Yo! I'm kind of surprised (but happy) that this even got any attention. I honestly didn't expect it to. Anyway, thank you to all readers so far!

"Potter, Violet!"

Severus was somewhat surprised when Potter approached the wooden stool after McGonagall called her name. Not because of who she was or anything so mundane, but because of her appearance. He'd spotted her in the line with the other first years, but he hadn't immediately pegged her for who she was. And now that he was looking at her, he wondered why.

She looked just like her father.

She had the same facial structure, and the same dark, messy hair, though it sat at shoulder-length. Her fringe was messy as well, no doubt there to hide the scar on her forehead that everyone in the hall was attempting to gawk at.

But it was her eyes that made him think of Lily. They were the same shape and shade of green but were hidden by a pair of large, round glasses. It seemed she'd inherited her father's poor eyesight-a pity.

What was it that had caught him off guard? Her height, perhaps? She looked relatively small, certainly shorter than any of the other first years and shorter than he remembered Lily being when she'd been the same age. Neither Potter nor Lily had been abnormally tall, but neither had they been particularly short.

But he shrugged that off fairly quickly, assuming she would get taller once puberty kicked in. Her posture was something else that caught his eye. She was already small enough, but her hunched shoulders made her look even smaller.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Severus frowned and refocused as the girl headed off to her new House Table. He was a little disappointed that she had been Sorted there, and then wondered why he'd even expected otherwise. She was a Potter, after all, and even Lily had been Sorted into Gryffindor. Why had he thought there could even be another outcome?

But he continued to watch her, mostly out of a morbid sort of curiosity. The girl wasn't talking much but looked around at everything with wide eyes. The feast seemed to surprise her, but when she began to eat, she took very little food and hunched over her plate. He looked away at that point…

Severus didn't pay attention to the Potter girl again until her class had their first potions lesson on Friday.

He treated her unfairly during the lesson, questioning her about things few first-years would know the answers to. She was scribbling away in her notebook and he thought she wasn't paying attention.

He blamed her fame for it, even though there was a part of him that knew it was wrong. But he questioned her, and only her, and even took a point off, just one, for something she really had no fault in. And after the class was over and the students had left, he realized he'd been wrong.

Potter had left her notebook behind, by accident, no doubt, as she'd seemed to be in a great rush to leave. It was still open, so when he picked it up and took a closer look, he realized with a jolt that she had been paying attention. She'd been taking notes on what he'd been saying. No one else had bothered doing that, none of the Slytherins, and not even Granger.

"U-um…"

He looked up when he heard the voice and saw Potter hesitating in the doorway. Just the sight of her had guilt gnawing at his insides, so he held the notebook out to her. "Be more careful with your belongings, Potter." He saw the way her eyes widened, saw the tentative smile that crossed her face when she accepted the notebook from him, and watched as she all but fled.

Yet the guilt remained.

Severus tried to ignore it as time passed but it never did go away. If anything, it only seemed to get worse. He knew why, as well. He wanted to hate her. He wanted to loathe her. But he couldn't. Really, what had she done that was so wrong? What had she done to warrant his hatred? Very little, and nothing children her age didn't typically do.

Alright, so most eleven-year-olds didn't try to take down mountain trolls to save a friend's life, but he and the rest of the staff were just as much to blame for leaving the students alone. Prefects were children too, after all. And really, if Potter and Weasley hadn't done what they had, then Granger would certainly be dead right now.

The results of the flying lessons made Severus quite angry, too, until he ended up overhearing Potter speaking to Granger, telling her that she wasn't sure what to think about the Seeker position and being on the team. She claimed she wasn't sure she even wanted to play, but the team seemed so pleased to have her and she was worried about disappointing them.

He blamed Dumbledore and McGonagall for putting her on the team and giving said team the hope of having her with them at all.

And then there was the story with the dragon, something he'd thought was Draco's overactive imagination but turned out to be true and was fully Hagrid's fault. Then, swiftly after that was the Forbidden Forest incident.

He blamed Dumbledore for that as well. Sending four first years into a forest that was, by the very definition of its name, forbidden? Pure idiocy. And he decided not to dwell on the entire Philosopher's Stone situation because it was liable to give him an aneurysm.

He still tried to hate the girl though. That summer, while the students were all off doing nothing of note in their homes, Severus continued trying to tell himself all of the reasons he could hate her. But he couldn't.

Then she came back for her second year, looking smaller than ever, and he was furious with her and Weasley for what they'd done with the car and confused that Potter didn't seem to care at all for the danger she had put herself in.

"You could have died! Both of you!"

Weasley paled, looking like he would be ill just by hearing the words, but Potter didn't even flinch. It didn't seem like she was fazed at all. Why did the possibility of her dying not bother her?

Severus thought she and Lockhart would get along merrily, but he quickly realized that she hated the new defence professor almost as much as he did and did whatever she could to avoid him. And the lengths she went to do that avoiding were a lot more amusing than he'd expected them to be…

It was nearly time for dinner, and Severus was on his way to the Great Hall. Making his way down the corridor, he turned the corner and nearly walked right into her. "Potter." She'd been heading in the opposite direction, away from the Great Hall. Was she not going to dinner?

Potter stopped short. "Professor Snape!"

"Violet! Where did you go?"

The girl's eyes widened and before Severus could even think to ask her why Lockhart was looking for her, she backed up against the wall, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him in front of her. Once he was, she tugged at his arm until he turned around, and gripped the robes at his back. And then Lockhart arrived, all perfect hair and irritatingly glimmering teeth.

"Ah, Severus! Have you seen young Violet anywhere?" he asked with a charming smile. "I wanted to discuss my-"

"I have not," Severus interrupted, and to his relief, Lockhart didn't linger, hurrying away down the corridor to continue his search for Potter.

Potter sighed in obvious relief once Lockhart was out of sight, and released her grip on Severus' robes, moving out from behind them. And then she froze and shot him a look filled with apprehension.

"Oh, er-I, s-sorry about that, Professor. Talking to him is kind of, um…" She trailed off and looked away, fiddling with her sleeve.

She really didn't like Lockhart much, eh? Fortunately for her, he felt the same way. "Either get to the Great Hall or return to your common room, Potter. Don't linger in the corridor."

"Y-yes, sir."

"And a point from Gryffindor for manhandling your professor."

She flushed. "S-sorry, sir."

But things didn't get any better after that because soon there was the entire Chamber of Secrets incident that was best not to dwell on.

Despite his intensely skeptical nature, Severus never once thought Potter actually had anything to do with it-more specifically, that she was Slytherin's Heir. Her being a Potter was the biggest reason, but it was also because he was a firsthand witness to her shock, fear, and anger when Granger was attacked. How could he believe she'd set Slytherin's monster on Granger when she looked like she was seconds away from either crying or fainting?

He saw her the moment she entered the hospital wing with McGonagall. She looked flushed and was still in her Quidditch uniform, but there was concern and confusion both painted across her face. She hadn't been told why she was being brought here, then.

Unsure why he was watching her, Severus moved away from the bed, allowing Potter to see who was occupying it, and he saw her pale instantly. She made a sound, something akin to a choked sob. Slowly, she stepped closer to the bed, eyes locked on Granger's body.

"Wh-what-what happened to her?" asked Potter hoarsely, reaching out cautiously to touch Granger's cold, pale hand.

"She has been attacked and petrified like the others, Potter," said Severus when McGonagall didn't answer. "She and Clearwater were found with this." He showed her a small compact mirror. "Does it mean anything to you?"

Potter frowned and shook her head. "No, sir." She looked at Granger again, but with no new information she could give, McGonagall seemed to decide it was better to take Potter back to her common room.

Severus watched them go, and once the wing's doors had shut behind them, looked at the small mirror in his hand, frowning. What significance did it have? Was it just a coincidence? Had Clearwater simply been checking on her make-up when the attack occurred? But why outside of the library of all places? He didn't understand.

Potter wasn't handling Granger's attack well, which was no doubt the reason why she utterly failed to brew her next potion in class correctly. She failed so badly, in fact, that Severus had no choice but to assign her detention. McGonagall would surely scold him for it, but he couldn't be lenient. Not now. Not when he'd spent the last two years being so strict with the girl.

But that detention ended up creating an entirely new problem that he had absolutely no idea how to handle.

Potter was quiet when she entered the dungeon classroom. Quiet and pale, just as she'd been most days since Granger's attack. She didn't make any sort of fuss when he instructed her to clean the stack of cauldrons he'd left by the sink and simply got to work. Severus wasn't surprised though.

He'd long since noticed that Potter rarely argued with her professors. She wouldn't be pleased-that much would be obvious with the mutiny in her eyes and the way her jaw set, but she would never argue either. He wondered why. She wasn't like that with her peers.

Since Potter seemed to be working diligently, Severus decided to busy himself by grading abysmal attempts at essays, though he glanced at her occasionally to make sure she continued her task.

He'd thought of having her re-brew the potion she'd failed at, but had swiftly decided that having her clean cauldrons would be much safer, considering her current state of mind. And it seemed to him that he had made the right choice.

Eventually, some thirty minutes and a stupidity-induced headache later, Severus looked up from his slowly dwindling stack of essays and noticed that Potter was rinsing off the final cauldron. He was actually a little impressed. It typically took over an hour for that many cauldrons to be washed by hand. And it was while he was contemplating this that he saw it.

Potter had a soulmark.

It was a small mark and difficult to make out from where he was sitting, but he knew he wasn't mistaken. He didn't even think much of it until she stepped a little closer to his desk, reaching out to pick up the robes she'd removed earlier. Then he saw it properly. It was a flower, a vi-

Severus' eyes widened and his breath caught in his chest, nearly choking him. No. No, this couldn't be possible. How could it be? Was he mistaken? Surely, he was. He had to be.

"Professor?"

Severus blinked and found the girl near him now, standing across his desk with small hands braced on the dark wood. Her expression showed concern. She was also close enough for him to get a good, long look at her soulmark.

A violet, in the centre of which was a small, indistinct shape that looked vaguely like a cauldron. He wasn't mistaken. It was the same.

"P-Professor?"

"Leave."

"A-are you alright?"

"Get out, Potter!"

She started, shot him a hesitant look, then obeyed and fled the room. The moment the door fell shut behind her, Severus crumpled in his chair, a hollow, humourless laugh escaping him.

What had he done to deserve this? What had he done to deserve such a girl as a soulmate? No, what had she done to deserve a soulmate as bitter and cold as him No, he'd been right from the very beginning. This soulmate thing was entirely idiotic.

Severus didn't tell Potter what he knew. There was no reason to upset and burden her with the knowledge. One didn't have to be with their soulmate to live a full and content life. Potter would be better off not knowing who hers was.

Perhaps that was selfish of him. Selfish not to tell her the truth. After all, it should be her own decision to choose whether she wanted a proper relationship with her soulmate or not. Severus knew that, but he just couldn't do it.

He couldn't believe she could possibly want to have anything to do with him. He wasn't sure he even wanted her to accept the situation.

She was young yet anyway. Too young. Maybe his mind would change once she was older. Maybe by then, it wouldn't matter anymore. Maybe by then, she would find someone else for her. Someone who wasn't him. That would be perfectly fine, he decided.

It would.

Yet, the revelation of Potter being his soulmate only made things worse, because now every time she did something dangerous, it had his heart pounding, his anxiety rising, and Salazar, the panic and fear that filled him was surreal. And since this was Potter, he was talking about, it was far too bloody often.

She was going to be the death of him.

Things were not going particularly well in the castle. Ginny Weasley had been kidnapped by Slytherin's monster or Slytherin's heir and had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets, and no one knew what to do.

It didn't take Severus long to realize the staff was already mourning her death. Her parents, who had been notified instantly, had arrived at the castle and were no different. But what was this going to accomplish?

Severus understood why they were all upset. Frankly, he was rather upset as well. Ginny Weasley was a first year. She was just a child. There was no reason for her to be involved in something like this, and he was certainly curious to know why she was the one who'd been taken.

All of the victims, save for the ghost, had been Muggleborns, but Weasley was a Pureblood. Was it because the Weasleys were known as blood traitors?

Regardless of the reason for her kidnapping, Severus knew no one was going to be able to find her if all they did was sit on their hands and cry. But there was nothing he could do either. It wasn't as if he knew where the Chamber of Secrets was. There was a part of him that still wasn't entirely sure it even existed. There was no real proof that it did.

So, he sat in the staff room, waiting and wondering. What was going to happen to Weasley? Was she truly already dead? Would she ever be found? How was Dumbledore going to get out of this mess once the board found out about this? He stared out of the darkened window unseeingly, thinking.

And then he felt the pain.

A sharp pain shot through his arm, and Severus bit back a gasp, his right hand closing around his left wrist. The pain was far too low to belong to the Dark Mark which, of course, left only one other possibility. His soulmark.

Potter.

Potter was in mortal peril. There was no other reason for his soulmark to be hurting in this way. Or was she already dead? Severus attempted to relax, unwillingly to draw attention to himself.

Not wanting to look at his soulmark with so many others in the room, he instead slipped the fingers of his right hand up under his left sleeve and to the inside of his wrist. The mark was still there, slightly raised against his skin.

Severus released a slow breath. Potter was still alive, then. The mark would have disappeared if she was dead. He was sure, even without having to dwell on it, that Potter was currently involved in something that had to do with Ginny Weasley or the Chamber of Secrets, but what sort of danger was she in if the mark was causing him this much pain...?

"A basilisk!?"

"Yes, I was quite surprised myself," said Dumbledore conversationally, "but I suppose I should have considered it. The king of serpents is a very fitting 'monster' for Salazar Slytherin to have had. We were fortunate Violet was able to not only defeat the basilisk, but ensure young Ginny's safety as well."

Potter shouldn't have had to do that at all, was what Severus wanted to say, though he stopped himself before he did. But at least he now knew why his soulmark had caused him so much pain earlier.

That pain had long since diminished, stopping almost as suddenly as it had begun. Everyone involved in the Chamber of Secrets incident, including all of the Muggleborns, was alive and well.

Except for Lockhart's memory, of course, but there was nothing of value lost there.

Though frustrated with Dumbledore's unconcerned attitude, Severus was more than a little relieved when the summer holidays rolled around. At least the girl would keep herself safe now, right…?

That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!