The next morning at breakfast, Harry, Ron, and Hermione received an owl from Hagrid inviting them over for tea that afternoon. It was a bright but chilly Sunday. On the ceiling of the Great Hall, the sun poked out from behind puffy clouds pushed along by a brisk wind.

"Just as well," Ron answered after Harry had finished reading the note. "Don't feel much like practicing Quidditch today."

Hermione looked at him sympathetically but said nothing.

Everyone's injuries from the small-scale riot the day before had healed. Madam Pomfrey had fixed Ginny's collarbone within a couple of hours, and without causing any additional pain. But the rancor between Slytherin and the rest of the Houses wasn't so easily fixed, and the previous night's dinner in the Great Hall had been unusually quiet and tense. Hermione and Harry noticed that the slight depression that had beset Ron prior to the match had now been replaced with anger at Malfoy and, by association, all Slytherins.

At two o'clock that afternoon, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set out for Hagrid's, relieved to have a break from their fellow students, from Quidditch--from anything reminding them of the events of the previous day.

"Hullo!" boomed Hagrid as he ushered them inside his hut. He seemed rather cheerful, a welcome change from the mood of the students inside the castle. Fang barked and jumped up on Harry, licking his ears.

"Down, Fang!" a woman's voice called from the little table. Harry looked over, startled. Sitting there, a cup of tea in her hand, was Professor Green.

"Perseph'ne's just dropped by to talk--we never did get properly caught up since she got here." Hagrid, tending the kettle, turned to the Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were still standing near the door. "Well, sit down then! Everyone'll have a bit o' tea, I 'spect? There's scones on the table."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione smiled and greeted Professor Green, then sat around the little table with her. Harry could see that she was covertly offering Fang half a scone under the table. Fang didn't seem interested.

"You're friends with Hagrid?" Harry asked Professor Green.

"Oh, yes. He's known me ever since I was very small, and we got to be good friends when I was in school here. It's been a while though, hasn't it Hagrid? When was the last time I saw you before September?"

"Oh, well," Hagrid's voice lowered, "I think it was the funeral."

"Oh. Right," Professor Green said, remembering. Her voice lowered, too, and Harry got the impression that she wished she hadn't brought it up.

"Perseph'ne's just been tellin' me how well yer all doin' in her class." Hagrid brought the kettle over to the table and sat down.

Professor Green refilled her teacup. "Chamomile, my favorite!" she said happily. She drank from her cup, and then spoke. "Yes, I've told him how hard you're all working. And he's been telling me how you're getting on with that Streeler out back."

"Oh," Hagrid put in sadly, "but he won't be with us fer long. I gotta give 'im back to Mister Fletcher. He was only on loan. But our next project," he winked at the three students, "that'll be a fun one, I promise!"

Hagrid reached down to pet Fang while Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged worried glances. Professor Green saw their faces. She chuckled to herself, but didn't speak.

"Were you both at the match yesterday?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yes," responded Professor Green. "I had to Stun--what was it, Hagrid? Four students?"

Hagrid nodded. "Never seen anything like that," he added. "At least, not since the days o' You-Know-Who."

"Malfoy," Ron muttered, more to himself than to the others. "And those Slytherins. I really hate them." He looked up at Hagrid and Professor Green earnestly. His eyes were glistened with anger. "I mean it. They're all filthy worms. Never met a Slytherin I liked."

Professor Green was taken aback. "Oh," she answered tentatively. After a pause she added, "that's too bad. I had rather hoped you liked me."

Ron started. Harry and Hermione stared at Professor Green, mouths open.

"You? But you weren't! You couldn't be! I--we--we didn't know!" Ron sputtered.

Professor Green smiled and shook her head. "I thought you knew! I figured your father would have told you." But she could see the surprise in their faces. "Yes, I was. I was a Slytherin in my time here."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at her incredulously. "You were a Slytherin," Hermione said, as though trying to convince herself. "But how--I mean, you don't exactly seem the type, do you?"

Professor Green laughed out loud at this, as did Hagrid. "I'll take that as a compliment, Hermione." She stopped laughing and nodded pensively. "Well, I suppose I should explain then, shouldn't I?"

She drank deeply from her teacup and closed her eyes for a few seconds. Then she opened them, and began.

"My mother's illness came on her very suddenly. One day she was fine, and the next, she could barely walk. My father and my grandfather--" she smiled at them, "Professor Dumbledore to you--they did everything they could. But there are some things that even the most powerful wizard in the world cannot cure. She wasn't sick very long before she died. I was nine years old.

"My mother and I had been very close, you understand. When she died, I became angry. At her, for leaving me; at my father, for letting her ... at everyone and everything. It didn't make sense, I know, but emotion rarely obeys reason." She stared at the wall over their heads as she spoke. Her eyes took on the faraway look of a person lost in remembering something. "Really, I was devastated. It was as though my world had collapsed around me. To have someone you care for so much taken from you," she looked down into her teacup, then up at them. "It was very painful.

"Then, I had a revelation. I determined that caring for her had been a mistake. After all, if I hadn't cared about my mother, I wouldn't have been so hurt by her death, would I? And I made a decision. I resolved that, from then on, I would care for nothing and no one but myself.

"I withdrew from my family, from my friends. I became ambitious- the only thing I cared about was becoming a powerful witch. I thought that would make me happy." She smiled a wry sort of half-smile. "Power and status. They became my focus. My goal.

"When I was eleven, I came to Hogwarts, of course. I'm not sure what I expected the Sorting Hat to tell me. I reckon I assumed it would put me in Ravenclaw, just as it had done with generations of Clearwaters before me. The Clearwaters have been Ravenclaws as far back as anyone can remember.

"But of course, the Sorting Hat knew me better than I knew myself, and it put me in Slytherin. I can still remember the hush that came over the Great Hall when it did. Do you remember, Hagrid?" she asked, turning to him. He smiled and nodded.

She continued. "You see, my family was well-known. And everyone knew I was Professor Dumbledore's granddaughter. This was shortly after the name of Lord Voldemort entered the public consciousness." Hagrid and Ron flinched as she said the name. "Sorry," she told them. "Anyway, it was widely known that he had been a Slytherin, along with most of his followers. There was a lot of talk about the fact that Albus Dumbledore's granddaughter had been Sorted into Slytherin, I can tell you. People weren't sure what to make of it.

"I was certain that I had disappointed my family. Mind you, my father never told me so, and now, looking back, I'm sure he never thought so. But at the time, I was certain that he was ashamed of me. Well, that's fine, I told myself, I don't care anyway. It just made me all the more determined not to care about anyone else, and especially about what they thought of me.

"When I was in my third year here, my father remarried. I wasn't happy about it, even though my stepmother was always very kind to me. I didn't want another mother. I just grew angrier, more self-centered, and more ambitious. I focused on my studies, determined to become as powerful as possibley.

"Wow," whispered Hermione. "But you're not like that now. What happened?"

Professor Green smiled again. "Two things. First, when I was fifteen, my little sister was born. Penelope." She closed her eyes and laughed quietly to herself. "She was the cutest thing you ever saw! That little face, those tiny hands and feet! And the curly brown hair, just like her mother's." Professor Green shook her head. "Oh, I tried not to care about her. Tried very hard. Told myself that she didn't mean anything to me." She sighed. "But I couldn't help but love her. She was my sister, after all.

"But that in itself didn't change me. Alright, I thought to myself, one person, I can care about this one person, that's all. No one else matters to me. And I went on like that for a little while.

"But then I met a very odd Hufflepuff boy named Demetrius Green. And he did something I thought very rude at the time."

"What?" asked Ron.

Professor Green looked down at the table and smiled sheepishly. A hint of pink appeared on her cheeks. "He fell in love with me." She began to laugh to herself, a low, quiet laugh, full of warmth. "God only knows why, or what he saw in me. I was a selfish little thing--smart, but not much to look at, that's for sure. But he fell in love with me, just the same." She looked up from the table at them. "Later I would ask him why. Why he liked me, what made him notice me in the first place. But he would never answer--he would just laugh. I remember, it used to drive me batty.

"Of course, I didn't want a boyfriend. That was the last thing in the world I wanted! And I told him so. Oh, I was so mean to him! I must have told him to take a hike in a million different ways." Her eyes were wide, incredulous. "But he never did listen. He was always there, wherever I was--in the corridors, in the Great Hall, on the lawn, around the lake- followed me around constantly, trying to talk to me. Irritated me to no end!"

Harry was reminded of Colin Creevey. Professor Green sipped her tea. "Of course, I had no choice. There's no way I could've avoided falling in love with someone like that. And, in the end, I did."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were utterly perplexed. Professor Green grinned at them. "But you don't know what I'm talking about, do you? Well, don't worry, you will."

"Hold on a second," Hermione cut in. "What changed? I mean, how did you go from telling him to leave you alone to ... marrying him?"

"That's a good question." Professor Green paused thoughtfully. "I guess it was the night of the fight. Yes, I think that was it. This was just after the McKinnons were killed, and Margie McKinnon was a Gryffindor fifth-year then." She sighed, picked up her teacup and swirled it around in little circles. "I was unlucky enough to be found in the company of Oscar Travers and a few other Slytherins, walking back late from a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw that night. See, Oscar was the son of the Death Eater suspected of the McKinnons' murders."

She turned to Ron. "You may find this difficult to believe, Ron, but it was very tough to be a Slytherin back then. We were the social outcasts. Everyone was afraid of Vol--of the Dark Lord, and they were looking for someone to blame, someone to let their fears and frustrations out on. At Hogwarts, the Slytherins were their targets.

"That night, after that Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, we were ambushed by a gang of Gryffindors. Mostly they just wanted to beat Oscar, but they didn't hesitate to throw a few kicks and punches at the rest of us, either."

Ron gasped. "Gryffindors did that?"

Professor Green shot him the same probing look that she had given Harry in her office after his run. "You'd be surprised what people will do when they're afraid, and they're angry." Ron just stared back at her in disbelief.

"Anyway, we were outnumbered. I remember a couple of girls hitting me, and then, from out of nowhere, there he was. Demetrius. He got in the way--and caught a few blows, too, before those girls realized they were hitting a Prefect! Harry, your parents were there," she said, nodding at Harry. "They were Head Boy and Girl that year, I remember. I guess someone saw what was happening. They came down from the castle, along with Demetrius, and they broke it up. Took us all up to the hospital wing. I'll never forget it.

"I couldn't believe anyone would go to any trouble for a gang of Slytherins. Would have expected them to just leave us alone, pretend they hadn't seen anything. But they didn't.

"That's when I realized two things. One: that Demetrius was serious, he was for real. And two: that power and status were not going to make me happy. Not if I was cut off from everyone. I realized that, even if I became the most powerful witch in the world, if I didn't care enough to use my power to help anyone, it would be meaningless."

She looked down at her teacup again, and paused. "Demetrius taught me that. He taught me that there was more to life than power. That our lives should be defined by how we value people, not by how we can control them. Does that make any sense?" She peered across the table at them, narrowing her green eyes. Harry thought he was beginning to understand. Ron and Hermione nodded slowly.

When Professor Green spoke again, it was very quietly. "He saw something in me that I didn't know was there--something of value, completely independent of my talents, or my abilities, or my intelligence. I'll tell you kids the truth: he turned me back from the Dark Side. And ever since, I wanted to do the same for others. People who are like I was, once."

No one said anything more for a long time. They simply sat around the table, drinking their tea. Through the back window they watched the Streeler in the pumpkin patch, changing from a light salmon color to a deep royal blue.