Things moved on a lot after the unexplainable event in the Great Hall . The classes were working out perfectly . Seraphina acclimated herself comfortably in the new aura of her magical school . Professor Filtwick was so proud and happy to have her in his house. Why wouldn't he be? She was smart , good with charms, and could speak Parseltongue .

All her classes were going great , Transfiguration , Potions , Defense Against the Dark Arts , Astronomy , Flying, and Care for Magical Creatures . All teachers taught quiet well except for Professor Lockhart. He was always busy with his self-admiration . Other girls were a huge fan of him--the reason was beyond her comprehension. Professor Lockhart was handsome , tall, and even muscular, and the girls liked him for that . But he was their teacher, and yet he didn't teach well in class , so why the hell on this Earth did everyone like him ? She always wondered why . On contrary, everyone hated Professor Snape despite of him being a good and perfect teacher, and he had also saved their future by killing Voldemort. He taught his lessons with utter sincerity .

She always liked teachers who taught their lessons seriously .

Other than her classes, she spent most of her time in the library or in the school grounds near the Whomping Willow, which to everyone's amazement accepted her presence without resistance .

And of course, how could she forget Lucifer and Elenore ? They were her only friends with whom she talked to freely and shared a few things about her family . She knew they both liked each other, but they always seemed to deny the fact, which was something she couldn't understand very well . The three of them spent a lot of time together, but she preferred excusing herself at times to give them some quality time together with no one to interfere.

But she missed Daniel, she missed him a lot . Daniel was a Muggle . He was all she wasn't… handsome , charming , lovable , funny, and witty and on the other hand, she was boring , a bookworm , and a nerdy geek. Well, that was what everyone at St. Michael's College called her .

Then also, Daniel loved her . After her parents dies Daniel was the one who comforted her lot and cared for her even more than before .

She was sitting in the library skimming through a book:

'Dark Times of the Dark Lord'.

She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't realize someone was standing near her .

"Reading is a nice habit, but loosing track of time and surroundings can be dangerous at times, Miss Barclay. " A soft, velvety yet strong voice tugged her out of her intense reading session . It was then she realized Professor Snape was towering over her.

"It's just a habit, or you could say a passion I can't control, sir. " She replied.

"It gives me pleasure seeing students like you who give this library the respect it deserves, " Severus commented.

"Well, if a person can't respect books, then its hard to believe they can respect anything in life, Professor. " She chuckled.

"That is a very commendable opinion, Miss Barclay, but you should also see the time. It's already 7:45, and dinner starts at 8'clock, so if I may remind you , you should probably be getting ready for dinner at this time, " he admonished.

She quickly shot a glance at the Muggle watch wrapped around her left wrist and launched up from her seat .

" You are correct, Professor. Thank you for reminding me, " she said in a hurry with a quick nod . He nodded in return and walked off, his black robes swaying after him .

" You're welcome, Miss Barclay," he said while leaving .

ልረልክ

Nothing much happened for the first two weeks of school, but then something happened which caused Severus to think a lot . It made him reconsider his thoughts about Lily and their so-called friendship.

Descending the stairs from her Transfiguration class, Seraphina had an internal debate whether to write a letter to Daniel or not. It had just been two weeks since she'd come to Hogwarts .

She had ditched the school robe for that day . Her sweater's sleeves were rolled up . As she approached the last step, she heard shouting , cheering and laughing. Shooting a glance at the crowd assembled near the greenhouse situated next to transfiguration tower, she ran towards the crowd to see what was going on . As she approached them, the sight she met disgusted her . Bullying was carried out even in Hogwarts . A small boy, probably of Hufflepuff House as his muffler was bumblebee colour, was crying ,his wand on the ground , and across from him were four older Gryffindor boys, their wands pointed towards the defenseless child , laughing. One of them spoke, raising his wand higher in the air.

" Who want to see Georgy's pants taken off as he hangs upside down in the air? "

The crowd cheered, giving the bullies motivation . How disgusting people could get, she growled to herself as she tightened the grip on her wand, ready to do something.

The little Hufflepuff tried going for his wand when one Gryffindor chanted " Flipendo. "

The steaming light poured out of the end of the boy's wand , but Seraphina was much quicker with her actions.

" Expelliarmus, " she chanted, her wand pointed towards the Gryffindor as she ran towards the Hufflepuff .

She couldn't let that little Hufflepuff get hexed and get banged against the greenhouse wall . Her hex knocked the wand from the Gryffindor's hand . Seraphina pushed the Hufflepuff aside and tried to dodge the spell, but she couldn't avoid it and got hexed herself .

Suddenly her left hand was slammed into the hard, cold glass behind her, banging it hard. In a split second, the glass shattered everywhere around her . A stinging pain enveloped her entire body. It felt like a thousand scorpions stinging her repeatedly all at the same time . She had thought the wall behind her was brick, but she was mistaken. She fell to the ground as blood smeared her clothes. She lay there for what felt like an eternity .

ልረልክ

Severus was heading towards the infirmary . Poppy had Floo'd him that she was in urgent need of painkilling and blood replenishing potions as she was short of it . A student had been very badly injured, she had also mentioned .

There must be another Quidditch crazy dunderhead who must have gotten injured deliberately for the sympathy of the girls and teachers and to show everyone how dangerous their favorite sports is , he thought to himself .

Entering the infirmary, he saw Albus , Minerva , Filius ,Gilderoy Lockhart and a few students gathered around someone . He couldn't see their face properly, but he could tell that the student had lost a lot of blood because the whole hospital bed was smeared with blood .

" Here are the potions you asked for, Poppy, " he said, quickly passing the vials to Poppy in the process.

He wanted to see the face of the unfortunate student and wanted to know how he or she had ended up like that . As he approached the bed, he was taken aback. It was Seraphina . Her pitiful body had been held in the sitting position by the help of other students as Poppy picked out a jagged piece of shattered glass from her left arm. Likewise many pieces of glass pierced her body badly .

"Ouch..." Seraphina gasped loudly then bit the bottom of her lip, desperately trying to suppress her exclamations as Poppy picked the glass piece from her left palm . The glass had penetrated clear through her palm, as similarly was the case of the humongous glass piece in her left arm . He felt badly for her.

But how had she ended up that way, he thought to himself .

"There is no need to hide the pain when it is not possible, my dear Seraphina, " Lockhart advised as he winked at her .

"Drink this, my child, it will help to reduce the pain, " Poppy told her, cutting off Lockhart and extending a vial of potion towards her . Seraphina quietly took it from her and sipped the contents of the vial in silence .

Poppy successfully extracted all the glass pieces from the Seraphina's hands , legs and face . She turned towards Severus ,Albus , Filius and Lockhart.

"Now I would ask that you men leave. I need to pick the glass pieces from her back, and she needs to take her shirt off for that, " she explained.

Seraphina blushed out of embarrassment at that .

"Yes, we shall wait outside because I need to talk to her about this incident," Albus said as he turned to leave, indicating for Severus , Filius and Lockhart to follow him . Outside, the four of them stood in silence until Severus decided to question .

" For Merlin's sake, what did she do to end up like that ?" he asked. Concern was dripping from his tone and he did nothing to mask it .

" She tried to save another student from a hex, and instead got hexed herself , the poor child, " Albus replied .

" Why the hell would a student need to be saved by another now ?" he questioned in a baffled tone.

"I need to ask her the same thing, Severus, "Albus said .

"Poor young lady , her beautiful face also got affected by the glass, " Lockhart added .

The rest of them gave him a weird expression. She was in pain, but all Lockhart thought of was beauty . Wow .

After 25 minutes, Poppy called for them to come inside . Seraphina's wounds were dressed now . So much damage had been done that using magic could have caused more damage than good, so the wounds needed to be healed in the Muggle way . Her clothes were changed, and a new set of clothes were given to her . She sat there on the bed in silence as the four men approached her .

"My child, how are you feeling now ?" Albus asked in a concerned tone .

"I... am fine, Headmaster, " Seraphina replied in a pained tone. She wasn't at all .

"Now, would you like to tell me what happened in the Courtyard, my child? " Albus asked.

"Huhh," she let out a little sigh from her thin lips. " After Transfiguration had ended, I was coming down the stairs when I heard a crowd cheering, laughing, shouting . The sight I was greeted by disgusted me. Four Gryffindor students were bullying a little Hufflepuff. They were about to hang him upside down in the air and take off his trousers for fun .

"What type of fun is this, Headmaster? I couldn't bear it, so I jumped in between them, knocked the wand out of the hand of one of them, and pushed the Hufflepuff aside. I was about to dodge the hex, but I wasn't fast enough, it hit me, " she explained in her no-nonsense tone . She spoke with feverish effort .

"That is a very serious act, my child . I have to admit it needs a great deal for bravery to go against the odds . " Albus said with concern.

She passed him a little smile at the comment.

"But you didn't even know the student, so why did you get hexed for him? " Severus asked with hesitation after a long pause .

She shot him a glance , confusion in her eyes . " So what if I didn't know him professor? He was being bullied, and I can't stand it and in my not so humble opinion no one should. My parents never taught me such low morals . If those bullies had succeeded, it could have damaged him a lot . He could have gotten depressed or even could have attempted suicide or anything, for Merlin's sake .

"Well, I was in no mood to get hexed, Professor. I wanted to warn them, but I didn't get the chance. " Anger crept in her voice as she spoke without breaking her eye contact with Severus .

Aghast . He was aghast by her answer . She had been willing to defend a boy she had barely known because of her integrity . She hadn't thought of herself getting hurt.

But he was more shocked by something else. His own memories flashed in front of his eyes when he had been bullied in a similar manner by the Marauders , but no one had come to his defense , not even Lily . They had literally took off his trousers in front of everyone, and Lily had stood there, by their side, without even trying to defend him. She'd laughed with them at his expense. She had asked James to leave him alone once, and when in anger he'd called her what he shouldn't have, a 'Mudblood,' she had gotten offended .

Had she been facing more pain than him at that moment to have gotten offended? But then she had never talked to him much before that except to ask for help with studies . Lily had never stood up for him although she had been his friend, but this girl stood for a boy she barely knew because of her integrity and her morals .

Somewhere deep inside his heart, something broke but didn't cause pain because something else , something stronger and warmer, comforted him . The feel was awkward but nice. He liked that feeling .

" She is correct, Severus. Standing for what you feel is right is never wrong, even if it causes a little damage, " Albus said as he smiled warmly at her .

She nodded her head shyly .

"And, of course, it was necessary to show the dunderheads that being beautiful and a capable fighter is an easy task for Miss Barclay , am I right? " Lockhart slipped into the conversation as he glided to the hospital bed next to Seraphina with a wide smile on his lips, and yet again he winked .

A hint of red came over her cheeks from Lockhart's comment. Lockhart raised his hand and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear . Seraphina stiffened at Lockhart's act, moving uncomfortably on the bed .

The sight didn't seem right to Severus. It was clear that Lockhart's proximity was bothering Seraphina, and he felt irate at Lockhart's act . He didn't knew why he felt that way.

Severus decided to interrupt Lockhart, but a loud noise came from behind them, and when they turned, the sight of a small boy running towards them greeted them .

"Seraphina, are you all right ? " the little boy shouted as he reached the bed .

Severus arched an eyebrow at Lockhart, causing him to stand up and move away from the bed.

"Are you all right, Seraphina ?" the little boy asked again with an apologetic look .

"I am all right, George, but first tell me, are you all right? Those dunderheads didn't hurt you ?" Seraphina questioned with a concerned tone .

"I am all right. You came just at the right moment, like a hero, or they would have hurt me otherwise," George answered, his head low with embarrassment.

Seraphina made George sit next to her and cupped his little face with her bandaged hands . Looking straight into his blue orbs, she softly caressed his cheeks with her thumbs, and the words poured out of her lips.

"You were crying, am I right ? "

The boy nodded.

"Listen, George, there's no need to be scared by those dunderheads or anyone anymore. Now I am with you, okay? And you need not cry over those dunderheads anymore . You are not a little rat; you know that. You are one of the most amazing persons I have ever met . You are one of the most lovable boys one could ever meet . Now, I hope you don't mind making me your friend? I hope you will."

Every word had come with utter sincerity; it wasn't a lie , anyone could tell that . She had meant every word she had spoken from the bottom of her heart .

A tear rolled down George's face . Seraphina took him into a hug , tracing circles on his back. "Shhhh... don't cry. I am with you little fella. Now, I very badly need a smile on that little face of yours, " she wispered softly in his ear.

George pulled away from the hug, giving her a small smile and looking into her black eyes. He suddenly jumped off the bed.

"Oh, I forgot to do what I came for. " He pulled out a wand from his robes. " Here's your wand. They forgot to take it with them when they were collecting your stuff. " He held out an Aspen wood , 12 1/2 inch long wand towards her .

" Thank you so much, George. I had almost forgotten my wand . " Seraphina thanked him .

"If you are my friend, then no formalities of sorry and thank you, ok? " George smiled as he spoke .

"Ok, " Seraphina chuckled .

Seraphina started getting off the bed when Poppy popped in. " Seraphina, my child, where do you think you are going ?" she asked.

"To my dorm, ma'am. I think you dressed all my wounds, so I shall take my leave," Seraphina replied .

"No, you are staying in the hospital tonight. Your wounds are deep and painful. You might be in need of some assistance," Poppy said .

"That is sweet of you, Madam Pomphrey, but I don't want be a burden. I think I can manage, and then Elenore and Lucifer can help me, " Seraphina replied.

"Those love birds... Never, my child, will you be a burden. It's my job to take care of those injured, so you are staying here for the night and then you can go to your dorm tomorrow. " Poppy said .

" You should stay here, my child. Madam Pomphrey is right, you are badly injured and need rest. Now I think we all should take our leave and let Seraphina have some rest, " Albus instructed .

ልረልክ

The food felt tasteless to Severus that evening . Seraphina was all he could think about. How could she so selflessly throw herself in front of a boy she barely knew? He wanted to know why .

"Because no one stood for her, Severus. " Albus voice tugged him out of his ocean of thoughts .

"What? " Severus exclaimed softly as he shot a glance at Albus .

Albus let out a little sigh. "When she studied at the Muggle school, the students tried to bully her at times, but she stood against them even when she was all alone . That caused an undying hatred against bullying in her heart, and she cannot bear the sight of it . She didn't do it for the sake of being called a hero, " he continued .

"But why would someone bully her? She is not weak , stupid or clumsy, " Severus replied, a confused look on his face .

"Because she is way smarter and better than them, even without her magic. You know once she beat two boys twice her size in Muggle fighting." Albus chuckled .

"Why? " Severus asked curiously.

"Because they took her spectacles. She hates it when someone touches them. " The reply came even though Albus was still chuckling.

Severus raised an eyebrow at that comment .

" Without her glasses, she can't see, and that causes her to be protective about them "

" Oh... " Severus thought .

She can stand up for herself . She always has stood up for herself . But how did Albus know all this ? he thought.

"But Albus, how do you know this much about Miss Barclay ?" Severus questioned.

"Oh, I saw her profile from her Muggle school and she told me many of those things, and even showed me memories of some when she came for the interview, " Albus replied .

ልረልክ

Severus leaned back on his armchair trying to sink it as far as possible as he stared at the fire in the fireplace . He was thinking. He had made judgements about everyone so easily without knowing their past, but Seraphina was still in his mind; he felt pity for her . The lovely girl… he wished her wounds would heal fast .