"The injuries were not caused by a fall," Madam Pomfrey said. "These boys were repeatedly beaten with a heavy object before they fell. I have written out a list of all of the injuries."

"Would a sock filled with galleons cause these kinds of injuries?" Snape asked.

Pomfrey frowned. "It would . I'd hardly think that an eleven year old girl would have had the skill to do this much damage. The damage that was done to the joints was carefully targeted to cause pain and incapacitation without being lethal. If the boys were stuck with muggle healers it is likely that they would be permanently damaged."

"You did tell her that Wizards could regrow bones," Snape said.

"Are you sure that she isn't protecting someone?" Madam Pomfrey asked. "Someone larger and stronger, perhaps?"

"A muggleborn in Slytherin?" Snape asked. "Who could she have possibly found that would be willing to go that far in protecting her? She hasn't had any contact with the Wizarding world as far as we can tell."

I wasn't in the room; I was sitting against the wall outside the Headmaster's office back in my usual position, my eyes closed as I eavesdropped. They'd already called in my roommates for testimony and sent them back to their rooms. Millicent had essentially hidden under her covers, and Tracey had slept through the whole thing.

"Miss Hebert has proven herself to be quite resourceful," Dumbledore said. "Apparently she as much as admitted to Severus what she had done before she told us the story she chose to tell."

"Why would she lie?" McGonagall asked.

"Because the story she told is much more damaging," Snape said. "First, it makes them all look like incompetent fools. Second is that she left their motives for entering her room suspect."

"What?" McGonagall asked.

"Entering her room to teach a muggleborn who thought overly much of herself a lesson would make them a hero to the other Slytherins. But this way she has suggested that they were entering for other reasons. It casts doubt that will turn the entire female population against them."

"She's eleven years old!" McGonagall said. "There's no way she should know enough to even suggest..."

"She's an American," Snape said. "Some parts of their muggle culture are less protected than ours."

I grimaced. Was he basically saying that Americans were sluts? My list of grievances against him was growing. I hadn't forgotten about the Trace.

"It will damage their reputation in a way that a simple hazing would not," Snape continued. "And will almost be more painful to them than the beating they were given."

"I thought you were exaggerating when you suggested that there might be trouble," McGonagall said. "I didn't think it was going to be this bad."

"I didn't think the fools would try to directly attack her this soon," Snape admitted."I expected them to insult her, and possibly for her to kick them in painful locations."

He probably thought that because he'd taken my knife.

"If that was all you expected, I doubt you'd have asked me to be there," McGonagall said.

"I've learned to expect the unexpected with Miss Hebert," Snape admitted. "And your presence would quiet any complaints about favoritism toward the muggleborn."

If some of the students were children of Death Eaters, they'd undoubtedly complain to their parents about me. Having McGonagall there would give him cover to be more fair than he otherwise would have been. He'd be able to blame her for giving out punishments.

"My question is how she was able to move around in the darkness that well?" McGonagall asked. "Even transformed into a cat, my vision isn't good enough to pierce that darkness."

"It wouldn't surprise me if she forgot to mention that she'd somehow acquired a Hand of Glory," Snape said.

"That's Dark magic," McGonagall said. "Where could she have possibly found it?"

"She was able to find Diagon Alley without being told about it. It may be that she was able to shop in Knockturn Alley without being snatched up."

"I think Miss Hebert should not be allowed to keep those marbles any longer," Dumbledore said after a moments' silence. "Considering the potential for accidents in a school with as many stairs as we have."

"And what penalty should we assign her?" Snape asked.

"For defending herself? If she was a Gryffindor I'd be giving her points," McGonagall said.

"We'd all be better off if she transferred to Ilvermorny or Beauxbatons," Snape said.

"As an American, I doubt she knows any other languages," Dumbledore said. "Which would leave her ill prepared for Beauxbatons. And she has no one back home."

"She has no one here," Snape said.

"Perhaps having a close encounter with a driven, spirited muggleborn will do your charges some good," Dumbledore said.

Snape didn't say anything. He just stared at Dumbledore.

"Sometimes I think that the house system has done more harm than good," Dumbledore continued. "Because it is easy to think the worst of someone you have no contact with."

He said this like it was a revelation. At least at Winslow the gangs had sprung up on their own. The school hadn't assigned people to gangs.

"So you are saying this girl is an experiment?" Snape asked. "You don't think that sooner or later this is going to happen again?"

I couldn't tell if Snape was trying to defend me, or to defend the other Slytherins from me. Maybe he was doing both. No matter what happened, my situation put him in an awkward position, and it jeopardized his work as a double agent.

There was a strange edge to his voice, along with what sounded like old anger. Had this happened before?

I'd been a double agent before, and I understood that it meant that he could not be seen as being sympathetic toward me.

"With Tom on the rise, I think it's important that the young people hear other voices. Otherwise, it will be all too easy for them to fall into the vices of their elders."

I could almost feel Snape's frustration from where I was sitting.

"We have an opening for prefect that I will fill tomorrow," Snape said finally, giving in. What else could he do when Dumbledore was the one in power.

I couldn't get a read on Dumbledore. He wasn't actively against me like Blackwell had been, but he certainly wasn't doing a lot to help me either.

"That might be wise," Dumbledore said. "Limiting their access to her, at least at night might reduce problems overall. After what happened last year, the last thing we can afford is more strife."

"I've been telling you for years that separating the Slytherins and Gryffindors would make for a more harmonious teaching experience."

"And this year I finally agreed with you," Dumbledore admitted. "We shall see how that experiment goes. I hope you choose your next prefect more wisely."

"I will endeavor to choose someone who will be less...prone to temptation."

Dumbledore said. "Perhaps a half-blood?"

"What shall we do with the boys?" McGonagall asked. "Expulsion shouldn't be out of the question."

"I fear that their families would not be understanding," Dumbledore said. "And might in fact attempt to charge Miss Hebert with assault. As traumatized as she undoubtedly is, I suspect she would not do well in Azkaban."

"They wouldn't put an eleven year old in Azkaban," McGonagall said, sounding shocked.

"I can think of three cases where it was done," Dumbledore said. "Never for longer than three weeks, but that was all it took to ruin those children for life. Children are not meant to deal with that kind of torture."

"Perhaps suspension for two weeks," Snape said. "Which would give everyone time to regain their composure. Considering what I know of their child rearing practices, I suspect that their families will punish them much harder than we can during that time."

"Making them hate her even more," McGonagall said.

"That will happen regardless," Dumbledore said. "If we expel them, they will simply join Voldemort's ranks all the sooner, which may lead to even more grief."

Voldemort? Was that Tom's cape name?

"Suspension it will be, then," Snape said. "Followed by enough detentions that I can make them understand the folly of their ways. Will you contact their parents?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"Then I shall take Miss Hebert back to her room. I dare say that going without sleep won't make her any easier to deal with."

They all rose, and a moment later the door beside me was opening.

"Come along Miss Hebert."

I rose to my feet and followed him. I noticed that he kept his hand on his wand, and he was careful to keep me beside him instead of behind him.

We walked for a couple of minutes before he said "I am surprised that you are not curious about the outcome of our meeting."

"You'd tell me if I was in trouble," I said. "And if they aren't I guess I'll know about it tomorrow."

"Very practical."

"Professor," I said.

He stopped, and turned to face me.

"Could you fix my socks? I seem to have damaged them."

Considering that I only owned six pair, it wasn't a terrible request to make.

He stared at me.

"Leave them out by the foot of your bed, and the house elves will repair them by morning," he said.

"Do they have to inform staff if they find blood on clothes?" I asked. "After all, I'm sure that people have accidents when cutting ingredients from potions."

"Then you will be sent to the infirmary," Snape said. "I would consider it a favor if you tried to keep the blood to a minimum."

"Keep them off of me and I won't bother anyone," I said seriously. "But if they keep coming after me while I'm trying to sleep, I won't have any choice but to make sure that they won't want to."

"You should not have any trouble tonight," Snape said. "I will be placing additional charms on the entrance to the girl's stairwell so that should any of the male students attempt this again, I will be alerted."

I nodded. "And the female students?"

"For the most part, I think you will find their methods to be less physical."

He was saying that the girl Slytherins tended to be more like Emma and Madison than Sophia. I could work with that.

"So they'll be spreading rumors about me and trying to hurt my feelings."

"Assuming that you have any they can hurt," he said. "but we both know you are quite resilient."

"They'll never love me," I said. "But if they leave me alone, I'll be happy to simply focus on my studies."

The only way I was going to be able to live in this world was if the Dark Lord and his followers were dead, or at least incarcerated. But without skills at magic, I wasn't going to be able to make that happen. Even with those skills, I wasn't going to be able to do it alone. I needed to make allies, and I couldn't afford to alienate anyone who wasn't already inclined to be against me.

"I will hold you to that," he said. "You will have a difficult time in the coming days, but if anyone can survive it, I suspect that you can."

I nodded.

By the time I got back to my room, the girls were all asleep.

It seemed as though my head had just hit the bed when I woke to the sounds of movement downstairs. Snape had summoned the entire class of Slytherins to a meeting, and I hadn't been invited.

"Last night, there was an incident," Snape said. "I've heard you talking about it, and it is true. As of last night, three of your male classmates decided to invade the Girl's dorms, abusing a prefect's privileges to do so."

"They were going for the mudblood's room," I heard one of the boys mutter. He'd been one of those who'd been egging the others on.

"As of today, they are having bones regrown," Snape said. "Miss Hebert had no injuries."

The crowd was deathly silent.

"Sometimes I wonder what has happened to this house," Snape said. "It was once the house of the ambitious, the cunning, and the clever."

He stared down at the boy who had spoken. "How cunning was it to charge up to the room of a muggleborn less than an hour after she arrived? What would it have gained them if they had succeeded in somehow terrorizing an eleven year old girl? They acted like Gryffindors, and they paid the price for that."

"The mudblood would be gone," the boy muttered.

"And is she?" Snape asked. "She's sleeping in her room contentedly while three fifth years are in the infirmary with injuries that would have permanently debilitated a muggle."

"She got lucky," the boy said.

"Did she?" Snape asked. "How lucky would she have had to be to come out of encounter like that undamaged? Three boys with wands went up, and three broken bodies came down, and she did not use her wand."

There was a sullen expression on the faces of several of the people in the crowd, but others looked more thoughtful.

Snape shook his head. "If they'd managed to beat her, then they would have accomplished nothing. Now, not only are they suspended, but everyone knows that they are incompetent fools. The stench of that will never wear off."

"The Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress are both aware of this incident, and they will be keeping an eye on the situation. After the events of the last school year, they have sworn to be less tolerant of outright assaults. I think that this incident will make them more tolerant of whatever horrors she decides to perpetrate."

"Because she's a mudblood?"

"And because they still think she's a child," Snape said. "And regardless of the truth, they will believe that she is defending herself."

I could hear angry muttering from the crowd.

"Fighting her is ultimately pointless," Snape said. "Should you win, you will be painted as a bully who picked on an innocent child... lose, and you will suffer whatever fate she decides to give you, while she will walk away quite free."

"So we just have to accept her?"

"She will never be one of you," Snape said. "And no one can force you to interact with her outside of class. Should you be stupid enough to try to harm her, I am sure that the situation will resolve itself without my intervention."

"So you won't do anything?" A stupid looking boy asked.

I saw several people around him grimace at the question. Apparently they were quicker on the uptake than he was.

"I dislike attending funerals," Snape said. "I won't come to yours."

A moment later he was gone, and the murmuring in the room grew louder. I heard several people shouting at several other people.

"She told me that I'd wake up one night with her standing over my bed," I heard Draco saying. "And there's no ward on the boy's stairs either."

I got up from bed and prepared for my day while listening in the discussions and arguments that followed. I was starting to get an idea of just who fell into what camp; not all of the Slytherins were vocal blood purists, although some apparently were.

The ones who were quiet, who looked uncomfortable when others started spouting racists nonsense; those were the people that I might be able to reach, even though most of them likely would be never brave enough to support me openly.

Still, Snape had done what he promised, and at least tried to keep them from attacking me. If there were some who were too dumb to follow his instructions, then I'd have to do what I could to enlighten them.