Everyone doesn't need access to you. Some people are draining and they don't even know it. You're allowed to say no, You're allowed to not answer calls, you're allowed to break plans, and if you need to save yourself, do it.

– Sylvester McNutt III

"Who are all these people?" Tracey frowned as we walked out of the Great Hall. Breakfast had been completely quiet. The Great Hall had lost all of its glory. The torches were not lit, the sky was clouded and the floating candles were burnt out. And at the very front, there was no cheerful Albus Dumledore, but Professor - now Headmaster - Severus Snape.

"Death Eaters", I mumbled very quietly as we walked through the hallways towards Dark Arts. Another change in this year's curriculum. I hated that I did know all of these people. I knew all of them by face and name because they had spent the entire summer at Malfoy Manor. Alecto and Amycus Carrow were two of them and it terrified me. They were vicious on a whole other level and since both of them had been assigned as professors, another ridiculous call, something was bound to be wrong.

Draco joined me and put his hand on the small of my back. He had been very tense ever since we arrived at Hogwarts. He wasn't very liked by the student body. On one hand because of what happened last year, the whole story had gotten out, so many people blamed Draco for Dumebledore's death, and because he clearly had a favorable position between the Death Eaters. People didn't look at me very differently. I think many of them supposed I was on that side too, but most of them always had.

We walked into the classroom, being met by a bored looking Amycus.

"Malfoy, Selwyn, Headmaster's office after class", Amycus said. I frowned shortly, but decided not to worry about it all too much. I was not going to do any funny jobs for these people, whatever the consequences.

I frowned when a class of first-years walked into the classroom as well. In our N.E.W.T. years, we often had a few classes with the other N.E.W.T. year but mixing a seventh and first year class seemed a little odd to me. Amycus didn't seem very surprised by the situation.

"What are the chipmunks doing here?" Tracey frowned, looking at the first years who looked even more surprised and slightly intimidated by the group of students six years older than them.

"I don't suppose it'll be for a cute little buddy project", I sighed. The door shut tightly and everyone quieted down as Amycus walked towards the large group.

"Seventh years on the left, first years on the right", he said. Everyone followed his orders without saying a word.

"It has come to my attention that your Defense against the Dark Arts class has been an absolute disgrace these past years. I understand that you've learned about the Unforgivable Curses and some of you have even witnessed them, but you were never allowed to perform them. That's going to change now."

"Excuse me?" Tracey asked, eyebrows raised. Amycus's eyes shot in her direction, clearly not expecting any back-talk.

"Imperio", Amycus said as he pointed his wand at Tracey. Tracey immediately stopped speaking, causing Amycus to smile wickedly.

"Rule number one in my class", he said as he guided Tracey to the middle of the class. "Don't speak unless you are asked to. Now what do we do when you step out of line. He flicked his wand, making Tracey do a cartwheel. My blood started to boil as my hand grabbed my wand.

I had promised myself not to draw any unneeded attention to myself as I wanted to stay in the background, but I couldn't watch him embarrass my best friend like that.

"I know something fun", Amycus chuckled as he let Tracey slap herself in the face. No one laughed.

"Stop it", I said firmly. Amycus looked my way and raised his brows.

"You're not allowed to do that", Blaise joined in and Daphne too seemed on the verge of opening her mouth.

"You're not enjoying the show, Selwyn? I think it's quite entertaining", Amycus simply shrugged as he let Tracey slap herself again. This man was insufferable.

"Stop it!" Daphne now said, taking a step forward, but Amycus ignored her completely.

"Finite Incantatem", I cast upon Tracey to stop the effects of the Imperius charm. She looked around confused as Amycus looked my way again.

"You're annoying me, Selwyn", he said slowly, stepping my way. Blaise stood beside me and crossed his arms, ready to come to my and Tracy's defense.

"I don't care who you are. When you're in my class, you shut up and you do what I say', he growled. I wanted to slap him to the other end of the earth. Professors were supposed to have training for a reason. He was completely unfit.

"And I don't care who you are. You don't just get to humiliate other students for the fun of it. It's called basic human decency", I spat. Why couldn't I just stay in the background, apologize and move on with it? It was clear why I wasn't in Ravenclaw.

"Ellie, don't", Draco whispered sharply behind me. He knew the Carrows far better than I did, maybe I should tone it down a bit.

"Yes, listen to your little boyfriend, Selwyn, or I'll perform the next Unforgivable Curse on you", Amycus sneered. I bit my tongue to not spit out the next insult. I couldn't draw attention to myself, not anymore than I already had. Tracey stepped back into the crowd and pinched my hand very softly when she passed by.

"It is not I who should be performing these curses anyway, but you, which is why I brought in this lot of test subjects", Amycus continued, pointing at the first years. "You'll be practicing the Imperius curse this week, the Cruciatus curse next week. We can't do the last one, unfortunately, because students are important bla bla bla, but we'll have some fun with the first two."

"Perform the Cruciatus curse on students?" A seventh year Ravenclaw in the back said shocked. There were panicky whispers under the first years.

"Silence!" Amycus's voice roared through the sea of voices. "And yes, on students."

"And what if we refuse?" another voice sounded. This time it was Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor.

"Then you will receive a punishment equally as painful by me personally", Amycus sneered. Now everybody line up, now!"

Some feet started shuffling, but most people kept still.

"No way, I'm not doing that", Tracey said and crossed her arms. I felt a soft hand on my upper-arm and then Draco walked past.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I stopped him.

"Getting in line, it's no use to fight this, Ellie", he sighed.

"What the hell Draco? You'd torture a first-year?" I hissed. I could not believe he would do something like that.

"It's just the Imperius curse this week, it's no big deal. We'll see about next week. Just come with me before you get in trouble."

"Just the Imp-, excuse me?" I blinked a few times. "They're Unforgivable Curses Draco, don't be ridiculous. It's inhumane to perform them on kids! I'm not doing it!"

"Ellie, Amycus is not joking. He will hurt you, don't be difficult." I felt so incredibly disappointed. Why was he being so mean? How could you possibly support things like this?

"He can't punish everyone if the whole class refuses", I said, crossing my arms.

"True, but look at that, Crabbe is already lined up and so is Goyle and so is Nott. Quit the rebellion act and just get it over with before you get into even more trouble."

I clenched my jaw. Draco was being mean and what for? Don't be so difficult, quit the rebellion act. He knew that I was not someone who'd voluntarily hurt other people if they hadn't done anything to me and I sure as hell wasn't someone to just follow the rest.

"Well tough luck then. But don't let it hold you back. Have fun playing a good Death Eater", I spat. The look on his face hardened and I knew that I had gone a bit too far, but I was so angry.

"I will", he said and walked away. I cursed internally. I knew that fighting with Draco was the last thing I needed right now, but what he said was not okay. No one with love in their hearts could do something like performing the Cruciatus Curse on an eleven-year-old. It just wasn't right. But I knew that Draco did have love in his heart, so why was he being like this?

Amycus started handing out more threats and eventually, most students joined the class, afraid of the punishment that awaited them if they didn't. I was too petty to give in, especially when I felt Draco's eyes on me. Tracey stayed by my side together with half the Gryffindors and most Hufflepuffs. Blaise did give in and so did Daphne but she promised it'd only be for this week and she would not join the Cruciatus class.

We stayed on the sideline all class, receiving a note from Amycus that we were expected in his office after supper tonight. That for sure wouldn't be a pleasant experience, but I couldn't do it. I could handle a little pain, I was used to it, but these eleven-year-olds weren't. I didn't want their entire Hogwarts experience traumatised by these people. Maybe there was a little bit of Hufflepuff inside me too. I felt like at the moment, we could use a little more Hufflepuff.

I grabbed my bag as soon as class was dismissed and walked out.

"Headmaster's office, Selwyn", Amycus reminded me. I couldn't help rolling my eyes, but luckily he didn't see.

"Oi, Ellie, wait up", Draco jogged after me. I still wasn't in the mood to talk to him.

"Eleanor, seriously, what was that in there?" he continued as he had caught up with him.

"Oh shut it, Draco, I'm not in the mood", I grunted, walking to the West Towers towards the Headmaster's Office.

"You know these people better than those other people, Eleanor. You know what they're capable of and if you continue being so difficult, you're going to get yourself in trouble." There it was again. I was being difficult.

"Stop insulting me, Draco", I spat. "I'm not being difficult, I'm doing what is right."

"I know," Draco sighed, "but they don't see it like that. Doing what is right around these people means working against them and it's going to get you hurt in the end."

"Then what do you expect me to do, Draco? Just stand there and do what they tell me to? I'm done doing that! I warned you that I was done with this mess, so don't you try and lecture me or force me into doing things I'm uncomfortable with."

"You did that for seventeen years, what's one more?" he grunted.

"Yeah, you said that too last year!" I shouted at him. "What if I keep up the act this year and this side ends up winning, huh? Another year and then another one? I'm done with this Draco!"

"I know you are, but why do you have to make it so obvious! These people might know about you lying about me, but they don't know that you don't support that side. You'll be in danger if they know, okay?"

"I don't care, Draco! I'm done pretending, so don't make me!"

He opened his mouth to say more things that would anger me, so I just walked off towards Snape's office. Draco sighed and followed me, but he didn't try and talk to me again.

"You wanted to see us, professor?" I asked as I entered the office.

"It's headmaster now, Selwyn", Snape said without looking up.

"I'm so sorry, force of habit, I guess", I shrugged. Snape was no headmaster. Draco entered too as I walked up to Snape's desk. He rummaged through one of his drawers and then slid two pins towards us. My heart started pounding in my throat as I noticed the Head Girl badge.

"Congratulations, the two of you have been appointed Head Boy and Head Girl. Here's a list of all prefects appointed for this year. You will arrange a meeting to divide patrol duties. I expect an update every month or so."

I didn't quite know what to think. It had always been my dream to become Head Girl, it's what I had always wanted and what I had worked for. I had only served detention once before, keeping my record clean, and kept up high grades. But now, I didn't know if I could be proud of it. Had I gotten the position because of those efforts, or just because the school was run by Death Eaters now and I was the daughter of one.

I had imagined that receiving the Head Girl pin would be a day of joy, but nothing about this was joyful. I just felt sad and disappointed.

"Thank you", I said and grabbed the pin and list of prefects. "Anything else?"

Snape stared at me for a while and I wasn't quite sure what he was trying to figure out.

"You seem on edge", he said slowly. "Any particular reason?" he narrowed his eyes. I needed to calm down, but I wasn't calm. I needed some time to think, some time to decide how I was going to act.

"Not at all, headmaster, just busy", I said, clenching my jaw. He kept up the stare for a little longer before looking back down again, ending the conversation. I turned around and walked out of the office, pinning the Head Girl badge on my cloak. People wouldn't look at it with the idea of: oh, she's a top student, she's a person to look up to. They'd look at the pin and think: of course she's Head Girl, she's one of them.

"Eleanor, just talk to me", Draco sighed, clearly annoyed.

"I can't. I'm already late for Muggle Studies. I'm sure that will be just as joyful." Muggle Studies was taught by Amycus's sister, Alecto Carrow, so it was bound to be disastrous.

"Then tonight? After your detention with Amycus?" he continued.

"I'm not going to that", I shook my head. Draco roughly grabbed my arm and pulled me back so I had to look at him.

"You're being irrational, Eleanor. Just talk to me and we can work this out, but you're getting yourself into some real trouble by acting like this."

"What are you going to say, Draco?" I rolled my eyes. "That I'm being unnecessarily difficult? That I just have to suck it up and listen? That it's better to please them than to work against them? Because I'm not doing that!"

"You're so bloody stupid sometimes, Eleanor!" Draco hissed. The look on my face hardened and I felt a lump form in my throat. I could handle most insults, but being called out on my intelligence, or apparent lack thereof was hurtful, especially when the one insulting me was the boy I loved. I thought that out of everyone, he'd be the last person to call me stupid.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that", Draco sighed as he noticed my change in mood. I pulled myself from his grip and walked away.

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