Chapter 2

"So, you will be there?"

"Yes, Harry," sighed Ginny. Harry had already asked her this at least three times.

"What's going on?" Mariella asked, walking into the Great Hall and taking a seat next to Ginny.

"Quidditch team try-outs this Friday," Harry informed her.

"Cool," Mariella said as she began to pile food onto her plate. Hermione stared from over the top of the Daily Prophet as Mariella ate three pieces of toast, four pancakes, and then piled more food onto her plate.

"You remind me of Ron," said Hermione, shaking her head with a smile.

"I'm like a bottomless pit," joked Mariella.

"How can you eat so much and still be so slim?" asked Lavendar in awe. She and Parvati had just sat down at the table.

"Fast metabolism I guess," Mariella said, taking a sip of juice. Professor McGonagall was now walking up along the Gryffindor table, passing out schedules.

"Urgh," Harry groaned, "First thing I have is Double Potions."

"Yeah, me too," said Hermione and Mariella at the same time.

"So, is Snape as evil as I've heard?"

"Worse, probably," said Ron. "He hates Gryffindors with a passion, but favors the Slytherins because he's the head of their house."

"What other classes do you have?" asked Hermione interestedly. Mariella passed her schedule across the table. Hermione looked down at it, then looked up with her eyebrows raised, looking slightly stunned. "You have all the same classes as I do, but including Divination."

"I'm guessing you did pretty well on your O.W.L.'s," whistled Harry.

"Yeah, I took them over the summer and passed all of them with top grades, so I had a lot of options on what I could take this year. Dumbledore offered to try and get me a time turner, but I decided against it. I chose not to take Muggle Studies because I grew up in the Muggle world, and so therefore taking that class would be a bit pointless. Of course, I still have one class too many, but I talked to Dumbledore beforehand about it, and he arranged for me to take it in the evening."

"Wow."

Harry looked down at his watch. "Well, we'd better hurry and get to Potions, so Snape won't be able to give us detention for being late."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Mariella got up and said good-bye to Ginny before heading to the dungeons. They entered the Potions classroom and took seats near the back.

"Potter? Weasley? How did you two get in this class?" asked Draco Malfoy mockingly, as he walked into the room. "This is Advanced Potions," he drawled. "Are you sure you haven't walked into the wrong classroom?"

Harry and Ron both jumped up and opened their mouths angrily, but Hermione elbowed them. Snape had just walked into the classroom.

"Potter, Weasley," he said menacingly, "take your seats at once before I decide to take points from Gryffindor." Malfoy smirked at them before walking to his own seatn Snape walked to the front of the room.

"I want you all to understand that this is my Advanced Potions class," he began. "I, myself, do not fully comprehend how some of you managed to get to this level" – here he gave pointed looks at Ron and Harry – "but I can assure you that I will not tolerate any disruptions in this class. If you misbehave, I will have you removed from my classroom at once." He paused and there was complete silence.

Pulling out his wand, he tapped the board and written instructions appeared. "The following," Snape explained, "are clearly stated instructions for making a Befuddlement Draught. I expect it finished by the end of class. Begin."

The potion proved to be one of the most complicated they had ever brewed in Snape's class so far. Snape hovered over them, complimenting the Slytherins, while making harsh remarks on what Harry and Ron were doing wrong. He could find nothing wrong with either Hermione or Mariella's potions, so he therefore didn't say anything.

Five minutes before the end of class, the students began to put their potions in glass vials and bring them up to Snape's desk. Four minutes later, Mariella carefully put the cap on her vial and hurried to turn it in before the bell rang. However, she crashed into someone, the vial slipped from her fingers, and it smashed on the floor. She looked up to see Malfoy smirking down at her.

"Oops," he said smugly. Mariella opened her mouth to say something to him, but Snape was now standing next to Malfoy. Surveying the scene, he cleared away the glass and potion from the floor with a flick of his wand.

"Zero marks for today, Miss Clemens," he declared softly, his cold eyes glittering as the bell rang. "And twenty points from Gryffindor for making a mess in my classroom."

Shooting both Snape and Malfoy an angry glare, Mariella quickly got up and packed her things. She walked over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had been waiting for her by the door.

"Twenty points!" exclaimed Mariella as they left the dungeons. "For making a mess that he cleaned up in seconds!"

"I know Snape doesn't like Gryffindors, but he seems to already despise you," observed Hermione.

"Maybe he heard about what happened on the train," said Harry. "I mean, Malfoy is his favorite student..."

"Yeah, that's probably it."

The four walked into the History of Magic classroom and took their seats just as Professor Binns drifted in through the blackboard.

After five minutes of his monotonous voice droning on and on, most of the class had tuned out. Starting to feel drowsy herself, Mariella looked around at her classmates. Some were sleeping, some were daydreaming, and a few were staring out the window. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan seemed to be playing some sort of card game behind their desks, and Lavendar and Parvati were passing notes to each other.

Hermione, who was diligently writing notes on the lecture, seemed to be the only one paying attention. Mariella looked at Ron, who was sitting next to her, and giggled as he let out a snore. Leaning over, she poked him in the side.

"Wha'?" he said sleepily, sitting up straighter.

"You were snoring," she whispered.

"I don't snore," mumbled Ron indignantly. Harry, who was sitting behind Ron, laughed. Professor Binns started slightly at the noise, but then continued with his lecture.

"Yeah, you do, Ron."

"Ah, shuddup,' Ron muttered before putting his head down on the desk and promptly falling back asleep. Mariella and Harry grinned at each other a couple minutes later when he began to softly snore again.

The first week back at Hogwarts passed quickly. Before Harry knew it, it was Friday afternoon and he was in Transfiguration, his last class of the day. It seemed like hours passed before he was able to walk down to the Quidditch pitch with his Firebolt in hand. He was slightly nervous, since he was the Gryffindor team captain this year. He could still remember the letter that arrived over the summer, and the pleasant surprise he felt that had brightened up the last couple days of his long, dull summer with the Dursleys. Their attitude towards him seemed to be getting better. That is, if better counts as being ignored most of the time. The only exception to this was when certain things happened, such as Dudley knocking over a glass bowl with his large elbow. Whenever something like that happened, he would receive suspicious stares from his aunt and uncle.

Harry went into the changing rooms and then out onto the pitch, where he waited for people to arrive. Ron and Ginny soon got there, along with Katie Bell and a number of hopeful Gryffindors. Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and the Weasley twins were gone, and the two beaters who had substituted for Fred and George at one point the previous year were unable to play this year. The team was now in need of two beaters and a chaser. After putting those trying out through various trials, he made his choices. The new beaters were Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote, while the new chaser was a girl named Demelza Robbins.

Gathering his team together, he began to go over some game tactics that he had thought up during the last days of his break. (For what else had he to do but sit there in boredom and watch Dudley stuff desserts into his mouth whenever his mother wasn't watching?) After successfully practicing for an hour or two, Harry dismissed the team. He grinned as they began to leave, pleased at how well things turned out.

The next day was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down the stairs. The boys had finally convinced Hermione to take a break from schoolwork, Ron declaring how crazy she would be to stay locked up in the castle all day when the weather was still so warm. The three walked past the Great Hall and towards the doors.

"Hey, where are you all going?" They turned to see Ginny standing nearby, looking in their direction.

"Outside," said Harry. "We're thinking of going to see Hagrid."

"Want to come?" Hermione added. Ron didn't look overjoyed at this but Hermione shot him a look. Ginny accepted the invitation and the four walked down the stone steps of the castle.

Harry began to talk about practice the previous afternoon, and he, Ron, and Ginny started talking eagerly of when the first Quidditch match would be. Hermione contributed to the conversation somewhat, but wasn't as interested in the sport. She let her mind wander as she enjoyed the beauty of the day.

As they passed the lake, she heard cheers and saw a group of people in the water. As they got closer, she saw Mariella, Parvati, and Lavendar among those in the group, along with a number of boys from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The boys playfully splashed water onto the girls, who shrieked and giggled.

"Go on, Mariella! Do another one!" shouted a seventh-year boy from Ravenclaw. Mariella, who was treading water, swam towards the nearby dock. Ron and Harry, even as absorbed as they had been in their conversation, looked over. They completely stopped walking as Mariella stepped out of the water. Her bathing suit accented her slender body and clung to her generous curves. The sunlight glistened on the water that slid down her body.

"Oh, what are you two staring at?" Ginny asked, sounding slightly irritated. The boys didn't even hear her; they were too busy staring as Mariella performed a smooth, graceful dive, landing perfectly and without a splash.

"Huh?" Harry asked in a vague, distant voice. Ron didn't even say anything. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Hagrid's?" she reminded them, waving a hand in front of Ron's face in an attempt to get his attention. Ron seemed to shake slightly out of his daze.

"Oh... right," he said.

"C'mon," Ginny said in annoyance, as she and Hermione grabbed both boys by the arms and started pulling them in the direction of Hagrid's hut.

It was a Wednesday afternoon when Mariella walked into the common room after Transfiguration and sat down by one of the windows. She looked up as she heard a frustrated sound, and saw Neville standing at a nearby table. He was pointing his wand at a teacup and muttering words. However, whatever spell he was trying to perform obviously wasn't working. Mariella furrowed her brow slightly.

"What're you trying to do?" she asked. Neville looked up and shook head exasperatedly.

"Well, you know that spell we learned in Charms?" he asked. Mariella nodded; they had spent the class trying to turn teacups into balls of string. Well, the rest of the class spent the time that way at least. She had finished within the first minute or so, even faster than Hermione. Personally, she felt it was a particularly easy spell.

"Well," Neville continued, "Professor Flitwick told me I had to practice it and show him that I could do it by next class! Which is tomorrow... and I've been trying and trying, but I just can't do it! And normally Hermione would help me, but I can't find her... and besides, she seems kind of stressed out - what with the number of classes she's taking and everything – and I don't want to bother her."

Mariella sighed and showed Neville what he had been doing wrong. Fifteen minutes later, Neville could successfully perform the charm. He gratefully thanked Mariella and ran of excitedly to practice some more.

Professor Dumbledore stared thoughtfully down into the Pensive that lay before him. It contained several memories that had recently been given to him. He leaned forward into the basin, and found himself standing inside a small muggle home. He strolled into the kitchen, where a woman with light blonde hair and doe brown eyes stood...
Kanya Clemens stirred her coffee absentmindedly. All of a sudden, a figure came darting into the kitchen.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mariella's in the newspaper!" Kanya looked up sharply to see her seven-year-old daughter Ana bouncing up and down on her toes. Her pretty hazel eyes sparkled, and a newspaper was clutched tightly in her hand.

"Sweetie, may I see it?" Ana obediently handed the paper to her mother. "Why don't you go out and play," Kanya suggested pleasantly. Ana scowled slightly. She was young, but she wasn't stupid. She knew her mother just wanted her to leave. Nonetheless, she went outside like her mother suggested.

Kenya took in a deep breath. It was probably just an honor roll listing or something about one of the clubs Mariella was in... Those types of things weren't new. Yet she felt her heart race every time she heard that Mariella was in the paper. 'What if...' she interrupted her own thought. 'I'm just overreacting,' she thought firmly to herself. And with an aura of forced calm, she flipped the newspaper open. It didn't take her long to find the article Ana had been talking about.

"Oh my god."

AN:

Just like the first chapter, this is also a repost. Same stuff, mostly just spelling and grammar corrections. And as for the Quidditch part, if it sounds a little off that's because this was first written before the sixth book came out. I added a brief 'try-out' and changed the names to those who really are on the team in the sixth book to make it sound better and slightly more accurate than what was there before.