The first day back at Hogwarts was always interesting, but especially so this year. I was sitting in front of the fire in the common room after classes, relaxing after the long day when Pansy Parkinson came through the entrance.

"I still cannot believe it!" She was whining to Goyle who came behind her, "This wouldn't have happened if we had a real teacher."

She sat down on the couch beside me and I looked up from my Arithmancy book, "What are you whining about now, Pansy?"

"Didn't you hear?" She rolled her eyes, "Of course you didn't. Draco is in the hospital wing. He has to stay for a few days. It's dreadful!"

Her voice had become high-pitched, and I winced at the tone.

"Why?" I asked, "What did he do now?"

"He didn't do anything. It was that horrid half-giant's fault. He brought a Hippogriff. A Hippogriff on the first day of class. Without any warning or preparation!"

"A Hippogriff?" I asked, shocked.

Hagrid loved creatures, sure, but to bring such a proud, dangerous creature to their first Care of Magical Creatures Class? I was suddenly very glad I had decided against the elective.

"Yes," Pansy dramatically replied, sprawling over the couch, "And it attacked poor Draco! Scratched his arm just horribly. "

"Did he offend it? The hippogriff?"

Pansy sat up, "Of course not! Why would you think it's Draco's fault?"

I scoffed, rolling my eyes and opening my book again, "It's Draco, Pansy. Need I explain?"

"You don't even know him," She glares.

"I know him enough," I sighed, standing up from the chair.

I put my book into my bag and started walking towards the door before Pansy interrupted me again, "Where are you going?"

"Do you have to know everything, Parkinson?" I turn towards her, adjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder. "To bed, if you need to know," I answered swiftly before walking out the door.

A few days later, I found myself searching for my brother before our first class. I had been searching for a while, and I finally arrived at the last place Zenith could be -  the Library.

He would rather die than willingly be there, but it was the last place I had looked and the only place he could be hiding. I only imagined what he could be up to.

I walked in, quietly closing the door behind me, and smiled at Madam Pince behind the counter. She gave me a severe look before nodding her head to a table in the back.

I sighed as I turned and saw my brother throwing paper balls at Ron. Harry was asleep, leaning on his arms, slightly snoring, and Hermione had a large stack of books in front of her, blocking her from view. Her dark-brown frizzy hair was sticking up from behind them.

They had not noticed I was there yet, so I pulled out my wand and crept up to them. As I got closer, Ron saw me behind Zenith, but I motioned for him to be quiet. He smirked and threw the paper ball back at my brother as if nothing had changed

I stepped up behind my brother and whispered Colovaria, a color-changing spell. It turned his hair a shade of blond that rivaled even Draco Malfoy's. I burst out laughing.

He jumped and turned around, "Cressida! You scared the bollocks off me," he yelled loudly.

Ron was cackling across the table, and I walked around it to the empty seat beside him. I leaned against the edge, trying to catch my breath. When we finally calmed down, Ron and I looked at my brother, and we broke down again.

"What-" my brother began to ask before he was interrupted.

"SHHHHHH!" Madam Pince exclaimed, glaring at us from over her spectacles.

Ron and I slowly calmed down, still snickering.

Harry, who had woken up in the commotion, sat up, his hair wild and glasses crooked, "What happened?"

He looked around, his eyes catching on Zenith where he stared in shock.

"Nothing mate, Cressida just scared the bloody hell out of Zen," Ron laughed, subtly motioning not to mention what had happened to Zenith's hair.

"Honestly," Hermione put her book down, glaring at me, "This is a library, not daycare. You all are acting like children."

I rolled my eyes, "It's just a bit of fun, Granger."

"Well, do it somewhere else." She slammed her books down, grabbing them as she stood up, "And Zenith, that hair is not a good look on you."

She walks away, leaving Zenith with his jaw open. He looks back at us, running his hand through his curls, "Excuse me?" he said in shock, "did she just insult the-?"

He stuttered for a moment, "She just," he paused again, "She insulted the hair."

I look at Ron, who smirks. Nothing was more important to Zenith than his perfect, dark curls.

"What does she mean 'my hair doesn't look good'? Has she seen her frizz?"

"She's probably just jealous," Ron said. "I mean, you do have the best hair of our year."

Zenith preened, petting his now blond hair, "You're right," he said.

I laughed again.

Oh Zenith, just you wait. This was one of my best pranks yet.

A few minutes later, I pointed out the time and the boys quickly packed all of their stuff up. "Why didn't you say something?" Zenith whined.

"It's not my fault you weren't paying attention," I shrugged, already heading towards the door.

Surprisingly, Ron was the first to catch up to me. He leaned over and whispered, "So, when are we going to tell him about the hair?"

I smirked, "I want to see how long it takes him to realize."

"Realize what?" Zenith asked as he stepped up beside me. Harry was on Ron's other side, still giving Zenith's hair funny looks.

"That you almost made us late for our first potions class of the year!"

They groaned, "I can't believe we have to start the day with potions. Potions!" Harry exclaimed.

"Snape is gonna be horrible" Ron agreed.

I rolled my eyes. I do that a lot around these three dunderheads, "He wouldn't be so bad if you three actually paid any attention in his class. You do understand how dangerous potions can be if done wrong, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" I sighed, how they survived the past two years I'll never know. "If you incorrectly brew an antidote, its effects will be null and someone could die from poison. Or a dreamless sleep, it can cause someone to go into an irreversible coma. You must be careful, and pay attention!"

The boys were quiet as they thought this over. Harry finally spoke up, "What if polyjuice potion is incorrectly brewed?"

I gave him a suspicious look, "It could most likely hurt you, or change you into something you didn't want. Or," I smirked, "I suppose it could permanently disfigure you in a way. Like partial transfiguration can."

Ron and Harry went pale.

"Really?" Ron asked.

I nodded, "It's a good thing you two had Hermione brew it for you, isn't it?"

They froze, and I smirked as I continued to walk ahead into the dungeons for our class.

I walked into class a few moments before the three boys and made my way to where Daphne was sitting.

"Hello," I greeted as I sat down beside her. Across from us were Daniel and Ivy.

"Hi," Ivy smiled.

"Hullo." Daniel nodded, already reading today's lesson on the board, his advanced potions book was out in front of him The page was full of notes and highlights. Anyone could tell he was a potions genius.

"Good to finally meet you," Daphne said, pushing her hair over her shoulder, "You left quite early this morning, where did you go?"

"I had to go find my brother," I said, nodding my head over to where he was sitting with Harry and Ron. The latter was already looking at us, but he turned toward Zenith quickly. As he saw us replicating his glare, his face turned a bright red.

Zenith had a strange look on his face as he watched Ron. He opened his mouth to ask the redhead a question, but was interrupted by Snape slamming open the door. He stormed in, his cloak billowing behind him. I could see a few students cringe as he made his way to the front of the room.

One heck of a dramatic entrance. This was going to be fun.

The class had been going smoothly, other than Zenith losing points for "an unfortunate, distracting transfiguration attempt" leaving him hilariously confused. After that, things had resumed a sense of normal, but were later disrupted when the door opened and Malfoy walked in. I groaned when I saw the only seat free was next to my brother and his friends.

"How is it, Draco?" Parkinson asked, immediately kissing his ass, "Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," He replied, grimacing. I rolled my eyes as he turned and winked at Crabbe and Goyle who sat at the table behind me.

"Settle down," Snape said.

I could see Ron and Harry frown at each other, and my brother alternatively glaring at Draco and Snape.

I turned away, ignoring them all as I continued to work on my shrinking solution. I was just beginning to add the wormwood when I heard Malfoy speak again.

"Sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm-"

He didn't even get to finish before Snape cut him off, "Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him."

Ron turned red again as he pulled the roots towards him. I started stirring my cauldron as I saw him chop roughly.

I shook my head, knowing what was about to happen, and turned back to my cauldron, adding rat spleen next.

Sure enough, a moment later, Malfoy spoke up again, "Professor," he drawled. You could hear the smirk in his voice, "Weasley is mutilating my roots."

I heard Snape walk closer to their table as I picked up my next ingredient and added a splash of cowbane.

"Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley."

"But,-"

"Now," Snape growled.

"And sir," Draco continued. "I'll need this shrivelfig skinned."

"Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig."

I stirred for the last time and used my wand to turn up the heat before glancing over at the other table.

Zenith was glaring at Malfoy as he smirked which seemed to egg on the other two at the table.

"Do they seriously never stop?" Daniel asked, carefully ladling out his bright green potion into a vial. Perfect, as always.

"You have no idea," I said, turning off the heat now and grabbing my own ladle before a commotion grabbed our attention.

A few tables away, Snape was glaring down at Neville Longbottom. Poor Neville, he was never able to focus due to the professor purposely targeting him, like now.

Professor Snape was staring down into the cauldron with a sneer, "Orange, Longbottom." He dropped the ladle back into the potion, allowing it to splash out. Orange, not green.

Neville flinched, his face going pink as he looked down. His hands were trembling as they gripped the edge of the table.

"Orange," Snape repeated, "Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

I glared at Snape, sure he didn't like Gryffindors, but that was no reason to take it out on children.

I finished bottling my bright green potion as Granger spoke up, "Please sir, please. I could help Neville put it right-"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Granger." He turned back to Neville, "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps," he drawled, "that will encourage you to do it properly."

Neville watched in fear as Snape walked away before turning to Hermione beside him. I watched him ask her for help, vowing that I would offer my own after class.

I turned back to my own table, seeing mixed reactions. Daphne looked as if nothing happened, finishing up her potion. Ivy was looking angry, staring into her cauldron. Daniel was staring at me.

We both stood up, taking our potion to Snape's desk. We looked at each other and nodded. Snape may be our Head of House, but that did not mean he was immune to a few harmless pranks.

Because Draco was right, in a way I was bothered by the bias my brother was shown. Just not in the way he thought.

About ten minutes before class ended, Snape called everyone's attention.

"Everyone should be done adding ingredients now, so if you have not bottled it, do so. And when done, we shall test Longbottom's."

My eyes widened in shock, he was really going to test the potion on Neville's toad? That was crazy.

Crabbe and Goyle were laughing loudly from the table behind mine as they watched Neville continue to stir his potion. I could see Hermione secretly whispering instructions to him, and I hoped it would be enough.

Ron, Harry, and my brother had finally finished and walked over to the sink to clean up as Snape strode over to Neville. Once again, the poor boy was terrified.

"Everyone gather 'round," he said, a mean smirk on his face. "If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, the toad is likely poisoned."

Neville was turning green by now and was staring in fear down at his pet as everyone circled around his table. The Gryffindors were nervous or angry, glaring at Snape, and most of the Slytherins were watching with sadistic glee.

Snape roughly picked up the toad and grabbed a spoon, dipping it into the, thankfully, green potion in Neville's cauldron. He let a few drops trickle into Trevor's mouth.

The room was frozen for a moment, nobody breathing as we watched the animal in the Professor's hand. I watched as the toad gulped and then there was a loud pop.

I smiled in relief as suddenly, a small tadpole was sitting in Snape's hand. The Gryffindors and I applauded, and Neville looked relieved. Snape sneered and pulled out another potion, and turned Trevor back to normal.

"Five points from Gryffindor," he growled as he turned to Hermione. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."

I quickly grabbed my bag, saying a hasty goodbye to my friends before rushing over to Neville.

"Neville, right?"

He looked up in shock, eyes wide. "Um, yeah. I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom."

I gave him a small smile, "I'm Cressida. It's nice to meet you."

He gave a shy smile back, picking up his bag.

"You too," he said quietly.

We stood there quietly for a few moments as the rest of the class made their way out.

"Do you want to walk to DADA together?" I ask, breaking the silence

He looks surprised, but smiles nonetheless, "Uh, yeah, sure."

"I'm sorry about Snape," I apologized once we were far away from the potions classroom. "He had no reason to target you like that."

Neville just shrugs, "I'm used to it," he gives a sad smile, "Can't really get mad about it when it has been happening my whole life."

That broke my heart, "Nobody deserves that, no matter what," I bump his shoulder, "especially not someone as kind as you."

He blushes a bit, "My gran would disagree."

"Well," I say as we stop a little ways from the door, "Who cares what they think? If they hurt you, their opinions shouldn't matter." I pause, "How about this? I help you get better at potions so you can prove to everyone how talented you are, and you help me with herbology. I'm rubbish at it."

He stares at me for a moment before sticking out his hand. "Deal," he says, smiling.

I shake his hand, "Pleasure doing business with you."

Papa wasn't there when we finally arrived at the Defense room, although the door was open. Zenith joined me as Neville said goodbye, and we made our way to a couple of seats toward the back of the room, behind Harry and Ron.

"What was that with Neville?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The curiosity in his voice evident

"I was just offering my help for potions in exchange for herbology," I shrugged.

"Mhm," He hummed with a smirk. "You know, he's pretty shy, but overall a good person."

"Okay?" I questioned. Why was he telling me this? He just gave me another smirk and waggled his eyebrows again as I put my bag down.

A few desks in front of us, Hermione dropped a book on the ground. She looked frazzled and tired. Her hair was messy, and her bag was practically splitting at the seams.

A few minutes later, Papa finally entered the room. He gave us a big smile as he walked toward his desk.

"Hello," he said. "Would you please put all of your books back in your bags? You will need only your wands today."

I smiled excitedly at Zenith as we stood and followed our father to a staffroom. On the way, we encountered Peeves the poltergeist and Papa impressed the class by getting rid of him with the Waddiwasi spell. A flash shot out from his wand, scaring the poltergeist away.

"Inside, please," he said as he opened the door.

As we filed in, I noticed that Professor Snape was the only other person there. He quickly stood up and walked past us, sneering.

"Possibly no one has warned you, Lupin," He said, "but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is whispering in his ear."

I glared at his back, what was the point of being so cruel? Neville's face went red and he looked at the ground, embarrassed. I patted his shoulder and gave him a smile. He gave me a small one back, standing a little straighter.

My dad just raised his eyebrows, meeting my eyes over Snape's shoulder. I glared at Snape again.

"I was actually hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of today's lesson," he stated kindly, "And I am sure he will perform admirably."

Neville went red again. Snape sneered at us one more time before storming out of the room.

Our dad turned back to us and gave us a smile.

"Good afternoon," he said and paused, looking at my twin, "Zenith?"

My brother looked up at him, "Yes?"

I put a hand over my mouth to hide my smirk as Papa continued, "Are you trying something new?"

There were a few snickers throughout the classroom, "What do you mean?" he asked, his head tilted in confusion.

Our father's eyes moved to his hair and he raised an eyebrow. My brother raised his hand up in confusion, pulling a couple of curls in front of his face.

"WHAT THE-" he shrieked, tripping and falling backward.

I finally lost it and I burst out laughing, Harry and Ron joining from beside me.

He quickly scrambled to his feet, glaring at me, "What did you do?' he growled.

Through my laughter, I conjured a small mirror and handed it to him, he snatched it from me and looked at it in shock.

"It was too good an opportunity!" I said breathlessly, "I had to!"

He grabbed my arm, turning his back to the rest of the students slowly making their way into the classroom, "Change. It. Back."

He was looking at me desperately, "Now, Cressida! It's my hair, you have to change it back"

I just continued laughing and my brother looked at Ron for help, but the redhead was also doubled over.

He turned to Papa who had a bittersweet look on his face as he watched us. He quickly snapped out of it before giving me a smirk and turning to the class, ignoring my brother's faux betrayed look.

"Now, then," he motioned for all of us to come to the other end of the room where an old wardrobe was sitting.

I tilted my head curiously, turning to Zenith, "What do you think?"

"Well," he replied, rolling his eyes. He still wasn't over the prank, evidently."It's something that likes dark, enclosed spaces."

Just then, the wooden wardrobe shook violently, a scratching sound coming from inside.

I thought for a moment, and then I realized exactly what it was. "Boggarts like the dark, and they usually make themselves known through shaking or scratching what they are hiding in, right?"

"Right you are, Cr-Miss Black," Papa said, giving me a proud smile.

He addressed the rest of the class, "Nothing to be afraid of. As Miss Black said, there is a boggart in there."

Neville looked like he was about to faint and I could see Finnegan backing up a bit as the doorknob rattled again.

"Boggarts like dark spaces," Papa started, going into teacher mode, "Wardrobes, underneath beds, cupboards under sinks. I even found one lodged in a grandfather clock once. This one," he put his hand on the side of the wardrobe and it shook, "moved in yesterday and I asked the headmaster to leave it so I could give you guys some practice."

He gave us a kind smile, his scars stretching over his face, "So, the first question we ask is, what is a boggart?"

Granger raised her hand immediately.

"It's a shapeshifter, sir," she began. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."

"Correct," the professor said. "The boggart sitting inside this cabinet has yet to take form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us fears."

Neville was frozen beside me, and I could see a few Gryffindors trying to calm him.

"This means," my dad continued. "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

I could barely see the boy with Hermione bouncing up and down beside him, "Um," he started, "because there are so many of us? So it won't know what shape to be?"

"Precisely."

Hermione looked disappointed that she wasn't chosen, but I turned my attention back to the wardrobe. "It's always best to have company when dealing with a boggart. It becomes confused. Which should it become? A headless corpse or flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that mistake. Tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not even remotely frightening."

He walked in front of the class, making sure everyone was listening.

"The charm to repel a boggart is simple, but it needs the force of mind. The thing that really finishes off a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to take the shape of something you find amusing."

He raised his wand, "Now after me. Riddikulus!"

We also drew our wands, "Riddikulus!" We chanted.

"Good," Papa smiled. "Very good, but that was the easy part, I'm afraid. The word itself is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."

The wardrobe shook violently as the boy gulped, nervously stepping forward.

"Right," My father leaned towards him, "First things first, what would you say frightens you most in the world?"

Neville muttered something quietly.

"Sorry, Neville, didn't quite catch that."

Neville mumbled a few more times before finally acquiring some volume, "Professor Snape," he whispered.

Some students laughed but Papa shushed them.

"Professor Snape? Hm, I believe you live with your grandmother?" he asked.

"Yes, but I don't want it to turn into her either," Neville said quickly.

"No, no, you misunderstand me. I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"

"Well," the boy started, confused. "Always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture. And a long green dress, and um, sometimes a fox-fur scarf.

"And a handbag?"

"A big red one," Neville nodded.

"Right then," Papa started to turn towards the wardrobe, "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? See them in your mind's eye?"

"Yes," He replied.

"Alright, when the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape. And you will raise your wand, and cry Riddikulus, and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, the boggart will become Professor Snape in a vulture hat and green dress, with a big red handbag."

The class laughed and Neville smiled a little.

"Now" Papa turned to us, " I want you all to think of what scares you the most, and imagine how you can make it funny."

"Everyone ready?"

Neville took a deep breath.

"On the count of three, Neville."

He nodded.

"One, two, three - now!"

The wardrobe suddenly burst open and out stepped Snape in all his greasy, sneering glory. Neville froze as the boggart advanced on him.

"R-Ri-" he stuttered, wand shaking, "RIDDIKULUS!"

There was a cracking noise and Snape stumbled, suddenly dressed in a green dress with a tall vulture hat on his head. We all burst out laughing, including Neville, who looked like a mountain of pressure released from his shoulders.

The boggart looked to Pavarti Patil next and changed shape. It became a mummy.

As she took care of it, Remus instructed us to get into a line behind her.

"Riddikulus!" she cried.

The mummy unraveled and fell to the ground.

Next was Seamus Finnegan, whose boggart was a banshee. He quickly cast the spell and its voice was gone. Then it began to rapidly change. First into a rat, then a bloody eyeball.

"It's confused," Papa shouted. "We're getting there! Dean!"

The eyeball became a severed hand that moved like a crab, before it became stuck in a trap.

Ron was next, and in front of me in line. Suddenly a giant, six-foot spider was in front of us. A few students screamed.

"Riddikulus!" Ron shouted.

The spider's legs disappeared, and it began to roll around.

I stepped forward, ready for my turn, and Zenith squeezed my hand.

I gave him a small smile before turning back in confusion as the class went quiet.

I froze. In front of me was a pile of bodies. No, no, they weren't just random bodies.

That was-

That was Papa.

That was Zenith.

They were dead.

Their eyes were glazed over, staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. Just like Mum. They were gone, just like her. They were-

"Riddikulus!" Zenith yelled, pushing me behind him.

The bodies were gone now, but I kept staring.

Instead of dead bodies on the floor, there was a ghost.

A ghost that slowly changed.

First a mirror image of my brother. But slowly, oh so slowly, it shifted.

It shifted until a haggard ghost of a man was standing in front of us.

Sirius Black.

Zenith paled drastically, and I grabbed his hand as he stumbled back.

"No," he breathed, shutting his eyes tightly. "No, no, no, no, no-"

Papa ran over to us, distracting the boggart as I turned to my brother.

I grabbed his face, shielding him from the view in front of us, "Zenith." He opened his eyes, the silver in them shining. "Zenith, it's ok. It's not real, it's all gonna be ok."

He hugged me tight, and I buried my face in his shoulder as I saw the boggart take shape in front of our father.

A moon and clouds.

I watched, puzzled as the clouds shifted to the sides to reveal a full moon.

"Riddikulus!"

The moon became a deflated balloon which Papa directed back into the wardrobe.

He quickly turned to us, concerned, "Class is dismissed for today."

The other students started to trickle out of the room, annoyed that they did not get their turn, and already gossiping about what had happened.

Our dad turned to us, "Are you alright?"

I nodded, not speaking. Zenith was staring over my shoulder.

"Zenith?" he asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine," he said before he pushed Papa's arm off, "I'm gonna go."

Zenith quickly turned and ran out of the room.

I turned to Papa and gave him a big hug.

He squeezed me back and kissed my head, "It's gonna be ok, Cress."

His voice was soft, "I promise that nothing is going to happen to us. I will do whatever it takes to make sure of that, ok?"

I nod my head, "I love you, Papa."

He gave me another tight squeeze, "I love you too, Cressida. More than you know."

hey guys! k.rae and agc here! we want to say thank you for your support so far, and we can't wait to keep on this journey with you guys! as you may have noticed, the chapters are starting to get longer, this might become a thing while we're diving into the deep parts of the story! anyway thank you again, and we hope you enjoy <3

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