Thank you all for keeping up with The Muggleborn Slytherin series. I'm so sorry it's been months since I last wrote. Life has been hectic what with attending graduate school (Masters of Divinity) full time and working as a marketing director for the YMCA full time. CRAZY! Anyway, hopefully I'll get back to regular updates (crossing fingers) and I don't own Harry Potter.

The first Slytherin Quidditch game of the season was against Gryffindor. Aria had a feeling Madam Hooch liked getting the Slytherin-Gryffindor games out of the way because those had the most bloodshed.

"I hope Draco can actually catch the Snitch," Ron muttered as he, Aria, and Harry followed the rest of their house into their stands. Hermione would not be joining them during this game. "Good brooms do not replace talent."

"As proven by the Chudley Canons," Theo threw over his shoulder.

"Shut up!" Ron snapped. They settled in the front row. Aria gave her little Slytherin flag a wave and silver sparks erupted from the tip. Prudence and Martin had collaborated to make these flags in honor of the first Slytherin Quidditch game though Daphne was under the impression that quidditch flags were not the only thing Prudence and Martin were collaborating on.

Lee Jordan introduced the teams in his usual way with sarcastic comments and Professor McGonagall in the background reprimanding him.

"Why do they let Lee keep commentating even though McGonagall always gets mad at him?" Aria wondered aloud.

"Probably 'cause he's the only person who can tell the twins apart," Ron muttered. "I can never do it. Neither can Mum and she birthed them!"

"Look who's sitting next to Professor Snape," Harry said, handing his Quidditch glasses to Aria.

"Where'd you get Quidditch glasses?" she asked.

"At Diagon Alley. I found them in Ditto's Second Hand."

Aria peered through them in towards the professors' box where Lucius Malfoy sat between Professor Snape and Lord Abraxas Malfoy.

"I think I'll just . . . make myself scarce after the game," Aria said. "I got the feeling Lord Malfoy didn't really like me when I met him."

"He wouldn't," Ron answered. "'sides, he can't harm you here. None of the professors would allow it."

Madam Hooch released the Snitch and tossed up the Quaffle. Marcus managed to snatch it up first before any Gryffindors and shot off towards Oliver Wood. Aria snatched the Quidditch glasses from Harry again, this time panning the Gryffindor stands for Percy who rarely ever came to games but she wondered if he'd come for his secret boyfriend. As far as she could tell they were still together and no one except herself and Hermione might even know about it! She found him on the edge of the crowd with a closed book in his lap, eyes focused on the Keeper.

Aria tried to squash down the feeling of jealousy that came in her stomach. Thrusting the Quidditch glasses at Harry she cheered and waved her Quidditch flag as Marcus managed to just score around Oliver's outstretched hand. Multiple silver sparks erupted from the dozen of Quidditch flags in the Slytherin stands, causing the Ravenclaws to gasp in awe at the display as they were the closes house to the Slytherins.

Angelia Johnson, a dark-skinned beauty, who was also one of the most terrifying Chasers Aria had ever seen in the whole school, managed to get the Quaffle past the Slytherin Keeper within five minutes after that. Immediately the game turned ugly with several penalties being called on both sides and more goals made.

"Draco better find the Snitch soon or Madam Hooch is going to have to remove someone in a body bag," Harry stated as Marcus ducked a Bludger sent his way by one of the Weasley twins. It swung close to the Slytherin stands.

"Oi!" Ron shouted at his brothers. "Watch where you hit that!" The Bludger zoomed back towards the Slytherins, this time unaided by the Weasley twins or the Slytherin Beaters. The Slytherins screamed and dove out of the way, creating several piles of students while the Bludger tore through the wooden stands.

"I think we've gotta move!" Harry cried as the Bludger returned the way it came, turned in the air, and started back towards the stands, heading straight for Aria and her friends. Just before it hit them, Fred Weasley appeared, hitting the Bludger with all his might out of the way. Cheers from some of the Slytherins went up only to die as the Bludger shot back, knocking Fred off his broom and into the Slytherin stands.

"Move!" Harry shouted, shoving Aria and Ron into the stairwell of the stands. They started down, the rest of Slytherin pushing and shoving to follow them.

The whole of Slytherin House emptied onto the field from the two stairwells on either side of their section of stands. Madam Hooch blew the whistle. George Weasley flew to his twin while the Slytherin Beaters went after the rogue Bludger which was intent on following Aria and her friends.

"Why is it always us?" Aria shouted as they barely managed to not get knocked over by it. She pulled out her wand.

"Finite Incantatem!" she shouted. Her spell missed the Bludger and she felt it whiz by her as she dodged to the side.

"Finite Incantatem!" this time the shout came from Draco who zoomed after the Bludger on his broom. The Bludger turned around midair and came back towards Aria, Harry, and Ron. Draco attempted to steer out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. The Bludger slammed into his shoulder and he went flying off the broom on top of Aria. Both screamed. Aria landed hard on her elbow and she felt something snap. She screamed again.

"Reducto!" Marcus shouted. His spell hit the Bludger, blasting it to smithereens.

"Are you two alive?" Harry asked, carefully moving Draco off of Aria. She and Draco sat there, holding their respective broken limbs. Aria had no qualms about letting the tears roll down her cheeks, though it appeared Draco was doing his best to remain stoic. The rest of Slytherin gathered around them.

"We should get them to Madam Pomfrey," Ron said.

"You should get your brother to Madam Pomfrey," Prudence told Ron, nodding in the direction of the Gryffindor Quidditch team where they were in the Slytherin stands around Fred.

"Let me through!" Lockhart cried, pushing through the crowd of students. "I can help."

"I'd rather see Madam Pomfrey," Draco stated.

"Me too," Aria agreed. There was no ways she was letting that man get anywhere near her injury, regardless of how amazing his exploits sounded in his books. She would rather have Hermione fix her up!

"Nonsense!" Lockhart cried, kneeling down beside them. "You're both in pain and don't know what you're saying."

"Sir, we should get them to Madam Pomfrey," Marcus stated. Lockhart pulled his wand out, pointing it at Draco's obviously dislocated and possibly broken shoulder.

"Brackium Emendo."

Aria's eyes widened at seeing Draco's arm go limp.

"Well . . . ." Lockhart muttered, lifting Draco's arm which had no bone anymore. "It's clearly not broken."

"There's no bones left!" Aria cried. "Harry, help me up." Harry helped her to her feet. She pressed her broken arm to her side while she grabbed Draco by his Quidditch robes and yanked him to his feet. "Don't you touch me!"

"Now, Miss Bourne—,"

Aria yanked Draco away from the DADA professor, Harry and several older Slytherins blocking the DADA professor from their getaway. Aria dragged Draco from the crowd and was relieved to see Professor Snape and Lucius Malfoy stalked ahead of a crowd of teachers and spectators.

"Professor Snape!" Arai shouted, still yanking at Draco. "Help!" Professor Snape stopped short as they approached.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Lockhart vanished my bones!" Draco cried. "And I landed on Aria and I think her arm's broken."

"I'm so sorry, Professor," Marcus cried, jogging up to them. "Both Malfoy and Bourne insisted on seeing Madam Pomfrey, but Lockhart refused to listen. I think he would've done the same to Bourne's if she hadn't taken off."

Snape waved his wand, immobilizing and numbing Aria's arm while Lucius inspected his son's boneless arm.

"I have half a mind to ask Lockhart for a duel," Lucius muttered.

"Would you?" Draco asked.

"What happened here?" Lord Malfoy demanded, appearing at his son and grandson's side.

"An incompetent Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," Lucius replied. "Severus, if you would take care of the fool I shall escort my son and Miss Bourne to the infirmary."


"You should have come straight to me!" Madam Pomfrey huffed, settling Draco and Aria onto beds. "I can mend bones in a second but growing them back . . . ."

"You will be able to thought, won't you?" Aria asked. "He's not going to be . . . boneless will he?"

"Of course not," Pomfrey cried. "It'll just be painful." She summoned two bottles, one labeled SKELE-GROW and one labeled SKELE-MEND. She set Draco's floppy arm in a sling and then gave him a dose of Skele-Grow.

"If you'll settle your son in for the night," Pomfrey suggested to Lucius, "I'll get to Miss Bourne and Mr. Weasley." Fred Weasley moaned from his spot on another bed.

With a wave of her wand, Madam Pomfrey had Aria's broken elbow set and slung and she was given a dose of the Skele-Mend. She was given strict instructions not to move from the bed while the mediwitch went over to a still groaning Fred Weasley. Aria turned her attention back to Draco who was already beginning to become paler than normal.

"Are you going to be sick?" she asked. Draco shook his head.

"Skele-Grow is not the most pleasant of potions," Lucius told her. "One cannot take a pain-relieving potion until thirty minutes afterwards so that the potions do not interact negatively with each other."

"Wow," Aria cried, "you're not friends with Professor Snape or anything are you?" Lucius Malfoy sent her an amused look while Lord Malfoy glared at her.

Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, and Headmaster Dumbledore appeared in the infirmary. Lord Malfoy's attention snapped towards them.

"I hope that oaf of a Defense teacher has been sacked," Lord Malfoy stated. Aria perked up hoping the same thing. Maybe then they would actually get a real DADA professor and Hermione would stop mooning over Lockhart.

"Now, Abraxas," Dumbledore soothed, "don't be too hasty. I'm certain Professor Lockhart did not mean to de-bone your grandson's arm."

"Regardless of whether or not he meant to does not negate the fact that he did," the lord snapped. "I want him out of this school immediately!"

"And who will teach the students then? No, no, Lord Malfoy. If you desire to have Lockhart replaced the governors will have to put forward a slate of candidates."

"You can be sure we will," Lord Malfoy said. "And he will be lucky if I don't press charges against him."

"How are you feeling, Mr. Malfoy?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Fine," Draco managed to say. Sweat was appearing on the sides of his forehead and Aria could almost see him clenching his teeth.

"And you'll be better soon," Madam Pomfrey stated, bustling over with a pain reliever. "You can now take this, Mr. Malfoy. But you are in for a long night here." She turned her attention to Lucius. "Will you be spending the night?"

"We cannot," Lord Malfoy stated. Lucius' mouth shut with a click. "If you can promise to keep incompetent buffoons like Lockhart out of your infirmary then I see no reason why we should stay. Your medical skills are . . . acceptable."

"Your trust in my skills is appreciated," Madam Pomfrey said, though Aria thought she detected a tinge of sarcasm in the stern woman's voice.

"And if Lockhart should appear," the lord continued, "do use your dueling skills. I hope you haven't given all that up in the name of healing." He waved to his son with a hand and the two Malfoys stalked out of the infirmary.

"You dueled?" Fred Weasley asked from his bed. "That's wicked, Madam Pomfrey."

"Yes . . . well . . . Abraxas Malfoy should remember my dueling skills," the mediwitch said, her face turning pink and her voice becoming all flustered. McGonagall snorted, a smirk crossing her face. Dumbledore meandered over to Fred and asked him how he was doing.

"Did you duel Lord Malfoy once?" Aria asked.

"Down a flight of stairs," McGonagall said. "The three of us had several years overlap here at Hogwarts. Their . . . duel is one reason why I am so strict about no spells in the corridors."

"Bet you won," Aria cried.

"I wouldn't want to brag," Pomfrey said, tucking Draco in.

"Please, brag," McGonagall encouraged. All the students in the infirmary nodded their heads, even Draco who looked more than eager to hear about this duel his grandfather had been in and lost.

"This is hardly setting an example for the students," Snape finally interjected. "You will be putting ideas in both Bourne and Malfoy's heads. Let alone Mr. Weasley's!" He glanced over at the red head who was now talking to Dumbledore about jelly beans. "These two are already threatening to duel each other in the common room. I don't need them doing so on the dungeon stairs."

"We'd never do such a thing," Aria insisted. "Right, Malfoy?"

Draco grunted.

"See? We're perfectly well behaved students, Professor Snape. Best behaved Slytherins you've got."

Madam Pomfrey took hold of Aria's arm and examined it.

"Keep it in the sling until tonight when you go to bed," Madam Pomfrey instructed her. "You should be good as new tomorrow. If you're in pain let Professor Snape know. He knows how to dose correctly. You can go."

"But I was hoping to keep Malfoy company."

"Because you're the most well behaved Slytherins right? That's like telling me the Weasley twins are not pranksters. Go."

Aria grumbled as she climbed off the bed and left the infirmary. She found her friends and the two Quidditch teams waiting outside the infirmary.

"I think Fred's dead," she told them.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Percy scolded her.

"The look on Wood's face was worth it." Oliver Wood glared at her while George Weasley led the Weasley Charge into the infirmary followed by the Gryffindor Quidditch team, leaving only Slytherins in the corridor.

"If only the Weasleys were out of commission," Marcus Flint complained, "they're the best Beaters the school's got!"

"Hey!" The Slytherin Beaters cried.

"Can't argue with the truth," Hillary Yarborough said. "He's not saying you're awful you two, he's just stating a fact. The Weasley twins are the best Beater at Hogwarts. It's an unfortunate trait that the Weasleys are good at Quidditch."

"Percy's good at Quidditch?" Hermione asked not having followed the rest of the Gryffindors into the infirmary, opting to stay by Aria's side..

"All but one," Hillary corrected herself. "I expect Ron and Ginny, as Slytherins, will eventually be able to offset the Gryffindor imbalance of Weasleys." The Slytherins decided not to wait around any longer and started towards the Great Hall, only to stumble upon a flooded hallway.

"Damn Moaning Myrtle!" Flint muttered. "She's flooded the bathroom again."

"Wonder what upset her this time," Hillary said as they students began picking their way across the water. "I mean—,"

Marcus stumbled back, his arms going out as if to shield the rest of the Slytherins and Hermione with him from a danger. Aria peaked around his arm, eyes going wide once again seeing the still form of a student on the ground.

"That's Colin Creevey!" Hermione cried from where she was peaking under Marcus' arm. "I'd recognize that camera anywhere!"

"Is that his name?" Hillary questioned as the group inched towards his still form. "Why he going around and taking pictures?"

"He's Muggleborn," Hermione explained. "Wants to send as many pictures home to prove this all exists."

"He's been petrified," Marcus stated. The older students drew their wands. The younger students did too. Harry inched closer to Aria and Hermione. "We're heading back to the infirmary."

The professors were just leaving as they arrived back. Marcus immediately told them what had happened and they were ushered into the infirmary with strict instructions not to leave until a professor could escort them back to their dormitories. Madam Pomfrey settled them into a corner before hurrying after the remainder of the professors. The group of adults returned with Colin on a stretcher fifteen minutes later.

"Do you think he got a picture of his attacker?" Hermione asked as they settled the boy on a cot. Dumbledore managed to pry the camera from the boy's hands and popped open the back of the camera, only to have the film within spark and burst into a quick flame, sending smoke into the air. McGonagall gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in horror. Snape whirled about to the students.

"I will take my Slytherins," he barked, "Miss Granger, you will remain with your Head of House. Weasleys, you too. Ronald. Ginevra. Come."

Ron and Ginny joined the Slytherins as they followed their Head of House out of the infirmary.

"Keep your wands out," Snape ordered as they travelled across Hogwarts.

"Professor, what is going on?" Harry questioned. "Are we safe?"

"You will be safe," Professor Snape stated. "As long as you listen to me and don't make foolish decisions.

"Is Aria safe?" Harry asked. Snape whirled about and the group came to a halt.

"I mean," Harry continued, "first Mrs. Norris with that terrible message and now Colin Creevey who is a Muggleborn. Is Aria safe or not?"

Aria took Harry's hand in her own, a warm fuzzy feeling bubbling in her chest, chasing away some of the fear that had settled on her. Ron wrapped his arm around her wand arm as her other hand was busy clenching her wand.

"Miss Bourne is under my protection, Mr. Potter," Snape finally said. "As if every student in this school. Is that sufficient?"

Harry and Ron nodded, though their grip on Aria's hand tightened anyway. Aria squeezed Harry's hand as they finally reached their common room and Professor Snape began calling for a house meeting. As Professor Snape began to explain the situation, she became aware of more and more of her housemates glancing her way. Pansy had a smirk coming across her face and she thought she saw several older students' mouths twitch upward as if they too wanted to smirk at her expense. Fear settled in her stomach, making it clench and her to feel nauseous.

Someone was after the muggleborns, Aria thought, and there was a good chance they were in Slytherin.