Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

September 1st, 1991

“Hye, are you ready to go? It’s almost time for us to leave for King’s Cross Station.” Mum called from down the hallway outside of my bedroom. “Not to mention your Uncle Wesley would like to see you before you head off. He doesn’t have much time away from the Aurors’ offices, you know.” Mum continued as I hurriedly checked over everything in my trunk.

“Almost done, Mum. I just have to pack the wizard’s tinkering kit that Grandfather gave me.” came my response to my mother’s call. Once I was sure that I had everything, I grabbed my trunk and lifted it one-handed, despite it’s size. Mum had enchanted it for me herself, just a feather light spell, nothing fancy like an internal expansion spell. I wandered down the hall, and then up the stairs to my family’s kitchen, where my Uncle Wesley and my mum waited for me. Uncle’s face light up as soon as he saw me.

“There she is, my absolute favorite niece! Your mother was just telling me about some of your latest experiments. How are they going? You’d make a fine Ravenclaw you know, just like I was!” exclaimed enthusiastically as he picked me up and spun me around.

“Uncle, I’m your only niece, of course I’m your favorite. And the experiments are just fine, thanks to the fact that mother has allowed me to move to one of the rooms on the below ground floor. I’ve found that the light from the windows of my old room interfered with many of them, so the dark in my new room helps take care of that.” I explain as he sets me down again and then musses up my dark brown hair. We talk some more as we head out to King’s Cross. Once there, we cross through the barrier like the other wizarding families and I finally come face to face with The Hogwarts Express. After a few more hugs and kisses, my Uncle has to leave to go back to work. Once he is gone, Mum stoops down to be face to face with me, her brown eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“If only your father could see you know, he’d be so proud of you. You know, he gave up his life for us during the war before you were born.” Mum whispers as she struggles to keep from crying. I hug her fiercely before speaking to comfort her.

“I know Mum, and I know you miss him. I love you.” I whisper into her ear, thinking I’ve done a pretty good job of consoling her, considering I’m only 11 years old. Mum just swallows silently before giving me a pat on the back and guiding me toward the train.

“Come on, love. Let’s get you on that train. Wouldn’t want to miss the chance of get a good compartment. Now if you need anything while you’re at school, just send Zusteller with a letter and I or your Uncle will take care of it.” Mum explains as I board the train and give her a final kiss goodbye.

“I know Mum, but I’ll be alright. Wisdom and Strength, right? That’s our family motto.” I say before turning around and entering the train proper to find a compartment.
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Having found an empty compartment, I take a seat and pull out my tinkering kit to work on one of my attempted inventions, a radar of sorts that I haven’t quite decided what to use it to detect. I have peace and quiet until about half way through the ride, when I am interrupted by a girl my age with brown eyes, bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

“Have you seen a toad anywhere? Neville lost his and I’m helping him find it.” she asks before noticing the half-finished radar in my lap. “Oh, what’s that then? Looks like some kind of radar by my best guess, but no radars of any kind were mentioned in my book of wizarding devices.” She continues as she examines my invention from the door of my compartment. She must be a muggleborn if she bought a book about Wizarding devices. She seems nice enough, so I decide to introduce myself to her.

“Hullo, I’m Hye O’Connell. This is a radar of sorts, but I haven’t got it to work yet. I don’t have the parts that I think I need yet, so it might be awhile before it does work. I’ll be happy to show it to you again once it does it you’d like. Oh, and I’d love to help you find Longbottom’s toad.” I explain as she shakes my hand.

“Hermione Granger, thank you very much. I’d love to see your invention once you have it working. How did you know Neville’s last name, if you don’t mind my asking?” she responds as I get up to help her look for the toad.

“His gran and my Grandmother are close friends. In fact, our families have known each other for years.” I explain as we walk up and down the train looking for the runaway toad. We never do find the toad but we did chat as we looked until Hermione decided that I needed to change into my robes and continued looking by herself, considering that she was already in her robes. I didn’t see her again until we finally arrived and were ushered into boats by a huge mountain of a man, whom I assumed was Hagrid the groundskeeper, based on my Uncle’s descriptions. Even as we were ushered into the boats and across the lake, I didn’t get the chance to speak to her again then. I ended up in a boat with none other than Draco Malfoy, heir to the Noble House Malfoy.

“Well, well, if it isn’t little half-blood Hye, pretend heir to House O’Connell. How’s your mudblood papa, O’Connell? Oh, wait, he’s dead.” Draco sneered at me as the other two boys in the boat laughed at their leader’s insults. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest, leaning back against my seat in the boat.

“Bugger off, Malfoy. I’m sure you have better things to do than trying to upset me.” I respond, nonchalantly looking at my fingernails to give off the air of indifference.

“Oh, the little half-blood’s got a mouth, I see. Hey chaps, what house do you think she’ll be in? I reckon she’ll be a useless Hufflepuff, just like her mummy.” Draco verbally jabbed at me once more, again laughing at his own pathetic insult. This time, I can’t help but counter with a verbal jab of my own.

“Honestly Draco, you’d think with a family like yours you’d at least know how to properly insult someone. My muggle cousin can come up with better insults than you, and he’s only three years old.” I coolly respond with a smirk, pleased when Malfoy stands up in anger, causing the boat to almost tip over. “Careful, Malfoy, don’t rock the boat, you might fall in the lake and ruin those nice new robes your daddy bought you. Or even better, you’d might drown. Wouldn’t want that, now would we?” I continue as Malfoy carefully takes his seat again, a frown on his face until we reach the Hogwarts docks. I’m the first to hop out of the boat, being quite accustomed to boarding and disembarking water vessels of all kinds.

Joining the other first years on the stone steps in front of the great oak doors to Hogwarts, I patiently await further instructions. Hagrid came up and knocked on the oak doors three times with his massive fist. The door soon swung open, revealing a tall, dark-haired witch in emerald robes. Professor McGonagall, if my Uncle’s descriptions were anything to go by. She and Hagrid exchange some words, which I don’t care enough to listen to. McGonagall opens the doors and the other first years and I follow her into the castle, stopping in a small, empty chamber off the hall. McGonagall speaks up to address us, and this time I decide it’s important enough to pay attention.

“Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.” McGonagall starts, then pauses to look over us all before continuing.

“The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has it’s own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of each year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.” McGonagall pauses again this time to glare at some boys who are already roughhousing. Once they stop she continues once more.

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.”

She looks pointedly at Neville Longbottom’s cloak, which was fastened wrong, and then at a red-headed boy I assume is a Weasley, who must have something on his face. Next to the Weasley boy, a dark-haired boy that seems familiar, but that I don’t quite recognize, nervously tries to fix his messy hair.
“I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly.” said Professor McGonagall before she left the chamber. I make my way through the crowd, trying to get closer to the dark-haired boy in an attempt to recognize him. I overhear him speaking to the Weasley boy next to him.

“How exactly do they sort us into Houses?” the dark-haired boy asked Weasley.

“Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking.” replied the Weasley. The dark-haired boy seemed to panic, but I stopped paying attention once Hermione came up to my side to tell me about some spells she learned and to ask me some questions about which ones I think she’ll need. Hermione and I have a pleasant conversation about spells, only stopping when a bunch of ghosts stream through a wall, causing a few of our peers to jump and scream in fright. The ghosts address us before being dispersed by the return of McGonagall.

“The Sorting Ceremony is about to start.” She waited for all the ghosts to leave before instructing us to form a line and follow her. She led us into the Great Hall, the sight of which caused many a first-year to gasp in amazement. McGonagall led us to stop in front of the teachers’ table. To my right, Hermione whispers to me something about the ceiling being bewitched to look like the sky. I nodded my agreement with her but instead choose to focus on the four-legged stool that McGonagall was placing in front of us. She then put a pointed wizard’s hat on top of said stool.

“The Sorting Hat.” I whisper to Hermione, pointing with my chin at the magical hat upon the stool. We both examine the hat from where we stand before, after a moment of silence, it starts to sing:

“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,
But don’t judge on what you see,
I’ll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,
And I can cap them all.
There’s nothing hidden in your head,
The Sorting Hat can’t see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you’ve a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don’t be afraid!
And don’t get in a flap!
You’re in safe hands
(though I have none)
For I’m a Thinking Cap!”

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. A few of the other first years whispered to each other about the hat before McGonagall stepped forward with a long roll of parchment.

“When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,” she said. “Abbott, Hannah!” A girl in blonde pigtails shuffled forward, put on the hat, and was sorted into Hufflepuff after a short moment. The Hufflepuff table cheered as she went to go sit down with her new House mates.

“Bones, Susan!” came the next name, and then Susan too was sorted into Hufflepuff, sitting down at the Hufflepuff table by Hannah.

“Boot, Terry” again a name was called, this time the student being sorted into Ravenclaw, and he went to sit down at the Ravenclaw table, shaking a few hands along the way.

The next student, “Brocklehurst, Mandy” was also sorted into Ravenclaw. “Brown, Lavender” was the first one sorted into Gryffindor, which caused the Gryffindor table to erupt into cheers. “Bulstrode, Millicent” became a Slytherin, and the Slytherin table clapped politely. Many names were listed before Hermione’s name was called, and before she went to the hat, I gave her shoulder a squeeze and smiled at her. My new friend then ran up to the stool and eagerly jammed the Sorting Hat on her head, causing me to chuckle. “GRYFFINDOR!” the Hat declared, and I heard the Weasley boy groan. There were a few humorous things as the Sorting continued, such as Neville tripping on his way to the hat and then almost forgetting to take the hat off after he was Sorted into Gryffindor. When Draco’s name was called he strutted forward and barely had the hat on his head before it exclaimed “SLYTHERIN!” to nobody’s surprise. I smiled throughout the Sorting until suddenly I heard McGonagall call my name.

“O’Connell, Hye!” she called a second time before I slowly walked up to the stool, sat down and placed the Hat upon my head.

“Ah, young Miss O’Connell. Let’s see where you should go. Hmm, a definite goodness about you, yet you are not necessarily kind. Not quite brash enough for Gryffindor. You have much intelligence, but academics don’t seem to be your focus. Let’s see, you just want room to conduct your experiments and tinker with your inventions. I see you intend on becoming the best inventor and crafter of wizarding tools and devices. You have much ambition, especially since the O’Connell’s are not know for that. There is only one place for you!” the Hat spoke inside my head before declaring my house.

“SLYTHERIN!”

The entire Great Hall was silent. Quite a few mouths hung open, including my own. No O’Connell had ever been Sorted into Slytherin. It was unheard of. We were traditionally Sorted into either Hufflepuff, like my Mum, or Ravenclaw, like my Uncle. We even had a few Gryffindors here and there throughout our family tree. But no Slytherins. I would be the first. I numbly removed the hat from my head and slowly trudged over to the Slytherin table, where I was met with glares from everybody, including my new House mates. I sat by myself near the end of the table, where I could still see Hermione over at the Gryffindor table. We met eyes and she gave me a sympathetic look. Sighing, I decided to look at the wood detail of the table as if it was very interesting. I didn’t listen to the next names Sorted, until I heard a surprising name called.

“Potter, Harry!”
I snapped my head up at this and saw the dark-haired boy from before slowly walk up to the Hat. Many of the other students in the Hall began to whisper loudly as we waited for him to be Sorted. He seemed to be taking even longer than I did. Finally the Hat called out “GRYFFINDOR!” causing the entire Great Hall, except my House of course, to explode in the loudest cheers yet. I clapped for him, noticing how relieved he seemed to be a Gryffindor. Only a few people were left to be Sorted after Potter, and once they were taken care of, a man who I knew to be Professor Dumbledore stood up and spread his arms wide.

“Welcome!” he said. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!” he sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Then the food was served, much of it being traditional wizard comfort food. We all dug into our feast and when everybody was finally finished Dumbledore stood up to address us again.

“Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.” He stated with a knowing look towards someone at the Gryffindor table.
“I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.” he finished with a stern glare out over the entire Hall. We sang the Hogwarts school song before being dismissed to our dorms. Gemma Farley, the Slytherin prefect led us to the dungeons where she told us the password to our dormitory, and showed us to our rooms. Our common room was beautiful, with large cushioned chairs and sofas the color of emeralds, ebony wood study tables here and there, and silver artisan lamps with dark green lampshades. Not to mention the huge glass windows looking directly into the dark water of the lake we crossed on our way to the castle. Surprisingly, I felt right at home here. I followed the other first year girls to our rooms and claimed a bed for myself, before unpacking my luggage. I put all of my things away in a safe place, before looking at my wand that I had gotten at Ollivander’s. It was a fine wand, in my opinion, Beech wood, phoenix feather core, 12 ½” and quite bendy. Celtic designs wove all up and down the shaft of the wand, and Uncle had Mr. Ollivander magically inscribe my name on the handle, as was the practice of House O’Connell. I put my wand away too before changing into my sleepwear, pale green silk knee length sleep shorts, and a matching button-up sleep shirt, with the O’Connell family crest on the breast pocket of the shirt. Now dressed for bed, I fall asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow, not waking until the next morning when one of my roommate’s alarm clock goes off.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

---Sometime in September, 1991---

Uncle Wesley’s descriptions of Hogwarts did NOT do it justice. He neglected to mention the sweeping staircases and seemingly endless corridors. He didn’t explain that you can’t use the portraits as reference points because they like to visit each other and often are not even in their own frame. He didn’t tell me about the trick doors and false stair steps, or even tell me that it is next to useless to ask directions for one of the many ghosts. Ghosts have no need of the normal passageways, seeing as they can just float through the walls to wherever they want to go. Some of the ghosts, like Peeves, will even purposely give you wrong directions, resulting in students becoming even more lost. And yet against all odds, by the time the first week was up, I had for the most part figured out where to go and when to go there, and no longer worried about being late to class. Things were looking up for the most part, well at least until the mail came in one Friday morning.

As soon as I recognized Hermes, my Grandmother’s personal owl, I pulled out my wand and shot a quick and handy spell at him.

“Petrificus Totalus!”

Hermes fell and landed a few meters away from my seat at the Slytherin Table. I heard a Gryffindor first year comment on my spell as she walked to her table.

“Parvati, just look at that O’Connell girl, already corrupted by Slytherin and flinging spells at innocent owls. Such a disgrace to her family.” the girl scoffed at me as I picked up the frozen owl to take him somewhere more private.

“If you knew who this owl was from, then you would know that the mail he carries isn’t innocent, Lavender Bertha Brown. Now excuse me, I need to open this mail somewhere… less public than the dining hall. See you later in potions, hope you didn’t forget the essay Snape assigned.” I called as I pushed past the two Gryffindors on my way outside to the greenhouses. It was unlikely for anyone to be there considering the only herbology classes on Friday’s were N.E.W.T. level classes in afternoon. I noticed I was being followed as I left the courtyard on my way to my destination.

“You should really get better at sneaking, Daphne. It might come in handy one day. Now do you need something? I really need to open my mail before class.” I say without even turning around to properly address my only friend in Slytherin.

“Slow down Hye! Some of us don’t have a grandfather who regularly drags us out of our projects to force us to get exercise. I just wanted to know if we really had a essay due for potions today.” Daphne explained as I slowed down just enough for her to catch up.

“Of course not. I just told Lavender that because she pissed me off. Sometimes it’s just nice to watch people squirm. I’m sure some other chivalrous Gryffindor will set her straight about that.” I reply as I duck between greenhouses 2 and 3 and set Hermes down so I can perform the counter-curse to unfreeze him.

“And why exactly did you body-bind that owl? I didn’t even realize that you could use it on something other than another person.” Daphne replied as she pulled a handkerchief out of a pocket and transfigured it into a small stool to sit on.

“Oh sure it works on other things besides people. I’ve even theorized that it would work on anything that’s alive even if it isn’t an animal, just so long as it can move. Someday I’m going to test it out on the Whomping Willow. I just will probably wait until I have other ways of protecting myself should my theory prove false. And if you stick around you will see why I froze poor Hermes here.” I explained as I also pulled my own handkerchief out of my pocket and transfigured a seat for myself and then instructed Daphne “Now watch closely, I’ll explain more after I open the mail.”

As soon as Hermes was free from the body-bind curse he hooted at me indignantly before dropping a stack of envelopes bound together in my lap, the top one of which was a vivid blood red. As soon as the stack was in my lap the red envelope slowly started to pull itself from the bindings and Hermes flew away, as he already knew what was coming.

“A howler already, Hye? No wonder you were in a hurry to get out here to open it. But how come it hasn’t exploded yet?” Daphne asks me as the letter continues to struggle against the twine that holds it down.

“The countdown doesn’t start until the letter is officially received. So if you body-bind the owl delivering it, you can open it whenever you feel like, so long as the owl stays frozen. Of course it’s still best to open it as soon as possible so the sender doesn’t suspect anything. I only did this to avoid embarrassment for our house. You can thank me later. Now shush, it’s almost free. Thank Merlin Uncle got to the package in time and made sure extra strength twine was used.” I respond in a hushed tone as the letter finally came free and I snatched it out of the air to open it.

“HYE MARGARET O’CONNELL!!! HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN! WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST BE A RAVENCLAW LIKE YOUR UNCLE OR YOU GRANDFATHER?!? BUT NOOOOO, YOU JUST HAD TO BE DIFFERENT AND BE A SLYTHERIN!!! YOU ARE DISGRACE TO OUR FAMILY! IF IT WAS UP TO ME THEN YOU WOULD ALREADY BE BURNT OFF THE FAMILY TREE. YOU SHOULD BE THANKFUL YOU GRANDFATHER REMINDED ME THAT SUCH A PUNISHMENT IS A VERY DARK SIDE THING TO DO. BUT DON’T EXPECT ANY PRESENT FROM ME COME CHRISTMAS TIME!” My Grandmother’s voice rang out loud and clear, so loud in fact that Daphne and I both covered our ears. The howler had already finished shredding itself by the time Daphne and I had recovered enough to talk in normal voices.

“My grandmother. She’s become more than a little… off her rocker in her old age. Hermes is her personal owl, so I knew as soon as I saw him that any mail from her would have a howler in it. She uses howlers even when she’s not mad. Something about it being harder for someone to forge her voice than her handwriting. She’s also paranoid about having any owl other than Hermes deliver her mail. And he’s older and slower than most owls, but she’s says that’s the price she pays for security in her mail or something. Now are you going to help me open the rest of it or not? It should all be safe normal mail now.” I explain to a dumbstruck Daphne as I hand her half of the stack so I can get through it all faster. We begin opening the rest of my mail together. After a few minutes Daphne gets to my copy of the Daily Prophet.

“Hye, did you hear that Gringotts was broken into? This article says that nothing was stolen but they are still looking for the suspect.” Daphne says as I read a particularly funny letter from Grandfather.

“Hmm? Oh I’m sure it was just some young teenage witch or wizard who graduated last spring and is trying to prove herself or himself. I might write Uncle and see if he knows anything about it. He didn’t send a letter in this bunch so I’m sure he’s busy at the Aurors’ offices.” I comment as I turn my stool back into a handkerchief and pack all my mail into my schoolbag.  “Come on, it’s almost time for class. We have defense with Ravenclaw this morning, and I want to get a seat near the back so I don’t have to smell Quirrell all class long.” I complained as Daphne turned her stool back into a handkerchief. She looked up and rolled her eyes at me before we headed off to class.

---About a week later, on a Thursday---

I was eating my breakfast in the courtyard peacefully as I read my defense textbook in preparation for class the next day when I noticed a head of bushy brown hair dressed in Gryffindor robes headed my way. When she sat down next to me, Hermione politely waited for me to finish the page I was on before I put the book down to see what she wanted to talk about.

“Ok, spill it Hermione Jean Granger, you look nervous and I don’t like that. What’s on your mind, my friend?” I ask as I set my textbook on the bench between us.

“Well see, it’s about the flying lessons for Gryffindor and Slytherin this afternoon, I’m worried about” She starts before I cut her off.

“The WHAT now? As far as I know, I don’t have any classes on Thursday afternoons. I specifically use that time to study for Transfiguration class with Hufflepuff. You know how strict McGonagall is about marking essays.” I explain my confusion to my only friend besides Daphne.

“You didn’t see the notice posted in your common room?” Hermione asks as I pull out the self-updating schedule that Snape gave to all the first year Slytherins.

“The only thing we use the notice board for is our password and notes asking who borrowed what. All of our schedules are on these enchanted parchments Snape gives us. But I never look at mine because I memorized it during our first week here and I wasn’t expecting it to change. Ah here it is, Thursday afternoons, right after lunch, shared with Gryffindor. Huh. Well I guess we have another class together now, that’s good, right? Now what where you worried about?” I explained as I put my schedule back into my schoolbag.

“Well seeing as I’m a muggleborn, I’ve never flown on a broom, and the books I borrowed from the library are absolutely zero help, and I figured that since you grew up in a wizarding home you might could help me?” Hermione muttered as she twirled her thumbs and looked over at an apparently rather interesting bush. I chuckled at my friend’s nervousness and decided to help her out.

“I really wish you would have come to me sooner. Of course I’ll help you out. But seeing as we have flying lessons this afternoon, I doubt we’ll be able to borrow the school brooms. I can give you a few pointers, and if we both have all our other homework done with by Sunday afternoon, I can actually tutor you then if you still think you need help. But, I won’t do it for free. I could use a little extra help with charms, if you don’t mind. But that’s my final offer, take it or leave it.” I offered as I thought about my less than acceptable marks in Professor Flitwick’s class.

“Sounds good to me.” Hermione agreed after less than a second of consideration. I smiled at her before I pulled out my good drawing parchment pad and matching art quill that together had an enchantment to animate whatever was drawn using them.

I started to draw out a rough sketch of what to do when mounting a broom and riding it the first time.  “Now to mount the broom one typically stands beside it and says ‘Up!’ to command it into your dominant hand. The trick to this is to remember that you as the witch have authority over the broom and to be confident in this knowledge. Once on the broom, you will gently push off the ground with the tips of your toes when you are ready to achieve lift-off. After you are airborne you just use your hands to point the tip of the broom where you want to go and think ‘fly’. Sometimes it’s easier for first time flyers to actually say fly out loud, so if you need to at this point you can whisper the command underneath your breath. Just be discreet about it; I’m sure if Malfoy notices then he will tease you about it. Trust me, his teasing is the worst. Like literally the worst, because he’s really bad at properly insulting someone.” I explain as my sketch depicts everything I say even up to the part about Malfoy being bad at insults.

“Thanks, Hye! This should really help, and the part about Malfoy being bad at insults made me smile, so I feel a little bit better now. But if you don’t mind, how did you get the drawing to move?” Hermione replies to my instructions as the drawing loops back over and replays itself.

“Oh my parchment and quill have an enchantment on them, the same one used on the paintings inside the castle. I can’t for the life of me recall the name of it though. My Uncle Wesley actual got the parchment pad and quill as a matching set for my last birthday. That reminds me, isn’t your birthday next week?” I drawled as I watched my friend watch and rewatch my instructional artwork.

“Yes, the 19th, actually. Don’t worry about a present, I don’t need anything, other than help with flying of course.” she murmured without looking up from the parchment.

“Ok, well you hang on to that, and I’ll see you after lunch then, yeah?” I asked as I got ready for my Herbology class with Hufflepuff in greenhouse 1.

“See you then.” Hermione automatically replied before she wandered off to her class, eye brows furrowed at the animated sketch.

---Later that day after lunch---

Herbology had been about normal that morning, and there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy in History of Magic. Lunch tasted just as good as it always did, so I ate my fill knowing that I had flying lessons next. I was excited to see how Hermione did using my tips and tricks, so as soon as I was done eating I headed back to the Slytherin dorms to change into my school issued athletic wear, glad to finally have a use for it. Daphne was already changed into hers and was reading in the common room when I got there.

“Daphne Lynn Greengrass, already dressed for flying lessons I see.” I called out as I passed her on my way to our dorm. In response she just sent me a somewhat questioning look that I ignored, seeing as I had more important things to do than listen to whatever question Daphne had this time, like getting dressed to fly. By the time I was done and back in the common room, all the other first years had already started to group up to walk to class together.

We unsurprisingly beat the Gryffindors to the courtyard where Madame Hooch would retrieve us before we started making our way down to the pitch. However we didn’t have to wait long for either our Gryffindor classmates or Madame Hooch because they both showed up not even 5 minutes later, the Gryffindors only arriving seconds after our instructor did. She explained some of the ins and outs of flying and the history of quidditch on the way down to the pitch, most of which I tuned out as I thought about how it would be nice to play chaser for Slytherin, which of course couldn’t happen this year seeing as first year students aren’t allowed on school teams. The only part of Hooch’s lecture that I did catch was to not do anything with the brooms unless and until she told us to. Pretty soon everyone was standing by a broom, ready to start, waiting on the command. It was given and I was happy to see that either my advice to Hermione worked, or she hadn’t needed it, seeing as her broom rose to her hand slowly but surely on her first try. My broom was in my left hand faster than anyone else, except for Draco and Potter. Once everyone was mounted Hooch checked our stance and posture, even going so far as to correct Draco for doing it wrong. She told us to lift-off on her whistle but Neville Longbottom got nervous and pushed off too early and ended up falling off and breaking his wrist. Hooch left to take him to the infirmary and told us to stay put on the ground until she got back. I walked over to congratulate Hermione for doing well so far when I saw Malfoy pick something up out of the corner of my eye.

“Hey everybody, Neville dropped that stupid ball thing his gran sent him.” Draco exclaimed, clearly gearing up to impress Pansy or something equally as stupid.

“Oh no, here we go again.” I whispered to Hermione as we watched the scene unfold.

“Give it here, Malfoy.” Potter commanded as he walked forward with a stance meant to intimidate.

“Nah, I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find - how about - up a tree?” Malfoy taunted, and surprisingly Potter fell for it.

“I said give it here!” Potter yelled as Malfoy remounted his broom and took off.

“Why don’t you come and get it?” Malfoy taunted again from tree leave as Harry got on his broom to follow.

“No, Harry! You’ll just get us all in trouble!” Hermione shouted as the two boys ignored her and continued their little testosterone contest. I kept watching the scene unfold as Malfoy tried to evade Potter and eventually just threw the ball, and Harry dived to catch it, performing better than even some professional seekers that I had seen in matches with Grandfather. He had scarcely landed before McGonagall was there yelling his name.

“HARRY POTTER! Come with me immediately.” McGonagall commanded as she practically drug Potter away by the ear.

“Well he’s definitely getting expelled.” noted Malfoy as he landed in the open space between me and the other Slytherins. I immediately turned on him to give him the scolding of his life.

“DRACONIS LUCIUS MALFOY!!! What in Merlin’s name where you thinking?!? You IMBECILE! You’re lucky McGonagall didn’t seem to notice you, else you would be right there along with Potter probably on your way to Dumbledore’s office to be expelled! Not to mention all the house points you could have lost us! Ravenclaw is already in the lead for the house cup, we can’t afford stupidity like that if we intend to win that cup! Honestly, you should know better! You don’t have your daddy’s uncanny ability to charm yourself out of sticky situations so it’s best if you just avoid them, else you’ll have me to deal with.” I rant at him until I notice Hooch on her way back to the pitch. After that flying lessons continue as normal, after Ronald Weasley explains that Potter is with McGonagall of course.

---Later that evening---

“How do you even know everybody’s full names like that? Even the muggleborn students? I know for sure that they aren’t listed in the wizard genealogy books like you, me, or Draco are.” Daphne asks me as I help her with the defense homework for tomorrow.

“Meh, it’s just a thing I like to do, knowing everyone’s full name like that. For instance Professor Snape’s full name is Severus Otis Snape. And my mum says you can find just about anything if you know where to look, and I make it a point to know where to look. Now you seem to have this part of the magical theory down, so if you excuse me, I’m going to spy on Malfoy, he looks like he’s up to no good, that git. I swear he’s lost us more points than everyone else in our year combined. Granted that’s only like 5 but still, rather safe than sorry.” I say as I stand up to go lurk near where Malfoy appears to be boasting to his lackeys.

“I’m not even going to meet Potty and Weasel-bee tonight. I tipped Filch off that there would likely be students out of bed in the trophy room tonight around midnight, so all I have to do is watch and wait for them to get expelled. And the best part is my hands will stay clean and O’Connell will have nothing to scold me about. Did you two blokes see the way her hair frizzed and crackled with her magic this afternoon? I tell you, that is one witch that I don’t want to cross anymore. She’s going be a powerful witch one day, mark my words. I can’t wait to write Father about today.” Draco enthused to his two silent lackeys as he tossed an apple around and finished by biting a chunk out of it. I was silently surprised by his unintended compliment, but I had more important things to worry about, like warning Potter about Draco’s trap. I may not be friends with him, and he may not realize that I even exist, but I have a feeling he’s going to be very import to the wizarding world, and it just wouldn’t do to have him expelled before he even had a chance to learn his purpose. I guess I’m not getting any sleep tonight