"And please set your quills down." Professor Flitwick called, standing on top of his desk so that he could be seen by everyone. "Miss Jenkins that includes you, set your quill down." The tiny man added, glaring at the Ravenclaw girl furiously scribbling down last minute answers. "Good, please roll up your test papers. Thank you, accio!"

With a flick of his wand, all of our tests barreled towards him. Professor Flitwick seemed to realize that they were going to knock him over, and jumped out of the way just in time. The tiny man grit his teeth and bent down to pick up all the rolled up pieces of parchment by hand, a few other students rushing forward to help.

"Right then, class dismissed!"

The mass of Slytherin and Ravenclaw students surged out of the classroom as we all scrambled down to the Great Hall for lunch. I walked side by side with Avery, hands intertwined. My little group of 'friends' had just reached the corridor outside of the Great Hall when we were stopped.

"Would you look who it is? Snivellus, Rosier, Mulciber, Avery, and Elise." James Potter sneered. "You feeling alright, Elise? Forget I said that, of course you're not feeling alright! Why else would you bother hanging out with these bastards?"

"Careful, Potter." I snapped, glaring at the bespectacled boy. Sirius sighed beside James, sharing a glance with Peter and Remus. "You're treading on dangerous waters. Don't make me hex you."

"Don't make me hex you." James retorted, his hand itching towards his wand pocket. Avery stepped in front of me.

"Back off, Potter." He snarled, wand raised. "Wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Him get hurt?" Sirius exclaimed outrageously. "By who, you? You haven't got the brains nor the skill to do that!"

"Watch your mouth, Black." I spat at Sirius, who's expression was momentarily wounded. He covered it up and stuck his nose in the air as if I were below him.

"Make me, Elise." He challenged. I growled, grabbing my wand and rushing forward, pressing it against his throat. Peter yelped and ran to hide behind Remus, cowering.

"The filthy blood traitor isn't worth your time, Cas. C'mon." Avery placed his hand gently on my shoulder, guiding me away from the brewing fight.

"Not worth your time?" Sirius seethed. "I'm not worth her time? Flipendo!" He shot the spell at Avery, who flew tumbling backwards. Rosier shouted in protest, and raised his wand, firing back at Sirius as they engaged in a duel. Severus shot a hex at James and Mulciber took on Remus as I ran to check on Avery. Peter drawn his wand and was slowly approaching me, as if I hadn't noticed him.

"Expelliarmus!" I cried, disarming Peter effortlessly. His wand went flying away, and the chubby boy let out a fearful cry, scurrying back until he had the chance to reclaim his wand.

"Are you alright?" I asked, kneeling over Avery's fallen form. "Did that bastard hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Cas." Avery shot me a smile. "Just a little startled. Help me up, I've got unfinished business with the blood traitor." I reached down and lifted Avery from the ground, pulling him to his feet. Brushing my hands off on my pants, I locked eyes with Remus as he disarmed Mulciber, sending the cowardly Slytherin boy scurrying away.

"I don't want to duel with you, Cascade." Remus admitted. I glanced around, making sure that none of my 'friends' were watching. Avery was focused on Sirius as he began to duel with Sirius as well, two against one. James and Severus were still fighting, Peter and Mulciber were nowhere to be seen, probably gone to get teachers and their wands.

I heard Avery shout, "Anteoculatia!" Much to my hidden amusement, Sirius's hair began to form into long antlers, and he cried out on pure horror. Turning my attention back to Remus, i spoke, readying my wand.

"I'd rather not duel with you as well, Remus, but for the sake of it, we must." I set my jaw. "Incarcerous!" Pieces of rope shot out of my wand, but Remus dodged them agilely, frowning.

"Langlock!" Remus fired back. "Immobulus!"

I found myself unable to move as I failed to deflect his second spell. Remus sighed apologetically as Professor McGonagall appeared on the scene, flustered, and with Mulciber trailing behind her. She waved her wand silently, and I suddenly found myself in control of my limbs again, Sirius's hair returning.

"What is the meaning of this? Mr. Lupin, Miss Elise, Mr. Snape, I expected better from you, you're prefects! All of you to my office at once!" The woman snapped, her disappointed gaze lingering on me. I stared down at my shoes as we walked silently behind her, chewing anxiously on my lip. Sure, I wasn't the best prefect, but I hadn't wanted to be prefect. It wasn't my fault that I was the only girl Slytherin of my year.

"Professor McGonagall!" Filch came into view, wheezing as he ran, clearly out of shape. "The Headmaster requested to see you in his off-" The man stopped speaking as he noticed us trailing after Professor McGonagall, and evil grin spreading across his face. "Professor, would you like me to take this lot and write them up for you? Please tell me they did something bad, I do love punishing Potter and Black."

Professor McGonagall frowned at Filch's words and shook her head. "I've got them, Mr. Filch. Please inform Professor Dumbledore that I'll meet with him shortly, as soon as I deal with this group." Filch growled something incoherently, and ran off, evidently displeased that we wouldn't have to serve detention with him.

"Come along then." Professor McGonagall instructed sternly, opening the door to her office and leading us inside. I stood in the corner, as far away from her desk as possible, nervously awaiting our punishment. "Now then, who can tell me what happened?"

"Professor, Black hexed me out of nowhere." Avery spat out before anyone else could open their mouths. "He and Potter and their little gang of friends stopped us before we could get into the Great Hall, started threatening to hex us. We were only defending ourselves, honest!"

"Is this correct, Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall turned her gaze to James, who kept up a calm mask. Sirius looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I knew then that James was preparing to lie and get the Slytherins in trouble.

"No, Professor. They threatened to hex us first, and Elise had her wand to Sirius's throat. She was about to hex him, Professor. So Sirius defended himself, and the other snakes rushed at Remus, Peter, Sirius, and I." James said smoothly. I stood, dumfounded. He hadn't really lied, his story was accurate, just tweaked a little to make the Gryffindor's appear to be the victims.

"Miss Elise?"

"I-I-" I swallowed, and James smirked, knowing that he had already won. "Potter and Black were making fun of my friends, I wasn't actually going to hex Black, just trying to make a point. I would never hex anyone without a purpose, Professor, you know that."

"Thank you for being honest, Miss Elise. Now, fifty points from Slytherin, and fifty points from Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall said.

"But Professor-" Sirius and Rosier began outrageously at the same time.

"Each." Professor McGonagall finshed, her expression stern. "Don't make me add more." She told the two boys. "The same goes for the rest of you. Detention with Filch for the rest of the week, he'll get what he wanted. I hope you enjoy spending some quality time with him. Off you go."

I walked numbly out of the office, in shock at the amount of points she had docked from each house. It was more unfair to the Slytherins, as we had more people, and I wasn't even sure if she'd counted Peter. Avery placed his hand on my back again.

"You okay, Cas?" He asked, concerned.

"I-I'm fine, just a little shaken." I smiled up at him.

"Right. Ready for lunch now? I'm starved."

"Ready."