Chapter 2: The Choices We Make

The next day, Riley woke up feeling fully rested. That potion she took was really miraculous. She glanced at her nightstand and saw her timetable that had magically appeared over the night. She had double Transfiguration in the morning with Hufflepuff and double Potions in the afternoon with Gryffindor. Her roommates weren't in the dorm, so the first thing she did that morning was to take her necklace with a snitch pendant from her box covered in shells. Both objects belonged to her mother, the necklace being a gift from her father. Riley kept inside the box, some small objects and photos of her family. She hid the box under her bed and put her necklace and uniform on before heading to the Great Hall to have some breakfast.

The Great Hall was already crowded and very noisy when she got there, students were chatting loudly, laughing, and eating. Riley approached the Slytherin table and spotted Adrian speaking with a boy named Graham Montague. When Adrian saw Riley, he made her a sign to join them. Riley smiled at him and sat down. She looked at Montague but he didn't greet her; Instead he stared at her with a cold and penetrating gaze making Riley frown.

"Riley this is Graham Montague, he's one of my roommates. Graham this is Riley Potter, she's my friend." Adrian didn't seem to notice the tense atmosphere between the two of them. At first she hadn't intended to be friends with someone like Adrian, but she concluded that he wasn't that bad after all -for a Slytherin at least - and given the circumstances she wasn't going to be difficult.

"Anyway, as I was saying transfiguration seems hard. But I'm really looking forward Thursday, we have fly lessons" he continued, while Riley put some eggs on her plate.

"Well don't get too excited. We'll probably just stand there while waiting for all the mudbloods to understand the real use of a broom." Montague said without removing his eyes from Riley. She clenched her jaw together, but Adrian just giggled.

"Maybe they'll just separate those who know how to fly from those who don't..." Riley snapped.

"Yeah, maybe." He simply said, returning his gaze to his plate. He excused himself to Adrian and went to sit with another group of Slytherins, some of them, Riley noticed, were in the Quidditch team. She recognized the boy from the night before, Marcus Flint, along with two others she didn't know, and a seventh year who was captain of the team, Baxter Langley. He had probably left because of her, but Adrian didn't seem to mind being alone with just Riley.

"He's friends with some of the players, you know…" Adrian commented between bites. "Wouldn't hurt if he could put on a good word for us." He said enthusiastically. Riley nodded weakly, her expression suddenly sad. There is no way she was going to make the team like that.

Riley waited for Adrian to finish his breakfast, and they both went to the transfiguration classroom. When they arrived there, Riley saw Cora Avery with Ava Nott, Elizabeth Thompson and Emily Burke around two Hufflepuff girls. Everyone was staring at them.

"I'm just saying that if I had a face like a pig, I wouldn't put a pink headband on my head..." Riley heard the high-pitched and annoying voice of Cora Avery. The Hufflepuff girl wearing the pink headband flushed and lowered her head.

"Leave her alone, Avery!" The other Hufflepuff girl stood up for her friend.

"Oh, but I'm just trying to help her, I mean, I reckon it's hard enough not being a real witch, not to mention being a Hufflepuff, and that nose of hers, and she wears pink?" She sighed theatrically. The other Slytherin girls giggled. Emily was torn, she didn't know whether she should laugh. Riley glanced at Adrian and he wasn't laughing either, he looked bored.

"That's enough, Avery! First of all, she is a real witch, secondly, there's nothing wrong on being a Hufflepuff, and thirdly, you can talk with your layers of makeup, you're only eleven! Are you that ugly that you need to cover up your face with that much of makeup?" The other Hufflepuff said. Cora's face turned red, she pulled her wand out of her pocket and pointed it to the girl's face.

"You're going to regret this! Locomotor Mortis!" The girl's legs were bound together making her fall onto the floor. It was kind of surprising that a first year was able to catch spells that would actually work. It wasn't probably the first time that Cora jinxed someone.

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall was standing by the door, with a horrified expression on her face, "who is responsible for this?" All the girls started to talk at the same time, Cora's friends were saying that the Hufflepuff girl tried to jinx Cora, but the spell went wrong whereas the Hufflepuff girl was saying that Cora did it while the pink headband girl was nodding nervously.

"SILENCE!" shouted McGonagall, she looked around the classroom "Miss Potter, could you please explain to me what happened? I think there is no need to remind you that you should be impartial, and not take sides". Riley hesitated for a moment, should she tell the truth and take the risk of paying for this sooner or later?

"Cora did this, Professor!" she finally said, if she let Cora get away with bullying, she was not one to complain when she was the one being bullied.

"Very well, Miss Avery, you will be serving detention with me every night during this week!" She exclaimed while performing the countercurse. "Now I want everyone to sit down and open your books at page 37."

Cora gave Riley a death glare before sitting down. Riley felt her stomach turn, did she make the right choice or did she just start a war she didn't know if she could win? She sat down next to Adrian.

"Do you think I made the right choice?" She asked Adrian.

"Who cares?" He snickered. That was the thing about Slytherins, they were surely unpredictable.

After lunch, Adrian and Riley were heading to the dungeons for Potions class, when Riley suddenly realised that she had forgotten her set of brass scales in her dorm and went to get them. By the time she arrived in the classroom, Professor Snape was already in there, talking and writing something on the board, she sat discreetly in the back of the class. He didn't seem to notice she was late. She looked around and saw Adrian sitting next to Cora, she made a face.

"...Prepared incorrectly the Cure for Boils potion may cause more boils, rather than cure them. So how can we know if the potion was made successfully? Maybe we should ask Miss Potter who had the kindness of joining us here for class after all." Everyone was staring at her. Cora allowed herself a smug grin.

"Hmm... Pink smoke raising the cauldron" she stammered softly.

"A little bit louder Miss Potter."

"There will be pink smoke raising from the cauldron." She answered more confidently.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Five points for Slytherin. You can start to prepare your potion, you'll work in pairs with the person sitting next to you, you have two hours."

"That was impressive!" Someone whispered next to her, she turned her head to see who it was, and saw a red-haired boy "Are you some kind of know-it-all? Did you memorised the whole book before coming?"

"No, the answer was just written on the book." She pointed at the sentence in her book.

"Oh, that's right," he giggled making her smile slightly at him. "Do you remember who I am?"

"Frorge." She answered making him howl with laughter.

"Mister Weasley, laugther is not a side effect of this potion, so control yourself. Five points from Gryffindor!" snapped Professor Snape.

"Well today I'm just Fred," he whispered. She smiled slightly at him while adding six snake fangs to the mortar. "You're in Slytherin, then?"

"Apparently" she confirmed faintly. She was now crushing the snake fangs into a fine powder. "Are you going to help me?"

"Yes sorry." He said, and then he started to slice the Pungous Onions. "Too bad, we would have great fun together." Riley added the powder to the cauldron and heated the mixture while waving her wand.

"I thought you already had an accomplice."

"Yeah well, you're prettier than my brother." Riley raised an eyebrow, didn't he realise that he was implicitly insulting himself? He looked at her, probably guessing what she was thinking "I'm better-looking than my brother too." She giggled.

"Mister Weasley, you have to cut it in thin slices. Or can't you read?" Professor Snape was now in front of them. He looked at Riley next and she was expecting a nasty comment about her way of brewing the potion. But he just nodded at her, "five points for Slytherin."

"I hate him! You could explode the cauldron he would still give your house points!" Fred said angry, after Snape left.

"Well, you do have to cut it thinner." She smiled at him.

Fred grumbled and started over. Riley assumed they did a good work when she saw a pink smoke raising from the cauldron.

When the class was over, Professor Snape spoke, "Before you leave the class, I want you to fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it with your name, and bring it up to my desk." Riley did as she was told and put the flagon on his desk. She was about to leave when she heard his voice, "Miss Potter, a word please." She came back to his desk, and stood there, Snape waited until there was no more students in the class and turned his head to her.

"I don't like when my students are late."

"Sorry..."

"And you really thought I wouldn't notice?"

"I just didn't want to disturb" he raised an eyebrow at this.

"Don't be late next time, you can go know," and he lowered his head to read a piece of parchment on his desk, but Riley didn't move, instead she stood there staring awkwardly at him. "Yes Miss Potter?" He raised his black eyes back at her.

"I was just wondering Professor. Can you give me another vial… Of that potion?" He frowned at her.

"Miss Potter your problems are far from being resolved with simple potions, besides it wouldn't be correct to give my students potions with no authorization." He said.

"But…"

"You can go now Miss Potter."

"But..."

"Miss Potter I'm a very busy person, so I'd really advise you not to waste my time, now go."

It was her time to frown her face, "Fine!" She snapped and left the classroom angry, what is his problem? Who was he to judge whether she needed that potion? Aren't Professors supposed to help their students? When she passed through the door she saw Adrian waiting for her.

"Hey, what did Snape want with you?" he asked.

"He scolded me for being late."

"Ah, sorry you had to pair up with that Weasley boy. Avery just sat next to me, I don't know why." He said, stroking the back of his head.

"It's fine, and Fred's cool, more than Avery anyway." She said coolly.

"Yeah… hey since we don't have any more classes do you want to go to the Quidditch pitch and try to borrow some brooms?"

"Yes sure, but first I need to change," seeing his confused look, she continued "I'm wearing a skirt."

"Ah yeah of course." He flushed.

"I'll catch you there."

In the Sytherin common room she saw Cora with some Slytherins around a table laughing at something. She didn't pay attention to it and headed to the girls' dorm, but before she could go downstairs she heard Cora's voice.

"I'm so sorry Riley, I didn't know you lived in such poverty" she said in the meanest tone she could muster. Riley froze, when she looked back at Cora she saw that she was holding a photograph of her with Remus, she glanced at the table and saw her shell box opened there. All the students in the common room were watching them. "Now I understand better your manners, you poor thing, if you want I can give you some of my old clothes, oh you're right maybe it won't fit because, well," she looked up and down at Riley, "my clothes don't stretch". Cora's friends started to laugh. Riley narrowed her eyes, Cora wasn't skinner than her. She decided to ignore her comment.

"Give it back to me!" She howled.

"Why? Are you going to tell on me? Again?"

Riley didn't answered, instead she walked towards Cora and took the photo with an unnecessarily aggressiveness, and put it back inside the box. When she passed through Cora, she tripped Riley making her fall onto the ground.

Almost everyone burst into laughter. Riley felt her cheeks burn with humiliation, she grabbed her box, and ran away from the common room holding her tears. She ran the whole way to the Quidditch pitch. When she got there she saw Adrian with some other Slytherins. She stepped back, she didn't want any of them to see her cry. She went to a locker room that was oddly opened and tried to calm herself down. She wiped her tears with her sleeve.

"What the hell are you doing here? Did Baxter Langley send you here to spy?" She heard a voice coming from behind her, she turned her head startled and saw a ginger boy she didn't recognize, standing there with a broomstick on his shoulder. "Are you crying?" he asked a little uncomfortable.

"No..." She lied, sniffing and wiping away her tears. "It's just some allergy." To her surprise, he laughed.

"Okay then, I don't know what the allergy did to you but if you want my advice, just tell it to shove it." Still laughing he went to his locker and opened it taking some gloves from inside.

"Easy said than done" she whispered, not intending him to hear it, but he did. He looked back at her.

"Someone's giving you a hard time?" He asked casually.

Riley closed her eyes, she wanted to scream yes, she was so sick of being a Slytherin, so sick of those pretentious, snobby gits. She wanted to be a Gryffindor, a brave lion, not a despicable snake. She wanted to have real friends, she wanted her parents to be proud of her. This wasn't right.

But instead, she just said, "I'm fine."

"People don't cry for no reason."

"Maybe there is a reason, maybe I just don't want to talk about it."

"Ok then," he shrugged, "but you can't stay in here. Let's go!"

The boy leaded her to the exit, she remembered Fred saying that his brother was Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She wondered if it was him.

"Are you Fred and George's brother?"

He furrowed his brow, "Yes, I'm Charlie Weasley. That's why you were crying? Did my brothers do something to you?" he asked worried.

"What? No, no they're great." She simply answered.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Charlie Weasley exclaimed. Riley followed his gaze and saw three Slytherins circling two smaller Gryffindors on the pitch. She recognized the two beaters of the Quidditch team, Bole and Derrick along with Marcus Flint. Behind them, stood a group of Slytherins watching the scene. "What do you think you are doing?" Charlie shouted at them. Flint glanced at him.

"You are not playing today! We were here first!" he said nastily. Riley approached Adrian who was with the group of Slytherins.

"Practices hasn't started yet Flint! You should know that, you can't book the pitch!"

"Oh but I know, I didn't say we booked the pitch, I said we were here first" he was now face to face with Charlie, giving the Gryffindor a menacing glare. Even though he was only a fourth year, he was bigger than Charlie.

"And?" Charlie asked folding his arms, he didn't look afraid, or at least, he hid it very well.

"And I'd advise you to take your wanker little players, and get the fuck out of here!" he said, his temper rising. "Before I make you."

"Let it go Charlie," one of the two Gryffindors said, grabbing Charlie's sleeve. "We'll beat them anyway, we always do!" Then, Marcus gave the boy a push making him stumble.

"Not if the keeper accidentally smashes his head!" he grinned. All the Slytherins but Riley, shrieked with laughter. Charlie pointed his wand to Flint's face. "Do it, and they'll lose their Seeker too!" he said in a husky voice.

Charlie lowered his hand "It's not worth getting detention over. Let's go." He said to the other two. When they were out of sight, Marcus Flint went back to his friends and sat down with them. Riley grimaced at him.

"He's not flying?!" Riley asked in an undertone, so that only Adrian could hear. Adrian just shrugged in response.

"Didn't you say you would get changed?" He asked looking at her skirt.

"I... I changed my mind, I'm feeling a little tired." Riley lied, she wasn't going to tell him what had just happened in their common room. He looked disappointed. "But you go, if you want to, I'll watch" she smiled at him. He smiled back at her and grabbed a school broom, soaring into the skies. Riley went to sit on the stand, only a few feet away from where Marcus Flint and his friends were.

"You're not flying at all?" His friend asked putting his arm around his girlfriend, Sarah Selwyn. They were the same friends who were with him the previous day. There was also a blonde girl, who was polishing her nails and a boy who was lying with his hood on his head.

"Nah, you know me Jason, just wanted to scare the hell out of those Gryffindors" Flint snickered.

"You're terrible Marcus" Sarah said giggling, "I heard that Charlie Weasley is dating that Hufflepuff, Claire Ackers. And I think that even a slag like her could do better than a Weasley." She kissed Jason.

"She's not the only slag I know." The blonde girl said receiving a glare from Sarah. But the boys were not paying attention on them.

"That blond boy isn't bad" Jason commented looking at Adrian. "I mean for a first year." Riley smiled.

"I suppose" Flint agreed. "Next year half of the team will be out of school. It's going to be a hard year for me as the Captain."

"Well, at least, you'll be able to choose your own players."

Riley put her hair behind her ear so she could hear better what they were saying, but they stopped talking about Quidditch. Riley sighed and let her mind wander, she thought about Cora, about Montague, about the others, always waiting for you to lower your guard so they could spit their poison on you, like the snakes they were. She wouldn't survive in Slytherin. At least not like this. She had to do something, she had to earn their respect. But did that mean she should act like them? She was lost, she didn't know what to do.

The next days passed without any incident, Riley was trying her best to avoid Cora, it was really exhausting but she still didn't know how to handle things. The only time they were next to each other was in their dorm. Cora would glance at Riley sometimes and then whisper probably some nasty things about her to her friends.

On Thursday, Riley and Adrian ate their lunch very fast, hurrying for the first time, to the next class. Flying. It was a sunny day but very windy. As Riley watched the other girls struggle with their hair, she smiled to herself, her choice of a tight braid was just the first hint on how she was made for this.

Madame Hooch, arrived, "Everyone stand by a broomstick, and no miss Nott, this class isn't elective" Riley was already next to a broomstick. "Hurry up, everyone! Now, I want you to stick out your right hand over your broom, and say 'Up!"

"Up!" all the first years shouted. Riley's broom was immediately in her hand. She looked around and saw that Adrian, Fred, George and other students were also holding their brooms. She was glad to see that Montague's broom was rolling around the grass.

Once everyone had managed to grab their brooms, Madam Hooch showed them the right way to mount it. She spent an amount of time correcting Cora who was decided to mount her broom the same way she would mount a horse.

"Miss Avery, you will slip off your broom!"

Madam Hooch glanced at Riley and nodded silent approval. It was the first time she felt truly happy since she arrived at Hogwarts.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle - three - two - one."

And there she was, in the air, it tasted almost like freedom. It felt really good. It was almost as if she was flying away from her problems, she always felt lighter after flying.

Madam Hooch was busy trying to help Ava Nott who was flying in circles screaming. Cora was already back on the ground and had dropped her broom. The twins were flying around and playing with a twig throwing it at each other. Riley attempted a loop. She saw that some students gazed at her with admiration. It wasn't really difficult but she wasn't the one telling them that.

"Do you think this is somehow impressive?" Montague put himself in front of her.

"More than anything you can do, I bet" she said grinning.

"Well, that's not how you are going to make the team" she stopped grinning, "Adrian told me that both of you wanted to join the team. Don't worry, I told them everything they should know about you. They are my friends you know, or maybe you don't, after all you don't belong to the same social circle than us." He said smugly.

That was it, her brief moment of happiness, spoiled.

The end of the week had finally come and Riley was glad she had her Friday afternoon off. Adrian was playing a game of explosing snaps with Montague, and she didn't want to waste any of her free time with that boy, so she was walking by the lake alone. She spotted Fred and George with another boy with dreadlocks and approached them.

"...Next potion class then?" George asked.

"Yes, Snape won't even see it coming" the three of them laughed.

"See what coming?" Asked Riley making them startle.

"Oh hey Riley, how you doin' Bright Eyes?" Fred asked.

Riley raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. "What are you boys up to?"

"Nothing!" the boy with dreadlocks answered dryly. Riley looked at him and then at Fred.

"We will make some Slytherins' cauldrons explode." Fred said with a big smile on his face.

"Why are you telling her this? She is a Slytherin, she'll tell Snape" the boy with dreadlocks hissed.

"Oh right, that's true" Fred said, still smiling "Are you telling on us Riley?" He asked, amused.

Riley grinned. "Well... I can keep a secret, as long as I'm not one of your targets."

"Of course not!" Fred said.

"Or Adrian Pucey." Fred remained silent, "Fred?"

"All right, all right" he finally answered. George seemed pleased with this exchange. He looked at his brother.

"Is there anything you wouldn't do for her?" George whispered romantically. Fred punched his brother's arm making him laugh. But Riley wasn't listening anymore, her gaze was trained elsewhere. Fred noticed and looked where she was looking. He saw a blonde Slytherin girl giving her books to another Slytherin with curly hair.

"Is she also a friend of yours?" Fred asked.

"Nooo, far from it" she answered.

"A target them?" he asked smugly, she smiled in response, "You only have to say the word."

Riley thought for a moment, it would be nice to see Cora's cauldron explode. She simply shrugged "She is awful. So how are you planning on doing this?"

"With some explosive gumball."

That evening, the Slyhterin common room was full with students. Riley browsed at the leather couches and saw the Quidditch team there chatting and laughing loudly. She also saw Cora, sitting on an armchair talking to Derrick, one of the beaters, probably because Marcus Flint wasn't there. Cora's two friends, Elizabeth Thompson and Ava Nott were sitting on the ground next to her.

Cora's attempts to flirt with the boy made Riley roll her eyes. She looked stupid flipping her hair excessively and forcing laughter. She looked at the round study table and saw Emily studying there. Riley spotted an empty seat and sat down. She opened her charms book and started to do her essay. Five minutes later, Emily stood up and walked towards Cora.

"Are you done yet?" Riley looked up and saw Cora talking to Emily.

"Yes, I finished your charms essay, can I sit with you now?"

"I don't know if you're ready..." Cora replied kindly making the other girls snicker.

"What else do I have to do?" Emily asked desperately.

"Well for starters you have to get rid of these clothes, they're really ugly, take them off" Cora challenged her.

"What?" Emily asked faintly.

"I said. Take. Them. Off." Emily turned her body towards the girls' dorm. "Where do you think you're going? I have no time to wait for you, if you want to stay here with us, take them off, here!" Derrick was grinning. Some Slytherins were looking at them.

Riley rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe she was about to say something, but she stood up, "Stop it Avery!" Cora looked at Riley.

"What? She can give it to you, even if they're ugly they are still better than the muggle clothes you wear, and I think you need all the help you can get." She said making some Slytherins laugh. Riley's nose was fuming, she looked at Emily and told her to leave. Emily hesitated for a moment but them she left to her dorm. Riley glared at Cora.

"You know, someday, you'll pay for everything you've done!"

"Ooh, I'm so scared, what are you going to do?" Cora mocked Riley.

Riley scowled, but then a grin appeared on her face. She had an idea.

"Me? Nothing." And with that she grabbed her things and went to finish her essay at the library.

It was a very rainy day, announcing the end of summer. Gryffindors and Slytherins were having potions class. Professor Snape wasn't in a very good mood.

"You are a real disappointment, the potions you made last time are useless. How can you call yourselves wizards if you aren't capable of brewing a simple Cure for Boils potion? Today you are going to do a Herbicide Potion, and you are working alone, I want to see what each of you are capable of. I'm sure some of you are overshadowing the others." He glanced at Fred.

"Who wants to distribute the ingredients?" Riley raised her hand.

"Very well, Miss Potter." She knew the twins were doing their prank today, and she was going to help them. She took some ingredients from the cupboard, and when no one was looking she exchanged the content of the Horklump juice with some shrinking solution. She distributed the different ingredients to everyone making sure to give Cora the altered Horklump juice.

She watched as Cora put the shrinking solution in her cauldron. Now all she had to do was wait for the twins to make their move. When Snape was too busy scolding some Gryffindor boy that had managed to melt his cauldron, she saw Fred and George Weasley grabbing their explosive gumballs and throwing them into some Slytherin's cauldrons. The potions exploded making the liquid jump outside of the cauldron to the students face. The herbicide potion wasn't dangerous for humans, so it didn't do anything to them. But Cora's face started to shrink, she cried out grabbing everyone's attention, a burst of laughter came from the students, even from the Slytherins. Cora's friends tried hard not to laugh, but they restrained themselves fearing the consequences of doing it.

"YOU TWO!" Snape yelled at the twins "THIS IS UNNACCETABLE, DANGERING THE LIFE OF A STUDENT, IF YOU WERE IN MY HOUSE YOU WOULD BE GOING HOME RIGHT AWAY! YOU BETTER PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR A YEAR OF DETENTION, NOW GET OUT OF MY CLASS!" The twins weren't laughing, they seemed confused, Fred glanced at Riley before leaving with a questioning look on his face, she only gave him an apologetically look in response. "Miss Potter, take miss Avery to the infirmary." She nodded calmly.

On their way to the infirmary, Cora didn't say anything, she was really hilarious with a tiny head, but Riley contained herself from laughing. When they arrived there, Madam Pomfrey widened her eyes.

"What happened to her?" She asked Riley.

Riley shrugged and said "Potions class." Madame Pomfrey nodded and sighed.

"You can go now, Miss Potter" and she disappeared to look for something to bring Cora's head back to normal size.

Riley looked at Cora before leaving and whispered, "I told you were going to pay!" Cora's head was so small that Riley couldn't see her expression, so she left without waiting for a reply. She went back to the dungeons smiling to herself.

When the class ended and Riley was leaving the room with Adrian, she heard Fred's angry voice "RILEY? What the hell?"

Riley looked at Adrian and said "I'll catch you", he hesitated and glared at Fred.

"Are you sure?" He asked grabbing gently her arm.

"Yes, don't worry." She smiled at him, Adrian nodded and left to the Great Hall. Riley looked back at Fred. "What?" She asked innocently.

"What was that? What happened to Avery's head?"

"Look, this was your plan after all, I just... Changed it a little"

"In that case you should have asked us and not do whatever you want and make us responsible for almost killing someone!"

"It would never have killed her... It was just a shrinking potion, nothing more, relax."

"RELAX? HOW CAN YOU ASK ME TO RELAX?" he paused and sighed heavily "I hope you are going to tell Snape that you did this." Riley lowered her head. "RILEY?" he asked incredulous.

"I can't… I can't get expelled, you heard him. You're not a Slytherin, you're safe."

"You don't know that! McGonagall isn't a piece of cake either! You don't know what she will do!"

"Look, if it ever comes to that, I'll tell him, I promise. I never meant to hurt you." Her green eyes met his and he felt himself sliding one more time under her spell. He shocked his head.

"You know what, maybe I was wrong about you. I thought you were different, but apparently not…" He mumbled.

"Fred…"

"…You were just using me, weren't you? Typical Slytherin behaviour!"

"No Fred, please..." she begged.

"What Riley? What?" he sighed, "Don't speak to me again, ok? It will be better for both of us."

"I'm so sorry..." she whimpered.

"Goodbye Riley" Riley watched as he walked away from her. She stood there for a while thinking about what she had done. She didn't felt bad for Cora, but she never intended to hurt Fred. She wasn't hungry anymore, her stomach was turning into knots, so she he decided to go back to the common room.

She found the common room empty, as all the students were in the Great Hall eating. She sat on the leather black couch and stared at the fireplace, Remus would be really disappointed by her if he heard what happened.

"So are you the girl who almost killed someone today?" A voice brought her back to reality. She turned her head and saw a shirtless Marcus Flint coming from the boys' dorm. Riley flushed. He was holding his shirt.

"No I didn't... Wait a minute, why are you saying it was me?"

"The girl you attacked told Derrick" he shrugged. The girl you attacked? He didn't know Cora's name?

"Ok, first of all I didn't nearly kill her! And secondly, you can't believe anything she says."

"Well, you kind of just admitted you nearly killed her" he chuckled.

"I didn't... For the last time it wasn't going to kill her!" Riley was running out of patience but he just grinned at her. At that instant, Riley saw Sarah Selwyn also leaving the boys' dorm. Weird, she thought. Sarah gave Riley a suspicious look and turned to Marcus.

"Marcus, are you coming? I'm hungry."

"Yeah I'm coming." He said without taking his eyes from Riley. He put his shirt on. "And people say you are not a true Slytherin." He winked at her and left with the girl, Riley saw Sarah look over her shoulder and glance at her one more time before whispering something to Marcus.

"What if she tells anyone?" but she couldn't hear Marcus's answer.

Riley frowned her face, all she wanted was to make Cora pay for all the things she had done, she was the mean one, not Riley. Why were people thinking otherwise? She wasn't mean, she wasn't. She cared for people, she cared for Remus, she cared for Lyall - Remus' father-, she cared for Harry, she cared for Adrian and now she realised she was starting to care about Fred as well. Riley sighed and went to take a bath, she needed to relax.

A/N: I know this chapter is overdramatic but it's important for the rest of the story.

EmilyHarmony and Aphrodite-Venus-u.k thanks for reviewing I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

If you liked it don't forget to review to motivate me so I can update faster ;)