The Boys Who Lived

CHAPTER 7

The last three weeks had gone by so quickly Harry could hardly believe it, it was nearly the end of the month already and he was just getting accustomed to the lower level of activity when Remus announced that he had found a tutor for their Karate classes and they would be starting them up next Saturday, all three of them were extremely excited about it but knew they had to get back into shape if they were going to meet the challenge head on so they had started running every morning. They spent an hour running, then an hour doing katas from their training in Taekwondo, then they would challenge each other for fifteen minute rounds each, and finally end up with stretches and yoga and gymnastics. Then they would get cleaned up and go to breakfast. The only problem with this was that they only place they had to do all this was outside, so they ran around the black lake a couple of times and then did their routines in the courtyard of the school. Which was fine until they started gathering crowds. Now they had twenty to thirty kids that came down every morning to watch them practice every morning and while they were used to working out with a crowd and that didn’t bother them, the fact that people had a tendency to think they were really fighting and go and get a Professor or a Prefect which caused problems. Oh the Professors almost all recognized what they were doing almost immediately but the Prefects tried to break up the fights, tried docking points, or assigning detentions, stupid things like that, until they got the situation cleared up that is.

None of the Professors had a good idea about where they could work out so they were stumped, other than to continue to do what they were doing and to keep being interrupted every morning by some idiots who had no idea what match fighting was all about. Then Jeeves, who they had brought with them to help take care of the babies, thought to ask the Hogwarts house elves and they told him about the Come and Go room.

The Come and Go room, also known as the Room of Requirements, was this brilliant room on the seventh floor in an unused tower across from a tapestry of dancing trolls. Well the wall that opened up to be the doorway to it was there at least, you had to go to that spot and walk back and forth in front of it three times, thinking of what you wanted the room to look like, and a door would appear. Behind the door would be the room, just as you imagined it

So far they had used this miraculous room as a workout room and a room to play music in. They had invited Susan and Hannah over to the RoR and turned it into their music room back home, then spent most of that afternoon playing music and dancing. It had been the only thing they hadn’t shared with Pavarti until they found out she played the clarinet and then she joined them and now it was like she had always been a part of their group. Soon the Weasley twins were let in on the secret room, and they had their percussions back and then they told Cedric and Percy and they had their guitars back. At this point they were a full fledged band back together, plus one.

Remus had loaned them his Wizarding Wireless so they could dance to it and they ended up playing music part of Saturday and dancing the rest of the day each weekend so far. It had been a great way to end the week. Sunday they reserved for homework and the family, they tried to gather with the whole group like they did back home and sit around and do their home work, they even invited Pavarti to come along which she loved, mainly due to the babies though. Apparently, she loved little kids, and had always wanted a little brother or sister and had just never had one.

Something that Pavarti and Luna had brought up then had bothered Harry somewhat though, apparently their roommate had become a bit of a bother. When they had gotten back up to their room after doing their homework downstairs in the common room, she had remodeled the room, she had pushed their beds way closer together and over to one side of the room and her bed all the way over to the other side of the room, as far away from them as she could possibly get. And then put up a sheet to separate the two areas from each other.

She didn’t stop there either, she refused to sit near anyone of the four of them, so her spots in classes were limited to sitting alone and in the back of class. Since no one else wanted to sit with her and listen to her gripe about them all class long, which is exactly what she did the one time Seamus tried to sit with her, and he said never again.

But Harry wasn’t worried about Lavender Brown, other than the fact that she was out to make herself as miserable as possible, and that she roomed with two of his good friends. Yes two, now that he had gotten a chance to get to know Pavarti for the person she really was he considered her a good friend and hoped to have her as a friend for a long time to come.

She had even started exercising with them in the morning and sharing with them her style of martial arts called Kalaripayattu which is based on combat wrestling and martial arts and she was very very good at it. Since she and her sister had taken lesson since they were eight years old as was tradition in her family. The women were not allowed to learn the weapon based side of the art known as Mardani Khel, but she could describe most of the weapons and how they worked she just wasn’t experienced with using them herself, something about it being shameful if a woman were to use the weapons. But she was loving learning and doing the Katas from Taekwondo and she asked if she could be allowed to learn the Karate when their tutor came to see them and Remus made all the arrangements for both her and her sister to join them, with her parents and both girls were thrilled. She even tried some of the tumbling routines they did for gymnastics, although she did end up on her backside more often than not, she would just laugh at it and try again. There was one thing you could definitely say about Pavarti Patil, she was a very determined Witch.

One Witch that had surprised them was Hermione Granger though, they found out that she played the Saxophone and loved to play soft jazz and even a little rock and roll and she loved to dance as well. Mainly to Jazz and Classical since she had taken tap and ballet lessons. She had even did her whole routine to Swan Lake for them while they were playing it, and did beautifully, everyone held their breath while she danced it was so beautiful, so from the heart.

She did have one problem though, she would sit in class and raise her hand at every question the teacher asked and wave it about trying to get the teacher’s attention, and it was every single question, not just every now and then and she would try and reach as high as she could so that the teacher could see her better, and if the teacher didn’t call on her she would look so crushed. Harry had tried to talk to her about it but she hadn’t changed her approach to classes nor her way of trying to get the teacher’s attention. After a while Harry noticed that the teachers were intentionally not picking her, so she just began to call out the correct answer instead of waiting to be called on, and that started to loose her points instead of gaining her points for correctly answering the question, and it made her cry. She didn’t seem to understand that she was being rude to the other students in the class by wanting to be the only one to answer the questions, but Harry just couldn’t make her see how she was effecting the class. So he quit trying to, he guessed she would have to figure it out the hard way.

Oh well we shall see, as Persephone would say.

Today in Transfiguration, Professor Black brought out daffodils for everyone to work with, which was exciting to Harry, Neville and Luna, since they had never tried this particular transfiguration before. “Alright folks we are again going to be doing a inanimate to inanimate transfiguration. This time we are going to do a living object even if it is inanimate; so it will be slightly harder, but I think you are all ready for it. Now what we are going to do today is turn this flower into a fork. The transfiguration for this is ‘Flosfurca’ again a simple point and shoot so let’s practice that spell, everyone say it with me… Flosfurca! Again, Flosfurca! One more time, Flosfurca. Okay now let’s see what you can do.” Professor Black explained and he began to hand out the flowers to each student.

Harry looked at his daffodil and thought for a moment then closed his eyes and focused some, then opened his eyed and called out “Flosfurca!” And before him was an elegant silver fork with a daffodil imprinted in the handle.

“Flosfurca!” And Luna opened her eyes and before her was a beautiful brushed steel handled fork with several bright inlaid tiny daffodils showering down the handle, it was quite breathtaking how detailed exactly how the tiny flowers were.

Neville was still thinking then he opened his eyes and called out “Flosfurca!” And before him was a wooden fork with a carved daffodil in the handle in relief.

Pavarti watched what the others had made and got an idea of what to make then she closed her eyes and focused, a couple of minutes later she opened her eyes and said “Flosfurca!” This time there was an eloquent relief cut that had the flowers petals cut out individually and folded down to attach back onto the fork, the stem turned from brushed steel to polished steel near the tongs separating the two, making the appearance of a stem. It was truly an eloquent piece, a full set of that stemware would be worth quite a bit.

As soon as they finished their forks, Professor Black came over and took a look and then commented on each one. Noting how creative or detailed each one was, how thoughtful or well designed it was. And this time he made notice of each one of their creations not just Pavarti’s, and gave points for each one of their efforts.

When Pavarti asked Harry what the difference was from all the other times, he merely said that they had never tried that transfiguration before. Which had her giving him a strange look and a questioning shake of her head. Harry nodded, “We have done some things similar but never any quite like that, never silverware. I think it was great. I can create my own flatware now and don’t have to buy what ever is available off the market. I can design it and just find someone to make the whole set.” Harry said, looking down at the fork he had designed and smiled.

Pavarti smiled back and nodded. “I have never thought about that before, I would love to have a complete set of this design, it would be so perfect to have as a spring set.” Now if she could only design a set of dishes and glasswares. She could just imagine the glassware she would design too.

“Okay folks looks like we have some inventive people in Gryffindor this morning, ten points each. Miss Patil, Miss Lovegood, Mr. Black, and Mr. Longbottom. And what is this, Miss Greengrass…excellent a rather interesting interpretation, excellent another ten points this time to Slytherin. Mr Zabini what have you got there, good for you, a good effort and quite worth the wait, ten points.” Sirius was definitely liking the results of this project, people were coming up with some unique designs to be sure.

He would have to try another style of the same basic thing, something shaped basically the same way but of different material. Hmmm this will take a little bit of thinking to come up with something new but different. Sirius thought for a while and then came up with something then sat down and started to write a few things down at his desk.

Lavender had just about had enough of this to make herself sick, again and again she tried the transfiguration and she couldn’t get anything that even looked remotely like a fork, it looked more like a stick or something. She finally got so frustrated she took her stick and threw it across the room hitting Millicent Bullstrode on the back of the head.

“Hey!” Millicent turned around and looked across the room to the back to see who had thrown the offending object. Since Lavender was the only one that no longer had her flower, she knew it had to be her that threw it at her. “What’s the big idea Brown?”

“What’s the problem here Miss Bullstrode?” Professor Black came over when he noticed Millicent had turned and glared at Lavender and shouted at her. He walked over to Miss Bullstrode’s desk and right behind it on the floor was a deformed twig looking…fork looking…something, maybe. And since the only person in the room who no longer had their flower or a finished fork was Lavender Brown, Professor Black picked up the, what ever it was, and took it over to Miss Brown and asked if it was her’s.

“It must be Bullstrode’s she probably just called out my name trying to get me in trouble.” Lavender tried.

Sirius sat the piece down on her table and shook his head. “First, You are the only person that either doesn’t have a finished fork or a flower still. Miss Bullstrode just finished turning her flower into a plain but complete silver fork, when she was hit in the back of the head by this. So that is twenty points for throwing things in my classroom. And a detention for lying about it and trying to frame another student. That will be Saturday at two o’clock here in this room. I will get you another flower and you can try that transfiguration again.

“You keep it! I don’t want to try it!” Lavender shouted at Professor Black.

“That will be ten more points for disrespecting a Professor Miss Brown, and if that is your choice you will get a zero for today then.” Then he turned and went to look at what Seamus and Dean had managed to do. Both had managed plain ordinary forks but forks they were. So they each got five points and praised for their accomplishments. And given a new flower in case they wanted to try to do another one. Then he headed over to Slytherin side.

This was just the start of a ruff day for Lavender, in Charms she couldn’t get her charm to work, and she had sat next to that know-it-all Granger. They were working on The Wingardium Leviosa charm, all they had to do was make a feather float. And Know-it-all started in on her with “It’s Levi-O-sa not Levi-o-SA with a nice long stress on the ‘o’.” No wonder everyone complains about her, she is nothing but a know-it-all just like the other four. Always telling you how to do something even when you don’t ask. Like she knows so much more than you do or something.

In the middle of the class Lavender got tired of it all and got up and moved over to the other side of the hall, over to where the Ravenclaws were sitting and sat in the back where no one was sitting. Then Harry, Luna and Neville could hear Hermione in the back crying and got mad at Lavender, and Harry got up and went into the back and escorted Hermione up to set in the row right behind them. Lavender watched this steaming, how dare they go comfort that know-it-all, after she made her look stupid.

But they didn’t see it like that, they saw it as she was trying to help and that Lavender had been cruel to her when she was just been trying to help. Then she had embarrassed her by moving away and leaving her to sit by herself in the back of the class. Well… they wouldn’t have a Gryffindor treat a member of any house, even Slytherin like that, not if they could help it. Gryffindor was a house of honor and integrity, and no single member of the house was going to besmirch their reputation under their watch.

So Harry placed her in between Seamus and Dean who actually needed and wanted the extra help, and she was thrilled to help them. They listened intently to what she had to say and in no time they had their feathers floating up just as she did. They got points for their effort and couldn’t have been prouder.

Pavarti easily caught on to the spell without the urging of the others this time and she was so proud of herself that she almost started to cry. That night she intended to write to her Mata and Papa and tell them all about it too. Her first spell she caught onto without anyone else’s help. And she had her feather floating a good six inches above the desks without a problem. It really was as easy as the others made it out to be. Mind over magic they always said.

Lunch was a nightmare for Lavender, no one would talk to her at all; not even the older years. The younger years sat as far away from her as they possibly could without sitting at a different table; which some people actually got up and move away to go sit with friends rather than sit near her. Even the four of them did something they never would have done previously, they got up and went over to eat lunch with Hannah and Susan in Hufflepuff. Leaving Lavender to sit by herself at the end of the Gryffindor table, the only first year remaining.

“She’s a nightmare I tell you, ‘it’s Levi-O-sah not Levi-o-SAH’, a bloody nightmare. It’s no wonder no body likes her.” Harry heard over his shoulder. Well that was the limit to his tolerance. Bullies were one thing that Harry had zero tolerance for and Lavender Brown had just proven that she was indeed a first class bully. Luna tried to calm him down, but he would hear none of it. He got up from the Hufflepuff table and went back over to the Gryffindor table and walked up to Lavender and stood there with his arms across his chess.

“Well that is two more things you are wrong about today Brown. First, Hermione Granger is no nightmare, she is a very good student that wants no more than to help other students do well. And second, we four are her friends, and I don’t let my friends be talked about behind their backs. Even by a bully such as yourself.” Harry stated in a low voice.

“I am no bully, just speaking the truth.” Lavender sniffed and put her nose in the air, “And if your group of show-offs can’t take it, then you can go away too.”

“It appears being good in class to you is a sign of being a show off. So in order to be your friend someone has to be just as bad in class as you are?” Harry questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Which would mean not handing in homework, refusing to do class work during class, arguing with the Professor, not doing the readings, not being able to do the in class work, and blowing up cauldrons. Sorry I don’t think I want to be your friend, it is much safer that way, and I have more pride in myself than that.” Harry didn’t realize that Neville and Luna, Pavarti, Susan and Hannah had all come over to stand behind him.

Neville put his hand on Harry’s shoulder and stated. “We all do.” Each one of them stated proudly. Then Anthony Goldstein, Sue Li, Padma Patil, Lisa Turpin, Morag MacDonald, Su Li, Mandy Brocklehurst, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot who had heard the whole thing got up got up as one and came over to stand beside Harry as well, “So do we.” They all said.

“Wait a minute! You all hate Granger, I have heard you talk about her myself.” Lavender was getting red faced.

“No we don’t hate her at all. She is a really sweet girl. What we don’t like is that she always tries to get the teacher’s attention and never allows any of the rest of us a chance at getting any points for getting the right answer. She is very, very smart and studies all the time, if she was trying to help you… you should have been happy to have her help you. In stead of acting like a brat and being mean to her. And by the way, that is how you pronounce Leviosa, with the proper inflection, but you would know that if you had opened up your book.” Terry Boot said.

“Yeah, she is even in our band. She play’s a saxophone and does ballet. Did you know that? Of course not, if it doesn’t have something to do with you, you don’t want to know anything about it do you?” Neville asked.

“I would suggest you keep your snide little comments to yourself Brown, for as you can see Hermione Granger has a lot more friends than you do, since as far as I know you have none. You even ostracized your own dorm mates and separated your beds then put up a sheet so you wouldn’t have to share the same space as them. Probably the only good thing you have done since you got here. There is no place for bullies at Hogwarts, and you Miss Brown are a Bully. I suggest you think about your place here at this school and what it will be like for the next seven years if you continue as you have been. Oh and before you say you will go to the Professors, I invite you to, they enjoy bullies even less that we do. So far your actions have only gotten you points docked and detentions, what happens next, suspension…expulsion?” Harry stated, then he turned and headed over to where Hermione was being comforted by Penelope Clearwater the fifth year Prefect.

“Miss Granger, on behalf of the entire Gryffindor first years minus one, I would like to apologize to you for behaviors un-becoming a Gryffindor. We do not approve of such behavior, nor condone it in any manner. We would like to apologize unreservedly for the actions of one of our own and hope that you understand to not let the actions of one individual taint your opinions on a whole house.” Harry said with his head bowed and his hands in front of himself. Before he knew what hit him he had a brunette rocket wrapped around him and giving him a bear hug from hell.

“Thank you Harry, no one has ever stuck up for me like that before. Oh sorry…” Hermione let the poor rumpled Harry loose. “My parents have of course, but none of my fellow students, I have always been the bucked- toothed, frizzy-haired, know-it-all. The person people loved to hate. I can’t tell you how much what you said has meant to me. What you and the others said that is. Thank you.” She sniffed and he gave her his handkerchief then smiled.

“Some people just want to bring people down to their level so you can be just as miserable as they are. The whole way to succeed is not to let them do it. She is nothing more than a bully, and she is even a poor one of those. Since no one is willing to let her bully them any longer.” Harry smiled.

Apparently the Professors had also been listening in on what was being said and had just staid out of it until now. “Miss Brown,” Professor Longbottom came over to the Gryffindor table and stood behind Lavender, “I believe you owe Miss Granger an apology.”

“What for? Not putting up with a know-it-all? No thanks.” Lavender glared at the Head of Gryffindor House.

“You seem to be under the mistaken delusion that that was a suggestion.” Alice frowned down at Miss Brown.

“I don’t care what it was, I’m not apologizing for telling the truth, she is a know-it-all. And she was disrupting my studying. I had to move to the other side of the class because of her.”

“From what I gather from Professor Flitwick you got an incomplete for the day and Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, whom she sat with and helped, not only got the charm correct with her help, but got points in the class as well. So what does that say about you and your work, compared to her, her work and those that actually listened to her?” Alice tried but apparently Miss Brown just couldn’t see past the nose on her face. And refused to see anyone else’s view of the situation.

“Well of course the Professor is going to support the teacher’s pet. Just like he fawns over Potter, Longbottom, Lovegood and Patil. Practically drools over them every class, can’t wait to see what new thing they will come up with next. Granger is the same way, the only thing she doesn’t do is stand on her desk and wave her hand in the air to get the teacher’s attention. Can’t even try to get a answer in class with those five in there.” Lavender smirked.

“Do you attempt to do the work in class, or answer some of the questions brought up in class?” Alice questioned.

“Why bother, I am just going to have to compete with the teacher’s pets and or their kids, so what’s the use.”

“The use is, that everyone in this school is expected to do their best. It sounds like to me you are using any excuse you can find to be lazy and not do your own work, be prepared for class and do the required work or readings. It also sounds like your blaming everyone but yourself for your own failures. Now did you wish to rethink apologizing or do you wish to spend the weekend in detention with Filch?” Alice asked.

“You can’t do that. You can’t give me a detention just because I think you are wrong.” Brown shouted at Professor Longbottom.

“I would like to point out that it not the reason you are now most definitely getting a detention with Filch, and it has nothing to do with whether I am wrong or right. It has to do with whether you are wrong or not. And whether you wished to accept the consequences for your actions. Since you don’t even wish to acknowledge the fact that you may be wrong we shall simply have to write to your parents about this and see if they can convince you to see the error of your beliefs. Oh and that will be twenty points docked for disrespecting a Professor, once again and you will report to Mr. Filch at two o’clock on Sunday.” Professor Longbottom stated. “Now I suggest you eat, you have twenty minutes to get to Potions class. Every one sit back down and finish your lunches, the show is over, finish your lunch. You only have twenty minutes left.” With that turned and headed back up to the teachers tables and sat down between Frank and Filius again.

“I can’t believe the nerve of that girl. Blaming everyone but herself for her problems in class. The reports I have been getting in on her she doesn’t even try to do her work, and what work she does do is sub par at best. She has actually told three teachers point blank that she refuses to do the work in class now. And has failed to hand in her homework a total of seven times. She has gotten multiple zero’s in class do to lack of class participation, and has even picked on the other students who do participate. I think today was just the whole thing coming to a head. They all just got fed up with her attitude. The only ones that didn’t say anything were the Slytherins and I think they were almost enjoying the show too much to do anything.

“I’m surprised it took this long really. Harry and Neville are very protective of their friends and she has made numerous comments about Miss Patil and Luna in my class, and from what Sirius and Remus have said it’s true, in their class as well. I guess they just didn’t want to hurt her feelings or something. I thought that he would say something for sure when he heard about how she rearranged their room without asking. Maybe we should make sure that the girls have enough space and that things are a little more sturdy up there. Something that won’t lead to more arguments.” Frank suggested, with a smile on his face, apparently he had something up his sleeve.

“What are you up to Franklin Longbottom?” Alice squinted at her husband suspiciously.

“Those rooms were designed to hold up to six beds, true?”

“Yes, more if need be. But six comfortably. “ Alice stated.

“Then I think I know how to take care of one little issue our girls are having.” Like everyone else he had started including Pavarti Patil in their little group of kids. She had become a good friend to their own children and her sister Padma was slowly joining their ranks although, nowhere near as quickly. She also loved giving them a break by baby sitting the twins on Sunday so they could get some grading taken care of, and yes Alice helped Frank on his grading essays and homework. It went much faster that way.

“What did you have in mind?” She asked hesitantly.

“Well…” He explained his idea to her and she absolutely loved it, it would call for Jeeves help but it shouldn’t be too hard to do at all.

Frank noticed the kids get up and head out before the bell rang, he assumed they were all heading down to potions classroom together. It wouldn’t surprise him if they liked to be there early every day and set up waiting for Persephone to get there. He knows how she hates to be kept waiting. But she was just now finishing up her lunch so they still had a minute or two before the bell rang.

When Harry, Neville, Luna and Pavarti got to the Potions classroom they went in and began to set up their workstation as normal. Getting out everything they might need. They had studied the Burn Paste over the weekend and had to write a foot long essay on it’s properties and idiosyncrasies, as well as it’s history and variations to date. Harry ended up with almost two feet by the time he finished, so did Luna. Neville wasn’t that far behind with twenty-two inches and Pavarti had twenty inches but she just smiled and shrugged about it.
Dean had complained that he couldn’t find enough information to make the full twelve inches so she gave him the title of one of the books she found a lot of information in from the library and he headed down there with Seamus who was apparently having the same problem. They didn’t have a problem with doing the work, they just didn’t know where to look for the information and appreciated the help, and told her so. Now they both had fourteen inches and were very proud about it. Although Seamus’ work looked like a chicken exploded on it, but then again his penmanship was never the best, at least it was somewhat readable, if you ignore the ink blotches and smears.

Pavarti calibrated her own scales with Neville closely watching each step she took, then nodding as she finished. She turned and beamed a smile at him. It was the first time she had done it entirely by herself. And she had made no mistakes either. Mata and Papa had sent her a new calibration kit last week and she had been practicing with it every since, this was her first time at using it all by her self though.

Professor Longbottom walked into the room followed by the rest of the class, as they all took their seats and began to get their equipment out Professor Longbottom went around the room collecting the essays she had us write over the weekend. Then she headed back up to the center island at the front of class, and began to take out her equipment and started going over the steps to make the burn salve.

There was one thing Harry notice that was obviously not there in the room when Professor Longbottom started her demonstration, Lavender Brown, for some reason she wasn’t in class, or hadn’t made it to class yet. Harry watched the minutes tick by at ten minutes past he decided to ignore it and just pay attention to the class and enjoy it. Fifteen minutes into the class, the door knob of the room jiggled, then someone knocked on the door. They kept knocking, the knocking got louder until it was pounding, finally it was someone on the other side of the door kicking the door. It became too much noise for Professor to ignore so she put up a silencing ward around the door, she knew if it was a teacher they would have sent a Patronus message through to her, if had been a Prefect they would have gotten a Professor and then they would have sent a Patronus message through to her. So it had to be Lavender Brown on the other side of the door.

Harry knows what he would have done if he were ever in such a situation where he were held back for some reason and couldn’t get to class on time. He would either knock politely and then send a message explaining why he was late with a teacher’s signature on the bottom underneath the door. Or he would knock on the door politely, then sit out in the hallway and wait until class was over then go into to class and ask the teacher what the homework assignment was, or if it was something he could do quickly like show a charm, spell or transfiguration to prove he had the ability and still get the points for doing so, he would do it and then get the homework assignment. And hope he got the points for participation and not a zero for the day.

But unfortunately, Brown seemed hell bent on making a fool of herself again and trying to kick in the Potions Classroom door.

“Alright everyone you may begin.” Professor Lovegood stated. She then went over to the door and removed the silencing ward and again the loud kicking could be heard. She then opened the door and spotted a very red faced Lavender Brown who was aiming another kick at the door when the door had swung open. “What do you think you are doing Miss Brown?”

“Trying to get to class, unless you couldn’t tell.” She snidely stated.

“Ten points for your cheek, and forty points for damaging school property. She pointed to the now damaged door You also have another detention with me tonight at seven o’clock here, to make up the class you are missing right now. Now you are going to go to the Headmistress’ office and wait for me there. It will be a while since class is only thirty minutes in, so be prepared to study chapter six in your book while you wait.” Professor Lovegood scowled at the offending little girl.

“I won’t be there, I am going to write to my father. I am sick of being treated like this. I am so out of here.” She stated then she grabbed her bag and headed back in the opposite direction of the Headmistress’ office.

With that the Professor shut the door and sealed it again and started to walk around to each student, commenting on how they were doing, even complimenting Malfoy on his potion, which had him practically beaming. It was the first time she had openly complimented him on his work in her class, but she had put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Excellent Mr. Malfoy, exactly as it should be, ten points to Slytherin. Miss Parkinson if you stir yours slightly faster you will find you get a better thickness,”

“Mr. Goyle what is that your making and why do you have Golden Rod on your area when the recipe clearly states that you need Golden Seal? Clean you equipment and start over this time use the right ingredients and check your book twice before you put an ingredient into the potion.” Professor Lovegood shook her head and then headed over to Luna’s area.

Luna, Neville, Harry and Pavarti’s Potions were all at the cooling stage and so they were just cleaning up their area when Professor Lovegood came over to check their work. She went by each of their potions, after checking the color and consistency, she handed each one a tub with a lid and little flat wooden ladle then told them to make sure to label it properly. That Madam Pomfrey was needing burn salve in the infirmary so anyone’s whose quality was good enough was going to get to donate their potion to the infirmary.

The kids scooped a little over half their potion into the little tubs and sealed them, then labeled them and put their seal on the tubs; but left their names off, since they were going to go to the infirmary. Professor Lovegood would know who they belonged to by their seal alone anyway. She gave out the little tubs to Malfoy, Davis, Greengrass, and Zabini as well. Although she was still working with Thomas so he may get to donate his to the infirmary as well by the time class ends.

“Read chapter six tonight and be ready for a quiz on Wednesday, part of that quiz will be can you make the boil cure within the forty-five minute time frame allowed. So if you need some practice on it I will be in my office and the rooms shall be available tonight and tomorrow at six o’clock to eight o’clock.”

Seamus Finnigan did pretty good. “Not bad Mr. Finnigan, although it should be a creamy yellow not a pale green. Did you add the Mullein as directed in the recipe at the correct time perhaps?”

“Mullein?” Seamus looked confused, there’s suppose to be mullein in this potion, then he looked down at his book and read the ingredients again then looked up at the Professor and shrugged his shoulders blushing and laughed a little. Apparently, he hadn’t noticed the mullein the first time he made his trip to the ingredients locker. He knew he should have written down a list and just taken the list with him, instead of relying on his own memory. Oh well he went about cleaning up his equipment so that he could start all over. Then headed into the ingredients room to get the items he had written down this time though, with a little boy grin.

Nott and Bullstrode finished their potions and they were acceptable to be used by Pomfrey as well. Bullstrode was really getting better at this, since she started listening to what Greengrass told her, and watching what the four are doing that is. Now she wipes everything down before she starts to do her potion just like they do and calibrates her scales every time as well. She may be a little slow at times but she is by no means stupid.

“Since Madam Pomfrey needs a lot of Burn Salve, we will be making this same potion Wednesday so anyone who didn’t finish today or who wants to try for a better grade you can try again Wednesday, those that are satisfied with your grade will get five points extra credit for each tub of burn salve you make Wednesday. This is your first chance to make some extra credit points folks don’t waste it.

With that the class was dismissed and everyone was left and those that had finished their potion appropriately today were all excited at the opportunity of getting to do extra credit work Wednesday.

They made it down to the Defense classroom right on time and everyone took their seats, oddly enough Lavender Brown did not show up for this class either. This time there was no knock at the door or banging and kicking fifteen minutes into class. She just didn’t show at all.

“Alright folks last week we learned the Expelliarmus Charm and Accio; the disarming charm and the summoning charm. Both of which can save your life in a battle or even in a simple duel. Today we are going to work on a something called the Stinging Hex, now does anyone want to take a guess at why it is called that.” Professor Longbottom asked.

Theodor Nott raised his hand and the Professor Longbottom pointed to him and nodded, “It’s called the stinging hex because it stings if you get hit by it.”

“Exactly, and it can be mild…like a pinch. To major, like a cut with a whip. Depending on how much power you put into it, depends on how strong the sting. So do remember that when you are attempting to use this against your fellow students in this class. And yes, it can leave welts, bruises, or even break skin if the person delivering the hex is strong enough. Also where you are hit with one of these makes all the difference in the world. In a duel with someone and you hit them on their wand hand with a strong stinging hex, believe me they are dropping that wand and grabbing their hand in tears if you do it strong enough. Or what if you hit your opponent in the crotch, now that is fighting dirty, but hell in an all out fight, there is no such thing as rules in fighting.”

At that point all the boys grabbed their crotch and groaned bending over as if to shield themselves, even Harry and Neville did to some degree. Harry had caught just such a hit on his hip one day just inches away from it’s target and it had left a huge bruise and nasty red slash on his hip for days. As a reminder to never let your guard down for any reason.

“There is also the possibility of hitting your opponent in the eyes, a good stinging hex in the eyes will blind your opponent long enough to distract them to use Expelliarmus or Accio or both on them and get their wand and disarm them at that point ending the battle. With little to no bloodshed. Now the word you will need to know is ‘Aculeo’ say it with me, Aculeo, once again Aculeo! Alright now I have some targets at the front of the classroom I want you guys to form two lines and try and hit any part of the target. If you get a green light that means you hit it hard enough to leave a mark. Three strikes and I want you to sit down and give the others a chance to see if they can improve. Now remember this is merely a point and flick on your wand so just aim at what you want to hit and flick your wand as you say Aculeo.”

“Alright folks, line up…” Professor Longbottom moved over to the side of the classroom and took out his score book and began to take notes on who was doing how good and who needed help on the hex and what they were doing wrong.

“Mr. Zabini there is no ’s’ in Aculeo. It is pronounce Aculeo, not Asculeo. Try again.” The professor waited for a moment then Blaise followed his instructions and got a hit. “Good, good, very well done.”

Harry, Neville, Luna and Pavarti had let Dean and Seamus go first and now was their turn. Harry was up first and he got a hit on the target’s right hand. Then Neville scored a hit on the target’s eyes. Finally it was Pavarti’s turn and she chose to try for the mouth and got a hit. Professor Longbottom asked her why she chose that area she said “If you can’t speak because your lips were too swollen or your tongue was stinging or cut then you can’t call out your next hit now can you?” Which is all true, Professor Longbottom gave her ten points for strategically thinking, and congratulated her. Pavarti Patil was one that was coming forward in his class in leaps and bounds, in only three weeks she had gained a lot of self-confidence and was doing almost every spell on the first or second try now. The next round Luna hit the target across the chest and Professor Longbottom asked why, she said, “What if your opponent is a girl? A crotch hit isn’t going to do much for a girl, but a boob shot will definitely make them drop their wand.” Again a ten point bonus for strategically thinking, and all the girls in the class were holding their chests and nodding.

The rest of the class went a lot like that, Zabini got in a good throat shot, he said, “If he could get it strong enough the person wasn’t going to be casting anything at him while they were gasping for air now would they?” Which was very true, although it would have to be a strong hit, so he would need to practice on that one, but he still got the ten points for strategically thinking.

Malfoy had the spell down alright but his aim was off with the flick of the wand so he couldn’t hit the areas he was aiming at, although he still hit the target which was better than Vincent Crabbe or Greg Goyle. Even Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan did better than those two. They were the last to sit down, Professor Longbottom finally had to just tell them to take a seat and they could practice more next class.

“Alright now I am going to teach you a spell you can work with on your own to get your aim down pat, it is a simple paint spell it is called Rubrum Pingere or ‘red paint’ this will cause a small ball of red paint to shoot out of the end of your wand and hit the target. Do not aim at a person’s face, am I understood here. This is one of the spells that if I find out you are using it for anything but practicing within these walls you will be punished, Do I make myself absolutely clear. I will not have a student blinded because of some idiot decided to clown around with a spell. So yes, use the Pingere spell with caution and only in this room, at pre-constructed targets.”

That night when Luna and Pavarti went up to their room it was very different from what it had been, no longer was there a sheet cording off Lavender Brown’s bed and their beds. Instead there was a solid wall constructed in between the two sections, with two thirds the room separated for the two girls and one third for Miss Brown, The back portion of the of the room was taken up by the section for Pavarti and Luna so they got the window, but Professor Longbottom had gotten Jeeves to place an artificial window on one wall in Lavender’s section so she wouldn’t gripe and say that she didn’t have a window now, and considering the fact that the windows this high up didn’t open it should be enough. Frank had place a permanent silencing spell on Luna and Pavarti’s section so that Lavender couldn’t hear what they were saying or doing. Then he placed a wardrobe, nightstand and a desk with a chair by each bed in the new sectioned off area for each girl; but left Lavender with only a bed and wardrobe and her little nightstand, thinking she obviously didn’t need a desk since she could care less about her studies. Each little desk had it’s own set of book shelves attached to it so both girls were just thrilled to see their new area. They both immediately got out their books and started putting them on their shelves and arranging their new area, to tell you the truth they loved it. Lavender’s selfishness had just made their year.

————————————

The next morning Headmistress McGonagall got a rather frustrating floo call from an irate Charlston Brown about the mistreatment of his daughter. Docking her points and giving her detention for speaking the truth about a student that was disrupting her studying, refusing to let her into classes, ignoring her during class in favor of student that the teacher is related to, always giving points out to the same people and never once giving points out to her, the list went on and on. Finally the Headmistress had heard enough and asked Mr. Brown to join her in her office.

Mr. Brown stepped through to find that there was a teacher’s meeting in process and couldn’t understand why the Headmistress wanted him to come through right then and not wait to a more convenient time.

“That Mr. Brown is three fold, first, you didn’t seem to be willing to wait. Second, you had already disturbed this meeting with your shouting, so why not include you properly at least. And thirdly, all of the teachers that your daughter has complained to you about are present as we speak and can defend themselves to answer your questions immediately so why wait.” McGonagall stated still frowning at the rude interruption.

“Now to your first accusation, your daughter got mad because she was docked points and given a detention for speaking the truth about a student that was disrupting her studying. First she was making fun of said student in the middle of the Dining Hall and other students took offense to it. She was not studying at any point. During the class in question the student, one Hermione Granger was trying to help her learn how to pronounce Wingardium Leviosa since she was doing it wrong, and she got mad and moved to a different chair on the other side of the room, which made Miss Granger cry. Another student went and invited Miss Granger to come up and sit with them and she ended up helping two other students get the spell right and got extra points for doing so. But Miss Brown became frustrated with this and started making fun of her and called her a ‘bloody nightmare’. I believe were her exact words. None of her own class mates wished to sit with her at lunch due to her actions after that, some even went so far as to move to other tables, unfortunately all she did was get louder and more boisterous with her complaints and bullying and proceeded to talk about the girl behind her back. Finally Harry Black had gotten tired of it and came over and told her that she was being a bully and that he doesn’t tolerate bullies well, then so did the rest of Gryffindor first years, some of the Hufflepuff first years, and all the Ravenclaw first years, which is the house that Miss Granger belongs too, mind you. Then Miss Brown’s head of house came over and told her she owed Miss Granger an apology and she refused, and did so in a very rude and disrespectful manner, which is why she got the points taken and the detention. Not for having an opinion, but for being rude and disrespectful to her Head of House. Oh and after Miss Brown was away from Miss Granger for the remaining forty minutes of the class she still did not get the charm properly and she had not handed in her homework for that day, she ended up with a zero for that day.” The Head Mistress stated.

“To your second complaint, refusing to let her into class. I think that is focused on your incident Professor Lovegood.” Mcgonagall Directed,

Alice nodded and began to speak, “That would be involving one of the most recent incidents, as of yesterday, it was. I have a standing rule that I explain at the start of the semester that if you are late for class be prepared to sit outside class because the doors will be sealed and there is no one getting in after the bell. People don’t understand how fragile potions could be and a moments distraction can mean a disaster, so it is my common practice to give my students plenty of warning of how things take place and the consequences of their actions. When Miss Brown was fifteen minutes late for class yesterday she began by jiggling the handle on the door, then knocking, then pounding on the door, then finally kicking on the door until I finally had to place a silencing ward up to help prevent it from disturbing the other students. After I finished with my instructions I went to see who it was and it was indeed Miss Brown, she was rude and belligerent to me, I docked her points for her attitude and cheek and then gave her a detention for damaging school property which is the door to my classroom, which I have yet to repair and would be happy to show it to you. I instructed her that she should meet me in the Headmistress’ office when class was over and she refused stating she was going to write to you that ‘she was so out of here’ is I believe how she put it. I would also like to note she failed to show at all for her next class Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“As to ignoring your daughter in favor of students that we are related to...” Sirius started. “There are three students in a school of over three hundred students that just so happen to be in your daughter’s year and house, that are related in any manner to some of the Professors here, Harry Black is my son; Neville Longbottom is Frank and Alice Longbottom’s son, and Luna Lovegood is Persephone and Xenophilius Lovegood’s daughter. There is one other student they frequently sit with that is named Pavarti Patil, so she should also be noted at this time. Now before it goes any further with any suspicions or misconceptions, it was an understanding between us all that none of our kids would get points for any school work that they had previously done, like the whole matchstick into a needle transfiguration, ours have been doing that since they were eight years old. Yesterday was the first day they received any points for any transfiguration work that had done, even though they are easily top of their class, and it was turning a flower into a fork…which they had never done before. The rest of the time the only one that ever gets any points out of the four of them is Miss Patil and that is because she has never done any of these kinds of work before, yet truly is gifted. The most I do for the other three is comment if it is something that is new and imaginative, I will compliment them on. Other than that I just move on to the next student. As far as ignoring your daughter, it is rather hard to ignore her when she is throwing her ‘transfigured’ flower across the room and hitting another student in the back of the head with it. Then she has the nerve to try and frame that same student saying she must be trying to get her into trouble. But considering that the young girl had just finished transfiguring her flower into a fork, and the only person in the room without either a flower or a fork was your daughter it led me to believe the ‘fork’ belonged to her. I docked her points for throwing things in my class room and gave her a detention for lying and trying to frame another student. Ignore, not in the least.” Professor Black finished.

Frank thought he should pitch in this time, “As to never giving her points, it is a little hard to give her points when she refuses to answer the questions you ask of her, refuses to read the assigned readings, refuses to hand in her homework and refuses to participate in class. You tell me where I can hand out points if she refuses every opportunity given to her to give her any points at all. So far she has had ten classes with me, including yesterday and she has three zeros for either not showing up, showing up late or not being prepared for class. Her average grade in my class right now is Poor, and that is an average, she turned in two Troll papers last week alone. She is proudly sitting at the lowest ten percent of my class, and doesn’t seem to want to get out of it, I have offered to help her and reminded her of my office hours but she has not shown up, not asked for help, not attempted to make any changes, only gotten worse. And like Professor Lovegood stated, she didn’t even come to my class or come to tell me why afterwards. I still have no idea why she didn’t show up. I also bet she never showed up for her meeting with the Headmistress either.”

Mr. Brown looked around at the Professors that were before him confused and didn’t quite know what to say. “I honesty don’t know what to say, what you’re telling me is totally different than what Lavender has told me and I have always been able to trust her at her word.”

“Mr. Brown is this the first time that Lavender has been away from home?” Alice asked.

“Yes, she always had just standard schooling, never boarding school until now.”

“Maybe that’s it, she is just homesick and this is her way of getting sent back home, or the easiest way she can think of.” Alice thought for a minute, “Maybe she thought if she did bad enough in school here you would have to pull her out and teach her at home or something along those lines. She doesn’t realize she still has to take the Ministry mandated tests each year or have her wand snapped, it isn’t a cake walk, you don’t just get to get a wand and walk around with it willy nilly.”

“Doesn’t she understand that you paid for her to go to school here, to be boarded here, to be taught here and to basically quit now that you loose all that money.” Frank asked.

“Her handing in homework is another problem, she just doesn’t seem to want to do it at all. Today we have a paper do on Ignatia Wildsmith that she has had a week to do and I bet you anything she will not hand it in. So far she has handed in one of the four papers I have assigned. And it was at Poor level, and to be quite truthful that was stretching it.” Professor Lupin stated.

“In Care of Magical Creatures she absolutely refuses to do any of the drawings I assign, stating she can’t draw. And just refuses to even try. To tell you the truth I have a few students that draw little better than stick animals but they get better grades than her since they are at least making an effort to do something. And she has yet to hand in a single report that I have assigned. Stating she is just going to get a zero since she didn’t do the picture anyway.” Xenophilius stated shaking his head, “I explained at the beginning of class that the artwork was subjective and in no way effected your grade, I merely wanted to know that you understood you basically knew what the creature looked like. To be honest, I wouldn’t have cared if she traced the picture out of a book some where, as long as she noted the book in her report. One student who hates the way they draw is actually doing that and gets full marks for doing so, just because they make an effort to find a good picture that they can use and then transfer it onto parchment. Other than that their reports are remarkable, they are one of my best in class and one of your daughter’s year mates.” Xenophilius explained.

“In Herbology she always goes around sneezing, or sniffing, or coughing and says she has allergies but I checked her files and no allergies were listed. I still send her to Madam Pomfrey every class and she has yet to show up one single time. She won’t do the homework I hand out, claiming she wasn’t there to hear it being handed out so she shouldn’t be responsible for it being handed in. I explain it is her responsibility to get the information from me or another student in order to not to receive a zero for the class, and a zero for her homework. She has even gotten so belligerent as to yell at me and state that I am just playing favorites like everyone else. I then docked her points and assigned her a detention which she never showed up for, claiming again allergies. Which was odd, considering her detention was with Mr. Filch cleaning the trophy room. I think this whole school is just one big joke to her and she feels there is nothing we can do to make her do anything.” Professor Sprout stated and she rarely spoke ill of a student but this student had gotten on her last nerve.

“As you can see Mr. Brown, either every single Professor in this school has had similar yet different experiences with your daughter, or there is something seriously wrong here. I think it is about time we went and retrieved Miss Brown and asked her to join us.” With that Minerva sent a house elf to go fetch Miss Brown. When the elf came back alone with it’s head bowed it told her that Missy Brown told her to leave her alone and told her to tell Headmistress Lady to ‘get a life’, the poor little female elf looked on the verge of tears when she said it but she repeated the girls words, word for word. And Mr. Brown thought he would faint. He never even thought to say such a thing to his Headmaster let alone did so in real. “Well then, I want you to drag that young lady here, kicking and screaming if necessary. Just pop her from her bed to this room, dressed as she is, in what ever she is, we will take care of the rest. Gentlemen if you would kindly advert your eyes incase she is less than presentable. All the men in the room huddled over together on the other side of the room with their backs to the Headmistress. And the little elf headed back out with a pop. And *pop* it was back with a screeching young girl, who was furiously trying to get up off the floor of McGonagall’s office.

“How dare you!” Miss Brown started…

“No! How dare you!” Her father came back. “How dare you ignore a summons from your Headmistress, and tell her to ‘get a life’, what if something had happened to your mother or I?” Mr. Brown was furious and it showed in his face, he was not a man that was used to a disrespectful child, especially his child. This was a side of his daughter he had never seen, and now he had no way to deny any of what they were saying about his little girl.

“DADDY!” Lavender rushed over to the tall man and reached around him but was stunned when he did not reach down and immediately hug her back. When she looked up she saw the disapproving look on his face and guessed she might be in trouble. “Oh… so I guess you believe what she has been telling you instead of me, right?” She asked in a very sarcastic tone.

Mr. Brown twirled his daughter around and smacked her on her butt three hard smacks. This was the first time she got to see all her Professors in the room, and realized she just might be in a little bit of trouble. So she did the best thing she could think of and began to cry. “And none of those fake tears you have been able to pull since you were five years old young lady, keep that up and I really will give you something to cry about.” Mr. Brown stated.

Alice Longbottom took the moment to create a school uniform and do a simple switching spell and put Miss Brown in her uniform for the day, then informed the other members of the staff that it was safe to turn around now. Now with all the Professors back together they came back and sat down again along with her father. The only one without a seat was Miss Brown, and rightly so for right now they needed her to focus on what they were saying not getting comfortable.

“Miss Brown, that will be another detention for your disrespectful behavior this morning, with Mr. Filch, along with the three you have already missed with him.”

“WHAT! What do you mean! Aren’t I going home with you Daddy? Isn’t this why you are here?” Lavender was almost in real tears this time.

“No you are not going home with me. What I want to know is why you are lying to me, lying to your teachers, not doing your homework, not doing your class work, fighting with other students, calling other students rude names, being disrespectful, assaulting a student, damaging school property, not showing up for class on time, or just cutting class completely? And those are just the things I can remember off the top of my head. Previously you were a straight Exceeds Expectations student, and now I am told you are in the lowest ten percent in all your classes. And in most of your classes that is being generous, if they could put you at an incomplete and make you take the whole school year again I think they would. And we are only three weeks into the year. What is going on here? Why? What is so different about the work? It can’t be because it’s magic because I’ve been teaching you magic theory at home for years. And the school we sent you to was one of the best pre-magicals in Great Britain, so tell me what is so different?”

“Did you know they have a Werewolf teaching History here?” Remus was taken aback by that, he hadn’t realized that any of the students realized his condition yet, and it wasn’t even a month in.

“So…. your great Uncle Oscar is a Werewolf and you adore him, have since you were an infant. So don’t give me any of that bigotry crap.” Mr. Brown looked over to Professor Lupin and nodded then back down to his daughter.

“Did they tell you how they favor their kids?” Lavender tried.

“You mean the fact that their kids work twice as hard as anyone else and get no points in class unless it is something they have never tried before, yes they told me.” Mr. Brown stated.

“Oh and Miss Brown it isn’t just our kids, it is also Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones, any of the children that were taught with our kids are treated the exact same way. They are graded harder and get no extra points in class unless it is something that they have no experience with previously.” Persephone stated.

“I wouldn’t know about them, I don’t see them much.” She stated.

“You see them for History of Magic and Herbology, if you managed to actually make it through one full class of Herbology that is.” Professor Sprout stated.

“Yes, that is something I wanted to ask…what allergies? You have no allergies to any plants, magical or otherwise.” Mr. Brown asked

“It must be something in the air, I just can’t stop sneezing in their greenhouses.” Lavender tried,

“The only thing in that air is Dragon dung, rabbit dung, and compost, fifty, thirty and twenty percent. And before you say it must be dust or mold or something, we regularly test for those things, to make sure the air is best for the plants we are growing. And this semester so far the only plant that Miss Brown has been exposed to has been Mandrake, because we have a huge crop of Mandrake plants growing right now that we intend to sell once they reach maturity. So each student is given a mandrake to tend to while it is in it’s benign, infant state. Unfortunately, Miss Brown’s plant died due to her not being there to tend to it, and try as I might I couldn’t save it.” Professor Sprout frowned, however unlikely that was.

“So if you had this allergy so bad why didn’t you ever go see Madam Pomfrey, Miss Brown?” Asked the Headmistress.

“Yes, that is something that I would like to know, if it is bad enough to miss class, then why not go down and get it checked out by the school Medi-Witch?” Her father asked.

“Because I don’t start sneezing until I get there and I quit sneezing once I leave, so why go to the Medi-witch when there isn’t a problem any more?” Oh she thought she was so smart.

“That is rather simple, like several of my students with allergies, they take a potion just before they enter the greenhouse, attend the class without an issue and then go about the rest of their day with out a problem. However, if you don’t go to Madam Pomfrey to find out what it is you’re allergic to then she can’t create the allergy medicine for you to take, although there is a broad spectrum one that we can have you start taking if you keep being so stubborn, that will cover any form of flora or fauna.” Professor Sprout explained. “You merely take it before you go outside and even if it is the grass outside the school you will be fine, I have several older students that have been taking that one for years since they are allergic to a wide variety of plants and pollens. Usually after a student hits puberty they become immune to most of their childhood allergies but sometimes that isn’t so, so we always keep allergy medicine and treatment on hand just in case.”

“The same goes with Care of Magical Creatures, some times I have student will have allergies to different animals and have to take potions in order to be around animals with fur, or feathers, or even scales, oddly enough but still some people are allergic to something like horse dander so they can’t be around unicorns, horses, pegacorns, darcorns, therestrals, anything in the equine family really. But the student usually comes to school knowing what they are allergic to, and doesn’t suddenly become spontaneous allergic to our green houses. When they have never shown any allergy in their medical history previously. By the time a student is eleven they should have a good idea of what allergies they have and don’t have already although there may be some things that they have never been exposed to before and if so we will of course deal with it when it happens. The fact that you didn’t go to Madam Pomfrey to get medical help tells me that it wasn’t a true allergy, or else the symptoms were so mild they could have been easily ignore you just chose not to.” Xenophilius stated.

“I have even had a student so allergic to cats that she couldn’t be around me without her eyes watering and her nose running and sneezing, until I revealed that I am a cat animagous she was completely stumped as to what was going on. Being allergic to your teacher was a new one to her.” The Headmistress laughed at that one, she remembered Kathrine Bathbee quite well, a wonderful student, one of her favorites she had to say.

“The problem we have Miss Brown, is we have is what to do with you?” The Headmistress asked.

“I’m going home with you, Daddy.” Lavender looked at her father confused not even understanding why he was questioning the options.

“No you are not young lady. You are staying right here, and going to school like you are suppose to. Just because you are unhappy with your school doesn’t mean you get to come home and throw away all that hard earned money your mother and I saved up, to send you to this school. If after a year of going to school here you are still unhappy, then and only then you can come home and we will try St. Georges, instead. It isn’t as prestigious or have as many note worthy Professors but it is closer to home and it is a day school so you might like it better.” Mr. Brown stated.

“I’m not staying here. I am going back home now!” With that Lavender stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips and glared at her father, well that went over like a ton of bricks. She just found herself turned around and another three swats to her butt administered. And there she stood with her hands over her butt rubbing it still glaring at her father. “But why can’t I go home now? I am doing horribly in class, no one likes me, and they treat me mean?”

“All your own doing I would guess, you are anything but stupid young lady. You are deliberately not doing your work or not handing it in, ignoring your assignments, or doing a bad job on what work you are handing in on purpose. Just hoping to get a bad enough score that they will want to send you home, or maybe that they will contact us and we will think that it is their fault and pull you from the school and come get you and take you home. You seem to forget that we would have wasted six months of your mother’s hard earned salary if we did that. Six months Lavender. That is nothing to scoff at. We would do anything to make sure you had the best of anything if we could provide it, and we made sure that we were both working when the time came to plan out a budget to make sure to be able to work around saving for you to be able to come to Hogwarts. But instead of working hard and making us proud of the effort we put into seeing you get the best we could provide, you are here wasting our money and ignoring our effort; making a fool of yourself and abusing your Professors and other students in the meantime. I will not stand for it. This is your one and only warning. This is what will happen. Starting this weekend. You will be handing in your work as assigned each and every day, I will check with every teacher you have every week, and I will be checking with both your Professors and your Head of House as to your attitude and how you are treating your other students. Then on the weekend if I don’t get a satisfactory answer for that week then me and your behind are going to have a little chat on Sunday, I expect all your detentions to be served and all your homework to be done by Saturday night at the latest. Although if you have a good excuse I will allow for some done on Sunday if necessary on occasion. But I expect you to catch up with all of your old work and detentions within the next month, no excuses. And that includes the greenhouse, or get your behind down to the Medi-witch, if you don’t do so, I will come and take off work and take you myself. Now has anything I said not been clear?” Mr. Brown asked.

By the time he finished, Lavender was crying and she shook her bowed head. “No, Sir.”

Then Mr Brown turned to the Professors in the room and addressed them. “What I need from each of you, if you wouldn’t mind that is, is a list of all the homework she has missed or sent it in sub-par. If it wasn’t at least an ‘Acceptable’ you allow her to redo that homework and try and remake her grade. I know she can do it. I will make sure she does, even if I have to give up every weekend to make sure that she does. And she will be happy to give up her nights and weekends to detentions that will make up any that have been missed. Also she will be writing each of you a heartfelt letter of apology, for the inconvenience she has caused to you and the problems she has been. She will also be writing that young girl she insulted a letter of apology. And a letter to you as well Headmistress, her disrespect to you was completely uncalled for and unacceptable. Those letters will be finished before I leave her today, so if you don’t get them by tomorrow morning I want you to contact me and inform me by no later than ten o’clock. Understand that young lady. That should give you until after breakfast to hand them all out.” Mr. Brown looked down at his crying daughter and she nodded but said nothing. This was her worst nightmare, all she wanted was to go home, and now she was being forced to write apology letters she didn’t mean, and do all the homework she didn’t want to do, and do all the detentions she didn’t think she deserved.

“We would be happy to supply you with all the information you need, and we can even give you a list of upcoming essays that are do a couple of weeks ahead so you can stay on top of things if you wish.” Professor Lupin suggested. The rest of the Professors all nodded and decided to create Miss Brown a homework journal for all her work and grades she received. This would allow her to keep better score of her accomplishments and make sure that she was doing all her work on time and getting it all done period.

Between the Headmistress, the Professors, and Mr. Brown it looks like Lavender’s next month was pretty well planned out, makeup homework, regular homework, classwork, and detentions.

The Headmistress supplied a journal and the Professors all began writing down the information they had for Miss Brown, and by the time they were finished they had a whole months worth of work set up for her, detentions included. Then they copied it and handed one copy to Mr. Brown and one copy to Lavender, then announced that they were linked and self updating so when she finished and handed in something it would be updated, and if she received a grade on something it would also be updated as it was directly linked to the Professor’s grade books. It would also show if she served her old detentions or got any new ones and what they were for and who gave them to her.

The more Lavender heard, the more she dreaded her life here at Hogwarts, it was even worse than before at day school. When they finished with her school work journal they handed Lavender her one copy and her father another copy.

He took his copy and started thumbing through it shaking his head at all the work she was going to make up and the work that was either Poor or Troll which were both unacceptable and she would be redoing both of them. If he had to hire an older student to tutor her in certain subjects he would, but he honestly didn’t think it was necessary. This was just an act of rebellion on her part not something she couldn’t do, and he would make good on his threat until she understood it was unacceptable.

Sigh.

——————————————

Remus smiled as he looked out to the class Harry, Neville, Luna and Miss Patil were front and center as always. Right behind them was Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot, Lavender Brown wasn’t in her usual seat at the back of the class, but the rest of the Hufflepuffs began to filter in slowly as Professor Lupin began to fill in his role book.

“Okay class, the reports please.” Everyone pulled out their reports and handed them forward which Professor Lupin then collected. “Thank you. Now did any of you find this subject interesting, challenging, intriguing, easy, anything you wish to discuss.”

Harry raised his hand and Professor Lupin nodded at him, “Ignatia Wildsmith was both fascinating and challenging, her life in general was fascinating but there wasn’t much information on her so it made it very challenging and I had to look in several books to get more than the most basic information on her. It seemed that the only things I could find on her was associated to her invention of floo powder and of her later career in herbology.”

“That roughly described Madam Wildsmith’s life in one paragraph Mr Black. She was born in twelve-twenty-seven and died in thirteen-twenty. She went to Hogwarts School where she was a proud and noted Ravenclaw. And she invented floo powder based on an incident that happened to her here at Hogwarts. Then she went on to forge her way into a noted career of herbology where she wrote several articles on a variety of plants and did some wonderful research that led to some fascinating breakthroughs in medicine such as the cure for Wizarding Flu, the Vaccine for Vanishing Sickness, and the work they have done on the current rendition of the Wolf’s bane tincture. They can all put major accolades directly to her studies and her research. Without it we wouldn’t have those medical break throughs to date undoubtedly. She was a genius and it showed early on. She honestly should be recognized more for her contributions to our medical sciences than she has been but her work is seen as dated now, most often ignored unfortunately.” Professor Lupin noted.

Harry, and all the kids that he went to school with previously were writing down everything that the Professor said, finding it all fascinating. It was a lot more than what the could find on Madam Wildsmith that was for sure. Luna raised her hand and Remus nodded to her.

“Did she ever marry? I couldn’t find anything that said either way.” Luna asked.

“She did not, in essence she was married to her research. She never married nor did she ever have any children. She did have a few apprentices whom she did adopt though, later in her years. And if I am not mistaken our own Professor Sprout’s six time great grandmother was one of her apprentices.” He replied.

Susan Bones raised her hand, Remus nodded to her. “Why didn’t she ever get an Order of Merlin for her invention of floo powder of did she?

“She did not, and the reason is purely political. Up until the middle of this century no female was given an Order of Merlin, and it was Pristine Elizabeth Leechin who received an Order of Merlin third class for holding the line at the Battle of Britain against Grindelwald in nineteen-forty-one. Twelve hundred Witches and Wizards lost their lives in that twenty four hour time frame of August the fifth, nineteen-forty-one; out of just under fifteen hundred that went into serve that is. All seven of the men that stood on the line received OoM first class but because she was a woman, she received a third class medal…but at least she received something, especially since she lost her left arm in the battle, but she still held her position and never gave an inch.” Professor Lupin stated.

When no one else raised their hands he continued on to… “The next assignment is about Paracelsus who was born Theophrastus von Hohenheim or his full name of Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim born in fourteen-ninety-three died September twenty fourth, fifteen-forty-one. I would like one foot on the man known as Paracelsus just a brief bio if you please, don’t give me thirty inches on his life’s work if you don’t mind. Just a few highlights is fine I think. Also read chapter nine in your book we will take a look at the Salem Witch Trials next week and I want you all to get a head start on them so do the reading ahead of time. You will end up doing a sixteen inch essay on the Salem Witch Trials for next Thursday but don’t rush, you have plenty of warning on this one. There is plenty of information out there, I think the problem this time will be there is too much information and picking out what to put in and what to leave out.”

“Just a note on the Salem Witch Trials, there were actually over two hundred people accused of being witches and in league with the devil. But there were only thirty that were found guilty, twenty that were executed, nineteen by hanging, and one man was crushed to death, in Colonial Massachusetts between February sixteen-ninety-two and May sixteen-ninety-three. The first to be hanged was a woman by the name of Bridget Bishop, mainly because she was a comely woman and the other women in the village didn’t like her because of it, they thought she was visiting their husbands in their sleep to inflict her evil on them, to get them to sign the Devil’s book.”

“The one thing I would like to note is that with all the accusations, trials, and executions, not one single true Witch or Wizard was ever harmed in any way.” Professor Lupin stated to the class.

Meagan Jones raised her hand and Professor Lupin nodded to her and she asked, “Why did no real Witches or Wizards get accused at least of being a Witch?”

“Most of the true Witches and Wizards knew exactly what they were looking for and knew how to avoid any suspicious behavior. In other words they avoided crowds, and avoided being around non-magicals in general. Most were hermits or drifters, sometimes they would act as a town physician on rare occasion, but in those cases their behavior was beyond reproach. Even their Pope couldn’t find fault in their behaviors.” He said.

Justin Finch-Fletchly raised his hand and Professor Lupin called on him, “In standard school we learned that a lot of the people that were claimed to be witches were actually for political reasons, or land grabs. Is that true?”

Professor Lupin nodded, “That is very true, it was standard practice back then if you were claimed a witch then everything you owned became public domain and went up for auction. Highest bidder got it. So if someone wanted the parcel of land next to them they merely claimed the man of the house was a witch and he would forfeit everything he had, any wife or kids he had would be kicked off the property; and the property would go up for sale. The person just had to make sure they were the highest bidder, and they had the land they wanted. The same went for political rivals. One person said they saw their rivals phantom face on a pig, and of course everyone knows pigs, goats, cats, bats, and wolves are all messengers of the devil therefore this person had to be in league with the devil… right? Another individual was hunted and trapped in a barn which they burned to the ground and found no body, which proves she was a witch right, wrong, she was hiding in the root cellar. Later making a break for freedom and thankfully lived for weeks sneaking from one barn or shed to another, eating what she could steal until the Witch Hunts were finally called off officially. The stories you could focus on are vast and the information is enormous, so choose wisely. Political rivalry, land grabs, religious fanatics, jealous lovers and spouses, the reason for claiming someone was a witch were many and it all started with four little girls who claimed they were being attacked by someone in league with the devil, a witch…and the idea spread like wild fire.” Professor Lupin explained then the bell rang and he reminded everyone about the ten inches on Paracelsus then let the class go.

Neville had to admit that was one of the most exciting classes in History that they had had so far. Madam Wildsmith was interesting and Paracelsus sounded like it could be too, but the Salem Witch Trials really sounded fascinating and he couldn’t wait to read the information on it, in fact he would probably do that essay before he would do the one on Paracelsus if he was honest with himself. Although maybe not, he only wanted a brief biblio on the man so he could just do an over view of the basics and then move on to something interesting.

Pavarti, Luna, Neville and Harry debated their options and discussed the topic of their History class all the way to Herbology and by the time they got their they had pretty well chosen their point of view they were going to take on their reports.

As they made it into Green House One they were all smiles and confident in their choices.

“All right everyone, today is the day we actually transplant the smallest mandrake plants into the next size pots. I want each of you to notice that there are a pair of earmuffs by each work station, I want those firmly in place before you even attempt to do anything with these plants. While a mature mandrake’s call can kill, a juvenile’s call can make you dizzy and pass out. So don’t risk it. Now here are the steps you are going to do. First you are going to take the larger pot and fill it two thirds way up with the fresh compost/fertilizer mix that is specially made for the mandragora. Then dig down in the center of the the fresh compost/fertilizer and go down about three inches creating a little hole for the mandrake to sit into. Then get another scoop of compost/fertilizer mix and have it ready to fill in around the top of the mandrake once you have it in place. Once you have it all prepared raise your hand and when everyone is ready we will proceed.

It took just a few minutes and everyone was ready for the next step. All right now, the next step, when I finish with these instruction you are going to put your ear muffs on and you are going to place your hand down low to the plant and then get a good grip and give it a firm but gentle pull. It should come out easily if not, keep pulling until it finally lets loose. Then immediately place it into the new pot and pour the remaining compost/fertilizer around the mandrake and gently tap it into place. Do not remove your ear muffs until you see me do it, understand?” Everyone nodded and she put her ear muffs on and said “Begin.” And picked up her immature mandrake and followed her own instruction watching as everyone else did the same.

*thud* Zacharias Smith went down. “Bad ear muffing.” Was all Professor Sprout said and she continued on to the next step in what she was doing. Leaving the student where he was for now.

In a matter of minutes all the little mandrakes were replanted in much bigger pots and comfy cozy in their new homes. When she was sure everyone was finished she removed her ear muffs then everyone else did the same. “Mr. McMillian, Mr. Finch-Fletchly if you two could escort Mr. Smith down to the Medi-ward I would appreciate it.” She then created a stretcher and allowed them to float the unconscious student between them down to Madam Pomfrey while the rest of the class learned some of the properties of Mandrake and how it is used.

Lunch was pretty boring really until Lavender Brown showed up for the first time that day that is, she came in with red rimmed eyes and an arm load of letters and began handing them out, first to all the teachers, the Headmistress included. Then she handed one out to Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Pavarti Patil she finally handed one out to Neville Longbottom and lastly to Harry Black. Then she sniffed and went to sit by herself at the end of the table and began to eat.

Everyone was hesitant to open the letter but did so, inside they found what appeared to be a heartfelt apology for her actions and a promise to change her behavior in the future. If only they could trust what it says though. From experience they knew she didn’t mean one word of it, she only wrote the letters because someone else made her, unfortunately. The problem was, what would it take for them to actually believe her written words.

Care of Magical Creatures was the first class that Lavender Brown joined in that day, as usual she sat in the back and alone, this time she actually seemed to be paying attention which was unusual to say the least.

“Today I have a special treat for you all, and I need you all to be especially quiet so you don’t frighten our guests of honor all right. Can anyone tell me what a Darcorn is? Miss Brockenhurst?” Xenophilius pointed to one of the Ravenclaws in the back with her hand raised.

“A Darcorn is a black unicorn basically. It looks just like a regular white unicorn except it is black and has red eyes. Because of this it was frequently called Satan’s steed.” Mandy explained.

“True, but there is one specific thing other than their color that is different about them that makes them unique, does anyone know what it is?” Professor Lovegood asked.

Luna raised her hand when she didn’t see anyone else had raised their hand and her father pointed to her and nodded, “Their carnivores.”

“That’s right, while a regular standard unicorn is a herbivore, a darcorn is a carnivore, feeding mainly on small rodents, but they have been known to take down a wild boar in their day as well. They are vicious fighters when it comes to hunting so they aren’t afraid of the tusks of a boar at all. They are incredibly loyal to their chosen rider, yes I said chosen rider. They choose who they will allow to ride them and who they will allow to touch them, it is all instinctual and they know instinctually who their rider should be and will accept no other to attempt to ride them, anyone else that tries will meet death at the tip of their sharp horn. Today they are almost a endangered species due to being hunted for their valuable horn, it is very valuable in potions. Although the potions they are used in are all but forgotten ages ago, since they were made illegal over a millennia ago. Now days in order to just have one of these beauties you have to guarantee in writing that you will never kill it for its parts, and if it does die of natural purposes you agree to donate all the parts to a designated medical facility. Or you won’t be allowed to keep the animal at all. And breeding them is highly regulated, you have to be a licensed breeder, and have written permission from Ministry of Magic, and register each and every one of them. Now the average life span of a Darcorn is forty to fifty years in the wild, but if the Darcorn has a rider then their lifespan will match that of their rider’s so they can live up to two hundred years. Some say it is because they have someone to take care of them and feed them on a regular basis now, so less chance of starvation or sickness; others say it is due to a sharing of magic. I personally believe it is a combination of both; with someone to take care of them they will naturally live longer by about fifty percent; but by over triple, no that can only be explained by the sharing of magic. And since this species is so highly magical, I think that has a lot to do with it. Now if you will excuse me I have some guests to go retrieve, and remember, be calm and quiet, don’t startle them.” With that Xenophilius went out to the other side of the stables to the corral and retrieved six beautiful black unicorns, from the looks of it two were stallions the rest were mares. The stallions were quite a bit larger than the mares and had long flowing manes and tails where the mare’s manes were slightly less flowing although only slightly and two of them had a silvery tent to them which was different from the rest of them. It looked as if they might be twins, odd in the equine world.

The six beautiful Darcorns came up to the edge of the corral where the students were waiting and pranced around in a circle watching the students, looking them all over multiple times until they finally came to a stop. The two big stallions were standing next to each other and leaned closer together so that their horns touched then then both nodded their high proud head and whinnied. Then they walked toward the fence as one toward Harry and Neville, Xenophilius held his breath as he watch this, could it be…maybe…could be. Sure enough the two stallions went up to Harry and Neville and began to nuzzle them with their muzzle and nibble on their hair.

Harry couldn’t help it, he had to laugh, and he reached up to pet the big beautiful Darcorn stallion. “Boys, I don’t think you realize what just happened, they chose you to be their rider, they want to know if you agree. Tell them if you accept or not and then give them one of these nice juicy rats to seal the agreement. If you agree that is.” Xenophilius whispered holding up a bucket of still warm rats.

“Is that what you want boy? You want us as your riders? We would be so honored. We would love to be your riders. We accept.” Harry patted the beautiful Darcorn on the muzzle and then reached into the bucked and picked the fattest rat he could find and held it out for his new friend “I think Storm is a good name for you, don’t you my friend?” The proud head nodded and whinnied and accepted the fat, juicy rat with much pleasure.

Neville looked into the blood red eyes of the stallion before him and focused at their depths, “Well my friend, is it true, you want me for your rider?” A whinny and a nod of a proud head was his answer. “Very well then I think that Thunder should be your name gorgeous, nothing else would do you justice. What do you think?” Again a head nod and an almost laughing whinny. Neville reached into the pail and picked the most pristine looking grey fat rat he could find and gave it to his new friend. Who seemed especially thrilled with his gift and munched down on the juicy fare.

The other Darcorns seemed to be waiting to see what happened between the children and the two stallions before they did anything but then a rather fetching glistening black mare came up cautiously to Luna and Xenophilius held his breath and waited. The mare sniffed Luna’s hair and then nuzzled her cheek and pressed her muzzle into her neck and waited. “I know Ventus you are so beautiful, it will take a moment to get used to the connection but it has always been there, just allow it to touch your heart my wind walker.” She caressed the neck of the beautiful mare and petted her neck gently brushing down her mane from her eyes. The mare warbled lowly but didn’t move away and kept nuzzling in Luna’s neck. Luna reached over and picked up two pristine white rats and held them out for Ventus to choose from, when she chose the one on the left she put the refused one back in the bucket and gave the desired rat to her new partner. Xenophilius couldn’t believe it, his daughter was a Darcorn rider! His daughter! Hooray!

Then it looked like it was the time that the twin mares wanted to choose someone but they kept running back and forth, almost like they couldn’t choose, then Harry whispered something to Pavarti and she said “You think?” He nodded and motioned her over to her own twin, who she went over to stand next to. Then the twin mares quit pacing and joined them at the fence, the one that was maybe half a hand taller than the other chose Pavarti and her twin chose Padma. Each nuzzling their twin’s hair chewing it lovingly.

Pavarti let a tear fall as she looked at the silver streaked mane of the gorgeous Darcorn. “You could only be Tonitru. Full of thunder but exotic and unique too.”

Padma smiled at her sister and stated, “Well if she is Tonitru then my beautiful you could only be Fulgura, brilliant and quick as a flash of lightning.”

They both went to the bucket of rats and picked out two rats that looked exactly alike and gave the slightly bigger one to Tonitru who was thrilled with her gift, and Fulgura loved her selection as well. Each one was most thrilled with their chosen rider and let everyone in the stable know it.

The final filly pawed the earth and looked over the children at the fence and looked them over again as if she was looking for one specific person and couldn’t find them. Harry looked around and he couldn’t find the person he was looking for either, then he spotted her under a tree not far away. “Hey Hermione you’re needed over here please.”

“Huh, what?” Hermione was busy trying to draw a Darcorn and had taken a seat by the big oak not far away to do it. But at Harry’s urging she came back over to see what he wanted and he said to stand over by the fence and wait real quiet like, The next thing she knew something was playing with her hair, she tried to brush it aside, but it kept playing with her hair.

“Stop that, I am talking to Harry,” She said, then she realized what was going on and slowly turned around and looked at the laughing Darcorn that had snuck up on her. She was beautiful, she had an air of intelligence about her. “Are you choosing…me?” The mare whinnied, almost as if it was laughing at her as it nodded. Hermione put her hand over her mouth as she gasped. “Well my word. What shall I call you, you are definitely a force of nature, but what to call you…I know…Harry already chose Storm so you will have to be Procella, which is Latin for Storm. And personally I think quite beautiful, just like you.” She then chose a silver grey rat that was in the bucket and gave it to the brilliant Darcorn who happily accepted her gift.

Each individual that had been accepted by a Darcorn lined up beside their chosen ride and each one of the Darcorns knelt down in invitation for the children to get on their backs to ride them. Each Child of course did so, with Xenophilius’ help that is. With that they all went prancing around the paddock and enjoying their ride holding onto their mane allowing their Darcorn to choose their destination.

The other students ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ at the beautiful equine and their new riders, all except Lavender Brown that is. Try as she might she couldn’t hide her jealousy even as good an actor as she. All the know-it-alls and ’special’ students got their very own Darcorn and no one else did. Why were they so special, why did they deserve to get something so beautiful, so majestic when no one else got one?

Xenophilius began to give a nice long rendition of what the history of the Darcorn was and where to find them, some of the most famous Darcorn and rider combinations were, and basic little known facts about Darcorns as the others were writing down the information he allowed the Darcorns and riders to prance around and enjoy their time together. Then he called an end to class and showed them how to brush down their coats and manes. Then he showed them how to check their hooves for pebbles or sticks and clean their hooves. Then it was just a matter or brushing out their mane and tail to get any briars or bramble out of them. Finally he showed them where they were to be housed and had them give them some fresh cuts of raw meat that had been prepared for the Darcorn specially.

By the time they had finished Harry, Neville, Luna, Pavarti, Padma and Hermione knew more about Darcorns than they ever thought they would know and were so proud of their new rides. Padma and Pavarti couldn’t wait to write and tell their Mata and Papa about being chosen by twin Darcorns, their parents would have to make arrangements for them to be housed at their estate during the summer, they had a stable it was just a matter of getting it spruced up and ready for their little beauties. Hermione didn’t know what she was going to do, her parents didn’t have a stables, but Harry said she could always stable Procella at their place and come visit when ever she wished so she was great with that idea. Luna of course had a stable at her place, her father being who he was always had something unique and unusual housed in it, right now it was empty due to the fact that they were not there but they could always take the Darcorn home during the summer with them.

Harry couldn’t wait to tell Sirius and Remus about his Darcorn, and being a new rider; and how both Neville and Luna were also chosen. And that even Pavarti and her twin Padma were chosen by a pair of twin Darcorn. Or that Hermione had also been chosen by a real prancey Darcorn she named Procella, and his offer to house Procella in their stables with Thunder and Storm. It seemed weird once he got to thinking about it how the stallions were named Thunder and Storm and the mares were named the Latin names meaning Thunder-Tonitru, Lightning-Fulgura, Wind-Ventus, and Storm-Procella. When none of them had even talked about what to name their Darcorn, it just felt…right somehow.

His daughter was a Darcorn rider…. What next Dragons? Xenophilius thought.