be very careful
what you say

ϟ

"It was Snape," Perry explained, "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Hey, I saw too," Ron said but nobody listened.

"Rubbish," Hagrid said. He must have been too tall to hear them talking about it in the stands. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

The four children looked at each other.

"I mean, I could say a lot of things-" Perry started.

"We found out something about him," Harry told Hagrid, deciding to tell the truth. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped the teapot and asked, "How do you know about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?" the four chorused

"Yeah— he's mine— bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year— I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the—"

"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it," said Hermione.

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" cried Perry.

"I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them!" said Hermione. "You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid. He was getting rather worked up now. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh— yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel—"

"Aha!" said Harry, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked like he was fighting himself in that moment. "Out with all of yeh! Out! Out!"

The four children stood on the porch of Hagrid's Hut as the door was slammed shut behind them.

"Well, we got enough out of him for today," Perry said hoping off the small porch.

Hermione laughed at Perry's optimism and jumped down after her. The boys followed with smiles on their faces.

"Ronald, you do know one of these days you are going to trip from your shoes being untied and fall on your face," Hermione reprimanded.

With a sigh Ron bent down to tie his shoe. Hermione stayed back to tell him all the horrible possible outcomes that could come from his untied shoes. Harry and Perry walked up to the castle side by side.

"Thank you for cheering for me," Harry said with a smile on his face.

"Of course Hare-Bear," she said shoving him in the shoulder, "No way I'd ever cheer against you, and especially not for Slytherin."

"It's your own house Pare-Bear," he said with concern lacing his features.

"There just.. different than me," she said with a shrug. "I understand why I was sorted there. I mean- I fit the attributes, but I.. don't fit the people."

"Well, your my people," he said throwing his arm around her shoulder. She smiled up at him. "You know you really are a loud fan."

"Really? You could hear me?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, "I could hear you screaming 'come on Harry' over and over again before my broom went all haywire."

Perry started thinking back to that moment. "Harry," she said looking up to him in confusion, "I never said that."

"Yeah you did," he said, "I heard you perfectly clear."

"Out loud," she said shaking her head, "I never said it out loud."

Both of them stopped in their tracks and looked forword, both dawning on the same conclusion.

"How?" Perry asked.

"I-I don't know," Harry said.

"And why now?"

"I-I don't know that either," Harry replied, "but maybe because now we know about magic."

"Yeah," Perry said, "That's gotta be it."

Hermione came running up to the two of them with Ron trailing behind her. "Back to the common room?"

The two boys nodded.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," Perry said.

"No, no, no," Hermione said. "Your coming back up to the tower with us."

"I'm a Slytherin, Hermione."

"So?" she said.

"I mean-"

"You're decked out in Gryffindors colors anyway," Harry said, "Nobody will even notice."

•••

Perry had never felt more awkward walking into a room. She felt even more out of place than she had the first night she had arrived at Hogwarts.

The room smelled of a sweet scent Perry learned came from a drink called butterbeer. Perry attempted to try some but Fred and George picked her up off her feet and sat her on the couch by the fire.

"Did you get any?" Ron asked.

"Did you put little Persephone up to this," Fred asked.

"What! No!" Ron said as fast as he could.

"Look at our pesky brother getting little Seph in trouble, Georgie," said Fred.

"How disappointing," George said shaking his head.

"Really outta be punished."

"That he does, Freddie."

"What! No, it wasn't my idea!"

The twins turned back around with a dumb smile on each of their faces. Ron coward down in his arm chair and blushed a deep scarlet.

"I told you it wasn't a good idea," Hermione reprimanded.

Ron rolled his eyes.

They stayed on those couches far too long that afternoon. They laugh, talked, told stories about home, and listened as Harry recounted the match over and over again, each time getting more dramatic.

"One time when Harry and I were six, Harry's aunt decided to let us come with them to London, but the terms were we couldn't speak the entire time," Perry started. "I was so mad about not being able to talk that I plotted my revenge instead of sleeping that night. So in the morning before we left I stuffed my coat pockets with blueberries and anyone I came in contact with that day I handed them a blue berry and put my finger to my lips. Petunia and Vernon didn't catch me until I had like four blueberries left. But when they did they were so mad. It was priceless, but technically I still never went against their orders."

The four children couldn't contain themselves as they each told crazy stories. Hermione's story wasn't very funny but they pretended to laugh so she wouldn't feel bad.

For the first time in two months Perry felt comfortable sitting in a room without a quill in her hand. But it came to an end as all things do.

"Want to sit with us?" Harry asked as they all got up.

"Suppose I should," Perry said getting up.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked

"Well if I sat at Slytherin table looking like I do right now," she said referring to the scarlet and gold she was covered in, "I don't think they'd ever let it go." 

The three Gryffindors nodded. They understood it must be hard for Perry to be in Slytherin and befriend so many Gryffindors. Not all Slytherins are bad, but the ones in their year aren't the best of the selection.

The three first year Gryffindors and the single first year Slytherin made their way down the moving staircases to the Great Hall. Perry kept at the back of their heels as she had no idea how to get from Gryffindor tower to the Great Hall.

"So who do you think this Nicolas Flamel is?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Harry said.

Ron shrugged.

Perry continued to rack her brain. "I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like I recognize the name for some reason."

"Ditto," Hermione said. "I just don't know why."

"It must be something we've read," Perry said. "I mean- if the Professor's are trying to keep this hidden from us there's no way one of them would openly teach us about him in class."

"You're brilliant, Perry," Hermione said. "We must've heard about it from something unschool related."

"Yeah," Perry said, "But that doesn't get us very far."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked. "Seems like your making great progress."

"Yeah no thanks to you," Perry joked while reaching up to ruffle his hair. "What I mean is that Hermione and I have read so many books, how are we supposed to figure out which one we read his name in? How do we even know it's a him?"

"It has to be a him," Harry said. "I mean- that wouldn't be very nice of the parents to name a girl Nicolas."

"Still," Perry said as they approached the great hall, "the possibilities are endless. We don't know if he's even a wizard!"

"You're right," Ron said, "He could be a nymph, or a centaur, or a fairy, or a-"

"Exactly my point," Perry said. "His name might ring a bell in both our heads—" she looked to Hermione while saying this— "but we still have a lot more to learn if we want to figure this out."

ϟ

Everyone started to leave the dining hall for bed, and Perry was dreading her departure from her Gryffindor friends. When they had finished eating and Harry looked exhausted, Hermione was the first to say goodnight and retreat back to Gryffindor tower.

"I suppose I should get going too then," Perry said with a sad smile.

"You don't have to," Harry said between a yawn.

"Yes I do, and you do too," she said standing up from the table. She took the scarves off from around her neck and placed one around both of the twins necks. They looked at her with a playful smile.

"Didn't we tell you to keep them," Fred said.

"Yes, but my Slytherin inmates might destroy them if they were to be stored in my dorm," she explained.

George spit out some of his food when she called her classmates inmates. Fred gave her a smile that showed he was proud he had influenced the little girl to come out of her shell.

"I'll give you your sweater back tomorrow, Georgie."

"Oh, actually it's mine," Fred interrupted.

"But it has a big G on it?" Perry voiced with confusion.

"Yep," Fred said.

She looked at him for a few second waiting for an explanation. "Are you going to explain or—"

"Well, I was hoping you'd ask politely, but I'll excuse you this time," he joked. "Georgie already had a sweater with a G that fit him so I asked if I could have one of his and say it stood for Gryffindor."

"Oh," Perry remarked, "that's actually smart. Is that why I wore this one?"

"Obviously," Harry said from eavesdropping.

"No need to be so sassy, Harry," she said to him.

Fred and Ron looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, "He didn't say anything," they chorused.

"Never mind," Perry said shaking her head. "I'll see you lot in the morning."

•••

Persephone took deep breaths as the stone wall pushed to the side. She felt static through her veins as she kept herself from shaking. She didn't want to face the glaring eyes of the Slytherins. She didn't want to hear their taunts because she cheered for the Gryffindor team.

She kept her head down and moved forward through the wall. She bit her lip as she looked at the red and gold stripped sweater she had on. She maneuvered her way past the couches and tables but stopped short in front of the staircase. A tug on her arm made her turn around.

"So you finally decided to switch houses?" Malfoy taunted with his whole posse behind him.

"I didn't know that was an option," Perry responded. She always found a fire in her that could respond to Malfoy. "Goodnight."

"Oh, why so fast to go to bed," Pansy said, "We're just playing."

"Yeah, well I'm not willing to play in your game," she said.

"Oh but it's fun," Malfoy said.

"You don't exactly play by the rules," Perry retorted.

"That's the fun of it," Malfoy said. Perry glared at him and began to turn around. That was when Malfoy noticed the sweater she was wearing.

"Got yourself a weasel boyfriend?"

Perry whipped around, "What did you call him?"

"What," Malfoy said with a smirk, "your weasel boyfriend? I don't think you could have made it more obvious at dinner, or at breakfast."

"That's really-" Perry could feel the rage inside her building and she knew this is exactly what Malfoy wanted-"Why were you looking at me at dinner, or at breakfast." She crossed her arms and took a step forward. She tried to come off intimidating but he was still about a head taller than her.

A tiny smirk grew on her face at the slight shock in his eyes, but that glint disappeared almost as fast as it had appeared. He smirked down and crossed his arms.

"I was hoping to tell Potter how much I was looking forward to his failure."

Perry's smirk dropped and was replaced by a grimace, "Well you didn't get that satisfaction did you."

"On the contrary, the whole school saw him flailing around hanging on by one arm!" he laughed.

"The whole school also saw him catch the snitch and win the game!" she growled. She couldn't stand anyone making fun of Harry.

"You call that a catch? The whole school watched him choke on it!"

Perry was too flustered to come up with a retort.

"I was hoping he'd throw up, but I wasn't expecting that show he put on."

Perry clenched her fists by her side.

"What an imbecile," Draco laughed, "I mean what could he have through the outcome would be. A first year playing quidditch? He's destined for failure."

"He won!" Perry screamed at his face.

"Calm down Persephone," Pansy giggled, "We're still only playing."

"And we clearly play better than Potter does," Draco said causing a laugh from his entourage.

"Shut up! Harry fly's better than any of you could!"

Now some of the older students were watching the two first years fight, as they found it entertaining.

"Ah yes, I hope one day I can hang from a broomstick as well as he does!" Malfoy said sarcastically.

Perry looked at him with enraged eyes.

"Imagine being able to loose control of your broom like the great Potter!"

"It wasn't—"

"Speak for yourself, we all saw him loose control," Malfoy smirked.

"That isn't-"

"Always coming to Potters aid aren't you?" he sassed. "What? Got a crush on Potty?" Then he fake gasped. "Are you cheating on the weasel?"

Perry couldn't help herself from her next action. Malfoy had succeeded with enraging her. She drove her fist by her side straight into his nose. The whole room watched. Some girls screamed, like Pansy, other witnesses gasped. Their reactions hid the sound of the crack so only Perry and Malfoy could hear.

The room went quiet, other for Pansy's squeals as she reached for Malfoy's face. Perry looked at Malfoy stunned as he cupped his bleeding nose.

Perry's attention was then brought over to Viktorija who had began clapping.

"Would you shut up!" Pansy shrieked at her sister.

"No," Viktorija said clapping louder.

Perry turned around and ran up the stairs.

"Have fun sleeping with the rats!" Pansy screamed after her.