The Gryffindor girl first years bustled around the girls dormitory shuffling down to breakfast. Soot woke Grace to wake in a start meowing in her face and punching on her chest. She knew she had overslept because the sun's rays shown in through the window in full yellow, no longer the pink and orange hues of the early morning. The golden shimmery envelope peeked out from it's hiding place and tormented Grace, she was not in the mood to send out that letter but jammed it in her bag anyway and  quickly shoved her books she needed for the day alongside the dreaded envelope.

The laceration on her hand dully ached as she secured the satin tie of her bathrobe tighter to her hand. Grace decided to skip breakfast so she had enough time to make a stop at the hospital wing. Although she was in a rush she walked briskly through the corridors admiring the craftsmanship of the castle everything from  the tiles on the floor to the high beams above, everything was so...

Grace collided into another body too distracted by the ceiling to notice they were there. The dark haired boy was also occupied, deciphering a map. 

"Cedric!" Grace wrapped her arms around him but as she pulled back he looked concerned.

"Are you ok?"  Cedric held her hand gingerly examining the dark stain on her makeshift gauze.

"Yeah I just dropped glass and stupidly tried cleaning in up with my hands." Grace lied, she desperately wanted to change the subject. She knew he wouldn't want to hear that the twins were at the root of this. 

She knew Cedric could see straight through her lies but he didn't pry, "Let me walk you to the hospital wing I think I'm finally understanding this map." Cedric flipped it over and scratched the back of his neck, "I wanted to talk anyway."

"You sure? You might miss breakfast."Grace had wanted to postpone this talk with him, not after last night, she needed some time to cool off.

Cedric nodded and lead Grace in the right direction, "So... you're a Gryffindor girl now, that was unexpected." Cedric kept his eyes glued to map as he spoke.

"Yeah, I guess."

For once it was Cedric doing most of the talking, "I was kind of hoping we would be in the same house." there was an uncomfortable beat of silence,  "but at least we have astronomy together." 

Cedric rambled on about his time since the sorting to fill in for Grace's muteness. Grace began to feel angry at herself, why couldn't she have just wished to be in Hufflepuff, she was sure the hat would have been understanding. She was already keeping secrets from her best friend and involving herself with people her family would not appreciate.

"Are you even listening?" Cedric's question snapped Grace back into reality.

"Sorry, I didn't sleep well last night." Grace said with irritation.

"What happened last night? This much blood doesn't come from cleaning up some glass."Cedric stopped walking and held Grace's arm to stop her as well. His grey eyes filled with worry.

"I told you it was nothing. Let's keep going." Grace angrily rushed ahead.

"Stop." Cedric yelled.

"What?" Grace spat.

"We're here."

"Oh, thanks." Grace walked back shamefully. Cedric attempted to enter the hospital wing but Grace stopped him with an outstretched arm, "I'm ok, you don't need to come in."

"But..." Cedric tried to state his case but was interrupted by Grace's glare. He knew to back down, he always knew how to handle Grace. 

The hospital was surprisingly pretty busy for the morning of the first day, mostly first years. Madam Pomfrey tended to a girl who swore up and down cursing Peeves. The stop in the hospital wing was pretty quick, Madam Pomfrey gave her a wound cleaning potion that smoked as it hit the flesh and it stung like hell. "They've got to make something better than this." Grace mumbled, shaking out her newly healed hand. She did in fact miss breakfast, but she had enough time to go back to her room and use her magic stain remover that she made. Grace made sure to pack a large batch of that potion because unfortunately Grace used it quite often.

The day of classes was long, and finally Grace had made it to Potions. The dungeon in the basement felt muggy and damp, something that does not particularly pair well for potions. The room became quickly packed with Slytherins and Gryffindors causing the room to feel tighter and muggier.

 She took a seat next to Angelina near the back and the twins sat behind them in the last row. George reached forward and twirled Graces curls in his finger and tugged on it gently casing it to bounce. 

When Fred reached for Angelina's long braids she whipped her head around, "Touch my hair and your  fingers will end up like those." She jabbed her pointer toward the claws in jars sitting neatly on shelves across the room. 

The man from Grace's nightmares walked in through the door, Severus Snape. He was just as creepy as she had dreamt him, sly twisted smirk, devilish eyes, and a grim demeanor. Grace shuttered as he spoke, "Everyone take out Magical Drafts and Potions and turn to chapter 3." He glided towards the front of the room like a ghost and scanned the room from behind his desk.

Grace dug through her bag, but there was no potions book. She tried again to no avail. Finally she emptied the contents of her bag onto the table. She looked down at her mini library of books but no potions, and that gold envelope teased her laying on the desk. Grace then heard a horrible noise, it was Snape clearing his throat right behind her right ear. She began quickly shoving her things back into her bag frantically leaving out her quill and her notebook for the endless notes she was about to take.

"That doesn't look like chapter 3 Miss..." He trailed off waiting for her to introduce herself while the Syltherin first years Grace had encountered in the boat snickered.

"Flourish, Grace Flourish Professor" She smiled weakly as she twisted her neck to meet the eyes of her potions teacher. 

"That doesn't look like Chapter 3 Miss Flourish." He repeated himself this time finishing his sentence. He raised his eyebrow waiting for a response, "Care to explain?" He sneered. 

"I forgot it." Grace said sheepishly, "But it's ok, I've read this book about 5 times, no exaggeration." She heard whispering and choked back laughter.

"5 points from Gryffindor." Snape hissed, "No, it is not ok. Tell me, what ingredients are needed in an antidote to common poisons?" Snape looked triumphant.

"Bezoars, mint sprigs, ground unicorn horn, and mistletoe berries."

Snape sighed, "Wrong Miss Flourish, you must use standard ingredient instead of the mint sprigs." 

"Oh that's right I'm sorry I was thinking of Jigger's latest book; when he said that a more effective method would be to use mint springs instead of standard ingredient, I'm sorry." Grace rambled, flustered and embarrassed trying to save herself.

"Make that 10 points from Gryffindor, we follow the textbooks assigned in this class." Snape was not impressed by her knowledge.

Although Grace had read the book many times before and texts much harder than Magical Drafts and Potions, she feverishly took notes the whole class in hopes to not upset Snape again. She was hoping that she might be able to make up from the bad first impression by being absolutely invisible for the rest of the class, maybe he'd forget all about her by tomorrow. 

Grace noticed from the corner of her Adrian folding a piece of paper as Cassius flipped through pages that did not look like they were from a potions book. Of course Snape ignored their antics. While copying a quote from Angelinas book Grace felt something sharp hit her temple. She turned to face the direction it came from and the object hit her in the eye, then the cheek, it kept attacking her face. Angelina tried swatting it away as she stuck her middle finger up at the boys across the room. Fred and George thought it was amusing but managed to keep back from laughter because their friend was the target. 

After a few more hits to the face she managed to grab the paper out of the air, it was a paper crane enchanted to use her face as a target. She crumpled the ball up and threw it back in their direction, no surprise the ball boomeranged straight back to her face. Angelina struck a match and burned their problem to ash. Alicia who sat in front of Grace looked a little anxious, not wanting to cause trouble on the first the first day, she sat with her back to the girls the entire time.

"We gotta get her out of her shell." Whispered Angelina to her Grace and the twins .

"And we need to get back at tweedle dum and tweedle dummer." Grace's eyes flashed with excitement.

The four plotted in the back of the room careful to talk out of the corners of their mouths and remain facing Snape in order not to be caught. Grace shoved a piece of paper in Alicia's hood. Confused, Alicia pulled out the paper and immediately held it under the desk to read it in secret. The four of them watched Alicia with anticipation. But reluctantly she shook her head no still facing forward, signaling to them she wasn't on board with their plans.

"Help us out, he'll never know you had anything to do with it." Angelina leaned forward reassuring Alicia.

"No!" Alicia said a little too loud drawing attention from Snape. She sunk into her seat a little embarrassed.

Fred crumpled up a piece of paper and hit Lee Jordans locks. Lee Jordan was a cute boy with dark skin, locked  hair, and a heart melting smile. George whispered in the little group, "You think he'd do it?". Grace only met Lee Jordan in passing, he seemed a little goofy but definitely friendly. Lee Jordan read Distract Snape and turned around to see the faces of the four new friends smiling at him. Without hesitation or question he got up mid lecture walking past Snape's desk to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Spat Snape.

"The bathroom?" Lee Jordan said as if it were obvious.

"You can't just lea.." Lee Jordan bumped into the desk causing ingredients to fall onto the floor, "This is exactly why you mustn't leave your seat." Snape bent behind the desk annoyed and rigid.

Fred threw that mysterious brown object Grace saw him playing with at the sorting ceremony straight towards the Slytherin bullies hitting the floor directly under Cassius' seat. As the fumes rose to their noses Adrian gagged and punched Cassius in the arm thinking he was the one that produced such a vial stentch. 

Grace and Angelina took in a deep breath and held their noses as the putrid stench from the dungbomb  filled the room. Fred and George seemed to be immune to the smell, probably building a resistance from years of use. Snape's eyes grew fiery.

Fred called out over the loud classroom filled with groaning and complaints about the foul smell, "Warrington! Pucey! Cool it on the beans." The two boys cursed and shouted back.

That's when the bell rang, saved by the bell; Grace and Angelina managed to get away but once they were safe in the corridor they noticed the twins didn't follow.

Lee Jordan burst through the door convulsing with laughter, "Did you see their faces?!"

"Totally worth the detention." George said emerging to join the small gathering of people in the corridor proud of their scandal. Fred and George would have to report to Filch's office tonight at 7 before midnight astronomy to hand in the rest of the dungbombs and any other prohibited items. They were a given one time chance and if they didn't take it they were told they'd be in far worse trouble if they were caught again.

On the way to astronomy Grace walked in between Angelina and Alicia, they both made it clear they did not want to be part of any more mischief. Even Angelina thought that one time was enough for her, but she clearly stated that she wouldn't be upset if the twins continued, it was quite entertaining to see those Slytherins take the brunt of the nasty gas. 

Speaking of the Weasley twins they seemed to appear out of nowhere sneaking up behind the girls scaring them with a little shock to the shoulders, obviously not handing in all of their toys.

"Where did you come from?" Grace looked around confused as the other girls did the same. 

"You'll have to join us one night and we'll show you." Winked Fred.

"Obviously you didn't give away all of your stuff." Alicia gestured toward the buzzers used shock them.

"We gave Filch one dung bomb." George smirked as he shoved a large piece of paper into his bag. 

"Anyone up for some Mischief  tomorrow night?" Fred emphasized mischief and at that George snickered. 

"No." Angelina and Alicia said firmly.

"Maybe some other time, still gotta catch up on sleep, it's horrible that they do Astronomy on at midnight." Grace complained.

Lee Jordan joined the jovial group right before they reached the Astronomy tower, the 6 of them climbed the stairs as a pack and created a scene at the top when they entered the class. Professor Sinistra shot them a look which snapped them back to reality, back to student mode. As soon as Grace was aware of her surroundings, not just her friends, she gawked in amazement, the tower had gorgeous gold architecture and through the wide open windows with no glass she could see the heavens. Another survey of the room she finally noticed Cedric standing with other chatting Hufflepuffs, but he stood silently admiring Grace under the glowing lights of the universe. Embarrassed she didn't see him earlier, she sped over to him.

"You look like you've have a good day." Cedric said smiling softly, genuinely curious about her day.

"You wouldn't believe it." Grace opened her mouth to give him a summary of her day when Professor Sinistra began to speak, marking the start of class.

Angelina waved Grace to come back to the group of Gryffindors, Grace noticed that the class seemed to split. On one side stood the Gryffindors, the other Hufflepuffs, and Grace broke that unspoken rule. She whispered to Cedric, "We'll talk later." and rushed back to her new friends. Cedric looked a little crushed when she walked away. 

That class Grace was so distracted by the view of the galaxy she hardly listened to the Professor, on top of that she kept getting the feeling of someone watching her from across the room, every time she looked over she immediately caught eye contact with Cedric.

That night as soon as Grace pulled over her comforter she passed out, no time to do a recap of her day or feel the guilt she shouldn't be feeling for leaving Cedric to make his own friends. She couldn't change houses and she definitely couldn't feel bad about it either.