Marlene sighed as she stretched her body, cracking her knuckles as she listened in to the conversation between Dorcas and Alice. They were talking about the future and especially the things that could change when they were done watching the movies.

She liked to think that her younger brothers would finish their schooling peacefully, her parents would be alive to see their grandchildren. Marlene adored kids, she always wanted a few but her hopes had gone to the drain when she realized she was into women.

The option of adopting had never really sunk into her until she watched the movies. She really wanted children and after seeing her friends being mothers, she knew she'd adopt.

The screen lit up again and the movie began, Marlene smiled at Dorcas who had turned to her after Alice had left to sit with Frank.

Amaryllis was terrified. She glanced at the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years stood in two lines facing each other with brooms on the ground by their sides. Atria seemed to be in deep conversation with the blonde girl whose name she now knew as Daphne Greengrass.

"You'll be fine!" Ron cheered her up from the side, but he didn't look that hopeful. Malfoy had been boasting about how he had learnt to fly when he was a toddler and that he was going to try out for quidditch next year.

Amaryllis' face paled as their instructor; Madame Hooch neared them.

"Typical," said Amaryllis darkly.

"Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy." She had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.

"We get to see Little Star and Prongslet fly!"

"This is the best day of my life!" James said as he looked at Lily, who looked excited to watch her daughter.

"Someone tape his mouth; he's going to be ten times more annoying." Remus muttered darkly at the look of pure excitement on his friend's face.

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably.

"Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.

How Malfoy, a pureblood prejudiced git knew about muggle helicopters was still a mystery to her, but she caught Atria rolling her eyes fondly every time he said something barmy.

He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom.

Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about football. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly.

Amaryllis disagreed of course; she had taken Dean's side. She loved football, maybe not as much as her uncle, but she still loved it.

"I love football!" a voice echoed, and Lily nodded excitedly. She was glad her daughter also liked the sport.

"My dad and I watch the matches together." Lily reminisced; she still watched them with her dad but with being in school for most of the year their tradition had faded.

"What the fuck is a football?"

"Purebloods." Sighed Avalon, shaking her head at all the purebloods in the room.

"You're a pureblood, Song!"

"I'm a cultured one who knows what football is, you swine."

Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Amaryllis felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.

Amaryllis often found herself looking out for Neville in classes in case he hurt himself accidentally.

"That's so sweet of her!" Alice smiled happily at Amaryllis, whereas Lily smiled with pride.

Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book, not that she hadn't tried.

At breakfast on Thursday, she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages.

Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

Amaryllis hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.

She decided that Malfoy was daft because how is having relatives in South Korea and in Britain the same?

"How long does it take owls from South Korea to Hogwarts?" James asked Avalon, everyone turning to her in curiosity as the girl hummed whilst thinking.

"I usually send letters on Saturday and Bingsu is usually back by Friday. The last time she came back was on Sunday. So, it takes around a week from Hogwarts to Busan and back." Avalon frowned, she hated making Bingsu fly so long and during the winters Avalon wrote very few letters home.

"What kind of name is Bingsu?" Lucius Malfoy snickered; Avalon snapped her head towards him with an icy glare. With a flick of her wand, bats chased Malfoy and Avalon glared.

Amaryllis fidgeted with the ring resting on her fore finger as their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. Her eyes seemed to creep out Amaryllis and she wasn't the only one.

Atria grimaced at the teacher's eye, "I've never seen that color eyes except on snakes."

Daphne shuddered whilst Theo grinned, "Fancy a snake in your dorm, Daph?"

"Fancy being buried six feet under?"

That shut the Nott heir as he turned to Blaise and Creighton, whining to them as a very crestfallen Draco Malfoy watched from the sidelines.

Druella Black looked at Lucius with a blood curling scowl, "Tell me again why you married him, Narcissa darling?"

"Didn't you approve though, Aunt Ella?" Sirius asked, looking between Lucius and Narcissa with a disgusted face. Arcturus shook his head at the disowned Black, "We had three contenders for Narcissa, one of them being Lucius. I always felt that Selkin boy was better, but she chose Lucius."

Sirius made an 'o' with his mouth, smiling sympathetically at Narcissa.

"You have bad taste, Cissa."

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" Hooch barked.

"Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Amaryllis glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles. This thing didn't look safe at all.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!"'

Amaryllis's broom jumped into her hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Amaryllis; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Amaryllis and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.

Amaryllis' elatedness though simmered when Atria glared at the teacher, "I apologize Madame Hooch, but I think you've gotten it wrong. The French mount the broom differently than the British and since the Malfoy family did originate in France and follow a lot of French wizarding traditions, what he did was correct."

Emerson and Narcissa looked at each other unbeknownst to the fathers of their children.

"Playdates?" Emerson mouthed, Narcissa nodding with a huge smile as she stepped on Lucius' feet, her husband wincing and turning to her with a pained frown and Narcissa looked ahead with an innocent smile.

Everyone gaped at Atria who only glared at Madame Hooch, the teacher apologizing to a red Malfoy. She watched as Malfoy whispered something to Atria, with the latter smiling at him.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch.

"Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle. Three, two-"

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle. Amaryllis saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and with a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap.

"Oh no!" Alice murmured with a nervous frown as she chewed on her nails, Frank gasping beside her as the parents looked at their son with a fearful gaze.

"Why isn't Madame Hooch doing anything?" Frank asked furiously as the flying teacher just watched and yelled at Neville to come down without actually doing anything.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips into a thin line as she watched her colleague handle the situation.

His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight. Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.

"Broken wrist," Amaryllis heard her mutter.

"Come on, boy! It's all right, come on dear."

She turned to the rest of the class.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are, or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

"Quidditch." Regulus whispered with a grin, heart eyes for the sport he loved so much. Amalthea looks at her brother with a disgusted face.

"Of course, he loves his broom more than me."

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him. No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?" The other Slytherins joined in. Atria's eyes hardened, massaging her temples in a frustrated way. She turned to Draco with an 'are you serious?' look.

"Seriously Dray?" she muttered for only him to hear and Malfoy's smirk faltered though only Atria noticed before he was back to looking at the Gryffindors in a condescending way.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl.

"Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass.

"It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

Alice glares at Draco, Narcissa paling at what her son said. With a frown she apologizes, "I apologize. I'll raise him better."

Alice's glare softens as she shakes her head at Narcissa, knowing that the kindhearted woman must have raised her son well. She instead narrows her eyes at the man beside Narcissa.

"It isn't your fault, Narcissa. We all know who to blame."

"Give that here, Malfoy," said Amaryllis quietly. Ron groaned lightly but moved out of the way as Amaryllis clenched her fists. Everyone stopped talking to watch. Malfoy smiled nastily.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find. How about up a tree?"

"Give it here!" Amaryllis yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well.

Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!" Amaryllis grabbed her broom. It was foolish but she wasn't going to let Malfoy humiliate Neville.

"No!" shouted Hermione Granger.

"Madam Hooch told us not to move. You'll get us all into trouble."

It was silent in the hall, no one daring to talk as they watched Amaryllis lose her calm. Avalon looked at the youngest Potter with intrigue. Amaryllis seemed like she was very protective of her friends and those she cared for.

And Neville seemed to have earned her respect and admiration.

Amaryllis ignored her. Blood was pounding in her ears. She mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up she soared; air rushed through her hair, and her robes whipped out behind her and in a rush of fierce joy she realized she'd found something she could do without being taught. This was easy, this was wonderful.

She pulled her broomstick up a little to take it even higher and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron. Amaryllis was even sure she heard Atria cheering for her.

She turned her broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in midair. Malfoy looked stunned.

It took approximately twenty-seven seconds for James Potter to cheer for his daughter, a giddy smile on his face as he watched her fly in awe. Lily too watched her daughter but with concern and pride.

She was concerned because it was Amaryllis' first time on a broom, and she was proud because her daughter had defended her friend.

"My girls are naturals! What a day to be alive"

"Only for a few more years." Muttered Marlene McKinnon in annoyance as she glared at the Potter.

"Give it here," Amaryllis called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"

"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried. Amaryllis knew, somehow, what to do. She leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands, and it shot toward Malfoy like a javelin.

Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Amaryllis made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Amaryllis called. A flicker of annoyance settled at the use of Crabbe and Goyle's mention, and Amaryllis raised a brow. It couldn't be, did Malfoy not like his bodyguard's?

"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground. Amaryllis saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise in the air and then started to fall.

She leaned forward and pointed her broom handle down. Next second she was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball, wind whistled in her ears, mingled with the screams of people watching, she stretched out her hand, a foot from the ground she caught it, just in time to pull her broom straight, and she toppled gently onto the grass with the Remembrall clutched safely in her fist.

Though Amaryllis didn't have the time to see Atria scolding a very pale looking Malfoy, her heart stopped at her name being called.

"AMARYLLIS POTTER!" Her heart sank fast. Professor McGonagall was running toward them. She got to her feet, trembling.

"Oh No!"

"Surely professor McGonagall can spare her! It wasn't Amaryllis' fault."

"That Draco kid is a piece of work." Dorcas shakes her head as the onscreen Draco smirks at Amaryllis getting into trouble.

"He's a Malfoy." Marlene says in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Never in all my time at Hogwarts."

Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "how dare you! Might have broken your neck."

"It wasn't her fault, Professor!" Parvati Patil, a dormmate of Amaryllis argued, but quietened down at the glare she received.

"Be quiet, Miss Patil."

"But Malfoy!"

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now." Amaryllis caught sight of Malfoy wincing at the glare on Atria's face as she talked to him in hushed voices.

Amaryllis walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode toward the castle. She was going to be expelled, she just knew it. She wanted to say something to defend herself, but there seemed to be something wrong with her voice.

Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at her; she had to jog to keep up. Now she'd done it. She hadn't even lasted two weeks.

Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to her. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Amaryllis trotting miserably behind her.

Maybe she was taking her to Dumbledore, but Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside.

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"

A burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused.

"Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Amaryllis.

"In here." Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom that was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.

"Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face Wood and Amaryllis.

"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I've found you a Seeker." Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight. The gears in Amaryllis' head turned as she snapped her head towards the professor in shock.

"You're kidding!" Marlene stares at the screen and then at Professor McGonagall who looked shocked herself.

Regulus Black looked infuriated, "Whatever happened to the rule against first years being on the team?"

Sirius frowned but brightened up as he tried to remain optimistic.

"You're just jealous that Amary is probably the youngest seeker ever."

James looked between the two Black brothers, containing his own happiness in case a brawl began amongst the brothers.

Regulus scowled at his brother, "I'm not jealous, you prat! Did you forget the part where Vivian said that she wanted to try out in the first year, but they forbid her? Now, her sister gets the position. As always, Hogwarts favors the Gryffindors."

Regulus wasn't the only one who had noticed this unfair treatment. James had stayed quiet for this reason. He was proud of Amaryllis for getting in the team in her first year, but he too found it unfair that Vivian wasn't given the chance.

"I think it's unfair. If you can bend the rule for one, you can remove the rule as it is." He commented, shocked heads turning his way. No one expected James Potter to defend Regulus Black or speak against his own house.

"Are you serious, Professor?"

"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply.

"The girl's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"

Amaryllis nodded silently.

"She caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch herself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it.

Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.

"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked excitedly.

"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.

"She's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Amaryllis and staring at her with calculative eyes.

"Light, speedy, we'll have to get her a decent broom, Professor.  A Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."

"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks."

Amaryllis looked between the two in barely hidden shock. She was made a seeker in her first year and according to Vivian, first years were never allowed. Even Regulus Black, who was the best seeker in the twentieth century, had only been selected in his second year.

Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Amaryllis.

"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you." Then she suddenly smiled.

"Your father would have been proud," she said.

"He was an excellent Quidditch player himself and I am sure your sister and you will be just as good as him."

"Hell, yes, I'm proud! I'm proud of both my girls."

"Is it too late to slap him?"

"You get used to Potter and his love for quidditch."

Atria was furious, as she dragged Draco back to the Slytherin common rooms after their flying class. The blonde had the decency to look afraid as she kept her hold on his arm, coming to an abrupt stop as they reached the common room.

"What were you thinking?" she asked, a bite to her tone as she pointed at him to sit down, her figure towering over him as she stood in front of him.

Draco scowled and crossed his arms, not speaking.

"You could have gotten hurt! Amary could have gotten hurt! You're smart, Draco and I reckon you'll be the smartest in our year but what made you do that?" Atria's ears were red with anger as she looked at her cousin, yet her features softened when he refused to look at her instead staring at the ring with the Malfoy crest on his forefinger.

"You tell him, Attie!" Evan Rosier yelled out, Emerson giggling at the way Rosier had gotten up, cheering for her daughter.

Taking a deep breath, she sat next to him.

"Your dad? I heard about the spying work. You know Aunt Cissa would tell him off if you just spoke to her about it." She reasoned, knowing that Lucius Malfoy was very scared of his wife.

"I want him to be proud of me. I want him to boast about me like other fathers do but father only looks at me like I'm a burden." Draco didn't look up, but Atria was smart enough to see how his fists were clenched, and his knuckles had turned white.

The hall had gotten eerily silent. Avalon felt chills run down her spine as Narcissa got up from her seat next to her husband and sat beside Regulus and Amalthea.

Sirius was clenching his fists, James and Remus both scowling at Malfoy who looked at his wife in shock.

"You are so lucky that Cissa for some reason loves you but next time you make Draco or Cissa feel like a burden, your face is going to meet my fist." Sirius' eyes darken, staring Lucius down and his eyes narrow into a glare.

Amalthea whistles innocently whilst Regulus cracks his knuckles, both glaring at Malfoy who pales at Sirius' threat.

"Draco Malfoy! You are not a burden, and I'm sure Aunt Cissa would say the same. Next time I see Lucius Malfoy I'll set Silver on him."

Draco snorts at the imagine of Atria's black cat, Silver pouncing on his father and pulling at his long hair, "Please tell her to steal his ridiculous cane as well."

Pandora and Rabastan look at each other before laughing, "A cane! Lucius, have you been lying about your age?"

Malfoy blanches at the mention of him using a cane. Had he suffered any injury?

"Oh yes! Who even uses a cane they don't even need."

The pair of cousins look at each other and burst out laughing, Atria's head resting on Draco's shoulder and Draco's head resting on hers. Atria glanced at Draco, a smile blooming on her face at the content look on her cousin's face.

He didn't look worried, and he looked happy and ever since she had stepped foot into Hogwarts, she had not seen that look on him. They stayed there; no words exchanged but each other's presence was enough.

It was times like this Atria cherished and made her thankful for their bond. They came from two different families; they were so different but in that corner of the common room they could be siblings without worrying about what people thought.

After a while, Draco broke the silence, "You know, Attie you're the only one that gets me."

A hiccup sounds as everyone turns to Druella Black, who wipes the tears in her eyes.

"Simply adorable!"

Walburga rolls her eyes, but hands her sister-in-law her napkin, "You're attracting unwanted attention, Druella."

"I can cry! Look at my grandbabies!"

Atria squeezed his hand gently, a soft smile on her face.

"That's because you're a git to everyone else."

"Very true! People might like him if he just acted like he did with Attie." Dorcas mumbled.

Draco groaned at the scolding tone in her retort, a rare smile on his face as she laughed at him.

"Hey Dray? Do you remember when we tried to brew the shrinking potion?"

Draco winced audibly, shivering at the memory as he nodded. It had been a particularly dark day for the two six-year-olds who had taken it upon themselves to follow instructions from the book and make the potion.

"How could I forget? We blew up my room, mother was furious."

"We also shrunk into miniature humans for days because Aunt Cissa wouldn't turn us back." Atria laughed, the memory a bright spot in the often-dark history they shared.

Emerson and Narcissa had been livid when they found the two six years old nearly the size of bowtruckles, taking refuge on a cloak stand and away from the blown-up potion.

"Did I say I was glad she was like you?" Emerson asked Sirius who nodded, looking quite proud at what his daughter and nephew had done.

"I take it back." She shuddered, just imagining having to take care of a prankster was giving her a headache. Narcissa giggled at the couple before smiling.

Draco laughed too, the sound echoing softly. "Yeah, Mother was livid. But Father, he actually laughed. I think it was the only time I ever saw him do that."

Atria's eyes widened. "Really? I wish I could have seen that."

Draco's smile turned a bit wistful. "Yeah, well, it didn't last long. He went back to being- well, Father."

Atria nodded; Lucius Malfoy was a git in her opinion. She never understood Draco's longing to be accepted by his father because well Uncle Nico was very loving towards her, and he was the closest thing she had to a father.

The portrait to the common room opened and in stepped Daphne and the three quarters of the Slytherin princes.

"Draco! That was stupid of you." Daphne scolded him as she smacked him with the daily prophet, but Theodore grinned at him.

"That was some good flying, mate! Pity, peacock Malfoy thinks flying is a waste of time." Theodore held his fist out for a fist bump and Draco smiled, letting his own fist meet Theo's.

"PEACOCK MALFOY?"

"That was gold! Adopt this child."

"Malfoy senior doesn't want his kid who absolutely flies well to fly?"

Creighton shook his head and decided to follow Daphne's lead and slapped his head. Malfoy glared at him with no malice. Blaise snorting as Creighton looked at him with a deadpanned expression.

"So, we're ignoring how Potter out flew him?" Creighton questions, shrugging off the affrontive frown Daphne sent him.

"Yes!"

"Hell no! Amary was great!"

Draco groaned, preparing himself as Atria dived into how good of a flyer Amaryllis was and that Draco was an idiot. He was sure she called him a git and idiot at least six times during her entire rant.

"I'd reckon Amaryllis Potter would make a great seeker." Blaise stated as he shrugged his cloak off, Atria snapping her fingers at him and nodding whereas Draco looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Please tell me you're joking?"

"You're joking."

It was dinnertime. Amaryllis had just finished telling Ron what had happened when she'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall.

Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it.

"Seeker?" he said.

"But first years never; you must be the youngest house player" he was cut off by Amaryllis who finished his sentence.

"In about a century." said Amaryllis, shoveling pie into her mouth. She felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon.

"Wood told me."

Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Amaryllis.

"I still think its unfair." Regulus was pouting causing Amalthea to send a sheepish apology to those who looked at him with a sigh.

"We get it, but can we be happy for her?" she whispers harshly in his ear.

"I start training next week," said Amaryllis.

"Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."

Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Amaryllis, and hurried over.

"Well done," said George in a low voice.

"Wood told us. We're on the team too, Beaters."

"I tell you; we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred.

"We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Amaryllis, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."

"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"Bet you it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."

Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Amaryllis coolly.

There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy.

"Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only, no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course she has," said Ron, wheeling around. Amaryllis would have slapped him if she could, but the boy kept on talking. The last thing she wanted was to be dueling Malfoy.

"I'm her second, who's yours?" Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.

"Crabbe," he said.

"Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked." When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Amaryllis looked at each other.

"Fuck No"

"How are these kids having rivalry a week into classes?"

"Please say no, prongslet" James says to himself, he did not need his daughter fighting a boy one week into the school year.

Surprisingly, Lily Evans was not worried at all. In fact, she looked more impressed.

"He is tricking her into coming there isn't he? He is not going to show up, which means Amary might get caught after curfew. He's smart."

"Did we just agree to a bloody duel?" asked Amaryllis, panicking as she picked out what she would write home.

"And what do you mean, you're my second?" she asked again, frustrated as Ron looked calm opposite to her nervous state.

"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie.

"Of course I know that, Ron! I meant what will happen if you get hurt, you git!"

Ron's mouth formed an 'o' and Amaryllis took a deep breath controlling her anger. She did not want to lash out on Ron and scare him.

"Not like Malfoy knows any advanced spell to actually hurt us." The two were interrupted by a bossy voice.

"Excuse me." They both looked up. It was Hermione Granger.

"Oh its her."

"Where did she come from?"

"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.

Hermione ignored him and spoke to Amaryllis, "I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying-"

"Bet you could," Ron muttered.

"And you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."

"And it's really none of your business," said Amaryllis. A part of her knew Hermione was right but Amaryllis never did like being told what to do.

"Good-bye," said Ron. All the same, it was not what you'd call the perfect end to the day, Amaryllis thought, as she lay awake much later listening to Lavender and Parvati falling asleep, Hermione was scribbling something on a piece of parchment.

Ron had spent all evening giving her advice such as "If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them."

The entire hall laughed whilst Molly turned red, clutching her stomach as she laughed.

"Mommy laughing!" exclaimed an overly excited Bill Weasley, causing Catalina to smile at the child.

There was a very good chance they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs. Norris, and Amaryllis felt she was pushing her luck, breaking another school rule today.

On the other hand, Malfoys sneering face kept looming up out of the darkness - this was her big chance to beat Malfoy face-to-face. She couldn't miss it.

At eleven, Amaryllis descended the stairs from the girl's dormitory and took refuge in the common room, waiting for Ron. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows.

"Half-past eleven," Ron muttered at last, "we'd better go."

They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Amaryllis." A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown.

"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"

"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy! He's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."

Amaryllis couldn't believe anyone could be interfering so much. Hermione looked at the two with barely hidden disappointment and Amaryllis wanted to slam her head against a wall. First, she had to duel Malfoy and now Hermione was on their tail.

Lily shook her head at her daughter's thoughts. The on-screen Amaryllis looked like she could smash her own head against the wall.

Avalon held in a snicker as Ron glared at Hermione, the latter had her chin up and lips curled in a scowl.

"Come on," she said to Ron. She pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole. Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"Go away."

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so-"

But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting.

The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower. "Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go; we are going to be late." They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them.

"I'm coming with you," she said.

Amaryllis walked in front of them, tired of their bickering. Where was Susan when you needed her?

"They fight like a married couple." Sirius laughed, Catalina beaming at the statement. Ron and Hermione had bettered themselves so much after the war. They were one of those couples who defended their partners in public but corrected them in private.

"You are not."

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us, I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."

"You've got some nerve --" said Ron loudly.

"Shut up, both of you!" snapped Amaryllis, her head turning sharply, "I heard something."

It was a sort of snuffling.

"Mrs. Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark. It wasn't Mrs. Norris; it had been Susan Bones who squinted her eyes in the dark and gasped when she found Amaryllis.

"Amary! Oh, thank merlin, The lady in the portrait wouldn't let me in even if I said I was friends with you." Susan wrapped her arms around Amaryllis, the latter melting into the embrace as Hermione finally quieted down.

The entire hall collectively sighed, happy that it wasn't the meddling Mr. Filtch.

The Potter girl beams as she pulls away from the hug. If there was anyone that she trusted more than herself, it was her sister and Susan. Hermione clears her throat, Ron groaning as the bushy haired girl goes on a rant on how it was stupid of them to break curfew.

Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione.

"If you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that curse of the bogies Quirrel told us about and used it on you."

"Hey, now that's rude." Pandora pouted.

Hermione opened her mouth, to tell Ron exactly how to use the curse of the bogies, but Amaryllis hissed at the two of them to be quiet and beckoned them all forward.

They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn Amaryllis expected to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris, but they were lucky. They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room.

Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet. The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Amaryllis took out her wand in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once. The minutes crept by.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered. Susan kept quiet but she didn't agree with him. She really hoped that Amaryllis hadn't impulsively agreed to a duel and had thought of the option that it might be a trap.

Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Amaryllis had only just raised her wand when they heard someone speak and it wasn't Malfoy.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

"Oh shit, it actually is a trap." Ted Tonks winced when Nymphadora repeated the curse word after him, making Andromeda laugh but also glare at Ted.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit papa!"

It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Amaryllis waved madly at the other three to follow her as quickly as possible; they scurried silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. Susan's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.

"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

"This way!" Susan mouthed to the others and petrified; they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Ron suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run -he tripped, grabbed Hermione around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armor.

The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.

"RUN!" Amaryllis yelled, and the four of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following -- they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Amaryllis in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going.

They ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Amaryllis panted, leaning against the cold wall, and wiping her forehead. Susan was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.

"I don't have a single athletic bone in my body." She wheezed out as her palm rested on her heart, calming it down.

"You and me, Susie." Claire chuckled as she watched her daughter trying to catch her breath.

Amelia raised her hand, a habit she hadn't forgotten since her time in Hogwarts, "Me too!"

Emerson smirked at the lovesick look in Emilio's eyes as he looked at Amelia, knowing that the Hudson had loved Amelia for years.

"I told you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I. told. you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Amaryllis.

"You realize that don't you? He was never going to meet you! Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."

Amaryllis thought she was right, "You're right. I shouldn't have let him get to me."

Amaryllis looked disappointed in herself but shook herself away from the darker thoughts in her mind.

"Let's go." It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled, and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them.

It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.

"Shut up, Peeves, please you'll get us thrown out."

Peeves cackled.

"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly.

"It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves this was a big mistake. Susan winced and so did Amaryllis and Hermione.

The marauders collectively winced.

"Bad idea." Said Remus whereas Sirius shook his head.

"You're supposed to flatter him, be on his good side and then convince him to like you."

Professor McGonagall raised a brow, looking at the troublesome trio, "And is that how you have evaded trouble in the last six years?"

Nico smirked, "Well of course, professor."

"This was such a bad idea." Amaryllis whispered, causing Hermione to send her a look that clearly said, 'I told you so'.

"You think?" Susan asked snappily.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR"

Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door -- and it was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!" They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Amaryllis' wand, tapped the lock, and whispered. The green-eyed girl stared at Hermione in awe before following her lead.

'Alohomora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open, and they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening.

"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying.

"Quick, tell me."

"Say please."

"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.

"All right -please."

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!"

"Classic Peeves! He did the same once we were sneaking out." James whispered to his friends, Lily, Avalon and Emerson but immediately took back his words when Euphemia Potter smacked him with a newspaper.

They heard Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.

"He thinks this door is locked," Amaryllis whispered.

"I think we'll be okay and get off, Susie!"

For Susan had been tugging on the sleeve of Amaryllis' robe for the last minute.

"What?" Amaryllis turned around and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, she was sure she'd walked into a nightmare.

This was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far. They weren't in a room, as she had supposed. They were in a corridor.

The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden. They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor.

It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

"WHAT THE FUDGE?"

"WHY IS THAT THING IN A SCHOOL?"

Molly Weasley took a deep breath, turning to the professors and glaring.

"This a school filled with magical and curious children. How did you possibly think it was a bright idea to have a Cerberus in said school?"

Before Professor Sprout could reply, a paper had fallen, reciting itself.

"Dear all, whilst I agree completely with Mrs. Weasley, we should all focus on questioning the decisions of our manipulating, and no good headmaster."

Catalina snickered at the very familiar voice of Isaac Winters who had that mocking tone in his voice.

It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Amaryllis knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant. Amaryllis groped for the doorknob.

She'd rather take a training session with her uncle than this. Susan whimpered, leaning closer into Amaryllis, Hermione doing the same as Ron stayed frozen next to Susan.

"Training? What training?" asked Ilaria, having quickly caught onto what the book said.

Avalon smiled sheepishly when eyes turned to her.

"Maybe the books explain? And if they don't, I'll tell you."

They fell backward and Amaryllis slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared, all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster.

"The Hufflepuff common rooms are that way. I should go." Susan whispers, her hands still shaking as she hugged Amaryllis in a daze. Amaryllis looked like she wanted to protest but said nothing when Susan muttered a quick good night and stay safe.

The Gryffindor's didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.

"Never mind that! pig snout, pig snout," panted Amaryllis, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs.

It was a while before any of them said anything.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally.

"If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again.

"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped.

"Didn't you see what it was standing on."

"The floor?" Amaryllis suggested. She honestly could not bother to see what the three-headed dog was standing on; its three heads had kept her pretty occupied.

"Yeah, they were preoccupied with three heads."

"I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something." She stood up, glaring at them.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed -- or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." Ron stared after her, his mouth open.

"Bloody hell! She needs to sort her priorities."

"He is right."

"She's a bit intense, isn't she?"

"A bit?"

"Shut up, Evan!"

WORD COUNT: 8161
AUTHOR'S NOTE: how has it been a month since I last posted? I really wanted to add Emery and Isaac into this chapter but I didn't know how to add them. Which is why this chapter took so long. Sorry about that.