Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else that may be referenced in this chapter. The bold, italic, underline text is a direct quote from the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone book.

A/N: Huge thank you to you all. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)

Twitter: Prof_McGonagal

Chapter 10: Letters and Symbols

Dear Mum and Dad,

How are you? Marcus told me that you'd written to him because I hadn't written to you yet, but everything's fine, so there's no need to worry. Sorry I haven't written before now, but I've been trying to get settled in here. It's been a bit more of an adjustment than I thought it would be, because I've been Sorted into Slytherin. The Sorting Hat was really very certain about it, and that's been a bit of a shock. I'm okay now, though- Potions is a bit iffy, but I like the rest of my classes and I've made friends with the girls in my dormitory.

I know this might be a bit of a surprise for you, as it was for me, but I'm still the same person I've always been.

Hope everyone's well; I'm looking forwards to seeing you at Christmas.

Love, Rachel xx

That, Rachel thought, reading over her finished letter the following morning, was as good as it was going to get. It was not the best letter by any means, and she had deliberated for ages over adding the reminder that she was indeed the same person she'd always been, but put it in in the hopes that it would remind her parents of the fact, what with whatever else they may feel when they found out about her Sorting.

"Did you do it, then, Rachel?" Pansy asked, looking at the the girl through her mirror as she brushed her hair.

"Yeah." Rachel nodded, resting the letter against the post of her bed and addressing it to her parents. "It's as good as it's going to get, anyway. Can you remember where the Owlery is?" she asked, straightening her headband and stuffing the letter into the pocket of her jeans.

"Er- no, not exactly," Pansy said, getting to her feet as she finished brushing her hair. "But I'm sure we'll find it."

"…I think it's this way." Millicent paused, pointing straight ahead as she, Pansy and Rachel reached a three-way fork in the third floor corridor. It was a short while later; the corridors were unusually empty, courtesy of it being a Saturday morning, and Rachel, Millicent and Pansy were trying to remember the way to the Owlery; Daphne and Tracey had politely declined the offer to come, too. The Slytherin girls had only been to the Owlery once before, on Tuesday afternoon, when Pansy, Millicent, Daphne and Tracy had sent letters to their respective parents. Not wanting to be alone, Rachel had gone with them.

"Are you sure?" Rachel frowned, thinking back to the walk they had taken. "The Owlery's in the West Tower… did we even come down this corridor?"

"You lost, firsties?" an unfamiliar voice called from behind them and the three girls turned. A wiry boy with thick blonde hair, startlingly bright blue eyes and lightly tanned skin was walking towards them, smiling. "You're a part of the new crop of Slytherins right?"

"Yeah," Millicent nodded cautiously. "Who're you?"

"Thought so." The boy nodded, stopping in front of the girls. "Oh- I'm Terence Higgs; I'm in Slytherin, too- in second year." He held out his hand.

"Millicent Bulstrode." Millicent answered, shaking it.

"Pansy Parkinson." Pansy did the same.

"Sebastian's cousin." Terence said; Pansy nodded. "He Transfigured my head into a pumpkin on the train- only just got rid of the last of the orange. And you?" he asked, turning to Rachel.

"Rachel Belby." She said, shaking his hand.

"Marcus Belby's sister, right?" he asked.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Thought so, too- so, where're you looking for?" Terence asked.

"The Owlery." Pansy replied. "We went there the other day but now we can't remember how to get there."

"Oh, well, I'm heading there myself," Terence said, pulling a letter from the pocket of his jeans. "I'll show you the way, if you like."

The three girls exchanged glances and nodded.

"Thank you." Rachel said with a smile. "We're still trying to work our way around, but it's harder than it seems."

"I reckon you're doing a great job." Terence said, smiling back. "We turned left here," he went on, continuing as they turned down the corridor to their left and walked along it: "Honestly, it'd be strange if you knew your way round her right off the bat. This place is great, but it's mental. There're a hundred and forty-two staircases here of all different kinds, as you've probably seen. There're big, wide, fancy ones; the narrow, unsteady ones; some that lead somewhere new on Fridays; some with a vanishing steps midway up that you've got to learn to jump over. Then there are the doors that won't open unless they're asked politely, or tickled in the correct place, and then you've got the doors that're really just solid walls having a laugh. It's actually a bit difficult to remember where anything is, because, you know, the staircases move about and the portraits wander here and there on a whim and there's a conspiracy going around that the suits of armor can walk, so getting stuck at a fork in the third floor is nothing."

By now they had turned left again three times, walked along several corridors and climbed a flight of stairs to the fourth floor corridor; moments later, they reached the door that was the entrance to the tower that housed the Owlery.

"Here we are." Terence said, opening the door with a flourish. "After you," he said to the girls, stepping back to let them pass first.

"Thank you." The girls said; Pansy leading the way up the winding staircase to the Owlery at the top of the tower.

The Owlery was composed of a large, stone room, filled with stone perches and glasses windows that rose all the way to the very top of the tower. The room was rather draughty and cold, courtesy of the glassless windows and the stone floor was completely covered in, owl droppings, straw, and, rather disgustingly, the regurgitated skeletons of voles and mice. The perches that filled the walls were filled with owls, and Rachel looked around for Artemisia as she, Pansy, Millicent and then Terence, too, entered the room.

"Hey, A," She called, catching sight of her owl sitting on a perch about halfway up the wall. "I have a letter for you."

Artemisia hooted softly in response, stretching out her wings and flying down to land on Rachel's shoulder. Despite her knowing she had to send the letter, Rachel felt a wave of nerves as Artemisia landed on her shoulder and she reached into the pocket of her jeans for her letter. She bit the inside of her lip slightly as she pulled the letter from her pocket and stared down at it. This was it.

"You can do this, Rachel," Pansy said comfortingly, putting her hand on the girl's free shoulder.

"Yeah," Millicent agreed, falling into step on Rachel's other side. "you're doing the right thing."

"Something wrong?" Terence asked from over by one of the windows. A simply enormous sharp-eyed barn out sat on his shoulder, an explanatorily empty perch beside it and Terence's letter in its beak.

"It's nothing." Rachel replied, not wanting to explain her situation to someone she had met barely fifteen minutes ago.

"Okay." Terence raised his free shoulder in a shrug and turned back to his owl. "Safe flight Hunter." He murmured to the owl, and it took off from his shoulder, through the window and vanished from sight.

Taking a deep breath, Rachel carried Artemisia over to the window and held out the letter for her to hold in her beak. "This is for Mum and Dad," she said softly to Artemisia, stroking her wing lightly. "Have a safe flight, yeah?"

Artemisia hooted her understanding, her voice slightly muffled by the letter in her beak. In the next moment she had launched herself from Rachel's shoulder, flown through the window and followed Terence's owl in vanishing into the morning sky. Rachel took another deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. The letter was gone. The matter was out of her hands now.

"How d'you feel?" Pansy whispered to Rachel so only she and Millicent could hear hear as the girls followed Terence down the Owlery steps a minute or so later.

"Nervous." Rachel replied in kind. "… but at least it's done now. There's nothing more I can do."

"…Well, you three, it was nice meeting you." Terence said with a smile as he and the three first year girls entered the Great Hall for breakfast a short while later. The girls replied in kind.

"Thanks for your help." Pansy added.

"Yeah, thanks." Rachel and Millicent agreed.

"Anytime." Terence grinned at them before turning and joining a group of second year boys including Sebastian Parkinson at the top of the Slytherin table. Pansy, Rachel and Millicent continued down the table; heading for empty seats around Daphne and Tracey.

Halfway down the table, Rachel caught Marcus's eye from where he sat with Oliver at the Ravenclaw table.

"Letter?" Marcus mouthed, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Sent it this morning." Rachel mouthed back.

Marcus grinned and gave her a thumbs up. Rachel smiled back and returned the gesture, sitting down at the Slytherin table. But her teeth caught the inside of her lip slightly as she pulled the nearest plate of pancakes towards her, and thought over the morning's events; and Rachel hoped against hope that her parents would still love and accept her upon reading her letter.

But Rachel did not hear back from her parents that day, or the day after that. Indeed, even as the weekend came to a close and the second week began to pass, no letter arrived. Artemisia returned to the castle, or so Rachel discovered when she went up to the Owlery before breakfast on Monday morning to see if she had; but she had not brought a letter with her.

Though she was rather unnerved by the total silence from her parents, Rachel tried not to dwell on it, telling herself that as much as she wished they would, she could not force her parents to write back. Thus, she endeavoured to have as much fun as she could, throwing herself into her classes and laughing and joking with Pansy and Millicent. The three girls also got along rather well with Daphne and Tracey; and they also got to know the boys in their year better as well. They were on pleasant-enough terms with Draco, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle- Draco having swapped derogatory comments about Muggleborns for talk of Quidditch and flying. Pansy also became friends with Theodore Nott. Professor Flitwick paired the two of them together during their first Charms lesson of the second week, and by the end of the double lesson the two were laughing and joking together, making fun of the swish and flick wand movement they were learning, which would allegedly help them to make things fly. Neither Rachel or Millicent particularly minded Pansy's friendship with Nott itself; but Rachel was rather put out about it meaning that she had to see Zabini a little more often than the mandatory times of lessons- Pansy and Nott occasionally sat next to, or near each other at meals in mid conversation and Zabini always sat with Nott, as Rachel and Millicent did with Pansy. Zabini didn't seem to particularly like the arrangement either, but he did not appear to begrudge Nott's friendship with Pansy too much, for he always sat beside his friend; remaining, as was his custom, in a haughty silence. Nott often teased him about his lack of communication, informing Zabini with a grin that he wouldn't die if he smiled or spoke; the standard response was an eye-roll, or, on Tuesday morning when Zabini was evidently exhausted for some reason or another, a snapped:

"Shut up, Theodore."

"He speaks!" Nott cried, throwing his hands up into the air in triumph. Pansy giggled. Zabini rolled his eyes and went back to his food.

On the rare occasion Zabini did speak, it was often to make a rude comment or scornful noise in Rachel's direction. He really seemed to have a knife in her ever since their first meeting, and infuriated by his rudeness, Rachel took every opportunity to retort back either defensively or in kind. Both of them delighted in the other's failure and were irritated and smug respectively when one of them succeeded.

Thiers was not the only rivalry in their year, however- Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy did not like each other at all. Though the Slytherins only had Potions with the Gryffindors, Draco never missed an opportunity to mock Potter or show off about his wealth and the parcels of sweets he regularly received from family in front of him; and Potter never missed an opportunity to glare at him, and both he and his friend Ron Weasley often looked rather as though they rather wanted to fight Draco.

When the first years returned to their common room after dinner on Wednesday, they found a large noticed pinned onto the noticeboard: they would be starting flying lessons on Thursday; and they were to learn with the Gryffindors.

"This is going to be amazing!" Millicent squealed excitedly.

"Yeah," Draco agreed, nodding, "and we're going to be learning with the Gryffindors, so I'll finally be able to put Saint Potter in his place." Since he had swapped degrading Muggleborns for talk of flying and Quidditch, Draco was often heard to complain loudly and at great length about first years never picked for their houses' respective Quidditch team and regaled extensive, boastful tales of his flying ability that somehow always ended with him narrowly evading Muggles pursuing him in helicopters.

"You'll have tough luck escaping any Muggles on the school brooms, though Malfoy," Sebastian Parkinson remarked as he came over to see what they were all looking at, his eyes darting inquisitively over the noticeboard. "The school brooms are about a thousand years old- I remember from last year that a few of them are prone to constantly flying to the left and others started to vibrate if you fly them too high up, so I wouldn't hope to put on a show."

But Draco didn't look remotely perturbed. "I'm sure I'll be fine." Was his only response.

A sense of excitement hung around the general first year population of Hogwarts on Thursday. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, who were to have flying that morning, raced out of the Hall upon the conclusion of breakfast. Looking around the hall as she, Pansy and Millicent got to their feet and shouldered their bags, Rachel caught sight of Draco, Vincent Crabbe standing in front of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom at the Gryffindor table; Draco holding a marble-sized glass ball filled with red smoke that was rapidly turning white in his fist.

"What's that thing Draco's holding?" she asked, nodding towards it. Pansy and Millicent looked around, too.

"…I think it's a Rememberall." Pansy answered after a moment. "They're really old-fashioned, though- my mother has one that her grandmother had."

"What's Draco doing with it though?" Millicent asked curiously.

"I don't think it's his." Rachel murmured as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley jumped to their feet angrily; Professor McGonagall arrived within seconds and Draco dropped the Rememberall down in front of Neville Longbottom, who picked it up and slipped it into his pocket as Draco slouched from the Great Hall, Vincent and Gregory behind him. The mystery now solved, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent girls left the Great Hall, too, bound for the Transfiguration classroom.

A little before half-past three that afternoon, Rachel, Pansy, Millicent and the other first year Slytherins walked down the stone steps at the front of the school and then down the sloping lawns of the grounds, heading towards a stretch of smooth, flat lawn on the opposing side of the grounds to the darkly swaying trees of the forbidden forest. It was on this aforementioned stretch of grass that their first flying lesson would be held.

There was no sign of a Professor, but when the Slytherins arrived they found twenty rather old-looking broomsticks lying in perfect lines on the grass.

"These don't look very safe." Pansy said warily, prodding the nearest broomstick warily with her foot. Nothing happened.

"Well, Sebastian did say they're not the best." Millicent remembered. "I don't think they'd use them if they weren't safe, though."

Just as she finished speaking, the first year Gryffindors arrived, and a minute later, a witch with yellow, hawk-like eyes and short, grey hair who introduced herself curtly as Madam Hooch.

"Well, what're all of you waiting for?" she asked, her voice rather bark-like in tone. "Everyone go and stand next to broomstick. Come on everyone- quickly."

The class hastened to do as she asked. Rachel looked down at the broomstick she'd chosen; it was very old indeed; the wood was chipped and several of the twigs in the tail were bent at awkward angles. She couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. She had had a toy broomstick when she was younger like most wizarding children, but that was the extent of her flying experience.

"Right, everyone, hold your right hand out over your chosen broom," Madam Hooch called from the front once everyone had lined up beside a broom, "then say as firmly as you can: 'Up!"'

"UP!" chorused around the stretch of grass.

Rachel's broom didn't move at all. Pansy's rolled slightly to one side. Millicent's, however, shot straight into her hand instantly, as did Harry Potter's, Draco's, and, annoyingly, Blaise Zabini's- who looked rather smug at this, even more so when he looked around and saw that Rachel's broom was still on the ground. Rachel glared at him, annoyed further by his expression.

Madam Hooch had those whose broomsticks hadn't jumped into their hands pick them up from the ground; then showed the class how to mount the broomsticks without falling off the other end, and then strode up and down the lines of first years, correcting their grips. Draco was left rather pink in the face when, for all his talk, Madam Hooch told him his grip was completely wrong.

"Once I've blown my whistle, you are to kick firmly off from the grass," Madam Hooch went on. "You are to hold your broomsticks steady; then fly up a couple of feet, and then come right back down to the ground through leaning forwards slightly. Got it? After the whistle, then- three… two-"

But Neville Longbottom, who looked very nervous and frightened of being left on the ground, kicked off from the ground before Madam Hooch's whistle had even touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Wha- Come down here at once boy!" Madam shouted, but Neville was rocketing up through the sky in the same way a cork would shoot out of the top of a bottle… he rose twelve feet into the air; then he was twenty feet up. Then, his terrified white face peered down at the ground beneath him, he visibly gasped, and in his horror he slipped sideways off the side of the broom; then–

SMACK!

CRACK!

"ARGHH!"

A great thud rang through the air, followed instantly by a nasty crack and then Neville was laying flat on the stretch of grass, crumpled in a heap and yelling in pain. His chosen school broom continued to rocket high through the air, then, rather lazily, it began to to glide towards the forbidden forest and vanished from view.

Madam Hooch hurried over to Neville and bent over him, as white-faced as he was.

"You've broken your wrist," she muttered after a moment or so. "Come on, then boy; you've got to go to the Hospital Wing. It'll be alright; that's it, get up, come on…"

She looked over her shoulder at the other first years.

"No one is to move from the ground while I am taking this boy up to the hospital wing!" she said. "You are to leave your broomsticks exactly where they are at present, else you will be expelled from Hogwarts before you have the mind even think to speak of Quidditch. Now, come along, dear, you'll be okay." She put her arm around Neville, supporting him as he hobbled up to the castle with her, gripping his broken wrist, his face streaked with tears.

But they were not out of earshot for more than a moment before Draco Malfoy burst out laughing.

"Did you get a look at his face, the great fat lump?" he jeered. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle laughed, too.

"Be quiet, Malfoy," Parvati Patil, a Gryffindor girl, snapped.

"Oh, look at you, looking out for Longbottom," Pansy said bitingly, glaring at Parvati. "Didn't think you were the type, Parvati."

Parvati glared back and opened her mouth to retort, but Draco spoke before she could.

"Hey look here!" he said, shooting forwards and grasping something small and round from the ground. "It's the idiotic round thing that Longbottom's grandmother mailed to him."

The Remembrall he had held that morning in the Great Hall shone in the sunlight as he raised it above his head.

"Hand it over, Malfoy," Harry Potter spoke quietly but firmly, and everyone, even Pansy and Parvati, looked around to watch.

Draco smiled at him nastily.

"I don't think so Potter," he said. "I fancy leaving it someplace for Longbottom, so he can find it himself- what about… I don't know; in a very tall tree?"

"Hand it over!" Potter yelled angrily, but Draco took no notice, leaping onto his broom and taking off. It turned out there was truth behind his bragging, he was indeed a good flyer. He paused in mid air level with the highest branches of a great oak tree and called:

"Come on then, Potter, it's up here if you want it so badly!"

Potter picked up his broomstick.

"Don't!" Hermione Granger shouted. "Madam Hooch just said we weren't to move- if you go up there all of us are going to get in trouble, too."

But Harry Potter didn't take any notice of her; instead he mounted his broom and kicked off hard from the grass and soared up into the sky as steadily as Draco had; steadier, even. Paravti Patil screamed and Rachel and Millicent gasped as Potter flew even higher than Draco. Ron Weasley whooped admiringly.

Up in the sky above them, Potter turned his broom around sharply so that he was facing Draco in mid-air. Draco, for his part, looked stunned- clearly he had not expected Potter to be able to fly as well as he did.

"Give me the Rememberall," the first years on the ground heard Potter call, "or I will knock you off your broomstick!"

"Really?" Draco retorted; he tried very hard to sneer, but even from the ground, the other first years could see he looked worried.

Harry Potter, in contrast, suddenly soared towards Draco in a manner not dissimilar to that of the javelins Rachel had seen flying in the sports day of her local Muggle school. Draco only just managed to get out of the way before Potter reached him; Potter turned sharply, somehow remaining steady in mid-air. Millicent and several of the Gryffindors applauded, all of them looking very impressed indeed.

"Crabbe and Goyle aren't up here to save you, you know Malfoy!" Potter called out.

Draco seemed to realise this, too, for he raised the Rememberall above his head.

"Here you are- have it, then!" he replied in a shout, and he flung the Rememberall high up into the air above his head and rocketed back towards the stretch of grass where the other first years' stood. But none of them, with the exemption of Crabbe and Goyle, paid him any mind, for in the next moment Harry Potter had shot down into a steep dive, racing for the Rememberall, which had started to fall down towards the ground. Several Gryffindors screamed as his dive steepened further and Potter stretched out a hand towards the Rememberall. Seconds later Potter was a foot from the ground and had caught the ball, just in time to straighten his broomstick and topple gently back down onto the stretch of grass; the Remembrall securely in his clenched fist.

"HARRY POTTER!"

Professor McGonagall was hurrying towards the first years; Harry Potter hastened to get to his feet, suddenly trembling.

"I have never- not in all the years I've been here at Hogwarts-" McGonagall was nearly speechless from shock, and her eyes were flashing furiously behind her glasses, "-how could you – you could have broken your neck- or worse-"

"Professor McGonagall, it was not Harry's fault-" Parvati Patil began, but Professor McGonagall cut across her.

"Miss Patil, kindly be quiet!"

"But it was Malfoy-" Ron Weasley began.

"That is quite enough, thank you, Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall interrupted him, too. "Follow me, Mr Potter; immediately."

Draco, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle smirked triumphantly as Harry Potter left the stretch of grass that served as their classroom, walking rather numbly after Professor McGonagall as she marched up the grounds towards the school.

"…That wasn't so bad, was it?" Millicent said with a smile as she, Pansy and Rachel made their way up the Grand Staircase at the end of the flying lesson. The rest of the lesson had passed relatively smoothly; Madam Hooch's lips had thinned considerably when she heard of what had occurred between Harry Potter and Draco upon her return to the first years; and she had deducted twenty points from Slytherin for Draco's part and- seeing and hearing that he neither he, nor Harry were hurt, given Draco detention cleaning out the broomshed that afternoon as opposed to expelling him. She then had the first years carry out some basic flying exercises- something Millicent, Draco and, annoyingly, Zabini had excelled at; Ron Weasley, for his part, was rather shaky; and Rachel and Pansy struggled with considerably. By the end of the lesson Zabini looked so smug Rachel longed to punch him or at least stamp on his foot, but refrained for fear of getting a detention.

Now the Slytherins girls were en route to the library- they needed a copy of Seeing Stars: A guide to Constellations by Thebe Estelle, to write their Astronomy essays and Rachel had finished reading and returned Tracey's copy of The Liberator of Lycanthropes: The Biography of Damocles Belby with thanks, and wanted to see if the library could offer her any more information about her uncle.

"You could have been a bit civiler to Parvati, though, Pansy." Millicent went on. "For the sake of face."

"I don't care about face- I will be civil to her when she apologizes for snapping the head off my new doll in nursery!" Pansy snapped. "It was the last present I ever got from my grandmother!"

"Alright, alright I forgot, sorry." Millicent raised her hands in surrender. Pansy exhaled.

"Thank you." She said. "...and yes, the lesson wasn't that bad for a first time." She continued as the three entered a girls' bathroom on the first floor en route to the library. Just past the threshold, however, the three girls paused, looking around them.

Great whine-like sobs were echoing around the bathroom from a cubicle right at the other end of the room. Rachel, Pansy and Millicent exchanged glances.

"Er- hello?" Millicent called, leading the way as the three girls approached the cubicle. "Are- are you alright in there?"

"Leave me alone!" A voice shrieked in response, and Millicent, Pansy and Rachel stumbled back in alarm as the ghost of a squat witch of around fourteen with lank, dark hair complete with a fringe, a number of pimples, thick glasses and a Ravenclaw Hogwarts' uniform rocketed out of the top of the cubicle and glared down at them from midair, her eyes filled with tears.

"Who are you?" Rachel blurted out in surprise, not expecting to encounter a ghost. The ghost swelled indignantly.

"My name is Myrtle Warren- but no one bothers to remember that!" she cried. "I know what everyone calls me- I know! I know I'm Moaning Myrtle!"

"Oh- well- that's not very nice." Rachel said lamely, not entirely sure what to say to that.

"No- no- not at all." Pansy and Millicent added. Moaning Myrtle's eyes filled with fresh tears.

"You're all making fun of me!" she cried, glaring at them. "My life was a complete misery in this place and now everyone has come along and try to ruin my death! NOW GO AWAY!"

She dove back into her cubicle as she spoke, and a great wave of water splashed out from within. A second wave of water flew from the cubicle beside it moments later and the three girls fled from the bathroom, not stopping until they reached the entrance to the library, calming their breathing before entering the room and avoiding the glare of the vulture-like librarian Madam Pince.

Despite Madam Hooch's threat that anyone who flew would be expelled, when the first year Slytherins entered the Great Hall for dinner that evening, Harry Potter was sitting at the Gryffindor table, talking animatedly with Ron Weasley, who was holding a forgotten piece of steak and kidney pudding halfway to his mouth.

"What is he still doing here?" Draco asked, frowning.

"Maybe he wasn't expelled." Pansy shrugged. "You weren't."

"But he was dragged off by McGonagall!" Draco pointed out. "C'mon, Crabbe; Goyle."

And he headed over to the Gryffindor table. Vincent and Gregory followed dutifully, while the rest of the first years sat down at the Slytherin table and started on dinner. Several minutes passed and then Draco, Vincent and Gregory came over and sat down, too.

"He hasn't been expelled." Draco said. "But he's going to be."

"What're you talking about?" Nott asked, choosing a baked potato.

"I've challenged him and Weasley to a duel at midnight in the trophy room." Draco explained, spooning mashed potato onto his own plate. "But I'm not going. All I'm going to do is tell Filch that there's a rumour going around that students are planning on trashing the trophy room tonight at midnight and by tomorrow morning Potter and Weasley will be gone." He grinned, triumphantly.

Rachel frowned. "Why're you so intent on getting Potter expelled?" she asked. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"He annoys me; always playing the Saint." Draco grumbled, spearing a sausage with his knife.

But the following morning, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were eating breakfast at the Gryffindor Table, looking rather tired but cheerful. Draco was livid.

"Unbelievable!" he spluttered, staring across the Hall as though he couldn't believe his eyes. "How the hell does he get away with everything?!"

"No one can get away with everything." Nott said wisely, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "And anyway, it's not as though he's being rewarded."

But Nott's words did not hold true for long. About a week later, during breakfast, the attention of the entire Hall was captured when six large screech owls delivered a long, thin parcel with the post. The Hall watch as the owls flew down the Gryffindor table and dropped the parcel right in front of Harry Potter, sending his breakfast cluttering down onto the floor. Then a seventh owl flew down, too, dropping an envelope onto the package before flying way after its fellows.

"What on earth is that?" Pansy asked, raising her eyebrows as Potter opened the letter.

"Fairly obvious what it is," her cousin Sebastian spoke from a few seats down, staring curiously across the Hall. "It's shaped like a broomstick."

Draco seemed to realise this too, for he made sure to leave the Great Hall before Potter, Vincent and Gregory in tow as usual. The other Slytherins caught sight of the three of them lurking behind suits of armor as they crossed the Entrance Hall on their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Probably laying in wait for Potter." Daphne said, rolling her eyes. Nott and Zabini snickered, waving at the three.

"I think Draco might have a problem." Tracey said. Rachel was inclined to agree.

Draco, Vincent and Gregory did not arrive outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom until just before the bell that signified the start of the lesson.

"He's got a Nimbus Two Thousand!" Draco lamented, slumping against the wall outside the classroom.

"He does?" Millicent asked, her expression brightening. "…He's got to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team." She realised after a moment, a grin spreading across her face. "Brilliant!"

Draco stared at her. "It what realm is that brilliant?" he demanded. "If Gryffindor's got a Nimbus we've got no chance in the league!"

"Well, yeah," Millicent acknowledged, "But I've never seen a Nimbus fly before! Oh, this is going to be amazing!"

But Draco did not share this sentiment. Indeed, he spent the entirely of their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson grumbling darkly under his breath, which lead to Professor Quirrell wondering if there was a problem with the plumbing in the walls.

The next few weeks passed for Rachel in a smooth flow of lessons, which were getting very interesting indeed now that the first years had grasps of the basics, homework, laughing joking and relaxing with Pansy and Millicent, glaring at Zabini and radio silence from her parents. Rachel couldn't help but get steadily more upset about the latter, so much so that Marcus wrote to their parents, asking if they had received her letter and was everything was alright, but their response made no mention of Rachel's letter or even Rachel herself, instead stating simply that they were quite alright and hoped he had settled back into Hogwarts' life well.

On the morning of the thirty-first of October, Halloween, the students of Hogwarts awoke to the smell of baking pumpkin floating deliciously through the castle's corridors from the kitchens. This put the school in a very good mood, and thus the morning post was received with great enthusiasm, for many owls were carrying parcels filled with sweets, cakes and chocolates for students from their families.

Draco received a simply enormous wicker basket from his parents, which was full to bursting with quite possibly everything that had ever been sold at Honeydukes. Nott was sent a beautifully decorated box that was almost as big from his aunt which was, too, filled with a great amount of confectionary. Pansy, Millicent, Daphne, Tracey, Vincent and Gregory received boxes of a medium size and Zabini received nothing at all, nor did his sister Irma. Irma did not seem to be bothered at all, but Zabini glared around him defiantly, as though daring someone to say something. But no-one did, not even Rachel; though she did not like Zabini she knew where to draw the line and in any case, she couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for him.

"Hey, Rachel," Marcus approached her from the Ravenclaw table, carrying two parcels wrapped in dark blue crepe paper; the smaller of the two was perfectly wrapped, the tape invisible and the second rather shoddily and fastened with slightly visible Spellotape. "Mum and Dad sent us some stuff- this is yours."

He handed her the packages. The perfectly wrapped one had 'Rachel' written in black ink in their mother's handwriting and contained a small six pack of caldron cakes. The larger one was labelled 'Rachel', too, but looking closely, Rachel could tell that whoever had wrapped had tried and failed to mimic both their mother's handwriting and the perfect corners and wrapping style of the first parcel. The second was full to bursting with Pumpkin Pasties, Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Jelly Slugs and Sugar Quills. Glancing around Marcus's side as she took the two parcels, Rachel saw their parents' owl Rowena drinking deeply from a goblet of pumpkin juice; Oliver rummaging through a box of his own and a flat, square box half full with Pumpkin Pasties, Chocolate Frogs, more Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Jelly Slugs and Sugar Quills- everything that was in the second, rather shoddily wrapped parcel Marcus had just given Rachel, on the table in front of where, thanks to Rowena and Oliver, Rachel could tell Marcus had been sitting. There was, too, she could see, no other crepe paper in or around the contents of the box, and after a moment, Rachel realised what must have happened.

The six pack of Cauldron Cakes with her name on them were the only things her parents had intended for her. The rest of the sweets both in the box and in the parcel were intended for Marcus. The box had clearly once been lined with the blue crepe paper and Marcus had taken that paper and used it to wrap up half the sweets and labelled it, trying to make it look as though their mother had included them for her with the Cauldron Cakes.

Rachel looked up at Marcus to find him watching her sheepishly. She knew that he could tell she had worked out what her parents had actually sent her, but she appreciated what he had been trying to do all the same.

"Thank you." She said with a smile, feeling a rush of affection for her brother.

Marcus smiled back. "It's nothing." He replied. "Have a good day." Tugging her headband to one side, he left. Rachel made a face after him and straightened her headband. Despite her appreciating Marcus's gesture and knowing it was better than nothing, Rachel couldn't help but feel rather sad as she looked down at the small six pack of cauldron cakes her parents had actually intended for her, and then at the full-to-bursting parcel that was only half of Marcus's sweets. It was, she rather fancied, the closest thing to an answer to her letter she was going to get.

The day, however, did get slightly better. That afternoon, in Charms, Professor Flitwick informed them that he believed they were ready to start making items fly, which was something the Slytherins had all been looking forward to learning to since they'd watched him send a chocolate frog Nott had tried to eat during class in the third week zoom around the classroom and land atop his desk, where it remained until the end of the lesson. Following this announcement, Professor Flitwick divided the class up pairs, gave each pair a feather, and commenced practice.

"Make sure that you do not forget about that nice wrist wave that we have been practicing!" Professor Flitwick squeaked from his usual spot, atop of his stack of books. "Make sure you remember to Swish and flick; swish and flick. Saying the magic words correctly is also incredibly important- keep in mind the Wizard Baruffio, who pronounced 's' as opposed to 'f' and then found himself laying on his floor with a live buffalo laying across his chest."

But making objects fly was easier said than done. Neither Rachel nor Millicent could make their feather move in any way whatsoever; and after their eighth attempt each, Rachel lost her temper slightly in her frustration.

"This is ridiculous- Wingardium Leviosa!" she cried, swishing and flicking her wand at the feather.

Nothing happened.

Zabini snickered from his seat a few rows behind them; Rachel turned around sharply, raising an eyebrow when she saw that Malfoy was waving his wand around the feather Zabini shared with him rather glumly, saying the incantation over and over again without success. Zabini glared at her.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Millicent cried forcefully, mimicking Rachel's actions.

BANG!

Rachel leapt back around in alarm, her mouth falling open in surprise as her and Millicent's feather rocketed off the desk and it the ceiling with such force that half of its feathers were torn from its stem.

"W-wow," Millicent breathed, looking rather amazed herself. "I was not expecting that."

"Not to worry girls, not to worry," Professor Flitwick said kindly, issuing them a second feather.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Pansy tried a third time, waving her wand over the feather she shared with Theodore Nott. It rose into the air, pausing and hovering four feet above their heads.

"How did you do that?" Nott asked, staring at her in amazement.

"I'm not sure," she replied with a smile, making the feather twirl around above them. "It just happened."

"Oh, well done Miss Parkinson!" Professor Flitwick beamed at her. "You're one of the only two people in year who has been able to accomplish this- Miss Hermione Granger of Gryffindor managed to do so this morning- so well done to you!"

"Thank you, sir." Pansy grinned.

"… Well, that wasn't a complete flop, on the whole, that is." Daphne Greengrass remarked as the first year Slytherins went down to the dungeons to to drop off their schoolbags before dinner. "Full credit to you, Pansy, you really saved our faces with Flitwick."

Pansy shrugged modestly. "It was nothing, really; like I said it just happened."

"It was cool, though." Nott said, smiling at her; he and Zabini were walking at the back of the group.

"Thanks." Pansy said, smiling back at him over her shoulder.

"…Are you alright Millicent?" Rachel asked, looking at her friend in concern as they left the dormitory for the Great Hall a little while later, slightly behind Daphne and Tracey. Millicent had looked rather upset since their first feather exploded, and rather more so when their second didn't move at all.

"Oh, yeah." Millicent looked up from the ground, managing a smile. "I mean, I'm happy for you, Pansy, I am- I just wish I could follow in my grandmother's footsteps."

"Well, maybe you should try finding your own feet, at least at first," Pansy suggested. "You are really good at Herbology after all."

"Yeah, you're brilliant," Rachel agreed, nodding.

Millicent said nothing, but she looked a little more cheerful. Indeed, she seemed to forget her upset completely when she and the other girls entered the Great Hall and took in the Halloween decorations. The Hall was lined with carved pumpkins, their carvings illuminated by beautifully glowing pumpkins; and what looked like a thousand live bats flew from the walls to the celling and back again, while what looked like a thousand more swooped down low over the tables and across the Hall in great black swarms, making the flames of the candles inside the pumpkins splutter around helplessly.

"Wow." Tracey murmured, looking around as the girls sat down at the Slytherin table. Just as they did so, the feast appeared on the golden plates, quite as suddenly as ever.

Rachel had just accepted the pepper from Pansy when all at once, Professor Quirrell sprinted into the Great Hall, his purple turban skewed and an expression of great terror written across his face. The entire school stared at him as he reached the staff table, slumped against it in front of Professor Dumbledore's chair and gasped, "T-there is a troll- in- inside the dungeons, I- I just thought that you o-ought t-to k-know."

Then he sank down onto the stone floor beneath him, having fallen into a dead faint.

Instant uproar ensued. Pansy, Millicent and Rachel screamed, as it many of the Hall; Draco Malfoy threw down his food; across the Hall, Marcus had gone as white as a sheet; even Zabini- who Rachel had thought was only capable of expressing indifference and distain outside of his alarm in Transfiguration- looked terrified, as did Nott, Crabbe and Goyle. It took Professor Dumbledore firing several purple firecrackers from the end of his wand all at once to restore order and silence.

"House Prefects; our Head girl and boy," he boomed, "Kindly lead your respective Houses back to their dormitories at once!"

Gemma Farley was utterly petrified.

"TROLL!" she shrieked, clutching onto her fellow prefect Alex's arm and shaking him so hard his eyes boggled. "THERE'S A BLOODY TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS- OUR DUNGEONS! A TR-"

"GEMMA- CALM DOWN!" Alex bellowed, so suddenly that the first years jumped and Gemma fell silent. "Listen here, Gem." Alex said calmly, prising her hands from his arm and holding them in his. "Firstly, there's no evidence that the troll is actually bleeding- ow!" he exclaimed, clutching his chest as Gemma wrenched her hands from his, shoved him hard and stormed from the hall.

Zabini and Nott sniggered; how they could find it in them to laugh Rachel didn't know, for she herself was as terrified as Gemma had been. Alex glared at them.

"Shut it you two or I'll leave you behind." He snapped. "Single file then firsties, in front me, that's it- off we go, then- and for Merlins sake keep your eyes peeled!"

The first years set off; leaving the Great Hall, crossing the Entrance Hall and making their way down into dungeons, looking around; all of them unnerved. Slytherins were hurrying through the dungeons in groups all around them, looking around, too; and every now and then the first years glimpsed a Professor running along a corridor, but the troll was nowhere to be seen.

"This sucks." Nott complained, flinging himself down onto one of the sofas in front of the crackling fireplace upon the first years' entering the common room. Alex vanished down into the boys' dormitories, but many of the Slytherins remained in the common room, like the first years, sitting and swirling around the room, discussing the Troll. "We hardly got to eat!"

"Cheer up- at least we're not Troll food." Pansy said, sitting down beside him. "Besides we've got all the stuff our parents sent us- we could pool that and eat it."

This suggestion was agreed to and the first years went down to their dormitories to collect their parcels. They gathered again some five minutes later; sitting in a circle on the hearthrug in front of the fireplace and piling all their sweets and chocolate into a large pile and taking whatever took their fancy. Rachel avoided catching anyone's eye as she added to the pile, embarrassed that practically all of her contribution had been intended for her brother.

Zabini had nothing to add to the pile, but he didn't take anything from it either; he simply sat there in his usual haughty silence. Then, Nott pushed four of his parcel's Chocolate Frogs, Liquorice Wands and Pumpkin Pasties towards him, his expression saying quite clearly: 'I will punch you if you try and give these back.'

Zabini's expression did not change, but Rachel saw something flicker through his eyes for a spilt second; something Nott seemed to catch and understand, for he smiled.

"Don't mention it." He said quietly. A moment later, Zabini picked up the sweets Nott gave him, got to his feet and headed off into the crowd of Slytherins swirling about the common room, many of them eating sweets in groups like the first years.

Another moment passed and then he was back, minus half the sweets. He caught sight of Rachel looking at him and glared at her, raising an eyebrow challengingly. Rachel glared back at him, but said nothing, not wanting to spoil the kindred feeling that surrounded the first years. A moment passed, but Zabini said nothing, either, turning his head away sharply and unwrapping the Pumpkin Pasty Nott had given him. Rachel looked away, too, straightening her headband as it slipped slightly to one side and biting into a cauldron cake. A moment later, Vincent Crabbe challenged Gregory Goyle to a round of Exploding Snap, and a long, exciting and incredibly competitive game ensued.

Once all the sweets had been eaten, and their wrappers had been thrown into the fire, and the Exploding Snap match had been won by Vincent Crabbe, the first years decided to go up to bed.

The common room was almost entirely empty at this point and as she and the other first year girls crossed the common room to get to their dormitory doors, Rachel caught sight of Irma Zabini sitting in an armchair in front of a bookshelf, reading what looked like an Italian fashion magazine. She was, too, to Rachel's great surprise, eating a Chocolate Frog; and another Chocolate Frog, two Liquorice Wands and two Pumpkin Pasties lay on the table beside her.

A/N: Please review! :)