At 7:00 on Saturday morning, Nancy Longbottom shook Ronnie awake.

"Wuz wrong, Nancy?" Ronnie asked in a rough voice.

"Nothing," Nancy said in a harsh whisper. "I just didn't want you to miss your detention with Snape this morning. I mean, your alarm is back but I wasn't sure if you'd set it, or if someone had messed with it, so I set my alarm, too."

"Oh," Ronnie said.

"Professor Snape scares me, and I don't want her to take more points," Nancy whispered.

"Okay," Ronnie said.

"I think you should get up, now."

"Right," Ronnie said.

And then Nancy shook Ronnie again, and Ronnie opened her eyes, which was weird because she couldn't remember closing them.

"You need to get up and eat breakfast--you have less than two hours before your detention!" Nancy whispered.

At that moment, Ronnie and Nancy were both hit by a heavy pillow that had come flying from across the room.

"Would you two SHUT UP?" Felina Malfoy shrieked from her bed. "Some of us are TRYING to SLEEP!"

The yelling made Alicia Crabbe shoot up out of her bed; Deena Thomas groaned and rolled over; but Siobhan Finnigan didn't even move.

Ronnie sat up and tried to throw the pillow back at Felina, but barely managed to throw the thing two feet. "I'm up, Nancy," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Thanks for waking me."

Ronnie stumbled into the bathroom, and halfheartedly got ready for the day. She started to brush her hair, but after only brushing the top part--mostly--she gave it up as a bad job.

When she went down to breakfast, she was surprised to see Daisy already at the Slytherin table. Since the Great Hall was nearly empty (and the Gryffindor table was particularly so), Ronnie walked over to her friend.

"You're up early," Ronnie said, sitting down and yawning.

"I'm just used to it, I guess," Daisy said.

"Oh, before I forget--" Ronnie said, pulling a notebook out of her schoolbag, "can you give this back to Beth? It's her Potions notes. And thank her for me."

By the time they finished breakfast, it was already time to go to their detention. When they entered the classroom, Professor Snape told them where to set up their potions and they started right in. Then Snape sat down at her desk and graded papers, completely ignoring the girls. Intimidated by her presence, Ronnie and Daisy kept their whispered conversations to a bare minimum: "Can I borrow some of your dried nettles?" or "Did you cut your porcupine quill?"

Ronnie's potion had the perfect consistency but was a little too dark; Daisy's was the right shade of purple but was a little thin. When they turned these potions in, Professor Snape was silent, her face blank.

"Erm, can we go then, Professor?" Ronnie asked.

"If Miss Evans can tell me two other names for aconite."

Ronnie could sense Daisy tensing up next to her. "Er...is that the wolf one?" Daisy asked.

Professor Snape nodded.

"And the priest?" Daisy asked.

This rang a bell for Ronnie. "Monk," she said. "That's it. It's monkshood and Wolfsbane."

Professor Snape looked at Ronnie sharply. "I see you did indeed find the notes from Miss Zabini."

Ronnie felt her face turning bright red. "Yes ma'am, sorry."

"Don't apologize. Can either of you name two of the ingredients in the Draught of Living Death?"

Daisy looked at Ronnie hopefully, but Ronnie wasn't as sure for this one. She gave it a go anyway. "Woodworm and...alosphel?"

Snape sneered. "Close, Miss Weasley, but not quite. If you needed to counter a poison, what substance could you try?"

Daisy looked at Ronnie again, but Ronnie didn't have a clue. "It was...a sleeping wild pig," Daisy said.

Professor Snape sighed. "A bezoar, ladies."

Ronnie burst into laughter. "A sleeping wild pig!" She chuckled a few more times before she noticed the look on Professor Snape's face, then rapidly composed herself. "Sorry, ma'am," she mumbled.

"Study your notes before the next class, and research the ingredients for next week's potions."

"Yes ma'am," Ronnie and Daisy chorused.

"And Miss Weasley?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I don't care if you never brush your hair again, but in the future, you will tie back that rat's nest when you brew a potion."

"Yes, ma'am," Ronnie said, feeling herself blushing crimson again.

:-:-:-:-:-:

The next week, they still didn't learn magic in any classes. Daisy almost wished she was back in Potions--Professor Snape may have been mental, but brewing a cure for boils had been the most magical thing she'd ever intentionally done.

Meanwhile, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirrel made them take more notes about the difference between hexes and jinxes ("Hexes require a more malevolent intent than jinxes," Daisy dutifully copied from the board, even though she wasn't quite sure what that meant, only that her notes from last week very clearly said, "Jinxes require a more malevolent intent than hexes"); in Herbology they crushed different leaves in their fingers and smelled them and made note of any sticky or colorful residues ("This will be very important later if Professor Sprout asks about it on a test," Herman Granger told Daisy, which made Daisy wish that Slytherins didn't have Herbology with Ravenclaws); and in Charms, Professor Flitwick continued to talk about different classes of charms ("There are marked differences in Object-Oriented Charms and Person-Oriented Charms," Professor Flitwick told them, but then she said that the Magical World didn't always agree on which charms went in which category. "The problem is that most of the so-called 'charms' we argue over are actually better classified as hexes or jinxes." This made Daisy a little crazy, but she wrote it down in her notes, all the same).

It was like the professors were describing how to multiply numbers, and giving notes about different methods for multiplying numbers, and drawing pictures representing multiplying numbers...but no one ever got into details like "Six times seven is forty-two."

Except for Professor Snape. Daisy re-copied her potions notes after looking at Beth's, and this is what she wrote:

1. root of asphodel + wormwood = Draught of Living Death

2. bezoar: from stomach of a goat, cures poisons

3. wolfsbane = monkshood = aconite

1. You need to know how ingredients go together to make things.

2. You need to know where to find ingredients for potions, especially antidotes.

3. You need to know all the names for something, because if a potion calls for monkshood, and you can only find aconite, ...well.

Ronnie had seen a similar notice in the Gryffindor common room, and came over to the Slytherin table for breakfast so she could talk to Daisy about it. "It's going to be so much fun!"

Daisy was a little less enthusiastic about it. "But...flying? I don't suppose the brooms have training wheels?"

Ronnie frowned at her in confusion.

"Nevermind. It's just...it's weird that I'm a witch, and I'm going to be flying on a broom. That's just too weird."

"What's weird about it?"

Daisy frowned unhappily. "Nevermind." Sometimes, when Daisy was talking with Ronnie, it seemed like she would never fit in to the Magical world.

"Oh, Daisy, you'll love it. Just wait."

"What if I don't love it?"

Ronnie looked confused again. "Everyone loves flying." She paused for a thoughtful moment. "I bet Herman Granger won't love it."

Daisy laughed despite herself. Herman was probably trying to find a book that explained how to fly in great detail. "Do you have any classes with him?"

"Only Charms, thank Merlin. You?"

"Herbology."

"He is very smart," Ronnie said fairly.

"He is," Daisy agreed.

"Completely unbearable, though."

"Completely."

"Well, at least we won't learn flying with Ravenclaws."

"Yes, but we will be learning with Felina Malfoy..."

Ronnie snorted. "I have every class with her, and sleep in the same room. It's...Dad told me to stay positive and look for the good in the situation."

Daisy thought about it for a while. "What's...what's the good in the situation?"

"I'm working on that."

Daisy tried to think a positive thought about Malfoy, but decided she didn't know the girl well enough to think of anything. So she tried to think of something nice about her cousin Eva, who was so similar to Malfoy. "Eva doesn't snore," she said.

(And she didn't. Daisy had only found this out recently, when Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had tried to run away from her Hogwarts letter. It was the first time Daisy had slept in the same room as Eva, and was completely surprised by the lack of snoring. She'd known for a long time that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia snored--she could hear them all the way down in her cupboard. She'd always assumed Eva was snoring, too.)

"Who's Eva?"

"Oh, that's my cousin. She's a lot like Malfoy."

"Oh. Well, Felina doesn't snore, either."

"Hm."

"That's...that's not a solid base for a friendship, is it?"

"Probably not," Daisy said, and turned toward the Gryffindor table to look at Felina for inspiration. "She's pretty."

Ronnie's shoulders slumped. "She is pretty. But it's not like she could be more of a twat if she were ugly."

"That's...true," Daisy said. "I'm sorry you have to live with her."

At that moment, they were interrupted by Sam and Alex, Ronnie's older twin sisters, who sat down across from Daisy and Ronnie.

"What's this, sis? Sitting at a table with Slytherins?" Sam said.

Ronnie wrinkled her nose. "Funny. A couple of years ago, I actually found out that I've been sitting at a table with Slytherins my whole life."

"Fair enough," said Alex. "Though you probably should have guessed before we were actually Sorted. We've had you pegged as a Gryffindor since birth."

Sam nodded. "It was the hair."

"I have the same hair as you two!"

"But when was the last time you actually brushed it?" Alex asked.

"I brushed it yesterday!" Ronnie said, and Daisy snorted. Ronnie glared at her. "Besides," Ronnie said, turning back to her sisters, "what's that got to do with Gryffindor? Felina Malfoy brushes her hair at least three times a day!"

"Different sort of Gryffindor, sis," Sam said.

"It's the difference between bravery and courage," Alex said, and Sam nodded.

No one spoke for a moment. Ronnie finally asked, "What does that mean?"

Sam and Alex erupted into laughter. Ronnie and Daisy looked at each other, and Daisy shrugged. "I think they just thought it sounded good," she said.

"Indeed," Alex said, still smiling. "Ronnie dearest, I'm glad you've made a Slytherin friend who can explain our humor to you."

:-:-:-:-:-:

Thursday morning, Ronnie got a letter from her dad, advising her further about the Felina Malfoy situation. "I know it's hard, love," her dad wrote,

But you're going to have a share a room with her for the next seven years, so try not to cross wands too early. Besides, she might be acting the way she is because she's not good at making friends--knowing her family as your mother and I do, I can tell you that she doesn't have good role models at home. Try showing her kindness, or at least not hostility. And good luck, and don't be too disappointed if you find that poisonous toadstools don't change their spots. But maybe regular toadstools don't change their spots, either, and if you look closely enough, you may find the toadstool isn't poisonous at all.

Ronnie read the letter over breakfast, and it reminded her of something the twins had said yesterday. Before she could put it all together, she noticed Nancy Longbottom sitting next to her, clutching a bright red sphere and looking very concerned.

"What is that, Nancy?" Ronnie asked.

Nancy looked up and seemed to notice Ronnie for the first time. "Oh, it's a Remembrall. My grandpa just sent it to me."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, I suppose," Nancy said, looking unhappy. "It's just glowing red because I've forgotten something."

"What'd you forget?"

"I can't remember."

"Huh," Ronnie said, and the girls examined the red sphere for a moment. "Limited usefulness, that."

"Maybe," Nancy said. "I wrote my grandpa and told him I was having a hard time finding my way to all my classes. I guess he thought this would help."

"Can I hold it?"

"Sure."

Ronnie took the Remembrall in her hands; it still glowed red. She frowned and sat it on the table, where it turned pearly white. She picked it up again and it turned red. "What am I forgetting?" she said out loud.

Unfortunately, at that moment Felina Malfoy happened to be walking by and overheard. "You definitely forgot to brush your hair. Again."

Brushing her hair...poisonous and ordinary toadstools--Sam and Alex had talked about the difference between bravery and courage, but then acted like they were just having her on. But it seemed to Ronnie that there was a difference, kind of. Right now, bravery seemed like something that happened all at once, on the outside--and courage was something that was ongoing, a long battle on the inside. Did it take bravery or courage to find out what kind of toadstool Malfoy was? She thought it maybe took a little bit of both. She looked down at the Remembrall in her hands; it had lightened--slightly--to a dark pink.

"What is that thing, anyway?" Felina asked.

"Nancy's grandpa sent her a Remembrall. Do you want to see it?" Belatedly, Ronnie realized that it wasn't hers to offer; she looked at Nancy and Nancy shrugged back.

But Felina didn't hesitate; she had already grabbed the ball out of Ronnie's hand. The orb turned bright red again. "Why's it red?" she asked.

"Because you've forgotten something," Nancy said.

Felina frowned, then her face brightened and the Remembrall turned a pearly white. "Oh! I left my History of Magic book on my bed!" She turned around and left the Great Hall with the lily-white Remembrall still clutched in her hand.

Ronnie and Nancy stared after her. "Is she even human?" Ronnie asked, then shook herself. "Of course not--she's a toadstool."

"What?"

"Nothing. Oh, shite, she took your Remembrall!"

"That's okay--I'm sure she'll give it back later."

Nancy looked doubtful at her own words, but Felina Malfoy did give back the Remembrall just before their first class. She wasn't very kind about it, though. "You may as well let me keep it," Felina told Nancy, as she handed the ball over and it turned bright red again. "It's not as if it's doing you any good, anyway."

Nancy turned as red as the Remembrall, and said, "It's a gift from my grandpa, though."

Felina snorted and flounced into the History of Magic classroom.

Ronnie spent all class thinking about what her dad had said.

Ronnie loved her dad. She may have told Daisy that she didn't care what House she got, but her dad had been Gryffindor, so she was quite pleased by her own Sorting. Her mum had been Gryffindor, too, and Ronnie loved her mum, but in a distant sort of way. Her mum worked at the Ministry of Magic, and was gone a lot of the time. Her dad was the one who stayed at home and taught her and her siblings before they came to Hogwarts, and cooked their meals and healed their scrapes and bruises.

If her dad had asked her to fly into the sun, she would have given it a serious attempt. Instead, all he had asked was for her to show kindness to an unpleasant girl. And it was hard, because Felina Malfoy was so relentlessly unpleasant, but Ronnie had to be courageous in the long run, and brave in short bursts. And she could do that, because she was Gryffindor, like her dad.

Unfortunately, Felina Malfoy tested her resolve only a few hours later, at their flying lesson. Daisy had come over to stand with Ronnie and the other Gryffindors, but they hadn't had a chance to exchange more than a few words before Nancy's broom shot up and the poor girl fell and broke her wrist. Sir Hooch, their flying instructor, had taken Nancy to the hospital wing and left twenty eleven-year-olds outside on a beautiful day, with no adult supervision, and twenty-one brooms.

Ronnie looked at the broom in her hands, and looked at Daisy. Ronnie positively trembled with the effort of staying on the ground. "Just wait, Daisy," she said. "It's...it's brilliant."

Daisy didn't look convinced, but a cackle from Malfoy distracted them both. The blond girl held up Nancy's Remembrall and called out, "Looks like that fat lump dropped something else, besides herself!"

And suddenly, Ronnie was trembling for a different reason.

"What is that?" Daisy whispered.

"It's Nancy's--something her grandpa sent to her this morning," Ronnie whispered back.

But Malfoy was still crowing. "Did you see the look on her face? She should never have been Sorted into Gryffindor!" Gina Goyle and Alicia Crabbe laughed heartily at this, but Ronnie burned up on the inside. So what if Nancy wasn't necessarily brave--if she was in Gryffindor, then she must have plenty of courage, then.

But all Ronnie managed to do was splutter. She was torn between her desire to defend Nancy and her father's request to be kind to Malfoy.

But it still surprised her when Daisy spoke up. "Shut up, Felina." Daisy said it quietly, but somehow everyone heard it.

Felina laughed. "And you're going to stop me?"

Daisy just glared, and Felina laughed again. "Why don't I just put this somewhere high up, where it can only be reached by a broom, and then tell Longbottom where it is? Do you think she'd be brave enough to fetch it herself?"

And before anyone could blink, Malfoy took off on her broom and flew high overhead.

And then--nothing could have prepared Ronnie for this--Daisy took off into the air after her.

And Daisy was amazing on a broom. Felina recognized this quickly, and threw Nancy's Remembrall as high and a far as she could, and hastily made her way to the ground. But all eyes were on Daisy as she went into the most spectacular dive ever attempted on a school broom. Ronnie almost couldn't watch, but she absolutely could not look away as Daisy caught the ball low--far too low to pull the rickety broom from the dive, but Daisy simply rolled off the broom, did a neat little flip, and landed almost softly on the grass, in a sitting position, clutching the Remembrall in both hands.

It was glowing pearly white.

Ronnie didn't even have time to be amazed by the dive or the landing or the white Remembrall before she heard Professor McGonagall's booming voice: "DAISY EVANS!"

:-:-:-:-:-:

Serafima was sitting in her office grading papers when Melvin McGonagall knocked and let himself in. He closed the door behind him, which Serafima found oddly ominous.

"Something on your mind, Melvin?" she asked coolly, and focused back on her papers. No need to let the older man know she was unsettled.

"You can drop that act right now, young lady, because you're going to want to hear what I have to tell you. Although it's a wrench, telling you this, but I'm too bloody honorable to keep it to myself."

Serafima sighed, and Melvin took that as an invitation to sit down.

"So I was just minding my own business and happened to be walking through the entrance hall when Sir Hooch came in with Miss Longbottom. There had been a small incident during their flying lesson--but Sir Hooch asked me to go check on the remaining students to make sure their feet stayed connected to terra firma. By the time I made it out to the pitch, there were, in fact, two students aloft--one of mine and one of yours."

Serafima sighed again. "So, detention? Points? Why do I care again?"

"Oh, Sera, Sera, Sera. If our rolls were reversed, you'd be advising me to expel the student, and for good reason. The girl is the most natural flyer I've ever seen--completely comfortable on a broom. She caught a ball--exactly the size of a snitch!--after a fifty-foot dive--on a school broom!--and landed without a scratch. I may be a noble fool for telling you this, but you'd be every kind of fool there is if you didn't make an exception to the first year ban on brooms and put her on your House team immediately."

Serafima looked up for the first time since Melvin entered her office. "Who is it?"

"Why don't I just call her in? Oh, I can't wait to see the look on your face."

But Serafima had already guessed, of course. How could the daughter of Lily Potter be anything but a natural on a broom?

Melvin opened the door with a flourish. "Miss Evans? Come in, please."

Miss Evans walked into Serafima's office with the posture of someone whose puppy just died.

Melvin said, "Now I've just told Professor Snape what I saw, and I'll leave you to explain to her your side of the story. Your punishment is up to her, of course." Over the girl's head, Melvin winked at Serafima and excused himself from the room.

Serafima stared at Daisy Evans for a long moment, but the girl didn't look up. Summoning a sense of outrage was harder than she thought it would be a few moments ago, but summon it she did.

"Well?" Serafima hissed. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I...erm...I flew off when Sir Hooch told us to stay put."

"And you just thought you were good enough on a broom that you didn't need to follow his instructions?"

"No! I mean, I've never even been on a broom before."

This gave Serafima pause. Had Melvin really been impressed by the girl's flying, on the girl's first attempt ever?

And then, if Daisy Evans had never been on a broom before, what on earth had possessed her to try it with no adults around? The rage which Serafima had been trying so hard to summon suddenly became quite accessible.

"What were you THINKING?" she yelled. "Were you so influenced by the presence of the Gryffindors that your reason fled you altogether?"

Miss Evans took a step back. "I just..."

"Oh, do tell," Serafima said acidly. "You just what?"

"Felina Malfoy was acting like my cousin! She was trying to get everyone against Nancy, and Nancy hadn't DONE anything, she'd just fallen and hurt herself, and then Felina flew off and I...I don't want Hogwarts to be like Privet Drive, that's all. And I could do something about it, so I did!" Daisy darted a glace at Serafima, who tried to school her expression into something unreadable.

"Hmph," Serafima finally said. "You've convinced me not to take points. You should consider that a victory."

"Yes, ma'am."

"However, I am assigning detention. Nine o'clock, Saturday morning, in my office. Do not be late."

:-:-:-:-:-:

For the girl's detention, Serafima marched Miss Evans down to the broom shed by the Quidditch pitch and told her to pick out the broom that felt the best. Bewildered, Miss Evans picked out a rather decent-looking Comet One Eighty, which must have been one of the better brooms on offer. Once the girl had her broom in hand, she looked at Serafima in confusion.

Serafima cleared her throat. "As punishment for your reckless stunt the other day, you will be trying out for the Slytherin Quidditch team. I realize that you probably don't know the first thing about Quidditch, but all you need to know today is that Marcy Flint is the captain, and you should do everything she tells you to do."

Serafima ushered the girl out onto the pitch, then took a seat in the stands.

And was amazed. Melvin had not been exaggerating; the girl flew exceptionally well. Lily had, of course, been a Chaser for Gryffindor, and it was nice to see that the Potter genes were going to benefit Slytherin House now.

Serafima couldn't help but smile.