August 12, 1992

"Did you get your letter today too?"

"Mmhmm."

"Did you see all those books by Lockhart?"

"Yeah. Henry says I don't need to get those though."

"Why not?" Draco was worried. Ivy wasn't dropping out of that class or anything, was she?

"He said they're just stories and won't help me learn anything."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I can share my other books with you if you want."

"Well what did you get then?"

"Oh, I haven't gotten anything yet. We're going next week. But Henry had a couple books in the library that he said I could take with me to learn the second year spells."

"But you already know most of them."

"Only the good ones."

"True. I suppose you'll have to learn the boring ones still though."

Ivy sighed. "I suppose so."

Narcissa watched the two children talking, not at all planning out their future wedding. But if that did happen she would be well prepared. Preparation was key, after all.

"Ivy dear," she eventually said, interrupting the children who had changed topics and were now discussing the plants they most wanted to ask the Longbottom boy about, "could I speak with you for a moment? Your uncle had something he asked me to discuss with you."

"Oh, sure Lady Malfoy."

"Call me Narcissa, dear."

Harry bounced his leg a little as he waited for Narcissa to finish talking with Ivy. Did it really have to take so long? He had thought it'd be five, maybe ten minutes tops, but they had been in there for over an hour. Surely there wasn't that much that Ivy needed to know, was there? Of course, he didn't have that much experience with "The Talk." He had picked up things from his roommates, and had had one very awkward conversation with Neville that need not ever be repeated or thought about for the rest of time, but that had pretty much been it. Still, he felt he understood things well enough. So why was it taking so long?

Finally, the two emerged. Ivy was smiling and Narcissa was smirking (elegantly, of course, since she was very likely incapable of doing anything otherwise).

"So, how did it go?" Harry asked with slight trepidation.

"It was brilliant! Narcissa showed me all kinds of spells…"

Oh no. No, no, nonononono. Abort. Grab the time turner… Go find a time turner…

"…to use if a boy annoys me."

Oh. That was better.

"What kind of spells, sweetheart?" Sirius asked.

Ivy tilted her head. "Well, I can't remember what they all do exactly. By the way, what does castration mean?"

Harry choked on air and discreetly crossed his legs, noticing Sirius and Lucius doing the same.

He was vaguely aware of Narcissa asking if they wanted her to explain anything else, but thankfully Sirius was able to squeak out a "that's fine," making it not entirely necessary for Harry to answer as well.

He supposed that was one way to go about it.

August 19, 1992

"You managed to pick the one day…"

"Well it's not like I remember the exact dates of everything I ever did in my life."

It was unfortunate, though, that Harry hadn't remembered this particular date. Somewhere in the vast multiverse there someone was laughing their head off. Why? Because out of all the days he they could have possibly brought Ivy school shopping, it had to be the day of the book signing. Lockhart. The fight. The diary, although Harry knew that wouldn't be an issue now. Hmm. How how Lucius taken the discovery of the missing diary, he wondered…

Still, he would be paying very close attention. Just because the diary wasn't on hand didn't mean Malfoy wouldn't try slipping something else to Ginny.

Oh, and there they went. Arthur and Lucius, fighting in the middle of the bookstore. He probably ought to do something about that. Oops. Look like someone else had already broken it up. Looks like he didn't need to get involved after all. Shame.

In his determination to keep a close eye on the Malfoy-Weasley interactions, he had somehow lost track of Ivy. He didn't actually realize this until he heard her name called out loudly by none other than Gilderoy Lockhart. Harry sighed. He had really hoped to avoid all this, even when he had realized what day it was.

He gradually made his way over to where the book signing was taking place, and just as he was almost there something caught his eye. He saw Lockhart's hand resting on Ivy's shoulder and noticed how it lingered just a little too long. He saw him glance down at Ivy with a look in his eye that made Harry instantly sick. He saw red, and pushed his way through to Ivy, ignoring both the whispers and the exclamations as he pulled her quickly away. He nearly ran into Sirius who gave him a concerned look, but Harry just shook his head, silently promising Sirius that he would explain later. Sirius obviously understood, because he just nodded and helped them to a deserted corner.

"Is everything okay?" Ivy whispered frantically.

"I'm so sorry, Ives. I lost track of you for just a moment and I…"

"I'm okay. But what's going on?"

"Sorry sweetie." Ivy stiffened slightly. "I'll explain later. Just promise me you'll stick right by Sirius or I for now, okay?"

Ivy nodded, though she still looked concerned. Harry couldn't do anything more to comfort her at the moment. Sirius, likely sensing Harry's distress, offered to take Ivy to go finish getting her books. Harry nodded thankfully at Sirius.

What on earth was going on? Was he just imagining things? It certainly didn't feel like he was. And if he had seen what he was pretty sure he had seen, did that mean it had been the same in his world? Harry felt sick all over again at the thought.

His reaction to Ivy standing by Lockhart had drawn a great deal of attention, but he was in no mood to pay it any heed. He glared at a few people who looked like they were about to approach him, and thankfully no one appeared brave enough to confront the obviously upset Lord Peverell. He supposed that the name was good for something sometimes after all.

Seeing the Weasleys exiting the store, he made a snap decision.

"Percy," he said, chasing after the bunch, "could I talk to you for a second?"

The teenager looked surprised but agreed. Harry led them off to a small alcove and put up several privacy charms, ignoring the startled look on Percy's face.

"Is everything alright?"

"No. I mean, yes. I… I don't know. Look, I just wanted to ask you to look out for your sister this year. And Ivy, if you could. Actually, all the girls. All the younger years in general. Just, keep an eye on them. And whatever happens, don't let anyone in detention with Lockhart."

Harry said the last part with such vehemence that Percy took a small step back.

"Is there something wrong with him?"

Harry sighed. "I don't know for sure. It was just that while we were in there, the look he gave Ivy… Maybe it's nothing, but I really don't want to risk it."

"You think he's a…"

Harry nodded grimly and Percy's face went pale.

"I'll contact Professor Snape as Ivy's head of house and share my concerns, but if you could keep a close eye on things, maybe enlist the help of some others."

Percy nodded vigorously. "Of course. But wouldn't someone know? I mean, if he is like that, wouldn't Dumbledore or someone know that?"

Harry shook his head. "People are really good at hiding what they want hidden. Add to that a talent for memory charms and…"

"What?"

Harry winced, not having intended on letting that part slip. "I believe he may not have been… entirely truthful in the tales of his exploits. All it takes is a well-placed memory charm to take credit for something someone else did. And if you can obliviate someone of their memories defeating a troll or vampire or whatever else…"

"You could obliviate other memories easily," Percy finished, eyes going wide.

Harry nodded, his face hardened. "I'll do my best to sort it out, but please just keep an eye on things," he pleaded.

"Of course I will, you have my word."

"Thanks Percy. You're a good man." Harry noticed the way Percy stood up a little straighter at that and allowed a small smile to cross his face. He knew Percy would do everything in his power to keep Ivy, Ginny, and the other students safe. Now he just needed to make sure he did the same.

Sirius slammed his fist on the table. "You can't seriously be considering letting him in the same building as her."

"What do you want me to do? I have no proof and he's already been hired!"

"Then deal with him before the school year starts."

"I can't kill everyone that might possibly pose a threat to Ivy. I'll write Snape, and talk to Lucius. He's on the Board of Governors, so he might have some ability to change things."

"That will take far too long and you know it," Sirius yelled, shoving his finger at Harry. "Why can't you just deal with it now?"

"You know why! You know damn well why," he cried.

The anger seemed to dissipate out of Sirius and he collapsed on the sofa. "What do we do?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Harry looked at Remus, but the latter was still staring at the ground, jaw clenched and fingers twitching just slightly. Harry sighed. "I don't know. I don't know what to do."

The three men sat in silence for several minutes before Remus abruptly raised his head.

"What happened in your world?"

"What?"

"What happened in your world," Remus repeated. "With Lockhart. Were there ever any signs of…" He waved his hand. "This?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I… He was a terrible teacher," Harry said with a dry huff. "But I don't remember him ever…" Except that was the thing, wasn't it. He didn't remember. Those long detentions that seemed to just fly by, leaving him wondering where the time had gone…

Harry didn't even make it out of the room before he lost the contents of his stomach.

August 25, 1992

Severus dropped his head into his hands. He was really regretting not pressing Lucius for an introduction with Lord Peverell. Sure, Lucius, and even Narcissa, had supplied him with some useful information, but for some reason he had been unable to bring himself to attempt to meet the man. To be completely honest with himself, which wasn't one of his preferred activities, everything he knew about the man set him on edge, the most recent discovery most especially.

Oh yes, he knew that Lord Peverell was also Lord Slytherin. Severus could understand why the man hadn't advertised that fact, given both his notorious reluctance to present himself in public and the negative connotation the title held among many, but Severus wasn't sure if he was simply biding his time or if Peverell simply sought anonymity from the gossips that plagued society.

Subtle inquiries had revealed that neither Lucius nor Albus were aware of this second title, which made Severus suspect that it might be a more recent acquisition. One that coincided uncomfortably with the disappearance of the Dark Lord's mark. Severus had witnessed too much in his lifetime to be a believer in coincidences, and even if he were not prone to the same conspiracy theory tendencies as the headmaster, he couldn't help but feel that there was some connection between the disappearance of the dark mark and Peverell, and he was nearly positive it went beyond Ivy Potter's supposed confrontation with the Dark Lord, a story only Albus seemed inclined to recite.

Even Potter herself had not confirmed the entire story, only saying that Quirrell was possessed and was seeking the stone. At least that left Severus slightly more at ease at the thought that he might have a few less murder attempts to stop this year, though Severus wasn't to get his hopes up just yet.

This entire situation was a mess, and three people seemed to be at the center of it all. And surprisingly, the Dark Lord was not one of them, despite Albus's assertions.

No, the three people this entire mysterious mess seemed to center on was Ivy Potter, Lord Peverell, and Albus Dumbledore. One of them was barely twelve, one of them was powerful, far past his prime, and prone to conspiracy theories, and the other was still a mystery with disturbing similarities to the Dark Lord.

Severus groaned. Albus's recent probes for information and not-entirely-subtle inquiries made a bit more sense now. Of course Albus had seen the similarities, even if he was likely still unaware of the Lord Slytherin connection. The Parselmouth connection was obvious, but there were other similarities that Severus could only guess Albus had picked up on. Both had seemed to appear out of nowhere, both were reported to be extremely powerful, both seemed to be well informed of everything that was going on… But there were differences too that were too great to ignore. Peverell had not involved himself directly in politics up to this point, nor had he done anything to ingratiate himself to anyone who was an active participant. In fact, his only direct dealing with Wizarding society seemed to have come at his involvement with Black's release form Azkaban. He had held a massive event at his house that had been the topic of everyone's gossip ever since, but that appeared to be a singular event that, if Narcissa was to be believed, and she usually was, hadn't actually been planned by Peverell himself. How you accidentally end up with five hundred people at your house was beyond Severus's comprehension, but then again he had had the entire last school year to get to know Ivy Potter so perhaps the idea wasn't so out there after all.

And even if he did seem to know everything that was going on at any given time…

With the exception of Black's release, Severus was only aware of Peverell ever alerting others to what was taking place. And not just anyone, either. No, he seemed to know exactly who to contact to resolve any particular issue he found.

And apparently he thought Severus was the one to contact with issues regarding his… whatever Potter was to him. She called him her uncle, and he had apparently referred to her as his daughter, so obviously that meant it was slightly complicated and not worth Severus contemplating longer than absolutely necessary right now.

And so Severus was brought back to the original reason he had dropped his head into his hands and begun his internal monologue.

Lord Peverell apparently thought, either due to his status as Potter's head of house or perhaps for some as of yet unknown reason, that Severus was the person to contact to express his…concerns. That seemed a bit of an understatement for what Peverell had written, but there it was.

Peverell had concerns, and now Severus had concerns, and now there was only a week until students arrived and he would be faced with the subject of said concerns.

Why was it always the defense professor? Severus had never understood why Albus hadn't ever bothered to get rid of the purported curse on the position. Yes, it technically hadn't ever been confirmed that there was indeed a curse, but only an idiot would think it just a coincidence that all the defense professors over the last several decades had only ever managed to last a single year.

Severus grimaced. No wonder Albus had resorted to hiring this… honestly, anything Severus could say at the moment was bound to be far too complimentary towards the newest trier of fate, Peverell's suspicions aside. And if Peverell's suspicions turned out to be accurate, which Severus had an uncomfortable feeling in the region of his internal organs that he might be, then that was all the more reason to think ill of the man.

Of course, Quirrell had ended up dead, so maybe there was still hope. Now if could just happen sooner, rather than wait until the end of the year…

September 1, 1992

Ivy sat alone in her compartment. She felt a little bad for putting up several wards and spells she wasn't technically supposed to know yet, but she needed some time to think.

Henry was acting weird, and she didn't like it. Something was up, as had been obvious ever since the bookshop, but today the weirdness had been taken to a whole new level. Sure, it was cool that he told her the entrance to the chamber of secrets and the fact that there was a giant basilisk living there, but it wasn't like Henry to say stuff like that. Usually, he was all like, "no bringing a dragon home, Ivy," or "no you can't ride a thunderbird to Mexico," or "no I'm not going to adopt an occamy, no matter how cute it is."

So it wasn't that she was complaining at the prospect of meeting a basilisk or anything, because she wasn't, it was just that for Henry to be the one to suggest it seemed a little out of character for him.

He had also wanted her not to be alone with the new defense professor, and if she was given any detentions she was to go to her head of house right away. Ivy wondered what a…what was it Remus had called him again? Oh, a paedophile. That's right. What one of those was doing as a teacher. Still, Henry had promised he would take of it, so she wasn't all that worried. And his request had seemed reasonable enough, but that's when Harry had done the whole "by the way there's a huge basilisk under the school in the chamber of secrets and the entrance in the girls' bathroom the Myrtle lives in and you go through the sink and make sure you remember where it's at, alright? Just in case" thing.

Just in case of what? Ivy wasn't sure. Maybe in case she got bored or something? It would certainly be fun to have another snake to talk to. Tiger would probably enjoy it too.

While Ivy was busy contemplating life in the relative peace and quiet that she had felt befitted the situation, other passengers on the train who she had forgotten to inform of her whereabouts were experiencing varying degrees of panic.

Oliver was worried because he had wanted to get her confirmation that she would be doing the quidditch team before they got to Hogwarts, just so she wouldn't forget.

Marcus had a similar worry, but was slightly more concerned because it was his team she would be playing for.

Percy was worried because last time he had left her unsupervised on a train she had somehow managed to nearly land a fifth year in the hospital.

Thomas was worried because he hadn't gotten a chance to ask her about the books she had with her, and, more importantly, if he could borrow the more… interesting ones. For an indefinite amount of time. Perhaps until she graduated.

Fred and George were worried because they thought she might have had an incredible idea that she was enacting on her own, without them, which of course she would never do, but still…

Draco was worried because he thought she might have finally been stolen away completely by the Gryffindors.

Neville was worried because he wasn't sure if Ivy was upset he hadn't been able to go to her birthday party.

Hermione was upset because she had wanted to try a couple spells before they reached Hogwarts and no one else was willing to be a guinea pig for some reason.

Ron was worried because Percy was worried and that meant somehow Percy felt the need to sit by him and ask him questions about school. School hadn't even started, so Ron felt this was entirely unnecessary.

Ginny was worried because she really wanted to be friends with Ivy but now wasn't sure if Ivy would want to be her friend after all.

Pansy was upset because no one else was interested in hearing about her summer, and she had already told Draco, leaving Ivy as the best person left to tell.

The remaining second year Slytherins weren't worried, mostly because they were divided into a few different compartments and they all assumed Ivy was in one of the others.

Luna Lovegood wasn't worried either, but she mostly didn't understand why no one had just gone into Ivy Potter's compartment if they were all so worried about her. Maybe they just hadn't looked hard enough.

Ivy started at the sound of someone knocking on the compartment door. Maybe she had done one of the spells wrong? It was two hours into the train ride to Hogwarts and no one had come so far. She had honestly meant to go find her friends by now, but she had gotten distracted talking to Tiger and making a list of books she thought Thomas would like that were in the Hogwarts library. It seemed only fair since he was always recommending new books to her. Of course, he had been there a lot longer so he might have already read some of them, but a few of them Ivy was fairly certain no one had checked out for at least a decade or two so those were a fair bet.

Ivy got up and opened the compartment door.

"Hello, Ivy Potter," the girl standing in front of her said, smiling. "People are worrying about you, you know."

"Oh, sorry, I got distracted."

"Oh, that's alright. I don't mind."

"Well, would you like to come in then?"

The girl came in and introduced herself as Luna Lovegood.

"That's a very pretty name," Ivy said.

"Thank you. My parents gave it to me," she said matter-of-factly.

Ivy grinned. "And I guess you already figured out my name. So is this your first year? I don't remember seeing you before."

"Yes. I'm going to be in Ravenclaw."

"Are you sure? I wanted to be in Hufflepuff but the hat wouldn't let me." Ivy gasped and held her hand up to her mouth. "Oops. I forgot I'm not supposed to tell people about the hat."

"Oh, it's alright. I already knew."

Ivy breathed a sigh of relief. "So, how do you know you'll be in Ravenclaw?"

"That's the house that I fit best in," Luna replied.

"Hmm. Well if not you could always come to Slytherin with me."

"That's nice of you. I think that might make your uncle's eye twitch though."

Ivy inhaled sharply in surprise. "You know Uncle Henry?"

"We met," Luna said. "He took me for ice cream on my birthday."

"And he didn't even tell me," Ivy said, scowling. "We could have been friends for… When is your birthday?"

"February 13th."

"We could have been friends for months already."

"We can be friends now, if you like."

Ivy beamed. "Yes, please."

Luna smiled widely. "I was so looking forward to having a friend."

"Perfect. I have a good feeling about this."

"Hi everyone, this is my new friend Luna."

Neville looked up in relief at Ivy and her new friend. Finally. One other person who wasn't a Slytherin. Or at least, not yet. Not that he had anything against Slytherins, but they were a little more on the intense side at times. At first, it had just been Millie, which was fine, but then Nott had come in and made himself at home, and then Draco had come looking for Ivy but declared himself bored and had joined as well. Pansy had come a bit later, looking for Lavender and Parvati, but had decided she would find them later. Finally, the two Slytherins whose names Neville could never put to the right face joined in, and he found himself vastly outnumbered in what was once more or less his compartment. Again, not that it was a problem, but that didn't mean he minded seeing Ivy and a non-Slytherin. Plus, Ivy had been declared an honorary Hufflepuff, so she kind of counted too.

Luna turned out to be an interesting girl. He had no idea what she was talking about, but she was nice and said she hoped they could be friends too.

Neville didn't think he'd mind that all that much.

Thomas exhaled loudly as he slumped in his seat. The last forty minutes or so had been particularly trying and he hadn't even gotten around to asking her about the books. And did his fellow students really have to be that dense sometimes? Was their memory really that short? Did they really not remember what happened last time someone insulted one of Ivy's friends on the train?

At least Corvin seemed to remember, so that was something at least. He hadn't made a peep. No, today's problem idiots were a couple of girls who had been flirting with the sixth year Slytherins boys before Ivy made her appearance, odd little first year in tow.

The girls obviously hadn't appreciated being interrupted by the younger students, and upon learning Lovegood's name had begun making some not so subtle jibes and insults. Apparently, her father ran the um… alternative newspaper, and they somehow took offence to that. Well, he supposed there was a reason they weren't in Slytherin then.

Ivy had immediately gone on the defensive, and seeing Tiger poke his head out Thomas had decided it was an excellent time to intervene. He had (loudly) offered to take the two girls around to go meet up with some more people but had ended up escorting them through practically the entire train, stopping at any compartment that had some of Ivy's friends in it (which if she kept this up was liable to get her elected Minister by default), so that she could introduce Luna Lovegood. Thomas was not at all ignorant of the sneers and scowls many students sent Lovegood's way, but to his relief none of the second years appeared to be bothered by her presence at all. The last thing he needed in his life was a literal war starting amongst the second years, because if some of them had insulted Ivy's friend there would likely be bloodshed by the end. Or by tonight, to be completely honest.

At least with the other students, they were unlikely to be in as close contact with either girl on a regular basis, which meant less opportunity to potentially initiate a disaster.

Finally, he had seen Ivy and Lovegood to a compartment where it appeared they were content to stay, and he had made his way back to his own compartment relieved that he had prevented any serious injury from occurring.

Upon his arrival, he had immediately slumped into his seat, which is where he remained at the moment.

"Hey, uh, is everything alright then?"

Thomas glanced up at Corvin, who looked a little worried. Probably wondering if anyone had suffered like he had last school year. "Yeah, everything's fine. Disaster averted."

Corvin breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good. That's good. Sorry about them, I didn't know they'd be so…"

"Rude?"

Corvin winced. "Yeah."

Thomas sighed. "It wasn't just them. A lot of the other students gave the kid looks as we walked by."

Corvin swore under his breath.

"Yeah. We're going to have a problem."

"Meeting time?"

Thomas nodded. "I'll find Marcus."

"I'll find Kenneth."

"I'll… stay right here," Eric said. Thomas had honestly forgotten he was even there.

"Sorry, you want me to what?"

"Watch out for Luna Lovegood."

"Okay… And we're doing this because…"

"Because she's Ivy's friend and some people are idiots."

Kenneth ahh'd and nodded in understanding. "Got it. So Slytherin is going to go out of its way to be super nice to a first year who probably isn't even going to be in our house because a second year is her friend and may destroy anyone who acts otherwise?"

All the other sixth year boys nodded.

"Alright then. Glad to have cleared that up. I take it we're to spread the word?"

Thomas nodded alone this time. "Yeah, might be good to do it sooner than later."

"I'll take the prefects," Kenneth said, standing.

"And the first years we get," Thomas added.

Kenneth rolled his eyes. "And the first years. Anything else?"

Thomas shook his head.

Kenneth rolled his eyes one more time and left.

"I've got the fourth and fifth years covered. Don't worry about them," Marcus said with a smirk. Thomas didn't want to know.

"Alright, second years should all be fine already, so we've just got third years and seventh."

"And the girls," Eric piped up. "I'll go do that."

Thomas rolled his eyes. For being a sixth year Eric sure was acting like he had just discovered girls or something.

"I'd better go make sure he doesn't…"

"Put his foot in his mouth?"

Corvin nodded. "Yeah. Or on someone's face."

Thomas watched Corvin follow Eric out feeling slightly bewildered. Ultimately, he decided that he once again really did not want to know.

"Hey Ivy, can we borrow Tiger?"

Ginny's eyes grew wide at the sight of the snake emerging from Ivy's robes. She held her breath as the two Slytherin girls took the snake happily and only let it out when the compartment door was firmly shut again.

"Ivy, I need to talk to you about something."

She started. She hadn't noticed the boy coming in. Ivy nodded and followed him out of the compartment, leaving Ginny alone with Luna.

"I think we'll all be great friends," Luna said.

Ginny smiled. She hoped so.

"Okay, what do you need to talk to me about?"

"Sirius."

Ivy quirked her eyebrow at Blaise. "Why?"

"He's not a… you know…"

Ivy just stared at him.

Blaise sighed. "He's not like, a bad person, is he?"

Ivy frowned. "Of course not. Haven't you met him?"

"Yeah, but Mum's dating him and I think things are kind of serious." Ivy burst out laughing and Blaise groaned. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, I think he's great. Do you not like him or something?"

"Oh no, I do. I like him a lot. I was just worried…"

"That he might go the way of the other ones?"

Blaise winced and nodded. Ivy knew he didn't like talking about his stepfathers, but she also knew that they weren't exactly the best people in the world. And that his mum had known that and had, er, taken care of it.

"Well, I think he's great. And he seems to really like your mum. Remember when we all came over and they didn't hear us for ten minutes?"

Blaise grinned. "Pretty sure it was at least fifteen."

Ivy rolled her eyes. "You could practically see the hearts coming out of their eyes."

"So gross," Blaise said, scrunching his nose.

Ivy mimicked the expression. "Agreed. Now I just need to find someone for Henry to make heart eyes at."

"You still working on that?"

"Yes," Ivy sighed. "But I haven't found anyone."

Blaise nodded gravely. "Maybe I can help you."

"Thanks!" Ivy said, grinning. She started to walk off. "Hey, you know, if Sirius and your mum get married, then you can be my brother too!" She said as she headed down the train.

Blaise grinned. He'd always wanted a… well he'd wanted a brother, but he supposed a sister would do, and Ivy was pretty great. Then his face fell. "Wait, what do you mean too?"

Ivy didn't answer him. He started to run after her.

"Who else is your brother? I thought you were an only child?"

Oliver barely caught Ivy as she came barreling past him, some other boy chasing after her and yelling about being an only child. Perfect. Just who he wanted to see.

Twenty minutes later he was beginning to sweat nervously. She couldn't be serious, could she? Was it time to call in the reinforcements? He knew the exact compartments of every member of his team, and he could go find Marcus and have him join in. That might be more effective. But really, was she seriously contemplating not playing?

She stared him down for a minute and then burst out laughing.

"I'm just kidding. I'll play if you guys really want me to."

Oliver grinned.

"Hey! Slytherin's got a new seeker!"

Percy stared at Oliver Wood practically skipping down the hallway and shouting out the news with far too much enthusiasm to be considered healthy. It had to be Ivy. There was no other reason why Oliver would be so excited about that.

And hey, that meant that someone at least had their eye on her. All was well.

Percy heard a crash from the compartment at the end and reevaluated his statement.

"What's going on in here?"

Percy looked at the two little second year girls and the terrified third year boys. Something had obviously happened, but the Slytherins seemed unwilling to divulge anything. The girls were the picture of innocence, but Percy had siblings so was not fooled for a moment.

A year ago he would have pressed the matter and demanded that someone explain to him exactly what was going on so he, as a prefect, could handle it. That was a year ago. Now, he made sure there was no blood, asked one last time if everything was alright, and left, figuring that nobody seemed seriously injured and if they were there were other prefects who could handle it.

After all, Oliver had presumably left Ivy, so he really ought to go check. Just to be safe.

"And if you ever say something like that to Tracey again I'll let Tiger lick your eyeballs instead of your face. Got it, Linus Claridge?"

The boy in question nodded vigorously and Daphne straightened up. She and Tracey both stalked out, waiting until the door was stalled shut to start cooing at Tiger and lavishing their praises on him.

"You know I could have done that myself," said Tracey.

"Yes, but it was my turn to yell at Claridge."

"Shouldn't I get more turns, since I'm the one he keeps being mean to?"

Daphne frowned. "I guess that would be fair." She pouted. "But then who am I going to get to stick Tiger on?"

"I'm sure we can find someone," Tracey said with a shrug.

The girls shared a grin. "Has anyone been particularly stupid yet?" Daphne asked.

"Let's go ask Pansy."

Marcus watched as a few screaming fourth year girls ran out of their compartments. Deciding it was not his problem since Ivy wasn't there and no one had died, he continued making his way back to his original compartment. He had impressed upon every member of his team the importance of not doing anything that would distract Ivy from quidditch, which, in this case, meant being really nice to a little blond first year named Luna Lovegood. They had wondered out loud what she had to do with anything at all, but Marcus felt he had adequately explained that Lovegood was Ivy's friend, and being mean to Ivy's friend meant making Ivy upset, and upset Ivy would be distracted, and that meant less quidditch time, which was a big no-no and would be dealt with accordingly. He reminded them of last year's events and each seemed to grasp the importance of the situation. Finally, having secured their promises to do absolutely nothing to endanger their quidditch prospects this year, Marcus left contented. This was going to be the year. He was going to absolutely crush Oliver Wood and win the cup by the largest margin in a century.

Speaking of Oliver, he really ought to go find him so they could finalize their schedule for flying with Ivy.