Over the next several days, it became very clear to Alison that she could not be the perfect nor ideal Slytherin. It seemed hopeless. Every day, she sat and gazed at the other tables longingly, desperate to be a part of the other student's fun. Meanwhile, in her own circle, Pansy had taken a disliking to one bold Ravenclaw Second Year, Millicent had knocked out a Hufflepuff Sixth Year's tooth out and Daphne had reduced Lucretia to tears, after Lucretia had slapped Daphne across the face. Alison was at the end of her tether. The only person behaving decently was Draco. She spent more and more time alone with him, even though she knew it was killing her chances of ever making new friends.

At least Alison had figured out why she was doing so badly in all of her lessons; the fact that she sat gossiping and laughing for entire lessons meant that her grades were going down. When she actually tried in lessons, she found that she got quite good marks. Her teachers were extremely pleased with her progress, much to Pansy and Lucretia's annoyance.

Alison spent many sleepless nights listening to the lake swooshing gently and trying to come up with a plan. Then, one night, it struck her.

So the next day, after her last lesson, Alison avoided every Slytherin and strolled down to Hagrid's hut, heart thumping. She knew he'd listen to her; he liked her, she was the only Slytherin who showed him any respect or gave him any kind words.

When he greeted her and let her into his hut and gave her a cup of very strange looking tea, Alison told him her woes and explained her plan. To her delight, he nodded.

"That's a good idea, Alison," Hagrid beamed. Alison smiled back. During the next Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Hagrid was going to pair them all up, and he was going to deliberately put her with Hermione to see if the two could be friends. After finishing her tea, she thanked Hagrid and skipped all the way back to Slytherin Dungeon.

However, the happy feeling didn't last. Once she entered the Common Room, she became very scared. What on earth would all her friends say? They'd expect her to be cold with Hermione, even bully her a little bit. She'd forgotten to mention to Hagrid about the problems that the Slytherin's could cause.

Alison had to wait two whole days for her next Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Over these two days, Alison was in a particularly good mood. She even dared flash a smile in Ginny Weasley's direction one lunchtime. Ginny looked startled, smiling quickly before looking away.

"You look happy," Daphne said, picking at her food. She looked miserable herself. Alison was beginning to really dislike her; Daphne was sly and cunning but hid this behind a pretty face.

Alison smile mysteriously. "Yeah, had a good day. Did you?"

Daphne shrugged, stabbing a broccoli with her fork. Usually Daphne's coldness would upset Alison, but she found that she didn't even care. She ate quickly and snuck peaks at the Golden Trio; she could hardly wait.

On the day of her lesson, Alison didn't bother with much makeup, unlike the rest of the Slytherin girls. She tied her hair in a loose ponytail and simply applied some clear lip-gloss.

"You feeling okay babe?" Lucretia asked concernedly. "You're not wearing any makeup!"

"Yeah, I'm good," Alison asked, slightly insulted and now self-conscious. "Do I look that bad?"

"Nah, you look stunning," Lucretia said, admiring herself in a Gothic Victorian hand mirror.

Care of Magical Creatures was right after breakfast, so Alison ate her bread and fruit combo fairly quickly, then began the long trek down to Hagrid's hut. Her heart was thumping hard, in both an excited and fearful way. She was the first to arrive, so she decided to help Hagrid set up the lesson.

"Thanks a lot, Alison!" Hagrid beamed. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten our conversation, I'll pair yer up with Hermione today. She'll be a much better influence than that awful- whoops, sorry," he said hastily, and Alison giggled. Hagrid despised Lucretia.

It took about ten minutes for everyone to show up. Hagrid tapped his gigantic foot impatiently.

"Right everyone, less chatterin' an' more listenin' if yer don't mind. Okay, we're gonna be lookin' at Salamanders again today. But, fer this lesson, I'm goin' to pair you up with different people. Right, Harry, yer can go with Seamus-"Seamus and Harry exchanged grins. "-Hermione, you and Alison can work together today!" Hagrid grinned at Hermione, who smiled weakly, then gave Alison a small smile. Alison returned it more enthusiastically.

"Poor Ali, being put with a Gryffindor nerd," Pansy whispered. Alison tried not to look too pleased as Lucretia glowered in the background.

Hagrid, bless him, had forced Pansy and Lucretia to work directly outside his hut, leaving Alison free to work far away from them.

"Let's go further over here so there's less distractions," Alison suggested. Hermione nodded shyly and they wandered over to a quiet spot.

"I know we've never had much of a chance to speak before," Alison said awkwardly, "but I'm Alison."

"I know," Hermione smiled. "I'm Hermione."

There was a silence as Hermione lit the fire. Alison racked her brains for something to say.

"So… what's your favourite lesson?" Hermione loved her lessons and lots of work, so it was an appropriate thing to ask.

"Oh! I love Arithmancy!" Hermione said enthusiastically. "It's just so fascinating, and I always loved maths back at Primary School… But you probably don't want to hear about Muggle school or Arithmancy," she said quickly.

"No no!" Alison said quickly. "Arithmancy sounds great, I wish I'd taken it." She paused to check the fire. "So what is Muggle school like?"

"Pretty different to Hogwarts in terms of lessons," Hermione explained. "Oh look, there's a baby Salamander!" Alison caught it carefully, and began to examine it. "Some lessons like Music and Art were compulsory, and we had Geography, which is the study of the world and the environment. I wish we had Geography at Hogwarts." Hermione sighed. Then she perked up a bit. "Hey! I was thinking of signing up for some extra-curricular subjects! Do you want to join me? They're supposed to be really good!"

Alison grinned. A way to spend more time with Hermione! Without a second thought, she replied, "of course! Apparently they do Art here!"

"Ancient Studies looks amazing! Do you want to meet me at Break so we can go and sign up?"

"Yeah!" She reached to grab another Salamander. Alison could ditch Lucretia and the Slytherin's easily…