Collin was about to enter the common room when he ran into a shy young lion cub with light blonde fur. "You're Collin Hedgehog, Right?" He asked nervously.

Collin sighed in slight defeat. Word travels fast. "…Yes. Who are you?"

"Ben Copper. I'm a first year Gryffindor like you. I just wanted to say thank you for standing up to Merula Snyde." Collin blinked in surprise.

"Who told you I did that?"

"I was watching from the end of the corridor." He muttered nervously. "I've been following her so she can't sneak up on me, and if she sees me, I'll at least have a chance to run away." He was a real cowardly lion it seemed. "She tormented me the entire way here on the Hogwarts express. She kept threatening me, and calling me a Mudblood." A mudblood was a cruel name for wizards and witches who were born from non-magical parents.

"I'm sorry, Ben. That's terrible."

Ben took a deep breath and continued. "Merula is obsessed with being the best witch in our year, and she thinks she has to impose her will on us to prove it." He then smiled weakly at Collin. "I'm just glad someone was brave enough to stand up to her. I'm certainly not. It's a joke that I got put into Gryffindor." He truly felt like the cowardly lion at this point.

Collin smirked. "Everyone is afraid of something, Ben."

Ben grimaced. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid of everything. I come from a Muggle family, so all of this is new and scary to me."

Collin nodded. "I know how you feel. I come from a wizard family, and this is hard for me too. I'll try to help you however I can, Ben."

Ben gave a real smile at that. "Thanks, Collin. I'll see you around."

Collin sighed and entered the Common Room. He was immediately encountered by a far taller feline witch which seemed to be part Cheetah. "You've already lost Gryffindor Ten house points?! We're in fourth place now. What happened?" Collin grimaced.

"I'm sorry, but who are you, and why are you talking to me about House points?" Collin already felt miserable about it.

"I'm your prefect, Angelica Cole." She snapped, showing her Prefect badge. "It's a prefect's job to keep order in the house, and help first-years like you with their problems."

"… trust me on this one, you don't want to help me with mine…"

Angelica didn't hear that though. "Considering what your sister did to Gryffindor's reputation, I should have kept a better eye on you."

Collin snapped at this. "I'm not my sister. I know she broke school rules, and somehow damaged Gryffindor's reputation, but I want to be a credit to our house, so how about someone quit judging based off of her and start judging my actions as my own. I can't be the only first year to make mistakes!"

"We all make mistakes, Collin." The cheetah sighed as she looked down at the tiny human. "Of course, we all don't make mistakes that cost Gryffindor ten house points. In any case, Professor Snape already sent you a letter directly to our common room."

Collin looked up with a raised brow, already suspecting more trouble. "Why wouldn't he send it to me?"

Angelica looked at him with a roll of her eyes. "Probably because he despises you."

Collin rolled his own at that. "He can get behind my human family and Merula Snyde in that line."

Angelica grimaced. "Snape hates everyone, so I wouldn't take it personally, but I would read that letter immediately." She handed it to him.

Collin opened it up, and read it aloud. "Hedgehog, I have discovered evidence that your potion may have indeed been tampered with. While it does not prove your innocence, it does cast some doubt on my belief that you are hopelessly incompetent. Bring me a jar of pickled slugs from the potions storeroom, and I will consider restoring your house points. Snape." Collin looked at it with disbelief. "There are directions to the Potions Storeroom at the bottom of the letter…"

Rowan felt bad for Collin. "Want me to go with you, Collin? It's the least I can do after you saved me from Merula."

Collin thought about and shook his head. He suspected trouble already. He didn't want Rowan in anymore than he already was. He sighed. "Thanks, Rowan… but I should go alone. I don't trust this, and I don't want you in anymore trouble because of me than you already are."

Rowan grimaced. "Well, be careful. I would hate to have Snape kill my only friend."

"I actually suspect Merula, not Snape, but eh, whatever." Collin smirked.

Angelica was excited though. "He's offering to give us back the ten house points you lost! Hurry to the potions storeroom before he changes his mind!" Collin sighed and started off.

Collin went and followed the directions until he reached a corridor at the end of a long hall. "Yeah… nothing suspicious about this one bit." He sighed and walked in. "I can't see a thing… and the door shut and locked behind me, didn't it…" He confirmed this by trying to get out. "Of course…" He had read up on the spell to unlock the door, but wasn't able to do it yet. He couldn't get the wand waiving right just yet. "I'd best cast my wand-lighting charm to help me see…" He pulled out his wand and cast the spell. "Lumos!" He found himself surrounded by vines… "Really glad Rowan isn't trapped in here with me… what is this thing?!"

From the other side of the door he heard the voice of Merula Snyde. "A deadly plant called Devil's Snare. Some fourth-year Slytherins showed it to me when I first arrived." Collin flinched. He wished he had read more about herbology already. "It's sensitive to light. If you're really better at the Wand-Lighting Charm than me, escaping should be no problem."

"Merula… you locked me in here!?" He wasn't that surprised, but surely she realized that he couldn't unlock the door from where he was, right?

Merula chuckled from the other side. "Along with sending you that fake letter from Snape. I told you things would only get worse for you, Kintobor."

"Knew it…" Collin scowled as he was backed up against the wall. To a normal sized student, the plant was already huge. To Collin? It was monstrous sized.

"Something has to stop you from ruining Hogwarts. It may as well be Devil's Snare…"

"AHHH! Damn it, woman!" Collin yelled as he jumped out of the way of some of the vines, only to be grabbed by others. He knew Merula thought this was best to protect the school from what he was supposedly, but this was ridiculous! "I have to get out of here!" He grunted. "Merula wasn't lying though." He noticed as his light hand kept some of the vines away from his wand. "The Devil's Snare seems to be recoiling from the light! I'll try to hold it off with Lumos while I call for help!" He cast Lumos again, increasing the light temporarily. Some of his robes were torn now, but he didn't care. "It worked!" Then he noticed more. "Oh no! There are so many of them!" He cast it again, and after the light went down again, some tried to strangle him. "I've got to get out of here!" His vision was starting to fade as the plant held him up off the ground. "HELP! Someone, Please!" He cried out. His shield wasn't working as well as it did against spells or attacks from people. It had a limit apparently, and this plant was putting him at his limit as well. He didn't know how much longer he could hold up. Collin tugged at the vines and cast Lumos once more. "L…L…Lumos!" He was dropped to the ground, barely breathing but managed to scramble to the door once more.

"What's goin' on in there?" came a gruff voice from outside. "Outta the way!"

Collin tried to reach the door, but was once more ensnared by the vines. In came the half-giant, Hagrid! "Gulpin' gargoyles, Gryffindor! Get away from that Devil's Snare. Yer scarin' it!"

Collin could help but let out a weak laugh as the plant tried to choke him. "I'm scaring it?!"

Hagrid smirked and started tugging at the vines, helping the boy out. "Let's get yeh outta here…"

Once Collin was safe outside and got his breath back, he looked up to the half-giant and smiled weakly. "You saved my life! Thank you, Mister…"

"Rubeus Hagrid, at yer service. I'm Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Pleasure to meet yeh."

"Collin Hedgehog. I'm not usually this much trouble, I swear. Apparently being related to Hope Kintobor means more danger than being related to our father and uncle though, ironically enough…" He grumbled.

Hagrid looked at him amused. "Ah, yer the one everybody's been talkin' about. Maybe trouble really does run in yer family." He knelt down to look the boy over. He could seem some scars under the tatters of his uniform. "How'd yeh end up in there, Collin?"

Collin stood himself up to full height. "A first year Slytherin named Merula Snyde locked me inside."

"She did?!" Hagrid was surprised. "What are ye goin' ter do?"

Collin sighed. "I suppose I should tell Dumbledore. He's the headmaster and should know how to deal with it."

"Do yeh have any proof?" Hagrid asked with concern.

Collin shook his head. "Not really. I have a fake letter from Snape, but I can't prove she's the one who wrote it."

Hagrid nodded. "Professor Dumbledore would want the help yeh, but even he can' do anything if yeh don' have proof. I'd head back to yer common room, an take some time the think, Collin. I don't want yeh doin' somethin' yeh'll regret." He then pointed out the boy's clothes. "Yeh might also want to do somethin' about those robes. That Devil's Snare got yeh good." Collin looked himself over and nodded. He'd mend them later with some fabric and a needle. He was grateful he had a spare set of robes.

"Thanks, Hagrid. Hopefully, I'll see you again."

Hagrid smiled. "Yeh certainly will, Collin. But fer now, yeh'd better get back the yer Common Room." Collin nodded and headed off.

Collin made it to the Gryffindor Common room in the West Towers, looking quite worn out. That didn't stop Angelica from noticing him and coming over to him. "Bloody Hell! What happened to your robes?"

Collin pursed his lips and looked up at the taller girl. "I got snared by Devil's Snare."

"WHAT? Devil's Snare?! How? What happened with Professor Snape?"

Collin rolled his eyes. "It was a trick. Merula Snyde faked the note, and trapped me in a room with Devil's Snare."

"What is it with you and this girl?"

"Ask me something I know. I think she's threatened by me for some reason. I really just think she hates me because I'm the only first-year who has stood up to her."

Angelica sighed. "And I take it you once again don't have any proof?"

Collin shook his head. "She's good. I have the fake letter from Snape, but I can't prove she's the one who wrote it."

Angelica scratched the back of her head as she thought about how rough she had been on him earlier. "Well, you can't go around the castle dressed like that. Professor McGonagall will have a fit. People already think you're mad because of your sister."

"Who, again, I haven't seen since I was an infant." Collin grumbled.

"Go and change into fresh robes, or better yet, pick something to wear outside class hours."

Collin nodded and went upstairs to his bunk. He grabbed some clothes from his trunk, dove under his blankets, and came out a few minutes later wearing a plain white shirt and some brown slacks. He didn't wear casual green all the time, and after his entanglement with the plant, he had a feeling he wouldn't be wearing it again for a while. He put his torn robes aside on his bunk with his needle and thread to fix them up later before going back down to meet with Angelica.

"Wow! That's much better. Now you don't look like someone used you to practice the Severing Charm."

Collin winced slightly at that, but Angelica didn't notice. "Thanks, but I'm mainly just happy to be alive."

"Well…" Angelica looked over his timetable. "You'd better hurry to your first flying class before you're expelled. See if you can earn back house points while you're there…"

Collin simply nodded and raced off, pulling out his spare robes from his school bag as he ran to the stairs and down the castle. Collin took a quick stop off in a restroom to change into his other uniform before going to the Training Grounds where class was taking place.