When the carriage stopped, Eliza took her time and waited until Malfoy was up the stairs before she got out. Hermione and Ron were already by the front doors and Eliza decided she didn't want to see them or speak to them before preparing mentally.

It was far easier entering with Blaise because even after he heard her taunting Draco, he didn't ask about it.

"You look very stiff." He said once they entered the Entrance Hall.

"I have a lot going on." She mumbled bluntly, not caring anymore how her words could be interpreted.

Eliza got into the Great Hall after everyone else entered already. Blaise chuckled and waited with her which was very strange.

"You're a bit peculiar this year, aren't you?" She whispered to him, her eyes scanning everyone who passed them.

"I thought I already made myself clear, though."

Eliza furrowed her eyebrows together, thinking intensely what Blaise told her last year or the years before. Then, she remembered...

"We're not friends, Zabini." She mumbled before she entered the Great Hall.

Walking closer to the Gryffindor table and her friends was awkward. Eliza thought about it over and over; it wasn't their fault that Bellatrix killed Sirius so she should at least be nice.

When she got there, she sat between Dean and Seamus and didn't say a word to anyone. She didn't really need to with how much Seamus was talking.

Harry wasn't there and the Sorting Ceremony began. Eliza couldn't help but feel relieved until Hermione turned to her with a frown.

"Eliza, how was your summer? You didn't respond to any of my letters." Hermione started, watching closely as Eliza tensed.

"Nothing major happened. The Order has been very active but so have been the Death Eaters." She responded without the slightest crack in her voice.

Hermione sighed and glanced at Ginny. Eliza looked and seemed to act a lot like Tonks. They were both family to Sirius and even if Eliza took the hit harder than anyone else (even Harry), it wasn't their fault.

"Have you moved back with Remus?" Hermione asked softly.

"No. I spent the whole time with my dear grandmother and Kreacher."

There was a slight tinge of annoyance when she mentioned those two hateful creatures but nothing else. She looked like she wasn't really bothered that she's been mostly alone.

Hermione and Ron exchanged worried looks before they dropped the subject. It felt like it was still too early to say anything about Sirius or the will.

"Do you think she knows?" Ron leaned towards Hermione and whispered. "Her father left everything he had to Harry. Wouldn't that make her mad or something?"

Hermione glanced at Eliza but nothing about her looked like she'd care about stuff like that. Besides, she knew Eliza treasured her family more than her inheritance and she spent most of her childhood with Remus.

"I don't think she cares." The bushy haired girl responded in the end. "She's always been more interested in her mother."

By the time Harry arrived, Ron was stuffed while Hermione was watching him disgusted. Eliza's eyes fell over the glasses boy for a moment before she turned to Parvati and listened to whatever she was saying.

Eavesdropping to what the trio was discussing, she heard that Tonks was stationed in Hogsmeade and Malfoy broke Harry's nose while he was spying on him. Hearing that bit about his mission made her glance at the Slytherin table over her shoulder. The blond was acting normal but something was off about him.

Same as every year, Dumbledore had his little speech at the end of the feast and introduced Horace Slughorn as the new Potions professor. That automatically led to Snape's transfer to Defense against the Dark Arts which raised many questions between the students.

"It shouldn't be hard right? You were pretty harsh when you taught me." Seamus mumbled while the table emptied. "He can't be worse than Umbridge."

"He's a good teacher." Eliza admitted sincerely.

Harry turned to his friend with a frown. He knew she trained with him almost every week last year and he saw in their DA meetings that Eliza's skills improved greatly. But still, having Snape so close to the Dark Arts was worrying and annoying.

When Dumbledore finished, Eliza got up and walked out as fast as possible. She got in the common room with Hermione who was doing her work as a Prefect.

"Did you get your results?" The library rat asked once they got inside.

"Yes. I didn't fail Divination, surprisingly. But I decided to focus on what I do best." Eliza explained as Furvus jumped on her lap.

Hermione knew what Eliza was good at: Potions, Transfiguration and Defense against the Dark Arts.

Next morning, Eliza dressed slowly and took her time walking down into the Great Hall. She only got some coffee before McGonagall came over.

"You've got an 'Outstanding' in Potions and Defense against the Dark Arts and I am very pleased to see you got 'Exceeded Expectations' in Transfiguration and Charms. It seems that your career choice is not that far fetched, Molley. Here." McGonagall said before she gave Eliza her timetable.

Reading it, she realized she had quite a lot of time for herself. She gave up on everything that seemed irrelevant for an Auror and decided to pursue a more important path: the one of revenge.

"Hey, Liz!" Ron waved from his armchair lazily. "Got a free period?"

Eliza glanced from Ron to Harry and stopped. The glasses boy was staring at her with the same amount of intensity and Ron was sure he could see anger flash between them.

"Um- so what's your timetable then?" Ron asked, getting up and snatching the paper from her. "Oh, it's the same as ours! That means we have every class together..."

Ron's voice lowered and slowed down when he saw the tension between his friends growing. Harry and Eliza were going to see each other every day in every class and work together if they were asked to. Ron was curious how that'll go.

He found out during Defense against the Dark Arts. When Eliza entered, she felt a little thrill. The curtains were drawn and the overall aspect was really dark. It was obvious Snape's tastes were a bit peculiar.

Eliza wanted to sit in the very back but Dean urged her to sit with him. After Snape finished his love testimony for the Dark Arts, he started the lesson with the non-verbal spells. They had to work in pairs which led Dean and Seamus to have a slight argument who'd take her.

"Come on, mate. You know I suck at this. You learned it before in the DA, I didn't have enough time." Seamus started but Dean knew Eliza already taught him everything he had to know.

Dean sighed and agreed but Seamus regretted his decision in the minute she blocked his jinx without a blink and threw him against Dean with a counter-jinx.

"How the heck are you so good at this?" Seamus muttered as he got back into position.

Eliza's eyes flickered to Snape, whose eyes were on Harry. He was scowling all through the lesson and when he tried to prove how incompetent Harry was, it backfired.

However, seeing how powerful was the counter-jinx and how quick witted was Harry, Eliza couldn't help but chuckle bemusedly. It reminded her of Sirius and the way he just couldn't shut up in front of Snape.

"It didn't go well at all. I didn't get to touch you once." Seamus complained during lunch.

Eliza blinked innocently and ate her pudding. "You won't get the chance. You should pair up with someone who'd go easy on you."

Everyone around her turned in surprise and confusion. They heard her speak like that before but she never meant anything by it. Now, it sounded like she was looking down at her friends.

"You're so very modest, aren't you?" Seamus said sarcastically, his eyes narrowing at his friend.

Eliza shrugged. "I'm only stating the obvious. It's a matter of time but I might lose control and the one hurt will be you not me. It's for your own safety."

For some reason, Harry believed that. Unfortunately, he was the only one.

Next was double Potions with Slughorn. Very few people were in front of the doors in the dungeon and from the looks of it, there was no one coming late. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Eliza were the only Gryffindors there, Ernie Macmillan was the only Hufflepuff and there were a few Ravenclaws that Eliza saw during the DA meetings. Now, turning towards the Slytherins, she could see Nott, Malfoy, Parkinson and Zabini.

Just like any other year, Eliza walked next to Blaise. He smiled when he saw her take her usual spot even if she was avoiding his eyes.

At the Gryffindor table, Ernie was confused, "What is going on there?" He asked Harry pointing at the odd pair.

"Eliza and Zabini are a well known pair in Potions. It's nothing, really. You'll get used to it." Ron responded, shrugging the pair off quickly.

Ernie was still confused but forgot it once Slughorn started to speak. He presented them three cauldrons, each having a famous potion: Polyjuice, Veritaserum and Amortentia. There was another cauldron on Slughorn's desk, one he didn't introduce.

"Sir? You haven't told us what's in that one."

"Oh, yes. What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis. But it is more commonly referred to as-"

"Liquid Luck," Hermione interrupted but the professor was content with the answer as long as it was correct.

"Yes, Miss Granger. Liquid luck. Desperately tricky to make, disastrous should you get it wrong. One sip and you will find that all of your endeavors succeed. At least until the effects wears off," Slughorn explained further, getting the attention of more than half of the class, "So this is what I offer each of you today. One tiny vial of liquid luck to the student who, in the hour that remains manages to brew an acceptable Draught of Living Death he recipes for which can be found on page 10 of your books. I should point out, however, only once did a student manage to brew a potion of sufficient quality to claim this prize. Nevertheless, good luck to you all. Let the brewing commence!" He smiled and encouraged his students, something Eliza found weird after all the time she spent with Snape.

"It should be really easy, right? You are a potions specialist, Molley." Zabini already knew he had a chance with Eliza there.

"I guess so." She mumbled grumpily before getting to work.

"Are you doing it right?" Blaise asked once he noticed Malfoy's potion was not even close to the color it should.

But Eliza's eyes were set on Harry, who seemed to work silently and with no sudden effects or anything oozing out of his cauldron. She glanced at her book before she glanced at her own cauldron, becoming more and more confused.

"Not even Hermione's got it right." She mumbled, taking a peak at Zabini's cauldron.

"Is there a problem, miss-"

Eliza's head raised instantly, "Molley, sir."

Slughorn's eyes widened and he leaned closer just to be sure he wasn't seeing a ghost. Now that she was in front of him, he could see those green eyes perfectly.

"My, don't you look like a copy of your mother." He was amazed, "Let's hope you didn't inherit her struggle with potions."

"She's actually very talented at it." Zabini cut in, patting her in a friendly manner.

The professor seemed surprised by the interaction and nodded before moving on.

"Your friendship with Zabini never ceases to amaze me." Ronald muttered after the class was over. It was still shocking that he took Eliza's side and even acted fondly.

Eliza rolled her eyes, "We're not friends."

In the end, Harry did a perfect Draught of Living Death, which surprised both Hermione and Eliza.

"I thought you hated potions." Eliza mumbled, changing the subject completely.

Harry chuckled and rubbed his neck sheepishly, "I was lucky. You see, I found these notes in my manual."

Eliza raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to catch a glimpse of the notes. Right before she could see something, Ginny came in and pushed it aside. It seemed she had a very bad experience of following suspicious notes.

Hermione checked it out but the book didn't flip or burn or did anything remotely strange.

"I think you're overreacting. This book is nothing but a huge help for those who desperately need it." Eliza said, staring straight at Harry and Ron without any sympathy.

"Didn't you have your mother's diary as well?" Harry retorted which immediately drew a gasp from Ginny.

"My mother sucked at Potions. Her notes have been written by someone else." She answered sincerely.

"Yeah, professor Slughorn mentioned that too." Hermione added thoughtfully.

After dinner, Eliza walked back into the common room all alone while the rest spent a little bit more time in the Great Hall.

"Eliza! It's been ages since we talked," A bright Lavender Brown tagged along, surprising the brunette with her positivism.

"Yes. It's not like we're in the same house and sleep in the same room." Eliza couldn't help but be sarcastic. That didn't seem to reach Lavender's ears.

"I noticed you usually spend your free time with Ron and his friends,"

Eliza would have begged to differ, knowing that she had her own troubles and she spent far more time alone.

"I was wondering, is Ronald- you know-"

Lavender blushed, giving Eliza the exact idea what her dorm mate wanted.

"Available?" Eliza chuckled, "Officially, he is. Unofficially, on the other side-"

She didn't have time to finish her sentence because Lavender already heard what she wanted and the rest didn't matter.

"That's good to know. Well, can you put a nice word in for me?" She asked hopefully.

Eliza was sincerely feeling like digging a hole and falling in it for what she was going to say, "I-Sure?"

Lavender smiled brightly and hugged Eliza tightly before running off. It was a known fact that Eliza hated meddling into other peoples lives so she wasn't going to. She was probably not going to tell him anything; it wasn't like Lavender wasn't being obvious.

One week passed like that and Saturday night Harry was more than excited to go to his private lessons. Eliza only raised an eyebrow and watched him hurry out of the common room before she turned to Hermione and Ron.

"He has private lessons again?" She asked, though it sounded like she was jealous not curious.

Ron nodded eagerly, "He has. With Dumbledore. Isn't that interesting?"

"Yes, it is..." Eliza trailed, turning around to watch the fire in the chimney.

If Harry was having private lessons with Dumbledore, was that a sign that the headmaster will finally tell him everything about Voldemort? Did that mean Eliza will finally find out the truth about her mother? That was everything she could think about for the whole night.

Unfortunately Harry didn't say anything the next day or the next or at all, actually. The work was piling up and Eliza was getting busy herself, especially with Seamus asking for tutoring in Defense against the Dark Arts. Meals became moments of scrutinizing sight as more and more students were struggling with non-verbal spells. Charms and Transfiguration became harder too and no one seemed to understand from the first try because they had to memorize a lot every day.

"Try again." Eliza mumbled during a break in the common room. She was doing her homework while Neville, Seamus and Dean were trying to jinx her in any way possible.

"You know, you were more involved last year when you taught me defensive spells~" Seamus moaned.

At that moment, Neville must have thought of Aguamenti because Seamus got drained in water. It was only a small jet that vanished rather quickly but Neville was more than content.

"See? Hard work pays off. Try again." Eliza continued.

"By the way, Liz! Saturday morning are tryouts for the team. I'm going to try again for Keeper. You should try too for Beaters. It would help right now with-"

"Ron." Hermione interrupted, hitting him lightly with a book.

Eliza raised her head and looked at the ginger boy with a bemused expression. Hermione sighed and shook her head while Harry was not even going to bother.

"It would help me, wouldn't it? Hitting Bludgers for anger management, maybe? One might even hit you straight in the face with me in the team."

Harry chuckled under his hand while Hermione rolled her eyes. Both of them could quite see Eliza hitting the Bludger just to entertain herself but it would get a bit hard to control her during a match, especially against Slytherin.

Ron's face paled when she mentioned hitting him, which was probably not the point he wanted to get to.

When Saturday came around, Hermione tried her best to wake Eliza and drag her to the pitch but the green eyed witch wouldn't budge. She was sleeping so deeply that Hermione had to check if she was breathing.

When she woke up, she went for a late breakfast and met Blaise on the way.

Eliza glanced around and noticed that a lot of seats were available yet he chose the one next to her.

"You are being suspicious."

"Why?" He sounded genuinely innocent, "I'm standing with a friend, aren't I?"

"That word is inappropriate for our partnership. We work together under certain circumstances and that's all. Besides, you said it yourself when we first paired up: you are a Slytherin and outside the classroom, you should bully me not have a friendly chat with me. Sparkles ensues between Gryffindor and Slytherin."

That seemed to have triggered something in his mind because he seemed to have figured something out.

"What about you and Slytherins?" He asked having a certain playful glint in his eyes.

"What about? I believe I made my discomfort rather obvious." She was being very formal for how annoyed she looked.

"Are you sure? Because from my point of view, you became a bit of a distraction for some of us." Blaise said before he glanced at his table.

He could have looked at anyone but Eliza's eyes fell over the blond. He wasn't looking at them, it looked like he was thinking deeply about something.

"He seems distracted." She mumbled, returning her attention on the boy next to her.

"He's been like that ever since the year begun. You know, it's curious how you looked at Malfoy out of everyone at the table. I never said it was him that's been distracted." He narrowed his eyes at her and leaned in, "You've had your eyes on him last year too."

He was having fun messing around with her and it pissed her off. She threw him a glare before she got up.

"I'm sure he has bigger problems than little petty me." Her voice became colder and with a quick and almost unnoticeable smile, she left.

However, on the way towards the pitch, Eliza couldn't help but think about what Blaise said. You've had your eyes on him last year too. Did she? She was so taken with the Lucius Malfoy-Ophelia Molley relationship that she couldn't help but glance at Malfoy here and there.

When she got there, the first thing she noticed was Harry's face. He was tired and looked overall displeased. The one flying at the moment was a guy Eliza hadn't seen before. The brunette walked towards Hermione and noticed something that might have been a non-verbal spell. Whoever was flying missed and next flew a familiar ginger head.

"Hey." Eliza said before she sat next to Hermione.

The girl tensed, "Hey. Ron's next." She said quietly.

Behind them, Eliza heard Lavender give a cheer to Ron before blushing. Her green eyes fell over Hermione who looked uncomfortable and grumpy. An idea struck the brunette, one that brought a rare soft smile on her face but it was still only an idea.

Luckily, Ron entered the team and everyone looked happy except the guy who lost the Keeper position. The trio wanted to visit Hagrid but Eliza wanted to go back inside the castle and have a chat with Snape. It was time for Legilimency. She really wanted to get inside Voldemort's head and see for herself just what was Ophelia to him.

"No." Snape responded shortly. "I will not teach you Legilimency. I believe we had this conversation before and-"

"Why? Why don't you want me to protect my mind and learn how to get inside his? What's so precious that I can't find?" She snapped, glaring at him.

"Nothing. There's nothing for you to know."

"Says the Secret Keeper."

That hit a chord because Snape's hateful snarl fell for a moment. He looked like he was getting angry again but something was definitely off about the way he was staring into her eyes.

"Why don't you explain to me how exactly you became Ophelia's Secret Keeper? She was pregnant and she needed help. You offered it. Only you and Sirius knew where she was." Eliza continued seeing how Snape's anger was transforming into surprise.

"Where did you hear that?" He asked in a calm manner.

"Voldemort. He entered my mind and showed it to me. He locked her away and she escaped with the help of her loyal friends. Then, how come Voldemort was not mad that his servant helped Ophelia break free and hide?"

"I didn't help her break free. It would have been a stupidity to cross the Dark Lord's wishes."

"And someone paid for doing that. Who did?" She asked, leaning closer to him.

But it didn't look like Snape was going to tell her. She just admitted that Voldemort's been meddling with her mind and shifting memories before showing them to her yet Snape wasn't going to tell her anything.

"That's none of your concerns. Now, if you don't have anything relevant to say-"

"Relevant? Everything I told you is irrelevant? Are you kidding me now?" She asked, barely containing her anger in. "Aren't you curious why I have these dreams? I saw you in Ireland! She was in pain! She had been tortured! And you? You weren't any help."

A sudden wave of pain went through her body but she bit her lip instead of screaming. Snape just attacked her and he looked content with himself.

"Leave." He said in his usual scoffing manner. "LEAVE!" He screamed before pointing his wand at her and throwing her out of his office.

Walking back into the common room, Eliza wanted to break something. Peeves was hitting a nearby student with what looked like balls from Trelawney's Solar figure. When he noticed her walking up the stairs, he stopped and flied past her.

"Wait." She said as she turned to the poltergeist. "Why are you avoiding me? You even go for Harry if he's around so why?"

"I'm not stupid. I'd get punished if I'd touch angry little Molley." Peves responded, quite annoyed about her presence.

"I thought you don't care. You do whatever you want, don't you? No one in this castle, not even the Bloody Baron, would ever punish you for doing anything to me."

"It's not him. It's not about the castle. He'd know." The ghost said before throwing a planet at the head of Ernie Macmillan in the Entrance Hall. He started to laugh loudly and left Eliza alone.

Later that afternoon, Eliza was still thinking of her mother. Peeves was the only ghost, be it poltergeist or normal, who was avoiding her at all costs. Besides, Eliza only heard him call her 'little angry Molley' whatever that meant. There was another ghost that confused Eliza with her mother and she was curious if Peeves wasn't doing the same. But that was unlikely, wasn't it? Ophelia would look older by now and wouldn't be in Hogwarts.

Also, she got the chance to look over Harry's Potions manual and was rather surprised to see so many notes from her mother's diary.

"So, whoever is the Half Blood Prince, he's the one who helped your mother with her diary?" Ron asked after she told them.

"I think he copied the notes into a diary and gave it to her. After a while, she just started taking notes to his notes." She explained.

"So they must have been close. He went through a lot of work to copy everything just to give it to her." Hermione added, looking thoughtfully at the manual. "Were they in the same house?"

"I don't know. As you can see, my mother is quite a mysterious character. Whenever I get too close to the truth, something else pops up."

"Have you asked Sirius or Remus about it?" Hermione asked softly, knowing Sirius' name may not bring good reactions.

Eliza either controlled herself or just ignored it altogether, "They all trusted her even if they knew she was keeping certain secrets from them. No one knew where she was going during the breaks and she wasn't acting strange when she was in Hogwarts."

While Ron and Hermione went back to their homework, Eliza took a long look at the handwriting. It looked very familiar but she couldn't point out where she had seen it before except her mother's diary.

"Where's Harry?" She asked after she realized it was too silent.

"Detention with Snape, remember? It got postponed this Saturday." Ron responded before giving up on his Transfiguration homework. "I can't believe how long this is." He moaned before his eyes moved on Eliza. "Are you alright? Still thinking of the Half Blood Prince?"

Eliza nodded. There were just so many questions and no definite answers.

Harry was getting really good at Potions and his attention was fully on his friends and his research. On the other side, Eliza decided to follow the instructions in her mother's diary once again. It proved very helpful and every week Eliza and Harry were surprising Slughorn with their rapidity and efficiency.

"Miss Molley, Mister Zabini, I am stunned. Another potion made perfectly!"

Blaise was standing happily next to her, aware that she was doing the hard work while he was helping here and there but getting the same praise.

"Thank you, professor."

"I have to recognize, your talent is quite a surprise. None of your parents were very good at potions, not even your father."

She tensed, glancing at the professor with a stern look that immediately shut him up; at least during class.

After class was another story.

"I take it that you know." She started once everyone walked out, surprising Slughorn.

"Oh, you are still here," He trailed, walking towards his desk, "Dumbledore informed me about you. I was surprised that you have been found after so long."

"You knew my parents." Eliza continued, walking closer to him.

"Ah, yes. Ophelia was a smart woman but she was lacking in potions, Sirius wasn't better either but he had a certain charm."

"Then why am I so good in Potions?" She asked bluntly, caressing the table on the way towards him.

Slughorn gulped, his eyes looking anywhere but her. The young girl had a dark charm that was reminding him of a certain student he had.

"I'm sure you will find that out soon." He whispered, turning his back on her and gathering the utensils left.

Eliza stared at his back, her eyes empty yet the darkness was there, forming from all the pain and stress she had gathered over the years.