Here is Chapter 4. Most chapters will be from Tania's Point of View, but every once in a while I will change points of view to keep things interesting.

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Tania slid into bed with a grateful sigh. She was so happy to be back at school. Things had gone mostly the way she had expected they would, which was a rare enough thing. It was nice to have no surprises for once. Ok, well, almost no surprises. Tania had been amazed at her own daring, to ask Alexandria Bellmonte if Tania could sit with her on the train. She still couldn't believe she had done it. And even more amazing was the fact that Alex had said yes. She had been able to spend a worry-free trip. Falon would never have dared to do anything in front of a Bellmonte.

And Mr. Zabini, Tania dared to call him Blaise in the quietest corner of her mind. He had been…nice. A older, Slytherin male had been nice. And he hated Falon and said she was pretty. For a brief second, Tania allowed herself to be attracted to Blaise, but crushed that feeling as soon as she identified it. It was stupid to get her hopes up. She was weak, right? Worthless, hopeless. How many times had she heard that? Even if she had the courage to talk to him, he'd be disgusted by her weakness. Better not to dream, even a little.

Tania skipped ahead in her memories to getting to school. She had found Hunter quickly enough and had taken her place in the middle of the Fifth Year guys. Like every time, they ignored her. She liked it that way. She wanted to stay near Hunter, but if they noticed, they'd ask questions and those couldn't be answered. That lead to the second set of surprises. Donavan Baddock, who they called Mark, had looked at her twice. Looked at her, not around her or through her as they normally did. The first time was when she had joined them. He had been frowning, then saw her, and his face cleared. What had he been thinking about? Surely it had been a coincidence that he had stopped frowning when she had come.

Thinking too highly of yourself again. The second time, she could have sworn that he was looking for her. He had looked at the other Third Years, then up and down the table before turning to see her. He had stared for a moment. Tania had kept her eyes locked firmly on the Sorting, but she was acutely aware of his gaze. What did he want? It wasn't lust or anything. She may be sheltered, but she knew what that looked like. But he had noticed her, which was NOT a good thing. Being noticed was one of the worst things that could happen. That only brought questions and pain.

Anyway, he had lost his concentration when his brother was Sorted and he hadn't looked at her again. Hopefully, he never would. She wouldn't tell Hunter, not yet. If he refused to leave her alone, or kept looking, then she'd tell Hunter. No point in making him worry.

"Tania, turn off the light." One of her year-mates called sleepily. Tania sighed, waved her hand over the candle and went to sleep.

That man is absolutely terrifying. Tania thought to herself as she made her way down to lunch. She had just had her first DADA class with Professor 'Constant Vigilance' Moody and was completely unnerved. Most teachers ignored her in class and she never volunteered anything. Not Moody. He had spotted her as soon as class had started and had drawn more attention to her than she had ever had. He kept calling on her, and while she knew the answers, she didn't like the fact that her house-mates had been staring at her.

As if that wasn't enough to deal with, they had started on one of her oh so favorite topics, curses. All that together had pretty much ruined her day. Curses, an important part of the Dark Arts, hit a little too close to home for her. Plus they weren't going to just discuss them, but have live demonstrations. She wasn't sure she could handle watching someone being placed under a curse. At least they weren't covering the Unforgivables this year. That was one small blessing.

"Tani? You ok?" Hunter's voice broke through her thoughts. She turned and smiled at her brother. He quickly joined her, his own school books in his arms and a school bag over one shoulder. With a shift of books, he slid an arm around his younger sister's shoulders.

"I'm alright, Hunt. I just had my first class with Moody." Tania explained as they merged with the other students heading for the Great Hall. Avoiding a group of Ravenclaws, they headed for the Slytherin Table. "He's a scary man." She informed him.

"Like Professor Snape was terrifying when you first saw him?" he asked with a smile. Tania had been absolutely frozen with fear when she saw Snape. He was a harsh man and she was already on overload from being at school for the first time. Since then she had learned that even though he was not nice, he wasn't like her Father.

"No," she shook her head while serving herself, "Snape is different. Moody is…vindictive. He picked on me the whole class."

"What?" Hunter growled, instantly protective. "What'd he do? I'll deal with him." She smiled. Hunter was such a good brother. She didn't deserve such a sibling.

"No," she repeated, "It's not like that. He just saw me in my corner and kept calling on me. I knew all the answers without thinking." For a brief moment Slytherin pride shown on her face. She was the best and she knew it. Just as quickly it was gone again. Only Hunter ever saw these glimpses into the true Slytherin that his sister was.

"Alright, I'll leave him in one piece, for now." he assured her. "At least until I have my first class with him and my boys help me prank him into next year."

"Who are we pranking and why?" Edward Boles slid into a seat across from Hunter. He greedily began to pile his plate with everything vaguely edible within arms reach.

"Hey, Eddie. We're gonna prank Moody. Everyone who's had class with him has said he's horrible. I figure between us we can teach him a few things." Hunter said mildly, handing his friend a goblet of juice.

"Sound fun." Charlie joined the group, snatching the juice and the bread Eddie had in his hand. "Count me in." Eddie glared at the thief and took another piece of roll and a new glass. Tania was enjoying the banter as she ate in silence. The boys didn't know her, but she knew them and liked them a lot. She wished she could find friends like them. Within a few minutes the rest of the boys had shown up and, after a few scuffles over food, settled down to begin plotting against Moody.