----Chapter 10----

The next morning brought the first dreaded potions class of the year. It was even worse than usual because Neville was wearing garlic strung under his robes and smelled like an Italian restaurant. The Gryffindors walked in and were surprised that the Slytherin's didn't immediately start something with them. Harry glanced at the front of the room and saw why. Seladine was sitting at her father's desk, apparently on a large stack of books to be able to see over the top of it. She stared at Draco Malfoy, who was staring back at her. The effect was disconcertingly like Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy shrunk down somewhat. At least that's what Ron whispered. Harry thought Seladine looked more like a basilisk or something. She slowly turned her head and looked at Harry.

"Good morning. I see everyone finally made it in. I was getting worried that you weren't coming." Sela said. She scribbled on a bit of parchment with a quill and then sat it down. Harry looked at Hermione and Ron as if they might have some explanation of why the Potions Master was nowhere to be found. Hermione sighed, and then raised her hand.

"What, Miss..." Sela glanced at the parchment, "Granger?"

"Where is the Potions Master?"

"He's grumpy."

Several of the class giggled quietly.

"But WHERE is he? We already knew that."

"He's grumpy AND he's on his way." Sela amended.

Hermione looked at Harry. Harry mouthed 'No straight answers.' to her. In the end they decided just to sit and wait for Snape to show up. Which was a good idea in the end as not three seconds after they'd seated themselves, Snape swooped into the room. Shockingly he walked straight up to his desk, glared at Sela, then reached down and pulled a book out of her stack causing her to fall off the chair and land on the floor with a mumbled statement.

"What? I couldn't hear you." Severus drawled, flipping through his plans.

"I said "You're Welcome."'

Harry would have almost sworn Snape might have grinned slightly. Before he could get a second opinion, Snape had found what he was looking for and was telling them all to turn to page 435 in their books.

Since she had no book, Sela decided to investigate the rest of the potions lab. She wandered around watching the students as they worked. As she passed by Neville, she stopped and sniffed.

"I think you really ought to lay off the garlic." was the only statement she made to him.

Neville looked as nervous as a long tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. Sela looked at him and he twitched ever so slightly.

"You're making me hungry."

Neville whimpered.

"AND if you don't pay attention to what you're doing you're going to kill someone." Sela reached up and relieved Neville of his knife, which he was holding in a trembling hand. "Either that or you're going to stab yourself. Always hold it point downward toward the table. Gah."

Sela put the knife on the table and walked away. Neville looked as though he might be sick.

"When did she start being the teacher around here? She can't even read yet and she's giving us instructions." Malfoy grumbled to his neighboring Slytherins.

Sela frowned at him. She didn't like Draco. Not one tiny iota.

Sela peered over the edge of the table at Hermione.

"May I borrow your book for a moment? I'll give it right back."

Hermione looked at the book, then back at Sela. She wasn't quite sure what Seladine was going to do with it. She handed the Sixth year potions book to the child.

"Thank you." Sela said, flicking through the pages at random. She meandered her way over to Draco, looked up at him coolly, then using the book as though it were a cricket bat, calmly whacked Draco in the kneecap as hard as she could causing general mayhem and instantaneous trouble for herself. Even as her father went off on her, she didn't seem as though she really cared. He stopped speaking suddenly and stared at her.

"You aren't even listening."

"Yes, I am. Not listening and not caring are two different things."

"I will deal with you later." Severus hissed. The Gryffindors didn't like Seladine's chances. Sela nodded, looked at her feet, then shuffled over to replace the book on Hermione's table.

"And Twenty points from Gryffindor, for allowing your books to be used as a weapon." Severus snapped and turned to deal with Draco, who was sitting on the floor howling about his leg. Sela sat on the floor and stared at Draco contemptuously.

"He's not going to die. He's just a big baby. I bet he wears nappies." She muttered. Severus glared at her, told Crabbe to help Draco to the Infirmary and told the class to get back to work. All went normally until about five minutes before the bell rang.

"Longbottom."

"Yes, sir?"

"Five points from Gryffindor for smelling like a garlic bulb."

Neville whimpered slightly and continued trying to clean up the mess that was his potion. Harry looked across the room at Seladine. The bell rang to let class out and as the students filed out of the room, Severus looked at his daughter.

"Why?"

"Because I could."

"That's not a good reason."

"Because I could and you weren't supposed to take house points..."

"But I can, and I did. Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"I whacked Draco Malfoy in the knee with a sixth year potions book."

"Exactly." Severus stared at the girl. "Why?"

Sela didn't know what to say. "Because he was mean to me?"

"Hrm."

Taking that as a 'wrong answer', Sela tried again. "Because he and the other were talking about my mother."

At this, Severus had to admit she had a point. He'd suspected she'd been trying to hide her grief from everyone, but this confirmed it. His attention was caught by the next thing she said.

"What was that?"

Sela looked up at him, "I said, 'and because you don't like me.' Why don't you just make me clean the lab or something and get it over with. Why do I have to explain?"

Severus said nothing, just continued to stare at her. It was disconcerting in the very least.

"Tell the truth, Seladine."

"I did!"

"No, you only told half of it."

"I..." Sela looked at her feet, trying to think. He was right.

"I don't know why, but...he's no good. He was like the people who attacked mother." Sela said quietly.

With that admission, Severus leaned back in his chair and smirked. Sela looked up at him, unable to comprehend why he seemed pleased.

"Aren't I in trouble?"

"Oh, you are, don't make any mistake about it."

"Then what do I have to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever I misbehaved at home, mother used to make me do something. Chores and stuff."

Severus contemplated this idea. To Sela's surprise, he suddenly chuckled. It was an odd occurrence, but something about Draco Malfoy getting beaten up by a little girl amused him to no end. Of course, he'd still think of something to punish her with, but not right now.

"Can I go with the others?" Sela asked suddenly.

"The only thing you could do is take up space and annoy the oth-" Severus stopped and considered this new angle. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. That idiot Longbottom probably thought he was safe with that half ton of garlic he was wearing. Not to mention Potter seemed disturbed by Sela for some reason or another.

"Alright. You can go." No sooner had Severus said so, than Sela was through the door and down the hallway. He smirked. A five year old attacking Draco Malfoy. He wondered what that would do to the Malfoy family's reputation. Nothing good, he imagined.