Hello everyone! Thanks for sticking with me until now and thanks to everyone for their reviews! School is over for this year so I'll have much more time for writing. Keep an eye on things, fourth year will get interesting! ;)

"You've been tense lately." Theo mentioned as they walked to the Dungeons.

Anna glanced at him, moving the strap of her backpack further over her shoulder. Her elegant cardigan clung gently to her slender frame and she was wearing petrol colored curderoy pants that kept her warm as they walked through the chilling corridors. She didn't feel like answering, not really. Her eyes stayed fixed ahead, willing him to forget the question. Not that there was much chance of that.

Theo's irritation burned a hole in the side of her head as they kept walking. As soon as they got to the dungeons he grabbed her arm and dragged her to a dark corner where they wouldn't be seen or heard. She didn't draw her wand; Theo would never hurt her and she knew that. His brown eyes bored into hers, glinting slightly in the dim candle light. His lips were pursed as he looked down at her. She wasn't particularly short, he had just gone through a growth spurt that left him lankier than he usually was.

"Talk." He urged.

An exhasperated groan escaped her. "I'm just not overly thrilled about the Dementors, as you should already be aware. I can't defend against them."

"What do you mean? Can't you do a Patronus? You should have enough magical power for that." He said quickly, frowning in confusion.

"Oh, I don't know Theo. My magic is all sunshine and rainbows, isn't it?" She snapped.

He blinked. A few seconds passed before he looked down. "Right. Sorry."

Anna almost groaned. So maybe she could have been nicer. "I'm sorry, Theo. I'm just..." She huffed trying to find a word for what she was feeling.

Theo looked back at her, his cocky smile resurfacing again and she couldn't help but feel he had made her feel guilty on purpose. She didn't know wether to be impressed or extremely threatened by that.

"Oh, it's fine Anna." He said and turned back in the direction of the common room. "Shall we go?"

Cursing inwardly she followed. Damn Slytherins, if she may say so herself. Why should she feel guilty? She didn't feel guilty. Not at all.

As Anna's train of thought progressed, they got closer to the common room, crossing paths with other Slytherins. Some of the older ones acknowledged them with nods, most of the younger ones pretended they didn't see them. It was weird, really. Only the Death Eater children knew who she was, so only they were completly content with her interacting with the other purebloods. Most of the other Slytherins were under the impression that she was a mudblood, like the rest of the school. Not that she cared, as long as they didn't call her that to her face, which they wouldn't since the whole house knew she had quite a few friends with a large inventory of curses. Including her year. It was an unspoken rule in her year. If Anna says something, you listen to her. If Anna says nothing, you listen to Draco.

They reached the blank patch of wall and Theo cleared his throat.

"Wolfsbane." He said.

The wall opened, granting them full access to the dark, elegant room. They stepped inside and headed to their friends who were seated in the center of the room on the larger, more comfortable couches. It was usually the seventh years' spots but Draco was talking animatedly to Marcus Flint and the rest of the seventh years were chatting indulgently with the rest of their third year friends so it must have been fine. When they stepped closer Draco looked up, grinning widely when he saw his cousin and childhood friend.

"Anna!" He called, holding up two coats. One was hers and the other was his. "Done with your pet-project?"

The girl raked her fingers through her curls. "Sort of. I still have a few things to work out."

It was the first time she tried to make her own spell and she hadn't thought it'd be this much work. It was a curse. A particularly nasty one maybe but it would come in handy sometime, she was sure. All it did was mess around with the senses in the body. Up became down, left became right, the balance was messed up. That sort of thing. It was tricky to say the least.

"Great!" Draco stood and their friends followed. "Off to Hogsmead then!" His smile was blinding.

Daphne and Pansy's muffled complaints could be heard through the resounding silence of the Great Hall. Each of them had gotten a soft mattress on the floor with thick blankets and a soft pillow. Enough to lure them to sleep normally, but none of the children could do so. Sirius Black had been in the castle and it had left all of them on edge. Anna didn't know what to think. She had told Draco as much. He wouldn't hurt them, would he? He was family. Draco had snorted derisively but kept his thoughts to himself. Even if Black did try to hurt them, he had escaped Azkaban, was nearly starving and without a wand. What harm could he do to any of them?

In attempt to make herself more comfortable, she turned from her stomach to her back. Through the dark she caught glimpses of her friends. Theo was on one side of her, Draco on the other. The rest of the third years were around them and the other Death Eater children surrounded them in turn. Anna pretended not to notice. Really, she was more bothered by the fact that they had made them sleep in the Great Hall.

It wasn't decent to walk around in her sleeping clothes.

Aunt Narcissa would have a fit if she could see her niece. In fact, once she found out she would probably write a letter of complaint and the Ministry would place even more dementors around them. Fudge wanted to keep the Malfoys happy, didn't he? Who would pay for his election campaigns otherwise? Without the Malfoys he was nothing, they were the puppeteers in the dark.

A sigh left her and she closed her eyes to the bright and gentle stars of the ceiling, letting her conciousness fall into darkness.

"Fantastic! Of course Father's going to win this." Draco drawled as he started taking out his DADA things and laying them on his desk.

Anna took a seat next to him, elegantly crossing her ankles under her chair like aunt Narcissa had taught her. By now the ettiquette classes were ingrained into her, like with Pansy and Daphne who did the same on the desks to their right. The Lestrange heir fixed her neat skirt and nodded absently at Draco's boasting. Truthfully, she didn't really care. Draco had been hurt by his own stupidity and lack of though and she couldn't care less about what they did to the animal. A waste of a grand magical creature, maybe, but she wasn't particularly bothered by it.

She was examining her nails when the door burst open. Snape strode into the room, whipping his wand at the windows and closing the shutters, leaving the classroom dark. As soon as he got to the desk at the front of the class he laid a book down and without looking at them, ordered them to open their books to page three hundred and ninety-four. Obediently, they did.

Anna raised an eyebrow at the topic.

"Excuse me, sir. Where's professor Lupin?" Potter asked from a few desk ahead of them.

Snape's dark eyes turned to him, regarding him with contempt before answering."That's not really your concern, is it, Potter? Suffice it to say, your Professor finds himself incapable of teaching... at the present time." Then he whipped his wand at Weasley, who was sitting next to Potter and leafing lazily through his book. "Turn to page three hundred and ninety-four!"

With a snap, the book opened up at the right page and the red haired boy gaped. "Werewolves?"

"But, sir, we've just begun learning about Red Caps and Hinkypunks." Granger piped up. "We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks-"

"Quiet!" Snape snapped.

Granger winced.

Anna tapped Draco's hand. He turned his face slightly to show he was listening. From the corner of her mouth she asked:

"Did you see Granger come in?"

Draco was silent for a second before he light moved his head sideways. That's what she thought. Anna hadn't either. Strange, mostly Granger was impossible to miss, what with her loud rattling of facts at two hundred miles an hour and her large mane of hair bursting in all directions.

"Why?" Draco asked.

Anna shrugged. "Just wondering."

They turned their attention back to Granger, who was answering a question they had missed.

"-animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice. With each full moon when he transforms he no longer remembers who he is. He'd kill his best friend if he crossed his path. Furthermore, the werewolf only responds only to the call of its own kind –"

At that Draco thought he had to be funny and howled as a wolf. Anna forcefully suppressed a grin, not that her cousin couldn't tell she was amused.

"Thank you, mister Malfoy." Snape said, sarcasm dripping from his tongue, before turning to glare at Granger. "That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Are you incapable of restraining yourself, or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?"

And with that, Anna tuned out the rest of the class.

"No, you go." Anna smiled up at Draco, a mug of hot cocoa in her hand. Maybe the whole idea of going to the Three Broomsticks was to have butterbeer but she couldn't care less. The snow outside had chilled her to the bone so she was perfectly happy with hot cocoa. Beside her sat Daphne, who was busy with drying the melting snowflakes from her golden hair, and across from her sat Pansy, who was drying her new suede boots with a charm she haad learned. Maybe the clothes they wore were a bit too... posh for wandering through the snow covered Streets, but they could care less.

On Anna's other side Theo nodded.

"Yeah, Draco. We saw the shrieking shack last time." He took a sip from his butterbeer and looked innocently up at the blonde boy.

"Fine." Draco humphed and tied his scarf tighter around his pale neck. Then he fixed Theo with a stare and without looking at Blaise said: "Blaise. Please keep an eye on Theodore for me."

Blaise who sat across from Theo, next to Pansy, rolled his eye and straightened his cashmere sweater. "Whatever you say." Though they could tell he was only saying it to placate Draco. It was really not worth arguing with him when he got in one of his 'protective' moods.

"Lets go Vince, Greg." With that he strode out, followed by the larger boys.

"Sometimes he gets on my nerves." Theo muttered.

Anna looked sideways at him, a smile tugging on the corner of her lips. "Everyone gets on your nerves."

Before Theo could respond, Daphne cut in. "Not you, Anna."

Anna raised her eyebrows at the same time that Theo sputtered. "Have you met her? She gets on my nerves almost constantly!"

After that, the conversation was moved to safer waters. Much to Anna and Theo's visible relief. The talking in their booth was kept calm until Draco and the other two came in caked in snow and soaked. With a disgusted sound, Draco squeezed himself between Anna and Theo and took off his cap and scarf, draping them over the back of the seat along with his jacket. Theo waved his wand over the discarded clothing, casting a drying charm with a disgruntled look on his face.

"What happened?" Anna asked, eyeing Draco's flushed face.

"Nothing." He grumbled. "Someone thought they were being funny."

Anna smirked. "You tend to get into all sorts of trouble when I'm not around."

He mock glared at her, which looked more like a pout than anything else. "Fine. Then you can never leave my side again."

"Oh, someone save me!" She pretended to faint.

"Honestly, space is good for you." Pansy muttered.

"Not always, it isn't." Draco smirked, wrapping an arm around Anna's shoulders.

Anna's smirk grew wider as she spotted Theo scowling on Draco's other side.

Anna grit her teeth in irritation as her feet sunk down in the squishy, smelly mud of the marsh professor Lupin had conjured. She was half tempted to reveal he was a werewolf just for ginving them this exam. It was a good exam, true, but that did not mean she was not close to snapping. One more whisper from the Hinkypunk and she would just destroy the useless creature. It had fired various bursts of flames at her already, which she had easily deflected, and she was far from happy. Only the fact that she would probably be ducked points if she killed the little beast stopped her from turning it to dust.

Suddenly she was out of the marsh and on a patch of grass. She was in a clearing. The only visible way out of it seemed to be a large wardrobe and, if the classes were anything to go by, there would be a boggart in there. Anna took a deep breath to prepare herself. As she walked she vanished the mud from her shoes and clothing and tucked all loose hairstrands back in her knot. The tips of her fingers brushed the pretty alabaster pin she had gotten from Daphne for Christmas. With her other hand she held on tightly to her wand.

Slowly but surely, she made her way to the wardobe. It was tall, made of dark wood and shaking slightly. For one, the sun was bright overhead and heated up the back of her neck. She took another breath. Anna didn't know what her deepest fear was. Was it losing her family? Failing? Not having magic?

She bit her lip andreached for the handle. When her fingers curled around it she hesitated once more. A frustrated groan passed her lips.

"Stop being ridiculous Anna." She mumbled. "You're powerful. You can take care of a boggart with ease. Go on."

Another few seconds passed before she pulled open the door and forced herself to step inside.

It was dark inside, yet strangely enough she could see perfectly. There was someone there, the boggart had taken the form of a human, but she couldn't clearly see who it was. She raised her wand, it shook. Why was she nervous? She could hear footsteps getting closer. The tunnel she was in wasn't all that big and completely empty but for whoever was in there with her.

"H-hello?" Her voice was trembling. Why was her voice trembling?

She frowned at the boggart's form once it stood before her. It looked like herself. Boggart Anna's face was twisted into a cruel smile and there was a glint in her eyes that made shivers run up Real Anna's spine. There was blood on Boggart Anna's hands and she raised her dirty fingers to her mouth and licked some of the substance off.

"Anna~" The boggart sang.

"W-wha-"

"Anna~" It repeated. "Having fun, Anna?"

"Fun?" Her mouth was dry and she didn't know why she hadn't cursed it yet.

"Yes, fun! I know I am." The boggart twirled, swishing Anna's curls around. "It's so nice, spending time with mum like this. She says I'm just like her, that she's pround." She giggled. "I'd do anything for her."

Even...? Anna's mind froze. This... This beast, this cruel creature... was that her? Had she let herself... change like this? For her mother? Would she go this far? No. No she wouldn't.

"You're not me." She tried to state it strongly, but her voice came out weak and afraid.

"Of course I'm you, Anna! You've always been me! We've always been like this."

"No. No I'm not. I'm not cruel." She took a breath and licked her lips, trying to calm herself down. When she spoke next her voice had become stronger. "That's not me."

From her wand, the riddiculus spell hit the Boggart and it was blasted backwards. Her breath calmed down as she walked past a small pile of black ashes. She wouldn't let herself think about this. That was not me. She was not cruel and she would not go to the length of destroying herself for her mother. She would not give away her humanity to keep that woman proud, or anyone else, for that matter.

Anna looked up from her Herbology essay, startled at the loud banging from the entrance of the Slytherin Dungeon. Draco, Vincent and Gregory hurried inside. Her cousin was spitting curses and profanities at the air, clutching the side of his face and stumbling towards the other third years. Anna frowned and put her quill back in the inkwell, standing in order to go to Draco. He had dropped down in one of the armchairs, still seething and muttering.

From the corner of her eye Anna saw Pansy getting up to go to him but she held up a hand to stop her friend. This was better handled by family. Slowly she walked over to the blonde boy, dismissing the other two with a flick of her hand, and crouched down in front of him. His grey eyes were puffy, or the one that was uncovered by his hands, were puffy and red, as if he were holding back tears. His handsome features were twisted into a scowl mixed with pain and he was biting his lip. There was dirt on his dark blue sweater and the knees of his trousers were scraped.

A soft sigh passed her lips and she put a hand over his, gently prying his fingers away from his face. The silence of the room was deafening, but she didn't pay any attention to it. If this was what she thought it was...

Scowling even more fiercely, Draco let her move his fingers away and kept their fingers entwined as he laid their hand down on his lap.

Anna bit her lip as she saw the already blooming bruise on his porcelain skin. There were angry red marks on the outsides of the bruise but the skin directly over the bone of the eye socket was already purple. The skin was slightly swollen and his left eye was already squinting. Anger blossomed in her chest, seeing the damage caused to her cousin. Damage which he had provoked, no doubt, but damage no less. No matter what he had done, this was not something she would take lightly. From anyone.

A hiss forced itself up her throat and formed a word. "Bastards"

Anna bit her tongue. This was not the time for Parseltongue, yet the savage need for revenge twisted in her gut. This need was all her own though, just enhanced by the horcrux. It caused her to want the ones responsible begging for death. She knew it should frighten her, knew it would frighten her once she was thinking straight, but at the moment she relished in it.

"Who was it?" Her voice was dangerously low and it carried through the common room. "What happened?"

Draco swallowed. "We went to watch the execution." He said. "Potter, Weasley and Granger were there. At first she was going to curse her but the she... she punched me. Like an animal, like a muggle." The last word was said with so much disdain and disgust that Anna was almost surprised. Almost.

But she knew. Being punched, by a witch no less, as if you weren't even worth the magic of a curse, was a terrible insult. Not only did it hurt (she had been punched plenty in the orphanage) but the mere brutishness of it was... appalling.

Anna grit her teeth. "By Hagrid's cabin?"

Draco nodded.

She stood. "Pansy, Theo, please take Draco to Pomphrey." She turned back to her cousin. "Don't tell her a thing. I'll take care of it."

Draco nodded without looking at her. It was true that she was being slightly demeaning towards him by taking his protection into her own hand, as if he couldn't do it himself, but she only wanted what was best for him. She knew he was more than capable of doing things on his own but she had to do this. There was no other way. The beast in her chest growled in agreement. Anna placed a soft kiss on his right cheek and turned away, stalking out the door with a thunderous look on her face.

It wasn't long before she got to a large arch, leading to a grass field with the Whomping Willow in the center. Some small ways past it were the three Gryffindors looking over to Hagrid's hut with grave faces. Anna didn't know where to begin. Should she curse them now? Should she get them punished first and then curse them? The hot thirst for blood had calmed down and her heartbeat was steady once more. That didn't mean she was any less angry, she just had a firmer grip on her emotions.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the small group. Weasley was running away from his friends, after a rat. He threw himself on the floor, clutching it tightly to his chest and looking down at it in a perplexed manner. Anna cocked her head in interest. Then Weasley looked up and shouted something, pointing behind the other two. Anna squinted, trying to see what was there. A large black figure hulked still for a second before hurling itself over Potter and Granger towards Weasley. She knew that figure. Snuffles, she thought, eyes widening. The dog bit Weasley's leg and started dragging him to the Whomping Willow. That was strange, the dog had been nothing but gentle to her.

Once Weasley disappeared into the tree, Potter and Granger seemed to snap themselves from their stupor and hurried to the tree. Clearly, the tree was not in the mood to have teenagers in its roots. Anna watched with raised eyebrows as it swung the two remaining Gryffindors through the air. It didn't take long for them to catapult themselves after the red head, though, and that made up Anna's mind. Getting them in trouble first, then.

She turned on her heel and walked back to the dungeons, but instead of heading to the common room she walked to Snape's office. Carefully she knocked on the door.

"Enter." The Potions Master drawled from the inside.

Anna opened the door and popped her head inside. "Sir? I'm sorry to bother you..."

Snape looked up at her from his seat by the fireplace. He snapped the book in his hands shut.

"What is it, Connors?" He moved a hand to the other armchair in front of his. Many people thought he was cold, but he was their head of house and he cared for their well-being. His door was always open to them.

"Granger punched Draco." She said.

Snape raised his eyebrows. "What?" His voice was raspy and there was the slightest hint of worry there, if she was not very much mistaken.

"He's alright. Pansy and Theo took him to the hospital wing." She shook her head. "But I headed to where Potter, Weasley and Granger were to..." She trailed off, letting him know what she was thinking of doing was not exactly in the school rules. "But when I got there I saw them heading into a passage in the Whomping Willow."

Snape's eyes widened. "You're sure of this?"

Anna nodded.

Her Head of House stood in a flash. "Thank you, Connors. Ten points to Slytherin." Then he hurried out the door.

A small smirk formed on her face and she headed back to the Whomping Willow. Her strides were slow and relaxed. She wasn't going to hurt them now, she was only going to see the damage done and plan her revenge for later. It was getting late and curfew was coming up, but she didn't care, she wanted to see them get in trouble.

When she got there, however, Snape was shielding them from... a... werewolf? Lupin? Snuffles burst from the foliage to one side and knocked into Lupin. In a flurry of movement the dog and the werewolf moved away from the others. Potter ran after them. Snape tried to grab him but failed.

Anna scowled. How useless could they all be? Her wand was out in an instant and she stunned Snape and Weasley. Before Granger could figure out where the spells came from, Anna had already cast a curse on her.

"Diluere." Came the low hiss, and Granger started stumbling. Up became down, down became up, left and right were switched and her sense of balance started crumbling. Anna had recently finished the curse and, she had to admit, it was good. Granger fell to her knees, and closed her eyes, clutching her head. The Slytherin pranced over the the bushy haired girl, pressing her wand to her own throat.

"Mitigare." She mumbled and she felt her vocal cords moving and changing. She stood by Granger and lowered her lips to the other girl's ear.

"Keep your filthy mudblood hands to yourself, Hermione." She said, her voice sounding rougher and not as her own.

Then she straightened up and canceled the spell on her voice. In the distance she could hear Potter screaming as more and more dementors flew above the forest to where he was. The air grew colder and colder and Anna was very disinclined to go over and help.

At another scream from the boy she sighed.

"Alright, alright." She mumbled. "Stop being such a priss." Though she knew very well that whatever he was going through was no picnic.

She headed over to McGonagall's office and knocked on the door. A startled McGonagall opened the door. "Miss Connors, it's past curfew!"

"I know, professor." She said. "I was reading and time got the better of me. I just thought you should know that Granger, Weasley and professor Snape are unconscious by the Whomping Willow and Potter is screaming somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. I came across them when I was heading to the common room."

McGonagall's eyes widened and she ran away, not sparing Anna a glance. The Lestrange sighed and headed to her common room.

"Never a 'Thank you, Anna.', 'Well done, Anna.' or a 'Ten points to Slytherin, Anna.'. No, of course not." She huffed. "I'm feeling very unappreciated."

When Anna and Draco got back to Malfoy Mannor, Aunt Narcissa was waiting for them with a large smile on her face.

"How was school?" She asked.

With a scowl, Anna rolled her eyes. "Uneventful and ungrateful."