Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Summary: We have all read the whole 'Harry/Malfoy/Hermione has a sister, yada, yada, yada.' Idea, but what if the aforementioned sister was not a Potter/Malfoy/Granger? What if she was a Dursley? Meet Roisin Dursley. Witch of the family.


Chapter Seven

Despite the minor disaster of the first potions lesson, life at Hogwarts progressed more or less normally for the next few weeks.

The other first year Slytherins had been rather vague about what had happened after she left the class with Neville to put all the Gryffindors in such a bad mood, but Roisin didn't bother to enquire too deeply. With the House Rivalry as it was, she would probably get a multitude of different accounts, with not enough facts to sort out which was correct, and if she wanted that much of a headache, she could just do an extra-credit Transfiguration essay.

Roisin did notice that Professor Snape was being unusually nasty to the Gryffindors, but then they hadn't been all that polite to the Slytherins, either. Regardless, nothing happened to really stir the waters of everyday school life.

Roisin still kept in close touch with her grandmother, who sent weekly letters and monthly packages of sweets, answering any questions that Roisin might have, telling her general news, and mentioning that she wanted Roisin to meet the rest of the Clan over Christmas, although she would need to get permission from Roisin's parents first.

Roisin didn't fool herself into thinking that her parents would be in any way pleased about letting Roisin go and meet any more 'Freaks' than she already knew, much less give permission. Pushing aside the stab of hurt that she had been resolutely not thinking about, Roisin immediately started looking over possible ways to persuade them. She was Slytherin, after all, so she was supposed to be cunning. If she wanted permission to visit somewhere over the holidays, then she would figure out a way get it.

Classes went well, aside from Professor Quirril's hopeless incompetence in teaching them Defence against the Dark Arts. The Slytherin First years solved that problem by studying out of their books and convincing the older years to let them watch and take notes while they practiced curses and Defence-related spells.

All in all, nothing really happened to shake things up until the notices were posted for the first flying lessons of the year. More specifically, which House they would be sharing lessons with.

Gryffindor.

Oh, this promised problems.


On the first day of flying lessons, Roisin woke with an unusual feeling of trepidation.

Sadly, it turned out that this feeling was not unfounded. While Draco Malfoy's family was highly-placed, that did not make him the ruler of Slytherin. Family aside, there was still a pecking order, and unless you were capable of hexing the older years to hell and back, you tried to stay on their good side.

Draco's family had apparently not taught him that while blood did matter in Slytherin; ability, cunning, ambition and subtlety mattered more. Especially when other people knew a lot more than you did and could make you regret mouthing off. Yet another lecture on this by one of the seventh years had put Draco in a sulk, and when his attempt to rile up the Gryffindors at breakfast backfired, that degenerated into a Bad Mood.

It was an unfortunate, but well known fact in Slytherin that when Draco Malfoy was in a Bad Mood, he was likely to do something stupid.


The 'Something Stupid' happened in Flying Lessons.

Malfoy was stretched to the limit when Madam Hooch told him that he had been flying wrong for years and the other Slytherin first years were either exchanging worried looks or keeping a close eye on Draco.

They were granted a short, if highly amusing reprieve, when Ron Weasley's broom jumped up hard enough to whack him in the face, and then had to concentrate on Madam Hooch as she explained the basics of taking off.

In most classes, students were given a demonstration of what to do. In Flying Lessons, they got an unplanned demonstration of what not to do.

Neville Longbottom panicked, and shot at least thirty feet into the air before losing control and plummeting back down to earth, hitting the ground with a sickening 'crack'.

Roisin supposed that they should at least be thankful that Malfoy waited until Madam Hooch took Neville to the hospital wing, and was thus out of sight and hearing range, before he burst out laughing.

Or maybe not, since the presence of a teacher might have stopped what happened next.

A few of the other Slytherins joined him in loud amusement, although more from lack of original thought (Crabbe and Goyle) or amusement at the Gryffindors' faces (Pansy, Desdemona and Theo) than from actual maliciousness.

The Gryffindor Patil twin, Parvati, glared at the Slytherins, snapping at them to shut up. She blushed slightly when Pansy returned with a sneering remark about liking the unfortunate boy. Roisin frowned at them both. "Knock it off, Pansy. Why are we sinking to Gryffindor level, anyway? Especially when Hooch is probably sending a teacher to keep an eye on us until she gets back."

This convinced most of the laughing Slytherins to shut up. No one wanted to be compared with the Gryffindors, after all, and no sane person wanted to risk Professor Snape's wrath by being the first to get in major trouble.

Draco, however, just didn't seem to know when to quit.

Neville Longbottom's red globe that he had received at breakfast that morning had fallen out of his pocked when he fell, and was lying on the grass. Draco snatched it up, but before one of the other Slytherin first years could say anything to stop him from making things worse, Harry stepped up to challenge him and try to get it back.

Knowing her cousin's intolerence for taking other people's things (a side-effect of living with Dudley) and beginning to get a grasp on Draco's character, Roisin could only watch as Draco grabbed a broom and shot into the air, closely pursued by Harry.

Roisin buried her head in her hands, not bothering to join the rest of the class in either cheering the two boys on or yelling at them to get down. This was not going to end well.

Her head snapped up again when the cheers turned into horrified gasps. She followed the rest of the class's gaze to where Harry had turned his broomstick into a steep dive, flying after the red ball that Draco had either dropped or thrown.

Blaise winced as Roisin paled and grabbed his arm a bit too tightly, terrified that her cousin was going to be little more than a hole in the Quidditch Pitch. Harry managed to pull his broom up in time, however, and tumbled onto the soft grass.

Blaise managed to steady Roisin as she let out a faint whimper and nearly fell over in relief. Because of this, they both failed to notice Professor McGonagall heading toward the class with all the subtlety of a guided missile.

Despite protests from Weasley and Parvati Patil, the Deputy Headmistress marched Harry off, just as Madam Hooch returned. Unfortunately for Draco, Madam Hooch did listen to the Gryffindor's protests, and removed twenty points from Slytherin, along with spending the coming weekend in detention.

This was not going to go down well.


Tuning out the lecture that Draco received from Professor Snape, and the second one from the prefects, Roisin worried herself into a right state until dinner, where she rushed over to the Gryffindor table as soon as she spotted Harry.

Harry assured her that he was not expelled, but remained very close mouthed about what his actual punishment had been. Trying to pry information out of him while ignoring the youngest Weasley glaring holes in her back, Roisin finally gave up and stalked off in a huff. Excuse her for caring about him going back to the Dursleys for the rest of his life!

Still fuming, and stabbing her food a bit harder than was strictly necessary, Roisin barely noticed Draco's absence until he came over and sat down across from her. "Worried about your cousin, Rosie?"

Roisin shot the blond boy a dark look. "Don't call me Rosie, you idiot. He's my cousin, and getting expelled means going back to the Muggle World until he reaches the age of majority. Of course I'm worried!"

Draco grinned at her. "He's not expelled over the Broomstick incident this afternoon, if that's what you're worried about. He might get in trouble over the duel we're having in the trophy room tonight, though."

The other Slytherins within hearing range stared at him in disbelief. Millicent said what they were probably all thinking. "Draco, you just got a double lecture about what happened this afternoon. You can't honestly be thinking about breaking curfew tonight as well! You'll be the one expelled this time, along with anyone stupid enough to go with you!"

Scowling at them, Draco stormed out of the Great Hall; presumably back to the Slytherin Common Room, muttering about the Great and Noble house of Malfoy not being scared about going against 'that stupid scar-head'.

Roisin sighed and moved her plate out of the way, before thumping her head onto the table. "I thought Slytherin's were supposed to be intelligent. Are we sure that Draco got put in the right house?"

Blaise leaned over and patted her arm. "Probably a Legacy Placement. We'll figure something out, Roisin, don't worry. Malfoy already looks like enough of an idiot without getting his arse kicked by a Gryffindor."


The plan for stopping Draco turned out to be quite simple.

After a quick word to Professor Snape, who was less than pleased, the first years (Aside from Draco and Crabbe) pretended to go upstairs to bed, but then snuck back down to hide in the common room. At half past eleven, Draco and Crabbe stood up and began to make their way out of the concealed wall that hid the Common Room.

At this point, the rest of the year stopped them with the simple act of dog-piling the both of them, performing the full body-bind (recently learned from a fifth-year who helped them in Defense) and dragging them back to the dorms at wand-point.

When a prefect came to investigate the noise, they told the prefect what was going on, and the prefect simply locked all of the first years into their gender-respective rooms, promising to let them out in the morning.

Silently cursing Draco Malfoy to the moon and back, Roisin curled up in her bed. She would ambush Harry the next morning before breakfast, and get the details from him.

Then she'd figure out how much of a hexing Draco deserved, even if she wasn't good enough with magic to actually give it to him, and rant about the whole mess in her next letter to Fionna.


Whatever had happened, it had made Harry and the Weasley boy very jumpy the next morning.

Harry had always been quick on his feet, due to avoiding Dudley and his gang, but they were always somewhat hard to miss, and Roisin would have the element of surprise. This turned out not to be a good thing, as Roisin had barely dragged them into the small room off the Hall, when she found herself at the business end of two wands.

Refusing to look intimidated, regardless of what she actually felt, Roisin glared at the two boys when they noticed it was her and relaxed slightly. "What the hell happened last night? Draco was going on about some kind of duel between you!"

The Weasley boy made a derisive noise. "Malfoy challenged Harry to a duel all right. Then the poncy bastard didn't even show up, did he."

Roisin scowled at him. "Much as I'd like to think otherwise, I was reading up on Wizarding Family Trees, and Draco is legitimate, even is he is an absolute moron. He didn't show because we told the prefects and ambushed him before he could sneak out. But that doesn't answer my question. What the Hell happened?"

Harry sighed and checked that no-one else was listening. "We went to the trophy room and nearly got caught by Filch. We managed to escape, but wound up in the third-floor corridor. Found out why it was forbidden, too. Last time I go near the place."

The Weasley boy, who she was not going to call by name until he stopped acting like she was evil because of which House she was in, gave her a suspicious look. "Why do you care so much, anyway?"

Roisin glared back. "Because as thick-headed as he occasionally is, I don't want my cousin expelled. Because Draco has a big mouth and if I didn't ask you what happened, someone else would, and they wouldn't be as nice."

Weasley looked slightly abashed. "Yeah, well, tell anyone about what happened and I'll hex you."

Roisin's wand was out in a flash and pointing at him. Two could play that game. "Point that wand at me and I'll curse you before you can say petrificus. I'll tell them that you were nearly caught by Filch, but I won't say anything about the Forbidden Corridor. Try to stay out of trouble from now on, will you."

Putting her wand away, Roisin stalked out of the room and over to the Slytherin table, sitting in between Desdemona and Pansy. Sitting across from her, Millicent raised an eyebrow. "Talking with your cousin? Did you get anything about what happened to them last night?"

Beside her, Draco leaned over eagerly. "Please tell me that they at least got caught by Filch?"

Ignoring him, Roisin addressed her answer to Millie. "They got to the trophy room and waited for about half an hour, but then Filch came sniffing around, so they made a run for it. Nothing drastic. Now will someone tell Draco that next time he cooks up some idiot plan, to make sure it only affects him, and not the rest of us?"

Never the sharpest tool in the potions lab, Goyle obediently relayed this to Draco while the others snickered. Roisin smiled, rolled her eyes, and stole the last pancake.

hp

hp

hp

hp


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Nat.