Draco watched her with great trepidation.

Please be blue, he begged silently as her eyelids started to flutter open.

"I've told you to stop doing that!"

He let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

Astrid's blue eyes twinkled up at him as she playfully smacked his naked shoulder. "It's creepy as," she laughed softly.

He kissed the tip of her nose, feeling the familiar rush of love surge through his entire body.

"You're beautiful," he murmured silkily, brushing his lips softly against hers, "I can't help it."

"And you're smooth," she giggled, bringing her hands up to brush her fingers through his hair.

He caught her inviting plump lips in his, kissing her softly at first and then slowly deepening it, feeling the familiar stirrings in his abdomen.

A loud knocking at the door put a stop to it.

"Breakfast is served!"

Draco sighed. Nothing killed an erection like the sound of his Professor's drawling tones.

...

"Stop it! Please! I can't take anymore."

I was on my hands and knees, tears coursing down my cheeks, as I gasped for breath between sobs.

We were on the sixth day of Occlumency, and it wasn't getting any easier.

Snape wanted to see everything inside of my mind which meant he had to dredge up horrific memories, and I wasn't allowed to fight it.

"It's the only way, my child," my uncle had said sadly to me after my first session, when I was reduced to tears by the memory of my mother's death. I knew it hadn't been easy on him either - seeing his sister die.

But despite reliving all these memories - my eyes remained blue.

But this last one - this memory that had caused me to collapse to the floor and beg for my uncle to stop, was different. It was not so much a memory, but a feeling. A dark, depressing, terrifying feeling that made me feel as if I would never be happy again - as though all the lights had gone out inside of me and could not be turned back on.

I felt a hand go to my shoulder as I lay sobbing on the floor.

"I have finished, Astrid," my uncle's deep soft tones soothed me, "go back upstairs, go to Draco. No doubt he is climbing the walls with worry about you."

Draco had not been permitted to sit in on our Occlumency sessions after it was evident he couldn't cope seeing me in distress.

As soon as I entered the bedroom, my vision was obscured by a white shirted chest as strong, familiar arms flung around me. I heard the gentle sigh of relief from above my head.

"Thank god, I was on the verge of storming down there and kicking the door in! I can't bear hearing you scream like that."

I wrapped my arms tightly around him, squeezing my body fiercely to him, desperate for his comfort. I was drained and I needed nothing but Draco. I nuzzled my head into his chest and found myself trembling with wracking sobs.

"Astrid?" Draco enquired, his voice full of concern, as he held me to him, "what is it? Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head, still pressed to his chest as tears fell down my face, soaking into his shirt. "I- I just want to be with you."

"I'm here, my love," he said soothingly, stroking my hair as he kissed the top of my head, "I'm not going anywhere. Anything you need, I'm here."

He led me over to the bed, and we both lay down, curling tightly up around one another.

"Would you like to play that game?" He murmured, and my heart fluttered, knowing exactly which game he was talking about.

The game Draco started to help take my mind off the awful memories that Occlumency makes me relive.

"Yes, please - but you start, I like it when you go first."

I felt him chuckle softly beneath me as he stroked my hair. "Okay then. It's a Sunday morning and the owl is pecking on the window with the newspaper."

"What's the owl called?"

"Dracula."

"That's a silly name for an owl."

"This is my story. Anyway, I'm trying to read the paper in bed but with little success because you keep wanting to climb on top of me-"

"Draco."

"Okay, okay," he chuckled, and then he shifted himself on to his side so that he was looking directly at me, his silver grey eyes twinkling into mine as he idly curled a lock of my hair around his finger. "The bedroom door opens and a little girl runs in. A sweet little thing with long black hair, just like yours, and your beautiful sparkling blue eyes. She looks like you, but she also looks like me, too."

"What's her name?" I whispered, not being able to tear my eyes from his as I allowed myself to get lost in his imagination.

"Dora, we named her after your mother."

"Pandora," I breathed, and I suddenly felt overcome with such a pressing sadness.

"Do you want me to stop?" Draco asked, looking at me in concern.

"No," I shook my head, gazing tearfully into his eyes, my heart full of such tender love for my white-blond haired prince, "please, Draco, tell me more."

...

Draco was worried.

Astrid's last Occlumency lesson had left her more broken than usual, and he could also tell that Snape was troubled about something.

Christmas Day was a quiet affair. His mother and father joined them for dinner, but thanks to the pressures of the war, the conversation was strained and Astrid seemed too quiet. She looked exhausted and weakened, Draco noted. It was those damned Occlumency sessions. He knew the kind of memories she harboured, and it must have been hell for her to have relived them in quick succession.

"Can I have a word, Professor?" Draco had asked, after Astrid had excused herself for an early night.

Snape eyed him warily, but didn't turn him down. "Go on."

"I'm worried about Astrid, and I want to know if those Occlumency sessions have enlightened you in anyway in how to help her."

"Well, they've certainly enlightened me," Snape muttered mysteriously, walking over to a tray to pour two glasses of mead.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked urgently, barely nodding a thanks as he accepted the glass from Snape.

Snape sighed heavily as he sat down on the armchair and gestured Draco to do the same on the sofa.

"Draco, what I'm about to tell you must not go beyond this room. And the only reason I'm telling you is because I know how much you love my niece, and I think you deserve to know the truth. I think you deserve to understand."

"What about Astrid? Does she not deserve to know?" Draco snapped, the idea of keeping yet another secret from her already making him feel nauseous.

"Wait until you hear what I've got to say first, and I think you'll agree that the situation is not as straight forward as simply telling her." He paused and, taking Draco's silence for a sign, he continued. "Draco, have you heard of a Horcrux?"

Draco shook his head, listening intently. His heart was thudding. He didn't like the sound of this one bit.

"It is what is created when a supreme act of evil has been committed. A piece of your soul can be contained in an object of your choosing. That object is called a Horcrux."

"Why would anyone want to create one of these things?" Draco asked, confused about what this had to do with Astrid.

"One cannot die unless every part of the soul is destroyed. Creating a Horcrux can make one immortal, Draco. It is very Dark magic indeed."

"And?" Draco spat, wanting Snape to get to the bloody point.

"The Dark Lord, Astrid's father, was, of course, extremely interested in this."

"Are you saying he created one of these Horcruxes? That there's a chance he is immortal?!" Draco asked, horrified by the idea.

"He didn't just create one, Draco," Snape said in a slow, deliberate voice as his beady black eyes glinted eeirily in the lamp light. "He created seven."

"SEVEN?!" Draco spluttered, choking on his mead.

"Harry Potter is currently on a mission to destroy these Horcruxes. Professor Dumbledore coached him on the subject before he... died." Draco noticed his voice give the merest of quivers on this last word. "However, Potter believes there are only six Horcruxes. He doesn't know about one of them. In fact it is imperative he doesn't find out about it until the time is right."

"Why is that?"

"Because the seventh Horcrux is Potter, himself."

"Shit, so he's got to kill himself?" Draco asked, wide eyed. He didn't much like the tosser but he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the poor git.

"That's about the gist of it, yes." Snape answered matter of factly.

"But what's this got to do with Astrid?"

"Over the years I have learnt about Horcruxes, and researched them to the extreme. With skilled magic, I am able to recognise when an object contains one. Upon my aggressive search into Astrid's mind, I discovered something. Something I very much wished I hadn't, but it does explain the darkness inside of her."

Draco's blood turned ice cold.

"The darkness - it's a piece of his soul isn't it?"

Slowly, Snape nodded.

"It turns out he made an eighth Horcrux: Astrid."