AN; Hey guys, sorry for the late post once more. I actually got sick new years eve and I am finally well enough to stop speaking in moans and groans. This chapter is a little shorter than most but I hope you guys like it.

Soon, the group dispersed, returning to their respective dorms. Merida hurried up to her room once she got back, several of the younger Gryffindors giving her looks of disgust at the thought of her being friends with Slytherin. Once in the room, she sat on her bed, pulling out her wand and sending small fireballs swirling through the air. She soon got bored of the simple spell, waving the fire away and lying down on her bed.

"Where were you just now?" Came the demand from the doorway. Merida turned her head to see Ashley, leaning on the doorway with a frown on her face. Not that Merida had seen many other expressions on the brunnette.

"Just with my friends. And before you say anything, two of them aren't even from Slytherin. One is in Ravenclaw and the other is in Hufflepuff." She replied, adding more sass than necessary.

"The one from Slytherin wasn't there at all, right?" She said crossly, stressing the need for confirmation that one of her friends never made it. "You aren't friends with that evil pure blood obsessed freak, right? You know I don't allow friendship with that house."

"Yes he was and yes I am."

"I told you before the break. Either you stop having any contact with him or there will be consequences."

"Oh leave me alone. You may be a prefect but you don't own me. You can't control who I'm friends with anymore than I can tame my own hair. And he is not a blood obsessed freak. He doesn't care about whether my parent have magic or not. He actually looks at who a person is instead." The young scot said, standing up from her bed and walking towards the other girl. The red glow appeared as it often did in these scenarios, this time alerting Ashley to the event. She reached down and grabbed Merida's hand, which stayed tightly fisted so as to not let the mean girl see the apparently legendary mark.

"Flipendo" Merida said quietly, her wand pointed at Ashley in her left hand. A loud bang erupted as the tall girl flew back, banging into the far wall. Several students rushed up the stairs, Astrid leading the way having suspected something would occur when she saw the prefect go up the stairs. However she never expected the redhead to use a spell on the older student.

"Merida, let's get out of here for a bit." She said, tugging on the frozen girl in front of her. They hurried out, the other girls moving over to let them through. A glance back showed half of the eyes stay on the two leaving while the rest turned back to stare at the student slumped against the wall, still conscious but shocked that Merida had fired a spell at her. They quietly passed through the nearly empty common room before leaving the tower.

"Oh dear, what on earth was that loud bang? I could hear it all the way out here. I hope you girls won't be staying out too late, I need my beauty sleep you know." the fat lady said from her portrait.

"No mam, not too late." Astrid said absent mindedly, continuing to drag Merida away from the tower. Voices and hurried feet could be heard coming down the hall behind them. She paused in one hallway, debating which of the other three she should talk to about the situation. Deciding that patience was the most needed quality, she headed to the hufflepuff common room. Quickly knocking on the door, Astrid almost let out a sigh of relief when Honey Lemon opened the door.

"Can we talk to Rapunzel please? It's kind of important." Astrid said, glancing back when she heard a sound, voices soft in the distance. Honey nodded, turning to see Rapunzel already standing behind her.

"I heard. We'll only be a few moments."

"Okay, just don't be too late. You all need a good night's rest."

The group turned down the nearby hallway as Honey closed the door.

"What happened?" Rapunzel said as soon as they were out of earshot. Both girls were a little surprised to hear Rapunzel talking seriously, as she was more of the whimsical one of the group, but explained nonetheless.

"Well, there isn't much we can do. I was able to talk to a gryffindor student during DA and apparently, Ashley has been like this since third year. She hated all slytherins even before she got to this school but she didn't feel this strong about it until after she became a prefect. Then she forced most of the student to stop any kind of interaction between the two houses. But because she isn't actually hurting anyone, at least not that the professors know, they can't do anything about it."

"So what are we supposed to do? Ay even hit her with a spell. I'll get detention for sure." Merida said

"I don't know. I think we should talk to at least one of the professors. They have to know what is going on. The problem will be revealing her true feelings in front of them. From what I have seen, she always acts polite and sweet whenever they are near her, with the obvious exception of professor Black. Though even then she only acts that way when none of the other professors are nearby." Rapunzel said, deep in thought.

"That's great and all but what do we do in the meantime. It's not like we can go back now, Merida used magic against a prefect. It won't go our way. And we can't go back, Ashley will skin us alive. As much as I want proof I don't want any of my friends to get hurt for it." Astrid said urgently

"She's right. Professor Bunnymaud won't believe us and Ashley will just make it worse for us."

"You have to though, at least for tonight. Then tomorrow morning we can go and talk to the professors. We have to try." Rapunzel placed an arm around Merida's shoulders, giving them a small squeeze.

"Okay. I'll make sure to stay with you tonight, just in case." Astrid threw her arms around her friend as well. Slowly, the three headed back to the Hufflepuff common room, leaving Rapunzel at the entrance before heading of themselves.