AN: rather than stress about having all the side characters be completely like their canon counterparts, I settled for 'canon, but slightly to the left', giving people who were antagonists in canon (and therefore not given the same development) hobbies and interests and making everyone more complex.
so - Dudley cooks, Professor Snape is a morally grey war veteran with a whole lot of trauma, Petunia Dursley collects fancy teacups and secretly loves pop music, Draco currently wants to be a professional Quidditch player, Vernon Dursley regularly plays rugby and was a boxer in his youth (here i also wanted to move away from the fat=evil shorthand Rowling uses in canon which is :/). etc.
The second week flows by more quickly than the first.
On Monday, in Herbology, Thea gets an Acceptable on her introductory essay, and they carefully water a Venomous Tentacula, dodging the grasping vines.
In their extra Potions class on Tuesday, they learn how to boil water in their cauldrons, Professor Snape explaining how to control the cauldron flame and change the temperature with his usual neutral expression and bored monotone.
Then, he hands back their tests from the previous week and reprimands them for poor performance in a far harsher tone, throwing in a few cutting comments about how he "expects better from Slytherins" for good measure.
Dorothea's test is drowning in red ink, and her grade is T, for 'Troll', with a note under it that reads 'detention: Wednesday 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm.'
She scowls down at her paper, distracted only as Professor Snape assigns them more reading - two chapters each of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Magical Drafts and Potions.
Ugghhhhh, more homework, Thea grumbles to herself. The required length for essays is a lot shorter than she's used to, but the amount of reading is ridiculous!
Astronomy late that night is a welcome distraction, and Thea quickly loses herself in the stars, listening intently to Professor Sinistra as she identifies constellations and recites the Greek myths surrounding them.
Wednesday's classes are routine, a History of Magic period spent reading her book under the table, and another Transfiguration class devoted to transfiguring matchsticks into needles. (With Pansy's help, Thea achieves a needle-shaped matchstick, with an eyehole of the correct proportions). In their double Astronomy class, they begin an in-depth research project exploring stories about the stars across other cultures, starting with the Greek myths from the night before.
Thea's dreaded detention is actually tolerable and educational. Thea, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe (the only ones to have done so badly), take careful notes while Professor Snape lectures on basic ingredient reactions, and then practice chopping, dicing, slicing and mincing on normal potatoes. Dorothea's beginning to feel hopeful, until Professor Snape declares they will retake the test at the end of next week. Anything less than an Acceptable will have… consequences.
His tone is ominous, and Thea does not want to find out what the consequences will be. Probably detention scrubbing cauldrons for the rest of the term, she thinks with cynicism.
Thursday morning dawns bright and clear, and Thea's up with Pansy's alarm, going through her stretching routine and basic ballet drills as usual.
Breakfast is… well.
Draco Malfoy insults people the entire time (Potter's going to fall off his broom, Longbottom's so useless Hooch won't let him fly, Granger and Dean Thomas are stupid Mudblo- Muggleborns). He continues complaining about their yearmates, even as the older students begin to scowl at the uppity first-year interrupting their breakfast.
Finally, Pansy cuts him off with a scathing remark about respecting one's peers, and Draco shuts up, pale face flushed with embarrassment. When he goes to 'casually' meander over to the Hufflepuff table, mischief glinting in his eyes, Dorothea manages a pointed comment about propriety and 'the correct manners of a pureblood heir'. Honestly, she's making up complete, spur-of-the-moment bullshit, but she's been to enough High Teas with her mother to understand the way these people think, and she already knows appearances are incredibly important to the magical elite.
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw have their first Flying lesson that morning, while the Slytherin first-years have Charms.
In Herbology, Thea listens to Lily and Hermione recount their experience - Hermione's a little scared of heights, but determined to master this magical skill, while Lily enjoys flying but prefers carpets to broomsticks. Apparently Neville fell and sprained his wrist before he could even get on his broom, but the school nurse fixed him up in a heartbeat and he's perfectly fine now.
In History of Magic, they all gossip about their upcoming Flying class, anticipation thick in the air. Dorothea's classmates share outlandish tales of their previous adventures on broomsticks, while Professor Binns drones on without a care in the world. Half of them are clearly exaggerated, tales of near-misses with helicopters and dragons that Dorothea easily dismisses. Perhaps if her pureblood classmates had more experience with the normal world, they'd be able to lie better, she thinks with a smirk. Still, the idea of flying is intoxicating, and Thea's excitement mounts as the hour passes.
By the time they're all gathered on the Quidditch Pitch, Thea's rethinking her excitement. She'd been caught up in everyone else's glee, but flying via broomstick is an alarming concept - going high in the air with only a piece of wood and some twigs for support? It's not normal, nor does it sound the slightest bit safe.
Plus, putting Slytherin and Gryffindor together for this seems like a terrible idea, just as putting them in the same Potions hour was.
Still, for the first half an hour, everything goes off without a hitch. They summon their brooms with a command, something Dorothea has no problem with, and then learn to mount. Madam Hooch has to repeatedly correct both Draco and Harry's grip while Thea and Pansy share a smug look. Then, one by one, they each fly a handful of feet off the ground and down again as Madam Hooch watches like a hawk.
Once Hooch deems them safe enough, they're sent off in staggered groups to fly a few laps around the Quidditch Pitch. Dorothea straggles behind, still adjusting to the weirdness, while Malfoy grumbles about Madame Hooch correcting his grip, and Harry zooms around them, Ron trailing behind.
Thea's starting to get the hang of it, tentatively catching up to Millicent, when Blaise yelps.
And then Blaise's broom is jerking wildly, and he's pale with fear as his twisting broom climbs higher and higher, bucking from side-to-side as it tries to unseat its rider. Blaise screams, a long, high note of pure terror as his broom rolls beneath him again. He's going to fall!
Millicent quickly corrals the Slytherins to circle carefully below Blaise, acting as a safety net, while the Gryffindors obey Madam Hooch and gather on the ground. They all strain to see what their teacher will do.
Madam Hooch has her wand out is chanting a long stream of Latin, shimmering strands of charcoal grey magic floating around her.
"Hel-"
Blaise's scream is cut off by a loud crack as his broom breaks for good. He tumbles through the air in slow motion, colliding with the interlocked arms of the waiting Slytherins. For a split second, it seems they've caught him, and Thea relaxes minutely… until his impact knocks everyone off balance, and their human safety net disintegrates mid-air.
Dorothea's vision is obscured by a swirl of black Hogwarts robes as she falls, her broom spinning away towards the ground.
Thump!
Impact. Air whooshes out of her lungs. Thea's arm crunches under the weight of her body, and darkness takes over her vision.
A lot of panicked yelling, a trip to the Hospital Wing and several spells and potions later, and they have a collection of diagnoses and the company of their Heads of House.
Dorothea, Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were all injured in the fall, the trio of Slytherins having collided with the two unfortunate Gryffindors on impact.
They all have minor concussions, Blaise has a fractured leg from landing awkwardly, Draco has broken several fingers on his left hand and gained a painful collection of splinters from his broomstick, Lavender has a dislocated shoulder where Dorothea struck her as she fell, and Parvati is out cold with a nasty head injury. Thea herself has a broken left arm and a fractured right wrist from trying (and failing) to cushion her landing.
Madam Hooch's magical net had caught them briefly, but the spell couldn't support the weight of three young wixen for longer than a moment. Plus, the magic of basically every Slytherin and Gryffindor first-year had been going haywire with fear and anxiety, which did not make it easy to maintain anything more complex than a Lumos.
Professor's Snape and McGonagall reassure them that they are in good hands, and Dorothea manages to obtain a promise from Professor Snape not to notify her parents. If her Mum and Dad heard about this they'd pull her from Hogwarts in a heartbeat, and Thea remembers the discussion she had with Professor Black, weeks ago - Hogwarts attendance is mandatory for Muggleborns, and she doesn't want to find out the consequences for ignoring that law.
Then, she sleeps.
Mere moments after Dorothea Dursley wakes from her magically-induced nap, the theatrics kick into full gear.
A group of various adults are berating Headmaster Dumbledore, in full view of the entire Hospital Wing. Among them, Dorothea spots a white wizard with pale blond hair, whose pointy face bears a distinct resemblance to Malfoy's, and a black witch who equally resembles Blaise, nose and eyes and all. Thea can also see the school nurse and Madam Hooch herself getting involved, which is a shock.
It's dark outside, so several hours must have passed, and Thea wonders how long it took to notify the parents - when she'd broken her nose on the playground at primary school, her Mum had been there as soon as possible, and she doubts magical families are any different - from the way Malfoy talks, his father smothers him with attention rather than letting him develop his independence. (Thea carefully does not think about how similar her parents are in this regard).
Whatever defence Dumbledore has come up with is deemed insufficient, and he's argued out of the infirmary by the collection of pureblood wixen - Malfoy's father can be heard snarling that he'll have Dumbledore sacked, while Blaise's mother promises that she will pursue legal action in a deceptively calm tone.
The collection of first-years hear no more on the matter that night, though Dorothea has the feeling they will hear more about it later. None of those wixen looked like they'd let the matter go easily.
Madam Pomfrey turns out to be a qualified magical Healer, rather than a simple school nurse, and she's able to mend their broken bones in moments. However, she still keeps them all in the Hospital Wing through Friday and the weekend too, under careful observation.
Dorothea's arms are mended quickly, as is Blaise's leg and Lavender Brown's shoulder, but
Parvati Patil's head injury requires extended magical healing, and Malfoy's broken fingers are still fragile.
There's not much to do in the Hospital Wing - visitors are allowed only for a scant twenty minutes each morning and evening, and catching up on homework can only take up so much time. Still, Dorothea makes a concerted effort, ploughing steadily through her reading for all her classes, and practicing calligraphy with a quill until her fingers ache.
She receives frantic letters from her Mum, her Dad, Dudley, Aunt Marge, all asking about her health and begging her to come home for the winter holidays. Someone must have told them what happened. But who? Headmaster Dumbledore? Harry? One of her friends? None of those options seem likely.
There are more letters, too, attached to the one from her Mum, and from practically everyone Dorothea knows. Sarita, Rosie and Delilah have all sent letters, too - Mum must have alerted half the bloody neighbourhood.
So, Thea reads through her letters, enjoys the bounty of 'get well soon' sweets, and chats with her fellow invalids.
Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil make good company, and Thea's overjoyed to find more friends who value the important things in life, like fashion and makeup and carefully coordinated outfits. Malfoy is more subdued than usual, which makes him infinitely more tolerable to be around, while Blaise is his normal, bright, and talkative self.
With not much else to do, they all spend a lot of time getting to know one another, and finding things they have in common:
Lavender and Parvati are already close friends, while Malfoy and Blaise at least knew each other before Hogwarts, but there's a lot of distance between them. As the weekend slides by,
Blaise plays chess with Draco, while Lavender debates magical law with anyone who'll join in, and speaks Italian with Blaise. Parvati banters back and forth with Draco and talks about the use of potions in magical fashion. Thea shares a love for Astronomy with Blaise and bothers Draco with questions about Potions.
And, Dorothea listens as the others talk about the magical world, pretending she understands every word, and collecting pieces of information, assembling them into a mental jigsaw puzzle of magical society. Different customs for purebloods and half-bloods and muggleborns, politics in the "Wizengamot", shopping in Diagon Alley, mentions of schools like Hogwarts all across Europe. Dorothea absorbs all of it, and contributes her own carefully phrased half-truths - catching the Knight Bus, growing up in a non-magical suburb, and claiming a distant connection to the Potter family.
She sends a school owl off with her shiny new subscriptions to The Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly and The Quibbler, and devours the latest editions. Normal reading may be boring, but the magical newspapers have pictures that move and adverts that sing tinny jingles from the page. It's the most fun Thea has had reading in forever.
The others complain endlessly about schoolwork while Thea hides a baffled expression - a foot or two on unlined parchment is a whole lot less than she'd be writing if she was in normal school, that's for sure. (There it would be several pages of neat, small writing crammed onto lined paper, and even more for end-of-year exams).
On Sunday afternoon, Professor Snape appears and asks to speak to Thea privately. A complex wand movement later, and they're surrounded by an opaque bubble - a privacy ward.
Snape explains that he'd gone to visit her home, after her frantic, drugged rambling and the odd promise she'd asked of him, concerned about her home life.
(Thea scowls at that - she's not a freak like Harry, her parents love her. (Don't they?))
Yet, that brief sentence only leaves Dorothea more confused as Snape asks her about her family.
Still perturbed, Thea haltingly explains about her non-magical parents, and nice, normal extended family, and her faked half-blood identity, hoping that he won't reveal the truth to anyone else. She'd be so screwed if the older, more prejudiced Slytherins caught on.
And as Professor Snape's usual blank expression becomes a frown, she begins to understand the possible link.
Because, Professor Snape recognised her mother's maiden name, and the Evans side of Dorothea's family still have a house in Cokeworth. And Dorothea's heard some of the rumours about Professor Snape's origins (she likes the vampire one best, honestly). One of them was that Snape was the hidden heir to some pureblood bloodline, which Thea rather doubts, and that he grew up in a tiny town somewhere in the midlands, which is plausible enough. And Severus Snape and Petunia Evans Dursley are roughly the same age.
So, her Mum could have known Professor Snape as a kid?!
Thea turns this possibility over in her mind as her Head of House confirms the facts about her family. His questions are awkward and wooden, but he seems serious about making sure her home life is alright, and cares, in an awkward, unpracticed way, about her wellbeing.
Finally, after confirming that she's safe, he blandly informs Thea that she should claim relation to the Prince family line, and sweeps out of the room.
What? That was the oddest part of that conversation, to be honest. Her Head of House wanted to confirm that her home life was suitable, which is at least probably important as he's in charge of her while at Hogwarts, but he then offered to corroborate her ruse of being a halfblood?
Why?
Because he's possibly acquainted with her mother? Because he thinks it's a good prank? Because he feels responsible for her as a Slytherin?
And that other part?
Is Professor Snape related to the Princes somehow? Or friends with the current Head or Heir of the family? He seemed very sure that she could pretend to be related without issue, so he must know something.
Dorothea doesn't have enough information to discern Snape's motive, but she may as well use his suggestion - it'll add a dimension to her current faux-bloodline, and it's worth a shot, right?
They're let out of the Infirmary late on Sunday. Draco's hand is strapped up, and Blaise is using what seems to be a magical wheelchair, though rather than wheels, it hovers with a shimmer of honey-gold magic.
Apparently, while magical healing is very good, rest and time are still required.
They're escorted back to their common rooms, saying a brief goodbye to the Gryffindors before they leave. The Slytherins hold a small party to welcome them back - Butterbeer and pumpkin pie and the best seats in the Common Room (the cushions in front of the fire) for the guests of honour.
Dorothea's just happy to sleep in her own bed.
Monday's classes are a peaceful return to routine.
Double Herbology with Ravenclaw, in which they learn to fertilize and water different breeds of non-magical flowers.
A free period, spent in the Common Room, studying again. This is the hardest Dorothea's ever worked in her life - she was decent at school back at Little Whinging Primary, but not a swot. If the homework was too hard, she'd just bully Harry into doing it for her, or complain to her parents until they helped.
Now, Dorothea slogs through their assigned reading at a slow, steady pace and devotes most of her spare time to homework. And yet her grades remain Poors, with a few Acceptables earned by the skin of her teeth.
It's infuriating.
Dorothea Dursley will not be second-best.
In Transfiguration Thea forces herself to take extensive notes, and casts every spell over and over, hoping determination can make up for lack of talent.
In Defence, she practices wand movements and transcribes Professor Quirrells' every word, Slytherin scarf wrapped around her mouth and nose to block the cloying smell of garlic and formaldehyde that pervades the DADA classroom. Is Quirrell keeping preserved specimens in his study for the older students? Or is he just that afraid of vampires?
In Astronomy, Thea draws diagrams with unfamiliar precision. In Potions, she treats Professor Snape's instructions like gospel and double-checks each step. In History of Magic, she ignores Professor Binns' somnolent drone to read her textbooks - she stumbles through A History of Magic and even checks out Hogwarts, A History from the school library - and takes notes.
The remedial Potions detentions continue, on top of regular Friday Potions and the extra Slytherin class. Thea practices her quill-work and writes essay after essay, poring over ingredient qualities and stirring patterns until her eyes bleed. Professor Snape expects nothing less than competence in his Slytherins.
Politics happen out in the adult magical world, and Flying lessons return. Blaise's mother, Chiara Zabini, was successful in her pursuit of legal action, and Headmaster Dumbledore has apparently been demoted from his position as 'Chief Warlock' of the Wizengamot. (This means absolutely nothing to Dorothea, but according to Pansy, it's a very important position, and his replacement, Fatoumata Kama, is from 'a good pureblood family').
The new Flying classes are different - the ancient school broomsticks are replaced by a fleet of new brooms, each a steady and reliable Cleansweep Six. A handful of players from the lesser professional-league Quidditch teams volunteer their time to help Madam Hooch supervise, and some sort of mass cushioning spell is cast over the Quidditch Pitch. The next Flying lessons are much safer (and better managed) than before.
Dorothea slowly settles in at Hogwarts.
Weeks pass, filled with ballet and schoolwork and friendship - letters from her non-magical friends and family, magical games and studying with her school friends.
Dorothea joins the Astronomy club and hangs out with her Slytherin yearmates and even spends the occasional half-hour with her cousin, visiting Hagrid or playing Exploding Snap. She reaches out to Ron Weasley over their shared interest in baking, and a few games of magical chess, and gets to know Hermione better too - Thea and Hermione had exchanged a handful of letters during the summer, but not hung out much while at Hogwarts. The pair of them bond over their shared non-magical backgrounds, complaining about the odd magical grading standards and eagerly discussing the intersections of magical and non-magical history for hours.
The end of summer quickly becomes autumn. Pumpkin pie appears frequently on the dessert tables at dinner and frost settles on the window panes of the classrooms. Anthony celebrates an array of Jewish holidays within the space of a month, especially enamoured with the magical Hogwarts sukkah. Extra candles are tucked into every spare nook to brighten the halls, and enchanted jack o'lanterns float through the school. The pagan purebloods celebrate Mabon and chatter eagerly about their favourite parts of Samhain and Yule. The teachers hand out sweets to any student who gets good marks, and one of the outdoor ponds becomes a charmed ice-skating rink. Lily commemorates the birth of some Muslim prophet as autumn creeps ever further onwards. Thea has to cut her usual ballet practices down, exchanging choreo practice for extra stretches, layered in thermal jumpers and thick leggings to keep her warm.
Halloween draws closer and closer. The Halloween Feast is supposed to be one of the best parts of the year, though Dorothea is a little sceptical of that. Halloween isn't even a popular magical holiday, as far as she can tell, just something Dumbledore's introduced in recent years - half the pureblood students complain about not being able to celebrate Samhain properly, and the students of other faiths range between 'happy to eat good food and relax' to 'actively annoyed at having to celebrate a holiday they don't care about'.
Lily and Anthony are both fairly ambivalent about Halloween, but they (and all of the other first-years) are excited for the Feast and the individual House parties being arranged. Thea's excited to try out all the magical sweets she can lay her hands on, and she's already arranged to send some to Dudley at Smeltings. Hopefully her brother will finally start talking to her again - after that one concerned note when she was hurt in Flying class, there's been nothing but silence.
The morning of Halloween is the coldest yet.
Cold white winter light shines in the Slytherin common room, changing into jewel-bright colours as it streams through the stained glass windows. The fire roars in the hearth, and every candle is light despite it being daytime. Dorothea and Pansy trot down for breakfast early, eager for warm hot chocolate and friendly company. The older students tell tales of past Halloween Feast's and gossip about the holidays they celebrate with their families, while Thea and her yearmates listen in awe.
Their classes start off with double Charms, where a cheerful Professor Flitwick encourages them to get creative with their Levitation Charms. Theo Nott gets five points for Slytherin and a chocolate frog for being able to precisely float his feather through an obstacle course, while Dorothea settles for attacking Pansy with hers, inciting an all-out tickle-war.
In Herbology, they huddle in the warmth of Greenhouse One and take notes on how magic affects seasonal plant growth. History of Magic is the same as usual - an endless struggle to stay awake, while Flying is cancelled because of preparations for the Halloween Feast.
Instead, Thea and her friends resolve to make good use of their free period. They pile into a spare classroom on the fifth floor, bringing with them whatever blankets and pillow they can purloin from their own Common Rooms. Hermione fills glass jars with vivid blue flames, which are warm and bright without burning, and Blaise appears from nowhere with trays of hot drinks (though he puts on an air of mystery when Thea asks where he got them from).
They relax, enjoying the festive mood and each other's company - a laughing Lily teaches Millicent and Pansy the basics of khaleegy, while Dean plays magical chess against himself. Dorothea knits a scarf, and Neville sketches plants and flowers in his notebook. Anthony reads the latest issue of the Daily Prophet aloud with Blaise, both of them making derisive comments under their breath. Frankly, Thea agrees - the journalistic standards of the magical world are terribly low compared to the normal newspapers.
They're all cosy and content.
As dinner time draws closer, they parade eagerly down the stairs for their very first Halloween Feast. It's as impressive as expected - an array of wonderful foods, overflowing dishes of sweets and bright orange decorations everywhere. Real bats soar above the tables, massive jack 'o lanterns sing cheerful songs in the corner, and the candles flare with purple flames for the occasion. The tables are filled with dishes from across the world, and Thea loads her plate: roast lamb, roast potatoes, a smattering of broccoli and peas, a huge slice of pumpkin pie and a small mountain of luqaimat. Next to their plates she and Millicent build a wall of chocolate frogs, while Greg Goyle launches an aerial assault of liquorice allsorts in an attempt to topple it. Malfoy and Greengrass compete to blow the largest bubbles with shimmering magical bubblegum, their competition judged by a laughing third-year.
The doors to the Great Hall swing open with a resounding BANG! Interrupting the light-hearted rivalries of Slytherin and the general good cheer. As they turn to look, a figure stumbles through, their wand raised, robes in disarray and dripping with pale green slime. With a start, Dorothea recognises them as one of Ron's older brothers, the Gryffindor Prefect. The red hair is unmistakable, even thick with muck and grime.
"Professors! Come quickly, there's a troll!" yells the Weasley boy, his voice raw with terror.
Several students scream in fear at this announcement, while the Professors spill down from the Head Table, grey-faced and serious..
"Mr. Weasley, what is the meaning of this?" asks Professor McGonagall in a harsh whisper as she attempts to steer the elder Weasley out of the Hall.
"A troll, it k-killed Professor Quirrell!" Weasley exclaims, too scared to moderate his volume, and the Great Hall erupts into chaos.
Headmaster Dumbledore's voice booms out across the uproar
"SILENCE!"
A hush falls, each and every student shocked into silence.
"The professors and I will investigate this matter. In the mean, all students will remain in the Great Hall. Prefects, please make sure your House is accounted for."
Dumbleodre's calm voice reassures the students, though Dorothea is not convinced. She's read about trolls in her DADA textbook- they're massive, resistant to magic, and very very dangerous. Their Headmaster sweeps out of the hall, accompanied by Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick and Kettleburn. The other staff spread out around the tables, comforting students and speaking with Prefects.
The Feast resumes, but the mood is rather ruined, and they all sit in fearful anticipation. Dorothea's stomach twists uncomfortably, and she joins the cluster of first- and second-year Slytherins being watched over by the older Prefects.
end notes: So, a little bit of gritty realism for the flying incident. magic isn't all sunshine and rainbows, it has the possibility for mistakes and injury.
According to the hp wiki, the venomous tentacula is taught/handled in sixth year
However, in the books, the reason the golden trio don't get strangled by the tentacula is bcs Hermoine remembers learning about it in Herbology ? so?
That whole conversation with Thea and Snape is a bit of a mess, but i got tired of rewriting it XD
Fatoumata Kama, the new chief warlock is an oc (i basically just picked a surname from the wiki's list of purebloods and googled a relevant first name).
I wanted to cut back Dumbledore's influence a little, it's ridiculous and suuuuper un-democratic that this one dude has powerful positions in english magical law, education, international magical law, and,,, like, has an order of merlin and is hero-worshipped by half the country.
Anthony Goldstein is celebrating Sukkot, a Jewish harvest holiday. A sukkah is a temporary booth/shelter that Jewish peeps built for Sukkot, most importantly with a roof made of uprooted plants that you can see the stars through. (Between September-October 1991, there's also Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, but I couldn't fit them all lol)
Lily is celebrating Eid Milad un Nabi/Mawlid, the birth of the prophet Muhammed. (Her and her mum + her mum's extended family are Sunni Muslims (the extended family are from Qatar, which doesn't celebrate bcs the country is officially Salafi Muslim, but ofc the Moon/Mohammed fam aren't.)
The troll incident:
In this case, the idea is that in canon, the troll looked at Quirrell, an adult wizard who managed to show off enough Defence skills and get a DADA teaching position even with Voldemort in his head, and went nope, because it could sense?/hear?/smell? the vulnerable mini Hermione crying alone a few floors away. So the troll went off to track down Hermione, who was young and untrained and therefore an easy target, which contributed to Quirrell being able to make his dramatic announcement and then faint in the Great Hall.
Therefore, in this fic: if Hermione is happy and safe with her friends in the Great Hall, no longer an easy target, the troll can only sense a) the Great Hall full of people and trained wixen, and b) Quirrell, a single wizard who's off-balance 'cause he's got Voldemort in his head and is distracted by his grand plan to steal the Stone. The troll goes for Quirrell because he's an easier target. And Quirrell, for all his skill, is one person, and trolls are very dangerous.
(theories for Percy Weasley being out and about and witnessing the troll attacking Quirrell include: a) he was meeting up with his gf Penelope b) he was looking for any stray students wandering the halls or c) he was looking for Professor Quirrell to ask him a DADA-related question. Perhaps the real reason is all of the above? Or perhaps not? We may never know… XD)
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