"His nose?" Pansy asked gleefully. The whole carriage burst into laughter, with Pansy trying her very best to laugh the loudest at the story Draco had just told them.

"Yup, and there was blood all over his stupid face. I'd almost be tempted to say it felt bloody amazing," Maya said smugly. The convoy of horseless carriages began to move up the muddy road towards the magnificent castle and Maya knew that somewhere in the vast line would be a carriage filled with some very worried Gryffindors. That thought was quite pleasant to her.

"And then Maya had the brilliant idea to cover him with his own Invisibility Cloak, to make sure nobody will find him until he's all the way back in London," Draco said with a smirk.

Not liking this praise for Maya one bit, Maya could see Pansy racking her brains to find fault with this strategy. "Wouldn't it have been much better to just take that Cloak? Seems like something that could come in handy," Pansy said after a few seconds of hard mental work, boring her blue eyes into Maya's hazels.

"And also seems like something that could land us in serious trouble. Harry's fanboy Dumbledore would just take it back from us with punishment to boot. I mean, it's not like Harry didn't know who did it. He was paralysed, not unconscious," Maya said reasonably, and much to her satisfaction Pansy had no retort.

They passed the tall pillars on either side of the gates, each topped with a winged boar. The great oaken front doors were open, but it took a very long time before they could actually climb the stone steps to the castle. Caretaker Argus Filch was thoroughly checking everybody with a Secrecy Sensor in the Entrance Hall, causing a significant holdup. As if that bloke really knows what he's doing Maya thought annoyedly, feeling rather cold and hungry. Vincent, however, had his shrunken head confiscated. Just why he had decided to bring that thing along went right over Maya's head, but she did not bother to ask; on second thought, she was not sure she actually wanted to know. Filch, in the meantime, snarled at them that all owl post would be checked too. This was fine with Maya, of course; it was not like she ever got any owl post.

When they could finally enter the Great Hall with its four long house tables and staff table, they found it was decorated in usual fashion with innumerous floating candles that made the golden plates, goblets and cutlery below glimmer and gleam. Above, the enchanted ceiling showed a velvety black starry sky. The Slytherins happily took their seats at their table, where Draco lost no time in spreading his triumph over Harry as far and wide as he could.

After the Sorting Hat had finished singing about uniting in the face of our enemies and the first years had been sorted, it was finally time for the start-of-term feast. For the next hour or so the Great Hall was filled with the sounds of talk and laughter and the pleasant tinkling of many plates and goblets. It was almost time for dessert when suddenly Maya spotted her cousin marching through the open doors. She promptly nudged Draco, who had almost gotten to the best part of the story again, and together they watched how Harry almost ran to the Gryffindor table, his face still covered in dried blood and trying his hardest to avoid as many curious gazes as possible.

"That Potter! Somehow wormed his way out of this one too!" Draco said bitterly, slamming down his goblet on the table in disgust.

"We should've known better, they probably launched a full-scale rescue mission the second they lost sight of the Chosen One," Maya said with a sigh of resignation, "but it still makes for a good story."

To compensate for this setback, Draco spent the rest of the feast miming the shattering of a nose to raucous laughter, applause and cheers from the Slytherin table. Maya, in the meantime, merely focused on her treacle tart and chocolate gateau.

The Great Hall promptly fell silent when Dumbledore got to his feet at the staff table. "To some of you, welcome! To most of you, welcome back!" he said brightly, his arms opened wide. This gesture inadvertently revealed his blackened and dead-looking right hand and whispers broke out immediately.

"You know, Dumbledore came to my house this summer to fetch Harry. His hand was already like that then," Maya muttered.

"Really? Did he say anything interesting?" Draco asked, tearing his gaze away from Dumbledore to look at her instead.

"Nope, not to me at least. He just collected Harry and left. Probably had a tight schedule, and if he had things to tell Harry he certainly didn't want me to hear them. A wise move on his part in all fairness, not to show his hand," Maya responded.

"I see. In any case, it looks like something got out of hand."

"Yes, and even though we didn't get to experience it first-hand, we can now clearly see the situation at hand."

"I wonder what Dumbledore tried his hand at and who or what had a hand in this, seeing him injured so badly."

"Well, he probably did it by himself, considering it's unlikely that anyone lent a hand."

"Dumbledore knows magic like the back of his hand, though."

"Well, yeah. I don't like him, but his magic's not exactly second-hand."

"On the other hand, it's good to see that even he is not infallible."

"... and Mr Filch, our caretaker, wants it made abundantly clear that there is a blanket ban on any products bought at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," Dumbledore continued. Maya did not like the Weasley twins one bit, and as far as she was concerned if she would never see them again it would be too soon, but she actually found it pretty funny to see just how much their actions had traumatised Filch.

"... we are delighted to welcome a new member of staff, Professor Slughorn," Dumbledore went on, and Slughorn slowly and clumsily rose to his feet. He was bald and rather corpulent, enhanced by the fact that he was quite short. "Professor Slughorn is a former colleague of mine who has kindly agreed to resume his old post of Potions teacher."

"Potions? Does that mean..." Maya whispered, casting a glance at Snape, and sure enough next second Dumbledore confirmed that Snape would be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts from now on. This statement was met with applause from the Slytherin table and from that table alone; Snape merely raised a hand in lazy acknowledgement. The other tables had erupted in a buzz of conversation and Dumbledore had to clear his throat to quieten the Hall.

"Now, as all of us know, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength," Dumbledore said gravely. The silence was now deafening and only Draco did not pay attention to the Headmaster, making his fork hover in midair with his wand instead. "The present situation is of course extremely dangerous and therefore the castle's magical fortifications have been significantly strengthened over the summer. Even though we are protected in new and more powerful ways, we must still exercise extreme caution to remain safe. I urge each and every one of you to respect every security restriction that might come your way. Please report anything strange or suspicious you notice within or outside the castle, and always consider your own and each other's safety."

"Well, that was cheerful," Maya said a few moments later, as she along with hundreds of students began to file out of the Great Hall.

"Couldn't tell you, I didn't listen," Draco said indifferently. Soon enough Maya found herself in her room for the year, and after unpacking her stuff she went to bed, feeling quite happy and looking forward to what this year would bring.

Next morning after breakfast the sixth years all remained seated, awaiting their Head of House to sort out their timetables. This was a delicate matter which took a lot of time, because Professor Snape first needed to confirm that all Slytherins had actually achieved the necessary O.W.L. grades to continue with their N.E.W.T.s.

"So, Ms Dursley," Professor Snape said, peering down at her over his hooked nose, "I see you want to continue with Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration and Potions."

"Yes, sir," Maya said. It was true, she was about to drop as many as five out of nine subjects, but without the slightest doubt. Astronomy, Divination and History of Magic were just useless, and the latter two she had not even passed. She was willing to admit that Herbology was a useful subject, but she hated it and she had barely managed to scrape a pass grade. Finally, Care of Magical Creatures... well, nobody in their year would want to continue that, not with Hagrid as teacher anyway.

"Well, with four 'Outstanding' O.W.L.s that is obviously in order. Here you go," Professor Snape said curtly, tapping a blank timetable with the tip of his wand and handing it to Maya.

As she walked off, she saw she had a free period now, as well as after break and lunch. She knew she would eventually need that time for studying, but right now she just made her way back to the Slytherin common room to relax a bit before Defence Against the Dark Arts. A short while later Draco joined her and she was delighted to hear that he would be studying the same subjects as she did, plus Herbology, and that Pansy did not or could not pick Potions and Transfiguration. Vincent and Gregory for the most part had to retake classes from fifth year.

An hour later they left the comfortable common room for their first lesson of the year, Defence Against the Dark Arts. Students outside the classroom were talking excitedly, but stopped at once when the door opened and Snape appeared. "Inside," he said.

The classroom had changed. It was dark like the dungeons where Snape had taught for so long, with drawn curtains obscuring the light from the windows. The candlelight revealed a set of new, gruesome pictures on the walls, many of them showing wizards and witches clearly in pain or sporting horrifying injuries. Nobody spoke as they took their seats.

"I didn't ask you to take out your books," Snape said, and several students immediately stuffed their Confronting the Faceless back in their bag. Maya noticed that despite his finally having landed the appointment he had been striving for for so long, it did not at all seem to have improved his temperament.

"Now, I realise that you have had five teachers in this subject thus far, each with their own methods and priorities. You should know that the N.E.W.T. work will be extremely difficult, truly nothing compared to O.W.L. level. The Dark Arts," Snape said, now dropping his voice to a mere whisper, "are diverse, flexible and everlasting. To successfully fight them your defences must therefore be just as diverse and flexible, lest you want to end up like these unfortunates." He casually indicated the gruesome pictures with a gesture of the hand. "For instance, here we can see the effects of the Cruciatus Curse." The class cast an uneasy glance at a witch plainly shrieking in agony.

"Well then," Snape continued, now speaking on normal volume since there was no longer a need to be dramatic, "I believe you have never tried your hand at non-verbal spells before. What is the main advantage of a non-verbal spell?"

As usual, Hermione's hand shot into the air, but this was Maya's area of expertise and so she casually put up her hand too.

"Yes, Ms Dursley?" Snape said, probably relieved to see he did not have to pick Hermione.

"Non-verbal spells give you an advantage because your opponent doesn't know what you're about to do," Maya said simply. There was no need to be more eloquent about such an obvious answer.

"Correct, ten points to Slytherin. Yes, the element of surprise provided by non-verbal spells can easily turn a duel in your favour. Note that not everyone is capable of doing this; it requires a significant amount of concentration and mind power which some... lack," Snape said, for some reason looking at Harry as he finished speaking.

Snape then put them into pairs to practise non-verbal spells. Maya's partner was Pansy, and she was happy for it. This was a golden opportunity to show Pansy what a real witch was made of.

"All right, would you like to curse me first?" Maya asked casually.

"No, I wouldn't like that, I'd love it!" Pansy snarled back. Maya clearly noticed the hate in her eyes and knew she would not need to repel any curse. In this state, there was no way Pansy could sufficiently concentrate. Sure enough, a few pathetic attempts later Pansy was getting thoroughly frustrated with herself, inadvertently uttering a few curse words in the process.

"Er, are you sure you understood Snape? We were supposed to practise non-verbal cursing, remember?" Maya asked smugly. Watching Pansy struggle like that was not unlike watching a fabulous movie.

"Why don't you have a go then, considering you know best like always?" Pansy snapped at her.

"I thought you'd never ask," Maya said pleasantly, pointing her wand at Pansy. Next second, Pansy's arms and legs snapped together and she fell down on the floor with a thud, stiff as a board.

"Well done, Ms Dursley. Another ten points to Slytherin," Snape said, casually performing the counter-curse on Pansy, who immediately scrambled to her feet, out of her humiliating state. Maya cast a glance around the room and noticed that she was about the only one who had successfully cast a non-verbal spell; many students were secretly whispering their incantations as Snape swept between them. He stopped to watch Harry and Ron. The latter was almost purple in the face in a painstaking effort to prevent himself from muttering the incantation.

"Pathetic, Weasley," Snape sneered, "here, I'll show you." He pointed his wand at Harry, who reacted seemingly out of instinct.

"Protego!" Harry shouted.

This came as a nasty surprise for Snape, who found himself knocked backwards right into a desk. The whole class watched as he glared at Harry. "Didn't I say we were practising non-verbal spells, Potter?"

"Yes," Harry said coolly.

"Yes, sir."

"You don't need to call me 'sir', Professor."

Several people gasped, some people sniggered appreciatively and Maya rolled her eyes. "Detention, Potter. I don't take cheek from anyone, not even from the Chosen One."

It had been a memorable lesson indeed, but one that Maya had thoroughly enjoyed. Not only was actually performing magic in class always fun, but she had easily bested Pansy and Harry had landed himself in detention. All in all, the perfect lesson in Maya's book and so she was more than satisfied with Snape's debut as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

After break, Maya returned to the common room where she promptly got started on Snape's homework. She managed to finish it rather quickly and was in a pretty good mood when she went down to the dungeons for double Potions that afternoon. She did not know Professor Slughorn (apart from the fact that he liked well-connected people) and wondered what he would be like and how his teaching methods would vary from Snape's.

There were only a dozen people in N.E.W.T. class. Apart from Maya and Draco there were the Slytherins Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott, four Ravenclaws, Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff and lastly Harry, Ron and Hermione. The door opened, and as they filed into the room Slughorn greeted Harry and Blaise with special enthusiasm. Maya rolled her eyes as she took a table with the other Slytherins. For some reason the dungeon was already full of various vapours and peculiar smells. Snape had never displayed potions to them before like that, let alone such a wide array of them. They took out their scales, potion kits and copies of Advanced Potion-Making. Slughorn had to lend Harry and Ron books and ingredients, because apparently they had not planned on continuing Potions.

"So," Slughorn said, having returned to the front of the dungeon, "as you can see and smell I've prepared a couple of potions for you all to behold. When you've completed your N.E.W.T.s. you should be able to brew potions of this calibre. Can anyone tell me what this one is?" He pointed at the cauldron closest to the Slytherin table. To Maya its content looked like plain, crystal clear water.

Hermione raised her hand. "That's Veritaserum, a colourless, odourless potion that makes its drinker tell the truth," she said.

"Excellent! And what about this one? Pretty well-known and rather relevant lately..." Slughorn said, now pointing at the cauldron next to the Ravenclaw table.

"Polyjuice Potion," Hermione said. Maya inadvertently smirked; she was not at all surprised that Hermione recognised the mudlike substance, since she once drank it and changed into a cat. Draco, however, seemed very intrigued by the Polyjuice Potion and could not keep his eyes off of it.

"Very good! Very good, indeed! And what about this one?" Slughorn said, beaming and clearly very impressed.

"Amortentia, the most powerful love potion known to man. It smells differently to each person, depending on what we're attracted to. I can smell freshly mown grass, new parchment and..." Hermione said, but breaking off, turning slightly pink. Maya took a few steps towards the cauldron and sure enough she smelled the sea and pine trees.

"Well, well, take twenty well-earned points for Gryffindor!" Professor Slughorn said jovially. Draco looked rather sour.

"Believe it or not, but Amortentia is probably the most powerful and dangerous potion in this room," Slughorn said. "Oh yes," he emphasised, seeing the sceptical smirk on Draco's face, "Amortentia doesn't truly create love, something so pure would be utterly impossible to fabricate, but even the powerful infatuation it will cause cannot be underestimated..."

"What about that one?" Maya asked, pointing at a small black cauldron on Slughorn's desk. The potion within was the colour of molten gold and large drops occasionally rose above the surface.

"Ah, yes, that. Well, that is a very peculiar little potion called Felix Felicis. Liquid luck," Slughorn said dramatically. At his last words, the whole class seemed to have gotten a jolt of energy. Even Draco suddenly sat up straight, his eyes fixed on the cauldron. "Extremely difficult to make, but if brewed correctly, like this one, you will only find success on your way."

"Why don't people drink it all the time, sir?" Maya asked eagerly. Like Draco, she was rather fascinated by the Felix Felicis. Who would not want a golden ticket (or potion) to success?

"Because too much of a good thing is a bad thing. If taken in excess, the potion will cause recklessness and dangerous overconfidence. Setbacks make you stronger."

Ah, that explains why I'm such a powerful witch Maya thought sarcastically.

"And you're in luck already, because one tiny bottle of our friend Felix Felicis is what I will be offering as a prize in today's lesson," Slughorn said, taking a minuscule glass bottle out of his pocket and showing it to the class. "Enough for twelve hours of insane luck. Now, keep in mind that Felix Felicis is a banned substance in examinations and sports, among other things. I'm sure you're all eager to win my fabulous prize, and to do that you will have to brew the best Draught of Living Death of the class. Now, this is an extremely complex potion and I can't reasonably expect a perfect potion, but the person who does best will win. Off you go and best of luck to all!"

Maya had never witnessed a class start so excitedly on an assignment. Next to her, Draco was already riffling feverishly through his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. He looked up and caught Maya's eye. "You said you wanted to help me with my mission? Here's your chance, win the luck potion for me," he said briskly.

"Well, as luck would have it, I'm quite good at Potions so who knows," Maya said, drawing her cauldron towards her.

"Less talking, more brewing!" Draco snapped at her. He was already cutting up valerian roots at top speed. Maya merely raised an eyebrow and then set to work herself.

Within fifteen minutes, the whole dungeon was full of bluish steam through which students shot occasional ill-concealed looks at other people's potions. Maya tried to forget the high-stakes and to focus purely on the potion instead, which Slughorn had been quite right to call 'extremely complex'. According to the book hers ought to be a light shade of lilac by now, yet hers was velvet. She fervently began stirring counter-clockwise but her potion did not become any clearer.

"Sir, did you know my grandfather by any chance, Abraxas Malfoy?" Draco asked when Slughorn passed the Slytherin table.

"As a matter of fact, I did. Sorry to hear he had died, he was a very skilled wizard..." Slughorn said without even looking at Draco. It was clear any form of preferential treatment was off the table, and if Draco were to win, it was to be because of what he produced on the table.

"And time's up! Stop stirring, please!" Slughorn called all too soon. Maya took a step away from her cauldron, wiping sweat off her forehead. Slughorn began to move slowly between the tables, seeing what the students had made of the Draught of Living Death. He made no comments and merely stirred here and there, until he came to a halt at Harry's cauldron.

"The clear winner! Excellent, Harry, well done! You've definitely inherited your mother's talent for Potions! Here you go, as promised, one bottle of Felix Felicis. Use it well!" Slughorn said happily.

While Harry immediately pocketed the tiny bottle of golden liquid, Maya was crestfallen and Draco downright furious. He left the dungeon in a huff, without waiting for Maya or even looking at her. As Maya slowly packed her stuff, she could not help but wonder if he blamed her for not winning and whether he felt she had let him down. Oh well, nothing she could do about that now...