AUTHOR'S NOTE Wow…last update 2/20? *hangs head in shame* I'm SO sorry for the delay…one of my betas lives far away and she's been really busy and all. But here you go! And Oliver is a little out of character, but I am fully aware of this. Oh well.

And totally off-topic…the RED SOX WON TODAY! Go Sox =D

DISCLAIMER I sound like a broken record, I'm sure. I don't the HP characters, cept Michelle and her family, Miranda, and now Cassandra. New character, yay!

"You look so much better," Oliver commented as he set down the vase of flowers Diana had sent him with.

"Thanks!" Michelle said with a grin. Her sister or Oliver visited her everyday, as did the twins. Most of the time they'd come together, but George still came alone sometimes. As she recovered, Percy came less and less, but Seamus replaced his visiting time.

Michelle found it relatively amusing that the only people who cared enough about her to continue to visit were Gryffindors. Not even Professor Snape, head of her house, had come after that first time to make sure she was still alive. 'Although,' she mused, 'I doubt he cares about anyone that much. 'Cept maybe Malfoy.'

Thinking about Draco still hurt. She kept remembering the few good parts of their relationship and that then reminded her of the bad. She had devoted almost a whole school year to him and making him happy. What had he given her in return?

Abuse. Pain. Emotional torment. He had put her through hell.

And that last day. He found her one weakness: her mother. That had given him the weapon he needed against her.

She could still hear his voice. "You're nothing but a filthy little Mudblood. Petrificus Totalis." The scene had been playing itself over and over again as nightmares for the past few nights.

Oliver seemed to notice the sudden change in her mood. He pulled a chair up beside her bed. "I know it's been hard. But nothing else will happen to you. We won't let it!"

But that wasn't it. Something else was maddeningly on her mind. "Oliver, am I a mudblood?" she asked quietly.

He just looked at her in shock. "Why would you ever think that?" he asked her. "Michelle, don't ever use that word to describe yourself! Or anyone!"

"But am I?" she pressed.

"No!" Oliver took the girl's hand. "Your mother is a Muggle, that's true. But your father is a Wizard. That word is used against witches and wizards born of two Muggle parents. You're a half-blood, but it doesn't even matter!"

"Oh." Michelle was comprehending. She wasn't a Mudblood! That horrible, awful word didn't apply to her!

"Michelle, who called you that?" Oliver asked. She just looked at him and he nodded. "Malfoy."

"He found out my mother was a Muggle. And he called me…that word right before…" Michelle trailed off, looking out the big windows by her bed. "All I knew was that it was the worst name you could call someone, but I thought it applied to everyone with a Muggle parent. I thought it applied to me.

"It doesn't apply to you or anyone," Oliver said firmly.

Michelle nodded to show her understanding. "What are you?" she asked curiously.

"Both my parents are magic, so I guess pure-blood." He looked her straight in the eye. "But Michelle, listen to me. The sooner you start thinking outside of labels, the easier life will be for you in the end."

Michelle nodded again. "I'll try."

Oliver smiled at her and patted her arm. "Good." He stood up. "I have to go – practice." He grinned. "First warm days of the year!"

She giggled. "Bye Oliver! Thank you."

"Anytime."

After he was gone, she was left alone. Usually this would be her chance to brood over everything that had happened. But all of a sudden, she realized that there was little left to brood about.

The sun seemed brighter outside her window. Michelle felt herself grinning and stared out the window, watching the birds. Spring had finally come.

*****

Within the first ten minutes of History of Magic, Michelle had dozed off. She'd been back in class for a week and the bright spring sunshine pouring in the windows made her want more than anything to be outside. Classes, therefore, crawled along incredibly slow.

Spring was in full season. Michelle felt cheated in a way, as she'd been in the hospital for the first warm days of the year. She wished she could be outside in the sun instead of listening to her spectral professor drone on and on.

It being the middle of April and the school year almost over, Professor Binns had finally started teaching cotemporary history. According to her sister, the wins, and everyone else she knew, they were lucky he'd stopped talking about those damn Goblin Revolutions at all. Of course, Dark Wizards who'd wreaked havoc on the Muggle world weren't much more interesting.

In her half-asleep state, Michelle let her mind wander to the rest of her day. Fred and George were supposed to meet her in the quad for lunch before practice. Diana was going to help her with her potions homework, as her split with Draco had caused her to fall out of Professor Snape's favor.

She'd fallen out of favor with all of the Slytherins. It was painful to sit at the end of the Slytherin table alone. It was lonely to live with four roommates who treated her like thin air. She had real friends in Gryffindor, as ironic as that was, but her kitten Moona was the only one to comfort her at night.

Even in History of Magic, Michelle was alone. The students were seated at tables for two, but after Madam Pomfrey released her, Michelle found that her seat next to Miranda was no longer hers. Instead, she found an empty table in the back of the room away from the Slytherins and the Ravenclaws in the class as well. 'They wouldn't want to sit with a Slytherin,' she'd thought.

"Hey!" someone whispered, breaking through Michelle's drowsy daze. "Wake up!"

"Huh?" Michelle asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes. She was surprised to see a first-year Ravenclaw girl sitting beside her at the table.

The girl smiled. "I hope you don't mind that I moved over. Just, Professor Binns was giving you a strange look."

Michelle looked at the professor ghost who droned softly on. "Rasputin never bothered to keep his magic a secret and when the Russian Muggles tried three times unsuccessfully to kill him, they became very suspicious. What Muggles aren't aware of, however, is that Rasputin was only using Alexandra to get to her daughter. Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the Czar and Czarina, was a fledging witch. Rasputin's goal was to train the child himself and mould her into his dark apprentice."

Michelle sighed. "Thanks," she said to the Ravenclaw.

The other girl nodded. "I'm Cassandra, by the way. Cassandra Fremantle."

"I'm Michelle." She shook Cassandra's hand and smiled. "But are you sure your housemates would want you talking to a Slytherin?"

Cassandra shrugged. "They won't care. Besides, you're the girl who broke up with Draco Malfoy! No one that I know in any house has the guts to do that!"

Pain mixed with pride washed over Michelle at the mention of Draco. But she only forced a smile. "It wasn't anything really."

Thankfully, Cassandra dropped the subject. "You don't seem like a Slytherin," she said thoughtfully. "You're nice."

"Thanks!" Michelle said. "My…" She glanced around and dropped her voice so that it was sure no Slytherin would overhear. "My sister and all of my friends are in Gryffindor. So was my father."

"So you're a House paradox," Cassandra commented. "Why'd you lower your voice?"

"My housemates don't exactly know about my family. All they know is that…"

Cassandra waited for a minute. "Is that what?"

"Is that my mother's a Muggle," Michelle admitted, eyes downcast.

"So you get to do Muggle things a lot?" Cassandra sounded excited.

"Yeah," Michelle replied hesitantly. Excited about Muggles?

"My mum's a Muggle-born," Cassandra explained. "My Grandma and Grandpa used to take me to movies and Muggle museums all the time! Now that they're older, we don't go as much, but I used to have so much fun!"

'Wow,' Michelle thought. 'This girl likes Muggle stuff!' "Have you ever played Monopoly?" she asked. Cassandra nodded and the two were off and running.

Before they knew it, class was over. Cassandra got up to follow her classmates out. "It's been forever since I played Monopoly!" she said. "I can have my grandma mail it to my parents, then they can owl it up. Do you want to play sometime?"

Nodding vigorously, Michelle smiled. "I'll see you later!"

"Bye!" Cassandra waved and ran to catch up with the other Ravenclaws. The Slytherins had all left already but Michelle didn't care. She'd found a new friend, one who seemed a lot like her, and it was nice.

Sinfulz I'm so glad that you're enjoying it!

Galadwen Maiden of Light, right? (Your author name) And lol, the Malfoys won't be killed…I'm trying not AU it that much. But by Book Five I was ready to string Malfoy up by his toenails and beat him with a broomstick. (Yay for imagery!)

Animefanfic 0 7 Yeah, sorry about that. I was trying something new on Microsoft Word and it didn't work out like I planned. But I fixed all that…what happened was all the crappy writing I was fixing didn't get erased and the new writing just got placed around it. But it's fixed now and I won't be experimenting again, lol. Hope you enjoy and thanks for the heads up before =)