Today's my birthday! If I get more than 28 reviews on this chapter, I'll update a second time as a present to you all! Happy 28th to me! XD


Tania was very confused when the headmaster made the announcement that they were given a day off from classes for a full inspection of the castle.

Then it hit her as to the reason.

The wards around the school had sensed her summon the Dusks, and had alerted the headmaster. She didn't think he knew what they were (even Hermione thought Heartless were nothing more than monsters from a game), but he knew enough to be wary of having them near the castle.

So she sent Shadow to listen in to the teachers as to what they thought the Dusks were.

Shadow came back rather shaken.

"They think Dusks are Dementors, kupo!"

"Dementors?"

"Dementors are foul beasts that are like the lesser Nobodies or Heartless, except when they 'kill' you, you don't become another Heartless or Nobody. Instead they destroy both Heart and Soul, leaving only the body behind. There's no way to recover without the soul," said Shadow.

Xion was horrified, and rightly so. She had always thought of Heartless as monsters...but these dementors sounded much, much worse.

"And if that wasn't enough, these English use the Dementors as guards for their magical prison. Prisoners are tormented day and night by their worst memories as dementors naturally try to suck out their souls, starting with the good memories first, kupo."

"That's absolutely horrible!" said Tania, disgusted at the very idea of subjecting anyone to that.

Shadow was so shaken that Tania held him the entire day. He couldn't even float like he normally did. Still, she had learned something important.

They had only detected the Dusks. They didn't know she could leave the castle and go to other worlds whenever she wanted.


Tania was almost...eager...for potions today. The reason was simple.

She had snuck Shadow into her class. He had been bored out of his mind for weeks, and his patience was at it's utmost limit.

He couldn't exactly experiment with some of the potions in the book he was almost obsessed with, he had been unable to brew anything in Tania's room because it was so cramped and the fumes nearly overwhelmed him (something about the cauldron made it hard to disperse the smell in a small space), and he had read through all the potion book she had bought him.

So yes, he was getting very stir crazy.

Neville spared a glance at her bag, before he saw something red and his eyes widened.

"Are you insane?" he hissed at her.

"The worst he can do is give me detention, and Shadow has been itching to have a good argument with a potion master for years now. At the very least we'll get a good show."

A good show was one way to put it. Snape was almost guaranteed to explode once he found out Tania had brought her pet with her!

It didn't take long. The second Snape saw the red pom pom and the even bigger red nose, he saw red.

The entire class waited with baited breath as Shadow started asking questions a mile a minute about potions. Things only those that bothered to stick around for their N.E.W.T.s would ask, let alone know.

It was hard to say which was more shocking. The fact Snape was actually answering him, or the fact that he hadn't deducted any points yet.

Seeing the children not at work, he barked at them before continuing his argument Shadow. Tania hid a grin.

"Potter! Stay after class!" barked Snape.

An hour later...

Snape glared at Tania, who fought to keep from shrinking into herself.

"Am I to understand the white imp is your pet, Potter?"

"He's a Moogle, sir. He's more experienced with potions than I am and he's been going stir crazy without a chance to experiment properly," said Tania.

Snape's glare lowered a fraction. Then he looked at the cloaked imp...moogle.

"Moogle! Am I to understand you know the basics of brewing potions?"

"Basics? Give me some credit, kupo! I kept getting returned for trying to improve on your potions, kupo! Those idiots were always so touchy about me experimenting with their potions cabinets," said Shadow offended.

Something seemed to pass between Snape and Shadow.

"His name is Shadow, sir," said Tania helpfully.

"Very well. Shadow, if you can prove you know what you're doing you may join me after classes and during my own experiments. If not, then you'll have to sit with the other students at the same level you're at. Deal?"

"You got it, kupo! I've been going crazy without a chance to tweak what you call potions, kupo!"

"And Potter? If you try anything like this again I'll string you by your lower intestines from the Astronomy tower. Are we clear?" said Snape.

"Yes sir," said Tania.

After she exited the room, she found herself surrounded by Susan and the others.

"Well?"

"Shadow's allowed to stay, but he has to prove he knows what he's doing or else he'll have to join a class that's at the same level he is. Oh, and Professor Snape threatened to hang me by my lower intestines if I did something like this again."

Everyone stared.

"How did you get away without a detention? He was shouting the entire class!" said Hannah in awe.

"I think he was happy to have someone who was willing to not only brew potions, but actually wants to tweak them and make them better," said Tania. "It's pretty obvious he hates having to teach lazy children how to brew potions, only to see them mangle them time and time again, and it doesn't help that people have an unfair bias against Slytherins for no apparent reason."

"But most Slytherins are mean!" said Neville as they walked as far away from the dungeon as possible.

"Yes, but from what I seen almost everyone automatically assumed Slytherins are up to no good, and treat them accordingly. Especially the Gryffindors, particularly the Weasley family. Just because they were sorted into the house of the cunning and ambitious doesn't make them automatically evil. What if they want to become healers that treat children? What if they want to make chocolate or develop a shield that protects aurors? Yet everyone just thinks that all Slytherins are bullies, but what if they became that way because of how people treated them?" said Tania flatly.

Susan, Hannah and Neville blinked. They hadn't thought about it like that.

"It's just...most of You-Know-Who's followers were from Slytherin. Especially the inner circle."

"Can you prove that? What if he had some Gryffindor or Hufflepuff followers? I find the idea of treating someone differently because of the house they were sorted is just ridiculous and silly," said Tania.

"Well said, Ms. Potter! Ten points to Hufflepuff!" said Professor Flitwick who heard the entire thing. "It's hard to promote inter-house unity when the students treat each other differently based on their house."

"I agree," said Professor Sprout. "And since we are the house of loyalty and hard work, I propose a challenge. The house that can show the most school unity and make friends with different houses and years will be given fifty points. Second place will get forty and third will get twenty."

"Seriously? Fifty points just for being nice?" said Ron Weasley, food half eaten clearly visible. Anyone with any sense of table manners or proper etiquette moved just a bit away from him.

Tania among them, as she recoiled in disgust. He didn't have the worst manners. It was blatantly obvious he completely lacked any, save for the knowledge that it was easier to eat with a fork, knife and spoon.


Tania hid a grin when the next week she saw the most amusing sight of Snape and Shadow arguing over breakfast about a potion. Shadow had been bored out of his mind, but it seemed like he was back to his old self. Sure he spent most of his time while she was in class playing with potions or reading some of Snape's books or notes, but at night he would curl up to her because she was something familiar. Well that and she slept better using him as a teddy bear.

But the icing on the cake was eight days after she brought Shadow with her to potions, he handed her something familiar.

"How did you make an elixir?"

"They had most of the ingredients, kupo. Only had to tweak or substitute the missing ones, kupo. Should have seen Severus' face when I showed him our potions, kupo."

Tania stared.

"Professor Snape lets you call him by his first name?"

"He was really in need of someone to argue with that wasn't a 'complete dunderhead' and actually knew what they were doing, kupo. They fact I knew a few tricks he didn't only made it better, kupo."

"Well I'm glad to know that at least I won't have to worry about where to get real potions," said Tania.

"You supply the ingredients, and I'll make them whenever you need, kupo!"

Somehow she had the feeling her vaults were going to get a very hefty work-out during the summer...


"So why are we going to the stadium when we have homework?"

"Quidditch!" said Susan, as if she was talking to a child.

"Today's the first match of the season. Gryffindor against Slytherin," said Hannah, equally eager.

"Who are you cheering?" asked Tania.

"Gryffindor of course," said Susan and Hannah.

"...Would you be offended if I sat next to Daphne and Tracy? I'm not exactly a big fan of Gryffindor," asked Tania.

Susan blinked, before she remembered how much Ron harassed her and how Percy also seemed to find new ways to try and deduct points because she wasn't wearing the 'traditional' robe like everyone else. And that wasn't getting into how many times she was caught up in one of the twin's pranks.

It had only gotten worse when Tania chose to sit with some of the other Slytherin first years rather than go near the Gryffindor ones...or the fact she had hexed Ron one day after she caught him insulting Hermione to the point of tears.

In short, most her hostility for Gryffindor steamed from two separate sources.

Professor McGonagall, who still had it out for Tania because she wore altered robes and wasn't sorted into Gryffindor like everyone expected, and the Weasleys, who all had their own strange grudge against her for reasons she couldn't begin to understand.

It was like they took it personally that she wasn't a Gryffindor, and openly associated with the Slytherin house rather than buddy up to them. And she couldn't figure out why.

"Have fun and try not to get eaten," joked Hannah.

Tania nodded, and made her way to the Slytherin side of the stands.

"Hey Tani! We saved you a seat!" shouted Tracy.

"We also saved one for Shadow," said Blaize.

Upon finding out that the odd "White Imp" that was often arguing about potions and calling their head of house by his first name belonged to her, the Slytherin house had sent discreet 'envoys' to see if they could form a truce with the Girl Who Lived.

As a result, she was now welcomed to sit with Daphne, Blaize, and Tracy. Once they found out she didn't particularly like Gryffindor and was indifferent at best towards Slytherin, they had become more or less civil to her and anyone she considered a friend.

It didn't hurt that Hermione was openly interested about learning pure blood customs, if only to shut Malfoy up about them.

Tania sat between Daphne and Tracy, while Shadow sat on her lap. They cheered loudly for Slytherin, and even though they were openly cheating, Tania could care less. It was fun to watch.

So it was only natural it took her a few seconds to realize something was wrong with one of the bludgers.

Daphne yelped when she realized, no, that bludger wasn't going to avert itself from the stand.

Several students dove out of the way and Tania nearly got hit twice.

Finally she had enough when it nearly hit Shadow. She drew her wand, and pointed it straight up to where the bludger was about to make another attack at the stands, which were barely staying up.

"FIRA!"

A massive fire that vastly overwhelmed any simple fire charm erupted from her wand, yet it didn't heat up in her hand. The bludger didn't stand a chance.

It melted and evaporated before it even touched a very incensed Tania.

All the Slytherins nearby stared at her with disbelief and no little trepidation.

Finally, Blaize spoke.

"Remind me never to piss you off during that time of the month," he said dryly.

Shadow couldn't help but quip "That was nothing, kupo. You should see her when she isn't using a cheap wand, kupo."

He had seen more impressive flame spells, and this was nothing compared to what would have happened had she used her keyblade.

Blaize looked at the wisps of smoke that was once a bludger, then considering a stronger version and shuddered. And here he thought his black widow mother was bad during that time of the month.


Later...

"Wait...you're telling me someone deliberately cursed that stupid thing to attack us?!" said Tracy furious.

"I think they were aiming at Tania. Maybe a 'former' Death Eater saw where she was and decided to take advantage of it," said Daphne, making air quotes.

Susan, who heard the comment, snorted.

"I bet some of the inner circle are going to be pissed when they find out some idiot tried to kill her while she was in the middle of the Slytherin stands next to some of their heirs."

Draco had been a scant arm's reach from the initial blast, and had gotten a good scrape for it. He was whining about it to Snape, who was already livid that someone had attacked his snakes.

Odds were Lucius Malfoy would be demanding an inquiry the moment he heard about the incident.

Spotting Hagrid, Tania discreetly ducked behind Blaize.

It wasn't that she was afraid of him, but it felt incredibly awkward the way he kept inviting her to tea. She barely knew him, and he had the strangest penchant for pets that most people avoided.

She wasn't going to go to his hut without plenty of reinforcements including at least one teacher.

"What is it with you and Hagrid?" asked Susan.

"He keeps inviting me to tea, and despite how 'nice' I've heard he is, I've also heard he invites...Gryffindors...frequently. And frankly I'd like to lessen the chance of running into any of them, especially if their name is Weasley," said Tania.

"Say no more. Avoiding a Weasley, especially since the current lot seems to have developed an unfounded grudge against you is perfectly acceptable," said Daphne.

It was pretty obvious that the Weasleys had it out for Tania, and from all appearances it was completely unwarranted. They just disliked her for reasons of their own.

What was surprising was that the stuck-up Percy went after her so much. He was such a rule stickler that it was hard to believe he'd risk his badge to harass her.

"I'd consider owling their mother to get them to stop, but I don't think it would do any good," admitted Tania tiredly.

"They've learned to tune her out. You'd probably have better luck asking their head of the family to get them to stop," said Blaize.

"Who's the head of their family?"

"The head of the Weasley family is Arthur, the patriarch. He works at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office," said Tracy.

"But until then, if they bother you one more time...then perhaps we should mobilize the entire house against them until they get the message," said Hannah.

Tania winced.

"Won't that get her in trouble though?" asked Hermione, who had run up to join them.

"Not at all. If you attack one Hufflepuff, you attack us all. Besides the only reason we haven't done anything before now is because Tania seems to roll with the punches," said Susan cheerfully. The Weasleys didn't know what they were messing with.

"Besides, we have the perfect weapon against them!" said Hannah grinning.

"What?" asked Daphne, interested.

"Tonks!"

"You're right! I'm sure she'd get a good laugh teaching some stupid boys a good lesson in how to treat a girl, especially one as nice as Tania is!" said Susan.

"Who or what is Tonks?" asked Hermione.

"She's a seventh year that's planning to stick around an extra year to get a leg up on her Auror's exam. She's also a metamorph, so it's nearly impossible to pin anything on her," said Susan with glee.

"Wait...a metamorph? She wouldn't happen to be a Black would she?" asked Blaize intently.

"Her mother was, but she got kicked out for marrying a muggleborn," said Susan.

"Which technically makes her Tania's cousin once removed," said Hannah helpfully. She made a face. "Draco is actually a closer relative though."

Tania made a face herself.

"Look at the bright side. If worst came to worse, you could always sick your cousin Narcissa Malfoy nee Black on the Weasleys. I heard she's not exactly a fan of their mother Molly," said Daphne.

"That's a bit harsh, isn't it?" said Hermione.

"Not at all. They've been harassing her for weeks for no reason at all, and the only reason Hufflepuff hasn't annihilated them school-wise is because Tania seemed to be ignoring it," said Susan.

"Besides, it's about time someone taught those stupid twins a lesson!" said Hannah with fervor.

"Sounds exciting, kupo," said Shadow from where he was being held by Tania.

"I blame boredom," deadpanned Tania.

"That too," said Hannah without any shame at all.