When Phoebe woke up the next morning, she wasn't as nervous as she had been the previous day. She was trying not to think about deceiving her new friends and when she did think of it she pushed it out of her mind. She told herself that she was only pretending to be someone else for the greater good, to stop something dreadful happening, and she knew that when other demigods arrived or the fight against Voldemort started the whole school would find out her true identity. Probably the whole wizarding world. The thought made her feel nauseous. They would be fine with it, right? They would understand.

Phoebe really needed to stop contemplating life every time she woke up, it seriously made her want to go back to sleep.

Rolling out of bed in a similar fashion to yesterday, she pushed open the curtain that surrounded her bed and groggily greeted Hermione, who was already pottering around the dorm.

"Morning 'Mione" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and stretching.

Hermione turned around to acknowledge her sleepy friend, "Morning Phoe- Oh my God, what happened to your face!?"

At first Phoebe was confused, she felt her face to find the problem, and only when her fingers brushed over the slightly raised skin near her left eye did she realise what had surprised her friend.

There was a jagged white line, puckered at the edges and barely grazing her left eye. It was just under 3 inches long and 1 and a half cm at its widest. She had gotten this scar from a harpy in the lead up to the major battle in Manhattan. The creature had almost taken out her eye, but luckily missed, and while nectar and ambrosia had healed it for the most past, it couldn't get rid of the scar. It was one of the few scars Phoebe actually had, most were small enough to be healed immediately, but she found that she didn't want the scars to go away. They reminded her of the battles she had fought and won. Yes, there were injuries and marks left that would never quite leave, but she had survived.

Of course her siblings had been horrified by the nasty addition to her face. They swarmed her with make-up creams and facial cleansers - anything they could find that might help cover up the monstrosity.

Phoebe didn't complain because at first it had felt like a huge deal - her face would never be the same. She had refused to look at herself in the mirror for the first couple of weeks after she had got it, and then Annabeth had whooped her ass into action, telling her to get over herself, she was still gorgeous and even if she wasn't everyone would still like her. And they had 'bigger things to worry about than your insecurities over a slight blemish', as Annabeth had so bluntly put it.

After that she only covered it up to please her siblings, she wore make-up at Hogwarts to avoid additional attention (though she wasn't sure why she bothered, everything she did seem to catch someone's attention).

She realised this was the first time Hermione had properly seen her face bare, with no products covering it, obviously she was surprised. Hermione's exclamation had caused Lavender and Parvati Patil to come and investigate, the two of them gasped upon sight of her face and Phoebe felt more and more like digging a hole to hide in.

"How did that happen?" Hermione asked, her voice softer now.

How to explain in a way that didn't give away the Gods?

"There was an accident in my old school with a creature." Phoebe explained, fiddling with her fingers and avoiding eye contact with the three girls in front of her.

"Oh you poor thing!" Lavender exclaimed, rushing over to Phoebe with Parvati close behind.

Phoebe was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug full of awkward limbs and unbrushed hair.

"I'm okay really, it doesn't hurt or anything. No it happened a while ago. I'm fine, honestly. I'm alright. Thank you."

Phoebe finally managed to shake off the two girls who had latched onto her and smiled at Hermione, who smiled back.

"When did it happen?" She asked, quietly, like she was scared of summoning the creature that had inflicted the wound upon Phoebe.

"A couple of years ago." Phoebe replied.

"It looks like it hurt."

"It did." Phoebe smiled and shrugged in a what-can-you-do way, "Now, come on, lets get ready, we've wasted enough time."

Hermione looked like she wanted to ask more, but didn't protest.

Phoebe got dressed, went into the bathroom and put on her make-up, when she walked out again she pretended not to notice her roommates staring intently at where he scar would be. They wouldn't be able to see it, she had had plenty of practice hiding it.

ϟ

This was shaping up to be a terrible school year, Harry thought. While there hadn't been any physical attacks on him yet, there had been no lack of whispering and gossiping and verbal abuse. Everyone thought he had gone mad, and if he was being honest, sometimes he thought he had gone mad too. Not in the same way everyone else did - he knew Voldemort was back - but his thoughts were all over the place. Like sometimes, an ugly wave of hate washed over him and he could think only negatively about the people around him, including his best friends. And he hated himself for this, because it wasn't right, they had been with him through everything, but there were times when he just couldn't look them in the eyes, for fear of letting all of these hideous words out. He'd already exploded on them at 12 Grimmauld Place, he didn't need to make it a regular occurrence.

Not to mention Dumbledore had been quite obviously ignoring him since the end of last year and it didn't look like he was going to break his silent treatment anytime soon. Dumbledore was another sore spot with Harry at the moment, the thought of him made his blood boil.

Then of course there was Umbridge, who was already ranked in Harry's top 5 list of people he hated. The woman had succeeded in making him seem more crazy than everyone already believed he was and now he had to suffer through detention with her.

The only plus side to their next day of lessons was that he didn't have to deal with Snape, as Ron pointed out at breakfast.

Nobody spoke other than when they first entered the Great Hall: Phoebe was looking deep in thought as she stared into her cereal, Ron was stuffing pancakes into his mouth and Hermione was downing a mug of coffee.

Harry really didn't want to deal with this awkward tension all year.

ϟ

Phoebe got her first taste of charms and transfiguration that morning. Double Charms, followed by double Transfiguration, both of which consisted mainly of lectures on the upcoming O.W.L's that everyone seemed to be obsessed with. They had been mentioned in every single one of her lessons so far and all Phoebe could guess was they were some kind of exam.

In Charms they were practising Summoning Charm's, which Phoebe managed to accomplish 10 minutes before the end of the lesson. She was quite pleased with this, it would come in handy when she was feeling lazy. Transfiguration was harder however, and barely anyone managed to complete a vanishing charm.

During lunch, the trio headed to the library to start working on the mountain pile of homework they had already been set. Phoebe would rather be in the hall eating food but decided that she probably wouldn't do the homework any other time, so now was a good chance to get it out of the way.

When they walked in Phoebe, who had never really seen the attraction of libraries, had to admit that it was quite spectacular. Thousands of books filled up the enormous room, their shelves creating a maze that wouldn't be hard to get lost in. The three seemed to know where they were going so Phoebe stuck close to them, scanning as many book titles as she could see. There was a large variety including; The Wibbly Wobbly Art of Time, by John Smith, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and Handy Hexes to Horrify Him by Haemon Scalas.

Phoebe was intrigued, to say the least, but she already had too many books to get through and understand. With the help of Hermione she wrote a half decent essay on the uses of moonstones in potion-making.

Their next lesson was Care of Magical Creatures, which Phoebe actually found herself looking forward to - she wouldn't be stuck in a classroom struggling to do spells, instead she would get to see real magic creatures. And hopefully, for once, they wouldn't be the kind that try to kill her.

This excitement made it easy to ignore the freezing air and the tiny pinpricks of rain, and for perhaps the first time since she had arrived, Phoebe genuinely enjoyed the lesson. They were studying cute twig-like creatures called Bowtruckles, which actually could be very deadly when angered (by gouging out the offenders eyes, something Phoebe didn't particularly want to hear about).

The only downer to the lesson was trying to ignore Harry and Draco's snide comments at each other. Obviously she felt more loyalty to Draco, having known him for longer, but she didn't want to throw away her budding friendship with Harry either. So she remained dutifully silent, putting all of her limited concentration into the sketch she was doing of the Bowtruckle perched on her arm.

"Maybe, the great oaf's got himself badly injured." Draco murmured so only those close to him could hear. He and Harry were discussing someone called Hagrid, who apparently used to teach Care of Magical Creatures.

"Maybe you will if you don't shut up." Harry muttered back. Phoebe rolled her eyes at the two as she tried to get the right shape of the Bowtruckle's body.

"Maybe he's been messing with stuff that's too big for him, if you get my drift." With that last comment Draco wondered off back to his Slytherin friends, making sure Harry could see his smirk. When his eyes flitted to her, Phoebe gave him a disapproving look, but couldn't help the smile that slipped onto his face as he grinned cheekily at her.

Harry had tensed, even more than he had been all day, at Draco's departing remark and watching the two's interaction certainly hadn't helped. He was now sending reproachful looks in Phoebe's direction as well as Draco's. He crouched down on the grass where the three of them were perched and relayed the conversation to them.

"Dumbledore would know if something had happened to Hagrid," said Hermione at once, looking away from the Bowtruckle she had been trying to convince to stay still. "It's just playing into Malfoy's hands to look worried, it tells him we don't know exactly what's going on. We've got to ignore him, Harry. Here, hold the Bowtruckle for a moment, just so I can draw its face..."

Suddenly Draco's voice drifted over to them again, he was talking loudly and smugly. Phoebe had to admit that Draco was acting like a douche, but she had to remember what he told her on the train. It was all part of his cover up. Still, it was strange seeing him acting so cruelly.

"Yes, father was talking to the Minister just a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on substandard teaching in this place. So even if that overgrown moron does show up again, he'll probably be sent packing straight away."

Phoebe watched warily as Harry's hand tightened around the poor Bowtruckle in his grip as Draco spoke. "Harry, you're... never mind"

"OUCH!" Harry yelped as the tiny animal scratched him. Oh well, she had tried to warn him at least.

The stickman, looking a bit like a baby Groot, Phoebe thought suddenly, disappeared into the trees, glad to get away from the group of students no doubt.

When the bell rang, sounding very muffled from where they were, the class marched to a huddle of greenhouses on the other side of the grounds.

"If he calls Hagrid a moron one more time..." Harry snarled, leaving the threat to hang in the air.

"Harry, don't go picking a row with Malfoy, don't forget, he's a prefect now, he could make life difficult for you-" Hermione was cut off by a seathing Harry.

"Wow, I wonder what it'd would be like to have a difficult life?" He said sarcastically. The sass was strong within this one, Phoebe could tell.

"I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all," said Harry dropping his voice as they reached the greenhouses. "And don't say that Grubbly-Plank woman's a better teacher!" he added threateningly.

"I wasn't going to," stated Hermione calmly.

"Because she'll never be as good as Hagrid," Harry seemed to be in denial. That had been Phoebe's favourite class so far, and if this Hagrid person's classes were better, he must have been amazing.

They had just arrived at the greenhouses when Ron's sister Ginny came out, she was followed by a strange looking girl with hair as bright as Draco's. The girl's eyes locked on Harry and she raced over to him, much to the interest of everyone around them.

"I believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back, and I believe you fought him and escaped from him." She said all in one breath, much to the amusement of some of their classmates, who were straining to hold in sniggers.

Harry didn't seem to know how to respond to this, settling for a stuttered acceptance of her statement. Unfortunately this is when Lavender and Parvati decided to let out their laughter, giggling and pointing at the blonde girl.

This led to a heated discussion between Hermione and the strange girl about Blithering Hum-thingys and Crumpet Horned Snorkelers, which Phoebe struggled to keep up with. Then, right before she flounced off, the girl turned to Phoebe and said, "Your head's full of Wrackspurts by the way, you should do something about that." Without offering an explanation, she turned on her heal and walked away.

"Do you mind not offending the only people who believe me?" Harry turned to Hermione over the howls of laughter.

"What's a Wrackspurt?" Phoebe directed at Ron, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"No one's really sure other than Luna, but apparently Harry has them as well and he's fine." Ron explained.

Judging from the way Phoebe had seen him be treated the last few days, she thought that many of the people here would disagree with that statement.

One voice raised over the noise again, it seemed like a skill you needed to have in order to be heard at Hogwarts, it was a boy adorned in a yellow tie and he said "I want you to know, Potter, that it's not only weirdos who support you. I personally believe you one hundred percent. My family have always stood firm behind Dumbledore, and so do I." The boy sounded slightly cocky and the grin he sent Phoebe matched his arrogant tone, but Harry seemed grateful for his back up so he must be alright.

Herbology wasn't nearly as fun as Care of Magical Creatures, though the Demeter cabin would be sure to love it; everywhere Phoebe looked there was a new species of plant, some of which seemed to be moving of their own accord, and she was sure they could spend months in here without growing bored.

The professor started off the lesson with another speech on O.W.L's, repeating the things all of the other teachers had mentioned, and then proceeded to set them a task. By the end of the lesson Phoebe had a badly potted plant and soil all the way to her elbow.

ϟ

Harry really needed some food after that day, especially as he had his first detention with Umbridge at 5:00. He had speed walked all the way to the Great Hall so he could scoff down a meal quickly, along with Phoebe who decided she didn't want to walk to the common room and back. His plan was ruined when an angry voice called his name and stalled him from getting to his food.

"What now?" He muttered, turning to meet a steaming Angelina Johnson.

"I'll tell you what now," she hissed, stabbing her finger into his chest. "How come you've landed yourself in detention for five o'clock on Friday?"

"What? Why..." Realisation dawned on him, "oh, yeah, keeper tryouts!"

"Now he remembers! Didn't I tell you I wanted to do a tryout with the whole team, and find someone who fitted in with everyone? Didn't I tell you I'd booked the Quidditch pitch specially? And now you've decided you're not going to be there!"

"I didn't decide not be there!" Harry defended himself, her words had stung him, "I got detention from that Umbridge woman, just because I told her the truth about You-Know-Who -"

"Well, you can just go straight to her and ask her to let you off on Friday," said Angelina, leaving no room for argument, "and I don't care how you do it, tell her You-Know-Who's a figment of your imagination if you like, just make sure you're there!" Without giving him a chance to respond she stormed away.

Phoebe had remained silent throughout the conversation and now turned to him with raised eyebrows, "She seems...nice."

"She usually is, I don't what happened to her over the holiday's," Harry replied, spotting Ron and Hermione walking in.

"You know what?" Harry said to them as they reached him. "I think we'd better check with Puddlemere United whether Oliver Wood's been killed during a training session, because Angelina seems to be channelling his spirit."

Phoebe looked lost again, an expression she adorned quite regularly, Harry's noticed. He felt sorry for her slightly, he could't imagine how hard it must be to join a new school where everyone already knew each other. But then, she had the chance of a completely fresh start, maybe that's why she wouldn't tell them much about her past, she wanted to leave it behind. If Harry had the chance to move to a new school across the world where no one knew him, he definitely wouldn't tell them all of the things he went through here.

"What d'you reckon are the odds of Umbridge letting you off on Friday?" asked Ron.

"Less than zero." Harry said disdainfully. "Better try, though, hadn't I? I'll offer to do two more detentions or something, I dunno... I hope she doesn't keep me too long this evening. You realize we've got to write three essays, practice Vanishing Spells for McGonagall, work out a countercharm for Flitwick, finish the bowtruckle drawing, and start that stupid dream diary for Trelawney?"

Ron and Phoebe both groaned at this reminder, "No I'm perfectly aware of that, thanks, it's been stressing me out all day." Phoebe complained.

"Ugh, I better go." He grumbled, swallowing one last mouthful of food and picking up his bag, heading to what would surely be a disaster.

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