Chapter 3

The sun beamed down into her face, her eyes burning from crying so hard that night and the brightness of the star outside. A quick jolt rushed through her as her professors words coursed through her head, telling her she'd better not be late or she'd have to start all over again. Standing she grabbed her freshly cleaned uniform and headed out of the common room, hoping to get her shower in and to class before she had any run in with Draco or his lackeys.
It was sad really. The fact that she spent more of her time running away from her roommates then picking fights with the opponents in the other classes. In fact, she really didn't mind the other students. Well, except for when they laughed at her when Malfoy did some stupid prank. Starting the shower she tied her red hair back and stepped in, cleaning her body. Turning the water off she slipped out of the shower and patted herself dry, running her hair once again through her straightener to make sure it was paper straight. She looked at it and smiled, feeling that she looked rather good that morning, except for the puffy redness of her eyes from crying all night, but it was nothing a little walk and fresh air couldn't take care of. Not to mention they would shimmer and shine after the redness went away.

Slipping into her clothes she ran up to the room and grabbed her books, dumping her towel off on her bed post. The girls were just starting to stir to wake up and get ready. Do their hair; make up, whatever they did. Running past them she headed down the stairs and plugged her nose against the smell of the breakfast in the great hall as she ran past the front doors, heading for Professor Snape's. Reaching the Potions room she smiled and fixed herself up, adjusting her corset just enough so it wouldn't cause her pain from sitting down and opened the door. Popping her head in she saw her teacher pacing around his room, preparing his lesson in his usual manner, serious.

"Don't you ever smile?" She smiled, teasing. He stopped, his hair whipping around. He was taken aback, having not noticed her entrance and let off a deep sigh, looking away from her as he composed his normal demeanor.

"Don't you ever knock Miss Fairbourne?" He questioned, finishing what he was doing, waving his wand at a table, a chemistry set setting itself up.

"I knock when I'm not supposed to enter." She replied, shrugging.

"And you are not due to enter this room for another 45 minutes Miss Fairbourne. I suggest you turn around and head back out and get yourself some breakfast." But his words were ignored as she took her seat, sitting down. Pulling out her book she opened it to the reading she was supposed to do last night and the questions, writing her name. He stopped and stared at her, half tempted to use a spell to kick her out of his room but he shoved the urge back. "Miss Fairbourne," He spoke again, his arms crossing. She didn't look up at him, but he could tell by the way she craned her head that she was listening. That and the unenthusiastic ugh that barely left her throat. "Why are you not in breakfast?" He questioned, his eyes burning into the top of her head. "Surely you must be hungry after missing dinner last night."

"And lunch." She added. "With all due respect sir, I don't eat breakfast." She replied, turning the page. "It'll go down but it won't stay that way for long before it comes right back up. Awful mess it is." His forehead crinkled, having guessed that she was thin because of some disease, but never once thinking it was due to bulimia. Looking up she smiled apologetically at him and laughed lightly. "No I don't force it back up. I'm not mentally ill just…well…it's a physical thing. Been trying to change it since I was 12. Just," She shivered. "Can't keep it down." Turning she looked back down at her books. He slightly nodded and walked up next to her to fix the desk behind her, and that's when his eye caught it. The work she was working on was the assignment that he had assigned last night.

"Why is your assignment not done?" He questioned, almost infuriated. Any student to have such disrespect to show up the next morning and attempt to finish their assignment in his class simply infuriated him, but she didn't seem like she cared.

"I couldn't get it done last night sir, remember?" Turning she looked at him and smiled. "I was with a certain someone in an abandoned dirty room until all hours of the night on my hands and knees polishing his marble." She snickered. Although she didn't aim for it to sound so, it sounded dirty. Like she'd been engaged in some dirty act with him. Well…sexual…dirty. "Besides, technically class hasn't started yet so you can't punish me." She smiled brightly. His face twisted at that, and the awkwardness of her earlier comment. Grabbing a left over book he smacked her in the back of the head and made his way to the front of the room.

"You're becoming irritably cheeky Miss Fairbourne. I suggest you drop the sarcasm before it lands you a one way train ride home." He threatened. Shrugging she finished up her worksheet and closed her book.

"Find me a home and I'll gladly take it sir. Besides, the truth is the truth sir; you shouldn't be so uptight about it. You often get offended by pointing out the obvious because you feel they're questioning your authority. That's why people think you're a hard ass." She admitted a straight look on her face. He stared at her astonished and offended, but more astonished because after all, she had nailed it almost perfectly. The bell rang and the red head/auburn haired girl who had ruined the lesson the day before walked in, taking her seat, followed by the rest of the class. The red head and boy with glasses came in almost last, talking with each other about something.

"Sit down, hurry up." The professor ushered the stragglers who had fallen behind into their seats before turning around and starting his lesson. "Today, we're making a potion."

"Finally, I mean this is a potions class and we spend more time talking about irrelevant things like Lacewing flies and lady bugs." The red head boy by the name of Ron commented.

"I advise you to say that again, Weasley." The Professor turned, walking over to him. The red head looked away from him, looking down into his lap as the menacing professor lingered, leaning over him, his gaze cold as ice.

"Well," the red head whimpered. "It's true." Snape was silent for a second, staring down at the boy before pulling away from the table.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for Weasley's failed attempt at being a class clown." He headed for the board in the front of the class and grabbed a piece of chalk, beginning to write a formula down. Ron's friend slapped his arm whispering.

"Good going Ron."

"Keep your mouth shut, Ron." His female friend also commented.

"Sorry."

"Mister Potter, Miss Granger." They both stopped, looking up at him. "While I understand your disappointment in your pathetic house members' inability to keep his wise crack comments to himself, you aren't exactly building a boat to float above his never ending sea of failure. Ten points from Gryffindor for failing to take your own advice." He clicked the chalk hard against the chalkboard with every word.

Biting her lip Nyx watched, feeling bad for the negative treatment of her fellow classmates. But unless she wanted to give Snape a reason to extend her detention she'd thought against any and all urges to ask Snape to lay off of them or point out how unfair it was. Instead, pulling her notebook out she began to copy down the formula so she wouldn't have to keep craning her head to make the potion.

"Hey, you think Nox washed her hair today?" She heard a fat kid behind her speak, her writing stopping for a split second before she gritted her teeth and continued writing.

"I doubt it." Draco laughed. Then whispered something to his friends which Nyx took the pleasure of ignoring as she finished her notes. Suddenly she felt a jerk behind her, followed by a tightening around her midsection and ribs. She gasped as her hand shot down to her corset. She knew why suddenly her air was gone and her breasts bubbled up into her face. Draco had used his wand to grab her corset strings and pulled it as tight as he could, her ribs popping.

"Gah!" She cried out, her hair falling in her face, the only noise that she could make was one feeble, strangled cry. Another pop followed by a loud cracking that stopped everyone, causing their heads to shoot up and look at her. It was when the teachers head whipped up the pressure lifted, air rushing back to her lungs. Gasping, her eyes tearing up from the pain she whirled around, her face red hot, her teeth nearly going through her bottom lip. Her lips peeled back, baring her teeth she inhaled deeply to let an insult fly but the sudden eclipse of light stopped her. Oh great, she was going to get yelled at again, all because of that little jackoff!

"Miss Fairbourne," Snape looked at her. She wheezed, rubbing her ribs. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, a look of pure agony on her face. He examined her for a second before turning and looking at the giggling blonde. "Mister Malfoy, I suggest you leave Miss Fairbourne's bodice alone before you find yourself hanging by your toes in the great hall." Stopping immediately, Draco's jaw dropped, his friends stopping as they also looked at the teacher confused.

"Wh-what? You can't do that!" Draco stuttered, his voice a raspy, nervous tone. "My father will have your head if he were to find out you did that to me! He would serve it on a silver platter to the entire school the first moment he got!" A twisted smile stretched over the professor's face at the threat, a look of amusement replacing his usual emotionless demeanor.

"Oh I know your father, Mister Malfoy. As spineless as a fangless, declawed Bunyip. Besides, you can be safe to assure that it wouldn't be me who hung you by your toes, no." He stopped, passing a glance at the girl who was slowly coming down from her episode of pain, then looked back at the blonde boy. "But I will gladly supply the tarnished hooks needed to hang you from." He hissed, pulling away. His back handed insult scoring a few giggles from the class. "Enough of the immaturity class! Gather your equipment for I tend to continue on without further interruption."

The rest of the class progressed to start on their potion, spending the rest of the period working hard on their potion, not wanting to push their luck any farther with the already irritated potions master. At the end of the class the bell rang, the students making a dash from the room, Draco, of course, huffing insults beneath his breath about how their professor should keep his beaked nose out of his business. Nyx, of course, was the last to leave. Stopping just inside the door, she glanced back over her shoulder, spotting the man who had defended her leaning over the chemistry table, cleaning up what little mess the students didn't. Playing with the potion in her hand she hesitated, not sure if she should thank him or leave, but felt it would be a terribly rude thing to do after what he'd done for her.

"Professor?" She spoke. He turned looking at her confused as to why she was still in the room when time was being wasted to get to the next class. Smiling lightly, looking down at the watery potion –which he watered down for them so it wouldn't be so concentrated and burn through the table tops if they spilled it- and bit her lip. He waited, staring at her, wondering why it was taking her so long to speak. Taking a deep breath she looked up and smiled at him. "Thanks for telling Draco to shut up. Not even the people back home would do that for me. So," She bounced the potion a bit and bowed her head. "Thank you, for everything." Turning she made a dash out of his class, leaving the potions master to look after baffled, his reply falling deaf to the empty desks and potion equipment.

She was almost late for her next class as she ran for the defense against the dark arts room, trying not to spill her potion all over the floor, her books, but more importantly her hands. The potion they had made was a potion Snape himself had created, something he'd called the Color Burning Potion. Or Ignis Coloris for a fancy name. It was a fairly useless potion to know how to make, but it would teach them responsibility, for in its concentrated form would burn through steel like flame to a piece of tissue paper and while it burned the liquid would turn different colors for each compound used to make the item. For example, if human flesh was used to create a weapon, just simply pour a diluted amount on it and once the human flesh was detected it would turn into a light purple color and glow.

Opening the door she bowed her head, apologizing as the kids turned to look at her. At the front of the class was a fairly attractive man with short, light brown hair and a mustache. He smiled at her, turning his attention fully towards her.

"And you are?" He questioned. Shutting the door she made her way to the only available seat in the class.

"Um…E-Ellenyx Fairbourne sir." She replied bowing again, her hair fluttering up and over her shoulders.

"Very polite woman," He smiled and pointed to the chair "take a seat there next to Mister Longbottom, we're just beginning." Nodding she took her seat and placed her books and potion on the desk in front of her. "Alright class, today I would like to start off by discussing what the Dementor's around the school are." He started off, leaning against his desk. "As you've all heard about the murderer on the loose, Sirius Black, Dementor's have been brought from Azkaban to here. They are terrible monsters, who would sooner kill you then show any amount of sympathy. If it can be helped, avoid them as much as possible. That shouldn't be a problem though, because they aren't allowed into school grounds. Now, for those of you who haven't seen what a Dementor looks like, I'll show you some slides of them." He continued on. Deeming this information useless –like she could get away, or like she'd want to now- she looked down at her books.

Reaching forward she took her potion and swished it around in the cup a bit, thinking back on potions class. She'd gotten a good look from Professor Snape when he reviewed it, though he said nothing about it, she could tell he was praising her for the quality of it. Smiling at it she continued thinking, figuring that maybe if she kept it up she could get the hard exterior of her Potions Professor to soften. Her next goal? Was to get him to smile a little.

"Ebullio." Someone whisper in the back of the room. Looking back she saw that no one was looking her then diverted her attention back to her potion. The once calm liquid in the protective container was now bubbling. Looking at it confused she leaned forward, watching as the bubbling began to speed up. Suddenly the cup exploded, sending the liquid all up the front of her, on her face and chest. Automatically she felt the burn and opened her mouth to scream. The boy next to her also let out a loud howl. Clenching her eyes tight she pushed herself to her feet, the cup tipping over and pouring down her legs. It felt as if she were pushed into fire, and soon panic filled the room. The liquid turned four different colors. An illuminating purple, blue, green and red as it burned into her skin.

"Son of a-" the teacher rushed over and grabbed her arm, being careful not to touch the liquid himself. "Follow me Longbottom!" He demanded leading her around her knocked over chair and around the desk, heading for the door. She cried as the skin on her face flared and pulsed, a little landing in her mouth, burning the tip of her tongue as it chewed at her teeth. She was vaguely aware of where she was when the teacher pulled her into a room, demanding immediate attention. Another hand grabbed her and escorted her to another area in the room.

"Put your hands down darling, I need to get the clothes off you before they're melted to your back." A kind but stern woman instructed. She hadn't realized that she was gripping at her face, screaming into her palms. Gritting her teeth she listened, forcing her arms to her sides. The air only made it worse. A quick tug on her clothes followed by cold air all over her body set the liquid on her chest, stomach and thighs ablaze. She cried out, howling in pain as it set in.

"Severus!" Her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher gasped, a fast set of footsteps approaching.

"What is the commotion?" She heard a stern voice then a flustered female's voice, followed by hollering and incoherent words. The only voice that made any sense to her was the woman next to hers.

"Don't come in here! We have a naked student, Severus turn around! Naked female student!" then the sound of a quick retreat and the slam of a door. "Nosey man!" The woman huffed. "Remus what are you still doing in here! Out!" the sound of glass shattering echoed then another rushed retreat followed by another slammed door. "Alright darling, now this is going to sting, but this will negate the mess that nasty Potions Professor caused." She cooed. Her cold hand rubbed a minty smelling liquid on her chest and face. Gasping she screamed again, feeling like she was being dragged through a meat grinder. The stinging sensation only lasted for a few minutes as she moved to get the rest of the burn covered up. "Alright darling, can you open your eyes, or did you get any in there?" She questioned her voice soft once again. Panting from the pain, Nyx forced her eyes open, a slight burning causing her to blink rapidly, but that was more from the smell of the cream than the burn from the potion. She looked up, and opened her mouth to speak then gasped as the flames entered her mouth.

"Madam Pomfrey," A nurse gasped moving forward to help the first woman. "She got some in her mouth, shall I get the gauze?" She questioned grabbing a wash cloth. Nodding Madam Pomfrey took the washcloth from her and put a little of the mint stuff on it.

"Keep your mouth open dear." She instructed, though Nyx didn't have a choice, the flames burned her throat and lungs, she was afraid that if she were to close her mouth her skull would catch flame. "There," She sighed, waiting for the cream to do its job. "better dear?" She questioned concerned. "Did I miss any place?" She pressed. Closing her eyes, closing her mouth after a few minutes Nyx allowed for the mint –mint smelling, the flavor was absurdly disgusting- to settle in, making her mouth turn numb. Nodding Nyx looked back at the woman.

"I'm good…ma'am." She croaked. Smiling the woman grabbed her clothes and brought them into the next room, handing her a towel to wrap herself in. In the next room she heard the other nurse giving the boy who had been sitting next to her the same instructions. The cream will sting, does it hurt? Good. Chewing on her tongue, waiting for the feeling to come back she looked over and saw that there was a shattered flower vase on the floor by the door. There was no stand near it to have fallen off, so her guesses were it was thrown. "This school is mental." She whimpered, sitting on a bed. Her skin was starting to itch and flake. Looking down she gasped. All over where the liquid had touched were dark red burns with pus-filled yellow boils, winning a well deserved gasp of panic from her.

"Ah, it seems to be healing." The woman –Madam Pomfrey- replied coming back in. She looked up at her like she was insane and squeaked.

"Healing? I'm going to be scarred! I'm going to look like Freddy Krueger! Oh no, no no no!" She panicked, covering her face. "If they picked on be before for my greasy looking hair they'll pick on me twice as bad for looking like Harvey Dent!"

"Have a little faith in me young lady! I can fix burns like there's no tomorrow." She lightly tapped her arm with a hand towel and took her shoulder. "Now lay down and I'll have you on the road to a scar free recovery." Nodding, her eyes reflecting her concern and her doubt, but Madam Pomfrey didn't pay it any mind. She knew well that it was Ellenyx's first year at Hogwarts. So naturally there would be some distrust between the two. Covering the burned girl up with blankets she turned and waved her wand, the glass being cleaned up instantly and fixed. She placed the vase back on the bed stand she'd taken it from and headed for the door, opening it. "You may come in now Severus, Remus." She stepped back and headed for the next room where the boy was to tend to his wounds.

Her Potions teacher rushed in, a stern look on his face as he growled at her, keeping his voice down as if to keep everyone else from hearing her

"What part of that Potion is dangerous if it is removed from the protective container do you not understand! And here you are practicing spells on it! Do you have a death wish Ms. Fairbourne? Because certainly while that potion is not a very strong or important potion practicing spells on it will do just that!" She shook her head, his accusations starting to hurt her head. Reaching up she itched the burn gingerly then returned his tone once he'd finished.

"I understood everything you said, and I'm shocked you'd jump to conclusions that I would be practicing spells on it! Do you know what ran through my head when it exploded in my face?" She snarled. He didn't reply, waiting for her to finish. Swallowing she looked down at her burnt chest, mostly covered by blankets and grimaced. "Well, nothing except for searing pain and agony," She turned on him again. "But if there had been some coherent thought running through my head it would possibly be the one I'm thinking now which screams What did he do to it?" His jaw dropped then grabbed her shoulder.

"You dare accuse me girl. I may not like my job as a potions master but I'm not out to kill every child that comes through my class because trust me, if I wanted to kill you you would be dead."

"And if I knew how to use my damn wand I'd use it to kick your ass out of this room for being a cold hearted bastard!" She shrieked, slapping his hand away. He pulled away, everything falling silent. Her Dark Arts teacher looked up from his spot by the door to the next room confused, Madam Pomfrey sticking her head through the door wondering what was going on. Snape worked to compose himself again, finding his usual poker face, which sent rage through her veins. She wanted to scream at him but his position as a teacher –and one who could kill her at that- kept her lips buttoned. But it didn't keep the floodgates sealed. Dropping her head she began crying, her hand moving up to hide it from him.

"Severus," Madam Pomfrey looked at him, her forehead crinkled. "Did you make that girl cry?" She accused. He fumbled for the words to say that wouldn't make him seem like the bad guy in the sudden side swap of what Nyx noticed to be the ever so famous game of "Point the Fingers" There at Hogwarts.

"Isn't that what he's majored in?" Remus questioned, his arms crossed.

"Oh shut up Remus." Snape growled.

"No, don't blame him." Nyx sniffled, crying still. "He's just upset because I blamed him for rigging my potion to blow up in my face." She defended. Even though she wanted to see some sort of punishment for him being a complete jerk to her, she didn't want him to lose his job. Not when he seemed to be the only teacher who noticed that her and Malfoy weren't exactly comrades.

"Are you sure?" Madam Pomfrey questioned, looking at the Potions teacher as if she were the host of a game show, ready to pull the lever once the answer was revealed to be wrong. Nodding Nyx sniffed.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Nodding slowly she turned and headed back to take care of the boy, Remus looking at her for a second before diverting his attention back to the nurse. Turning the potions teacher looked at her confused. Before he could ask anything she shook her head, looking up at him, sniffling. "Don't ask. We're even now." She replied. He didn't say anything, instead he looked towards the door then sighed.

"So you're saying you're not the one who blew the potion up?" He questioned, seeming much calmer than before.

"I wouldn't even if I knew how to use my wand." She agreed, looking up at him. Nodding he thought for a second then looked her in the eyes. He couldn't help but see the boiled skin. The puss filled wounds from her burnt face. It was almost enough to make him sick but he ignored the swooning in his stomach.

"Who was it who did it then?" He questioned. "If you're not the one who did it." She stopped and looked down at her lap, her teeth grating over her bottom lip. She wanted to tell him it was Malfoy. She knew it was Malfoy. The voice sounded familiar, not to mention he was the only one hell bent into making her life a living hell. But she knew that if she did tell him…well…she'd never live it down.

"I don't know sir." She replied instead.

"What do you mean you don't know? You were in class with them, it's impossible for someone to cast a spell and not be found out." He replied, his eyes narrowing.

"I heard someone say something but when I looked up no one was paying attention to me. Also, I'm not good with voices yet sir. If I were a 4th year student I'd be able to recognize the person from their voice alone, but I'm not, and I can't." She pressed. He stopped and sighed, his eyes closed. She noted that he looked tired. "How did you know to come to the infirmary sir?" She questioned, looking at him.

"Well, I was finishing clean up around the stations when I heard a scream. It sounded to me like someone was being murdered. Apparently I was correct." He grimaced. She smiled apologetically and closed her eyes, letting her head fall back on the pillow. Then it clicked. He came running in right when she was stripped of her clothes…which meant…

Gasping she clutched the blankets to her chest, her eyes snapping open as she looked at her potions master, her heart skipping a beat. He looked at her concerned, wondering if she were in pain, or if something spooked her. A hot flush rushed over her, turning her pale cheeks red.

"Sir…when you came in…you…you saw me naked?" She stuttered. He stopped, his eyes open wide as he stared at her. A bit of a flush came to his cheeks. Coughing nervously a bit he looked away and muttered something under his breath.

"I did." He muttered. "Sorry." Groaning she pulled the blankets up and over her head.

"Oh god you'll probably have nightmares for the rest of your life now!" She squealed. Rolling his eyes he crossed his arms, staring at her dramatics.

"Please, I've seen worse things than a naked girl."

"But a naked student? Come on professor, isn't that drilling into your conscience a little?" She pressed, her eyes narrowing as she removed the blankets from over her head, making sure that he couldn't see her nudity by holding the blankets to her chest again.

"Miss Fairbourne, there is nothing I could care less about then seeing you naked, whether you're a student or not. Now," dropping his hands he adjusted his sleeves and then recrossed his arms. "if you'll excuse me. Madam Pomfrey will have you fixed up by the time you're detention rolls around." Turning he made for the door. "Oh, and uh…sorry for seeing you naked." He itched his forehead a bit. She pressed her lips together in a tight line and nodded, feeling a bit violated. Turning he made his way out of the room, his cloak flowing behind him. Sighing she laid her head back against the pillow, rubbing the burn on her face lightly. What had she done to deserve this?

Detention had rolled around sooner than she thought. She'd spent her entire time in the nurses, Madam Pomfrey babying her wounds to make sure that they didn't scar, and by the time it was time for her to leave all that was left of the burn on her face was a slight discoloration of the skin. Thanking the nurse Nyx headed for the room on the top floor, not wanting to be late and keep her teacher waiting. Stopping at the top of the stairs –having ran up them- she panted and pushed the door open. It was dark inside except for a torch, and her professor was nowhere to be seen.

Looking around she wondered where he could be, but as she juggled the thought of going out to find him she thought against it. It would have been bad if she didn't find him and instead him find her, extending her detention because of her skipping her detention. She knew it would happen. It was her luck. Putting her bag on the floor she opened it and pulled out a bundle of cloth. Smiling she carefully kicked off her shoes and slid into a pair of tight shorts, followed by knee pads, shin guards and gloves. Tying her hair back into a bun she found the cup and tooth brush laying where she had left it and dropped to her knees, getting to work.

"I hope he's not too late." She said out loud, talking to herself. "Hell, I hope he didn't cancel it. I'd be so mad if he did and didn't tell me about it until after I finished my time." She continued. About twenty minutes passed and she was really beginning to wonder if he had cancelled, the door opened. The professor walked in and shut the door. Flicking his wand the room lit up, blinding her a bit, causing him to look at her confused.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned. Smiling she continued, brushing her hair out of her face as she continued sweeping.

"I'm doing my time sir." He hesitated then nodded, finding his spot against the wall again.

"You earned your house 5 points Miss Fairbourne." She stopped and looked up at him shocked.

"What? For what?"

"For showing that you can come in and get down to business without a teacher holding your hand." He explained. "Can't say very many students would have done the same." Nodding she turned and continued working, smiling. She felt proud. She had won her house 5 points. It wasn't much but according to how anal he seemed, him awarding points seemed almost impossible. He was definitely a Take points away person. His eyes skimmed her, noticing something was off, then he noticed the knee pads, shin guards and gloves. "Why are you dressed like a Quidditch player?" She started laughing. Pulling back on her knees she sat on the back of her feet, the question sounding so funny from his mouth. Clapping her hands a couple times she looked back at him, beaming proudly.

"Keeps my knees and hands from hurting, not to mention clean." She giggled, then her eyes lit up. Pushing herself to her feet she grabbed her skirt. "And look!" Grabbing the bottom she hiked it up. Snape didn't see the shorts, all he saw was a flash of skin of her thighs before he looked away, his eyes closed. His actions forced her to laugh harder. The laughter wasn't a common reaction to come from a girl hiking her skirt up, flashing her teacher, and it made him curious. Looking he saw that underneath the skirt she was wearing a pair of short black shorts, winning a subtle sigh of relief from him. "Just for you professor. Sorry for the spook." Giggling a bit more she turned and lowered herself to her knees, starting to work again.

"It's inappropriate, not to mention unlady like to hike your skirt up in front of another person. And twice as bad in front of a professor."

"But you already said I was rude sir, why not stretch the limits?" She smiled at him then turned back to working. Snape wondered what was going on with her. First she seemed like she wanted nothing to do with anything, and now here she was fearlessly talking to him as if he were a long lost friend. She was either quick to warm up to people, or foolish.

She continued working, sweeping up pile after pile. After about 30 minutes of pure silence, she began to hum. Some of the tunes she sang were exaggerated, teasing parodies of muggle music, followed by serious melodies which she stopped halfway through when she no longer felt compelled to sing that song and switched to a new one that pleased her. Snape listened, wondering just what the true meaning of the songs she was singing were. He never did like Muggle music. He hated the subjects of most of them. And it seemed as if 99% of them had at least one made up word in them.

"So…do you like…live in your classroom sir?" She questioned, not looking back at him. He glared at her, not sure what she was hinting. "Ah, I didn't mean it in an offensive way just, half the time anyone goes to see you you're in your classroom you know?"

"No, I don't live in my classroom. I either spend my time in the classroom, patrolling the halls after curfew, in my study or categorizing my store room." He replied, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You have a store room? Is that like…a business, or just someplace you keep your potions and stuff like that?" She asked, generally interested.

"A room to store my potions in." He agreed.

"Ah." She fell silent again, continuing her job. "So uh…are you married?" She looked up this time, sweeping the last pile of dirt into her cup. Now all she needed to do was dust, organize the junk, move it around, then sweep again."

"No." He replied bluntly.

"Why not?" She pushed herself to her feet and started dusting the furniture off with the tooth brush.

"None of your business Miss Fairbourne, I suggest you continue your work." He replied his tone a bit snippy now. From the sound of it she knew she must have offended him.

"Sorry for offending you sir." She quickly apologized, not wanting all of the hard work she'd done into getting on such a level with him go to waste by making him hate her.

"I'm not offended." He snapped a bit. She frowned, knowing she'd ruined everything. Above her a clock chimed, filling the room with its loud, echoing chimes. She looked around confused, not having noticed it before. "Good job Miss Fairbourne, you can go back to the common room." He replied walking forward, taking the cup and tooth brush from her.

"I'm done already? Wow I didn't even notice." She smiled at him, but he didn't look at her. Instead turning his back on her he headed for the door. Frowning she followed and pushed by him. Pushing the door open she held it open for him and forced a smile even though she knew it was futile. "Good night sir." She bid, turning to face the steps as he took the door from her. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow." Snape watched as she started ascending the stairs, her hand placed firmly on the railing. He half thought he should apologize to her for snapping on her, but figured it wasn't a real big deal. She didn't seem too hurt about it.

"Miss Fairbourne," He called after her before she got too far. Stopping she turned, looking at him, her eyes large and confused. She looked familiar. She looked really familiar. "Go to breakfast tomorrow." He almost demanded, but she shrugged off the command and smiled.

"And miss out on sucking up your cheery sunlit face in the morning? Feasting on your overjoyed emotions is much more of a treat than bewitched toast and dancing poptarts." She teased. Growling he waved a hand at her.

"Get out of my sight before I lash you so bad your flesh will fall off your bones!" Although he was serious she just laughed and turned, running to her room. He watched her, making sure she headed to the common room and nowhere else. When she was finally out of sight he sighed and headed for his classroom, a million thoughts running through his head. Why was she so different now than she had been before? What had corrupted her so to make her act so cheerful in a situation where she is being threatened punishment?

Opening the door to his room he shut it again and made his way to his desk. He had papers to grade and he knew he was going to be in for a long night. Sitting he sat back, relaxing a bit. Staring at the wall he allowed a very faint smile to appear on his face. "I see Miss Fairbourne. You're going to make things interesting for me."