The next day, Kellen and Hermione were joined by not one, but two friends from other houses: Desiree Moultrie, Kellen's Ravenclaw cousin, and Daphne Greengrass, their new friend from Slytherin.

"Good morning, Kellen! Good morning, Hermione!" Desiree chirped cheerily.

"Hiya, 'Ree!" Hermione squeaked. "Oh, we met a new friend from Slytherin last night. Desiree Moultrie, this is Daphne Greengrass."

Daphne stuck her hand out and smiled. "Hello, Desiree. I'm Daphne. Very pleased to meet you."

Desiree smiled back. "Good morning, Daphne. You must really like my cousin to venture to the Gryffindor table."

Daphne giggled. "Kellen's your cousin? I had no idea. I thought he's a Muggle-born."

"Technically, we're second cousins, and we're the only known magically-inclined people on either side of his family," Desiree clarified. "So we're still both considered Muggle-born."

"That's very interesting," replied Daphne. "And Kellen is a very kind boy. He invited me over here last night." She noticed the blue and gold motif on Desiree's uniform. "So you're a Ravenclaw... I would have expected Kellen to be your housemate."

"He might have been if he didn't bump into Hermione first," Desiree giggled, her loose copper curls bouncing along. She whispered in Daphne's ear. "Between you and me, I think he has the hots for Miss Granger." Both girls giggled.

Suddenly, a loud growl pierced the din of the Great Hall.

"WHERE IS HE?"

The entire dining hall went quiet. A gaunt, pallid man that sort of resembled Snape, except with oily platinum blonde locks and a fancy walking stick strode to the Gryffindor table, along with a familiar, but equally odious presence - Draco Malfoy.

Kellen saw Draco point to him. "Hermione, Daphne, and Desiree - you three might want to sit somewhere else. I don't think you're going to like this conversation." The three girls nodded and moved over a fair bit.

"That's Grimseth, Father," Draco said nervously.

"Wait here, Draco," the elder gentleman commanded.

"Yes, Father," Draco replied obediently. He stayed near the end of the Gryffindor table, at least fifteen paces away from Kellen.

The elder Malfoy advanced towards Kellen deliberately. He had a very cold, calculating expression on his face, and Kellen felt a huge lump in his throat. This man was clearly unhappy, and seemed prepared to send Kellen a message of sorts. He stopped about three paces away from Kellen's spot at the table.

"Mister Grimseth," the elder Malfoy drawled.

Kellen turned to look at Draco's father nervously.

Mister Malfoy smirked. "Lucius Malfoy. I'm Draco's father. I don't believe we've met." The sound of his voice had an interesting mix of both honey and vinegar - Kellen was certainly wishing that he hadn't met Draco's father.

Kellen shook his head. "I don't believe we have either, Mister Malfoy."

Lucius Malfoy's smirk remained fixed on his face. "Draco tells me that you're extraordinarily gifted with magic, far beyond the ken of most first year students. You must be talented to earn that sort of praise."

"I've dabbled before coming to Hogwarts, sir," Kellen replied softly.

"And you have found it fit to practice your gifts on my son..." Lucius Malfoy's face gradually faded from a smirk to a sneer.

Kellen found some courage to stand up for himself, and his friends. "With all due respect, sir, your son has belittled my friends and I will not tolerate bullying. Your son should be above that."

Mister Malfoy's sneer tightened. "The only bullying that's been occurring here, boy, is you casting the Dangling Jinx on Draco two nights ago, and sealing his lips shut last night."

Kellen was starting to get worked up. "Your son does not have free reign to waltz throughout Hogwarts unchecked. I don't care that he comes from a powerful family, he should be subject to the same standards as everyone else!"

CRACK!

Mister Malfoy landed a very forceful slap across Kellen's cheek. It was so hard, he swore his molars were jiggling. Hermione, Daphne, and Desiree all winced.

"Stay away from my son, Grimseth," seethed Lucius. He raised his voice so that the entire Great Hall can hear unimpeded. "The next student that lays a finger on my Draco - or casts a spell on him - I will personally see to it that they take a train ride home - permanently."

Lucius walked back toward Draco. "Leave Grimseth alone, son," he said sternly. "I can tell that the boy is dangerous. He could seriously hurt you. Furthermore, I do not wish to be summoned here like this again. Do you understand?"

Draco nodded. "Yes, Father."

Lucius patted his son on the shoulder. "That's a good lad. I'm sure the next time we meet, it'll be under more pleasant circumstances." Draco nodded.

When the coast was clear, Hermione, Daphne, and Desiree all came back to Kellen's spot. They all gave him gentle hugs.

"I'm so sorry, Kellen," Daphne said. "You're all right, I hope."

Kellen smiled weakly. "I'm fine, I think. He got my mandible pretty good, it still stings a bit."

"If it's any consolation, I don't think Draco will be harassing you anytime soon," Hermione added.

"Yeah, but I don't appreciate being called dangerous," Kellen replied. "The last thing I want to do is hurt anybody - even Draco Malfoy."

"You're not a dangerous boy at all, Kel," Desiree chimed in. "But maybe you should take it as a compliment, if it means that he won't be bothering you or your friends anymore."

The rest of the morning was fairly uneventful - after an early Herbology class, Gryffindor and Slytherin had a shared free period.

Kellen and Hermione caught Daphne in the hallway after leaving Herbology.

"Hiya, Daphne!" greeted Hermione. "Ready for Kellen to teach you some defensive spells?"

Daphne smiled radiantly. "You bet! Want to practice outside? It's quite lovely today."

"We will need to find a secluded spot," Kellen said. "I really don't want anyone else to find out what we're doing."

Hermione cocked an eyebrow. "Now Kellen, are you sure you still want to do this? You heard what Lucius Malfoy said - he'll get you expelled if you so much as look at Draco the wrong way!"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take, Hermione," Kellen replied. "If protecting you, Daphne, or any of my other friends means that I get kicked out of Hogwarts, then so be it. Besides, Draco is hardly the only git at Hogwarts."

The three friends made their way outside, and looked for a place where they could practice undisturbed. They made their way near the Forbidden Forest, and saw a small hut with a garden behind it.

"This place is about as good as any to practice," Kellen said. "I'm guessing someone lives here, let me knock to make sure they're cool with it."

Kellen knocked on the door of the hut, and to his surprise, it was Hagrid that answered.

"Kellen!" Hagrid exclaimed heartily. "What can I do fer yer?"

"Hi Hagrid," Kellen replied. "I wanted to teach my friends some defensive spells, and the spot behind your house seems perfect. I don't want people to bug us while we practice. Would that be okay?"

Hagrid beamed. "Of course it would be okay! Would you like fer me to brew yer some tea in the meantime?"

Kellen chuckled. "That would be terrific, Hagrid. Thank you!"

Hagrid pointed to his chin, and moved his index finger up and down his jaw line. "Um, say, Kellen, yer face is a little red there. Mind telling me what happened?"

"Lucius Malfoy," Hermione said before Kellen could explain. "He slapped Kellen for putting Draco in his place."

"That's mighty low, even fer Lucius," Hagrid growled. "I can see why yer want to practice yer spells."

Daphne cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Kellen and Hermione's friend, Daphne Greengrass."

Hagrid chuckled. "Pleased ter meet yer, Miss Daphne. It's good to see that not all Slytherin are fans of the Malfoy clan."

Daphne smiled shyly. "Most of us in Slytherin aren't, but we're too afraid to put Draco in his place. You either have to be really stupid, or really brave, to pick a fight with Draco." She smiled at Kellen. "And Kellen is definitely the latter."

"I'll go ahead and get that tea going. I'll watch you practice in a few, if that's okay. I'll make sure nobody else bothers you," said Hagrid.

"Perfect, thank you," replied Kellen as the three children made their way to the area behind Hagrid's hut. Let's start with a simple disarming spell. Are either of you familiar with expelliarmus?"

Hermione nodded, but Daphne shook her head 'no'.

Kellen smiled at Daphne. "Okay, Daphne. Why don't you watch us make a quick demonstration? This won't be hard to learn. Hermione, go ahead and start it off. Wands at the ready."

The two friends drew their wands, and Hermione waved her wand and cried out "Expelliarmus!" Kellen's wand flew backwards, and Kellen tumbled over and fell on his rear end.

"You want to try, Daphne?" Kellen offered.

"Erm, okay, I just don't want to hurt you," she replied.

Kellen chuckled. "You won't, I promise." He stood up, picked up his wand, and walked back to Daphne. "Okay, you just wave your wand in a loop like so, and say Expelliarmus, loud and proud. Ready?"

Daphne nodded. The two friends took their places. "Wands at the ready," Kellen said. Daphne waved her wand as instructed, and cried out "Expelliarmus!". To her surprise, it had the exact same effect as when Hermione did it a minute earlier.

"I did it!" Daphne said excitedly. "You're a great teacher, Kellen." She hugged him in appreciation.

"You learned that one very quickly," Kellen replied. "We may need to try something more advanced. How about the Dangling Jinx? I'll need one of you to be my assistant. Don't worry, I'll catch you," he said.

"I'll do it," sighed Hermione. "Please don't drop me."

"You have my word," Kellen said. "In positions? Wands at the ready." He waved his wand at Hermione. "Levicorpus!"

Hermione flew up, feet-first in the air, hanging about ten or twelve feet above the ground. Her robes drooped over her head. "Okay, Kellen, I can't really see with my robes covering my face, and this is a little uncomfortable in more ways than one... I'd really like it if you could put me down, thanks."

Kellen smiled. He walked up under where Hermione was dangling, and waved his wand and cried out "Liberacorpus!" Hermione fell straight down and into Kellen's surprisingly strong arms.

"Good catch," giggled Hermione.

"All right, my turn to be your Guinea pig," Kellen said. "Who wants to try it first?"

At that moment, Hagrid came outside to watch the kids practice their spells. He applauded their efforts on occasion, but also remained vigilant to make sure nobody was snooping.

After practicing a few Dangling Jinxes, the children decided to call it good for the time being and joined Hagrid for some tea.

"Kellen seems ter be a mighty fine teacher, from what I can tell," Hagrid chuckled.

"He's very good, and he makes it easy to understand," replied Daphne. "Maybe he could be a Hogwarts Professor one day."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Kellen said. "There's a few other spells we should go over, but I guess that'll be next time."

"You are very good though, Kellen," Hermione insisted. "You don't just know the material, you're exceptionally gifted at teaching it. You make it easy to understand, but you don't actually dumb things down for the lay person. That's not always easy to do."

"So what's the next class for the day?" Daphne asked.

"Flying, with Madam Hooch," replied Kellen. "We share that one too."

"Flying scares me a little, I think," Daphne said softly. "Would you mind partnering with me, Kellen? It would make me feel better."

"I'd be glad to, Daphne," Kellen responded. "Erm, out of curiosity, what's making you nervous?"

Daphne blushed. "I'm a little afraid of heights... it's the one thing I was dreading when I came here, and of course we all have to learn how to fly at Hogwarts..."

"I'll make sure nothing happens to you," Kellen promised. Daphne smiled at her friend.

"Thank you," replied Daphne. "I feel... safe with you, Kellen."

Kellen looked over at Hermione. "Are you going to be okay, or do you need me to lend a hand during flying as well?"

"Erm, I'm not sure... I'm not going to lie, flying has me a little nervous too," Hermione said softly. "I know it's going to be hard keeping track of two of us... maybe Harry or Ron could watch over me if Daphne is struggling."

"I'll do what I can to help you too, Hermione," Kellen said. "I promise I can handle it."

"Thank you, Kellen," replied Hermione. "I mean. don't get me wrong, Harry and Ron are nice boys and everything, but I trust you." She smiled sweetly at Kellen.

"Well, let's have a spot of tea before we have to head over to the training grounds for our flying lesson," Daphne said. "Thank you for your hospitality, Hagrid."

Hagrid beamed. "It's my pleasure, Miss Daphne."