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The Herbology greenhouses were situated half way down the hill that led down to the Quidditch pitch and the groundskeeper's lodgings and the winding path meandered all the way down, with no paths leading off of it.

This meant that, in order for students to get to the greenhouses, they had to cut across the grass and go around the large flower garden in the centre of the lawn.

Due to the rainfall that had happened overnight and earlier that morning, the grass was actually incredibly slippy and rather clogged up with a lot of soggy leaves, that gave Euphemia the impression that she was traipsing through soggy cornflakes.

It was a stark comparison to the leaves of the early morning that she had seen, the ones she had imagined to make a crunchy noise if you stepped on them. Now it was not the case.

Unfortunately, Mia's smart, sensible school shoes were not suited at all to scrambling down a hill that not only sloped downwards quite rapidly and made your ankles twist over but one that was plagued by rain and slippery leaves.

She almost fell onto her backside at one point, wobbling all over the place as she kept a death grip on her school bag that was placed precariously on her shoulder.

Cursing mildly under her breath, Euphemia somehow managed to make her way down the very steep hill, that had no path whatsoever, without actually falling flat on her face. A great achievement for a Monday morning.

By the time Euphemia had actually reached the greenhouses, she feared she was late and so quickened her pace, disregarding all the precautions she had just taken so that she wouldn't slip in her haste to get to the classroom on time.

In fact, she very nearly fell again but managed to catch herself at the last minute, though her bag took a tumble, much to her displeasure.

Groaning, Mia picked up her now wet school bag and attempted to dry it off a little with her hand which didn't make any difference at all, instead just dampening her hand.

Luckily for Euphemia, the class had only just started settling down as she entered, looking a little disheveled and she was aware of a muddy stain on her once pristine white sock though she was hoping no one else would notice.

Professor Herbert Beery was the teacher in this class, as it had said so on Greenhouse One's door, which was battered and had some sort of fungi growing around it and so Mia looked around for him as soon as she was in the classroom, ready to apologise for her tardiness.

However, he was nowhere to be seen as far as Euphemia was looking, her eyes scanning the loud and chattering greenhouse, all the Slytherin and Hufflepuffs sat down at their benches, also looking around expectantly though Heather was sat atop her desk, saying something darkly to Walburga, who had her eyes narrowed.

Euphemia saw Pomona Sprout seated right at the front, her blonde pigtails rather messy and framing her face, which was lit up with a happy smile. Florean was also in this class and he waved at Mia as she walked in, shaking his head playfully as she was late.

A joyful, booming voice suddenly caught Euphemia off guard and she almost jumped out of her skin as Professor Beery came strolling into the greenhouse, his arms filled full of trays that were crammed with some sort of plant growing in them.

"What on earth are you still doing stood up, girl?" he cried out, ushering her out of the way as he dumped the trays carefully down on his desk.

"Sit down, sit down," he waved her to a seat and Euphemia took that as an opportunity to apologise.

"Uh, I just wanted to apologise for being late-" Mia started but was cut off by Professor Beery shaking his head at her.

"It's your first day, you were bound to get lost," he said to her condescendingly, clicking his tongue and Euphemia opened her mouth to explain that she had actually been struggling to get down the hill and how she thought it would be beneficial for the students to have a path placed there but she gave it up as a lost cause when Professor Beery started addressing the class in his booming voice.

Sighing, Euphemia slid into a place beside Pomona as it seemed to be the only place left, even Eileen was sat next to Mary.

Germaine Avery, an annoying boy in Slytherin who had always had connections with the Black family and one of the people that Euphemia had been forced to play with when she was younger, let out a hiss at her choice of seating.

Mia span round in her seat and gave him a look as if to say And your problem is? which just made him roll his eyes and shake his head.

"I'm glad you sat next to me, I thought nobody would," Pomona said happily to Mia, who grinned back before turning her attention to Professor Beery who was commanding them all to get out their copies of One Thousand Herbs and Fungi.

Euphemia couldn't really say she was particularly interested in Herbology but that was probably because she had enjoyed Transfiguration much better and the heat of the greenhouses, despite the rainy weather outside, was rather stifling and suffocating, making Mia feel queasy.

In their first lesson, Beery was teaching them about the Incendio spell that could be used on almost any plant to wither it or prevent it from attacking a human.

The students had to practice the fire spell on some Bouncing Bulbs that Beery had fetched them from the storeroom, which had been where he was at the beginning of the lesson and the bulbs were what had been in the tray.

Mia hadn't really been listening and she didn't have Minnie to guide her through the wand work this time so she was rather stuck for a while before Professor Beery suggested that they worked in pairs and Euphemia gladly turned to Pomona, who seemed to know what she was doing.

"Incendio!" Pomona jabbed her wand at one of the Bouncing Bulbs and it immediately shrivelled up and lay still in the tray, which was when Euphemia had to pick up the remains of the bulb and place it in a separate tray.

Herbology seemed incredibly confusing to Mia as of that moment even though they were only doing simple spells with some particularly aggressive bulbs.

"Would you like a go, Euphemia?" Pomona asked her and Mia shook her head, completely fine with watching Pomona do it all as she didn't have a clue whatsoever.

" Oh no, I insist! Can't have you missing out on any of the fun, now can we?" she said enthusiastically and Euphemia reluctantly raised her wand, about to utter the spell when a Bouncing Bulb suddenly whacked her in the face, sending Pomona into peals of laughter and for everyone else to look over at the pair at the front.

Euphemia's face burned red but she quickly brushed it off, grabbing the struggling Bouncing Bulb tight in her fist, practically squeezing it before quickly placing the slightly weaker bulb in the tray and hitting it with an Incendio.

The bulb did smoke a bit but Pomona let out a whoop and then took over again, much to Mia's utmost relief.

It was doing better than some of the bulbs though, Walburga's had actually set on fire and singed the end of Heather's silky blonde locks and she was frantically trying to get rid of it which made Euphemia laugh heartily.

Due to Mia not really liking the class so far, she pretty much dozed off and let Pomona do all the work, which the peppy girl was more than happy to do, though she did try and encourage Euphemia to join in at certain points but she was just met with adamant refusals.

All Mia could think about was how she was supposed to handle Walburga's obvious rage at her and was actually wondering what the heck she was going to say in order to get away tonight.

She couldn't exactly just saunter up to Walburga, Heather and Mary and tell them that she was just going to go and hang out with a bunch of blood traitors and half bloods. They'd murder her on the spot.

She was absentmindedly moving the burnt, shrivelled up Bouncing Bulb shells from one tray to another when something rather soft and sharp collided with her head, making her yelp out in surprise and clutch at her temple.

The thing that had made contact with the side of her head actually was a piece of paper folded up into a little paper aeroplane, which was either made the muggle way or was an unbelievably great piece of magic for a first year class.

Euphemia looked about curiously, wondering who could've sent her a note. Surely they meant to send it to someone else and it had just accidentally hit her on the way?

Just as her eyes were scanning over the classroom again, she caught Florean's small, mischievous wink at her and she suddenly realised who it was from.

Practically face-palming at her own stupidity, Mia quickly unraveled the note, glancing around furtively to see if anyone was watching.

Which they weren't, everyone was preoccupied with their bulbs that were either bouncing all over the place or burning to a crisp in their trays when the students over did the spell a little.

Some Hufflepuff girl, who was apparently called Isabelle according to Pomona, had actually been hit in the face by a Bouncing Bulb that was on fire and had smacked her about the face, leaving the girl to wail in despair and clutch at her face that was covered in burns.

Did Minnie ask you to come with us later on? - F. read the note, written in Florean's messy handwriting and rather crumpled due to how badly the plane had been crafted.

Yes she wrote back, grabbing her quill and ink pot from the corner of her incredibly moss covered desk.

Mia then pondered on what else to write as a simple yes was a pathetic answer on it's own, especially if Florean was as bored as she was in this lesson.

Also, who taught you how to make paper aeroplanes? This one wouldn't even be able to take off, the design is lacking some features - E.

And with another hastily made paper aeroplane to accommodate her writing, the note was off in the air again thanks to Euphemia's throwing technique.

Miraculously, it actually landed on Florean's desk and Mia cheered underneath her breath. Maybe she could be a Chaser...

Florean smirked as he read the note and, before Euphemia knew it, he had replied and sent his plane back at her, though it landed at her feet and she had to lean out of her chair to reach it.

No one did, lucky guess I suppose. Though you must be delusional if you think your plane was any better than mine. Oh and good throwing skills, you should try out for the Slytherin team - F.

Surprised and taken aback by his statement, it took Mia a little longer to write a reply back, starting to actually consider trying out.

She had never been much of a Quidditch person but, then again, her family had never encouraged her playing sports as she was a 'lady' and had to do tedious things such as sewing, hosting dinner parties and learning how to act and talk and sit like a 'proper member of the Noble House of Black.'

You think I'd actually be good at Quidditch? She eventually wrote, throwing it back towards him, unaware that their interaction was now being watched by someone in particular, their eyes narrowed.

Luckily, the rest of the classroom was way too busy with getting rid of the Bouncing Bulbs and there were still yells as people got assaulted by the bulbs and shouts of Incendio! filled the classroom which made it rather easy for Florean and Euphemia to pass notes due to the utter chaos that was ensuing, making it hard for anyone to notice.

But someone had noticed and they weren't too happy about it.

With a throw like that, you'd be a great Chaser. You're a damn sight better than me, I can't throw to save my life - F.

Let's hope that it won't come down to a life or death situation where you have to throw or you die, then - E.

Sassy, I like it. I see why Minerva befriended you now - F.

What, because I'm such an amazing human that she just couldn't resist me? - E.

Amazing? Who's been feeding you lies your whole life? - F.

Ouch.

The last comment actually hit very close to home and Euphemia blinked at it a few times as a dull feeling settled low in her stomach.

She had been being fed lies her whole life and she already knew it at eleven years old. She had always been told that muggles were terrible and deserved to die, that half bloods were scum and that the only worthy people left in the world was the Sacred 28.

Mia had never really believed it, though she had wanted to because it was her parents that were telling her those sorts of things and she really wanted to be able to trust her parents and take their word for it but it was never enough, she had to find out what was so wrong with muggles.

And that was why she had befriended Clover and Justin, to just get a glimpse and a taste of what a muggle was like, of how they acted and whether they really were as evil as her family had made them out to be.

All her life, Euphemia had been treated like pure blood royalty, locked away and made into a person that she knew wasn't really her, told all these things that made her doubt herself and her own beliefs.

If she so much as mentioned anything to do with blood traitors, muggles, mudbloods or half bloods - she was punished severely for her words even though she was only asking questions.

Mia had always been a curious child, forever asking about everything, including the information that her parents told her over and over again.

Pain washed over her as a memory stirred, deep in her mind as if it had been jammed there, never to be erased - not even by the strongest memory charm.

It was like the message had been imprinted on her brain, chalked into her mind and she didn't like it one bit. Mia let out a bitter laugh as she realised that all of these thoughts had been triggered by a simple statement made by her friend and she was probably thinking way too deep into it.

Of course, Florean was joking about the fact that she thought she was amazing but maybe she had been lied to all her life?

For what seemed like forever, Euphemia had been treated like a princess, just as long as she upheld traditions and didn't break the rules.

It had been drilled into her that she was better than everyone else, because she was pure of blood and she was a member of the Noble House of Black.

But she wasn't, not really. She was just the same as everyone else and she had known that but had kept it locked away in her brain, hidden in her secret thoughts because she knew if she brought it up or even dared to mention it, she would hurt in more ways than one.

And suddenly, her memories took hold of her senses and she was swept back into the past all the way back to when she was still naive and innocent, to the first time she had ever voiced her opinion aloud.

"Keep your arm nice and straight, elbow pointed, pinkie out. Sip, never slurp," Cassiopeia commanded her daughter, moving around the drawing room table to move her 5 year old's elbow so that it was in the right position.

This was about the second time this week that she was coaching Euphemia on how to be a proper lady and it was only Tuesday.

Mother and daughter had been seated at the drawing room, table for a couple of hours now, having done some sewing together before starting on Euphemia's posture.

Cassiopeia had made Mia walk the length of the room with a book on her head for about half an hour until the child started whining that her head was starting to hurt from the weight of the book.

Euphemia had always been a very restless child and was fidgeting again now, earning her a sharp slap on the hands as she fiddled with the uncomfortable satin that laced the chair she was seated on.

She pouted, slouching, as she looked longingly out of the open windows, at the warm summer day outside. She longed to run out in that long grass, letting the hot sun beat down on her back as she explored the hell out of the excessive amount of land the Blacks owned.

Mia always found it crazy that her family owned so much land and yet kept her locked away inside when all she wanted to do was be carefree and lark about in the gardens.

"Euphemia! Stop daydreaming!" Cassiopeia scolded her daughter, taking the teacup from her hands as it looked as if it's contents were going to spill due to Mia not focusing on the cup in her hand.

Jumping, Euphemia blinked before muttering a quick, "Sorry, Mummy," and sitting up straight, smoothing down her dark hair with her pudgy little hands.

Cassiopeia smiled at her daughter, who gave her a tired, exasperated look in response as she placed the teacup in Euphemia's hand yet again.

The teacup was filled up again with the hot tea that scalded Mia's throat despite the dash of milk in it to cool the hot drink down a little.

Remembering her mother's commands, Mia held the teacup exactly how Cassiopeia had wanted her to, little pinky out and everything and she sipped delicately, trying not to shudder as she drank the tea for about the fourth time that same hour.

There was only so much tea a small girl could process without needing to go to the lavatory.

And Euphemia desperately needed to go but didn't want to irritate her mother so simply sat there with her legs crossed tightly from underneath her voluminous petticoat and dress.

"Euphemia, please uncross your legs. It is not ladylike," Cassiopeia sighed, already sounding irritated and Mia very nearly flinched.

"But I'm not a lady, Mummy. I'm a little girl. So why do I need to be ladylike?" she protested before she could help herself and immediately cowered back as her mother's eyes widened at the cheek.

She held her breath and closed her eyes tight, bracing herself for a slap across the face but it didn't come as she expected.

Opening her eyes cautiously, Euphemia gaped at her mother as she saw that she was not angry, but amused and was actually shaking with laughter.

Mia sighed a sigh of relief but her relaxing was a mistake as it reminded her of just how much she needed to relieve herself and the five year old fidgeted in her chair again before throwing caution to the winds, taking advantage of her mother's good mood to ask the question she had been meaning to for the past twenty minutes.

"Mummy, can I be excused? I need the toilet," she piped up and Cassiopeia nodded, still wiping tears of mirth from her eyes delicately with an embroidered handkerchief.

Mia dashed quickly from the drawing room, forgetting all elegance as she ran to the bathroom, her little shoes clacking loudly on the polished linoleum.

Soon, the child was relieved and skipped back down the stairs, back onto the first floor to return to the drawing room when she noticed something she had not before.

It was a small room just at the top of the staircase, the door half shut but Euphemia could just about make out some sort of painting on the wall, all the pictures intertwining with the others, attached by some golden thread.

Intrigued, Euphemia crept a little closer until she was in the room, staring curiously at some sort of tapestry that was labelled with names and portraits of people.

She couldn't help but wonder who they were - some sort of famous witch or wizard perhaps?

Salazar Slytherin, maybe. She had heard a lot about him, he was the greatest founder Hogwarts had ever seen. Or that's what Mia had been told anyway.

Euphemia was just about to step away when something dropped, making the small girl jump at the noise that the dropped object made.

After further inspection, Mia realised it was her hair clip and so bent down carefully to retrieve it from the floor, making her level with the people at the bottom of the tapestry.

Which led her to notice that her own name was in fact engraved on this mysterious wall, sat next to Marius Black, her baby brother and she was also connected to Cassiopeia and Arcturus Black, though of course the five year old didn't connect that it was her family on this whole thing. All she saw was her name and so was even more intrigued.

Trailing her finger along some of these names now, Mia would occasionally pause on some pretty witch or dashingly handsome wizard who had been painted there.

Whether they were that good looking in real life was another question all together. It was only when her finger stopped on a burnt piece of the tapestry did she illicit a sound.

A soft gasp slipped out from her lips, "Oh dear!" This was terrible, someone had been burnt away and Euphemia could just about make out the words Septimus Weasley from underneath all the charred remains. Mia had to fix this, pronto!

The small five year old scuttled away from the room, going in search for her little paintbrush and water colours set from her nursery.

She heard her mother calling her but she continued onwards, grabbing her water colours set and quickly waddling back to the room with the tapestry in it.

Once she had found it again, Euphemia sat down crossed legged and took out her white paint, dipping her paintbrush in it delicately and focusing on the task at hand determinedly.

She traced out a face shape, rather circular, with her white paint and was just about to start painting on a smiley face, nose and eyes when a shout stopped her in her art work.

Mia looked up in surprise to see her mother stood in the doorway, absolutely fuming and she gulped.

"Euphemia Cassiopeia Ophelia Black, what on earth do you think you are doing?" Cassiopeia shrieked, the anger practically emanating off her in heat waves.

Euphemia couldn't help but look at her as if she was stupid, "I'm painting this person back on!" she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and Cassiopeia's eyes practically bugged out of her head.

"What did you just say to me?" she hissed and that was when Mia knew she had really done something wrong.

She looked at her attempt of a face on the tapestry, the lumpy white face starting to run as if it was crying which pretty much expressed Euphemia's feelings at that point - confused and upset as to why her Mummy was shouting at her.

She blinked up at Cassiopeia with confused eyes, tears starting to form there as she had no idea what the hell was going on.

"Why were you doing that? You know that blood traitors like that Weasley scum are a disgrace to the House of Black," Cassiopeia spat, looking like an angry kitten. An extremely angry one.

Euphemia's mouth formed a little O of understanding before looking from her painted potato like face on the wall to her mother's furious one.

"But it's all burnt and that's not nice, Mummy!" she insisted earnestly but Cassiopeia Black had had enough and grabbed hold of her daughter, flinging her across the room so that the five year old cowered in the corner, clutching at her bleeding head.

Terrified now, Mia attempted to open her mouth to apologise or ask her mother what exactly she had done wrong to be victim to this wrath but she had no chance to speak as she was suddenly hit with a spell that took pain to a whole new level.

It made the grazed knee she had had a few days ago seem like a paper cut.

Pain was stabbing at her entire body, making it shake as Euphemia screamed out in terror and hurt, feeling as if a hundred knives were stabbing into her and like her limbs were being stretched to the absolute limit.

She cried out in shock as her bones seemed to rattle in her very own skin, her head pounding with the most terrible headache ever.

Tears streamed down the small girl's face as she screamed bloody murder, her vocal chords ripping apart as her yells vibrated in her eardrums, making them hurt.

It was like the most painful tickling match as she was squirming everywhere, sweat beading at her forehead and trickling down her face with the blood she had received from being slammed into the wall earlier.

Everything was going blank, her mind was becoming an alarming white space and she could hardly breathe anymore, her breaths coming in pants and coughs as she pounded her fists on the floor, her nails digging into her little palms so much it made them bleed.

"STOP IT!" she begged, sobbing madly as the pain shook her entire body, her heart exploding in her ribcage as her very own ribs felt like they were broken as she was slammed against the floor again and again until she seemed to have ran out of tears, simply allowing them to pour down her face silently as she no longer had the strength to sob.

Her body was shaking so much Mia thought she might explode from the pain that was taking over every crevice and inch of her body, controlling it and empowering it as her mind pleaded for answers.

Why was her mother doing this to her? What had she done wrong to deserve this pain? And then everything went dark.

~~

"Euphemia? Euphemia? Hello, anybody in there?" was the voice that broke Euphemia from her harrowing thoughts and memories of the first time the Cruciatus curse had been used on her.

It hadn't been the last time, either. She gulped as she opened her eyes to see Florean peering into her face, obviously worried and she managed to force a weak smile as her heart thudded so loud against her ribcage she was surprised the rest of the class couldn't hear it. Wait...speaking of the rest of the class...

"The class finished a few minutes ago. You've been daydreaming for the last 20 minutes or so, ever since you didn't respond to my last note. You alright?" Florean told her, a joking tone lining his words and she managed a shaky laugh, her eyes still distant and blank from the usual defiant sparkle that resided there.

"Yeah. Fine. Just dozed off a bit."
"It happens to the best of us," Florean quipped and Mia raised an eyebrow at him, a smirk lining her features which made Florean sigh in relief to see that she was back to her normal self.

"Best of us? Really? You consider yourself the best, do you, Fortescue?" she teased him, whacking him on the arm playfully which leaded in him chasing her out of the greenhouses.

"I have the feeling this will be the start of a beautiful friendship, Mia!" Florean called from where he was trying to catch up with her.

Euphemia laughed, though the joy didn't quite meet her eyes. Despite her claims that she was fine, she was anything but.

In fact, she was still shaken up from the memories that had come and swallowed her up but she would never let that show, she could hide it all behind a smile easily.

Because that's what Euphemia Black was best at. Hiding emotions.