Hagrid opened his door at Drucy's fourth knock, much to her relief. She was beginning to think that he wasn't home. "Please," she burst out, as soon as he spotted her. "Don't scold me, okay? I already know it's classtime. I just couldn't take it today. And I need your help. Please don't get me in trouble."

Hagrid looked silently at Drucy for a moment, then stepped back, inviting her inside. "No promises, kid," he told her. "Not until I know what's botherin' you. What class are ya skiving off?"

"Charms," Drucy admitted shakily, perching on a chair at the table. "I'm really, really bad at it, and it's been a bad day for me. Plus it's a double period, and I've already had one."

"Well, you aren't up ta much harm," Hagrid observed. "Not if you leave class to come here. So what part haven't you told me about yet?"

Drucy started to speak and stopped. She took a breath, opened her mouth, and stopped. Finally, she closed her eyes, took another breath, and spoke aloud to Jade. "Come on out, my friend Hagrid wants to look at you. He… he won't hurt you."

Hagrid watched in astonishment while the slender, pale snake weakly slithered out of Drucy's sleeve and onto the table. He stared at her for a long moment, while she wondered just how much trouble she was in now. Then Hagrid did the last thing she expected; he sat back and just started chuckling. His laughter was boisterous, and Drucy couldn't help but smile weakly in return, even though she was trembling so badly that she was glad she was sitting down.

Hagrid beamed as he settled down at the table. "Is this what all the fuss is about? So, yer a Parselmouth, and you keep a baby greensnake in yer school robes. Didn't see that one comin', but I mighta. Let's see… what's her name, Drucy?"

"Jade," Drucy gasped, astonished. "You're not mad? You don't hate me?"

Hagrid sighed slightly. "To be truthful, I might'a, if I hadn't met you first, Drucy. Parseltongue is often the sign of the Dark Arts. But I've a'ready learned there's no harm in you. Jade should be the least of yer worries. She's just molting. Never seen a snake molt?"

"My mother prefers that nobody knows what I can do," Drucy admitted shakily. "I took a chance just showing you. I've never seen a snake molt. This is the longest I've ever kept one. Whenever Mom found out…"

"Didn't want people to know," Hagrid muttered darkly. "You know what, I been asked to keep my giant side quiet for ages. People talk, you know. To be honest, Slytherins usually give me the most trouble 'bout it. I guess I can see it from yer side too." He cleared his throat, grabbed a wooden bowl, and filled the bottom with water. "Hold on a bit, Drucy. Let's sort out Jade firs'." He stepped outside for a moment and returned with the bowl now filled with small stones and rough branches, making a small habitat. Drucy opened her mouth to talk Jade into it, but she didn't need to; Hagrid gently lifted the snake and set her gently into the bowl. Jade sank her tiny fangs into his finger, and Hagrid didn't even twitch a muscle. "Got some pep in you, sweet'eart. Yer goin' to be just fine." Jade quieted at his voice, releasing his finger, and he set the bowl in the sunlight streaming from the window. "I say leave 'er here for a week, maybe week an' a half at most, and she'll be fine. I'll catch some grubs for when she's out of 'er skin and ready to eat again."

Drucy frowned as Hagrid rubbed absently at his finger, where a small droplet of blood formed. "She bit you. I'm sorry… I would've told her… Thank you for taking care of her anyways."

Hagrid waved off her concern. "Tha' was nothing. I've been bit by bigger beasts. 'Sides, she didn't mean it. Have some fudge. Yer lookin' a bit peaked."

"I skipped lunch," Drucy admitted. "It's been a long day."

Drucy left Hagrid's hut with a deep sense of relief (and a badly-scrawled note of excuse for Flitwick), and reached the courtyard in time for it to fill with students traveling to their next class. As she began to fall in with the others, she suddenly spotted Matt Briar, standing in the middle of the courtyard, boasting to a small circle of friends. Her relief turned to a quick moment of fear, which suddenly changed to anger… and determination. Her wand felt warm in its pocket, and it vibrated slightly as she laid her hand on it, listening to him blather. "Of course I'll make the Quidditch team next year, there isn't even a question. I bet I can get in a year early, like the famous Harry Potter. After all, I'm clearly the best at flying, and-WAAAAUGH!"

Drucy had gestured slightly towards Matt with her wand while thinking Levicorpus as hard as she could, and the wand was only too glad to oblige. She muffled her laughter in her cloak, hiding her wand, keeping her hood up, and slipping away as quietly as possible while he dangled helplessly by his ankle, rotating slightly, his friends thrown into a panic and trying to figure out how to get him down. The spell was a nonverbal one and she hoped nobody knew who had performed it. She couldn't keep many things from her Slytherin friend, though, and Roenna grinned at the look of mirth in Drucy's eyes as she rejoined the Slytherin first-years heading to Transfiguration class.

Being the smart and sly girl she was, Roenna waited until the students were rustling and talking as they settled down for class before speaking quietly to Drucy. "Nice work," she murmured. "What did you do? I didn't recognize the curse."

"It isn't really a curse," Drucy responded quietly. "I'll teach you later." She hushed quickly as Professor Krum called the class to order.

Transfiguration went surprisingly well. Drucy didn't know whether it was because her wand's ire towards the bully was satisfied, because she had taken a guilty little break from Charms, or something else entirely, but it seemed more willing than usual to do her will. This time, when she tried to turn her mouse into a teacup, it obligingly settled… into a brown, mottled, china cup with a 'handle' that kept curling and uncurling, tail-like. It was the most complete transfiguration she had ever done, and Professor Krum looked pleased as he noted her progress. "See me after class," he told her. With the room empty, he encouraged her to give it one more try, and she finally managed to fully Transfigure an object for the first time in her life. "I think you are finding your feet," he praised her. "The vand is listening to you now." She wasn't so sure of that, not if it was only cooperating because it got the chance to prank Matt Briar, but she nodded and smiled until he sent her off to dinner.

Drucy walked down with a new spring to her step, feeling much better than she had that morning. Jade would be alright, Drucy hadn't gotten in trouble for missing Charms, her wand was beginning to cooperate, and she had even managed to take that Gryffindor bully down a peg-

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted as Matt Briar stepped around the doorway from a nearby empty classroom, his face full of rage. He grabbed her before she could react and shoved her into it. She stumbled and he shoved her to the floor. Drucy looked up, startled, to see two of his buddies behind him, one of them glancing into the hallway, keeping watch. Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't know what to do, so she drew her wand.

"Oh, what's this, are you going to duel me?" Matt sneered. "You haven't got the guts, Slytherin. You're pretty clever when you're pulling tricks behind someone's back, but face-to-face you're a coward."

Drucy's hand was trembling. The wand vibrated hot in her hand. She knew it wanted to strike him, to hurt him. She realized that she might have to hurt him, to get away from whatever he had planned for her. Still, he hadn't drawn his own wand yet. Maybe he was just going to intimidate her. She tried to remember the wording for a shield spell, lining it up in her head, ready to cast just in case. He stepped closer. "Just a sneaky Slytherin," he mocked, more quietly now, looking satisfied. "I bet you can't even keep a wand. I've heard how bad you are at wandwork." Then, as if on impulse, he reached towards her wand. She drew her hand back, shocked.

"No," she said, her voice shaky. "No, don't touch it. You shouldn't touch it, you don't understand…"

"Oh, what don't I understand?" Matt snarled. His hand darted out, and he snatched the trembling wand away from her.

"No!" Drucy shrieked, but her own voice was drowned out by Matt's sudden yell. His eyes widened. He clutched the wand as if it was fixated to his hand. There were no lights, no flashes, no sparkles, but his gaze filled with horror as he slowly sank to the ground. Then he suddenly started screaming, like nothing Drucy had ever heard before, with a dreadful intensity that she could not even understand. One of his buddies turned and ran out the door. The other remained still, transfixed with terror, and did not try to touch him. "No!" Drucy called out to the wand, unsure of whether it could 'hear' her from this distance. "Let him go! Drop him! DROP HIM!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

With a sudden flash of green light, the wand tore itself from Matt's grasp and flew across the room to the figure who had just entered, who was already striding towards the two, holding out his wand like a duellist with one hand and reaching out with the other. Brian, the Slytherin Prefect, caught Drucy's wand, dropped it with a jerk and a curse as if it had stung him, and caught it again before it hit the floor. His eyes fixed on Matt, who was curled into a ball and sobbing brokenly, he dropped the wand into Drucy's hands. As soon as she caught it, green and gold sparks started shooting out of it like a Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bang.

Brian quickly knelt at Matt's side, his wand circling over the boy, until the sobbing eased. Drucy didn't move. She didn't even try to stand. "Calm that thing down," Brian ordered over his shoulder, and she concentrated on her wand, until the sparks slowly eased up and stopped. Then the room began to fill with people who had heard the ruckus. Brian immediately took charge. "You and you, bring him up to the infirmary. You - " to the Gryffindor buddy who had stayed "- come with me. You there, Jacobs, right? Go to Professor Longbottom and ask him to come to the Headmistress's office right away. Goyle, extend the same invitation to Professor Slughorn. Drucilla…" He rose to his feet as a couple of Ravenclaws stepped forward to offer support for Matt. "Come with me."

"Am I in a lot of trouble?" Drucy asked shakily, rising to her feet, reluctantly stowing her wand.

"Yes," Brian told her, reaching out to take her hand as he stepped into the hallway, Matt's buddy reluctantly following.

"But I have seen worse."