It had been a couple of days since Ely had agreed to go with Matt to the ball, and Lucius had yet to say anything to Ely. She had expected him to go up to her, but he hadn't even walked her to the Great Hall. She started to worry when she hadn't seen Matt those couple of days either, thinking that Lucius had done something to him, when Narcissa and Andromeda approached when she was on her way to the Great Hall for lunch.

It almost seemed as they were bickering each other when Andromeda smiled at Ely. Narcissa almost looked like she didn't want to be here, but Andromeda pushed her.

"I'm only here to say thank you for telling Lucius to take me to the ball." Narcissa said with an air to her that said 'I'm reluctantly doing this but I'm still better than you.' She looked at Andromeda and then Andromeda laughed while rolling her eyes. Narcissa swiftly turned on her heel and stalked off.

"Sorry again for Narcissa, she's just mad that Lucius asked you first." She sighed, "It's a shame really that she treats you this way. From what people have said you're not that bad except for hang with a muggle and half-blood in Gryffindor."

Ely raised her eyes at this, "You don't call them mudbloods?"

Andromeda shrugged. "Why should I? Their blood isn't any different than yours and mine." She chuckled, "Although if anyone of my family members heard me say that they would have my head."

"You know what Andromeda? You're not bad, not that bad at all." They started walking towards the Great Hall. "It was nice talking with you."

"You're not that bad yourself Elanora. We'll talk later." Andromeda headed towards her sister as Ely took her spot next to Bella. Bella and Ely talked about what had just happened when Severus appeared.

"Well actually Ely, a lot of people in Slytherin have problems with you talking with Lily and Lupin. They have never actually said it to your face though." Severus commented as he sat down and Ely shrugged.

"I quite frankly could care less. Obviously it doesn't bother that many people because Lucius still insisted on pursuing me until I turned him down and Andromeda is talking to me."

"Andromeda agrees with her family views about people like Lily and Lupin, although she never openly says like her sisters do. As for Lucius, I think his treatment of you will be changing very soon." Severus retorted quickly just as Lucius passed by. He didn't even blink an eye towards Ely as he went and sat next to Narcissa, although as he was talking he looked like he had an ill temper.

"Oh whatever, he's just a wanker anyways." Ely gave Severus the look to drop the subject which he did, and the three continued to eat in silence. As Ely stood up to leave however, one of the older Slytherin girls use a tripping spell that Ely wasn't ready for and fell. Bella immediately stood up to help her, while the rest of Slytherin minus Severus and Andromeda snickered. Even Lucius smirked at bit.

"That's exactly where people like you should be, on your knees. You're a disgrace to Slytherin." The girl that had cast the spell spat, which Ely gave her a death glare in return.

Ely's wand hand twitched anxiously; she had hexed people for doing much less. However, when she scanned the room, she saw Slughorn and Dumbledore looking at her. She locked eyes with Dumbledore for a second and with that look it warned her not to do anything. Getting up to her feet with her head held high, she looked as if nothing had happened. Seeing that Severus was avoiding her eyes, she walked out of the Hall with Bella in tow.

Even as the Great Hall closed behind her, Ely didn't dare look back. She didn't even notice when two other people stood up and followed her out.

"Ely!" Remus and Matt both called out and Ely stopped. A couple of tears had run down her cheek and she quickly wiped them away as she turned to look at them. The only person that saw them was Bella.

"What happened?" Remus asked as Matt held his arms out for her.

Walking into Matt's comforting embrace, she said, "Apparently almost all of Slytherin is against me because I hang out with Lily and you. I also added fuel to the fire by rejecting Lucius' proposal to go to the dance with him."

Matt chuckled as he let her go to hug Remus. "Yes he was rather buggered about that. It was rather amusing seeing him so mad while I had the biggest smug look on my face and he couldn't do anything."

"Yeah well, apparently Slytherin is on his side since a girl cast a tripping spell on me and told me I was a disgrace to my house." Bella scowled as she repeated this, looking almost livid about how they treated Ely.

"If what you've done to James any indication of what you're capable of, then I would be worried for the girl." Remus joked as Bella and Ely smirked while Matt looked confused.

"The Potter's son? What have you done to him?" Matt asked.

"Let's just say he knows what it is to be on the receiving end of my wand…" Ely said, "I know most of the seventh year course work."

"Really?!" Remus, Bella, and Matt looked shocked as she revealed this and she shrugged.

"I was homeschooled for most of my life. My aunt took full advantage of the time she had." Matt looked at her with a slight smug on his face while Bella and Remus looked positively shocked.

"Well I wouldn't worry about Lucius anytime soon. He knows he can't do anything to harm you, unless he wants most of Ravenclaw on him." When Ely looked questionably at him, and he shrugged, "I play against him in Quidditch. He knows I could 'accidently' knock him off his broom."

They talked for a bit longer until they saw that the houses started to file out of the Great Hall. Bidding farewell to each other, Bella and Ely quickly headed into the dungeons and into their dorms before anyone else could have appeared. The other three girls gave Ely a snarl as they passed, Bella with her wand ready before Ely gently stopped her.

"They're not worth it…" Ely started to say when Bella cut her off.

"This is ridiculous! You should be allowed to be friends with whoever you damn well pleased, and be able to go to the dance with whoever strikes your fancy. Who knew we were in a house full of idiots?" Bella hissed.

"Watch it Bella, we still have to be in this house for another 5 years." Ely hushed her, hoping that the others didn't hear. She knew she could probably defend herself against most of Slytherin, but she didn't know about Bella.

"Whatever, let's just grab our stuff and go to class." Bella grabbed her papers and books, waiting for Ely to do the same before they walked out of the dorms again, being the first to show up to class.