Here We Go Again! SD and PK Take on Hogwarts
-samuraiduck27 and PsychoKitty13

A/N: Yeah, it's been a while. But hey- at least I'm updating now! And as PK's err… 'adorable'… younger sisters keep telling me, now that I don't have anything to use as an excuse, we gotta update faster.

Well, here you go! Enjoyyyyy…

DISCLAIMER: We own nothing but what we owns.


Chapter 13-(Insert Witty, Chapter-Oriented Title Here)

As soon as Hermione's words registered in the boys' heads, there was a mad dash for the dormitories as they went to retrieve their outdoor garments and Harry's Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map; fully intending to go out and greet the half-giant groundskeeper.

The rest of the group in the Common Room looked rather pleased with the news. They decided that it was better not to be a witness to the Trio's late night excursion- as well as knowing better than to try and persuade them out of it- so they said their goodnights and drifted off to their own warm and beckoning beds. As Fred (or was it George?) disappeared up the boys' spiral staircase, Harry and Ron were seen running across the small ledge connecting the two spiral staircases and arrived at the bottom shortly after.

PK, during all of this, just kind of sat there with a slight "what the hell?" look on her face. She couldn't really understand why the Trio would be crazy enough to go out in the middle of the night, in the cold and the snow and most importantly the cold to go see someone who had been home for all of about twenty minutes, she guessed. Harry saw the look and misinterpreted it as a "who the hell is Hagrid" look instead.

"You've never met Hagrid, have you?" he asked the brunette, who shook her head.

"He wasn't here during the summer when SD and I came early to get an early tour of the school to get used to it, but­­—"

She stopped herself in time, realizing that saying "but I already know who he is" would be something rather suspicious to say as SD and herself were "transfer students" after all.

'I'm getting too used to this school… I keep forgetting that SD and I really aren't students.'

"But what?" Ron asked, "…And where the hell is Hermione?"

Luckily, PK was saved from answering by the arrival of said bushy-haired girl now sporting a knobbly elf-hat of her own creation as well as a pair of gloves and a scarf.

"What?" she asked upon receiving stares from the boys, "It's cold out, and snowing."

"Your hat's too small. It makes your hair stick out." PK noted bluntly, making Hermione glare at the offending comment, "…But it does…"

"Harry, d'ya think we can take PK with us? Since she hasn't met Hagrid yet?" said Ron.

Harry frowned and held up his Invisibility Cloak, "I dunno… I don't think the three of us could even fit in here anymore; you've shot up like a bloody weed, Ron."

"Please, Harry?" PK begged, pouting, "I promise I won't get us caught!"

Now that the idea had been brought up, the brunette suddenly wanted to go… even though hitting the sack and getting some shuteye sounded really good right about then.

The green-eyed boy sighed and shrugged, "Why not. It'll give Hagrid a chance to meet you at the least. Let's go."


The walk down to the grounds was slightly more eventful than the nighttime strolls that the Trio had taken before. One could really put the blame on their new addition to their group, as PK was a bit freaked out by the way the shadows seemed to stretch and everything looked a lot creepier during the night than in daylight. Said witch-in-training almost knocked over a suit of armor, barely avoided going into the hallway that Mrs. Norris was seen to have been in on the Marauder's Map, and tripped over the end of the Invisibility Cloak that barely covered the four of them. And we all thought SD was the clumsy one…

Fortunately, they ran into neither Filch nor his nasty cat, but only saw Nearly Headless Nick float by, humming something horribly similar to "Weasley is Our King". Ron nearly had a fit over it when the familiar, rather catchy tune caught his ears. PK's stumbling over the Cloak, however, distracted the tall redhead from sulking over the Quiddich game again.

Once outside, they removed the cloak and stealthily made their way down to Hagrid's hut. Shivering in the cold, Harry pulled out his wand and erased their footprints from the snow as Ron knocked on the door.

A dog started barking frantically from inside, and footsteps were heard nearing the heavy wooden door. "Hagrid, it's us! Open up!" Harry called, risking yelling out loud even though no one was around and the wind was howling in his ears.

A gruff, "Shoulda known…" came from the other side of the door as the sound of a bolt being lifted was heard and the door slowly opened. A large black dog tried to escape through the small opening, and the same gruff voice sighed in annoyance and faint pleasure at having guests.

"Bin home all've three seconds… outta the way, Fang. I said outta the way yeh dozy dog!" Hagrid said, his bushy-bearded face coming into view as he pushed Fang out of the way. At seeing his face, Hermione let out a shrill shriek of horror while the boys and PK went wide-eyed.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down will yeh?" Hagrid hastily said, ushering the quartet inside, not paying attention to the fact that there was one more person in the group that usually visited him in the late, odd hours of the night.

"Well, get in, get in." he said as he re-latched the door once everyone was inside.

Hermione frowned, "I'm sorry… but it's just… just… oh, Hagrid!"

"S'nothing, 'Mione," Hagrid chuckled dryly, walking around and making sure all the curtains were shut and no one could see inside. Hermione, however, wasn't reassured by his tone of flippancy that he used and continued to gaze up at him in horror.

Hagrid's face was full of blood, seeping into his hair and beard and turning the dark hair into a matted mess. His left eye was swollen shut and the whole left side of his face was bruised beyond recognition. Numerous cuts adorned his large hands, some of which were still bleeding and a few looked less-than-well-treated. The half-giant moved carefully, watching that nothing came into close contact with his torso, which made Harry suspect that his friend had a broken rib or three.

Before the jet-haired teen could inquire as to why Hagrid was in such a horrible state, Hagrid heard an unfamiliar laugh and turned to the corner of the room, where PK was petting Fang.

"And who're yeh?" he asked, a slight frown on his face.

"This is Kathryn Dilefea, Hagrid. She's a new Gryffindor transfer student." Hermione said, introducing her.

"Call me PK!" was the girl's cheerful reply as she beamed up at Hagrid.

Hagrid nodded slowly, "I think Dumbledore may've told meh about yeh in a letter awhile back… somethin' bout a new Fifth Year or two."

PK nodded, "Yeah, that's me and SD. She's a Slytherin though, and not in Care of Magical Creatures so I don't think you'll be seeing her much."

His eyes narrowed slightly, "A Slytherin, eh? Dun need another one of them anyways… lot of hooligans in that House, I'll tells yeh…"

Before Hagrid could get ranting, Ron brought up the subject of Hagrid's injuries once again. It took some persuading to get it out of him, but in the end Hagrid said one thing too much (as usual) and he thought that it couldn't hurt to tell them what exactly had happened.

He had gone to take a peace treaty-slash-alliance document to the leader of the Giants, who had been on good terms with Dumbledore. The Headmaster was afraid that the Giants might have been persuaded to work against them because of promises made to them by Voldemort and he wanted to get to them first. After a good trek into the mountains of France, he and a lady called Madame Maxine- whom PK vaguely recalled as being the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, another Wizarding school- finally reached the area where Dumbledore said that the Giants were hiding in.

He was right, but unfortunately just a few days after their arrival, the old Giant leader had been killed and dethroned by a Giant who hated Wizards and basically just humans for that matter. The pair tried reasoning with the new leader, Golgomath, but he wasn't as impressed with the tokens of offering and gifts that Hagrid and Madame Maxine had brought them. In the end, they ran for their lives and hid in the caves as Death Eaters entered the valley where the Giants lived, but not before Hagrid and Maxine discovered that Golgomath didn't hate all Wizards and humans… just not them.

The Death Eaters and they got along swimmingly, and even though Hagrid had managed to persuade a few of them to fight on the side of the Light, Golgomath had them ambushed and killed. After that, Madame Maxine couldn't take it anymore and left Hagrid to his own dealings.

"Hagrid, did you… by any chance… meet your mum while you were there?" Ron asked, after Hagrid had finished his story.

The man sighed and looked down at the cup of tea in his hand, "Nah… heard from some of the other Giants that she died. A while ago."

Ron gulped and looked abashed, "I'm sorry, Hagrid… I-"

"S'okay. Wasn't really a good mother anyways," was his grunted reply.

"But… that still doesn't really answer how you got in that state, Hagrid." PK asked gently, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Hermione nodded, "Or why you're back so late too. Sir- I mean, Snuffles got back a while ago."

Hagrid didn't reply and there was a slight silence after that, as the five sat around, sipping from their cups some of the tea that Hagrid had prepared for them around the middle of his tale. The wind had died down outside, and Ron was about to speak up when the unmistakable sound of footsteps crunching through the building snow outside was heard.

The occupants of the hut froze, becoming wide-eyed in fear as they rushed to get out of sight. PK looked carefully out of a corner of a curtain near the door and her face paled in recognition of the short, plump figure quickly nearing the door.

"It's her…" she squeaked, rushing to get under the Invisibility Cloak as the Trio's faces took on the same pale, frightened hue at PK's revelation.

Hagrid, however, was confused at whom she was talking about, and had just set all but two of the cups away in the sink when a loud rapping hit the door. He looked over to the quartet in the corner, sitting on the ground with the Cloak thrown over them and covering them well. Fang barked madly at the door, and Hagrid swung it open to reveal the Toad-woman in all of her green tweed glory, standing at the doorway with her lips pursed in a disapproving grimace as she craned her neck all the way up to get a look at the owner of the hut's face.

"So. You're Hagrid, aren't you?"

Said addressee scratched his head, looking thoroughly confused, "Err… I dun mean t'be rude, but who the ruddy hell are you?"

"My name is Dolores Umbridge," she sniffed, strolling into the hut as if she owned the place and sweeping her beady eyes over every little detail of the room. Twice her eyes landed on the corner where Harry and the rest were hiding, and she whacked Fang in the nose when the over-friendly canine tried to lick her in the face.

"Dolores Umbridge!" Hagrid sputtered, "I thought you were one o' them Ministry fellas, don' you work with Fudge?"

"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes," she said dryly, continuing her pacing around the cabin, "I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher—"

"Tha's awful brave of yeh," interrupted Hagrid, "There's not many'd take tha' job nowadays—"

"—And Hogwarts High Inquisitor," continued the woman, giving no sign that she had heard Hagrid's comment whatsoever.

"Err… and tha's what now?" Hagrid muttered, confused as to what the position meant.

Umbridge on the other hand had spotted the remains of a shattered cup of tea that PK had dropped while hurrying to hide. She gestured to them and raised an eyebrow, "That was precisely what I was going to ask."

He shrugged, "Fang here broke a mug. I was on meh way ter cleanin' it up when yeh showed up. I had to use this one instead."

He pointed to the mug that he had been drinking out of, but Umbridge continued on, not buying his words. She gestured to the other mug on the table, "And this one?"

"That one's Fang's. He likes ter drink a cuppa every once n' a while."

"I was being serious."

"…So was I?"

Umbridge sniffed and glared at Hagrid, "I heard voices."

Now, Hagrid didn't do well under pressure. And even though the Toad-woman was a third of his size, that glare of hers could pierce even dragon hide. "I was talkin' ter Fang." He tried explaining nonchalantly, as if that had been what he had really been doing.

"And he was talking back to you, now," the woman pressed on.

"Err… in a matter o' speakin'. I always thought Fang's near enough human sometimes—"

Umbridge smiled sleekly, "There are a pair of footprints leading towards your door."

The Trio glanced at PK, who winced underneath the cover of the Cloak; she had been the last one inside Hagrid's home on account of her wanting to catch a snowflake on her tongue before she went in. The footprints were most likely hers.

"Well, maybe someone came a callin' while I was gone. I jus' got back as yeh can see."

Hagrid was starting to panic now, and Umbridge seemed to sense it. "There are no footsteps leading away, however."

The gamekeeper shrugged, fumbling with the mug in his hands, "I dunno why that'd be… erm…"

Suddenly, Umbridge strode forward and began looking carefully around the house; underneath the bed, inside cupboards, and she even came about an inch away from tripping over Ron's leg. After inspecting the inside of Hagrid's large cooking pot, she turned to him:

"Where did you get those injuries?"

Hagrid frowned and straightened up a bit, the congealed blood and matted hair on his face standing out a bit more. "It was a bit of an accident," he said in ways of explanation.

Umbridge, in turn, raised an eyebrow. "What kind of accident?"

The group of students that were watching this go on winced as Hagrid used a broomstick accident as the excuse, knowing immediately that Umbridge wasn't going to buy it. Their pity turned to fear as Umbridge asked if he had been in the mountains recently. And the four huddled in the corner all thought the same thing:

'She knows!'

The verbal battle went on and eventually Umbridge gave up with the interrogation and decided that she had had enough… for now. With a warning of a teaching inspection soon, the stout woman exited Hagrid's hut, slamming the door rather rudely behind her. Ron started to pull the Cloak off but Harry stopped him.

"She might not be gone yet," he muttered. Harry and Hagrid seemed to be on the same mindset as the large man stomped over to the window and pulled back the curtain an inch or two.

"She's headin' back ter the castle," he said lowly, "Blimey… inspectin' people is she?"

The group threw off the Cloak and stood up, brushing themselves off. PK nodded in answer to Hagrid's question, "She's out to get anyone and everyone she can put on suspension or probation."

Hermione nodded in agreement, "Trelawney's already put on probation…"

While the bushy-haired girl muttered under her breath about the Divination teacher, Ron spoke up. "What sort of thing are you planning to do with us this year, Hagrid?"

"Yeah! These guys have been telling me about what you've shown the classes; like Blast-Ended Skrewts, Hippogriffs…" PK piped up, interested in what her newest teacher would be introducing her to.

"Oh, don' you worry about' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned," was the enthusiastic response, "I've been keeping' a couple of creatures saved for yer O.W.L. year, you wait, they're somethin' really special. Yeh picked a right good time ter come ter Hogwarts, PK."

PK squealed slightly, anxious for Hagrid to just tell the quartet what exactly he was planning for the classes. Hermione and the others, however, gave Hagrid rather apprehensive looks.

"Erm… special in what way?" Hermione asked.

Hagrid didn't notice the tentative tone of voice, obviously, as he cheerfully answered, "I'm not sayin'. I dun want ter spoil the surprise!"

Ron sighed, "Look Hagrid, Umbridge won't be happy if you bring something dangerous to class"

Hagrid gave him a rather confused look. He scratched his head, "Dangerous? Don' be silly, I wouldn't ever give yeh anything' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can take care of themselves"

"But you have to pass Umbridge's inspections, and to do that it'd really be better if you taught us how to look after things like porlocks and how to tell the difference between a hedgehog and a knarl!" Hermione said earnestly.

"But tha's not very interesting… what I got's more impressive than tha'. I've been bringin' em on fer years; I reckon I've got the only domestic herd in Britain"

"Hagrid… please…? Umbridge is looking for any excuse to get rid of the teachers that are close to Dumbledore. Please, Hagrid, teach us something bound to be in our O.W.L.s?"

PK shrugged, "She's got a point, you know."

Harry nodded at the comment from his spot near the window while Ron yawned lazily, an action that was quickly repeated by Hagrid, who looked longingly at his bed in the corner. Without further discussion of his teaching curriculum or Umbridge's upcoming inspection, he ushered the four students out of his home with the excuse of "it's been a long day".

The four hurried on up back to the castle, and the warmness of their awaiting beds with a bit of unease clouding their minds about the conversation that had just taken place. Ron sighed a short while later as the group marched, while Harry and Hermione cast Obliteration Charms on the footsteps they were creating on their way.

"I dunno if you got through to him," the red-head said.

Hermione put on a determined face, "Then I'll go back again tomorrow. I'll plan his lessons if I have to. I don't care if Umbridge throws out Umbridge, but she's not taking Hagrid!"

"Fear the wrath of Hermione…" muttered PK, shaking the snow off of her head as the castle doors came into view.

Harry could only chuckle slightly and keep up with his friends as they headed inside.


The next morning, the students of Hogwarts awoke to a brilliant sight of two feet of fresh-fallen snow all over the grounds. And being the children (and children-at-heart) that they are, they went outside to enjoy the day in all of its winter glory.

But unfortunately, the horrors known as homework had crept up on those who were major procrastinators. In particular, Ron and Harry. Moaning about Snape's essay as well as other things for McGonagall and Flitwick due the next day, the two teenage boys tried their hardest to ignore the cheerful shrieks and yells of the people just under their window.

But one thing they couldn't ignore were the repeated thumps against the common room window. After about twenty minutes of this torture, a twitching Ron strode over to the window and threw it open.

"Oy!" the red-head bellowed, "I am a prefect and if one more snowball hits this window—­­ OUCH!"

Harry laughed heartily at the sight of his best friend's snow-covered and angry face as he wiped off the remains of the offending snowball bewitched up to the top of the tower. Setting aside his textbook, Harry walked over to the window and peered downwards, seeing a small group of people gathered nearby.

"Hey, Harry!" Fred and George chorused; each of them dodging snowballs being thrown at them by two other figures hidden behind a snow fortress a few yards away.

"Fred and George… gits… enchanting snowballs…" Ron grumbled bitterly, returning to his books.

Taking one last look out the window, Harry watched amused as the tag-team of SD and PK made a snow-bazooka and had enchanted it to fire snowballs at a rapid pace at the Twins. Lee Jordan had also seemed to mutiny against Fred and George and was currently helping the two younger girls. Went with the winning side, it seemed.

Hermione returned from Hagrid's just before lunch; she had gone out earlier that morning to discuss lesson plans with the newly returned staff member. While her and the boys chatted amongst themselves about Hagrid and what he was planning this time around, PK searched around for SD.

Neville, a few seats down from PK, noticed the girl turning her head side to side. After a few minutes of this, his curiosity got the best of him and he asked PK what she was looking for.

"I was wondering where SD went… s'not like her to miss lunch." PK replied, shrugging.

The brown-haired boy bit his lip, thinking. "Well… umm… she's been going around with Malfoy and his gang lately, hasn't she? Perhaps she's with them somewhere."

Sighing, PK returned to her meal. She picked at her roast chicken before digging into it with gusto. So what if SD hadn't been hanging around her as much lately. They had just gone out and kicked Fred and George's butts in a snowball fight together.

PK smirked, recalling Lee and SD's idea of charming the snowballs to melt into cold water on impact. She glanced down the table towards where the Twins sat and noted that they were sniffling and not looking too happy at the moment.

'Well… that's what they get for the rude wake-up call. I don't need a bazillion snowballs hitting the window right next to my head at six in the morning on a Sunday. How they got out on the grounds that early though is anyone's guess… stupid lucky SD and her underground Common Room… grr…'


"So how did you make those snowballs do that exploding thing, SD?" Blaise asked.

"It was really Jordan's idea… a delayed Heating Charm designed to activate upon impact with something. I think he used some sort of time-delaying charm too… but I don't know what. Probably something we'll learn next year," she shrugged, biting the head off of a Chocolate Frog, "Whatever it was, it worked."

Pansy looked up from her copy of Witch Weekly magazine, "Well, it was rather clever for a Gryffindor. Aren't they supposed to be all brawn and no brains?"

"Most of them fit that, I guess… but there are a few who don't, mind you." SD replied to Pansy's joke.

The Fifth Year girls of Slytherin House had decided to skip lunch and munch on snacks in the common room that day, talking about random things and having a bit of time away from the rest of the Houses. So, bundled up in thick robes (or in SD's case, a jumper and a pair of jeans), they lounged on the couches with a large parcel of Wizarding candy from Honeydukes. There were random textbooks, unfinished essays and notes, and quills and inkwells lying around as well.

"I know, I know… that Granger, I hate to admit, is probably the only exception." Pansy sighed, flipping through her magazine once again.

"No, PK's one too."

"Right. Sorry."

Slowly, the other students trickled in as lunch ended and the younger group came back for their winter things before they went back outside to enjoy the day before the sun set. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, sat down on the couches and joined the girls as the conversation drifted more towards schoolwork and Quiddich-based topics.

Daphne and Millicent had tuned out the arguing of Malfoy and Blaise over which team would win in the upcoming Quiddich match of Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff. It would be the last one before the break, and the last one of the season before the snows came in full-force and it got too cold to play.

"I'm telling you, Ravenclaw's got an advantage with their Seeker; Chang is much better than Summerby!" Blaise huffed, dark eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"That may be true, but Hufflepuff's strategies are very effective. It's like trying to break through a brick wall at times. Even if Chang catches the Snitch, it wouldn't matter any if Hufflepuff was beating them by a margin of larger than 150 points." Malfoy countered, "After all, the Seeker isn't the most important part of the game."

SD blinked, "You do realize that applies to you as well, Malfoy."

The boy stopped for a moment, realizing what he had just said and tried to cover it up, "I mean… that is to say… well… the Seeker position is the toughest one to play because…"

But the rest of the group wasn't really listening as Malfoy tried to regain that part of his lost ego. After a minute or two of incessant chuckling, the platinum-blonde teen gave up and sulked in his seat on the couch, snatching a random textbook from the table and trying to look like he was concentrating on that.

"Shut up or I'll hex you all into next week," he growled, looking quite serious.

"Now, I'm sure you don't mean that, Draco. After all… I would be forced to take points from you at the very least."

The group hushed immediately as Malfoy spun around to face his Head of House, who was standing near the bulletin board and tacking something up.

"P-professor Snape! I… umm… it was only a joke, after all."

"Make sure it stays that way, Draco… I would rather have you not earn any detentions or cause this House to suffer a point deduction."

"Malfoy's in trouble…" SD whispered sing-songly under her breath.

Malfoy glared at her, but Snape made no notice of the exchange as he finished his work and returned to his office. Millicent got up and walked over to the board and shrugged, "Another one of Madam Umbridge's decrees…" she said in way of explanation as she returned to her seat.

SD was done with her homework quite quickly; she only had to write a few more lines of her Potions essay and practice Disillusionary Charms for a while. After that was done, the blonde pulled out her copy of Advanced Teleportation Without Apparition: Finding Your Way Around the Cosmos and began to flip through it. However, the book was disguised as a copy of The Dream Oracle, even though SD didn't take that class anymore. This way she could continue glancing through possible ways to get home without questioning from her peers.

You see, unlike PK, SD hadn't forgotten for a moment that she wasn't part of the canon Harry Potter-verse. Maybe it was because of that absence of the warm, gooey familial feeling PK got with her Housemates that made it so. Yeah. That was probably it.

"So whatcha looking up this time, SD?" Blaise chirped, looking over the blonde's shoulder at the book. SD's eyes widened as Blaise started skimming the pages, frowning as she realized that the book wasn't what it was supposed to be.

"'For Teleportation over long, oversea distances, the witch or wizard must…' what is this? This isn't dream interpretation."

SD tried to shield the book from the dark-haired girl's prying hands, but in the end the book was taken from her and the false cover shed. SD quickly looked down at her hands, missing the greedy look on Malfoy's face as he realized what the book was, and the confused looks the rest of the group gave her.

"It's… it's just a fascination of mine. I've always wanted to Apparate, but I'm underage, y'know?" SD muttered, trying to cover for herself.

Daphne clicked her tongue in disapproval as Blaise threw the book to her, "Zephyr, you do realize that Teleportation is riskier than Apparating, not to mention the age requirement is higher. You could get in serious trouble if you got caught."

SD sighed, "I know… but that's only if I get caught."

"Spoken like a true Slytherin." Malfoy quipped, "But why are you so into this, if I may ask? It's not like you could use it for much, as there are many more non-Teleportation areas in the Wizarding World than anti-Apparition ones."

Nervous grey eyes scanned the room as SD quickly came up with a lie to answer his question, "Well… I really wanted to learn? Since it says not many people can do it and all…"

"In that case, you should have bought an instructional manual, not a book on impossible theories." Pansy scoffed, having flipped through the tome as it was thrown to her.

"They're not that impossible… just…"

"Just?"

SD frowned and stuck her tongue out, "Okay, so they are impossible. Shut up."

This was the opening that Malfoy had been waiting for; hopefully his plan would go off without a hitch. He had gotten an owl just that morning from his father complaining on the lack of progress with SD and her Teleportation theories, and now Malfoy may just have the opening to get direct access to them.

"What if we helped you with them?" he asked genially, gaining surprised looks from the rest of the group, "What? It's a task of ambition befitting a Slytherin; and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't help out at least a little?"

This got even more incredulous looks from the teenagers, and Malfoy sighed, running a hand through his hair before giving a more Malfoy-ish response. "Okay, fine; so I want a piece of the fame if SD ends up being the Wizarding World's youngest Teleportation master. Can you blame me?"

'Please buy it…'

SD thought for a moment. It would help her immensely to have more people helping her with this theory, but she didn't want it to leak out that she was from somewhere where this whole would was just a fantasy novel. That would bring up questions she wouldn't want to be asked or to answer, not to mention PK would not be a happy camper with her at all.

'But terms have been rather good with the lot of us as of lately… I guess I could trust them…'

She took a deep breath and looked at everyone, before shaking her head in the negative. "I think I'll take this one on my own. No need for you guys to fall behind on your studies helping me with some stupid project."

Laughing slightly, she retrieved her book from Crabbe's grasp and grabbed the rest of her things. "I'm about done here. I think I'm gonna walk down to the library before curfew, okay?"

Once SD had exited through the portrait hole, Pansy scooted over towards Malfoy and muttered lowly so the rest of the group wouldn't hear, "Well, that was rather strange. What do you think she's up to, because I sure didn't buy any of that trash she spilled out."

Malfoy nodded, "I'd like to know that myself. Another piece to the puzzle it seems."

"And so far we have no conjoining pieces."

The Slytherin boy just shrugged in response and propped his feet up on the small coffee table, giving off an air of indifference. His mind however, was just the opposite.

'Father is not going to be pleased.'


Later that night, Draco found himself once again in front of a fireplace talking to his father through the Floo system. However, as Professor Snape had warned him that Floo calls were being traced through the common room fireplaces, he was forced to use the one in his Head of House's office.

"So how are things going with the Zephyr girl, Son?" Lucius asked, his face glowing an eerie green through the fire.

There was a hesitant sigh from Malfoy before he began his report, "Unfortunately, she's still wary of our efforts of friendship. She still refuses to cut ties with the Gryffindor she claims to have transferred with and refuses to share any information on things she does outside of textbook work with our group. I thought we had made enough progress, but…"

Lucius's stare bored into the top of Malfoy's head as the younger bowed it slightly, not wanting to meet his father's disapproving gaze, "It will take time, Father. We had quite an animosity between us after all, and it will be a while before she lets her guard down a bit around us."

"It better be soon. Our Lord was pleased with the scant information I presented to him from our last conversation and he is demanding progress on developing this new technique."

Malfoy blinked, not liking where this talk was heading but not knowing what to say after such a statement, "Father, I…"

"Get that information from her by any means necessary. Imperio the brat if you have to, or it will be your neck on the line."

Oh, how Malfoy just wanted to blurt out how cowardly it was of his father to pin any blame on him should anything go wrong, but that would insure that his next visit home might not be very welcoming.

"Yes, Father," he replied, keeping a straight face.

"Good. And I suggest instigating something between the girl and that Gryffindor. She may be the reason your efforts are getting hindered. It is unbecoming of a Slytherin as well, and that tie must be eliminated."

Draco's eyes widened, "But…!"

Without wasting any formalities, Malfoy Sr. cut the Floo link and Draco was left standing in the darkened room, not happy at all with the new orders his father had given him. Truth be told, the small part of him that was dubbed his conscience was protesting fiercely against this. Even though he disliked the Duo with a burning passion, he couldn't help but envy the friendship that they had. It was nothing like the one between him and his circle of friends, or even the Golden Trio's.

And it wasn't as though SD had any other friends to vent to… he and the majority of the Slytherins either barely tolerated the girl, outright disliked her, or in his case, just pretended to be her friend in means of getting something out of it. The Golden Trio was a case of the first, the rest of Gryffindor House was of the second opinion, and she never really socialized amongst the rest of the houses. Then there was the whole mess that would come about once he had gotten what he wanted and he had no use for pretending to like her anymore…

Could he really take away her only friend? Draco didn't know. But for his own sake…

The Prankster Duo had to be broken.


"Oy! It's Hagrid!" Lee yelled the next morning at breakfast as the half-giant made his reappearance at the staff table.

There was a general roar of enthusiasm from a good number of the students. Some, like Lee and the Twins, rushed up to the staff table to welcome back Hagrid personally and shake his enormous hand. But others, mainly girls like Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, gave each other gloomy looks and shook their heads depressedly. Harry knew that they rather liked Professor Grubbly-Plank, if just for the fact that her classes went smoothly without chance of maiming by an animal.

Apprehensively, the Trio and PK walked down to Hagrid's that Tuesday morning, dressed heavily against the cold wind biting at their skin. Harry was nervous, not just because of what Hagrid had refused to tell Hermione what he was planning to bring, but also because of the fact it was the day of Umbridge's inspection of the man.

But, there was no sign of the 'High Inquisitor' as the four trudged their way down the grounds towards Hagrid and a small group of students decked out in green and silver or gold and red. Another Gryffindor and Slytherin class. Joy.

Hagrid himself seemed to be doing much better than he was Saturday night. The purple bruising on his face was mottled with hints of yellow and green, and only a few of the cuts seemed to still be bleeding. He was still a sight to see, and not a reassuring one at that, but it was better than before.

Gesturing towards the forest behind him, the man gave a cheery grin to his class and swung what looked like half of a dead cow over his shoulder. "We're workin' in here t'day!" he called happily, jerking his head back towards the edge of the trees, "Bit more sheltered! And they prefer the dark anyways."

This was not the best thing to say in front of Malfoy, who had an issue with creatures in this class. "What prefers the dark?" the Slytherin said sharply to his two lackeys with a note of panic in his voice, "What did he say prefers the dark? Did you hear?"

Harry chuckled mentally at Malfoy's discomfort.

"Ready?" hagrid said happily, looking around at everyone. "Right. Well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go ter see these guys in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studying this time is pretty rare. I reckon I'm the only person in Britain tha's been able to train 'em."

Malfoy's panic was obvious in his slightly high-pitched and panicky voice, "And you're sure they're trained, are you? Only… it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"

A good majority of the class murmured in agreement, making Hagrid frown. "'Course they're trained," he muttered, slinging the dead cow a little higher up and venturing into the forest, the trail of students following him obediently and a bit apprehensive as to what they would be dealing with today. About after ten minutes of walking they reached a small, snow-less clearing where Hagrid dumped the cow carcass on the ground.

"Gather roun', gather roun'," he encouraged. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat, but I'm going ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they like ter know it's me…"

Hagrid let out a loud, odd, shrieking cry that echoed like the call of some dangerous bird. It resounded through the dark trees and the students' murmuring died down into an eerie silence. No one laughed at the call; they looked too scared to make a sound. Hagrid gave the cry again, and after another minute or two of silence Hagrid was going to call again, but a pair of white, blank, shining eyes peered out at the group from the thicket of bushes and trees. A moment later, the dragonish face, neck, and then a skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse came out from the darkness. After looking at the class for a few seconds, it hobbled over to the fresh carcass and began to tear the flesh off of the bones.

Harry gave a mental sigh of relief, knowing these creatures as the ones that pulled the Hogwarts carriages. The real reason he was relieved however, was because of the fact that neither Hermione nor Ron could see them and that made him feel as if he were going insane. But Hagrid knew about them too, so he couldn't be going crazy.

"Why doesn't Hagrid call for them again?" Ron muttered, crossing his arms across his chest.

"An' here's another one!" Hagrid smiled, gesturing to a second horse-like creature making its way out of the woods.

"And what are we supposed to be seeing?" Malfoy scoffed, not being able to see the creatures, it seemed.

Hagrid gestured towards the cow carcass and several people gasped and a girl or two screamed as something, to their eyes, invisible started earing at the flesh of the cow.

"What's doing it! What's eating it?" Parvati demanded, hiding behind Lavender.

"Thestrals." Hagrid said proudly and Hermione gave a soft "Oh!" of understanding. "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of them in here, Now who really knows—"

"But those are supposed to be really, really unlucky! They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney—"

Hagrid chuckled and scoffed at Parvati's nervousness, "Nonsense. Tha's just superstition, that is, they aren't unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! 'Course this lot don' get a lot of work, jus' mainly carrying the school carriages."

Two more came out of the trees, one passing very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to Lavender, saying, "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!"

"Don' worry… it ain't gonna hurt yeh," Hagrid said patiently, "Righ', now, who can tell me why some of yeh can see 'em and some of yeh can't?"

Hermione, as usual, was the one to raise her hand. Hagrid called on her and she told him the answer.

"The only people who can see thestrals, are those who have seen death."

Hagrid nodded solemnly, "Ten points ter Gryffindor; tha's exactly right. Now, thestrals—"

"Hem, hem."

The class turned around. Professor Umbridge had finally arrived and was standing a few feet away from the group, wearing her green hat and cloak again, clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who'd never heard Umbridge's faked cough before looked towards the thestral nearest him in astonishment, thinking the beast had made the noise.

"Hem, hem."

Hagrid blinked, noticing Umbridge's presence for the first time, "Oh! Hello!" he said, smiling.

"You received the note I sent to your… cabin… this morning, I presume?" she replied in that same loud, slow voice that made it seem as if she was talking to someone both very slow and foreign, "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"

"Oh, yeah! Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see— or can yeh, I dunno? — We're doin' thestrals t'day—"

"I'm sorry?" the toad-woman said loudly, "What did you say?"

"Err… thestrals!" Hagrid replied in a tone just as loud as Umbridge's, "Big— er— winged horses, yeh know!"

He flapped his arms widely, hoping that the sign language would get through to the Professor. However, this had a rather negative effect as the woman raised her eyebrows and began to write furiously in her notebook, "has… to… resort… to… crude… sign… language…"

Apparently, Umbridge was taking Hagrid's sacking into her own hands. If the half-giant wasn't going to screw up while she was watching, she would make it seem as if he was unfit to teach by making him seem as if he was slow and stupid. On and on this went, until Hagrid was quite flustered and more than a few students of the Gryffindor house were wanting to strangle Umbridge.

The toad-woman, seemingly oblivious to the glares and threatening wand gestures from the students, walked over to Pansy, who like Hermione, was in tears. But unlike the bushy-haired girl, hers were of mirth at the situation instead of fury-filled ones.

"Do you find," said Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy, "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when talks?"

She tried to suppress her giggles as she answered, "No… because… well… it sounds like grunting a lot of the time…"

More scribbling went on the clipboard, and Hagrid's face flushed as well as it could with all the bruises and cuts marring the skin. He tried to act as though he didn't hear that, however.

Walking over to Neville, Umbridge gave him a sickly sweet smile, "You can see the thestrals, Longbottom, can't you?"

Neville nodded.

"Whom did you see die, then?"

Neville gulped before nervously stuttering out the answer as Umbridge's beady eyes stared into his own, "My… my grandad."

"And what do you think of them?" she said, waving her stubby, greed-tweed-covered arm toward the horses, who had just about devoured the carcass of that cow to bone.

"Erm… well… they're… er, okay…?"

"Students… too… frightened… to… admit… it…"

"Oh, that's it… it's on now!" PK growled, making to pull her wand on Umbridge, "How about I tun her into the toad she is, hmm? We'll see who's laughing after that!"

Lavender and Hermione however, held the girl back from attacking Umbridge even though they too wanted to take out some frustration on the woman. Hermione for Hagrid and Neville's sake, and Lavender mostly because she didn't believe that Hagrid deserved this bad of treatment no matter how bad of a teacher she thought he was.

"PK, you'll get expelled if you draw a wand on a professor!" Hermione hissed in PK's ear.

"Oh shut up, you know you want to do it too!" PK replied, glaring at the girl.

"That's besides the point; she's a horrible, horrible woman, but at least I can rein my temper in when need be."

Umbridge's smug voice cut through the girls' conversation. "Well, Hagrid, I think I have enough to be getting along with… you will receive" — she mimed taking something from the air in front of her —"the results of your inspection" —she pointed at the clipboard—"in ten days' time." Se held up ten stubby, ring-covered fingers, then her smile grew wider and more toad-like as she adjusted her hat and left the clearing. Malfoy and Pansy erupted into laughter in her wake, Hermione and PK actually shaking with fury, and Neville looking both confused and upset.


Half an hour later, after the lesson had finished and the students dismissed from the grounds, Hermione stormed up the moving staircases back to Gryffindor Tower, muttering curses under her breath about Umbridge and her tactics on getting Hagrid sacked.

"…And I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show us thestrals before N.E.W.T. level, but, they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them and others cannot! I wish I could…"

"Do you?" Harry asked her quietly.

Suddenly, Hermione stopped her decent up the stairs and turned around, horrorstruck. "Oh Harry— I'm sorry —no, of course I don't— that was a really stupid thing to say!"

"S'okay… don't worry." He replied quickly.

"I'm surprised so many people could see them, though." Ron piped up, "Three in a class—"

"Yeah, Weasley… we were just wondering," said a malicious voice nearby. Caught up in their conversation, they failed to realize that Malfoy and his crew were standing in the staircase above them, leaning over and looking at them smugly.

"Well… there goes my day." PK muttered, while Harry angrily asked what Malfoy wanted.

"Argh! You even have ears, Draco? I swear… how many times do I have to tell you to wait up?"

SD came bounding down the stairs towards Malfoy's group and stuck her tongue out at them. The blonde boy in reply, shrugged. "Next time be a little louder, then."

"Oy! Malfoy! You got a bone to pick with me or what?" Ron yelled angrily.

SD raised an eyebrow towards Malfoy and then looked down, "Oh. Hey PK-chan!" she waved, getting one in return before the red-streaked girl turned to Malfoy, "You aren't starting any trouble, now are you?"

"Actually, we just wanted to know something."

Ron sighed in impatience. "Well, what is it then?"

"Well, d'ya reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?"

Malfoy and the rest roared in laugher; SD gave a small snicker or two as she shook her head in resignation. Malfoy broke out in a chorus of "Weasley is Our King", the rest following in suit as the group of Slytherins marched down the staircase and past the Trio and PK. SD trailed along behind, humming the song under her breath but not singing it. She wasn't Ron's biggest fan, and the song was cruel, but she couldn't help it if it had a catchy tune.

Ron's ears turned scarlet as he reached out to grab Malfoy by the collar. Harry laid a hand on his friend shoulder in warning, and the group got away without any fights being started. "Ignore them, Ron. Just ignore them." Hermione intoned, glaring at the backs of the Slytherins' robes.

PK frowned and rushed after them, ignoring the protests of Hermione and Harry. "PK! PK… oh dear. She'll get in a lot of trouble if she messes with Malfoy."

Harry nodded, "No offense to the girl, but she's not that good with a wand."

Hermione nodded, "Sort of makes one wonder how she got this far in her schooling; unless her school focuses more on hands-on material than wandwork."


"SD! SD wait up!" PK yelled, catching up to the group of Slytherins who had gotten away from her because of the moving staircases.

The blonde girl turned around at the sound of her friend's voice and motioned for the others to go on without her before shifting her bag on her shoulder and smiling cheerfully at the brunette. "What's up, PK?"

PK frowned and crossed her arms across her chest, "You're what's up, SD."

Grey-blue eyes blinked in confusion, "Err… what now? You've lost me."

"What was that whole thing up there just a second ago? I thought you were on our side…"

SD's mouth made a little 'o' in understanding. She shrugged, "Oh, come off it, PK. I wasn't as bad as Draco and the others, you gotta admit. All I did was chuckle a little."

"Draco? You're on first names with the prat now! Oh my Ra, SD… you're turning into one of them."

"So what if I'm friends with him and the rest instead of friends with the Trio? And you know Ron hates me and I'm not his biggest fan either. So what if I decide to chuckle at some little joke made at his expense?"

"But it was Malfoy that made the joke!"

"So what? It was still funny…" SD replied defensively.

By now the duo's conversation had upped a level in tone, and they were getting close to a screaming match. Students in the upper levels of the staircases had stopped to peer over at them, while those below did the same. It wasn't often one got to see a fight during school hours that didn't have to do with hexing, after all. And a prefect would probably be along shortly to deduct points and end whatever was going on.

PK gave a blank stare at SD, and the blonde sighed, "You have to admit it was a bit funny."

"Fine. I'll give you that much. But still… you've hanging out with those… those… Slytherins too much lately!" PK said, putting emphasis on the words 'Slytherins' as if it were a curse. "Next thing I know… SD?"

Caught up in her ranting, she failed to notice that SD had began to stalk off, fuming. Huffing, she stopped her friend and looked her in the eye. "And now you're acting as if you're better than me, not needing to hear what I'm saying!"

"I'm 'hanging out with those Slytherins too much' am I?"

SD's tone was cold and sharp. PK had heard this tone a few times before, but rarely was it ever directed towards her. "SD?"

"Well, newsflash, PK! I am one of 'those Slytherins', whether you like it or not!" SD growled, hands clenched as she looked up at her best friend, "Just like you're one of those 'blasted Gryffindors' as Draco likes to call them. But I didn't think that made a difference! It hasn't before! Well… you know what I think? I think you've been hanging around the flipping Golden Trio too much!"

"Oy! SD!"

The girl in question ignored the call of her name as she continued ranting, voice getting higher in volume, along with PK as the fight escaladed. Malfoy and the rest appeared behind SD, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were coming up close behind PK.

"PK!" Hermione yelled.

"And what's wrong with hanging around with them?" PK scoffed.

"What's wrong with me hanging around with Draco and Pansy? It's the same thing! You've blown me off for our library meetings for the last two days!"

"…I was… well… I forgot, okay!" PK sighed, "But you've been disappearing lately to hang out with those guys!" she finished, gesturing to the group of green-clad students behind the blonde.

"And what's wrong with us, Gryffie?" Pansy huffed, glaring at the brunette.

"You know what, PK? Just forget it." SD sighed, turning towards Malfoy and Pansy.

"So you're choosing them over me, is that it?"

"For the moment it is. Until you realize that I was Sorted into Slytherin, and that I will be hanging around with Slytherins, it doesn't mean I'm evil. You're getting that stupid... bias... into your head that being Sorted into a certain House automatically means one is evil, or one is smart, or one is brave, or hardworking… well, it's not always like that. Hell, you're starting to sound like Ron and Harry over there with their opinion of me just because I wear green and not red!"

"Hey! I resent that!" Ron yelled.

PK's tone sounded detached as she spoke to SD. "Well, maybe we should just keep our distances for a while."

"Sounds peachy keen to me!" was the hot-headed retort.

Glaring at each other, the two turned their backs and walked to the members of their respective Houses. Hermione put an arm around PK's shoulders, while Draco ruffled up SD's hair, drawing an angry glare out of the girl. Pansy and Ron were in a glaring contest with one another, and before other words could be spoken amongst the others, the bell for the next class rang. Paling, the group of ten or so students realized they were late for Potions.

And, of course, that could never be good. Rushing off to class, Draco smirked to himself.

'Well… turns out I didn't need to get my hands dirty after all. SD and that Gryffie ruined things between them on their own. Just makes my job a bit more easier.'


A/N: Well. There we gooooo… probably one of the longest chappies so far. And hey! It's an update! For those of you reading my Yu-Gi-Oh! chaptered fic, I'll be working on that shortly and hopefully having something up by Sunday.

School just got out for PK and I, which means more and hopefully faster updates. (My god… we're only half-way through OotP… gaaaaaaaaaaaaah…)

Flames are TOTALLY ACCEPTED for the lateness of this chapter; actually- I would love to get some bashing me for that since I ignored PK's nagging on the chapter. Eeep.

Ja ne, minna-san!

PK13 and SD27