"But Uncle Albus—" I began.

"Lana, dear, I have no choice but to take 5 points from Gryffindor." He told me.

I was pouting now. I had finally found my Uncle (actually he'd found me wandering around aimlessly), and he had taken me to his office, which was really awesome. It had paintings everywhere that moved and talked, and there was a Phoenix called Fawkes. I had told him about my run in with Snape after class.

"Dumbledore, I'm sure that the child meant no harm." One of the past Headmasters said. (He was a Painting.)

I motioned to him and smiled. "See? I didn't mean any harm."

Uncle Albus laughed. "Lana, I have to be impartial, and you need to learn to be a little nicer to your friends and teachers."

"I wouldn't call Draco or Pansy my friends, and Snape had it coming. God, why does everyone love Matty more than me?" I whined.

Uncle Albus just smiled at me, and then took a newspaper off of his desk, and was going to toss it aside. It was moving! I had never seen anything like it, but then again, do paintings talk?

"That's Gringotts!" I said.

Uncle Albus nodded. "It was robbed earlier that day when Hagrid emptied it for me."

I looked up at him. "Hagrid? Does he rob banks for you? Do you rob banks in your spare time, Uncle Albus? Is Hagrid your accomplice?"

"He's the Games Keeper here at Hogwarts. You saw him with Harry in Diagon Alley." He replied. "And no, I do not rob banks. Neither does Hagrid. He emptied a vault for me."

"Oh. So, someone tried to steal what you already had emptied from a vault? Was it really important? Wait…was it the Sorcerers Stone?" I asked.

"How do you know about the Sorcerers Stone?" He asked me slowly.

"Well, the night we spent in the Leaky Cauldron, my dad was up late working, and I kind of had a nightmare and got up and went over to the table and picked up one of his strewn papers and one just happened to be on the Sorcerers Stone. I read about how it could be used to make the Elixir of Life. Then I kinda went back to bed because it was boring….and because I heard him stirring. He had obviously figured that he would wake up before me. I just recognized the vault number."

Uncle Albus nodded. "You are just like your father. Always trying to figure things out on your own. Well, it's a good thing that I have my hands on it. I have it hidden. Now you need to promise me that you will tell no one that it's here—not even your brother, all right?"

Uncle Albus looked very grave, indeed, so I nodded.

"I promise, Uncle Albus. And don't worry—I don't ever tell Matty anything anyways." I said.

With that, he sent me off on my way, and I ran into Ron and Harry, who seemed a little disoriented. They didn't look at me. I thought that I knew why too.

"I know about the robbery. Uncle Al—Professor Dumbledore told me." I said.

They turned around to me.

"So do you know what it was?" Harry asked me.

"No." I lied, shaking my head. "But Dumbledore told me that it was quite safe."

****

I woke up bright and early again, and saw Oliver down in the Gryffindor commons. I smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"Ready to learn about Quidditch?" He asked me.

"Well, actually, I was wondering how you try out." I said. "Even though I still don't know what it is, or anything about it. And actually, I just kind of woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, and walked down here, and you were here, so this is how this conversation started."

He stared at me a moment. "Do you normally talk this much?"

"Actually…n—yes. Yes I do. Actually, sometimes more." I said. "So…what were we talking about? I also have a short attention span."

He laughed. "You're a First Year. You have to be pretty special in order to make the team."

I frowned. "Schnizzlewitts and Shiitake Mushrooms."

He laughed again. "Is that some kind of code in America?"

I blushed. "No, it's just a way of expressing disappointment."

"Well, I can still tell you about Quidditch." He offered.

"Sure." I shrugged.

"There are seven players: 3 chasers, 2 beaters, 1 keeper, and 1 seeker." He said.

The words were going over my head. "What?"

He laughed. "There are also three kinds of balls: the Quaffle, the Bludgers, and the Golden Snitch."

"Okay, so each of the balls has to do with the players?" I asked.

He nodded. "You're getting there."

"Can I guess as to which ball goes where?"

Oliver smiled a dazzling smile. "Be my guest."

I thought about it for a moment. "The Bludgers will go with the Beaters, and the Quaffle sounds like the main ball, so it has to go with the Chasers since there are more of them, and that leaves the Keeper to defend hoops for the balls, and then the Golden Snitch goes with the Seeker."

Oliver's eyes lit up and I smiled.

"You are really smart! Are you sure that you didn't know what Quidditch was before?" He asked.

I blushed. "I promise. I've never heard of it in my life. It's just common sense."

"Yes, well, the Quaffle is handled by the chasers and put through one of the three hoops on either side. The keeper defends the hoops while the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from fellow players and occasionally knock them into players on the opposite team. Then the Golden Snitch is released during the game, and the Seeker who catches it first wins the game for that team, and awards them 150 pts."

I smiled. "Wow. That sounds awesome. Too bad I'm not that special."

Oliver smiled too. "Lana, you have a fair chance. If you're smart enough to put the balls with the players, then you're a pretty fast learner. It's the flying on the broom that you have to worry about."

"Speaking of Flying Lessons, we have them with Slytherin." I told Oliver.

Oliver nodded. "I saw that. Be careful, that Malfoy doesn't have the sweetest disposition you know."

I smiled, and thanked him and then watched as he, Fred, George and other team members went out to practice.

****

"How can you hate Malfoy?" I asked Harry.

"How can I not? He's so horribly rude." Harry told me.

"And he hates Harry." Ron said.

"He's never been rude to me since we introduced ourselves. There was that one time in the bookstore in Diagon Alley though." I protested.

"Well, you're a girl." Ron said.

I frowned. "What does that have to with anything?"

"You're a girl and he's a boy." Ron said again.

"Well, I'm also from Gryffindor and he's from Slytherin." I told him.

"Yes, but you're Dumbledore's niece." Harry said to me.

I thought about that for a moment. "So he's nice to me so that I won't tell on him to Dumbledore?"

"Don't listen to Ron. He's nice to you because you can be just as rude as him." Hermione said.

I turned around to her. Sad thing was that she was right.

"Well, it doesn't really matter I suppose because we have to take Flying Lessons with him." I told them.

"I really don't want to fly." Hermione said.

"I think it sounds thrilling." I admitted. "I've wanted to fly since I realized that witches and wizards were going to be taught how. I mean, as a child I always wanted to fly."

Harry beamed. "Someone else who wants to fly too. Though, I don't want to make a fool out of myself in front of Malfoy."

"I think that he's just all talk." Ron reassured him. "All Slytherins suck."

"Excuse me?" I asked angrily. "Not all Slytherins suck."

"If you're talking about Malfoy—" Ron began.

"I'm talking about Matty! My brother's in Slytherin and he's perfectly all right!" I shouted and then paused and looked down. "Sometimes. I mean he has a knack for being mean. And sometimes he's really slow, and he kind of gets on my nerves about 80% of the time…"

****

At breakfast on Thursday, I got a package. I hadn't gotten one since I had gotten to Hogwarts, and it would be Halloween in a few weeks. I petted the owl, and opened it. It was a letter from my father.

Dear Lana,

We hope that your time at Hogwarts has been wonderful.

We have also sent you a small package, but your Uncle is

Holding on to it for you. Congratulations for being in

Gryffindor. Your mother, sister and I are very proud.

Now promise to be a good girl, and obey the

Rules. I hope you've made many new friends, and your

Mother and I send our love, as does your sister.

Your loving Father

I smiled, and looked over at the Slytherin table as Draco gloated about his sweets, and then he smiled at me.

"Want one, Lana?" He asked me.

I smiled sweetly. "Sure, Draco."

Draco stood up and handed me a chocolate, and Pansy scowled at me. I thanked him, and asked if he would talk to me after Flying Lessons today. He beamed and agreed. When I turned back around, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were staring at me. I shrugged.

"What?" I asked. "I like chocolate."

"Did you see the look that Malfoy gave you?" Ron asked.

I shook my head.

"I was wrong. He just has a crush on you." Hermione said.

"Look, Neville's got something." I said, changing the subject.

We all looked as Neville took a small, beautiful ball out of a package from his Grandmother.

"It's a Remembrall." Neville explained. "Gran knows how forgetful I am, and if you hold it really tight, it tells you if you've forgotten something."

I smiled as the ball turned red. "Have you forgotten something, Neville?"

He nodded. "But I can't remember what I've forgotten."

Draco snatched the Remembrall out of Neville's hand.

"Draco!" I said.

Professor McGonagall was walking past and looked at Draco.

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall." Neville said.

Draco dropped it on the table and shrugged. "I was just looking at it."

"He wasn't going to steal it." I said.

"Well, if Draco Malfoy is in your good graces, Miss Langston, then I have no reason to suspect him of the theft of this Remembrall." Professor McGonagall told me.

I squirmed in my seat, and asked to be excused. I went outside, and sat underneath a tree, hugging my knees to me. Draco found me, and sat down next to me.

"Thanks for standing up for me." He said.

I nodded. "I'm just hoping that you weren't really going to steal it. I feel like such a failure."

Draco took my hand and smiled. "Why?"

"Because I keep going against Dumbledore. I mean, I should be following the rules and not wandering around getting in trouble, talking back to teachers, hanging out with someone from Slytherin." I said slowly.

Draco nodded. "I guess you should be."

"But it's just not me. Of course, who is me anymore?"

Hermione came out, and Draco went back inside. She handed me a package.

"Dumbledore saw you leave, and told me to give this to you." She said.

I opened it, and beamed. It was a pin from my family. I put it on my robes, and from that day on, I ALWAYS wore it.

"Thanks, Hermione." I smiled. "Oh, hey Matty!"

"Hello, Lanni." Scott said. "So who's your friend?"

"Oh! This is Hermione. Hermione, this is my older brother, Matt—Scott. Scott." I told her.

"Pleasure to meet you, Scott." Hermione said, taking his hand.

He kissed hers, and she blushed.

"Get away from us, Matty!" I cried.

"Why do you call him Matty?" Hermione asked after a pause.

"Matthew's his middle name." I told her.

"Ah." Hermione said nodding.