"Professor Snape?" I asked.

Detention at Winslow had involved a bored teacher sitting at the front of the classroom while the students did their homework and tried to ignore the spitballs hitting the backs of their heads. I'd had detention on multiple occasions because of some scheme of Emma's.

This was the first time that I was going to a detention that I actually deserved, and I wasn't sure how it was supposed to go.

I'd spent the entire weekend poring over library books in my room, and practicing spells over and over again. My roommates had studiously avoided the room until bedtime, and then they'd been careful not to speak to me.

"Miss Hebert," Snape said from behind me.

I'd known he was there, of course, but I wouldn't have had I been limited to human senses. He was very good at lurking and blending into the shadows.

"Close the door," he said.

I did so, carefully, and then I turned to meet his eyes.

"What you did was inexcusable," he said. "Mr. Avery almost died, and his parents are withdrawing him from school and making a complaint to the aurors. He is in St. Mungos now."

I had no idea what St. Mungos was, and I didn't feel like asking.

"So why haven't they come for me?"

"There is evidence that he was the one who sent the infected letter to you," Snape said. "And the Aurors have decided, with the Headmaster's prompting that he was attempting to brew a boil creating formula in his bathtub, one of monstrous proportions, and that he fell in."

"They fell for that?" I asked incredulously.

"You will find that there are competing groups in the Wizarding worlds. Some strongly dislike the muggles. The other... does not particularly care for them either, but dislike the first group even more. Mr. Avery's family has been involved in some unsavory practices in the past, and this is the Aurors first chance to concoct an excuse to go after them."

"On trumped up charges..." I said flatly.

The more I heard about Wizarding society, the less I liked it. It was possible that there were wonderful things about it, but the victim rarely appreciated the culture of the oppressor.

"Of which you are the beneficiary," Snape said. "However, I doubt that something similar will happen again. Even the Headmaster's patience has its limits."

"I... don't know what you are talking about," I said. "Avery had enemies."

"That is true," Snape said. "Enemies that he has made peace with, or ones outside the house who would not be able to get to him in his own bathroom."

"So you're saying that I'm a good enough potionmaker after what... one lesson to create a potion that you haven't taught us and that isn't in the book?"

I knew that much because I'd checked.

"It was a question that I asked myself as well," Snape said. "But I did some tests on the bathwater. It was suffused with a very strong version of the very first potion that I teach first years."

"The potion that's designed to repair boils," I said.

"The potion that I specifically told you how to turn into something dangerous," he said. "As exemplified by your friend, Mr. Longbottom."

"It seems like a lot of circumstantial evidence," I said. "Nothing that would hold up in court."

"You haven't been in Wizard courts, Miss Hebert," Snape said. "The standards of evidence are... considerably looser than in the Muggle world."

"And they aren't asking to have me sent to Azkaban?" I asked.

"No," Snape said. "They have declined to press charges... undoubtedly because they intend to kill you the moment that you step off the train at the end of the term."

"I guess I'd better stay over for the holidays," I said.

"This is not a laughing matter," he said. "The Averys are adult wizards, not schoolboys, and they fully intend to kill you."

"I already have death eaters wanting me dead," I said. "Why is this any different?"

He stared at me.

"The only way I will survive is to be strong enough that no one will dare to come after me," I said.

"No one is that powerful except the Dark Lord himself," Snape said. "And the Headmaster. More importantly, neither of them is alone. They have allies. Were they alone, inevitably someone would try to kill them, and even Wizards have to sleep."

"And I don't have any allies. Where would I find them?" I asked. "Upper years either despise me for being too confident, or ignore me as unimportant. First years don't have the power to be good allies."

"That will not always be the case," Snape said. "The allies you make now may be with you for your entire life."

"You think I can afford to make long term investments?" I asked.

I realized now how preachy I must have sounded out on the lawn during flight class. I'd hoped that I wouldn't sound like some kind of clueless mom because they thought I was one of them, but listening to Snape now, I found myself feeling impatient, even though part of me knew that he was right.

"Can you afford not to?" Snape said.

I frowned.

Having someone other than a few bugs to watch my back would be nice, but I'd never been all that good at making friends. Emma had been my only close friend in my childhood, and once she betrayed me, I hadn't had any other friends until I'd been with the Undersiders.

As a hero, I'd had work associates. I had never been as close to any of them as I had been to a group of teenage supervillains. The thought that I would never see anyone that I cared about again created an ache in my...

Better not to think about it. Focus on the task at hand, and let the rest of it fall as it might.

"We will go over the potion that you made," Snape said. "Including dosages, and why what you did was irresponsible and dangerous. I will explain at length just how dangerous what you did was, and then you will spend whatever time is left cleaning the pot."

"So you'll help me understand what a safe dosage is?" I asked him. "Not that I'm admitting to anything, mind you. But I'd have thought that being diluted by that much bathwater would have made it almost harmless."

"And how much did you put in the bathwater to compensate for that?" Snape asked.

"Well, if I'd done it, I might have put six batches in," I said. "That's not that much, right, given how much bathwater there was."

Snape put his hand to his eyes. "Each batch of boil remover consists of six doses," Snape said. "Made in larger lots to conserve effort and energy."

So instead of six doses, I'd dropped thirty six doses in.

"He inhaled the fumes," Snape said. "Which at lower doses would be relatively harmless. At that dose it formed boils inside his lungs. He was apported to St. Mungos, and it is likely that it will be several months before he is returned to normal, even with Wizard healing."

"I thought Wizards could grow back bones," I said.

"They can't grow back lungs!" Snape said irritably. "I'm tempted to turn you over to the authorities myself, and hang what the Headmaster wants."

"Why did he go to bat for me?" I asked.

"He believes that you can reform my wayward house," Snape says. He chuckled darkly. "He believes that everyone can be reformed... even you, Miss Hebert."

"And you?" I prodded.

He shook his head. "I know better. There are people in this world who will never be reformed."

I wondered if he felt that he was himself a member of that group. He'd been a Death Eater, after all, and in some ways he still was. He was like any undercover cop; he had to sit by and watch as all sorts of crimes happened. If he tried to stop them, he'd be killed, and whatever good his role was doing would be undone entirely.

"I'll watch out," I said. I looked up. "I don't suppose that the Headmaster has decided where to put me over the summer?"

"You've made the task considerably harder with this stunt," Snape said. "There were several prospects, but none of them want a blood feud with the Averys."

"So he isn't dropping me in a muggle orphanage?"

"You'd be dead in two days," Snape said. "He is continuing to look. As you will be staying over for the holidays, there is no great hurry, is there?"

I shook my head. Given the way I understood the Trace worked, the more time I spent in areas where there were large numbers of Wizards, the better.

"So now we will go over what you did, step by step," Snape said. "And I will explain to you exactly what you did."

Doubtlessly he intended to be pedantic and if I'd been an ordinary eleven year old, being forced to listen to an extra lecture would have bored me to tears. But I'd heard the other Slytherins describing Snape as a potions master. If they'd done it in front of his face, I'd assume that they were exaggerating to get on his good side, but as he had been nowhere nearby, I had to assume that they'd been sincere.

But learning the theory behind dosing was something that I absolutely needed to know, and I suspected that he could be a good teacher if he was actually motivated.

As it turned out, he could. I didn't even mind having to clean out cauldrons.

This was my first Monday at Hogwarts classes; the previous Monday had been spent arriving by train.

Learning Wizarding combat was something I was very interested in learning. Unfortunately, right now the only combat spells I had were the cutting spell and possibly the levitation spell, and I could dodge with the best of them. However, I hadn't seen how fast Wizard spells traveled, which was going to make it hard to just how fast I needed to be.

After detention, I found Hermione waiting for me. We were supposed to go to the library together and study with Neville as we'd promised. I had some thoughts about asking the both of them to ask other members of their houses to join our study group. If I couldn't make friends in my own house, I'd have to reach out to others.

"Hello," I heard from behind me. I'd seen them walking up, of course. "Who is this I see, brother? The impossible girl?"

"What?"

Two redheads were staring at me and Hermione.

"A muggleborn snake," the second twin said. "It's like seeing a intelligent member of the Ministry."

"Isn't your father a member of the Ministry?" Hermione asked waspishly.

She had aspirations to eventually be Minister for Magic. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the cards were stacked against her. The government seemed to be very much an old boy's network. Of course, I was mostly listening in to Slytherin conversations, and so my point of view might be biased.

I could reach bugs in any part of the castle, but I didn't dare take my attention off my immediate surroundings in case of more attacks. I did keep an absent ear on the conversations of the people closest to me at all times, and I'd even managed to pay attention to two conversations at once, although that too made my head ache.

"That is a point," the first twin said. "And we never said that the fruit falls far from the tree."

"After all," the second twin said. "We're talking to the crazy muggle girl who has already put four fifth year boys in the hospital."

"Allegedly," I said.

"So you didn't?" they asked.

I shrugged. "I might have. I've never done anything to anyone who didn't deserve it, at this school at least."

"So careful with her words," the first boy said. "Like a true Slytherin. Are you planning to become a used broom salesperson when you grow up?"

"No," I said.

I'd been watching them closely over the past few days. I didn't like some of the pranks they were doing, but it didn't seem that they were focusing on any one group, other than the Slytherins. Against most people, their pranks seemed to be harmless jokes. Against Slytherins, they seemed to be harsher, but as most of the people they targeted in Slytherin seemed to be the people who didn't like me the most, I was tempted to give them a pass on that.

"You know that Slytherin is... unhappy with me," I said. "Not anything I've done, in particular, except maybe the beating and the boils, but just because of who I am."

They nodded sagely.

"Part of the reason that I have to be lethal is because as a firstie, I only know a few spells, mostly the cutting spell. If anybody tries to attack me, I'm going to have to cut them, and maybe hurt them badly. If I only knew some less lethal spells, then life might be easier for everybody."

"Is the little firstie asking us for a favor?" one twin asked.

"Asking us to tutor her in combat spells? The kind that would help her continue to do horrible horrible things to the Slytherins?"

"That should be part of the appeal, I would imagine," I said. "Every time I beat a Slytherin, it hurts the rest of them right in the soul. It makes a mockery of everything they believe in."

"We're very good at mockery," the first twin said.

"But doing it for free seems a bit much," the second twin said.

"What would it take for you to agree?" I asked. "I've got a bit of money."

"Help," the first twin said. "You've got to be a clever little firstie to have done what you've done. Help us with some of our more difficult stunts, and we would be happy to help you along your path to becoming Dark Lady."

"She's not a Dark Lady!" Hermione said gallantly.

"Not yet," the second twin said. "But she's already got friends in Griffindor and Ravenclaw. If she makes some in Slytherin, that means we're all doomed."

"Doooomed." the first twin said. He grinned at us.

I could tell that neither twin believed what they were saying. They reminded me a little of Uber and Leet, without being nerds. They had an interest they were focused on, and there was a sort of monomania involved, where they had trouble thinking about anything else.

"I've heard you boys sell joke supplies," I said. "I'd be interested in seeing what you had... and I've got some money."

"Blood money, that," the second twin said. "But we can clean it off."

"Make a list of what you've got and prices, and I'll let you know what I'm planning to buy," I said. "With luck, I might be one of your best customers."

"I suppose you want a list of our more...lethal jokes," the first twin said.

"If you can think of a way to turn it into a weapon, it might make me more inclined to buy it," I admitted. "I'm in the snake's den, and I could use any advantage I can get."

The two looked at each other, frowning. "The professors are keeping a closer eye on us after last year, but with your help we might be able to carry out epic pranks."

"I reserve the right to refuse to help on anything that is too mean," I said. "I don't like bullies. But fun things, sure, I'm willing to help."

"You aren't planning to hurt anyone, are you?" Hermione asked. "Or do anything that's going to get someone expelled."

"We blew up an entire corridor last year, and we're still here," both twins said at once.

Hermione frowned and seemed to hesitate. Finally it looked like she came to a decision. She took a deep breathe.

"I want in too," Hermione said, with a quick look at me. "I can help, but I want the extra tutoring."

"So we'd have access to three of the four houses," the first twin said musingly. "This almost seems like a dream come true."

"Almost too good to be true," the second twin said. "If it was any other Slytherin we wouldn't be listening to this at all."

"Taylor is loyal," Hermione said stubbornly. "And she does what she says she's going to do."

"That's true," I said mildly. "Which includes when I make threats. I don't want any pranks directed at me, unless it's required to pull off a prank against the entire house, or the entire school," I said.

"The entire school?" the first twin asked.

"Firstie has ambitions," the second twin said. "What sort of prank would the firstie have us play on the entire school?"

"Oh, put something in everybody's shampoo to make their hair turn the color of their opposing house," I said. "Everybody... and if you could have it be delayed a few hours that would be even better... it would keep late bathers from getting caught up in it."

"Ambitious," the first twin said. "But not impossible. But what about Hufflepuff?"

"Suborn a house elf," I said. "They clean everything anyway. Convince one of them to do it, and you'd never have to be even remotely close to them."

"It'd take some potions work," the first twin said, looking at the other. "And we'd have to save it for something big, like the holidays. But it could be done."

"So what do you think?" I asked.

"I think we can work together," the boys said in unison.

They held out their hands, and I shook them.

I was one step closer.