Dinner that evening was a quiet affair.

Teddie sat at the Slytherin table eating her minced beef and onion pie, while all around her people chatted about their first day. Some people were whispering about the shouting match between Umbridge and Harry, the news had spread like wildfire around the school, but Teddie wasn't that surprised.

Other students, meanwhile, were staring at her and whispering, and she could only assume it was to do with her own confession in Defense Against the Dart Arts earlier.

"What were you thinking?" Blaise asked, breaking the silence.

Teddie looked up and found him staring at her. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"What you said in Defense. Why couldn't you have just kept quiet?"

"So, what, I'm supposed to just let Umbridge and the Ministry brush aside everything that happened?"

Blaise shrugged. "If you wanted to keep a low profile this year, then you've lost every chance now," he said.

"I don't want to keep any sort of profile," said Teddie. "I want people to know what happened, not just to me, but to Harry and Cedric, too. They aren't going to know that if the Ministry keeps brushing us aside."

Daphne swallowed her potatoes. "But what about last night?" she asked. "What about what the Daily Prophet has been saying?"

"About Faye?" Teddie asked.

Her friends nodded.

Teddie shrugged. "I don't associate myself with her," she said. "But what I said was the truth. Avery tortured me so that I would remember my life as Faye, but I had no life as her, at least not one that I should remember."

"What do you mean?" Theo asked.

From the corner of her eye, Teddie spotted Parkinson and Malfoy casting glances in her direction. She paused and set down her knife and fork. "I'm going to get a start on my homework," she said, standing up.

Daphne, Blaise and Theo shared a look, put down their own utensils and followed quickly after their friend.

On the way out of the Great Hall, the Slytherin quartet passed the Golden Trio. Harry stopped as Teddie passed and turned to face her.

"About what you said," he started.

"Don't worry about it," said Teddie, cutting him off and shaking her head.

Harry held tighter to her wrist. "I'm sorry," he said. "Not just for what you went through, but for getting detention."

"You're not the reason I got detention, Harry," said Teddie. "It would only be a matter of time. I stand by what I said, sure, I wish it hadn't come out the way it did, but if it makes even one more person alert to what happened last term, then it proved its worth."

Harry stared at her and then released her hand. "I'm still sorry," he said.

Before dropping her hand to her side, Teddie squeezed Harry's hand and then stepped away. "Why are you leaving dinner so early?" she asked.

"Can't handle the stares and whispers," said Harry. "You?"

Teddie shrugged. "Malfoy and Parkinson were listening in to my conversation," she explained. "They seem to think that they're my new best friends and deserve to know everything happened to me last term. I mean, you saw Parkinson step in this morning."

"Yeah, I was wondering why she did that," said Harry. "I mean, you two have never been close."

"I think their parents have told them to try and get close to me, if I honest," said Teddie. "I mean, it would their families a great deal if they were in big with Avery and Voldemort, don't you think?"

Harry considered her words. "Yeah, I suppose it would," he said. "Teddie, you should know, I saw Mr. Malfoy at the Ministry the day of my hearing."

"Harry!" Ron hissed.

Teddie glanced at the red-head and then returned her attention to Harry, her brow furrowed. "What hearing?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You said you had a hearing at the Ministry," said Teddie. "What for? Surely not for what happened last year?"

A look of realization crossed Harry's face and he shook his head. "Oh no!" he said, quickly. "I was attacked by Dementors over the summer."

"What?" the four Slytherins exclaimed.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, they attacked me in Little Whinging," he explained. "Me and my cousin, Dudley."

"He's the son of the Muggles you live with?" Teddie asked.

Again, Harry nodded.

"What did you do?"

It was Harry's turn to shrug. "I cast the Patronus charm, obviously," he said. "But I was reprimanded by the Ministry and called in for a Hearing. They almost expelled me – "

"But you acted in self-defense!" Daphne protested.

"They didn't seem to care," said Harry. "Umbridge was there – she's Madam Secretary to the Minister. We," he nodded at Hermione and Ron, "think she is here interfering at Hogwarts."

"She is," said Teddie. "There's no speculation about it."

Ron cocked his head to the side. "How would you know that?" he asked. "Your little Death Eater friends tell you?"

"Ron!" Hermione hissed, smacking his shoulder.

Teddie rolled her eyes. "Malfoy confirmed it last night," he said. "His father must've told him, and he felt that by telling me I would accept him as a friend."

"Yeah, right," Ron muttered.

From the corner of her eye, Teddie noticed Theo clench his fist and reached over to soothe him by slipping her hand in his. She straightened up and took a step away from Harry.

"If we're going to keep talking about this then we shouldn't do it here," said Teddie. "Anyone can leave the Great Hall at any time, and besides, Dinner is ending soon."

Harry checked his watch. "We were heading back to the Gryffindor Tower," he said. "But I am sure there is an empty classroom somewhere."

"We could use the room off the Hall," said Blaise, nodding at a wooden door. "You know, the one that First Years are to stay in before the Welcome Feast."

Daphne nodded.

Harry looked to Ron and Hermione. The latter seemed happy with the suggestion, but the former was shaking his head so hard, Teddie was surprised it hadn't gone sailing across the room yet.

"You don't have to join us, Weasley," said Blaise.

Ron glared at him. "Harry, how do we know that we can trust them?" he asked. "We don't know where their loyalties lie, especially after what the Daily Prophet has said about her." He nodded at Teddie.

"What is that supposed to me?" Theo hissed. He clenched Teddie's hand tightly in his grip and only released when she yelped in pain. His eyes widened and he turned quickly to her. "I'm sorry…"

Teddie shook her head and flexed her fingers. "How do we know that you can be trusted, Weasley?" she asked.

"Because I am on Dumbledore's side, obviously!" Ron said. "Are you?"

Teddie considered him. "From where I am standing, you're the enemy of my enemy," she shrugged. "So, I guess that makes you my friend."

Ron scoffed. "Friends? Us?" he shook his head. "Not a chance. I don't care what Dumbledore, or the Sorting Hat wants of us. You can't trust a Slytherin," he looked to Harry as he spoke. "Regardless of who they want to be."

Teddie rolled her eyes and turned to Harry. Behind them, inside the Great Hall, there was a clatter of chairs and raised voices. Dinner had ended.

"The choice is yours, Potter," said Blaise. "We can either part ways here or finish this conversation in private."

Harry stared at Teddie and then looked to his friends. "I trust them," he said. "Besides, Teddie needs to know."

Hermione nodded her agreement while Ron huffed in annoyance. It was clear that he didn't want to be involved with any Slytherins, not just Teddie and her friends, but he also wasn't about to leave his friends alone with them.

"Great," said Blaise, leading the way over the door. He pushed it open and the group hurried in, the door closing just as several students filed out of the Great Hall.

"What about Mason?" Theo asked turning to Teddie.

"I'll fill him in tomorrow," Teddie replied.

Ron looked like he wanted to argue but Hermione started talking before he had a chance.

"What I don't understand is what Dumbledore is playing at," she said. "I mean, why let that woman teach us? And in our O.W.L. year too!"

"We've never had a great Defense teacher, have we?" said Harry. "I mean, Lupin was the best, sure, but he didn't stick around long enough. It's like Hagrid said, the position is cursed."

Teddie cocked her head to the side. This wasn't new news, she had had this conversation before with Adrian, but to have someone else confirm it, and a teacher no less, was surprising.

"Yes, but to employ someone who is actually refusing to let us do magic! What's Dumbledore playing at?" Hermione asked.

"I'm with Granger on this one," said Daphne. "I mean, if we only do Defense magic in June, that's not exactly this year, is it?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I wonder why Mo didn't warn us about this before we returned to school?" Theo wondered, looking at Teddie. "He is the Head of the Auror Department, surely he would've known about this."

"Mo Flint?" Ron asked, sharply.

Teddie nodded at him. "Yeah, Marcus' father," she confirmed.

"He's head of the Auror department?" Ron echoed. "I thought that was Barty Crouch?"

"I thought he was killed last year?"

"He was," said Harry.

Teddie furrowed her brow and then shrugged. "I don't know how it works, but Mo has been Head of the Department for as long as I can remember," she said.

"He could just be using it as a cover," said Ron, snidely.

"Excuse me?" Teddie asked, turning to his wildly. "Mo isn't someone that would hide behind a title. He's a great man!"

Ron scoffed. "Sure, a great man, for a Death Eater," he said.

Theo grabbed Teddie around the middle as she took a step towards Ron. "You don't know what you're talking about, Weasley," he said. "Why don't you just shut up and let your friends speak? They seem to know what they're talking about."

Ron glared at the pair, the tips of his ears turning pink.

"Carry on," said Daphne, stepping between Theo, Teddie, and Ron. She directed her question at Hermione and Harry, waiting for the other to speak.

"Dumbledore must have some plan in motion," said Harry. "He wouldn't let her be here otherwise."

"Unless he doesn't have a choice," said Blaise. "Remember what Umbridge said? She wants us to come and tell her if we overhear anyone speaking about You-Know-Who and Avery."

"You're saying she is here to spy on us?" Harry asked.

"Of course, she is!" said Hermione, snappily. "That much is obvious. Why else would Fudge suggest her for appointment?"

Teddie shook her head as she remembered what both Malfoy and Marcus had told her about the school. "It's not just up to Dumbledore and the Minister who gets appointed here, though," she said. "All teachers must go through the School board. They get a say in who teaches their children. I remember Marcus suggesting I tell his father about Moody – or Barty Crouch jr – last here, he said that they could go to the school board if I felt uncomfortable."

"But you didn't," said Daphne.

"No, because I was scared of causing a scene," Teddie admitted. "Just like with Quirrell."

Theo squeezed Teddie in a hug. He was aware of how much Quirrell still haunted his best friend.

"But why would the school board agree to appoint someone who is refusing to let us practice magic?" Hermione asked.

The group fell silent, each one considering the question but neither coming up with a plausible answer. Even if Ron had said something about Death Eaters, it wouldn't have fit – even Death Eaters had children at the school, would they really be willing for their own children to suffer the consequences just to get at the few that didn't align with them or Voldemort?

Blaise broke the silence by sighing. "We should get back to our Common Rooms," he said, realising how late it was. "Everyone else would have gone from the Great Hall by now. Plus, we don't want to be caught out after curfew," he looked to his friends. "You know how Snape gets."

"But you're both Prefects," said Ron, looking between Blaise and Daphne. "And what curfew? We all have the same curfew."

Teddie shook her head. "Snape has his own curfew for Slytherins," she said. "We're not allowed outside the common room after 8pm, but we also don't need to be in bed until at least 10pm because we're fifth years."

Ron's jaw dropped.

"I'm guessing by your look that McGonagall doesn't have her own set of rules for Gryffindor?" Teddie asked.

Harry shook his head.

"Okay," Teddie mumbled. "But Blaise is right, we should get going. We already have detention with Umbridge," she looked to Harry.

Harry nodded in return.

The group filed out of the room, bid goodnight, and parted ways in the Entrance Hall.