IT WAS March now. Laura and Draco had gotten close again, except for at that very moment.

Laura was standing far away from the other Slytherins. They stood in their own little knot.

"You might find something to interest you in there, Granger!" one Slytherin loudly said as Hermione, Harry, and Ron walked up to the Potions classroom.

Laura knew there was nothing stopping them from what they were doing, so she kept herself as far away from the group as possible. However, it was hard for Laura to step away, as Draco liked to keep her close.

Snape opened the door and let all of the students in. Laura walked in, looking for an empty seat on the edge. Her eyes landed on a seat in the very back. The person in the next seat over was Neville.

Laura beelined to the seat, giving Neville a friendly smile. The two had talked a bit, but they were just acquaintances.

"Hey," Laura smiled, "is it okay if I sit here?"

"Really?" Neville asked, looking a little confused, but went on when Laura nodded. "Um, well, sure, I wasn't saving it for anyone."

Laura gave him a thankful smile, sitting down next to him. Snape seemed puzzled when he looked over. Laura looked at him with a blank expression. Snape said nothing, starting the class on the Wit-Sharpening Potion they were brewing.

While brewing the potion, Neville and Laura got to know each other. Neville was quite funny, causing Laura to laugh a little too loudly a few times, but they got along very well. This caused Draco to keep looking back, trying to catch Laura's gaze.

"I think Malfoy wants to talk to you," Neville said distractedly.

"He probably does," Laura said with a laugh. "But you're my potions partner, so he doesn't matter."

"I feel like this happens often," Neville said with a small smile. "I'm assuming it's because of the commotion outside."

"Ten points to Gryffindor," Laura nodded. "He doesn't know how to shut his mouth."

The two kept working together until Snape walked over to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were.

"Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger," Snape said. The whole class looked over to see what was happening, "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."

Snape then watched their reactions, snatching up a copy of Witch Weekly from Hermione.

"Ah... reading a magazine under the table as well?" Snape added. "A further ten points from Gryffindor... oh, but of course..." Laura watched as Snape's black eyes glittered as they saw Rita SKeeter's article. "Potter has to keep up with his press cuttings..."

The dungeon rang with the Slytherins's laughter, and an unpleasant smile curled Snape's mouth.

"'Harry Potter's Secret Heartache...' dear, dear. Potter, what's ailing you now? 'A boy like no other, perhaps...'"

Snape paused at the end of every sentence to allow the Slytherins a hearty laugh. Laura quietly raised her hand, frowning.

"Yes, Miss Potter?" Snape said, looking up.

"It's Pickering," Laura said, her eyes narrowing, "you know that."

"Miss Potter, are you trying to defend your precious cousin?" he asked bitterly. He flipped through a few more pages, looking back up at Laura. "My, my... Miss Potter, it looks like you've been up to no good."

"What?" Laura asked, her eyes darted over to Draco, who looked confused.

"'Laura Pickering: A Fake Potter?'" Snape read, causing Laura's blood to boil. "What an interesting accusation... 'First a bonus champion, but also a Potter? What kind of coincidence is that for the personally acclaimed Laura Potter.'"

"You know that's a lie," Laura spat, looking at Snape bewilderedly. "Who wrote that article, huh?"

"Your dear Rita Skeeter," Snape said. "This is quite the comment about you, Miss Potter... 'After being expelled from Illvermorny, the young witch decided to attend Hogwarts with a new back story.'"

Laura signed some not-very-kind words at Snape, but he ignored them, separating Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Weasley, you stay here. Miss Granger, over there, besides Miss Parkinson. Potter- that table in front of my desk. Move. Now."

After it happened, Laura was in a sour mood. She thought about telling her dad that his friend thought they were fake.

"What were you doing with your hands earlier?" Neville asked, snapping Laura out of her anger. She could tell he was trying to do his best to cheer her up.

"Oh- it's ASL or American Sign Language," Laura said with a small smile. "I basically swore at Snape a lot, but he ignored me."

"Well, I think that was pretty cool of you to do that," Neville smiled.

"Thanks, Neville," Laura grinned, "I think you're pretty cool, you know that."

"Miss Potter, Mr Longbottom, why are you two smiling?" Snape said loudly. Everyone looked at both Laura and Neville. Both of their smiles were gone now. "Well?"

"Why does it matter to you," Laura said bluntly, standing up. "Also, for the last time, stop calling me Miss Potter- I only let a few people call me Potter, and you're not one of those people, Snape. I could care less about your relationship with my parents: you can't call me Miss Potter."

Laura then curly sat down, returning to brew her potion.

"Miss Potter, don't you dare raise your voice in this classroom," Snape said.

"And don't you dare call me Miss Potter," Laura said sarcastically.

"Miss Potter, I need you to come sit next to Mr Potter up here next to my desk," Snape said rather calmly.

"You know what, you're giving Professor Moody," Laura said, folding her arms, knowing it would tick off her godfather.

"Miss Potter. Please cooperate," he said impatiently.

Laura ignored him. She went back to brewing her potion, signing 'no.'

"Miss Potter, I need you to come here after dinner."

Laura just gave him a thumbs-up as she finished her potion before the bell rang.

As soon as class finished, Laura went straight to the seventh floor, heading to the Room of Requirements. As soon as the door appeared, she walked in, collapsing face-first onto the bed that was so conveniently placed.

As Laura sat there, she heard a noise. She looked up to see it was Draco.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Laura asked bluntly.

"I came to check in on you, Laura," he said, sitting on the bed next to Laura. "Are you alright? Is there anything I can do?"

"Huh, I would've thought you were going to ask why I sat with Neville," Laura said. Her bad mood wasn't sugarcoating anything she was saying or feeling.

"I was going to get to that in a little bit," Draco said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm more worried about you at the moment."

"I'm going to go to Azkaban," Laura frowned, sitting up to look at Draco. "I'm going to kill Rita Skeeter for that stupid article. Who does she think she is?"

"I know, I know," Draco said, taking her hand into his.

Laura leaned forward so her head was resting on his shoulder. She was finally coming down from her anger and was just tired. Draco drew shapes on her back to try to calm her down a bit.

"Well, no matter the lies she tells, we know the truth," he said softly. "She probably did this because of what you said a while ago, but please don't let that cause your spunk to go away."

"Skeeter wishes she had that amount of power," Laura snorted, sitting up again, "but thank you for your kind words."

"It's just the truth," Draco smiled, kissing her cheek. "Do you want to go to Snape's right now? We do have an hour before dinner."

"Getting it done now means there's gonna be less trouble..." Laura hummed. "But if we wait ten minutes before dinner, it would tick him off even more."

"Merlin- Laura, he's my godfather as well," Draco said with an eyebrow raised. "I don't need any of the heat."

"Right," Laura sighed. "Well, we should go now."

She got up and walked over to the door, offering her hand to Draco. Draco grinned, taking her hand, and they went to Snape's office.

When Draco and Laura made it to Snape's office, the door was already open. Laura didn't knock on the door right away. She looked in to see Karkoff was talking to Snape. She sighed, knocking on the door. After some shuffling, she heard a "Come in."

Laura and Draco walked in; Laura glanced around to see that Karkoff was gone.

"Hello, Professor," Draco said, taking a seat.

Laura sent Snape a thumbs-up to Snape before sitting next to Draco.

"Laura, Draco," he said, nodding. "Laura, I need you to tell me what you discussed with Mr. Longbottom during class today."

"He asked me a question," Laura shrugged.

"Which was?"

"He asked me what I signed at you," she said. "I told him."

"I have no idea what was happening," Draco said, putting his hands up as Snape turned to him. "I was just brewing my potion."

"Well," Snape said, turning his attention back to Laura, "if you ever pull a stunt like that in class again, I will have you in detention every night for a month."

"I will if you stop calling me Miss Potter," Laura said, folding her arms. "I would like it if you never pulled 'a stunt like that in class again.'"

Snape nodded. Laura knew it was the closest to a verbal apology she would get.

"That's all I need," Snape concluded. "You two should go eat."

He ushered them out of his office, shutting his door behind him. While they walked to the Great Hall, Draco turned to Laura.

"You'll probably pull something like that again, won't you," he said.

"Oh, definitely," Laura said with a smile. "You know me so well, Blondie. But if he hates me for it, then oops. He was the one who agreed to be my godfather."

"That's my Laura," Draco chuckled, putting his hand out for Laura. Laura gladly took it as they walked into the Great Hall.

"How was your talk with Snape?" Pansy asked as they sat down.

"Good," Laura shrugged. "Just the usual, though. He did tell me if I did something like that again, I would have detention every day for a month."

"The usual?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow. "Laura, I don't think that's the usual?"

"Yeah," Laura shrugged. "I live in extremes, so this is pretty normal."

"So, are you going to do something like that again?" Pansy asked, a knowing smile on her face.

"I wouldn't be opposed to it," Laura said with a sly smile. "Maybe next time it's going to be with Moody."

🪐➶.✧༄

The next morning, the four Slytherins sat at the Slytherin table when the owls started dropping things at the Gryffindor table. To Laura's dismay, Pansy and Draco looked smug, while Laura and Blaise were clueless.

Pansy had a little girl group outside of their quartet, who she was whispering to. Laura looked to see Hermione had multiple letters, and it looked like she was going to cry. Draco started to talk to Crabbe and Goyle about it. Laura just sat eating her eggs.

"Laura, are you alright?" Blaise asked, nudging her slightly.

"I'm fine," Laura smiled, but Blaise could tell she was lying.

"Is it because of Granger...?" Blaise asked.

"It's nothing," Laura sighed, standing up. "I think I'm just kind of out of it right now. I need to grab something, and then I'm going to class. I'll see you guys there."

Laura stood up, Draco only then realizing what was going to happen. But Laura watched as Hermione rushed out. It seemed as though one of the letters contained something.

While Laura walked down the hallway, someone put a hand on her shoulder. She figured it was probably Draco, so she brushed the hand off.

"Not now, Blondie," she said. She turned around, her eyes widening as she realized it was Harry. "Oh my Merlin- I'm sorry, Harry, I thought you were Draco."

"He looked like he was going to go after you, but it's just me," Harry smiled. "I was going to find 'Mione when I saw you storm out of the Great Hall... was it Malfoy?"

"Was it Draco that did what?" Laura asked, tilting her head slightly.

"The envelope she opened had undiluted bubotuber pus; did he do it?"

"He didn't," Laura sighed, shaking her head. "It might have been someone in Pansy's group, though. I'm not sure, I don't involve myself in things like that, so I just don't get told."

"Well, I'll see you in Care of Magical Creatures," Harry smiled, squeezing Laura's shoulder before walking off.

Laura went and grabbed a textbook she had forgotten to grab before walking to History of Magic. When she got there, Draco was already there. His bag sat on a seat she assumed was for her.

"Ferret," Laura hummed, moving his bag.

"Piper," Draco replied, looking up from his potions book. "That seat wasn't saved for you."

Laura blinked at him, placing his bag back onto his seat.

"Oh, I guess I just assumed," Laura said indifferently. "I guess I'll go sit next to Knot or something."

Draco lightly grabbed the sleeve of her robe, tugging on it.

"Laura, I was kidding. You can sit here," he said, moving his bag. "Also, out of anyone, Theo is the last person I would want you to sit next to."

"Oh?" Laura said, sitting down. "Why's that?"

"He's had his eye on you since you transferred here," Draco sighed, closing his book. "Like how Higgs was, but he hasn't given up on you despite how we are."

"Hmm, he did ask me to the Yule Ball," Laura remembered. "I said no, though, since I planned on going with you from the beginning."

"I know you can do what you want and will do what you want," Draco said, placing his hand on her thigh, "but I would like it if you would keep some space from him."

Laura put her hand on top of his. She could respect that. Laura knew Draco had no reason to try and be controlling of her, so he didn't try to force her to bend to what he wanted.

"I'll keep some space," Laura smiled.

"Thank you," Draco said, squeezing her thigh softly as their class started.