A month went by, during which Tammy submitted to the meeting and greeting of the entire house, saved a couple of first years from Malfoy (she only had to look at the blonde and he was gone), and seemed to be relatively happy. This conclusion was shattered one Saturday morning, early, after she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had fallen asleep in the common room (they'd been involved in a heated discussion on whether or not Hippogriffs were classified as an intelligent species or not.) Tammy, having shaken her companions awake, stretched irritably.

"I've got to get outside." She mumbled, hauling a groggy Harry to his feet.

"Out?"

"Yes, out. I can't stay cooped up inside a moment longer. Is there any way I can get outside without breaking any rules? Just on the grounds."

"Yeah. I'll try and talk the doors into letting us out. You'll stay within sight from the castle?"

"Mmhm. You go negotiate with the doors, and I have to change. If it'll help, tell them that I'll give them a good polishing tonight if they cooperate."

"Got it. Be quick in getting downstairs."

/Ten minutes later/ "Okay. Will they let me out?"

"Yeah. Come on." Harry wasn't exactly sure why Tammy wanted out, but he followed her out, with Hermione and Ron, who had followed Tammy out, in tow. Tammy moved out into the center of the wide grassy lawn, and took off her jacket. Harry was impressed. Really, due to the drape of the school robes and Tammy's love of extremely baggy pajama's, Harry didn't actually know how Tammy was built. Tall and slender, yes, but not whether it was an athletic type of slender, or a starved, anorexic stick figure kind of skinny. Definitely the first one. Tammy pulled her wand out of the jacket, put a mark of silver sparks where she was standing, then neatly traced a large square out on the grass, with her first mark as a center. This done, she handed Harry her jacket (wand is back in the pocket) plunked a water bottle down on the grass by Harry's feet, and headed back for her center mark. The outfit she wore was interesting; a long-sleeved and legged leotard of midnight-black, high necked, with a swirl of green, purple, and blue streaks over all. She was barefoot.

"Hey, Ron. What's she doing?" Seamus had followed them out.

"I dunno, but I think you should stay quiet." Seamus obeyed.

Tammy turned so that she was facing east, and the rising sun. She raised her hands over her head, arms crossed at the wrists. The watchers could hear her whispering something under her breath. More students of differing houses and years drifted out to see what was going on. A respectful silence fell over them.

"One…two…GO!" By the time her audience was able to understand what was going on, Tammy was off in a whirl of color. She spun, flipped, bent, swayed, and leaped, all while remaining firmly within the bounds of her square. Later, after she was finished, some of the watchers would say that that thought they could hear a soft humming from the square, an enchanting melody that Tammy kept step with. Then, she slowed. In the west corner, right in front of the other students, she bent over backward, hands on the grass, then pulled her feet up into the air, and over, into a split. Another change in speed. She snapped up again, and leaped into the air, coming to a perfect landing in the spot in the center of the square. Her audience went wild, clapping and cheering. It was only then that Tammy realized how many people had been watching her. Blushing furiously, she hurried over to Harry and scooped up her water bottle. All in all, she was rather enjoying the attention when…

"Nightshade!"

"Oh look. It's the ferret and his band of ragtag rodents. What do you want Malfoy?" Seamus drawled.

"This is between me and that thing." Malfoy growled, pointing at Tammy. She bristled at this, along with most of the males in the crowd. She shook her head at them, and they quieted.

"Well, I'm listening." She hissed.

"I'm tired of you saying what I can or can't do. We settle this, here and now. I'm challenging you, Tammora Nightshade, to a fight."

"Fight? As in, hand-to-hand, no-holds-barred, no magic fight?"

"Yes."

"Well then, are we going this the proper way, or, as I would expect of you, more along the lines of a street brawl?"

"As the challenged, you get to choose."

"Well, to show what I think of you, and so I can have some fun, I'll take the brawling. Anything goes."

"Anything goes." Malfoy agreed.

"You lose if you're knocked out, go out of these bounds, give up, or are down for a count of ten. Harry, choose a member of each house for the refereeing. I play fair, even if my opponent is a slimy weasel." Tammy said, indicating her square, still glimmering on the grass.

"Ferret." Ron corrected.

/Meanwhile, up at the castle-Prof. McGonagall's office/ "We should go down and stop this." Professor McGonagall said, watching the fight preparations out of the corner of her eye.

"Perhaps, but I believe, since Mr. Malfoy challenged Ms. Nightshade, and seeing as this is going to be a relatively fair fight, we should let it pass." Dumbledore said, smiling a little.

"A relatively fair fight? What do you mean?"

"It seems that Ms. Nightshade has much more experience at these things. Mr. Malfoy learned that on the train, as he apparently walked in on her and deliberately took down the walls of her enclosure charm while she was in the process of dressing. She became rather irritated and chased him the full length of the train. I do believe that he's in for another loss now." He responded. Outside, Tammora and Draco were standing at opposite corners of the square. Malfoy hadn't been wearing his robes when he's come outside, and had discarded his T-shirt, apparently for more maneuverability.

/Back outside/ "Okay. Ready? GO!" Tammy casually wandered in the direction of the center dot, while Malfoy charged at her. When he was reasonably close, she stopped, and thrust her knee between his, successfully throwing him off balance, then helped him fall by flipping the blonde over her hip. Rather unwisely, Malfoy grabbed her ankle as he went down, and yanked. Tammy fell neatly, slamming an elbow into his belly as she did so. Malfoy got up, wheezing, and moved for his opponent again. Tammy, seemingly calm, allowed him several attempts at punching her before she caught both of his fists and twisted until his back was to her, and his hands overhead.

"Give up yet? You're way out of your league Malfoy." Tammy hissed in his ear, digging her knee into the small of his back.

"Not really." He answered, and bent low, snapping his arms overhead. Tammy, who had suddenly found her hands trapped by his, went right along with them, and farther, landing with a thud on her back a few feet away.

"Whoa! Where'd they learn to fight like that?"

"Who knows!"

"How long d'you think they'll be able to keep at it?"

"At the rate they're goin', not much longer."

/The Office again/ "Headmaster, are you sure letting them do this is a good idea?"

"Of course not. That's why I'm allowing it." Professor McGonagall sighed. Sometimes making sense of what Dumbledore said was impossible.

"But they're going to hurt each other!"

"Perhaps. But that is the nature of a fight, is it not?"

/Back outside/ By now it was quite clear that Tammy and Malfoy were just about evenly matched. Both were battered and bruised, dusty, and starting to tire. Currently, they were both keeping a death-grip on one wrist of the other, and were practically nose-to-nose.

"Give up yet?" Malfoy growled, trying to force Tammy down.

"Never." She snapped. Right about then, she got a good look at his eyes. They were blank, an empty void, completely devoid of soul. There was no sign of life, and that meant he had no free will. Oh man. He's being controlled! Someone's got him under the Imperious Curse! Then, just for a second, she saw a flicker of light in those eyes, and the hold on her wrist loosened. In that split second, she also saw the controller. Marcus Flint, who had left school the year before (so said Harry) but had come back this year to collect some things he'd apparently left behind. Tammy could see his hand clenched around something beneath his robe, more or less at pocket level. His gaze was fixed on her and Malfoy, and his mouth was moving slightly in silent speech.

"How 'bout now?" Malfoy growled, giving her wrist a sharp yank. Tammy lost her footing and stumbled. Malfoy also lost his balance, and his foot came down on her ankle as he struggled to regain a solid stance before she did. Tammy screamed as she heard the bones break. Luckily, because of the rush she was getting from the fight, she couldn't feel it. Yet. Also, this distraction was just what she needed. Dodging a punch from her opponent, Tammy charged Marcus.

"Huh? What? Hey! Get away from- Oof!" Tammy swung, putting everything she had into a single punch. Her fist collided solidly with Marcus's jaw. He went down, and stayed down. Limping, Tammy darted back to Malfoy. He blinked several times, then groaned and passed out. Tammy caught him, and yelped when she accidentally put extra weight on her ankle. A wave of pain washed over her, and she fell, with the unconscious blonde on top of her.

"Tammy? What's going on? Why did you attack Flint? What happened to Malfoy?"

"Flint had…had Malfoy under the Imperious Curse…controlling him…there's no way Malfoy could've learned to fight that well that fast…took out Flint so his concentration would break and the spell would break with it…. Flint passed out before…before the spell wore off…Malfoy fainted…"

"What happened to you?"

"Got sloppy…lost my balance and tripped…he stepped on my ankle…broke it." Tammy managed through gritted teeth.

"Hey! She broke the rules, attacking Flint!" A Slytherin yelled, coming over with a small band of other Slytherins.

"That wasn't in the rules!" Ron snapped back. The lead boy licked out at Tammy, catching the side of her head.

"Ooooh…lookit the purty stars…" Tammy mumbled, and fainted.