I couldn't help but laugh. Tiffany's appearance had instantly defused whatever weird standoff had happened between me and Lockhart and Hestia. The sheer randomness of her arrival just obliterated all the tension. Which was good news, because I had a feeling this was going to turn into a fight and, even more galling, I still have no clue why. Why did Lockhart get so worked up over Obliviation? Maybe he had a relative who'd been Obliviated or maybe he'd once been one of the Obliviators himself before pursuing a career in writing. We'll never know, because I didn't get any more answers. Instead, Tiffany did a little twirl. It was honestly adorable. The contrast between her and her terrifying previous form is just amazing.

"Tiffany Dumbledore at your service," Tiffany said with a roguish grin. I couldn't help but have my mouth drop open at the bloody brazen lie I was hearing. Even by my standards – I don't lie often but when I do, it tends to be outrageous – that was a hell of a whopper. It was a good lie too, considering Dumbledore was too senile to refute it.

Hestia fixed her with a deadpan stare. "You're telling me that you're Albus Dumbledore's…what, granddaughter? Great-granddaughter? The well-known gay Albus Dumbledore?" Dumbledore was so open about his gayness and so revered he managed to get gay marriage legalized in the magical world in 1989.

Tiffany laughed. "Heavens, no! His great-niece! Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus's brother, is my grandfather." Well, that was a more plausible lie, but still, what would happen if they checked it out with Aberforth?

"I didn't even know Dumbledore had a brother," Lockhart remarked.

"He does," Hestia said absently. "He runs the Hog's Head." She studied Tiffany closely, looking for a family resemblance.

Tiffany raised a hand. "I think I should mention at this point I was adopted," she said. I marveled at what I was seeing. This was the closest thing I'd ever see – any of us would ever see – to watching the legendary Slytherin at work. The ultimate in cunning. "Anyways, Gramps never wanted me to attend Hogwarts while his brother was here – they still hate each other – but now that he's gone, Gramps finally gave in. So can I be sorted?"

Lockhart gave a brilliant smile. "Why, of course, Miss Dumbledore!" He grabbed the Sorting Hat off the shelf and put it on Tiffany's head. It took approximately fifteen seconds for it to sort her into Ravenclaw, contrary to both her family history and her own speculation. Tiffany looked shocked but not displeased. "There you go! Now to make sure there is no favoritism levied, I think it might behoove you to use a different name."

"I agree. How about Luihuinen? It's my mother's maiden name." I wondered if Luihuinen was really Mrs. Slytherin's maiden name. We know nothing about her, not even her first name, and certainly not her maiden name. Slytherin destroyed all records of her.

"Then welcome to Ravenclaw, Miss Luihuinen," Lockhart said. "Professor Flitwick will be your head of house. Hestia can lead you to –"

"I'll take care of it," I announced. "I know the way."

Hestia nodded and swept out of the room without another word. Tiffany gave me an encouraging smile and we walked off. For the first part of the walk to Ravenclaw Tower, we walked in silence. I didn't know what to say. My problems seemed so petty compared to Tiffany's. She'd spent a thousand years as a basilisk, for heaven's sake. My mother had just killed a few people. And dabbled in dark magic. And made an unholy alliance with the certifiably insane prime minister. And gotten my father killed by accident. Okay, there was a lot.

"Pence for your thoughts?" Tiffany asked.

I tilted my head. "What are you going to do when they ask Aberforth about you?"

"Nothing. I already bribed him to back up my story. Turns out he needs a new way of trolling people now that he can't impersonate Grindelwald on Dumbledore's Reddit posts. But that's not what you're really thinking about."

"It's my mum," I admitted. "I found these videos of her and she did…terrible things. Killed people. Tried to break out Grindelwald. Used dark magic to save me. She was insane and evil." I explained the contents of the videos to her in great detail.

Tiffany stopped in her tracks and regarded me with pity. "Oh, Harry. I wish I could say I'm surprised. But I'm not. Very disappointed, but not surprised. Lily was always on the edge of the line between genius and madness in school."

"I guess I should have seen it coming," I said. "But she's…we're so similar. The way we act, the way we speak, the way we'd do anything for our loved ones, the way we're so singularly focused on our goals."

"But you have Ron and Hermione, people to ground you," Tiffany reminded me. "Lily had Hestia and she had Severus, but they all encouraged each other's worst impulses. And James, well, James just acted like a lovestruck puppy. It was not a relationship of equals. Not like you with Ron and Hermione. They make you better. They reel you in when they have to and they let you be you when the rest of the world won't."

I was shocked and alarmed to find I was crying. I hate it when I cry in front of other people. It's not that I thought crying was unmanly or whatever like the Dursleys did; it's just that I don't like losing control in front of others. "You don't understand," I said, choking the words out.

"Yes, Harry," Tiffany said acidly. "Clearly I understand nothing about having a parent who everyone thinks is awesome but is actually a murderous psychopath."

I looked at the floor in shame. "Right, sorry. It's just…what if I lose Ron and Hermione. What's to stop me from becoming her?"

Tiffany put a hand on my shoulder. "You are. I've seen you. Even though it may not appear that way at first glance, you're one of the most moral people I know. You've accomplished extraordinary things, Harry. You've done more in the past two years than most people do in their entire lives." I beamed. Even though I have nothing but contempt for Slytherin the man now, I'm so attached to his house as part of my identity, getting praise from his daughter is an almost religious experience.

Tiffany now looked melancholy. "Besides, in a way, you're lucky. Lily loved you. She was insane, yes, and evil, but everything she did was about creating a better world for you. My father never loved me." Her hand twitched a little. "He only apologized to me once. He told me how sorry he was he'd treated me like crap. About what a good daughter I was and how foolish he'd been to not see it. Then he told me he wanted to do a ritual to transfer some of his magical strength to me to make up for it. By the time I realized the truth, it was too late – he'd turned me into the basilisk."

It was hard to know what to say to that. "I'm sorry, Tiffany. That's awful."

"It's over now," Tiffany said with a warm smile. "I'm moving on and restarting the life that was stolen from me. Besides, it's been simply amazing seeing how the Muggle world has changed in the last millennium. They've accomplished so much! Oh, hey, congrats on freeing Hermione! Saw it on your blog. I knew you could do it."

"It wasn't easy," I admitted. "I should have planned better. But it did work out in the end."

Tiffany gave me a nudge and a wink. "So when are you going to ask her out?"

"Valentine's Day," I said. Tiffany looked surprised I'd even come up with the guts to do it. "I think that's more than enough time and it's thematically appropriate."

"Well, all right! Let me know if you need help with the plans." She yawned. "Well, I've got to get to bed, meet my new classmates. See you around!"

Maybe Tiffany was right. Maybe my problems weren't as big as hers. Maybe my mum's crimes don't have to define me. I don't know. What I do know is I'm going to try my best to keep going as normal.

Well, as normal as I get, anyway.

Dear Mum and Dad,

It's me, your favorite (and, okay, only) daughter Ginny. After your last letter, I feel obliged to set the story straight. Whatever stories you may have heard about me sneaking into the Forbidden Forest to hunt monsters are completely false. I got permission from the headmaster go in! Actually, he was doing paperwork and appeared completely distracted when he said yes, yes, whatever to my open-ended request to gain indefinite access to the forest to hunt monsters. Okay, okay, fine, that's just a technicality. God, listen to me, I'm starting to sound like Ron or, worse, Percy.

Let me start over. I know you've been concerned about my actions this year. You might be asking yourself, why am I acting like some sort of barbarian? Well, it mostly comes down to Ron. Everyone's got so much to say about Ron. Ron stole the Philosopher's Stone, Ron fought Hagrid, Ron was almost killed by Dumbledore, Ron is Harry Potter's best friend. And Ron's a Slytherin! A Slytherin! I know Slytherins aren't evil, of course. But we're a family of Gryffindors and now not only Ron but Percy are Slytherins! That's why I promised myself I'd reverse this trend and be the most Gryffindor of all Gryffindors. To remind this world Gryffindor is the best house! And everyone knows Godric Gryffindor was a huge hunter of monsters. Besides, I was given the Sword of Gryffindor at the sorting, so it's kind of like a destiny thing, isn't it?

And then there's Harry Potter. I can't believe I once had a crush on that madman. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad person. He is, simply put, chaos incarnate. I don't even have the slightest clue what goes on in his head. All I know is he gets involved in insane stunts and to make matters worse, he drags my brother into it! Ron could have died multiple times last year! And just when I thought this year was going to calmer than the last, it turned out Hermione was possessed by You Know Who and she hurt most of the Slytherins in Ron's year before she was freed. (It would be a bookworm who got possessed by writing in a diary. I bet I would have resisted the temptation.) Ron was one of the only ones left uninjured, but he could have been killed!

So, yeah, I might be motivated a little bit by stealing the limelight from Harry. I'm convinced one of Harry's motivations (but not his only one) is that he likes the attention, so the less he gets of it, the fewer crazy things he'll be doing. At least, that's the theory. Also, the Forbidden Forest is so dangerous and now that I think about it, the grounds around a school shouldn't be that deadly. So I have been venturing into the forest so I can fight evil there. I know it's not what you want from your daughter, but I'm doing good work and helping people.

Despite resenting Harry, though, I still think he's a good person and maybe even a friend. Sometimes, I do see parts of him that are even appealing, though if I was romantically interested in him, I'd fail epically, since he only ever has eyes for Hermione on that front. While I don't mind to see him get taken down a peg, I don't want him to suffer, which is why I've been so concerned when he started acting…well, for lack of a better word, normally.

He doesn't run off mid conversation anymore or quote random Muggle songs and/or historical quotes or hop a little when he has to sit still for a prolonged period of time. He makes eye contact. He actually looks where he's going. And he looks utterly miserable doing all this. He looks like someone strangled his puppy in front of him. Hermione and Ron keep on trying to cheer him up, along with that new Ravenclaw student they're mysteriously thick as thieves with, but to no avail.

Of course, he's not the only one to be depressed lately. A lot of students seem to be stuck in a fog these days. The twins, in particular, haven't played a single prank or broke a single rule in ages. Everyone suspects the twins are just trying to lull people into complacency and are planning for something big. I'm not so sure. Every time I ask them what's wrong, they don't appear to know. They just know something is going on, but they don't know what. A part of me suspects foul play. But then again, I've seen them act like perfect angels for months in preparation for an epic prank – I'm sure we all remember their ninth birthday party. Though some of us dearly wish to forget…

It's probably not a big deal. Most people are doing fine. It's not like this is going on throughout the school. It's mostly just the troublemakers. Maybe security has been upped. Or maybe they're just depressed about all the changes Lockhart is making. Lockhart keeps saying he's going to get rid of the House system. And, you know, I don't think I noticed how much we define ourselves by our House until he brought it up. But still, I'm a proud Gryffindor – the wielder of his Sword. I don't want the houses to go away, but it might be better if we all branched out a little.

Professor Jones is…frankly, she's starting to disturb me. I'm starting to get a little scared. Not too scared, because if push comes to shove, I can still summon the Sword of Gryffindor to me and chop her head off, but…look, she's probably one of those dyed in the wool "Slytherins are all evil" types. I can't say I blame her very much, since she was an Auror in the war and pretty much all the Death Eaters (except for Sirius Black, of course) were Slytherins. We all know a lot of Death Eaters got away with it after the war and having to teach their children must suck. But there's still no excuse for her actions.

Since two of my brothers are Slytherins, I've been trying my best to make friends across the aisle, kinda. Well, I don't know if I'd call us friends, really, but I'm on good terms with Winnifred Aisling Isabella Fowler, as she insists on calling herself. Winnie (as I insist on calling her) can be a bit arrogant at times, but she's really nice and sweet where it counts, even though her parents were both Death Eaters. (They died in the war and she and her older brother were raised by their uncle.) She's no blood purist (she thinks everyone is inferior to her) and while she can be annoying at times – okay, most of the time, she's not a bad person.

But try telling Jones that! She picks on her all the time. If Winnie makes even the slightest mistake, Jones is on her like a ton of bricks! I understand the Fowler parents were really vile people. I asked Dad what they did and he went all pale and said it's not appropriate for young girls such as myself to know. But Winnie's not like that. She's good.

Jones doesn't believe that. Winnie tries to keep her head down and stop answering questions, but Jones keeps on asking her insanely difficult questions. If Winnie doesn't know the answer, Jones goes on a rant about how the real world isn't going to coddle you and how stupid she is and how evil Death Eaters like her parents could kill her in a flash. And if she does know the answer, Jones just accuses her of cheating.

But today in class, she crossed a line. A horrible, horrible line.

The thing is, Jones is a good teacher when she's not bullying Slytherins. And she can be pretty reasonable around the Slytherins sometimes too, just often enough to make her hatred come out of nowhere. So even though this has happened dozens of times in the past, it always seems to come as a surprise. We were talking about how to treat werewolf bites when Jones started talking about a story of how she was tracking down the notorious werewolf Fenrir Greyback and his accomplices – you guessed it – the Fowlers, when Winnie snapped. Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't do it sooner.

"Please stop it," Winnie begged her. "Please! I've heard enough stories about how evil my parents are. I get it, okay? This is cruel!"

Jones stalked over to her, fury lining the features of her face, and then, before my very eyes, not even caring that we were all watching, she smacked Winnie across the face hard enough to leave a bruise. She looked stunned at herself, looking at her hand with bewilderment. But her face very quickly hardened. "You do not speak to me like that in my own classroom. I do not answer to you, Death Eater filth. You're no better than your parents."

"Leave her alone!" I shouted. "Winnie didn't do anything to you!"

"I rejoiced when I killed them," Jones went on, to the gasps of everyone in class, "and one day, some Auror will probably end up rejoicing after killing you." She looked up and saw the horrified expressions on everyone's faces. "That is to say, if you don't follow the law and remember the tenets I've taught you in class."

But no one was fooled by this façade she'd tried to put back up. We all had seen behind her mask and everyone was horrified. Sure, there were a lot of Gryffindors who hated Slytherins. They'd have probably celebrated if Winnie had gotten detention or lost a ton of points. But this? This was just too far for even the worst of the jerks. Everyone must have been so stunned that they couldn't even think of walking out in protest. I know I sat through the rest of the class in a haze and, since it was my last class of the day, I convinced Winnie to speak to Lockhart. She would only go if I was there to back her up, so off I went alongside her.

Lockhart didn't look too surprised to see us somehow. I didn't even bother to let him get in a word of greeting before I explained what had happened in excruciating detail. Winnie didn't respond other than to nod in confirmation at various details. For someone who acts like she's top of the heap most of the time, she can get pretty shy whenever she has to deal with authority.

"This is very disturbing to hear, my dears," Lockhart said when I had finished. "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to punish Professor Jones."

"What?!" I screamed at him. "You coward! She hit a student! She admitted to committing murder!"

"Professor Jones did no such thing," Lockhart said sternly. "At least not the murder part. The Fowlers' deaths were the result of a legitimate war operation – she was cleared by a disciplinary panel. Whether or not those deaths were just or not is a different story, but they do not constitute murder."

Winnie pointed at the bruise still on her cheek. "And this?"

Lockhart sighed. "It puzzled me too. How can such things be permitted? After all, Dumbledore banned corporal punishment at the beginning of his tenure as headmaster. However, I believe I've discovered the answer to that conundrum. When Dumbledore was removed as headmaster, the board reversed all of his decisions out of fear his dementia factored into making them. That, unfortunately, included the ban against corporal punishment, which reverted our policies. Such an action was lamentably permissible under the rules, even though an unofficial ban against such things had stood since the end of World War I."

I stared at him. "Who cares about technicalities? She struck a student! You have to sack her!"

"Until she breaks the rules, Miss Weasley, I cannot do that. However, let me assure you I will be speaking of this incident with her." I rolled my eyes. Like that would help. "I also intend to close this loophole at the next meeting of the Board of Governors." Okay, that…would probably help a little. But still, maybe it wouldn't be enough! Maybe Jones would go even farther next time!

Winnie crossed her arms. "So there's nothing you can do?"

"Well…why don't each of you have thirty points for bringing this loophole to my attention?" Lockhart offered. I guess that made me feel better, but not much.

Lockhart's hands may be tied, but yours aren't. I need you to go to the Daily Prophet with this. They'd never listen to a student like me and it's against the rules to communicate with the press anyway. I want Jones out of this school before she can hurt anyone else.

Now as I was saying, I've recently taken to scouring the Forbidden Forest to hunt acromantulas with some friends of mine. Unkind people have called us a cult. Just because a group of people have a fancy name for themselves and carry out secret rituals (but not magical rituals, just ordinary rituals) in the dungeons and chant ominously and wear all concealing robes while they're doing it doesn't mean they're a cult. Not that we do any of this, no. The Nice, Immaculate, Meticulous, and Reasonable Order of the Destined are simply devoted to improving the safety, security, and happiness of all who surround us and we won't at all hunt down and destroy anyone who threatens to expose our secrets. Cross my heart and hope to die!

Yes, you did read that right about acromantulas, though. There's a huge infestation and even the centaurs are desperate enough to let us through their territory in order to get to them. According to the centaurs, Hagrid was the one who brought them to the school (what a surprise) and he was also the only thing holding them back. They've been periodically raiding the school and while the administration says Sally-Anne Perks transferred to Durmstrang and definitely wasn't eaten by an acromantula, the fact she disappeared without taking any of her belongings is…rather telling. Not to mention Durmstrang doesn't even take Muggleborns like Sally-Anne.

Harry is really good at destroying threats to the school and he's also been really, really down lately, so I logically thought the best thing to cheer him up would be to invite him to join us on a monster hunt. We were about to assault the main nest of the acromantulas. I also invited Ron and Hermione because it only seemed fair, but Ron of course is scared to death of spiders and Hermione thought our plan was "bloody mad." Which, fair, but she could have been more polite about it. So it was just me and Harry and the cultists under my command – er, I mean, my good friends who are totally equal to me and not swearing loyalty to me unto death in fealty ceremonies which totally don't involve blood oaths.

"Who's ready for a nice restful evening in the Forbidden Forest?" I asked.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!" my minions screamed in unison.

I gave a weak smile at Harry. "They're really sweet people when you get to know them."

"El maltemal, tey han de brahn mobbit," they chanted with eerie, haunting harmony. "Etare homentep…etare syristep…etare rame…rame tep…"

Harry gave them an odd look. "Did you steal that chant from Young Sherlock Holmes?"

"Maybe," one of my Muggleborn minions admitted. She looked at the floor and sighed. "Yes…"

Ignoring the lovable eccentricities of my friends, I strode confidently through the halls of Hogwarts, the Sword in my hand. The Sorting Hat was right about me being destined to wield it. I feel an all encompassing strength whenever I hold it, the sheer warrior spirit of Godric Gryffindor himself. I wonder if Dumbledore ever felt that way and whether it was that feeling which led him to fight against You Know Who. I certainly know if I ran into another dark lord, I'd happily duel him to the death.

It wasn't until we reached the edge of the forest when Harry started hesitating. "I don't know if this is a good idea," Harry said slowly, as if tasting the words on his tongue. I did a double take at hearing Harry advocate for caution. By the looks of it, he was just as surprised. "Maybe we should go back."

I looked him straight in the eye. "Okay, what is with you? I mean, okay, I get this isn't for everyone, but this is not like you. You're normally the one rushing into danger and chaos."

"And that got so many people hurt!" Harry shot back. "Draco only recently got out of the hospital. Any one of them could have been killed!"

"Oh, come off it, Harry," I sneered. "That's never stopped you before when you put my brother in danger. What's the real reason?"

Harry looked back towards my friends. "Don't worry," I told him. "My friends are sworn to secrecy."

"We will protect the Divine Huntress's secrets with our lives!" one of my friends screamed, spittle flying everywhere. Aw, isn't that sweet? That's the power of friendship and definitely not a botched loyalty oath.

Harry looked weirded out for a second, but then shrugged. "Look, I don't want to go into too much detail, cause it's none of your business. But I found out my mum did some…bad things. I'm worried I'm too much like her."

"Oh, is that why you've become boring?" another one of my friends said innocently.

Harry looked stricken. "I'm…boring?" He looked down at his hands as if expecting them to be covered with blood. "Oh my God. It's my worst fear come to life! I'm becoming normal! I'm like them!" Them, I presumed being the Dursleys. "I won't tolerate this. To arms! TO WAR!"

He ran forward and promptly tripped on a tree root. I couldn't help but grin. Harry was back to his old self again! "I meant to do that," he lied.

As we went through the centaur territory, we saw a lot of centaurs watching us suspiciously, waiting for us to step a toe out of line. Of course, we would do no such thing. I stand against monsters, not sentient beings who just wanted to be left alone. The acromantulas had placed themself in the monster category when they ate poor Sally-Anne. I would feel no guilt about their destruction.

It didn't take long until we had finally arrived. There were no more centaurs in sight and everything seemed much more ominous than normal. I could have sworn the shadows were much longer and the trees seemed more gnarled and menacing than ever before. Maybe it was a trick of the light or maybe it was just magic reacting to the malevolent presence of acromantulas.

"The red-maned huntress approaches," a gravelly voice called out and dozens of acromantulas detached from the shadows. My friends drew wands as well as a host of other weapons, including knives, shovels, hatchets, and, in one case, a morning star which looked almost as big as them. "Have you come to meet your doom, huntress?"

Harry's eyes widened. "They can talk! Whoa, no one mentioned they can talk!" He took a step backwards. "If they can talk, they will be reasoned with! Right?"

"Your broken corpses will taste delicious when seasoned with eleven herbs and spices," the leader intoned. "And you will be but a prelude to our great hunt, when we will gladly feast on the succulent morsels within the castle and claim it as our own."

"Ah, okay then," Harry said with a nod. "Incendio," he added almost as an afterthought and the leader screamed as flames coursed over him. Harry looked bored.

It was time to approach this situation with methodical calm. "LET'S SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and the fight begun.

The acromantulas tried their best to swarm us. They were spewing poison, but it was pretty easy to dodge. The acromantulas outnumbered us, but they were much bigger than us and we were more dexterous. It was easy to slip away from them and stab and slash at them at unexpected angles. Spells flew in the direction of the acromantulas, but for the most part, my friends used more mundane weapons. They didn't think it was sporting enough (and let's face it, us first years don't really know many spells).

I hefted the Sword and felt its power thrumming through me. A part of me felt the spirit of Godric Gryffindor guiding my actions, not with words, strictly speaking, more with feelings. It gave me an intuition about which places to strike, which angles. I didn't have to take its advice and I didn't do it all the time. But I felt stronger with the Sword's power guiding me.

The acromantulas gave as good as they got. They spewed poison at us and tried their best to bite us. Several of my friends went down as poison splashed over them or found their limbs broken and mangled by an acromantula's pincers. But so far, there wasn't anything Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix easily.

Harry jumped on the leader and started grappling him, his eyes alight with insane fire, and believe me, if I think the fire in someone's eyes is insane, it's pretty darn crazy. "I understand now. It isn't about how I act. It's about what I choose. And I choose to be ME!" With those words, he thrust his wand right into the leader's eye and pressed at it until it reached his brain. The leader let out an ear-piercing shriek and lay still. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He stole my kill! How rude.

But the leader had the last laugh, because just as he died, he managed to spray poison all over Harry's chest. Harry screamed in agony as the poison burned his chest and he toppled to the ground. After killing the last of the acromantulas, I rushed over to him. Thankfully, the wound seemed to be superficial.

"Oh my god, you're hurt!" Harry said.

I looked down, confused, and he was right. There was a hole in my stomach. I hadn't even felt it. "Huh," I said. I must have been in shock. "Let's get back to the school, then."

Somehow, we all managed to make it back to the school and to the hospital wing before collapsing, though Harry collapsed the instant he got into the room. I didn't last much longer. I fell unconscious midway through Madam Pomfrey's furious lecture.

It wasn't until the next morning when I woke up. Madam Pomfrey, looking very sadistic, waved a Daily Prophet paper in front of us. "It's a shame none of you are going to be reading this until you're out of here, because it's a doozy. Big changes are coming to the magical world and you're just going to have to keep wondering what they are until you're released. Maybe that'll teach you not to go looking for trouble."

"DAMN YOU, MADAM POMFREY!" Harry screamed, shaking his fist dramatically.

Madam Pomfrey didn't give us any more clues about what shocking story was in the paper, but she did give me some parchment and quill so I could write this letter. Don't worry about my injuries. I'll be right as rain within a day. The important thing is I saved the school from a horrifying threat, I got Harry back to his abnormal self, and I had a ton of fun doing it. Go me!

Love,

Ginny