Revised: 03/2015

The canon characters I mainly use in this story are pretty minor in the actual HP series, and I've decided to add my own twists to their personalities. Forgive any blatant OOC-ness, I've been told that it gets a little prominent in later chapters. Also, please be mindful of any psychological triggers, extreme violence, strong language, and mild sexual themes.

I do not own Harry Potter. Thank you for clicking!

PROLOGUE

Hogwarts, Scotland

March 1993

"Merlin's pants, is that her over there? Nina Brimstone?"

"Quiet, Cecilia! She might hear you—"

"Oh, tosh. I'm not afraid of her. And you shouldn't be, either," Cecilia rolled her eyes at her friend, Beatrice, who was shrinking in her seat to avoid Brimstone's gaze.

"She's the one who stole an axe from the kitchens," Beatrice stammered, casting nervous glances across the courtyard every so often. "And—and that one Prefect—don't you remember what she did to him? Remember? Remember?!"

"Bea, of course I remember. Everyone does. And there aren't any axes in the kitchens!"

"No, no! It was an axe, I heard about it from Connor Fletcher!"

"Connor? You actually trust the word of the kid who spends all day picking the dirt out from under his nails with his quill?"

"Whatever, okay? The point is that she took a sharp object and—and—" She made a grabbing motion at her check.

Cecilia slammed her copy of History of Magic, level four shut and glanced backward at Brimstone, her eyes narrowed. She was sitting alone, staring at a book in her hands. A curtain of tangled black hair shielded her round face from any who tried to get a good look at her, though these days the students and even some of the faculty made it their jobs to avoid her as much as possible.

"D'you think it's safe to assume that everyone in Slytherin is just born the scum of the Earth?" Cecilia whispered.

Beatrice swallowed hard. "Probably a safe assumption. I mean, just look at You-Know-Who and all the people who followed him just eleven years ago. Nobody decent has ever come from that house. Merlin was probably a fluke."

"And yet," Cecilia muttered, her eyes fixated viciously behind her. "She's still attending Hogwarts. Maybe Dumbledore really is off his rocker."

"What I really find odd," Beatrice started. "Is how all the staff's been insisting she doesn't have anything to do with all these Petrifications that have been happening. I mean, just a few weeks after her little incident Colin Creevy was found in a corridor, wasn't he?"

"I know you're not suggesting she's the Heir of Slytherin, Beatrice."

"And you think Potter is? Come on. At least he isn't absolutely insane."

Just then, a loud pop emitted through the courtyard, followed by a very girlish scream. Seconds later, a rather skinny, dark-skinned Slytherin student came bounding out of the castle, his hands clutching his smoking buttocks rather tightly. About half a dozen or so students followed closely behind him, laughing and cheering as he desperately tried to extinguish the source of the smoke.

"FIRE! I'M ON FIRE!" he yelled, still trying to pat out the nonexistent flames, struggling for his wand in a flurry of black and green robes that entangled around him. Fred and George Weasley emerged from the crowd, their grins identically and equally mischievous.

"All right there, mate?" Fred called, and as the Slytherin fell onto his back he snorted loudly.

"See, we heard you talking to a few of your buddies about Harry—quite rude, really, considering your manner of tone." George said loudly, strutting to the kid's side and wafting smoke away with his arm. The Slytherin boy struggled into an upright position, still hopelessly tangled in his robes and his face contorted into unmitigated rage.

"Oh, of course," Fred continued. "And we can't have you acting like such a sod around the castle, it's just so un-gentleman-like. But, I digress," He and George turned to face the small audience of students that had gathered behind them to enjoy the show. "We'd like to thank this dear, sweet lad for being the very first test subject for one of our newer inventions, the Peace Disturber,"

"Part of our new Rocket Box, soon to be completed, and for sale in the coming months... or, y'know, years," finished his brother.

"Who knows? Could take longer,"

"But we don't like to disappoint, so we've got an irresistible offer for any buyers, right here, right now."

"C'mon, I want to see!" Cecilia said, taking her friend by the arm and tugging her towards the crowd. "Those two have always got something worth seeing up their sleeve."

"Well, I suppose that's true… then again," Beatrice smirked. "You've fancied George since first year, now haven't you?"

Cecilia's cheeks were glowing scarlet in a matter of seconds, though she didn't deny what practically all of Hufflepuff house knew to be true. "You need to stop."

"You need to ask him out."

"But I'm a girl. He's supposed to ask me."

"My God," Beatrice slowed to a stop. "I think... I think we've travelled back in time! Yes, I'd estimate that we're stuck in the Middle Ages, where only men can ask women out and our kind being burned at the stake is a weekly event."

"Shut up, they're giving their pitch." Cecilia hissed, to which Beatrice scoffed dramatically.

As the two Hufflepuffs moved to the edge of the gathering crowd, Cecilia found herself distracted by the student that the twins had tested their product on and the Brimstone girl, who had rushed to his side.

"Are you all right?" Cecilia heard her say. Her voice had a girlish lilt to it, like she was trying to act more feminine and kind than she really was.

"Do I look all right?"

God, were they always this rude? Anyone in that house should have been chucked back onto the train the moment the Sorting Hat put them there. She turned back to Fred and George, eager to hear more about their new products and forget the conversation going on behind her.

"... right you are, Fred. C'mon, gather 'round, don't be shy! We've got a real treat for you all if you'd just…" George trailed off as a sudden wave of murmurs passed through the group. Students nervously shuffled away from the Slytherin second year as he entered the crowd, making a beeline for the twins.

"You slimy bastards," the Slytherin boy hissed, drawing his wand on them with incredible precision. He had managed to cast away his robes, though a smoking whole in is pants remained to reveal his white underwear. "I'll curse you both into oblivion!"

Fred and George had made moves for their wands just as fast as the boy had, and despite the two-on-one odds the latter looked beyond persuading.

"Blaise!" Brimstone came sprinting to his side, and as people caught sight of her they broke into mutters, quickly stepping away from where she stood.

"It's that girl… the one that attacked the prefect." one student whispered.

"I heard she killed a unicorn... ate it, too." another replied.

"She's cursed!"

"Don't go near her, she's got to go to these counselling sessions. She's all… you know... sick in the head."

"She'll slit your throat in your sleep like she tried to that other girl…"

Fred and George had gone silent, too. Nina Brimstone's eyes dropped to the ground as her face visibly burned in shame. Then, a very tall, Indian Slytherin girl emerged from the crowd.

"What're you doing, Blaise?" she hissed, smacking him across the back of the head.

"Butt out, Boone."

Nora Boone. Cecilia remembered her well. She was a year younger than her and infamous around Hogwarts for the tendency to be as rude, inappropriate, and loud as she personally deemed fit.

"Just let it go, Zabini." Boone continued, watching the Weasley twins nervously and desperately shaking his shoulder.

"Who's side are you on?!"

"It was just a prank," Fred said slowly, still not taking his eyes off of him. "So lay off."

"Do it," Nora said. "For her. They're staring."

Blaise Zabini stiffened, glancing back at Brimstone. She was holding her arms and staring at her shoes, reeling from the stinging comments the crowd around her was making.

"We'll finish this another time," he said venomously, stowing away his wand and taking Nina's arm. "Come on, you stupid idiot."

"Yeah," Cecilia snapped as the trio pushed through the crowd, just loud enough so everyone could hear. "Do us all a favour and chuck her back into the forest where she belongs,"

Beatrice immediately fell back into a snort.

"Piss off, Wicker," Boone spat.

Even with Zabini and Boone's taller figures trying to block her from view, it was evident that Brimstone had started cry.

Someone placed a hand on Cecilia's shoulder just then, and she turned to find one of the twins—she'd be darned if she could tell who it was—who was looking at her rather darkly.

"You've said enough, thanks," he told her, and she recognized him as George.

"Wha—George, you can't be serious." Cecilia whispered, her blue eyes widening in surprise. "You're defending her? A Slytherin? You literally just jinxed one, you—"

"There's a difference between a smarmy brat, Cecilia, and—"

"And what?"

He looked away from her, shaking his head. Without so much as another word to her, George brushed past her and went to catch up with the Slytherin trio.

"Hey," he called out, jogging to catch up with them. Dumbfounded, Cecilia trailed after him.

"Didn't you just hear what we said?" Blaise sneered, pushing Nina behind him. Her face had become extremely red, and large tears were spilling down her face like they were spouting from a garden hose. "Piss—"

"Brimstone," George interrupted, cutting off Zabini. She looked up before her fellow house mates could talk over him again, and out of the pouch he was holding came one of their signature candies, a Combusting Confectionary. He held it out to her, waiting for her to take it. The trio simply watched him, stunned.

"Don't bother with them; you're an okay girl. It's on the house."

Blinking reverently, she took the candy from his hand, and he patted her gently on the shoulder before making his way back to his brother, whose eyebrows were raised in disbelief. George simply shrugged. Cecilia couldn't help but notice that Nora Boone was looking at the twins with a new found admiration.

"So, uh, yeah, we'd like to thank this young lady for so bravely volunteering to try our newest concoction, Combusting Confectionaries!"

"Though we'd tread carefully if we were you; never quite know what they'll bring to the table, right Freddie?"

"Right you are, George, though we do guarantee that you'll spend at least fifteen seconds as a genuine fire breather."

"Fifteen seconds sounds about right."

"Or thirty,"

"Or an hour,"

"Or three!"

"Only a sickle a piece, but don't expect this offer to last!"

As the audience began to boom with buyers waving their fists full of money, Beatrice pulled Cecilia off to the side.

"Lia? Lia, are you okay?" she murmured, worry lining her face.

Cecilia blinked away her tears as she watched Fred and George collect their pay and hand out large amounts of their candies. George refused to look at her.

"Let's get out of here… okay? Come on, then…"

As Beatrice led Cecilia away from the crowd, on the other side of the courtyard Nora Boone was excitedly grasping Nina Brimstone's shoulders.

"Are you all right there, love?"

"He… gave this to me?"

Nora nodded. "Dunno which one it was though. Still, I wouldn't trust anything those two give you; especially when it comes to food. Wouldn't surprise me if you were meant to be the test subject,"

"They're bloody mad." Blaise snapped, watching them across the way with a look of intense disgust. "Idiot Gryffindors," And he stomped away toward the Great Hall, undoubtedly off to eat away his frustration.

"Sensitive bloke, him." Nora said, chuckling.

Nina stared, dazed, into her palm. He, whichever twin he was, the first to understand her suffering since coming across Nora… the first to show her any sort of kindness since the incident that occurred before the Christmas holidays. It felt like a dream; or perhaps more like the end of a nightmare that had lasted an eternity.

Nina pocketed the candy and gazed up into her friend's large green eyes, and smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"I'm hungry."

Nora grinned. "Yeah, me too. I wonder if they have curry."

And they set off into the Great Hall, Nora rambling on about some great prank the twins had pulled the year previous. She didn't catch Nina glancing backward at the twins and grinning like a fool.