me off in front of the student body so I had been quite lucky in staying away from him.
"He's coming this way" she adds in an undertone. I feel my body freeze and my eyes widen, Ginny looks over her eyes widening in panic and I look away trying to keep my expression impassive.
He was suppose to be my father, I wouldn't react like that. Taking a deep breath I set my fork down, raising my chin slightly before turning my head to look up at my guardian.
"Father."
"Victoria, I must ask that you come with me. Some of your Professors have asked that I speak to you." he says slowly. I feel my lip twitch, seems like my luck has ran out.