"Ssh, Alice, she'll hear us!" "Don't you think it's a bit much, Lils? I mean, we could just wake her." "Where's the fun in that? Marley, Em, are you ready? 'Kay, on three. One… Two… Three!"

Four buckets of freezing cold water hit Nova in the face, soaking her nightdress and blankets. Her eyes sot open and she lunched at the culprits, screaming bloody murder. Lily, Marlene, Alice and Em soon stopped laughing and started running, down the stairs and into the Common Room. Nova followed, barefoot and brandishing her wand, drenched nightdress clinging to her, screaming words no eleven year old should know. Several people coming out of their dormitories were knocked aside, some blushing at Nova's creative use of the English language. "COME BACK HERE LILY! I'M GONNA HEX YOU INTO NEXT SUNDAY THREE YEARS FROM NOW! ALICE, EM, MARLENE, HOW DO FEEL ABOUT LIVING THE REST OF YOUR LIVES IN TWO PIECES?!"

Several First year boys leapt out of the way, terrified, as Nova fired several hexes in the girls' direction. The Common Room went into uproar, everyone running around and screaming. Through the fray, Nova spotted Lily's fiery red hair whipping behind a couch, the others indistinguishable from all of the other screaming students. As Nova fought her way through the mêlée towards Lily, a confident-looking Seventh year intent n playing the hero stood in her path. Nova blasted him out of the way without a second thought, sending him flying into a wall. Amidst the chaos, Nova glimpsed Sirius Black and James Potter sitting on a couch surrounded by screaming children, completely at ease. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew sat on the arms of the couch, looking almost terrified but standing, or rather sitting, their ground.

"LILY EVANS, I KNOW IT WAS YOUR IDEA!", Nova hollered, diving behind Lily's couch, making Lily let out a high squeal of fright. "I'M SORRY, YOU JUST OVERSLEPT!", she shouted. "NO EXCUSES!", bawled out Nova. She raised her wand and began to mutter an incantation. "NOVA, LOOK!", warned Lisa, tapping Nova on the shoulder. Distracted, Nova whipped around, wand raised, still muttering a curse, to see a furious-looking Professor McGonagall. Just as a stream of buzzing insects erupted from the end of Nova's wand and flew at McGonagall, enveloping her in a swarm of angry bugs, to great laughter. Nova gasped in horror.

Finally the insects disappeared with a pop and revealed Professor McGonagall, covered in huge purple boils that soon started to pop loudly, stinky streams of yellow pus trailing down the furious Head of House's face. Cue Sirius Black's bark-like laugh and the rest of the Marauders' snorts. McGonagall stood there for a full minute as each of the boils popped, growing steadily more incensed as her glare burned Nova to a crisp. When the last boil had popped the Professor waved her wand and Vanished the pus, exposing an angry red face.

"NOVA LOYAL! IT IS YOUR FIRST DAY OF SECOND YEAR, AND ALREADY YOU ARE CAUSING TROUBLE! YOU ARE WORSE THAN SIRIUS BLACK, WORSE THAN JAMES POTTER, WORSE THAN LUPIN AND PETTIGREW, WORSE THAN ALL OF THEM PUT TOGETHER! YOU HAVE CAUSED UPROAR IN THE COMMON ROOM, ATTEMPTED TO HEX A FELLOW STUDENT, AND ACTUALY HEXED YOUR HEAD OF HOUSE AND DEPUTY HEADMISTRESS! YOU WILL HAVE DETENTION FOR A WEEK EVERY NIGHT IN MY OFFICE, AND IF YOU EVER DO THIS AGAIN I WILL PERSONALLY THROW YOU OUT THE DOOR OF THIS SCHOOL! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

Everyone in the Common Room looked terrified, but Nova forced herself to bury her terror and wipe her face clean of all emotion. Emotion was weakness. It made her look weak. "Hey Minnie, how could you insult us like that? That was nothing, pitiful! We're way better than that!", shouted James Potter from his couch. Remus buried his head in his hands. "Yeah, Minnie, totally lousy!", hollered Sirius. He and James both raised their wands, clearly intent on demonstrating how much more talented they were than Nova. Remus and Peter lunged for their friends, but were too late.

The two boys bellowed out a spell, and the whole Common Room watched in pure awe as they brought the chandelier crashing down from the ceiling, scattering terrified students with screams, bounced it off the floor the floor with the crash of breaking crystal, and sent it into the enormous fireplace with the force of a pouncing rhino. The chandelier hit the fire hard, and sparks flew out, catching on the carpet, sending small sections off it smoldering up in flames a furious, red-faced McGonagall hurriedly put out.

"Oh yes, Potter, Black, clearly your talent is VASTLY SUPERIOR! ONE WEEKS DETENTION!", screamed McGonagall. Nova was grateful that her attention was on someone else, at least. Her relief was short-lived as McGonagall whipped around to face her. "Don't think that you're going to be getting away with this, young lady,", she forced out from between a thin-lipped grimace, still short of breath, "You, Mr Black and Mr Potter shall be at my office at eight o' clock sharp every night for the next week for your detentions. I shall see you tonight." With that she turned around and swept out of the trashed Common Room. Nova sank to her knees and groaned.

X

Nova ran into the Great Hall, afraid that she had missed breakfast. Lily, Marlene, Alice and Em had forgiven her, but had simply had to go down for food immediately to recover from the shock. Nova burst trough the doors only to realize that there were actually quite a few people there still. Will gave her a jaunty wave and a thumbs-up from the Ravenclaw table, obviously having heard about her and the Marauders' performances earlier on.

She sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Lisa and grunted good morning. Lisa gave her a slightly scared smile and a wink, offering her some porridge, which Nova gladly accepted. "So", said Lisa, "Detention with Potter and Black, eh?" "Should be fun", muttered Nova darkly, viciously buttering an innocent piece of toast. "What'd that toast ever do to you?", came a soft familiar voice from behind her. "Reg!", squealed Nova excitedly, turning around and throwing her arms around him, almost knocking the poor boy over. "Hey, Regulus", greeted Lisa in a more normal tone of voice. "Hi Lisa", answered Regulus, giving Nova a quick squeeze before pulling her off of him. She pouted dramatically and folded her arms, sticking her nose in the air. Regulus and Lisa burst out laughing, Lisa snorting into her porridge. "Ewwh!", squealed Nova. "Snotty porridge!" More laughter.

Lisa swung herself around on the bench until she faced Regulus like Nova, back leaning against the table. "So, Reg, did you hear about Nova's performance this morning? Lily Evans and her other Second year dorm-mates poured a bucket of water over the lazy-bones to wake her. Next thing we know, our entire House is taking cover from a madwoman! Then McGonagall came in and Nova hexed her! Potter and your stupid brother- no offense- sent the chandelier into the fire and burnt some of the carpet, though. So now Nova had detention with them both for the next two weeks!" Regulus laughed softly at Lisa's tale and looked at Nova with a new respect in his eyes.

Professor McGonagall appeared at the top of the Gryffindor table, frowning at Nova. "Timetables!", she announced, thrusting two huge piles of card paper at Remus and Peter, the first two students she saw. Nova and Lisa waited eagerly for their timetables. "Reg, did you get your's yet?", asked Nova, bouncing up an down on the bench. Regulus rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm. "Yeah. it's a pity we aren't in the same year, or we'd have classes together. Anyway, I've got Herbology, Potions and DADA with Lisa, and Astronomy and Transfiguration with the Ravenclaw idiot, Will Whatshisname." Nova raised an eyebrow. "Will O' Brien, Reg, not the hardest of names to remember." Regulus shrugged. "Nah, I think 'Ravenclaw idiot' has a nicer ring to it." Nova and Lisa smacked him on the head at the same time, laughing at the outraged look they got in return.

Remus Lupin appeared at Nova's shoulder, struggling slightly with the huge stack of timetables. He shot Regulus a weird glance before handing Nova and Lisa their timetables. "Hey, Nova. Heads up, Sirius and James are kinda pissed off about the whole train thing", he said with a kind smile. "Thanks for the timetable, Remus. Sorry about the train, they were just so annoying!" Regulus snorted at that and recognition dawned on Remus' face. "You're Sirius' brother, aren't you? Regulus, right?" A muscle twitched in Regulus' jaw and he nodded stiffly. Remus clearly got the message because he said his goodbyes and moved on down the table, handing out timetables.

Nova scanned down through hers enthusiastically, looking at the 'Monday' section. Her first subject that day was Potions, with the Slytherins. She groaned, attracting strange looks from Lisa and Regulus. "I've got Potions first thing, with the Slytherins", she explained. Regulus looked slightly offended at that statement, but the understanding look in his eyes told that he knew that there had to be something else. Nova clarified in barely a whisper, with a wary glance at the Slytherin House table. "Sorry, but Evan Rosier, Avery, Mulciber and Yaxley are in that class. They aren't the most pleasant people." Lisa and Regulus gave her understanding nods, before Regulus said his goodbyes to them and went back to the Slytherin table.

A few minutes later, Lisa and Nova left the Gryffindor table and walked off to Lisa's class. It was a little early, but as it was their first day at Hogwarts they were taking no chances. Lisa had Charms now with the Ravenclaws, which meant…. "LISA! NOVA!", shouted Will enthusiastically, running over to squeeze the two of them together into a group hug, making them gasp for breath. When he finally released them, Nova's right forearm burning. She had somehow managed to forget the long, jagged scar that marred her skin. Will and Lisa looked slightly concerned about the grimace of pain that had crossed Nova's face briefly. Trying to change the subject quickly, Nova asked Will, "Did you hear about this morning yet? McGonagall was that mad and I have detention for two weeks with Black and Potter!"

Lisa and Will had soon forgotten Nova's grimace and engaged in a lively conversation. Nova stood and listened, nodding and answering in monosyllables. It was only when Professor Flitwick appeared that Nova realized that this wasn't her class, and that by now she was very definitely late. "Bye, guys!", she squealed before dashing off down the hall to the nearest stairs, earning some very strange looks from Flitwick, Lisa, Will, and the other students.

Nova raced through the now-empty halls, all the way down to the dungeons. Spotting a heavy wooden door, with a sign saying 'Potions' on it, she threw it open and stood there, hands on knees, panting, looking at the floor. Still looking down at the stone floor, Nova heard laughter, easily able to tell that Sirius was in this class by his distinguishable bark-like laugh. Catching her breath, Nova looked up slowly. She remembered Marlene mentioning the night before that the Potions Master, Professor Slughorn, was supposed to be more easy-going with the more talented students. Nova hoped that he would see her as potentially talented, seeing as she gone straight into Second year.

She smiled nervously. Professor Slughorn stood with his eyebrow raised, tapping his boot off the floor impatiently, waiting. "I'm very sorry, Professor, but as it was my first day here at Hogwarts, I'm afraid that I got lost. I thought that the Potions room was on the fifth floor. I'm very sorry, Professor, and it won't happen again." Nova heard Sirius snorted, and hoped that the sudden flare of anger she felt at that noise didn't show on her face. Slughorn considered for a moment before sighing and nodding, looking understanding and sympathetic. "Yes, my dear, of course it is your first day here, so just this once I'll let you off. Don't let it happen again though", he scolded, wagging his finger at her, a glint of playfulness in his eyes. "You can take the seat over there, dear."

Nova followed Slughorn's finger and saw that he was pointing at an empty seat in the middle row, in front of where Sirius Black was sitting. Then she turned to look at the person in the next seat… "Oh, and before I forget, Ms Loyal, your partner for this year will be Mr Rosier." Nova almost groaned out loud. She had successfully avoided Evan for almost a full day, but now she would have to sit with him in Potions for the rest of the year! Life was so unfair, she thought, as she trudged over reluctantly to take her seat next to Evan.

Taking her seat and dumping her bag under her chair, she tried to ignore Evan, sitting next to her, and Sirius, sitting behind her with James, Remus and Peter. The minute Slughorn turned around Nova was poked in the back and the shoulder by both Evan and Sirius. Whipping around to sit sideways on her chair and face them both, she hissed, "What?" A brief look of fear crossed Evan's face, making Nova smirk. It disappeared just as quickly, to be replaced with a look of cool indifference that didn't quite reach his eyes, which were warm and soft, reminding Nova that this was one of the few friends she had . Sirius didn't even blink, and actually had the audacity to poke her again, smirking.

"Sirius Black, you saw me in Death Eater robes and you have the sheer nerve to poke me in the back? Are you fucking insane?!" Sirius blew a loud raspberry. "Possibly", he answered thoughtfully, head cocked to one side. James smacked his friend over the head with his Potions book. Nova noticed that neither James, Remus or Peter had been at all surprised when she mentioned being a Death Eater. Sirius must have snitched on her, the bastard. Oh well, what could a bunch of twelve year old boys do? Just then Nova heard a shocked voice whisper, "Omigod!" It seemed to have come from behind Remus. Craning her neck, Nova ignored the now continuous pokes in the back from Evan and Sirius. Lily, Marlene, Em and Alice were sitting in the row behind the Marauders. Lily and Alice were bone-white and clinging to each other, looking at Nova with mixed shock and fear. Marlene looked mildly surprised, and Em looked very calm for someone who has just been told that their dorm-mate is a Death Eater. Then Nova caught the two of them glancing at Sirius, who looked back at them for a split second and shook his head slightly. Don't tell. Sirius had obviously told Marlene and Em about her.

Taking a deep breath and hoping that Alice and Lily wouldn't tell anyone else, even if they never spoke to her again, Nova turned back to the front of the classroom slowly, getting more and more aggravated by the never-ending poking and whispering. That was when it occurred to her: neither Will nor Lisa knew about her being a Death Eater, but now they would probably know before lunch, robbing her of two of the best friends she would ever have. It was the regret that forced her to turn and shout-whisper, "What?!", to Sirius and Evan.

Sirius recovered from the shock first. "Why'd you ditch us on the train?", he hissed moodily. " 'Cause not everyone likes you, idiot." Evan smirked at Sirius before turning back around to Nova, dark hair whipping across his face. "So, Nova, why'd you run off on that platform?", he hissed, sounding pissed off. "Because you were with Malfoy." "What's wrong with Malfoy?" "What's right with Malfoy?" Sirius was looking very amused by the whole exchange, although he and the other Marauders, who had remained largely silent throughout the exchange, all glared at Evan with what looked like a practiced hate. Nova remembered delving through Evan's memories of his first year at Hogwarts, remembered seeing Sirius Black and James Potter, remembered the hatred Evan had been unable to hide when she'd told him about Sirius on her returned from the House of Black. Although, having met the boy, Nova had to admit that Sirius Black was very easy to hate.

"….You will find everything you need in the store cupboards. Please begin." Nova whipped around to see Slughorn writing something on the board, having just finished talking. Then he stepped back, revealing instructions for an 'Invigoration Draught'. Without a word to Evan, Nova got up and stalked over to the supply cupboards to get the ingredients. When she got back, Evan had already gotten a fire going under their shared cauldron. Wordlessly, they each started to prepare their ingredients, Nova almost chopping off her finger. After that Evan seemed to realise that today was her first time in Potions class and took over the ingredient preparation, giving her a crash-course on root-chopping. Sirius must have sniggered for ten minutes straight without drawing breath, surely a world record.

"… Now you just stir the mixture anti-clockwise three times per minute, and then we add the Powdered Unicorn Horn and stir for two more minutes, then it'll be done. I'll just go get Slughorn to check on it, see how we're doing so far." Nova nodded, stirring the potion carefully, watching as it turned a sickly shade of acid green. She turned to ask if Evan if the potion should be this colour, as he was clearly talented at Potions, but he was already gone. The potion turned greener and greener, until it looked like the face of a person about to get sick. Nova grimaced. The potion started to smell, and smoke puffed out off her cauldron like a chimney. Then it started bubbling, big gooey bubbles that popped with a loud, resonant sound and disgusting odour.

Nova pinched her nose and stopped breathing, as she started to feel very dizzy from the fumes. In an effort to get away from the smell even further, she morphed into a form with a smaller nose, drawing a few curious stares. Looking into the clear surface of next-doors potion, Nova saw that she now had a long face, salt-and-pepper hair, and an impossibly tiny nose. Barely repressing a shudder, she morphed again, not into the form she had assumed before, but her true form. Heart-shaped face with pixie features, normally-enough shaped nose, chocolate-brown hair to her shoulders with a light wave, and huge pure silver eyes- not grey or even blue- but pure silver.

The potion bubbled and gurgled faster, and the smell spewed out even stronger. Several people around Nova started to grimace and hold their noses, and Nova smirked at the sound of James Potter retching into his and Sirius' cauldron. Although, she did feel a little like vomiting herself, she was just so dizzy…. And then Evan was back with Slughorn, who was peering into their cauldron with a disgusted grimace, Evan with an expression of horror. Slughorn looked to Evan in shock. "What happened, Mr Rosier? Your potions always turned out so well…" The potion bubbled faster, starting to spill out over the cauldron, the smell of rotten eggs filling the dungeons. Nova's face turned green and she turned to the side, unable to hold in the vomit anymore. With a loud retching noise she threw up. All over a horrified Professor Slughorn. Just as their cauldron exploded.

"Ridiculous really, I mean, throwing a child into Potions class for the first time, without any help but that of a twelve year old… Hardly reasonable, I ask you, what will Professor Dumbledore say when he finds out…", fussed Madam Pomfrey. Nova threw her head back on the pillow and scowled, keeping her eyes shut tightly so that she wouldn't have to look at the other occupants of the Hospital Wing. When the potion had exploded, it had actually taken out half of the Second year Potions class, including Professor Slughorn. The bright side of it, in Nova's opinion, was that Sirius, James and Evan had all been hit as well. Although, seeing as Sirius and Evan were each lying in beds on either side of her, with James on the bed directly opposite to Sirius on the opposite aisle. Spread out along two aisles were the rest of her affected classmates: Lily, Alice, Em, Marlene, a Slytherin girl, and a greasy-haired boy Nova recognized from Evan's memories as Severus Snape. She gave a delighted grin when she looked further down the row of beds and spotted Mulciber, still unconscious. It was the best sight she'd seen all day.

Pomfrey hurried to her office on the other side of the Hospital Wing, still muttering about 'idiotic, unsafe practices'. When she was gone, Sirius and James burst into laughter, tears actually rolling down their faces as they worked themselves up. Sirius turned his head on the pillow towards Nova, winking at her. "Good one, Loyal. Thanks. A lot. According to Pomfrey, we're in here for the rest of today, and maybe some of tomorrow. We missed dinner! 'Spose I should be thankful I'm not you, Rosier or Slughorn though, you all got the worst of it!" James and Sirius laughed their faces off, but Nova was worried about exactly what 'the worst of it' meant.

Then she saw Madam Pomfrey emerging from her office. "MADAM POMFREY, I GOTTA QUESTION!", she roared at the matron's back. Pomfrey turned around and returned to Nova's bedside. "Indoor voice, dear. Now what is it?" "Sirius told me that I got the worst of it. What does he mean? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with Evan and Slughorn? OMFG, Slughorn- did I kill him?! Oh my God, I killed a teacher, I fucking killed a teacher! I AM SO FUCKING DEAD!", screamed Nova, losing all control and thrashing around in the bed.

Sirius and James burst out laughing, probably breaking several ribs in the process. Nova felt herself go into hysterics, Madam Pomfrey hurriedly rummaging around in a press, glass bottles clinking. "I FUCKING KILLED A FUCKING TEACHER! FUCK ME, I'M SO DEAD, SO DEAD, SO FUCKING DEAD! WHY IS MY LUCK SO CRAPPY, ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS MAKE A FUCKING POTION, BUT I CAN'T EVEN FUCKING DO FUCKING THAT, INSTEAD I GO AND KILL HALF ME FUCKING CLASS AND TEAC-", Nova's foul-mouthed tireade was brought to an abrupt end when Pomfrey jammed a bottle into her open mouth and tipped it up, emptying the full contents into Nova's mouth.

Suddenly Nova's world was very blurry, as though seen from the opposite end of a long tunnel of light. She could see Sirius and James laughing, Evan looking weak and miserable, Severus Snape glaring at Sirius and James, and Marlene and Em giggling and snorting as they watched recently-brought-back-to-consciousness Lily and Alice hyperventilate. She was floating, looking down at her body from above as it slowly stopped thrashing and relaxed on the sheets. Pomfrey pulled the curtains around the bed and started to shout at the still laughing figures of James and Sirius. The figures in the Hospital Wing slowly grew more and more distant as Nova was pulled up the tunnel. Just as she saw the tears rolling down Sirius Black's unattractively red face, the tunnel folded in on her and everything went black.

Nova Loyal sat at the Gryffindor table, stabbing at a piece of roast chicken. The Great Hall was empty, as dinner did not begin for another ten minutes. Nova had been released from the Hospital Wing about half an hour ago and instructed to go to class, but she had decided that she just couldn't face another class if they were all going to be as awful as her Potions one. The last to be released from the Hospital Wing, Nova had missed a solid week of classes, as had Slughorn, although he had left the Wing earlier that day, afraid to look at Nova for fear that she'd attempt to kill him again.

Apparently, the side effects of being drenched in a bad attempt at an Invigorating Draught were hysteria and frequent bouts of psycho-mania, ensuring that none of the other patients who had spent time in the Hospital Wing during her stay would ever forget her. On the bright side, however, it seemed that her week of detention had already passed while she was drifting in and out of consciousness. Marlene and Em, her only two visitors apart from Lisa, Will and Regulus, had eavesdropped on Sirius and James' first detention, when they had apparently set their supervisor, a rather naïve Professor Flitwick, on fire. At least Nova had had company in the Hospital Wing.

Slowly the students started to filter into the Hall and sit at their House Tables. All of the Gryffindors gave Nova a wide berth, as if afraid that she would suddenly spring up and kill them all. Just because Patrick Finnegan had been in the Hospital Wing at the same time Nova had been having a manic fit… It was his own fault really, you shouldn't come that close to someone who was quite clearly temporarily insane and not expect to have half your ear bitten off. He'd cried like a baby, not that Nova had seen the big deal. Pomfrey had sewed it back on.

"Hiya, Nova!", sang Lisa as she swung herself down into the seat next to Nova. A shy-looking girl with reddish brown hair and freckles sat next to her. Lisa reached for the roast potatoes and dug in, not noticing the awkwardness for several minutes. "Oh, sorry, forgot to introduce you two. Nova, this is Mary McDonald, a girl in my class. Mary, this is Nova, one of my best friends. And, despite the current rumours, she is not insane. At least, I don't think she is." Nova punched Lisa on the arm playfully and Mary giggled. "So", asked Nova conversationally of Mary, "Any siblings or family at school?" Mary shook her head. "No, I'm an only child and the first of my family to come here. Muggleborn." Nova grinned widely, loving this girl already, picturing the look on Rosier and the Dark Lord's faces when they received the letter from Evan. 'Dear father, it is my greatest dismay that I must report that Nova has been fraternizing with Muggleborns…' At the very thought, she snorted. Mary seemed to take offense from this, shoving her nose in the air. "If you have a problem with that, you can shove it up your ass!"

Nova had to laugh at the girl's guts. Half of the school seemed to believe that she was a Death Eater, as she was, and here was this eleven year old Muggleborn girl just daring her to discriminate against her. Not that she would. "Problem, Mary? Oh no, you just made my day. Smile for Evan Rosier, would you? I want him to write to Daddy about all the unsavory things I've been doing…" Nova smiled and waved to Evan at the Slythering table, where he and his creepy friends were all staring daggers at her, Lisa and Mary. "HEY NUMBSKULLS, TAKE A PICTURE, IT'LL LAST LONGER!", she hollered across the Hall, drawing several glares. Mary and Lisa laughed, and Nova knew that she had made a friend for life.

"Yo, Nova! I heard they released you from the funny farm!", came a familiar voice from behind them. Nova spun around on the bench and glared at the interloper, who was of course, Will. His blond highlights were gelled as ever, and the smirk on his face spoke wonders for his confidence as he intentionally annoyed the girl who had taken out half of her Potions class. Nova sighed and budged up, making room on the bench, where Will flopped down. The four of them ate their way through dinner steadily, having competitions to see who could hit Frank Longbottom on the nose with a carrot first. After several misses and glares from the casualties, Will finally got Frank square on the nose. Frank spun around to see who had thrown the vegetable, and Will ducked down behind Nova. Seeing no culprit, Frank went back to his dinner, leaving the foursome snorting into their gravy at the look on the Third year Gryffindor's face.

The evening was complete when Rgeulus, having finished his dinner, came and sat with them and prevented Will from throwing peas at a burly Seventh year. They were all having a great time, laughing as Nova switched forms again and again, until her left forearm hit off the table and she winced. Will, Mary and Lisa froze in shock and horror, but it was Will who gathered the courage to speak first. "So you-you do have the Mark, then?", he stuttered shakily. Regulus was very interested in the table all of a sudden, but Nova knew that he was remembering their very first encounter, the recruiting visit to the House of Black. Nova hung her head in shame, she had not expected that it was such common knowledge that the Dark Mark was branded onto a Death Eater's left forearm. Mary spoke then. "So you are a Death Eater and you probably want to kill me now, just because I'm a Muggleborn. You filthy, lying, disgusting-" Nova was unable to take it anymore.

"ITS NOT LIKE THAT!", she screamed, ignoring the stares. Her three friends didn't make a sound, chalky-white with fear. Of her. Nova got up from the Gryffindor table and turned to go. "Meet me at the top of the North Tower at eight. I promise I can explain everything, and that it is not what it seems." With that, she ran from the Great Hall, through the crowded halls and corridors, ignoring the mocking calls from Peeves the poltergeist. It was only when she had shut herself into a broom cupboard on the fourth floor corridor that she finally let herself cry.