This chapter will feature characters from the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery mobile game, who I've aged down significantly to be apart of Harry's timeline. I have faceclaimed them below. Enjoy!
Faceclaim for Ben Copper: Cory Gruter Andrew (aka Cole from Anne With An E)
Faceclaim for Merula Snyde: Rowan Blanchard (provisionally - when I find a better faceclaim I'll put it here)
Faceclaim for Ismelda Murk: Isabella Fuhrman
The next morning, Dorea woke up at half past seven, feeling somewhat optimistic. Even though classes were resuming today, she couldn't wait to reunite with the rest of her DA friends properly - since last night they had to keep to their house tables at dinner. Getting up, she quietly drew her curtains back. To her surprise, Lavender was already up and about.
"Oh, morning Dorea." Lavender said as she yawned.
"Morning Lav," Dorea said, keeping her voice down in case she woke Parvati, Amelia or Hermione up. "I forgot to ask last night, how was your break?"
"Oh, boring, but a bit good. Though the same can't be said for others."
Assuming that Lavender was meaning the rest of the senior pupils and the fact that their Easter holidays were spent revising, she chuckled a bit. But then she noticed that Lavender looked a bit ghastly. "Wait, what do you mean by that?" She whispered, curious.
"Well, did you hear about the Death Eater attack on that village near the Scottish Border?" Lavender asked.
Dorea nodded. "Yes. My dad helped the Auror's investigate in its aftermath. I don't think he mentioned any deaths though?"
Lavender moved closer to her, as if she was telling her something secret in a crowded location. "Nobody died, that is true, but there are people that live there that are now scarred for life because of what they saw happen. Houses burned, and people suffered serious burns, but that's not the half of it. Oh, Dorea, I'm not sure if I should say…"
"If you don't want to say, then it's okay. I'll find out another way." She reassured her.
"No, it's fine, I'll tell you. Children there were taken as hostages by the Death Eater's, and some of the women…. Oh gosh, the poor women… There were some Death Eater's that killed the husband's of these women, right in front of them, and then would… oh gosh, they would hike the women off and do terrible things to them. Then to break them even further they would take their kids."
Dorea felt herself go cold. That sounded absolutely despicable - made even worse by the fact that her own blood relative, Bellatrix Lestrange, was likely there, letting it all happen. She almost couldn't fathom how a woman could stand by and let other women be tortured and not do anything about it. It was tough being a Black - so many of the family had gone rogue and dark.
"Gosh…" She eventually said. Something came to her then. "I hope there were no Hogwarts students that had to witness that."
Lavender raised her head slightly. "Oh, there were. A third year Gryffindor called Ben Copper… I think he's friends with the Creevey's. He's… well, he was quite a shy boy anyway, but since the attack he's become even more anxious and jumpy."
Dorea did recognise the name, and probably had been in the common room with him many times. "Is he still attending school or has he been taken out to recover?"
"He's still here. Dennis warned some people to not be alarmed if they hear screaming coming from his dorm one night; poor Ben has been plagued with nightmares since the ordeal."
"That's understandable." Dorea replied, feeling crap for the poor lad. "He needs support right about now. I'll speak to Amelia and Harry about him."
Lavender nodded. They resumed getting ready then, for Hermione and Parvati both got up and started moving about the dorm. Amelia got up not long after. Soon enough the fifth year girls dorm was a content hubbub as they all readied themselves for classes resuming.
The five of them walked down together to the Great Hall, which was only partly filled when they walked in. Parvati and Lavender left them then, to go and sit with Tracey Davis and Mandy Brocklehurst. Hermione, Dorea and Amelia collectively decided to just sit at Gryffindor table and see who joined them.
Just as Dorea grabbed a piece of toast for herself and passed Hermione the teapot, did Dorea look up and notice that Adrian Pucey was making his way towards them. The boy was eying up Amelia in particular as he was walking. Dorea nudged her godsister, who was sat directly across from her and had her back to Pucey. Amelia looked at her sharply but then dropped the expression when she noticed Adrian standing beside her.
"Morning ladies," the sixth year said in something akin to a smooth voice, "is Harry around?"
"It shouldn't be too long before he comes down," Amelia replied, "we can pass your message on to him if you want?"
"Oh, it was just something regarding the DA - wanted to tell him about my progress." Pucey shrugged it off. "Ah, look, here he is now."
Before Harry had barely walked in and sat down at Gryffindor table did he realise that Adrian Pucey was trying to get his attention. "Oh, Adrien, it's you." He said pleasantly as he neared them. The Slytherin boy seemed to be all but hovering beside Amelia and had a smile like the Cheshire cat - which was odd, as it was barely eight in the morning.
"It is," the sixth year Slytherin remarked, "I just wanted to update you about the progress I've made in regards to catching up with the rest of the DA."
He smiled good naturedly. "Have you managed to get your Patronus?"
"Well, not quite, as I couldn't physically practise it at home for obvious reasons. But I think my memory for it is really good and will work."
"Great!" He replied. "I look forward to seeing your efforts on Saturday."
With that, Pucey left them and wandered back over to the Slytherin table. Just as well - Montague and Warrington walked in barely a minute later. He noticed that Dorea and Hermione seemed to be sharing a certain look with one another - one which his twin was oblivious to, as she kept on eating. He could not read the look either. Harry just shrugged it off and sat down, selecting his breakfast.
More and more DA members started filtering down to the Great Hall - mostly the Seniors. Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley came down, nodding at them in friendly welcome. Megan Jones and Hannah Abbott weren't far behind them; though there was a faraway look in Hannah's eyes that had Harry curious. Within half an hour, the Hall was packed.
Half an hour before classes were due to start, Harry noticed that the Head of House's started to make their way down their tables. They soon found out why, as she was standing behind Dorea and Hermione. "There's been a slight change to the timetable this term. Arithmancy and History of Magic will be switching places, is all. So for you girls, that will mean that Arithmancy will now be held during the double period on Monday, and third period on Friday, with History of Magic now being held sixth period on Wednesday and first on Friday." McGonagall explained, and tapped her wand on their timetables, which updated accordingly. Then the Professor looked at him. "Mr Potter, Professor Vector is pleased to say that you two can continue your private tuition, with no changes to the time or day that you usually meet."
He nodded. "Thank you, Professor."
She nodded, and walked further up the table. As more and more people started entering the Hall, Harry noticed that there was an increasing amount of people looking either towards him or in his direction. He cursed internally then, for he remembered that Rita Skeeter was back in business. Do they hate me again? He wondered. He somehow managed to catch eyes with Hope Geddes, who was a fourth year Ravenclaw and member of the Junior DA. She was a pretty opinionated person - and though he wasn't surprised when she flashed him something of a dirty look, he didn't truly expect it from someone like her.
Thankfully, he couldn't dwell on the possibilities of that thought for much longer, as the bell rang to signal there was ten minutes to go until the first period of the new term. Most of the Hall started congregating towards the entrance and moving very slowly towards the staircases.
At morning interval, Harry met up with Ron, Dorea, Amelia and Hermione in the courtyard. Ron had nothing good to say regarding Divination, though the girls looked a bit pleased with how Arithmancy had gone. "She had us all do a quiz," Hermione summarised, "I did alright, though it was more about terms rather than actually figuring stuff out."
After break was Potions. Within barely a minute, Snape was demanding everybody's essays that he'd assigned as holiday homework. When everyone's paper was collected, the man got to business. "Today, and for the rest of this term, we embark on preparation towards your Potions OWL practical exam. It shouldn't come as a surprise that in your practical, you will be expected to have no instructions in front of you. That means you will have to learn and revise ingredients and methods off by heart, if you are to pass and advance to NEWT."
Harry felt content, for he'd already memorised half of the curriculum already. He shared a knowing look with Amelia, Dorea, and also Blaise and Theo when Snape wasn't looking.
"This period we will focus on the Befuddlement Draught. I will only permit you four minutes to both set up and to quickly read over the ingredients and recipe. However, after that, I will take your books to ensure no cheating goes on." Snape said meticulously, as he wandered between the desks. Neville blanched slightly at that, and Snape almost smiled maliciously - as if he knew that Neville was going to make a fool of himself.
"Your four minutes starts now."
With that, everybody scrambled to get their equipment out as quickly as possible so that they would have more time to read over the Befuddlement Draught. Harry took it a bit easier though - the Draught was one of the ones he knew off by heart already, though he quickly skimmed over it to make sure. Seamus and Dean were reading quite frantically, and Neville was mouthing as he read. When Snape's back was turned, Harry nudged Neville. "Just watch me brew, and do exactly what I do."
Neville looked amazed. "R-really?"
"Yes," he assured his friend, "I can go as slow or as fast as you want. I've already memorised this potion."
Neville quickly showed his appreciation before Snape turned back around. "One minute remaining."
When the minute was up, Snape summoned everybody's books to the front. With that done, he said, "You may now begin."
There was a slight wait, as Draco, Crabbe and Goyle took some time to collect their ingredients. Harry grabbed everything he needed, and watched as Neville, standing next to him, did the same. That done, they walked back to their table, where Harry started preparing the ingredients. Neville's eyes kept darting from his cutting board to Harry's as he prepared all the ingredients in exactly the same way. When that was completed, Harry lit his cauldron, and smirked when Neville did the same to his - they were truly in tangent with one another.
Snape already seemed to be getting suspicious, as he kept looking over at them. He was probably wondering how on earth they were already prepared ahead of almost everybody else. When Snape wasn't looking, Harry felt it safe to add the first ingredient, which was scurvy grass.
Confident that Neville was following his every move, he could now focus on getting everything timed perfectly. After five minutes, the sneezewort went in, and after that followed a minute's worth of stirring both clockwise and anticlockwise. Ten minutes of letting the potion simmer meant that it was time for the Lovage to go in, and then be stirred clockwise once. Though that was all the ingredients added, there were still a few processes and waiting still to go. A thought soon came to Harry then - the last time they'd been brewing the Befuddlement Draught in class, Crabbe had tampered with his potion to the point where Snape had vanished it completely. So far, Crabbe was firmly in his seat over at his bench, nowhere near their table. He kept checking every few moments, in case the boy was planning on another sabotage…
Thankfully, the period passed without any major incident. Satisfied, Harry gladly tidied up with the others when Snape said there was ten minutes of class time remaining. He ladled his potion into a glass flask and capped the top. Snape shot their table a filthy look.
Once he had labelled his potion, he went up to the front in order to place it on Snape's desk, with the others. Just as he thought that lesson could be called a success, he suddenly felt something barge into him. No! His mind screamed, as his grip loosened on the flask, and he could only watch painfully as the flask hit the ground and smashed.
As you could imagine, Snape was over in an instant, fuming. "Potter, your incompetence is glaring!"
He sighed, and turned to face the Potions professor. Over at the Slytherin desk, Malfoy and Pansy, as well as Millicent, Crabbe and Goyle, were looking giddy and laughing among themselves. "Professor, they clearly did something to make me drop my flask!" He pointed, not caring that Snape was not going to believe him.
"Do not blame others for your mistakes, Potter. Clean up this mess now, and get another flask filled - or else you will be leaving this room with a 0." Snape leered, striding to the front looking victorious.
Harry quickly cleaned up the mess; though it truly should be Malfoy and his goons doing it, but he did it nonetheless. He fetched another flask, and headed back over to his cauldron, where thankfully there was still enough potion remaining. When he did that, he saw the platinum blonde hair of Daphne Greengrass appear next to him. "I'll take it up to the front for you, if you like."
He thanked her for offering, and carefully handed the flask to her. "Won't Pansy and Millicent try and do the same to you?"
"If they do, I'll just hex them, right here right now." Daphne responded confidently. He grinned, and watched as she all but strode up to the front and placed his potion down neatly beside the others. When she returned, Blaise and Theo wandered over to them. Tracey was glad to not be near Pansy and the others either, as she got out of her seat and made her way over to Lavender, Parvati and Hermione. "Sorry about them being twats, Harry." Theo said.
He shook it off. "It's no bother. Besides, I still had some Befuddlement Draught left anyway."
When the bell dismissed them, they walked to the Great Hall for lunch. That lunch hour was spent mostly with his Slytherin friends, and he spent a bit of time talking to Tracey Davis.
"What do you hope to take next year?" He started asking her about subjects.
"I think the same ones that I'm doing now, although I really don't know if I'll get good enough marks in Transfiguration to take it at NEWT. That goes for Ancient Runes and Astronomy as well… though I do like them, I have to think practically in terms of my career, and I don't need them for what I want to go into. What about you?"
"Same as you, I think. Though it pains me, I don't think I'll continue with Care of Magical Creatures or Astronomy. I think I'll be dropping History as well. But I've not totally decided yet, so that could change. Oh, Arithmancy too… I'm really not sure if I'll be able to handle it at NEWT level."
"Anthony and that say you're quite good at it though?" Tracey said.
He was surprised. "Do they? I'm amazed they think that, I'm forever going to Anthony for help."
"And that's not a bad thing," came from behind him, and when he turned, Anthony Goldstein was moving to sit next to Daphne, his girlfriend. "Even the best ask for help, Harry."
"Do you think I'll be able to take Arithmancy at NEWT, Anto?" He asked his friend, with a look that demanded Anthony be honest.
"Yeah, why not?" Anthony replied, "besides, we're all friends, and if we all manage to take NEWT together we can help each other out."
That was true, but still, Harry would need to think about it.
The rest of lunch passed by as normal, and soon enough Dorea was walking with her friends to go to fifth period - which was Ancient Runes. Since they got there a bit earlier, they lined up and just talked amongst themselves.
"Oh, that reminds me, did anybody else find the holiday homework she gave us quite tricky?" Dorea voiced, talking to nobody in particular.
"The middle part was confusing," Lisa Turpin said, moving to stand near her. She had her bag half-balancing on her hip as she fished her homework out. "But apart from that I think I got most of it."
"There's one part of my translation that doesn't seem to make sense grammatically," Padma said, a few others nodding, including her god siblings.
Looking down, Dorea pinpointed the part she struggled with in her own translation. "I got stuck on the part where there's that Hydra symbol - what on earth does that mean?"
Hermione looked at hers. "Oh Dorea," her best friend said, giving her a slightly disappointed look, "the Hydra represents the number nine."
"Really?" She exclaimed, and looked to Amelia. "Did you know that?"
"I figured it out just yesterday," Amelia nodded.
"I swear that the Hydra isn't in the textbook!" She said, in part disbelief.
"It is in the textbook, Dorea," Lisa Turpin grinned, "it's on the page titled Creatures, and it's beneath the Acromantula symbol." Hermione and Amelia nodded, as if to confirm.
Dorea just shrugged. "Oh well, apart from that mine was okay."
Eventually, Professor Babbling turned up and let them inside. They all took their seats and handed Babbling their homework translations. That period consisted of spending just over an hour translating a double-sided transcript that Babbling had obtained from the Ministry of Magic (her husband worked there), concerning a hearing that must have happened a long time ago, as it was written in Runic. It looked like a right headache - and everything barring the first paragraph was.
"How people used to write like this instead of using proper English, I'll never know." She heard Anthony mutter over at Harry's table. Anthony had his head rested on his left hand but was looking as though he was nearing giving up due to stress. Half an hour in, Hermione seemed to be almost halfway through, but Dorea had only just gotten past the first quarter of the page.
Amelia was only slightly ahead of her. "What part are you at?" She asked very quietly across the table.
"The part where the first witness is being questioned," Dorea replied before turning her page so that Amelia could see it. Her godsister began scribbling away at something in her notebook, and after a minute tore it out and slipped it across to Dorea (to Hermione's silent chagrin). The paper read: "Yours is all correct. By the way, the first witness responds by saying 'Yes, ma'am, I saw a Knockback Jinx clearly being used on a group of young Muggles'."
Dorea nodded her head in thanks before copying that answer. With that, she decided to get a move on and see if she could finish it before the end of the period.
Dorea was slightly damned when she heard the bell ring to signal the end of fifth period, as she had battled her way through the transcript and had just come on to the very last sentence.
"Put your name at the top of your translation parchment and leave it on my desk for marking. Your homework will be given back to you by tomorrow." Professor Babbling told them as they stood up to disembark the class. She smiled at them on their way out, and noticed she spent a few seconds speaking to Harry - who Dorea noticed was looking quite windswept. "That was the hardest thing she's assigned us yet." Harry said as they walked together to double Defence.
"I'm so peeved, I just had come on to the very last sentence when that bell rang." Dorea said.
"That part about the third witness really had me stuck, I almost couldn't figure out that the person was saying they were Stunned rather than stabbed." Amelia said.
They eventually found themselves lining up outside Remus's classroom, chattering amongst themselves and wondering what today's lesson would consist of. Amelia was busy talking to Daphne when she felt arms wrapping themselves around her from behind. She squealed, knowing it could only be Theo.
She turned to face him. "Afternoon, you dork."
He grinned back at her. "How's your day been, baby?"
"Since we last saw each other at lunch?" She cocked a brow at him. "Runes was a bit hellish, but we all got out okay, if you must know."
The door to the Defence classroom eventually opened, and a whole throng of students disembarked the class then. It appeared to be a sixth and seventh year NEWT class, as among them were Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet. Katie Bell was also among them. One of the last people to leave the class was none other than Adrien Pucey - he was talking to Remus just as they all came in, and talked for about thirty seconds before Pucey left. As the boy was leaving, Amelia noticed him glance in their direction; where his eyes landed on her. He smiled quickly before quickly looking away and stepping out of the class, shutting the door behind him. Shrugging that off, Amelia joined her friends in getting their wands out, preparing for a practical.
"Sorry to disappoint, but I was thinking that we should get some theory work done and dusted, so then we're just left with practical revision to last you up until exam time." Remus said, scanning his eyes over their desks. Though the class let out noises at the thought of doing theory work, they didn't do much reading at all - Remus handed them all two past theory papers regarding Defence Against the Dark Arts. "The papers are the theory ones pertaining to last year's exam and the year before. Since you all clearly thrive when you are able to help others, I will let you all complete these two papers either by yourself or within groups. But just because I'm allowing you to talk does not mean that you can talk about anything - you must discuss class related stuff only." He flashed a knowing smile in their direction. "Once you are completed, I will mark it myself. You have until the end of this period to complete whichever paper you wish to start off with first, and by the end of the double I expect you all to have finished the second one. Begin."
Flicking open last year's paper, Amelia scanned her eyes over the first question that met her. "Where do Grindylows typically dwell? (1 mark)"
"Gosh, that's third year stuff that." Ron muttered from next to her. She imagined just about everyone was scribbling down 'Lakes' as their answer to that question.
The rest of the paper got gradually more difficult and demanded more marks. When they had finished the first paper (just before the bell for seventh period), they took a short break before moving on to the second one Remus had given them. This paper from two years ago was a bit trickier; a lot of the questions were either 3 marks or more, and covered all topics. It took them right up until the bell to finish it off.
They handed Remus their papers before hanging back to chat with him for a few moments before heading down to the Great Hall for a much highly-anticipated dinner. Just as they came off the Grand Staircase, though, Dorea tugged Amelia back. "There's that Ben Copper boy I was telling you about." Her godsister murmured, and pointed across the corridor, where the third year was leaning against a pillar, looking very angsty.
"Is that the boy Lavender was on about?" She asked.
"Yeah, it is. Do you think we should talk to him?"
She nodded. "I'll get Harry." She tapped her twin on the shoulder, and reminded him of Ben Copper. With that, Harry told Hermione and Ron to save them seats at Gryffindor table.
They waited for the corridor to die down a bit before they approached Ben. Amelia had no idea what to expect, and neither did Harry or Dorea, seemingly. It was Harry who shuffled forward in the end. "Ben Copper?"
The boy turned around, lurching slightly. Good grief, Amelia thought, he's more jumpier than Neville ever was. "Y-yes?"
"I'm Harry Potter, this is my twin Amelia and my godsister Dorea Black. We've heard a bit about you."
Copper looked a bit bewildered, but he was calming down by the second. "You mean, what happened to the village I live in over the Easter break?"
"Sadly, yes," Harry said, sounding a bit unsure; as if he didn't know if he should bring it up or not, "We're sorry you had to witness that."
Ben Copper smiled a bit. "I-it's fine. I just… wish I could have helped out, to stop them.."
A thought came to Amelia then. "You're not a DA member, are you?"
"I confess I'm not," Copper said, looking down, "though I've heard great things. I just didn't feel confident enough to join, but now I fear I'm missing out on something great."
"There's still time if you wish to join." Harry suggested.
"B-but, won't I be really far behind?" Ben fretted.
"You will, but you won't be the only one." Dorea said gently. "Some people chose to join before the holidays, didn't they Harry?"
Harry nodded encouragingly. "Yes, quite a few. If you wish, you could sign up."
Ben Copper clasped his fingers together and sighed. "Oh… I want to, but then there's the whole meeting new people aspect. I'm awkward as it is."
"Dennis Creevey is your friend, is he not?" Amelia asked.
"I consider him my best friend. There's Nigel as well, but he's quite friendly with some Hufflepuff boys in our year - courtesy of the DA, - so he spends less time with me now." Ben Copper admitted, flushing as deep crimson as the red on his Gryffindor robes. Poor lad, Amelia really felt sorry for him.
"Trust me, you'll be making new friends in no time. Every student in both the Junior and Senior groups have made at the very least 2 new friends from the DA. Trust me, Ben, it's not a place where you get judged. It's a place to better yourself." Harry said, gently but firmly. Amelia thought her twin was handling this brilliantly; he was being so understanding and supportive. Ben Copper was clearly being more and more drawn to the prospect of making friends and joining the DA. After a few moments, the boy said. "O-okay, I think I'll join."
After Harry summoned the sign-up sheet and Ben had signed it, the boy seemed really happy. He told him to come along to the Room of Requirement at seven, and then explained how to find it. They then collectively decided to finally go to the Hall and have dinner.
When they walked towards their usual seats at Gryffindor table, Ben seemed to stick with them. They seemed to come to a halt where some second years were sitting. Upon further inspection, it was Dennis waving to Ben and wanting him to sit with him. However, Dennis was also sitting with some second years.
"Go on, Ben, you can make friends here." Harry gently urged Ben. The third year looked to them for reassurance. When they all smiled at him, he took a deep breath and gladly sat down in the spot where Dennis was offering him. With that, they walked to their usual seats further down the table.
"He's a really nice person, truly." Dorea said with sympathy as she glanced back at their recent acquaintance.
"Yeah, he is. He didn't deserve to witness such horror." Amelia said, referring to the fact that the Death Eater's attacked his village. Harry ardently agreed.
The first DA session of the new term was kickstarted at seven that evening, courtesy of the Junior group. As promised, Ben Copper came along, and Harry couldn't help but smile when the lad came in, talking with Dennis Creevey and Nigel Wolpert.
That session in general went very smoothly. For the most part the session was mainly letting them do what they wanted, to get them back in the swing of things. Next week onwards he planned to introduce them to duelling each other (supervised, of course) to see how they got on. Ben Copper would have to wait a few weeks before he would be able to join in on that fun, though. Harry took him through everything he'd missed, and tried to quickly bring him up to speed whilst at the same time giving Ben time to take it slow. By the end of the session, they'd gotten through half of the spells. "There's no rush at all," Harry reassured his fellow Gryffindor, "we can practise for as long as you need."
"Thanks, Harry." Ben Copper smiled gratefully.
When all the Junior's had left, Harry got to work on tidying up the Room. He removed all the stray Cushioning Charm's and wheeled any dummy's back to where the others were. Satisfied, he left the Room of Requirement and headed back to Gryffindor Tower.
Barely a minute into his walk did he stop, for he heard noises coming from around the next corner. Picking up the pace, he took his wand out just in case. When he rounded the corner, he was surprised to see that Ben Copper was standing, quivering. The reason why the lad was quivering was due to two Slytherin girls that Harry barely recognised.
"P-please! Don't hurt me!" Ben was pleading.
"Shut up, Copper, just comply and we won't bother your mudblood self any longer!" The main antagonist, a rough looking girl with a purple streak going through her short-cut hair, snarled, wand in hand threateningly.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Harry said, coming to Ben's rescue. "Who are you two?"
"This is not your fight, Potter, leave us be." The second girl, who had long greasy hair and looked almost like a doppelganger to Professor Snape, said in a haughty voice.
"I will not just leave - Ben is my friend." He said, not backing down. He crossed his arms in defiance. "You called him something horrible and derogatory; I want you to apologise to him immediately."
"I will not! Copper here is a mudblood, Potter, he has no right being here. We will not apologise for simply saying the truth-"
"You're mistaken, Miss Snyde, Miss Murk. You will be apologising." Came from behind them.
When Harry turned, he was relieved to see Remus.
"P-p-professor Lupin…" The girl with greasy hair suddenly changed her tune, as did the one with purple in her hair. On closer inspection, the girl also had purple eyes.
"I do not know why you two target poor Mr Copper here, but I can tell you it ends here and now. What gives you the right to treat him that way? If you knew what he's been through, you wouldn't blame him for being a bit shy." Remus was telling the Slytherin girls off sternly. "Now, apologise immediately."
Once the two girls meekly apologised, Remus sent them back to their common room after taking points off Slytherin - ten each. After making sure that Ben was alright, Remus gently told him to return to Gryffindor Tower. Harry assumed he was to stay and talk to his honorary uncle.
"Thank you for standing up for Mr Copper, Harry." Remus said, sighing a bit and rubbing his temples.
"It's no bother, Moony, really. He's now a DA member, so naturally I had to do it." He replied, then spoke again. "Who were those two girls? I swear I can't figure out who they were."
"Third year Slytherin's. The girl with longer hair was Ismelda Murk, the other one Merula Snyde. Truth be told, they're little terrors. Constantly picking on people outside their own House, specifically younger ones." Remus explained.
"I'm not being nasty, but if you hadn't told me that I would have just assumed that the Ismelda girl was Snape's daughter or something." Harry said.
Remus took a few seconds to get what he was saying, but then let out a laugh. "I can see why you'd think that."
They carried on talking for a few minutes, however Harry realised he'd have to get back to the common room soon - else a search party be called. Remus understood, and said that Sirius was expecting him anyway. Harry nodded, and with that they parted.
Merula Snyde and Ismelda Murk, Harry thought that night, as he was getting ready for bed, I wonder if they're notorious bullies? If it was up to Harry, if he caught them bullying Ben again, he would give them a piece of his mind. He made a mental note to ask his Slytherin friends about those two girls in the morning. There was a feeling inside of him that was telling him they came from a family of Death Eater's - though he didn't have solid proof of that. It was the way they threw that term about when they were taunting Ben, it just didn't sit right with him.