AN:- Thank you to those of you who are still reading and giving my story a chance. :)

Chapter Twenty-one

Abby awoke with a start, breathing hard. She had dreamed about that horse thing but she couldn't remember what it was about. She turned over to where Severus was laying next to her last night to find the space empty.

Abby sighed and covered her face with her arms, blocking out the early morning sun. She was drifting back to sleep when she heard a soft clearing of a throat. She turned towards it and found Dobby sitting in the middle of the floor at end of the bed. He had his hands over his eyes and his ears lay against his face.

"Dobby?" she asked, "What are you doing here?"

He didn't remove his hands but spoke through them, "Professor Snape is telling Dobby to wait for Ms Anderson to wakes to take her down to the Great Hall for Breakfast."

"You can remove your hands, Dobby." Abby told him as she got out of bed.

He did so, tentatively. "Thank you, ma'am. Should Dobby leave while you is getting dressed?"

"I'll just pop into the bathroom; you could wait here if you want."

Dobby looked astounded. "You is knowing how to do magic? But Dobby is hearing tell that you are a muggle."

Abby smiled, "Ugh, no. I meant that figuratively." She left him there to mull over her words and changed into a long skirt and blouse. How would she know how she is meant to dress?

When she came back out Dobby was staring at the entertainment station. He was touching the words under the buttons and scratching his head. He looked utterly puzzled.

"I'll show you how it all works one day, if you'd like."

Dobby jumped as if she had surprised him, "Oh, Ms Anderson has startled Dobby." Then he gave her a shy smile, "Dobby is curious as to what this object is being used for by muggles."

"Great it's a date."

He looked at her expectantly. She looked back.

"Which date is when you will be showing it to Dobby?"

Abby laughed, "Oh…well when ever we have time. I'll just call for you." she winked at him.

Dobby smiled widely. "We must be going, breakfast is already being served."

Abby hesitated outside the two doors of the Great Hall. Dobby had already cracked away and she was suddenly nervous. Would Severus be in there? What if he wasn't? She wanted to go back to her room but always one for a challenge she swung open the doors in front of her.

It was a beautiful room. It had antique everything, and everything looked as though it was for royalty. There were rows of tables, not even a quarter of which were full but there must have been at least two hundred people in the room. The ceiling was magic, literally. It wasn't really a ceiling; it showed a blue cloudless sky and kept going to the heavens.

But Abby wasn't searching for its dinning room details. She scanned the room for the dark man and found him sitting alone at a table on the far side of the room. He had his head arched over the table and looked as though he was reading something. He didn't look up.

When she was just a few steps away from him movement caught her eye and she turned to the tables to the left of the one Severus was sitting at. It was Hagrid. He was sitting with Dumbledore and another woman and was waving her over. She took one last glance at Severus but he still hadn't looked her way, not wanting to be rude - she turned to Hagrid, smiled and made her way over to him.

Snape kept his eyes on the plate in front of him. He knew the moment she had walked into the room but didn't know what to do if he had caught her eye. So he didn't look at her. She must have seen him sitting there but still she had sat by someone else. It proved him right.

She had just arrived and already she didn't need him, which was a good thing since now he wouldn't feel so guilty about leaving her to her own tactics. Not that he would have felt so anyway.

And last night was out of pity, she had said she was scared and for some reason he wanted to comfort her. He supposed it was because of the level of sexual intimacy they had shared over the past three weeks. He always told him self that relationships, even just sexual, weren't worth it in the end.

He heard her voice drift from the table to his left and some laughter followed, he couldn't hear what was being said but he felt his stomach churn. He got up and stalked out of the room.

Abby smiled at Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Dumbledore and Hagrid. Professor McGonagall was an elderly woman; it was hard to tell her age as it was with Dumbledore. She had a very severe expression but over the course of their conversation she had seen her face lighten to a kinder quality. Her hair still had the remarkable youthful color of black and was tied back in a tight bun.

"I teach Transfiguration, the art of changing the structure and appearances of an object and the vanishing of objects." Professor McGonagall said when Abby had looked at her with a clueless expression when she had told her of what she taught.

Dumbledore smiled and nodded, "Lovely subject that, I to have taught it in my years as a Professor at this school." The two looked over to Hargid expectantly but he just nibbled at his sausage, looking towards the ceiling. "And Hagrid here is our Care of Magical Creatures Pofessor."

Hagrid dropped his fork and scurried to pick it up, "Erm, yeah. Lots o' 'mazing animals on the grounds an' in the Fr'Bidden Forest. All rel'tively 'armless o'course."

Abby turned to look over at Severus as the other three started into another subject. They started to laugh of something she hadn't listened to and she watched as Severus gathered his things and swept out of the room.

"Excuse me." Abby said, without finishing her food and the other people at the table bid her good day.

When outside the Great Hall Abby looked from side to side for Severus but he was already gone.

Sighing she wondered if she should head back into the hall. She turned to see Dumbledore watching her with curious eyes.

"Oh," she said, somewhat startled.

He smiled and walked towards her, "I will arrange for you, Severus and Zachary to join me for tea tomorrow afternoon, in my office. We have many things to discus and reflect upon. But I leave you this day to explore our magnificent castle."

"Um, sure okay. That would be great. How do I find your office?"

"I will have another student bring Zachary and have Severus find you when the time comes. It is a beautiful day for a stroll of the grounds. I would love to show you around but my duties call for my attention." He said and with another smile he turned and left.

Abby stood there alone in one of the thousands of corridors in the school. She needed to talk to Severus at some point to day, but for now she wanted to explore the outside of this castle.

She didn't see Severus again that day.

The next day Snape awoke to the screams and horrible images again. When would the dreams stop? In all honesty they had for a while but now they were back again. angry he got up and headed for his empty classroom.

A few hours later…

Snape scowled down at the letter in his hands. Grouchy he got up from his table and headed for the doors of his bedchamber. He must find Abby to bring her to the meeting and tea with the Headmaster which would be in an hour? How was he to know where she would be? He billowed through the dungeon corridors pondering where she would be. For some reason however, he knew that he would not find her in her room or anywhere within the castle.

"Great, that just left the entire grounds to search." He grumbled.

Abby lay on a flat boulder near the lake and reveled in the hot sun that shone down on her skin. Yesterday, she after looking at all of the different flowers and plants within the garden - some she recognized, and some that didn't look like anything she had ever seen - she had found this place. After sitting here for hours she realized that no one could see her through the dense, tall grass nor bother her here, which was great because she just wanted to be alone right now. So today she had dug into her suitcase and found the little black bikini she had stuffed in it, put it on and threw on a long skirt and blouse. She hadn't been sunbathing in a while, especially not in the woods around her house which allowed barely any sunlight in.

Ten minutes after reading the letter and stomping out into the grounds Snape was even angrier and he didn't know why. He ignored the perplexed looks and avoided the advances. He knew that she would be out here somewhere. He walked the path leading to the lake and walked straight to its edge. He held a hand above his brows to block out the scorching sun and looked around the banks.

Abby lay on the ground, her arms behind her head and her eyes closed. She hummed and thought of the beauty of this place. She thought of how strange and exciting the past few weeks have been and how bizarre some of things she learnt were. She thought about Annabel and her little children and if everything where true the possibility of them being in danger. Her heart sank, why couldn't she do anything about it? But then her thoughts drifted to an awkward, rude, mean and cynical older man. Severus. He wanted to be alone, she got that, but she had hoped that he would at least want to be around her a little more then he had been for the past three days. Ever since they had arrived here he became distant and even though she didn't want to admit it, it hurt her that he acted as though they hadn't shared….something. But what was he playing at? He had come to her room the first night, even after brushing her off and she hadn't seen him all of yesterday and today.

She frowned slightly when the sun ceased shining down on her. She squinted her eyes to see the man she was thinking of crouched beside her. "Oh," Slightly embarrasses by the way he had found her, she dragged her clothes over herself.

"What do you think your doing, Abigail Anderson?" he asked her with a sneer on his face.

"Biding my time, Severus Snape." She countered.

"What if it wasn't me who found you in such a state?" His eyes looked darker then they already were. They had roamed her body as she shrugged back into her clothes, his body betraying his mind by tightening.

"What," she was puzzled, "it's not like I'm out here naked or doing anything wrong. What the hell is your problem?"

Snape sat down and ignored her question. He didn't know. He wasn't making sense; he was making a fool out of himself. So what if anyone else could have walked upon her and seen her smooth legs and flat stomach? But then again any man that would have seen her would have reached the same way he wanted to.

He let out a breath and said, "Dumbledore said to find you and take you to tea with him in the next three-quarter hour."

Abby sat up and slide closer to him, "Okay." She wanted to confront him about his attitude, to ask him why he wasn't looking at her the same – hasn't really looked at her at all for the past two days, to ask if she had done anything – which was stupid because she hadn't done anything. "I wanted to ask you something."

Snape stiffened as her hand reached out to him. He swiftly got up and pulled her to her feet. "I think that we should arrive early."

Abby narrowed her eyes but let him pull her up and towards the castle again. Okay, she thought, she wasn't going to be the nice one about this any longer. She liked Severus Snape and she didn't know what his problem was but she was going to get him back to being as nice to her as he possibly can.

Zachary had told Dumbledore everything that had happened to him and everything important that his grand mother had told him. Then Snape had told him about the warning from Annabel and his queries about the situation. Dumbledore hadn't said anything but was the head of the conversation at the same time. And Abby sat there nodding and listening and feeling more useless then she had ever felt in her life.

"So," Dumbledore said after a short silence, "what we should be trying to figure out is why they want Zachary and Abigail." He suddenly looked at Severus, "What do you reckon, Severus?"

Snape thought for a second, "Honestly, I do not know much about werewolves and their dealings. I am curious as to why Zachary can shift into a full wolf since he is a werewolf and not an Animagus. As for Abigail," he didn't look at her, "there isn't any clue as to why they might want her other than the fact that she might be a Consoler. I haven't noticed any spontaneous magic come from her in the time I have been around her."

Abby frowned, 'in the time I have been around her'. Maybe it wasn't the words; it was in the way he said it – with no ulterior meaning, no hint of that time being great or that it meant anything to him. Embarrassed by her thoughts she tried to focus on Fawkes, the Phoenix that sat at Dumbledore's side.

Dumbledore nodded, "I have a friend, who will know much more on the subject then we do arriving in a couple of days. His name is Angus Silver, he himself is a born werewolf, that can take the form of werewolf any time he wishes."

Snape narrowed his eyes, "What do you think is transpiring, Albus?"

Dumbledore touched a long elegant finger to his lips, "Perhaps they each have something the current leader of the Pack wants, but what this could be I have no idea."

Both Severus and Dumbledore looked from Zachary to Abby.

Outside of the statue that hid Dumbledore's office, Severus had mumbled about something he had to do and left Abby and Zachary to stare after him as his cloak billowed behind him.

"So," Abby said as they began to walk towards the stairs that would lead to the first floor. "Are you having fun? Are they treating you alright?"

"Oh yes, Ms Abby. The other kids in the Gryffindor house are very nice. I know I'm way younger than them and they don't have to be nice to me but they all are." He said smiling up at her as they walked.

"That's good to hear, Zachary." She returned his smile. He was such a sweet kid.

"Do you know about the school houses?" he asked her.

"Only that there are four of them."

"Yeah, some of the older kids told me about them last night. Said there was Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Said that the Griffindors are brave, the Ravenclaw's smart, the Hufflepuff's pleasant and the Slytherin's cunning posh reptiles."

On the last, he looked guilty and opened his mouth to probably take it back but Abby just laughed. "You kids, but I don't want you judging the Slytherin students because of what other students say about them. Judge on you own terms."

"Yes ma'am." He said. On the first floor they went their separate ways, Zachary went off with some friends and Abby headed back up to the third floor using the stairs she thought she recognized using the first time she had been taken to her room.

Abby found the painting of the man on a horse she had seen on the way to her bedroom. She looked down the corridor and saw that it spread into three more corridors. Sighing she sat on an elegant chair across from the man in the painting.

She heard him snort and looked up to see him scowling at her. "What?" she asked.

"Some lady you are. Women of your century would have never survived in my own century!" he said looking down his nose at her as his horse ate from a bush next to them. "I mean, heavens, look at how you sit there! Slouched and spread. My people would have been outraged." He shook his head as Abby self-consciously sat up straight. "I have watched young men and women walk these corridors for centuries and ever century that passed attitudes, posture and grace has fallen!"

Abby frowned and rolled her eyes. "Whatever." Then she called for Dobby and had him slowly show her to her room.

It was almost dinner time and again a certain no one had come to walk her down to the Great Hall. Annoyed, she called Dobby and he walked with her down to the Great Hall.

"I promise this is the last time. I think I can now find the Great Hall and my room in my sleep." She told him once outside the open doors.

Dobby smiled, "It is okay if you is ever needing Dobby, Ms Anderson." With that he cracked away.

Abby turned to the open doors of the Great Hall and walked over to them she waited for a group of students to go ahead of her and then she entered he huge room. Her eyes shifted to the table she had seen him sitting at earlier, a group of people sat there but he wasn't among them. Her nerves started to kick in. She started to look for Hagrid or Dumbledore and spotted them sitting on the far right then a lone shadow to the far left caught her eye. She smiled and headed in Severus' direction without looking back at the table to the far right incase they tried to wave her over again.

Snape felt something and looked up to see Abigail walking straight for him, he would have looked back down at his plate but was disconcerted when he noticed that quite a few people - parents, teachers and students – began to watch her as she closed in on his table. As she sat next to him he kept his eyes on the eyes looking their way and saw expressions of dismay, curiosity, and even a few fearful. But it was the few disgusted stares that really threw him off – and he noticed they came from men he couldn't even name.

"Hi," Came her cheerful voice from his right. As everyone went back to the dinners and conversations he turned to her.

"Abigail." He said her name.

Abby picked up pieces from the assorted selection in front of them. She watched from the corner of her eye as he picked at his dish with his fork. She cleared her throat not knowing what to say but her annoyance at him was starting to simmer.

Snape could feel her watching him. Why was she doing that? Had she cleared her throat to speak to him or to get his attention?

Then her fork came down hard on the dish and its clatter drew a few glances from the people around them. Thank heavens, what she said next she said in a whisper that no one could hear.

"What…is…your problem? Did I do something wrong or is it just you being you? I'm not used to this…this," she said exasperatedly, "this shit! I understand you're a hard man to deal with, Severus, that you like to be alone, that you might not want the company of anyone. I know you don't really know me and I don't really know you but I'm here alone, Severus. I'm alone and I need you right now to be… to be nice to me." She hadn't looked at him as she said this but Snape watched horror creep across her face and her cheeks started to burn. "I hate saying this. I don't sound like me; I'm not like this at all. I sound clingy and I hate it but I don't want you to push me away, Severus. I'm sorry I'm a woman you had sex with and now needs you for a little bit more then that." She looked at him then, her eyes narrowing, "You might think I'm crazy now but I don't care. If nothing else, I thought you were my friend." Suddenly she got to her feet, a look of defeat on her face and practically yelled, "Now act like it." And she turned to leave.

Snape watched as she stormed out of the room. He wasn't the only one that watched. The chatter in the hall had stopped somewhere during her little speech and when she was finally out of sight all eyes were on him. Swiftly, feeling like the asshole he was, he got to his feet and headed for the door. "It's awfully rude to stare, children." He snarled at parents, teachers and students alike.

As soon as he turned the corner to her room he saw her door swing shut. Guilty and hating it he stalked to her door, put his hands on the knob and turned it to find it locked.

"I don't particularly want to see you right now." Snape heard her say through the door.

With a growl he pointed his wand at her door and it swung open. He entered her room to find her sitting on her floor, with her arms and legs crossed, the angriest expression he had ever seen on her face and tears streaming down her cheeks.

AN: - (continued from top) - - But thank you even more to those of you LEAVING REVIEWS! lol

sorry it took so long to post this chapter...wull um but its longer :)

have been really busy with university applications and stuff, but love Snape and Abby to much to leave them alone for long!

Now i can't say this enough - - - - - - - - - - - - - - READ AND REVIEW! :)