Chapter 6: Turn the tide

Riley was the last one to come back to the common room – almost being caught by Filch – and the first one to go to the Great Hall to have breakfast the next day. She spent the whole day trying to avoid Flint and Selwyn. Notwithstanding the fact that Adrian warned her about the previous fuss, they didn't sit next to each other like they usually did in Transfiguration. At noon, she decided to skip lunch, not wanting to risk bumping into Marcus or Sarah. She was hiding under a spiral staircase that leaded to the Astronomy tower, doing her Transfiguration homework when she felt something hit her leg.

"Ouch." She said grabbing the apple that had just hit her.

"Sorry Riley." Fred Weasley appeared next to her, "I didn't see you there, I was actually trying to hit Peeves."

"That's fine." She said gazing the apple. "Can I keep this?"

"If you want to, but it's been rolling all over the castle." He answered, shrugging. Riley made a disgusted face and handed him the apple.

"I haven't eaten anything."

"You know that they are still serving lunch in the Great Hall, right?" He asked, throwing the apple up in the air and catching it.

"Yes. But I can't go in there."

"Why not?"

Riley pondered for a moment before answering "I'm hiding."

"From who?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Some Slytherins." Her voice weakened. Fred just nodded, Riley was hoping he wouldn't ask any more questions.

"Let's go to the kitchens, the house-elves will give us food if we ask them."

"I don't know… I don't even know how to get there, and I don't want to bump into them."

"Oh but you won't." He grinned at her, before pulling something out of his bag. It was a blank piece of parchment. "This my dear, will change your life forever. Ready?" Riley nodded.

Fred pointed his wand at the piece of parchment, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Suddenly, ink lines started to appear on the parchment. Riley watched, astounded, as the lines drew themselves into something that resembled a lot like a maze. There were also some moving dots labelled with the name of everyone in Hogwarts, including the poltergeists.

"It's a map showing every detail of Hogwarts, you can see what everyone's doing, at any second."

"That's incredible! Where did you get this from?"

"Well, before the holidays, George and I let off a Dungbomb in the corridor, and Filch caught us, so he took us to his office and while George was distracting him, I looked into a drawer marked 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous' and grabbed this." He had a smug grin on his face.

"That's… That's really amazing!"

"Right? So who are we hiding from?"

Riley looked at the Piece of parchment, she saw the name 'Marcus Flint' located in the common room while the name 'Sarah Selwyn' was in the Great Hall. She pointed at the two dots.

"Right, so the kitchen is right here… Let's see, we can go this way. Come on." He got to his feet very quickly, giving Riley his hand and lifting her up.

They arrived in a corridor located under the Great Hall, and Riley glimpsed at the map. "It should be here."

"It is here!" Fred said tickling a pear from a painting of a bowl of fruit. The pear squirmed and laughed and then the painting transformed itself into a green door-knob. They both entered the door and found themselves in a very large room full with house-elves walking around very quickly. Riley was amazed by it. It looked almost like a smaller copy of the Great Hall, with five tables in the same position than those from above.

"So what do you want to eat?" Fred asked her. Riley shrugged and approached a house-elf.

"Hi…" She said haltingly, the house-elf looked at her with his big eyes. "Can I have something to eat, please?" With his eyes wide open, he started to run, nearly tripping on his feet, and grabbed a basket full of food.

"Here, Miss, please choose anything you want." Riley felt weird, she took a piece of cake with a napkin and smiled at him. "Thanks."

Riley could almost see the house-elf blush, but maybe it was only due to the reflection of the flames. Fred also grabbed something from the basket and when Riley looked at him with a questioning look, he shrugged. "It's rude to refuse food."

They left the kitchens carefully and went back to where she was hiding before. They had potions class next, in the dungeons, so Riley was looking at her watch every five minutes. She was feeling very nervous, her heart was racing. She glimpsed at the Map one more time and saw that Marcus Flint was still in the common room.

When there were only five minutes left before the start of the class, Fred pointed his wand to the map one more time "Mischief managed!" The parchment was blank again. "We have to go."

Riley sighed and followed him to the dungeons. As always, the corridors were crowded with students and Riley felt grateful for it. She tried to hide between the students, quickly making her way to the potions classroom. Adrian was already in there, sitting next to Montague. He glanced at her and tried a weak smile, but she only scowled in response, sitting as far as she could from him. There was also a group of Gryffindors sitting in the back of the classroom, and Fred headed to their direction. Riley was used to being alone, even if it wasn't really by choice. She grabbed her potions book from her bag and waited. Snape was standing there in front of them, with a menacing glare. He finally cleared his throat, as a final warning to those who weren't in their seats yet.

"Sometimes I wonder if he knows how to smile." Riley looked surprised to where the voice had come from, Fred had just sat down next to her. "What?" He asked looking at her.

"Nothing."

They were brewing a new potion, and once again Riley finished it earlier, so she started to help Fred.

"Miss Potter, if you have already finished your potion, fill one flagon with a sample of it and bring it to me." Said Snape, who was staring at them for quite a while. Riley gave Fred an apologetic look and headed to Snape's desk.

"Thank you, Miss Potter. I'll take your dream diary as well." The diary! She had forgotten about it with all the mess that had happened.

"I don't have it, Professor. I forgot it in my dorm."

"Well, you have ten minutes before the end of the class to go get it."

Riley left the potions classroom very fast. She didn't want to take chances of running into the two Slytherins. But unfortunately for her, the person she dreaded most was in the Slytherin common room, sitting on the couch. Marcus Flint glowered at her, making Riley froze and gasp softly. They both stayed like this, not moving or speaking for a few seconds, before Riley decided to continue her way to her dorm.

"Where do you think you are going?" Flint was now on his feet, his voice filled with anger.

Riley stopped and closed her eyes, she didn't want to face him, but she couldn't hide anymore.

"I have class." She said, trying to sound indifferent and fearless, before starting to walk again.

"I don't care!" He said harshly, taking firm steps towards her. "You and I are going to have a little chat!" he spat, grabbing her wrist viciously and obliging her to face him. His eyes were narrowed, rigid and burning with wrath. Riley gave a gasp of pain, and tried to pull him off.

"Knock it off, Flint!" But he tightened his grip around her wrist, hurting her even more. "Let go of me!"

"Stop fighting Potter! Don't say I didn't warn you!" His eyes flashed with darkness.

"I didn't do anything, I'm not stupid!" She snapped.

"Don't try to deny it! Jason told us it was you!"

"Oh, did he really? What exactly were his words? Because last I heard he said it was a first year! I don't know if you've noticed, since you're so self-centred, but that includes way more people than me!" She retorted, raising her voice.

"Yeah, Jason said he wasn't going to say who told him in order to protect this person. How convenient for you, isn't it?"

"Well, it's not like you've been careful. Who knows who else saw you two together?"

"You're the one who knew about it!" They both were shouting at each other by now.

"For the last time, Flint, I didn't say anything! Or are you too thick to understand?" Riley didn't know what had come over her, maybe it was the adrenaline flowing through her system, but she didn't feel scared anymore. Marcus, nevertheless, felt his temper flare dangerously, not enjoying at all being insulted by a first year girl. His eyes darkened even more, his jaw tightened.

Riley could feel the pain radiate through her arm. She knew she had already crossed the line, and that the only way to get out of this situation unharmed, was to make him cool down.

"You're hurting me Flint." She said in a calm, almost diplomatic, voice. He narrowed his eyes at her. He was a good 12 inches taller than her. "What are you going to do then, hit me?" Her words made him instantly let go of her wrist, stepping back slightly. But he was still glowering at her. Before any of them could say anything else, a voice emerged from behind them.

"What's going on here?" Both Riley and Marcus turned their heads to see an angry Professor Snape. He had his eyes set on Marcus. "I was wondering why it was taking you so long to get your dream diary, Miss Potter." He said without removing his eyes from Flint. "Mr Flint, I hope you're not skipping class again. My office now, Miss Potter!" He said finally looking at her. Snape threw his cape behind him and headed to his office. Riley glanced at Marcus once again.

"This isn't over!" He said pointing his finger at her face in a menacing way, before walking away from the common room. Once all the tension in her body was gone, she found herself shaking. She followed Snape to his office.

"Sit down." He said at once. Riley sat down on the chair in front of his desk, feeling her hands tremble. "Care to tell me what was that about?"

Riley pondered for a moment. She didn't want to drag Snape into this situation.

"Miss Potter?" He asked again, his patience growing shorter.

"Nothing." She simply said. Snape narrowed his eyes. "Just Flint being a prat." She added quickly.

Snape lifted an eyebrow. "Very well, Miss Potter, if you don't want to tell me what really happened, the problem remains entirely yours. Now, where's this diary, for Merlin's sake!"

"I'll go get it." She forced a half-smile.

"You do that, and try not to get distracted again!"

Riley left the common room and started to wander, not entirely sure where to go.

"RILEY!" Someone shouted. Fred walked to the direction. He was with George. "Where have you been? You never came back to potions class, you even left your bag behind." He said handing her bag back to her.

"Err… Thanks, I forgot. Hi, George." George gave her a weak smile in response.

"You forgot?" Fred snickered. "That's the lamest excuse not to do your homework I've ever heard."

"No, really. I have a lot in my mind." She answered in a small voice, making Fred's grin falter.

"Is that because of the two Slytherins you were hiding from?" George looked puzzled at his brother, and then back at Riley, as if he was waiting for an explanation.

"Well, I'm not hiding anymore…" Riley sat down on a stair step, Fred sat down next to her.

"What's happened, Riley?" And then, Riley told them everything except her encounter with Flint.

"Wow, you're a natural." George stated.

"Huh?"

"You have a special talent to get into trouble." Fred answered, acquiescing to his brother's logic. Riley put on an annoyed face. "Just kidding."

"You're probably right anyway…" Riley sighed.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I already tried to tell Flint it wasn't me, but it didn't go very well."

"Maybe you should try to find out who did it." George mused.

"It could be anyone, really… I mean, I'm surprised Fletcher didn't find out sooner."

"Well, did you tell anyone about this?" Fred asked. Riley pondered, she told Adrian, but it couldn't possibly be him… And then, she remembered: Cora!

"I know who did it!" Riley exclaimed, standing up. Fred and George looked at each other. "I have to go." She grabbed her bag and ran off, leaving two puzzled twins behind her.

Riley stormed off to her dorm, hoping that she would find Cora in there, but the room was empty. She sat on the edge of her bed. It would be nice to have something on Cora. She glimpsed at the dorm's door, making sure no one was coming and jumped into Cora's bed. She started poking around in Cora's things. She looked in her nightstand, under her bed, inside her school trunk. But she didn't find anything, all Cora had was clothes and make-up. Sighing in exasperation, she threw herself on her own bed. How could someone be that impersonal and shallow? She stayed there thinking about what she was going to do, when finally, Cora and her Friends arrived in their dorm. Riley got up very fast and pulled her wand out of her vests.

"What do you think you are doing?" Cora asked, promptly pulling her wand out too. They both were glaring and pointing their wands at each other.

"I know it was you, Cora! Who told Fletcher!" Riley spat.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Cora said, playing dumb.

"I'm sure you do, it was your cowardly attempt to pay me back!"

"Well, it worked, didn't it?"

"You little…"

"Well it's all on you and your inability to keep your mouth shut."

"Are you completely insane? Has it ever occurred to you that they might find out it was you?"

"How? Fletcher won't tell them, they clearly don't believe you and no one else knows… Hmm, I'm not worried."

Riley knew she was right, she knew that no one would believe her, if she told people Cora was responsible for it. Furthermore, she didn't have any proof.

"Well, good luck with that Potter!" She said, making her friends snicker.

Riley lowered her wand and gave Cora a dirty look before throwing herself on her bed. She knew that it was naïve on her part, to assume that Cora wouldn't retaliate. However, she had already made Cora pay once, and she would do that again. Although this time she'd make sure that Cora wouldn't want to try anything against her, ever again.

The next day, after classes were over, Riley was sitting on a bench, watching the twins build a snow fort and throw snowballs at each other. In spite of the snow, the sky was clear and blue. Riley found it very entertaining to watch them fight. Those rare moments of normal, peaceful life were very nice. She opened her History of Magic book and started reading it, if there was one subject she was having trouble with, it was History of Magic. It was almost impossible to stay awake while listening to Professor Binns' droning voice. Suddenly, she felt something very cold hit her shoulder.

"No reading. Come on, have some fun!" came Fred's voice

"I have to read this. We have an exam tomorrow."

"You still have plenty of time to study! You have tonight…" said Fred.

"Tomorrow morning..." George continued.

"Tomorrow lunch…"

"Tomorrow just before the exam."

"Yeah… I don't think that will work for me." Riley giggled.

"Ok, in that case, let me summarise the lesson for you." Fred cleared his throat, making an exaggerated impersonation of an intellectual person "So, a long time ago, a bunch of Gargoyles went on a strike, and everything was doing pretty well, until it wasn't anymore."

"Wow, I'm definitely writing this down."

"Come on!" He insisted, Riley hesitated for a few seconds before closing her book.

"Ok, you win." She put her book back in her bag, and started chasing him with a snowball. At some point, they were both alone, hiding behind a stone wall from George, Fred turned his face to her.

"So, do you know what you are going to do?"

"Not really." Her face saddened. "I can't against two fourth years…"

"You know, George and I always have something on our older brothers in case we ever get into trouble with them. It's very useful."

"It would be really nice to have something on them, but I don't, well not anymore." Riley snorted with laughter, thinking about the irony of it.

"Don't you have anything you can use? A little piece of information about their lives that could be useful?" Riley thought about it for a second, she didn't know much about Flint, it's not like they had ever had a long conversation. All she knew about him was what she heard from other people. Then, she remembered something.

"It might be something."

"Can you use it?"

"I think so." She dropped her eyes for a second before looking up again into his eyes, "Thanks Fred." She let out a smile.

"You're welcome." He smiled back at her, blushing slightly. "Even if I'm not sure why." She was still staring at him, his gaze locked with hers. Fred felt his heart race.

"It's almost dinner time, let's go inside I'm starving!" George called them. Riley quickly averted her eyes from him.

"Yeah, let's celebrate my victory." Fred said, running his hand in his hair.

"You so did not win. You missed almost all the time." George laughed.

"Did not!"

"Riley, who of us won?" George asked her.

"Hmm… I'd say I did." She grinned.

The three went back to the castle, Riley didn't want to seat among the Slytherins, but she couldn't starve herself forever. She hasn't seen Selwyn yet, and deep down she was hoping to avoid her forever, which was of course was ridiculous. But as long as she didn't have anything on Sarah, she couldn't face her. On their way to the Great Hall, they came across Charlie Weasley.

"Hey Charlie, thought you were practising." George said.

"No, the Slytherins booked the pitch." He said frowning, "They're doing it all the time really, and to be honest, it wouldn't be surprising if they just wanted to keep us from practising." He added, rolling his eyes.

"Are they practising now?" Riley asked him. Charlie glared at her, as if he had just realised that she was there with them.

"Yes, that's what I just said." He said coldly. But Riley ignored it.

"I have to go."

"Where?" Fred asked her puzzled.

"To see Flint. It will be better if he's alone."

"Are you sure it's a good idea? Let me go with you." Fred said, concerned.

"No, don't worry, it will be okay." She smiled, trying to reassure him. Fred didn't look convinced, but he let her go.

Riley headed to the Quidditch pitch, hoping practice wasn't finish yet. But she didn't see anyone practising there. Feeling disappointed, she decided to go back to the castle, but stopped when she heard two boys laughing. She turned her head to their direction and recognized Marcus Flint exiting the Locker room along with another player.

"Look who it is! The troublemaker." The other boy gave her a nasty grin.

"Yeah, that's my middle name." She retorted sarcastically, making the boy let out a shout of laughte,r but Flint didn't laugh.

"You must really have a death wish." He gritted his teeth, taking two steps towards her. She saw Flint's friend grin even wider. She looked back at Flint and took two steps towards him.

"You were the one who wanted to chat! So let's chat!" Flint was about to retort, but she cut him off. "First of all, and I'll repeat one more time, so listen carefully, cause it's going to be the last time! It wasn't me who told Fletcher!" She pronounced each syllable slowly, making Marcus Flint frown. "Secondly, you're not going to do anything to me, because thanks to your big discretion," she said doing air quotes on the last word, "if something happens to me, Snape will know it was you, and he really appreciates me, after all, I'm one of his best students!" Riley was forcing it a little bit, she didn't know if Snape would care if something happened to her, but she had to make Flint believe it. Flint's face contorted in a twisted grin.

"Do you think I'm afraid of Snape?" He asked, his friend let out a small laugh.

"Well you should be. May I recall you that he's the one who decides who will be the next Quidditch captain." Flint's grin suddenly faded away.

"Yeah, I thought so!" She said giving him a sardonic smile. "And Finally," She said, taking another step towards him. "I'm not a bloody kitten!"

With that, Riley left the Quidditch pitch smiling to herself. She even heard Flint's friend laugh harder "Fierce little bird, I like that." She hoped that Flint would take her threat seriously. Now she only had Sarah left to deal with, and it wasn't something she was looking forward to.

Snape was in the headmaster's office, sitting across him. He impatiently stared, as the Headmaster read the black diary that belonged to Riley Potter. It was completely useless to him. So, the girl was having nightmares, plenty of people have nightmares. There's nothing to make a big deal about.

He studied the headmaster's expression. It was almost impossible to tell what Dumbledore was thinking. So, he just waited. Dumbledore finally closed the diary.

"Did you read this, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, putting the diary on his desk.

"Obviously."

"What do you think about it?"

"Just dreams, nothing more." He answered, his expression uninterested.

"I have my doubts. There's a pattern in it, don't you find it curious? And I might add that I find it very impressive the way she describes Voldemort's appearance."

"She often dreams about the Dark lord which seems understandable, after all she saw him murder Lily. Do you think they mean something more?"

"Perhaps, Severus, Perhaps. But for now, let's just wait. You can give Riley her diary back."

The bathroom was cold and poorly illuminated. Riley chose the bathtub located at the back of the bathroom. It was hidden from the rest of the bathroom, and this was exactly what she needed at the moment. Some time alone. She quickly undressed herself and entered into the tub. The water was very hot against her skin, but she didn't mind. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the quietness.

Riley was almost falling asleep in the bathtub when she heard some people coming into the bathroom. She recognised Selwyn's voice, and lowered her head so the border of the bathtub would hide her face.

"I tried to talk to Marcus, but he's ignoring me!"

"Well, this isn't really surprising, is it?" Riley's heard another girl say. "But what about Jason?"

"What about him? We are not together anymore!"

"Yeah, I figured that much. But did you try to apologize?"

"Yes, but he won't talk to me. You know that little girl will pay for this!" Sarah said in a cold tone. Riley instantly shut her eyes harder, trying to figure out what to do. She tried not to make any noise. She glimpsed at where Sarah was standing, she was on the opposite side of the bathroom. Riley turned her eyes towards the door, she reckoned that she would have the time to walk away without Sarah noticing her. So, she stood up from the bathtub and put her clothes on very quickly. She started to walk away when she let one of her shoes fall to the ground. She glanced at Sarah who was now staring at her.

"Potter." She said, grinning.

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