She had not found a magical bear, to her disappointment, but she had run into a particularly grumpy river troll. It was smaller than the last troll she'd seen— although that wasn't much of a comfort. The last troll had been fourteen feet tall. This one was nine feet tall. It had thick, purple fur, and two short horns sprouted out of its head.

Most importantly, it was lumbering toward her, a huge boulder in its hands.

"Only you could have stumbled across a river troll!" Riddle hissed at her. "There isn't even a river!" Lucy paid him no attention; she had to quickly dodge out of the way of the boulder. It smashed into the earth beside her— instead of fear, a great thrill went through her.

"Where's your bridge, loser!" She yelled at the troll.

"Not the time!"

The troll sensed it had been insulted, and it let out a roar louder than before, cheating at her. Should she be scared? Nah, if Harry could do it, so could she. She let out a delighted laugh and dodged out of the way at the last moment. The troll hadn't stopped in time, and it smacked against the tree. The trunk creaked and groaned under the troll's weight.

"They're not too bright, are they?" She laughed, darting away from the troll. Riddle watched tersely from the sidelines. He despised every moment of this– he signed up for a peaceful walk through the woods, not fighting a bloody river troll. She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Riddle, I was born to fight a troll. Harry did it, Quirrell did it— it's my turn!"

In her distraction, she hadn't noticed the log hurtling in her direction. "Move!" Riddle shouted. She jumped to the side, and the log smashed and splintered against the tree next to her. The pieces of wood shot out, and she felt a sting in her cheek.

"Alright. It's a little more bright," she conceded. As the troll ran at her again, she pivoted and pointed her wand at it, yelling, "Reducto!"

The curse hit the troll in the face, and she watched with morbid fascination as thick, purple blood exploded from its head. The troll was by no means dead, but after that it was certainly blinded. It let out an agonized roar and ran at her, swinging its arms blindly.

"Reducto! Reducto!" More blood. It was still running. Lucy frowned and dodged to the side, racking her brain for a proper spell. The pages of Riddle's Book appeared in her mind, and she remembered a particularly nasty one that had caught her attention. "Segmium Deloro!"

A jet of black light shot out of her wand. It hit the troll in the chest, and instead of a gash appearing right away, it settled in the core of its chest; then, ever so steadily, the gaping wound weaved itself apart. The troll screamed and clutched at its chest, trying to keep itself together, but the curse did its work. She watched, stunned, as the top half of the troll slowly slid off and fell onto the ground.

She stared at it for a few moments. She nudged the body with her foot.

"Well, I didn't know it would do that!"

She guillotined that thing! God, Hagrid would be so disappointed in her.

Riddle stepped forward, examining her handiwork. "The Reductors were a little clumsy, but I'd say your use of the Curse of Tearing was well done!" He sounded pleased, and he looked up to give Lucy a brilliant smile.

She stared at the sight of it. She didn't think he'd ever smiled so genuinely before. It was quite a nice sight, and she couldn't help but smiling back, feeling proud despite herself.

"Hagrid will have a fit if he sees this," she said, trying to sober her appearance. Yes, she had performed an awesome spell, but she shouldn't look so pleased about it.

"Use the vanishing charm," Riddle suggested. "Do you know it?"

"Yes, but I can't do it. I've tried ages," she frowned. She tried doing it at Mallory's all the time, and the woman eventually got annoyed and told her she'd break her wand if she didn't give it a rest.

"Of course you can do it," Riddle insisted. He walked over to her and stood behind her, guiding her wand arm up. He wasn't moving it, but she humored him by moving her arm anyway. "Now, do the wand movement."

She made a series of complicated, quick movements. He shook his head. "No, that's not it. You've made the first downward arc much too fast, and you slowed down on the upward diagonal. Try again."

Lucy did, and to her delight, the top half of the troll disappeared. "Aces!" She beamed. "I should leave the bottom half. How confused do you reckon Hagrid would be?"

Riddle smirked, shaking his head. "It's good habit not to leave evidence behind. Even if it would be funny. Now try it on your own."

She vanished the bottom half easily. He smiled at her again, laying a hand on her shoulder. "While I'd rather you not go chasing any trolls, it was excellent practice. Isn't it wonderful, when you're not bound by 'light' spells? Imagine if you had tried stunning that thing— it wouldn't have worked, would it?"

"Ron used a levitation charm to knock out his troll," Lucy recalled. She didn't regret killing the troll, but she had to admit there were other ways she could have gone about it.

"Ron's lucky to have escaped with his life," Riddle replied. "I'm sure it wasn't as easy as that. The troll had to have been distracted, correct?" Lucy nodded; she heard Harry flung himself on the troll's back and stuck his wand up its nose. Definitely gross. "In the real world, there won't be any time for such schemes. It will be you, your opponent, and the precious seconds you use to win. That's what you did just now— and it was well done."

She absorbed his words, letting them fill her with even more pride. Riddle's compliments were a rare occurrence, and while she loved teasing him, being praised by such a knowledgeable wizard made her feel like she was doing something right.

Riddle inspected the area one last time before gesturing in the castle's general direction. "We'd better get back for lunch. What class do you have next?"

"Potions," she said, pulling a face. "Do we have to go back?"

"Something tells me Snape would sniff you out in an instant if you skipped," Riddle said, displeased. He didn't care for Snape one bit. "I hate to say it, but it's times like this when I miss Professor Slughorn. At least he was easy to charm."

"Aw, Snape's a sweetheart, when you get to know him," she insisted. "His insults? They bring us closer together."

He sighed, disappearing into the diary. "Just walk, Lucy," his voice said.

"Snape is the light of my life, Tom Riddle! I wouldn't last a day without him!"

"GO."

"That was a fun outing, if I do say so myself," Lucy said as they walked back into the castle. Most students had finished their lunch at this point, and they were roaming around in their spare time. She grabbed her backpack from the window she'd left it and headed toward the courtyard.

Riddle walked beside her. He was in such a good mood that he ignored the people who walked through him. Usually, it put him in a terrible mood. "What happened to being a good student?" He asked lightly, smirking at her.

"Tell me one part about today that made me a bad student," she challenged.

"Hm— I wouldn't say skipping History of Magic to slay a troll falls under 'following the rules'. If this is only your first day, the rest of the year will be interesting."

"Listen– they never told us not to kill a troll." Then she remembered Harry's adventure last year, and she sighed. Okay, so they had explicitly been told not to fight any trolls. "Alright, they told us not to do so in the castle! This wasn't in the castle, it was in the Forbidden Forest, so there."

"The Forbidden Forest," he repeated, amused. "I think the name 'Forbidden' Forest speaks for itself."

She was wise enough to see that she was losing this debate. Just in time– she saw her friends sitting on the steps, waving her over. "Well, I haven't gotten a detention yet, and that's really all that counts," she said quietly, and she shot an amused glance at Riddle. She walked faster toward the Gryffindors and shouted, "Oh my SWEET WIZARD GOD, it's been so long!"

"I'm out," Riddle said, disappearing.

Coward, she thought.

"Hey, Luce!" Ron waved her over, and she plopped down beside them.

"You look like you had an adventure," Harry commented. She gave him a confused look. He reached over to pluck a leaf from her hair, tossing it on the ground.

"There's more than that," Hermione chuckled. "Scourgify."

Though she couldn't see it, Lucy knew all the leaves were gone. She smiled at Hermione. "I killed a troll," she said casually.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Ron snorted. "Yeah, right. You probably fell down a hill or something."

She only smiled at him. Her friends thought so highly of her sometimes, it was unbelievable. She scooted over to sit next to Hermione and read over her shoulder. A few sentences in, she threw herself away and down the steps like she'd been burned.

"OW, MY EYES!" She shrieked, throwing her hands over her face. "It burns, it burns!"

Riddle appeared out of the diary, alarmed. He looked around for anything dangerous. "What are you—" he stopped, seeing the book Hermione was reading: Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart. "Merlin, Lucy," he huffed, and he disappeared again.

Hermione shared his sentiment. She glared at her writhing friend. "Really, Lucy!"

"I think she's dead," Harry said solemnly. He made a show of checking her pulse. He looked up at Ron only to instead meet eyes with a small, blond haired boy holding a camera in his hands.

"All right, Harry I'm– I'm Colin Creevey," he stammered, "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think — would it be all right if— can I have a picture?"

Lucy peeked one eye open. Upon seeing this absolutely adorable boy, she sat straight up and beamed at him. Was this how Anthony felt when he met the first years? She was willing to cast unforgivables for this kid already.

"A picture?" Harry repeated. He looked at Colin like he was insane.

"A picture, Harry!" Lucy insisted. If he wouldn't take a picture for Colin, she would make him.

"So I can prove I've met you," he said eagerly. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead, and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move! It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you." He looked over at Lucy hopefully, seeing she was the most welcoming of the four. "Maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then could you sign it?"

"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?"

Lucy could not believe that Malfoy was eavesdropping all the way across the courtyard. Didn't he have a life? Friends? Dreams? He was worse than Colin with his stalking.

Malfoy stopped behind Colin, Crabbe and Goyle at his sides. Lucy smiled sweetly and waved at Crabbe in particular. "Hello, Vincent," she said warmly.

Crabbe stared at her with wide eyes. He reached up and rubbed his neck, remembering when she'd nearly suffocated him.

"Everyone line up!" Malfoy said gleefully. If he noticed her traumatizing his friend, he didn't mention it. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"No, I'm not. Shut up, Malfoy," Harry snapped. While Colin had good intentions, Lucy had to admit signed photos was a bit much. She'd do it in a heartbeat but Harry never liked the attention everyone gave him.

"You're just jealous," Colin added.

"Good one, Colin!" Lucy approved. He beamed at her.

"Jealous?" It seemed Colin struck a nerve in Malfoy. His face went slightly red with anger. "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself."

"Would you like to try it out?" Lucy suggested. She held up her wand, less as a threat and more as an offer. Crabbe gulped, but to Malfoy's credit he only threw her a glare.

"Eat slugs, Malfoy," Ron rolled his eyes.

"Be careful," Malfoy smirked. "You don't want to start any trouble or your Mummy'll have to come and take you away from school. 'If you put another toe out of line'—"

A group of older Slytherins nearby laughed, including Marcus Flint. Lucy subtly pointed her wand at him and turned his shoe into stone; she had performed this spell so many times that now she didn't even have to say it out loud. Flint's laughter stopped and he let out an angry shout of, "Oh, what the bloody hell!"

"What's all this, what's all this?" A loud voice called.

Lockhart strode through the crowd, drawn to the attention like a moth to a flame. "Who's giving out signed photos?"

"Me, actually," Lucy told him. "I'm very famous, you see."

His smile turned colder as he looked at her. He turned his eyes to Harry. "Such a joker, that one!" He let out a boisterous laugh. "We meet again, Harry!"

Okay, she said she would be good this year, but this was simply too much... as Lockhart reached over to put an arm around Harry's shoulders, she pointed her wand at him and whispered, "Confundo."

"What..." Lockhart's eyes unfocused, and he looked around at everyone. She would have liked to make him forget where he was again, but she didn't want to risk saying it too loud. "I'm... terribly sorry— what was I doing again?"

"You were going to grade some papers from this morning," Lucy said kindly. Then she added, "And also, you forgot to send me the ten galleons, Professor."

"Of course!" Lockhart gave her a dopey smile. "Too right you are... sorry– which way's my office? Right, it's that way..."

He stumbled away, leaving a concerned group of students behind him.

"Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for your low morales," Harry told her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"You want to make it up to me?" She said innocently. Her gaze travelled over to Colin and she whispered, "Take a picture with him later."

Colin was the only one who overheard. He smiled hopefully at Harry, who didn't look happy, but he nodded anyway. "Yeah, alright," he sighed. "Hopefully your spell didn't wear off— I've got his class next."

Lucy winced. "Ouch. I've got Potions with our favorite Snape." Actually, she couldn't say that anymore, seeing as she now had an owl named Snape.

Copying her, Harry winced. "Ouch. Good luck with that."

With how upset Snape was last night, she figured she'd need it...

She was the first one to arrive at the dungeons, and she was feeling optimistic. So far the day had gone smoothly— she extorted even more money out of Lockhart, she killed a troll, and she spoiled Malfoy's fun. All in all, a successful first day.

Of course, life always had a few speed bumps. And one came in the form of Severus Snape. (She would forever remember his first name; Dumbledore never should have said it in front of her).

As soon as she walked into the Potions classroom, Snape's voice rang out. "Rochester! Detention!" He snapped.

Lucy's jaw dropped. She threw her hands in the air, demanding, "For what?!"

"I'm sure you did something," he glared.

Well, he was right, but he didn't have to say so. Lucy didn't bother arguing. It would only give her more detention. She went to settle in her spot at the back of the class, when a funny thought hit her. She instead decided to sit right in front of Snape's podium so that he'd be forced to look at her for the entire class. That was perhaps the cruelest punishment she could bestow upon the man.

"What are you doing, Rochster?" Snape paused in organizing papers to stare at her new spot.

"I'm trying this thing called 'being responsible' this year, Professor," she told him solemnly. "It's been hard work, but honest work."

"As long as there's no more fraternizing with the Dark Lord, I think it shall be an easy task," he said sarcastically. "That shouldn't be too hard for you, Rochester."

"I don't know, I was thinking of sending him a letter," she said.

Snape ignored her, turning back to his papers. She looked inside her satchel and said, "The funny part is he thinks I'm joking."

Riddle sighed.

Professor Snape looked like he didn't even want to know, but he asked her anyway. "Who are you talking to?"

"A camera— I'm trying one of those muggle sitcoms, you know? I mean I wouldn't really know, I've never watched television, living at an orphanage and all. Have you watched television, Professor Snape?"

Once again, he resolutely ignored her. She grinned and decided not to push her luck any further. She began taking out her textbook and potions supplies, and she slung her satchel around the back of the chair. It wouldn't due to accidentally melt Riddle. She wasn't great at potions...

"Well look at you, early bird!" Hannah commented as the crowd of students made their way into the room. Last year they shared this class with the Ravenclaws, but it looked like it was just them today. That was another thing about Hogwarts— sometimes the schedules simply changed for no reason, and nobody questioned it. She wondered if it was the staff's doing or the castle's. Either way, it was confusing.

"I'm responsible now, haven't you heard?" Lucy sniffed.

"Responsible enough to partner alone," Megan pointed out. It was then that Lucy realized there was an odd number of students. Hannah and Susan went together, Megan and Wayne went together, and then Justin and Ernie went together.

"Oh, this sucks!" She complained. "Isn't that a hazard or something?"

"You'll manage," Professor Snape said. A nasty smile formed on his face at the thought of Lucy handling dangerous potions on her own.

Sighing, Riddle appeared in the seat next to her. She gave him a surprised look which he grimaced at; usually he was against helping her directly in class. Something about 'cheating isn't rewarding' or some other goody-goody nonsense. "I'm only helping you because you don't have a partner," he said flatly, "and your Professor is a madman who wants you killed."

Lucy nodded. That was fair. A bit inconvenient, seeing as she couldn't reply to him without looking like an insane person, but at least now her chance of exploding a potion was lower.

Snape wrote the instructions on the chalk board, and then he stepped back to watch them work. She knew he was more involved in other classes— looming and taunting and whatnot. Occasionally he did that when they had double potions with the Ravenclaws, but when it was just them, without Gryffindors, Snape tended to be more bearable.

Riddle checked which potion they were making. He rolled his eyes at the sight. "Now I know he's trying to kill you. Draught of the Living Death isn't a second year potion at all. It's a sixth year potion, and it's notoriously difficult to brew without a second person..."

"Neat," Lucy muttered. She glanced to see if anyone noticed. Nope, they were all struggling to brew their potion.

Riddle looked at Professor Snape, letting a smirk crawl onto his features. "We're going to surprise him, Lucy," he said mischievously. "We're going to brew a perfect potion. You've got the cauldron warming? Excellent— take the infusion of wormwood and put two drops of water into it. Diluting it helps the potion brew faster– it gets too thick, otherwise. Trickier to stir."

Lucy personally didn't mind messing up a potion, but Riddle looked so pleased at the prospect of showing up Professor Snape that she had to listen. Was this his idea of mischief? Brewing a perfect potion? He was such a prefect.

She did as he instructed, diluting the wormwood. Professor Snape arched and eyebrow at her but didn't say anything. "Now let that settle," Riddle said, "and start powdering the root of asphodel. No shortcuts here, I'm afraid–— just make sure it's fine."

This she could easily do. She imagined the root of asphodel was Lockhart's head. The slightly manic gleam in her eye drew Megan's attention, and she stared at her friend, unnerved.

"Uh... Lucy? You letting out some tension over there?" She said carefully.

"Megan, keep crushing," Wayne advised. He looked a bit overwhelmed at the complex potion. "Leave her to her crazy ways, and keep an eye out in case her potion explodes."

"Have some faith, friends." Lucy finished powdering and checked the instructions again. The cauldron looked heated enough; she added in the infusion of wormwood, waiting to see it dissolve fully.

Riddle peered over the cauldron. "Good. Now the asphodel."

"Can't believe you remember all this," she said under her breath, doing as he said.

He smirked. "It comes with practice. Now stir clockwise twice, and let it sit until I say so. In the meantime, cut up the sloth brain."

Lucy unsheathed her silver knife with great pleasure. Megan sighed from behind her but wisely didn't say anything. Professor Snape eyed her uneasily. She cut up the brain, very precisely if she said so herself. She wished Hogwarts had a wood-carving class. She'd do it on her own time, but Dumbledore and Snape might have a heart attack if she did anything remotely unnerving.

"That was quick," Riddle commented. "Now take thirteen beans and crush them."

The board said to cut twelve of them them, not crush thirteen of them, but she didn't question him. He clearly knew what she was doing.

As she crushed them, Snape asked her, "Why are you crushing them, Rochester?" He sounded more curious than disapproving.

"It releases more juice," Riddle replied.

Lucy mocked him in a posh tone. "It releases more juice." Snape nodded and then went back to ignoring her.

Riddle took offense to her impression, glaring at her. "Real mature, Lucy. I could stop helping, you know."

She looked in his direction and smiled serenely, subtly making a heart with her hands on the table. He followed her movement and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're horrible," he said flatly. "Put the sloth brain in, then the juice."

This was perhaps the best potion she had ever brewed in her life. After adding in the ingredients, she took a cursory glance of the room and saw all of her friends struggling, especially Hannah and Susan whose potion wasn't even remotely the same shade.

"Stir it counterclockwise six times and then clockwise two times," and then let it settle for a minute before turning the heat off."

Lucy complied. Her potion had taken on a shimmering clear color, not unlike normal water. She never would have guessed it was a poison. The overhwhelming urge to drink it came over her.

"What d'you think would happen if I had a drop? Would it only put me into half sleep? A quarter sleep? Would I be tired for the rest of my life?" She wondered aloud.

Professor Snape was in front of her in an instant. "Do not consume the potion," he hissed.

"I wasn't going to! It was an honest question."

He didn't believe her, but he didn't push the matter further. He peered into her cauldron. His face was unreadable as he scooped a sample into a vial before vanishing the rest of the potion. She stared at him as he left, confused. Had they brewed it wrong? If Riddle managed to mess up a potion, she'd never let him hear the end of it.

"Perfect," Riddle said with a satisfied grin.

"He didn't say anything," she whispered.

"He didn't have anything bad to say— Professors like that can't admit when a hated student succeeds."

She saw Snape further examining the potion, and she spotted an unwilling respect in the man's eyes for the quality. She tried not to look too pleased to see it. If her friends wouldn't see it, she'd gladly turn to Riddle and thank him excitedly. As it was, she settled for a brilliant smile in his direction.

He smiled back. "You're welcome," he said, and it was enough.