I made my way to McGonagall and Flitwick. McGonagall immediately understood why I was taking over his classes but it took more convincing to make Flitwick believe that Severus was letting me take his classes. I took my friends books out of the locker and asked each of them to give them to them when they came to class.

With a glance at my watch I realized that it was only two minutes before I had the first class of the day. I consented to telling the rest of my professors at lunch and made my way to the dungeons.

By the time I got there I was a minute late and all the students were in their seats. It was a 3rd year Gryffindor and Slytherin class. The Gryffindors were being quiet but the Slytherins were being the opposite.

I walked in and said, "Sorry I'm late."

All of them just stared back at me blankly.

I ignored them and said, "Well it looks like you'll be doing the Calming Draught today. It can be found on page 124 in your textbooks. You may begin."

When none of them moved I asked, "Is there any reason you aren't starting?"

One of the students on the Slytherin side called out, "Why are you here?"

"I'm here because Professor Snape can't be here right now," I said glaring at the student.

One of the Gryffindor students asked, "How old are you?"

I replied with a sneer, "I'm a first year but I guarantee you that I am better at potions than all of you. Now like I said before begin working on the Calming Draught."

They all looked a little hesitant as they went to the pantry and gathered their ingredients. As they continued to work they all kept glancing at the door as if they expected my father to walk in and yell at them any moment.

I noticed a hand in the air from one of the Gryffindor girls in the back and said, "Yes?"

She said, "I'm done."

I smiled and walked towards her. Once I got there I took one look at it and frowned a little. She did it perfectly following the book but did nothing special.

"It looks good. Put some in a vial and place it on Professor Snape's desk."

She nodded and I saw her bottle some up and place in on his desk. While she was cleaning up her place I realized this would be a good time to convince them that I knew what I was talking about. With a wave of my hand I made the mess in front of her disappear and she looked up and smiled at me. I returned it slightly and she stood up and came to stand in front of me.

I looked up to hear her ask, "Where did you learn that?"

"I'm multi-talented. I learned that particular spell from a book."

She nodded clearly impressed and asked, "Do you know that kid that is teaching the club on Friday? I know it's a first year Gryffindor but I don't know who."

I smirked and nodded, "I'll be teaching that club along with Hermione, Harry and Ron."

"So your name is Jessica?"

I nodded and said, "Yes."

She said, "I've heard about how amazing you are. No wonder Snape let you take over his class. What happened to him? I don't like him or anything but I don't want anyone to get hurt; even him."

I figured I didn't need any Gryffindor students to hate me so I said, "He got sick and since he knows I don't really have to take my other classes, he agreed to let me take his classes for today."

She nodded and said, "Okay. That was nice of you to do for him. Well I'll see you on Friday then."

I nodded and she went back to her seat. In about another half an hour I dismissed the class and went over to look at the potions. A few of them looked correct but the others looked terrible. The Slytherins who were used to Severus helping them, had messed up terribly.

I sighed as the next class walked in. It was the class I was normally in and they all looked confused by my being there.

I went straight over to Harry Ron and Hermione when they walked in, "Sorry I couldn't talk to you earlier. Snape isn't feeling good and Dumbledore asked me to take over his classes. I barely had enough time to tell my professors. I'll explain more at lunch."

I handed them their book and closed up the locker again

They nodded and I went back up to the front of the room. The atmosphere in the room was the opposite as most potions classes. The Gryffindor students seemed more at ease while the Slytherin kids were looking at me with contempt but staying fairly quiet.

I said, "Well I know what your first question will be so Professor Snape isn't feeling well so Dumbledore asked me to take over his classes. You will be working on a simple Swelling Potion. You can begin."

They all got up and began to get ingredients. All of my friends on the Gryffindor side of the room were chatting away following the book with ease. I noticed a Slytherin at the very back of the room. Unlike the other Slytherins who were grumbling about being taught about a Gryffindor, he was working diligently on his potion. I noticed immediately that there was no textbook in sight.

He wasn't sitting near anyone and kept glancing up at the clock.

Quietly I went over to him and whispered, "Are you feeling okay?"

He hadn't noticed my approach and jumped at my voice, "Yeah I'm fine thanks," he mumbled.

I looked at his potion and smiled widely. It had the green mist over it that could only be made by not following the directions in the book.

"You don't follow the book either?" I questioned.

He shook his head and said, "I don't feel a desire to do so. Unfortunately no one else particularly those in my house see why I even bother to try when Professor Snape will give us a good grade anyways."

I was shocked that his voice held a lot of contempt in it. It sounded as though he was mad at his own house and Severus.

"Do you not like Slytherin?" I asked gently.

He shook his head, grimaced and said, "I only wanted to be in it to make my family not disown me. I really don't like any of them. Everyone is really arrogant and rude."

I raised my eyebrows and said, "You certainly don't act like a Slytherin. Most of your peers wouldn't even talk to me since Malfoy hates me so much."

"I hate Draco so much. Of course I can't say so because our fathers are friends," he said barely above a whisper.

I said equally as quiet, "Well that potion looks amazing. Have you talked to Professor Snape about taking a higher level class? You could take a 5th or 6th year class, I'm sure he would say yes."

He shook his head and said, "Honestly he scares me a little. I know he is pretending to favor the Slytherins and if I ask him he would probably say no."

"I can go with you if you'd like. He tends to listen to me."

His face lit up and he asked, "Really? Why?"

"Well he teaches me extra classes because even the 7th year class is too easy for me. He tends to listen to me. I can come with you to ask and tell him I think it would be a good idea."

"That would be great. If he is back tomorrow would you mind coming with me to ask? I don't want your friends to get mad at you for helping a Slytherin though."

I laughed slightly and said, "That's not a problem. They'll understand. He should be back tomorrow so you can ask then. He will have to evaluate you to put you in the right level class."

"Great thank you."

"It's no problem at all. What's your name? I'm Jessica-"

"Jessica Wallwirt, I know. I'm Blake Cox."

"Well I'll see you tomorrow then. I don't want the Slytherins to hate you if I talk to you for much longer."

He shrugged and said, "Nah I don't care. Most of them hate me for telling them not to call the Muggle-borns Mudbloods. Mainly Malfoy though."

"That was nice of you."

"You should probably stop talking to me or your friends will get suspicious."

"They'll understand but I should probably check to see how everyone else is doing."

I walked away with my mind buzzing. Maybe all Slytherins weren't all that bad. This Blake kid seemed really nice and if he was only in Slytherin because his family would disown him then maybe he could have been in Gryffindor.

As class was ending I went over to Harry Ron and Hermione and said goodbye. I promised that I would talk to them during lunch.

Once that class was over I knew I only had to last through one more before I could go talk to my friends, professors and check up on my father.

The class was a Hufflepuff and Slytherin 2nd year class. The Hufflepuff students walked in quietly pausing momentarily when they saw me. The Slytherins waltzed in chatting loudly. When they saw me they stopped dead in their tracks.

One yelled out, "Who are you?"

The other students looked toward me, eager for a response, "I'll be teaching you today because Professor Snape isn't feeling well today. It looks like he had a simple antidote for common poisons scheduled for today. You can start brewing."

The Hufflepuff students looked like they wanted to ask me more questions but they held their tongue and got the ingredients from the back room.

The Slytherins were much more trouble, "Why would Professor Snape let a Gryffindor teach his class?" yelled out a boy.

I sneered at him much to the delight of many Hufflepuff students. "I'm easily the next best candidate for this job after Professor Snape. It was a decision made professionally, not in regards to house rivalries."

He rolled his eyes but he and his friends went and got their ingredients.

Once I was sure they were all beyond help I went over to the Hufflepuff students to see how they were doing.

One girl was about to add the wrong ingredient so I said, "Add the slugs first," she looked up in surprise and smiled at me.

I smiled back and went over to help another boy with his.

"So what year are you in?" one of the kids asked.

I knew it wasn't meant to be rude that she was simply curious, "I'm a first year."

She nodded and her friend next to her asked, "Is your name Jessica by any chance?"

I raised my eyebrows and said, "Yes it is Why do you ask?"

A boy sitting behind them answered, "Well everyone knows how good you are at all your classes. Since you are teaching the spell club thing I'm sure it was a good idea for Snape to let you take over his classes."

I smiled at him and said, "Yeah well thanks. I don't even have to take my other classes, I just go to be with my friends. I'm sure that's part of the reason he allowed me to teach his classes."

The rest of the class was uneventful. I dismissed them when the time was up and stored all the potions in my locker which only had my books in it, and the books for after lunch.

As soon as they were all gone I hurried out of the room and straight to the D.A.D.A room. I told Professor Quirell that I wouldn't be in his class and there were no questions asked. I then half ran half walked outside and caught up with Madame Hooch as she came inside. I was able to convince her that Severus had let me take over his classes and went back inside.

I rushed into the Great Hall and located Hermione, Harry and Ron in a few seconds. They all were sitting with their back toward me talking quietly.

I went over to them and took a seat to the left of Harry.

"Jessica," he exclaimed, "Where were you?"

I answered, "I took over Snape's classes because he is sick. Dumbledore asked me to. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I found out about 5 minutes before the first class and only had enough time to give the professors your books and tell them I wouldn't be in class."

Ron said, "You gave us a scare for a moment in Transfiguration. But it's fine. What's wrong with Snape, is he going to be out for a while. I hope so. When you are teaching it's way better than when that git is teaching."

Suddenly frusterated I said, "He should be back tomorrow. And he is not a git. He's actually not that bad."

Ron looked mad at my outburst, "Oh yes because you know him so well."

"I don't know him that well but he isn't a terrible person and you should stop talking about him like he is one."

"Whatever," said Hermione butting in.

"Why were you talking to the Slytherin kid for so long?" questioned Harry.

I winced slightly. I hadn't expected anyone to notice.

"He's really nice. He was doing the potion perfectly without the book and even changed some of the directions. I told him that he should ask Professor Snape to go in a higher class. He didn't want to because Snape is scary so I told him I could go with him."

"You're helping out a Slytherin now?" grumbled Ron.

"He doesn't want to be in Slytherin but he has no choice. His family was going to disown him if he wasn't in Slytherin. He's actually really nice so yes I offered to help him out."

Before Ron could respond Hermione said, "That was nice of you, but are you sure he wasn't just playing a joke on you?"

"It didn't seem like it. He wasn't sitting near anyone and the hatred towards Malfoy sounded real. He said he told off a bunch of Slytherins for calling the Muggle-borns Mudbloods and that's why none of the Slytherins like him."

"Okay well that's nice and all but seriously what happened to Snape?" asked Ron.

"He got hurt," I answered vaguely.

"Oh come on. We all know you know what happened! What happened that Snape would miss class? I don't think he has missed a class in a long time."

I was about to burst and stood up. I looked Ron straight in the eye with a steely look on my face. My teeth were gritted and I looked at him for about 15 seconds.

"He was saving me, for your information. Now if you don't mind I have to go and drop off the potions from the first few classes at his office. Goodbye."

I stayed turned towards them for long enough to see the shock on their face. Then with a dramatic flip of my hair I walked out of the Great Hall right to the Dungeons.

Without bothering to knock I strolled into his personal quarters. He looked up from his book.

"Hi," I said.

He finished the page, looked up and said, "Hello Jessica. Did classes go well?"

I nodded confused by the formality, "They went pretty well. I have all the potions here for you. How are you feeling?"

He sighed and said, "Like I said earlier I feel fine. I can take the rest of the classes."

"No you can't. You need to rest."

He rolled his eyes and said, "Fine."

He turned back to his book and I was startled by the coldness in his voice. I knew he didn't want to be here but I wasn't going to risk him getting hurt. Even so he should know it is for his own good, there was no need to be mean about it.

Quietly I took all the potions out of the locker and put them on the stand next to his bed, "Well do you need anything?"

"No," he answered coolly.

Without saying bye I walked out of the room and closed the door quietly behind me. Once I was a safe distance away from the door I burst into silent tears. I turned myself invisible and let myself out through the door. I immediately went outside. I had another hour before I had to teach another class. I avoided the kids chatting near the lake and went into the Forbidden Forest.

With tears falling from my eyes I walked deeper and deeper into the forest until I couldn't tell where I was. I sat beneath a tree and cried more heavily. I didn't understand why Severus was so mad at me. 10 minutes later I was all cried out and wiped my eyes.

I looked around me to try to find out where I was. A few feet away I saw something silver and sparkly. I stood up and walked towards it. When I touched it I realized it was unicorn blood. I started to panic; to kill a unicorn was very hard to do. Something extremely dangerous had done this.

Against my better judgment I followed the steady stream of blood. It stopped in front of a fully grown, dead unicorn lying on the forest floor. I hid behind a tree as a dark hooded figure bent down and drank some of the blood.

I knew I was still invisible but I didn't want to risk exposing myself by making any noise. The hooded creature kept drinking the unicorn blood and I was trying not to move at all. The more I thought about it the more I was disgusted. To kill a unicorn in itself is a terrible offense. To drink the blood of a unicorn could keep you alive even if you were a moment from death but messed up your soul.

For over an hour the dark hooded creature stayed crouched there drinking the blood of the beast. I was worried that I was missing my class but more than that I was worried about the thing in front of me. It was really dangerous if it had murdered a unicorn and had to have no sense of remorse since it was drinking the blood.

Another 10 minutes passed and the hooded creature finally stood up and walked further into the forest. Without another thought I ran out of the forest onto Hogwarts ground as fast as I could. As soon as I was standing by the Great Lake I took off the invisibility shield and sat down under the tree that stood there panting.

As I caught my breath I took a look at my watch. The class I was supposed to be teaching now only had 5 minutes left. By now the students had probably left.

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair nervously. I was wondering if I should tell Severus or Dumbledore what I just saw. At the same time I knew I wasn't supposed to be out in the forest to begin with so I was scared of getting in trouble.

Professor Flitwick walked out the doors and I stood up. When he saw me he ran up to me.

"Where have you been?" he cried, "Everyone is looking for you."