So here we are, chapter three and we finally get to know how Halli began to learn her magic. Read and enjoy and don't forget to share your thoughts. Some bits will sound familiar as I've tried to keep other characters as close to canon as possible.

Hanna x

Halliwell grumbled slightly as she woke the next morning. It was just her luck to arrive on a Sunday. That meant it was straight to classes the next day without any time to get accustomed to the Castle. She didn't mind really, there were even a few classes that she was looking forward to, she just wasn't much of a morning person.

She sat up and looked around. Where was her cat? She'd been here the night before when she'd fallen asleep. Halli mentally shrugged, she'd probably just gone exploring.

With that thought in mind, Halli was surprised to stretch and feel something furry press against her foot. Whatever this furry thing was, it did not seem to like the fact it was being disturbed if the claws attacking the bottom of Halli's feet were anything to go by. She shrieked and pulled her ticklish foot away, lifting her covers to glare at the languorously stretching form of Sally-Cat.

'Meanie.' Halli muttered she pulled herself out of bed, wincing as her bare feet hit the cold wood before making her way quickly to the bathroom. Pausing only to grab her toiletries bag holding her tooth brush and face wash.

That was essentially how every morning went during her first week of school.

It didn't take Halli long to realise she would not like any of the girls in her dorm room. Hermione continued to be very much a busybody and the other two, Parvati and Lavender, had nothing but fluff between the ears. They didn't seem to talk about anything but boys and clothes and how unfair it was that their parents wouldn't let them wear makeup yet.

Halli dearly wished she was sleeping in the boy's dormitory. The company was much better there. In fact, it was only her new friends that kept her going really.

Everyone else in the school stared at her with varying expressions, most of which she couldn't actually understand. She'd come to terms with the fact she was famous, even if she didn't like it, but the looks on the other student's faces weren't grateful hero worship. It was more like awe.

They looked at her as if she wasn't human but something more.

It was honestly freaking her out.

After three days of the staring, she finally gave up and managed to find an excuse to drag Neville off on his own so she could question him.

Neville had just laughed at her. Halli was pleased to see his stutter was completely gone when it was just them together.

Apparently, she was something of a fairytale to the children that had grown up in the magical world, it just made the whole thing even more disturbing. At least there weren't books written about her. Well, not story books, she was in a few of the history ones.

It was a little disappointing really. No one was looking at her like she was a real person. To them, she was just a title, a story, a mythical being. What did they see when they looked at her? Would they expect her to be perfect? A paradigm of chastity and virtue, a symbol of all that was good in the world?

They looked at her like they looked at Dumbledore. Maybe she should copy him? She was rich and famous so she was allowed to be a little bit eccentric, right? If they expected her to be powerful and wondrous, then maybe she should encourage the image.

Was it better for her to be seen as powerful from the beginning and therefore not questioned or should she try to stay hidden and then face possible consequences if she was ever discovered?

Halli honestly didn't know. If she started openly displaying more of her talents then people would stare at her even more than they did now but if she tried to hide it and was caught, she had no doubt the world would label her as dark and dangerous before she could so much as open her mouth to defend herself.

To Halli's misfortune, Draco Malfoy had been the first person brave enough to approach her and he'd done so with all the swagger of a Prince expecting peasants to bow to him. He was arrogant and petty and Halli knew instantly that they wouldn't get along. She knew before he'd even opened his mouth that he was going to be her rival, the Libby Chessler to her Sabrina, the Ethel Hallow to her Mildred Hubble. A daily annoyance but, ultimately, a rather small concern considering the secrets she was hiding.

She'd been talking with Neville at breakfast when he'd come up to her.

'Halliwell Potter, I'd heard you'd be coming to Hogwarts this year.'

Halli just gave him a look before resuming her conversation. Just like he'd done to her on the train, though she was classy enough to hold back on her disgust.

'Excuse me,' he'd demanded. 'I'm talking to you.'

'And I was silently dismissing you, in case that escaped your notice.' She'd countered without missing a beat. 'Surely, you're familiar with the gesture, it came to you rather easily yesterday.'

A pink tinge appeared on his pale cheeks. She figured he'd been hoping she'd forgotten.

'I'd be careful if I were you, Potter,' he spat her name like it was a curse. 'Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either.'

Several people around them gasped. Malfoy looked around startled, almost as if he'd forgotten where he was in his anger. A handful of older years looked incensed but no one said a word to defend her. They either assumed she'd be able to handle it herself or just wanted to see what she could do.

Halli felt a cold fury envelope her, she had gone very white. Standing slowly, she turned to face Malfoy who wisely backed up a step at the look on her face. She could feel her fingers crackling with the power she was almost desperate to use.

'I don't care who you think you are, Malfoy,' she gave his name the same treatment he'd given hers, her voice pitched low and deadly. 'But if you utter a single word against my family again, I will vanquish you.'

Malfoy managed to muster up a shaky looking sneer before he turn tailed and ran away with all the dignity the tail between his legs could afford him.

Halli resumed her seat and glared at Hermione for her disapproving tut.

Even more disappointing than her classmates were her classes themselves. As it turned out, they were bloody awful.

She'd expected that from Charms and Transfiguration. It seemed so silly to Halli that they taught complicated wand movements and foreign words to do something she could with a click of her fingers. Any of them could do it like that really.

And if the overly convoluted methods weren't enough, studying the theory behind them was infuriating, especially when she knew that not a single lick of it was actually true.

Her lessons had also caused Halli to realise that she'd been rather prejudice when she'd started school. She'd expected everyone with a magical background to be clueless and clinging to their magical principles that only she knew were false. She'd expected everyone from Muggle families to be enlightened and open to all magical possibilities, at least to an extent.

Hermione Granger was proving her wrong on a daily basis. The girl clung to her leather bound textbooks like they were gospels, their dry scripture the very word of God. Irrefutable and infallible.

Neville, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. He would listen and trust in anything Halliwell told him, simply because he knew she wouldn't lie to him.

Maybe it was because of how they saw themselves? Halli wondered.

Neville had very little self confidence and was willing to listen. Hermione was so sure she was smarter than everyone else and, therefore, the only things she'd take as fact had to be down on paper or from the mouths of teachers. No one her age could possibly be cleverer than her after all.

It was frustrating and eye-opening.

History of Magic turned out to be useless as well. Though Halli was sure it could be interesting if they had a teacher that came with more than one level of inflection.

Defence against the Dark Arts also turned out to be a bit of a joke. Professor Quirrell's stutter made it almost impossible to understand what was being taught, let alone actually find it interesting. Though Halli, recognising the nervous man who'd defended her on her first trip to the Leaky Cauldron, did her best to be as attentive as possible.

Astronomy, taking place at midnight on Wednesdays, turned out to be actually quite an interesting subject but Halli honestly didn't know what she'd ever use it for.

The subject Halli had been most looking forward to – Potions – turned out to be the biggest devastation of all.

She'd been so enthusiastic when she'd read her potions books. It was actually a new skill, a new layer of magic that she hadn't be able to learn on her own. She liked the idea of standing around a bubbling cauldron in her robes. Adding ingredients like eye of newt and tongue of frog, cackling every time the potion changed colour. She'd been planning to have so much fun.

She'd been determined to be top of her class.

But she knew before the real lesson had even started that that was never going to happen. As if it wasn't already bad enough to be sharing the double period with the Slytherins, she had to put up with a bully parading as an educator, as well.

The Potions Master, Professor Snape, had started the class by taking the register. He paused when he reached Halli's name.

'Ah, yes,' he said softly, 'Halliwell Potter. Our new – celebrity.'

Malfoy and his friends, Crabbe and Goyle, sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His black eyes were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

'You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making,' he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word. 'As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.'

Silence followed. Halli could feel her slight competitive nature yearning to begin, she wanted to be able to do this and she wanted to start learning straight away.

'Potter!' Snape barked so suddenly she almost fell off her seat. 'What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?'

Halli was caught off-guard but was determined to do well. She focused on the names of the ingredients and tried to remember if her books had mentioned them.

Yes! The introduction for her Potions book had mentioned them as the key ingredients to the most powerful sleeping draught in existence.

'The Draught of Living Death, sir.'

Snape's eyes narrowed in fury.

'And what would the rest of the ingredients be?'

Halli frowned. How on earth was she to know if the recipe wasn't actually in any of her assigned books? Shouldn't Professor Snape have known that?

'I'm afraid I don't know, sir.' She said respectfully but with a hint of suspicion. 'The recipe wasn't given in full, only the key ingredients mentioned in passing in the introduction to Magical Drafts and Potions.'

Snape scoffed.

'And I suppose you were too busy being important to pick up a book before that.'

Halli felt herself freeze in anger. He was deliberately picking on her!

'Well, I confess it was a little hard to pick up a magical book while being raised in the Muggle world.' Halli answered disdainfully. 'Sir.' She tacked on as though as an afterthought.

An ugly flush worked its way up the teacher's face as a few people laughed. Halli caught Seamus's eye and Seamus winked.

'A point will be taken from Gryffindor house for your cheek.' Snape said, he looked to be restraining himself from saying more.

Halli's outrage jumped up another notch. She flicked her hands and the room stilled.

'Oh, you horrid, pathetic bully!' She raged at the frozen professor and she walked up to him and kicked him as hard as she could in the shin.

Anger suitably vented, she darted back to her seat and unfroze the room before too much time could pass. She watched with extreme satisfaction as Snape flinched violently and hissed, his hands twitching as though they longed to reach down and sooth his injured leg.

Halli smirked and resolved to do that any time Snape was unfair to anyone, maybe he'd learn a lesson or two. She was too lost in thought to notice the eyes of the rest of the class darting between her and the professor, everyone wondering if she had somehow been the cause of Snape's flinch and how on earth she could have done it when her wand wasn't in her hand.

Thankfully, she had Friday afternoons off though she knew she wouldn't get the chance to really enjoy her first one. Earlier that morning, an invitation to afternoon tea had arrived from Hagrid. Unable to find a polite way to decline, Halli had been forced to agree, not wanting to offend the giant. Though she had roped Neville into going with her.

Another upside was that it would give Halli a chance to find out why her Potions teacher hated her with such a blind passion as Hagrid had already proven he was dreadful at keeping secrets. Somehow she knew that Hagrid wasn't supposed to let it slip that Dumbledore had some of her family's possessions. She wondered which ones he'd had out of the pile the goblins had summoned back for her.

At five to three, Halli and Neville left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.

When Halli knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, 'Back, Fang – back.'

Hagrid's big hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.

'Hang on,' he said. 'Back, Fang.'

He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.

There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling and Halli was baffled that the dog hadn't found a way to reach them yet.

Or maybe he had and Hagrid hadn't noticed. Halli resolved to eat nothing the giant offered her, especially if it had meat in.

A copper kettle was boiling on the open fire and in a corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it. It was actually rather nice, Halli thought.

'Make yerselves at home,' said Hagrid, letting go of fang, who bounded straight at Neville and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.

'This is my friend, Neville Longbottom,' Halli introduced.

'Neville Longbottom, eh?' Hagrid said, squinting at Neville as though trying to recognise his features. 'I remember yer dad, Frank, yer look more like yer mum though. Alice Clearwater. A good girl, that one. Clumsy as can be but her heart was in the right place. Her younger brother has a girl up at the school now, don' he?'

'Yes, sir,' Neville replied politely, a pleased and gentle smile on his face. 'Penelope Clearwater is my cousin.'

Halli beamed at the giant as he rose in her esteem. She didn't know exactly what had happened to Neville's parents but she knew it was something dreadful and the boy cherished anything that could connect him with them.

Hagrid poured the boiling water into a large teapot and put some rock cakes onto a plate. She saw Neville wince as he tried one, she almost thought she heard a tooth crack, but the boy made a valiant effort to seem like he enjoyed them as the two students told Hagrid all about their first lessons. Fang rested his head on Halli's knees and drooled all over her robes.

Halli and Neville were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch 'that old git'.

'An' as for that cat, Mrs Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang some time. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her – Filch puts her up to it.'

They told Hagrid all about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like everyone else, told Halli not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.

'But he was deliberately asking questions I wouldn't know the answer to. The information isn't in our school books. He really seems to have it out for me.'

'Rubbish!' said Hagrid. 'Why should he?

Yet Halli couldn't help but notice that Hagrid didn't quite meet her eyes when he said that though he wasn't stuttering. It looked like his deception skills had improved slightly. Hagrid changed the subject quickly after that.

While Hagrid and Neville chatted about some of the plants available on Hogwarts grounds, Halli picked up a piece of parchment lying on the table under the tea cosy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:

GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST

Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on the 31st of July, widely believed to be the work of dark wizards or witches unknown.

Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied that same day.

'But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you,' said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.

Halli remembered Ron mentioning something about this on the train, after he'd finished winding up his brothers of course, but he hadn't mentioned the date.

'Hagrid,' said Halli slowly, trying to keep her speculation out of her voice. 'This Gringotts break-in happened the same day we were there, didn't you technically empty a vault?'

There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely wouldn't meet her eyes that time. He grunted and offered her another rock cake. Halli read the short article again. Had Hagrid really taken what the thieves were looking for? Had he saved it just in time?

As Halli and Neville made their way back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Halli thought that none of the lessons she'd had so far had given her as much to think about as tea with Hagrid.

'Neville,' she started, 'Everyone in the Wizarding world must use Gringotts, right? I didn't see any other banks when I was shopping.'

Neville nodded.

'We're not really a large enough community to need more than one bank but Gringotts had branches all over the world. Why?'

'I was just thinking how many vaults would be emptied in a day, if there's no other banks to use then no one really has a need to take all their gold out at once.'

Neville nodded again, this time looking thoughtful.

'Sometimes, vaults hold heirlooms or magical items but most people would just store them in their main vault with everything else. Sometimes, objects might be put into a vault on their own if more than one person would need access to it, that way you don't risk the rest of your possessions.'

If more than one person would need access to it. Halli repeated to herself. Just like Hagrid had said he was there on behalf of Professor Dumbledore.

But what was in that grubby little package? Did it belong to Professor Dumbledore or was there another person involved as well? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Halli?

That night, as Halli lay in bed thinking about all the classes she'd started that week, she couldn't help but desperately miss her life before Hogwarts. Two hours a day she used to spend practicing her magic in various ways, she missed that so much it almost hurt. Discovering the extent of her power the way she had was such an adventure when compared to the way things were taught at Hogwarts.

Halliwell had known she was a witch her entire life. Aunt Petunia had never made any effort to keep it a secret from her. When she'd been little and too young to understand the concept of keeping secrets, she used to tell everyone she was a witch and she used to tell them so with pride. Aunt Petunia had explained it away with an ease that comes from dealing with children.

Lots of little girls spend their childhood telling anyone who will listen that they're a fairy or a princess. She told people she was a witch and they thought she was adorable.

She hadn't started learning to actually use her magic consciously until her aunt had thought her old enough to understand why her abilities would need to be a secret. Halli had started practicing magic when she was roughly seven years old.

It had been daunting at first.

Her aunt had sat her down and simply explained that, if she put her mind to it, she could do almost literally anything. Since then, Halli had been fascinated with the odd curiosity that was the human mind. She found it amazing that, when faced with an almost infinite number of possibilities, the human mind will go extraordinarily blank.

Halliwell was no exception to this. When being told she could to anything she could imagine, her imagination seemed to splutter and die.

Aunt Petunia hadn't been much better when the question had been turned back to her.

So they'd done the only thing they could really think of. They'd turned to the imaginations of other people.

Books, comics, television and movies. Any (age appropriate) entertainment they could find that featured magic or extraordinary talents.

Halliwell Potter could point her finger like Sabrina, wiggle her nose like Samantha, flick her fingers like a Charmed One and make magic happen. She even had a few X-Men abilities under her belt but she was still practising them, they were tricky.

She honestly didn't know how more Muggleborns couldn't do things like that. She could just see a little boy or girl, confused about the odd things that happened around them, watching a movie with a witch using magic and wondering if they could do it too.

Maybe it was because she had always known she had magic, she had never had reason to doubt she wouldn't be able to do anything.

Or maybe it was Roald Dahl's fault, he'd scared everyone off.

Halli just didn't understand why no one else could see what she did.

'~,'~,'~,'~,'~,'~,

'Neville,' Halli sighed during her first Saturday at Hogwarts, 'Go and join the boys, do some male bonding. We'll see each other during our Potions practice tomorrow.'

Neville jumped, wrenching his eyes back towards her and away from the corner of the common room where the boys from his dorm were having an exploding snap tournament. He flushed slightly at being caught.

'N-No, it's fine.'

Halli rolled her eyes.

'Neville,' she said again, this time slightly sharper. 'Go and have boys time.'

'B-But what about you?' He argued. 'I know you don't like the girls from your dorm and I don't want to leave you alone.'

She couldn't help but smile softly at him, he was sweet.

'Alone time isn't a bad thing, Nev. I could go explore the Castle or do some homework, I might even write a letter home. I might be alone but I won't be lonely so go on. Go do your guy thing.'

Neville didn't need to be told again, he shot her an appreciative grin and darted over to where the others were crowded round a table. Halli wasted no time in rushing out the portrait door.

Quickly finding an empty classroom, empty of both people and portraits, Halli took a deep breath, centred herself and took a step forward, moving seamlessly from the classroom at Hogwarts to her bedroom at home. She even had her special cloak in her bag to make the return journey easier later.

She was running down the stairs before she could stop herself.

'Aunt Petunia! Uncle Vernon!'

She heard the sound of a cup being set in its saucer before her aunt appeared at the kitchen door.

'Halliwell!' She cheered just as enthusiastically, the young girl threw herself into her aunt's arms.

It had been less than a week since she'd last seen them. Not even seven days yet and she'd started to feel a little like she was suffocating. She didn't have separation anxiety or anything like that but she had missed being at home, where she could be herself without fear because everyone already knew her secrets.

'How was school?' Her aunt asked, as she led her into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Her voice was full of an enthusiasm that could only come with finally discovering the unknown. 'What are your classes like?'

'They're a bit of a letdown actually,' Halli said, giving her uncle a hug and settling down at the kitchen table.

'In what way?' Aunt Petunia asked as she set a cup of tea down in front of her niece before taking a seat beside her. She threw a disapproving glance at her husband who was still reading the paper.

'Well, we knew a lot of the practical courses would be useless, I prove their theories wrong every day. But even the other courses have turned out to be disappointing. History is taught by a ghost, which sounds like it should be fascinating, but he doesn't know anything more recent than two hundred years ago and he's got the most boring voice you can imagine.'

Aunt Petunia raised a sceptical eyebrow.

'His voice is what ruins it?

'I'm not sure how to explain how bad it is.' Halli said, frustrated. 'It's not like a normal voice really, it has no inflection or expression. It just doesn't change, at all. If I could record him, we'd make a fortune selling the CDs as a sleep aid. His voice is the perfect example of a drone.'

'Hmm, I remember Lily used to get annoyed at her classmates for not paying attention in History. She used to rant to our parents, even in her letters, that she was the only one staying awake.'

'It's the same now, it's like you can barely understand him from the sound of his own voice.'

'Well, what about your other classes? I know there were a few you were looking forward to.'

The next few hours were spent peacefully for Halli, just sitting and chatting with her aunt like it was any other day. It was like a balm for her soul after the home sickness she'd been suffering

Though, Halli was careful to avoid all mention of Malfoy and Snape. She knew her aunt and uncle wouldn't be pleased with their continued and ignored treatment of her. It annoyed Halli to no end that her family's concerns would be brushed away simply for the fact they were normal.

It was almost evening before Aunt Petunia asked a question Halli couldn't avoid.

'How is Potions class going? You never said and I know you were looking forward to it.'

They were sitting in the living room now evening was creeping in. Halli would be going back to the Castle for dinner, simply to avoid suspicion but she was delaying her return as long as possible.

She sighed when she realised there was no way to dodge the question without an all out lie, something Halli refused to do to her family.

'It's really awful, actually,' the young girl said with a sigh. She bit her lip and stared down at her hands twisting on her lap. 'The teacher's picking on me.'

'What?' Both her guardians asked sharply. Even Uncle Vernon turned his attention away from the TV to focus on her.

Halli had always had an unusual relationship with her uncle. He was a rather old fashioned man who'd had a rather strict upbringing. He'd always accepted Halli as member of the family, Aunt Petunia hadn't given him much of a choice, and in the end he had truly come to love her like a daughter. He was proud of her accomplishments just as his was with Dudley. Halli even suspected she got her work ethic from her uncle.

He just thought using magic to do everything was cheating.

Halli didn't completely disagree with him but magic certainly had its advantages.

It had taken Dudley breaking his leg for Uncle Vernon to see this for himself. Watching his niece heal his only son with nothing more than a talent she'd been born with had forced him to re-evaluate his opinions.

He'd never accept using magic to do everything and neither would Halli but he accepted that the magic itself was a gift, even if the world that wielded it was full of weirdoes.

No one in the house disagreed with him.

But one downside to the fact her uncle was an old fashioned man, is that he was very protective of females. Halli appreciated the sentiment even if it sometimes irked her. Vernon Dursley was a man that expected men to stand up for themselves. And even though he knew that women could do it too, he was always firm in the opinion that a woman should have back up because not all men were scrupulous enough to keep their temper when dealing with a woman.

As much as it sometimes stung both Halli's and her Aunt Petunia's pride, they knew it was a sensible opinion in their day and age. If Draco Malfoy had no problem hexing a girl, would he one day go as far as hitting one?

That was one of the reasons she'd been avoiding mentioning those two Slytherins to her family. Halliwell knew neither of them would take it well and it would hurt her guardians to know they could do nothing, simply because they were Muggles.

Halli took a deep breath before she began to tell the tale of her first Potions lesson.

'Professor Snape seemed really annoyed that I knew the answer to the question he asked so the next question was something I couldn't possibly know. That potion was really only mentioned in passing, it's supposed to be really dangerous if used incorrectly. One of the older students said they don't actually study the potion in full until sixth year.'

'What did you say his name was?' Aunt Petunia asked but she was overshadowed by the explosion that was Vernon Dursley.

'That arrogant bastard!' He shouted, startling Halli with his vulgarity. 'How dare he treat you that way? I hope you got your own back Halliwell or me and Dudley will come to that school and show him what for.'

'Vernon, be quiet.' Petunia snapped with a venom that wasn't really directed at her husband. 'Now, Halli, You said this man's name was Snape, is that Severus Snape?'

Halli looked at her aunt in shock.

'You know my professor?'

Aunt Petunia nodded distractedly.

'I think I do, if it's the man I'm thinking of. Hooked nose and sallow skin? Very greasy hair?'

'Yes, that's him.' Halli nodded emphatically.

'Well, I think I know a perfect way to nip this in the bud then.'

'But Petunia,' Uncle Vernon started, 'The man should be fired, he should be punished not just stopped. That's letting him off too easy.'

'Oh, Vernon,' Petunia said with sorrow. 'Their world isn't like ours, they don't have equality acts or anything to protect people. As far as that world is concerned, blood and magic are the only things that matter. They wouldn't listen to us, no matter what we did. The best we can do is prepare Halli so she can deal with it herself.'

Halliwell's heart broke for her family. It was awful, they were being discriminated against. It was even worse than the way Muggleborns were treated, at least Muggleborns had Albus Dumbledore backing there corner. Who did the normal people have? If Ron was to be believed, the only people trying to protect normal people were Arthur Weasley and an old Warlock called Perkins.

It just wasn't right that magical people placed so much value in being able to levitate a feather with a stick. Normal people had walked on the goddamn moon. There wasn't a single magical accomplishment that could measure up to that.

'Now, Halli,' Aunt Petunia said, bringing everyone's attention to the topic at hand. 'If you really need to put Severus bloody Snape in his place, here's what you need to know...'

Halli had an almost demented grin on her face as she arrived back at the Gryffindor common room.

'Neville!' She called to her friend, rushing over to join him on one of the many sofas. 'I've found the perfect potion for us to practise tomorrow. It's called the Hair Colour Potion.'