a/n: im so sorry for the length of this chapter i just didn't know how to shorten it 😭

The next morning, Hermione was far from pleased. She brushed her teeth with a new sort of vigor. I nervously plaited my hair in a braid, careful not to cause her to explode.

Hermione had books that she had to return, so before breakfast the both of us walked to the library. Madam Pince seemed to trust her enough to bring them back on time. Rightfully so, as the two of us were marching towards the entrance of it now.

I cleared my throat. "They did what they had to do—"

She scoffed. "I'm far from approving it but it's already been done. You'd think they would have considered the consequences—"

"Do they ever?" I joked, hoping to lighten her mood. It didn't help.

Malfoy walked across our path, Crabbe and Goyle nowhere to be seen. Unusual. He hadn't noticed us, and I was too tired to start a fight. I caught sight of the book he was holding — Hogwarts, a History. I wondered if he'd returned the mythology book. I didn't know why he'd want to keep it, anyway.

Hermione and I looked after him until he turned the corner, exchanging a look as he disappeared, having not noticed us at all. Madame Pince was sorting books when we arrived, and I couldn't bite my tongue fast enough.

"Would you happen to have a copy of An Abridgment of Greek Mythology?" I questioned. Madam Pince nodded behind her tiny spectacles.

"Funny you should say that, as somebody just returned it—"

"I saw him leaving and figured he must have," I shrugged. "I'd like to check it out, if that's alright."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at me. I'd never fully explained the mythology thing to her. It had sort of been Malfoy and I's secret.

"Of course. You know the drill," she nodded to the piece of parchment with only one signature on it: Draco L. Malfoy, followed by "Hogwarts, a History" and the date. The return date was left blank.

I signed under his: Lila C. (Cypress) Holmes, followed by "An Abridgment of Greek Mythology" and the date. Hermione was filling out the empty column of return dates on the other piece of parchment. Each time she finished writing the ink would disappear into the paper, showing that the return had been completed.

As the last line of her writing disappeared, Madam Pince handed me the tome and I slipped it into my bag. Afterwards, we headed to breakfast. The extra weight in my bag was annoying, but it reminded me of the rare pleasant moments I'd had with Malfoy so long ago. It also raised a few questions.

"It's odd that he kept it over the summer, isn't it?" I shook my head.

"I never really pegged him as the mythology type, or the history type for that matter," she shook her head.

I'd almost forgotten about Hogwarts, a History. "I reckon his father's making him put in more effort towards his studies. He didn't like hearing a mudblood beat his son for class rank."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "Who told him that?"

"I did."

We reached the Great Hall shortly afterwards, and found Harry and Ron already there. Dean, Seamus, and Neville seemed to be immersed in whatever they were saying. They were probably still hooked on the car incident from last night. This soured Hermione's mood again.

The boys seemed to have noticed us and got suspiciously quiet as we approached. She sat and plopped a copy of Voyages with Vampires on a milk carton.

"Morning," she said stiffly. I sat next to her, smiling apologetically at the others.

"I was wondering when you'd get here," Dean grinned. Even at seven-thirty in the morning he was bright as ever. He pushed a plate of French toast towards me, and I helped myself to some gratefully.

"Hermione had books to return," I explained.

Dean nodded approvingly at Hermione. "Always at the top of your game, Hermione. Impressive."

Hermione's mood lifted at this. "Thank you, Dean."

I smiled appreciatively at him, and he gave me two subtle thumbs up. A grumpy Hermione is a scary Hermione.

"Mail's ought to be here soon," Neville said. "Gran's sending me a few things I forgot."

Almost as if on a cue, owls swooped in from the ceiling, carrying parcels and envelopes and packages galore. A lumpy parcel fell onto Neville's head and a large thing catapulted into Hermione's jug, spraying us with milk. I pulled the thing by the talon out of the jug — Errol, the Weasley's owl. He had managed to drop a red envelope into Ron's lap before impact.

"Oh no," Ron groaned. Neville, too, looked rather anxious.

"I'm sure he's alright," Hermione said, looking at Errol's unconscious form.

"No, it's not him," Ron's face was growing paler. The corners of the envelope were beginning to burn.

"You'd better open it, Ron," Neville said worriedly. "My gran sent me a Howler once and I ignored it and," Neville gulped nervously. "It was terrible."

"What's a Howler?" Harry asked.

Ron ignored him. He slit the letter open and immediately winced. Neville plugged his ears. Soon, I saw why. The voice of Mrs. Wealsey filled the expanse of the Great Hall. Dust shook from the ceiling, and everyone turned to look at the cause of the calamity.

"—STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU! YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU EVEN STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE--"

Ron had sunk so low in his chair that only his hair could be seen. Hermione was calmly eating her porridge with a triumphant look on her face. The rest of us exchanged uncomfortable looks.

"—RECEIVED THE LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD HAVE DIED—"

Harry's face grew red at this, as though he'd been waiting for his name to be brought up.

"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

The letter then burst into flames in front of us. The silence in the hallway deafening, and my ears rang. There were some laughs, and finally the buzz of chatter rose again. Hermione closed Voyages with Vampires pompously.

"I'm not sure what you expected, Ron, but you—"

"Don't tell me I deserved it," Ron snapped, still sat low in his chair. Professor McGonagall appeared a few minutes later with our schedules. We had double Herbology with Hufflepuff first.

As we made our way down to the greenhouses, Hermione began to warm up to Harry and Ron again. I believed she thought the Howler had been a worthy punishment. Dean walked beside me with Seamus and Neville trailing behind.

When Professor Sprout appeared, she was walking with none other than Gilderoy Lockhart. I fought to keep my face neutral. I'd heard all about the guy on the train before I'd fallen asleep — Hermione had refused to shut up about him. Ginny, on the other hand, called him a conceited, airheaded codwaffle.

"Oh, hello there!" Lockhart called to us. "I've just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels-"

"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" said Professor Sprout, who seemed to be considerably annoyed. She was usually a cheerful witch.

I grew excited. We had never worked in greenhouse three before, as it held the more dangerous plants. We followed Professor Sprout (and Lockhart) to the Greenhouse and walked inside. Lockhart pulled Harry aside rather aggressively, accidentally shoving Ron into a pillowy looking plant. "Harry! I've been wanting a word - you don't mind if he's a couple of minutes late, do you, Professor Sprout?"

Professor Sprout's face said otherwise, but Lockhart swept him away before she could say a word. I snorted, mocking Lockhart's chipper tone. "Oh, the price of fame."

Seamus and Dean seemed to find this very funny, and snickered. Professor Sprout seemed rather amused as well, but was stifling her laugh. She helped Ron out of the plant and stood at the head of one of the long benches of plants. "We're going to wait for Mr. Potter to get back so as not to cause any damage."

This caused a curious murmur among us. Professor Sprout produced twenty pairs of earmuffs and laid them on the bench. She picked out two pairs and instructed the rest of us to grab one as well. I took a grey pair myself and waited beside the bench once again.

Harry soon appeared, looking rather ruffled. He gratefully took one of the pairs of earmuffs and proceeded to stand between Ron and Hermione, across from me.

"We'll be repotting Mandrakes today," said Professor Sprout. Hermione lit up, as did Neville. "Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"

Hermione's hand shot up. I'd read about Mandrakes many times before, specifically in Potions. The root had important healing properties that could restore a person to their original state before being cursed, transfigured, etc. They were rather nasty looking plants, and their screams were fatal.

Hermione answered the question almost word-for-word from our textbook, much to Professor Sprout's approval. "Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor," she said. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

Hermione nearly knocked Harry's glasses off of his face in her rush to raise her hand, though no one else seemed to want to volunteer anyway.

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it,"  she answered.

"Precisely. Take another ten points," nodded Professor Sprout. "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young." She motioned to the plants in front of us. "Everyone have a pair of earmuffs?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right now, earmuffs on."

All sound was blocked out once mine were securely on my ears. Once observing that everyone was ready, Professor Sprout put on her own pair and rolled up her sleeves. She tugged on one of the plants and I grimaced at the sight.

The leaves came out of the head of a green, moldy looking baby. I could see it screaming, but could hear nothing. Professor Sprout then procured a plant pot from under the table and placed the Mandrake inside, making sure to cover the entire bottom of it. She gave us the thumbs up and we all removed our earmuffs.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly. "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are secure while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. Four to a tray, please. There is a large supply of pots here, compost in the sacks over there, and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething."

She gave the red, spiky looking plant a slap. Dean, Seamus, Neville, and I congregated at a tray. Neville and Seamus immediately began to gather the pots and bring them to the table while Dean and I fetched the compost.

"This is so exciting," Neville remarked, grinning. "Look at all of these plants. They're so dangerous but so beautiful at the same time."

"If you can call a Mandrake beautiful," Seamus grimaced. "Disgusting little thing, that was."

"I'm sure that's what your mum said about you as a baby," Dean elbowed Seamus playfully, laughing. Seamus punched him in the arm, but he was laughing as well. Soon, we didn't have much time to talk, as our earmuffs were on and the Mandrakes needed repotting. They bit nastily at our thumbs and arms as we picked them up out of the soil. They didn't seem to enjoy being stuffed back in either.

I observed that Ron, Harry, and Hermione had been joined by Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff and once Professor Sprout had given us the signal he proceeded to talk their ears off. We left the greenhouse covered in soil. Professor Sprout let us out a few minutes early so we could wash up a bit in the castle.

During Transfiguration, we'd been instructed to turn beetles into buttons. I'd been ahead of the game studying for exams last year. Dean and I sat together as an excuse to avoid the guaranteed disaster of Seamus attempting transfiguration.

However, we were sandwiched in between him and Ron, the latter creating bouts of thick grey smoke that smelled strongly of sulfur. He'd broken his wand upon impact with the Whomping Willow, and attempted to fix it with some Spellotape. Yet, seeing as his wand was already temperamental this didn't seem to fix much.

Hermione had been able to transfigure her beetle almost right away. It was considerably difficult to focus but I was able to transfigure mine some ten minutes later.

"Honestly, Ron, I ought to shower again so as not to smell like rotten eggs for the rest of the day," I joked as we left the classroom. Ron scowled at me.

"Shove off, Lila," he rolled his eyes and looked down at his wand. "You're lucky it didn't set you on fire."

We walked to lunch together. There, Hermione showed us her plethora of coat buttons that she'd transfigured in class, much to Ron's annoyance. There was an empty seat beside Hermione, as Harry sat next to me. It felt oddly like someone was missing . . .

"Have you seen Ginny?" I asked Ron when I finally realized. He raised an eyebrow, then proceeded to look around. "No, why?"

"It's her first day," I said. "I wanted to make sure she's doing alright."

"Shouldn't she be here?" Dean asked. "It's everyone's Lunch period."

"Maybe she's in the library," Harry said. "She's probably overwhelmed."

"Poor Ginny," Dean shook his head. "We should talk to her. She probably doesn't have many friends yet. I know I didn't the first day."

"She has her siblings," I motioned to Fred and George, who were looking over a piece of parchment with Lee Jordan. I'd never seen them so focused on a piece of paper. Ron and Hermione were suddenly arguing about her schedule. He saw us looking at him and snatched her schedule off the table to show us.

"Why do you have all of his classes outlined in hearts?" Ron asked her accusingly. She didn't answer, instead rolling her eyes and snatching the paper back. However, not before we saw that Ron was speaking the truth, and that all of Lockhart's classes had dainty hearts drawn around them.

"Hermione, in the nicest way possible," I paused. "That's foul."

"Even more disgusting than you two,"  Ron shot Dean and I a look, at which Harry stopped chewing. He turned and looked at us, seeming slightly alarmed. He swallowed his potatoes.

"Are you actually—"

"NO!" We chorused.

Hermione said she wanted some fresh air, and so after they'd finished eating, Harry, Ron, and Hermione left for the courtyard. Dean suggested he and I go check if Ginny was in the library, to which I agreed, but when we arrived we had no luck.

Eventually, we ended up leaving for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Luckily, the courtyard was on the way and we could probably meet Harry, Ron, and Hermione there before class started.

"She's probably in Gryffindor Tower somewhere," I shrugged. "It's a long ways away from here so hopefully I can just talk to her at dinner."

"I hope she's doing alright," Dean said. "She seems like the type to get nervous easily."

"But she's not," I shook my head. "She's very outspoken, from what I've seen. She stood up to Malfoy on the train."

"Impressive," Dean said. "But yeah, that's a little weird."

"It is," I agreed.

"Speak of the Devil." Dean said suddenly.

I was so lost in thought that I'd barely noticed we were in the courtyard. Not to mention, there was Malfoy, smug as ever, Crabbe and Goyle with him. He walked closer to us. It seemed he was going the way we had just come.

"I was just asking Potter why you weren't here," Malfoy continued, smirking. "The air around me didn't feel as polluted as usual."

"Happy to hear that you missed me, Malfoy," I grimaced. Malfoy looked between us analytically. His scowl deepened as he focused on Dean.

"Aren't you Muggle-born too?" Malfoy scoffed. "My father would be revolted just by the sheer amount of you—"

"At least Dean's father loves him," I snapped back at Malfoy. "Your father will never be satisfied with your underwhelming academic performance or any of your false achievements."

Malfoy looked like he'd been stung. I looked to Dean, who looked mildly uncomfortable, then back to Crabbe and Goyle, who looked as if they were waiting for a cue to punch me.

"Let's go," I tugged Dean forward by the elbow and we continued to walk to class. I looked to him, but he looked rather distraught. I frowned.

"Are you alright?"

He shook his head. "No." He looked to me. "Lila, there's something I should tell you."

I slowed my pace and nodded. "I'm listening."

"This is awkward," He inhaled. "But my dad left my mum and I when I was young."

My mouth fell open, realizing what I had just said. Dean ignored this, continuing to speak.

"I don't even remember him. My mum remarried my step-dad a few years later, and he's the one who raised me. I don't know anything about my birth dad, and my mum has no idea why he left. We haven't seen or heard from him since."

I frowned. "Oh, Dean, I'm so sorry," I shook my head. "So that man that I met over the summer—?"

"Yes, he's my step-dad, but like I've said he's raised me my entire life," Dean nodded.

I wasn't sure how to console him. I'd made the situation much more awkward than it needed to be. "I'm sorry, Dean. I'm sure your biological father left for a good reason, and if not then it doesn't matter. We both know your step-dad loves you very much. He's so proud of you, as he should be."

"I know he is, and that's all that matters," Dean sighed. "It would just be nice to know who he was, you know?"

I squeezed his shoulder. "I'm sure that wherever he is, if he could see you right now, he'd be very proud of the wizard you've become."

He smiled, making me smile in return. "Thanks, Lila," he said.

"That's what I'm here for," I replied. I dropped my hand. "Now come on, let's go to class with that idiot professor."

This seemed to brighten Dean's mood. "What do you think he has planned for us? A quiz on himself?"