Josie wanted to cry, to sob, to be comforted out of her sadness, but all she felt was rage. By the time she made it to the Head boy and girl dorm, her hair was crackling with her magic and her fingertips were sparking.

She had learnt how to restrain it in the past, using occlumency to contain the magic within the closed off sections of her mind, but now, something in her was egging her on, pressing her to let it go. Free it from the locked portions of her mind and allow it to flow through her body. She knew what Voldemort meant when he said she was powerful. Perhaps he had seen her potential when he looked into her mind in the past? It wasn't that she sought it, she already had it.

She closed her eyes and let go of her restraint. The magic that was sparking, now roared around her like a fire. The light was bright white, and it enveloped her like a cocoon. She was angry at Amycus Carrow for being a lunatic, angry at Snape for allowing the Carrows to enter the castle. She was angry at Neville for not being strong enough to withstand the attack, forcing her to intervene. She was angry at Ron, Lavender and Parvarti for accusing her of having the dark mark and Ron for saying horrible things about her husband.

Most of all though, she was angry at herself. She had allowed people around her to tell her what to do, forever. She had obediently obeyed her parents, Harry, Dumbledore, Snape and even fucking Voldemort. She allowed the people who grew up with her as her closest friends, to accost her treat her like she was worthless, despite her just saving one of their lives. She was also angry at the way in which she had tried so hard to restrain herself and her magic, ever since it had presented itself in its current form. She knew years ago that she was something different. She had something more than others. She hadn't known anyone who could perform wandless magic the way she could. Well, apart from Voldemort of course. She had been terrified that, upon giving some of her magic to her mother, that her powers would have diminished, but upon fully recovering, Josie felt far stronger than she ever had.

She stopped pacing and looked around her. The room was lit up from her magic and initially, it scared her. She pulled it back and dew it back in before sitting on the sofa and placing her head in her hands.

Her rage was subsiding slowly as she took some deep breaths. There was no use allowing all these things the opportunity to get the better of her. Within hours, she knew word would be all across the castle about whatever it was she did in class and she would have to be calm enough to answer them.

It was times like this when she desperately missed her friends.

Hazel would have the perfect retort for every single comment that people made. Now, though, Josie expected that Hazel hated her. SHe shook her head to clear the idiocy out of her mind. SHe agreed with Draco that her friends would undersntad. When all of this was over, she could go to her friends and explain and theyd understand. If they were truly her friends, theyd get it. SHe hoped.

Draco entered the room just as Josie was calm enough to focus. SHe was glad he hadn't seen her cocooned in rage. It might have been too much for him.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, clearly angry.

"I showed him who's boss" she said.

"What does that mean? Josie what did you do?" he asked.

"I turned over my necklace and showed him the mark. I told him where my position is at the table and asked if he would like me to touch the mark" she said casually.

"You can't just…" he began running his fingers through his hair.

"Can't just what? Call out a torturous bully for a year's worth of bullshit?" she asked.

"You-Know-Who wouldn't have given a flying fucking hippogriff about Longbotom and his incompetence. He would have celebrated with that piece of shit when he was dead while the Gryffindors had to clean the blood off the floor" Draco said.

"No way, he likes me. He would have defended me" Josie said.

"Wake up to yourself. You have no idea what he is truly like. He treats you like fucking royalty because you're the golden boy's sister. You're the only way to get to him and he is pulling you in with jewellery, compliments and praise so you'll lead him to victory" Draco said.

"That's ridiculous. I mean, it's true, what he intends, but it's not going to happen. He likes me because I'm different" she said, knowing deep down that Voldemort appreciated her for her intellect and her abilities as well as what she has the potential to accomplish.

"Josie, he doesn't give a fuck. None of that matters. He wants two things. The first is Harry dead and the second is wold fucking domination. You're just as powerful, at age 16, as Bellatrix is in her forties. He will suck you in and hold you close, shower you with gifts and promises and use you all up to make sure that you don't go against him" Draco said.

"That's not…" she began.

"It is though. Josie, look. He already has you wrapped around his little finger. He knows you. He truly knows who you are. Little Josie Potter, always lived in the shadow of her brother, the Boy-Who-Lived. Never miraculous enough to be something on her own, despite surviving the killing curse before even being born, despite being smarter than almost anybody else and entering Hogwarts at age ten. A girl who would run off and get married at 15 to the first boy who looked her way and give up her whole like, family, friends for…." He went on.

"For the first boy who looked my way? Yeah I get it" she said. "Although, someone better let him know that you weren't that boy" she spat, walking to the door that opened with a bang, just as Josie willed it to, leaving him standing alone, dumbfounded.

Josie walked through the castle not caring who watched her as sparks trailed behind her. She had seen in muggle movies that her mother took her to when she was younger, the effect that metal made when it sparked against concrete. This sort of looked like that. Where her feet touched the floor, charred bits of stone were left in her wake.

She was back to fuming mad and her hair was once again sparking at the ends as though the magic that flowed through her was almost too much for her body to contain. She headed for the courtyard for some fresh air in hopes it would calm her. How dare Draco, her husband, the one person who is supposed to be on her side, no matter what, say those things about her. Did he forget about Desmond? If Josie was truly that desperate for someone, she would have stuck with him and been some complete ordinary twat who believed that Draco was the bad guy.

She reached the courtyard and almost sighed in relief before she realised that it was already occupied. The only person she both wanted desperately to see but avoid as well. Hazel Longbottom was sitting in an alcove, straddling the lap of some Ravenclaw that Josie recognised as a studious boy named Steven somebody.

"What the fuck?" Hazel yelled, as Josie rushed through the courtyard in an attempt to get to the next outdoor area.

"As you were" Josie said, trying to hide the sparks that her desperately trying to escape.

"What's going on?" Hazel called after her, removing herself from the boy's lap and chasing after Josie.

"Nothing. I came for some peace and quiet and found the place occupied. I'll move on" she said.

"Josie, wait" Hazel called. Josie kept walking, trying to find an outdoor space where she could be alone with her thoughts.

"Joise… JOSIE… JOSIE POTTER!" Hazel called, causing Josie to stop in her tracks.

"That's not… Its…" she said, certainly sure that her old friend knew she was married and went by a new name.

"I know, I know, you're a Malfoy now" she said. "At least I got you to stop" she added with a grin that could only be Hazel.

"I stopped because I found somewhere that I could be alone" she said.

"No way, you're desperate for everyone to know you're a part of them now" she said.

"That's not at all what I want. Why does everyone keep telling me what I want, who I am, what I'm doing? Why can't people just… just fucking leave me alone?" she said, sitting and finally breaking down into tears.

"Jo, Josie, its ok. I'm sorry, I just… I feel like I'm talking to a stranger" Hazel said.

"I feel like a stranger. You have no idea the things I've done" she said

"If it involves stunning your best friend on the train, then yeah, I know. I woke up as the train was pulling into the station" she said.

"I'm sorry... If I tell you everything… and …. If something happens, I can't trust that the information will stay in your head" Josie said.

"You think someone will use legilimens on me and find out what I know?" she asked.

"That's exactly what I think" Josie said.

"You're crazy" she said.

Josie grabbed the opal that hung around her neck and spun it around, revealing the swirling dark mark.

Hazel backed away, a terrified look in her face. "Well, there you go… Proof that you're not crazy"

"There is far more to this than meets the eye" Josie said.

"How? You're basically branded" she said.

"I'm not who anybody thinks I am. I mean, my relationship with Draco is real and I helped… Well, I've done a lot of things Hazel, but this…" she held the jewel out in front of her face… "this is just a piece of jewellery. But… I can use it for good. I helped Neville today. I stopped him from being tortured by that fucking maniac defence professor. You-Know-Who thinks I'm the best thing since sliced bread… and he doesn't fucking eat the shit. I should know, I sit two seats away from him at the table" Josie was rambling.

"Wait, you've actually met him? In person?" Hazel asked.

"Hazel, I've danced with him. Both at my wedding and at my 16th birthday" she said. "He placed this around my neck personally and told me that all I have to do would be to touch it and he'd come" Josie said.

"Josie… you know who you're talking about, right?" Hazel asked, fear and concern in her eyes.

"Of course. Its You-Know-Who, the Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named… I get it. But really, when you're face to face with him and he likes you, he's actually…..." she was saying.

Hazel slapped Josie fair across the face.

"Stop. Just stop. He personally killed your father. He tried wipe out your whole family. He ordered Draco to take the dark mark under threat of his family's death and forced him to orchestrate the murder of Dumbledore. He's also doing whatever he can to try and kill Harry… Still. Josie, what are you thinking? He is evil. He is walking, talking, breathing fucking evil" Hazel said.

"I just… I know all of that. I do. I am playing the game just as much as the next person and I don't ever forget what he's done… But I can't turn this on and off so easily. I have to truly be in it. I have to let him into my mind, my thoughts. I have to be someone completely different around him" she said.

"It seems… Josie, like… You're not even you anymore. Like… you are actually starting to believe the things he preaches" Hazel said, moving away from her.

"I am playing just as equally for the good side Hazel. And when all this is over and done with, you will see. You'll all see" … she said as she rose from the concrete bench seat they were sitting on… "I may seem deluded now, but it will all make sense. Eventually" she added as she hurried off down some stairs, towards the edge of the forest.

xx

AN This is a small chapter that is supposed to highlight the insane confusion that is going on inside Josie's head. You may read it and think that shes all over the place ... and that's how its supposed to be. She's so caught up in how Voldemort seems to like her that the poor girl, with all her childhood invisibility and daddy issues, can't see that he's keeping her close to manipulate her. And it might be starting to work? Also, she is mighty powerful. I wonder where that comes from?

Also, this is her first fight since she married Draco. How will that work out i wonder?