Note: This chapter was betaed by MasterQwertster.

Chapter 6

First Day and First Challenges

2 September 1991, Hogwarts, Scotland

Alexandra woke up with the sun the next morning, feeling surprisingly relaxed and rested. She was lying on a bed with white linen sheets, in a room with white halls. As her last memories of the night before progressively came back, she realized to her surprise she was not dead and had to be in the infirmary of Hogwarts. White beds; the odour of disinfectant and the cleanliness were universal apparently, magical world or non-magical world.

As she was looking at her surroundings, the woman she had determined to be the nurse at the Sorting Feast entered and checked her health with a series of spells, presenting herself as Madam Pomfrey, the School Nurse. After a brief medical check-up, she was then deemed to be healed sufficiently to leave the place.

Her trunk was not far from her bed, and she used it to change herself for her first day of school. Madam Pomfrey told her to leave her possessions here, as her Head of House would take the trunk with him later and deposit it in her bedroom once they had cleared the events of last night.

Pleased by this statement which implied she was not going to be expelled for the moment from Hogwarts, Alexandra changed her clothes, put her first-year books in her school bag, and left the infirmary. Hopefully, she would not return here for a long time. Hopefully.

"There, look."

"She is here!"

"They say she destroyed Ravenclaw common room by herself!"

"They say she beat her entire House without her wand!"

"Her eyes are able to launch Killing Curses!"

"How can she be that powerful?"

Whispers followed Alexandra from the moment she left the hospital wing heading for the Great Hall. People were staring and speaking in low tones in the corridors when she passed next to them. She tried not to curse or launch a series of insults. From what she overhead, the fight she had been involved in against the older Ravenclaws had already been leaked to all students, or at least rumours of it had spread thorough the school. She certainly hadn't grabbed the intestines of any person in this fight or tortured anyone, contrary to what a second-year girl pretended when she descended a succession of stairs.

As this was the hour to go to breakfast she had not a lot of difficulties to reach the Great Hall, even facilitated by the fact students were trying to get out of her way with a celerity that was outright impressive. But the effect was even more astounding when she passed the double doors of the Great Hall. Once the students realised she was here to eat, a large silence fell in the huge room, so evident it was downright shocking. She was literally able to march to a place in the middle of the Ravenclaw table while there was literally no sound at all coming from the two hundred or so students gathered there. Internally, she was stunned, through she tried not to show that outwardly on her face. Had she made that much of an impression last night on her opponents? As the Ravenclaw students sitting near her appeared to quickly flee when she began to eat, she had to consider the high possibility of the answer being 'Yes'.

Fortunately, this dreadful silence was broken by two Gryffindors, the two Weasley Twins, who rose and shouted in a single voice "HAIL THE DARK LADY ALEXANDRA POTTER!"

The majority of the Ravenclaw looked like they had forgotten to breath, terrified of her reaction. Seriously, what sort of mentality did they teach at this school?

She stood from her seat, raised her goblet and in her best cheerful tone she loudly proclaimed "Thank you minions! Now the Dark Side of the Joke is finally about to get unleashed!" Many in the Hall laughed, some having apparently recognised the Star Wars reference.

The twins answered by a military salute and a "Thank you, Milady!", and then the pair ran out of the hall. Seeing some teachers giving her a black eye and others looking very amused, she hoped she had not unleashed an even worst problem upon the school. Oh well. What's the worst which could happen?

The Weasleys Twins' reaction at least had the merit of making the atmosphere more pleasant, as conversations restarted and the rest of the students progressively forgot her. Except at her House table, where about half the Ravenclaws were watching her with looks that were fearful and panicked, while other Hogwarts students preoccupied themselves with their first day of courses at school, not with her presence. Which was just fine in her opinion.

As she went to eat a second slice of toast, a terrified second year, who looked like he had been forcibly volunteered for this special task, gave her the schedule for the first-years. At the same moment, a hundred or so owls streamed into the Great Hall, circling the tables until they saw their owners and dropping letters and packages into their laps. No need to ask how the parents kept contact with their children. The frightened Ravenclaw profited from her distraction to run at full speed out of the Hall, and Alexandra glanced back to her schedule.

Monday: Potions (with Hufflepuff) Potions Lunch Charms (with Gryffindor)

Tuesday: Transfiguration (with Slytherin) Herbology (with Slytherin) Lunch History (with Gryffindor)

Wednesday: History Defence Against the Dark Arts (with Hufflepuff) Lunch Flying (with Hufflepuff) Astronomy (at night, with Slytherin)

Thursday: free period Charms Lunch Transfiguration

Friday: free period Defence Against the Dark Arts Lunch Herbology

Today, she had a double class of Potions to begin with, then lunch and Charms to finish the day. One thing alarmed her, however: where were the other subjects she had taken for granted at St Gregory's? There was no class of Mathematics, no Literature, no option to learn a foreign language. Just Magic, Magic and Magic again. She supposed she would have to ask her Head of House the issue when she met him. Assuming, of course, she wasn't expelled before the first week was over for her 'little fight' last night.

Seeing the rest of her housemates rise and depart in the direction of a corridor in the back of the Great Hall, she put her schedule in her bag and abandoned the rest of her huge breakfast to follow them.

Seeing her classmates heading for the depths of Hogwarts, she realised the Potions lessons had to be in the dungeons of the school, which looked rather sinister and oppressing to her. The temperature was cold, colder than in the rest of the castle anyway, and there were very few torches or candles to lighten the way which made a sinister ambiance.

Entering the class with ten minutes to spare, she saw a classroom which looked like the nightmare of a mad scientist, with dead animals, skulls, and various slimy things. There were about twenty tables, which had two seats each. Too predictably, she found herself alone at her own table. Ten other Ravenclaws sat on the tables before her, trying their very best to ignore her. The Hufflepuff first years, who they had class with, occupied the right of the room.

The door opened suddenly, and the professor with greasy hair and piercing black eyes she had seen at the Sorting entered the classroom, dressed from top to bottom in black, with his black cape billowing in an impressive manner. The professor had not yet reached his desk when a Hufflepuff boy with blond hair ran into the classroom. At the sight of the nasty glare the teacher sent his way, the boy, named Zacharias Smith if she remembered correctly, stopped in his tracks.

"Late the first day of class, Smith?" snarled their Professor. "Ten points from Hufflepuff and be happy it isn't more. Sit down." The last two words were pronounced in an even colder tone, much like if the man had known Smith wanted to protest. Zacharias had indeed opened his mouth, but closed it after seeing the dark glare the Professor sent him and sat at the same table as Alexandra.

"For those of you who do not know," he looked toward the group of eleven-year-olds and Alexandra found herself shivering against the man's gaze. This man, she felt in her bones, was dangerous.

"I am Potions Master Severus Snape, Senior Potions Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." With a flick of his wrist the door leading out of the class slammed shut with a dark crack, just as the bell rang. Several Hufflepuffs gulped. "As a rule, the Senior Professor of a fundamental subject at Hogwarts is your teacher for the first year in this school. This is not only to notice the true prodigies among the mediocre," he said in a soft voice, "but also to give you a proper understanding of the class and ensure you do not kill yourselves attempting to brew your first potion." This time the sarcasm in his voice was only barely veiled.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making, which is a demanding art." His voice was louder this time.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses … I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." His voice had turned to disgust at the end, and it was not hidden in the slightest fashion. Somehow, she wondered what sort of school experiences made a man so bitter about teaching children.

Silence followed this little speech, and the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws looked ready to throw themselves under their desks to escape the eyes of Professor Snape.

"Clear your desks," Professor Snape said. He moved to stand at the blackboard and gazed down his nose at them. There was a sense of relief among the class when he called roll, even if each name was said with disdain or disgust. Sometimes he paused on a name to make a small grimace.

When he arrived at her name, he paused.

"Ah, yes," he said softly after she had answered with a simple "Present", "Alexandra Potter. Our new – Dark Lady." His voice was charged with derision, transferring perfectly how little he believed her to be dangerous.

After Lisa Turpin waved her hand to indicate her presence, the professor began to pace the length of the class.

"Smith," said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Zacharias's face took a livid colour, and after half a minute he barely managed to articulate "I don't know, Sir."

Professor Snape sneered. "Not only were you late, but you haven't bothered to open your Potions book before coming, have you, Smith?" Given the growing red spots on Zacharias's face, the assumption was likely to be correct.

"Let's try someone else. Potter! Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"In the stomach of the goat, Sir," Alexandra replied. It had been one of the first things written in the first chapter of the potions ingredients book.

"Correct." The voice of her professor was disgruntled, giving her the feeling he believed Alexandra had a stroke of luck. Which was alas not far from the truth. She hadn't known the answer to Zacharias's question after all.

"Corner! What is peeled shrivelfig most commonly used in?"

The Ravenclaw boy at the first rank crumbled in his seat "No idea ... Sir."

The next ten minutes were a true academic massacre. Alexandra had read twice the two needed books for the class, which were One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore and Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, and while she far from remembered their complete content, she was able to say the questions of their Potions Professor decreased in complexity as the minutes passed, not that her housemates from Ravenclaw or the Hufflepuffs seemed to notice. No one except her had managed to answer correctly a single question.

"Finch-Fletchley, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"One is a red flower, while the other is yellow?" said the black-haired Hufflepuff boy, in a tone which gave away he was absolutely not sure of his answer.

"Then explain me Finch-Fletchley, how the same plant can have two flowers of different colours?" Seeing the Hufflepuff staring open-mouthed, Professor Snape snarled "Close your mouth and take notes!" at Justin.

"For your information, Finch-Fletchley, monkshood and wolfsbane, are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."

"Eleven points from Hufflepuff and ten points from Ravenclaw for not coming prepared in class!" added Snape. As there were eleven students of each House in the room, Alexandra figured, it was quite likely her good answer had avoided Ravenclaw to lose one more point. A small victory for her.

Alas, things didn't improve for the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws as the Potions lesson continued. Professor Snape ordered them to work in pairs, clean the cauldrons and their workspace, and told them to prepare a potion to cure boils, the instructions to make the potion magically revealing themselves on the blackboard with a flick of the Potions Master's wand. As no Ravenclaw wanted to be associated with her and there was an uneven number of students in her House, Alexandra found herself partnered with Zacharias Smith.

The Professor revealed himself hard on the nerves of the student making the potion: like a Nazgul, he swept around the cauldrons in his black cloak spreading an aura of terror, and made disparaging comments and critics about every potion. When it came to her, Snape's reaction was...weird. For a moment, it looked like the teacher wanted to scream at her, but the fury in his eyes vanished quickly transforming into an unfeeling mask, and he simply whispered a "Passable" before going to torment another Potion duo. A fortunate thing, seeing as Zacharias Smith had revealed himself to be completely useless in helping make the potion. The haughty Hufflepuff with blond hair and brown eyes refused to touch the snake fangs or the horned slugs, and when Alexandra gave him instructions, he tried to begin a debate if the move was justified, as if the instructions were just for fun and Zacharias was sufficiently knowledgeable in Potions to judge a Professor incompetent. In the end, she ended doing the entire potion by herself, with Zacharias Smith sulking in his corner and whispering unflattering comments she tried her best to ignore.

As a pink smoke rose from her cauldron and the potion took a blue colour, Snape came back and whispered a new "Passable", before saying in a snarl: "Three points from Hufflepuff, Smith! If you want to do nothing in a class of Potions, the door is in the other direction!" He had just finished pronouncing these words when the cauldron of the pair of Wayne Hopkins and Roger Malone melted and the failed potion seeped across the floor, burning holes like acid. A powerful acid. In an instant, all the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were standing on their personal stool, except Roger Malone, who had been drenched by his potion and had now huge red boils springing up all over his body. Alexandra grimaced, the boils were rather big and the Hufflepuff was groaning in pain. Evidently, it seemed even a simple potion of first year-level could create significant damage.

"Stupid boys!" roared thunderously Snape, vanishing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand, leaving only the ruin of the Hufflepuff cauldron as witness to the disaster that had just happened. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

The voice of the teacher was more rhetorical than a true question, she noted. The two Hufflepuffs were likely not the first to make such a mistake. Wayne nodded, as Roger was crying on the floor.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Wayne. "Three points from Hufflepuff."

The Potions class ended shortly after that. Of the eleven pairs of students, only she and the pair of Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot seemed to have functional potions in their cauldrons. Or at least Potions which didn't make Professor Snape make an insulting comment. As a result, the two Hufflepuffs and she were spared writing a five inch essay on what went wrong in their work. They still got five inch essay on what could be improved in the Boil Cure for the next week, though.

When the entire class left the classroom in the dungeons, she noticed her reputation at Hogwarts had already fallen further. Zacharias Smith was already shouting to his housemates she was "horrible" and "dark", while her fellow Ravenclaws looked at her with faces divided between envy and hate to have the temerity to correctly prepare her potion when they couldn't.

Lunch after that was much like breakfast all over again, except someone (no doubt the Weasley twins ) had had the time to charm and raise a large banner proclaiming "WELCOME THE DARK LADY TO HOGWARTS!" over the Ravenclaw table. The Slytherins looked like they found the whole affair very funny, but the three other tables, in particular the Ravenclaws, watched her as if she was going to attack them at any moment. Alexandra didn't stay in the hall a moment longer than she had to. Putting her school bag over her shoulder, she went in the direction of the Charms class.

Finding the Charms corridor was difficult, as the stairs moved by themselves and not in any logical direction she could guess. Not knowing any short-cuts, Alexandra arrived only with five minutes to spare after having climbed five endless stairs. As she sat on the first row of desks, she saw she was still one of the first students to arrive, only being preceded by Hermione Granger and Nigel Wolpert from Gryffindor. Half a minute later, all the Ravenclaws entered the room, followed as the bell rang by the Gryffindors, who had managed to arrive just as the last second. The Boy-Who-Lived Neville Longbottom was not among them, and neither was Ronald Weasley. Once again, her fellow students sat as far away as possible from her, leaving her alone in her section of the first row, and the Gryffindors took seats on the other side of the classroom. And she thought the Lions were supposed to be courageous. Well, braver than the Ravenclaw at least.

As the teacher prepared to present himself, the door opened again, with Neville Longbottom, Leo Black and Ronald Weasley rushing into the class, looking like they had raced all the way from the Great Hall to be more or less on schedule.

"Try to be on time next time, boys!" The teacher said in a fluted tone, letting the three Gryffindors install themselves without removing any House points, unlike Professor Snape.

"Welcome to the class of Charms!" said the little professor, jumping on a stack of books to be seen by every student. "I am Professor Filius Flitwick, Senior Charms Master of Hogwarts, Head of House Ravenclaw and for this year, I will be your Charms Professor."

He then flicked his wand, and made a dozen of books dance, levitated half of the tables and coloured the room in no less than five different colours. All the students were immediately in awe at this demonstration and broke into applause.

Professor Flitwick was short, only about four feet in height and from what she had heard from her fellow housemates this was due to him being part goblin. This was extremely odd, due to how rare inter-species marriages were according to Hogwarts: A History.

Watching the man who was her Head of House, she noticed everyone was smiling at the sight of the little teacher calling names on the register, trying to balance himself his way on the book stack at the same time. When he called the name Neville Longbottom, the Professor jumped so high he destabilized the books, before landing on his feet after a somersault with an agility Alexandra knew she didn't have. The Professor got a round of applause from the students for this spectacular and acrobatic performance.

Such a response did nothing to decrease the size of Neville Longbottom's ego. The round Gryffindor puffed out his chest in pride, and his classmates cheered for him as if he had won an Olympic event. When the Professor called her name, his reaction was much different, he smiled in a dreamy way, and rubbed his hands together in excitement. Alexandra, already in a suspicious mood today, didn't enjoy it a lot. She felt like a very juicy canary in front of a nice but very large cat.

The first half of the class today was about the theory behind the basic Lumos charm, which was a spell to create a source of light. Professor Flitwick stated it would take them the month to master the charm, as it was the first spell they were learning. As the year progressed, affirmed Flitwick, they would learn charms of greater difficulty and with a greater frequency as their control over their own magic increased and grew more focused. The rest of the class was filled with the students shouting "Lumos!" in their best voice, trying to create a light at the tip of their wand. A Gryffindor boy named Seamus Finnigan managed to create an explosion instead of the expected light on his first try, and was sent to the infirmary right away.

Neville Longbottom managed to create a tiny light on his third try, but he was the exception. And as the students failed to master the spell, they began to shout the spell even louder, giving Alexandra a headache.

Alexandra concentrated, trying to regain the feeling of magic she used in the Fumos spell, and then did a loop with her wand, shouting "LUMOS!" in a loud voice. An explosion of light was expelled from her wand, blinding her on the spot.

She heard "Nox!" being shouted from her teacher's direction, but it took several minutes for her vision to clear again.

"Very good, Miss Potter!" said in an amused tone Professor Flitwick once her vision had returned to its normal state, "But next try, less power in it!" His voice was giddy, as if she had just made a very good joke.

Turning to see the rest of her class, Alexandra saw her housemates and the Gryffindors were less than amused. In fact, they were looking at her with terrified faces, like she had just confirmed all their suspicions. Turning back, she sighed. No matter what she did, it seemed to convince all the first-years she was their enemy.

That her second spell was more controlled and the third was nearly perfect changed the terrified tones behind her into jealous expressions. Alexandra sighed again, knowing the silent treatment and the hate she received in her childhood with Dudley had a very good chance to continue a new year and beyond. She got ten points for Ravenclaw for her spell work though, erasing the points lost by Ravenclaw in Potions class in the morning. The bushy-haired Gryffindor girl named Hermione Granger took ten points for Gryffindor too, managing a perfect Lumos two minutes after her.

Finally the school bell rang announcing the end of the lesson, which caused the professor to stop their attempts. Except Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger and Alexandra herself, who had all managed to correctly use the charm, the rest of the class was assigned the task of practicing the Lumos charm as homework for Friday.

"Miss Potter if you would follow me to my office?" said Flitwick. Alexandra forced herself to breath calmly, knowing the time to answer for her actions last night had finally arrived.

The office of Professor Flitwick, as it happened, was at the end of the same corridor the Ravenclaw common room was located on. The office was surprisingly welcoming, and she noticed her trunk was waiting there. The office was full of trophies and cups her Head of House had won in his younger days. She took her time to look at one which was a representation of two wands locked together, with a golden plaque on the side indicating this was the award for the Champion of the Berlin Tournament of 1960.

Looking back at her professor, she noticed her Head of House had sat on a rather comfortable chair and was busy examining her in turn.

"Please sit, Miss Potter" said Flitwick in a pleasant tone."Would you like some tea or some biscuits?"

"Biscuits would be fine, Professor." Alexandra said. A plate of biscuits appeared magically in front of her. Alexandra took one, and ate it. It was excellent.

"Now let's get started, shall we? First, Miss Potter, I must present you my excuses."

That Alexandra had not expected. As far as she remembered no one had ever presented excuses in her childhood. No matter if they were deserved or not.

"Err... excuses, Professor?"

"Yes, excuses. Last night, I was so excited to get you in my House that I forgot the most basic precautions for your security," Flitwick elaborated.

"When your mother was at school, she was one of my brilliant students. When the Hat sent you to Ravenclaw, I was so happy I basically forgot most of my House would not share my joy."

Alexandra nodded in understanding. "Because unlike you, they saw me as my father's daughter, not my mother."

"Precisely," approved Flitwick. "And it could have cost you your life."

Alexandra shivered at the tone of his voice, which had turned deadly serious.

"No one told me what happened in the aftermath. Was it that bad?"

Flitwick winced. "That depends what your definition of bad is, Miss Potter. Your succession of Fumos spells completely panicked the older students, who threw spells in the smoke which should never had been used against a fellow housemate, much less at school. Fourteen students were sent to the hospital wing. Fifteen if you are included. Thirteen, including you, have already recovered from their injuries and will have no further health problems. The two others, however, will take several days to get out of Madam Pomfrey's care. Being crushed by a library and simultaneously taking twenty spells tend to make serious injuries."

Silence fell in the office, and Alexandra paled. She had known she was against a lot of students, but fourteen wounded? No wonder the Ravenclaws and the rest of the students had been terrified this morning! Flitwick continued, this time his posture betraying the fact she was not going to like what he had to say.

"In normal circumstances, the students who attacked you would have been expelled immediately from Hogwarts, Miss Potter. I examined your wand myself, and I know you used only a smoke spell and a very weak first-year curse to defend yourself. The other Ravenclaws retaliated by using curses which could have led to several deaths in the conditions they were used. Alex Sykes tried to murder you in my presence when I lifted your smoke spells, and should have been turned to the DMLE for this murder attempt in cold blood. In fact, this was exactly what I demanded at the meeting of the Professors which was convened in urgency: the expulsion of those involved in the attack against you. Unfortunately, I was overruled."

Alexandra opened her mouth furious. They had tried to kill her, and they wouldn't even be expelled? Then her thoughts blinked at Flitwick's choice of words. Overruled. According to Hogwarts: A History, the only person having the power to overrule a Head of House was the Headmaster himself.

"Why?" she asked in a grim voice.

Flitwick grunted, a sound which reminded her of the Gringotts goblins she had met so far. Perhaps he really had goblin ancestors after all? "As I spoke to him last evening, the Headmaster was convinced expelling them because of you would lead to a long political fight between him and the Board of Governors, one which would certainly see the punishments overruled by the Board and the guilty students making their return before the end of the week."

Seeing Alexandra's expression of disbelief, Flitwick emitted a smile without any warmth.

"My reaction exactly when I learnt this, Miss Potter. But it was the Headmaster's decision, and I wasn't able to do anything to change his mind."

"Does the Headmaster want me dead?" Alexandra asked. "Because the students who were maimed in the fight are going to come back for revenge. And I may have been lucky once, but I really doubt they will fail a second time. Or a third for that matter."

"I know," Flitwick sighed. "All your attackers lost all their privileges until I see fit to give them back and got several weeks to months of detention depending their involvement in the assault. I have also removed the badges of two of my prefects. But as you said yourself, they will come back, Miss Potter. Have you thought about transferring to another school?"

"I thought about it," said Alexandra. "But at any British school, I will face the same problems, and all the other establishments in the British Isles are inferior to Hogwarts." From what she read in Hogwarts: A History, barely two others merited the name 'school' in her opinion. "And I have not a lot of money to spend for my studies, unless Hogwarts is willing to reimburse my tuition." Which seeing Flitwick's face and negative nod, they would never do, which shut down that idea quickly. In turn, it made foreign schools unsuitable, as the continental schools were not cheap. She had not tens of thousands of galleons to enter another academy of magic. Her trust vault, the entire sum she had to her disposition until her 12th birthday, was on the order of approximately 10 800 galleons. Emptying her only gold resource when she had more than five years of education to pass did not sound very wise. Assuming her magical guardian, a certain Albus Dumbledore, didn't use his authority to force her to stay at Hogwarts.

"In that case Miss Potter, that leaves only one other option." Her little professor showed a smile which was best qualified as predatory. "I've warded your room this morning for you and you alone to enter. None of your housemate was willing to share a room with you anyway." Flitwick rolled his shoulders. "That will allow you to sleep without being attacked by dozens of bloodthirsty housemates. But if you are willing to survive at Hogwarts, you will have to learn to fight them outnumbered."

His smile got even larger.

"Tell me, Miss Potter," said Flitwick. "Would you like to have private lessons in the noble art of Duelling?"

Alexandra was among the last students to arrive to the Great Hall for dinner. At first, she had been rather unconvinced by Flitwick's 'solution' for her problems, but she had finally accepted attending the duelling lessons. She had a feeling she was going to regret it soon, since her Head of House looked like someone who had just found a nice punching ball for Christmas.

But seeing the glares and the looks of hate her own House sent her as she walked her way to a place to eat, she realized her options were drastically limited. She could not fight two dozen students, older, more powerful and experienced than her every night.

"What were you doing this afternoon, Potter?" snarled a large Ravenclaw boy who she recognized as having participated in the fight of last night. "Packing your bags? No one wants a Dark Lady in training like you here!"

"Funny you said that." She replied courteously at the older boy. "I was just clearing my schedule for my first private lesson with Professor Flitwick."

Her interlocutor took on an interesting colour between green and red at that sentence. Well, it seemed the reputation of her Head of House in Duelling was firmly established in Hogwarts. Perhaps, Alexandra thought as she saw her fellow Ravenclaws trying to put the maximum distance between them and her, this year was not going to be so terrible after all.