Fragile

It's been a while, oof. Sorry for such a long wait. I'm struggling to learn how to write short chapters but that's okay.

This chapter only got finished because somebody left a really sweet comment. Thanks for reading guys, it truly means so much to me when you leave that type of stuff.

"Hey Amaryllis,” Gemma said with a smile as she sat herself down across from Lissy. The library was quiet and as the girl pulled the wooden chair out to sit down, Lissy could even hear the gentle scraping against the carpet floors.

“H-hello,” Lissy greeted with a small smile, looking up from her book on charms. She placed her quill down on the parchment next to her which was engulfed in notes and tips on how to employ the things she was learning. It was a meager attempt to figure out how to catch up with those around her in a way where she wouldn’t be the last to complete a spell. Things had gotten a bit more frustrating lately. Transfiguration and Charms were some of the worst classes to sit through solely because Lissy couldn’t figure out how to utilize her wand properly. She’d been attempting to push through but it only earned her burns on her palms everytime she exerted herself a little too hard. As scary as Potions was, at least it was easy.

Lissy curiously scanned Gemma for any books but the girl carried nothing but a small black leather purse in her arms, a school bag nowhere to be found. The first year’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion before she considered the fact that maybe Gemma just liked the ambience of the library. It was a safe place in a way, quiet and comforting. The smell of the aging paper and ink, the constant sound of turning pages and the occasional murmur from different study groups - It was the perfect background noise and place to be alone but not lonely. Lissy might have even compared it to almost a sacred ground for her, a place of refuge where Crazy Flint and his quidditch team couldn’t find her. Why they were so afraid of the library, she truly didn’t know but as long as they were out of her hair Lissy didn’t feel the need to find out.

“It’s a free day,” Gemma said aloud to the girl randomly and Lissy looked up from the fifth year’s empty hands to her face in confusion before realizing the older girl must have seen her questioning the lack of school supplies. Today Gemma had her soft brown hair free from any ponytail and it cascaded gracefully across her shoulders in delicate waves. On one side, a fancy hair clip in the shape of a flower was pulled back to keep stray hairs from falling into her face, small green jewels embedded in the middle and outer. The only makeup she wore was a thin coating of mascara but even with only that, Gemma was incredibly striking.

“Flint got a hold of you?” Gemma questioned the girl. She propped her chin onto an open palm and stared, green eyes just watching as Lissy attempted to make herself look busy. She picked up the quill and began looking over her previous notes. Gemma’s stares always made her nervous. Not for any negative reason but solely because she was just so nice and pretty. The last thing the first year wanted to do was get on her bad side.

“Um- yes,” Lissy nodded, glancing up every so often. “He- um… H-he’s gonna a-ask Snape…”

“About you playing quidditch again?”

“Y-yes,” Lissy nodded and watched as Gemma fished out a compact from her purse as well as something else the first year couldn’t quite make out. Gemma flipped the golden compact open, and unscrewed the top from the object she had taken out of her bag and Lissy was able to see now that it was a lip gloss tube. The older girl began focusing on applying a thin layer of lip gloss from the squeezy tube, watching carefully to make sure the soft pink didn’t go over her lip line. It left a gentle shine on the girl's lips and Lissy wondered if the girl had to touch up her makeup often throughout the day. Truthfully, she didn’t know much about makeup at all but it was fun to watch. She’d only seen her Aunt Petunia apply it once at 6 years old during a car ride to church, lining her lips with a soft red and rubbing them together in the mirrors. When she caught Lissy watching, she narrowed her eyes and snapped the mirror shut before cranking her long neck to look at her crossly from the passenger seat. ‘Don’t you dare even think about it,’ the woman had told her sharply and Lissy wasn’t quite what she was referring to but nodded along regardless. Even at that age she knew not to push.

“Do you want some?” Gemma asked, spurring Lissy from the thought and she glanced at the tube being held out to her. It wasn’t anything special. Just a simple tube full of lip gloss but something in her shifted and she wondered why she wanted to cry. Maybe it was because it was the first time someone had treated her so kind and wasn’t afraid of catching any of her ‘freakiness’. At that moment, Lissy didn’t feel so odd. She felt like a normal girl. She looked up at Gemma with a small grateful smile, shaking her head.

“I don’t think so,” Lissy responded. “I just thought you l-looked very pretty.” Gemma’s jaw went slack.

“You are most definitely my favorite first year,” Gemma declared as she patted Lissy’s hand affectionately. “Felix didn’t want me babying you too much but how could I not?” She cooed cheerfully and Lissy was suddenly reminded of the boy. Now that she thought about it, this was more of his style to poke around the library, wasn’t it? Glancing around, Lissy wondered whether she was here with Atkins. It felt odd at the thought of finding her without him. Where she found Gemma, Atkins was not far behind.

“He’s here, just somewhere over there in the transfiguration section,” Gemma commented, smiling at the deer in headlights look Lissy had. It was odd just how perceptive Gemma was but Lissy supposed that she must have received her Prefect position for one reason or another. “He usually spots you first, yanno.”

“Me?” Lissy blinked in confusion at the new shared fact. Why would Atkins notice her? Her brows furrowed as she gripped the quill in her hand a little stronger. She’d not noticed him around her much. Actually, barely at all. Maybe that was due to her focus of always attempting to find the quickest route out of a crowd or a quieter corner. The last time Lissy had actually spoken to the handsome yet cold fifth year had been when she spent the night in the library and he had scolded her. Could it be that there was a more lasting effect from her actions? Was she a troublemaker in their books now? It seemed the most reasonable of explanations. What other reason would Atkins have to keep an eye on her?

“It’s nothing bad,” Gemma waved her hand. She was watching Lissy with furrowed brows, lips downturned. “Don’t think too hard about it, Amaryllis.” She looked worried. At the sound of her name, it only occurred to her then that she’d never told the girl that she preferred ‘Lissy’ over ‘Amaryllis’.

“Okay,” Lissy conceded. She muttered softly after a moment, glancing up and finally meeting Gemma’s gaze with her own and it only made the first year feel more shy. “U-um, Gemma…. You can c-call me L-Lissy,” she told the girl shyly. She was met with a grin in response.

“Somehow that fits you perfectly,” Gemma complimented. “Anyways Lissy, don’t worry about Felix. You haven’t done anything, he’s just really good at keeping an eye on the younger years is all. Always has been,” Gemma continued. She looked happy as she talked about Atkins and Lissy felt like maybe they were much stronger friends than she had originally thought. “Felix is cold but he cares. He’s a great prefect,” She told Lissy proudly with a triumphant smile. It spread across her cheeks to her eyes.

“A great prefect,” Lissy parroted back thoughtfully. She nodded in agreement after pondering it. Whilst the upper years always seemed a bit annoyed by the younger, Atkins remained steadfast in his disposition of quiet but helpful. Although she wouldn’t want to go out of her way to bother the young man, she wasn’t so afraid to ask the boy anything.

“Anyways, back on hand - you must be quite the flier to have Flint bothering Snape breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s astonishing, really. Amazing what quidditch can bring out of that oaf.” She rolled her eyes.

“He’s what?” Lissy whispered. The color drained from her face as the gravity of what Flint’s harassment against Snape could mean for her. The man already couldn’t stand being within a half a mile radius without that evil glare. At this rate, she’d be the next ingredient they’d use in their potions class once Snape found the perfect place to corner her. What was it that he’d once said? ‘How to bottle fame?’ Was this foreshadowing? Lissy put her face into her hands, attempting to keep a straight head. Hagrid wouldn’t let Snape stew her up. He wouldn’t. She reminded herself to bring it up today when Ron and her made their lunch visit.

“Geez, Lissy,” Gemma’s voice broke her thoughts and she felt a hand on arm. “I doubt Snape’s going to be mad at you. Flint’s the git here. Don’t worry too hard about it, you’ll wrinkle that baby face of yours.”

“I’m not a baby,” Lissy poked her head up.

“You’re a firstie. You’re all babies.” There was an amused smile on her face as she watched Lissy scrunch her nose at the comment. Then the gaze moved from Lissy’s face to something behind her and the first year turned to look.

“Book.” Atkins stood there behind her and held up a thick leather bound book. He had forgone the usual uniform and in its place wore plain black trousers and a forest green sweater with a white collar peeking out from underneath the neckline. The book in his hands looked weighty and aged. Its title was so worn that she could hardly make out what it said even with her glasses on. Lissy squinted and was finally able to make out the title with a bit of guesswork. Mechanisms of Wandwork by Matthew Dongongo.

“Book,” Gemma repeated back in the same way, a nod of approval. Lissy could see the smile under her attempt of stoicism. Atkins nodded and he moved to take a seat next to Gemma, setting his school bag on the table. He began reading it immediately and the fifth year girl next to him looked exasperated but refrained from saying anything. As Lissy watched the two, she found that she liked the way they worked. It was sort of like watching 2 opposites interact. Glancing at a clock hung along one of the library walls, Lissy got up. It was nearing 9:30.

“Where-?” Gemma began to ask but Atkins interrupted her without even glancing up from his book.

“Double potions.” He answered aloud but his eyes were scanning the pages as he read. Gemma looked just as stunned as Lissy before shrugging.

“I told you he’s good.”

Potions went just about as well as expected if the testy stares Snape gave her were any indication. He was most certainly peeved by Flint’s persistence. She could tell because all throughout note taking, the professor called on her to answer question after question in an attempt to trip her up. For each answer she got correct, his eyes would grow more concentrated on her nervous form and the questions continued to get harder. Many of the topics he asked her they hadn’t even covered yet so why he was so adamant about testing her knowledge was beyond her. The professor had finally got his satisfaction when he asked a fourth year level question about the interactions between beetle wings and gnome clippings. She had stared in confusion before shaking her head slowly but the action didn’t seem to bring him as much joy as she thought it would.

Indeed, he seemed much more pleased to yell at the Gryffindors. Especially Neville who had flubbed another potion this time. The sweltering green liquid was spreading as it burned and bubbled through the first year boy’s cauldron, flowing over the counter and on to the floor where it actually began to dissolve the bottom of other kids shoes. From how acidic it was turning out to be, he had gassed the porcupine quills too early and didn’t dilute the water at all. Seamus Finnigan had been unfortunately caught in the crossfire as well. He had been working next to the boy which in turn explained why his own cauldron was a twisted looking blob, melting more and more by the minute as Neville’s potion spread like wildfire.

“Idiot boy!” Snape hissed and he swept his wand across the room, dissipating the liquid however the damage was already done. When his potion had taken a turn, Neville hadn’t managed to scramble out of the way in time so he was the most affected. His nose was purple and painful looking boils formed atop of it - all looking ready to pop and Lissy imagined the same was going on for his feet. She looked on in pity.

“Take him to the hospital wing,” Snape barked at Seamus who was looking in astonishment at his housemate. The expression on the Slytherin man’s face was pure rage and she could see why. While he’d stopped the liquid in its tracks, the damage it had caused was immense. The potions table Seamus and Neville had been working on had a crater sinking into it from how destructive the mixture was and the sides were caving in from where the potion had dripped down. Holes and dents scattered along the flooring now as well as kids complaining about their shoes.

“Class is dismissed early,” his voice was tight as he waved his wand to the potions door. It slammed open and they all fled as quickly as they could, afraid to further the man’s bad mood. Lissy gathered her materials into her bag quickly, glancing at Pansy who was already ready. The blonde girl had been waiting for her.

“No lunch?” She seemed disapproving and the ravenette shook her head.

“I-I’m going to see Hagrid,” She explained and Pansy nodded in understanding, moving past her to leave out the doorway with Millicent and Daphne who had been waiting upon them as well. Lissy raised her hand and waved as they left before continuing to put away her materials. Ron met her at her desk just as she finished packing up and he seemed weary, eyes darting to the door before back at her.

“Flint?” She asked tiredly and he nodded. Gemma had said the fifth years had a free day today. Lissy grimaced. How on earth was she to get out of this one?

“If we make a run for it,” Ron suggested to her. “Maybe he won’t see us? Oh! You can hide between Dean and I.” He waved the boy over and Lissy felt a bit silly but went along with him anyway as didn’t have a better plan. She ducked between the two as they followed a gaggle of Gryffindor girls out and from her spot could just make out the shoe of Marcus Flint. He stood across from the potions room with a foot against the wall, watching lazily for her to exit. He merely spared the Gryffindors a glance before returning to his search after noticing the red on their robes.

“C’mon,” Ron whispered urgently when they were far enough, head whipping around the corners as he studied each corridor with great concentration in case any of the other Slytherin quidditch members were lying in wait. He motioned to the girl behind the wall, relaying the message that the coast was clear. Accordingly, Lissy darted out of her hiding spot and they both made a mad dash to the almost empty courtyard - Ron struggling behind her as he attempted to keep up with the fast pace she set. “How many times has Flint asked?” The boy puffed as they attempted to hide behind trees every so often in case the older boy was slinking around in another dark corner to talk more. Lissy was no better. One thing at Hogwarts that they didn’t do was physical activity and even before she arrived here, she was never much of a runner unless there was a reason to be running.

“He hasn’t asked,” Lissy replied with a grim shake of her head. “He’s telling me,” She explained to Ron, remembering the way the fifth year had attempted to recruit her last time. She had been heading to her dorm and was passing through the Slytherin common room when Flint had pulled her aside and plopped a pile of clothes into her book-filled arms. Another boy stood with him, one whose name Lissy wasn’t too sure on. Truly, she really only paid attention to the upper years when it proved a necessity such as with the Weasley twins or Gemma. Lissy’s path didn’t quite cross with the 4th year and up enough for her to go out of her way to meet them so it never had been a priority. Of course, the lack of daily engagement hadn’t stopped the older years from introducing themselves to her on multiple occasions (she suspected her fame was a big factor) however that didn’t mean she could remember all of them.

Flint and the other Slytherin boy had stood in front of her, arms crossed as they began explaining the rules of quidditch and what it meant to be on the team - ignoring every time Lissy commented on how she couldn’t possibly join. It was ludicrous. A first year on a quidditch team was something extremely abnormal she had learned and Lissy found that normality was something she was quite lacking in. Even for being a witch, she seemed to be a bit odd, which was supposedly much more difficult than she’d realized after weeks of History of Magic lessons with Professor Bins learning about wizards who’d allow themselves to be burned at the stake solely for the fun of it.

Keeping this in mind, joining the Quidditch team as a first year felt a bit counter productive for her new self-goal of normality which was why she was grasping at any and every straw to dissuade them. Unfortunately, the quidditch team might have suffered too many hits to the head because they just weren’t taking no for an answer. In fact, in their heads it seemed she’d already joined if the clothes that were dumped in her arms were any indication. It wasn’t until she mentioned Snape that Flint had even faltered in his Pro-Quidditch propaganda speech he was giving her.

“Snape?” Flint repeated, thick eyebrows drawing together as he thought about it. The boy next to him looked puzzled as well. Lissy wanted to scream.

“I’m a f-first year,” Lissy explained. “I’ve yet to see a-another first year on a q-quidditch team.” She didn’t quite know too much about quidditch but Daphne had been sure to fill her in on the gist of it once she saw the utter confusion upon being asked.

“You leave that to us,” Flint told her sternly and his confidence made her nervous. The next day he had come bearing news of Snape’s refusal but insisted that he’d change his mind as soon as the head of house saw Lissy play. Multiple times she had inputted that she truly hadn’t a desire to even be on the quidditch team for them to be putting so much effort into recruiting her but all was ignored. It was tragically ironic when she thought about it. So far, Snape was the only thing protecting her from playing with the crazy boys and it wasn’t even out of the kindness of his heart. If she knew the professor correctly, if it wasn’t due to adhering to the rules put in place, it was most certainly to keep her apart from playing in a sports team that she might enjoy too much.

“He tried to this morning but Millicent distracted him,” Lissy grimaced as she remembered the way Flint had gone to call her over as soon as he saw her making her way out of the Slytherin girls dorms. Where the other curly haired girl had gotten a pouch full of exploding spider snaps, she wasn’t quite sure but Merlin, was she grateful. It had been a perfect diversion for her to slip out the entrance without them noticing as well as an entertaining one. The common room had been full of shrieks of panic as the explosive spiders were set loose, crawling anywhere they pleased and Flint was too busy smacking them off his trousers to notice her disappearance. His persistence was astonishing. Mealtimes weren’t even safe so Pansy or Daphne had become accustomed to sneaking her something simple and easy into the dorm if she chose to hide away that day. How they stuffed their pockets so full with rolls and honey butter she wasn’t quite sure but she was grateful nonetheless.

“Fred and George are on the Gryffindor team. They’re beaters. I suppose you could join and just throw the first game. That could solve your problems,” Ron suggested and Lissy wanted to roll her eyes.

“Is it just by chance that that first game would be Slytherin against G-Gryffindor?” She asked, trying to hide the bemusement from her voice. He grinned at her, wholeheartedly unashamed.

“Oh, really? Wow, didn’t know that!”

“If I can keep my feet off the field,” Lissy began, “I think I’ll be safe. They’ll forget me s-soon enough.” The confidence in her voice was lacking and for good reason too. She wasn’t quite sure she could take a full week of this.

“Do you visit Hagrid every Friday?” Ron asked as they carefully followed the pathway to Hagrid’s hut that sat on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The trees stood tall and large behind his house, trunks so girthy that she could only wonder how old they were. She had asked Hagrid at one point as he gave her a tour of the grounds, him pointing out his patches of gardening with pumpkins and the like but received only a shrug in response. Apparently arbor was not the man’s specialty.

Avoiding a slippery rock that had yet to dry from the drizzle that morning, Lissy replied. “Not every Friday but most.” It proved a great destressor when Potions got too tense. Double potions every Friday was a lot to take in so at least she had Hagrid to look forward to. They walked up the porch steps to Hagrid’s, Ron by her side and she knocked thrice before stepping back from the tall wooden door. Fang’s loud bark rang out immediately from behind it as he howled at the disturbance. When she saw Ron’s face go pale, Lissy didn’t blame him. If she hadn’t met Fang before and this was her first interaction, she’d have thought he was a hell hound with a bark that deep and body that huge. Those friendly brown eyes and big paws were more welcoming than terrifying now.

“Fang isn’t scary at all,” Lissy reassured him right before the door opened, revealing Hagrid in all of his 7 ft glory. Ron let out a gasp, taking a step back in surprise.

“Yer a Weasley fer sure,” the man noted firstly, squinting at the red that made up Ron’s messy hair. He looked suspicious, glancing at the Gryffindors hands in search of anything flammable or explosive. Lissy wanted to laugh. Just what had the Weasley twins done to the man to have such a reputation that spread even to the younger siblings? She was sure he was only seconds away from actually asking him to empty out his bag.

“This is my friend, Ron.” Hagrid's face immediately brightened at the introduction. He looked almost excited as he moved aside to let the two in.

“Ay!” Hagrid chortled jollily as he clapped the back of the boy. Ron lurched forward at the tap but said nothing. He followed Lissy’s lead of sitting down at the table, giving her a nervous stare but she gave him a thumbs up. Hagrid made his way to the kitchen and she could hear him clattering about with his kettle, all while talking to her. “I told ya! All ya needed was a bit o’ patience! Was tellin’ Fang earlier - ‘ow could someone e’er dislike lil’ Lissy?” Hagrid rambled to himself and she felt her cheeks heat up as Ron turned to her.

“You've been telling him about your number one hater?” He asked and Lissy nodded sheepishly.

“S-snape is s-scary,” She admitted to him with a smile. Ron grimaced and he seemed to be remembering the way Potions class ended off.

“That’s an understatement,” He told her before his face brightened up at the sight of the cookies on the table. This time, there were no golden biscuits lying in the mix and the rock cakes were piled high. Ron reached his hand out to grab one and Lissy immediately snatched it away, glancing towards Hagrid who still had his back turned.

“Don’t.” She leaned in to whisper and he was staring wide eyed between her and the plate.

“I didn’t know you liked them that much,” he said, still shocked and she was taken aback.

“What? No-“ she began attempting to explain but Hagrid turned around before she could. He was carrying a tray and she noticed the 3 mismatched cups he carried along with a tea pot bigger than her head. The familiar blue dove cup was handed to her and Ron received a cup with intricately drawn red ladybugs on it. In Hagrid’s own hands was a plain large mug.

“You don’t use t-teacups?” Lissy asked the man curiously and he frowned.

“Not fer the lack o’ tryin’” Hagrid explained. “Me hands ar’ just too big,” He shrugged and Lissy nodded in understanding. He wasn’t exaggerating. The large mug he held in his hands looked similar to what the tea cup was in her own if not smaller. “How’s yer brother?” Hagrid was looking at Ron now who seemed confused.

“Er- which one?”

“Oh,” Hagrid chuckled. “Forgot there were so many o’ yews. Charlie! Bright youn’ lad that one - great with animals too.”

“Oh,” Ron nodded as he put his cup of tea down. He seemed pleased to talk about his older brother and Lissy wondered whether the boy had favorites. If she had to assume, she might have thought it was Fred and George due to their closeness in age. Along with that, they certainly acted like good big brothers but then again, all she had to base her idea of family on was the Dursleys and Dudley was hardly a big brother. A big bother, more like it. “He’s doing well! He actually went to Romania to study dragons.”

“Studyin’ dragons?” Hagrid seemed excited at the idea and Lissy didn’t doubt that if he got the chance, he’d no sooner keep one as a pet. How that would work in his wooden hut, while she wasn’t quite so sure. As Ron told Hagrid about Charlie and his adventures in Romania, Lissy picked up the newspaper that read “The Daily Prophet” from underneath a tea cosy on the table. She peered over the contents in interest, enjoying the way the pictures moved as she read.

Gringotts Break In Latest!

Investigations continue into the break in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of dark wizards or witches unknown.

Gringotts’ goblins insisted that nothing has been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier the same day.

“But we’re not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what’s good for you,” said a Gringotts Spokesgoblin this afternoon.

Lissy’s eyes widened as she looked to Hagrid in shock. Hadn’t he said that Gringotts was one of the most secure places in the wizarding world besides Hogwarts itself? Lissy showed the clipping to Ron who merely glanced at it before nodding.

“I saw that-“ he said. “Crazy, isn’t it?”

“Hagrid!” Lissy peered up at the man who looked nervous. “T-this happened on my birthday! W-what if I-it occurred w-while we we-were there?” Her stutter was coming back strong from the absolute surprise she felt but Hagrid said nothing. He instead looked back down at his mug of tea and immediately she knew something was up. In an attempt to distract her, the man offered her and Ron one of those crunchy biscuits he’d made but she shook her head politely and reread the story.

Emptied the same day?

While they were there, Hagrid had essentially emptied a vault as well although she wasn’t quite sure whether it could truly be counted as ‘emptying’ when the only item that lay in there was a small package. She remembered the way he’d slipped it into his pocket as inconspicuous as he could, the way his hand checked that it was there every so often throughout their shopping trip. Could that have been what those robbers were looking for? Whatever was in the package? But it was so small… What on earth could captivate someone so much that they’d break into a bank like Gringotts? Especially something so small.

“Ugh,” Ron made a noise from his spot next to Lissy and she looked at him, watching as he leant over and coughed up the bits from the biscuit he’d just bitten into. She bit a lip in an attempt to stop the smile that wanted to spread across her face. Hagrid jumped up, smacking Ron on the back with concern and she put a hand over her mouth to cover the smile that was threatening to break through. She’d told him not eat them.

“Are you okay?” Lissy asked, attempting to hide the sound of glee in her voice as Ron spit the last of it out into a napkin Hagrid handed him. The redheaded nodded weakly and she turned to Hagrid with a shake of the head. “It m-must’ve gone down the wrong pipe.”

“Ay,” he agreed warily, as if waiting for Ron to suddenly choke again. Hagrid pushed the tea cup closer to Ron, urging him to take a sip and the Weasley didn’t need to be told twice. He was chugging it, no doubt in an attempt to get the charcoal taste out of his mouth. When all of his tea had been drunk, he put the cup down and looked at her with wide eyes.

Struggling to keep a straight face, Lissy asked brightly, “Want another one?”

He sent her a scowl but shook his head nonetheless. Lissy took one to be polite, pretending to nibble as Hagrid began asking them about their classes while pouring the both of them another cup from the tea pot. She thought about the way Potions had ended and grimaced.

“They’re okay,” the girl said finally. “I’ve been studying a lot but I-I’m still having trouble,” she admitted.

“Well, you're doing better than Seamus,” Ron tried to comfort her and she glanced at him in interest. “Don’t know how he does it, but his wand work causes nothing but explosions.” She furrowed her brows at the new information before gasping.

“His eyebrows?”

“He blew them off during lunch,” Ron told her grimly. “Mcgonagall and Flitwick have him closer to the front so they can put out any fires as soon as it starts.” Lissy couldn’t help but smile at the information. It had done exactly what it was supposed to and she laughed, feeling a bit better at her lacking skills.

“What about you?” She asked him with a smile and his face soured at the question. For a moment, she wondered whether she had touched a nerve and her heart clenched but Ron took no notice. Instead he began to air out his grievances from earlier that day from a run in with Hermione.

“She’s annoying is what she is,” Ron grouched aloud as he stirred sugar into his teacup. “All she does is get praised for her magic. Just yesterday she corrected me in charms! ‘It’s leviOSA not leviosar’!” The boy mimicked. “And then had the nerve to attempt to show me how to cast it. As if Flitwick hadn’t just shown us.” He huffed in annoyance before taking a sip.

“She’s smart?” Lissy asked and she felt her interest peak.

“Stupidly smart. I think she might be a plant from the Ministry of Magic at this point,” Ron complained. “Fred and George have been more trouble lately too. If I hear them calling me ickle Ronnie-kins again one more time…”

“Better yew tha’ me,” Hagrid told him with a shake of his burly head. “I been chasin’ yer brothers away from the forest fer wha’ feels like half me life,” He told the redhead and Ron was gaping in surprise.

“Terrorizing the castle isn’t enough for them, they want to torment the forest as well?” He shook his head in astonishment. “Bloody menaces.” The rest of the visit with Hagrid went smoothly. As Ron and Hagrid chatted, she’d toss bits of the cookie into her pocket to make it look as if she were slowly eating it. He followed her lead and whenever he’d finish off a rock cake, she’d hand him another with an innocent look and ignored the alarmed expression on his own face. By the time they left, both pockets of his Gryffindor robes were being pulled down from the weight of all the broken up rock cake bits. She was quietly laughing at him and the way his robes hung as they left Hagrid’s hut but Ron got his justice when they were headed back up to the castle.

“Ow!” Lissy yelped as she felt something hit her in the shoulders. She looked down at her feet, seeing the familiar charcoal-esque food. Had Ron just thrown Hagrid’s cooking like a weapon? He was grinning at her.

“You must be hungry, Ron,” he mimicked her as he began to pull more out of his pocket. “Here, have another!”

Lissy shrieked in laughter as she avoided the pelting, sometimes throwing bits of her own hidden rock cakes but her arsenal was nothing compared to Ron’s. Maybe she had gone a little overboard on messing with him if the way he had an endless supply of the hardened cakes were anything to go by. He chased her up the way to the castle and she was zig zagging through the grass, avoiding most of his shots. Lissy had just reached the archway of the castle when she had turned ready to yell ‘SAFETY’ before feeling the collar of her robes gripped tightly. Glancing back, her stomach dropped. Flint had finally caught the girl.

“There you are, Potter,” the boy said with a triumphant look, thick brows raised. “You’re a hard one to catch. Let’s get going.” He was dragging her off before she could say anything and Ron watched, mouth agape as she stared miserably at him.

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“Professor Snape, please,” Marcus Flint begged the man in front of her and Lissy shifted awkwardly on her feet, unsure of what her presence here meant or why it was necessary. Had he truly captured her just to have an audience while harassing Snape? “We need a seeker and Potter’s the best chance we’ve got!” She avoided looking towards the two and was gazing around the classroom. It was back to normal and the counters were restored to their original form. Even the floors were perfect again.

“The last time I checked, Slytherin had a seeker. What happened to Higgs?”

“He’s had to be moved up to a chaser,” Flint said, “Madam Pomphrey is still trying to fix Higg’s ear from when he and Jacobson hexed each other. The man’s balance is rubbish! Bringing him out onto the field would be like bringing a licorice wand to a duel!”

“Then I suppose we will have quite a show if you don’t find proper substitutes,” Snape mused and Lissy shifted again on her feet, still unsure if they really needed her for this conversation.

“Professor-“ Flint began to argue and the first year looked at him in alarm. Was he crazy?

“No.” Snape said simply, shutting the boy down once more. “Even ignoring the fact that she’s a first year, she also lacks the physical prowess that you seem to always stock the team with. One bludger and she'll be a permanent resident in Madam Pomphrey’s wing,” Snape told him, looking back down uninterested. He began to write once more and Flint groaned.

“Wood has done nothing but brag about how Bowbrick is comin’ back and we’re already one man down,” Flint began to complain but Snape’s face had already snapped up in annoyance.

“Bowbrick is back on the team?” Snape asked sharply and Flint nodded.

“Mcgonagall wasn’t too happy about our win last year,” He told him sourly before glancing at her. “Potter is small but as a seeker, that’s perfect; She’s extraordinarily fast and her reflexes are fantastic. Professor, it would be a guaranteed win.”

“How many times must I tell you no before it enters your brain, Flint?” Snape uttered as he stared up at the two from his desk. “Miss Potter is a first year student first and foremost. Figure it out.”