I'm back!! I had an amazing time while I was gone and I can't wait to go back next year, and I'm sure you're glad I'm back, no? So happy to be able to talk to all of you again, and to publish this chapter!

Anyway, I can't say my favorite ship, because that's a spoiler, but I do love Scorose... (Canonically as well as fanfictionly). Or maybe Luke and River (Liver?)?

~~~~

The next morning, Lacy and Iris were already gone when I woke up. Everyone else was awake, Colette organizing her spellbooks on the shelf above her bed, Rose tidying up what little there was to tidy, and Wren simply looking around the room, as if trying to remind herself that, yes, indeed, she was back.

I quickly got up and got dressed. "Who's ready for fourth year?"

"Probably not you, there won't be Quidditch," Rose said, glancing at me.

"What? Why?"

"Well, obviously, because of the—"

The door opened again, and Rose cut herself off as Lacy walked in. We watched silently as she crossed to her bed, coolly ignoring the lot of us. She picked up a book, then walked out, without even a "Good morning."

"Well, talk about rude." I rolled my eyes, but really I was a little hurt. Lacy and I had never been super close friends, of course, but we'd always been friends. Would she stop talking to all of us because of Wren? That thought made me doubly determined to convince everyone of Wren's innocence.

"Come on, let's just go to breakfast," Colette said, shaking her head. "Just ignore them."

The four of us walked downstairs and found Al in the common room. As we approached him, several of the third years he'd been talking to, including Cedric Rogers and Dean Malfoy, got up and moved away, looking a little frightened. I glared after them before turning back to my friends.

We walked down to breakfast, and the crowd of students reminded me of a magnet being repelled. Whenever we approached, people fell back, and by the time we'd reached the Great Hall I was in a rather sour mood.

"Come on," I said, grabbing Wren's hand and pulling her down the table to where Lacy and the rest of the fourth years were sitting. "Morning. Can we sit here?"

Lacy and Iris glanced at each other. "There's no room," Iris said weakly.

"What about that seat?" I pointed to one of the several empty spots near them.

"Saved for... For someone," Eric said.

I narrowed my eyes. "You three are terrible."

"I'm not the one who's trying to make a victim simply accept the one who attacked her!" Iris exclaimed. "Lacy is perfectly in the right!"

Wren tapped my arm, glancing back at Al and Colette. "Astra, can't we—"

I ignored her. "Well, Iris, maybe if you'd just believe me—"

"About what?" Lacy asked. "That she's changed? Where's the proof? She lied once, and who says she won't do it again? Who says she's not doing it now?"

"Exactly! Why should we believe she's changed?" Eric Finnegan asked, glancing uneasily at Wren, who was staring at the floor.

"I thought you trusted my judgement," I said, motioning towards Colette. They'd believed me about her last year.

"Well..." Lacy bit her lip. "We do, Astra... But some things even you can't convince me of. This is too far." Wren glanced up ever so slightly, and Lacy scooted back on her seat.

"Anyway, she's not speaking for herself," Eric pointed out. "How do we know she hasn't put you under the Imperius Curse or something?"

"I..." I stared at him. Was he an idiot? "I'm not under the Imperius Curse!"

"Why would I put her under the Imperius Curse?" Wren said quietly. Everyone turned to her in surprise. "I mean, I knew you wouldn't believe her, so why would I waste my time with that?"

"And how did you know we wouldn't believe her?" Eric asked stubbornly.

"Because you're all right, I don't deserve your trust," she said. "I was a coward. And I'm sorry..."

Everyone stared at her. Then, Lacy spoke for the group. "Some wounds run too deep to be healed with 'sorry'." With that, they all promptly started ignoring her, which seemed to be what she'd expected. I, other the hand, was outraged. Before I could do anything, though, Colette and Al had come and pulled me back.

I spent most of breakfast ranting about them, because I simply couldn't understand how they couldn't see what was right in front of them. I only stopped when I realized I was making Wren more upset than before, and that wouldn't do.

Mr. Potter handed us each a schedule. "Herbology first, with the Hufflepuffs," Albus announced. "Then Care of Magical Creatures."

"What extra classes did you decide on?" Colette asked Wren, a subject she normally wouldn't have cared about, but she was probably thinking that anything would be better than listening to me.

"Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes," Wren was saying. "Rose said she'd help me catch up."

"Care of Magical Creatures is the best," Albus said, grinning. "We get to see Hagrid!"

"Actually, that's the best schedule for the start of the week we've ever had," I said, glancing it over. "I mean, there's double Arithmancy in the afternoon, so that'll be awful, but Professor Longbottom and Hagrid are amazing."

"Our first Potions is tomorrow morning," Rose said, glancing up at the staff table. "I hope Professor Lockley is good..."

"He looks nicer than Sulcan, at least." Lockley was talking animatedly with Professor Longbottom, waving his thin arms around and grinning. "He at least knows how to smile."

"Come on, we've got to go or we'll be late for class," Rose said, standing up. "It's Greenhouse 7, and I don't even know where that is."

"Maybe right next to Greenhouse 6?" Colette suggested sarcastically.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Never would have guessed. Come on."

Colette, Rose, and Albus led the way out of the Great Hall, but Wren lagged behind a bit. I slowed my pace to match hers, and we ended up walking out of the doors alone.

Wren glanced around, as if making sure we were alone. "Astra, I don't understand you."

"What?"

"Why do you trust me? I don't deserve it."

"Of course you do!"

"No, Astra, I don't. You can't get mad at people when they see that, either." She looked down. "Astra, it was all my fault, you know th—"

"No, you were forced!" I exclaimed.

"I chose to keep doing it, and I was a coward, and I don't deserve anyone's trust, let alone yours!" She was clinging to the strap of her bookbag tightly, as if doing that would keep her from crying or something.

"That's not true."

"It is. You know it is. That was all my fault. I wish I'd never come here at all first year. I wish I'd gone to Ilvermorny or been taught at home. None of this would have happened."

"Wren..." I stared at her helplessly. What was I supposed to say?

"You're crazy to trust me. You know it, too, but you're too stubborn to admit it. You'd be better off if you'd never met me, Astra."

I paused, trying to think of something to say back to that. "Maybe. Maybe I'm being stupid. But considering the fact that you're the one telling me I shouldn't trust you, I don't think you have anything to hide. Otherwise, you'd be doing your best to make me trust you. I mean, you're not hiding anything, are you?" Wren shook her head, eyes wide. "Exactly. So I don't see why I shouldn't trust you. Sulcan's not here anymore to put you under the Imperius Curse, either." I paused again, searching for words. "And... And maybe I would be better off if I'd never met you. But I wouldn't be who I am, either, and I wouldn't trade that away for all the safety, all the comfort, all the... The betterness in the world!"

Wren was staring at me, and at first I was a bit scared that I'd been too forceful, like James had warned against, but a small smile broke out on her face. "You're serious."

"Well, of course..."

To my great surprise, Wren stepped forward and hugged me. Very quickly, of course, and she pulled away before I could even register it had happened, but still, it had happened. "Thank you," she said, smiling widely. "You're still crazy, but thank you."

I couldn't keep a smile off my face all throughout Herbology.

~~~~

The rest of the day went much like breakfast had gone. In Herbology, Professor Longbottom had to force people to stop sharing seats and come sit in the ones next to us. In Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid at least seemed happy to see Wren, and he told her, "Harry tol' me yer innocent, an' if ye can' believe Harry Potter, ye can' believe anyone." Then he hugged her, and I was afraid he was going to suffocate her.

Really, by the next morning, we were a little on edge for Potions, beyond what was becoming the normal worry for Wren. No one I talked to knew a thing about Professor Lockley, and though James told us he wasn't too bad, because he'd had Potions the day before, I wouldn't believe it until I'd seen it.

We walked into the Potions, and Rose glanced uneasily at Lockley before joining Scorpius at his table, across from two other Slytherin girls. Lockley didn't even comment, which immediately made him better than Sulcan, who never allowed Rose and Scorpius to be partners because they were from different Houses. Colette, Albus, Wren and I surrounded another table.

Lockley was standing behind his desk, watching us filter in. As the last person darted in and took a vacant spot, the professor raised his hands for silence. "Welcome to fourth year Potions! I am Professor Lockley, and I must say it's quite an honor to be teaching all of you. Many years ago, I was sitting in those seats, looking up to the great Potionsmaster Horace Slughorn, my own Head of House." He beamed out at us. "Now it's quite nice to be standing here in front of you. I'm sure this year will be the best you've had in Potions."

"Doubtful," someone who sounded distinctly like Nico Jasper called. Lockley pretended not to notice and continued on.

"Today, you will be brewing a Wit-Sharpening Potion." Lockley flicked his wand at the blackboard, and those words appeared, followed by a page number. "Work in pairs, follow the instructions in your books, and don't hesitate to ask questions if you need to."

I pulled my book out and placed it between Colette and me. Wren had always been good at Potions, and Albus never had been. They'd been partners a lot first year, so I didn't see that now was the time to insist that I not leave my best friend's side. Anyway, Colette was concerned enough with her grade that she'd focus, so our potion would probably be good as well.

I set about following Colette's instructions, which made more sense than the way the book put it, and I almost didn't notice when Professor Lockley walked up behind me after about twenty minutes.

"Very nicely done, very nice. Lestrange, is it?" Lockley chuckled. "Your potion looks absolutely perfect."

"Oh, well, that was mainly Colette..." I felt my face flushing. I hadn't done much of the work, really, only what Colette had told me to do (and what she'd told me to do was grind the scarab beetles, then stir the potion). She'd done all the actual work, and thinking. "She's the one who really did the details and things."

"Oh, come now, I'm sure you're just being modest." Lockley patted my shoulder, gave our potion one more approving glance, then moved on to Wren and Albus. Colette stared after him, obviously a little miffed.

"Hey, I'm sure he'll come around," I said, shrugging. "Once he sets us a potion without partners, he'll see you're the one making it great."

Colette shook her head. "Haven't you been watching him? He's only praising purebloods."

"I'm not a pureblood, though."

"Yes, but you're a Lestrange, so I suppose you might as well be. Didn't you see? He stopped at Rose and Scorpius's a few minutes ago, and he acted like Rose was cute but didn't know what she was doing, and Scorpius was a true genius."

"She's more pureblood than I am! At least her mum was a witch."

Colette frowned. "That's not how it works. The Weasleys were always considered blood traitors, weren't they? I don't know how they ever got on that list of purebloods. So I guess Lockley considers Rose beneath him and other purebloods. He was treating Scorpius like his beloved child, though."

I frowned. "That's really weird."

"Maybe I'm wrong. But that's just what it looks like, that he's a prejudiced old git." Colette shrugged. "I guess we'll figure it out."

"Here, let's test it," I said, grabbing the bottle of armadillo bile on the table. Before Colette could stop me, I'd dumped the whole bottle into our cauldron.

"What did you do that for?" Colette hissed, staring at the cauldron in horror as it began to bubble madly, and steaming hot liquid flew up into the air.

"Oh no! I spilled all our armadillo bile in my cauldron!" I cried loudly.

Lockley looked up from Lacy and Iris's cauldron, and I saw his eyes grow wide as he quickly hurried over. "What... Merlin, how..."

"I accidentally spilled all our armadillo bile in," I repeated, holding up the empty bottle as proof. Colette was staring at me, shocked, as were several other students around the dungeon.

Lockley pulled out his wand and muttered a spell, and potion evaporated immediately, which was good because it had begun to bubble over and had splattered on the ceiling. I did my best to look guilty (though it was hard because everyone's faces were quite funny, and I didn't feel all that bad), and slowly placed the bottle back on the table. "Sorry."

"Not at all," he said, frowning at the cauldron. "I'm sure it wasn't your fault. Perhaps your partner bumped your arm." Colette's mouth fell open. "No harm done, except the mess." He glanced at the ceiling. "Shouldn't take too long. Nothing a detention wouldn't cover." He frowned at Colette. "I'll be seeing you after class."

I froze. That's certainly not what I'd had in mind. Colette hadn't either, apparently. "What? I didn't do anything!"

"Really, sir, it was all my fault, she wasn't anywhere near, I swear!" I glanced around helplessly. "If anyone should serve detention, it's me, because—"

"What a valiant sentiment," Lockley said, smiling kindly at me. "How kind of you to try to take your friend's place. I'm afraid, though, that I only let the people who deserve it serve detention, and you are not at fault, Miss Lestrange." He turned back to Colette, and his tone and expression turned colder. "I'll see you at five. Come prepared to clean."

As he walked away, Colette sent me a glare, and set about starting our potion over. I watched her for a moment, unable to move, then quickly started helping. "I'm so sorry, I didn't think he would give you detention, I didn't mean—"

"Shut up."

"Really, I'm sor—"

Colette turned to me. "Listen, he'll probably give another detention for talking, and he'll become deaf whenever you're doing it. So shut up."

I sighed and started grinding some more scarab beetles, as Wren quietly passed us their bottle of armadillo bile. Other than the occasional whispers of Albus and Wren about their potion, our table was silent. I kept trying to catch Colette's eye, because I felt horrible and wanted her to know how sorry I was, but she was ignoring me.

During the remainder of the hour, I watched Lockley interact with my fellow students. Colette was right; he did seem to cater more to the purebloods. And me. I didn't quite understand it, but I knew that the Lestranges and the Blacks had been very prominent families. Maybe he was just overlooking the fact that my mum was a muggle.

I could have lived with all that. He wasn't partial to Rose, of course, or many of the other halfbloods. But that wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the way he treated muggleborns. Luke, for example, had never been terrible at Potions, but today it seemed he couldn't do anything right. Lockley immediately labeled him as disruptive because he'd been talking, and soon he made it known that Colette wouldn't be alone in detention. She wasn't any better off, as the child of a muggle and a muggleborn wizard. Perhaps if I had tried my trick with Albus as a partner, Lockley would have been more forgiving, I realized. Because of that, I couldn't like him at all. Even with Colette mad at me, I was still indignant on her behalf, and Luke's, as well.

On top of that, he acted wary of Wren. She didn't fit into his apparent hierarchy of students, because the Predatels were from America. So he couldn't judge her based on that, and all he had to go on, I assumed, was what the staff had told him and what he'd read in the papers. And of course what he'd read in the papers was that Wren was a menace to society, that the Predatels were terrorists who killed the last Minister of Magic, and most recently, that poor Wren had had no choice. With conflicting messages like that, I couldn't exactly blame him for being wary around her, but I didn't appreciate it either.

By the end of Potions, everyone seemed fed up with Lockley. Lockley was happily oblivious though, and predicting that we'd all be the best of friends by the end of term. As soon as we were out of earshot of the dungeon, all the Gryffindors burst into chatter. They even seemed to forget that half of them were avoiding Wren at all costs.

"Did you see how he treated Eric?" Iris said, glaring over her shoulder.

"What's his deal?" Luke echoed. "Detention! We've got to detention, and Colette didn't even do anything!"

"And you didn't do anything worthy of detention," Albus said, frowning. "But he can't just be partial to Slytherin, obviously."

"Obviously." I glanced at Colette uneasily. "I really am sorry..."

"It's fine," she said coldly. "Doesn't matter."

"So what's his problem?" Lacy asked.

"Colette's got a theory about that, I heard her telling Astra," Albus said.

Immediately, everyone looked to Colette, who rolled her eyes. "He's partial to purebloods. Isn't it obvious?"

Everyone considered trust for a second, then slowly Eric nodded. "Makes sense. That's why he loves the Malfoys. And Lacy and Iris."

"But, wait, Astra's a halfblood," Iris pointed out.

"Astra's a Lestrange."

"Oh. Right."

"When's our next Potions?" Luke asked. "I've got a Skiving Snackbox, you can all have one."

Lacy turned to Rose, who was walking behind me with Wren. "Do you think they'll cancel Potions for..." As she caught sight of Wren, she trailed off, then looped her arm through Iris's. "Let's go. We'll be late for lunch." She and Iris hurried off, followed by Eric, Henry, and Luke.

We stood for a few minutes in the corridor, watching them walk away, then Wren glanced up at me. "You're a Lestrange?"

I turned to her finally, a little surprised. "Yeah... Didn't you know?"

Wren shook her head. "They called you that at... At the trial, but I forgot to ask about it."

"Oh. Well, my father is Orion Lestrange, the son of Bellatrix," I explained as we started walking towards the Great Hall. "And he deserted the Death Eaters before the Battle of Hogwarts and married my mum, a muggle. But the Ministry caught him, and sent him to Azkaban before I was born." I shrugged, trying to act like that was fine.

"Oh... Wow, I'm sorry..."

"It's okay. Perfectly used to it." I grinned. "Anyway, it turns out that this makes me Teddy Lupin's cousin, which makes me much cooler than Albus."

"Hey!" Albus crossed his arms. "You're also Ciara Malfoy's cousin, which makes you much lamer than me."

"She's also my cousin," Scorpius said, grinning. "And being related to me makes anyone amazing, wouldn't you say?"

Wren didn't seem to know what to say to that, and Colette rolled her eyes. "Let's just agree that they're all lame, how's that?"

"Sounds about right," Rose said, then doubled over laughing. Scorpius acted very offended, and soon we were all laughing.

The rest of the day, my crusade to convince my peers Wren was all right continued. On the way to Herbology, we ended up walking out before Lacy and her group, so I purposely slowed down until they caught up. Unfortunately, they sped up. Transfiguration was just as disappointing, though Professor Patil treated Wren just the same as any other student.

The class I was really dreading was Charms. We had a double period the next morning, and I already knew Haverna was going to be, to use the muggle definition, a witch. She already hated Albus and me, and I couldn't imagine what she'd think of Wren, especially since Mr. Potter had been the one to defend her.

All the Gryffindors had been dreading Charms, actually. She didn't particularly like our House. She'd been a Ravenclaw, I'd heard, and thought all the other Houses were beneath her (not that she was particularly liked among the Ravenclaws). At any rate, she seemed prone to dislike Gryffindors more than anyone else, and I could only assume it was because Mr. Potter was our Head of House.

We trudged up to the Charms classroom after breakfast, not at all eager to start the day with two hours of Haverna. She wasn't in the class when we walked in, thankfully, but a few moments after I'd sat down next to Albus, she walked in on the heels of Eric and Iris.

"You're both late," she snapped at them, and they hurried to sit down. "Ten points from Gryffindor." There was a groan from the Gryffindors, but one look from Haverna silenced us.

"Take out your books," she said, waving her wand at the blackboard. "Today we will be studying the history of the Summoning Charm." As we flipped through our books, looking for the correct page, Haverna scanned the classroom, mentally taking roll. She started up the aisle next to me, slowly, and I sent a quick glance at Wren, who was seated next to Colette across from us.

Keep walking, just keep walking, I thought as she neared our row. As she passed students, they turned around to watch, sensing trouble. Keep walking. Don't stop. And what did she do?

Stop right next to Wren, who was staring at her book, very tense. Colette glared up at our professor, but Haverna took no notice. Instead, she said, "Ah. The little criminal. Lovely."

No one made a sound. Haverna narrowed her eyes. "Look at me when I talk to you."

Wren slowly looked up. "Y-yes, Professor?"

"It's funny how the Ministry let themselves be fooled by child. If it were up to me, you'd be Azkaban right now."

"Lucky it's not up to you," I muttered.

Haverna turned on me. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was your class, Miss Lestrange."

"I didn't realize you weren't capable of seeing the truth when it was right in front of your nose." I said, pushing aside Al's hand as he attempted to cover my mouth.

Haverna glared at me, then Wren, then me again. "I want no trouble this year. None at all. I have no qualms with sending either of you up to the headmaster at a moment's notice, is that understood? You're two very different kinds of trouble, and I don't want either of them."

I wanted to argue that, all right, maybe I was trouble. But Wren wasn't, and she didn't need to be singled out like that, and weren't the teachers supposed to treat us all equally? However, my eyes met Wren's, and she shook her head imperceptibly, guessing what I'd do. I wouldn't change Haverna's opinion of her at all if I argued. I'd probably get us both in trouble. I felt Albus relax as I crossed my arms and sat back in my seat, glaring at my open book. I wouldn't argue, but that didn't mean I would like it.

~~~~

Question of the Day: Would you rather be a wizard or witch but have to be a Death Eater (like, the most extreme Death Eater, as bad as or worse than Bellatrix even), or be a muggle?

Vote and comment! Maybe as a welcome home present to me comment more than normal? Love you all!

~Ellie