Sasha was doing her Charms homework with Rowan sitting next to her during lunch. Sasha looked up at the sound of new, unfamiliar footsteps running towards the middle of the Grand Hall. Sasha looked up to see Penny Haywood running through the hallway, she was surprised to see Penny has a bruise on her cheek, a ripped lip, and was cradling her left arm. Sasha felt her heart go out towards her, she placed her hand on Rowan's wrist and it caught Rowan's attention.
"Penny, what happened?" asked Professor Sprout as she and the professors came towards the injured Hufflepuff.
"Merula Snyde is what happened," Penny said, her voice hoarse with tears. "She had started bullying all of the first years in the courtyard. She wants to challenge Sasha to a magic duel."
"What!?" exclaimed three voices at once: Sasha sounded stunned and horrified about the duel, Rowan was worried and protective of Sasha, and Professor Flitwick sounded both worried and concerned for Sasha.
"I don't wanna duel her," Sasha said, sounding nervous. "Did she say why she wanted to duel me?"
"She mentioned something about her being the most powerful witch of Hogwarts and she wants to prove it on you for the example." Sasha and Rowan both looked at each other with confusion.
"How is picking on first years make Merula a powerful witch?" Rowan muttered angrily, Sasha didn't answer her friend's question.
"Where is Miss Snyde?" growled Professor Snape.
Penny gulped as she leaned against the Hufflepuff's Perfect, an angry Professor Snape is a truly terrible sight to see. Sasha doesn't blame Penny for being terrified of Professor Snape's anger.
"At the courtyard. Bullying Ben." Professor McGonagall stood up from her seat, her green eyes narrowed. Professor McGonagall is the Head Professor of the Gryffindor House and she's very protective of her Gryffindors.
"Come along, Professor Snape." Professor McGonagall nodded to Professor Snape as they made their way towards the door.
"I'll come along too." Sasha walked up towards the professors, Rowan joined Sasha's side. "I'm tired of being afraid of Merula. It's about time I stood up to her."
The two professors glanced at each other as Sasha and Rowan both walked towards the courtyard, ahead of the professors. As soon as they had got there, Sasha was stunned to see almost all of the first-years were hiding from Merula.
Merula had her wand pointed at a terrified Ben, he had fallen down and was cornered. Merula was with two, mean-looking Slytherin girls by her sides.
"—How about we burn him till he admits I'm the most powerful witch of Hogwarts?" Merula suggested.
"I like the sound of that," said the Slytherin girl on the left.
"Won't we get in trouble?" asked the Slytherin girl on the right.
At least, one of them has a heart, Sasha figured angrily.
Sasha hid herself in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to pounce from her hiding place. She glared at Merula as the witch pointed her wand at Ben, who looked close to fainting.
"Incendio!" As soon as Merula had said the Fire-Making Spell, Sasha had jumped in front of Ben and was ready to become a protector. She wasn't afraid anymore, she knew a special chant that can repel the nasty fire.
"Haec mando ignis repellat," Sasha managed to chant through her pain and had pointed her wand at the incoming fire. Sasha doesn't use magical chants too often, so it really hurts her. "Haec mando ignis repellat. Haec mando ignis repellat!"
Sasha gritted her teeth in pain as the fire had started burning her skin, but she kept up with the chant. She forced herself to stay away and started blinking away the black dots from her eyes. She felt herself shaking with weariness. She distantly heard Professor Snape's voice and the fire had disappeared into thin air. Sasha felt herself collapsed onto the ground and her breaths started to become ragged.
Everything and everyone had started to become blurry, she was about to close her eyes when she heard a familiar voice cried out, "Sasha!" She felt a pair of familiar hands lifting her slightly. The person was hugging Sasha and glaring at Merula. "What is wrong with you, Merula?! Many of us here are all first years too! Are you seriously so heartless enough to injure Sasha, Penny, Ben, and the rest of the first years here?! Sasha isn't becoming powerful by bullying other students! She becomes a powerful witch with her love for her friends and her determination in hard work! She's many things that you aren't, Merula! Sasha's going to become a much better and powerful witch than you will ever be!" Sasha was stunned to hear the person yelling, she never heard somebody sounded so angry on her behalf before (that only happened with her family).
"Sasha," whispered a mysteriously familiar voice.
But unfortunately, that's when Sasha felt herself slipping away from the courtyard. Her mind soon became filled with blinding and freezing white mist. The ground beneath her was trembling, reality and visions seemed to go together, visions flashed before her eyes. She saw a suit of armor was walking with nobody in it. A staircase shrouded in mist. Ice started encasing Hogwarts, spreading faster and faster. She saw a masked Death Eater, a Demetor, and a werewolf. A shadowed bookcase. Screams of terror filling the hallways of Hogwarts. She saw an Acromantula nesting in the shadows. A dark forest shrouded in spiderwebs. Sleepwalking students coming from Hogwarts and into the forest. Lastly, she saw a Hungarian Horntail roaring with a pair of chains wrapped around its neck. Portraits in the hallways. Students trapped inside portraits.
"The ice is here," whispered a familiar voice. "The vault will open."
Sasha slowly opened her eyes, the light in the room almost blinded her. Sasha carefully got up and was stunned to see that she was in one of the beds within the Hospital Wing. She gritted her teeth as she felt a fresh wave of pain coming from her left arm and hissed in pain as she tried to sit up a bit. She looked down at her left arm and was stunned to see a thick, white bandage wrapped firmly around her left arm and there was some dark markings from the burns that she had received in the fire. At the small table on the end of the bed was a gift basket filled with a lot of gifts.
"Oh good, you're awake." Sasha turned to see Penny resting on one of the beds next to the right. Penny's injuries had been treated and had left no markings on her fair skin. Penny's blue eyes were bright with relief and she seemed to be in awe of seeing Sasha, but she seemed both worried and concerned. "Are you alright? What happened?"
"I'm okay..." Sasha's voice sounded hoarse, as if she hadn't spoken in a while. "Merula was about burn Ben with a fire-making spell and I managed to do a protection chant to save Ben. But the chant had drain half of my strength and energy, I almost never used my magical chants, since it can be dangerous as well as it could be powerful."
"You know Sasha," Penny praised with a smile. "I think you as a heroine of Hogwarts as well as the most powerful witch of the school. You had saved the whole school from Merula's bullying and madness of power."
Sasha felt herself become flustered from Penny's compliment. She had never been accepted for just being herself by other kids in her neighborhood. The kids in her neighborhood were equally as mean and nasty as Merula and her gang, which had made Sasha take the plunge into protecting her classmates from Merula's bullying ways.
"Guess what Sasha?" said Penny excitedly with a beaming smile.
"What?" Sasha tilted her head at Penny with a puzzled frown.
"Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall had both gave our Houses eighty points." Penny smiled at Sasha, who still felt stunned by this sudden piece of news. "They were really impressed by your courage and strength for standing up to Merula."
"And I'm guessing they were also impressed by your courage for revealing the truth about Merula and your selflessness for going into the Grand Hall before you treated your injuries," added Sasha with a small smile, making Penny beam at her.
"I've just heard that Merula is on the edge of getting expelled already." Penny's comment surprised Sasha, Merula was about to get expelled on her second week of school already?
"Already?" Sasha asked in surprise.
"Oh yes." The Hufflepuff girl nodded, her eyes filled with amusement. "I'm still not sure who's still angrier: Rowan or Professor Snape. After you had fell, Rowan had yelled a whole lot at Merula. Then Professor Snape had came out of the castle and took Merula by the robe collar as he dragged her back to the Slytherin Common Room, I think Diego had said he had heard yelling from there as he took on dueling club." Penny shuddered, looking a little terrified by what she had seen. "Trust me when I say this, it was a truly terrifying sight next to your almost sacrifice."
Sasha made a faint sound of amazement. She didn't know that Professor Snape cared for her. She had heard from many of the students was that he was bitter towards students outside of his House. Why would he care for her? Wasn't she just a weird outcast to him?
"Hey look," said Penny, her eyes aglow. "Madam Pomfrey is coming back with a few visitors."
The nurse was bringing in a worried looking Rowan, a upset looking Ben, and a proud looking Professor Dumbledore. Rowan's dark eyes brightened up with joy when she saw Sasha and launched a surprising hug on her. Sasha sniffled a moan as Rowan hugged her. Rowan had became an honorary sister in Sasha's eyes, but she doesn't like scaring her best friend.
"Umm... Rowan?" Penny's uneasy and slightly amused voice had made the two girls look at Penny. "I think you're hurting her."
Rowan stepped back, blushing fiercely as she mumbled an apology. Sasha waved off the apology and smiled at her two friends.
"Are you okay, Sasha?" asked Rowan with a slight frown.
"I will be, thanks Rowan." The two girls both smiled at each other, but Sasha turned to look at the Headmaster. Professor Dumbledore watched on with a smile and rapt interest.
Sasha looked from the professor and to Ben, who was walking towards her side nervously.
"Sasha..." Ben's voice choked as he met her eyes. "I'm really really sorry. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. Merula's had started calling me names and injuring me. I tried to stand up to her, but she came with her gang and, well..." Ben almost started crying before he was able to continue. "Merula... said that it was a joke for a... (Ben hiccuped) mudblood... and a coward to be in Gryffindor House."
Sasha sat up instantly, her blue eyes eyes ablaze in fierce anger. Her blazing gaze was like the inside of a terrifying thunderstorm at sea. Professor Dumbledore and Sasha's friends all looked very angry.
"She called you WHAT?!" Their voices rose to angered outcries. Ben flushed and stepped back a bit, Sasha figured he must be very flustered to be protected by their friends.
"I'm going to have a serious meeting with Miss Snyde and her aunt," muttered Professor Dumbledore.
Sasha took a few deep breaths before she looked back at Ben. She placed a protective hand on top of Ben's hand.
"You're worth a dozen of Merula," Sasha said. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor. Sometimes, it usually takes awhile for somebody to gain courage. But when the time comes, you might find the courage you may be searching for."
Ben blinked back tears and carefully hugged Sasha, she gently rubbed his back before he pulled back. Ben and Rowan both looked at each other and stole a glance at Professor Dumbledore.
"See you later Sasha," Ben said with a small smile and nod as he walked out of the door.
"That was very nice of you to say to Ben," said Rowan with a proud smile.
Sasha looked at Rowan, remembering the first streak of compassion that Sasha never had before from anyone else and had always longed for, till she had met Rowan at Diagon Alley. Now, she wants to give some of her friendship to Ben. She knew a lot about being an outcast too well.
"I meant it," Sasha stated simply.
Rowan smiled at Sasha and she returned it as Rowan whispered, "See you later Swift Foot." Sasha watched as Rowan left the Hospital Wing. She looked up at Professor Dumbledore curiously unsure of what he's doing in the Hospital Wing.
"That was a very noble thing you had done Sasha," said Dumbledore. "But I could see that you are suffering from your missing brother. If there was one thing that we could agree on, it is love for our families. Merula didn't realize that love as powerful as your brother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is missing, will give us some protection forever. It is in your skin." At this point, Professor Dumbledore lifted some of Sasha's hair from her neck with his wand from her neck to reveal a scar in the shape of lightning. "Merula, full of jealousy, greed, and ambition could not touch you for this reason." He looked at Sasha with what looks like a smile. "When you are feeling better, I want to talk to you about your past, your brother, and your future in curse-breaking the Cursed Vaults."
Sasha looked stunned and started wondering of how Professor Dumbledore knew about her secret plans about breaking the Cursed Vaults. She wondered how he knew about it, but she'll find out in the next few days.