Nikki practiced Quidditch whenever she could. She let Snape watch her as long as he didn't make any comments or make her nervous or distracted. The tryouts were approaching quickly. McGonagall was both pleased and surprised when Nikki came to her office to sign up.

When the tryouts arrived, Oliver Wood, Keeper for Gryffindor and Captain of their team, wasn't pleased by many of the displays. Nikki's turn finally came. She mounted her broom and was off. She saw Snape watching her from the sidelines. She smiled nervously before Oliver shouted at her to begin.

"The results will be posted tomorrow night," Oliver called when the last person made their round.

Nikki smiled as her friends ran to greet her. "You never told us you could fly like that!" Ron exclaimed.

"Sorry. You never asked."

Snape looked unusually pleased as he met them on their way back to the castle. "You did wonderfully," he said. "You'd better get on or I'll kill that Wood."

Nikki smiled and walked with one arm around Snape and another around Hermione. "Mum'll kill me if I DO make it."

"Then don't tell her. Well, I have work to do. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Daddy." Nikki waved, then grabbed Ginny's hand and broke into a run. "Come on," she said. All her friends followed. When they reached the owlry, Nikki stopped and pulled out a piece of parchment. "Malfoy wasn't at the tryouts," she explained. She frowned as she studied the parchment. "Malfoy's in the GRYFFINDOR common room..." She stood quickly. "Come on."

They ran though the halls quickly. They all shouted out the password together and ran into the common room. It was empty. "We missed him!" Nikki panted, looking down at the parchment. "How did we miss him? We only passed Steven McCure..." She guessed Hermione thought of it at the same time. "Polyjuice Potion... But we haven't been here a month and I highly doubt he's smart enough to cook it up. Who's someone in Slytherin who's good at Potoins?"

"Your DAD is HEAD of Slytherin!" Harry said.

Nikki rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe Dad let something slip about it. But he'd never brew it up himself. He doesn't even have any in his store, here or at home."

"Who else could it be then?" Ginny asked.

"There's no one in my year," Nikki replied. "Maybe it was Malfoy, but how can we find out?"

"Crabbe and Goyle," Harry and Ron said together.

"No, no, no, no, they're too close to Malfoy. We need someone far away, but close physically." Nikki sighed and stuffed the parchment into her pocket. "Come on," she said again. "We need to find the REAL Malfoy and the REAL McCure. Who do you want to take, Hermione?"

"Why are we splitting up?" Ron asked. "Why can't you two go together?"

"Because Hermione knows a perfect spell for literally everything and Dad has taught me nearly every spell in the book. Who do you want?"

"I'll take Ginny," Hermione answered, looking at Ron.

"Okay, you find McCure, make sure he's okay. I'll find Malfoy. Meet us back here in an hour whether you've found him or not. Let's go." Nikki grabbed Harry and Ron's arms and ran downstairs. "Let's search the grounds first." She pulled out the parchment again. "This way." She led them towards Hagrid's hut, then away and towards the Whomping Willow. "Harry, Ron, when's the next full moon? It's not tonight, is it?"

"No, it's not for weeks," Ron answered confidently.

"Good because Malfoy's in the Dark Forest." She glanced around. "Come on, but keep your wands out, okay?"

They nodded and began jogging through the trees. Nikki led them. She stopped suddenly though. "He's REALLY close," she whispered, but she gasped and ducked behind a tree before she could continue. She heard the voices clear as day.

"Did you find anything?" Lucius Malfoy asked.

"Nothing. That Mudblood, Potter, and their little friends were coming. I had to leave," Draco answered.

Nikki glanced at Harry and held a finger to her lips. She edged behind a closer tree quickly and quietly.

"Then we'll have to try again soon, won't we, DRACO?" Lucius asked, putting a strong emphasis on the name "Draco."

Draco nodded. "We have to find out why they came running so soon. Someone's been spying on us, or me at least."

"Or perhaps you're just not being careful and quick enough."

"Finishing Potter won't help. We'll have to kill all of his friends, and Dumbledore."

"If you did according to the plan, and got the Cloak at least, you would be fine. You didn't even get that."

"The password was hard enough."

Nikki frowned. How could he have figured out the password? It was extremely hard to find them out. She glanced back at her friends and spotted Ron edging closer. She waved him back angrily. If they were caught, there was no telling what would happen to them. They probably wouldn't be able to escape, then they would die or disappear to those around them until their lifeless bodies were found.

"Get the Cloak, the map, and anything else that would prove useful. And do NOT waste any more time!"

The father and son went in different directions. Nikki looked down at her parchment, waiting to be clear of both Draco and Lucius Malfoy. Several minutes later, she ran out of the Forest with Ron on her right and Harry on her left. They ran to find Hermione and Ginny. They found them in the hospital wing with McCure. "What happened?" Hermione and Nikki asked at the same time.

"It was Lucius Malfoy. They want Harry's Cloak or mine, or both.and some map. But we can't let them get them. I saw we should give them to McGonagall."

"No!" Harry exclaimed. "The Cloak was my dad's."

"Okay, fine, but we need to get McGonagall to change the password." Nikki glanced down at McCure. "Is he going to be all right?" she asked Madam Pomfrey.

"He'll be find, but he needs rest. Everybody, out!"

"Let's go find McGonagall," Hermione suggested.

They found McGonagall in her office. Since everyone else wouldn't spit it out, Nikki rolled her eyes at them and spoke. "Professor, we saw Malfoy on the way back from the Gryffindor tower. Then we heard him talking about knowing the password."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "What are you suggesting?"

"Malfoy's been after all of us since we came here, Professor." Nikki took a step forward. "He smelled like Polyjuice Potion too. McCure said Malfoy attacked him," she shrugged. "It all adds up."

"Perhaps it does, but I'm not Head of Slytherin. Therefore, I am not the right person to speak to. Your father is the person to see."

"But if Malfoy knows the password, then--"

"I will see to that. Now, unless you're going to speak to the correct person, I suggest you don't say another word," McGonagall said firmly after several minutes of silence.

"Come on." Nikki began to leave. "Oh, good night, Professor," she said pleasantly. They ran down to the dungeons and burst into Snape's office quickly. "Dad, we need to talk to you," Nikki said, panting.

"Yes, we do need to talk, Nikki Anne. You've been stealing from my store again, haven't you?"

Nikki's jaw dropped. "W-What? No! I swear."

"Why did you need Polyjuice Potion?" Snape demanded.

"Polyjuice?" She paused fr a moment and glanced around the room. "Dad, Malfoy was in OUR tower, the Gryffindor tower. I heard him talking about it."

"Do not change the subject! Why do you need Polyjuice?"

"I don't! I swear. It wasn't me. You have to believe me, Dad."

"Why should I? You had your warning and your chance. I'll write your mother tomorrow. You should go pack."

"No, please, listen to me! I didn't steal anything after the Veritaserium. I swear! You know I never do stuff like that after you threaten me. Mum drives me crazy when I'm around her. I would never do anything to get sent back. Honest, Dad."

"And why shouldn't I send you back?"

Nikki sat on an empty chair. She knew Snape wouldn't send her back, but the only way to get him to listen was by taking whatever he had to say to her. "I might've told you a few lies here and there, but I'm not a liar. Why would I need Polyjuice? My DAD is HEAD of Slytherin and I'm in Gryffindor. Nothing exciting ever happens in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. So I have other ways of finding stuff out. You can't possibly think I'm that stupid!" she saw him raise his eyebrows and glared at him. "Okay, fine, you can think I'm stupid, but I'm not THAT bad!"

"Nikki, if you're lying, I swear, I'll kill you."

"I'm not lying!"

"Fine. Who stole from my store?"

"Malfoy maybe? Dad, he'd do anything to get me in trouble. Maybe this is another one of his stupid ideas."

"Perhaps, but Malfoy doesn't know how to brew Polyjuice."

"I don't either! And you're assuming that he doesn't because...?"

"You have ways of learning. And he's never opened a book besides for school."

"Fine, maybe Malfoy stole the rarer ingredients for someone." If I just work around it, eventually, one of us will say it, Nikki thought to herself desperately.

"Well, it's getting near hours, so I suggest ALL OF YOU go to your common room and stay there until morning. As for all this Malfoy business, I'll make sure Malfoy is kept inside the line. But you stay away from him."

Nikki smiled innocently. "Always. Night." She herded her friends out quickly. "Well at least NOW Dad will be really careful. Come on. Let's go do homework," she said on the way up from the dungeons.