When Elizabeth reached the dormitory, the girls were already decorating their areas. They'd been talking as Elizabeth pushed open the door but stopped abruptly the moment they saw her. Elizabeth wondered whether they had been talking about her, then whether she was being paranoid.

"Hi," she said, moving across to her own trunk and opening it.

"Hey, Elizabeth," said Pavarti, who was putting on a pair of pajamas in Gryffindor colors. "Good holiday?"

"Not bad," Elizabeth shrugged noncommittally. "You?"

"Yeah, it was okay," Pavarti pulled on socks. "Better than Lavender's anyway, she was just telling me."

"Why?" Elizabeth looked at Lavender.

The other girl didn't answer immediately; she was carefully hanging her poster of the Cannonballs' Seeker above her bed. "My mum didn't want me to come back."

"What?" Elizabeth paused in the act of pulling off her robes.

"She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts." Lavender wouldn't meet her eyes.

"But— why?"

"Well," Lavender reached into her trunk for her pajamas. "I suppose… because of you."

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked quickly.

"Well," Lavender still wouldn't look at her. "She… er… well, it's not just you, it's Dumbledore too…"

"She believes the Daily Prophet?" Elizabeth scowled. "She thinks I'm an liar and Dumbledore's an old fool?"

Lavender finally looked up. "Yeah, something like that."

Elizabeth said nothing. She tossed her wand onto her bedside table, pulled off her robes, and yanked on her pajamas. Lavender's mother… like that was her biggest problem.

She got into bed and made to pull the hangings closed around her, but before she could, Lavender said, "Look… what did happen that night when… you know… with Cedric and all?"

"What are you asking me for?" Elizabeth snapped. "Just read the Daily Prophet like your mother, why don't you? That'll tell you all you need to know."

"Don't you have a go at my mother," Lavender snapped back.

"I'll say anything I want about people who call me a liar," Elizabeth scowled. "At least I'm brave enough to say what I mean about someone without hiding behind my mother!"

"Yeah, never hiding, are you?" Lavender crossed her arms. "Always out there, making sure everyone knows you're a hero, right? Cedric was dead, so you had to get the attention, right?"

"How dare you—

"What's going on?" Hermione appeared in the doorway. She looked from Elizabeth, poised on her bed with her wand pointing at Lavender, and Lavender glaring daggers at the other girl.

"Princess is looking for attention again," Lavender spat.

"She's calling me a liar!"

"Oh, right," Hermione frowned.

"Why don't you go down with the Snakes?" Lavender pointed at the door. "You're too good to sleep with us anyway."

"Maybe I will!" Elizabeth was on her feet now, wand clasped in her hand. "I don't want to be with people who don't trust me."

"Both of you, calm down," Hermione ordered. "If you can't keep your voices down, I'll get McGonagall."

"Don't bother, I'm not staying here," Elizabeth threw her robes back on, over her pajamas, and took off, down the stairs and out of the portrait.

"Curfew is soon," the Fat Lady called after her.

"Don't wait up," Elizabeth grumbled, stomping down the hall to the stairs. "Move and I'll hex you," she growled at the staircase. Anger and hurt bubbled up in her chest, tears filling her eyes and throat.

Muttering the password, she pushed the portrait open.

"Elizabeth?" Severus looked up from where he sat in his armchair, Draco on the sofa. "What's wrong?"

Elizabeth looked at Draco, and blinked rapidly. "Nothing… I'm going to sleep here tonight, okay?"

"Of course," Severus narrowed his eyes, but let her pass into her bedroom and shut the door.

"Severus?" Draco looked from his professor to the closed door.

Snape shook his head. "I would imagine that the year is not starting off well for everyone," he stood. "It's time you were getting ready for bed."

Draco laughed. "I thought once I was a prefect, you'd stop telling me when to go to bed."

"Only later," Severus put an arm around the boy. "Go on. If anyone younger than you is still awake, assign them detention tomorrow evening, understand?"

"Yes, sir. Severus?"

"Yes?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"I'm… I'm glad you came back."

"Hmm," Severus squeezed the young man's shoulders. "I've never been away. Go."

After the door to his office closed; Severus sighed and looked at his daughter's closed door. She'd obviously been distressed. The question now was if he should try to determine what was going on tonight, or wait until she'd slept.

Quietly, he eased the door open. Elizabeth's shoes and robes were in a heap on the floor, and the blankets were pulled all the way over her head, leaving only a lump on the bed.

Severus gingerly stepped over the pile of clothing and sat on the edge of her bed, gently pulling back the top edge of the coverlet to reveal a mass of dark hair over a face smashed into the pillow. "You're going to overheat if you put the blankets over your head," he said calmly.

Elizabeth didn't respond.

Severus sighed. "Did you brush your teeth?"

No response.

"Elizabeth," Severus rested his hand on her back. "You are not asleep. Roll over and talk to me, please."

"Just want to go to sleep," Elizabeth muttered.

Severus pressed his lips together. Why did these things always happen after a long day? Shaking his head, he pushed her hip, spinning her over and pulled her into a sitting position. "Talk."

He was not expecting her to launch herself at him. He almost fell off the bed with the force of it. "Hatchling," he maneuvered her to sit on his lap. "What happened?"

"Lavender's mum didn't want her to come back to school."

Severus frowned. "Why?"

"She doesn't want Lavender to be around me."

Severus paused a moment. "I didn't know you were particularly close to Lavender."

Elizabeth shrugged. "I'm not. But I'm so tired of being called a liar."

Severus wasn't sure what to say. He wished he could heal the pain she was in, but there was nothing he could do. Aside from hexing everyone in the world, which had most definitely crossed his mind. Teenage-angst tears he could take, but genuine-pain tears wrenched his heart. He could always tell the difference because Elizabeth tried to hide when she was really hurting. Like tonight, with her face in her pillow. Now she hid her tears in his neck, as if he couldn't feel the hot moisture.

"I'm sorry, hatchling," he said simply, tightening his hold.

"What's going on here?" Remus appeared at the door.

Elizabeth just shook her head and burrowed further into Severus.

"Thank Merlin we are no longer teenagers," Severus looked over her head at his friend. "Is everything alright?"

"I caught word of the new Defense teacher," Remus frowned.

Severus looked down at see Elizabeth yawn. "Do you think you can sleep? Everything will be brighter in the morning." She nodded, but tightened her grip on him.

Severus waited another ten minutes, rocking her as she fell asleep, savoring the contact that was less frequent as she got older. When she was breathing peacefully, He laid her back on the bed and covered her, kissing her on the forehead. He stood and followed Remus into the living room, pulling her bedroom door nearly closed behind him.

"Brighter in the morning?" Remus raised an eyebrow. "Unlikely, I'd say."

"She's a child," Severus snatched the most recent Daily Prophet off his desk. "The Prophet is deep into denial, and it's seeping down into the students."

"The Gryffindors a little less accepting than anticipated?"

"Apparently, some parents believe the most recent article," he held up the paper, "that Albus and my fifteen-year-old are involved in a massive plan to overthrow the Ministry."

"They've sacked him," Remus said quietly. "From the Wizengamot and the ICW. They say he's gone round the bend." He took the paper and threw it in the fire. "How long do you think he'll stay as Headmaster?"

Severus grimaced. "Time will tell, I suppose. I'm more concerned with what is going on in the Gryffindor dormitories. She says that one of the girls called her a liar, but I think there's more she isn't telling me." He drummed his fingers on the desktop. "Usually she only cares if you think she's lying." Severus saw something pass across Remus' face. "What?"

"Hm? Nothing," Remus shook his head.

"Remus," Severus raised an eyebrow.

The werewolf went into the kitchenette. "Why do you even have a kitchen in here? The elves would make you anything you want."

"Because I appreciate being able to make tea in private sometimes," Severus leaned on the counter. "What do you know about Elizabeth?"

"That she's about 5' 4" now, meaning we've finally repaired the damage the Muggles did."

"Remus."

Lupin glanced toward the bedroom door. "Alright, but you cannot let her know I told you."

"What?"

Remus put water on for tea. "They call her 'princess'," he looked in the cabinets. "Not to her face, but she knows. They talk about her behind her back. They say that she thinks she's better than everyone, that she gets everything she wants because of you and Albus."

"Why didn't she tell me?"

"Because you can't do anything about it," Remus shrugged. "And she knows that. And even though it hurts, she knows that eventually she will no longer be a teenage girl, surrounded by teenage girls."

"That's awfully mature for a teenage girl," Severus raised an eyebrow.

Remus smirked. "She may have had some counseling."

Severus smiled, a little sadly. "Thank you."

"Comes with the territory," Remus picked up the whistling teapot. "Just do me a favor, alright? Stay alive."

"I'll do my best," Severus rolled his eyes and pulled the sugar out of the cupboard.

"Good," Remus poured the tea, "because I'm excellent at this godfather thing, if I do say so myself, but I'm glad you have to deal with the rest of it."

"The rest of what?" Severus asked sardonically. "Don't fancy telling her she can't run away to the States with Fred Weasley, do you?"

"Among other things," Remus smirked.

Severus shook his head. "Anyway, you came to talk about Umbridge? News certainly travels fast."

"Molly's daughter writes every day," Remus sat on the sofa, his right ankle on his left knee. "She fails to understand the significance, of course, but I'd be willing to bet that Hermione has sussed it out."

"Elizabeth understood, or at least talked about it with Granger." Severus sat in his chair. "'The Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts', she said. I tried to explain that she needed to lie low, but she's Lily's daughter, so there's little chance of that."

"She has no gift for subterfuge," Remus agreed, "You certainly didn't pass on that talent." He tapped his fingers absently on the arm of the sofa. "Speaking of that, do I want to know what you were doing at Malfoy Manor a few days ago?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Sure," Remus smirked, "the fact that you were verily dripping in dark magic isn't a clue at all."

Severus looked into his tea. "One of us needs to end up alive at the end of this," he said softly.

Remus nodded. "Need to know basis, then."

"Need to know," Severus agreed, then stood suddenly. "I'm just going to check on her."

Remus smiled, "Sure, Sev. I'll be here."

Severus slipped back into his daughter's room, standing beside the bed, watching her even breathing as the blankets rose and fell. He had the urge, as he had so many times lately, to bundle her up and take her away. Into hiding. Perhaps in the States. Or Australia. Or the Moon. Anywhere but here.

But instead, he played a dangerous game. He'd gotten out of the spy business to protect his daughter, but now he was wading back in, hoping to protect her world. He hoped that she slept better than he did at night.

*S*S*

"Good morning," Severus looked up from his paper the next morning as Elizabeth emerged from her bedroom, straightening her tie.

"Hey," Elizabeth yawned. "Did you put my uniform in there last night?"

"This morning," Severus folded the paper carefully and laid it on the table. "Your bag is by the door," he pointed.

"Thanks," Elizabeth wandered into the kitchen. "Do we have anything to eat?"

"Go to the Great Hall, foolish child," Severus raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Summer has addled your mind."

"I'm just hungry," Elizabeth turned her green eyes on him. "Why can't we eat here?"

"Because I have to make sure the first years remember my expectations of them at meal times, and you have to face the useless members of your house that don't want to face their terror," Severus stood. "You've had your evening of hiding, and you are always welcome to sleep here, but I won't have you sulking around during the day."

"Just today," Elizabeth pleaded hopefully. "It's only the first day, I don't really feel well—

"Elizabeth Rose Evans," Severus grasped her chin with one hand. "Don't you dare lie about your health to avoid some idiotic teenagers," he said firmly. "You are stronger than that, do you understand me?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I guess."

"No," the Potions Master shook his head. "Not 'I guess'. There's 'yes, Dad' and 'I understand, Dad', but there is not 'I guess'."

"Yes, Dad," Elizabeth said softly, and Severus maintained his stern stance another fraction of a moment before softening and pulling her into a tight hug. "There's tougher things before us, my girl," he said quietly. "You can't let the little things break you, no matter how big they may seem at the time."

*S*S*

"Before we begin today's lesson," Severus stood at the front of the silent classroom, looking out at the group of fifth years, "I think its appropriate to remind you that next June, you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some members of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your O.W.L., or suffer my… displeasure." His eyes lingered on Elizabeth for a moment, and she shifted uncomfortably. Severus was maniacal about her Potions marks, and the man didn't seem to understand that she just didn't have the Potions touch. She'd been alright, with extra help, through the early years of the class, but the upper-level potions were harder.

"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," Snape continued. "I take only the very best into my N.E.W.T. Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying good-bye." His eyes flitted to Neville, who gulped.

"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," Severus smirked, "so whether you are intending to attempt N.E.W.T or not, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high-pass level I have come to expect from my O.W.L., students." He looked at Draco. "Regardless of whatever personal drama you may be suffering in your lives, you'll remember that my wrath is far worse than anything anyone else can impart on you."

"Today," he swept to the board, "we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and sooth agitation. Be warned: if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients, you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing. The ingredients and method," Severus flicked his wand, "are on the blackboard, and you will find everything you need in the store cupboard. You have an hour and a half. Start."

Elizabeth thought she could use a Draught of Peace about then, but settled for a deep breath. She made her way to the cupboard, took out everything that was listed on the blackboard, and went back to her seat, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone except Hermione and Ron. Sitting on her stool, she looked at the board again.

Great, she thought to herself. Severus couldn't have given them a more complicated potion. Carefully, she measured out all of the ingredients and began.

"A light silver vapor should now be riding from your potion," Severus intoned from the back of the room, with ten minutes left to go.

Elizabeth looked at her cauldron critically. It was definitely not producing a light silver vapor. It wasn't producing any type of vapor, really, more like copious amounts of dark gray steam. She glanced around. The cloud of her cauldron was closer to a silver vapor than Ron's, which was spitting green sparks.

"Miss Evans," Severus stopped beside her cauldron. "What is that supposed to be?"

Elizabeth cringed. She hated it when he criticized her in front of everyone. "I treat you just as I treat everyone else," Severus had said her first year when she'd protested.

"The same as any Gryffindor," she'd muttered, which had earned her a sink-full of cauldrons to scrub and a lecture about mutinous mumbling.

"The Draught of Peace," Elizabeth answered, not meeting his eyes.

"Read the third line of the instructions for me, Miss Evans."

Elizabeth squinted through the haze. "Add powdered moonstone, stir three times counterclockwise, allow to simmer for seven minutes, then add two drops of syrup of hellebore."

Her heart sank. She had not added syrup of hellebore, but had proceeded straight to the fourth line of the instructions after allowing her potion to simmer for seven minutes.

"Did you do everything on the third line, Miss Evans?"

"No," Elizabeth said very quietly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"No, sir," Elizabeth said more loudly. "I forgot the hellebore…"

"I know you did, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesco."

The contents of Elizabeth's potion vanished; she was left standing beside an empty cauldron.

"Those of you who have managed to follow the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name, and bring it up to my desk for testing," Severus swept away. "Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Thursday. Miss Evans," he looked back at her. "You will stay behind."

Elizabeth jammed her wand back into her bag and sat, watching everyone else turn in their potions and file out. When the room was empty, Severus looked at her from behind his desk. "You're letting things interfere with class," he said quietly.

"No I'm not," Elizabeth said hotly. "My potion wasn't as bad as Ron's!"

"Frankly, I don't score class work based on who performs worse than you," Severus frowned. "Today was a lack of concentration, and you know I don't tolerate that from you."

"I made a mistake! I'm not good at this, and you know it!"

Severus glared over the desk. "Don't raise your voice to me, young lady. The only thing holding you back from making an O.W.L. Potion is your attention to detail. I will not accept laziness."

Elizabeth gritted her teeth. "Can I go?"

"No," Severus frowned. "Come here."

"I'm missing lunch."

Severus' glare was like a tractor beam dragging her toward him. When she reached his side, he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Have you been practicing clearing your mind?"

Elizabeth shrugged, and Severus' frown deepened. "I don't speak in shoulder movements," he said tersely.

"No," Elizabeth crossed her arms. "It feels stupid."

Severus made a frustrated noise in the back of this throat. "Tonight, after dinner, our quarters," he said firmly. "You'll rebrew this," he gestured to the vials on his desk, "and you will practice."

"I have homework!"

"And you'll do that as well," Severus stood. "It's time for lunch."

"It was time ten minutes ago," Elizabeth muttered.

"Keep up the attitude, and you'll find yourself with additional assignments this evening," Severus said sharply, prodding her along with a hand between her shoulder blades.

"You're never fair," Elizabeth grumbled. "Goyle's potion shattered his flagon."

"Gregory is not my concern, beyond being his teacher," Severus answered, the fact that she was treading on dangerous ground, clear in his voice. "I have a vested interest in you staying alive," he paused and leaned against the lab table nearest to the door. "You have to focus, and dedicate yourself to whatever you can learn here, because any of it could be helpful in the future, do you understand?" He reached out and smoothed her hair with one hand.

Elizabeth dropped her eyes to the floor. "I can't get perfect grades."

"I am not," Severus paused and tilted her face up. "Look at me," he ordered. "I am not asking for perfect grades. I'm asking for attention. I'm asking for your best, which is not what I got today."

Elizabeth's stomach clenched at the look in his eyes. "Sorry," she said softly.

Severus snorted. "You always are," he sighed. "What am I going to do with you, hmm?"

"Stop messing with me in class," Elizabeth tried one last protest.

"Start paying attention to what you are doing," Severus said firmly, pulling her against him and kissing the top of her head. "I love you, hatchling. I won't let you out of applying yourself because the world is crashing down."

"Not even a little?" Elizabeth tilted her head back to look at him.

Severus chuckled and shook his head. "Lunch," he said, pushing her toward the door again. "And remember what we talked about when you're in Defense today."

"Keep my mouth shut, I know," Elizabeth grimaced.

"I don't believe that's what I said," Severus prodded her toward the door again. "Pick your battles. Save your ammunition for a winnable confrontation."

"Sure," Elizabeth shrugged. "Unless she tries to kill me."

"Don't follow her into any dark corridors or secret passage ways," Severus said smoothly, closing and locking the classroom door behind them. "Try, with all your might, to comply with any off-limits mandates."

"I don't go looking for trouble," Elizabeth said lamely, following him down the corridor.

"It's just finds you, yes, I know," Severus shook his head. "Amusing, really, how often that happens."

Elizabeth smiled a little, and they finished their walk to the Great Hall in silence.

Severus was dismayed, if not visibly so, to find his chair occupied by a ball of pink fluff. "Professor Snape!" Umbridge quipped, her voice high and sing-song, like she was talking to a small child. "I hope you won't mind, I was just chatting with your mother, and we have so much in common!"

Severus doubted that very much, even without the look of utter irritation on Minerva's face. The last time he'd seen that face was when he was about 16 and Albus had painted each wall of their London flat in a different neon color. Dumbledore refused change it, or let her change it, and Minerva had walked around for days with a perpetual annoyed look on her face.

"Of course," Severus inclined his head stiffly. "One meal will not completely destroy tradition." He made his way to the chair usually occupied by the Defense teacher. He glanced at Albus, but the old man said nothing. Perfect, Severus grumbled in his head. Never anal when I need you to be. Two years ago, he'd requested to change seats in the hopes of sitting beside Remus, giving himself some kind of tolerable conversation for meal times, but Albus had rejected the idea, citing tradition.

It was more difficult to keep his eye on his House from that side of the table, but it afforded him an excellent view of the Gryffindors. Elizabeth was sitting between Fred and George, Hermione and Ron across the table. There seemed to be a clear division, one end of the table, mostly Weasleys and Muggle-borns, sitting with Elizabeth, and then a few huddled at the other end, sending furtive glances her way. He wondered if it would be wrong to put those students in some kind of suspended animation. Not kill them, just freeze them until all this was over.

For all his bluster that she needed to rise above the petty actions of others, he knew how much teenagers could hurt. He knew that there was no credence to that Muggle adage about sticks and stones. He would have appreciated freezing James Potter a time or two.

But he'd had Lily. And Remus. And looking down at the table, it seemed that Elizabeth had surrounded herself with the equivalent.

Severus filled his goblet and diverted his attention to his lunch. He'd keep the freezing spell in the back of his mind. Just in case.