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Anais glanced at Severus Snape, her new Potions partner, and wondered why Slughorn had decided to make everyone switch off. He had been primarily alone at first, for no one had wanted to partner with the sullen Slytherin boy, and she herself had been previously partnered with Rabastan Lestrange. However, that had changed, and now the boy was glaring at the desk in front of him, not once glancing her way.

"Alright," announced Slughorn jovially. "Everyone, get to know your new partner for the next fifteen minutes or so before we begin. I do hope you all get along; after all, they'll be your partners for the rest of the year!"

She didn't understand him one bit. The previous arrangement had been working just fine, so why change it?

Since the class was split into Ravenclaws and Slytherins, however, there was nothing more than the students all staring at each other blankly, obviously wondering the same as she, and more than one face was filled with disdain at the sight of their partner.

The minutes ticked by, and Slughorn sat at his desk, a frown on his face as he watched them.

Anais took pity on the man, leaned over to Snape, and whispered, "What's your favorite subject besides Potions?"

The greasy haired boy glanced over at her, eyes narrowed, before curling up his lip at her and looking away. He bent over his book and did not pay her any mind after that.

Anais felt a twinge of annoyance. Git.

She decided then and there that this arrangement would not work, and Siana inwardly agreed with, No kidding.

She leaned over her own Defense book and pored over the pages for a long few minutes, before there was a tap to her shoulder, and she turned around, brows furrowed.

~~~xxx~~~

Narcissa Black sat behind her, hands returning to their primly folded position on the desk, back straight as she regarded the brunette girl.

"Yes?" Anais questioned quietly, for the room was not all that loud aside from the few murmurs of people speaking to any friends they had nearby rather than obeying the instructions of the Professor and conversing with their partner.

"It's quite dull in here, don't you think?" Narcissa inquired politely.

"Yes." Anais stared at her, and the blonde could tell the other witch felt a bit awkward with the small talk. (She herself was not sure if she preferred this to boredom or not) The brunette paused. "I thought you would have no need to speak to me again after last time."

Last time, which had been two weeks ago. Neither girl had looked in the other's direction since then, though Anais had completely missed that, despite being as observant as she was, Bellatrix and Andromeda had both been watching her and her cousins for a while now. Or, rather, Bellatrix had been watching Anais while Andromeda spoke to Reynard, who was friends with a muggleborn boy she seemed to fancy. That last bit, however, was not Narcissa's business and certainly not something she approved of, so she put it from her mind.

"I didn't," Narcissa raised a brow. "However, speaking to you is a better alternative than any of the others, isn't it? Most members of my own house are imbeciles who I have no wish to associate with, or are beneath my status."

"Beneath your status."

"Yes."

Anais regarded her with well masked disapproval, though it was easy enough for someone as perceptive as Narcissa to pick up on. "I see. And you're still speaking to me?"

"You're a pureblood. You haven't been labeled a blood traitor, either, though your family, alongside Renoir and Devault's, has always straddled the line."

The other girl knew it was true. While their families did not hate muggles, they did not outright love them, either; muggles were mostly overlooked or ignored, for they had no particular interest in them. That did not, although, mean they thought the muggles were beneath them or needed to be eradicated; human was human, after all, and no one deserved that.

Their families had tended to stay amongst themselves in general, really. There was no reason for Narcissa, or any other Black, for that matter, to avoid her. her family was tolerable, and it would be able to be overlooked if any of them were friends.

It came as a surprise to her when the brunette actually chuckled, though her tone was reminiscent of a person thinking of something bittersweet. "Yeah, they have."

"Would you two stop your prattling?" Snape hissed, turning around to glower at them both. "I am attempting to read!"

"Would you stop your incessant whining?" Narcissa responded immediately, scrunching her nose at him in irritation. "Severus, really, we're simply trying to have a civil conversation and you seem intent on ruining it!"

"It's pointless," he scowled at her. "It's not as though Malraux cares one bit about what you're talking about, Narcissa. She's only trying to pass the time, and soon after, she'll be back to ignoring you because you're a Slytherin."

"Prejudiced, I see," came the soft voice of Anais, whose violet eyes were trained firmly upon the boy. To anyone else, she would seem very calm; to the Slytherins, however, the slight furrow her her brow and wrinkle of her nose displayed her annoyance. "I, however, am not. You've really no sense at all if you think I'd not be friends with someone because of their house, of all things. Ridiculous."

Snape sneered. "Ridiculous? Then why is it, Malraux, that I see you only in the company of your cousins and not with anyone else?"

"Perhaps I prefer their company," the well-spoken Ravenclaw narrowed her eyes. "more than the likes of others such as you. I find the Blacks to be quite...interesting. You, however...plain. Unfortunately so. You have intelligence and ambition at your disposal, sure, and you seem to have a knack for Potions and the Dark Arts, but you're nothing special otherwise, Snape."

Narcissa knew that, out of house loyalty, she should be defending Severus Snape, but it was interesting to see him receive such an even tempered tongue lashing from the other girl, who it seemed did not like him very much at all. She assumed that this was Anais and not her supposed alter, Siana, for what she had witnessed of Siana was...different, to say at least.

The remark about her being powerful did wonders for her ego as well; everyone liked to have their ego stroked.

"Alright," Slughorn called. "Listen up." The talking slowly tapered off, and both Anais and Snape turned in their seats, not casting another glance back at Narcissa; Anais leaned back in her chair in such a relaxed, improper fashion that it made the blonde wince. "I'd like you to begin making this potion…"

And so it went. Narcissa worked diligently with her own partner, whilst subtly keeping an eye or Snape and Anais, who would hiss things at each other during the making of their own Potion. Snape had always been peculiar about his Potions, and it seemed that he had attempted at one point to not only correct Anais, but to tell her he'd do the entire assignment altogether. The girl had calmly refused, and needless to say, it only got him riled up even more.

So riled up, in fact, that everyone in the Slytherin Common Room was unfortunate enough to listen to the boy rant about it afterward.

~~~xxx~~~

When Anais found herself being picked on by some older Slytherin, a Head Boy called Lucius Malfoy and another boy, also older than she, named Rodolphus Lestrange, it was no surprise that the moment a curse was sent flying her way, it was Siana who deflected it.

Siana was always wanting to come out during confrontations, no matter how well Anais was able to handle herself; she suspected that her alter enjoyed the chaos.

"Voldy-whatsit not teaching you guys proper fighting technique?" Siana taunted, and Rodolphus roared in rage but was intercepted by Malfoy, who watched her with narrowed eyes, wand out and ready. "Can't hit a girl with a spell?"

"I'll show you," hissed Rodolphus. "Little freak. I've seen you muttering to yourself in the halls—you're mad!"

"Mad?" Siana took a bit of offense at that. "We're not mad, thank you! You're some raving lunatic who stalks girls younger than he is, and you call us mad?"

"I wasn't referring to your cousins, Malraux," he squirmed in Malfoy's hold, but the boy held firm, gaze calculating as he watched on. "I was talking about you."

The girl could not quite understand why he thought that she meant her cousins, until it finally hit her; she had said us, not me. She winced, knowing she had made a mistake, and attempted to make up for it my bluffing, "Yeah, well, hard to pay attention to your words when all I can find myself staring at is that ugly mug of yours. Bet your mother is just as ugly as you are!"

Childish, extremely so, but Anais was the one who came up with the clever quips and immediate comebacks.

It did, however, only serve to make Rodolphus angry enough to break free of Malfoy, who made no attempts at stopping him, and stomp up to her, towering over her smaller frame.

"Little girl," he breathed heavily through his nose, teeth clenched. "You have no idea what you've just done. Insulting a member of the House of Lestrange is bad; insulting a member of the House Lestrange betrothed to the House of Black is even worse. You will get your comeuppance, mark my words."

"I think," said Malfoy finally, his lips curling into a sneer as he strolled over, leaning down to meet her eyes. "That Malraux might need a lesson on how to respect those of a higher position than she."

A slow, wicked grin spread across Rodolphus's face, and he took a step forward, then two, then three, forcing Siana to back away until she was pressed against the wall, trembling with rage. She felt a stab of fear, though, because there were two of them and one of her; what match did she stand against them?

"Get away from me," she snapped, but he paid her no heed and struck her across the face; her anger overcame her and she bit down hard on the wrist of the boy before he had fully drawn his hand away, digging her teeth in hard.

He howled and struck at her again, but she only bit down harder and jammed her wand into his ribcage, thinking hard (oh, why couldn't she be as good as Anais at this?), Flipendo!

It sent Rodolphus flying back, and she could taste the blood on her lips and flinched, disgusted, but had no time to get rid of it before her wand was sailing from her hand and into Malfoy's. The boy eyed her and smirked, not seeming at all bothered by his companion's pain as the other teen scrambled to his feet, clutching his bleeding wrist.

"My, my," Malfoy drawled, almost amused by this as he casually flicked his wand at her. Siana slammed back against the wall again, grunting from the impact. "Someone has a temper." His smirk dropped. "I think that temper should be controlled. Crucio."

Siana bit back a scream, though a high pitched noise forced its way up her throat and to her closed lips as she ground her jaw and her knees buckled; she fell hard to the ground.

The pain was excruciating, more so than anything she had ever felt in her life, and she regretted dropping something into Rabastan Lestrange's cauldron (resulting in an explosion that sent the boy to the Hopsital Wing) in Potions when she had taken over, now. Nothing could be worse than this.

Finally, she could not stop it. She screamed.

However, the pain stopped abruptly as Malfoy's wand, her own, and Rodolphus's all flew into a long fingered, outstretched pale hand; panting, her eyes travelled from the hand, to the arm, and then the face.

Bellatrix Black stood there, a look of displeasure on her face as she directed her wand at her fellow Slytherins.

Bloody hell, thought Siana sluggishly. Don't need her. Coulda done just fine on my own...ugh, I can't do this...Anais…

She felt her entire world fade to black, and when Anais opened her eyes and saw Bellatrix hovering over her housemates, wand drawn, she had no idea what was going on. She remembered blacking out in Potions, then leaving Potions, and then being cornered in the hall by…

Oh no. She made to scramble to her feet, but her knees gave way from underneath her and she fell again with a yelp; no one paid her any heed as she tried again.

Whatever Siana had said, it had certainly awarded the both of them with a Cruciatus; she had not been able to feel it then, surprisingly, but she was certainly feeling the aftershock now.

This time she moved again and, though her body quivered, she managed to use the wall to hold herself upright and watched, unsure of what was going to happen next.

"Idiots," growled Bellatrix. "What do you think you're doing?"

"That girl," spat Rodolphus, getting to his feet and pointing an accusing finger at Anais. "Dropped something in Rabastan's potion earlier! He's in the hospital wing!"

Bellatrix's gaze slowly wandered to find Anais's. The girl stared back, hastily shaking her head that no, it most certainly had not been her.

The older witch's eyes fell upon Rodolphus again. "I see. And we can't have anyone hurting dear baby brother, can we?"

"I see what you're doing, Bella," this time, he pointed at her, obviously irritated. "Stop trying to mock me. You'd have done worse for your sisters and you know it."

"Perhaps," Bellatrix carelessly twirled her wand in her right hand, still holding the other three in her left. Anais noted something in her posture, however, as she faced down with this boy; she did not have the same proud, haughty look she typically possessed. There was a mask there, a cool facade that had been thrown up the minute she encountered these two. "Lucius, my dear future brother-in-law, as Head Boy, how could you dare do such a thing? And in an open corridor in the middle of the night, to boot?"

"What are you doing out here?" the blonde boy hissed. "What reason have you got to wander, Black? This is private business. Unless you'd like to be punished, I suggest you take your leave."

"I could have wanted to join in on the fun," the witch pouted, and Anais's heart stopped beating. Could that really be what she wanted? To hurt her all over again, to participate in such a vile act? "What did she say to make you angrier than before, anyway?"

"She said that I was ugly," Rodolphus curled his lip up in distaste. "Obviously she wouldn't know good looks if it hit her. I mean, look at her!"

Bellatrix raised a brow and hummed, sauntering over to circle Anais, who had managed to push herself off the wall and was watching warily. She wondered if perhaps Siana was right, and that she should stay away from the older witch; it certainly seemed like her alter was being proved right.

Bellatrix hummed again, and she appeared almost predatory as she circled Anais a second time; something hard pressed into her hip, and she barely suppressed a flinch. The pressure did not go away, even after the raven haired girl had strode casually away as if nothing had happened; Anais furrowed her brows, feeling as though something were very wrong here.

"I don't know," Bellatrix shrugged carelessly, obviously nothing like her prim and proper sister Narcissa. "Hideous little thing, perhaps you're right, but her eyes are really quite strange...violet, can you believe it?"

"That doesn't matter," snapped Malfoy. "Either you go on your way, or you stay. The choice is yours."

"Fine, fine," the raven haired girl rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her mass of curls. "I suppose I'll stay." She paused, lazily taking a step or so back. "Oh, by the way, I'd watch out if I were you. She's armed."

"Wha—"

STUPEFY!

Malfoy collapsed bonelessly, and Anais quickly turned and shot off a spell at Rodolphus; however, he was expecting it and deflected it easily, firing off a jet of red light at her.

No no no...PROTEGO! Anais had at first instinctively raised her free arm to cover her face, the other hand coming up as well after she thought the spell, and had closed her eyes. When nothing happened to her, however, she peeked from between her arms to see a shimmering shield in front of her and Rodolphus standing there, eyes narrowed.

He was quick to fire off another curse, however, and it made Anais wince as it impacted with her shield; she dropped it quickly and thought, Flipendo!

She shot it off again after he deflected it and quickly followed it with a stupefy, gripping her wand tightly. As she watched Rodolphus fall, she sagged against the wall, swallowing hard, and closed her eyes for a few moments to collect herself.

She could not believe that had just happened. Bellatrix Black, Slytherin, had helped her. Perhaps not directly, but she had, and against her fiance (Anais could guess this much) and future brother-in-law, no less!

When she opened her eyes, Bellatrix had just finished floating Malfoy into a broom closet alongside Rodolphus, the two slumped against each other, unconscious. The dark haired witch cackled and slammed the door shut, casting a spell that was obviously meant to glue it shut.

"There," Bellatrix said, looking satisfied with herself. "The imbeciles should be locked in there all night and part of the morning—they won't remember a thing, either."

"You obliviated them?" Anais could not help from questioning, pushing herself off the wall. Her jaw throbbed as she made her way to the older witch, who had stiffened at her voice.

"Yes." Bellatrix cast her a sideways glance and then turned away, already beginning to stalk down the hall. "Come, Malraux." Anais tilted her head in confusion, but the older girl only repeated exasperatedly, "Now, brat!"

The brunette kept her wand out and dutifully followed along beside her, the halls illuminated slightly from Bellatrix's wand.

"Thank you," Anais finally managed quietly, staring straight down the hall. She did not know why Bellatrix had come out to find her, why she had helped, or even how she knew something had been going on, but she intended to find out why.

"Not another word on it," Bellatrix sniffed disdainfully and walked a little faster.

Anais quickened her own pace, peering over at the older witch. "Why?"

"Why what, Malraux? Why are you so dense?"

"No. Why help?" the brunette stopped walking, and Bellatrix continued on a few steps before stopping, turning around with a scowl in place.

"Keep moving, now."

"No." Anais crossed her trembling arms and managed to hold her ground, though the taller girl towered over her. "I...I want to know."

"You interest me," the raven haired girl snapped. "alright? You are one of the strangest people I've ever met with that disorder of yours, and I'd like it if we could...speak more about it."

Anais stared at her, disbelieving. The first time Bellatrix had wanted to know, she could have passed it off as simple curiosity, but now, she wanted to know more? What exactly was she playing at? Something seemed very off, here…

"Is this some misguided attempt at friendship?"

"No!" Bellatrix curled her lip up at the younger girl. "Like I'd want to be friends with the likes of you, Malraux. I'm a member of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black—I have allies, I have my family, but I do not have friends."

Anais was convinced, now, that Bellatrix did perhaps want her as a friend, but had absolutely no idea how to go about it, or how to treat one. However, she only shrugged at the older witch noncommittally, turned on her heel, and began to march in the direction of her common room.

"Hey!" there was the sound of heeled boots clacking against stone. "Hey, Malraux, stop!"

The brunette did not, and was promptly shoved into the wall and seized by the collar. Bellatrix leaned in close, brown eyes flashing, and hissed, "I told you to stop, and you'll do as I say if you know what's good for you."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could feel a faint flash of anger from Siana, though it was gone as soon as it came and Anais found herself swallowing hard at the furious face of Bellatrix Black. Siana might be near fearless, far better suited for Gryffindor, but she was not. Anais knew very well the things a witch like this could do to her, and she forced herself to keep completely still, lest it provoke the older girl.

"Now," Bellatrix sneered at her, releasing her collar and backing away. "Let's get moving, shall we? Preferably in the direction I want."

Anais decided not to question what sort of direction she would want and instead hurried along after her.