Chapter Seven
Malfoy the Younger had detention too, so they go up to the meeting place together in strained silence. They didn't interact often what with being in different years, but the few times they did made her certain of two things. One, she didn't like him much, and two he really didn't like her. For her, it was his egotistical attitude. For him, it was her family name. They operated on the unspoken agreement that she occasionally let him talk shit about her brother when she wasn't around and in return he didn't disrespect her in front of their Housemates by talking shit about her. Not only it would be embarrassing for her to have a rivalry with a firstie, but she also happened to like Malfoy the Older and he'd be obligated to fight on his cousin's side if they started anything between each other.
Sometimes, Dahlia regretted being sorted into Slytherin with all its politicking, but then she'd remember why she was ready to beg the Hat to put her there after one ride on the Hogwarts Express where she got to know a few of the older students.
Hufflepuffs were naïve optimists who loved talking about feelings – eugh. And that cheerful smiling. All the bloody time, nonstop. Even when they were angry. It actually gets quite scary after a while. Made you think that their smiles were hiding something other than tooth-rotting kindness. If somebody told her the badgers were planning on taking over the world, she'd believe them, no questions asked.
Ravenclaws were introverted nerds who loved to debate. Don't get her wrong, she loves debating too – they do plenty of that in the Pit – but Ravenclaws? They took it to a whole other level. And their obsessiveness! Once they got hooked on something they became tiny Frankensteins. The scientist. Not the monster. There is a lot of mad cackling involved. Especially when they haven't slept in a couple of days because they are trying to keep up with their schoolwork while also completing their experiments. She enjoys reading and likes to think she's smart, but unfortunately, due to waves in the general direction of Kyle who's out after curfew and muttering something to himself while peering intently at a blank wall with a pile of parchment around him that, Ravenclaw's a hard pass for her.
Gryffindors were… Gryffindors. Enough said.
So yeah, give her selfish, scheming, manipulative, racist, and egoistic little brats who'd like to murder her in her sleep any day over the rest of the crazies that called Hogwarts their school. Since she was just as selfish, scheming, and manipulative as them, she knew how to deal with them.
Filch was already waiting for them in the Entrance Hall and Dahlia sniffs, irked by his presence. Sure, she understood he was a Squib who Dumbledore had taken pity on, but c'mon, man. In the first place, his position as Hogwarts' Caretaker was completely redundant. How was he singlehandedly supposed to oversee the entire school's cleanliness and hygiene without magic? The house-elves did their job perfectly without an overseer so he really was only in charge of patrolling corridors for students out of bed after hours or in forbidden areas, putting students in detention, doing jobs that the Headmaster required, and investigating contraband such as Dungbombs – all things teachers or prefects could easily do instead. The last of his responsibilities; security for Hogsmeade trips, mail, and people entering and leaving the castle should have been left to someone actually capable of detecting harmful spells. He wasn't needed for the school to continue running smoothly. Nevertheless, she could have ignored all of that, if not for her biggest problem with the man; he should have never been let anywhere close to magical children what with him resenting the students for being able to use magic and hoping for corporal punishment to be allowed again. Honestly, she wholeheartedly believed he would have been happier amidst muggles.
Soon enough, they are joined by an irritated Harry – Goodness, has he still not forgiven her? This was getting out of hand. – Hermione and Longbottom, and her stomach swoops unpleasantly as something tickles her mind. Was this something else she had forgotten?
"Follow me," Filch said, lighting a lamp and leading them outside. Her palms begin to sweat and she nervously rubs her hands together. This wasn't normal detention procedure. Outside? So late after curfew? On a school night? "I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" He continued, leering meanly at them. "Oh yes … hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me … It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out … hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well-oiled in case they're ever needed … Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do."
She shivers in disgust. Sadist.
They march off across the dark grounds in, as she began to understand with vague horror, the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Longbottom kept sniffling and Harry looked ill. Unbidden, her gaze travels up to the sky and she almost moans with relief when she spots the decidedly not full moon. Ahead, the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut draw closer.
"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started." The half-giant calls. In the dark distance, he looked to be as tall as a normal human, though she knew from previous meetings with the half-man that he was as tall as the books had made him out to be and his beard even wilder.
"I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy – it's into the Forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece." Filch tells Harry when he looks relieved at the sound of his friend's voice.
Malfoy the Younger stops dead in his tracks and she almost walks into him, distracted by her own distress.
"No. Absolutely not." She whispers at the final confirmation of their destination. Until then, she'd been holding out hope it was all some kind of mistake.
"The Forest?" Malfoy the Younger repeated and steps back to hide behind her. She would have been flattered in any other situation. The boy had correctly identified her as the most likely to successfully protect him in their little group if they were attacked. "We can't go in there at night – there's all sorts of things in there – werewolves, I heard."
On full moons. Which today it wasn't. Thank fuck. And she knew there had been at least one in the past because Lupin.
"That's your lookout, isn't it?" Filch says, his voice cracking with glee and she hates him a little for it. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"
Hagrid came striding towards them out of the dark, a giant dog at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder. His wand/umbrella was nowhere in sight.
"Abou' time," He rumbled. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione?"
"I wouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," Filch scolded him coldly, "they're here to be punished, after all."
"That's why yer late, is it?" Hagrid frowns at Filch. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."
"I'll be back at dawn," Filch announces and then adds nastily, "for what's left of them." He turned and started back towards the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.
"I'm not going in that Forest," Malfoy the Younger announces immediately.
"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," Hagrid says fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it."
"No. He's right." Dahlia addresses someone for the first time since she had left the Pit. "We're not going into the Forest. Forget it." Never mind the usual dangers of that place, with the combined Potter luck of both her and Harry, it would be a complete disaster.
"Yeh'll go or yeh'll be expelled," Hagrid warns the two of them, then seemingly dismisses them, turning back to his favorite lions. "Now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
The half-giant led them to the very edge of the Forest and she cautiously follows, Malfoy the Younger plastered to her side like a limpet. "What are you doing?" He hisses at her.
"I want to know what they want us to do in the Forbidden Forest at night for detention of all things." She whispers back. "Don't worry, we're definitely not going inside."
Like fuck is she going inside.
Holding his lamp up high, Hagrid pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. "Look there," Hagrid says, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff?"
"Don't tell me!" She gasps inaudibly, eyes wide with shock, recognizing it from that one glimpse she had of the liquid in a Knockturn Alley shop.
"That's unicorn blood." Hagrid continues. "There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna split an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."
Aaand that was enough for her. She might not remember what happened in the original timeline, but like hell, she was letting the lion firsties follow the absolute moron into the Forest.
"Granger," She says because the girl was supposed to be smart. "what is the name of the forest?"
"The Forbidden Forest?" Hermione furrows her eyebrows at the unexpected and strange question. "It's also called the Dark Forest."
Her stiff smile spreads. "And why is it called the Forbidden Forest?" She prompts.
"Because… because it's dangerous?" The girl pronounces slowly. "And we're not allowed in there?"
"Exactly." Dahlia nods with a projected calm she was not feeling. "So, all of you, please back away there." The Gryffindors exchange glances. "Do you really think you'll be able to fight off an Acromantula if one attacks?" She pleads with an edge of desperation in her voice. "And what if you really do stumble upon whatever is killing the unicorns? Such an act curses you for life. It's bound to be very, very Dark to even seriously contemplate doing it, let alone actually do it. Do you know any offensive skills other than the usual prank spells? Trying to run away may not save you."
"What's an Acromantula?" Hermione asks, because of fucking course that's what would catch her interest.
"Do you know who Shelob is?" She inquires in return and to her great delight, the girl pales. "That's right," Dahlia continues with relish. "Acromantulas are somewhat similar and the place is infested with hundreds of them."
When Hermione takes several hurried steps away from the edge of the tree-line, Harry and Longbottom follow, albeit looking a little confused.
"Now, wait a sec." Hagrid protests. "They won't hurt yeh."
She ignores him. "Go back to your dorms." She tells the Gryffindors. "I'll deal with this, alright? I promise you won't be expelled."
"But –" Harry begins.
"Harry, your sister is right." Hermione interrupts him. "We need to go. If those Acromantulas are anything like I think they are, we do not want to meet one. Think spider. Big, giant spider. Spider the size of a car with very potent venom."
Smart, smart girl who her brother actually listens to.
"They also have a taste for human flesh." She adds to see if that would get them to move a little faster. A hysterical little laugh bubbles in her chest when they do.
"Now, wait a –"
Rudely turning her back to the half-giant, she herds the firsties back up the slope to the castle.
She storms into the fifth-year boy dorm without bothering to knock and starts flinging open the fabric hanging close around the beds while searching for Malfoy the Older, uncaring of the screams of surprise the boys let out.
"Potter, what in the name of Merlin's left wrinkly ball are you doing?!" Someone exclaims in the dark, clutching his blankets to his chest like a maiden. Poor repressed purebloods. Like she'd never seen a pair of male nipples before.
"Malfoy, I need you to write to your Aunt." Dahlia declares to the room. "And your Uncle. And have your friends write their parents."
Another boy hisses angrily. "Can't you do this tomorrow?"
"It is already tomorrow." She tells him.
His pillow wandlessly chucks itself at her. "I meant when the sun is up and the birds are singing!"
"No." She insists. "This needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible."
"Lumos." Malfoy the Older's sleep-disheveled blond hair becomes visible in the light cast by his wand three beds over. "What happened?"
"Tonight's detention would have consisted of four split-up firsties, among them your little cousin, searching for a unicorn killer in the Dark Forest long after curfew with only me – a third-year student – and Hagrid – a third-year expelled student without a wand – as protection." She rattles off serenely.
There is a ringing silence.
"Merlin." Malfoy the Older swears and tumbles out of bed. "Does Professor Snape know?"
"I don't know." She admits and wraps her arms around herself. "I hope not. They threatened to expel us if we didn't go."
"Merlin," Saunders says too. "Who were the other first years?"
"Potter, Longbottom, and Granger." Malfoy the Younger says from where he was loitering at the door.
Malfoy the Older approaches and wraps his blankets around her. Over her shoulder, he glances at his cousin. "Draco, go get Professor Snape. Tell him to bring a Calming Draught."
The kid runs off and she's sat on the closest bed. "I promised them they won't be expelled." Dahlia says. "They can't do this to us, can they?"
"You won't be." Malfoy the Older reassures her. "Dumbledore would never allow your brother to be expelled and it'd look very bad if the rest of you are and he isn't."
Right. Right. She should have thought of that. Must have been the shock. First-years, hunting down unicorn killers. Alone. In the Forbidden Forest. At night. What the hell. This was this height of stupidity. Aurors were in charge of things like that! Grown wizards trained for this shit! Not first-year students!
The other Slytherin prefects are woken, and they join them in the dorm, shooing off Malfoy the Older's dormmates to the Common Room.
Professor Snape comes sweeping in a few minutes later, a dark scowl on his face, and dressed in dark silk pajamas and an open equally dark silk bathrobe. He was barefoot and his hair was gathered in a small tail.
"What happened?" He demands, dropping down to be at her level, and shoving a cup of warm milk into her hands. It was likely to be spiked with the requested Calming Draught. She sips at it anyway.
The prefects quiet down around them, also interested in what could be important enough to wake them up in the middle of the night.
"I had detention tonight for the fight with the Weasley twins today." She recounts again. "Eleven o'clock, Entrance Hall, that's what Professor McGonagall told me."
"That late?" Farley wonders. "That's after curfew on a school day. By the time you were done, it would have been early morning."
"It was a joint detention." She continues. "With Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and my brother. Punishment for that thing with the dragon, I think. We were led by Filch to Hagrid's hut where we were informed we were going into the Forbidden Forest to track down a unicorn killer." Dahlia raises her voice over the sudden outraged clamor. "Hagrid wanted us to spilt-up and threatened us with expulsion if we refused to comply."
"I wouldn't have let them." Professor Snape says in that scary soft tone of voice he sometimes used when he was really angry. "Now, why did you come here?" He asks "Why not to me?"
She shrugs. "Wasn't thinking clearly. I wanted Malfoy to write to his Uncle. And the others to write to their parents too. I wanted the rich and influential adults to be outraged by the type of detention their children could get. I wanted people to fight for my expulsion if it came to that."
The man rises to his feet. "I will be writing to Lucius. The rest of you, start composing to your parents and any other Ministry employee you have connections with."
"Yes, sir." There is an obedient murmur.
She drains her cup.
The next morning, she's approached during breakfast by two Gryffindors, heedless on the glares of the rest of her House. Hermione was clutching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them tightly to her chest and her brother was shifting nervously behind her. Ron was peering anxiously at them from their own House table.
"I've read up on Acromantulas," Hermione tells her haughtily. "There aren't very much like Shelob."
"Why not?" She smiles. "They're all enormous spiders who'd love to eat you."
"Who's Shelob?" Burke asks.
She shrugs, spreading jam on her piece of toast. "Famous fictional man-eating spider."
"I've never heard of it." Warrington comments, putting down his teacup. "What book is it from?"
"She." Professor Snape unexpectedly comments behind her. "And the author was a muggle."
Dahlia chokes, twisting in her seat to stare at the man with wide eyes.
"You know Tolkien, Professor Snape?" Hermione asks eagerly.
"What are you dawdling here for?" He snaps and heads off to the High Table.
Several Slytherin snicker at the girl's dejected expression.
She shakes her head in amusement and contemplates for a second wizard fiction. It, she had found, was severely lacking. They had shitty imaginations. Attempting to pass Tolkien for a wizard would have never worked. He was too original for them. Part of the problem was their unwillingness to consider any other form of magic other than theirs. They'd never write about someone like say, Zatanna Zatara, Harry Dresden, or Nita Callahan. They also didn't seem to know it was possible to write about other worlds. It was always Earth in this century, Earth in that century, never Charn or Discworld or Ga'hoole. And the less said about their sci-fi selection, the better. As a half-blood, it made a lot of sense for Snape to look outside the Wizarding world for good reading material.
"What do you want, Granger, Potter?" Malfoy the Younger sneers.
"Nothing with you, Malfoy." Harry retorts.
"Don't." She pleads, rubbing her forehead. "Don't start an argument this early in the morning."
"We wanted to thank you." Hermione intervenes. "For yesterday."
She waves a careless hand. "No need. This was as much for myself as it was for you. And frankly, I care a lot more about Harry than I care about you."
Hermione was replaceable. Ron was replaceable. If anything happened to them, she – or anyone else really – could take their place in the plot, albeit unhappily. If anything happened to Harry… Well, they were fucked, as simple as that. How did it go again: either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives? Prophecies.
Hermione elbows her brother.
"You should have been nicer to Hagrid." Harry mumbles at the prompt and Hermione's displeased face told her that wasn't what she had wanted him to say.
"Harry," She says delicately, folding her hands in her lap. "as nice as I'm sure Hagrid is, he's not qualified to supervise students in the Forbidden Forest. No," Her tone of voice hardens when he looked about to argue. "no, just listen, alright? His idea to split us up could have gotten one of the groups killed because they would have had no way to protect themselves. If you were attacked by hundreds of giant spiders twice your size and as intelligent as a human at the same time, could you have defended yourself with the spells you know?" Harry shakes his head, though he was evidently doing it grudgingly. She ignores the urge to shout triumphantly. Progress! About damn time. "If the attacked group had indeed managed to send up sparks, by the time Hagrid would have found them it would have more than likely been too late. And even if he did come in time, what could he have done? He can't use magic. His only weapons were a crude crossbow and arrows set. His size isn't everything. Had he had a machine gun and several clips of additional ammo, I might have agreed to go with him." She smiles lightly. "Believe me, I have nothing in particular against Hagrid. I barely know the man." Let's shelf the topic about suitable pets in a school full of children for another day, shall we? They were lucky Norbert(a) hadn't bitten off any stray fingers. "I would also not have minded detention in the Forest if it had been done in daytime, doing something simple like gathering potion ingredients, under the supervision of a real teacher – Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick… Two or three seventh-year students would have worked too. But this? This was severely out of line on part of all the adults who were aware of this." The Slytherins around them, who weren't even trying to hide their eavesdropping, all nod in complete agreement. "I just want what's best for you, Harry." Dahlia gets up to wrap him in an unpracticed and rigid hug. "I'm sorry about Quidditch, but you can always try next year. And I'm sure Hagrid won't be punished too badly." At least, not with Dumbledore protecting him.
Seconds tick by and Harry finally relaxes enough to wrap his own arms around her. "You won't stop me?"
"I promise." She reassures him. "I won't say a word."
They release the hug, and Harry steps away.
As they turn to walk away, she calls out. "Hermione?" The girl turns around. "Thank you for talking sense into my foolish little brother. Keep up the good work."
Hermione flushes pink and hurries away with a skip in her step. Cute.
Now, how much longer can she avoid talking about her hiding magic from Harry? They have just begun reconciliating. She'd hate to ruin it again with another argument. Thank fuck he seemed to have forgotten about it for the moment.
Turning back to her breakfast, she barely manages to take a bite before they are disturbed again. This time by Lucius Malfoy entering the Great Hall, looking as impassive as ever, dressed to the nines and confident, but the hand clutching forcefully at his walking stick betraying his anger.
"Think this is about yesterday's detention too?" James whispers at her as the Chairman of their Board of Governors strides forward into the suddenly much quieter room.
She gives a small nod, suddenly very interested with her bowl. The whole story hadn't been spread yet, but everyone in Slytherin knew something had happened related to her and Malfoy the Younger. She was planning on having a nice long chat with her friends once they had gathered in their usual spot after class.
Lucius Malfoy stops by their table, running his pale gaze over the students, and his son straightens when they pass over him. They pause on her and she lowers her spoon of gruel.
"Miss Potter," He drawls silkily. "I hear I have you to thank for my son's safety."
"It's nothing." She demurs, meeting his grey eyes before her own dart back down to the table. "I haven't done anything another Slytherin wouldn't have done."
"Humph." He says and walks away. Dahlia lets out a trembling breath. How she hated interacting with Death Eaters. Scared her stiff every single time. Unfortunately, with her Housemates, it happened far more often than she'd preferred.
They all watch as the man exchanges several words too low to be overheard with Dumbledore at the High Table before they leave with Snape and McGonagall. She hopes the Board of Governors was called. She hopes this wasn't swept under the table and forgotten.
She'd never realized before how many problems Hogwarts had. In the Muggle world, such a detention would have never been allowed. It was like asking unarmed students to search the nearby woods for a rabid wolf. An adult who would have tried to pull such a stunt would have spent some time in jail.
She doesn't manage to concentrate on her classes the next few days which was not good since the end of the year exams where coming up. Having slept badly the couple of hours she managed to do so each night, and having spent that time tormented by nightmares of her and the firsties being ripped apart by Shelob lookalikes from Peter Jackson's Return of the King movie while Hagrid is being absolutely useless on the sidelines, she kept nodding off in the middle of the lecture. From time to time, Quirrelmort appeared, dripping in silver blood.
Yeah, she had eventually sketchily remembered the original happenings. She'd almost thrown up when she realized Quirrelmort could have been alone with her brother in an isolated location without her intervention. Who knew what would have happened if not for that centaur. Not that she was happy about that either. As unwilling to harm children as their kind usually was, it didn't mean they wouldn't if provoked.
Anyway, due to her nightmares, her Cheering Charm in Charm class turns out to be the opposite whenever she cast it. Professor Flitwick forbid her from practicing on anyone outside the supervision of a teacher who could reverse the violent rage she caused in her partners. In Transfiguration, her Color-Changing Charm always turned pitch black. In Herbology, she accidentally sets fire to her Puffapod. Thankfully, in Potions, Professor Snape takes one look at her and sends her off to take a nap before she killed them all by exploding her cauldron due to inattention.
By the end of the week, she's an exhausted wreck. She's not even sure why she had reacted that poorly. Maybe, she thinks morosely, it was all the stress finally catching up to her. Years of worrying about the Dark Lord and it's the school itself that ends up almost killing Harry the most often.
On Friday, walking to their abandoned wing to meet up with the Nott siblings, she and James accidentally stumble upon an unknown man speaking to Dumbledore in the hallway. Old, but not as old as the Headmaster, he wore a threadbare blue coat despite the heat and he carried an old-fashioned, leather suitcase in his hand. One of the latches flips open and the man absentmindedly closes it. There is a flash of green in his hair. Some kind of living creature with a stick-like body. A bowtruckle? It was rare to see one away from its native tree.
"Blimey!" James gasps and bodily heaves her behind a corner. She strangles a surprised squeak in her throat. "That's Newt Scamander! What's he doing here?"
She cranes her neck in an attempt to see the man's face, but he was standing with his back to them. Which was a pity, she wanted to see how closely he resembled Eddie Redmayne who she had always found cute.
It was something she had noticed previously, people often greatly resembling the actors that had played them in the movies. It wasn't exact, Severus Snape was in reality much younger than Alan Rickman, but there were similarities. For Snape specifically, the best match was the voice, the mannerism, and the way he dressed. It was hot.
The biggest differences were usually the features that had been mentioned in the books and the actors didn't have. Fred and George were shorter and stockier than the Phelps. Harry was smaller than Daniel Radcliffe and had the unforgettable green eyes. Ron was taller and frecklier than Rupert Grint. Hermione was almost Emma Watson's twin copy with bigger teeth while Marcus Flint had normal ones and did not look like he had troll blood.
Interestingly enough, Trelawney reminded her more of Tilda Swinton, one of her favorites. A very Eve from Only Lovers Left Alive Tilda Swinton. Oh, how she loved that movie. A much better love story than Twilight.
She was also strangely excited to meet Bellatrix. According to that one photo of her she'd seen, she really was a lot like Helena Bonham Carter, another of her favorites.
"You're lucky I was still here." The famed Magizoologist was telling the Headmaster who was more of a Michael Gambon than a Richard Harris in a soft, awkward voice. "A couple more days, and I would have been in Africa."
"I'm grateful for your help. Really." The old man sighs heavily. "The house-elves have already prepared rooms for you and your associates. Will you be joining us for dinner in the Great Hall?"
"No, thank you. I think I'd like to go down to the Forest."
"They are probably here for the Acromantulas." James later gushes. According to his mother, he'd been a fan of Newt Scamander even before he could read. "They'll be helping relocate them away from Hogwarts."
"Dumbledore needs to be seen doing something." Kyle nods decidedly. "Did you see the number of owls he had in the last week? Fifty years." He bemoans. "Why did it take him that long do something about the infestation?"
Because Aragog was Hagrid's precious pet? And Dumbledore let the half-giant do whatever he wanted with his monsters even if that apparently meant risking the chance of disobedient students wandering right into the webs of an XXXXX Class Beast? She's genuinely surprised no one had been killed yet. They had gotten very, very fortunate.
"My ears are still ringing from all those Howlers." She grumbles and Ava giggles. Slytherin parents had been very happy to have a legitimate reason to yell at the man. Turned out, a lot of people didn't know why exactly the Forbidden Forest was forbidden because they had been obedient little students. They hadn't been thrilled by the news.
"It was your idea." James points out with a grin.
Dahlia beams back, unrepentant. The spiders weren't big in terms of plot, right? So why not organize a little spring cleaning by incensing overprotective parents? Molly Weasley had an impressive pair of lungs on her.
"But what was Professor McGonagall thinking assigning that detention?" Kyle disappointedly shakes his head.
She shrugs non-committedly, suspecting that either the woman didn't know what Hagrid was planning on having them do, or that it had actually been Dumbledore's orders. The second seemed more likely and it could have been why she had been sent with them instead of being given a separate detention. After the Quidditch incident, Professor McGonagall could have been hoping she'd raise a fuss about this too. It was very Slytherin of her and she couldn't even be mad about it because she'd have flipped out worse if she hadn't been there.
"How can this be the safest place in the world with neighbors like that?" Ava asks quietly.
She laughs bitterly in response. "It isn't."
I don't own Harry Potter. Any text you recognize is Rowling's.