Hi, guys! Well, I'm sorry for the super long wait for the update, but I've been very busy! Summer softball has now officially taken over my life… which isn't all bad. Anyway, Darcy is falling apart in this chapter and there's quite a bit of Snape in this chapter for those of you who like chapters like that. Also – WHO'S READY FOR DH PART 2? THURSDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT? I'm not sure how I feel about Harry Potter being over… but at least we'll have Pottermore!

SOMEONE TO LISTEN.

No one seemed to be able to produce a perfect Draught of Living Death potion. Hermione was the closest as I walked by and I nodded, smiling at her. I walked past Malfoy's, which looked like cat sick.

"Class is almost done!" I called after about an hour. "Put in your last few ingredients and stir a few more times! You've got one more minute!"

Time ran out and I walked over to Harry's, smelling the familiar smell and seeing that his cauldron was the only one that contained a black colored potion. My eyes widened at the sight. Harry was horrible at potions – the recipe I had given them was very difficult and complex, even for me.

"Harry," I looked up at him and the whole room went silent. "It's perfect – it's perfect!"

The students began to whisper amongst themselves and Hermione crossed her arms and scoffed. I reached into my robe pocket and pulled out the small vial of Liquid Luck. Harry reached for it, but I pulled it away before he could grab it.

"As promised, Harry, one vial of Liquid Luck," I smiled.

"She's biased, of course," Malfoy spat again and I rolled my eyes, turning to look at him. "They're siblings – of course he's going to win!"

"Draco, God forbid that if I drink yours, I'll drop dead! If you don't believe me about Harry's potion, perhaps you could test it yourself?" I replied and Malfoy fell silent, crossing his arms. "Fifty points from Slytherin for both comments and you better hope that I don't take anymore." Malfoy looked down and his friend elbowed him hard. "Congratulations, Harry. Use it well."

Slughorn was packing up at the end of the day and I desperately wanted to leave. I hated being in the same room as Slughorn. He talked too much about the stupidest things, wouldn't say anything when someone would say something rude to me, and he did absolutely nothing. I thought that the only reason Slughorn returned to Hogwarts the promise of safety. Slughorn began to speak to me and I bit back a snide remark, smiling politely at him.

"I heard about the Ministry fiasco," Slughorn said. "How you and Harry and a few others broke into the Ministry."

"We didn't break in – we were trying to save someone –"

"That's a very bad idea, Darcy," said Slughorn gravely. "The Ministry is still scared of You-Know-Who and they're iffy about you and your brother, did you know? You may not be a child or a student any longer, but keep this up and you're going to get into serious trouble. You go looking for trouble that isn't there to begin with."

I licked my lips, clenching my fists. "There was trouble, Professor," I replied shortly. "I was trying to save my godfather from Volde –"

"Don't say it."

"I had to save my godfather from You-Know-Who."

Slughorn paused. "It seems like you're trying to fight him on your own." Another long pause. "You can't, Darcy. You can't do it by yourself. You're still too young."

I went to leave the room with a cauldron, a potions book, and my ingredients box. I shuffled to the door and Slughorn called after me. "Leaving already?"

"Yessir," I replied. "Got to get working on my… my… plans."

"Yes, well, I'll see you tomorrow."

Knowing that all classes were done for the day, I snuck down to Snape's classroom. He was still in there and I entered the room, dropping my cauldron on the front desk and opening my ingredients box. "Can you help me?" I asked quietly. Snape looked up at me, a bit surprised, but confused.

"I'm not the potions master anymore, Miss Potter," Snape told me and I nodded.

"Yes, but I don't really like Slughorn," I replied. "He's prejudiced and he's only really concerned about students who have some kind of famous relative or connections or something. The Slug Club – that's what it's called. Harry told me all about it –"

"What do you need help with?" Snape asked irritably.

"I want to make Remus his Wolfsbane, but you never taught me. I never learned how to make it in all my seven years."

"The instructions are in your book."

"But I want to make sure I make it right. I'll make it and then will you just check it to make sure I did it right?"

Snape nodded and I found the recipe for Wolfsbane in my book. As I lit the underside of the cauldron, I threw in some ingredients.

"I don't think Slughorn likes me. I think he thinks I'm too… I don't know," I sighed. "I just don't like when people don't like me." I looked up at Snape, shaking my head and chuckling to myself. My green eyes met his black ones. "I don't know why I'm telling you this. You wouldn't understand."

He looked away and I swallowed loudly, stirring the concoction a little.

I suddenly had the urge to get everything off my chest. Everything that I had been hiding the whole summer – everything I had been hiding since last year. I knew Snape wouldn't talk or give me advice, I knew he probably wouldn't even listen, but I knew I wouldn't have another chance to let everything go. I wanted the weight off my shoulders. I needed to rant.

"It's just – I'm not what people say I am. I'm not like my father. And I know that's what you think of me. You think I'm a bullying, arrogant, rude person, but I'm not. I'm really not." I continued to stir the potion, throwing in another ingredient. I began chopping up some roots after that. "And if you or Slughorn think I'm going to be upset over what you think of me, then forget it. I'm going to be the bigger person. I'm stronger than that."

Snape was looking at me, probably wondering why I was even telling him everything. I felt a lump in my throat. He didn't care, but I continued.

"I'm stronger than that. He doesn't think I can fight Voldemort on my own, well, he's wrong. I can make it out of this alive." I threw my roots into my cauldron angrily. I ran a hand through my hair, staring down into the clear liquid. "But I'm just scared, you know? Scared that I'll lose Harry or Remus or Hermione or Ron or someone I love."

I stirred the liquid slowly. I suddenly felt as though a thousand pounds had been lifted off my shoulders after letting Snape know all that. I did feel vulnerable, but I trusted Snape. Dumbledore trusted Snape – why couldn't I? It felt nice to have someone listen without giving me their input every five seconds.

"I know you're doing this on Dumbledore's orders and you probably don't care about anything I just told you, but thank you. But I don't think you really understand. I grew up living in a house where I had to be the parent to both Harry and myself. I didn't have anyone to properly look after me." Tears welled up in my eyes. The potion was almost done. It was steaming.

Snape still didn't say anything and I started to cry. I wiped my tears with the back of my hand.

"And even though I'm sure you don't want to listen to me or care or whatever, I'm glad I've got someone in all this mess that'll make sure I'm safe in the middle of this madness."

Snape stood up and walked over to my cauldron, peering down into it. He took the ladle from me and stirred it clockwise four more times. "It's ready."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"How was your first day back?" Lupin asked me as I handed him a gobletful of Wolfsbane. He went to kiss me, but I pushed him back lazily, sitting on the couch and covering my face in my hands. "What's wrong?" He sat next to me, draining his goblet in one sip. He scrunched his nose.

"My guardian," I muttered, walking into the bedroom and falling onto the bed. "My guardian, Remus. That's what Slughorn thought you were to me. He thought you were my guardian."

"Well…" he said, stroking my hair. "I can see why he'd say that – I was your dad's best friend. But you told me it didn't bother you. You've got to ignore that."

"Malfoy said you must have used a love potion on me because no one could ever love a pathetic excuse for a man like you," I said sadly again. "Because you're a werewolf."

"He's simply doing that because he's Draco," Lupin told me. "Don't let him get to you, okay? You've got thick skin, Darcy, it shouldn't bother you. I love you and you love me, right?"

I nodded.

"Good. Now, give me a kiss and we can head down to the feast."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dumbledore wants to have private lessons with me," Harry said quietly. I asked Lupin to wait in the sitting room as Harry and I chatted in the bedroom, the door shut tight and a spell cast on it so Lupin wouldn't hear us if he tried.

I sat cross-legged across from Harry and raised an eyebrow. "Private lessons? And he didn't say why?"

"No," Harry replied. "But I've got to go Saturday. Dumbledore's getting me out of detention with Snape."

"He won't be too happy about that."

"No."

"But he didn't say why?" I asked curiously and Harry shook his head and shrugged. "That's odd."

"That's why I came to you," Harry sighed. "I was wondering if you knew something about it. Perhaps Dumbledore mentioned something to you?"

I shook my head.

"What about him?" Harry asked, jerking his thumb towards the bedroom door.

"Remus? He doesn't know anything. He hardly leaves our quarters – he's a bit unsure of himself. I don't really know if he wants to be here." We both stared at the door and then looked at each other again. "Have you found out anything about Malfoy?"

"No, but I told Mr. Weasley and he said he'd try to find out more."

"He believed you?" I asked incredulously. "When did you ask?"

"Before boarding the train," Harry answered. "And he didn't believe me… but he definitely said he'd check. Now that Malfoy's in Azkaban, Mr. Weasley can raid his house for some Dark artifacts or something."

"Yeah," I said with a huge sigh. "Remus doesn't believe that Malfoy's a Death Eater. The evidence is definitely there."

"Everytime I tell Hermione and Ron, they try to disprove it. I think they're annoyed with it, to be honest."

"You should tell Dumbledore Saturday when you see him. Dumbledore will back us up, won't he?"

Harry nodded. "I heard that you and Lupin got into a fight."

"Who told you that?"

"Snape. I heard him telling Dumbledore the other day." There was a long pause and then Harry said again, "How are you two?"

"Fine," I told him. "Fine. It's only been a few days, Harry."

"And you're happy?"

"I'm very happy," I replied and then I frowned, knowing what Harry was thinking. I didn't want to bring it up. Harry didn't want to bring it up either, or so it seemed. "Remus believes in me. He trusts me. He knows that we can defeat Voldemort."

Harry looked down at the blanket.

"I just – I want you to – Harry, you will always come first in my life. You always have and you always will. I love you, Harry."

It fell silent again. "I don't want him hurting you, Darcy! If he lays another finger on you, I'll –"

I shook my head. "Harry, I love him with all that I've got, just like I love you. But if you don't want us to be together, I don't know what I'd do. You do come first, Harry, but I just – I can't leave him. We've been through a lot already."

"I want you two to be together," Harry said. "I just don't want you getting distracted or him getting in the way when we've got a job to do. And you know very well what job that is."

"He won't get in the way, Harry, okay? And I won't get distracted."

"I trust you."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"How do you like Professor Slughorn?"

I was sitting in a chair across from Dumbledore's desk and his hands were folded in his lap, a cheery smile on his face. I looked right into his eyes and felt my emotions crumble. I was falling apart. "I don't."

"You don't like him?" Dumbledore asked, but he didn't sound upset. "Why?"

"He thinks I'm too young to be doing the things I do – even though I'm older than Harry. He doesn't think I can defeat Voldemort and I just – not a lot of people believe in me, you know?" I paused. "And whenever someone says something in class about Remus or me, he just lets it go on. He doesn't do anything."

Dumbledore frowned. "Darcy, I thought you were stronger than that."

I felt tears well up in my eyes. "I thought I was, too."

"Why are you worrying about what other people think? The most important thing is that you believe in yourself. Lots of people do. Does Professor Slughorn's opinion of you really bother you that much?" Dumbledore asked and I shrugged, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "It shouldn't, Darcy. Don't let anything that man says bother you."

"Yes, sir."

Dumbledore nodded and then spoke again. "Professor Snape and I were having a conversation the other night. I heard that you spoke to him." I looked away, avoiding his piercing blue eyes. I knew if I looked into them, I'd break down. "He told me everything."

"Did he?" I asked unenthusiastically.

"I'm just curious as to why you confided in him? Why not Harry? Or Remus?" Dumbledore sat up straighter. "Professor Snape is the last person I would have expected you to confide in."

I was silent. I tried to come up with a good answer, but I couldn't, so I simply spoke the truth. "It just – it just came out! I was stressed and felt I needed to get everything off my chest and he's always there and he always listens, so I just thought –" I fell silent again and Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, as if acknowledging me to continue.

"Go on, Darcy."

"I trust him. He's not my brother and he's not my boyfriend. I wouldn't really consider him a friend – I don't think he'd consider me one, either – but he's definitely not my enemy. I mean, I think he trusts me, too. I've never really had someone like him in my life before and it's just a breath of fresh air to have someone to go to who'll listen and not give their advice or opinion," I hesitated and looked back up at Dumbledore. "I need someone like that all the time. I'm falling apart. I'm stressed out and just tired of everything, but I can't rest. I can't stop because I need to do this. I need to protect Harry and defeat Voldemort and… and…"

Dumbledore's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything about the last part I said. "You are under the impression that I made it Professor Snape's mission to look after you."

I nodded slowly, gripping the arms of the chair so tightly that my knuckles were white.

Dumbledore smiled and then chuckled. "You are a very bright woman, Darcy Potter," he told me. "But I have nothing to do with Professor Snape looking after you. I do believe he's genuinely worried about you."

I wanted to laugh in Dumbledore's face. After being in class with Snape for seven years and then spending all of the previous year with him, I knew it couldn't be true. He had never shown any signs of caring for me or worrying about me – did he? I was worried that perhaps I had overlooked them. If it was true, I felt horrible, simply because I had spent my whole life despising Snape.

"I think we're all a little worried about you," Dumbledore said quietly. "But Professor Snape is the only one who's willing to do something about it."