AN: This was Co-written with AvaLonTheLadyKiller she has been a TREMENDOUS doll and we both down own the HP Universe nor are we JK Rowlings, but sometimes I think she is because she turned my 2,000+ words into nearly 4,300!

AN 2: Violet Dorea Potter is still Cordelia Drusilla Malfoy

TW: May have some reminders of the abuse that's been stated previously. May have a bit of lemon scene, not really a scene, but yeah hard to explain.

Chapter 15: Conversations

The first few weeks had seemed to speed by for the newest member of the Malfoy family. Cordelia had been more overwhelmed than she'd ever been in her entire life. Suddenly, her every waking moment had been filled with schoolwork, friends, and the occasional meeting with Severus. It left her feeling fulfilled in a manner, she'd never before experienced. But before bed, she'd made sure to devote at least thirty minutes toward writing her letters back home. Letters, which she'd bind together with the next night's and the ones after that, until it spanned the entire week. This continued for weeks, long after the semester was well underway.

On that first free Saturday at Hogwarts, both Draco and herself had subsequently found themselves in the owlery, both eager to send their pages off toward Malfoy Manor. Hers, bound a bit more of an orderly manner, but nonetheless along with his own back home. Both seemed to be suffering a bout of homesickness, along with the rest of the first years; though no respectable Slytherin would let it be known.

But homesickness aside, Cordelia found she had neither the will nor the energy to shutter how wholeheartedly she was falling in love with Magic. Every class seemed to bring her the happiness she had sorely missed in her early years. It thrilled her in ways, she never knew she had been missing. Whether it was anything so elemental as a simple swish and flick of her wand, or the gentle stir of her crystal ladle in her simmering caldron, her heart thrummed in the euphoria of it all. It sent her on a high that just made her want to close her eyes and bask in Magic's radiance. Her senses practically drowning in magical potential.

A fair few of the Slytherins found her demeanor curious, but never spoke out toward her oddities since Draco was her brother. Names like Malfoy after all, carried more clout than that of a royal's in the Muggle World. To willingly become the enemy of one such a family, so early on, would have been incredibly counterintuitive to their so called Slytherin cunning.

Especially, as Cordelia was so generous as to lend her time to tutor a few of the stragglers. For with the changing of the leaves, the older Slytherin students had quickly become immersed into their own studies, leaving the young ones to work out their own assignments. House pride after all, dictated against seeking help outside the snakepit, so their options became infinitely limited. Draco encouraged her to build ties with others outside their usual circle, if nothing else than to hold them in her debt; something purebloods treated with utmost meaning.

Her reserved but striving intellect quickly drew the eyes of the professors, even if the Granger girl was first to answer any of their discussion questions. For while one may have been able to repeat a certain word or a phrase, the other indulged far more intricate problem-solving skills. They became somewhat rivals, as their strengths became known in the classroom. Though, Cordelia's responses to basic arithmancy questions pulled at the strings of a much larger equation, seemingly without a previous tutelage or reading in the subject. She'd in turn won her house a handsome collection of house points for ingenuity alone, if not decorum when the brainy Gryffindor let her temper get the best of her during competitive exercises. Something which caused her brother to simply glow with pride.

This was in fact, the first time in the last few weeks that she could take a break from everything. She found herself sitting near the roaring fire, on one of the black dragon-skin chaise lounges in a near deserted common room. Everyone else having already tucked in some time before. Her lithe finger-tips stroked the pages of the weighty tome in her lap, affectionately. But as the fire chased off the worst of the nighttime drafts that ran through the dungeons, she found herself drifting into her own thoughts. The book lay forgotten, as she mused over how much had changed in the last few weeks since she'd been sorted into the Snake house.

People's responses to her varied from cool measuring glances, to outright attacks. Those of her own house had been forthright in treating her with acceptance and respect, something that the other houses seemed incapable of achieving. And though Draco warned her not to become so enthralled with their sly ways, she could not help but to feel at home with them. Of those in her year, she felt a certain kinship with Daphne and Pansy. A bond that lended itself to watching out for each other in the halls and in class.

On their second day here at the castle, Daphne, made her skills as a dueller known. Since classes had begun on a Friday, the following Saturday was given as a way for them to rest up and prepare for their next classes, if not to locate where they were. It was what sent the trio into the level where their Defence classes would be held on Monday, as none of them wished to be the cause of lost house points due to being tardy.

They had just turned about, when a third year Gryffindor had sent a tripping jinx their way. She'd told the two of them, her father had become very protective after the death of her mother. Lord Greengrass having made sure his only daughter and heir could defend herself, in case of an attack. It was a talent which both Pansy and Cordelia thanked her immeasurably for, but Cordelia couldn't help but to watch on with an envious pulling at her heart. Her desire to protect herself and those she loved, tugged at her heartstrings evermore, as she once more had to rely on another for protection.

As attacks went, that was only the tip of the iceberg, for numerous others quickly followed when it came to the Gryffindor and Slytherin house rivalry. It appeared every member of the rival house was fair game, for the Gryffindors. They developed hexes and jinxes, years above their levels, purely for malicious intent upon the snakes. Their spells soared through the halls in between classes, at nearly every turn. One of the Slytherin's chasers, Marcus Flint had sent back a nasty sea urchin jinx at one, after he'd nearly been hit in the crossfire.

She'd heard Madam Pomfrey had spent an entire day trying to heal all the protruding rods, which at one time might have derived a certain amount of sympathy from her, but she found she could not muster the effort it took for the emotion to surface. She began to walk through the stairwells with a fair amount of distrust, when alone, which perturbed her immensely. She yearned to walk confidently through the halls, fearless of who might seek to lash out at her magical armor.

Even with Draco and Blaise at her sides, she found her gaze constantly spanning the corridors for attack. She didn't even understand why people held such animosity toward the Slytherins, until Daphne and Pansy had explained that it was because they thought all Slytherins were dark. Their closed mindedness gave her pause. It reminded her of the way Muggles had treated her. The way they had despised her for simply breathing their air. She decided from that moment on, not to care what others thought about her. If they weren't truly going to get to know her, she didn't wish to waste time attempting to persuade them otherwise.

Her mind had also drifted to the conversation she'd had with Professor Snape, on that first Friday evening after dinner. It had been a busy day of classes, learning about how to turn a needles into matchsticks and listening to a ghost drone on and on about something that sounded more like a bunch of vowels strung together, than actual words. She'd been rather relieved to learn she'd only have to endure that class every other day during the weekdays. Charms had however, been quite an illuminating experience. Everything being taught to them by the smallest man she'd ever seen, had been riveting. To learn the effects that simple wand movements could have channeling one's magic, was one of the most captivating lessons she'd ever received.

She had yet to be in her Head of House's class, though. That was to be her first class after breakfast Monday morning, followed by Professor Quirrell's, and then her first night class with Professor Sinistra. The last, she held special interest in. Especially, after having been named following the Black family's fascination with the names of the stars. It was Narcissa's greatest gift to her, allowing her to be one with their ancestry. The class itself would be held just before midnight, in the highest reaches of the Astronomy Tower. Both Pansy and Cordelia, found themselves rather intrigued to be studying the subject matter under the waning crescent moon.

It just as most students had begun heading toward their rooms, that she'd found herself at Professor Snape's ensuite door in the common room knocking calmly; before receiving a deep voice telling her to 'enter'. She'd come in and closed the door as soundlessly as she'd opened it. Peering around at its inhabitants with a wondrous gleam to her eyes. It was just so, well, Severus Snape. Draco and she had discussed that his godfather's connection with their family went on several generations before their own. Long before the professor's mother had married a Muggle, that is. Snape's grandfather, on his mother's side, had been very close-knit friends with their own great-grandfather. A friendship that had spanned generations. So, it was only natural when Lucius and he had reconnected, despite one's questionable blood status. Lucius had stood shoulder to shoulder with Severus throughout his school days, and from what Draco had mentioned, they were quite a pair.

Snape's office was a circular room, filled from floor to the ceiling with bottles and phials of things that she didn't quite know what they were, but she could tell that this room suited him. It had a sort of calculating air about it. It practically vibrated magic from the potioneering ingredients stored in the locked cupboards below. Resting in the few shelves empty of his private potions collection, were what could only have been well preserved advanced potions tomes.

It was these books residing along the wall to the left, that she was most drawn to; as if her heart pulled her towards them. In the corner of the Potions-Master's collection where these black leather-bound books sat, foreign languages and runes lay inscribed in red down their heavily spelled spines. She moved across to them and peered at them as she turned her head for a moment in curiosity and smiled. It was almost like the runes were calling to her.

"Hello Professor" She turned her head over toward the room's previous occupant, before allowing her eyes to steal back over to the books. This time, Severus watched the pale blonde girl gravitate towards the books and smirked. Knowing exactly which of the tomes called her attention over toward its shelf. Though, she knew to only look, and not to touch things that didn't belong to her. Which was more than he could say for most students her age.

"If I didn't know any better Miss Malfoy, I would surely think you'd been sorted incorrectly." He stated this with a burgeoning smirk forming across his lips. Feeling free to tease her ever so gently. "A Ravenclaw, you most certainly must be." Chuckling when she scoffed at his words, before a smile began to grace her angelic facade.

"I am fortunately, not an insufferable know-it-all, sir." she paused with a small smile that to Severus made her look even more like Narcissa "I will admit the hat did want to put me in another house," she began. Revealing that admission to the professor, as she turned from his bookshelf and made her way towards his desk and sat politely in the chair across his antique writing desk.

"It wanted to put me where my biological parents were housed, when they were here at Hogwarts." She admitted, before a smirk crept its way to her visage. "But, I didn't want to be a lion," she sneered like her brother, but covered it with a smile unlike anything he'd ever seen his godson be able to pull off. In that moment, she truly looked cherubic, the way the saccharine smile graced the curve of her lips. If he didn't know there was underlying hostility hiding beneath her pleasant demeanor, he'd believe her to be talking about nothing short of what sweet treat she hoped to see at dinner.

"I'm right where I belong, where my family is." She'd said the word family, and put meaning behind it for the professor to understand. "Anyway, I came here to ask for your help professor. I'd like to learn. To really learn how to understand magic as a whole. I am learning a fair bit through the books, but there are so many more questions that I have." She smiled pleadingly.

"If I feel like I'm behind in anything - would you, I mean if you have the time, would you mentor me? I feel like even with the slight bit of help that I've received from my brother, and of course Mother and Father over the summer, I'm still behind all the other pureblood children who have been taught these things since before their letters even arrived." She felt herself nearing the verge of tears, and remembered what her brother had said; and closed her eyes. She would not show her weakness, her hatred of being behind and left out of the loop that she'd been in circled in by her friends and family.

Severus was shocked, he'd been positive the girl would have just wanted him to answer more questions about her family. As he was sure Narcissa or even Lucius, might have made mention toward his connection with Lily. But the child had floored him, by asking such a thing of him. For while he had heard the whisperings a few of the other professors had alluded to, about her thirst for knowledge, he could not have prepared himself to look into the eyes of a smaller version of Narcissa, and see only Lily. To actually look down into the eyes of someone with such a drive to conquer her weaknesses, was truly something other.

The family she'd lost and the one she'd found molded her into something truly unique. But still. Rather than settling, she asked for more. Someone to help her be better than just average. Someone to help her shape herself into a powerful weapon, for he could already see the fearless warrior floating just beneath the surface. It was completely and irrevocably, Lily. He knew before the end of his days, he would see this child performing great feats magically. For there was not a great deal one couldn't learn, if they simply had the will to dig in. It was then that the pale faced Potions Master found himself nodding solemnly, to the girl.

"I could," he began slowly, as though tasting the words experimentally. "make time for such a task, Miss Malfoy. As well as teach you subjects in which you find yourself lacking." He finished speaking, leaning ever so further across the desk toward her. Trying to convey with his eyes the seriousness of his next words. "Lessons that will help you later on in life, as much as they could benefit you now. When the Headmaster is so close at hand."

His words were smooth and silky as he let the subtle hint about the old man lace through his words. Cordelia rose a brow and tilted her head slightly.

"Is he?" she asked haltingly. Becoming increasingly unsettled by the thought that there had been someone watching her, when she'd thought she was just being paranoid.

"Yes, he is." He quickly quipped back. Eager to set her on edge. To persuade her to keep her shields up at all times. "I was pulled into a meeting in his office last night," he added seriously before continuing on. "He, Minerva, and myself. He most likely is going to keep a very close eye on you Cordelia. He has ears everywhere. Do not think him too foolish to truly see the bigger picture here. He already has suspicions as to how the Malfoy's have a new daughter, when Lucius and Narcissa have never entertained the idea of adopting before now." He dove down to the heart of the matter quickly, as if wishing to get this conversation over as quickly as possible. As he spoke, he moved from his chair at his desk, then around to the other side to sit beside the young girl. The young witch whom he had vowed to protect like a god daughter.

"I will try to keep him off your scent for as long as possible, and I will speak with your parents tonight." He patted her hand gently, before easing back. Where he felt most comfortable. Away from others, in his space.

"Will you tell them my first day was brilliant and that I do miss them dearly? As much as I'm sure Draco does, as well." She queried, as he nodded to her with a soft smile on his lips that he'd only share with those whom he held close to his heart like his godchildren. No one, apart from them and Lily Potter nee Evans would ever be exposed to the softer side of one, Severus Snape.

After a brief few moments of small talk after such heavy words, Cordelia left with a promise to keep her grades up and that she'd come to speak to him soon.

Severus moved from his office, back through the hall to his private quarters. Slipping off his outer robes and rolling up his sleeves critically. Draping the robe over his couch, he made his way to the tray where he held his fire whisky. Dolling himself out a glass, before he took a pinch of floo and threw it into his already flaming fireplace. Once the emerald flames lit up he stuck his head in and called out for Lucius' Malfoy's Study. But as it whirled into place and he called out for the man in question, there was no answer. He pulled himself out of the fireplace before taking another pinch of floo and calling into the fireplace in the Malfoy Sitting Room, yet again there wasn't an answer. His brows furrowed he didn't remember the two talking about a vacation.

He needed to talk to the pair of them, before he even thought about it he pulled his head back and took another pinch of powder and called out to there bedroom. Not thinking anything of it, he stuck his head in and that's when he'd gotten a view of something he'd rather not seen. Narcissa's bare long back exposed to him on top of his friend on their bed. Bed coverings draped the pair tastefully, so all Severus could see was her shoulders in the moonlight. He closed his eyes immediately, as he called out irritably:

"Well I see someone is enjoying a child free house." He quipped as a scream filled the air and a pillow landed on his face in the fireplace. Spluttering he quipped once more, "When you two are quite finished, come through to my private quarters I have some things we need to discuss about Cordelia." And with that he pulled his head from the fireplace and downed the fire whisky as he stood he moved back to refill his glass once more. He needed it, to drown the image that he was sure was going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

Sitting back on the couch he enjoyed final dregs of his second glass of Fire Whisky. Thinking about the last twenty four hours and wondering if that gave any indication of the year he was going to have. After his yearly introduction with his first years, the rest of his night had been stolen from him. He spent nearly all night being interrogated by the Headmaster in regards to where The Girl Who Lived was.

"Severus, you told me in our meeting previously that the girl was excited to come to Hogwarts. That she would be on the train and she would be here on the first of September" The Headmaster inquired as looked at the man before him. Snape had had his shield up and was keeping any information he had regarding Violet, or rather Cordelia from the Headmaster's prying eyes."

"I told you Albus, exactly what I was informed. That she'd be here, but apparently they decided against it, even after I got her everything she needed." He retorted as he sat there looking straight back at Albus. Daring the manipulative old fool to use Legilimens, and try to prove him a liar.

Severus was pulled out of his thoughts of the night before, by the sound of his Floo activating. Merely a moment later, the vision of a slightly perturbed and mildly ruffled Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy appeared before him. Though, altogether they were a right bit more put together than he'd last seen the two of them. Standing, he offered them both a seat and asked if there was anything he could get them, while calling a house elf from the kitchens to bring a tray of biscuits and tea for his company.

"I called you because the headmaster is sniffing around." He told them without saying hello or any other pleasantries as the tray appeared before them.

"About Cordelia?" Narcissa asked, as she fixed her own cup and settled into the couch across from her dear friend.

"What else could send the paranoid old fool into such a state, Cissa?" he said plainly. "He finds it curious that she came to existence this summer. I would suggest now that you are childless, spending sometime coming up with a proper story to feed the masses. Talking to someone from your close-knit circle could lessen the blow to what may come out. I'm sure Cordelia won't mind. But you need to get ahead of this immediately." He told the pair of them. "At the very least slip it in at your Tea's that you received a letter from your children in regards to their terms. Letting some details slip to them, about Cordelia and how you found her." He spoke to Narcissa, who had gears turning in her eyes already. If there was anyone who could get ahead of a storm it was Narcissa Malfoy.

"So devious, you have become Severus. Truly, it's something to behold. Fear not, we will find a way to slip it into the minds of the right witches and wizards to get Dumbledore off of our case. But now, how are our children?" she asked as she sipped her tea. Appearing as graceful as if she'd just heard someone compliment her on a new wallpaper she'd ordered from Italy.

"They are well. You know as well as I, Draco will protect her. It's in his nature, he really is so much like you Cissa. But that tongue of his Lucius," he eyed his friend smugly. "Will get him into trouble. Mark my words. I won't always be there to save him from the vicious little lions." He finished, taking a bite of one of the shortbreads his house elf knew him to prefer.

"I did however, just have a charming conversation with Cordelia just a few minutes before I paid the Manor a visit. You do have a quite the inquisitive daughter. One whom wishes to learn everything she can."

"I think she will far surpass her own biological mother with her curiosity, and I dare say she might be exploring everything she possibly can." He placed heavy connotation on the word so they'd understand what he meant

"Ahh, I see." Lucius nodded "I'm sure she will, it's only natural to be curious. Especially in such a place of learning."