Walden Macnair approached Draco Malfoy in the dark sitting room, "what do you think of our new recruit?"

Draco grinned menacingly, "Yes, it was very nice of the Ministry to send him to us. I have a feeling young Mr. MacNeill will prove to be worth his weight in gold. He'll distract the Ministry from our true objectives while honestly believing that he is helping them."

"Your plan is brilliant sir, as always," Macnair made a gesture of reverence.

"Stop groveling you fool! We have work to get done; I don't have time for your petty attempts at appeasing me. Now, where was I before you distracted my train of thought?"

"We were discussing our plans concerning our break into Azkaban."

"Ah yes... I want to throw off the Ministry a bit, tell MacNeill that we are going to stage that mission around Christmas. He will then report that back to his superiors and when we carry out our plan next month they will not be ready for us yet."

"An excellent plan as always sir, I will see to it that MacNeill is misinformed."

Harry, Sirius, and Remus headed down towards the quidditch pitch. The Gryffindor team was holding its first practice of the season and they wanted to observe for awhile. Each of them was hoping that Gryffindor would carry off the house cup this year.

"Have they found a new seeker yet?" Sirius asked as they entered the stadium.

Remus nodded, "yes, they're using Nick's little sister, Bridget. Luckily the rest of the team hasn't changed, that's a definite advantage for them."

They watched the practice in silence for awhile. William, Dierna, and Kamen were practicing some new moves, while Nick was discussing a new tactic with Serena and the other team beater, Lena Spencer.

As the practice moved into full swing Harry smiled to himself, remembering the practices from his school days, "I don't think the Gryffindor team has ever had this many girls on it before."

"You're right," Remus grinned, "but all of them are completely fearless up there."

Sirius laughed, "You're right about that Moony, I've never seen a team that's played so hard while still playing fair." His expression turned mischievous, I wonder what team our greasy friend roots for..."

Remus laughed softly, "Just between us, Morgan has assured me that even though he appears to be cheering for Slytherin he really wants Gryffindor to win."

The other men laughed at that observation, but realized that when it came to house loyalties versus children, children would always come first.

So, what are you predictions for the season Moony?" Sirius turned to his closest friend.

"Well, as long as the quidditch season doesn't get canceled, my money is on Gryffindor."

Dierna gently caressed the letter in her hand and a small smile played at her lips. It was Saturday and between homework and procrastinating she had used every opportunity to read the precious letter. It was from Viviane, and it contained a very brief message from Stefan, that he loved her. It felt so good to be loved! Nothing else mattered, well, almost nothing.

She sighed as she and Nick reached her father's office to serve their detentions. Nick playfully pulled on one of her curls, "first weekend back and we already have detention, looks real good for the rest of the year doesn't it?"

"Stop it!" She ducked as he reached to tug on another curl, "you're such a brat sometimes Nick," she stuck her tongue out at him and then grinned when her rolled his eyes at her. If she was going to spend her evening in detention there was no one she'd rather be with than Nick. At least he could keep her entertained. Not that that was going to help her current mood very much.

Dierna sighed as she slid her hand into Nick's.

"What is it doll?" Nick gave her hand a quick squeeze as he leaned down slightly to look at her face.

"I was just missing Stefan. Last year he would always walk me to and from detention. It was silly really, but it always made me feel better."

Nick opened his mouth to respond to that, but was cut off when Severus opened the door to his office and motioned Dierna and Nick inside.

Severus crossed his arms over his chest and looked down darkly at the two teens in front of him, 'I would like to stress the seriousness of your attempt at amusing yourselves in my class yesterday. You could have seriously injured yourselves or others near you. Your actions were incredibly juvenile and hazardous. I will not put up with that type of behavior in my classroom. Is that understood?"

"It won't happen again sir," Nick managed to look somewhat ashamed of himself.

"Mr. Wood, my classroom is in need of some attention. I want it spotless before you leave tonight." Severus indicated an assortment of cleaning supplies, all non-magic, "Adelaide, you will clean my office."

"But I just helped you clean it last week! It doesn't need..." Dierna trailed off. She knew the look she was getting very well and it was not one to be messed with.

Severus glared down at his daughter, "if you are done with your little outburst you can get to work. You are not leaving tonight until it is done to my satisfaction."

Dierna shot Nick a look that conveyed all of her disgust and annoyance with the situation before she started working. Nick headed through the connection door into the potions classroom to get started on his part of the cleaning assignment. The sooner he got started the sooner he could get out of there.

Dierna worked slowly, still brooding over the unfairness of the whole situation. While she was scrubbing down the shelves that lined the walls she noticed that her father was very involved in a project set up on a table next to his desk. Intrigued, she moved closer to the table he was working at and watched silently.

Dierna quickly took in the supplies and ingredients her father was using and recognized them as components of the Wolfsbane potion. She thought quickly and it only took her a few seconds to realize that tomorrow would be a full moon. She took a couple of steps forward to observe more closely; since her father's back was to her he hadn't noticed that she had stopped working.

She was fascinated. She thought that the intricate and immaculately detailed process was beautiful. Not aware of how many minutes were passing she stood there for a long time. She jumped slightly when her father turned around to take another jar off the shelf next to her.

"Get back to work Dierna, I don't want to wait up all night for you to finish this," there was no longer any trace of coldness in his voice.

Dierna hesitated a moment, there were a million questions swimming through her head and she was trying to figured out if her father was in a good enough mood to answer any of them, "Dad, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

Dierna smiled slightly, "Can I ask you several questions?"

"As long as you keep them short and they don't distract you from the work that you are supposed to be doing."

"Could I make the Wolfsbane potion?" She went back to cleaning off the many shelves.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It is far too complicated for you."

She tried a slightly different angle, not wanting to give up completely, "what if you helped me, could I do it then?"

"No."

"But why..."

"Dierna, it would still be too complicated for you. And even if it was not, many of the ingredients are expensive and very rare or very dangerous, I would not let you handle them. Besides, you have not demonstrated to me the dedication and responsibility that are required to make such a complicated potion."

Dierna frowned, "but..."

"Dierna, I need to concentrate on this. We will continue this discussion later," although Severus raised his voice slightly there was no anger in it.

He worked in silence for nearly another hour before finishing the potion. He quickly cleaned up and after giving Dierna and Nick strict instructions to continue working he took the bottled Wolfsbane potion and went in search of Remus.

Severus made his way out of the dungeons and up to Remus' office, which was located close to the Gryffindor tower. Severus knocked on the door of the office, hoping that the other man would be there. He had a great deal that he wished to discuss with him and Severus was visibly relieved when Remus opened the door.

"Severus, thank you for bringing this to me, I was just about to come down and get it."

"Make sure you heat it up properly tomorrow night Lupin. And as for my coming up here, have you heard anything else as to the identification of the death eaters that were in the forest? I know you were present when the officials the Ministry sent met with Minerva this evening."

Remus shook his head, "Minerva tried to get any information out of them that she could, but the Ministry just isn't telling us anything."

"Damn those incompetent fools!" Severus clutched his hand into a tight fist, which he slammed into the wall, "I want to know who is responsible for attacking my daughters."

I'm sorry Severus; I know that Arthur Weasley is doing everything in his power to help with this investigation, however..."

"However, whoever is responsible for attacking my girls has most likely infiltrated the Ministry at various levels. Remus, you're lucky that you don't have children; they add an incredible amount of worry to you life. They are more than worth it, but the level of stress they cause is incredible."

Remus didn't respond as the potions master left the room, he didn't know how to comment on something like that.

As soon as her father was out the door and down the hallway Dierna rushed to the doorway connection her father's office and his classroom, "How's it going in here?"

Nick smiled at her as he made his way across the room, "pretty good. I'm almost done, you?"

Dierna groaned, "It's going to be a very long night."

Nick grinned, "Poor girl," he put an arm around her shoulders as they sat down on the floor next to each other. He decided to change the subject to something that had been bothering him all week, "Has Connor given you any trouble lately?"

"No, you're an excellent deterrent. As long as you're around he doesn't bother me too much."

"I'm glad that I'm so intimidating," Nick once again flashed the grin that made most of the girls at school melt. "I promised Stefan that I wouldn't let any other male student so much as look at you the wrong way and I intend to stick to that promise."

"You're so sweet to me Nick, sometimes..." Dierna grinned mischievously up at him, "now all we need to do is find you a girlfriend."

"There's a slight problem with that."

"What?"

"Every girl that shows interest in me, and I know there are a lot, I compare to you and Serena. And trust me; they all fall incredibly short of my expectations."

"Are you trying to make a pass at me Nicholas Wood?" Dierna fluttered her eyelashes at him and faked a swoon, falling into his lap.

Nick threw back his head and laughed, "Not hardly! I just want someone who has the same passion that you do, but they have to be much sweeter. Honestly Dierna, I don't know why Stefan puts up with you; you're hard on a man."

Dierna jabbed her elbow into his stomach and made a face at him as she sat back up.

"See, that's exactly what I'm talking about," Nick gingerly rubbed his stomach where she had hit him, "that'll probably leave a horrible bruise you little twerp."

Dierna responded by narrowing her eyes at him, "It's your own fault if you bruise easily. I can't always be careful of your delicate condition."

Nick brought his face down very close to Dierna's, "you're in a lot of trouble now, I don't take insults like that very lightly."

"Bring it on; I can take you any day, no problem."

They continued their light banter for some time, their work forgotten, until someone above them cleared their throat causing them to look up guiltily.

"The two of you are down here to be punished, not to socialize. Back to work, now." Severus offered his hand to Dierna to help her up from her position on the floor as Nick scrambled to his feet.

With a hand on her back Severus followed Dierna back into his office. After pouring himself a glass of brandy he settled into his desk chair and started paging through a stack of papers that were waiting to be graded.

"Dad?"

"Hmmm..." Severus sipped his drink, not looking up.

"About our conversation earlier, why exactly won't you let me help with the Wolfsbane potion? Is it because I really can't do it or because you don't want me to?"

Severus leaned back in his chair, quickly forgetting about grading papers, "Dierna, in all honesty you are the most talented student I have. However, you are still far from capable from working on a potion that complicated. I like that you show such a strong interest in it, but you do not possess the skills that are needed."

"Oh..."

Severus saw the disappointed look on his daughter's face and tried to think of something to say that would make her feel better.

Nick looked into the office, "I'm done Professor."

Severus got up from his chair to inspect the classroom. Satisfied with what he saw he let Nick go before heading back into his office where Dierna was still far from being finished. He resumed his seat at his desk after pouring himself another drink; it looked like he was in for a long night.

Dierna kept working, but looked up when she noticed that her father had been intently watching her. She tipped her head to one side, a questioning look on her face, "Why are you watching me like that?"

"I was just trying to figure something out."

"What?"

Severus leaned forward in his chair and set his drink down with a dull thud, "Do you find my class boring?"

Dierna shrugged, "a little."

"Why is it boring to you?"

"I don't know, I guess because it's easy."

Severus frowned, "you think that it is easy and yet you don't apply yourself to the work. I think that if you focused more in class and asked more questions you might be able to challenge yourself a bit more."

Dierna frowned down at the jar she was polishing, "I don't like asking questions during class," her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I've noticed. But, is that just in my class or in all of you classes?"

She sighed and suddenly became very interested in looking at the floor, "just yours."

Severus leaned back with a sigh, reaching for his glass again, "Dierna, you have far too much potential to let me stand in your way. I know that you dislike having me for a teacher, you have made that more than clear to me on many occasions."

Dierna opened her mouth to defend herself, but her father held up a hand to silence her, "let me finish. I understand why you might not like to ask questions during my class, but I wish you would come to me out of class if it bothers you so much."

"Dad, it's just... complicated."

Severus let the silence hang in the air for a long time. He waited until Dierna had the room nearly finished, "I have another project that I'm working on. It is not clear yet if it will be as complicated as the Wolfsbane project, but probably much more important. If you would like to help me with it on the weekends or evenings I would consider giving you extra credit or house points for it, plus, I think that it would be excellent experience for you."

"Really?"

Severus nodded, "you'll have to understand that my orders will have to be followed explicitly. This is not something that can be taken lightly."

Dierna smiled, "I think I can handle that." She brushed he hair out of her eyes as she stood up, "I think I'm finished, can I go now?"

The corner of Severus' mouth twitched in amusement as he surveyed his daughter. She had dirt streaked across one cheek and she looked absolutely exhausted. "Not quite yet, come here." He got up and led Dierna to the sink at the back of his office. He wet a cloth and moved to wipe the dirt off her face.

"Daaaad!!!! Don't do that!" Dierna tried to duck to avoid him.

"Hold still," he allowed himself to smile slightly as he caught her chin in his hand and held her head up while he washed the dirt from her face.

"Why do you insist on treating me like I'm still five?" Dierna frowned up at him.

"Because, you act like you're still five, besides, it's my privilege as your father."

Dierna snorted in disgust at that answer.

"Very lady like," Severus comment dryly, "come on, I'll walk you up to your common room.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking up there by myself."

Severus smiled to himself as he led her out the door, "I'm aware of that, but it is well after curfew. I don't want you to get in trouble for being out so late by yourself. Besides, I'll feel better if I see that you get up there safely, consider it another one of my privileges as your father."

Besides Dierna rolling her eyes at that and making a comment about parents who worry too much they walked in silence to the portrait of the fat lady that guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Severus wrapped an arm around his daughter, "You think that we could avoid having to do this again? As much as I enjoy spending time with you I would rather that it wasn't spent overseeing you in detention."

Dierna hoped that the dim light in the hallway would cover the way that she was blushing over that mild reproof, "I'll try."

"That's all I ask," He pulled her close and brushed a kiss to her forehead, "goodnight bright eyes."

Dierna hugged him back tightly, at times she really hated him for being so overbearing and strict, but he always tried to make up for it, "g'night Dad."