Upon seeing the sun, Dora propped herself on her side, then eased herself out of bed slowly. Ivy was still sound asleep, after all, and there was no reason for her to be awake so early.

After emptying her bladder and brushing her teeth and hair, Dora returned to the bedroom to dress. About half of her roommates were already at this task, while a couple of others were still using the loo, and three more had not yet opened the curtains to their beds. She glanced at the clock in the room. It wasn't late, but if they didn't get up soon, they would be scrambling to ready themselves before missing breakfast.

Dora removed her night corset, stretched her body in the way her mother had showed her to keep her back muscles firm, and then exchanged her nightgown for a chemise. In the warmer months, there wasn't much difference in feel between the two, but as it was winter, her nightgowns contained flannel outside of the soft lining. This wasn't necessarily in her chemises, as her robes would cover them.

Carefully, she pulled at the laces until she was comfortable, enjoying the warmth and feel of the hug envelope her, becoming stronger with each pull. She tied off the laces, tucking the extra lace under each side, and then measured herself. Seventeen--no, a hair below seventeen. The ever present gap in her corset was diminishing, and perhaps this time next year, it would be closed. Imagine, being fifteen and at sixteen inches, the same size as her mum! And able to wear two of her three school dress robes!

But it might take longer than that. The longer you trained and the smaller you became, the harder it was to diminish further. Madam Barnatte had thought that Dora would reach fifteen inches by the time she turned seventeen, but that was still three years away. It might take a year and a half to get down to sixteen. Especially if she wanted occasional breaks...and now that she could expect regular periods...

Dora groaned to herself as she put on her school robes. Yes, periods were the worst.

"All right, Dora?" Morwenna asked.

She blushed, embarrassed to have been overheard. At least, she hadn't been mumbling.

Dora glanced around the room. "I had my first...cycle...just after my birthday. I was thinking how annoying it will be to have them every month."

Morwenna made a sympathetic face. "Mine started just before I began to lace. Mama said that it was nearly time, and I just needed a few more months before my body caught up."

"How long ago was that?"

"Well, I was training a year before the rest of you, so I reckon it was during Easter holidays," Morwenna recalled. "Yes. One moment, I was reading for History of Magic, when suddenly I needed the loo... I do believe everyone in my family heard my screams."

"D-did you know before? What to expect?" Dora queried.

Morwenna looked matter of fact. "Sure, but it's another thing entirely to see that much blood coming from you."

Dora nodded. "I knew, too, but I still yelled for my mum. Wouldn't have liked it to happen while at school."

"Rarely does, from what I've heard." Morwenna shrugged. "Our bodies must know to wait until we're at home. The first time, anyway."

There was a groan, and then the curtains of Polly's bed being pushed aside. The sleepy girl emerged, looking rather like she hadn't slept much.

Or not very soundly.

"There you are!" Demelza came over, then inspected Polly the way Andromeda might inspect Dora. "How'd you sleep?"

Polly shrugged. "All right. Woke up a couple of times, and had to fight my fingers not to unlace." She smiled, almost sheepishly. "Rather felt like I was back in my first week of sleeping corseted."

Dora impulsively pulled her friend into a hug, which Polly returned. Demelza took her turn next, followed by Morwenna, and Polly's face was red with happiness by the end.

"Once I use the loo, we can see if I gained any ground. Melly, do you mind?" Polly asked.

"Go ahead." Demelza pointed to herself, clad in a corset over her chemise. "I'll dress and run a comb through this mane."

Polly giggled, then left the room.

By now, everything was up and in various stages of getting ready for the day. Sarah and Elizabeth were in the process of self lacing, and rather looked like they still couldn't believe their good luck. Hannah, too, although in a rather more subtle way. A half blood whose father was not only a muggle but a doctor, Dora could only imagine how different her roommate's childhood had been. Becky, like Dora, had finished dressing for the day, and sat reading one of their textbooks.

By the time Polly returned, she was the only one not dressed.

"We're not late," Polly reassured them, and perhaps herself, "but I reckon I shouldn't hold you up."

"I'd rather us all go down together," Sarah spoke up, and murmurs of agreement followed.

"Well, all right." She pulled her day corset from her trunk. "I'm eighteen and a half inches, or was last night. But this closes at eighteen. Let's see if I can get...maybe a quarter of an inch smaller."

"I don't want to hurt you," Demelza cautioned, as she helped Polly into it.

"Oh, I'll raise my hand when I've had enough. Don't worry, I don't fancy going through my first day back on the verge of fainting. Not even for my mother's goals," she added, sourly.

"All right." Demelza looked reassured, and began to pull on the laces.

Surreptitiously, Dora angled herself so she could see Polly's face. The others were doing the same, to varying degrees, so that it was only Demelza who couldn't see her friend's expression.

Dora knew only the feel of her own lacing, and her mother's gentle hands on the laces, but she thought Demelza took a rather similar approach. There was no going from whatever Polly's natural waist size was to a few inches below that in as many seconds. Demelza pulled slowly on the laces, not at a turtle's speed, but in a careful and methodical manner. Like Dora's mum, she slowed her pace as the gap diminished to less than two inches from closing. Polly was still holding her breath, of course, and her physical stance didn't change. Nor did her face redden, or go entirely pale. There was, though, a look of determination, and Dora knew that she was willing herself to be able to handle extra reduction, perhaps as much as half an inch, in hopes that sleeping tighter would reap immediate benefits.

Then, her hand went up, and Demelza promptly tied off the laces.

"How do you feel? Shall I loosen you up a bit?" Demelza asked, still standing behind her.

"Let me see." Polly took a breath, then another. "I'm not as comfortable as before, but I can manage. Lord knows my mum's laced me tighter than this before." She sighed, then stopped to regain her breath. "I'm fine. So, how small am I?"

Demelza measured her waist. "A hair over eighteen and a quarter."

Polly looked pleased. "Worth the effort, then."

Dora was not so sure. Polly dressed, perhaps slower than usual, but they made it to the Great Hall with more than a half hour to eat. Polly ate about half the food on her plate, and slowly, but Dora couldn't tell if this was normal for her or not. She seemed more or less at ease, though, and Dora wasn't about to push her. At least, she didn't have Divination after breakfast, which was still quite an undertaking.

When Dora first looked up from her own meal, she became aware of stares from the Slytherin table. Not just stares, but pointing, and, yes, the girls both in her year and above making faces.

Hufflepuff, Dora had seen from early on, had a rather odd vantage point among the other houses. Her father, who had suspected she might follow his lead and be placed there, had told her a bit about it before her sorting, and her mother had contributed with her own words of wisdom.

"Hufflepuff and Slytherin," her dad had explained, "are the two houses that receive rather the more unfavorable reputation. Some Slytherins chose to follow dark wizards in the past, rather more than other houses. Hufflepuff, on the other hand, is rather overlooked as a house. They rarely win the Quidditch Cup because they always play by the rules, even when other houses..."

"Play dirty. It's all right, everyone knows it," her mum had replied. "There also hasn't been a female on the team in the seven years I was in school."

"Did you want to play?" Dora had asked, glancing from her mum to her dad.

Her mother had nodded, then shook her head. "Flying was allowed in my family, but not competitive sports. Not for females, anyway." She grinned, just a bit. "Bellatrix would have given all the boys a run for their money if she had been permitted to play. She was excellent at flying, and extremely competitive."

Dora had been able to imagine the picture with ease. "So, Slytherin gets to be a villain, and Hufflepuff ignored because it's not competitive enough?"

Her parents had nodded.

"There have been years when Hufflepuff won the House Cup," Ted had recalled, "but they've been few and far between. Not that you shouldn't try to earn house points while you're in school, if you become a Hufflepuff, but don't be discouraged if Slytherin or Gryffindor or Ravenclaw beat you out."

Thinking about this, Dora realized that being a Hufflepuff had meant that she and her classmates had been overlooked by the other houses. At least, to an extent. Gryffindor and Slytherin were always at odds with each other-that was obvious-and Ravenclaw sometimes stood on the sidelines, as though the the students in the house known for intelligence considered house rivalry to be beneath them.

"Are you certain?" she asked, looking up from her porridge.

"They're right. Rather, they're giving the three of you dirty looks," Hannah noted. "Watch."

She glanced at the table, and the third year girls immediately turned back to their food. But once Hannah had her back turned, Dora could make out their looks, followed by pointing. When Morwenna turned, the looks stopped-only to return.

Dora rolled her eyes. "What's their problem?"

"I expect I know," Morwenna murmured. "But not here."

Hannah and Polly both nodded. Dora hid a sigh.

"Oh, all right."

They finished eating, and then the girls headed into the hallway. Passing the Slytherin table on their way. The third year girls looked absolutely furious, but those older and younger took no notice of them.

"So, what's the secret?" Dora demanded, hands on hips.

"You're competition, now. The three of you, really," Morwenna explained. "Well, I suppose I am as well, only as part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families..."

"What? Because we're training our waists?" Becky asked, with a laugh.

Dora's other best friend, while a pure blood, did not have family with this distinction. Of course, Andromeda had been, before, but with her marriage to Ted, Dora was a half blood.

She'd never much cared.

"Because you're training your waists, and succeeding to at or below eighteen inches already, and are...you know..." Morwenna faltered.

"Half blood, muggle born, and 'nominally pure blood,'" Becky explained, with a sigh.

"'Nominally pure blood'? What's that?" Dora asked, frowning.

"Some people think that only the Sacred Twenty-Eight are really pure blood, and anyone not on the list ought to call themselves half blood," Becky explained. "Never mind that Cantankerous Knott's list was highly political since its publication. If he didn't like your family, you were off the list."

"Yes, the Prince family and the Potter family can trace their bloodlines through the Middle Ages, but they associated with muggles, so they weren't included," Morwenna explained, rolling her eyes. "It's silly. Some people say that as long as your grandparents are pure blood, that's all that ought to matter."

"But we're muggle born. Why should they even care if we are training our waists? How's it hurting them?" Elizabeth demanded.

"Because there aren't enough people of marriageable age at any time for the Sacred Twenty-Eight to keep on marrying and only having one or two kids," Morwenna reasoned. "Yes, my family has five, and the Weasleys have seven, but look at the others. The Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy family have one. The Blacks have all died out, or as good as. The Lestrange brothers are in Azkaban, so even with sisters, that line is likely dead. There are others, but that's what I recall now."

"My mum has three siblings, and she only got away with marrying a muggle because she was the youngest and the others were much older and with kids. With Sacred Twenty-Eight and a pure blood spouses. Besides, Grandma and Grandpa were a bit more reasonable about some others," Hannah added. "Besides, with a few unsavory relatives, they might have thought it would be good for their reputation if one of their children married someone who wasn't a pure blood."

"So, basically, because we're already quite small, they're worried we'll marry their siblings and sully their bloodlines?" Sarah asked.

"Well, yes. They don't have many to choose from, as it is, and a half blood with a chance of a thirteen or fourteen or even fifteen inch waist...you saw how even the first year boys looked at those who are corseted by more than an inch or two." Morwenna planted her hands on her hips, and did an exaggerated wiggle, which made them all laugh. "It's attractive, even enticing. And it's not as though marrying at seventeen or eighteen years of age is that unusual."

Dora sighed. "So, what do we do?"

"What can we do? Ignore them, and keep our wands ready if they try to hex us."

Becky frowned. "Can they cause our laces to snap or anything like that?"

"Not without a month's worth of detentions, maybe even suspension. If you snap a girl's laces, you'll expose her undergarments. No professor would think twice before rounding on the attacker, and helping the student. Especially since there's the risk of the girl not being able to get up properly," Morwenna reassured them. "Anyway, we all have lessons together, except our new ones, and even then, no one is ever alone. We'll stick together."

"Hopefully, it won't go past glares and pointing," Sarah murmured.

"I reckon I could hex their hands together," Dora mused, half fancying the idea.

Demelza chuckled. "Don't strike first, Dora. Wait, then strike harder."

It was, Dora reckoned, good advice.

The first day back went by more quickly than Dora would have expected. Her lessons went well. Having completed Tessomancy at the end of the fall term, they were beginning to study learning about fire omens. She flat out ignored the Slytherin students (the girl whose death Professor Trelawney had predicted, Samantha Gamp, had barely spoken since the first lesson), preferring to pay strict attention to the lecture.

Dora was also very glad to be finished reading tea leaves, as it gave her rather a headache, and almost made her dislike the drink.

They began to learn about Freezing charms with Professor Flitwick, practicing in groups. He didn't expect anyone to master them on the first day, and was extremely pleased when Morwenna and Sarah (working together) did just that.

"Oh, very well done!" he enthused, upon performing the counter charm. "Twenty points each to Hufflepuff!"

Muggle Studies consisted of a lecture about popular forms of muggle technology, ranging from television to telephones. Professor Burbage set them to read nearly two hundred pages before the next lesson the following Monday. This received some groans, but she simply chuckled in a good natured manner.

"Just don't wait until Sunday night!" she cautioned.

Potions, the final lesson of the day, was also reasonably bearable. Snape was hardly kind, even to the Ravenclaws, but he had rather kept his cutting marks to a minimum-at least regarding Dora. Her potions continued to be flawless, and even if he hated her for her house, he generally didn't sink so low as to criticize without cause.

Verbally, anyway.

Today, they had begun to work on Confusing Concoctions, which Snape hinted they would revisit at a future point. That meant it would come up on the exam.

The instructions were plain enough, but if you hovered too closely over your cauldron, the fumes caused just that. Due to her corset, this was not a problem, as Dora was kept upright. She could incline forward enough to pour in the ingredients, but the steel boning gently protested if she leaned forward for too long.

A few stifled murmurs of pain indicated that at least some of her classmates had remained bending forward too long.

Had Snape had an ounce of compassion within him, he would have inquired further, but he remained silent. Dora did glance up, just for a second, after the second muffled expression of pain. She met his eyes, and saw a flash of something resembling understanding (unless she was just imagining it), before his usual sneer resumed.

Well, he had been a chaperone at the dance, and whatever his blood status ("Snape" might have been one of the families who weren't pure blood according to the Sacred Twenty-Eight, but pure all the same...or he might be a half blood), he certainly knew what some witches wore under her robes.

Really, saying nothing might actually be him being generous.

A light cough, and then he announced that ten minutes remained. Dora applied herself to stirring, then scooped up a sample to be graded. She knew that it was perfect, but also knew that while she might get full marks (in far smaller writing than a Slytherin or Ravenclaw with this grade), she would never receive points for her house.

"Well, I'm exhausted!" Demelza complained, once everyone was back in the dormitory that evening. "The holiday made me forget how long Mondays are."

"Especially for you, taking four extra lessons. What were you thinking?" Polly chided.

"Oh, it's not so bad. Muggle Studies is easy, as is Divination. Just predict doom and gloom, and Trelawney gives you full marks. It's Ancient Runes that gives me a massive headache." She pulled out her textbook. "I'll need to bind it up again before the end of the year."

"What's your last lesson?" Elizabeth asked, opening up her Charms textbook.

"Care of Magical Creatures. It's probably my favorite," she said, with a smile. "But I might give up Runes at the end of the year. I don't expect to go into translation, and it can't be a good thing if I have a headache after studying it."

"If I could, I'd give up Potions," Sarah noted. "Did you see how angry Snape looked today?"

"Angry that the holidays were over, I expect," Morwenna mused.

"And he takes it out on us," Dora noted.

Demelza grinned, almost wickedly. "Fancy knowing a secret?"

There were nods all around. Demelza, looking rather pleased with herself, smoothed out her robes as she continued.

"My uncle went to school with him. They were in the same year. Snape was a greasy git then, just like he is now," she added, with a snicker, "and was always up to no good. Knew more hexes in his first year than most seventh year students. Not that he could make them work, but he knew what they did."

Dora wasn't surprised to hear this. "Doesn't he apply for the Defense position every year?"

"Yes, but it's obviously cursed," Polly put in. "My parents say there hasn't been a teacher last more than a year in decades. You wait. Come end of term, ours will be dead, hexed beyond words, or simply decide to retire."

"Funny that Snape would want it, then," Sarah observed.

"Perhaps the git thinks he'll be the one to break it!" Elizabeth suggested, leading to eye rolls and groans all around.

"But do continue, Melly!" Hannah put in, grasping her roommate's hand. "Is there more?"

"Oh, yes. He was positively obsessed with James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Kept skulking around them, as though trying to join their group. Drove Lily Evans mad, don't you know? They were friends, even though she was a Gryffindor and he was a Slytherin, until they suddenly stopped talking after their fifth year. She even joined the boys in using their nickname for him," Demelza added, her smile returning.

"Oh!" The group of Hufflepuff girls straightened even more, and mirrored Demelza's grin.

"What was it?" Hannah asked.

"Snivellus," Demelza answered, with glee.

Giggles broke out in earnest.

Dora tried to picture it-a teenage Snape skulking around his classmates, until one of them (probably James or Sirius) finally threw the insult at him.

Another thought entered her head. "You said that James Potter was the same age as him?"

"Same year," Demelza corrected. "Could be as much as eleven months between them."

Dora nodded, chewing her lip. "How old's your uncle?"

"Twenty-seven. He was in Ravenclaw, though."

"My mum's thirty-two, and she was a Slytherin," Dora noted. "She wasn't a Prefect for more than a year-said it was too much work-but that means she would have been at school when Snape was."

Also Sirius, as they were in the same year. But questions about her mum's cousin always went mostly unanswered. She might have more luck asking about Snape.

"Anyone else with family who was in school at the same time?" Sarah asked, rather eagerly.

"My mum is the same age as Dora's, only also in Ravenclaw," Hannah mused. "Morwenna?"

But the other girl shook her head. "No, she's thirty-five. Finished before he started."

"Polly? Becky?"

"My mum's even older," Becky laughed. "She'll be thirty-seven in August. Polly?"

"She's thirty-three, and was in Slytherin," Polly said. "She'd either have been in her final year during his first."

"We ought to ask, or those who can," Dora encouraged. "I won't use the nickname to his face, as I don't fancy detention until the end of my seventh year. Or lose ten thousand points," she added, with a laugh. "But he's awful, and anything we can learn that would make his lessons more bearable..."

"Of course." Demelza smiled, followed by the others. "It will be a shared joke."

The third year Hufflepuffs shared their Herbology lessons with the Gryffindors. It had been this way ever since their first year. Generally, while they had nothing against each other's houses, they were allowed to work in groups of their choosing, and friends stuck together. This usually put them in groups of four, with Dora working with Becky, Polly, and Hannah. The other four girls worked together. As there were not nearly as many boys in Hufflepuff in their year, the four boys did usually partner together, and the other two mixed with two Hufflepuff boys.

Professor Sprout didn't care how the groups were divided, as long as there was no fighting, and everyone got their work done.

Having finished their lessons on Puffapods just before the end of term, Professor Sprout had told them that they would begin with cultivating the Valerian plant. Dora had, of course, read all about it during the holidays, and had been rather amused to discover it was used in treacle fudge. She wasn't sure if she'd find that particular treat more or less appetizing after spending several weeks with the plant.

"Welcome back, all!" her kindly head of house told the third years, once they were all assembled in their usual circle. "Had a good holiday, I hope?" After affirming murmurs, she smiled. "Good, good! Now, as I mentioned at the end of the last term, we'll be devoting the next couple of months to cultivating the Valerian plant. For those of you who have been reading ahead, perhaps you can answer a few questions..."

She asked about what treat they were used in (Dora received ten points for correctly answering this, and there were a few grumbles and, "That's wicked!" upon learning this bit of information), what potions contained them, and where (aside from her greenhouses) they could be found at school. No one except Charlie Weasley knew the last answer, as he was friends with Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper.

Charlie earned twenty points for his answer.

"Always helps to be friends with those who work at the school!" Professor Sprout advised, with a maternal smile.

"Except Filch," someone muttered, and there were a few sniggers.

The professor pretended not to hear this.

After lecturing them on the proper methods of handling the twigs they would be planting, she had them get into groups. Dora, of course, went to work with her usual friends. She did notice, however, that Charlie and his group were closer to her than usual, and of the boys, he was standing nearest.

Becky, looking up from her twigs, gave Dora a wink. She simply smiled and gave a little shrug.

If Charlie wanted to speak with her, she wouldn't stop him. But she also wouldn't make the first move.

After all, a few dances together hardly made them sweethearts, and the dances had been closer to the beginning than the end.

No, she'd just stay calm and stay put.

At the same time, given that she was on the verge of reaching seventeen inches, Dora rather wished her school robes didn't hide this fact so well.

It would likely be another year until she could display her corseted waist again.

Of course, she might be at sixteen and a half inches by then, nearly as small as her mum! Sixteen if she tried, and then she could wear the larger of her dress robes.

Dora forced her thoughts back on the plant at hand, as well as her increasingly muddied robes. At least Herbology was the last lesson on Tuesdays. A good hot shower, and she could change into her casual robes and enjoy the tea the house elves would send to her dormitory...

Usually, there was chatter as they worked, but Valerian plants were rather finicky, and the twigs twice as much. It took a great deal of concentration to get them into the ground and water them enough to stay put. By the end of the lesson, everyone was rather hot, grimy, and muttering about needing a long wash.

"I know that wasn't a very enjoyable lesson," Professor Sprout told them, almost apologetically, as they returned their watering cans, "but the next one will be rather easier. In the meantime, please remember to review the chapter on Valerian plants for next week, and write six inches on unusual attributes of them. You'll need the library for this assignment!"

Six inches, even if it meant a bit of extra research, wasn't bad at all. Not when they wouldn't have a lesson for another week. Dora felt rather better, in spite of her muddied appearance.

Last year, she wouldn't have minded. Although, last year, she would have been sore from bending over, and thanks to her corset and the upright posture it insisted upon, she felt only a slight pain in her legs.

"Hello," Charlie said, coming up to her.

"Oh...hello, Charlie," Dora answered, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Ruddy tough plants, aren't they?" he asked. "You wouldn't think something so small could be so stubborn, eh?"

She laughed. "I reckon looks can be misleading."

He might have said more, perhaps, but one of his friends came over. "Oi! Quidditch practice starts in ten minutes!"

Charlie laughed. "All right, all right!" To Dora, he added, "Well, see you later!"

"See you!" Dora echoed.

She could hear giggling from her roommates as they left.

"What is it?" she groused, raising her eyebrows.

"He likes you!" A few of them echoed.

"I wouldn't call a few words with me to be any indicator of that," she retorted.

"He asked you to dance three times. Including one reserved for couples," Morwenna reminded her.

"That was just because he thought I was too tightly laced to handle a regular dance!"

"Ah, but he asked you for two of those afterwards!" Demelza reminded Dora.

She shrugged. "It was a dance, you know."

"He's a nice boy," Sarah offered. "Rather cute, too."

"Good family," Hannah put in. "They're pure blood, but not showy about it like some of the others."

"I'm not getting married to Charlie Weasley!" Dora nearly shouted, attracting the attention of a few older girls. In a calmer voice, she added, "I'm hardly fourteen years old. Besides, he hasn't even asked me out."

"Not yet," Morwenna reminds her.

Dora let out an exaggerated sigh. "You're all nutters!"

The rest of the day passed more harmoniously. Dora spent the afternoon in the library with half of her roommates, getting their homework finished before dinner. Even though none of their lessons occurred on two sequencing days, Dora had learned the hard way during her first year the perils of not getting started on everything immediately. Ravenclaw might be known as the more studious house, but Hufflepuff students generally took the "hard-working" part of their house values seriously.

Well, not everyone applied that to their lessons, but Dora's group was a particularly studious bunch.

Author's note: up next--a Quidditch game! Hufflepuff plays Slytherin. That can't end too poorly...right? Also, promises of another Hogsmeade visit.

As always, I greatly appreciate constructive feedback and ideas for future chapters. (Nothing above a LOW PG-13 rating, please!)