Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

—William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Chapter Three

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to the black girl with the blonde curls."

"With the red hair, by the Indian girl?"

"Did you see her face?"

"It's her!"

Whispers followed Holly from the moment she left her room with Parvati and Lavender the next day. People in queues outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at her, and some even doubled back in the halls to see her face. It was as if they had never seen a little girl before. Holly found the whole thing rather ridiculous and spent a lot of time laughing about it with Parvati and Lavender.

"Oh, she looks just like she does in her pictures!" Lavender exclaimed in a high falsetto as they sat down to breakfast that first morning.

"Oh, Holly Potter, you're so tall!" Parvati joined in. "An inspiration to young women everywhere! When I grow up I want to defeat dark lords, just like you!"

Holly was laughing as she ate a bite of egg. "Tut, tut—is that anyway to talk to your lady savior?"

"Ugh," Lavender said. "They are so ridiculous. I thought the Gryffindors would be better about it all, frankly." Tossing her blonde hair, Lavender scrunched up her nose. She poured brown sugar onto her porridge, and then she glanced up to the double doors of the dining hall. "Oh, no. No one look up, maybe she won't sit with us."

It was Hermione, and she seemed intent on ruining Lavender's day, for she walked down the hall with purpose and sat right next to her. Parvati and Holly exchanged an amused look.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" Hermione exclaimed, her voice shrill. "I woke up and everyone was gone."

"I had to post a letter to my parents," Parvati said. "We all woke up early to go to the Owlery." Lavender had also sent a school owl off to her mother, and Holly had sent one off to Phin.

"Oh, I've read about the Owlery," Hermione began. "It's in the West Tower and there are lots of barn owls that can be used by the students—"

"Yes, Hermione," Holly said, impatiently. "We've been there already, remember?"

"Well, I would have liked to see it, I've read ever so much about the castle, did you know that there are one hundred and forty two staircases? And I read—"

Neville chose that moment to sit, and Holly happily latched on a reason not to talk about the number of staircases in Hogwarts. "Morning Neville!" The round-faced boy mumbled a greeting, sitting next to Lavender. "See, Hermione? Neville didn't wait for his dorm mates."

"He's a boy," Hermione said, as if Holly hadn't realized this. "Girls are supposed to stick together."

"Oh, is that how it works?" Parvati muttered.

A great amount of screeching cut off whatever Hermione had to say next as a hundred owls suddenly streamed into the Great Hall. They circled the tables until they saw their owners, dropping letters and packages into their laps. A brown owl came directly over to them, releasing a cookie tin into Lavender's hands. And the same owl Holly had sent her letter off to Phin, returned one to her.

Holly tore it open at once, grinning when she saw the small message inscribed inside. I knew you were a lion! Congratulations on your sorting, sprite. The Gryffindors are a lucky bunch.

"Oh," Lavender exclaimed. "Ginger newts—Mummy remembered."

"Ginger newts?" repeated Hermione, opening her mouth to speak again.

McGonagall saved them from whatever Hermione Granger was about to say next, for she was walking down the length of the table and passing out class schedules. When she reached all four girls, she handed their schedules, to each, her lips upturning slightly when she saw Holly. The redhead gave her a beaming smile, and thanked her.

Checking over her schedule, she saw that the Gryffindors had Charms first thing. She finished her breakfast hurriedly, and stood as soon as she was done, Parvati and Lavender following suit.

"Oh, but I am not finished!" Hermione exclaimed.

"We have to get our books," Holly told her. "We'll meet you in class."

The girls were soon glad that they left as soon as possible, for the staircases of Hogwarts acted as though they were out to get them. It seemed very possible that there were a hundred and forty-two of them; certainly each one was different. Some were wide, others narrow, some that led to nowhere, and some with vanishing steps that you had to jump over. Lavender got her foot stuck in one of those, and it took both Parvati and Holly to help her out.

After collecting their books for the day from their tower room, the three girls headed back downstairs after taking polite direction from the female prefect, Morgaine. They did get stuck once at a door that you had to poke at, but they still arrived in time for class. The three girls claimed their seats just as the teacher arrived, with Hermione walking beside the professor chatting his ear off. Thankfully, Ravenclaws were in the class with them, and Padma had taken the seat next to Parvati so that none of them had to sit with Hermione.

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. As he took roll, when he reached Holly's name, he gave a little squeak and toppled out of sight. Holly fought not to roll her eyes. Other than that, he seemed like a nice man with a lot of enthusiasm for his subject, even if it seemed they would not be actually performing spells in Charms for some time.

They spent that first class learning much about wand movements and pronunciation. Though the latter was good for Holly to learn, the former was something she knew well, due to Professor McGonagall and Phin's lessons.

"Look, everyone—Miss Potter has it perfect. A light grip that allows for change, and yet a firm one that holds the wand steadily. I want everyone to hold their wand like Miss Potter."

Transfiguration, which they had after lunch, was a much different beast. After Charms, the Gryffindors had gone to History of Magic, but the less said about that, the better. The ghost who taught it was Professor Binns, and he spoke in a droning monotone. After trying and failing to pay attention, Holly began outlining the first chapter of the book instead. By the time lunch rolled around, and they had escaped Hermione once more, Gryffindors had McGonagall's class.

Her opening speech had been rather inspiring. "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." She then turned her desk into a pig and then back again.

Everyone was suitably impressed, with Lavender looking so excited, but most of them soon realized that they wouldn't be turning desks into barnyard animals for a long time yet. McGonagall began with a very long lecture on the basics of transformation. Most of it covered grips, the first spell they would do, and then she went over why something can transform. Holly realized very quickly that she had already learned all this. All of those trips to various places, when Professor McGonagall had been talking to her in a very quiet voice about magic—this had been what she was leading up to.

Professor McGonagall then passed out matches to everyone in the class. "You must now try to transfigure your match into a needle. You have until the end of the class period."

Holly looked at her match for a long moment, hearing other students try and fail to perform the spell. She took in the grain of the wood, and the point of the match. The redhead realized that the head of the match would be better suited for the eye of the needle than the point. Work with the object, she understood. But it wasn't enough to simply see the object for what it was now, Holly realized that she had to see what it would become. Visualization is everything, my girl. She looked up, catching the eye of Professor McGonagall, and grinned. Then, willow wand in hand, she pointed it at the match, relaxed her grip, and said, "Acus!"

The match turned into a perfect needle.

"Miss Potter!" McGonagall exclaimed, causing the class to fall silent. Coming over, the professor held up the needle, turning it over in her hand and trying to bend it. She could not. A rare smile lit over her face, as she looked at Holly. "Ten well-earned points to Gryffindor."

Holly's success seemed to bolster the class, because everyone went back to their matches with renewed enthusiasm, and Holly used some more matches to show Parvati and Lavender how she had done it. Hermione kept looking over at them, but it was more with annoyance than with interest. She pointedly tuned out what Holly was saying, looking down at her match, glaring ferociously and muttering. By the end of the class, Parvati, Dean, and Sally-Anne (who had all been sitting nearby and listening to Holly's pointers) managed to make their matches silver and pointy. Hermione also accomplished this, but she didn't seem as pleased as the others obviously were.

The only other student who managed a full transformation was Lavender—who had listened closely to what Holly said, and adjusted her grip accordingly—managing it just before class ended and taking another ten points for Gryffindor. Hermione had stalked off after that, disappearing during their break, but meeting everyone again in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

That class was a joke. The room itself smelled strongly of garlic, and Professor Quirrell, the turban-wearing teacher, did too. Holly and her classmates spent all of their time taking notes in that class, and yet when they left it, none of them thought that they had learned anything of significance. Quirrell talked a lot about his meetings with zombies and vampires, but nothing of how to confront them or fight them off. Holly was unimpressed.

They ended their first day so exhausted that all the girls of Gryffindor fell into bed again without protest. The next day, they had all the same classes as the day before, except that History had been swapped with Herbology. Dragon hide gloves in hand, they trotted out to Greenhouse One. Once there, Professor Sprout, a cheery little witch with an infectious enthusiasm, began going on about plants and fungi. Lavender loved that class, even though they often ended up with soil all over them.

The classes repeated on Wednesday, with the exception of Astronomy being added to the rotation. Early in the evening, Holly spent her time flicking through her Charms book, having already finished her homework. She made a mental note of the incantations of certain spells that looked interesting, looking at the wand movements and the pronunciation.

When it became clear that Holly was going to fall asleep waiting for midnight Astronomy to begin, she enlisted her friends for help. It quickly became a game to Holly, Lavender, and Parvati to see who could stay up until the class without taking a nap. The three of them sat in their House common room playing Monopoly with Dean Thomas, who had brought the game from home. Meanwhile, Ron, Seamus and Neville had fallen asleep by the fire, and Hermione sat reading her Transfiguration book in a poufy armchair. At midnight, they all trooped up to the topmost level of the Astronomy tower, and used their telescopes to look at the planets and the stars. This was the only class that Sally-Anne and Victoria did not join them in, as all the Hogsmeade day students had their own Astronomy class on Friday nights.

That first night, they didn't do any studying or note taking at all, Professor Sinistra simply had them all look into their telescopes at Venus. Wizarding telescopes could look at stars and planets even when they weren't visible with the naked eye. Holly had never seen through a Muggle telescope, but she didn't think they would be like this.

"In ancient times," Professor Sinistra began, "it was believed that Venus was both the Morning Star and the Evening Star, two entirely different beings. People used to stare up into the heavens and see things that weren't true, and yet they believed them passionately. We gaze at the stars, even now, looking for knowledge. Arithmancers use celestial bodies in their calculations, as do Astrologers. We look upwards for truth, for comfort, to feel big and to feel small. There is a magic to the stars that no spell can match."

Staring up at the vastness of the sky overhead, Holly certainly agreed with her.

She loved Hogwarts. Holly realized this on the first night, but it had grown and grown with the days she spent there. Her breaks, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners were all happily spent with Parvati and Lavender, with Padma sometimes joining them on their breaks when she could find them. And the classes—they were so much fun, and so easy! She felt as though she had been born to do magic, and it was a feeling so intense that Holly knew it to be true. Sure, History and Defense were a bit boring, but Holly spent those times writing outlines and passing notes with Lavender, so they weren't a total loss.

All of the Gryffindors were a lot of fun too, even though the majority of her time was spent with her two friends. But Holly did try to talk to Neville a bit, who seemed to really like Charms and Herbology, and to Dean, who was always hanging around with Seamus and Ron. None of the latter three seemed particularly devoted to academics, but they were all cheerful enough. Victoria Frobisher and Sally-Anne Perks seemed to be uninterested in getting to know anyone else, and they stuck primarily together, and were very quiet, leaving every day after the last bell.

And then there was Hermione. Really, Holly hadn't been eager to give her the benefit of the doubt, but if the bushy haired girl had calmed down some when they made their way through classes, Holly thought it was possible she could have at least been friendly to the girl, but if anything, Granger was worse than before! That swotty attitude had not died down, only increased. She spent large amounts of time in the library, and seemed obsessed with mastering her classes, or really, beating Holly. All of the teachers had been quick to praise the Girl Who Lived for her aptitude, but Hermione seemed to take all the points Holly had earned Gryffindor as a personal slight.

"I bet she hasn't been second in anything until she met you," Lavender guessed on Thursday night, as she painted Holly's toenails a pale pink. Holly had never been allowed to wear nail polish before, and she delighted in the way the shimmering color caught the light. Lavender had been only too happy to have a guinea pig. "From the way she talks, I think she's always been the best."

"It really bugs her that you don't study," Parvati said from where she was sitting on her bed, sketching. "I heard Granger talking to Professor Flitwick about the amount of time students should spend studying each night, and she was really annoyed when you used your breaks yesterday and today to look at a non-school book."

Holly did think that was quite fair, as she had been reading her Charms book the night before, but it was true that she had taken to perusing her dad's book, which she had brought with her. It was called Junior Jinxes and Helpful Hexes, and Holly was having a lot of fun pouring over it. Lavender had volunteered to be her test dummy before dinner earlier, and had repeatedly fallen onto pillows for Holly as she learned the tripping jinx. The redhead had happily taught the spell to her friends once she had mastered it, and Lavender had giddily sent a tripping jinx back at her friend. There was another spell Holly was trying to learn which made an object seem hot to the touch, even when it wasn't. It didn't burn the person holding it, but it felt to them as if it did.

Shrugging, Holly said, "I study some, but really, I can't help it. It's all easy for me. What am I supposed to do, pretend it's all really hard so Hermione Granger doesn't get her feelings hurt?"

"Where is our little roommate anyway?" Lavender asked.

"I'll give you one guess," Holly deadpanned.

"The library," Lavender said, rolling her eyes. "I don't even know where the library is yet. We've only been here five days!"

"Well, maybe you'll be bad in potions, or the professor might hate you," Parvati suggested to Holly. "That ought to cheer Granger up."

It was not to be.

The next morning they had Double Potions with the Slytherins, and the Gryffindors walked down into the dungeons after breakfast. It was colder there than up in the rest of the castle, and was incredibly eerie, only added to by the pickled animal bits floating in jars on the counters. Professor Snape, like Flitwick, began class by taking roll, and Holly would later realize that this would be one of only two times Snape ever said her last name.

He was an odd looking wizard, with greasy black hair and angry ebony eyes. His skin was pale to the point of sickness, and his large hooked nose dominated his features. Perhaps his harsh face would have been softened by a smile or a kind nature, but in that first class Holly never saw him do more than smirk triumphantly. Snape spoke very deliberately, but his accent sounded studied rather than natural.

"Ah, yes," he said softly. "Holly Potter." He said her first name like a caress, and her last name like a curse, and Holly wasn't sure what to make of it.

Once he was done, Snape looked at the class through a lidded glare, and spoke in a whisper. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Snape had a gift for keeping the attention of his class, much like McGonagall. He spoke at a whisper, but they heard every word. His eyes travelled over the room, often falling on Holly, though he seemed to look everywhere but into her own eyes.

"Weasley!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air, but Ron looked as though he had been hit over the head with a club. Holly guessed that if he had read the book, he had skipped over the introduction and gone straight to the first chapter. The intro to Magical Draughts and Potions had gone on at length about the Draught of Living Death, and why it was such a breakthrough for potioneering.

"I don't know, sir," Ron said.

Snape sneered. "Thomas! Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Dean looked startled, and mumbled something inaudible. Three of the Slytherin boys were shaking with laughter, and Seamus was looking over at them, and getting red in the face. Pansy Parkinson looked smug, and she sent a triumphant look in Holly's direction. Hermione, meanwhile, was waving her hand in the air as much as she could to attract attention.

"What's the difference, Longbottom, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" This question, like the one before it, had been in the introduction of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

Neville looked as though he might cry, and shook his head. "I d-don't know, s-sir."

"Y-you d-don't know," Snape mocked in a pretend stutter, before sneering. "Gryffindors. Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, didn't you?"

Hermione stood up at this point, her hand stretching towards the ceiling. She didn't know why, but there was something about Snape's accusation that annoyed Holly, so she did something rather stupid—Holly raised her hand.

Snape seemed surprised by this, his black eyes narrowing. "Sit down," he snapped to Hermione. And then to Holly, he said, "Miss Potter? Amaze me."

"By adding powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood you would get the Draught of the Living Death," Holly told him, her voice clear and echoing in the dungeon. "A bezoar is found in the stomach of a goat, though probably also in the potions cupboard." Here some of the Gryffindors snickered. Holly continued, "And there is no difference between monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant."

The professor said nothing for one long moment, and then, looking at her searchingly, he asked, "And what other name does that plant go by?"

"Aconite," Holly told him.

"And where, may I ask, did you find all this information?"

"In the introductory chapters of Magical Draughts and Potions and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi," Holly told him.

Seamus Finnegan winked at her, and Parvati gave Holly a thumbs up. Hermione looked as though Christmas had been cancelled, and Pansy as though she had swallowed something foul.

A small smirk began to curl about Snape's lips, and in truth, it was more terrifying than his anger. He said nothing more before putting them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. Holly worked with Lavender, and though the blonde wasn't outstanding at potions, she was good enough that working with her was easy. Lavender sorted their supplies and allowed Holly to take over the brewing.

Snape swept through the class, with his long black cloak swishing as he walked, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing everyone except Holly and Lavender, and the blond boy with the pointed face whom Holly learned was named Malfoy. He and his partner, Zabini, Snape praised to the skies. He was telling everyone to look at the perfect way they had brewed their slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Parvati cried out, and the rest of the class started climbing onto their stools.

"Idiot boy!" Snape snapped at him, clearing away the potion with a wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils broke out on his face.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus, and then he said, "And that's five points from Gryffindor for not telling him not to add the quills." Seamus looked furious, but hefted Neville up and took him from the room.

The rest of the lesson passed almost silently, as a pall seemed to hang heavy over the class. Snape was still fluttering around, but he was growling and snapping at people more than anything else. Holly was amazed that he had the energy to be so unpleasant, but mostly focused on her cauldron. At the end of the lesson, Snape made the rounds handing out jars so that the students could put the salve inside and get graded. He stopped though when he got to Holly's cauldron.

Snape looked at her burn salve for a long time, almost as if it held the mysteries of the universe. He reached out even, touching it with his finger and scooping some up. He then rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger and finally looked up at Holly.

"Tell me, where did you learn to brew, Holly?"

Holly wasn't sure what to say, and she was so surprised at his even tone that she didn't even notice he called her by her first name. Aunt Petunia had taught her to cook, and she had done even more in Girl Guides for a badge, but she didn't think Snape would appreciate those references. So, she shrugged and answered honestly, "I've never brewed before today, sir."

Snape handed her a jar before sweeping away, which Holly quickly used to bottle her salve. She wrote her and Lavender's names on it with a flourish. Once Snape had dismissed the class, Holly went up to the front with her salve, and placed it on the professor's desk. He looked up at her and gave a sharp nod, as if they shared a secret. She returned the gesture, and turned from the classroom, utterly confused.

That evening in the common room, Holly was taught how to play gobstones by Parvati, while Lavender read the girls their horoscopes and Hermione stared at them from her seat by the fire. The bushy-haired girl was pouring over the Daily Prophet, which the upper year students had a habit of leaving lying around, seemingly absorbed in a follow-up article in the Prophet about the Gringotts break-in. Every now and then Hermione would look up to where the other girls were sitting, but always right back down again. Holly wasn't sure what she was looking for, probably proof of her own superiority.

The redhead didn't let it phase her, though. She had had a wonderful first week at Hogwarts, and the mystery of Hermione Granger wasn't something she was about to worry over. Holly looked up to see Ron Weasley playing chess with Seamus Finnegan, all the while a little grey rat perched on his shoulder; the freckled boy was laughing heartily as his rook captured Seamus's queen. The sound was infectious. Exchanging smiles with Lavender, Holly knew this was the feeling she had been waiting for all her life.

A feeling of belonging.