Drucy strode into the Great Hall. The magical ceiling was already dark and clear, studded with myriads of stars. The students were all eating their meals. A couple of people looked up from the Slytherin table as she entered, but the rest mostly ignored her. She would not have that. She took a deep breath and stormed up to the Gryffindor table, right up to Matt Briar, who turned to look at her and paused, setting his fork down. "Yeah, what?" he asked, sounding annoyed and a little confused.

"No, that's not enough," Drucy spoke, her voice sharp and clear. "You stand and you face me." She was vaguely aware that the other Gryffindors were watching her, and a couple of the teachers at the head table had started paying attention. She was so furious with him that it never occurred to her that he might not obey. Apparently, it didn't occur to him either, because he slowly rose to his feet and stepped forward until he was right in front of her. He was taller than she was.

"Ok," he said mockingly. "What?"

"It was you." Drucy trembled slightly with barely-contained emotion. "You made up the rumor that I was Voldemort's granddaughter. You knew very well it wasn't true. You did it to drive the others away from me. You did it because you wanted to hurt me, and I never did anything to you." She stamped her foot once. She wasn't pointing her wand directly at him, but he looked rather nervous as more sparks shot out of its end. "Admit it!"

Matt seemed perplexed, even a little intimidated. He glanced around. At this point, just about everyone in the Hall was paying attention to the two of them. "So?" he finally offered. "So what if it was? What are you going to do about it, here, in front of everyone?"

Drucy had no idea how she came up with her answer. Something strange had happened. With her declaration, her anger had faded just a little. She realized for the first time that she was looking into the eyes of a real person, a boy with feelings and motivations of his own. In that moment, it seemed as if she were looking into her own eyes. Her tone turned from anger to disdain. "What a sneaky Slytherin thing to do," she told him.

She didn't even know why this would matter to him, but it did. Brian's eyes widened. He looked shaken, and then he looked terrified. Drucy suddenly realized that she understood him. She knew why he was afraid. She knew why he bullied her. She knew that he was caught like a rat in a trap, and she knew his deepest secret. She knew that she could say it now, right now, in the Great Hall with everyone watching her, and she could destroy him to his classmates. In her child perspective, she thought it could destroy him forever. In the next moment, she realized that she did not want to hurt him that badly. She took a breath, and he cringed, waiting for her to say what they both knew she had the power to say.

Instead, she closed her eyes, turning her attention to her wand. Levicorpus, she commanded silently. Matt suddenly squawked with surprise as his feet left the ground, and the Hall erupted into nervous laughter. Drucy knew that, under any other circumstances, he would be furious with her. But his expression had shifted from terror to fear mixed with hope and relief. Drucy turned away from him, before she could change her mind, and marched out of the Hall with her head held high, as he began to rotate slowly and helplessly in the air. Once she was out of the Great Hall, though, she wasn't sure where to go. Her wand trembled in her hand, and she knew that it was unhappy that she had done nothing more dangerous to the boy. She headed back outside, crossing the courtyard, and sat down near the edge of the lake. She started trying to talk to her wand, to ease it down. I know what I'm doing. I'm doing the right thing. She knew it wanted to be used. "Orchideous," she tried, and it happily produced a bouquet of flowers for her. Next, she tried a charm to produce bubbles. A slight breeze wafted them across the lake, and she couldn't help but smile. Then she startled. She was suddenly aware that a person was approaching her. Her wand shot a few green and gold sparkles out of its end, and she quickly produced another strand of bubbles. She had the feeling she knew who it was.

"I"m not here to attack you," Matt Briar told her, approaching with his hands empty and held up. Drucy realized that she wasn't afraid of him anymore. She gestured to a spot on the ground nearby, and he joined her, looking out at the bubbles and their reflection in the water. "You didn't tell them," he said. "I don't understand. You know, don't you? And you didn't tell them."

"I know," Drucy responded, sending out another strand of bubbles. She had never thought that her wand would cooperate with a spell like that, but it seemed to enjoy the exercise. "The Sorting Hat wanted to put you into Slytherin. You didn't want to go. You begged and pleaded for Gryffindor. It agreed, and now you think you have to prove that you belong there. Everyone knows Gryffindors bully Slytherins, and…"

"How did you know?" Matt asked. She had never heard him sound like this before, hesitant and almost kind. "And why didn't you tell everyone there in the Great Hall? I know you were going to."

Drucy knew what her sister would tell her to do. She knew what any good Slytherin would tell her. She had the upper hand, and she should keep it. This way, he might not be her enemy anymore. But he also could not be her friend. "I didn't want to hurt you that much," she told him. "I never wanted to hurt you. I never cared to be your enemy." She looked out across the lake, and sent out another stream of bubbles. "The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Hufflepuff. I begged for Slytherin. That's why I know. That's why I understand."

He sounded astonished. "Drucilla, if you could have been in Hufflepuff, why didn't you?"

"I wanted to take care of my sister." Her voice sounded strange in her own ears now. She realized that she was tired, not so much in her body, but inside her head. "I don't know if you'd understand something like that. She belongs in Slytherin. Does it matter whether I do or not? I'm worried about her, and I have to watch out for her. She watches out for me."

"Yeah, I do understand," Matt replied, and she looked back at him to see him still staring out at the lake. "I have a little sister. She's not Hogwarts age yet, of course. But I hope she'll be in Gryffindor, too, like… you know, the whole rest of my family. On both sides."

"We don't have to be enemies," Drucy offered hesitantly. "I know you're a Mis-sort… sort-of… and I've told you that I'm one, too. We could even be friends."

"After everything I did, you'd be friends with me?" Matt asked in confusion. "Why?"

Drucy looked back at the lake. "Because I didn't realize that you were really another person until tonight. I don't know how to explain it. I'm really strange, I guess. I've got this basilisk wand, and it's dangerous. But I don't want to be dangerous."

"Hah. Wands?" Matt gave a short, almost bitter laugh. "Look at this one." He drew his own, showing it to her. "I did want to be dangerous. I mean, I didn't want to be mean, I didn't want to turn evil, but I wanted to be able to fight. I wanted to be able to strike at people with my wand. Why do you think I backed you into a room and tried to take yours? What do you think I could've done to you with this?"

Drucy took a closer look at his wand. "Lumos," she ordered, so that she could use her wand to inspect it more closely. "It looks like rowan wood. Is it rowan?"

"Yeah, and unicorn hair. Think it's ever thrown a curse in its life?" Matt asked wryly. "Really nice for most of what I do with it. Likes charms. Likes shields better. I'm practically a Defense Against Dark Arts prodigy, they say. But the Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. Either I'm a Mis-sort, or I'm all kinds of messed up. Or both. I guess you are, too. I have to admit, I didn't see you that way before tonight."

Drucy smiled and climbed to her feet. "We can be friends. I promise, I won't tell them anything, whether you accept or not."

"Well, alright." He extended his hand. Half-expecting a trick, Drucy reached out, but all he did was to shake hands. "You missed supper. I don't suppose they're still eating in there?"

"It won't matter. I can get something to eat in my room. Uh…" Drucy hesitated. She knew that this was pretty unusual for a Hogwarts student, and didn't want to seem like she was flaunting her wealth. She didn't even know wealth could be flaunted until Daniel had been offended by it. "Well, it's weird. But… ok. My mom got a new house elf, because ours was getting very old. She - the house elf - was afraid of being sent away, and my mom let me take care of her. So, uh, I sort of have a house elf. I can ask her to bring me something from the kitchens."

But Matt didn't take offense. "That's… kinda cool. So you took her in, to keep her safe, and now you've got your own little servant. You think she can bring you something now? I missed dessert." He winked at her, and she realized that she liked his response. Then, he frowned. "But it's pretty cold out here. Maybe she'd better not."

Drucy appreciated that, too. "Hey, that's more thoughtful than I thought you could be. Uh, no offense." He chuckled, and she thought about his point for a moment. "Let's go back inside, and then I'll ask her. Ok?" Matt liked this idea, and the two children wandered back inside, making their way to the cheery fireplace where they had waited to be called into the Great Hall and Sorted as terrified children become first-years… Drucy called Topsy and asked her to bring them some cookies. As the house-elf vanished, she looked at Matt again. "Briar. Bulstrode. I was called first. You aren't a first-year, are you?"

"Nah, second," Matt replied. "I was first, too, in my own year."

By now, the stress of the day and the lateness of the evening had made everything seem positively unreal to her. She and Matt enjoyed their cookies and parted as friends. She made her way to the Common Room just before curfew and let herself inside. Everyone had gone to bed already, except for Esme, who was sitting up and waiting for her. "You ok, kid?" she asked. "You've had a crazy day, haven't you? I really thought you were going to actually curse that boy!"

"Yeah, so did I," Drucy admitted, walking with her sister up to their rooms. "But I'm glad I didn't. I think I've learned an important lesson. Everyone is 'people'. I hope I never forget it."

"It paid off for you this time," Esme warned her. "But, Drucy, just remember… someday it won't."