Double lives begin

We. Were. Not. Allowed. To. Use. Magic.

You see, the moment Umbridge got a taste of power over the school, she took it way too seriously. Sure, she silenced the first-years, but at what cost?

She had basically declared war on every student. Detentions were being handed out like free samples, and her new decree had us all gasping in horror when she announced it at dinner.

"As per the Ministry's educational decree," she had said in that high-pitched, nails-on-a-chalkboard voice, "*all practical spellcasting is now strictly prohibited unless under direct supervision of a professor. Any violations will result in immediate disciplinary action."

Dead. Silence.

Then—

"*EXCUSE ME, WHAT?!"

I almost flipped the entire Slytherin table.

Even Draco, who usually relished a good rule if it meant making Potter's life miserable, looked like he'd just witnessed murder. "You mean to tell me—" he started, voice shaking, "that I, Draco Lucius Malfoy, am expected to WALK TO CLASS like some common pedestrian WITHOUT using a single charm?!"

"No Lumos?" Kenny gasped, gripping her robes. "No Levitation?! No—" she lowered her voice to a horrified whisper, "Accio?!"

Blaise just sat there, looking dead inside. "I literally have a Potions essay due tomorrow that requires me to practice actual potions, but sure, let's just BAN MAGIC AT A MAGIC SCHOOL, THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE."

And, of course, the worst part—

The first-years were thriving.

Not because they weren't suffering (they were), but because they'd adapted far too quickly.

"Bro, just grind for real, you're so unbased," one of them said to another.

"Skill issue," the other shrugged.

Kenny nearly collapsed into her soup. "*Oh my god, it's getting worse."

Draco grabbed my sleeve, eyes wild. "They're multiplying, Selene. If we can't fight them with magic—" he took a deep breath, "—then we fight them with fire."

"Draco, no," I sighed, rubbing my temples. "We are not setting eleven-year-olds on fire."

"Speak for yourself," Blaise muttered.

It was going to be a very long year.

At first, I won't lie—seeing some of those first-years get actual consequences was pretty satisfying.

The ones who used to yell "STAY MAD, BOZO" at us were now pale, shaking, and whispering, "Bro, I'm actually so mad right now."

The one who kept saying, "ratio + L," actually cried in the middle of the common room after his first detention.

It was glorious.

But then. Then it started happening to everyone.

Umbridge didn't just hand out detentions. Oh, no. That would be too normal.

She made us use Bloodquills.

If you don't know what those are, let me explain: they don't use ink. They use your own blood. You write a line, and the words carve into the back of your hand, again and again, until it scars.

It was one thing to see an eleven-year-old suffer a mild inconvenience. It was another to watch half the school show up to breakfast looking like they'd barely survived a war.

Even Draco—who lived to see other people miserable—looked uneasy. "Okay," he muttered one morning, watching as a Ravenclaw winced while buttering his toast with bandaged hands, "I think I've reached my limit."

"Oh, now you have a limit?" I snapped. "It wasn't when you saw a first-year writing 'I will not say 'who asked' to my professor' in his own blood?"

"I mean, he deserved it—"

"Draco."

"Alright, alright!" he threw up his hands. "It's bad, I get it! But what do you want me to do, stage a rebellion?"

There was a pause.

I looked at Kenny.

Kenny looked at Blaise.

Blaise looked at me.

Then we all looked at Draco.

His eyes widened. "Oh, no. No, no, no—"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy," I said solemnly, "it is time to commit treason."

The moment I slammed my hands down on the table and declared "We need to overthrow Umbridge", I knew I had made a mistake.

Kenny, Blaise, and Draco just stared at me.

"Absolutely not," Draco said immediately.

"Nope," Kenny added, shaking her head.

"Selene, please," Blaise sighed, rubbing his temples like I had just declared I wanted to single-handedly duel Dumbledore. "We're Slytherins. We survive. We do not pick fights with deranged pink toads wielding government power."

"Speak for yourself," I sniffed, flipping my hair. "I, personally, refuse to suffer in silence. Besides, it's not like she can give every student detention—"

"She literally can," Draco cut in. "That's her whole thing. What part of 'government-sanctioned child abuse' are you not understanding?"

"Oh my God, stop saying that," Kenny groaned.

"It's accurate!"

"Look," I pressed on, ignoring their frightening level of cowardice, "we're prefects now. We have influence. Do you really want to spend the rest of the year living under the tyranny of the pink menace?"

"Yes," Draco, Blaise, and Kenny said in unison.

"Cowards."

"Survivors," Draco corrected. "Huge difference."

I glared at all of them. "Fine. I'll do it myself.*"

Kenny let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Of course, you will."

"Selene—" Draco began, but I pointed at him.

"You owe me, Malfoy."

Draco scowled, knowing I was right. "Fine. But if you get yourself expelled, I am not taking the blame."

"That's what she said," Blaise muttered.

"OH MY GOD, BLAISE."

That was how I found myself alone in my crusade against Umbridge.

And let me tell you—trying to start a rebellion when your friends are actively working against you is difficult.

For starters, every time I so much as breathed about my plans, Draco physically dragged me away.

I'd be mid-sentence—"We should sabotage the—" and suddenly, yanked into an empty corridor.

"Stop trying to get yourself killed," Draco hissed.

"*Oh, come on!" I groaned. "You're telling me you don't want revenge for the whole 'no magic' thing?"

"I want revenge," he admitted. "*But I also want to *graduate.**"

"Ugh. Coward."

Then there was Kenny, who wasn't even pretending to support me.

"Selene," she sighed, watching as I scribbled plans onto a parchment. "I love you. You are my best friend. But if you drag me into this, I will personally deliver you to Umbridge myself."

"Understood," I muttered, crossing out Kenny's name from my would've been rebellion list.

And Blaise? Blaise was just enjoying the chaos.

"You know," he mused, watching Draco wrestle a Howler out of my hands before I could send it to Umbridge, "this is actually quite entertaining."

"Help me, then!" I huffed.

"Mmm... no. But I'll watch."

I was so done.

Eventually, I had to accept that if this rebellion was happening, it was going to be a one-woman show.

Which was fine.

Who needed an army, anyway?

(...Me. I needed an army.)

My first attempt? Stealing every quill from the Great Hall.

Unfortunately, I hadn't thought that plan through, because I didn't have anywhere to put the stolen quills. Which led to Draco walking into the common room, seeing me drowning in a pile of contraband, and immediately marching me back to return every single one.

Strike one.

My second attempt? Getting Peeves to terrorize Umbridge.

"Do something, Peeves!" I hissed, as the poltergeist floated upside-down above me.

"Hmmmm," he mused, tapping his chin. "And what will Little Snake give in return?"

"The satisfaction of knowing you've made my life better."

Peeves cackled and floated away.

Strike two.

My third attempt? Forging a decree that said Umbridge had been fired.

It was foolproof.

Until Draco stole my parchment before I could pin it on the board and burned it in front of my face.

Strike three.

"Selene," Draco said firmly, as I seethed. "You cannot single-handedly take down the Ministry."

"Watch me."

"I'm begging you to be serious."

"I am completely serious," I said, stomping away. "Just you wait, Malfoy. Just you wait."

.....................................................................

It had been weeks.

Weeks of suffering under Umbridge's reign, of sneaking around trying to start a rebellion while my so-called friends actively worked against me. Weeks of Draco dragging me away by the collar every time I so much as whispered about overthrowing her. Weeks of Blaise watching my downfall like it was his personal entertainment. Weeks of Kenny looking at me like I was a lost cause.

I was at my limit.

I needed to fight back.

I just... didn't know how.

Which was why, one evening, as I wandered the corridors aimlessly—plotting ways to make Umbridge disappear (hypothetically, of course... unless?)—I nearly walked straight into Luna Lovegood.

"Oh, hello, Selene," she greeted dreamily, her wide blue eyes blinking up at me.

I stared. "Lovegood."

"Yes?"

I hesitated, because something was off. Luna Lovegood was—well, she was Luna Lovegood. Sweet. Odd. Spoke of creatures that did not exist. Harmless.

But she was also not stupid.

So when I noticed the way she was walking—determined, like she had a purpose—I frowned.

"Where are you going?" I asked casually.

Luna beamed. "To Harry, of course."

I blinked. "What?"

She smiled, serene as ever.

That was odd.

People didn't just say things like that. Not when Umbridge was lurking in every shadow. Not when students were getting blood-quilled for breathing wrong. And especially not to a Slytherin.

"Luna, what?" I repeated, confused. "Why would you tell me that?"

She tilted her head, as if she found me peculiar. "Because I know you've been trying to start a rebellion."

I froze.

"Excuse me?"

"Your friends disagree," she continued, "but you can join us."

I gaped. "What do you mean my friends—" Oh my God. Draco. Blaise. Kenny. They snitched.

"Those absolute—"

"So would you like to come?" Luna asked sweetly, completely ignoring my internal breakdown.

I opened my mouth—then closed it.

On the one hand, this was insane. I hated Potter. The idea of willingly working with him was disgusting. On the other hand... my plans had failed. I had been actively sabotaged by my own friends.

And if these lunatics were actually doing something?

Then maybe... just maybe...

"Fine," I said slowly, ignoring the voice in my head screaming what are you doing, you idiot?! "But if Potter tries to hex me, I'm fighting back."

Luna nodded. "That's fair."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was how I began my double life.

The goal? Survive the school year, learn magic, and never let Draco and the rest of Slytherin know about this.

Unfortunately, Potter was an ass.

The moment I stepped into the Room of Requirement, his entire face soured.

"What is she doing here?" he snapped, turning to Luna like she had betrayed him.

"Inviting her," Luna said simply. "She wants to fight back too."

Potter snorted. "Yeah, right. She's a Malfoy-wannabe."

"First of all, rude," I snapped. "Second, if I were actually loyal to Malfoy, would I even be here?"

He glared. "That's what I'm trying to figure out."

I resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

"Harry, we need as many people as possible," Hermione interjected before Potter could start another war. "Selene has been trying to fight Umbridge since the start of term. You can trust her."

Potter's eyes narrowed. "Can I?"

I gritted my teeth. "Look," I said, "I do not like you. I think you are a menace to society. But I hate Umbridge. So let's just agree that we both want her gone and move on."

Potter sighed, looking at me like I was the most exhausting person he had ever met. "Fine. But if you so much as breathe about this to Malfoy—"

"I won't," I interrupted. "Do you know how much I have to lie just to be here?"

And that was that.

The real problem?

Potter was insane.

The second I agreed to be a part of this, he looked directly at me and said:

"If you snitch, you get 'SNEAK' written across your face."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"That's the rule," he said smugly. "No betrayal."

"And what if I hex you before you even get the chance to do that?"

"You won't," Granger said matter-of-factly. "Because that would be stupid."

I scowled. "That's what she said."

Everyone just stared at me.

"Merlin's beard," Ron muttered. "There's two of them."

And just like that, I became the most wanted person in Hogwarts.

Not by Umbridge. Not by Dumbledore.

But by Draco Malfoy.

Because, you see—trying to hide something from a paranoid, nosy blond is difficult.

And when Draco noticed I was missing during certain times of the day?

It was game over.