Daphne Greengrass, or more accurately - the newly anointed Prefect, Daphne Greengrass - held her head high as she marched through the dungeon corridor.

The Prefect role was one she had been promised since her second year, so it had come with a great deal of annoyance to her when Professor Umbridge removed the positions at the start of year. Probably part of the reason she'd joined the Inquisitorial Squad was to scrape back some of that lost pride, and now that had been seemingly disbanded, she was left with a sour taste in her mouth over a full year of Prefect-ing gone to waste. Now the castle was fully cleansed of her venomous influence, the shining badge of self-worth sat deservedly on her chest.

It had actually gone a long way at improving what had been, up until this point, an awful start to the new term. Lessons finally started today, which meant no more time left avoiding people.

She'd just picked up her new timetable; Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Apparition, Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic and Arithmancy were her chosen N.E.W.T subjects this year. Those were the qualifications she needed to become a medical Curse Breaker, a job she'd ever thought she'd have, but nonetheless was studying for it. Tracey wanted to become a Quidditch Player, Astoria wanted to be a singer, Pansy wanted to be the white man's whore, but Daphne never found herself such specific aspirations. Or, maybe specific wasn't the right word. Realistic aspirations was probably a more accurate, since her childhood dream of becoming the Minister of Magic was a tad too impractical to pursue in any realistic sense. Medical Curse Breaking, on the other hand, composed all the subjects she was good at, was a very highly-regarded job, not to mention a very well-paid one. A career in it could easily see her well into retirement, and it was about time that she started thinking practically, and not hopefully, about her future.

Her teeth tightened together.

Just like that, her mood dropped. She could practically feel the melancholy seeping into her thoughts.

This had been a recurring thing that she had to keep pulling herself on. Every time she saw, heard, or even thought of something that reminded her remotely of Harry, she'd be catapulted into a torrent of gloom and anxiety. That's why she'd done her best to keep so busy since getting to the castle; she couldn't think about the looming misery of her life if she didn't have time to think.

"Are you gonna shit?"

Her snapped her head to the side.

"What?"

"Your face just dropped," Tracey grimaced. "Thought you were about to unleash something foul."

Daphne scowled at her.

"You're disgusting, you know that?"

"Been told before."

Tracey was joking, but didn't have the usual chipper look on her face. Come to think of it, she hadn't been much of way at all since they'd gotten to Hogwarts. She was still being an annoying loudmouth, but that was seemingly ingrained into her soul at this point. As far as she could figure out, this was Tracey being mad at her. Mad at her, realistically, probably for a good reason.

"What lessons did you take?"

Tracey handed her an already-scrunched-up timetable, but otherwise made no effort to answer. It took Daphne a second for her eyes to focus on the paper through the crowd of students around them. She'd taken Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Flying and Apparition, the standard lessons she assumed Tracey would pick.

"You only picked four?"

"Only had to pick four."

"You had to pick a minimum of four, and a maximum of seven."

"Right. And?"

Daphne sent another glare her way. They were barely minutes into their day and she was already having to put up with Tracey being childish over something out of her control. She was now a Prefect and had half a mind to give her a detention for insubordination, but she knew she'd just receive a mocking laugh to the face.

Instead, making the mature decision, Daphne turned on her heels and stormed in the other direction.

"Daphne!"

The voice made her freeze on the spot. It was not Tracey's, but belong to someone she never expected in the halls of Hogwarts again.

She slowly turned around, her eyes rapidly examining the sea of moving students to check her ears had not betrayed her. Low and behold, they had not. A familiar, raven-haired girl, but now in Slytherin uniform, was bounding towards her.

She was pulled her into a joyous hug.

"It iz 'o good to zee you again!"

Daphne went stiff upon the contact, but eventually settled into it and did her best at returning the hug. She pulled away, fumbling through her confusion to form a smile.

"Dominique...? Why are you here?"

The french girl smiled hard and pulled her tie from her sweater, waving it on show.

"Ah' have just tranzfered! I waz put into Slytherin 'ouse, like you!"

Despite what was very plain in front of her eyes, Daphne's mind was still playing catch up.

During their fourth year, Daphne found herself wholly uninterested in the events of the Triwizard tournament and spent most of its match time in the castle. It was during this time she met Dominique Flamel, the younger sister of a visiting Beauxbatons student, who was in the same boat as her. The two had rapidly become study-buddies and when she had departed back to France at the end of the year, the two said they'd keep in contact. They did back and forth for a few weeks, but it eventually ceased all together, largely due to Daphne's life suddenly getting more interesting with Harry's involvement.

Seeing her now, out of absolutely nowhere, and in a Hogwarts uniform - which was quite different to her light-blue Beauxbatons dress - pulled the rug out from under her feet completely. She was so dazed by her sudden appearance that she hadn't even noticed Tracey catch her up.

"Is that… Dom…?"

Tracey ogled the girl. Dominique threw herself into her arms.

"Tracey, Bonjour! I am 'ere!"

Tracey stared at Daphne with the same confusion in her eyes, but with an added hard blush on her cheeks, as she wrapped her arms around the giddy french girl. Daphne suppressed the urge to let a smug smile leak through.

Tracey fancied the pants off of Dominique.

This was definitely going to be interesting. She did love her schadenfreude.

"What… what're you… what're you… what're you doin' here, Dom?" Tracey forced out a nervous laugh.

The girl pulled back and did a tight jump onto her tip-toes in excitement.

"Moi family haz moved to UK! Ah hav' come to Hoggywarts!"

Tracey's face broke out into a huge grin, which then turned into a pained blush as she caught Daphne face.

"That's… that's amazin'!" she laughed, now determined not to look even remotely in Daphne's direction. "And you're in Slytherin, too! We're the best house, you lucked out on that one."

Dominique nodded happily.

As she and Tracey dove into conversation, Daphne couldn't shake the girls voice sending a ringing through her ears. Had her accent always been so thick? The Flamel family was old, so it would make sense they were more traditional in their culture, but she swore her English wasn't this poor two years ago. The rest of the Beauxbatons girls didn't have such trouble with English, did they? With any luck that would settle down in time... it better had, if she would be having her as a classmate.

Daphne had to physically shake her head to bring her back into the conversation.

"What lessons have you taken?"

It looked like it took Dominique a second to hear her, but that was probably because of the crowded corridor more than her poor dialect. She pulled out a neatly folded timetable and handed it to her, but then read the subjects aloud from it anyway.

"Ah've taken Care ov' Magical Beast, Defenze Against zhe Dark Art, Potions, Tranzfiguration, Apparitions and 'Istory of Magic!"

She did the adding up in her head.

That was two classes they all shared together, one that just Daphne and Tracey would share and five that Daphne would be sharing with Dominique. And no lessons that Tracey and Dominique would have alone together, which she could see the realisation of dawning on Tracey's face.

"See?" she gave a cruel smile, "Dominique thinks it's important to take a good number of lessons."

Tracey pulled a morbid scowl.

"We are goin' to Potions lesson now, Daphne?"

"I am."

"Can I come with you? I do not fully 'member my way around, Hoggywarts is a big cazle."

The Potions classroom was only feet away from them, but Daphne did not let the opportunity to pay Tracey back for her recent attitude.

"Well... I am the new Prefect, so you came to the right person. We'll see you at dinner, Tracey."

Daphne gave a horribly twisted smile and waved at her half-sister, which went unreturned. Beside her Dominique waved as well, oblivious.

"Au revoir, Tracey!"

The two turned and began down the corridor together, leaving Tracey on her own in the sea of students. It took a few minutes before she was fully able to move again.

"That was cold. Even for you."


When they arrived in the Potions Classroom, Daphne found that barely anybody had elected to take Potions as their options this year. Dominique, Draco, Pansy and herself were the only Slytherins in the room, as well as four Ravenclaws that she didn't recall the name of, a trio of Gryffindors, who thankfully she only recognised one of - it being Granger - and a single Hufflepuff on his own. The small class was probably due to a mixture of students not being able to reach the high standards set in by Professor Snape, and the fact that anyone actually interested in the subject was probably put off by it's teacher.

Truth be told, if it had not been for Potions being a require NEWT for a career in Medical Curse Breaking, Daphne wouldn't have taken the subject for that very reason. She'd taken a leaf out of Harry's book there and had been rapidly growing to despise the Professor for his role in what played out last year. Now he had truly placed himself forever and irrevocably beyond the point of her forgiveness.

For all intents and purposes, inside these castle walls Professor Snape might as well have been the Dark Lord himself. He acted as an extension of his will; he was to be her guide in her mission and she had been carefully avoiding him because of that. He knew what she had been through over the holidays, he knew what her task was and he was aware of what it meant for her. Hogwarts used to provide an escape from her the dark presence in her life, but now it had finally wormed its way inside. True, it may have been her father that made her do it, and his will only came as an extension of the Dark Lords… but at this moment, Daphne found nobody else she wanted to blame more for her breakup with Harry than Professor Snape - and she invited him to read her mind, because she wanted him to know that.

All of this added to her surprise even more when the classroom door swung open, and instead of the Professors icy entrance, they were instead met with a short, plump man, with a face that couldn't hurt a fly.

"This iz the scary man I 'ave 'eard about?" Dominique whispered to her.

She shook her head.

"I don't know who that is. He must be new."

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Draco asked obnoxiously loudly.

The mans mouth cracked into a beaming grin and he let out a jolly laugh.

"Ahh, now then, now then! I am Professor Horace Slughorn, and I will be your NEWTS-Level Potions Master!"

A room-wide sigh of relief echoed around the chamber, which went hardly noticed by Professor Slughorn, who was already unpacking his things on Professor Snape's desk.

"What happened to Professor Snape?" Pansy asked.

"Not to worry my dear… erm, Parkinson, wasn't it? Yes, yes, that's right! Well, it would seem that Professor Snape has been promoted to the Defence Against the Dark Arts post this year."

A room-wide groan of annoyance now repeated around the chamber, one which didn't go unnoticed this time.

"Yes, yes, settle down now, shall we?" The new Professor chuckled. "I understand Professor Snape has set up quite a reputation for himself in this castle, but rest assured I am sure that you will find his and mine teaching styles quite different! Now then, how about we all settle down and unpack, hmm? I have prepared a number of Potions for you all to take a look at, purely out of interest nothing more, but I figured it would be a good way to test where we all stand on the subject!"

Daphne automatically moved away from everyone, which wasn't difficult as everyone had the same idea to stick to their house groups. The Hufflepuff boy joined the Gryffindors at their table, the Ravenclaws sat across from them and Pansy and Draco sat at the desk furthest from the front. As Daphne began unpacking her bookbag, Dominique joined her at her table.

"Can I sit with 'ere?"

She chewed the inside of her lip in hesitation. She was hardly in the mood for making new friends, but she was also not about to be rude to the new girl. This was an expected part of her Prefect duties.

Daphne nodded, but said nothing further. Dominique dropped into the seat beside her and began unpacking her bookbag, just as the new Professor took his place at the front of the classroom.

"Right then, these are the kind of thing you ought to be able to identify by now if you're taking a N.E.W.T.S class. Even if you can't make 'em, you'll definitely have heard of them! Anyone care to tell me what this one is?"

He indicated to three cauldron's he had set out before him, and then pointed to the furthermost one. It looked simply like boiling water, but Daphne had been eyeing it up since she entered the room. Her hand was the first in the air, followed closely by Grangers and third by Pansy.

"You! Miss.. er…"

"Greengrass."

"Ahhh…" Professor Slughorn's face softened as though the name was familiar to him, "My, my, you must be Benedict and Moira's daughter, aren't you?"

"I am."

He smiled again and clapped his hands together.

"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! Now er, yes my dear, what was your answer?"

She did her best to push the Professors unusual fascination with her namesake to the back of her mind, and answered in her most professional tongue.

"Veritaserum. It is odourless, colourless, and almost completely undetectable by human senses. It forces the drinker to answer the truth to any question given to them. And its use is also banned by all, except official Ministry personal."

If she had been sitting any closer to them, her classmates might have gotten a glimpse of the scowl she sent at Pansy during that last sentence.

"Very good, very good!" said the Professor happily.

He then turned to the next potion and asked the class to identify it, but his exact wording was cut off by Dominique whispering to her again.

"Why do you have plasterz? Did you injure yourself?"

She snatched her sleeve and pulled it down.

It must have fallen down her arm when she raised it; she would seriously have to monitor her movement from now on. To think what would have happened if she'd not been wearing the bandage at that moment.

"Sword accident."

"You do sword fighting?"

"Not anymore."

When it was clear she wasn't willing to talk anymore on the matter, Dominique deflated a little, and returned her attention to the Professors bumblings.

Daphne turned her attention away from the Professor for no more than a split second, and simply to write the date at the top of her textbook, but that split second was apparently all it took.

"Ah, Harry my boy! I was beginning to worry! Brought someone with us, I see!"

She didn't even have to look.

Her eyes snapped shut and her teeth grinded together. She had her fingers crossed that they wouldn't be sharing any lessons, but she knew that reality was not that kind to her.

Looking up, she saw Harry and Weasley stood formlessly in the doorway, looking awkward in their own skin. Thankfully, Harry hadn't appeared to have noticed her yet, so she scooted herself an inch behind Dominique in attempt to keep it that way.

"Ron Weasley, sir!" Weasley introduced himself. "But I'm dead awful at Potions. A menace, actually, so I'm probably just going to-"

"Nonsense! We'll sort you out! Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine!" he ushered them into the room. "Go on, get your books out."

"Sorry sir, I haven't actually got my book yet. Nor has Ron."

Draco rolled his eyes, Daphne spotted, but he thankfully said nothing.

"Ahh not to worry, just grab one from the cupboards! Now! As I was saying, I have prepared some concoctions this morning. Who wants to reveal to me the identity of the second one?"

Harry's entrance had thrown her off enough that her hand was now second in the air after Grangers.

"Yes, Miss…?"

"Granger, sir. That is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumoured to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them. For example, I smell… freshly mowed grass, new parchment and… spearmint toothpaste."

Daphne tutted under her breath.

Her answer gave nothing of it's maker, nor it's legality use, Granger had only answered so she could get a whiff of the Potion. And, judging by the upset expression on her face, she had not received the smell she'd been hoping for. Professor Slughorn had also clearly noted her intrusion on the Potion as well, as he quickly made to seal himself between it and her and any of the other students trying to catch a whiff.

"Amortentia doesn't cause actual love, now, that would be impossible!" he clarified, earning him a scowl from Granger, "But it does cause powerful infatuation or obsession. And for that reason, it is probably one of the most dangerous potion in this room."

He did a little finger-wave to try, presumably, add a level of spookiness to his words.

"Professor, you haven't told us about this one?" asked a Gryffindor, pointing small see-through vial sitting on the Professors desk.

The Professor then stiffened up and marched across the room, pointing at the third, smallest potion in the table. Daphne was sure he had not forgotten it, but had been waiting for the right time to be asked about it for dramatic effect.

"Oho, now then! What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen, is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis, but it is more frequently known as Liquid Luck! Desperately tricky to make and disastrous should you get it wrong! One sip and you shall find that all of your endeavours succeed… at least, until the effects wear off."

The whole class seemed to stiffen up a little straighter. Even Daphne mused with the idea playfully.

Imagine it! A reality where she was actually capable of making good decisions in life!

"So! This is what I offer each of you today; one tiny vial of Liquid Luck to the student who in the hour that remains, manages to brew an Acceptable Draught of Living Death, the recipes of which can be found on page ten of your books," he then continued with a slight laugh, "I should point out, however, that only once did a student manage to brew a potion of sufficient quality to claim this prize. Nevertheless! Good luck to you all. Let the brewing commence!"

There was a scraping as students around her leapt to their feet, Dominique included, but Daphne found herself struggling to care. Today was essentially just a practice lesson, then. No grading, just a chance of getting a potion that if she really cared about, she could probably brew herself. She was seriously hoping for a topic that could keep her mind busy, but nonetheless, she too, got up to join in the work.

First lesson was not off to a great start, but she had Arithmancy later this evening and that was sure to get her brain working, especially considering nobody else she knew had taken the subject. She made her way to the cauldron table and began setting things out, and after that the rest of the lesson seemed to pass her much like a blur. Living Death was, admittedly, not her strongest potion, but she had the technique memorised enough to only have to reference her textbook a few times.

The only sound in the room was the loud bubbling of cauldrons as for once, everyone in class seemed dead-set on their work. The sheer amount of concentrated brain power in the room was probably enough to cut with a knife, even Draco was giving his potion his full, undivided attention for once - though that was probably because his only other alternative was talking to Pansy). Daphne finished mixing her ingredients by the time of the halfway point of the lesson, even with the time it would take for the potion to brew, she knew she'd probably be the first to finish.

She looked to her side and found Dominique still struggling on the early steps and her heart got the better of her.

"What are you struggling with?"

"Iz the tranzlation, am usually good at Potion making! I promise..." she laughed, handing Daphne her book.

"Have you added the Asphodel root?"

"Oui."

"Then you need to stir it counter clockwise."

"Counter cockwise?" she repeated.

Daphne chewed the inside of her mouth for a moment.

"...dans le sens antihoraire."

Dominique gauged in realisation and then set about laughing at herself.

"Ohhh, okay, merci!"

Daphne, impressed with herself, turned back to her potion and began the stirring process.

"Helping your fellow classmates out are we, Miss Greengrass? Thatta girl, doing your house proud! Oh, and might I add, congratulations on the Prefect position!"

Daphne looked up; the new Professor had come examine her work.

"It's a pleasure to serve my house, Professor Slughorn," she said the right thing.

Professor Slughorn gave a belly laugh and patted her on the shoulder.

"That's the spirit! Oh and don't be so formal, Professor Slughorn was my father! You can call me Horace!"

Daphne forced an unease smile, nodding her head politely.

"Thank you, Horace... You can call me Daphne, also."

"That I will, my dear, that I will!" he cheered.

She smiled again, this time it was a genuine one. She couldn't quite tell if this man was as much of a dimwitted oaf as he appeared, or just extremely good at first impressions. Either way, she found his smile infectious.

The Professor waddled off, leaving Daphne in good spirits for a good part of her lesson. She finished up her brewing and only needed to help Dominique a few more times before the girl got the hang of things. There was only ten minutes left of the lesson when Daphne was reminded that good things didn't have a habit of sticking around these days.

Sometime during the brewing process, Harry had clearly spotted that they were sharing the same class and she inevitably felt his familiar presence behind her.

"Daphne, can we-"

"Don't interrupt me while I'm working."

She didn't turn to face him, nor saw his face when she responded, but the fact nothing but silence came after was a good sign.

A few seconds later, Dominique reapproached her.

"Zhat were 'Arry Potter?"

"Probably."

"Why were you mean to 'im? Wazan' 'e zhe Hoggywarts champion?"

Daphne opened her mouth as if to answer, but then snapped it shut again.

Telling the truth of the situation was an option that occurred to her, but then again, she already had Tracey nagging her about her poor decision making. One more person in the dark absolutely couldn't hurt.

"We are not fond of one another."

"Then why iz he tryin' to talk to you?"

"Dominique, can you please just -"

She was only just able to catch herself from snapping at the girl.

She was already exerting an inordinate amount of patience on her that other classmates did not get the luxury of, asking about Harry was the last straw. But, that did not change the fact she hadn't done anything wrong and was probably just eager to make new friends. As near as Daphne could tell the girl was actually a lot more intelligent than she was coming across, it was adjusting to the different language that was throwing her off.

"Just, please get on with the lesson?" she started again, calmer. "I really would like to win the Felix Felicis."

"Right, 'o course. We can chat later."

Dominique was definitely not as eager as she was a second ago, but she pushed the thought of her aside as she set about the last stage of her potion.

Chopping the ingredients up, she found herself progressively getting rougher and rougher with her motions.

She didn't know why Harry was making her angry so easy. No, scratch that, she knew it wasn't him making her angry.

It was their situation. All the feelings she had towards him were still there - though she did her best at ignoring them - but now there was a seething anger overpowering it all. She had all summer to come to terms with having to break up with him, but only when around him did her frustration bubble to the surface.

She was annoyed at the world, not him. He had done nothing wrong. He was just his usual, kind, caring self. He only wanted the best for her and for her to be happy. And she wanted to be with him... wanted to be with him way more than she cared about stupid timetables or making daddy proud. Life had dealt her a shit hand and now she was expected to make the most out of it.

"You are goin' ta break zhe knife!"

Daphne slammed the blade down onto the table, causing Dominique to shy away from her.

She was practically seething.

Three words.

All it had taken was three words from him and now her lesson was ruined. Prefect, the new Professor, Dominique, the Liquid Luck... none of it mattered anymore. They might as well not even have been real.

She was fooling herself if she ever truly thought her life was back to being the way it used to be. Preoccupying her mind with what classes she was going to take, who she would be working with, what career she wanted… she didn't care about any of it, not really. It was all just attempts to run from her problems, just as she always did.

Daphne turned her back on the incomplete potion and closed her eyes.

Term was off to a great start.