1st November 1991

Isla felt like she had been sat on by the world's biggest Erumpent. Her head has never hurt this bad. She started to open her eyes but had to close them again, due to the shock of the early morning sunlight. She tried again, and this time she successfully opened them, head looking away from the beam of light. She was in the Hospital Wing. How did she end up here? Oh right. The troll. Was Hermione okay? She started to move, grimacing at the pain, only to have someone push her down lightly. "You must stay lying down Poppet." Isla started and looked towards who spoke to her.

"Auntie Ella?"

Nodding, Ella replied. "Yes, Poppet. It's me.", her Aunt's hand stroking her cheek. "I'm so glad you're okay. You gave me a right scare!" It was then Isla got a good look at her face. It looked like her Aunt hadn't slept a wink. She had dark circles under her eyes, her skin pale. Ella gave Isla a quick kiss on the cheek before murmuring. "I better go and get Madam Pumfrey." She turned to get up, only to find Madam Pumfrey behind her.

"No matter Lowella. I'm right behind you." She said, moving to the other side of Isla. "You gave us quite a scare Miss Hope. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been trampled on a heard of Hippogriffs." She mumbled back.

Ella chuckled, quietly. "Good to see your sense of humour hasn't been affected."

Rolling her eyes. "Where's Hermione? Is she okay? She wasn't hurt too?"

"Miss Granger is perfectly fine." Madam Pomfrey responded, chipperly. "She and Mr's. Potter and Weasley escaped your experience with barely a scratch on them, quite surprisingly. They are back in your common room. I expect they'll want to visit later. Hopefully not for very long, you need to rest." She finished, checking the last of her vitals, and her head injury. "You'll both be happy to know that you'll be fine Miss Hope. I'll keep you in till the end of the weekend, just to be on the safe side. So no classes today."

Isla nodded grimly, as Ella replied. "Thank you, Madam Pomfrey."

Rolling her eyes, "Poppy please Lowella. You graduated almost three decades ago."

Smirking, Ella said, "Thank you Poppy. I'll be out of your hair soon."

Madam Pomfrey left for her office shaking her head.

"You're leaving?" Isla asked, quietly.

"When you're breakfast's here. Now I know you'll be okay; I have to get to a meeting."

"You're back at work then?"

Ella glanced up. "No, but I've got a meeting with Professor Dumbledore, and then with Gringotts. Boring adult stuff."

Isla nodded. Gringotts was the wizard bank in Diagon Alley. The Goblins ran it. A bit weird but they seemed nice enough, as long as you respected their customs, which most wizards did for the most part.

"So, how has your term been going so far?"

Isla told her everything. Her weird first week, her flying lesson. Her one run-in with Marcus. She had already told her in letters of course, but it was nice to see her Aunt and tell her in person. At seven o'clock, Madam Pomfrey came in with a tray full of breakfast, and said she expected it eaten as I'd missed dinner due to my 'exploits'.

"I best go. Write to me when you out of here Poppet?" Kissing Isla on the check again, the latter nodding, as Madam Pomfrey sat her up. "Nice to see you again Poppy!" As she picked up her stuff and left the room, she bumped into Neville, Hermione, Harry, and Ron on her way out. Neville hugged her as her Aunt spoke to them briefly, everyone introducing themselves, her Aunt lingering while Isla watched, buttering her toast. Her Aunt turned and gave her a little wave, smiling as she left.

The four kids came over to her bed as she started eating. She was about to say hello to them when Madam Pomfrey stopped them. "You have 5 minutes, as long as you don't stop her eating or over-exerting herself. Have you all eaten?" They all nodded. Not wanting to anger the matron. "Okay then." Walking off back towards her office. The four walked up to her bed.

"I'm so glad you're okay Hermione! I was so worried. When I woke up and you weren't here, I thought the worst," Isla exclaimed, taking a bite out of her toast. If she didn't know better, Pomfrey had put pain medication into her tea.

Hermione looked surprised. "You were worried about me? You're the one who got hurt, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine. I was worried as you were the last person I saw. I don't know how Harry and Ron got involved through?", Isla asked, looking at them and Neville, the latter sitting on the left of her bed with Hermione, Harry and Ron standing at the foot of the bed.

"We noticed you didn't come to the feast, as did Neville" Harry started.

"I thought you got into reading something in Library, and you would be along in a minute. So, I wasn't too worried. I didn't know what Ron had said about Hermione." Neville cut in, glaring at Ron.

Looking guilty, "I said I was sorry."

Hermione just giggled. "He did." She agreed. "we're all friends now." Smiling at Isla, who smiled back.

Harry cut back in. "Anyway, we figured you were with Hermione, which was when Parvati said Hermione was in the bathroom."

"So, we figured if you weren't back by the end of the feast, we'd tell Percy or Professor McGonagall where you were." Ron chipped in.

"Right," Harry agreed. "But then Professor Quirrell came in shou-"

"Stuttering at a high volume you mean?"

"Yes Ron," Harry rolled his eyes. "Anyway, he shout-shuttered about a troll in the dungeon. People were screaming, which was when Dumbledore told us to follow prefects to our common rooms and teachers to look for the troll."

"I figured you were still in the library and one of the teachers would find you. But I told Percy when we got back to the common room where I thought you were and he got a seventh-year perfect to go with him to che-" Neville quipped in. Only for Ron to interrupt again to explain,

"Harry said we should let you both know and I agreed"

"Yeah," Harry jumped in, nodding, as Isla and Hermione giggled. He continued, "We ran to the bathroom and saw the troll going into a room. We figured if we locked the troll in there, it wouldn't do much damage and we could go and find you and get a teacher."

"Only we heard a scream and realised it was the girl's bathroom," Ron said solemnly. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry" Isla replied at the same time as Hermione's, "It's okay."

"That was when we unlocked the door and found Hermione under some debris. We couldn't see you anywhere." Harry continued.

"You were under the Debris too" Hermione continued, looking pale. "The troll knocked you into the back wall with his club. It was horrible." Isla took her hand and squeezed it.

"Harry jumped onto the troll, stuck his wand up his nose, and Hermione told me to use the Hover Charm to knock the thing out with his club" Ron finished.

"The club was all you," Hermione perked up a bit. "I just suggested the Charm, you did the rest." She smiled slightly.

There was a pause. Then Isla, having finished most of her breakfast, spat out some of her tea, and burst out laughing. "Har… Harry stuck his wand u…up the troll's nose." Everyone else joined in. Even Madam Pomfrey was laughing a bit from her office, having not heard the whole story.

After a few moments, everyone sobered. "That was some quick thinking. Bonkas. But good" Isla beamed at Harry, wiping the last of tears from laughing so hard.

"I think it was his Quiddish reflexes" Hermione commented.

This time, it was Neville as well as Isla who looked surprised. "Quidditch?" they asked as one.

"Of course, you wouldn't know!" Ron beamed excitedly. "After Malfoy took your Remembrall Nev, McGonagall made Harry a seeker."

"Cool!" They said together grinning. "But how does Hermione know?" Isla finished.

"Eavesdropping."

"I did not Ron!"

"What would you call it then?"

Hermione was about to reply when Madam Pomfrey came back in. "Okay, time for you lot to go. You've already had 20 extra minutes!"

And with that, the four left and Madam Pomfrey told her to have another lie-down and get some sleep. Only Isla was too excited. Harry was a seeker. And his first match was tomorrow. It was then she realised she was going to miss it.

2nd November 1991

Isla was eating her lunch and was annoyed. The match should have started, maybe even finished by now. But Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let her go as 'she was still healing'. She guessed it made sense, but she only actually had a small headache now, magic helps with the healing. Plus, she didn't want to annoy her too much. She had only been at Hogwarts two months, so still had another 7 years, or near enough, to go, and she didn't want to become the pupil that Madam Pomfrey hated.

Finishing her soup, she pushed it away. She couldn't help but think there was a lot more going on than they had all been told on the third floor. Hermione came by the night before and told her about the bite mark that had appeared on Snape's leg. She had noticed it in potions that afternoon and wanted to make sure Isla was across everything so she didn't feel left out. Unfortunately, that also meant bringing her schoolwork that she had missed that day, so she had no reason not to do her homework. She was so hoping to use this time to read her new Morgana book. Isla signed. Hermione was a good friend but is focused a little too much on school sometimes.

It was then Isla heard the cheering from outside. Was that a goal or was the match won? Isla couldn't be sure. Although the cheering was still going on now, and it had been at least a minute. But she had no idea if that was normal for a Quidditch match, Isla had never been to one. Sighing, she pulled out her History of Magic homework. At least it was something she both enjoyed as good at.

About 10 minutes later, Professor Sinistra came in through the doors, a starcher hovering behind her. Looking up, Isla hoped it wasn't Harry. It was at that moment Madam Pomfrey came out and said it was Oliver Wood. The Quidditch Captain? Oh dear. It sounded like her dear cousin had stolen a beater's bat and waked a bludger at him. Poor Wood. Not long after, another stretcher came in, with a professor she didn't recognise. This time it was one of the Gryffindor chasers. Spinnet? She wasn't sure. Two Slytherin chasers had cornered her and spent her spiralling into the stands. Three guesses about who was behind that. Isla didn't need that many. This had a cousin written all over it. She turned towards the window and heard the sounds of laughter, murmuring and even some screaming coming from the pitch. What had Marcus done now? It wasn't long until she heard cheering, and lots of it. Someone had won, and if the looks of 2 Gryffindor team members lying in beds in front of her, it didn't look good.

About 20 minutes later, the Gryffindor team came in, Nevile, Ron and Hermione behind them. The three came over to her. "Harry swallowed the snitch!" Ron exclaimed.

"What?" Isla said, flabbergasted.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly Ron, don't give her a heart attack too!" Shaking her head, she turned towards Isla and said, "Harry nearly swallowed the snitch. Which was good enough for us to win."

Isla beams. "Brilliant."

"You should have seen Flint's face," Ron sniggered. "It was hilarious. Tried to turn over the result."

Neville was nodding gleefully nodded behind him, as Harry and the twins came over. "Congratulations guys" Isla relented. "I wish I'd been there. It sounds like it was a match I would have been simply gagging over." Harry looked too happy to even care, while the others laughed.

4th November 1991

It was Monday morning, and Isla was in the hospital, getting ready to go to the Great Hall for breakfast with her friends. She was so excited to be joining the rest of the school again. She was starting to get cabin fever in there. Neville came by to pick her up. It was the first time they had been alone together since Halloween. "I'm sorry" Nev mumbled.

Confused, Isla just said, "Sorry?... Why?"

"For not coming to look for you when you didn't come to the feast." He mumbled. "If I had, maybe I could have… you know… helped, a… and maybe you wouldn't have got hurt."

Shaking her head, she stopped to speak to him outside the hall doors. "Nev. It's not your fault. I can look after myself… mostly. Only it was a troll this time, I'm a first-year and caught by surprise. I still don't know how the others managed to do it. And if you had come after me, who's to say you wouldn't have got hurt too?" She paused sighing, before walking again. "What makes you think you protect me anyway?"

Neville looked even more ashamed. "Gran. She sent me a letter. Saying how could the son of my parents not have been there."

As they sat down, Isla responded, shaking her head. "I'm sure your parents would want you to be safe. Harry and Ron should never have come looking for us. We are only first years. Aunt Augusta should know this! Don't listen to her Nev. She has some weird expectations for you. It's not exactly healthy!"

Neville just nodded as the other three sat down next to them, and Isla spotted Professor Snape walking in behind the staff table, still limping. "Morning… Snape's still limping." Harry looked up nodding. Isla continued, "Have you guys worked out why he went near that dog?". Isla noted Neville did not want to talk about this.

"I was thinking," Harry leaned in. "That maybe he let the troll in. I mean it makes sense. Troll appears, then the bite and the limping starts."

"Yeah. A bit suss, isn't it?" Ron agreed. Isla and Hermione along with them.

"But why?" Hermione asked.

"I think we should research magical items. I mean, I can't think of anything else it might be." Harry continued. "Maybe objects that give you extra power?"

"We should get to Herbology" Nev chimed in. "We only have 15 minutes to get to the Greenhouses." Yes, Isla thought. Neville does not want to get involved in this.

A couple of hours later, Isla was sitting next to Faye in Defence against the Dark Arts, and Professor Quirrell was stuttering, again, through another lecture on Vampires. Isla had a sudden feeling of déjà vu. As if she knew someone in this room, from a long time ago. But the only one who fit that was Nev, she thought, glancing at him. But that can't have been it. She had grown up with him. She faced the front again, looking up at the Professors pointing at a diagram of Vampire fangs, and couldn't help but have a bad feeling. But that was silly, shaking that thought from her. This guy was a chicken, completely harmless. Apparently, he went travelling on some sort of gap year and changed. Whatever this man was like before, he was essentially a complete wimp now. Maybe that was it, she decided. The Gryffindor in her not liking him. "M… miss Hope?"

Isla bolted upright. The man in question was looking at her, and now everyone was looking at her. Merlin, she hated this much attention. "Yes, Professor?"

"W…What was I s…saying?"

Panicking, Isla recalled something she read in her textbook. "How Vampire fangs are poisonous?"

"N…no Mi..iss Hope. T…That was Th…Thursday's l… lecture, w… which you w…would have kno…known if you had b…bothered to b…be there." He paused, as members of the class gasped. "I…I was saying they s…sta…started a b…blood curse in the bl…black forest."

Isla nodded. "Sorry, Professor. I will listen from now on." She thought that was a good guess seeing as he was literally pointing at a diagram on fangs, but she guessed maybe this was a part two.

"5 p…points from Gri…Gryffindor." He responded. "I h… hope you h…head hasn't aff…affected your in…intelligence."

Silence. The Professor continued talking. Isla blushed.

"Are you okay?" Susan whispered from her seat next to her. "That was uncalled for."

Isla nodded and gave her a half smile, before turning back to the Professor. It was a bit mean, but she had been daydreaming.

An hour later, the Gryffindors were sitting in Transfiguration, learning the Transfiguration alphabet, reciting it in pairs so they could learn it off by heart. Neville stammered through the terms, struggling to remember, as the bell rang.

"Okay, Gryffindor's, lunchtime. Please pack up your things, please continue learning the alphabet for Wednesday's lesson. "Professor McGonagall called. "Miss' Hope and Granger, and Mr's Potter and Weasley please stay behind."

"We'll see you in the great Hall Nev. No need to wait." Isla said to her cousin, who nodded, and left as she met up with the other three, at their Professor's desk, who looked up at them and said,

"Firstly, how are you feeling Miss Hope? Better?"

"A lot better thanks, Professor"

Nodding, the Professor responded. "Good." She said primely, although Isla thought she heard relief. "Now, we wanted to establish something with you, as Miss Hope's Aunt and Grandfather in particular, want to make sure this whole business is fully looked into." The children nodded, the other three looking at a blushing Isla. "Do you feel any member of staff did not act appropriately after the incident?"

Isla shrugged, looking at the others. After a few moments, Harry shyly said, "Professor Snape didn't help as quickly as you." Ron nodded vigorously.

Nodding, Professor McGonagall said, "Okay. Is there anything else?" The other three gave her a side glance. Isla shook her head. "Okay. Off you go."

As the four children left the room, and Hermione closed the door behind them, walking down the corridor towards the stairs. Ron asked, "Why didn't you mention Quirrell?"

"I just didn't see the point. My Grandpa can be like Mr. Angry Pants when I get hurt. I remember when my cousin Marc-", pausing. "m… my cousin pushed me down the stairs when I was five. He shouted at my Aunt Ursula. His face went all red. Aunt Ella just said it's how siblings discuss things. Anyway, I didn't want him shouting about him as well. He nearly sued Snape after our first lesson."

"Who's your cousin?" Ron asked.

Pausing for a second, Isla replied. "Don't tell anyone? It's not something I want getting around." The others nodded. "Marcus." She mumbled.

"Marcus?" Hermione asked, before starting, and hissing back "You mean Marcus Flint?"

The boys looked at each other. Isla just nodded. "It's not something I like to talk about. He's never been the nicest. I mean, he got his dog to eat my rabbit last year, and he and Aunt Ursula always find a way to bring up that my Dad's a muggle."

"Really? What's wrong with that?" Harry asked.

"Some pure bloods think anyone with muggle blood shouldn't be magic"

"Hagrid did say something like that to me. "

"Think how some muggles treat some with different skin colours Harry", Hermione chipped in sadly. "It's a very similar feeling you know, and how they say it. People mention that I'm muggleborn, and how some kids at my old school would talk about my skin colour. My Dad gets it worse through. When we are walking down the street. Because most people think I'm not his daughter as my skin's on the paler side. They call it white passing" Isla reached out and squeezed her hand. Harry seemed to understand more. Ron looked like he had something on his mind, however.

"Ron? Are you-?" Isla asked.

"Ursula Flints your Grandfather's sister?" He cut in. Isla nodded. "So," Ron continued. "Does that mean Bartimus Crouch is your Grandpa?"

Isla stopped just short of the doors of the Great Hall, looking at Ron, pulling the three to one side. "Yes. But you cannot tell anyone?" she hissed.

"Why? He did great things during the war."

"Because," Isla replied, Harry and Hermione looking on. "Because he put a lot of the Slytherin's parents in prison. Marcus gets away with it as his Dad was one of them, but if they found out who I am, they would hate me more than they do now, and Neville too".

Ron, understanding, nodded. "Okay. I get it. But why does Flint keep quiet?"

"Because he doesn't want anyone to know that he has a half-blood cousin"

"You're not that closely related through? You and Nev aren't." Harry asked.

"Isla and Neville are 3rd cousins. Isla and Flint are 1st cousins, once removed. So they are kind of closely related. "Hermione replied, looking at her watch. "We won't tell anyone Isla, I get it. Lunch will be over in 25 minutes, and it takes 10 to get back upstairs for Charms so I suggest we go in?" pulling Ron and Harry towards the hall, signalling the end of the conversation, Isla following behind.

None of them noticed Malfoy at the entrance of the stairs coming up from the Dungeons, smirking.