(A new chapter. [Yes I know finally haha] I hope you enjoy and I'm so sorry as always for taking so long with my updates. I own nothing but Lucy)

...

"Morning everyone!" Plump and Pleasant Professor Sprout beamed cheerfully at her class of second years as they stood gathered around a greenhouse table.

"Good morning Professor Sprout!" The class answered her obediently for the most part. Harry sighed and glanced at the empty flower pot in front of him before returning his gaze to Lucy who stood across from him in between Hermione and Neville.

Psst! Harry tried to get her attention through their telepathic link. Lucy glanced at him briefly then looked away again as Professor Sprout began explaining how to repot a Mandrake plant.

Hey! Harry tried again. Lucy gritted her teeth together as if suppressing a sigh. Harry, I don't want to talk about it right now. I'm trying to pay attention to Professor Sprout.

Harry sighed mentally. Despite Ron's enthusiasm, it wasn't easy being able to see his sister's thoughts all the time. But everyone's worried. Ron, Hermione...even Fred and George!

"Now! Who here can tell us the properties of the Mandrake root?" Professor Sprout's question interrupted Harry's train of thought just as Hermione's hand shot straight up in the air.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora is used to return those who are petrified back to their original state." Hermione stated quite proudly after Professor Sprout motioned to her.

"Very good." Professor Sprout nodded pleased with the response.

"It's also a very dangerous plant. The mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it." Hermione added missing the eye rolls some of her classmates gave her.

Both Professor Sprout on the other hand looked quite pleased. "Wonderful! Ten points for Gryffindor!" She clapped her hands happily. Hermione and Lucy exchanged quick smiles.

"Now as our Mandrakes are still only seedlings their cries won't kill you yet, but they can knock you out for several hours which is why I have supplied each of you a pair of earmuffs for auditory protection. So if you please, put them on quickly. Flaps down tight!" Professor Sprout continued to instruct putting down her own earmuffs as she spoke.

Harry met Lucy's gaze again as he picked up the muffs closest to him. Lu, you know I'd do anything to make sure we don't get kicked out, right? He asked.

Lucy sighed and shook her head. What if that's not enough? She returned to her gaze to the Mandrake plant directly in front of her.

"Now watch me closely! Grip your Mandrake firmly...then pull it sharply out of the pot!" Professor Sprout demostrated pulling from her pot what looked to be a screaming, dirty baby with leaves and a stem coming out of his head.

Lucy cringed and covered her ears over her earmuffs as the mandrake's cry penetrated through the padding a little.

"Everyone still watching?...Then you dunk it into the other pot and cover it with a little soil to keep it warm." Professor Sprout proceeded to drop the shrieking plant in her hand into the empty pot on her right reaching for some soil on her left.

Slowly those of her class who had covered their ears removed their hands as the screams of the mandrake dithered away under the growing mound of soil.

"Right then! Everyone got that? Grab the mandrake closest to you by the stem and yank it up!" Professor Sprout motioned for her students to try and almost as one the children reached towards the plants.

"Ahh!" Neville gave a start when his mandrake came up wailing and wiggling more than Professor Sprout's mandrake seemed to have been.

Lucy shuddered and averted her gaze from her own plant before swiftly dunking it into her pot as Professor Sprout had demonstrated. She reached for her first handful of soil so as to cover the thing quickly when Neville suddenly swooned next to her hitting his head on the side of her leg.

"Oh...looks like Longbottom neglected his earmuffs." Professor Sprout muttered, shaking her head at the poor accident prone student who now lay in a faint on the ground.

Seamus looked down at him. "Uh..no Ma'am. He's just fainted is all." He spoke with a frown. Down the row Malfoy and his friends snickered at him.

"Oh well...just leave him then. He'll come around. The rest of you make sure you pack in the soil tightly!" Professor Sprout seemed quick to dismiss the situation.

Lucy on the other hand looked a bit worried. "Shouldn't one of us take him to the hospital wing?" She asked voicing her concern to Hermione.

Hermione shook her head. "No, he'll be all right. Besides you heard Professor Sprout these mandrakes are too young to cause death with their cry." She grabbed more soil and packed it in around her mandrake.

Lucy raised her hand. "Professor?...Might it be all right if I took Neville to the hospital wing?" She asked ignoring the cries of her mandrake. Harry gave her a strange look.

"Well..." Professor Sprout considered her request. "I suppose. Take Mr. Finnegan with you. I doubt you can carry Mr. Longbottom on your own. And make sure to keep your earmuffs on until you're a safe distance from the greenhouse."

Lucy nodded and bent to take one of Neville's limp arms in her own. Seamus bent to help her. "You know he'll probably be doing this a lot this year." He said in a bit of a cheeky tone.

Lucy shrugged and silently slung Neville's arm over her right shoulder.

...

"Where's Lucy? Did either of you see her after Herbology?" Hermione asked as she, Harry and Ron sat down to lunch in the Great Hall together.

Ron shook his head. "No." He spoke through a mouthful of potatoes as he sat trying to mend his broken wand with some Spell-O tape. Harry glanced a bit irritably over his shoulder towards the entrance to the Great Hall.

"She took Neville to the hospital wing fifteen minutes before class ended. What could be taking her so long?" He wondered.

"Maybe the Bloke is weighing her down a lot." Ron shrugged missing the look of disgust that crossed Hermione's face when a bit of stuffing dribbled down his chin.

Harry sighed and stood from his place meaning to go look for his sister when he spotted her, just entering the Great Hall with an excitable Neville on her tail.

Harry paused staring agape at Lucy when he saw how red her face was and how determinedly she was trying to walk away from Neville.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked, once Lucy had rejoined them successfully shaking Neville off.

Lucy sighed and shook her head. "Trying to get Neville leave me alone. All I did was help him to the hospital wing and all of a sudden I'm his hero." She groaned earning a snort from Ron.

Hermione glanced over at where Neville sat a few people away from them talking animatedly with Seamus and Dean while pointing at Lucy.

"Well...I did tell you to leave him." She said trying to hide her own smile. Lucy answered with a scowl. "I was trying to be nice." She insisted sinking into her seat as her face took on a strawberry like color.

"Hey Harry! Hey Lucy!" A little boy wearing fresh Gryffindor robes popped up from behind Lucy flashing a photograph of Harry before turning and taking another of Lucy.

Harry blinked as spots swam before his eyes. "Hi uh..."

"I'm Colin Creevey! First Year! Nice to meet you two! I'm Gryffindor too! Just like you guys!" He took another picture blinding everyone nearby temporarily.

Lucy groaned and buried her face in her arms.

"Oh...well it's nice to meet you too, Colin. If you don't mind-." Harry started to let the boy down, when Fred and George suddenly appeared.

"Excuse us!"

"Offical friends of the Potter Twins coming through!"

"Lucy! You're looking nice and pink this afternoon."

"Had a good first few classes?"

"Doubtful. She looks like she sat on a nest of bees." Fred chuckled as George playfully nudged Lucy with his elbow before taking the seat one place away from her next to Hermione.

Lucy snorted softly in response.

"Oh." Colin looked only a little disappointed, but he perked up almost immediately afterwards. "I'll see you again later then! Bye Harry! Bye Lucy!" He waved before disappearing back to his seat at the Gryffindor table, taking one last picture of both the twins.

Harry started to say something when Dean Thomas beat him to the punch. "Look! The mail's here!" He stood and pointed just as a small group of mailing owls flew into the great hall and dropped various letters and parcels into their recepient's laps.

One owl alone of the herd fell headlong towards the Gryffindor table, upsetting several platters of food before coming to a halt in front of Ron's startled face.

"Bloody bird's a menace." Ron shook his head whilst carefully prying a bright red envelope from the owl's claws. As if cured by magic Errol quickly righted himself, gave a little hot then flew off after the rest of the owls.

Ron's eyes widened when he realized what he had recieved from the owl. "Oh no!"

"What? What is it?" asked Harry peering at the envelope as if he might get a clue. Seamus snickered. "Look everyone! Weasley's got himself a howler!"

Harry and Lucy exchanged confused looks as the rest of the hall except the other Weasleys broke into titters of hysteric laughter.

"What's a-?" Lucy started to ask when Ron opened the envelope. The letter jumped out and began to scream in a shrill female voice that sounded an awful lot like Mrs. Weasley.

"RONALD WEASLEY!...HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK AND IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT!...IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!"

"Freaky..." Lucy murmured frightened by the howler though not nearly as afraid as Ron was.

Suddenly the letter softened its voice and turned towards Ginny who sat on the other side of Lucy a few people away with the other first years.

"Oh and Ginny dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud." The letter gushed in Mrs. Weasley's voice before whipping around back at Ron and making a raspberry noise.

Ron stared, shaking like a little leaf until the letter tore itself up into a million pieces. After a minute he looked from the remains of the howler to Harry. "Great!...How am I supposed to ask for a new wand now?" He looked down at his taped up wand and picked it up gingerly.

"Say it Harry. I'm doomed." He whimpered.

Harry looked from the torn up letter to the broken wand then back at his friend. "You're doomed." He shrugged.

...

"Defense Against Dark Arts should cheer you up, Lucy. You'll never guess who our new Professor is this year." Hermione burbled excitedly as she and Lucy walked to their next class together after lunch.

"New?" Lucy furrowed her brow then she remembered. "Oh right! Professor Quirell is..." She started and trailed off.

"Whoever it is, must be a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart. All of our required texts for this class were written by him." Ron put in as he struggled to balance his load of books in his arms.

Harry started to nod when he noticed Neville was already sitting down at a desk third row from the front looking back as if looking for someone.

"Uh Lucy?" He tugged lightly on the sleeve of Lucy's robes gaining her attention. Lucy blanched and groaned when she saw what her brother had first.

"Lucy!" Neville bounced up from his seat a bit and waved his arm in the air. Lucy felt as if she would die of embarrassment when a couple people snickered first at him then at her.

"What do I do?" She asked casting an anguished look at her best friend.

Hermione grabbed her by the hand. "Pretend like you don't see him and come sit with me." She whispered pulling her along as she spoke to a desk on the other side of the classroom.

"And next time listen to me and leave well enough alone!" Lucy sighed.

Harry and Ron followed taking the seats right behind them just as a familiar man with a head of wondrously permed golden hair and a violet cloak strode into the room flashing his trademark one hundred watt bright smile.

Lucy felt her jaw drop.

"Welcome class to your first day of Second Year Defense Against the Dark Arts class! Allow me to introduce your new Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher...me!" Professor Lockhart gestured to himself rather pompously Harry felt as he made his way grandiosely down the steps at the front of the classroom.

"Gilderoy Lockhart! Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's most-charming-smile award. But we're not here to talk about that! After all I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at him." Lockhart chuckled and winked at the students on his right.

Hermione sighed dreamily at this as did several other girls sitting on that side of the room. Lucy on the other hand just blushed remembering her first encounter with Lockhart very well.

"Now be warned!..." Gilderoy suddenly took on a more a serious tone. "It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizard kind. This means of course that you may in fact find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room, but don't worry! No harm can befall you whilst I am here." Lockhart meant the words to be comforting, but just then the large cage sitting to his right shook violently and Ron flinched when he heard a series of sharp screeches filter from the cage.

"What's in there?" He wondered in a voice not loud enough for Lockhart to hear. Harry started to respond. "Anyone like to venture a guess on what I've got in this cage?" Lockhart gestured to the cage flicking the cloth that was covering it as if to tease his audience.

Seamus peered around Harry's shoulder. "I'll give you a hint. They are small but devilishly tricky. Come! Come! Anyone! A thought?" Lockhart looked about the room.

Hermione started to raise her hand. "Very well! I shall show you." Lockhart went to grab the blanket. "I must ask you though not to scream when I do. It might...provoke them!" He whipped the cloth away to reveal a swarm of screeching squeaking blue winged creatures.

Lucy and Hermione jumped a bit while a the others in the class laughed at what they saw.

"Cornish Pixies?" Seamus chuckled. "Freshly caught Cornish Pixies!" Lockhart corrected tapping on the cage with the end of his wand.

"Laugh if you will Mr. Finnegan, but as I said before Pixies can be devilish little creatures. Let's see what you make of them!" Lockhart flicked his wand at the door to the cage unlocking it and setting the pixies free around the classroom.

Hermione screamed and Lucy ducked under her desk as one of the pixies swooped down towards them.

"Come now! Come now! They're only pixies! Round them up!" Lockhart cheered his class on though most of them seemed to have forgotten about their wands and had taken to using their books and school bags to fend off the swarm.

Frantic Lucy tried to recall a spell. Any spell that might be useful in subduing pixies, but none came to mind. "Ahhh! Get me down! Help! Get me down!" Neville screamed from the middle of the classroom.

Hermione and Lucy turned to see that he was hanging by the back of his robes on a ledge of the chandelier. "Professor do something!" Lucy shrieked as another pixie spit at her face then flew away sniggering to himself.

Lockhart shrugged as if as helpless as his students. "Very well then! PeskiPiksi Pesternomi!" He started to wave his wand, but another of the pixies snatched his wand away cackling like an imp before tossing it through a window.

Lucy's heart sank as a few of the pixies flew away through the broken glass. "Now what?" Hermione shouted over the noise of the pixies and the other students as she swatted at another pixie with her wand.

Lockhart ducked behind his desk then turned and ran towards the door that led to his office.

Harry stared at him agape. "Uh...I'd appreciate it if you would nip the rest of them back into their cage! Thanks!" Lockhart flashed one last smile then fled into his office slamming the door shut just in time.

Lucy groaned and tossed one of her Lockhart books at a group of pixies missing them barely by an inch as most of the class took Lockhart's cue and fled the room. "Now what?"

One of the pixies flew at her as if in response and waggled its tongue in a rude manner before grabbing a hold of her hair.

"Ow! Let go!" Lucy screamed as the creature tugged roughly on her locks. Harry came up behind her with a thick book in his hands.

"Duck!" He shouted and swatted at the pixie effectively knocking him away from Lucy.

Hermione found her wand and quickly climbed on top of a chair. "Immobulos!" She shouted waving her wand in a precise manner. Immediately the pixies froze in place.

Ron and Harry gaped at them while Lucy rose cautiously from the floor.

From above Neville groaned as the chandelier creaked with his weight. "Why is it always me?"

...

"Madame Pomfrey said he'll be all right, aside from a few scratches and his robes getting torn that is. I tried to teach him a simple repairing spell, but so far..." Hermione sighed and shrugged her shoulders as she walked into the Gryffindor Common Room later that day after seeing Neville to the hospital wing.

Harry started to smile when Lucy walked in after her, her face still red and wearing that sad frustrated expression.

"What's eating you?" Ron asked noticing her expression as well. Instead of answering, Lucy just shook her head and walked to the farthest side of the common room, sitting down in the armchair nearest to the girl's staircase with a loud huff.

"It's Neville." Hermione shook her head eyeing her best friend. "He asked Lucy to meet him at the library today during dinner." She muttered and plopped down on the rug next to Ron's feet.

"Oh..." Harry stood from the couch and made his way across the room to his sister who was still sitting with her back to the rest of the group, most likely to hide how red her face was.

"Lucy? Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly sitting down next to her on the footstool. Lucy sighed. "I haven't been okay since that elf show up in our room." She muttered.

Harry nodded in understanding. "Right. I guess Neville's attentions aren't really helping either." He said trying not to grin as he shuffled his feet a bit on the carpet.

Lucy shook her head. "No. Although that's not what's really bothering me right now." She looked down at her lap again. Harry furrowed his brow.

"Then what?"

"We left a huge mess in the Defense Against Dark Arts classroom. What if Professor Snape finds out about it and-."

"-Gives us longer detention? But we didn't let those pixies out." Harry cut in.

"It wouldn't matter to Snape. We might even get expelled since a couple windows got broken." Lucy finished gloomily.

"No way! Dumbledore wouldn't let him do that!..Would he?" Ron asked looking at Hermione uncertainly.

Lucy groaned and buried her face in her arms as Hermione stood and joined Harry at her side. "Lucy, Dumbledore isn't going to have us expelled for something that we clearly didn't do. Don't worry so much." She tried to be comforting, but her words didn't have the effect she thought it would.

"I can't get expelled. I just can't! Without Hogwarts I have nothing!" She sniffed. Harry felt a lump grow in the back of his throat.

He knew what Lucy was feeling and though he wanted to stay positive like Hermione, he couldn't deny that Lucy's fears were his as well.

"Lu," Harry put a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Even if we get expelled, I promise we won't have to leave this place." He promised.

Lucy looked up at that. "But...we won't be allowed to stay at Hogwarts if we get expelled. It's school rules." Harry shook his head.

"I meant we'll find a place of our own, away from the Dursleys in the magic world. They'll never find us if we stay in the magic world." He persisted.

Hermione raised an eyebrow incredulously at this. "Harry..." "You mean it?" Lucy interrupted smiling a little at last.

Harry nodded his head. "Harry, be reasonable. You two can't just live off the streets. Even in the magic world it's not safe." Hermione crossed her arms. Harry gave her a look.

"It would be better spending the rest of our lives with the Dursleys. Anyway, I doubt we'll really get expelled if we explain to Dumbledore what really happened. None of it would have happened if Professor Lockhart didn't set the pixies on us in the first place." He responded straightening his posture.

Lucy unfolded herself from the armchair. "But he tried to get them back in the cage, remember? If one of them hadn't grabbed his wand-."

"Can we finish this later? I'm starved and it's almost dinner time!" Ron interrupted. Hermione scowled at him slightly.

"How can you think about food at a time like this?" She demanded. Ron started to shrug when almost in response Harry's stomach rumbled loudly.

"Actually...I'm hungry too. Let's talk about this more after dinner. Coming Lu?" He asked turning towards his twin.

Lucy shook her head. "No...I made a promise to meet a friend at the library." She answered softly standing to her feet.

Hermione shot her a strange look. "You mean you're actually going to go?"

"But Lu-." Harry started.

"I promised." Lucy insisted. "I won't miss dinner though. I'll just talk to him for a minute."

Hermione looked unsure. "Well if you're sure. Just let me know if you need me to tell him to back off again." She crossed her arms.

Lucy nodded her head. "I will." She turned to exchange glances with her brother. Harry nodded back encouragingly. "Good luck."

...