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Things moved quickly when Lyssa returned from her holidays. The professors were adamant that exams were just around the corner and that they had to be prepared. Still, Lyssa kept her head down and stayed out of trouble. She was getting much better sleep since she found the Room of Requirement and dedicated all of her free time to plotting her revenge against Pansy.
It wasn't until after the Easter holidays that trouble seemed to find Lyssa again. She had overheard Malfoy telling his gang that Harry Potter had gotten a dragon and he'd be up that night trying to smuggle it out of the castle. No one else seemed to believe the blond-haired Slytherin boy however and he resolved to catch them in the act himself that night. Lyssa questioned where he got his information from at first but then realized that having to smuggle a dragon out of Hogwarts was exactly the kind of thing that Harry and his friends would get themselves into. Lyssa laughed to herself as Malfoy stormed around the corner.
"What are you laughing at, Wiley?" Malfoy fumed.
"Oh, nothing," Lyssa had stopped laughing but couldn't keep the smile from her face.
"I suppose you think I'm nuts as well then," he said. Lyssa raised an eyebrow in response. "Would I be wrong to assume you heard all that then?" Malfoy gestured back towards where he had been speaking to his friends.
"Oh, yeah," Lyssa shrugged, "I heard that."
"Then you are laughing at me!" Malfoy was fuming with anger, Lyssa wouldn't have been surprised if smoke started coming out of his ears.
"For god's sake Malfoy I'm not laughing at you get a grip."
"Then why are you laughing?" Malfoy demanded.
"Because," Lyssa said, "That is exactly the kind of mess Harry would get himself into, more bravery than brains, that one,"
"So you believe me?" Malfoy was shocked.
"Yeah, I guess so," Lyssa was going to leave when Malfoy grabbed her arm.
"Then help me catch him tonight!" Malfoy suggested. Lyssa wrenched her arm out of his grasp.
"Let me think about that for a second." Lyssa put her finger to her chin in mock consideration, "No thanks, have fun Malfoy." She turned to leave when Malfoy stopped her again.
"I can get Pansy to stop locking you out of the dorms," he said.
"A tempting offer Draco, but I can do that myself," Lyssa said, "Cheers though, I'll remember your generosity."
"I'll do all your homework for a week," he offered next.
"And lose my spot at the top of the class?" Lyssa laughed, "No thanks."
"Please, Wiley?" Malfoy was begging now. She looked him up and down.
"Give me one good reason why I should come," Lyssa demanded.
"Because I'm asking," Malfoy stated as if this was good enough, upon seeing Lyssa was unconvinced he added, "And I'm the best."
"Goodbye, Malfoy," Lyssa said as she turned and walked away.
"Fine," Malfoy droned, "Because I know you haven't been in the dorms at night and you haven't been caught. I thought if you came with me I'd be less likely to get caught."
"Meet me down the hall from the Gryffindors' dorms after curfew." Lyssa didn't even look back as she said it, but she knew that Malfoy was thankful that she'd agreed.
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"So what exactly is your plan here, Malfoy?" Lyssa asked as the two of them waited down the hall from the Gryffindor common room.
"Make sure he gets caught," Malfoy shrugged. They sat and waited for a while before the portrait door swung open. It closed a few seconds later but it seemed as though nobody had left. Lyssa stood up and quietly started down the hallway, careful to keep to the shadows. "Where are you going?" Malfoy hissed at her.
"Following Harry," Lyssa explained, "Would you like to join me? Seeing how this was your idea."
"What are you on about?" Malfoy questioned.
"He's got an invisibility cloak you dim wit." Lyssa was getting kinda fed up with him already. "Can't you hear him?"
Malfoy listened closely and was shocked when he heard the quiet thumps of footsteps ahead of them. They followed behind Harry silently as he made his way through the corridors. They watched as two figures emerged from beneath the cloak outside the castle and ran down to Hagrid's hut and how they recovered themselves and a large crate with the cloak. They followed as they came back into the castle and headed up to the astronomy tower.
Lyssa was quite ready to summon Filch when she heard a loud crash behind her. Malfoy had knocked over a suit of armour.
"It was Peeves I swear!" he told her but given that the poltergeist was nowhere in sight Lyssa was sure he was making up excuses.
They didn't even have enough time to get the hell out of there when McGonagall came rounding the corner, dressed in a tartan nightgown and bonnet.
"Potter's got a dragon professor!" Malfoy pleaded as she dragged them down toward their dorms.
"I will not tolerate such lies, Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall hissed, "And twenty points from each of you for wandering around in the middle of the night! And detention," she added, "And I will be speaking to Professor Snape about both of you!" She seemed to just be tacking on every punishment that came to mind.
The only thing that made their midnight adventure even somewhat successful was that Harry and Hermione had been caught as well, though Lyssa and Malfoy didn't learn this till the morning. They had gotten the dragon out though, so everyone still kinda thought Malfoy was a liar or at the very least quite gullible. So maybe it was worth the effort after all Lyssa chuckled.
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About a week later Lyssa received a small note from an owl she did not recognise at breakfast.
Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall. - Prof. M. McGonagall
Lyssa has almost forgotten about her impending detention. But eleven o'clock wasn't too bad, that left her plenty of time to set up her revenge on Pansy and the other Slytherin girls. She had finally settled on a way to get back at them. The spells involved were a little advanced but a few days of practice had her more than ready to exact her revenge.
Later that day, while the rest of the school was eating dinner, Lyssa returned to her dormitory for the first time in a while. Her corner looked so empty in the room that was otherwise so full of life. The other girls had posters and photos and lots of things that just made the room feel lived in. But her bed was neatly made, there was dust on her empty nightstand, and there wasn't even a crease in the pillows.
Lyssa moved to open her trunk and pulled out a small silver alarm clock. She hadn't used it since the first week of classes when she realized that it was quite obnoxious. She placed it on the ground in front of her and removed her wand from the pocket of her robes. Lyssa closed her eyes and waved her wand over the clock, reciting the enchantment.
First was a spell to prevent others from using magic on the clock. It was imperative that this spell was first otherwise the others would be pointless. Next was an unbreakable charm, and then a charm to amplify the sound of the clock. This charm may have been a giveaway had it not been for the fact that Lyssa had broken the second hand when she tried to set it the first time, so luckily there was no incessant ticking noise. All that was left to do was set the alarm to go off in the morning.
Lyssa contemplated when she wanted it to go off. It had to be early enough that the girls were fast asleep when they were woken. But, it couldn't be so early that Lyssa would be too tired to enjoy the mayhem of the fallout. Six am seemed good. Lyssa got up that early some days anyway.
So with the alarm set Lyssa carefully placed the clock under her bed. She checked to make sure that it wouldn't be found by anyone who was not looking for it and left when she was satisfied.
Dinner was over by the time that Lyssa had left the Slytherin common room so she made her way to the kitchens for a snack. After a few hours of homework in her secret room, it was time for her detention. Lyssa was the first one there. Malfoy joined her soon after she arrived.
"Hello." Malfoy nodded in her direction but otherwise didn't acknowledge Lyssa. After a few minutes, Filch appeared followed finally by Harry and Hermione.
The group of them were led out of the castle and down towards the edge of the grounds. Filch was rambling on about who knows what, something about chains and dungeons maybe? The party stopped at the edge of the grounds where they were met by Hagrid and a very large dog. Filch returned to the castle with further explanation of their tasks for the evening
"Alright," Hagrid looked at them, "Ground rules, always stay with Fang or me," he gestured to the dog, "And keep your wands out, the forest is a dangerous place."
"Wait," Malfoy looked like he had seen a ghost, "You mean to tell me we're going in there?" He pointed towards the forbidden forest.
"That's right Malfoy," Hagrid looked less than sympathetic for the fear written all over Malfoy's face.
"Absolutely not! Students aren't allowed in there," he seemed to be searching for more reasons to stay exactly where he was. Draco Malfoy, Lyssa thought, king of excuses, "Plus there are werewolves and things!"
"Well, you should have thought about that before you went and misbehaved now shouldn't you 'ave," Hagrid boomed, he was not entertaining Malfoy's antics. "Now come on, all of yeahs."
They walked into the forest together Hagrid at the front, Hary and Hermione in the middle, and Lyssa and Malfoy bringing up the rear. Fang trotted happily beside Hagrid until they stopped at a fork in the path.
"Okay, we're gonna go in two groups now," Hagrid explained, "We're looking for a unicorn that's been hurt by something, alright?" The students exchanged a weary glance that seemed to say, we are in way over our heads but nodded in understanding. "If you find the unicorn send up green sparks with your wand, if you get any kind of trouble send up red sparks, got it?"
"What if we find the thing that hurt the unicorn?" Malfoy asked.
"Well that would constitute trouble, now wouldn't it?" Hagrid replied. "Okay now as for groups, Lyssa and Hermione with me, Harry and Malfoy with Fang, got it?" When Harry shot Hagrid a look that said something along the lines of How could you do this to me, I thought we were friends, Hagrid leaned down and whispered, "I don't trust the Slytherins together, they can cause enough trouble just one of them."
Lyssa frowned. Hagrid evidently, was not a very good whisperer, and Lyssa was rather offended by his comment. The only trouble she had gotten into this year had been with Harry and his friends. Maybe Malfoy was a bit of a git but he also didn't go looking for trouble the way Harry seemed to. No, Lyssa was sure that the Gryffindors that accompanied them were much bigger troublemakers and that Hagrid was just as biased as everyone else.
Once they had broken off into their respective groups an idea found its way into Lyssa's head. She was going to be nothing less than an absolute delight, if she was snarky and rude that would just confirm Hagrid's assumptions about her. While those assumptions may have been closer to the truth than Lyssa cared to admit, confirming them in the gamekeeper's mind would do nothing but make her life more difficult moving forward.
"Do you do stuff like this often Mr. Hagrid?" Lyssa asked him as the three of the weaved in and out of the trees.
"Oh, uh, sometimes," Hagrid was caught off guard by Lyssa's question and even more so by the nonchalance in her tone as if she had no reservations about their surroundings. "Mostly, just take care of the grounds," he added.
Lyssa nodded her head, "All the fresh air must be nice then,"
"Yeah," Hagrid agreed, "Always been an outdoorsman me self."
"I can see the appeal." Lyssa smiled. Hermione seemed a little annoyed that Hagrid was entertaining her in conversation as if she wasn't entitled to be nice to people.
"You're enjoying Hogwarts then, Miss Lyssa?" Hagrid asked her.
"Oh yes! Very much so," Lyssa replied. They were deeper in the forest but as Lyssa looked around it dawned on her that the only reason the forest seemed so scary was because it was dark. Otherwise, the forest seemed pretty, Lyssa thought about all the magical creatures that could be living out beyond the trees.
"And what are your favourite classes then?" Hagrid also seemed more at ease now.
"I quite like potions and transfiguration," Lyssa told him, "But I'm rather good at charms as well," she laughed, thinking back to the enchanted alarm clock sitting under her bed right now.
"Quite like our Hermione there then," Hagrid joined in Lyssa's laughter.
"Oh, please Hagrid I'm not like Hermione," Lyssa joked, "I'm better." Hagrid laughed at her comment despite the sour look that had taken up residence on Hermione's face. Lyssa was joking in her remark, but, the fact was she wasn't lying. Everyone in the first year knew that Hermione had been playing second fiddle to Lyssa since the end of February. Admittedly, Hermione wasn't very far behind, but given that Lyssa's lack of friends limited her pastimes to quidditch and studying, Lyssa was pretty sure that Hermione wasn't going to catch her this year.
It was in that moment that Malfoy came running straight at Lyssa, knocking them both to the ground.
"Bloody hell Malfoy!" She looked at the fear in the face of the boy on top of her. She gave him a moment to collect himself before she shoved him off of her and onto the ground. "Were you thinking of getting off me anytime soon you prat?"
The next few minutes were a cacophony of terrified ramblings and dashing through the forest looking for Harry. Whom, Malfoy had conveniently left behind in his struggle to flee the scene of the murdered unicorn. Harry was eventually located and the group returned to the castle, parting ways in the entrance hall to retire to their respective dorms.
"Why are you coming down here?" Malfoy asked her as they began their trek through the dungeons.
"I have a show planned for the morning," Lyssa stated, she didn't elaborate but Malfoy figured it would involve Pansy and some chaos.
"What time would one want to get up to enjoy said show in its full glory?" Malfoy asked her as they entered the Slytherin common room.
"The production is planned for six." Lyssa took her place on an all too familiar couch in the corner of the common room and Malfoy headed to the boys' dormitories. Lyssa still hated him, that much couldn't be changed by any amount of misbehaving or detentions together. Lyssa would never like him because he was a prejudiced git. Malfoy would never like Lyssa because she was a muggle-born. But, she believe they had gained a sort of mutual respect over the past week.
So Lyssa laid her head on the arm of the couch and dozed off to sleep, excited for the events the morning would bring.