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Paige looked at the same horse with wings as Harry did, yet when he asked if anybody could see them too Paige said no.

'I see them as well.' A girl with blond long hair said already sitting in a carriage.

'That's Luna Lovegood.' Hermione said, getting into the carriage. 'She is a bit.. odd.'

'Hello.' She said in a dream-like voice.

Paige and Harry looked at each other for a moment, then got into the carriage as well.

The ride to the castle was very quiet.

Paige and Harry were standing before the Great hall, holding hands. Harry looked at her for a moment as she closed her eyes. He had it easy, Paige thought, opening her eyes again. In Gryffindor they wouldn't mind him being with her, no they would love it. But Slytherin, what would they think when their Slytherin Princess was in a relationship with Harry Potter. She sighed, squeezing in his hand.

'It's going to be okay.' Harry said, trying to calm her.

'I know that.' Paige said, smiling as the door opened.

All heads turned as they walked in, mumble filled the room.

'I got to go to my table.' Paige said, letting go of his hand.

She sat down next to Pansy. She smirked, which surprised Paige.

'What?'

'Finally.' Pansy said. 'I maybe don't like him, but I think I'm okay with it.'

'Well I'm not!' Draco said, looking angry. 'How could you Paige! He is the enemy.'

'No Draco,' Paige said, not noticing that, Hermione; Ron and Harry could hear everything. 'You are, they are the good guys!' Paige snapped back, turning her back to him.

Dumbledore stood up and everybody became quiet.

'Well, now that we are all enjoying another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices,' said Dumbledore. 'First-years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too.'

Harry and Paige exchanged looks.

'Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four-hundred-and-sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr Filch's office door.'

Paige saw the Weasley twins smirking at each other.

'We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.'

There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause, during which Harry, Ron, Hermione and Paige exchanged slightly panicked looks; Dumbledore had not said for how long Grubbly-Plank would be teaching.

Dumbledore continued, 'Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place on the -.'

He broke off, looking inquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge cleared her throat, 'Hem, hem,' and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.

Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk. Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts.

'Thank you, Headmaster,' Professor Umbridge said. 'For those kind words of welcome.'

Her voice was high-pitched, breathy and little-girlish. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ('hem, hem') and continued.

'Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!' She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. 'And to see such happy little faces looking up at me! Paige glanced around. None of the faces she could see looked happy. On the contrary, they all looked rather taken-aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.

'I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!' Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ('hem, hem'), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more business-like and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them. 'The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching. Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation . . .'

Professor Umbridge did not seem to notice the restlessness of her audience. Paige had the impression that a full-scale riot could have broken out under her nose and she would have ploughed on with her speech. The teachers, however, were still listening very attentively.

'. . . because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognised as errors of judgment. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited.'

She sat down. Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, though Paige noticed that several of them brought their hands together only once or twice before stopping. A few students joined in, but most had been taken unawares by the end of the speech, not having listened to more than a few words of it, and before they could start applauding properly, Dumbledore had stood up again.

Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating,' he said, bowing to her. 'Now, as I was saying, Quidditch try-outs will be held . . .'

'Paige, think about what you are doing.' Draco whispered in her ear. 'You're going to get yourself in trouble.'

'Could you shut up.' Paige said irritated, still sitting with her back to him.

'Some are going to hate you.'

'Well, Draco,' She said a bit louder. 'What would it matter if they hate me?'

Draco shook his head looking away.

When Dumbledore was done talking and the students had eaten, everybody stood up to go to their dorm room.

When Paige walked past a curtain she felt a hand grabbing hers and pulling her in.

'Harry.' Paige said smirking, 'We don't have to hide.'

'I know, but I like it. It's fun.' Harry said, kissing her sweetly.

'Yeah, that's true.' She said, closing her eyes. Their lips, barely touching while speaking to each other. staying as close as they could.

'This feels so good,' He said, squeezing her hands. 'Kissing you, it just makes me forget the bad things in my life.'

'Well that was my plan in the first place, making you forget about those things.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, all I want is for you to be happy.' Paige said, kissing him softly on his lips. 'We should go to our dorms.'

'You're right, like most of the time.' Harry said, making her laugh.

'Sweet dreams, Harry.' Paige said, feeling his lips pressed against her again.

He kissed her deeply, never wanting to let go.

'You too.' He said breaking the kiss.

Paige walked away to her dorm.

The next day Paige walked to the Great hall when a boy from Gryffindor walked past her, bumping her.

'Oi, are you alright?' Paige asked.

'Leave me alone!' He said walking on.

'I take that as a NO.' Paige yelled, she turned around the walk on. When another boy came alone.

'Hi, have you seen a boy walking past?' He asked.

'Yeah he was pretty upset.' Paige said, pointing behind her.

'Yeah that's Seamus. He is mad at Harry.' The boy said.

'Why is he angry at Harry, he didn't do anything wrong.'

'His parents don't believe him.'

'O, I see.' Paige said wanting to go but got stopped.

'I'm Dean, by the way.' He said, holding out his hand.

'Paige, Nice meeting you.' She said, shaking his hand. 'I'm going to get some food. Good luck with Seamus.'

She took place next to Harry at the Gryffindors table.

'Are you even allowed to be at this table?' He asked as he looked at the teachers.

'I don't know.' Paige said. 'But I won't go until they say I have to.'

Harry smiled weakly.

'O my goss.' Paige said, looking at the Ravenclaws table.

'What?' Harry asked as Ron and Hermione looked up too.

'Cho Chang, is totally checking you out.' Paige said smirking, biting her lip a bit.

'No,' Harry said looking at her. Cho weaved at him, smiling softly. 'Okay… Maybe..' He said weaving back. 'But even if she did, I already have my girl.' He put an arm around Paige pulling her closer to him. Paige laughed, feeling herself get red.

The bell rang, students were slowly standing up and leaving for their first lesson.

'What do you have?' Harry asked.

'Potions.' Paige answered, grabbing an apple and stood up.

'Me too.' Harry said excitedly. 'Want to sit together?'

'Yeah!' Paige said excitedly, taking a bite from her apple.

'Settle down,' said Snape coldly, shutting the door behind him.

There was no real need for the call for order; the moment the class had heard the door close, silence had fallen and all fidgeting stopped. Snape's mere presence was usually enough to ensure a class's silence.

'Before we begin today's lesson,' said Snape, sweeping over to his desk and staring around at them all, 'I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your OWL, or suffer my . . . displeasure.'

'After this year, of course, many of you will end studying with me,' Snape went on. 'I take only the very best into my NEWT Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye.'

His eyes rested on Harry and his lip curled.

'But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell,' said Snape softly, 'so, whether or not you are intending to attempt NEWT, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high pass level I have come to expect from my OWL students. Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing.' On Paige's left, Hermione sat up a little straighter, her expression one of utmost attention. 'The ingredients and method –.' Snape flicked his wand ' - are on the blackboard - (they appeared there) ' - you will find everything you need - ' he flicked his wand again ' - in the store cupboard - ' (the door of the said cupboard sprang open) ' - you have an hour and a half . . . start.'

Just as Harry, Ron, Paige and Hermione had predicted, Snape could hardly have set them a more difficult, fiddly potion. The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right several times, first in clockwise, then in anti-clockwise directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added.

'A light silver vapour should now be rising from your potion,' called Snape, with ten minutes left to go.

Paige looked at Harry, who was sweating profusely, looking desperately around the dungeon. His own cauldron was issuing copious amounts of dark grey steam; Ron's was spitting green sparks. The surface of Hermione's and Paige's potion, however, was a shimmering mist of silver vapour, and as Snape swept by Hermione's he looked down his hooked nose at it without comment, which meant he could find nothing to criticize.

By Paige he looked and smiled. 'Good, Miss Prince. 10 points for Slytherin.'

'But, Hermio-.' Paige tried to say.

'No buts.' Snape walked on. At Harry's cauldron, however, Snape stopped, and looked down at it with a horrible smirk on his face. 'Potter, what is this supposed to be?'

The Slytherins at the front of the class all looked up eagerly; they loved hearing Snape taunt Harry.

'The Draught of Peace,' said Harry tensely.

'Tell me, Potter,' said Snape softly, 'can you read?'

Draco Malfoy laughed.

'Yes, I can,' said Harry, his fingers clenched tightly around his wand.

'Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter.'

Harry squinted at the blackboard; it was not easy to make out the instructions through the haze of multi-coloured steam now filling the dungeon. 'Add powdered moonstone, stir three times counter-clockwise, allow to simmer for seven minutes then add two drops of syrup of hellebore.' His heart sank. He had not added syrup of hellebore, but had proceeded straight to the fourth line of the instructions after allowing his potion to simmer for seven minutes.

'Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?'

'No,' said Harry very quietly.

'I beg your pardon?'

'No,' said Harry, more loudly. 'I forgot the hellebore.'

'I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesce.'

The contents of Harry's potion vanished; he was left standing foolishly beside an empty cauldron.

'Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name and bring it up to my desk for testing,' said Snape. 'Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Thursday.'

While everyone around him filled their flagons, Harry cleared away his things, seething. His potion had been no worse than Ron's, which was now giving off a foul odour of bad eggs; or Neville's, which had achieved the consistency of just-mixed cement and which Neville was now having to gouge out of his cauldron; yet it was he, Harry, who would be receiving zero marks for the day's work.

He stuffed his wand back into his bag and slumped down on to his seat, watching everyone else march up to Snape's desk with filled and corked flagons. When at long last the bell rang, Harry was first out of the dungeon and had already started his lunch by the time Paige, Ron and Hermione joined him in the Great Hall. The ceiling had turned an even murkier grey during the morning. Rain was lashing the high windows.

'That was super unfair!' Paige almost yelled, placing herself next to him. 'I saw that Draco had precisely the same as you.'

'Don't sweat it, Paige.' Harry said. 'When was he ever fair.'

Paige sighed wanting to make him feel better, not knowing how.. She placed her hand on his clenched fist. He relaxed a bit, taking hold of it.

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