Why the hell am I doing this? wondered Rose, as she wriggled under the bed of some fourth year. Why, of all the cats in the world, did I have to be lumbered with an escape artist? Smokey -Rose's grey kitten- had been given to her as a birthday present from Uncle Percy. The little kitten was adorable, but had gotten into the nasty habit of hiding in corners everywhere. This made him very unpopular- it wasn't unusual for Slytherins to be woken up in the middle of the night by a yowling from under the bed. Rose was always running around trying to extricate the cat before anyone noticed. However, as she managed to fit her entire body under the bed and grasp the kitten, the door bounced open and some of the girls who lived in the dorm entered, talking animatedly. Rose froze. She wasn't doing anything wrong, but this was Slytherin house after all, and they didn't have a reputation for being fluffy little bunnies. How deep is the stereotype, pondered Rose, that even I'm scared of most Slytherins? She considered getting out, and explaining herself, but decided against it, as one of the girls mentioned a very familiar name.

"I talked to Malfoy about our...idea. He didn't even listen, just ran off, can you believe it? My great uncle was friends with his grandfather, and apparently the Malfoys have gone downhill since Lucius. Draco was pathetic, and a failure as a death eater, but Scorpius is even worse. I can't imagine why he'd want to be friends with that Weasley girl!"

There was the sound of creaking, and Rose saw a pair of robed legs dangle off the edge of the bed above her. She gulped nervously, wondering how she could escape. As various plans were considered and discarded, another girl spoke up, contempt in every syllable.

"Yeah, I know what you mean Belinda. How can he! His dad must be livid, I know mine would be. Not that he'd ever catch me even talking to her. Blood traitors, they're all the same really."

Rose bit her tongue to prevent herself from speaking out. The narrow-mindedness of these girls was infuriating, but she didn't know how many of them there were, and as fourth years, they'd know far more offensive spells than her.

"I guess you're right," began a third girl, "but I still hoped that he'd show a little bit of interest. He is a Malfoy, after all. But like Belinda said, he didn't show any enthusiasm! He actually said he was going to tell Professor McGonagall. Snitch"

"Well we all knew it was a long shot. But we don't need him. We've got four Slytherins and a Gryffindor who doesn't like Potter hanging around with people in our house."

"Well that just proves it, doesn't it? I mean, even his own people want Albus Potter cursed."

Upon hearing this, Rose tensed, and let slip a gasp that seemed to echo in the dormitory. She froze, petrified, as the girls above her fell silent.

"Did you hear...?" From her limited vantage point, Rose saw the legs in front of her begin to move around the room, the owner searching for the source of the noise. By the sound of it, the other girls had done the same.

"Check under the bed" commanded Belinda lazily. Rose noted with a sense of detachment how the girl seemed to be the leader. If I have to attack, she's first. Rose swallowed, and clenched her fists, preparing for what was undoubtedly going to be an unpleasant and painful experience. This seemed to be the final straw for Smokey. As Rose's arms tightened, he wriggled away, and shot out of the dorm, yowling loudly. A girl cursed, and Rose saw her try to stamp on the kitten, which elicited another gasp, though thankfully hidden by the older girl's noise.

"It's that damn cat that belongs to Weasley. We should catch it; hurt it, to teach her a lesson."

"No, we can't do that! I love cats! It's not his fault that its owner is a blood traitor. Belinda, don't be mean!"

Rose was incredibly grateful for the whining girl, as she persuaded the leader to let Smokey alone. If she'd touched one hair on his head, I'd have jumped out, drawn my wand and... have been cursed into oblivion. Perhaps not. But on the plus side, Smokey's escape seemed to have convinced the fourth years that they had found the source of the sound. Rose relaxed, ready to wait as long as she had to, until the girls left.

Rose crept out of the dormitory three hours later, checking the stair case before she scuttled down it into the common room and out into the corridors. Her heart raced, and she could feel blood pounding in her ears. In her twelve years of life, and three months at Hogwarts, this was the most terrifying experience of her life. Whenever she had begun to relax, one of the girls would say something to push her brain back into red alert. They had spent a disproportionate amount of time complaining about the falling standards of Slytherin house. Even more time was spent discussing how they were going to 'punish' Al. Their ideas ranged from petty- breaking into his dorm to steal his things, to downright horrific (hitting him with the cruciatus curse seemed to be a popular idea). In the time she had been hidden, Rose managed to place the three voices; Belinda Wilkes (an icy, attractive blonde Slytherin who had always ignored Rose), Maggie Rosier (Belinda's clone and sycophant) and finally, most surprisingly, a mousy girl named Becca, who had spoken to Rose once or twice, and had seemed reasonably friendly. That hurt Rose most of all- to imagine all the hate and loathing that had been simmering behind Becca's pleasant facade.

But that wasn't important. What was important was finding Al as soon as possible. Whilst she'd gleaned a lot from the trio, the time of the planned attack was not one of them, and she had no idea how long she would have to warn him. After Belinda and her friends had left, Rose felt it was wise to wait for a few minutes, in case they were returning or had even planned a trap. Luckily they hadn't, but she was still twitchy as she jogged up the flight of stairs which led to the great hall. Rose scanned the tables, squinting at all the breakfasters, but Albus was most definitely not there. That in itself was an awful sign; there had been only one time when Albus had been late for breakfast, and it had been because he'd worked out how to get into the kitchens directly. This thought sent Rose veering off towards them, passing a steady stream of Hufflepuffs walking in the opposite direction. A few of them gave her odd looks, and Rose was mystified, until she realised that, having started searching for Smokey so early, she'd not changed out her pyjamas. The pyjamas covered in teddy bears. Rose allowed herself a quiet groan, and a moment of self pity before continuing, now conscious of every glance towards her. She was just approaching the enormous portrait of a fruit bowl when she spotted a familiar blonde boy walking in her direction.

"Scorpius!" she yelled, a little shrilly. At the sound of her voice, he looked up immediately and hurried over, looking agonized.

"Rose! Have you seen your..."

"Albus is in trouble, Scor, I heard...

"We need to find him now, I think he's in danger...

"There's even a Gryffindor in on the act!"

"I didn't think, I should have...wait, what?"

"I was looking for Smokey, when I overheard Wilkes, Rosier and Becca talking! They said they'd asked you to help them curse and beat up Albus!"

"They did, but I swear, I didn't agree to it! I told them to bugger off, went to tell McGonagall. Then I realised that I didn't know where Al was. So I started looking..."

"I'm looking too! He's not in the great hall. We should check the corridors between here and Gryffindor."

"Should we split up?"

Rose raised her eyes, replying disdainfully

"Don't be stupid! If we find him, and we're on our own, do you think we can help him, if there's trouble? Two first years against at least five older students?"

Scorpius looked wounded, but didn't comment, merely walking away, calling out for Albus. Rose hurried to catch up. Maybe I was a little hard on him... But really, as if splitting up would help.

The pair ran around the corridors, calling Albus's name loudly. If they had been a little less preoccupied, they might have seen how this might attract attention, and not necessarily the good kind. But they didn't stop to think, and as of yet, there had been no trouble. Rose halted in a seventh floor corridor, hands on knees and breathing hard.

"Look, we still haven't found him. Where haven't we looked?"

Scorpius thought, carefully.

"We missed out the fourth floor, because you thought you saw him up that flight of stairs. Shall we check it out?" he eyed her, dubiously. "If you're up to it, of course."

It took only a few minutes to reach the fourth floor, and Rose pushed the main door open with trepidation. She was afraid of what she would see, yes, but also what she wouldn't find; if Al wasn't there, she was out of ideas. However, as soon as Rose and Scorpius turned the corner, they were met with a horrific scene. Backed into a corner, wand out, was Albus looking terrified. Almost blocking him from sight stood not five, but seven students, and Rose realised that two were Ravenclaws. This was a blow; it meant that only Hufflepuff had refrained from attacking her cousin.

Oh God, oh god, oh god. She repeated the phrase like a mantra, frozen in the doorway. However, as a jet of light flew from Belinda's wand, causing Albus to scream, she ran towards the circle and began firing spells at them. Concentrating hard, she barely noticed Scorpius behind her, casting tarantalegra, causing the fifth year Slytherin boy in front of her to begin to dance uncontrollably. The look on his face terrified Rose as she turned to deal with the others.

At first, it seemed like the three first years had a chance; Rose managed to cast the leg locker jinx on two students before any of them could react, and Albus, forgoing a wand, punched the shortest one in the face. However, before long, the attackers got over their surprise, and Scorpius was felled by a well aimed stupify. Albus quickly followed, dropping to the floor in a full body bind. Rose was alone.

"Give up, Weasley!" called Wilkes, sneering at Rose unpleasantly. "Drop your wand, and maybe we'll let you go."

"Yeah, I really believe you. There's no way I'm letting go of my wand. You attacked my cousin, stupefied my best friend and tried to hurt my cat!" By the end of her announcement, Rose was shrieking, face screwed up in anger, hair almost bristling with power. It was enough to cause her attackers to back away, and she began screaming spells and swearwords with acrimony. However, the students began advancing again cautiously, and after three were hit by the leg locker curse (the only even vaguely offensive spell Rose knew), they managed to subdue her. She fell heavily, landing on the stone floor painfully. Unable to move, she watched as Maggie Rosier glanced behind her, and then reversed the spells which the first years had cast, until there were, once again seven fighters (although one had the beginnings of a black eye). For what seemed an age, they muttered amongst themselves, occasionally gesturing at their prisoners and often glancing around, presumably to check that nobody was coming. A resolution seemed to have been reached, since two people grabbed Rose roughly by her arms and dragged her from the corridor into a more secluded room. Rose could hear dragging noises behind her; clearly Scorpius and Albus were being given the same treatment. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw Wilkes reach down and tug Rose's wand out of her unresisting hand.

"So much for not letting go of your wand" sneered the witch unpleasantly. "Now Weasley, I'm going to tell you what we're going to do. First, we'll undo the stunner on Malfoy. Then we're going to give him the full body bind. It's no fun if you can't feel it." Belinda paused, grinning wickedly, and motioned to one of the Ravenclaws who did as she had said.

"Next, we're going to take turns practising our spells on you three. It shouldn't take more than a half hour. If you're lucky, we'll stop there. If not, well... I'm sure Aaron would like to show you three how real muggle duelling is done." The boy whom Albus had punched cracked his knuckles, looking excited.

Rose stared straight ahead, horrified. The worst thing about this body lock was that she couldn't see the spells coming, and had no way of preparing herself.

And then it began. If she could have moved, Rose would have been writhing in torment, straining to escape. Curse after curse struck her, as she felt her skin shredded open and seared shut without reprieve. Fire arced, carving into her flesh, and wands flashed, slicing myriad deep lacerations. After a few seconds, it became impossible to distinguish each individual blow, waves of agony rolling over her. The smell of singed, baking flesh reached her nose, and she was finally accorded peace as she passed out. Her last thought, as the pain began to fade, was to wonder about her friends; whether they were already unconscious, or still bearing every excruciating second in silence.

*#*#*

Tanya was in a pretty good mood today. Not only did she have transfiguration (totally her favourite subject; it was so much more interesting than Charms, and Professor Gifford was really nice), but she had a feeling that Albus Potter was actually going to ask her out. She'd been dreaming of this moment since the day she'd laid eyes on him. Actually, Tanya had expected Al to ask her at breakfast, but he'd been absent, which really wasn't like him. Besides, after they'd been sorted into the house, he made a point of sitting with her every other day (the rest of the time he spent with his cousin and that ghastly Scorpius Malfoy boy). But Tanya shrugged this off. Today's the day! she thought jubilantly. I can feel it!

She arrived at first lesson with minutes to spare, and took to her seat. Not many people were here yet, including Albus, but it wouldn't be long.

She was still waiting, ten minutes into class. To be honest, this was less worrying than his missing breakfast so Tanya wasn't exactly concerned. Sadly, however, this lesson was far less interesting than usual, and it was with relief that she volunteered to fetch the marked homework from Professor Gifford's other class, escaping the boredom of complex transfiguration theory.

She practically bounced along the corridor, as she headed to the fourth floor. The only sound was muffled, emitted from the classrooms to either side of her, and footsteps far ahead.

She wasn't looking where she was going, lost in a dream world, when she tripped over something soft, and landed jarringly on cold stone floor. Grumbling, she got to her feet, and brushed her hair back, pausing as she felt something sticky glide across her head. She lowered her hand, and gazed at horror at the bloody coating, dripping onto the floor. What the… why? Suddenly, an unpleasant thought struck Tanya, and she turned to examine the soft 'lumps' over which she had tripped. They were people, she noticed with revulsion; three of them. And... And the nearest one had black hair, and a pair of mangled glasses, lay next to them, and all three were lying in a huge pool of blood…

Tanya screamed…

And screamed…

And screamed…