Lia didn't tell anyone about Dumbledore's revelation and request-it wasn't as if there was anyone at Hogwarts who could qualify as being close enough to Lia that she'd tell such a secret. Besides, Dumbledore had asked her not to tell anyone about the request (she was free to mention to others that she was a Painter, though).
That Saturday, Lia had decided that she'd devote the entire day to studying for OWLs. It would be her first official preparation attempt, and she was mentally ready, waking up at seven in the morning and freshening up. The room was still quite dark and the four other beds in the room full, their owners sleeping soundly.
Lia felt momentarily guilty as she settled down into a table in the completely empty library. She'd promised Dumbledore that she'd try to get the painting done as soon as possible, but today she felt she really should study. She desperately wanted to do well on the exams, and besides, Dumbledore had told her that he wanted her to put her studies first, before the painting.
She stayed in the library all through the morning, memorizing Astronomy charts and poring over her Transfiguration notes. At noon, she sat back in her chair, stretching and glancing around the huge room. It was now full of students who were bent over their books, anxiously sipping coffee, talking in low whispers (to Madame Pince's frustration), or doing a combination of these things.
At the table closest to Lia sat Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter, who were all bent over their textbooks. Hermione happened to see Lia stretching and gave a little wave, and Harry, noticing the same thing, followed suit. Lia waved back and glanced around at the other tables, trying to prolong her break before she started on Ancient Runes and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Near the bookshelves sat Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, and Terry Boot, all whom Lia recognized from the D.A., and over near the water fountains sat a table full of Slytherins, including Malfoy; his huge cronies, Crabbe and Goyle; his presumed girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson; a blonde girl Lia was pretty sure was called Daphne Greengrass; and...Theodore Nott.
He appeared to be immersed in a textbook, and wasn't partaking in the whispering conversation of the others at his table. Pansy Parkinson and the other girl, who had blonde curls, were giggling loudly, and Lia saw Nott glance up at them rather malevolently.
Lia decided she should probably return to studying. She suddenly wanted to get her work done and leave as soon as possible, but she didn't know why. She reached for her Ancient Runes book and turned to page seven-hundred-and-three, which was the start of the current chapter they were learning. After looking over the chapter, Lia realized that she had to do further research to decipher a particularly tricky Rune from Hungary. She got up and walked towards the Ancient Studies shelves, trying not to make eye contact with anyone at the Slytherin table, which she had to pass to get to the shelf.
"Oy!" said Malfoy in a very loud whisper. "Look who it is!"
Lia kept her eyes averted and walked faster.
"Studying for OWLs, are you, Moon?" called Malfoy. "You know it's no use...non-magic people like you will all fail the OWLs anyway..."
Crabbe and Goyle grunted and Pansy shrieked with laughter. Lia wondered nervously where Madame Pince was. She reached a shelf marked "Runes and Such" and stood on her tiptoes, searching for a book on Hungarian runes, when-
"Ouch!" Something small and hard had hit her shoulder. Glancing down, she saw a black beetle with red eyes and razor-sharp pincers crawling around her feet and madly trying to leap up to her ankles and bite her.
Just ignore them. They'll eventually get tired of this. She hurriedly found a book, stepped around the beetle, and headed back towards her table, her hands cold and her mouth dry.
Malfoy stared at her as she passed, his eyes glittering viciously. She walked quickly past the water fountains, staring steadfastly ahead, but then...slipped and fell on the polished wood floors.
The table of Slytherins erupted in laughter, and Lia saw the other students in the library look up curiously.
"Good one, Moon!" shrieked Pansy. "I didn't even have to try to humiliate you!"
"That should teach you, Mudblood," hissed Malfoy, glaring at her. "Your kind don't belong at our school...this is a sign...maybe you should just leave..."
Lia stared back at them, her eyes filling with tears. Malfoy was glaring at her viciously, a terrible smile on his pale face; Crabbe and Goyle were guffawing; Pansy and the other girl were giggling loudly. Nott was staring at Lia, a sneer on his face. Lia fought back her tears, desperately willing them to stop.
"Didn't you hear us, Mudblood?" said Pansy. "We told you to leave! Get out!"
Lia got to her feet, brushing off her skirt and grazed knees, and wiping her eyes.
"Oh look," said Daphne Greengrass, in an exaggeratedly sympathetic voice. "She's crying! Isn't that sad, Theo?" She elbowed Nott forcefully.
"Yeah, too bad," he said, still sneering at Lia. "Teaches her a lesson, it does. Draco, we need to get moving with Chapter Forty-Three..."
He waved his parchment in Malfoy's face, but Malfoy glanced at it dismissively. "Come on, Theo, can't you ever think about anything other than studying? We're in the middle of chatting with the Mudblood!" He turned back to Lia. "You know," he said in a low voice, "things are changing around here. Soon, dirt like you are really going to have to watch your backs...wouldn't want to end up with the same fate as your disgusting Muggle aunt and uncle, would you now?"
Lia felt her tearful humiliation immediately replaced by fury. No...they were not going to bring this up...not even they were that low...
"Shut up, Malfoy," she said.
He snickered, exchanging glances with the others. Pansy and Daphne burst into vicious giggles. "Don't think we don't know about your filthy relatives," continued Malfoy, his eyes glittering. "If you ask me, they deserved what they got...the Dark Lord always knows best-"
"Shut up, Malfoy! Don't you dare speak about my aunt and uncle! You-know-who is a disgusting, horrible, murderer!" Lia's tears were spilling freely now, her face red.
"We really need to get a move on with this Transfiguration," said Nott.
"You know what? You lot are all like him," said Lia, wiping her tears. "It makes sense that you idolize him, because you're all disgusting, stupid, malicious-"
"Shut up, Moon!" said Nott, glaring at Lia. "Get out of here!"
Crabbe and Goyle stood up, knocking over their chairs and cracking their knuckles menacingly. Nott stood up too, but he seemed to be directing his attention to Crabbe and Goyle.
"Shut your mouth, you filthy Mudblood," hissed Malfoy.
Lia whipped out her wand, staring steadily at Malfoy and his gang. "Call me that again, Malfoy," she said.
"Going to try and use magic, are you?" shouted Malfoy, getting to his feet and taking out his own wand. "Well I'll show you what real magic is like-"
Suddenly, there was the sound of several footsteps around Lia and a chorus of loud voices.
"Shove off, Malfoy!" boomed Harry Potter's voice. He was standing next to Lia, his wand also out.
"Leave her alone, all of you!" shouted Hermione Granger. "She hasn't done anything to you!"
"Oh, look, it's her bodyguards!" shrieked Pansy.
"We told you to leave her alone!" said Hannah Abbott. Lia saw that Hannah, Ernie, Justin, and Zacharias were all standing there, glaring at the Slytherins. Not far behind them were Michael Corner, Terry Boot, and Anthony Goldstein.
The Slytherins' bravado seemed to lessen a bit as they stared around at the small crowd, most of whom had their wands pointed at the Slytherin table.
"We're not scared of your little army of Mudbloods and Half-breeds," said Malfoy, his pale eyes narrowed in hatred.
Suddenly-
"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS GOING ON HERE?" Madame Pince was standing there, her chest heaving with fury. Lia saw that a small vein in the side of Madame Pince's throat was pulsating dangerously.
No one said a word.
"OUT! OUT! ALL OF YOU! I'M GIVING YOU UNTIL THE COUNT OF FIVE TO GET OUT OF MY LIBRARY! ONE! TWO!"
Before she could go any further, everyone dashed to their tables, grabbed their things, and ran out of the library faster than a bunch of rogue Bludgers.
That evening, the showdown in the library was all anyone and everyone could talk about. In the Hufflepuff Common Room after dinner, people were coming up to Lia as she sat in a corner, finishing up her Ancient Runes homework, and asking her countless questions about what exactly had happened. Finally, at around eleven o'clock, the younger students had all gone up to bed, and the only people left in the room besides Lia were Hannah, Ernie, and Justin, who were sitting at a table near the fire and talking in low voices.
"Juliette," came Hannah's voice awhile later. Lia looked up and saw the three of them standing in front of her table, all looking rather nervous. "Er, could we sit down, Juliette?"
"Er, sure..."
Ernie and Justin pulled up chairs and the three of them sat down, staring at her expectantly. Lia blinked. What were the smartest, most popular fifth-years in her House doing approaching her? For five years, they'd never been mean to her or anything like that, but they'd also never expressed any desire to be friends with her...
Hannah smiled nervously. "Juliette, we just wanted to say that we're really amazed at how you handled the Slytherins in the library today. We're - we're proud of you."
"Yeah," said Ernie awkwardly-an amazing fact itself, because in five years, Lia had never seen Ernie do anything awkwardly. "Proud that you're in Hufflepuff. Oh, Zacharias told us to tell you that he's proud, too."
Lia bit her lip, trying not to laugh. "Er - thanks, but you lot really helped me out...you didn't have to, but you did."
Hannah, Ernie, and Justin grinned at her. She grinned back. Their crowd wasn't really all that clique-ish and elitist; in fact, they were really rather decent.
When she went up to her dormitory for bed later that night, most of the unpleasant thoughts of the incident at the library had been banished from her head and replaced by worries about the painting Lia had yet to start for Dumbledore - well, almost all the thoughts. As much as she tried, Lia could not understand how Theodore Nott, whom she had been starting to actually like, could have been so utterly callous at the library and had not bothered to say a word in her defense. On the contrary, he had sneered at her along with all his Slytherin comrades and taunted her until she was reduced to tears. Lia turned over on her side, vowing never to speak to him ever again.