This is a VERY long chapter. I really grappled with whether I should split it, but I decided that there wasn't really a good place to do so. Besides, there is a two-part chapter coming up very soon and I didn't want too many cliffies. ;)

Anyway, I hope I don't keep any of you from important things with my exhaustively long chapter. Have a nice day and enjoy.

MetamorphmagusLupin

Marauders and New Spells

"Zoe, what happened?" Lottie asked, running up to her friend in the Entrance Hall where she, John, and Caroline were standing in a group chatting, most likely about her and her encounter with the fearsome Professor Snape.

Zoe approached her friends, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. Not really because she was facing them after being sent to the Headmistress but because she hadn't thought about what she was going to tell them to get out of eating dinner in the Great Hall in just a few short hours.

"I, er… I have detention tonight," she said.

"That's all?" John asked, wrinkling his brow. "Just one detention? Snape looked angry enough to chuck you out of Hogwarts for good."

"Yeah, he was," Zoe falsely conceded, letting out an amused breath. "But Professor McGonagall talked him out of it, I guess."

"That's lucky."

Caroline nodded, agreeing with John's assessment. "Cecilia Aaron looked so smug about you getting in trouble, though," she said. "I heard her whisper to Persimmon that she knew you'd get expelled before the year was out. Then she…"

Caroline stopped then, looking at Zoe piteously.

"What? What did she say?" Zoe asked, wrinkling her brow with curiosity.

Caroline bit her lip. "Well, she said something that wasn't very nice. The vile word. She said you probably didn't belong here anyway, that you were probably a—" Caroline leaned in close and whispered. "A Mudblood. I'm so sorry, Zoe."

Zoe's eyes went wide in disbelief. She had only heard that word once or twice before, but her father had made it abundantly clear that were she to call another witch or wizard such a name, she would be rewarded with severe consequences. He had said he never wanted to hear it from her mouth—ever.

She wrinkled her brow in confusion at Cecilia's assumption, though. Just because Cecilia knew nothing of Zoe's parents, she assumed that she was Muggleborn? Her mother had been a Muggle, yes, but her father was far from one. He was a very powerful wizard and a respected Potions Master. Zoe doubted that Cecilia would have said such a thing if she knew who Zoe's father actually was.

Of course, she wondered why Cecilia would say such a thing, but ultimately chalked it up to stupid talk. Cecilia was trying to make herself look more important to Persimmon and anyone else who would listen to her. She didn't really know what she was talking about. Besides, she hadn't said anything about Lottie who actually was a Muggleborn. Zoe couldn't help but wonder what she had ever done to Cecilia to make the other girl focus on teasing and bullying her over anyone else. Not that she wanted anyone else to be bullied either, of course. It was just all so confusing.

Once Caroline had said the forbidden word, however, Zoe's other friends had launched into gasps before beginning to talk lowly to each other. Of course, John had had to explain to Lottie what Mudblood meant, which only made Lottie upset that anyone would think such a thing. Zoe and Caroline had instantly set about bolstering Lottie's spirits, telling her that it was just a stupid prejudice and that she wasn't any different from the rest of them just because she came from a family of Muggles.

"Where's Glendora?" Zoe asked after Lottie had seemed to brighten up a bit.

"Hospital wing," Caroline said. "She left in the middle of Defense. Professor Snape said she didn't look so well and sent her out. I'm so worried that she has elven influenza."

"She doesn't have elven influenza," John said confidently. "The Prophet said that the outbreak was still contained to the continent."

"She just looked so green when she left class and my mum sent me a letter talking about how she hoped that Hogwarts was preparing for the influenza."

"Do you think Madam Pomfrey will let us see her if we go up there?" Zoe asked curiously.

"Maybe," Lottie said. "Do you want to go and ask?"

Zoe nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

The friends agreed and turned to make their ways up to the hospital wing of the castle.

Madam Pomfrey had allowed Zoe and her friends to see Glendora, assuring them that she was merely suffering from a bit of a cold and some fatigue and had not succumbed to elven influenza. The first years had gathered around her, cheering her up, until the mediwitch had bustled them out at dinnertime so that Glendora could eat and then get some needed rest.

Lottie, Caroline, and John had made their way to the Great Hall while Zoe had made the journey to the third floor and her father's classroom where she had found him and their dinner already waiting for her.

"It would be unwise to believe that you aren't getting off easy this time, young lady. I entered into Minerva's office with every intention of making sure that you were given a week's worth of very unpleasant detentions for your continued insubordination," Zoe's father lectured.

He'd been at it for a while now, expounding to Zoe her exact transgression and exactly how it had been wrong as he sat across from her at the desk that he had transfigured into a dinner table at the front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Now, he'd moved on to telling her exactly what a lucky girl she was to have practically gotten away with it. Zoe knew he had a point. She had fully expected to have just as many detentions as her father had described and, yet, she hadn't.

Zoe didn't know what her godmother had said to convince him to be lenient, but one thing was absolutely clear: Minerva was the greatest negotiator ever.

"And another thing…," her father continued. "What put you in such a mood anyway?"

"What?" Zoe asked, looking up from where she had been rolling her eyes into her shepherd's pie.

Her father raised his eyebrows. "Why were you so on edge at the beginning of your Defense lesson? I could see that your eyes were orange from my desk the second you walked into the classroom."

"Then why did you goad me?"

"Because you need to learn to control your temper," her father said a bit tersely without skipping a beat. "Answer my question."

Zoe wrinkled her nose in distaste; as if he had any room to comment on her temper. Of course, she kept that sentiment to herself.

"It was nothing, really. I was just… angry at myself in Charms today."

"Why?"

Zoe shrugged. "I couldn't get the spell right."

"Which spell?"

"Cheering charm."

Her father laid down his knife and fork then picked up his napkin and wiped at his mouth. He sat back in his chair, staring at her for a moment.

"Take out your wand."

Zoe was puzzled, but she did at he said, pulling her blackwood wand from the waistband of her pleated skirt.

"What's the wand movement?" her father asked.

"It's the same as levitation: swish and flick," Zoe answered.

Her father inclined his head in the affirmative. "Let's see it."

Zoe's eyes widened. "At the dinner table?"

She supposed she had never actually heard her father set a rule regarding magic at the table, but it still seemed like something he wouldn't normally approve of; it just seemed like bad manners for some reason.

"Yes, here. Show me what you were doing in Charms."

Now Zoe bit her lip, looking at her wand cautiously. She heard her father huff the way he always did when he was mildly annoyed.

"What is it?"

Zoe looked up to her father.

"You want me to cast the charm on you?"

"I do not see anyone else sitting here."

"But… you're a professor…"

"I thought we had agreed that when we were alone together, I was your father first."

Zoe squirmed. "I know, but… then… you're my father and I—"

"Zoe," her father said sternly enough to gain her attention. "Cast your charm. I'm hardly concerned that you'll get it wrong and leave me laughing maniacally forever."

"Are you sure?"

"Cast your charm," he said again, his tone brooking no further argument.

"Okay."

Zoe raised her wand and pointed it over the table and straight at her father's face.

"Exsisto hilaris," she incanted.

Her father's face remained impassive, which didn't surprise Zoe. She knew the charm wouldn't work; it hadn't worked in class. She needed more practice.

Zoe sat back in her chair, glaring daggers at her wand as if it was at fault for her inadequate spellwork when, suddenly, her father let out a bark of laughter. It was loud and exuberant, yet completely suited to him. Zoe had only heard him do it a few times in her whole life—it wasn't often that he showed such mirth. She liked the sound of it.

"It worked?" she asked moving closer to the table, sitting on the very edge of her chair, looking at her father with wide eyes.

"Of course it worked," her father said, grinning uncharacteristically. "I'm laughing at nothing in particular, aren't I?"

"You're not having a go at me?"

"Having a go?" her father repeated, then started to laugh again. "No. When have you ever known me to 'have a go'?"

That was true. Leave it to her father to continue to be highly logical despite the spell that was completely crumbling his normally such dour and stern demeanor.

"So… it really worked?"

Her father continued to laugh. "It would seem so. Have you learned the counter spell yet?"

That was followed by another bark of exuberant laughter that her father promptly tried to stifle. Zoe started to grin and giggle herself, enjoying seeing her father so, well, cheerful. Besides that, the whole situation was just so utterly ridiculous that she couldn't help but get amusement out of it.

"No," she said. "Professor Flitwick assigned it for homework."

Her father nodded, his face now turning a bit red from trying to hold in the laughter. He reached into his robes, pulled his own wand out, and pointed it at himself.

"Subsisto."

Instantly, his features sobered. Zoe, however, was still grinning madly as her father shook his head as if getting some odd feeling from it and turned his eyes upon his daughter.

"What's the problem? Your charm work seems perfectly proficient to me. Incredibly strong, in fact."

The grin left Zoe's face then. "I don't know. It didn't happen like that in class."

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I couldn't get Lottie to smile even just a little bit."

A single eyebrow rose on her father's face. "Were you upset before your Charms class, perhaps? Did something happen in Herbology or at breakfast?"

Zoe looked away toward the tall windows of the DADA classroom. Subtly, she shook her head.

"Zoe," her father said sternly. "You're lying."

Zoe turned to look her father in the eyes. "I'm not. Nothing happened in Herbology or at breakfast."

That was true as well. It had happened between the two events.

"Yet, your mind was so preoccupied that you couldn't concentrate on a simple spell in Charms. Why?"

"I don't know," Zoe said a bit hotly.

A single eyebrow rose on her father's face and as he continued to watch her, Zoe felt the urge to look away, and did so. She was so angry with Celeste Aaron and, yet, she was experiencing such an intense level of embarrassment and shame about the situation that she couldn't even look her father in the eye.

"All right. You don't know," she heard her father say. He seemed a bit perturbed as he took up his knife and fork once more and began cutting something on his plate. "Will you please pass the pumpkin juice?"

Zoe looked to her father's face again, but his expression had become unreadable as he focused on his meal. She sat forward and reached for the pitcher of juice but before she had even grabbed it, the object rose up an inch or so and scooted toward her father's side of the table before landing almost silently before him.

Her eyes widened in shock, gazing at the hand outstretched over the table. Slowly, she moved her eyes up and met her father's. She hoped he hadn't seen it for she had never gotten around to explaining to him the experiments she had tried back at Spinner's End before she'd come to Hogwarts. As she read the expression on his face, however, she knew that he had witnessed her trick.

"Wandless magic," he stated. "You haven't even completed your first term. Where did you learn to banish objects without a wand?"

Zoe quickly sat back in her chair, staring at the pitcher almost in revulsion. Why did that have to come out now? They hadn't even started to discuss her father's demeanor or her ideas for his class and now all he was going to want to know about was her wandless magic.

"I didn't learn it," she said quietly after a few moments. "I mean, I remembered levitating things without a wand when I was little and I tried it again a couple of times after I got my wand. That's the first time it's happened without me thinking about it, though."

"Yes, you were very proficient with levitation, even as a toddler," her father commented. "I'm assuming you were experimenting during your late-night, spell-practicing this summer?"

Zoe nodded.

Her father looked upon her for what felt like an eternity, appraising her.

"And now you can banish," he said finally, merely stating it as fact. "Your magic is starting to manifest in some very interesting ways, I must say. First, your eyes and now these continued wandless abilities."

Her father took a bite of his food while Zoe looked down at her plate, moving her mashed potatoes around. He didn't sound upset that she hadn't told him about practicing the wandless magic before term started, which was good for her, she supposed. However, he'd warped her back to something Celeste had said several weeks previously.

"Some kids said that my eyes are weird," she said, a bit downhearted. "They said I was a freak, just like the Muggle kids said."

"Zoe, look at me right now."

Her father's words were sharp and authoritative. She looked up instantly and met his eyes.

"You are not a freak. Do you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you," Zoe said a bit defiantly, looking away. She didn't know why she suddenly felt so angry and standoffish about this. She was just…embarrassed, she supposed… again.

"Zoe," her father said her name again softer, though still stern, making her avert her attention and her eyes back to him. "You are not a freak. You have a rare ability, but that ability and your talents are nothing to be ashamed of and you shouldn't allow the jealous sentiments of some brainless adolescents to make you feel self-conscious about them."

This time, his tone was so much less forceful that it made Zoe almost feel like crying, but she held it back. Slowly, after gaining her composure and looking her father directly in the eye, she nodded. After a few more moments, her father took up the pitcher she had pushed toward him and poured some juice for himself.

"Now," he said, taking a sip from his goblet before placing it on the table in front of him. "Let's discuss Defense classes. You have made it abundantly clear that you disapprove of the way that I teach, that you dislike the tactics I used with students long before you were ever even born. So let's try to come to some concessions that the both of us can agree upon."

Zoe perked up now that they had finally changed the subject. She continued eating.

In the end, her and her father had agreed that a few of his tactics were unnecessary and found some middle ground on several details regarding both of their behaviors in class—namely, that he would cease trying to incite fear in his students and that Zoe would cease with her cheeky, disrespectful retorts. They had also brainstormed the implementation of an incentive system for those students who participated regularly and consistently turned in assignments on time as well as a rule to revoke and replace practical exercises and dueling privileges with written essays for those students who didn't do their homework or misbehaved in class in some way. Of course, there was still the risk of losing house points and detention in those instances as well. Finally, her father agreed to find a way to add group projects into the curriculum as a form of research for topics that the students may be interested in, but wouldn't necessarily be focused on as much during the course of the school year.

Their negotiations had hit a slight snag once, however, toward the end of their conversations.

"Is there anything else?" her father asked as he took the final bite of his pudding.

Zoe thought for a minute and then fidgeted. There was one other thing that she wanted to broach, but she wasn't really sure how her father would take it or whether he'd be receptive to the idea. She took a large gulp of pumpkin juice in order to stall a bit. Then she resolved herself; this was important to her and she would regret it later if she didn't say something.

"There is one thing," she said tentatively, looking at her fork, but eyeing her father through her eyelashes.

"What's that?"

"Well, you said you'd try not to be so mean anymore but… all the other professors point out when a student does something good, or answers a question with the right answer. They give house points, too. You never do that."

A single eyebrow rose on her father's face. Zoe continued on.

"You only tell students when they do something wrong. You don't praise them."

"That is not really my…style of teaching, Zoe," her father explained rather blandly as if merely informing her of how it was. He didn't seem to see the problem with his methods. "Students know they've done well if they receive no response from me. If they've managed to make it through an entire class without a rebuke, then they have succeeded in that lesson. Their marks will reflect this as well."

Zoe shook her head. "Why can't you tell them that they did a good job, if they did? You used to tell me that at home."

Her father let out a long sigh. She knew she'd gotten him with that one and she knew that it wasn't going to be easy for him to explain why he did that.

"We're going to have to compromise on this one, I think," he said. "Verbal praise is unlikely to be forthcoming unless a student has absolutely astonished me with their prowess in some way. However, I can attempt to be less…frugal…in the presentation of house points. That isn't to say that I will be nearly as liberal as some of your other professors, but if a student goes above and beyond, I would agree that it is only fair that they be rewarded accordingly. Though, keep in mind that this is a considerable compromise. I do not believe it necessary to constantly dote upon and give rewards for tasks that are known expectations. I concede because you think it will encourage you and your peers to be more diligent students."

Zoe nodded knowing that was likely to be the best she could do in regard to that subject. She gave her father a small smile and then stretched her hand across the table to him. He eyed it for a moment and then locked eyes with her, a single eyebrow raised in question.

"What is this?" he asked.

"We made a deal. We should shake on it."

"This is not a business transaction, Zoe."

Zoe shrugged, still holding her hand out to him stubbornly. Her father rolled his eyes at her persistence, but reached out and gave her hand a firm shake. Zoe smiled triumphantly.

"You should get back to your dormitory," he said then, standing up from his chair and beginning to clear the various dishes from their meal and dessert from the table with his wand. "I think you've been in 'detention' long enough."

Zoe stood to gather her rucksack, watching her father as he used a spell to transport all of the dishes to the Hogwarts kitchens magically. That made her remember something…

"Papa? What was that spell?"

He looked at her, having just transfigured their table back into a desk.

"You shall have to be more specific."

"The one you used outside the classroom today. It wasn't like a silencing charm, but my ears got a little fuzzy when I felt you cast the spell."

Her father gave what seemed to be a proud smirk coupled with a slight look of smugness. He clasped his hands behind his back, standing directly in front of her, and began talking in his teaching voice.

"It is called Muffliato. It creates a distinctive, yet unclear, barrier between a conversation and others—distinctive to the caster, unclear to those he or she wishes to keep oblivious. It was designed to discourage eavesdropping, even in close proximity to others."

"That's brilliant! Where did you learn it?" Zoe asked excitedly.

"I created it."

Zoe's eyes widened. "You invented a spell?"

"Spells. That one is among several."

Zoe was wholly impressed with her father. After coming to Hogwarts, she was learning so many new and interesting things about him. Some things, like his classroom demeanor, she would prefer she had never known, but making up spells… that was something she was incredibly content to learn.

She pulled out her wand then, holding it in the ready position at her side that all of the teachers were instructing the first years to do. She looked up to her father, trying to convey in her eyes her eagerness.

"The incantation is Muffliato?" she asked, just to make sure she had the pronunciation correct.

Her father arched an eyebrow at her again, but took a step back and leaned against the teacher desk, crossing his arms over his chest now and watching her curiously. He nodded his head once. Zoe smiled briefly, and then began to focus her attention on the spell she was about to cast.

"Muffliato," she said clearly after a few moments.

Almost instantly, she felt the same fuzzy feeling in her ears that she had felt earlier in the day. She was still able to hear, however. The feeling, it seemed, was merely the indication that the spell was doing its job.

"It worked?" she asked, looking up to her father excitedly.

He had a very defined frown on his face as he held a finger to his right ear as if trying to get it to work properly.

"Papa?" she asked, taking a step toward him and gaining his attention.

He looked at her then, seeming to understand something, and his expression changed.

"It would be prudent to teach you the counter, it seems," he said, his voice sounding slightly far away due to the fuzziness of her ears.

"Can't you just counter it?" Zoe asked, wrinkling her brow. Her father merely shook his head.

"I cannot hear you. I am not within the bubble of your spell. Were you asking if I could counter it?"

Zoe nodded and her father shook his head again.

"This spell isn't meant to be countered by anyone but the caster, but that doesn't mean that a weak version couldn't be nullified by a stronger counter from an outside source. It would seem, however, that your version of the spell is far from weak. Exaudio, should do it."

Zoe nodded again and incanted the spell. She looked to her father expectantly and watched as he shook his head, clearing it of the buzzing she was sure he had been experiencing. He looked on her with a satisfied smirk.

"Very good, Zoe. It took you no time to master that particular, fourth year-level spell."

"Thanks, Papa," Zoe said, grinning, as she pocketed her wand.

Her father inclined his head. "Now, it really is getting late."

He walked forward as Zoe turned toward the exit. As he caught up to her, he put his hand on her back and walked beside her across the classroom to the door.

"Now that we have made these concessions for each other, may we finally agree to remain non-confrontational as teacher and student?" he asked as they came to a stop at the door.

Zoe gave a small smile. "Yes," she said, coming forward to embrace her father briefly. She stepped back and gave a goodbye wave to him.

He nodded once. "Tell your peers that I had you mopping the third floor classrooms. I have a reputation to uphold, after all."

Zoe rolled her eyes and smiled at that before exiting.

Halloween came and went and before Zoe knew it, they were over halfway through November. The days were supposedly getting shorter, but considering the crisp, miserable chill of the weather and the amount of homework the teachers were piling on as they ramped up toward the Christmas holidays, it felt very much like the days dragged on and on.

There was still a lot of talk around the school about the Dark witches and wizards that had been released from Azkaban, but Zoe paid little attention to it owing to the fact that she had been preoccupied with worry for some of her friends.

Caroline had taken ill after the Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor that had taken place during a particularly rainy and cold day. Her friends, including Zoe, had once again been fearful that one among their ranks had contracted elven influenza. After all, since Glendora's short illness, The Daily Prophet had started reporting outbreaks of the illness occurring in Britain nearly every week, and Hogwarts had been abuzz with speculation as to whether it would hit the school.

Of course, when John had voiced that fear to the sweet-natured girl during a visit to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey had scolded him fiercely for bringing such distress to one of her patients before shooing the lot of them from the ward.

It turned out that Caroline had merely had a bad cold. She was therefore released after only two days of bed rest and a regimen of helpful potions.

The same day as Caroline's return to classes, Glendora had received the horrible news that her grandmother had passed away. With just three and a half weeks to the Christmas holidays, she had been whisked away to Germany until the start of the next term. That had left Zoe, Lottie, John, and Caroline rather melancholy for a few days, but their moods had livened up a bit with the first large snowfall of the year.

Unfortunately, the beautiful, white powder had fallen on the grounds in the middle of the week, leaving the young inhabitants of the castle rather eager to get to the weekend. As soon as Friday afternoon came, the group of first years made sure to layer their clothing and put on their thickest cloaks and scarves before making the trek out into the frigid air to build snowmen and igloos on the grounds and to have a raucous snowball fight that left them all tired and wet.

Zoe's good mood had disappeared yet again, though, when owing to his needing to brew a large batch of some potion or other as a last minute request from a client, her father had canceled their weekly tea, which they were to have had that Saturday. She was even further disappointed when Lottie informed her that she would be gone for the duration of the weekend due to some state event that she was expected to attend as the daughter of a prominent earl. Her parents had arrived for her in the late afternoon that day, leaving Zoe alone in the Slytherin common room.

She knew there was no point trying to find her Ravenclaw friends. Saturday nights were for studying in Ravenclaw House and Caroline and John had already informed her that they would be occupied all of Sunday as well for even more revising, this time with older students who would act as tutors.

Zoe wrinkled her nose in distaste at the thought of so much revising. She wasn't against academics, of course; she had an ingrained love for learning. But after years of homeschooling, studying had become something of a solitary endeavor for her. And it never took her that long to feel confident in the material she was learning. At least, she never got low marks, even when she hadn't spent as long on a subject as she maybe could have.

So, it was with the resignation of a weekend of solitude and in an effort to get away from the loud common room that Zoe ventured up to the Astronomy Tower on Saturday afternoon, the newest Cleo Callisto novel in her hand, to look out over the grounds and read.

In all honesty, the Astronomy Tower had quickly become her favorite spot in all of Hogwarts—mainly only when it was empty. Not only was it quiet when there weren't classes going on, but the view of the mountains and the lake and the forest was truly amazing. And, even though it appeared to be open to the elements owing to its need to accommodate students with their telescopes, a spell kept the chilly, damp air away from Zoe. She therefore had all the benefits of being on top of the world while still snuggly encased in the warmth of the castle walls.

She had stayed reading for hours. The late afternoon had quickly turned to darkness but by the light of several torches in sconces that had ignited unasked, she had continued to stay on the Tower; she was so engrossed in her book. The heroine of her book, Cleo, had just managed to fight off some water demons in her quest to save the crowned prince of her realm when something clamored to the floor behind the chair Zoe sat in.

She sat up abruptly, her eyes wide, as she pulled her wand from the pocket of her robes. Squinting into the darkness, she couldn't really see anything, temporarily blinded by the brightness of the flames around her.

"Who's there?" she asked, standing up and holding her wand out in front of her. "Lumos."

Just as the tip of her wand flared brightly to life, she caught movement behind one of the large, school-owned telescopes. As her eyes gradually adjusted, a figure walked toward her, swooped down to pick up what appeared to be a wand, before coming fully into view.

"Merlin, do you have any idea what time it is?" James Potter asked incredulously, squinting against the brighter area where Zoe had been occupying herself.

Zoe lowered her wand and shrugged. "Around dinner time?"

James looked at her in disbelief. "Er, try almost eleven."

Zoe's eyes widened. "Eleven?! But that means—"

"That you're in so much trouble for being out after curfew?" he said in a teasing voice, as if he didn't really believe that but was just playing into her anxiousness about the late hour. "Yeah, pretty much."

Zoe gave the boy a sour glare. "What about you? You're out after curfew, too."

James merely shrugged, which aggravated her.

"I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I usually come up to the Astronomy Tower when that happens."

Zoe wrinkled her brow, curious about his honesty. She wondered why he couldn't sleep. She only wondered it briefly, however, before she realized whom she was talking with and pushed it from her mind.

"You've never gotten caught?" she asked.

James looked back to her from where he had been gazing toward the soft glow of the lights of Hogsmeade. He gave an impish smile.

"No."

Zoe was flabbergasted. "How? Teachers and prefects patrol at night, don't they?"

"Yeah, but I have the Marauder's Map," the Gryffindor said simply.

"The what?"

Now there was a definite mischievous gleam in James's eyes as he walked toward the small table Zoe had situated near her reading chair. Once there, he pulled an old piece of parchment from the front pocket of his hoodie and placed it on the table. Then he sat down on his knees beside it and looked up at Zoe. He motioned to her to join him down there. Curiously, Zoe took to her knees beside the table as well, looking down at the parchment as James pulled his wand out of the pocket of his pajamas bottoms.

"Tap it," he said, "Ask it what it is."

Zoe wrinkled her brow. "Ask the parchment what it is? You said it was a map."

Was this boy mad?

"I know. It is. But ask it anyway," James encouraged.

Zoe rolled her eyes, but put her wand tip to the edge of the parchment nonetheless.

"What are you?" she breathed out with annoyance and skepticism. She was actually glaring at James, but when his eyes averted down, Zoe looked down as well, surprised to see words written there.

"The real question is: who are we."

Zoe's eyes widened. She quickly reached out and pulled up the parchment, looking beneath it.

James merely grinned. "The map is magical, it isn't a trick."

Zoe pursed her lips. "Papa says I should never trust any magical object that doesn't have a place to keep its brain."

James snorted amusedly. "Yeah, my granddad says that, too. But this is different. Go on, ask another question."

Zoe cautiously set the parchment back down and tapped it again. "Ok, who are you?"

"Prongs and I think you should say who you are first. Friend or foe?"

"Prongs?" Zoe asked, looking at James.

"Just say 'friend'," he said.

"Friend," Zoe said. "Who's Prongs?"

"Well, friend, he would tell you that he's dashing and brilliant but, as his best mate, I happen to know he's nothing more than a tosser."

"And who are you?" Zoe asked.

"Oi! I said, you first!"

"You said 'Prongs and I'. So, you already started the introductions. I just figured it would be polite to finish them," Zoe stated.

"I— But, you—"

James started laughing then, causing Zoe to look up at him. She was confused.

"What?"

"You managed to make Sirius speechless!" The boy laughed.

Zoe shook her head, not knowing whom Sirius was, and looked back down at the parchment where an explosion of various handwritten messages had materialized.

"She got you, Padfoot!" one line said.

"You can't deny that she has a point," another said.

"I didn't deny it! We may not all be prefects, Moony, but I know logic when I see it," the final one read before: "Shut it, Prongs!"

"Perhaps, if you ask her politely what her name is, she will tell you."

"Good idea… I beg your pardon, Miss. If you would be so kind as to give us your name, we would be much obliged… Polite enough for you, Moony?"

"Quite."

Again, Zoe looked up to James, perplexed.

"Go on, tell them who you are."

"But who am I talking to?" she asked, exasperated, but put her wand to the parchment once again anyway. "My name is Zoe. I go Hogwarts. I'm in Slytherin House."

"A Slytherin! I sure hope you're steering clear of old Snivelly… last I heard he was swooping around the dungeons like a greasy, overgrown ba—"

"Ok," James said, snatching the parchment up off the table quickly, ignoring the protest that Zoe had started to voice. "Here's what it really does…"

He opened up the parchment a bit more and put his wand to it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

As he lay the parchment down once more, lines of ink started to materialize on the page forming rooms and passageways, stairwells and doorways. Zoe watched in awe as every bit of Hogwarts Castle and the grounds was created and labeled before her eyes. Once it stopped, she read the introduction at the top.

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are pleased to present The Marauder's Map."

Then she watched in awe as the name Wormtail was angrily scribbled out. She looked back to James.

"Wormtail was a traitor," James said simply in explanation.

Zoe nodded distractedly for she had just noticed all the moving dots upon the page.

"Are those—?"

"Names? Yeah," James stated. "It shows everyone in the castle. Where they are, where they walk to."

Zoe could clearly see that. At each of the areas where she knew that there were dormitories, the concentration of names was so large that she could only read a few of them. The rest of the castle was considerably easier. She saw Minerva's name right off the bat, sitting idle in her office. Mr. Filch, the ancient caretaker, was hobbling along the Entrance Hall, not too far from an alcove that seemed to be currently occupied by Head Boy Lukas Andersen and a sixth year Ravenclaw named Olivia Rote.

Zoe looked up to James once more, amazed.

"This is brilliant!" she said. "Where'd you get it?"

James shrugged. "Family heirloom. It's wicked, isn't it?"

Zoe nodded her agreement, but then wrinkled her brow. "But why did you show it to me?"

"You have to get back down to the dungeons, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, this will keep us from getting caught. Come on."

James stood then, snatching up the map as he did so, and started his way toward the exit to the Astronomy Tower.

As they gradually traversed the halls and stairwells toward the dungeons, James continuously looked at the map, his lit wand held close to it for easy reading.

"We're lucky. There aren't too many teachers or prefects out tonight."

"Are there usually a lot?"

James nodded. "I think they have five or six teachers on patrol duty during the week and usually four prefects, with one or two teachers that stay on really late. The weekends always seem different. Sometimes, they are just as busy as the week or sometimes there are hardly any teachers about."

Zoe nodding, locking that information away.

"Which teachers do you see?"

James stopped in his tracks. "Miss Gwenog is on the fourth floor, but way over by the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower, so no worries there. If Remus stays where he is now, I'm going to have a pretty long trek back to Gryffindor, but other than that… oh, bloody hell."

"What?"

James didn't answer immediately. Instead, he shoved Zoe into an alcove behind a conveniently placed set of armor.

"What?" Zoe asked, squeezed between the wall, the armor, and James. "What's wrong?"

"Snape. He's just down the corridor and around the corner."

"Is he coming this way?"

"Yeah. But he stopped—probably to look in a classroom. If we stay here, he'll see us for sure, but there's nowhere to go. And I really can't get another detention. Not this week, anyway…"

Zoe bit her lip anxiously, trying to think of a way to get out of their predicament. She knew that if they were caught in this alcove or out in the corridor, she was just as likely as James to land herself in detention. Not to mention, she'd have a tough time explaining to her father why she was caught in the company of one of the students that he cared for the least.

She poked her head out of the alcove, scanning around for somewhere they could run to, but there really was nowhere to go, just as James had said.

"I know we're in for it, you stupid, bloody map!" James hissed lowly, glaring down at the item in his hands.

Zoe craned her head over him to look as well. In response to James's outburst, the Marauder's Map had responded with a very emphatic, "Oi! Watch your language!"

"Sorry, Granddad," James grumbled, looking anxiously at Zoe.

But Zoe merely shook her head. There was nothing for it. If something didn't change in their circumstances, they were both going to be caught out after curfew. She needed to think of something to get them out of this.

No… Something to get James out of this. After all, he had tried to help her get back to her dormitory safely and the situation had just gotten out of his control. The least she could do was help him try to stay out of detention.

As she watched the little dot that read 'Severus Snape' moving along the adjacent corridor toward them, an idea popped into her head.

Looking at James with determination, she handed him her Cleo Callisto book. He gave her a perplexed look.

"I'll distract him. You go back to Gryffindor. And hold onto my book for me, I'll want it back."

And with that, she left the alcove, taking a direct path toward her father.

"Papa!" she exclaimed, acting both excited and relieved to see him as she came around the corner. She ran to him and threw her arms around him.

There was a pause before her father pulled her away from him. Zoe saw him look around cautiously before looking down at her with a look of stern confusion on his face.

"What are you doing out of your dormitory? It is well after curfew."

"I was looking for you," she lied smoothly.

When her father arched a skeptical eyebrow, she launched into a very improvised explanation.

"I fell asleep about an hour ago, I think. But I woke up after a horrible nightmare. I was really scared and so, I came to find you."

Her father's face was tinged with a bit of concern now, though the skepticism hadn't entirely gone away.

"You were looking for me on the fourth floor?"

"No… I… lost count of the floors when I was climbing the stairs. Then I got turned around in the dark."

She didn't know if he would buy that. She had been walking these corridors for several months now, after all. It seemed silly that she would get lost.

"What was the nightmare about?" he asked after a moment, either believing her, or ignoring her obvious lie. He reached out and pushed a lock of her hair out of her face and behind her ear.

Zoe looked away briefly. She hadn't had a chance to think about what her imaginary dream had been about.

"Dragons," she said quickly. "There were two and they were attacking Hogwarts and you and Minerva and all the other teachers were trying to hold them back, but they were so strong and there was fire and—" Zoe launched herself at her father again so that he couldn't read the tall tale in her facial features. "I was so scared."

He allowed her to squeeze her arms around him for a few moments before he put a hand on the back of her head and rubbed her back reassuringly with the other.

"It is over now," he said. "And unless the Triwizard Tournament makes a return to Hogwarts, I highly doubt that the school is at risk of a dragon attack."

"What's the Triwizard Tournament?" Zoe asked into her father's black robes, wrinkling her brow.

Her father's hand on her back stopped moving abruptly. "Never mind," he said dismissively and then gave her back a gentle pat, encouraging her to pull away.

Zoe, inhaling deeply and, feeling like she could continue the ruse without hiding her face, did just that and looked up into her father's eyes.

"I feel much better seeing you. Will you go with me back to Slytherin?"

Her father inclined his head in the affirmative.

"Yes. You must be escorted."

As they walked down into the dungeons, Zoe couldn't help but continuously look over her shoulder. She hoped that map of James's had worked in helping him to get back to Gryffindor Tower while Zoe had created the diversion with her father.

Although he lectured her lightly on the importance of staying in her dormitory at night, her father didn't take away any house points or give her a detention for her late night wandering. She couldn't help but wonder if that would have been the case had she not lied completely, simply telling him that she had lost track of the time as she read her book up on the Astronomy Tower. Even if she hadn't been trying to keep James out of trouble, she wondered if her father would have at least taken away points if he hadn't felt so sorry for her.

"What if I have another nightmare?" Zoe asked curiously, as they came to the entrance into the Slytherin common room.

She knew tonight had been a lie, but she hadn't given much thought to what she would do if she really did have a bad dream. At home, her father was always just a stairwell away from her. Here, he was miles away and she wasn't even allowed to come find him.

She saw a flash of something in her father's features for a moment, but he quickly removed the conflicted look from his face.

"I cannot appear to show favoritism. Every other child in this school does not have their parents on hand to talk to or comfort them if they have nightmares. As I understand it, many write letters to their mothers and fathers. There is no reason why you couldn't do the same. My advice would be to try to fall back asleep after your nightmare, and then write to me in the morning."

"Write you a letter here?" Zoe asked curiously.

"Yes, you could choose the slowest, laziest owl in the owlery and I imagine it would still take little time to get to me."

Zoe giggled.

"Okay."

He gave a resolved nod. "While I have you here, I've been meaning to ask you if you had given any thought to what you would like for Christmas this year."

"A broom," Zoe said immediately and then winced. She had given a lot of thought to what she wanted this year, but she had meant to bring it up subtly. She had wanted to ease her father into the idea of one gradually, but now she'd mussed it all up by not thinking about what she wanted before she spoke.

Her father's face told her his answer before he ever even spoke. "No. Hogwarts students are not allowed broomsticks as first years."

"But—" she started, but stopped. She knew it was futile to argue. She sighed. "Some nice stationery, maybe, for writing letters to my friends over the summer holidays.

Her father nodded once more. "Serpentes supernus," he said, giving the password into the common room.

Zoe rolled her eyes this time. Serpent superiority. She hated that password. It had been that for over a week and the two previous had been similarly aggravating.

"Papa, can't you make them change it?" she asked as she walked toward the entry that had just formed.

"The prefects decide on the passwords," he stated simply. "Unless it is vulgar, I do not intervene."

"What if it's impolite or… or offensive to other houses?"

Her father quirked an eyebrow. "Those in other houses should not have knowledge of the passwords for Slytherin House, therefore it would be impossible for any of them to be offended no matter how impolite it may seem. Personally, I see it as nothing more than House pride."

"Maybe…" Zoe said vaguely, not really wanting to argue with him. Personally, she thought they were trying to say something about their actual superiority and it was not merely a statement of friendly competition.

"Goodnight, Papa."

Lottie had returned from being with her family so late on Sunday evening that Zoe didn't get a chance to see her friend until after she had showered and prepared for the day on Monday morning.

Shrugging into her school robes, she left her own room, where she had noticed that Cecilia, who was normally just rising by that time in the morning, was conspicuously absent. Thinking little of it, however, Zoe went directly to the door to Lottie, Abigail, and Persimmon's room across the corridor and knocked lightly, but there was no response. Wrinkling her brow in confusion and wondering if Lottie and the other two girls had already left to go to breakfast, Zoe turned the door handle and tentatively stepped into the room.

Nobody was there, but almost instantly, she heard talking coming from the direction of the bathroom. She made her way around Persimmon's bed and strode toward the en suite. Finding the door cracked, she peeked inside.

"We just want to know where you were over the weekend. We're only curious."

Zoe recognized that voice instantly as that of Celeste Aaron. This could not be good.

Peering around the door for a better look, she saw the fifth year and Cecilia standing over Lottie, who was sitting on the floor next to the bath with a decidedly distressed look on her face. Persimmon Welch and Abigail Mulciber, though not directly involved, it seemed, were standing off to the side, watching the whole thing.

"Just tell her, Lottie," Cecilia said meanly. "We know you weren't at any wizarding event."

"It's none of your business where I was," Lottie stated bravely, but Zoe could see the apprehension in her friend's eyes.

Zoe glanced briefly down to Celeste's hand and, spotting that the girl had her wand drawn, she understood Lottie's fear. Slowly and quietly, Zoe pulled her own wand out of her robes and held it at the ready.

Celeste took a small step back from Lottie, looking at the younger girl with disdain.

"It looks like she isn't going to tell us what she was up to… I guess we're left to just… assume that she's a Mudblood," Celeste stated. "You know, back when purebloods got to make the rules, Mudbloods weren't allowed wands."

Celeste pointed her wand straight at Lottie's head then.

"Give me your wand."

Zoe had had enough of watching. She pushed the door open forcefully, making Persimmon squeal in surprise. She pointed her wand straight at Celeste.

"Leave her alone," she said.

Celeste turned, a stupid, smug, and overly-confident grin on her face.

"Ah, it's the teacher's pet," she said. "Didn't Mummy and Daddy ever tell you it's rude to eavesdrop?"

"Leave Lottie alone," Zoe said again, ignoring Celeste's derision and trying to keep her voice steady in the face of such uneven odds. "She didn't do anything to you."

Celeste snorted in snide amusement. "Yes, she did. She refused to tell us which side of her family the magic runs through. We find that highly offensive."

"What does it matter?" Zoe asked hotly.

Celeste glared at Zoe maliciously, calculatingly. "You know, come to think of it, we don't know what your blood status is either," she said. "I've never heard of a wizarding family with the surname Agnew."

She walked toward Zoe then, infringing on her personal space.

"I'll tell you what. Let's make a deal. If you tell us who your parents are, your friend goes, and you get to keep your wand."

Zoe was certain her eyes were crimson at this point, but she reined her temper back as much as she could. It would not do to start firing off hexes in such a confined space; everyone would get hurt. That didn't mean she didn't sorely want to…

She knew it would be unwise to tell them anything for Lottie was, in fact, a Muggleborn and it was obvious that, was she to be found out, she would be feeling the brunt of rejection and torment from many in their house, not just this particular group of bullies. As for Zoe's parentage… well, she had a Muggle mother and for whatever reason, her father had yet to lift his edict that she not tell her classmates of their relationship.

There was little choice for Zoe here. As long as these girls merely believed that her and Lottie were Muggleborns but didn't really know for sure, they were as safe as they could be. They were the least vulnerable as long as Celeste Aaron was operating exclusively on her own assumptions.

"What if I don't want to tell you?" Zoe spat back to the other girl defiantly.

Celeste turned and pointed her wand at Lottie. "Then, I think your friend would look adorable with antlers."

Lottie's eyes widened in fear of the hex she had just been threatened with. Zoe had to think of something, and fast. Almost instantaneously, she raised her own wand and pointed it at Cecilia, who took a step back, also fearful.

"If you hex Lottie, I'll hex Cecilia," she said.

Celeste looked affronted, but not for long. She turned quickly and turned her wand upon Zoe instead.

"Oh, no you won't!" she roared.

The next thing Zoe knew, she was lying flat on her back on the floor of the bathroom having just barely missed banging her head against the sink on her way down. Her legs and arms had been locked to her sides; she couldn't move anything on her body except her eyes. She could just barely breathe.

Celeste came forward and stood over her. "Don't you dare threaten my sister ever again, you filthy Mudblood."

The older girl released Zoe from the spell after a few seconds, but pounced on top of her almost instantly, holding Zoe's arms pinned to the floor. Zoe struggled, but it was of little use, especially when Cecilia sat down on top of her legs in order to stop her kicking about.

"Please don't hurt her!" Lottie cried, large tears streaming down her face. She tried to come forward, but her way was blocked by Abigail and Persimmon. Other than that, her plea was largely ignored by the fifth year.

"Get off me!" Zoe shouted.

"No. I think you need a lesson in respect. Until you can prove otherwise, you and your filthy friend are Mudbloods and Mudbloods don't have the right to threaten or order about a pureblood witch or wizard. It's obvious that neither one of you comes from respectable wizarding stock, or you'd know this. Like I said before: if you can't prove your magical line, then you have no claim to a wand. Since you chose to be the hero, hand yours over willingly and I'll leave her alone."

Zoe turned her head just enough to see Lottie. Her friend shook her head, silently telling her not to do it, not to give in to these bullies. But Zoe couldn't do it. She couldn't stand the thought of one of her friends getting hurt.

Closing her eyes briefly, steeling herself for what she had to do, Zoe took a deep breath in and let it out, resolved. She opened her eyes and gave Celeste as fierce of glare as she could.

"Wizard's Oath, if I give you my wand, you'll leave Lottie alone?"

Celeste sneered at Zoe. "Yeah, sure, Firstie. Wizard's Oath."

"Fine," Zoe said.

Celeste let go of Zoe's right arm and Zoe held out her beautiful, African Blackwood wand to the enemy. The fifth year took it triumphantly and stood, sticking it in her robes pocket. Cecilia stood as well, releasing Zoe's legs.

"Hey, Cecilia. Looks like you'll be able to get further up in the class ranks. I see some failed marks in the teacher's pet's immediate future."

Cecilia let out a small giggle.

"Come on, let's go to breakfast," Celeste said, before turning to Zoe briefly. "I wouldn't tell any professors or prefects what went on in here, if I was you. Nobody likes a snitch. And… I sure you don't want your wand back in two pieces…"

And with that, she and all the other first years left, leaving Zoe and Lottie in the bathroom alone.

Lottie was still crying and Zoe had angry tears forming in her eyes as she sat up, rubbing the back of her head where a knot was forming from having hit it on the hard floor.

"I'm so sorry, Zoe. I— I don't even know what started all that. I was just in here brushing my teeth when Celeste came in with Cecilia and started asking me where I had gone over the weekend. But I knew I couldn't tell them, and then Persimmon and Abby came in a couple of minutes later, but they just joined Cecilia's side. And… are you all right? You fell really hard when Celeste put you in the Full Body-Bind."

Zoe shook her head. "I'm fine."

She didn't want to be short with her friend, but she was experiencing such an overwhelming number of emotions just then: anger, shame, confusion, resentment, more anger. She looked up to Lottie, trying to settle herself.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Lottie nodded. "They didn't do anything to me but threaten. Though, I think they would have taken my wand away had you not… well, given Celeste yours. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay. I'll get it back."

After that, her and Lottie had quickly composed themselves before heading to breakfast. They sat together at the farthest side of the Slytherin table, closest to the High Table and as far away from Celeste and Cecilia as they could possibly get. They ate almost silently.

Zoe was certain that Lottie was brooding quite strongly next to her, reflecting on the whole incident, but Zoe was just trying to think of something she could do to have her wand returned to her. She'd only had it for a few months, but she never realized how vulnerable and naked she would feel without it.

She had stated fairly confidently to Lottie that she would get it back, but she didn't know how that was going to happen. She was certain that Celeste wouldn't just get bored of lording over Zoe that she had her wand and there was no way that Zoe would stoop to begging for it back.

Therefore, in the meantime, until she could figure out how to get it back, she had to try to conceal the fact from her professors that her wand had been stolen. And she knew that would be no easy feat on that particular day alone.

Herbology wouldn't be a problem; they never used their wands in that class anyway. Charms was a bit more of a challenge, but Zoe was certain that as soon as the lecture ended and practice began, she could convince Professor Flitwick that she wasn't feeling well and she knew that he would allow her to leave class in order to lie down in the hospital wing. It was after lunch where everything was likely to fall apart.

Wands were required in practical Defense lessons and if she told her father that she was ill, he was unlikely to believe her unless she was running a fever or otherwise retching up her lunch in class. All she could hope for was a full class period of lecture.

However, as she walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that afternoon—having managed to get through her morning classes without incident—to find that the student desks had already been pushed out of the way to the sides of the classroom in order to make room for a practical lesson, Zoe felt that she may not even have to fake an illness. She was feeling practically faint with the knowledge that she was about to face her father in class wandless and have to lie to him should he ask her where it was.

"Miss Agnew, you cannot possibly hope to cast either of these spells without your wand. Take it out now so that we may continue with the lesson."

Zoe snapped out of her worried reverie. She looked up quickly at her father who stood across the room from the assembled students, incanting the correct pronunciation of the Jelly-Legs Jinx and its counter and demonstrating the correct wand movement. She hadn't realized that class had even started.

"I— I can't," said Zoe solemnly.

"You can't?" her father asked with a harsh, yet confused tone to his voice.

"No, sir. I can't."

Her father crossed his arms over his chest, staring at her sternly.

"Where is your wand, Miss Agnew? Have you lost it?"

There were a few sniggers amongst the crowd of Slytherins and Ravenclaws, but they ceased immediately with a glare from the professor.

"No," Zoe began, feeling nothing but dread, as her cheeks heated with embarrassment. "I haven't lost it. It was—"

Zoe looked first to Lottie, who was biting her lower lip and watching her sympathetically, then to Caroline and John who looked genuinely curious as to what was going on. She then looked quickly to Cecilia who stared at her, a deep frown etched into her forehead. The girl shook her head at Zoe and Zoe averted her eyes to the floor. No matter what she did, she would suffer for this. Now it was merely a matter of deciding from whom she would prefer to suffer and she was relatively certain that her father would still have some sort of fondness for her if she lied to him—and she would still have a whole wand by doing so. Resolved, she finally looked up at him across the room.

"It was…misplaced, sir," she said. "I misplaced it."

"Misplaced?" he asked skeptically.

Zoe looked to the floor once more and nodded, but she could feel her father's eyes boring into her. He was going to be angry.

"Would you care to explain to me how you misplaced your wand, Miss Agnew?" he inquired, obviously annoyed.

Zoe shook her head.

"No?"

"No, sir," said Zoe, ashamed.

Her father stared at her for several moments. "Very well. Ten points will be taken from Slytherin and you will receive a zero for this lesson," he said tersely, ignoring the groans of the other Slytherins in the room, and walking forward. When he reached her, he took her by her arm and pulled her across the room toward his desk. "And since you are unable to participate, you will sit here and write lines for the rest of the class period. I think 'Only dunderheads misplace their wands' is a suitable sentence."

There were more muffled sniggers from the class as her father conjured a hard, wooden chair and placed it at the end of the teacher's desk and made her sit down in it. He took a piece of parchment, a quill, and ink from the corner of his desk and placed it in front of her. "Get started. We will discuss this further at the end of the lesson."

Then he walked away to supervise the other students in the class as they attempted the jinx and counter-jinx that was the day's lesson.

Zoe started to write her lines, biting her lip to keep from crying. It had been a no-win situation. Obviously, her father was going to punish her for not having her wand in class, but if she told him what had really happened to it, Celeste Aaron would snap her wand and torment her for the rest of her life. There was no way of getting around it.

When he had finally dismissed the class and levitated the student desks back to their places within the room, Severus looked up to where his daughter still sat at the end of his desk, furiously writing her lines. Sighing heavily, he strode across the room and stood over her.

"Class is over. You may cease your writing," he said.

The girl threw down the quill immediately as if it had burned her and started massaging the ache in her writing hand. Zoe didn't look up at him once as he walked slowly around the desk and sat down, turning in his chair to better face his daughter.

"Zoe, where is your wand?"

"I told you, I misplaced it," she said, still focused on her hand as she fidgeted uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

Severus considered his daughter critically as he reached for her hand. She was being very passive about this whole ordeal; she hadn't even tried to argue her way out of it or attempt to circumvent his authority and that was a bit unsettling.

"I can't say as though I believe you," he told her, massaging her hand and watching as the statement elicited the exact reaction he had been looking for. Her head popped up to look at him briefly, the faintest trace of panic in her features before she once more lowered her gaze to her hands.

"Was your wand taken?" he asked.

He construed her continued silence as an affirmative answer.

"Who took your wand, Zoe?" he asked a bit more forcefully.

Once again, the girl remained silent and fidgety. He let go of her hand, leaned forward, and pulled her chair toward him so that his knees now touched his daughter's. He brought his face right in front of hers.

"Who took your wand?" he repeated.

Zoe simply stared at him with conviction. She didn't even blink, but her eyes gave her away. They weren't her characteristic, defiant, sky blue, but rather a dull brown. Rarely did Severus see this color from her—his daughter preferred brighter, conspicuous hues—but when he did, it often meant there was something she was hiding.

Severus let out a large sigh of frustration.

"All right, if you aren't going to say anything, just listen," he said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Not only is it bad manners and immoral to steal another witch or wizard's wand, it is typically construed as a great personal insult. Now, you are only eleven, so I don't yet expect you to fully understand this, but whoever took your wand obviously thinks so little of you that such an act probably seemed to them to be the least they could do to get you to comply to their whims. There is no doubt that relieving you of your one line of defense may have even elevated them to a very high level of status within whatever little clique they are incorporated into."

He watched his daughter closely for a reaction, but she had resumed her behavior of looking at her hands. He trusted that she was understanding him, so he continued.

"The theft of a wand in society often leads to duels. Some have no doubt been fatal. Here at Hogwarts, it is a very serious matter that would be taken directly to the Headmistress and could lead to the expulsion of the perpetrator. Now then, I am going to ask you once again: who stole your wand?"

Zoe merely shrugged. Severus reached out and pulled his daughter's chin up so that she was looking at him.

"I think you know."

"I can't tell you," she said finally, pulling away from him.

"You can, and you will."

"No, I can't."

"Damn it, Zoe! Talk to me."

"I'm not going to snitch, okay?" she screamed, pushing her feet against the legs of his chair and pushing away from him as her own chair legs scraped against the floor.

Severus widened his eyes at her outburst. When he spoke next, several moments later, he made sure that his voice was soft and as logical as possible.

"I can't possibly punish the culprits if I do not know who they are."

Zoe sat hunched in her chair staring at him and Severus knew he wasn't going to get anything out of her. Though he didn't convey so much as a furrowed brow to give himself away, he was fuming on the inside. This child was brilliant and kind. What gave some idiotic adolescent the right to bully her around, making her too scared to tell her teacher—her father—what was going on? What had they threatened her with?

No matter what it was, Severus would not stand for it. Whomever it was that was terrorizing his daughter would certainly not find themselves on the more pleasant side of the Potions Master's mood.

And he would find out who it was, of that he was absolutely certain. He would watch Zoe carefully over the next few days or weeks or however long it took, track her every move if he had to in order to figure it out.

He pulled his wand from his robes then, his eyes still on his daughter.

"Accio Zoe's wand," he said.

Zoe looked up at him, stunned, then turned toward the door as a slight whooshing sound came from the corridor beyond. Soon, her wand was speeding toward them across the classroom.

Obviously, the thief wasn't anyone who would think to put any wards around it, Severus thought as he caught the wand in midair.

Zoe immediately went to grab for it, but he pulled it away from her grasp. When she lowered her hand, he held the wand in front of her face and set his daughter with a stern expression in order to demonstrate his next point.

"This is a tool and it is a weapon and it, more than any one thing, distinguishes you as a witch. Your wand allows you to channel and control your abilities and should therefore be protected as if it is a part of you—because it is, very much, a part of you. I do not ever want to find out that you have allowed it to be taken from you again unless it is in a fair and justifiable duel. I shall be very disappointed if you do."

"Yes, sir," Zoe said softly.

Severus considered his daughter again. Though she was quiet, there was resolve to her tone and intensity in her suddenly dark blue eyes so he handed her wand to her. She quickly took it from him and examined it.

"Now, if you can demonstrate the ability to perform the day's lesson, I just may consider giving you partial credit."

Zoe's eyes found his once more and she nodded. "Locomotor Wibbly," she pronounced immediately, jabbing her wand towards him as he had showed the class.

Right away Severus felt as if all the musculature had been removed from the skeletal frame of his legs and he actually had to grip the edge of his desk in order to keep from sliding out of his chair; she had performed the spell better than most O.W.L. students.

"Finite," she murmured then.

Once his legs had been restored to their normal state, he sat up a bit straighter in his chair and cleared his throat.

"Full marks, I think, Miss Agnew… And… fifteen points to Slytherin for displaying exceptional aptitude for the Jelly-Legs Jinx."

"Thank you, Papa," she whispered, smiling weakly. She was still obviously ashamed by this entire ordeal and unable to properly revel in her vastly superior jinxing ability.

"Come to my office," Severus said then, rising from his chair. "We'll have some tea and I will show you a couple of simple spells to keep this from happening again."

Zoe lifted hopeful eyes to meet his. "Really?"

Severus smirked and proceeded toward his office door with his daughter following right behind him.

Before Zoe had exited his office following their impromptu, private Defense lesson, Severus had tried, once more, to get something out of his daughter regarding the encounter that had left her wandless.

"I wish for you to feel comfortable enough to tell me if you are having difficulties with your schoolmates," he had said, sitting in his office chair as Zoe stood in front of him, leaning against the edge of his desk.

"I know, Papa," she had said softly, refusing to look at him. "I just can't."

He had let her go to find her friends after that and now he was making his way directly to the office of the Headmistress—his marking could wait. Once at the top of the stairwell, he threw the door open and strode inside.

"Good evening, Severus," Minerva said distractedly, not even looking up from The Daily Prophet laid out before her on the desk. "You know, of all my teachers, you are the only one that walks in unannounced and without even the courtesy of a knock."

Severus ignored the Headmistress's slight admonition, and sat down in the one of the chairs before her.

"However, I'm glad you're here," she continued. "I've just had a meeting with Harry. He's advising extra teachers to chaperone the next Hogsmeade weekend due to the threat of the mass-released Azkaban inmates. I've put you down to supervise The Three Broomsticks with Remus."

Severus sneered. "Potter and his department have completely ignored the threat of these individuals by releasing them and, yet, now they expect us to be on high alert? Seems to me that the Aurors and the Ministry are sending some very mixed messages to the citizenry…"

"So, you're conceding now that there is, in fact, a threat?"

Severus narrowed his eyes at the Headmistress. "I think you're getting hard of hearing in your age, Minerva. I never said they were not a threat. I said I would not entertain rumors of rallies and organization. I only accommodate concrete facts."

Minerva pursed her lips. "You know these releases had little to do with Harry or even Kingsley, Severus. It's the bureaucracy of the Ministry—supposed budget cuts—that is causing this. Harry and Hermione Weasley are doing everything in their power to lobby against it."

Severus waved his hand indifferently. "Keep me informed, if you must, but this is not the matter I came to see you about."

"Oh?" Minerva asked. "What is it?"

"I have reason to believe that Zoe is being bullied," he stated plainly.

That certainly got her attention. She looked at him, concern etched on her face.

"By whom?"

Severus shook his head. "I'm not sure."

Minerva wrinkled her brow. "Then what made you come to this conclusion?"

"She had her wand taken from her. I'm not sure when, though I believe that she went through all her lessons today without it."

Minerva took off her reading glasses and rubbed at her forehead.

"In the last decade, the Heads and I have worked to try to keep bullying at bay, educating students on the dangers of it and administering rather severe consequences to those that participate in it. However, it's been largely on the shoulders of the Heads of Houses to implement policies of enforcement, to arm susceptible students with the knowledge to counteract bullies smartly."

"So, when I discover who is behind this, I can expect to have a reasonable amount of satisfaction in seeing them expelled?"

Minerva pursed her lips and gave herself a moment of silence before addressing his question. "These situations are assessed on an individual basis—and in as unbiased a way as possible. Just because you and I feel very strongly about the victim in this case does not mean we should lose our heads. We will not condemn without all the evidence."

Severus merely sneered at that, but did not comment. He had little patience for sensibility at this point. He just wanted to see justice served.

The Headmistress shook her head. "I never would have imagined that Zoe would become a target; she's so affable and open, kind."

"She's intelligent. That's apparently reason enough," Severus said with disdain. "Zoe is being targeted for her studiousness."

"She isn't that studious, Severus."

Severus shook his head. "It's my childhood all over again."

"No, it's not," Minerva stated. "Zoe has a father who loves her and wishes to protect her. That's much more than you could say for your childhood."

The Headmistress let that statement sink in for a moment, allowing Severus his brooding for only that long.

"What did you do about her wand?" she asked. "Has it been returned to her?"

Severus nodded once. "I summoned it. Then I taught her the spell that will return it to her pocket should it be lost or stolen."

"That's a good one to know."

"I should have taught her it the minute she received her wand…"

"Well, she knows it now. Do you fear that her wand has changed allegiance in all this?"

This was the part that frustrated Severus the most. He just didn't know. If Zoe's wand had been taken from her forcefully, she could very well have lost its loyalty, especially considering the temperament of the core. However, if she had somehow been coaxed into handing it over, she would still stand a chance of keeping it.

"Of course, I fear it. But the girl's being exceptionally tight-lipped about her encounter. She won't talk to me."

"Well, there must be something that is keeping her quiet. I can't imagine she'd keep it from you otherwise. I think with some patience, you could get it out of her, though. In the meantime, I think you need to have a conversation with the students in your house regarding bullying."

The Headmistress's words were something of a command and Severus stood, resolved to do just that within the coming week.

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