When I woke up the next morning in my dormitory, I was quite surprised. I had had a distant thought that maybe it was all a dream, it was so impossible.

No one else was awake yet. Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati were still huddled under their bedsheets.

I yawned and threw on my Hogwarts robes. I was very proud of the blazing red and gold I was wearing.

I sauntered down the spiral staircase, and past all the other girls' dormitories to the common room.

There were very few people already up.

Fred and George were sitting by one of the windows.

"Hey, look, it's Daisy!" Fred said to George, and George grinned and beckoned me over.

"So, I guess you'll be wanting to know all the secret passageways and stuff? George asked.

"Yeah!" I said, surprised that they knew this.

"Well, on the first week, we'll let you explore, and find them out for yourself. If you haven't found them all by next Monday, we'll tell you them." Fred grinned.

"Challenge accepted." I smirked.

"Well, we'd better tell you about the doors and staircases. We don't want you to get lost, do we?" George said innocently. But I knew what he was up to ... he wanted to see if I'd use any of the doors' and staircases' secrets for pranking ... well, he's right!

So we went through a tutorial about how some doors were just walls pretending to be doors, how some of them you need to ask them politely if you want to get though them, and about how some open if you tickle them in just the right place. Also, that some of them are locked tight, and you'd have to use the spell 'Alohomara' to get through. 

Then there were the staircases. Some of them move and switch to different places. Some just go somewhere different on a Friday. Most have missing, vanishing, or trick steps. There were wide, swishing staircases, and narrow, rickety ones. There were a hundred and forty two staircases altogether at Hogwarts.

I noticed that they didn't tell me exactly WHICH staircases and doors these were ...

I'd been hearing sounds of movement from the upstairs rooms for about ten minutes now, and Harry came thundering down the stairs with Ron at the same time Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati came down from our dormitory.

"Ready to go, Daisy?" Harry asked brightly.

"Ready to get lost, you mean." Fred and George chorused.

"You're on!" Harry and I said simultaneously.

Ron, Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati looked at us weirdly.

As we made our way downstairs, I remembered what Fred and George had told me. When I saw a vanishing step, I warned the others and jumped it. When we came across a door that wouldn't budge, I used 'Alohomara', tickled it, or asked it politely. We only went down the wrong staircase or corridor three times. We got down to the Entrance Hall amidst whispers of, "Look, there, it's Daisy Potter!"

"And look, there's Harry Potter!" 

"Where?" 

"Next to the kids with the ginger and the bushy hair!"

"Did you see their faces?"

"Did you see their scars?"

I met Terry on the way down the last marble staircase. He had obviously just come down from Ravenclaw tower.

"It's bloody brilliant!" Terry whooshed. "Its door is just like any other door, only you have to answer a riddle to get inside! And once you get inside, the common room's all like blue and library-like and everything, and there's this massive window looking out over the grounds, and-" 

"Now, now, Boot, don't go telling everybody about our secrets!" A pretty Ravenclaw prefect said, swishing past us.

Terry immediately stopped. "Penelope Clearwater. She's really bossy, and kind of a snob." He said, glaring after her.

We all sauntered into the Great Hall.

Over at the Slytherin table, I saw Draco look up and our eyes met. We held gazes for a few moments before Harry tapped my arm and I turned away.

"Who you staring at?" He smirked.

"None of your business." I shoved him.

Terry sat with his back to us at the Ravenclaw table so that he could be closer to us.

"So, what's Gryffindor like?" Terry asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Amazing. It's got a really good view of the grounds, too, and there's loads of really comfortable armchairs, and a massive fireplace." I told him.

"Hey you! Potter! Why are you in Gryffindor? Shouldn't you be in Slytherin? Only a great Dark witch could defeat the Dark Lord!" Pansy Parkinson of Slytherin shouted as she entered through the double doors.

"Why do you call him the Dark Lord, Pratinson? Too scared to call him Voldemort?" I sneered.

Gasps sounded around the Hall and people shuddered or fell out of their chairs.

"It's PARKINSON for your information, Potter." She sneered at me, ignoring my last statement.

"Exactly, Pratinson." I sniggered.

She glared at me for a second, opening her mouth, then just sat down at the Slytherin table, apparently unable to think of a good comeback.

"Anyone else over there who's not scared to say Voldemort-" Again, people fell out of their chairs- ", hmm?" Everyone just stared at me apprehensively. "Thought so." I said smugly.

"Timetables." Ron said, passing them down whilst staring at me admiringly.

I looked at mine.

Monday -

Herbology (G + H)

Astronomy (All)

Transfiguration (G)

Charms (G + R)

Tuesday -

Transfiguration (G)

Charms (G + R)

History of Magic (All)

Defence Against the Dark Arts (All)

Wednesday -

History of Magic (All)

Herbology (G + H)

Transfiguration (G)

Defence Against the Dark Arts (All)

Charms (G + R)

Thursday -

Charms (G + R)

Astronomy (All)

Defence Against the Dark Arts (All)

History of Magic (All)

Friday - 

Potions (G + S)

Transfiguration (G)

Charms (G + R)

Defence Against the Dark Arts (All)

I checked the others', and theirs were the same.

"Well, let's go to Herbology, then!" I said cheerily.

We all got up from the table and left in a chattering mass. Just as we left the Great Hall, someone grabbed me and pulled me into a broom closet.

"What the fu-" I began, but the person said, "Silencio!"

I couldn't make a sound. Goddamn it!

"Lumos." 

There was revealed Felix Malfoy!

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know, I'm not scared to say the Dark Lord's name!" He snarled. "Voldemort assigned me to come to this school, or, rather, the Death Eaters did. He ordered them to send someone to the school when or if Daisy Potter arrived. I was going to go to Durmstrang, but I had to come here, thanks to you!" He growled. "I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do to you apart from watch you, that's what they said. But apparently you're rather important to the Dark Lord ..."

One, what are Death Eaters, two, what the flip's Durmstrang, and three, he's supposed to be watching me? He thinks he's supposed to do something to me? Git. I'll do something to him ...

I brought my knee up. He yelled and buckled in pain, and I scarpered.

I made it to Herbology five minutes late. 

I opened my mouth to say "Sorry, Professor." But nothing came out.

"Oh dear me, the poor child has had a Silencing Charm put on her! Contrarium!"

Finally, I could speak.

"Thanks, and sorry, Professor." I gasped.

"Just don't let it happen again!" Professor Sprout said cheerily.

In all my lessons, I was late by at most three minutes, by trying to find secret passageways throughout the school. I found quite a few! Then I did no further credit to myself by chatting and laughing in the back rows.

In Astronomy, I sat beside Harry and Hermione and I could feel Terry and Draco's stares on me the entire lesson. Once, I turned round and wiggled my eyebrows at Terry. He blushed and looked away, it was the funniest thing ever. Harry and I laughed about it the rest of Astronomy.

Then, in Transfiguration, I sat beside Harry and Ron. We whispered and giggled about Hermione and her putting her hand straight up for every question.

Then, in Charms, when Professor Flitwick reached my name on the register, he squeaked and toppled off his stack of books (he had to stand on them because he was so small). I sat beside Harry and Terry (since we had Charms with the Ravenclaws) and we whispered and giggled about it all lesson.

When we got out of Charms, Harry cornered me in an empty classroom.

"Where were you when you were late for Herbology? Someone put a Silencing Charm on you."

"Dude, it's nothing to worry about, really!" I exclaimed, trying to budge past him.

"It is if someone ... attacked you." Harry said, giving me a searching look. "What are you not telling me?"

I sighed. "Well, if you're going to be that persistent, then ..."

I told him all that Mr Floppy Hair had said and done.

Harry's fists clenched. "If he goes near you one more time ..."

I sniggered. "Well, it should be Draco Malfoy saying that about me."

And I told him about my triumph.

"Oh my gods!" Harry laughed. "Good one!"

I smiled victoriously.

"What's a Death Eater?" I asked, voicing my questions from earlier. "And what's Durmstrang? And why the heck is he supposed to watching me?"

Harry scratched the back of his neck. "I dunno. Best ask Terry or Ron or someone ..."

At the end of the day, I snuck off with Terry to do a bit of passageway hunting. I was going to beat Fred and George on their bet ...

"What's a Death Eater?" I asked Terry.

"Why do you ask?" Terry raised his eyebrows. He couldn't raise just one, and I found this hilarious.

I told him about the Malfoy incident.

"Shit! I'm going to knock that little fucktard into next CENTURY!" Terry vented.

"Why? He didn't actually do anything-" I began.

"Mate, he practically- I dunno. But still!" He said.

"What's a Death Eater?! What's Durmstrang?! Why would he be watching me?!" I exclaimed.

Terry sighed. "A Death Eater is, or was, a follower of You-Know-Who. Durmstrang's another magic school, but it's known for practising the Dark Arts. And ... if he was hired by You-Know-Who ... you said that You-Know-Who, before you defeated him, I mean - wanted a kid to go to Hogwarts to watch what you do - that sounds like he just wanted to watch what you were doing, before he decided to kill you and your family." 

"Okay. That's weird. Why would he do that?" I asked.

"I dunno, Daisy. But something's not right ... I'd watch your back if I were you." Terry said anxiously, as I wrenched aside a portrait to reveal a secret flight of stairs.

~~~

So. Draisy or Derry? :D