A/N thank you to everyone who read the first chapters, and especially to the people that have followed the story.

Please read and review!

Chapter 2

Angel's Trumpet Draught

"How could you?" Kasdeya cried, the salty tears leaving her skin feeling dry. Her back ached from where she was tossed on the jagged rocks that littered the ground. Her shirt clung to her back as the blood from her wounds seeped out. A loud laugh cackled from above her. A sharp pain shot down the back of her head, and her hair fell in her face. She felt a thick red liquid drip down the side of her head, stark against her black hair. She screamed in pain and closed her eyes but the image was still there. He was still there. She tried to sit up but her arms gave out almost instantly and she fell back down on the ground. She forced her eyes back open to look for a way out. That's when she saw her.

Kasdeya dug her feet into the dirt trying to inch herself forward and extended her hand as far as she could. Kasdeya knew if she could reach this person it would all be over. As she reached out, she felt the person getting farther away.

"No!" she cried. "Please! No! I need you" Kasdeya laid her head back down on her arms in resignation and pulled her legs up to her chest. She buried her head into her knees and covered her ears to block out the painful screams of death that echoed from the poor souls around her.

"KAS WAKE UP!" sang an overly cheerful Lily as she yanked the curtains around Kasdeya's bed to the side.

Kasdeya let out a small scream and fell out of her bed. The harsh sunlight stung her eyes. She groaned from her uncomfortable position on the ground and rubbed her head. She squeezed her eyes shut to stop the light from hurting her unadjusted pupils.

"Don't wanna be late on the first day of class! We have potions first!" Lily chirped.

Kasdeya sat up and shoved her dark wavy hair from her face. She smiled at the thought of her favorite subject – potions. She stood up and changed into her robes for the day.

"Kas, we are going to head down. You want us to wait for you?" said Alice, her book bag already over her shoulder.

"No, you go ahead. I am going to try to tame my hair," Kasdeya smiled back. Alice waved and the other girls headed down to breakfast. Kasdeya bit her lip as she looked into the mirror that hung near Mary's bed. She carefully examined the uniform she was wearing. Kasdeya hated the uniforms. They made her blend into the crowd. But that is probably what Dumbledore wanted. The longer she stared at her image, the less if felt like she was looking at herself. The mirror didn't show her a picture of Kasdeya Rendon, but Hogwarts student. Kasdeya released her lip from between her teeth and ran a brush through her hair, trying to pat it down. It was better than the tangled mess from earlier, but it always looked slightly wild and wispy. She added a small, bright red bow to her hair. She always had a small bow in her hair. It was childish, sure, but it was a habit. It steamed from when she was young with short hair and people mistook her for a boy. A small bow in her hair would silently tell them she was female. Kasdeya looked deep into her own eyes.

This is my new life, she thought to herself. Those memories are in the past. She scooped up her books and added them to her tattered leather bag before swinging it over her shoulder and heading out the door.

When she reached the great hall, the girls had already finished eating and had left. Kasdeya took her seat towards the end of the table, where no one else was sitting. She pulled out a book and opened it to where she left off. She had an odd obsession with muggle books. Her grandfather seemed to have hundreds of them in his library, and they had a weird type of simplicity to them. No magic to complicate things. Then, at the same time, they were ridiculously complicated to make up from their lack of magic. She was currently working through a historical fiction called The Book Thief. Kasdeya absently nibbled at her toast as she read.

"You don't have to sit alone, Kasdeya Grace!" a voice called from down the table. Kasdeya looked up from her book and saw Remus, sitting with his marauder buddies a little way down the table. He gestured from her to come and join them. Hesitantly, Kasdeya put her bookmark back and shoved the book back in her bag.

"Please, call me Kas," she said to Remus as she took a seat next to him.

"No thank you," said Remus politely, giving her a sly smile. "I quite like your full name."

"How did you even know my middle name?" Kasdeya huffed crossing her arms.

"I am a prefect. I have access to the roster of all the students at Hogwarts, and it has their middle names listed." He explained simply as he piled eggs onto his plate. She shook her head at him and added eggs to her plate too.

"So what were you reading over there?" asked Remus casually.

"The Book Thief. It's a muggle book," Kasdeya said. "Quite good actually. It's about this young girl in Germany during World War II who learns to read in secret and steals books to share with others." Remus nodded thoughtfully and gave her a smile.

"History from a muggle perspective is always very interesting," Remus concurred. "I just finished reading The Kite Runner, about the fall of the Afghanistan Monarchy." Sirius pretended to fall asleep on the table and snore.

"Sorry," he said with faux concern as he lifted his head. "The amount of boring at this table put me to sleep." Kasdeya stuck her tongue out at Sirius and made a face at him.

"And I was the one that got called childish last night?" he teased and poked the bow in her hair. Kasdeya laughed. She looked at the boys around her. How could Lily be so short with them? They seemed like fun people. Kasdeya thought back to her childhood. She never really had friends. Her father found them a waste of time.

"So Prongs," Sirius drawled, and Kasdeya was snapped from her thoughts. "What's first on the list of torture today?" James pulled out a crumpled schedule from his pocket and smoothed it on the table.

"Potions with Ravenclaw," James replied. Peter leaned over to look at the schedule and in doing so dropped a huge glob of jam from his toast on the schedule.

"Wormtail," he sighed. Remus casually waved his wand to remove the sticky substance from the paper. James clicked his tongue in approval as he continued to read the schedule.

"Are you gonna try and ask out that Melanie girl from Ravenclaw?" Peter asked Sirius.

"Yeah right," snorted James. "Remember last time he talked to her? He ended up with a plate of spaghetti on his head." Kasdeya smirked. She would pay to see that.

"Oi! That was a sign of affection. You don't see her dropping spaghetti on just any boy's head, now do you," Sirius retorted.

"I am just glad we don't have potions with the Slytherins this term," Peter squeaked.

"Dunno," James frowned. "I'm gonna miss making Snivellus's potions explode."

"Snivellus?" Kasdeya asked. "Was that the poor boy you tripped yesterday?"

"Poor boy?" sneered James. "He is not so innocent. Lily might see the small amount of good way deep inside of him, but he is bad. Loves dark magic. Bet you anything he will be a death eater."

Kasdeya dropped her spoon.

"That is a very serious accusation, James." Kasdeya scolded, trying to remain calm and stay in the present. The dream she had last night edged its was into her mind and she had to fight to keep it back. "Death eaters are not just bad people… they are evil. The things they do – the pain they cause – the suffering- I just… That's very serious." She looked down at her plate, the table having gone silent. She looked up and they were all watching her. James looked incredibly suspicious.

"I know a death eater when I see one," said Sirius, a dark look in his eye. "And I see one in Snivellus." Kasdeya focused on her breathing. Dark wizards at Hogwarts? Her secret could really put people in danger.

"I am going to head out," she said slowly. "Don't want to be late to class." She stood up and collected her things. As she walked out of the hall, she looked back over her shoulder to see all four boys watching her walk away. Walking down the stairs to the potions room in the dungeon, she realized she didn't get much to eat. Besides the few spoonfulls of eggs and the bit of toast, she was on an empty stomach. She briefly considered going back to the dining hall, but she didn't want to face the boys stares.

The potions room was dimly lit, and smelled strongly of murtlap essence. Kasdeya stood in the door way and tapped the door frame lightly four times before entering. A few other students had begun to take their seats. She looked around until she found Lily, sitting next to Mary. Lily waved to her and beckoned her over.

"Hey Kas!" she said in her cheerful voice. "I see you found your way to the potions classroom!"

"Did you see Alice paired up with Frank?" Mary laughed. "They are so cute together!" Lily and Kasdeya craned their heads to see Alice who was smiling flirtatiously at a grinning Frank. The three girls giggled quietly as they watch the two students. Suddenly the door banged open and James strolled in with the marauders in tow. He flashed Lily a grin that she did not return and they took their seats.

Professor Slughorn entered the room and shuffled to the front desk. After rifling through some papers, he looked up.

"You must be Kasdeya Rendon," he smiled.

"It's just Kas," she said.

"Ah, well then just Kas," he said chuckling at his own joke. "We seem to have an odd number of students. Perhaps you would like to join Remus and Peter? Remus is one of our star students; he can help you catch up from last semester in no time at all!" Kasdeya nodded stiffly and walked over to their table.

"Hello again, Kasdeya Grace," Remus said, and Kasdeya rolled her eyes. Peter squirmed in his seat, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"Now, today we are going to start with something a little more advanced," Slughorn announced. "But if you did your assigned potions reading over break it shouldn't be too difficult, eh? I want each of you to brew an Angel's Trumpet Draught. If you need help, look on page 160. Good luck to all!"

Kasdeya already felt at home. She could already tell potions was going to be one of her favorite subjects. She knew this potion by heart – as she did most potions. Thanks to her father.

"I will grab the ingredients!" she called over her shoulder to Remus and Peter as she strolled to the cabinet and started looking through the Angel Trumpet blossoms. Remus looked up from the potions book where he was reading the instructions and opened his mouth to say something but thought better and closed it. Kasdeya inspected the blossoms, looking for the slight purple tinge that symbolized they were in what her father referred to as "prime potion condition". Next, she looked through the bin with bottles of moondew that needed to be at a perfect baby blue color. She picked up a few of the dark grey caterpillars, lacewing flies, dried thyme, and dandelion roots before turning to head to the table.

"The recipe doesn't call for any moondew..." said Remus looking at her with frown.

"Trust me, the moondew helps dissolve the flies and creates a bond between the roots and blossom that makes the potion more potent," she replied as she lit a fire under her cauldron. Remus opened his mouth to say something again, but closed it and looked back at the recipe. She notices that he stuck his tongue out slightly from the corner of his mouth when he was thinking and laughed silently to herself.

"How do you know?" he finally asked her.

"Women's intuition," she smirked and Remus laughed lightly.

"Whatever you say," he chuckled and began chopping up his dandelion roots. Peter, who sat on the opposite side of Remus followed suite, but his pieces were not nearly as neat as Remus's. Kasdeya pointed her wand at the knife and it began cutting the root with perfect precision as she focused on getting the water in her cauldron to the right temperature.

Once she was satisfied with the small boil of the water, the added a few drops of moondew. Her potion turned a misty blue color that reminded her of her old bedroom. She smiled lightly and removed the wings of her lacewing flies before dropping them in and stirring it lazily with her wand. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Remus watching her, seemingly unsure if he should follow her advice or stick to the book. He finally decided to forgo the moondew and added in his flies to his cauldron. Kasdeya smiled to herself again, as she knew his cauldron was not nearly hot enough if he wanted to get the lacewing flies to dissolve without the moondew. Then if you heat it too much, it will burn the dandelion roots. Geeze, people really should start listening to me more, she mused as she finished chopping the roots by hand.

She sat back and watched her potion simmer and felt her stomach growl in anger over the small breakfast. She sighed and rubbed her stomach thinking about the four hours left until lunch.

"Here," said Remus, not looking up from his potion and extended his hand with a napkin in it. She took it from him and unfolded the napkin to reveal a blueberry muffin.

"Remus you don't need to give me your food," she said handing it back. He looked up from his potion.

"I brought it for you," he stated simply. "You stormed off at breakfast after only eating a few bites of eggs." This time it was Kasdeya's turn to open her mouth then close it before saying anything. She gave him a big smiled and he nodded. She turned back to her potion, a small blush on her cheeks, partly from Remus's kind gesture, and partly from letting her emotions flare up and cause her to leave breakfast before eating.

She munched on the muffin as her potion started to change from bright red to dark. That would be the fly wings a work.

"How did you get your potion to be such a dark shade red?" inquired Remus, looking more curious than frustrated.

"I only added the wings of the flies, and then sprinkled the thyme in slowly," she responded, tossing a few caterpillars into the cauldron and waving her wand in a spiral pattern and muttering azraela. He looked from her to her cauldron to his potions book and then back to her.

"You haven't even opened your book," he stated.

"My father was a potions master," she admitted. "I have been practicing potions with him since I was old enough to walk." Remus pondered this and smiled. He looked back to his potion, seemingly satisfied with his work.

"Oh no," muttered Peter, whose potion turned a dark grey. Kasdeya leaned over Remus and pointed her wand at Peter's cauldron. The dried thyme flew out of his cauldron and landed on the table in front of him.

"Try crushing that up and sprinkling it in the potion slowly next time," Kasdeya told him politely.

"Thanks, Kas," Peter exclaimed. Remus caught her eye and they exchanged a look as they watched Peter smash the thyme with the butt of his wand.

"Here," said Remus gently handing him a mortar and pestle. Peter's mouth formed an o shape and he quickly started crushing the thyme with the pestle.

"Oh my," Slughorn exclaimed as he walked by Kasdeya's cauldron. "That is truly beautiful! The dark red of the potion, and the musty smell - it's perfect! Best in the class! Amazing work, Kas!" Lily picked up her head at this and looked over at Kasdeya bewilderedly. Lily was used to this praising going to her.

"Well done Kasdeya Grace," Remus beamed. "Slughorn wanted me to help you, but it looks like you taught me something instead."

"And what, exactly, did I teach you?" Kasdeya smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"Always trust a women's intuition," he smirked.

"Please review the properties of ashwinder eggs and have a list of the potions it is used in by next class!" Slughorn called over the students who were already packing up their belongings. Kasdeya quickly cleaned out her cauldron and was placing her utensils back on the shelf when Slughorn called her over.

"You, my dear, have an amazing talent," he began, beaming at her. "Never would I have thought to use moondew! True genius! Now I wanted to invite you to a dinner I am hosting in a few weeks. Some of my best and brightest pupils will be attending. I like to have time to get to know my star students and learn about their ambitions. What do you say eh?"

"That sounds lovely," replied Kasdeya, although Kasdeya thought it really sounded quite miserable. "And Professor, I had something I wanted to ask you as well."

"Anything, my dear girl!" he smiled.

"I really love potions, and I was doing extensive research in the field at… my last school. I was wondering if you would let me use the potions room to continue some of my research to supplement my class studies." Kasdeya looked at him nervously, unsure what his response would be.

"Absolutely!" he exclaimed. "You passion for potions is truly inspiring. You are welcome to use the potions room at any time – just as long as you are not brewing anything dangerous." Kasdeya nodded, before awkwardly shuffling back over to her table to pack up her things. Remus sat on his stool and glanced over at her.

"Invited to the slug club?" he asked.

"Is that what it's called?" laughed Kasdeya. "Not very appealing is it?" He shook his head and she smiled at him.

"Remember you papers on asherwinder eggs!" Called Slughorn as the students began to shuffle out of the room.

Kasdeya swung her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the room, a big smiled on her face. She wasn't particularly proud of her potion, no she could have done that in her sleep. She was, however, excited that she had gained access to the potions room. Now she could continue her work.

A/N thanks for reading. I should update pretty soon. It is fall break for me so I have a lot of time on my hands. PleASE ReVIEw