31st October

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I all headed downstairs early this morning to find out who had put their name into the Goblet so far. A thin golden line had been drawn around the Goblet, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.

"Anyone put their name in yet?" Ron asked one of Ginny's friends, I think her name is Holly.

"All of the Dumstrang lot," Holly replied, "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet…"

"Bet some of them put in last night after we'd all gone to bed," Harry said, "I would've done it if it had been me… wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the Goblet just gobbed you right back out again?"

Ron laughed.

Fred and George came gallivanting down the stairs towards the Entrance Hall with Lee Jordan, the three of them gaining the attention of everyone in close surroundings. "Done it!" Fred whispered excitedly to the four of us, "Just taken it."

Ron turned to look at his brother, "What?"

"The Ageing Potion, dung-brain." Fred replied.

"One drop each," George said, looking at anyone but me, "We only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us, if one of us wins." Lee shared excitedly.

I shook my head and sighed.

"It's not going to work." Hermione voiced exactly what I was thinking.

"Oh, yeah? And why's that, Granger?" Fred teased.

Hermione took a few steps forward, so that Fred wasn't as close behind her, "You see this," she pointed, "This is an Age Line. Dumbledore drew it himself."

"So?" George said with an attitude that quite frankly was rude and demeaning.

"So," I looked between the twins with a deadpan expression, "a genius like Dumbledore is hardly going to be fooled by something as pathetically dim-witted as an Ageing Potion."

"Ah, but that's why it's so brilliant!" Fred put his cocky face right up and close to mine, "Because it's so pathetically dim-witted."

"I just thought that the two of you would have come up with something a little more… daring."

The boys clearly ignored my last comment as they stepped up to the thin golden line. "Ready?" George said excitedly.

"I'll go first." Fred was jumping on the balls of his feet. He pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket, took a deep breath and stepped over the line. George quickly leapt over the line after him. I found myself holding my breath as the next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the circle as though they had been shot from a cannon. They landed painfully on the stone cold floor ten feet away. And just to make it a little bit worse, there followed a popping noise and both of them sprouted identical long white beards and grey hair. The entire Entrance Hall was filled with hysterical laughter.

"We told you it wouldn't work." Hermione muttered under her breath as the two of us stood disapprovingly with a hand on our hips.

"I did warn you." Dumbledore's voice sounded from the Great Hall, "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfery."

"KATHRYN!" Angelina yelled as she entered the Great Hall in a gallop, "I did it! I actually did it! I put my name into the Goblet of Fire!" she was all flushed, but was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

I put my arms out to hug her and she embraced me tightly, "I really hope you get chosen, girl!" I shared in her excitement for a while.

"Better you than Warrington" Dean shouted.

Seamus added, "Or pretty-boy Diggory!"

There was an eruption of cheers sounding from the Entrance Hall as the Beauxbatons students all stood in line, adding their names one by one into the Goblet of Fire. I felt Angelina's hand on my arm, "I need to get rid of some of this excess energy," she had a nervous look on her face, "do you want to come train with me?"

Harry, Hermione and Ron were all planning on seeing Hagrid. I reckoned that missing a visit to his cramped hut, drinking tea and breaking your teeth on rock buns was something that I wouldn't mind doing. So I excused myself from their company and went for an intense training session with Angelina where the two of us had ample opportunity to whine, moan and laugh about stupid things that didn't really matter. The two of us got on surprisingly well, considering our three-year age gap. She claimed I was far more mature than half the people in her year and appreciated having me around. I took that as a compliment.

At dinner, Angelina sat down beside me, nervously talking about anything other than the tournament. Harry, Ron and Hermione filtered into the spaces I kept saved for them, telling me about how unsuccessful Hermione was with getting Hagrid to join S.P.E.W. I commiserated with her over a roast chicken dinner. The Hallowe'en feast seemed to last much longer than usual. Maybe it had been because we had a feast last night, or because I wasn't feeling particularly hungry or due to the nervous excitement flowing through the Great Hall. However, when Dumbledore stood, the entire room went silent.

"Now the time you've all been waiting for," Dumbledore's voice boomed and Angelina squeezed my lower arm in quiet tension, "when the champions' names have been called, I ask that they please come up to the top of the hall, walk along the staff table and into the next chamber where they will receive their first instruction."

People whispered their 'good lucks' to Ange as Dumbledore took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it, plunging the Hall into semidarkness. "Any second now!" Lee whispered, two seats up.

The flames inside the Goblet turned red. Sparks began to fly. A second later, a tongue of red flame shot into the air and a charred piece of parchment floated into Dumbledore's open hand.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read in a loud, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum!"

Cheers erupted around the room.

"No surprises there!" Ron said happily.

The clapping and chatting died down as everyone's attention focused back onto the Goblet which flames had gone red once again. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by one of the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore spoke slowly, "is Fleur Delacour!"

It was the blonde haired 'Veela' girl from yesterday. Her hair swung from side to side as she proudly strolled to the front of the Hall. A few members of Beauxbatons were in tears as I turned around to get a better look. I saw François sitting with his chin rested on his hand looking glum. When his eyes met mine they lit up and he shook his head in disappointment. The fire turned red once more and sparked showered out of it in every direction. The tongue of flame shot high in the air and Dumbledore held out the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," I could see a flicker of a smile on his face, "is Cedric Diggory!"

I clapped politely alongside Ange who was trying to hide how upset she was feeling. I whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry…" but she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"C'est la vie." She smiled.

"Well," Dumbledore drew in the crowd's attention again, "now that our three champions have been selected-" but he stopped speaking. The Goblet of Fire had turned red a fourth time and another piece of parchment landed into Dumbledore's outstretched hand. He held it out in front of him, staring at the name on the slip. He cleared his throat and read out,

"Harry Potter."

It was as though the world went into slow motion as I saw Harry's expression drop and the colour drain from his cheeks. Every head in the Great Hall gradually turned to find Harry. There was no applause, the room was filled with a buzzing sound, one of angry bees. Harry, who had seemingly frozen on the spot turned and looked at me. There was a begging in his eyes, I knew exactly what he wanted, but it was something I could not give.

"I didn't put my name in," he said blankly, "you know I didn't."

I nodded. He told me last night.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore calmly called out again, "Harry! Up here, if you please!"

I put my hand out across the table and touched the top of Harry's, "You need to go."

"Go on," Hermione whispered more firmly, giving Harry a slight push.

Harry got to his feet, trod on the hem of his robes and stumbled slightly, setting off towards the teacher's tables at the front of the Hall. I could see him shaking as he walked toward the chamber with the other champions.

I turned to an equally stunned Angelina who was sitting on my right, "Pinch me."

"What?" she asked.

"Pinch me."

And so she did.

"Aoww." I said. This was really happening.

Without thinking, I got to my feet and walked towards the Top Table with my head held high, straight in the direction of Professor McGonagall. "Professor," I placed a hand on her shoulder, startling her slightly as she was in deep conversation with Dumbledore, "Harry didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire. He didn't – couldn't – wouldn't – he's not that kind of person! Do you not think he's been through enough already?"

"Please return to your dormitory Miss Pink and we will get this sorted. Should you need to return to my office later, I will leave my door open…" she followed Dumbledore into the chamber where Harry was.

Then Dumbledore spoke aloud for all to hear, "Everyone return to your dormitories, it's late, off to bed, spit spot."

"You can hardly believe he put his name into the Goblet!" I was exasperated at Ron who failed to be certain of Harry's innocence.

"He said so himself, Kathryn," his voice was louder than before, "he said that he would have gone down when no-one was watching… I wish he would have told me."

"Perhaps there was nothing to tell, Ronald." Hermione added, "Harry's going to need all the help and support he can get right now." She shared a worried look with me, not quite knowing what to do or think. I just knew deep down that Harry was telling the truth.

"Oh piss off, Hermione, accept this one time that you are wrong." Ron said before storming off to his dormitory.

Hermione seemed to take great offence at this and disappeared to our room. So I was left standing there on my own as the rest of the common room scuttled around preparing for a celebration. Fred, George and Lee returned through the portrait door holding bottles of butterbeer, sweets and party like treats. I took a seat in the corner of the room, trying not to let my inner rage explode at how insensitive they were all being.

In the corner of my eye, I saw George mucking about, clearly high on a sugar overload, climbing on top of a chair and shouting for all to hear, "Say Fred, if I was to punch myself in the face and it hurts, does that make me strong or weak?"

"It makes you a f*cking idiot, but sure we knew that already." I shouted from the corner, completely unashamed of my language. From then on, no one bothered me.

Just short of an hour later there was a blast of noise as the portrait door opened and Harry was nearly knocked backwards. Everyone was screaming, clapping and whistling. I heard Fred and George quiz him on how he got past the Age Line. Angelina congratulated him. Katie made him promise to get revenge against Cedric Diggory. They draped a banner around his shoulders that Lee had unearthed from Quidditch matches. All I could hear was Harry repeating to everyone, "I didn't do it. I don't know how it happened." I felt dreadful for him, so I swooped into the centre of all the attention, much to everyone's dismay, grabbed Harry and brought him to the stairs up to the boy's dorms.

Once out of sight, I made us invisible.

"Thanks." He said.

"I'm sorry, Harry…" I couldn't help but put both my arms around him, but I felt him relax slightly under my grip, "I wish there was something more I could have done…"

"You believe me and that's what matters…" he said, "Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"They had a fight, as per, and stormed off in opposite directions," I sighed, "don't worry, no matter what, I'm on your side, okay?"

"Okay." He spoke, looking up the stairs, "I think I'll go to bed now…" and off he went.

1st November

Hermione woke this morning with a start as I crept past her bed thanks to Lavender who had been snoring all night. The two of us dressed to go down for breakfast, "Kathryn I fell asleep, I fell asleep last night and I didn't even check to see if he was okay..."

"He's fine." I assured her in a whisper, "I rescued him from the party and last saw him going up to his dorm. I think he'll be trying to avoid people today, though… He's just as confused as we are."

Hermione quickly put on jeans and a jumper, "Shall we go down to breakfast and grab some toast? Then we could go on a walk around the grounds or something?"

I smiled, "Great idea!"

Twenty minutes later, armed with food Hermione and I spotted Harry in the Common Room as we were returning from the Great Hall. Thankfully he looked like he had slept, but looked miserable. He seemed grateful for our distraction and we were soon striding around the lawn towards the lake. He told us exactly what happened last night. Sharing that, according to the rule book, he really couldn't opt out of the tasks and that the first one would be happening on the 24th of November. "But who put my name into the Goblet?" he kept repeating.

"I don't think a student could have done it… and Moody's right, Harry, they'd never be able to hoodwink the Goblet or get over Dumbledore's Age Line-" Hermione answered.

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry interrupted to ask.

Hermione hesitated.

"Yes, he was at breakfast." I said bluntly, "And yes, Ron and Hermione had yet another tiff."

"So he still thinks I entered myself?" he sounded glum.

Hermione was awkward when she said, "Well… no, I don't think so… not really…"

"What's that supposed to mean, not really?"

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly.

But when Harry's expression was blank I decided to interject, "Harry… do you remember when Ron and I had the big argument at the Burrow during the summer there? And there was a reason he had been acting particularly awfully towards me?"

"Well, he was jealous, wasn't he?" Harry answered, "but jealous of me? Jealous of what? Does he want to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school?"

"Look," Hermione said patiently, "it's always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault." She added quickly as Harry opened his mouth furiously, "I know you don't ask for it… but – well – you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous – he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many…"

"Great." Harry said bitterly, "Really great. Tell him from me I'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it… people gawping at my forehead everywhere I go…"

"I'm not telling him anything," Hermione said shortly, "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."

"Don't look at me, either. Ron is barely able to sit in my vicinity, never mind hold a conversation." I also said shortly.

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry shouted, making a few nearby birds take flight from their trees.

"It seems to run in the family-"

Hermione snapped, "Not appropriate, Kathryn."

"Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or –"

"Not funny, Harry." Hermione and I said simultaneously.

"Harry, I've been thinking-" Hermione began, "you know what we've got to do, don't you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?"

"Yeah, give Ron a good kick up the-"

"Write to Sirius. You've got to tell him what happened. I brought parchment and a quill out with me."

After some gentle persuasion, we convinced Harry that it was the right thing to do and a message was sent to Sirius.

2nd November

Oliver and I have been in regular contact and I am enjoying receiving letters from him once or twice a week. I received a very short letter this morning,

'TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT: TELL ME ALL.'

I couldn't help but laugh at the breakfast table, firstly at how blunt he was being and secondly how on earth I was going to explain what had happened. My reply was as follows,

'Mr Wood, you are awfully impatient, I was just getting around to writing to you.
Triwizard Tournament Champions:
For Durmstrang, Viktor Krum. For Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour. For Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter. And before you ask, Harry did not put his name into the Goblet of Fire and no, we don't know who did. First task is on 24/11. Happy Monday.
KP x'

I had my weekly meeting with Maura this afternoon. She was very proud of me for not having a panic attack when Harry got chosen and for handling the situation rather maturely. I also told her my weekly rant about George. "He, Fred and Lee all got a detention from McGonagall for taking the Ageing Potion and another from Snape for stealing the ingredients from his stores and a third for moaning about it loudly in the Great Hall," I shook my head, "and just to make it better, he threw potato at Angelina's face whenever she told him to calm down about it." I shared with Maura that I was beginning to resent George and the look on her face was one of consternation. "I just can't escape him, he's always there, in-your-face obtrusive."

"Well, maybe he's trying to get your attention? You always hear of boys acting like idiots to win a girl's affections, maybe he wants you back?" Maura flipped her coppery hair behind her shoulders.

I rolled my eyes, "Funny. So funny I forgot to laugh."

6th November

The end of the week couldn't come soon enough. Harry was getting a load of bother from everyone in school; calling him a liar and a cheat (at best). We had learned how to perform the summoning charm with Flitwick on Tuesday, but with all this going on, Harry was unable to concentrate for long enough to master it. It probably didn't help that Hermione and I grasped it on our first attempts…

Double potions finished the week and it was torture for Harry as Snape and the Slytherins were nothing short of cruel towards him. We saw that first hand during Tuesday's lesson. At least he had Hermione sitting beside him, whispering comforting messages under her breath or I reckon he'd explode. I even started pleading with Draco to stop being so mean and distracted him by asking loads of questions.

It only got worse for Harry as when we arrived for potions this afternoon, the Slytherins were already waiting outside sporting new badges on the front of their uniforms. They all bore the same message in bright red writing: 'Support Cedric Diggory – the REAL Hogwarts Champion!'

"Like them, Potter?" Draco said loudly as we approached, "And this isn't all they do, look!" he pressed his badge into his chest and the message changed to one of green writing: 'POTTER STINKS'.

The Slytherins howled with laughter. Harry's face and neck quickly flushed.

"Oh, very funny." Hermione said sarcastically to Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls, who were laughing harder than everyone, "really witty."

Ron arrived with Dean and Seamus. He wasn't laughing, but he wasn't defending Harry, either.

"Want one, Granger?" Draco held out a badge.

I had an air of mischief about me when I said, "I'll take one."

The Gryffindor's all gasped.

I took out my wand from my pocket and pointed it at the badge and whispered the incantation, 'verbum domine' and quickly changed the wording. I read about it in a charms textbook and it was supposedly a difficult spell to accomplish successfully, but I gave it a go nevertheless, "Oh Draco darling, I think your badges are a bit… broken."

"Huh?" his ears perked up.

"Well… it says 'Draco Malfoy has a small dick' and if you press it, like this, it says 'The meaner he is, the shorter the dick' so… how small is your penis, Draco?" I raised my eyebrows and dropped my eyes to his trousers and raised them again. He was purple.

The howls of laughter were louder.

Draco took a handful of unmodified badges from his pocket, "I've got many more badges to go around. Here, Granger. Don't touch my hand, now, I've just washed it, you see, don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

All of a sudden Harry and Draco leapt forwards, wands in hand. The people surrounding them scrambled out of the way, backing down the corridor. I had no option but to duck! I could see the anger in Harry's face.

"Go on, then, Potter," Draco said, "Moody's not here to look after you now – do it, if you've got the guts –"

For a split second they looked into each other's eyes, then, at exactly the same time, both acted.

"Furnunculus!" Harry yelled.

"Densaugeo!" Draco screamed.

Jets of light shot off from both wands, hit each other in mid-air and ricocheted off at angles. Harry's hit Goyle – Goyle bellowed, putting his hands up to his nose where he had just sprung up great ugly boils. Malfoy's hit Hermione – Hermione whimpered in panic, clutching her mouth.

"Hermione!" Ron hurried forwards to see what was wrong with her. But standing beside her I could see straight away what the problem was – her two front teeth were growing at an alarming rate, now elongating past her bottom lip. She let out a terrified cry.

"And what is all this noise about?" said a soft, deadly voice. Snape had arrived.

Draco gave his rather biased explanation.

Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something poisonous and infected, "Hospital wing, Goyle." Then with a little persuasion from Ron, Snape took a look at Hermione, whose teeth had now grown down past her collar. Snape looked coldly at Hermione and said, "I see no difference."

Hermione let out a whimper, turned on her heels and ran.

In my anger I screamed, "YOU F*UCKING B*ST*RD."

Harry and Ron yelled something just as offensive, if not worse, but luckily Snape could hear none of the remarks as the sounds echoed so much in the stone corridor that it was completely inaudible. He got the gist, however. "Let's see," Snape said in his silkiest voice, "75 points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Pink, Potter and Weasley. Now get inside or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

In my rage, I snatched a badge off Draco and charmed it to say 'Heartless B*st*rd' and if you pressed it would say 'POTTER TIL I DIE'.

"Put this on," I pressed the badge to his chest, "Oh and Snape?" I put my face very close to his and said very cooly, "my middle finger gets a boner when I think of you." And I completed the sentence with the gesture before walking off to find Hermione.

"A WEEK OF DETENTIONS, PINK."

"I LOOK FORWARD TO IT." I screamed back.

I stormed off, walking as fast as my feet could carry me without setting off into a run. I tackled the stairs, jumping three at a time, swinging off the bannisters to get to Hermione quickly. I was feeling fabulous inside, but I also had this feeling of doom lurking in my stomach. I had just given the middle finger to my teacher and lost the rag with him before walking away, but I couldn't help but have a sense of triumph. I bet no one had stood up to him like that before!

"Woah! Miss Pink! Slow down!" I bashed into Moody as I turned on the next stairwell, nearly taking him out. I knocked his hip flash to the ground, spilling the contents on the floor.

"Sorry…" I said, picking up the flask and handing it over as respectfully as possible before bombing down the stairs again.

As I reached Hermione, she was crying inconsolably to Madam Pomfery. Her teeth were now around her belly button and looked like they had finished growing. "'Mione…" I took a hold of her hand and squeezed sympathetically. Madam Pomfery looked extremely glad to see me.

"Kathryn…" Hermione's voice had changed slightly, and I could see saliva dripping from her mouth as she was unable to fully close her mouth. I grabbed a box of hankies and helped clean her up as best I could. As she calmed down a little more she said, "Shouldn't you be in potions?"

I laughed, "I don't think I'll be welcome back there any time soon… I was a bit naughty after you left…"

"What did you do?" Hermione said in her annoying motherly voice.

I told her everything. There was no doubt in my mind that she smiled proudly. I hid in the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfery and Hermione for the rest of the afternoon. I even witnessed Madam Pomfery use a very controlled version of the 'reducio' charm on Hermione's teeth. I chanced my luck, asking if I could do it, but the answer was a definite no. Madam Pomfery explained that if she was too over enthusiastic with the spell, Hermione could end up with a lot less tooth than she wants. The process took half an hour in all, leaving Hermione's teeth slightly on the long side to ensure that the effects of the spell had fully worn off. Hermione seemed delighted with the results either way and is to return for a follow-up appointment where her teeth could be filed back to normality again.

We returned to the Gryffindor Common Room after eating dinner with Madam Pomfery on the ward, she seemed like she wanted the company. I entered Gryffindor Tower, thinking I'd best keep my head down and catch up on homework, but I was welcomed back like a hero.

"I can't believe – wow! Kathryn that was amazing!" Dean shouted across the room.

"Snape was stunned for the entire lesson; he couldn't get over your use of the less commonly used English language." Parvati beamed at me, jumping on her toes a little.

Lavender celebrated, "He even let us go without homework!"

"Cracker, Kathryn!" Seamus high-fived me.

"Snape couldn't cope, he just stood and watched you leave before coming back to his senses again." Lavender continued.

Neville stood from his seat in the corner and bellowed, "That was incredible, Kathryn!"

"Now we all know she's a true Gryffindor!" Angelina clapped her hand on my back, addressing the room, "sounds like the bravest thing anyone's done around here in a while…!"

I chuckled, "And a week of detention with Snape to pay for it. I can't wait."

"Ten days." Ron said, "Snape changed his mind after he read the badge."

"Ten days with grease face it is, then." I sniggered as the Gryffindors surrounding me joined in.

It only seemed like two seconds later when an angry faced Professor Snape made his presence known and yelled after me. I closed my eyes as I heard my name echo – the rest of the students had gone silent. I turned to face Snape and smiled cunningly, leaving the room with him with no arguments.

"Miss Pink." Snape said silkily, "I am deducting a further 100 points from Gryffindor and you will be in detention with me tomorrow and every day I see fit until I think your punishment has been suffice. Be at my office at 9am."

"See you then." I said cheerily. I really didn't care what he said, he couldn't touch me nor hurt me and I was feeling pretty powerful. Bring it on, Sev. I said to myself.

7th November

At approximately 0858 this morning I knocked very loudly on Snape's classroom door. Snape sneered as I stepped into his classroom, shutting the door firmly behind himself. "Today we will be dissecting rats, collecting their spleens, pickling their brains and cutting off their tails. I'm running low in my stores."

"Is this how you spend your weekends?" I asked.

"I do not recall giving you permission to speak, Miss Pink." He snapped as he thumped down a box full of dead rats in the middle of the table. I watched him closely as he dissected the first rat and attempted one for myself, I just tried to imagine it wasn't an animal I was cutting up. Snape slammed his knife down on the table and sighed deeply, "Are you always this stupid or are you making a special effort today?" he lifted up my butchered rat and cut away the spleen with little bother.

"It may interest you to know that I have never cut out a rat's spleen before or their brain for that matter." I said shortly. So he begrudgingly showed me again in complete silence and I grasped dissecting the second rat and then the third and fourth. I lost count as the box emptied slowly but surely. We filled three large jars in the three hours before lunchtime.

At midday, Snape started writing the instructions for the potion 'Skele-Gro' on the board, "This should keep you busy for the next few hours, I doubt you'll be able to successfully brew it, but I will enjoy watching you suffer nevertheless."

"Charming."

"Get started then."

"Erm… Are you having that much fun that you've forgotten that it's lunchtime?"

"I had a large breakfast."

"Well, I'd strongly advise you to allow me to eat, as last time I didn't eat right I split my head open right here on your classroom floor, I'm sure you remember?" I spoke rationally.

"Be back before one."

"I always knew you were a nice person deep down." I smiled and escaped the classroom before he had the chance to change his mind.

I spent 45minutes sitting in the Great Hall talking to Ginny who also seemed to be delighted to have some company. She had had an argument with her friend over their favourite Holyhead Harpies player. I told her to wind her neck in and apologise. She said that she would apologise if I apologised to Snape. "No way," was my reply, "That man deserved everything I threw at him."

"She will be the first to apologise, then." Ginny said definitively.

Back with Snape I spent three and a half gruelling hours brewing the Skele-Gro potion to perfection, much to his dismay. I had to hide the smile on my face as he stood frustrated, wondering how I had managed to complete such a difficult potion.

He let me take an hour for dinner, acting like it was very generous of him to allow me to have a break from his presence. I couldn't help but watch him sitting at the top table, looking completely miserable, the individuals sitting on either side of him absorbed into conversation with others. Probably didn't want to talk to such a depressing man with a look of utter contempt on his face. After finishing eating, he strode between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables and if looks could kill, I would have died a thousand deaths. I reckoned that I had best follow at a distance behind him as the hour was almost up. Hermione wished me luck over the top of her charms book, she hadn't been great conversation today as she had been arguing with Ron all day. Ron was sitting with Fred and George and Harry was nowhere to be seen. What a joyous Saturday.

In the third part of my detention, I was wondering why Snape had not given me any orders or jobs, but it soon became apparent that he was waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive. Harry arrived first, closely followed by a younger frightened looking student who reminded me of Neville slightly, then Ron, Fred and George strolled in. I sighed deeply.

Snape waved his wand in the air and pots and bowls appeared on three of the work benches. Then followed the rancid smell that made a number of us heave. "This evening," Snape began with a shrewd smile on his face, "the six of you will clean out each and every one of these chamber pots, sick bowls and all the equipment used by Madam Pomfery in the hospital wing to the highest of standards. You will not be leaving until all your work is completed." I edged my way towards Harry to work at the table with him, but Snape seemed to have different ideas, "Mr Ronald Weasley will be working with Mr Potter, Mr Fred Weasley will be working with Mr Turner and Miss Pink will be working with Mr George Weasley."

"Are you kidding me?" I gave off.

"Perhaps you should keep your private conversations with Mr Malfoy a little more private." He stared at me, "I know all your silly little problems. You will be working with George, no exceptions."

After a second of staring back at Snape, I rolled up my sleeves, grabbed a sponge, a basin filled with hot soapy water and began cleaning. I tried breathing out of my mouth, thinking of things other than what I was touching and I refused to look at George who was standing opposite me. Snape circled us tutting constantly, examining all the items we had washed and dried, often throwing them back into the water to be washed again. He knew he was annoying us and it only made me work harder. My back had started to ache after the amount of time I had spent on my feet and I really wanted to get this over and done with. He always seemed to stand behind me for long periods, staring over my shoulder to the point where I could smell the grease off his hair along with the smell of the urine, vomit and diarrhoea mixed together. Every time I stopped to inspect my progress he tutted. It was really getting on my nerves.

"If you want to watch me work, I would appreciate it if you would stand next to me rather than being a creep and standing directly behind me." I snapped, "And if you have a problem, verbalise it, if not, leave me alone," I sighed, clenching my teeth and I heard Snape tut again, so I spun on the spot, holding a bowl filled with vomit, "Stop tutting all the time! I swear my hand might just slip and the contents of this bowl might just end up all over you and right now nothing will give me greater pleasure."

"Somebody's a little… touchy."

I took a deep breath, releasing the tension in my fists, realising this is exactly what he wants. I poured the contents of the bowl down the sink.

"I'm disappointed, Miss Pink. I would gladly have given you an extra week of detentions for it."

I took another deep breath and spoke unusually calmly, "I have done everything you want today. I have dissected 100 plus rats at 9 this morning, I made a complicated potion after lunch, I am now cleaning soiled equipment. It is now 9pm. You have done everything in your power to break me. But Professor, today is not going to be your lucky day. Everything is clean. Now go pick on someone your own size."

"I will see you here, 9am tomorrow morning." I had just riled Snape up the wrong way and he was now trying to calm himself down.

"I await tomorrow's antics in anticipation." I smiled sweetly at him, "Goodnight."