A/N: Apologies about the delay, I had trouble deciding if I wanted to cut out some of the ideas I was implementing because I didn't think I was able to juggle an absurd amount of subplots, only to decide to cut some out and then readd them later when I decided to include them again.

Also I'm setting the foundations for certain magic-related lore so if you come across anything that doesn't make sense yet, keep in mind that it'll be expanded upon in future chapters.

Next update in a week or two, depends on how much time I have to write.

BREAK!

Mirror, Mirror

Chapter III

'Due to magical Britian's steady decline, sharply accelerated following Grindelwald's Great Wizarding War and the following Blood War championed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, many of the once bustling classrooms that once graced Hogwarts now lay dormant and abandoned.

However, it is to be noted that despite this many are still in use by various unofficial student run organisations, the most prolific being the Hogwarts Dueling Club which despite being banned in the early 1880's is still rumoured to maintain a healthy membership.'

Hogwarts: A History, by Bathilda Bagshot

I flinched as a cauldron, only a couple of tables to the right of me, gave an almighty bang as it spewed up an obnoxiously bright gas. I quickly looked over only to wince at the sight of Seamus Finnigan, who by the looks of things had been peering directly into it at the time of the explosion, was now sporting an impressive head of bright green hair and a heavy smattering of rapidly forming boils over his exposed skin.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the viscous green liquid with a bat of his wand, "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Not waiting for a response, he whirled to face Weasley, "Take them to the hospital wing." He said, also gesturing towards Longbottom, who I had not noticed earlier due to him being, for some unknown reason, unconscious on the floor.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for all three of you." Snape added disdainfully, watching as Weasley and Finnigan struggled to lift Longbottom between them.

He slammed the door behind them with a flick of his wand, making eye contact with me for a brief second before sneering and retreating into the storeroom.

"He doesn't like you very much, does he?" Asked my potions partner, Blaise Zabini, who was just about the only person in my house who spoke to me with any regularity. There was of course Gemma, but no one ever saw her outside of class because of the eye watering number of detentions Snape had smited her with due to her actions during the welcoming feast. (I did feel a little bit of guilt when I felt a sense of relief rather than sympathy when I heard about this, only a little bit though.)

"You've just caught on?" I asked, turning back to the potion we were working on.

"It was a rhetorical question, Harry, you were meant to tell me why." Blaise replied, thankfully following Snape's instructions correctly and not blowing us up.

"How am I supposed to know?" I said, looking over at the boy. "I thought he was just annoyed he had to spend his morning taking me around Diagon Alley."

Blaise snorted loudly and flicked bits of porcupine quill off his knife onto the table in front of ours, drawing an irate look Daphne Greengrass in the process. "I still can't believe that." He admitted, throwing an exaggerated look of apology towards Daphne, she only bristled in response. "Imagine being one of the worlds most renowned potioneers and being reduced to babysitting an eleven year-old."

I shot him a dirty look. "You're eleven too, you know." I said, "And he wasn't babysitting me, if anything he abandoned me the second he was able to."

"I'm not surprised." Blaise responded, bottling up our now complete potion into small crystal vials. "I can't imagine anything worse than having to take you of all people around the busiest place in Magical Britian."

"Don't act like you wouldn't like the attention, you've been prancing around the castle ever since you got here." I bit back, I could hear Daphne's reluctant potion's partner snort quietly to herself, Tracey Davis I think her name was.

Blaise glared at the mousy-haired girl's back, muttering something unkind under his breath before he turned back to me with a look of annoyance. "I have not been 'prancing around the castle.'" He raised his fingers in air quotes. "And I don't think you get to judge what others are doing seeing as you nearly spend as much time in the library as that Muggle." He was for some unknown reason incredibly fond of calling Hermoine Granger that, even if she happened to be in earshot.

I glanced at the girl in question, noticing Tracey's suddenly tense back as I looked around the room. "You know I don't like it when you say that." I whispered at him, relaxing slightly when the girl seemed far more interested in lecturing Lavender Brown than eavesdropping.

"Why do you care?" Blaise scoffed, "You're not exactly fond of her either."

"I haven't even spoken to her yet." I said slowly, "And even if I did dislike her, I wouldn't go around loudly shouting about her heritage, not to mention my mother was Muggleborn" He waved this off as I looked at him fully. "Why do you care about that anyway?" I asked him.

"How could I not?" He said, rolling his eyes. "All she does is loudly complain about how we're 'Basically living in the Stone Age.' "He said in a poor imitation of her voice.

"I still don't see what this has to do with her being a Muggleborn." I said.

Blaise looked at me as if I was particularly stupid. "It has everything to do with it." He said very slowly, "Do you think if she was a Pureblood she'd be constantly harping on about how much more efficient and straightforward the Muggle world was?"

I opened my mouth to argue only to very hesitantly concede that he may very well have a point. "It's not that big of a deal." I said quietly. "It's not like she's harming anyone."

"My ears would disagree with you on that one." Blaise muttered to himself before loudly stretching.

"I'll go and hand these to Snape, maybe if he forgets you're working with me he'll give me something better than an Acceptable." With a lazy wave he picked up his bag and a couple of the vials before deciding to walk over and lean on Snape's desk until he returned, I wasn't sure if he was brave or just pure stupid.

I took a moment to really look at the boy, he was taller than me and had a far healthier complexion, which wasn't really much of an accomplishment, but his constant relaxed posture gave him the appearance of someone a fair bit shorter. His brown eyes met mine and he raised a single eyebrow in question, idly kicking his expensive boots against the one of the legs of Snape's table.

I shook my head and reached down to pick up my bag, frowning slightly when I overheard Daphne tear into Tracey for what sounded like a mistake on her part for using the incorrect type of knife, therefore contaminating the entire potion they were working on.

Potions was far from being my strongest subject, probably more of my weaker ones if I was being honest. But as far as I knew using the incorrect metal when dicing your ingredients made the potion weaker sure, maybe turned it a slightly different colour in some cases. Contaminating it though? I didn't think so, if everything else was fine it would for sure have gained them at least an E in most cases, maybe even an O if Snape was capable of handing those out.

I startled slightly as Tracey, seemingly having enough of Daphne's complaining, quickly brushed past me and out of the classroom. I glanced at Daphne, who looked like she couldn't find it in her to care that her partner had just abandoned her, and back at the door before sighing and deciding to at least check on Tracey.

We weren't close, far from it really seeing as we haven't said a word to each other since the beginning of the school year, but I did feel bad for her, and I knew that if it wasn't for Blaise I'd be as much an outcast as she was.

With a huff I got up from my seat and left the classroom, trying to figure out where she could have run off too.

I started by walking down different corridors and trying to see if I could by some miracle manage to spot a very short and unassuming girl in a hallway full of students before quickly realising how futile it was and instead deciding to ask a group of fifth year Ravenclaw girls.

"Excuse me?" I began, successfully getting the tallest one's attention. "Have you seen a girl about this big." I made a vague motion with my arms to convey her height, only to receive a blank look in response.

"She's brunette and in Slytherin, she was upset and I wanted to check on her." Once I said that her eyes lit up in recognition, and after shortly cooing about how cute that was she pointed me towards the staircase that led out of the dungeons.

I relaxed slightly as I hurried towards the stairs, maybe she was just on her way to Charms and I wouldn't have to worry about her getting lost and disappearing for half the day like Longbottom once did.

It was then when I caught a flash of mousey hair heading up the spiral staircase. I quickly followed, feeling remarkably calmer only for that feeling to be promptly taken away when I just about managed to catch her getting off at the wrong floor.

The third one to be precise.

I may have forgotten to mention that during the very awkward feast that followed my sorting, Dumbledore decided that our first impression of him should be a strange one because after welcoming us to Hogwarts he immediately made it very clear that we would die a very painful death should we venture to the third floor. (Why he would say this in front of a crowd of naturally curious and rebellious children, instead of just warding the corridor off is still beyond me.)

My heart nearly leapt out of my chest as I quickly followed her, nearly spraining my ankle on one of the false steps before coming to a halt at the entrance to the corridor.

I'm going to be honest with you, I very nearly turned around at this point and headed to my charms class. I mean who wouldn't at least consider it, putting your life on the line just to possibly comfort a girl you didn't know isn't something most reasonable people would even consider doing. I however, after a very long period of weighing my options and against anyone's better judgement decided to follow her and at least try to make sure she didn't die a horrific death.

The issue was that during the time I spent mustering the courage to follow after her, she had naturally continued walking down the corridor and out of sight.

I cursed to myself before trying to follow her trail, using nothing but guesswork and instinct to retrace her steps. I quickly glanced at the classroom doors as I passed them, thankfully a thick layer of dust covered the floor and if any of the doors had been opened a noticeable trail would have been left behind.

I was beginning to run out of hope, all the classrooms looked unused, and I was rapidly approaching the end of the corridor. I looked to the door to my left and frowned.

'I have an essay due tomorrow.' The thought suddenly appeared in my head as I very strongly contemplated turning around and heading to the library to pick up an Astronomy book to help-.

I stopped, barely realising at some point I had actually turned around to get a book for an essay that didn't exist.

I looked back at the door and instantly another thought overwhelmed my mind. 'I'll be late for Charms, I better go.' I startled slightly as I realised these thoughts weren't my own.

I stared at this door with trepidation and approached, despite something screaming at me that 'I must have left the stove on.'

My hand touched the handle, and that constant presence that grated against my mind shattered like glass. I gave a relieved sigh, briefly resting my head against the hard wood before turning so my ear laid against it. I heard nothing.

I decided to take a look at what could be inside, common sense be damned, and creaked open the door.

"What the fuck?" The voice belonged to an unfamiliar Slytherin, a fifth-year if I had to guess, and he was staring at me like I was some sort of unfathomable creature.

I didn't respond, instead trying to look past him, only making out a raised platform and a pair of similarly aged students standing opposite of each other.

"Oi, Rodger!" The Slytherin shouted towards one of the students on the platform, the taller of the two looked as us before loudly groaning.

This caught the attention of the sizable crowd that was gathered around them, there were about thirty in total, and they were all openly gaping at me.

I shuffled uncomfortably

"For Merlin's sake you're supposed to be good at wards!" The Slytherin continued as Rodger approached. "But no, apparently you're so shit even a first-year can get past them!"

"Shut it, Silas." Rodger grunted unhappily as he eyed me with open curiosity. "How did you get past them anyway; there's no way you managed it on your own." He directed this at me, crossing his arms and tensing his jaw as he waited for me to respond.

"I'm not sure what you mean, I didn't really have to do anything." I said uncertainly, flinching slightly as Silas burst into cackling laughter.

"Oh, this is too good!" He said, hunched over and wiping a tear from his eye. "I'd put this memory in a Pensive if I could."

Rodger ignored him and went outside to pick up two small stones that I had only just noticed were flanking the entrance.

"How could he have gotten past?" I overheard an older silver-haired girl murmur to one of her friends. "Even if Davies' modified Muggle repellent ward was useless, the notice-me-not charm should have been enough on its own."

Before her friend could answer Rodger loudly interrupted them. "It has to be because of you, Selûne." He said, looking at the stones thoughtfully. "My ward's been broken and there's no way a first-year managed to crack them."

"The plot thickens!" Silas loudly proclaimed, drawing an irritated look from everyone.

"No, it hasn't." The silver-haired girl snapped, glaring at him. "I made those runestones last week; there's no way they've degraded enough to untether the ward."

"Well they must have, there's no other explanation."

I shuffled awkwardly as the two glared at each other. I did just consider turning around and leaving at this point, quite content that there was no way Tracey was here and even if she somehow was it was obvious that I wasn't needed with this many people around.

Before I could slip off a Ravenclaw student I didn't recognise loudly asked the obvious. "What about him?" She pointed obviously towards me, "What if he tells a professor?"

"And what would he say?" Rodger turned away from Selûne to snort at her. "That a group of students, none of which he knows mind you, are gathered in abandoned classroom for a reason he doesn't know about?"

It was awkward having people talk about me when I'm right there in front of them, but I wisely kept my mouth shut. It was obvious what I've stumbled upon was supposed to be kept a closely guarded secret.

"He must know why, there's a duelling platform right there." She continued despite the loud groan that escaped Rodger's lips. "I say we obliviate him."

"Are you mad?" It was Silas who spoke this time, staring at her in disbelief. "Do you want to turn Harry Potter of all people into a drooling vegetable?"

"Moral and ethical concerns aside, he does have a point." Selûne said, looking pained that she agreed to anything that left Silas' mouth. "There's a reason why Obliviators spend years training before they go out on the field."

I was suddenly very thankful for my housemates, having my memories wiped was something I did not like the sound of.

"Also, what sort of role model would I be if I let you obliviate one of my first-years, I'd go down in the history books as the worst prefect since Ophelia Gaunt." Silas said dramatically, shaking his head.

"I can probably manage it, my dad works as one in the Ministry, and from what I've heard it isn't all that difficult." The Ravenclaw muttered, eyeing me with a look that I did not like in the slightest.

"No one's obliviating anyone." Rodger said with finality, turning to face me. "Welcome to the Hogwarts Duelling Club, Potter." He said in a neutral tone, waving a hand behind him at the strangely spacious room.

"Thanks." I said uncertainly, glancing behind me at the door. "Are you usually this welcoming?" It was supposed to sound like a joke but came out more like a whimper.

"We are invite only in most cases, you just surprised us was all." Despite his assurance I still felt uneasy. "Besides, as you've probably gathered by now unsanctioned duelling isn't something that the Professor's look kindly upon."

"That's one way of putting it." I heard Silas snort to himself.

"So I'll have to ask you to keep quiet about all of this, the last time our club got caught half of us were expelled." Rodger continued, seeing my alarmed look he quickly spoke again. "That was a couple of years after it was banned, Ophelia Gaunt tried to summon Fiendfyre and incinerated the other half by accident."

That did very little to settle my nerves.

"You're too young anyway, the worst you could probably do is turn my robes purple." Selûne said, seeing my expression. "So, you don't need to stress about being forcibly recruited or whatever it is you're worried about."

Hearing those words did sting but she wasn't wrong.

"Take this anyway." Rodger cut back in, handing me a small, animated leaflet. "It has the required spells printed on it, even if you don't want to join in the future it'll come in useful for your defence classes."

"Thanks," I said eventually, pocketing the leaflet. "I'll give it a look over."

"It won't be of any use to you now, but feel free to practise the theory." He waved over Silas and whispered something in his ear before speaking to me again. "Silas will take you to your class, you are on the third floor after all."

I heard Silas exaggeratedly grumble to himself before leading me out the room.

"You won't tell anyone, right?" He asked me once the door closed behind us. "Professor Snape will skin me alive and will probably do the same to you after."

"No, no." I assured him glancing around the corridor and spotting more doors further down. "Could I check a couple of these before you take me to Charms, I was only here because I followed Tracey Davis."

Silas groaned loudly, mussing up his black hair in frustration. "Why did I even bother applying for Prefect?" He asked himself. "Fine, but only a few, I am not missing the meeting because I spent most of it chasing after two first-years."

I thanked him before deciding on the next door on my right-hand side, I tried the handle only for it to be locked.

'Strange.' I thought, 'This is the only one so far that is.'

Silas voiced my thoughts. "It shouldn't be locked, none of the others are and I've definitely checked all of them earlier when I found us a room." He looked at the door, his grey eyes shinning inquisitively. "She's probably in this one then, thank the gods it was the first one we checked."

With a wave of his wand and a muttered 'Alohomora.' The door unlocked with a faint click.

"After you, Potter." He gave me an exaggerated bow. "Best if you talk to her first, being in her year and all."

I nodded and entered the room; it was dark, and it took my eyes a while to adjust but the smell hit me first. The mix of bodily fluids and wet dog hitting me at once causing me to take a step back only to wince as my foot sunk into something soft and brown.

'Oh, nice.' I thought in disgust as I lifted my foot up to inspect it. 'I stepped in shit.'

"Ugh, what is that smell?" I heard Silas ask as he followed me inside. "Is that- OH SHIT."

I looked at him to confirm that yes, I had in fact stepped in that only to pause when I saw the look of sheer terror on his face. I followed his gaze to finally see what he was looking at, and it wasn't what I thought it was.

The Cerberus gave a choking growl as it awoke, and all three pairs of its baleful yellow eyes coming to rest on me.

"RUN!" Silas yelled.

I didn't need to be told twice.

BREAK!

Lillian gave me an odd look as I hastefully took a seat next to her, scrunching up her nose and leaning away from me once she probably took in the foul smell that followed.

"Long story." I muttered as she looked at me in silent askance. "I'll tell you later."

I looked around the Charms class, tuning out Professor Flitwick's high-pitched voice as I finally spotted Tracey. She was sat at the very front next to a bored looking Terry Boot, I glared at her back in an attempt to convey my annoyance with her.

She didn't notice.

"What happened to you?" Lillian asked me once Flitwick left us to practise the basics of the Levitation Charm. "You look like you've seen a dementor."

"As I said." I glanced at her, "It's a long story."

"We have this entire class to discuss it, and I'd like to also know why you smell like the Groundskeeper." She said, once again scrunching up her nose.

"Hagrid isn't that bad." I protested half-heartedly. "Besides, I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

"I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't going to believe you."

I sighed before quickly looking to see if anyone was eavesdropping, "You know that corridor Professor Dumbledore told us to stay away from?" Seeing her hesitantly nod I continued "Well I'm not sure why but he's keeping some sort of three-headed dog up there-."

"He's what." She hissed out, looking very panicked which was out of character for the usually collected girl.

"He's keeping a three-headed do-."

"Yes, I did hear you." She snapped quietly at me, "And it's not a 'three-headed dog', it's a Cerberus."

"That's what they're called?" I asked her. "What even are they anyway, and why does he have one hidden in a classroom?"

"Why are you asking me?" She snapped, nervously fiddling with the quill she was supposed to be levitating. "It's not like the headmaster runs things past me first."

"Okay, calm down." I said raising my hands in surrender, "What's got you so worried anyway, it hasn't followed me." 'Thank the gods'

"They mean serious business, Harry!" She angrily looked at me. "I can't even imagine where Professor Dumbledore managed to get his hands on one."

"What makes them so special?" I asked her. "Other than the three heads?"

"They are practically immune to all spells for a start, and that includes all manner of potions and Transfiguration." She explained, looking incredibly nervous. "The only thing that would stop them is something entirely unique to that particular Cerberus."

I could see her point now, "If it ever decided to wander the halls." I trailed off, thinking about the sheer carnage that would occur.

"It wouldn't end well for anybody." She finished unnecessarily. "I can only hope it's protecting something and is not just being kept there."

"Does it make a difference?" I asked, massaging the ache in my legs. "Either way there is still a three-headed murder dog- "

"Cerberus" she corrected me quietly.

"-A fifteen-minute walk away." I continued. "That doesn't exactly fill me full of confidence for my wellbeing."

"Me neither." She admitted. "But if it has been contracted for protection it at least won't stray far from where you found it."

"So just forget I ever saw it and hope it doesn't forget that it's being contacted." I sighed into my palms. "Great."

"More or less." She nodded. "How in Merlin's name did you even find it anyway?"

I considered telling her about why I was skulking about the third floor but ultimately deciding against it; telling her I was following some girl I didn't know was bound to not go down well, not to mention that I would probably get cursed to oblivion if I let it slip that I knew where the Duelling Club practised.

"I was exploring." I said weakly, unable to really come up with a decent excuse.

She gave me a disbelieving look before shaking her head and turning her attention to the now ruffled feather, waving her wand and muttering the incantation for the levitation charm.

It didn't budge.

I looked away before she noticed the slight smirk on my lips and glanced back towards Tracey Davis, content on glaring at her for a while before attempting the spell myself.

She was looking back at me.

Our eyes met for a moment before a panicked look overtook her face and she hurriedly looked away, knocking Terry's feather off the table in the process.

My eyes widened and I clenched the table on impulse, did she know?

I eyed her hunched over body as my mind raced, did she somehow see me? Did she tell anyone? Is Snape coming to publicly execute me at this very moment?

I took a deep breath and calmed myself. Most likely, or what I hoped, could have been just her gawking at a celebrity like most of the students did. A doubtful voice whispered that it was unlikely, Tracey never stared to my knowledge and she wouldn't have started now.

I sighed, tapping my fingers against the desk and nearly jumping out of my skin when Flitwick appeared behind me.

"Can I see your progress so far, Mr Potter?" He asked in a high pitched and somewhat nasally voice.

"Yeah." I mumbled, finally taking my eyes off her. "Sure."

I removed my wand from where it was stored in my robe pocket, adjusting the scaled grip in my palm so it didn't sit so awkwardly.

I took a breath and recalled the wand movement and incantation, idly noticing that Lillian had paused her attempts to turn her attention to me instead, probably for no other reason than to feel better about her previous unsuccessful attempts.

"Wingardium Leviosa." I spoke clearly, making sure to emphasize the swish and flick movement that made me feel more than a little ridiculous. I could feel an intangible liquid like substance trickle out of my arm as the final syllable of the spell left my lips and travel into my wand, causing me to shiver uncomfortably before funnelling down and hitting what felt like a dam.

The feather rose wobbly for a second before dropping to the table in an uneven spiral.

Lillian looked relieved.

I glared at her for a moment before looking towards Flitwick who gave me a reassuring nod to try again.

I winced as a burning sensation made its way up my arm causing me to nearly startle in surprise, the feeling stemming from my wand of all things. The feeling stopped as abruptly as it started, I stared at the stick of unassuming wood in a mix of confusion and slight apprehension, I wasn't sure, but it felt like it was fighting me. (I'm surprised I picked up on this so quickly, all things considered.)

I frowned at it, unsure if it was my fault or my wand's. Flitwick cleared his throat from behind me in what I assumed to be a subtle way of telling me to hurry up.

I sat up and squared my shoulders, drawing a strange look from Lillian as I once again spoke the incarnation and felt the unusual feeling of something travel down my arm and into my wand. I felt it slither down before getting somehow stuck and halting there, like liquid travelling down a progressively narrow tube.

The feather laid there unmoving.

"Not to worry, Mr Potter." Flitwick said, drawing my attention to him. "Very few students manage it in their first lesson."

"I can do it." I hurriedly assured him, a sense of shame welling in my stomach. "I know I can." I wasn't lying either, I had nearly manged to consistently cast it while I was practising during my stay at the Leaky Cauldron, so why couldn't I now?

I didn't have an answer.

"It's nothing to feel embarrassed about, Harry." Flitwick said softly, using my name for the first time. "You'll manage in time."

He left to check on the progress of Blaise, or more likely to chastise him for dosing off next to his assigned partner, Padma Patil.

"He's right, you know." Lillian said from next to me, her voice strangely comforting. "No one's managed it yet."

Just as she said it my attention was drawn to a high-pitched shout of praise emitting from Professor Flitwick, directed at a now very smug looking Daphne Greengrass who just at that moment caught me looking and smirked.

My face soured.

BREAK!

The walk to the Great Hall was a bitter one, and it must have showed on my face because when I dropped into the space next to Blaise at the Slytherin table he shot me a questioning look.

"What's got you in such a foul mood?" He asked me, carving up the turkey on his plate. "Did Malfoy think of a creative new insult to call you?"

"No." I snapped. "Just forget it."

He raised a manicured brow and leaned in. "Not Malfoy then, even he couldn't get you this grumpy."

I took a deep breath and counted to five, Blaise could be aggravating even when he didn't intend to be.

"It's nothing." I said eventually. "Just in a bad mood is all."

He doubtfully looked at me before shrugging. "If you say so." He then started rambling about a letter his mother had sent him in the morning, going over how she was currently engaged to her now eighth husband, much to his annoyance.

Blaise was very open with his mother's reputation as, for lack of a better word, a maneater. Not that it was much of a secret to begin with seeing as he was frequently at the butt of a lot of murmured jokes regarding it.

I tuned him out and instead focused my gaze between shooting Daphne scathing looks, which I admit even then felt petty, and looking nervously towards Tracey.

Neither of them noticed.

"You know, if you find me so uninteresting you could just say so." Blaise said in mock hurt, turning my attention away from them.

"I was paying attention." I said unconvincingly, drawing an exaggerated roll of Blaise's eyes in return.

"I'm sure you were paying me a lot of attention in between the stares you were giving Davis and Greengrass." He said, far too loudly for my liking.

"I wasn't staring." I hissed quietly, desperately hoping no one had heard him.

"Wait, don't tell me you fancy one of them?!" Blaise cried, his face scrunching up in a mix of disgust and horror. "I thought I had another two or three years at least before you started trying to embarrass yourself in front of the girls in our year."

"Shut up." I snarled at him, considering whether it was worth tackling him and trying to clamp my hands over his mouth.

"You obviously haven't thought this through very much, have you?" He was giving me a strange look of pity. "If Greengrass' parents even caught a whiff of a rumour that you were interested in her, they'd bombard you with so many marriage contracts you'd be swimming in them before the week was over."

I gave up trying to silence him and instead buried my head in my hands

"And don't even get me started on Davis." He said, the disgust in his voice rising as he spoke. "She's probably the worst option here, not only is she somehow more unpopular than us." He looked slightly put out by this admission. "You'd also be sullying yourself with a filthy Mudb-."

"Blaise, that's enough." I snapped loudly, too loudly probably as I drew quite a few dirty looks from the upper years sat to our left.

Blaise opened his mouth to argue before reluctantly closing it and sighing. "I mean those two." He said in a far quieter tone, his face aghast. "It would be less embarrassing if you were trying to court Bulstrode."

"Well, I'm not." I bit back quietly. "Shut up about it."

"Are you at least going to tell me why you were very obviously staring at the side Greengrass' head then?" Asked Blaise, ignoring his food entirely in favour of leaning towards me with his chin on his palm. "Because if you don't, I'm just going to assume that I was right and you do fancy one of them."

I considered lying to him before sighing, Blaise was, well, I'm not sure what he was but he was almost as unpopular with the rest of our house as I was, not to mention I shared my two-person dorm with him so that had to count for something.

"I just don't like her; it's like she has some sort of superiority complex-" (Sorry, Daphne.) "Not to mention she was rubbing the fact that she performed the spell first in everyone's-" my. "Face."

"Fair enough." Blaise shrugged. "It's something you and a lot of people have in common, maybe you and Travers can start a 'Greengrass Hate Club' or something."

"Who's Travers?" I asked him, not recognising the name. "And what do you mean me and a lot of people, no one in our year really seems all that bothered about her."

"Some third year who's been loudly insulting her family every night in the common room since she got here." He told me, jerking his head towards a boy in shabby robes further down the table. "It's mainly him and his small group of friends who've been the loudest in their dislike for her, although there have been others."

"According to him, it's her families fault his fathers in Azkaban and him and his mother are destitute."

I raised my eyebrows, somehow I never noticed this.

"You really need to socialise more." He told me, seeing my surprised look. "It's been driving the fifth years insane seeing as they need to study for their O.W,L's and instead of quiet they get Travers raving all through the night."

"Has no one told him to shut up?" I asked him, glancing at the boy in question who was currently trying to glare a hole through Greengrass' head.

"Oh, they've tried to." Blaise assured me, smirking as he followed my gaze. "When I went down to breakfast this morning, he was laid out in front of the fireplace in a full-body-bind."

"Who's responsible for that?" I asked him, suddenly feeling a little bit bad for him.

"Selwyn, apparently." He shrugged. "Surprised it took someone this long honestly."

Selwyn was the prefect who I had caught with the Duelling Club and who had attempted to escort me to charms, only to nearly faint when he and I accidently entered mauling distance of a Cerberus.

I looked over to the boy in question only to see that he was staring at me.

We made eye contact with each other, and he slowly mimed the motion of sealing his lips, I nodded hesitantly in return and he looked away to whisper something to Gemma.

"You still haven't said why you were staring at Davis, though." He said. "And if you don't I'm seriously going to think you like her, don't think I didn't notice you in Charms."

"It's a long story." I said, parroting what I said to Lillian earlier. "Nothing you'd believe either."

"You have to tell me now." Blaise said, leaning far too close for comfort. "I can't imagine what that Mud-" He saw my look and corrected himself. "Muggleborn has done to get you so nervous."

I sighed before leaning over and murmuring to him. "I think she saw me follow her to the third floor-."

"I'm going to stop you right there." Blaise interrupted, taking a moment to massage his brow. "Just why were you following her to the third floor? and why the fuck-" I idly noticed this was the first time I had ever heard Blaise curse. "-was she up there in the first place? Did both of you miss the part of Dumbledore's speech where he said that the corridor was out of bounds because of oh, I don't know, there's a good chance you'll die if you enter it." He hissed at me, throwing his arms up in frustration.

"She was upset after Greengrass insulted her during potions, so I decided to see if she was okay." I defended. "And in my defence, I didn't know she was heading up there, if I did I wouldn't have bothered." I was lying when I said this, I definitely would have and I still would now if I happened to be in a horrific Time-Turner accident.

"You both could have died for Melin's sake!" Blaise looked actually concerned for me, it was touching because a part of me did think he only spoke to me because no one else in our year really would, it was nice to see he did actually view me as a friend-

"Can you imagine if you did die, and they made share a room with Crabbe?!" The warm feeling abruptly evaporated.

"No, you wouldn't be able to, you know why?" He didn't wait for a response. "Because you'd be dead, and that wouldn't be the worst part, you know what is?" He pointed his finger at Crabbe. "It'd be me being forced to share a room with that utter troll."

He mumbled to himself some more before finally sitting up. "Did you at least find her before she got herself murdered?" He shook his head. "Of course you did, you'd not be here otherwise and I'd probably be speaking to Bulstrode or Crabbe." He shuddered at the thought.

I waited for him to calm down before responding. "No, I didn't find where she went off to." Blaise jerked sharply towards me. "You know what I did find though?"

He hesitantly nodded.

I was going to enjoy this.

I made a motion for him to lean in closer, and when he did I dramatically leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

"There's a Cerberus in one of the classrooms."

He remained still, I leaned back in concern wondering if I had somehow sent him into shock-

"There's a fucking WHAT?!" He shouted, drawing looks from nearly our entire table as he leapt out of his seat.

I caught one person's eyes not on Blaise, who was doing his best to pretend like he didn't just embarrass himself in front of nearly everyone, but on me.

I looked back at Silas and smiled weakly.

He didn't look happy.

BREAK!

A/N: End of chapter, going to attempt to get past first year relatively quickly seeing as there's not much room for divergence.

If you could be so kind as to leave a review it'd be greatly appreciated!