Blackeyed Girl

So here is finally chapter 20 thanks to Ari who was very fast in betaing it, so thanks a lot!

I hope to be faster with updating the next chapters again. Last week I was travelling from Germany back to Scotland with a stop in London and as I have not been home in two month there was a lot to catch up with. But now I should be able to get back to it properly. Btw can I just say how ever more excited I am getting about the 15th of July coming near?



Ok, anyway:

this chapter is a bit of a transitional chapter.



@Daugther of a Serpent: so you think Snape is suspecting Lucius? Hmm could be, he actually is not sharing his suspicions much with me at the moment, lol.





------------------------------------------



Chapter 20

The Cause of Glow



When Snape and Eleanor arrived back at Hogwarts, Snape had very mixed feelings about letting Eleanor return to Ravenclaw tower. He had watched her at breakfast, when she was sitting opposite him, apparently not taking any notice of him. He was convinced that something more than drinking had happened that night. She was glowing. He could not be sure that this glow did not have to do with those make up and glam charms she tried to master now, but his instinct told him it was not that. It was something else, something that worried him. He was responsible for her. She was a naïve young girl. He had no doubt that she was oblivious to how evil men could be when it came to getting what they want, but what had happened? What ever it was she did not seem to believe it had been something bad. She seemed happier than ever and full of excitement. But she carried it deep within herself, protected from him. Why was she hiding this from him? He could only imagine that she did this because she knew it was not right, what ever it was. Panic came over him once in a while when he thought of possibilities such as pregnancy. If Eleanor had had sex and was pregnant he would have to take care of not only her but also a baby. He would have to kill himself if that happened, he thought. He had to know, he had to find out. But what could he do? She did not tell him willingly, and he could not invade her mind. This worried him also. What was behind this unnaturally strong occlumency?



Eleanor on the other hand had no worries at all. She had slept off the exhaustion and headache and was full of positivity. Whatever the kiss had meant, wherever this would go, her little secret made her feel more alive than she had ever felt.



When she entered the dormitory Molly struggled out of her grip immediately and run over to Luna, who looked up at her as she piled up her folded clothes on the chair beside her bed.



“Oh hello”, said Luna and smiled at the kitten as it jumped on her bed.



“She missed you, I think”, said Eleanor.



“How was your holiday? You look different”, said Luna.



Eleanor stroke a hand through her thick, black hair and grinned embarrassed: “Yeah… I guess. I had a great holiday, you?”



“Oh yes, it went very well. Saw lots of Snowbees. I took pictures but you can’t really see them, look.”



Luna held up a photograph. Eleanor stepped closer to look at it. It was a picture of a snow-covered field and it still appeared to be snowing.



“Hmm”, said Eleanor.



“I know. It was still fascinating.”



“I bet.”



Eleanor smiled. It felt good to be back. Something inside her had been missing the excitement of being near Mr. Malfoy, but now that she was back she felt a long missed warmth spread inside her, the warmth of friends. Her mind kept wondering back to Draco\'s father and why he had kissed her. What did it mean and was she going to see him again? But Luna brought her back out of her thoughts asking her if she was ready for dinner.



On their way to dinner that night they met Ginny in the hallway.



“Hey guys! Good holiday? Hey Ellie, look at you! Someone got some Christmas present it seems”, said Ginny as she approached. Eleanor looked away embarrassed. “How did you get your hair that glossy?”



Eleanor shrugged: “Charm.”



“A present from Snape?”



“Oh no, he got me a book about the dark arts and his old potion kit.”



Ginny frowned: “Lovely.”



That moment Eleanor caught Draco’s eye as he walked by on his own. Ginny noticed and turned round also. Draco looked straight at Eleanor and gave her a quick grin and the most vague nod before he disappeared into the Great Hall.



Ginny kept staring at the door through which Draco had disappeared.



“What was that?”



“That was Draco”, said Luna dreamily, taking Ginny’s question rather literally.



“What was he doing?” Ginny continued perplexed, “was he… smiling at you?”



Eleanor frowned. She was not sure.



The three girls followed the other students into the Great Hall and Ginny waved them goodbye as she went to sit with the other Gryffindors. Eleanor and Luna sat down at the Ravenclaw table. Eleanor immediately felt watched and looked up to the teacher’s table. It was Snape who was watching her intently. She looked back at him for a short moment, then decided to ignore him and turned away again catching Draco’s eyes in the process, she ignored him too and looked at her plate.



Neither she nor Snape noticed that Dumbledore was watching them. And it was not until after dinner that Dumbledore caught up with Snape on the way out.



He lay a hand on his shoulder and said airily: “Had a good Christmas, Severus?”



Madam Hooch overheard him and raised an eyebrow as she walked past them.



Snape sighed quietly and answered: “Christmas…. Like I can afford to still enjoy the afterglow of Christmas.”



“So you did enjoy it” mused Dumbledore as he stirred Snape down the corridor, into the opposite direction of the dungeons.



“It was fairly enjoyable up to the point where my mark burned.”



Dumbledore only looked up at him attentively as they walked but remained quiet.



“I had to leave Eleanor at the Malfoys while doing the Dark Lord’s petty work in Dorset.”



“Anything, we should know about?”



“Nothing we do not already know”, he paused.



“Hmmm, did Miss Prince enjoy herself at Malfoy Manor?”



Snape turned to look at him and rose a brow.



Dumbledore elaborated: “It must impress a young girl who has never seen such wealth.”



“She likes Lucius Malfoy”, Snape said darkly. Dumbledore seemed not surprised.



“Young women are as easily impressed by looks as young men.”



Snape snorted: “He bought her clothes.”



“Did he now? How very generous of him”, said Dumbledore so oddly cheerful compared to Snape’s brooding remarks.



It was quiet a moment then Dumbledore turned to look at Snape’s profile.



“Are you worried about this, Severus? Or is there something else.”



“I don’t know. Something is wrong. I know that.”



“Talk to her”, said Dumbledore.



“I did. She didn’t tell me anything.”



“Try again. Don’t give up”, he stopped and held Snape back, “just a little advice, sometimes pressure and force is not the way to open something… or someone. If she trusts you, she will tell you if something is the matter.”



Dumbledore patted Snape’s shoulder and then left him alone in the corridor.



Snape looked after the Headmaster. He did not want to let him know his fears. He had nothing to ground them on yet. And he did not want to tell him about that wall he had encountered when trying to apply legilimency on her. He did not think that Dumbledore would approve of his tactics and he wanted to find out more himself first, before he would go to Dumbledore with this. He decided to speak to Eleanor again tonight. There was no time to be wasted if she was indeed pregnant. He did not even want to think about who the father could be. It was bad enough even if she was not pregnant. He tried to hold on to that feeble hope that really nothing at all had happened that night. But his instincts told him this was wishful thinking.



His eyes caught a Ravenclaw 1st year and he caught up with him.



“Mr. Wallace.”



The small boy stopped in his tracked at the sound of the Potions Master\'s voice and turned around terrified.



Snape caught up and looked down at him with his black eyes: “You know my ward, Eleanor Prince, 5th year Ravenclaw?”



The boy nodded, still staring up at him.



“Go to your common room and find her. Tell her I want to see her in my office immediately. Do you understand?”



The boy nodded again and walked away as quickly as he could without loosing house points for running in the corridors.



About twenty minutes later there was knocking on the door to Snape’s office.



“Come!”



Eleanor entered. She was still wearing her Ravenclaw uniform. She looked cold and collected as she walked towards him.



“You wanted to see me?”



Snape looked up from his desk and stood up to walk towards her.



“Yes”, he stopped right in front of her and crossed his hands behind his back, “I wanted to talk to you. As you know I am not satisfied with your choice to have secrets from me.”



Eleanor looked down a moment then she straightened back up to meet his eyes again. She had known it would be about this. She did not reply, she only locked her black eyes with his.



Snape did not break eye contact as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door. She heard the lock click.



“You are not leaving this room before you told me what happened after you left the ballroom that night.



Now Eleanor looked away. She walked over to a chair that stood in front of a shelve full of pickled something’s in glasses. She sat down and stared back up at him.



“Then I am going to be here for a very long time. You should probably let Flitwick know. He will be wondering where I have disappeared to by the time exams come up”, she said pragmatically.



“Don’t get cheeky with me, girl!”, Snape hissed, “don’t you dare think you can outsmart me!”



“That was not my intention, Professor.”



Snape stared at her. She was like a black void in space. He had seen the difference inside her so clearly that night, the glow and the alcohol endorsed euphoria about something, something he needed to know! But now, she had prepared herself for this. He had warned her that they were not finished and she had taken his warning seriously and had prepared herself. Anything that could give her secret away was buried deep inside her now.



He was tempted to try legilimency again. But he knew it was useless. He remembered what Dumbledore had said. He breathed deeply and stepped towards her.



”Listen, Eleanor”, he started, trying hard to not sound angry or tentative, “I need to know what happened. I am your guardian and you are under age. I am not angry with you for drinking and I won’t be angry no matter what it is you are keeping from me. I just need to know. You might not even know how important it is. I want to protect you. Let me protect you.”



Eleanor looked back at him blankly, then she said: “I appreciate that, Professor, I really do, but I prefer to keep this to myself.”



Snape froze. He had forced himself so hard to try it Dumbledore’s way, it had not at all been easy for him. And his hard attempt had bounced off her just like his legilimency had done. There she sat, black-eyed, inscrutable.



“You ARE going to tell me”, he growled.



She only looked back at him silently.



“I have interrogated wizards a lot more wilful and powerful than you. You are no match for me!” he thundered.



Eleanor’s eyes narrowed, yet inscrutable: “When you were a Deatheater?”



Snape caught his breath. He had not wanted to give her any sort of insight into his dark past. It had slipped out accidentally. It was her eyes, their emptiness made him loose his focus.



“Tell me, now”, he growled.



Eleanor shook her head.



He made a big step towards her, grabbed her by the collar and shook her roughly.



“Tell me!”



“It’s private!” Eleanor shouted but did not attempt to struggle. Snape pulled her up at him and held her firmly as he shook her again.



“No! You will tell me what happened!”



“Let go. You’re hurting me, Sir.”



Now he gripped her hair instead and Eleanor whimpered in pain.



“I’m not hurting you. But that can change very quickly!”



“Don’t… don’t… don’t.” Now Eleanor had her eyes squeezed shut. Snape stared at her whispering her pleas.



“Stop it! Look at me!” he shouted and shook her again, his fist tightly in her black hair.



“No!” Eleanor cried and kept her eyes squeezed shut.



Angrily Snape threw her to the ground. She fell on her hands and knees and scurried behind the chair she had been sitting in before to seek cover like a small animal. She crawled back against the shelf and pulled the chair in front of her, holding on to it tightly.



“Don’t hurt me!” she whispered terrified, her black eyes wide.



Snape saw how her fingers turned white from the pressure with which she clawed herself to the chair. He still was full of fury but he felt it getting chased away by shock. He had not noticed this change in her. She was terrified of him. Why, why would she not just tell him what had happened?



“Eleanor, did anything happen that night?” he said with one last, hopeless attempt and secretly hoped she would just say no and he could try to believe it and forget about this. He just did not know what else to do. He had wanted to tear her into pieces to find the truth inside but what was the point? The reason to find out was to help her, to protect her. What was the point of destroying her in the process?



Eleanor stared up at him breathlessly, parts of her face blocked from view by the back of the chair. She did not answer.



Snape waited another long moment, desperately hoping for the revelation, the explanation or the lie that nothing had happened but nothing came.



Snape felt that fury boil up inside him again and with an angry growl he grabbed the stand of vials next to him and threw it to the ground where it smashed. He brushed the black strands of hair out of his face, flicked his wand at the door and stormed out of the room. The door remained open.



Eleanor remained where she was for one long moment until she was sure that Snape was far away. Then, carefully she came out of her hiding place and hurried out of the office.



She quickly walked down the dungeon corridors, hiding her eyes behind her black wave of hair in case someone past her. But it was late and no one was around any more. She wanted nothing but quickly get back to the common room and hide.



And there, a person she did not want to meet right now turned the corner and came towards her. Draco looked up at her as he recognised her. She turned her face away from him and tried to walk past him but he stopped.



“Hey, is something wrong?”



Eleanor slowed down and stopped, but she did not turn around to him. She did not want him to see her disturbed face.



“No. Everything’s fine”, she said coldly.



Draco hesitated and came back around to her to look at her.



Now he could see how pale and distressed she was. He looked curiously at her.



“What’s wrong?”



“Nothing. What are you doing down here?”



“Slytherin common room just around the corner, besides I’m doing my round, I’m a prefect in case you don’t know”, he spoke without his usual sneer. Without it he sounded unfamiliar.



“What are you doing down here?” he asked.



“Just… Professor Snape wanted to see me.”



Draco looked around: “Where is he now?”



Eleanor shrugged her shoulders: “Don’t know.”



Draco studied her face again, then rather hesitantly he put his hand on her back and directed her off the main corridor where there was a knish with a stone bench.



“Sit down a moment.” he said softly.



She did not object as he directed her to sit down and sat beside her. She felt his hand softly on her back again, rubbing her back slowly. It felt strange, she had never felt anything like it, it felt reminiscent of things she had felt when she was a very small child but she didn\'t quite remember. It felt incredibly comforting and brotherly. They did not speak.



Early the next morning, before breakfast Snape appeared in the hospital wing, looking for Madam Pumpfry.



“Oh, how can I help you so early, Professor?” the old lady asked, surprised to see him. Snape was not at all a frequent visitor of the hospital wing.



“I have a favour to ask of you.”



-------------------------------------------------------

and we end here on a cliffy!

...what the hell is going on with Draco I wonder...hmmm ;)



please keep up the reviewing, thanks!