No one in Gryffindor Tower slept that night. We knew that the castle was being searched again, and the whole house stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether Black had been caught. Professor McGonagall came back at dawn, to tell us that he had yet again escaped.

Everywhere we went next day we saw signs of tighter security; Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to recognise a large picture of Sirius Black; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes. Sir Cadogan had been sacked. His portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back. She had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had only agreed to return to her job on condition that she was given extra protection. A bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard her. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs. 

I couldn't help noticing that the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor remained unguarded and unblocked. I was right in thinking that the Insurgents - now Harry, Ron, and Hermione - and I were the only ones that knew about it.

"D'you reckon we should tell someone?" Harry asked. 

"Of course not! How would we be able to get into Hogsmeade illegally, and besides, we'd'be heard if Honeydukes had been broken into." I replied dismissively.

Ron had become an instant celebrity. For the first time in his life, people were paying more attention to him than Harry (but not me, I'm still the most popular person in the school lol), and it was clear that Ron was rather enjoying the experience. Though still severely shaken by the night's events, he was happy to tell anyone who asked, what had happened, with a wealth of detail.

"...I was asleep, and I heard this ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream, you know? But then there was this draught...I woke up and one side of the hangings on my bed had been pulled down...I rolled over...and I saw him standing over me...like a skeleton, with loads of filthy hair...holding this great long knife, must've been twelve inches...Shut up Daisy!...and he looked at me, and I looked at him, and then I yelled, and he scarpered."

"Why, though?" Ron added to Harry and I, as the group of second-year girls who had been listening to his chilling tale departed. "Why did he scarper?"

I had been wondering the same thing. Why had Black, having got the wrong bed, not silenced Ron and proceeded to us twins? Black had proved twelve years ago that he didn't mind murdering innocent people, and this time he had been facing five unarmed boys and one unarmed girl, (well, I did have my powers, but he didn't know that) five of whom were asleep.

"He must've known he'd have a job getting back out of the castle once you'd yelled and woken people up." Harry said thoughtfully. "He'd've had to kill the whole house to get back through the portrait hole...then he would've met the teachers..."

"But he could've pretended to be one of the boys and pretended to sleep in their bed." I said. "Just slit their throat and climb in."

"Daisy!" Ron looked shocked as Harry pissed himself laughing.

"Yeah, it could've been Ian, his hair's certainly filthy enough..." Harry spluttered, referring to the first year boy.

Neville was in total disgrace. Professor McGonagall was so furious with him she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him a detention (which the Insurgents shared with him because we had set half a dozen Fire-Spitting Frogs off in her office) and forbidden anyone to give him the password into the Tower. Poor Neville was forced to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him. None of these punishments, however, came close to matching the one his grandmother had in store for him. Two days after Black's break-in, she sent Neville the very worst thing a Hogwarts student could receive over breakfast - a Howler.

The school owls swooped into the Great Hall, carrying the post as usual, and Neville choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of him, a scarlet envelope clutched in its beak. I recognised the letter as a Howler because the twins and Terry got them all the time.

"Run for it, Nev." I advised.

And he did.

When we wandered out of the Great Hall, we passed Floppy and the douchebags. We glared at each other, Harry, Ron, Hermione, the twins, and I. Soon, Terry and Draco hurried out, talking, but stopped beside us when they saw the assholes. The entire Entrance Hall had fell silent; they all knew the tension between the Weasley twins and the three douchebags and between me and Floppy.

Floppy decided to break the silence, smirking. "Daisy...nice hoodie. It'd look even better on the floor of the Slytherin dorms."

"What did you say to me?" I shoved him against a wall, my wand to his neck. "Go on, say that again."

Ron was holding Harry back and Hermione was holding George back, but Fred, Terry, and Draco had started forward, murderous expressions on all of their faces.

"It was a compliment, I swear! It was just a compliment!" Floppy said, finally seeming to remember my powers. 

"Yeah? Well, so's this." And I punched him in the face.

I released him; blood was dripping down his face from his nose.

"Why won't you take pride in a simple compliment?" Floppy choked out. He couldn't just shut the fuck up, could he?

I whirled around, looking down at him, slumped on the floor. "I'll take pride in fucking evaporating you."

Floppy stumbled to his feet and fled with his clan mates, shooting me a terrified look.

~~~

Harry and I hurried up to the third floor, me slipping the Marauder's Map out of my pocket as we went. Crouching behind the one-eyed witch, I smoothed it out. A tiny dot was moving in our direction. I squinted at it. The minuscule writing next to it read 'Neville Longbottom'.

Harry quickly pulled out his wand, muttered "Dissendium!" and we shoved our bags into the statue, but before we could climb in ourselves, Neville came around the corner. 

"Daisy! Harry! I forgot you weren't going to Hogsmeade either!" 

"Hi, Neville." We chorused, both moving swiftly away from the statue, me pushing the map back into my pocket. 

"What are you up to?" I asked casually.

"Nothing." Neville shrugged. "Want a game of Exploding Snap?" 

"Er - not now - we were going to go to the library and do that vampire essay for Lupin -" Harry tried to deter.

"I'll come with you!" Neville said brightly. "I haven't done it either!" 

"Er - hang on - yeah, I forgot, we both finished ours last night!"

"Brilliant, you can help me!" Neville said, his round face anxious. "I don't understand that thing about the garlic at all - do they have to eat it, or -"

Neville broke off with a small gasp, looking behind us.

It was Snape. Neville took a quick step behind us.

"And what are you three doing here?" Snape said, coming to a halt and looking to each of us. "An odd place to meet -"

To my immense disquiet, Snape's black eyes flicked to the doorways on either side of us, and then to the one-eyed witch. 

"We're not - meeting here." Harry said. "We just - met here."

"Well done, Harry." I whispered, and Harry swatted my hand.

"Indeed?" Snape said. "You have a habit of turning up in unexpected places, Potters, and you are rarely there for no reason...I suggest the three of you return to Gryffindor Tower, where you belong."

Harry, Neville, and I set off without another word. As we turned the corner, I looked back. Snape was running one of his hands over the one-eyed witch's head, examining it closely.

~~~

We managed to get back to the statue of the witch and slip through it when Snape had gone back to his office. Harry went off with Ron and I met up with Terry.

We went to The Three Broomsticks, laughed and kissed, while Harry and Ron spied on us in the background, both with disgruntled expressions, though for different reasons.

Then we gathered in the square. Terry and I were first. Then Harry and Ron mysteriously arrived a minute after that. The twins then came, then Amy, Suzanne, and Shannon, then Hermione, then Draco, and pretty soon everyone else was here - Colin, Louis, Katie, Leanne, Lewis, Kurt, Ginny, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Parvati, Lavender, and Lee.

We set off for the place that I noticed in first year. It was a small area of seemingly abandoned, run-down warehouse buildings at the edge of Hogsmeade. 

"Separate into two teams of twelve for the first round, four teams of six for the next, then eight teams of three for the last." I grinned. "Red and Blue teams for this one, Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow for the next, then Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Pink, and Navy for the last. The rules are the opposite team has to capture the other team's flag, but you are allowed to perform spells to capture and defend. To capture the flag, you get fifty points. To take someone down - that's twenty, and to actually get more than one flag in the second and third rounds, you get fifty for each flag. The game only ends when all but one flag has been captured. There are no rules except what I just told you, and no killing." I grinned. 

Everyone cheered, and we separated into groups.

Harry, Amy, Suzanne, Shannon, Draco, Katie, Lewis, Ginny, Seamus, Dean, Neville, and I were in the Red team, Terry, Fred, George, Hermione, Ron, Colin, Louis, Leanne, Kurt, Parvati, Lavender, and Lee were in the Blue team. We got our huge red flag and hurried off with it. We stationed it in a warehouse at the opposite end of the area, on the top floor where there was a large landing looking down on the the ground floor. We set up guards around it for the first half hour, attackers to capture the flag, then switch places. Harry, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Draco, and I were guards, and Amy, Suzanne, Shannon, Ginny, Katie, and Lewis were attackers.

Us guards lounged around the flag, stationed at different hiding places. 

"So, what's going on?" I asked Seamus casually.

"Nothing much. Just guarding a flag." He grinned, shrugging his shoulders.

"I know that, but I was talking about something else. Like about what's going on with you and Leanne." I smirked.

Seamus blushed. "Nothing -"

"Oh, I know, Seamus." I said. "Don't ever underestimate the knowledge of Daisy Potter aka Miss Softpaw."

Seamus paled slightly. "How do you manage to know all the gossip Daisy? How do you DO that?"

"She's the most popular girl in the school and gossip central, Seam." Dean said. "Of course she would know this shit."

Harry spoke up. "Yeah, Seamus, never underestimate my sister. She probably knows things about you that even YOU don't." 

"Way to sound creepy, Harry." I said casually.

Draco and Neville had been watching all this with raised eyebrows. Then they went back to their hushed discussion. Weird. They never really used to talk much.

"Hey, Daisy." Neville called out. "Draco here wants to ask -"

"Shut up!" Draco said furiously, grabbing Neville's arm frantically. "No I don't!" 

Neville laughed.

But I never got to question what Draco wanted to ask, because Harry motioned for us to all shut up. We all fell silent.

We heard voices from the ground floor. We peeped over the landing. Terry, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, and Lee were creeping along, whispering. They separated and each of them started prowling around the ground floor.

I motioned to the others. Draco and I stayed by the flag, Harry and Neville crept over to the landing, and Seamus and Dean guarded the back staircases.

I heard a hiss of, "Up there!". We waited with bated breath. Then we saw shadows moving up the staircases. Four up the one attached to the landing, two up the ones that Seamus and Dean were guarding. The twins, Terry, and Lee dashed up the main staircase and shot spells at Draco and I. We spun around, dodging the hexes. Harry and Neville jumped out at them from their hiding places and shot spells at them in return. Ron and Hermione darted out from their staircases and aimed their spells at Seamus and Dean, but they dodged them too. It turned into a free-for-all, everyone shooting jinxes and dodging them. Draco and I deflected all the Summoning Charms directed at the flag. 

Dean shot a Jelly-Legs Jinx at Ron, but it missed. 

"Nice one, Dean!" I called out, sniggering. 

"Shut up, Daisy!" He called back.

Then, suddenly, the half time bell rang out. The Blue team's attack team sighed in defeat, and scurried out of our warehouse. Our attack team hurried onto the landing, panting. 

"Their flag is in that warehouse - where is it -?" Ginny began.

"The second one in from the left when facing opposite the entrance." Lewis grinned.

"Nice memory, Lewis." Katie said, amazed.

"So, do we need to relocate?" Amy asked.

"Nah, they found us -" Harry began.

"- So they'll be expecting us to relocate." I finished.

"Sounds like a plan!" Shannon grinned.

"Hey, Suzanne, go on a date with me after this, will you?" Harry asked quietly.

Suzanne nodded, blushing. "Yeah, okay."

The bell rang again, and us attack team set off. As we crept past another warehouse, the Blue team's attack team passed us. Colin, Louis, Leanne, Kurt, Parvati, and Lavender whirled around and started shooting curses at us. We shot back, and my Stunner hit Louis. Louis fell back, Stupefied, and the tally up on the billboard I charmed to show the score went up twenty points on the Red team's side. 

"Nice one, Daisy!" Seamus high-fived me.

We scarpered. We headed for the second warehouse on the left, whispering and giggling. We split up, Harry, Draco, and Neville with me heading up the main staircase to the top floor, Seamus and Dean up the back staircases.

Terry and Lee were crouching on either side of the staircase in the shadows, obviously thinking that we couldn't see them. Fred and George were guarding the flag, and Ron and Hermione were guarding the back staircases. Damn it, they stole our idea!

Seamus and Dean leaped out from the back staircases and shot Body-Bind curses at Ron and Hermione, and they fell to the floor, unmoving. Harry and Neville leaped at Terry and Lee, shooting jinxes at them, and Draco and I went for the twins. We shot hexes back and forth, dodging and deflecting. But I shot a Tickling Charm at Fred and it hit him; I darted behind and grabbed the flag.

"Yes!" I shrieked, holding it above my head as the bell went off. "Yes! Yes!"

Everyone spilled outside to the middle of the cluster of warehouses. "Round two!" I called out, grinning and sticking the Blue flag into the ground.

I went into a team of six with Terry, Fred, George, Draco, and Lee. We were the Yellow team - "Yellow's a cheerful colour! We're the happy team!" and then Lee started singing 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Dean were in the Red team, Amy, Suzanne, Shannon, Parvati, Lavender, and Katie were in the Blue team, and Leanne, Lewis, Ginny, Kurt, Colin, and Louis were in the Green team.

We all split off to hide our flags. We hid ours in a bunch of bushes and scrap metal behind a garage of sorts. We set Draco and Lee up to guard the flag, and the Insurgents set off to find another team's flag. Within five minutes of scouring the grounds, we found half of the Red team hurrying from a warehouse. Neville, Dean, and Seamus. We all crept up behind them and Stunned them. The Yellow team's score went up by sixty.

We scurried into the warehouse they had just come from. There, in the middle of the floor, was the Red flag, guarded on all sides by Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

They saw us and immediately started hurling spells our way. Terry, Fred, and George retaliated while I sneaked up unexpectedly behind the trio. I snatched their flag and sprinted off with it. Terry, Fred, and George joined me as we laughed at Harry, Ron, and Hermione's furious exclaiming behind us.

We returned to our base and hid their Red flag beside our Yellow one. Then we switched places, the twins and I guarding, Terry, Lee, and Draco attacking. 

"Hey, Red, got a girlfriend yet?" I sniggered.

"Shut up." Fred went pink at my words.

"Oh?" I said, grinning. "Bushy, why is he blushing?" 

"He hasn't got a girlfriend, but he likes someone." George grinned.

"Who who who?!" I said excitedly. Fred was gesturing furiously in the background to George.

"A-" 

"Asdfghjkl!" Fred blurted out to drown out George's voice.

Suzanne and Amy jumped out at us. "Surprise!" 

"Shit!" Us three all yelled, diving in front of our flag.

But just then the remainder of our team came prancing back with the Blue flag.

They hid behind a shrub while we Stunned the two girls. Then Terry proudly placed the flag beside the other two. But Parvati suddenly darted out and tried to wrestle the flag off him.

"Stupify!" Lee yelled, and Parvati slumped to the ground.

"Whoo!" Terry whooped. "Just one more flag to go!"

The half time bell rang. We just hung about and chatted until it rang again and we could go. Draco, Lee, and I hurried off to find the Green flag. We rounded a corner, and in an alley - there was the Green flag, guarded by Ginny, Lewis, and Colin. 

Draco and I leaped out, shooting random hexes at the three of them. Lee hid behind a long-abandoned bin. When Ginny was distracted (we had shot a Tickling Charm at her, and Colin and Lewis were Stunned) Lee ran out and grabbed it.

"Woohoo!" He shouted, waving the flag. We reversed the hexes and curses we put on Ginny, Colin, and Lewis, then we all congregated in the middle of the warehouses again when the bell rang. We definitely won that round!

Then we all split into three's. Draco and Terry were with me in the Purple team, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the Red team, the twins and Ginny were in the Orange team, Colin, Louis, and Lewis in the Yellow team, Katie, Leanne, and Kurt in the Green team, Amy, Suzanne, and Shannon in the Pink team, Neville, Parvati, and Lavender in the Blue team, and Lee, Seamus, and Dean in the Navy team.

We managed to capture all of the other flags by using my tactic of broomsticks. We just dropped down on their flag and grabbed it. We kept our flag with us all the time, and we won that time too!

But afterwards, when Harry went off with Suzanne, my clan mates, Draco, and I climbed the hill to the Shrieking Shack. I saw Floppy and the Douchebags hanging out there. I grabbed my Cloak and threw it over me, whispering my idea to the others.

I crept up behind them, listening to what they were saying.

"Weakling is less guarded when she's, well, weak. So we'll have a better chance of getting her powers the next time we get her alone. Kiss her a bit, a little of the Cruciatus Curse, maybe take it a bit further -" Floppy was saying.

I threw a snowball at his back. 

"W-what the -?!" He stuttered, stumbling back.

"It's very haunted up here, isn't it?" Fred called out casually.

It turned into mayhem. I was tripping them up as they tried to run for it, throwing snowballs at them, saying shit in their ears, until Ash's foot caught on the Cloak.

It dragged off of my head, and they all started screaming. The four of them sprinted back down the hill, running towards Hogwarts.

I followed the Insurgents and Draco to Honeydukes and went towards the secret passageway. "Bye!" I waved at them, disappearing down into the darkness.

I hurried back to school, and had just hopped out of the passageway when I heard footsteps from around the corner.

"So." It was Snape, with a look of suppressed triumph about him. "Come with me, Miss Potter." 

He led the way to the dungeons and into his office. "Sit." 

I sat. Snape, however, remained standing.

"Mr Felix Malfoy has just been to see me with a strange story, Miss Potter." Snape said. I didn't say anything.

"He tells me that he was up by the Shrieking Shack when he ran into the Weasley twins, Boot, and Draco Malfoy, apparently alone." Still, I didn't speak.

"Mr Malfoy states that he was standing talking to his friends, facing these boys, when a snowball hit him on the back. How do you think that could have happened?"

I tried to look mildly surprised. "Well, he is a douche, Professor, so somebody else could have -"

"Mr Malfoy then saw an extraordinary apparition. Can you imagine what it might have been, Miss Potter?" 

"A fucking unicorn?" 

It was your head, Miss Potter. Floating in mid-air."

There was a long silence.

"Maybe he'd better go see Madam Pomfrey." I said. "If he's seeing things like -"

"What would your head have been doing in Hogsmeade, Miss Potter?" Snape said softly. "Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade. Or do you think that you don't need permission? Do you think you can do whatever you please?"

"Of COURSE, sir." I said, reclining casually in the chair. "Also, it sounds like the floppy-haired little bastard is smoking weed and having hallucin-" 

"Malfoy is not having hallucinations." Snape snarled, and he bent down, a hand on each arm of my chair, so that our faces were a foot apart. "If your head was in Hogsmeade, so was the rest of you."

"Bitch please, where's the proof?" I said. "I've been up in Gryffindor Tower."

"Can anyone confirm that?" 

I didn't say anything. Snape's thin mouth curled into a horrible smile.

"So." He said, straightening up again. "Everyone from the Minister for Magic downwards has been trying to keep famous Daisy Potter safe from Sirius Black. But famous Daisy Potter is a law unto herself. Let the ordinary people worry about her safety! Famous Daisy Potter goes where she wants to, with no thought for the consequences." 

"Yeah, that's right." I said indifferently. "Glad you got that figured out."

"How extraordinarily like your father you are, Miss Potter." Snape said suddenly, his eyes glinting. "He, too, was exceedingly arrogant. A small amount of talent on the Quidditch pitch made him think he was a cut above the rest of us, too -" "Better than no talent, like I'm sure you have, Professor." "- Strutting around the place with his friends and admirers...the resemblance between you is uncanny." 

"Oh, so you notice that I strut, Professor?" I said, inspecting my fingernails. "I know I'm good looking, sir, but you shouldn't stare; it's rude."

"Your father didn't set much store by rules, either." Snape went on, trying to press his advantage, his thin face full of malice. But I know how to play this game. "Rules were for lesser mortals, not Quidditch Cup-winners. His head was so swollen -"

"SHUT UP, YOU BITCH!" 

I was suddenly on my feet. Rage such as I had not felt since Floppy's last attempt to attack me was thundering through me. I didn't care that Snape's face had gone rigid, his black eyes flashing dangerously.

"What did you say to me, Potter?"

"I told you to shut up about my dad!" I yelled. "Do you think being an asshole is going to get you anywhere?!"

Snape's uneven, yellowish teeth were bared. "Turn out your pockets, Potter!" He spat suddenly.

I didn't move. There was a pounding in my ears. 

"Turn out your pockets, or we go straight to the Headmaster! Pull them out, Potter!" 

"Oh, calling me Potter now, are we?" I slowly pulled out the bag of Zonko's tricks I had bought and the Marauder's Map.

Snape turned over the Map, his eyes on me. "Surely you don't need such a very OLD piece of parchment? Why don't I just - throw this away?"

His hand moved towards the fire. 

"No!" I said quickly. 

"So!" Snape said, his long nostrils quivering. "Is this a letter, perhaps, written in invisible ink? Or - instructions to get into Hogsmeade without passing the Dementors?" 

I blinked. Snape's eyes gleamed. 

"Let me see, let me see..." He muttered, taking out his wand and smoothing the map out on his desk. "Reveal your secret!" He said, touching the wand to the parchment.

He tried several more times until -

'Mr Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.'

'Mr Prongs agrees with Mr Moony, and he would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.'

'Mr Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor.'

'Mr Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.'

Snape called Lupin down, and Lupin came. He took me out of the office, and told me why Snape thought that I'd 'got it from the manufacturers' like he'd said to Lupin. 

"These map makers would have wanted to lure you out of school. They'd think it extremely entertaining."

And he confiscated it. But the Insurgents agreed later to go nick it back.