The increased security and safety measures made it impossible for the Golden Quartet to visit Hagrid at night, meaning they could only speak during lessons. 

"S'all my fault. Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoystood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly whathe told 'em. . . ." Hagrid said, dabbing his eyes with his handkerchief. 

"There's still the appeal!" said Ron fiercely. "Don't give up yet,we're working on it!" 

Nova, Ron, Hermione, and Harry were walking back to the castle with the rest of the class. Ahead, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyal were laughing. 

"Look at him blubber!" 

Nova's blood turned to fire. 

"Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic?" said Malfoy."And he's supposed to be our teacher!" 

Nova rounded on her cousin, ready to give him the wrath of Nova Black. 

SMACK

Hermione had punched Malfoy. 

The blonde boy stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again."Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul — you evil —" 

"Hermione!" said Ron weakly, and he tried to grab her hand asshe swung it back. 

"Get off, Ron!" 

As the three snakes hurried away, one could hear Nova shouting. 

"THAT'S MY BEST FRIEND, BITCHES!" 

"Hermione!" Ron said again, sounding both stunned and impressed. 

"Harry, Nova, you'd better beat him in the Quidditch final!" Hermione said shrilly. "You just better had, because I can't stand it if Slytherin wins!" 

"We're due in Charms," said Ron, still goggling at Hermione with immense admiration. "We'd better go." 

They hurried up the marble staircase toward Professor Flitwick's classroom. 

"You're late!" said Professor Flitwick reprovingly as Harry opened the classroom door. "Come along, quickly, wands out,we're experimenting with Cheering Charms today, we've already divided into pairs —"

Harry, Nova, and Ron hurried to a desk at the back and opened theirbags. Ron looked behind him. 

"Where's Hermione gone?" 

Harry looked around too. Hermione hadn't entered the classroom, yet Harry knew she had been right next to him when he had opened the door. 

"That's weird," said Harry, staring at Ron. 

"Maybe — maybeshe went to the bathroom or something?" Nova said, hoping to cover for her. She knew what Hermione was doing. 

But Hermione didn't turn up all lesson. 

"She could've done with a Cheering Charm on her too," saidRon as the class left for lunch, all grinning broadly — the Cheering Charms had left them with a feeling of great contentment. Hermione wasn't at lunch either. By the time they had finishedtheir apple pie, the after-effects of the Cheering Charms were wearing off, and Harry and Ron had started to get slightly worried. 

"You don't think Malfoy did something to her?" Ron said anxiously as they hurried upstairs toward Gryffindor Tower. 

They passed the security trolls, gave the Fat Lady the password ("Flibbertigibbet"), and scrambled through the portrait hole intothe common room. 

Hermione was sitting at a table, fast asleep, her head resting onan open Arithmancy book. They went to sit down on either side ofher. Harry prodded her awake. 

"Wh — what?" said Hermione, waking with a start and staring wildly around. "Is it time to go? W — which lesson have we gotnow? 

"Divination, but it's not for another twenty minutes," said Harry. "Hermione, why didn't you come to Charms?" 

"What? Oh no!" Hermione squeaked. "I forgot to go to Charms!" 

"But how could you forget?" said Harry. "You were with us tillwe were right outside the classroom!" 

"I don't believe it!" Hermione wailed. "Was Professor Flitwick angry? Oh, it was Malfoy, I was thinking about him and I lost track of things!" 

"You know what, Hermione?" said Ron, looking down at the enormous Arithmancy book Hermione had been using as a pillow."I reckon you're cracking up. You're trying to do too much." 

"No, I'm not!" said Hermione, brushing her hair out of her eyesand staring hopelessly around for her bag. "I just made a mistake, that's all! I'd better go and see Professor Flitwick and say sorry. . . .I'll see you in Divination!"

Hermione rejoined her friends as they climbed the ladder. 

"I can't believe I missed Cheering Charms! And I bet they comeup in our exams; Professor Flitwick hinted they might!" 

"'Mione! Relax! I bet you'll have it mastered by tomorrow," Nova said. 

Together they climbed the ladder into the dim, stifling tower room. Glowing on every little table was a crystal ball full of pearlywhite mist. Harry, Nova, Ron, and Hermione sat down together at thesame rickety table. 

"I thought we weren't starting crystal balls until next term," Ronmuttered, casting a wary eye around for Professor Trelawney, incase she was lurking nearby. 

"Don't complain, this means we've finished palmistry," Harry muttered back. "I was getting sick of her flinching every time shelooked at my hands." 

"Good day to you!" said the familiar, misty voice, and Professor Trelawney made her usual dramatic entrance out of the shadows. Lavender and Pavarti shivered with excitement. Nova simply rolled her eyes. 

"I have decided to introduce the crystal ball a little earlier than Ihad planned," said Professor Trelawney, sitting with her back to thefire and gazing around. "The fates have informed me that your examination in June will concern the Orb, and I am anxious to give you sufficient practice." 

Hermione let out a snort. 

"Well, honestly . . . 'the fates have informed her' . . . who sets the exam? She does! What an amazing prediction!" she said, not troubling to keep her voice low. Harry and Ron choked back laughs. Nova, however, laughed but struggled to keep it quiet. 

If Trelawney heard them, she made no notice. 

"Crystal gazing is a particularly refined art," she said dreamily. "Ido not expect any of you to See when first you peer into the Orb's infinite depths. We shall start by practicing relaxing the conscious mind and external eyes" — Ron began to snigger uncontrollably and had to stuff his fist in his mouth to stifle the noise — "so as toclear the Inner Eye and the superconscious. Perhaps, if we are lucky, some of you will see before the end of the class." 

Nova was ready to throw the crystal ball out the window. 

There's nothing in this damned thing! Nova thought hotly. 

"Seen anything yet?" Harry asked them after a quarter of an hour's quiet crystal gazing. 

"Yeah, there's a burn on this table," said Ron, pointing. "Someone's spilled their candle." 

"This is such a waste of time," Hermione hissed. "I could be practicing something useful. I could be catching up on CheeringCharms —"

Professor Trelawney rustled past. 

"Would anyone like me to help them interpret the shadowy portents within their Orb?" she murmured over the clinking of her bangles. 

"I don't need help," Ron whispered. "It's obvious what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonight." 

Nova, Harry, and Hermione burst out laughing. 

"Now, really!" said Professor Trelawney as everyone's heads turned in their direction. Parvati and Lavender were looking scandalized. "You are disturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!"

Nova groaned and started banging her head on the table as Trelawney looked into their crystal ball.

"There is something here!" Professor Trelawney whispered, lowering her face to the ball so that it was reflected twice in her huge glasses. "Something moving . . . but what is it?" 

"My dear . . . ," Professor Trelawney breathed, gazing up at Harry. "It is here, plainer than ever before . . . my dear, stalking toward you, growing ever closer . . . the Gr —" 

"Oh, for goodness' sake!" said Hermione loudly. "Not that ridiculous Grim again!"

Trelawney looked up at Hermione. 

Pavarti whispered something to Lavender and the two girls glared at Hermione. Their glares faltered slightly when they saw Nova was glaring at them.

"I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in thisclass, my dear, it has been apparent that you do not have what the noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane." 

"Fine!" said Hermione suddenly, getting up and cramming Unfogging the Future back into her bag. "Fine!" she repeated, swinging the bag over her shoulder and almost knocking Ron off his chair. "I give up! I'm leaving!" 

The whole class was amazed by Hermione's actions. She never walked out of a class, let alone disrespect a teacher. 

"Listen here you, bug-eyed bitch," Nova said standing. "Divination isn't 'noble'. It's about as 'noble' as the last name I'm graced with." 

Trelawney opened her mouth to speak, but Nova cut her off. 

"You stand there predicting the death of a boy who has been tormented by Voldemort since he was in Lily Potter's womb." Many flinched at Voldemort's name. "You go around instilling fear into your students for no damn reason. Especially since your subject is wishy-washy. It isn't nearly as important as Defense Against the Dark Arts or Potions."

"My class-" Trelawney began once again. 

"Yeah, yeah, your class is important." Nova sassed. "Quick! We're in the middle of a battle! I'm gonna sit here in the middle of the chaos and pretend to predict something."

"You, much like your friend lack the skill of Divination," Trelawney said. 

"My friend has a name." Nova hissed. "Quite frankly, I don't care if I have the 'skill' it takes to predict the death or the future for people. I'll just go to one of the muggle fortune tellers. Their predictions are just about as accurate as yours." 

Nova spun on her heel and left the room. 

***

"'Ello, parental figure!" Nova greeted as she plopped herself into a seat unceremoniously for detention. 

"Hello, problem child," Minnie greeted, without looking up from the papers she was grading. 

"Watcha doing, Min?" Nova asked. 

"Grading papers," Minnie said. She wrote furiously with red ink upon someone's paper.

Nova hoped it wasn't her own. 

Then she realized, she didn't turn in the easy. 

"Sounds interesting," Nova said, twirling her wand in her hand. 

"I wasn't aware you were serving detention tonight," Minnie said looking up. Her stern face examining Nova's relaxed and carefree one. 

"It says here on my detention schedule, which I wisely started to carry around with me, that I have a date with you tonight, Mins," Nova said, flourishing the paper she had been carrying. 

"Why is it that you have detention with me tonight, Miss Black?"

"It might be for me totally not giving some Hufflepuffs duck beaks," Nova said. 

"Alright," Minerva said, turning back to her papers. 

"Do you have any cookies?" Nova asked, breaking the silence again. "I'm quite hungry."

With a wave of her hand, Minerva made five homemade cookies appear in front of the youngest Black. 

"Thanks, Min," Nova said before eating her cookies. 

Several minutes later, Minnie addressed the girl. 

"Miss Black, what's this?" Minerva held up a drawn cartoon of Snape and Lockheart twirling in ballerina tutus. 

"Waz wha?" Nova asked, her mouth stuffed with cookies and her lips coated in the crumbs. 

"Your essay."

Nova swallowed. 

"Oh! That!" Nova exclaimed. "Well, I didn't fancy writing an essay, but since you're my favorite professor, I figured I'd at least draw you a picture." 

Minerva hid her smile, knowing the picture was going on her icebox. 

Her eyes drifted towards the clock. 

"It would appear, you are officially done with detention, Miss Black," Minerva said. 

Nova hopped onto her feet happily. 

"This was great, Minnie!" Nova said. "We should do this again sometime."

Nova began to leave. 

"Miss Black!" Minerva called. "You forgot your cookies!"

"Oops!" Nova murmured, before running back for them. "Goodnight, parental figure!"

"Goodnight, problem child!" Minerva called with a fond shake of her head. 

Merlin, help Remus when he has custody over her, Minerva thought He's gonna need it.

Nova strolled down the corridors as the sun began to melt out of the sky. She was about halfway to the Gryffindor Common Room when she heard some sniffle. 

Despite knowing she needed to get back to the Common Room, she veered off to find who was crying. 

She found the source behind one of the gargoyles. 

"Hey," Nova said softly looking down at the young first year. "Are you alright?"

His big brown eyes were filled with tears, and his dirty blonde hair was splade in all directions. 

"I'm fine," the boy insisted.

Nova sat next to the boy, pulling her knees into her chest.

The young boy wore Gryffindor robes. He was clearly a first year, but he appeared scrawny for his age. 

"No you aren't," Nova stated in a soft and kind voice. "I know what it's like to pretend you're fine so that's all people will see." 

The young boy looked up at her. 

"I know what it's like to lie to your friends, to lie to your family." 

"My family is angry with me for being sorted into Gryffindor, not Slytherin," the boy said in a weak voice. 

"Ah, let me guess..." Nova said. "You're from a long line of Slytherins who believe in pureblood supremacy."

The boy nodded. 

"Me too. I'm guessing by the looks of it..." Nova said again in a softer voice. "You either got a letter from your parents saying how you disgraced them or were being taunted by Slytherins."

"I was being taunted by Slytherins," he answered. "They wondered if I should be in Hufflepuff for how weak and scrawny I am."

"Well, I personally think Hufflepuffs are wonderful," Nova tried to cheer the boy up. "And I don't think you're weak."

The boy looked at her, brown eyes meeting honey. 

"You're suffering in silence. That's personal strength. Not all strength comes from body mass." Nova explained. "Now, munchkin, why don't you tell me your name?"

"My name's Timothy Fawley."

"Well, Timmy, I'm Nova Black."

The boy looked up at her in fear. 

"Y-you're the one they all say is evil!" He said backing away slightly. 

Nova frowned. 

"I'm not evil."

"You're trying to kill Harry Potter!" He accused. 

Nova scoffed. "That boy would be dead without me."

"What do you mean?" 

"The number of times I got that boy out of his shenanigans alive is unbelievable." Nova smiled. Timmy slowly sat next to Nova again. "Besides, I don't want my best friend dead."

"You're best friends with Harry Potter?" Timmy asked. 

Nova wondered if he had been living under a rock for the past year. Everyone knew her and Harry were practically attached at the hip. 

"Of course I am!" Nova smiled. "Want a cookie?"

Hesitantly, Timmy took a cookie. 

"Do you think you can introduce me?" Timmy asked excitedly. 

"Tell ya what," Nova began. "You eat the cookie, and tell me a little about yourself and I'll introduce you to Wonder Boy."

"Well...My birthday is June 7th," Timmy said shyly. "My favorite color is blue. My favorite animal is a wolf, and I love treacle tart."

"Wanna know a secret?" Nova asked. 

Timmy nodded excitedly. 

"Harry's favorite food is treacle tart too."

"Really?" Timmy asked. 

"Yup!" Nova said. "Now, let's get back to the Common Room or Minnie'll have my head."

On the way back to the Common Room, Timmy talked animately with Nova. He told her about how he loved potions but didn't like Snape much. He told her how Hagrid scared him. 

"Hagrid?" Nova had questioned with a smile. "There's nothing to be scared about. Man's a big softy."

When the two arrived in the Common Room, Timmy turned to Nova. 

"Ya know, for someone who is 'trying to kill their best friend and evil'," Timmy began. "You don't seem evil."

"Don't let her fool you!" Harry joked. "She's evil!" 

"Shut it, Harold," Nova demanded, her eyes were hard, but once she turned to Timmy, they melted again. "I'm only 'evil' to those that get on my bad side or those who don't know me. It sorta matches my aesthetic."

"Am I on your bad side?" Timmy squeaked.

"Nah," Nova smiled. "I think you're on my good side, Lil Man."

Timmy flashed a toothy smile.

"Bloody hell, Nox! Did you kidnap a child?" Ron laughed as she brought Timmy over to say hi, and meet his hero, Harry Potter.

"Now, now, Ronald," Nova pretended to scold. "No swearing in front of Timmy. He is very fragile, and my child."

"Yeah, Ronald," Hermione teased as she tied her bushy hair into a ponytail. "No swearing in front of Timmy."

"Her mouth is worse than mine!" Ron objected. 

"I haven't the faintest idea what you're on about, Ronald," Nova said. 

"Oh yeah?" Harry challenged, the Potter Smirk forming on his face. "What about-"

"Don't finish that sentence, Harold," Nova said as she ruffled his hair. 

"I thought his name was Harry," Timmy spoke for the first time.

"It is," Ron answered.

"But Nova calls him Harold," Hermione piped up.

"And as my favorite midget, you can call Wonder Boy Harold too," Nova offered. "Now, Timmy, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"I'm Timothy Fawley, and I'm in the first year." Timmy said shyly. 

"Also, he's my child." Nova stated. 

"Who's the father?" Ron asked jokingly. 

"Your mum," was Nova's immediate response, using a muggle joke. 

Hermione and Harry burst out laughing. 

"That made no sense!" Ron exclaimed. 

"It's a muggle joke, Ron!" Hermione stated. 

"Moving on.." Harry interjected. "I'm Harry Potter."

Timmy looked as if his birthday and Christmas were on the same say. His eyes were wide with both admiration and excitement. 

"I'm Hermione and this is Ron," Hermione stated. 

"Timmy..." Nova called. 

He turned to her with a smile on his face. 

"Harry and I have a game to win tomorrow," Nova stated. 

"TEAM! Bed! Now!" Oliver Wood yelled over the noise. 

"It's best you go to bed, Little Man," Nova said. "Wouldn't want to be tired for the match tomorrow would we?"

Timmy rushed and gave Nova a hug. 

"Goodnight, Nova!" He called running up the stairs. 

Nova wore a huge grin. 

"Is she alright?" Ron asked. 

"What if we poke her cheek?" Harry pondered. 

"This is really weird." Hermione agreed. 

"I've never seen her this soft and caring." Ron agreed. 

"Not even with Binky." Hermione finished. 

"What did Timmy do to Nova?" Harry questioned jokingly. "It's like he melted her heart."

"Oh sod off, all of you." Nova laughed.