"I can't believe I wanted this week to come," Rachel moaned, setting down her bag with a thump. She sank down into an armchair—and jumped right back up again, picking up what looked like a deflated soccer ball with spines. After inspecting it for a moment, she took it across the room and tossed it in Dean's lap. "I believe this is yours."

He looked at it, horrified, plucking one of the quills out of the thick skin. "What the h—"

"I would tell my friends what it is if I were you," Rachel said, cutting across Dean's loud profanity, "so they won't attack it next chance they get." She turned to go back to her chair.

"Hey, Hekman!"

She turned back. "Hey, Finnigan!"

"Sure, but how do we know 'tweren't you who did it?" Seamus asked suspiciously.

"It wasn't," Harry said, jumping to her aid.

Rachel left them to argue it out and went to sit serenely by the fire, pulling her nearly Transfiguration homework toward her.

Tanya, who was looking rather pale due to stress, looked up. "Hey, Rachel, can you help me?"

Rachel looked over at Tanya's parchment. "Defense Against the Dark Arts, huh? Well, I think Quirrel's bogus, but sure, I'll help you. Here." She took a piece of parchment from her bag and tossed it to Tanya. "I'm going to bed now. G'night."

Sighing, Tanya copied down the answers, extinguished her candle, and followed suit.

--------------------------------------------

"Double Potions first," Hannah said the next morning.

Katelyn froze with a piece of toast halfway to her mouth. "With who?"

"Slytherins," Rachel said, checking her own schedule.

"Well, we'll see Shelby, at least."

Rachel wrinkled her nose. "Along with that awful boy she's always hanging around with. Draco Something-Or-Other."

"I heard his father's really well known," Hannah said.

Seamus looked around. "A real son of a—too, from what I've heard."

Professor McGonagall, who happened to be passing, rapped Seamus hard over the head with her wand, and Rachel had to muffle her laughter in a napkin.

"Shelby! Hey—Shelby!"

Katelyn, Hannah, and Rachel ran to catch up with the short blonde. "Hiya, Pickles," Katelyn said, hugging her. Hannah and Rachel did the same. "We've missed you!"

Shelby opened her mouth to speak, but a cold, drawling voice cut across her own. "Hey, look. Root's got some new friends."

They turned to see a smirking Draco Malfoy. "Buzz off, Malfoy," Hannah snapped.

Draco's smirk got even wider. "And what's a filthy Mudblood like you going to do about it?"

Katelyn made a furious move toward Malfoy, but Rachel caught her by the neck of her robes. "Calm down," she hissed. "Fighting's not going to solve anything."

"That's right, Hekman," Malfoy hissed. "Crabbe, Goyle, Root, come on." He shoved past the girls. "Move out of my way, Mudbloods."

It was over in a second: Rachel whipped out her wand, cried "Wingardium Leviosa!" and Draco was hovering helplessly ten feet above the floor while Crabbe and Goyle looked stupidly on.

"Miss Hekm—I say, Miss Hekman!" Professor McGonagall hurried up, straightening her hat. "Put him down at once!"

"Right, Professor," Rachel said, jerking her wand away sharply. Malfoy thudded to the floor and huddled against the wall, whimpering.

"That was—" McGonagall said breathlessly, "that was very unwise of you—I can't believe—a Gryffindor! Detention, Miss Hekman, and—and five points from Gryffindor."

"Yes, Professor," Rachel said darkly.

"Come, Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said, "I doubt you've been injured enough to miss Potions. I'll tell Professor Snape what happened." When Malfoy continued to cower and cringe, she snapped, "Get up, Malfoy, stop your sniveling."

Yet, however pleasing it was to see their Head of House tell off Draco Malfoy, nothing could make up for what they got in Potions.

"Fighting in the corridors, were you?" Snape asked, his black eyes glittering. "Detention, I think, for each of you, and…let's see—fifteen points from Gryffindor. Go to your seats and I will have another word with Professor McGonagall."

But worst of all, Shelby wouldn't talk to them.

With heavy hearts, the girls found their seats, grateful that, at least, no one had seen their punishment. Tanya, Seamus, Dean, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Gryffindors soon joined them.

"Hi, Shelbeth," Tanya cried, waving across the aisle at her. Shelby cocked an eyebrow and looked at her in disgust.

"What's wrong?" Tanya asked, hurt. Shelby had never done that to her before.

"Nothing's wrong," Malfoy retorted. She's over hanging around with Mudbloods, because she's in Slytherin. She's with the right people now."

"Surely you can't mean yourself!" Rachel exclaimed, astonished. All the Gryffindors laughed.

"You're Mudbloods!" Malfoy spat. "Every last one of you!"

"So's Shelby," Rachel replied nonchalantly, then clapped a hand over her mouth as someone gasped. "Oops!" She sank down in her chair.

Malfoy looked stricken for once, but Shelby said hastily, "Uh, don't worry, Draco…I'm not really a Mudblood. They're just trying to get back at me."

Malfoy smirked. "I knew you were true Slytherin," he said proudly. "You deserve to be with us."

All the Gryffindors rolled their eyes in disgust, then the dungeon door flew open and Snape stomped in.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class," he said.

Neville gulped.

------------------------------------

"You got detentions?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Rachel turned her face toward the back of the armchair as Katelyn shrugged. "Rachel got two."

Tanya reached over and tapped one of Rachel's stocking-clad feet that were hanging off the side of the armchair. "Why'd you get detentions?"

Rachel mumbled something incoherent, so several people had to lean forward. "Sorry, didn't quite catch that," red-haired Ron said.

Katelyn sighed. "She hexed Malfoy in the corridors."

This got nearly the opposite reaction they'd expected. Neville's face split into a wide grin, and Dean, Harry, Ron, and Seamus slapped hands.

"I didn't hex him, Katelyn," Rachel protested. "I—"

"You just made him hang upside down for a minute," Hannah finished, grinning.

At this announcement, Seamus and Dean both jumped to their feet and hurried over to high-five Rachel.

"I helped," Hannah said, slightly put out.

"You did," replied Rachel, who was quite pink from all the attention.

Once things had calmed down a bit, Hermione asked, "What did he do to make you charm him?"

Hannah's face fell. "He called us…Mudbloods."

Everyone's mouths fell open, and, after a second of silence, started shouting angrily.

"Filthy Slytherins…"

"Son of a—"

"I'll Mudblood him!"

"Who does he think he is?"

Hermione looked sympathetic. "Don't pay any attention to him, all of you. He likes that word."

"What do you mean?"

Hermione shrugged unconcernedly. "He's called me that occasionally."

It was the Gryffindor Funny Farm's turn to feel sympathetic. "I'm sorry, Hermione," Rachel said, reaching over to hug her.

"Thanks, Rachel."

"Malfoy totally sucks," Katelyn said.

There was murmured assenting, then silence, which was broken only by Seamus swearing under his breath and his occasional outburst of "who does he think he is?"

Rachel finally had enough. She performed a silencing charm on him, patted him patronizingly on the head, and went upstairs with a sweet "Good night!"

Seamus spent the rest of the evening glowering darkly at anyone who made fun of him.

----------------------------------

Katelyn and Hannah returned from their Potions detention to find Rachel in near hysterics. She was huddled in a corner with her face buried in her hands.

"What's wrong?" Katelyn asked Haley, who was sitting by Rachel.

"She just got back from her Transfiguration detention," Haley replied quietly.

"That's not so bad," Hannah said.

"Well, she also got a 'D' on the homework and got another ten points docked from Gryffindor."

Rachel gave a mighty sniff and shuddered a little.

"Oh, and Shelby's badmouthing her all over Hogwarts."

There was a dull thud as Rachel hit her forehead on the wall, and Haley put her arms around her again. "Fred and George Weasley got you something warm from the kitchens."

Rachel sniffed again, and George handed her a cup of hot tea.

"Anything that hurts a Slytherin is worth anything you get," Seamus said fiercely as Rachel sipped from the mug.

"I guess you're right," she sighed. "After all, it was fun teasing Malfoy like that…"

"But if you don't want any more detentions, you'd better not do anything like that again," Hannah warned.

"Then what would we do for fun?" Katelyn asked shrewdly.

"Good point," Hannah acknowledged. "Rule-breaking is just about the only fun you can have around here. Even that comes with consequences."

"True," Rachel began, "but there has to be something else that's fun around here besides rule breaking. I mean, I don't want to get in trouble for everything I do!"

"Well, you're off to a rocky start, aren't you?" Haley said dryly, and Rachel broke down into tears again.

"Shove off," Hermione snapped at the bewildered onlookers. "Hey, Rachel, everything's going to be fine."

Rachel sniffed dramatically and drank the rest of her tea. "I guess you're right," she said. "Ain't no bully gonna pick on me." She stood up and strode briskly over to the small table where her book bag was. Ripping out a piece of wrinkled parchment, she crumpled it up and tossed it into the fire; grabbed a fresh sheet and a quill, sat down, and started scribbling.

"What's she doing?" Dean whispered.

"I don't know," replied Seamus, awestruck.

Within ten minutes, Rachel was done. She handed in the revised essay, and got an 'A' and ten points for Gryffindor. As she returned to her seat, beaming, Seamus turned to Neville, sharing the same look of pleasant surprise.

"We really should get her angry more often," he said.