Things went about as usual as they could be in a Wizarding school until a month after the first day. Phil and Dan continued to walk to class together, growing steadily closer to each other. They chose to sit next to each other during meals, ignoring curious glances from the nearby Hufflepuff.

They obviously couldn't sit at Slytherin table - that would be an abomination.

Dan became friends with a friendly, if not awkward, Hufflepuff girl named Louise Phil had introduced. They sat together and talked about homework, Dan being the best in his classes out of the three of them.

"I don't know how you can be such a good wizard, Dan, being Muggleborn and all," Louise said, a Halfblood herself. "Not to be racist."

Dan chuckled, finishing his Divination essay. "That word has a different meaning in the Muggle world," he said, mostly to himself, but Phil heard him and snickered.

The bell rung, signalling the end of lunch period. Dan got up to attend Potions, his sixth period, waving goodbye to Louise and Phil.

On the way there, he saw a group of rather tall Gryffindors beating up a young Ravenclaw boy. Dan wanted to help, but those Gryffindor looked so much bigger than he was. Dan thought it over, gripped his wand, and headed in their direction.

He mustered all his courage and shouted, "Hey! Leave him alone! Why don't you pick on someone your own size? Or are you too scared?"

At the last word, the Gryffindors turned to look at him, and Dan immediately regretted his decision to be the hero. The bruised Ravenclaw looked over in thanks, and the Gryffindors walked over to Dan. The boy ran away, most likely to his next class.

"What have we here? A brave Slytherin, eh? Never heard of one of those. I thought you lot were cowards," said a lanky blonde boy maliciously. He got up to Dan's face and whispered, "Petrificus totalus."

At once, all Dan's body went still. His limbs went completely numb. He fell backwards as the lot of Gryffindor students laughed at him. He tried to pick himself up, but was completely immobile.

"That's what you get for interventing, nosy twat," said one of the witches, stepping on Dan's nose. Dan felt immediate pain but couldn't clot the blood now running down his face and over his lips. He had never felt so embarrassed, vulnerable or exposed to the world. He couldn't move to even numb the pain. He hoped that he wouldn't be late to Divination - he had written a bitchin' essay.

A couple of minutes after the bullies had left, a tall boy and a short girl walked past Dan, and he heard a high-pitched shriek.

"Dan!" Louise said, running over to aid him. "Innervate," she said, giving Dan his versatility back.

"Thank you, Louise. It was -" Dan felt embarrassed once again but he knew that he had to explain why he had broken his nose. "A group of seventh years. They were beating up a tiny Ravenclaw and I just couldn't watch it. I tried to intervene but they just jinxed me and left." Phil hugged Dan.

"It's alright, Dan," said Phil. "That was very valiant of you."

"Brave? Or stupid," Dan said, laughing. Phil joined in.

"Dan, did they step on your nose? Oh," said Louise, fuming. "When you see them, point them out. I will hex them into oblivion. Empurate!" At once, Dan's nose seemed to click with the rest of his skull.

Dan smiled at Louise, but before he could express gratitude the bell rang. "Damn it," Dan said, jumping. "Gotta run. Thanks Louise!" He shouted, sprinting across campus.

Once Dan arrived to Divination - quite much out of breath (you try jogging up six flights of stairs) - he threw himself into the class, excused himself, handed in his essay and sat down at his usual table, next to Marcus.

"Thank you, Mr. Howell. Don't be late again." Dan knew if it had been any other student, Professor Trelawney wouldn't have been as kind, but seeing as he was her favorite student, he usually got off easy. Not like he needed to. He was, quite simply, a teacher's pet.

At the end of Divination, Dan was happy to leave the dark, heavily perfumed room. But in the end, he just wound up going into another dark, heavily perfumed room. Defense Against The Dark Arts. He sat in his usual seat next to Phil - which, blessedly, Carbonaries had let him stay at despite the incident that had happened over month ago. Not like it would happen again. Phil was also a teacher's pet.

"Turn to page 349." Vampires. "Who can tell me three characteristics of the common vampire?"

Louise shot her hand in the air. The professor nodded. "Vampires tend to be particularly violent towards wizards because of our bloody history, if you'll excuse the pun. They also tend to have an acute sense of hearing, much like regular bats. They can't see too well, but their hearing makes up for it. Finally, vampire's bodies can't accept common nutrition. They require an abundance of iron, and one of the few to get nourishment is blood. Human blood being accepted into their body easier due to its common DNA."

"Very good, miss . . .?"

"Louise, ma'am."

"Well done, Louise." They spent the rest of the period taking more notes on vampires. Finally the bell rung and the trio headed for Care Of Magical Creatures.

Hagrid was by far their favourite teacher. He was always smiling and he seemed to love every beast they studied. Although he had little to no sense of danger, he really was a good guy. Phil always teased Louise on how she had to tilt her up to properly look Hagrid in the eye. She threatened to curse him with a Jellylegs Jinx.

"Alrigh', today, we'll be studyin' hippogriffs. I used to own one, his name was Buckbeak, he was a lovely beast. But Buckbeak has gone to a better place . . . so here's his son, Geoff."

A small, weird creature pranced around. It seemed to have the head, neck, wings and legs of an eagle and the body of a horse. Dan whispered to Phil it seemed like something had gone horribly wrong in the lab, and Phil almost snickered loudly enough for Hagrid to hear them.

Hagrid let the pupils pet the small creature whilst he talked about the magnificent creatures. As Geoff was only two years old, he didn't know to bow before anyone.

"That looks like you in the morning," Phil whispered to Dan. He punched Phil in the arm.