Sixth Year - The Ties that Bind

[Ambrosia Sheridan]

Orlando shouldered into the door and pushed through, into the cold January air. The Scottish winter was in full effect. He dug his hands into the pockets of the black peacoat and used them to hug it tighter against him. He'd grown up with the snow and the cold. Shuna island got it worse.

Looking up he saw the orange glow of the herbology greenhouse. All around it the snow had melted away and lush green grass formed a perimeter. An oasis in winter, the building sat as welcoming beacon beside the frosty stone castle. Or it normally would.

The Scot wondered just how welcoming it would be tonight. He hoped it would be.

He pulled on metal framed door, and the humid wave smacked him. Instantly the black coat felt heavy, and he slipped it off his shoulders as he strolled down the aisle. He could hear her deeper among the greenery, her soft lilting voice talking to the plants that surrounded her. A small smile came to him.

"They look blue until you're really looking into them. Then you can see this ring of light yellow." Rose knelt beside the klemantis frigoris, absently trimming away some frosty leaves. The climbing vines seemed to almost lean in toward the sound of her voice as she continued to babble on. "And sometimes, like when he's about to do something mischievous, they look almost green."

She brushed a finger against a silvery white flower then promptly wiped the frost off on her sweater. "And he does the most adorable thing when he talks..." Her voice dropped and she leaned a little closer to share her secret with the flowers. "Sometimes he totally sounds like the other guys but sometimes, when he's distracted or passionate about something, it totally goes away."

Foozle paused between a flowering therwill bush and a few gangly grumboolahs that reached out and tried to snag his arm. He chewed the bottom half of that smile, suddely feeling almost intrusive. He took a few silent steps in retreat, but not to leave. The Hufflepuff needed to stay more; he just needed to put a little more space between them before she knew he was there.

Stopping almost half the way back the aisle, Orlando addressed the table of gerfelly ferns. "Evenin gents and ladies," he said, now moving back along his path in, "seen the lillie blond carktaker aboot?"

The stream of Rose's one-sided conversation stopped flowing abruptly, leaving the greenhouse bathed in a sudden earthy silence. The tiny blonde hesitated a moment before calling out, "if they start talking back I'm going to be horribly jealous."

The Scot stopped, that grin curling into his cheek. He looked around and then with a playful twist to his voice that was almost squeaky he answered her. "She's in the back. She promised to tell read us the story of Tale of the Tornado Tree tonight! With all the voices!"

The blonde couldn't help but laugh. "Only one story. Then it's bed time for all good little plants."

"Awww," the Scot's normal voice had returned. His head peeked around the corner, through the klematis' curled leaves. Its petals flaked their snowy pollen on his shoulders and got caught in the messy spikes of his hair.

He looked at Rose and offered a smile. "Its ill enouch thay spend thair days trappit in pats, no able tae feel the real earth aroond thair roots and crawl aboot? They hae tae hae a bedtime tae boot? Efter anely ane story?"

Though she smiled back, Rose held his gaze for only a moment before turning back to her plants. "Maybe more than one. But first things first, I have to finish pruning." She pointed to the pile of still-frosty leaves on the ground beside her. "Think of it like brushing your teeth before bed."

With her back to him that smile of his faltered slightly. The strange lump in his throat seemed to be settling in his stomach. "Leuks mair like a hair cut." He unslung the bag from his shoulder and slid it up onto the table beside the snowy plant.

"A howp ye dinnae mynd ma innerupting." He fingered one of the soft, cool petals of the blooming flower. "Ye truelins hae the eye, Brosia. An a tender touch tae gae wi tha thumb o yers."

"I like winter plants," she told him, rubbing her fingers together to warm them before reaching for another silvery branch. "They're like little miracles, growing in the season of sleep." Looking over her shoulder, she graced him with another small smile. "And I never mind company out here. It's not a lonely place, not with all the plants around, but it's still nice to have someone with a voice to talk to."

Orlando nodded. "Ahm gled tae hear tha." The butterflies in the Scot's stomach seemed to unsettle themselves and flutter around. With his hands in the pockets of his peacoat he fingered the fob of his watch. "Acause Ah've noticed tha we hivnae talkit muckle." He ran his hand across his scalp. "E'en in cless... Its like we're in the same ruim but... not."

His eyes shifted, and that little smile on his face was one of nervousness. He pressed a finger into the plant's soil. It was warm and moist. He reached across the table and took up a bottle of permafrost flakes. "Tha's no us." He shook the contents out around the klematis frigoris's base. In seconds that ground became cold and solid, hugging the plant's deceptively strong roots.

The smile faded from her lips as she looked at him. With her fingers dirty from the greenhouse, she couldn't chew on a curl, but she did bite her lip. She didn't know how to answer him. After all, she'd said some faintly unflattering things about him, and thought worse. There was a weird space between them that she didn't know how to cross. So instead of making it easy she simply asked, "isn't it?"

The boy was quiet a moment. He could feel that quiet pushing down on him. When he spoke he spoke without any reservation. He knew why he had sought her out, and it wasn't to turn his back on what was important. "Nae. It's not." His eyes met hers. "Ah ken Ahmno Tom, but ye an A hae been thru oor share."

Those emeralds, he could feel them burning him. It made those damn butterflies work those wings faster. "Ahm sairy." He didn't quite realize how soft his voice was. "Ah've been wrang afore. Ah'll be wrang again." Though his feet felt as rooted as the frigoris he took a step toward her. "Ah lean frae ma mistaks tae."

"You're lucky you still can." She didn't mean for the harsh words to come out. It wasn't good for the plants, or for mending relationships. "I'm sorry. That wasn't what I meant..."

"Shuir it wis." In very nearly every other situation, Orlando would have chuckled and grinned. He didn't. "Yuir best friend, yuir sister wis huirt. Ah pat us baith at in danger beyond danger." Now his eyes broke from hers. "Yer richt. A am leuky."

She shook her head so violently a few golden curls brushed against the frosty plants. "I just don't understand. You did so many things that seemed so... not you. Like... you found every possible way to be stupid. And I'm sorry but I really do mean that."

"Ah hatit nae being able tae tell ony o ye. It wis torture fer me an Colette." Orlando rubbed his fingers into his temple. He knew how that sounded. He knew how, if the tables were turned, little solace that was if your friends held out on you with something so important. But it was true.

"She wis scared, Brosia. Ah couldnae convince her itherwise muckle as A tried, an Ah did. Aften." He sighed quietly, falling back against the table. "We grew up wi luve in oor homes. Ye an me baith. Ah didnae unnerstaund the depths o tha fear, no until the boggart." The boy's lips pursed. "A luve her... Efter tha A wad dae onything tae keep her sauf. Juist as A wad fer ony o the fowk Ah luve."

"Yea, mebbes A wis stupit." His gaze rose, and when he looked at her he felt all the words on his tongue dry up. "Ah wis stupir fer the richt reasons thou."

"But that's what's so hard for me to understand." She drew her knees up under her chin as she watched him, hoping his face would make sense where his actions did not. "You went through the torture of keeping this secret because you love her. You saw her boggart. You said you'd do anything to keep her safe. And yet you still showed up at the Ainscough house and what? Expected no consequences? That's the stupid I don't understand."

The boy's hazel eyes seemed to darken. They looked away, over her shoulder to the greenhouse's wall of fogged windows. He chewed his cheek unable to find the words and speak them. He'd asked himself the same thing a hundred thousand times since that Christmas Eve night. She wasn't wrong. He knew it was stupid. And in hindsight it was painfully stupid.

"A dinnae hae a guid reply," he looked back. "Everytime A ask masel tha Ah..." Lando shook his head.

"Whit..." he took a breath. He could feel his chest tightening. "Whit gif ye wis in luve, Brosia. Gif a body wis yuir ither hauf, the ither end o yuir soul, but ye coud niver... be tha..." Every word felt caught between his heart and his throat. "Coud niver be pairt o thair life, see whit they war whan they war at home. Every mament oan the fringe..." He swallowed, letting his lashes flutter back the way his eyes were beginning to well. "Ah held oan tae ivery bit o her Ah coud steal frae the warld."

The heat started to burn in him, creeping into his voice. "They wisnae jaloused tae be thare. Ivery year thay went tae tha pairty an stayed throu dinner an drinks. Ivery. Year... Ah ken whit tyme A haen afore Ah wad need tae be lang gaun."

Orlando's jaw tightened. "Ah ken a lat o chairms and tricks and alarms and protections." His eyes reddened as they looked at her. "Hae ye iver heard o a warning fer mudbluids?"

Rose shook her head. "I haven't. But I'm not a pureblood fanatic." Her green eyes didn't look away from him as she thought over his flood of words. "I can't say what I would have done. Obviously I haven't been in this situation. And you didn't have a lot of options." She gave a helpless little shrug. "You seem to have come to terms with the whole thing. And you're not dead. So I guess that's what matters."

He had hoped that coming to her they could have found some understanding. And deep down he knew that he'd hoped that some forgiveness from her would help him forgive himself. That knot was turning. He sighed softly. "Is tha whit it seems?" Lando shook his head a little. He'd no more come to terms with it as he had forgiven them for what they had done to their daughter.

"Ahm trying tae thou, yeah."

"I'm trying too," she told him with a soft little sigh. The vines around her seemed to lean in again, struggling to hear her voice. "And I want to be happy for you. I want to see the happy soulmatey stuff, but Orlando..." Her green eyes suddenly shone with tears, "I've only seen the bad stuff. The stuff that turned my friends into liars. And worse."

Those quiet words stabbed into his chest. He stared at her, and the damp glassiness that accented the vibrant color of her eyes threatened to loose the welling around his own lashes. "Brosia," Orlando tried to ignore the crack in his voice, "please..." The Scot had been called a liar before. A liar. A cheat. A bastard. He'd been called worse even, but when it came from a loved one it cut deep, like being run through.

He blinked, reaching up to her. Touching her cheek, his thumb caught the drop that rolled from the corner of her eye. "Ah dinnae cark whit ony o the rest o thaim think o me but ye aw..." The Hufflepuff shook his head. "Ye ken me. Ye ken Ah wad dae onythin fer the people A cark aboot. Ah'd gie ma life fer each an ivery ane o ye. Sometimes we end up being stupit aboot it, aw o us..."

He held her cheek, his brow knitted. "Ah... we want ye tae see the happiness. If you dinnae it's... it's juist no truelins happiness. It's juist as incomplete as afore whan we wis afeart."

"Then why wait until now to talk to me? It's not like you don't know where to find me... even when we're not at school. I know I'm not like Tommy. Or Cee or Danny. So am I at the bottom of the list for you? I mean, I think I can understand it... as long as I know." She pulled back, taking her cheek away from the warmth of his hand. "And I know it's probably more fun to hang out with other couples." Her smile came back faintly, forced onto her lips as she settled things in her mind. "And I'm sure I'll see good stuff now that you're not in hiding anymore."

"Yuir no..." The Scot shook his head. "No at the bottom of ony list. Ye..." His hand pushed through the mess of hair on his head. His eyes settled on those glistening emeralds. "Yuir the ane Ah wis maist nervous aboot. And whan Ah git nervous... Orlando shook his head. "Ah shoud hae come afore. An Ah wantit tae..."

Rose was laughing at him before it occured to her that he might have been serious. "I make you nervous? You're crazy."

"Brosia..." Lando's brow knit together. "Yuir the maist important body here tae Colette. Whit ye think means the warld ower. An efter laist year..." His head shook a little, and he reached over and fingered on of the frosty petals. "Ah mynd whit its like tae be oan thin ice wi ye. Ah wis nervous o falling back tae tha..."

She was smiling now, that soft smile that began to fill the room with warmth. "You were so nervous about falling into thin ice that it made you fall into thin ice." Shaking her head, she couldn't help but laugh at how absurd life was sometimes. "I can't say that being in love has helped your thinking skills that much, Orlando."

"Luve maks ye..." He sighed, laughing a little, "irrational." That scar in his brow rose. "Thare's nae manual. No e'en those beuks o yuirs."

The blonde giggled, blowing some frost from the leaves at his smiling face. "Yeah... but if they were instruction manuals life would be a lot easier." Her grin turned somewhat wicked. "And steamier."

Fooze squinted, white flakes caught in his lashes. "Aye," his lips blew a gust of up into the arboreal snow, sending a gentle sprinkling over them. "But whaur wad we be wioot aw this learning an growing?"

"Haven't we had this conversation at least once before?" Rose tilted her head up as the tiny flakes hit her cheeks. "How come we always get the uncomfortable growing bits?"

"Mebbes," Orlando's lopsided smile turned just a little sad, but he let it pass quickly. "Mebbes wha iver pulls oor strings kens we're up tae the task. Tha we ayweys come oot the ither end fer the better."

The little prefect thought it over. "I hope that's what it means," she said with a sigh.

He looked at her. "Ahm tae stubborn tae walk awey frae whit is important tae me. E'en gif Ah git it wrang the fuirst tyme. Oor the saicond." He paused, "Oor third." A small laugh fell from his lips. "Gif Ah wis Ah wadna hae persued Collette efter each tyme she telt me tha we wisna gauntae wirk."

Rose couldn't help but laugh along. "Now that belongs in a book. I'm sure you could write a how-to manual. It could help some of the guys around here."

"How tae be a stubborn Scots bastart?" He laughed louder, shaking his head. "Ah reck tha's nae something ye learn oor teach, luv." Orlando rubbed his chin, "An Ahmno shuir hou A feel aboot gien oot ma saicrets tae romance tae streengers... Freends, mayhap..."

"I'm not sure your friends need the help. Tommy's doing just fine... most of the time." She decided that she wasn't even going to touch on the subject of Danny.

"Tommy an ginger are thair ane beast." The boy smiled. "Ivery luve is differ. A jalouse tha's hou ye ken when ye fand yers."

The blonde affected a fairly convincing shrug. "That's what being young is for. Or so they say," she told him, the logical Ravenclaw fighting with the hopeless romantic in her.

"Thay say a lot, dinna thay?"

"Mmm-hmm..." That impish smile was slowly making its way back to her face. "I'm sure they're very wise."

The Scot nodded. "Wiser than me, nae doubt." His eyes drifted along the petals of the klématis. "But than again, Ahm juist a Hufflepuff," he chuckled a bit.

Rose's emerald eyes twinkled with mischief. "This is true..."

Orlando looked her square in the eyes. He smiled and stepped close to her. His arms closed around her shoulders and he squeezed her in a tight badger hug.

She snuggled into the hug, giving a contented sigh as she rested her head above his heart. "And I'm so very glad you are."

Foozle just held her a moment. "Ah howp ye ayweys are, Brosia." He closed his eyes, his chest rising and falling in a deep breath. It felt lighter, as if relief filled his lungs.

She chuckled and squeezed him just a little. "Well, no matter what, I don't see you changing your nature all that much. So I think you're safe."

The Scot's chest rumbled against her ear with a soft laugh. "Nae," he shook his head. "No a bit."

His fingers tangled in her hair a little bit. As Rose was one of the few of his friends shorter than he was, Orlando tipped his chin down and kissed the top of her head. "Ye ken, Brosia..." he said, blonde curls around his smile, "Ye may nae be like Cee oor Danny oor Tommy, but Ahm glad fer it."

He stepped back and tilted his head to catch those emerald irises of hers. "Ah've gat thaim awreddies, an thare's anely ane Brosia Sheridan." That little, lopsided smile curled into his cheek. "Ah wadnae hae ony ither fer ye."

"You're one of a kind too, Orlando. Thank goodness." She grinned at him, feeling the chill of winter pushed away by their time here. She should have known better. Things were never instantly alright between the two of them. But when things finally got to that place, they were right. It was far better than any quick fix.

The Hufflepuff laughed, nodding. He tugged her in for another hug that picked her feet up off the ground. "Thank guidness."

[Dan DuMorne]

The night's wind whipping across the surface of the Black Lake had cleared it of snow, leaving only a thick sheet of ice to glisten in the cold morning sun. It was Saturday and with no classes to deal with, Orlando and Dan had decided to throw together a bit of recreation for their friends, and were heading down early to set up the equipment.

Using their wands to clear a path from the castle to the lake, the two young men also carried a large open-topped chest between them. Non-flying broomsticks stuck out of the box at different angles. "Whaur d'ye kin?"

The Hufflepuff looked around, then pointed to an small cove on the edge of the lake. "Thare. Plenty o' room, ice looks guid an' thick."

Walking down to the frozen cove, they set the box down and began to work. Lando waved his wand over the ice, further smoothing it's surface to a perfect polish, then coloring a series of concentric circles at one end, followed by a series of lines. Danny went to unpacking the equipment, the brooms and several large circular stones with handles mounted on them.

"Ah reinforced the hoose," Orlando told his partner as he crouched down at the bank of the lake and dug through the snow to fish out several pebbles, "tae prevent ony... incidents."

Setting down one of the stones, Danny looked up with a slightly confused expression. "Whit?" That confusion quickly fell to a laugh as he recalled the last time they had played, and a very close game ended when the house had mysteriously cracked apart when right after Céilidh had sent her stone a little wide. "Oh."

"If ye'r implying that Ah cheated, ye'll nae be gettin' ony coffee." Céilidh's voice carried over the ice to the two boys. In one hand she carried a large thermos. In the other there were three coffee cups hooked on one finger.

"Nice o' ye tae finally drop in," Danny smiled, taking one of the mugs and the thermos and pouring himself a steaming cup. With a wry smile, he tapped the cup with his wand, transfiguring the black liquid into tea.

Céilidh stuck her tongue out at him. "Ah wis supervising."

"Supervising whit?" Orlando asked, taking the thermos from Danny and a mug from Cee. "Th' backs o' yer eyelids?"

"Na, as a maiter o' fact, Ah wasn't. Ah teuk an earlie mornin' flight. Thir's a crakin' thermal that reflects aff th' loch." She shrugged, "Tis nae mah fault ye twa ne'er bothered tae keek up." The redhead filled her own mug and set the thermos on the ice.

"Nae body iver sain Ah wis observant." Orlando chuckled and sipped from the steaming coffee. He smacked his lips and looked down into the cup with a smile. "Delicious. Daes drugging the competition wi enchanting coffee coont as cheating?"

Danny's eyebrow shot up. "Guid thing Ah transfigured mine intae tea, then."

"Och, Ah dinnae think addin a wee nip o' cratur amounts to drugging," she chided. "Forby A'm swallyin it tae."

"As commanded," Tom's voice called out as he and the other trudged up the hill with Rose and Nicolette behind him, "I grabbed Rose and Nicolette. Now what the bloody heck are we..."[Todd] Tom stopped dead in the snow as he saw what the Scots had planned. [Todd]"Oh no. No way."

The Hufflepuff looked up. Staring at the three figures perched at the peak of the burm a grin plastered across his face. "Tommy Llewelyn,"/capin] he said waving them down the gentle incline, [capin]"Guid tae see ye!"

"Don't you 'good to see me' me." He wagged his finger at Orlando. "I told you never again after the last time.

"Did ye?" Foozle's face feigned recollection. "Tha's no howfur Ah mynd it." He looked to his co-conspirator, the Ravenclaw. "Ye?"

Danny shook his head. "Me naither."

"Wait. What happened last time?" The blonde Ravenclaw pulled her striped woolen hat down over her ears.

As Danny started to laugh, Tom answered. "It's the bloody Paisleys. They're always making up new gibberish rules."

"Hate tae tell ye, brither," Danny said, a grin on his face, "Yuir hen is a bloody Paisley. Asides..."

"We've niver changed oor rules. Ye jes' ferget them." Orlando finished.

Rose laughed and shook her head. "Then I want one of the bloody Scots on my team."

This brought a grin to Foozle's face. "Why," his elbow swung into the small of Danny's back, sending a bit of tea over the rim of his mug as he stumbled forward on the ice, "ye kin hae Danny."

Danny looked over at the girl and blushed. "Ah kin, uh, Ah mean, Ah'll teach her th' game."

"Acoorse ye will." the Hufflepuff again gave him a nudge toward the shoreline with his hand against his back. His brow waggled playfully, and he looked to Nicolette. "Ah'll the game tae ye, Hen."

Nic raised a brow at the Hufflepuff. "At least with you Scots split up there will be less blatant cheating." She looked at Rose and Tommy. "I still feel set up."

The tiny blonde shrugged. "Well you're stuck now." She moved to Danny's side and linked her arm through his. "Because there's no way I'm splitting up the winning team here..."

Tom sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Cheating teams more like it." He said under his breath. "Fine, so how are we going to do this?"

"Well, well..." Came an approaching and familair voice, "What goes on here?" Laun smiled brightly.

"Hey, Laun." Danny said, waving to his Slytherin friend. "We're juist getting duin tae speil a round o' Curling. Tis an auld Scots muggle gam. Yi'll waant in?"

"Athletics? I'm sorry my body rejects that... I'll happily watch though." Laun laughed.

"Trust me you can take my place, they cheat." Tom waived his arms at Dan and Orlando.

"Them? Why I'm hardpressed to believe that they have a dishonest bone in their bodies." Laun winked.

"You wanna referee at least, and keep an eye on them?" Tom winked.

"I've never even heard of this game before and you want me to ref? Talk about opportunities to cheat." Laun laughed again shoving Tom playfully.

Danny laughed. "Tis easy. Th' teams tak' turns sliding stane o'er th' curling sheet tae th' hoose.

Nodding, Orlando continued. "Efter th' hammer is thrown, th' team wi' th' stane closest tae th' button gets ane point fur ilk o' tis ain stanes lying closer tae th' button than th' ither team's closest stane.

"O' coorse," Céilidh chimed in. "Ye kin alter th' direction o` yer stane by sweeping th' ice. Provided ye dinnae burn th' stane."

Laun just stared at the three of them in silence for a few minutes

"...What?"

"Exactly." Tom nodded.

Before he knew it Cee's hand sliced through the air hitting him on the shoulder. "Wid ye gie it a rest."

"All right, all right." Tom rubbed his shoulder.

"Danny?" Rose pulled on her housemate's arm to bring his ear a little closer to her mouth. "Are we supposed to know what the hammer and button are?" she whispered.

The young man chuckled. "Th' hammer is th' lest stane thrown, 'n' th' button is th' center o' th' hoose," Danny pointed at the ice, "Whilk is that big circular target."

She hugged his arm in thanks. "I'm sorry, Danny. I'm so not going to be very good at this."

"So it's going to be," Tom ticked off with his fingers, "Danny and Rose, vs Orlando and Nicolette, vs. Céilidh and myself? How is that gonna work?"

"Same rules as normal juist three teams instead o' twa." Orlando shrugged. "Pairies."

That makes sense." Tom nodded. "But if we're going to do this we need to make it a bit more comfortable." Tom pulled his wand and gave it several flicks. Blue flames sprouted to life on top of the snow in a circle near the large tree at the lake's edge.

"There," Tom nodded, "that ought to keep the chill away."

Cee kissed Tommy on the cheek. "Always thinkin' this one."

"I try." Tommy laughed.

Danny looked over at Tom with a smirk. "We may need tae hiv a practice run for some o' oor Welsh mates," he said. "After aw, they've got certain disadvantages an' need th' practice."

"Oh please," Tommy rolled his eyes, "if I remember right I'm pretty darn good at sliding the stone."

"Tis a guid thing ye'r braw," Céilidh took Tommy's face in her hands, "fur yer memory sucks." She said with a kiss.

"You're funny, Ginger." He kissed her back.

Rose had been watching the Gryffindor couple with a peculiar look on her face. Shaking off any fleeting sense of longing, she turned to Danny. "A practice run is a really good idea actually. I have no problem admitting when I need a little bit of help."

Danny nodded. He picked up a stone. "Ye haud th' stane lik' this," he showed her the stone in his hand, then took the position at the hack. "Then ye push aff tae th' line 'n' release."

"That doesn't sound so hard." The little blonde didn't sound entirely convinced.

Danny laughed. "Ye giv it a gae."

"Right now?"

The Ravenclaw man nodded. "Weel nae later," he said with a chuckle.

Orlando stepped up beside Nicolette. His arm slipped behind her back, scooting her into his side. "Shoud Ah be hurt tha ye'd assume Ah'd cheat?" His lip curled into his cheek, and he looked at her sideways. The Hufflepuff shot her a flash of a wink.

"I know you'd cheat." She reached up and lightly tapped him in the middle of his forehead

The boy scowled playfully. "Nou wha's cheating?"

He looked at the others that stood around the Black Lake's edge. Danny was showing Rose how to hold one of the stones and pointing down the polished ice to the colored circles. Tom was standing beside Cee who was digging into the trunk and checking the stones for the best set.

"Ah jalouse ye ken whit strategy Ah haen in mynd than."

She looked at the other players and back to those hazel eyes. "Yeah, I agree."

"This is gauntae be fun..." Foozle flicked his wrist and his wand dropped into his palm seemingly from nowhere. He summoned one of the brooms from in front of Tom. "Hae ye iver seen Ginger lose?" He chuckled a little.

"Really?" Tom's head cocked to the side. "This," Tom threw his arm around Céilidh, "is Céilidh MacAllister. She never loses."

"Laying it oan a bawherr thick aren't ye?" Cee kissed him on the cheek.

"It's called intimidation." Tom whispered.

As the others were talking, Danny was gingerly trying to help Rose with her form, and had wrapped his arm around her while blushing slightly. As he guided her forward one of them, it was hard to say who slipped and fell into the other. They crumpled onto the ice in a heap.

Quickly they scrambled to their feet, both of their faces a bright red that had nothing to do with the cold wind blowing across the lake.

There was laughing from the four on the other side of the lake. "I thought you were good at this Danny."

Rose's frowned. "He is good!" she said, indignantly. Then realizing her outburst, she went even redder. "I mean, we just sort of fell over while he was trying to help me."

[color=#t&c]"Uh huh."[/color] Tom and Cee both laughed.

Looping his arm under Nicolette's, Foozle made their way down to the frozen lake and the trunk. "He's doun richt amazing, oor boy Danny."

Rose wasn't listening. Her green eyes met Danny's perfect hazel ones and she blushed a little brighter. "Okay, one foot at a time. We can't spend the whole afternoon on the ground." She pushed the hair away from her face with one mittened hand and extended the other to him. "We have to win this game... thingy. Or at least not come in last."

Danny chuckled. "It disnae matter, whitever Cee says. Ah'm just oot here tae hiv fun wi' my friends."

"So we all ready?" Tommy stretched as he looked at the rest of the group.

"Aye," Orlando dug at the snow with his boot, clearing down to some yellowed grass. Taking his hand out of his pocket he crouched down to pick several dead blades. His mouth twisted a bit as he looked at him then his eyes rose to find Laun. "Ower here, mate," he said with a jog of the head.

Laun strode over and the Hufflepuff stuck the bunch in his palm. "Since yer juidge an aw, an Ah clearly cannae be truistit ye kin hauld the straw."

The prefect come referee laughed. "I think I can handle that much."

"Aye." Foozle gave him a sly wink. "We'll gae in order o length. Shortest fuirst. Brosia?"

Chewing on a lock of hair just a bit brighter than the jagged tips that stuck out of Laun's fist she stared at the options a moment then cautiously tugged one out. It was quite small.

Her partner grinned, "Guid pick."

"Aye," nodded Lando. "Alricht than, Ginger."

With considerably less hesitation, the fiery MacAllister stepped up and tugged out another blade. She held it up and looked at it, as did all the others. It wasn't long, but it also wasn't as short as Rose's. "Alricht than..."

Nicolette's boyfriend winked at her and nodded. She bit her lip and then pulled on one of the remaining blades of grass. This one was several inches long, longer than the others without needing to measure.

"Weel," Lando said with a bit of a smirk, "tha wis a spat o luck."

"Well it appears to be your honor my dear Ravenclaws." Tommy waived his hand toward Rose and Danny. "After you."

Danny slid the first stone to the line and smiled at Rose. "Ye kin gae first."

Rubbing her hands together, the blonde took a step toward her stone then turned to flash her housemate an apprehensive look. "Oh... lucky me."

"Yuir gauntae be fine." Dan said reassuringly.

"Maybe. But I'd be a lot happier if I wasn't first." She let out her breath, watching the steam drift toward Danny before squaring her shoulders. "Okay, so I just have to push it, right?"

Smiling, Danny nodded and waved her on. The blonde grabbed the stone and slid it down the sheet. As the stone skidded along, Danny was waving his wand, controlling a pair of brooms that directed the stone toward the house. The round rock slid to a stop into the left side of the house's blue outer ring.

Rose looked over at her teammate. "Was that good?" she asked, a slight look of worry on her face.

"Ye did great, lass." he said, his face beaming. "Ye hit th' target, better 'n' Tommy did oan his first try."

Nicolette looked to her Scot with arms crossed and one brow raised. "If they are using magic, don't you think for one second I am doing it the muggle way."

Her boyfriend was grinning broadly. "Ye cannae uise magic tae throw the rock, hen."

"I can, though I may not." She pointed to the whisking brooms. "And I was referring to the difficult looking part."

"Weel," with a little slight of hand, Foozle's wand appeared in his hand. "Tha's my pairt. At least this roond." He gave her a little wink. "Ye git tae throw the rock."

"You wanna go first, Ginger?" Tom asked.

"Ainlie if ye'r tae scared." Céildh's lips curled into a smile as she walked over to the stones and picked one up. "Urr ye sure ye kin handle th' broms." Cee gave him a wink.

"She's funny." Tom smirked. "Yes darling, I can handle the bloody brooms."

Orlando tucked his arm behind Nicolette's waist and. With a peaked brow he looked at Team Gryffindor. "Ye twa dae ken tha yuir oan the same team, yeah?"

[color=#t&c]"Of course."[/color] They said in unison as Céildh slid the stone down the ice.

Tom stood behind her and waived his right hand. The brooms began sweeping a path for stone as it curled out wide and then back into the house opposite of Rose's shot.

"Well played Red." Tommy gave the Scottish girl a hug from behind as she stood up.

"Nae tae ill yersel'" Cee said with a kiss.

"Aye, he's a regular Sorcerer's apprentice. Keep a yak oan thay twa, Laun." Taking his wand, Foozle gave a light swish and flick. One of the stones rose up and floated its way into Nicolette's gloved hands.

"Alricht..." He was looking at the colored circles down the ice and two stones sitting on the ice. Foozle then looked to his girlfriend who was gingerly stepping across the ice and gripping the curling stone by its handle. "Juist gie it a wee bit o heft an lat the ice dae the rest." He smiled, adding with that ethereal voice that rang in the back of her mind, Aim juist inside o ginger's thrae."

She looked at the boy with a flat expression that served as a reminder that she had never held one of these in her life, and and the idea that she could slide it anywhere with any sort of accuracy was beyond ludicrous.

He whisked his larch wand, and the brooms stood to attention, ready to buff the way to the house. "Guid pynt." Foozle chuckled and stepped behind her. One of his hands upon her hip. The other fell along her arm. "Ye hauld it lik sae." He helped her adjust her hold on the grip. Their arms swung together in a slow unison, letting her get a feel for its weight. It grazed the ice. "An ye juist lat it gae." Their paired frames moved in that almost stretched fluid form. Their arms stretched out and she loosed the stone onto the ice.

The Scot quickly lifted his wand to work the brooms as the curling stone approached. They polished the ice in its path, and it was on a true course right for the Gryffindor rock. Unfortunately good aim was not enough. It kept close to the inside but ran out of steam a few feet shy of its target.

Orlando smiled anyway, as if they had knocked the rock clear across the ice. "Juist lillie." He planted a kiss on her.

Danny stepped up to the line and took his turn while Orlando coached her on the wandwork needed for the sweeping. Tom and Orlando followed suit, as stone after stone slid down the ice and toward the house, brooms whisking furiously the whole way.

The seven students were enjoying their time on the ice, laughing and ribbing each other's skills. After the boys' took their second turns curling, Gerti appeared with a round of hot chocolate, coffee and tea for them all. After they'd warmed up with their drinks, aided here and there by a dollop of The Gentlemen's whiskey, courtesy of Orlando's watch-fob, they resumed their curling.

Finishing their third end, the Scots tallied up the scores. Danny and Rose trailed by one point.

As the ladies took their turns, Rose and Danny took the advantage, followed by the Gryffindors, then the team of Lando and Nicolette seemed to be in the best shape. Finally it was Danny's turn again.

He stepped to the line with a wink to Rose. Sliding the stone toward the house, he stepped back to watch Ambrosia waving her wand and sending the brooms through their paces. She did a masterful job of directing the stone, and it skidded just to the left of the vacant button, leaving the pair of Ravenclaws with the two closest stones.

Foozle's arms folded across his peacoat, surveying the stones down around the rings. "Guid show." He leaned back to look at Cee from behind Nicolette. "Close gam, dou."

Tom stood with his arms folded across his chest, his right hand rubbing his chin. "What do you think love?"

"Gies a sec..." Céilidh stood on tip-toes to try and get a better look a the lay of the land. The stones were situated in such a way, that if played right, they could nudge both Foozle's and Danny's stones out of play and leave theirs very nearly dead center atop the button. After a brief huddle, Tommy moved to the hack with a less than sure look on his face.

"You're sure about this?"

"Aye. Ye gie it a shove, A'll handle th' rest."

Tommy nodded, not wanting to ruin an otherwise perfect day with an argument. He pushed off, letting the stone go free just as they had discussed. Céilidh flicked her wand and the brooms came to life, brushing out ahead of the block of granite.

It seemed as though everyone was holding their breath as the stone and brooms traversed the sheet. The silence was broken only when Tom coughed.

"Uh... Red? Don't you think we're coming in a little hot?"

Cee cast a glance in Tom's direction. "Ye juist staund thare 'n' luik bonnie. A've gat this," the redhead said, her voice full of confidence. When she turned back, however, her eyes went wide. The stone was, indeed, moving much too quickly than she'd intended.

"Shite." She said, letting her wand-arm fall. The damage was done. "Shite. Shite. Shite."

With a crack that echoed over the frozen lake, the Gryffindor stone caromed off Orlando's stone, sending it streaking into the other Gryffindor stone, which in turn sent that stone off into the nearby snow bank.

Tommy's stone continued toward Danny's, striking it at such and angle to send it skittering to a stop right over the button, while Tom's stone continued on, finally settling outside the blue ring.

Tom blinked hoping that maybe if he blinked hard enough, it would change. He stood up still not wanting to turn and look at Céilidh. "Well," Tom said thickly, "that's not good."

"Shite. Shite. Shite."

"A bonnie takoot," said Foozle pleasantly. "No shuir gif that wis whit ye meant tae dae, but it wis impressive."

Rose looked hopefully to Danny. "That's good for us, right?" she asked, her face, pink from the cold, showing the beginnings of a smile.

"Aye," Danny said with a smile. "Gif Lando doesnae knock us oot o' play."

"Gif?" The Hufflepuff Scot turned his head a little, the hammer hanging at the end of his arm. "Ye mean whin, brither." He and Nicolette stepped onto the ice. "Aw it taks is ane sweet kiss o this stane tae pit ye oot."

"So," Nicolette bit her lip and surveyed the house and all th* stones around it. "What do we do?"

He pointed at the last stone Danny had thrown. "Gif we smook richt in ower oan the inside o tha ane pan thw button the game is oors. Gif we dinnae..." His eyes focused with exaggerated seriousness, "we'rre sunk."

"All or nothing then?" The Ravenclaw had become quite handy sweeping the brooms and had even gotten the hang of slowing it, speeding it, and curling it. She smiled at the boy, knowing just what he had in mind. It would be tough, that was for certain. "I'll do my best."

Her boyfriend winked and took his stance.

"Don't choke."

Foozle grinned, rolling his eyes.

His arm swung back, and with a graceful arc the rock hit the ice. All that could be heard was the granite grinding along the polished ice and the swiftly swishing of the broom's bristles guiding the way. Their quick work tactfully faded as the hammer got closer to the thick blue circle. She gave the ice just the littlest polish more,and then Nicolette pulled the brooms.

Rose clutched Danny's arm like a vice.

Lando leaned close to Nicolette and whispered. "Tha's it, hen."

The hammer crawled up on he button painfully slowly. And then it stopped. With the angle it was hard to tell, but not hard enough. They were inches from the colored circle. They were short.

"Bloody hell." Tom sighed.

"Shite. Shite. Shite." Céilidh's refrain continued.

Rose and Danny looked at each other. "Did we..? the girl asked in an excited tone.

Danny nodded slowly. "Ah reck we did."

"Shite. Shite. Shite." Céilidh kept muttering.

"It's okay," Tommy said as he shoved his hands in his pockets, "I still love you."

The redhead leaned against her boyfriend. "Shite." She heaved a heavy sigh, "Guid gam, aw."

Meanwhile Rose had thrown her arms around Danny and was hopping up and down in excitement. "We did it Danny!" she said cheerfully.

Dan's face reddened at Rose's attentions. "Aye, Ah reck we did." he said, returning her hug.

"Well played sir." Tom turned around and extended a hand to Danny.

Breaking the hug somewhat reluctantly, Danny shook the Gryffindor's hand. "Thanks, brither. Ye an' Cee put up a guid fight."

Orlando slipped his arm across Nicolette's slender shoulders. "Weel, we tried."

"Yes." She snuggled into his side. "But it was fun."

They smiled at the winning team. "Weel playit, ye twa. Guid win." Foozle put his hand on Tom's shoulder. "An ye... Mebbes next time."

It took a moment for Céilidh to tear her eyes away from the stones down the lane, but when she did, she gave Orlando a wink. "Ye'r oan."

"Not right now," Tom said quickly not wanting to be outside freezing all night, "I don't know about the rest of you but I still have a three feet of parchment on practical theory versus Dementors for Professor Qasim before term starts on Monday."

"Finished it awready," Danny said with a grin, shifting out of his customary Scottish brogue. "Mebbes that the difference between the Eagles o' Ravenclaws an' the kittens o' Gryffindor... Time management."

"He's funny." Tommy laughed.

"It's ane o the reasons we luve him sae. C'mon," Foozle jerked his head back toward the large dark castle that loomed behind them above the snowy burm, "Ah ken a great place in the dungeons whaur we kin git a wee bit o coco an marshmallae. My treat."

"I think that sounds like a brilliant plan." Tommy squeezed Cee's hand. "And Danny if you wanna let me have a look at that essay you've written, you know for educational purposes only."

Danny glanced at Rose, then turned to look at Tommy. "Hou aboot Ah correct yuirs after ye're done?" he asked.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Linking her arm through Danny's, for purely weather related purposes, Rose grinned at her friend. "As much as I hate keeping you from your homework, I think we need to warm up together first." She hugged her housemate's arm. "All we need is a nice, relatively private fireplace and some hot chocolate. So we can toast good sportsmanship and things like that."

"Well then," the Ravenclaw man said as he looked around at his friends, "Lead on, MacFoozle. Ye're buyin'."

[Laun Orris-Whitmoor]

"I wonder who'll be teaching class? I haven't heard any announcements..." Laun mused as he, Rose and Tom wandered to the dungeon.

"Dunno." Tom shrugged "Did you hear anything about who would be head of Slytherin? Or even how the Professor is?"

"Professor Qasim is acting head of Slytherin," Laun stifled a grin, "As for Professor Snape, I don't know much but I hear that he is stable."

Rose shifted the books in her arms so she could grab a curl of golden hair. "I know you need a head of your house. And we need a teacher... but... it's so soon. Poor Professor Snape. He'll be back as soon as he's better, right?"

"I hope so!"

"Ma said he wis bad aff still." Céilidh came from behind wrapping her arms around Tom's waist. "Thay still havnae figured oot wha potion hit him."

"Well I want to go on record as saying I have no ideas. I'm taking a break this time, no crazy theories and what not, you can only bang your head against a wall so many times..."

"Snape is injurit an Qasim is watching ower his hoose." It was unusual for Orlando to be on time for a class and for him to be early was unheard of. No one took notice of him standing by the shelves of Professor Snape's class library. He pulled down one of the older tomes and tucked it under his arm. His eyes met Tom's for the briefest of moments. "Funny tha. A wunner hou Snape feels aboot it."

Danny was leaning against the other side of the bookcase. "'A'maist mak's ye wonder howfur accidental th' mishap wis."

Laun rolled his eyes.

"So he obviously did it?" Laun scoffed, "And what does he gain? The grand prize of now being responsible for a bunch of teenagers and their endless problems. I'm sure Amen Qasim the great auror and world renowned adventurer across the wizarding world thinks that's worth going to Azkaban for."

"I don't think they are exactly saying that Laun." Tom stopped unpacking his equipment from his bag and folded his arms. "Besides, that would make almost no sense one teacher attacking another. It has to be who ever is causing everything else." He shot Laun a look not to bring up that he and Laun were asked by Professor Qasim to casually investigate this year's series of pranks.

So far he and Laun hadn't really found anything terribly encouraging, or to that point even remotely connecting the incidents thus far this year. "And to be honest we don't even know for sure that it wasn't an accident. I mean he had just ended a class, prolly one of the seventh years screwed up a potion bad and just didn't clean it up."

"We aw ken Snape's standarts efter OWLs. Naebody he'd keep wad make a mistak tha grave, no something tha the healers cannae e'en feegur oot."

"Tha ink quill. Tha beuk tha Qasim cannae mak heids oor tails o. The kids tha e'en McGonnagal haesnae been able tae fix. Nou this ane is juist an accident?" Foozle shook his head. "Something's rotten in Hogwarts."

The Scot paused a beat before Danny chimed in. "Again."

"Well it wouldn't be Hogwarts without a little mayhem and mystery." Laun smirked.

Danny's eyes narrowed. "Whaur th' wheesht bairn kin caw oot tae be a psychopath, whaur naethin' is as it seems," he said darkly. "Ah dinnae think we kin say fur sure that a seventh year micht nae huv dane it oan purpose, or even that a teacher wouldn't huv it in fur annur."

A shimmer of air shook just inside the door and Nicolette Ainscough appeared out of thin air. Her brows raised a little, surprised as she tucked the golden pendant back under her buttoned top. "Everyone is... early." She looked to her brother and boyfriend. "Even you two."

The Hufflepuff's small smile was brightened in his eyes. "New Perfesser," he replied as if that explained anything. Without a sound that book under his arm deftly dropped into his bag.

"I would think you wouldn't even come to class at all." She laughed and set her books on the tabletop. "Do we know who it is?"

"Nope." Tom shook his head as more of the sixth years began to file into the classroom.

"Well, now," there was a rather cheering voice from the back of the room. All the eyes and heads turned to find the short, and plump man filling the doorway. His thumbs were tucked behind the lapels of is dark green lapel of a velvet suit. There was a broad grin on his thick cheeks that was hidden under the curtain of his shaggy, silver mustache that crawled down his cheeks as well.

"Is this all of you?" The man surveyed the classroom with bright, green eyes. "A rather small class for a sixth year." The man laughed, and as he did his large belly shook.

"Professor Slughorn!" Laun's eyes went wide as did his omnipresent grin. Laun had known the professor for years and was quite disappointed that he missed out on being in the man's class.

The blond boy raced over to the older man and jovially shook his hand almost pulling his arm right out of the socket.

"How are you my boy, I missed seeing you at your mother's annual Christmas extraveganza! Your mother said you were doing charity work? How noble."

"Yes well..." Laun pulled at the collar of his shirt, "My mother..." then deciding it wasn't worth it he shrugged, "I did miss the festivities sir." He said finally.

Tom looked at Rose "Professor Slughorn?" He whispered. "I hear he's amazing."

The blonde bit at a curl. "He's too happy," she whispered back.

"Decidedly so." Tom nodded. "Do we dislike him?" A lopsided grin hit his cheeks.

"No. It's just..." She sighed. It wasn't as though she'd been especially close to Professor Snape. But he was a good teacher in his own prickly way, and he'd helped her. "He's just different."

Professor Slughorn moved through the aisles of the potions dungeon as easily as a man less than half his size. Orlando and Danny watched him take his place at the front of his classroom. He was saying something about how the desk was just where he left it.

Foozle propped his chin on his fist. "Ye wis Snape's predecessor, yeah?"

Slughorn nodded, chuckling again. "I was and quite happily retired, but," the potions master drifted off with a roll of his wrist.

Not willing to dwell on the subject he examined the faces of his class. When he looked toward Tom those light green eyes seemed to sparkle and his walrus's grin grew. "Well, Michael Llewelyn." His hands clasped over his rotund stomach. "I believe I have taught every member of your family, seen your brother at nearly every of his home games. He sends the tickets, charming young man." There was that chuckle again. "I hear you are quite the promising player yourself."

Tom's cheeks reddened a bit. "Thank you, sir." Tom shoved his hands in his pockets. "I appreciate that."

"And the first registered animagi in nearly twenty years." The walrus mustache seemed to now have a greedy grin underneath it. "And before you even took your apparition test? That is truly marvelous!"

Tom's head cocked his head to the side curiously. "To be honest sir," Tom slid next to Céilidh and put his arm around her, "Céilidh has also registered as an animagi right after I did, as did Danny. And Orlando is just about to as well."

"Yes, but," his mustache twitched with laughter. "you were the first. Take pride in that." His eyes squinted as he laughed again "Stop being such a chivalrous Gryffindor."[/todd] He clapped Orlando on the back. [slug]"Isn't that right?"

The Hufflepuff smiled, his brow wagging at his brother. "Been tellin' him tha fer years, Perfesser."

"Oh aye," Danny chimed in. "he's aweys givin' Lando an' me credit for things he's had a hand in." As Slughhorn looked back at Tom, Danny shot the Gryffindor a wink.

Tom had the definite glare of someone who no longer wanted to be in any where but where he was at this exact moment.

"And you must be Ambrosia." He rounded warmly on Rose. "Your father is the Prophet's best photographer. Always gets my best side."

Rose smiled. "He'll be delighted to hear that, Professor. He always has such nice things to say about you too," she replied, automatically slipping into 'charm the teacher' mode.

"And you my dear," he took Nicolette's hands in his, "I missed our dance at the Christmas party this year." His large belly shook as he laughed. "I hope everything is well with you?"

Nicolette's laugh was forced, and not deceivingly so. "Oh, yeah... that..." She pushed her hair back behind her ear. "Just spent Christmas... abroad."

"That sounds astounding my dear." He shook her hands a few more times. "And your parents? How are they?"

Her cheeks tinged red. "Oh, same as always. You know how they are."

"Well, of course," he laughed and his whole face scrunched up, the hairs of his mustache seemed to be alive and rolling laughter as well.

"It's now time for us to start our first class together." He strode to the front of the room, his eyes sparkling. "Welcome to all of you," he said with a bright smile on his face. "My name is Professor Horrace Slughorn. I was Potions Master here at Hogwarts until a few short years ago and have agreed to reclaim this post while Professor Snape is..." he cleared his throat, "under the weather. Now for today's lesson..."

[Ambrosia Sheridan]

The Great Hall was filled with a cacophony of sound Thursday night. Fresh snow was falling outside and the hall's ceiling was cloudy, with illusionary flakes falling toward the tables, only to vanish a few feet above them.

All around the tables, students were talking and laughing, sharing stories of what they had done that day and ideas of what they would do tonight. At the Ravenclaw table, Danny sat, surrounded by his friends. As he listened to them, he noticed Rose blink, then look down. He knew that look.

"Hey, Rose," he said, pushing back from the table.

"Yes, Danny?" she replied without looking up.

"Let's take a walk." he said, offering her his arm. They linked arms and walked out of the hall and into the cool evening.

They walked in silence for some time, listening to the crunch of the frozen earth beneath their feet and the sounds of life that faded behind them as they passed away from the castle. With a shuddering little sigh that sent her breath steaming into the night, Rose leaned her head against Danny's shoulder. "I'm really glad you wanted a walk."

The feeling of the girl leaning against him made Danny smile. "A thocht ye might need it."

The blonde gave a faint smile. "I see how you are, Mr. DuMorne. I tell you one big secret and you start thinking you need to watch out for me." She gave his arm a little squeeze. "Thank you."

"It's my job," Danny said, throwing his arm around Rose and pulling her in closer. Though the snow was still falling, the clouds were starting to part, and the moon could be glimpsed in the open sky between them. "Bonnie nicht, isnae it?"

"It's getting better," she admitted, finally looking up at him.

Glancing down at the girl, he smiled again. They meandered through the castle grounds, enjoying the stillness of the night. Finally Danny spoke. "Ah'm..." He wasn't sure what to say, so he fell back on a familiar territory. "Ah'm doin' guid in Herbology this term. Muckle better 'n' last."

The little blonde beamed at him. "You're really very good at it. Maybe you just needed the right encouragement or something."

"Aye, Weel, ah jalouse ye wur juist a guid motivator," he replied, his smile growing to match hers.

She laughed, feeling much more relaxed now that they were out of the busy castle. "Well... yes. I am." Leaning against him, her lightheartedness lasted for only a few steps. "Danny... it was bad in there..."

"Ah'm sairy, hen," he said as they paused in front of the Whopping Willow. A wand Rose had never seen was produced from Danny's sleeve and with it he sent two great hunk of snow flying towards the tree.

The willow swung, bursting the snow into tiny flakes and sending them cascading down over the two students.

Rose giggled as the snow fell down around them. Danny had the uncanny ability to make her feel better, no matter what. "Instant snowstorm," she laughed.

He grinned, twirling his new wand between his fingers. "Aye. A thocht he might need th' exercise."

"You're kinda brilliant, you know." The blonde eyed the wand for a moment, torn between the need to know every single thing about him and the desire to give him at least a tiny bit of privacy. But, of course, her curiosity won. "So... that's new... and shiny..."

"Oh, uh," He had been preoccupied by Rose's problems and hadn't realized he pulled the wrong wand. "Aye, it's new, a spare." As they walked on he held the wand out to the girl. "Want tae take a leuk?"

She took the wand from her hand, breath steaming in the air as she grinned up at him. "You know... in my books, the only people who need spare wands are thieves and miscreants." Her green eyes sparkled with laughter. "And, of course, you're nothing at all like that..."

"O'coorse nae," the young man grinned. "But it woud help tae prevent oney misunderstandings. Occasionally Ah micht bend a rule or twa."

The blonde laughed as she passed his wand between her hands, holding it up to the moonlight to examine it closely. "This is really nice, Danny. The eagle part is amazing." She brushed her thumb over the carved hilt. "And the way this spirals...

Danny nodded. "Oak an' phoenix heartstring," he said with a smile. " Supposed tae be finecky in choosin' a wizard, from whit Ollivander said."

"Well you're a perfect choice," she told him without really thinking about it. Holding the wand in spell-casting position, she looked down it to the end. "You know it kinda reminds me of..." Suddenly she laughed and handed it back to him. "But you don't need me to tell you that. You're so brilliant, Danny. This is so the perfect wand for you."

Dan looked at the girl with a puzzled expression on his face. "Whit are ye talkin' aboot?"

"The eagle and the unicorn. Your heritage. You're so smart! Everyone should do that with their wands," she gushed, pressing it back into his hand.

"Nae Ah'm not," he laughed. "The wand wis like that when Ah got it. Ah dinnae do anything tae it. Mebbes that's why it chose me, tho'."

Rose nodded enthusiastically, her golden curls bobbing around her face. "Of course that's why. You're perfect for each other."

The duo rounded a corner and found themselves walking down a little path between two tall hedges. "Ah dinnae kin aboot that," he said, blushing slightly.

As they passed between the sculpted hedges, Rose shivered and hugged Danny's arm. It didn't matter how cold it was outside, walking with her friend always felt right. She leaned against him, looking up at the stars overhead. "It really is a beautiful night."

Danny nodded. They paused, looking up at the same stars they'd charted from the top of the Astronomy Tower. For a long while, they both stood, silent. Finally Dan broke the silence. "This aw seems familiar... sort of..."

Tilting her head to look at him, she nodded. "Sort of..." she agreed, staring into his eyes.

As Dan returned her gaze, a memory began to trickle into his thoughts, a memory he didn't know he had. He leaned closer to the blonde, her emerald eyes drawing him in. The small stream broke open a dam in his mind, and a flood of memories returned in a wave.

Unconsciously mirroring his movement, Rose leaned in. "Danny... I..."

Their faces drew ever closer, two pairs of lips parted slightly. But neither closed their eyes. It was as if their gaze was fixed by some unseen force. Rose leaned up on her tiptoes, moving closer. Then, without warning, it was as if the sun exploded before her eyes. Light flared up between the pair and a stabbing pain erupted in her head. She grabbed at his shirt, holding herself up against him then the light gave way to darkness as she crumpled to the ground.

To say Danny panicked would have been understatement. He had remembered, remembered everything from Halloween. And his girl, his mystery girl was Rose, his cute, funny, brilliant friend and housemate.

And now she was on the ground at his feet. He was momentarily paralyzed, but only momentarily. He bent down and picked Rose up in his arms, then he ran back to the castle.

Careful to protect her head, he pulled on the handle of the large oaken door. The hinges creaked and groaned as it opened and after Danny slipped through with his precious cargo, creaked shut again. He hurried to the marble staircase and made his way up as quickly as he could. Rushing down the hallway, he turned onto another staircase and climbed still upward.

Danny charged down the hallway of the third floor, and burst through the double doors to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey dropped a roll of bandages she was putting into a cupboard and looked from Dan to the girl he cradled in his arms.

"She swarft," the young man said as he panted, trying to catch his breath. "Ah reck..." He paused, not sure if he should reveal his friend's secret, but worried more about her well-being. "She haes been haein some kynd o' veesions.."

"Visions?" The witch pointed at an empty bed and waited impatiently for the Ravenclaw to follow instructions. "Fainting students I can handle. Visions are something else." Nearly pushing Dan away from the bed, she ordered him to the door. "You best fetch the head of your house, lad. He can decide if we need to call Professor Trewlany."

Carefully setting the blonde on the bed, Danny nodded at Pomfrey and tore from the hospital wing, silently wishing he could apparate in the castle. After spending far too much time running back to the charms head's empty office and checking the staff break room, Danny skidded into the great hall, getting odd looks from the assembled students as he charged to the head table.

"Perfesser Flitwick!" the Ravenclaw practically yelled at his head of house. "It's Rose, in the hospital wing."

"Mister Dumorne!" Squeaked the startled head of Ravenclaw house. He was still seated on the extra cushions that were piled onto his chair so that he could sit comfortably. "What are you talking about?"

Danny took a deep breath. "Rose an' Ah were takin' a walk. We were" he edited the story slightly for the professor, a friend of Rose's parents, "talking an' she just fainted away. An'... she's been having visions." Focused on talking to Professor Flitwick, Danny missed Dumbledore look their way, eyebrow arched.

"What kind of visions Daniel?" The soft but unmistakable voice of the Headmaster rang like a silver bell over the din in the Great Hall.

"She said it was..." He paused, thinking about how Rose had worded it. "She said it's like she sees strings going around and through people like kite strings stretched around. They make her dizzy."

The eyes behind the half moon spectacles twinkled slightly. His eyes seemed to survey Dan's face before he spoke again. "Filius, I believe we should go see to your student."

Professor Flitwick nodded, "Yes of course."

---

Danny walked into the Hospital Wing for the second time in the same evening, this time trailing behind Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore. At the end of a row of beds, Rose sat propped up on the pillows arguing with Madame Pomfrey. "It's not as bad as he said. It's just a little headache. I promise. And besides..." Her voice trailed off as she looked up to see her friend entering with the teachers. "Um... just... a headache..."

"Ah told them, Rose." Danny said flatly, concern evident on his face. "Ye fainted richt efter ye wur haein a ill time o' it. Ah hud tae tell thaim."

"And he was right to." The professor said as he laid a caring eye on the girl. "Are you alright Ambrosia?" He said almost fatherly.

"Um..." She didn't answer her professor at first. Her cheeks colored as she remembered the moment with Danny before everything had gone wrong. They'd been about to kiss, she was sure of it. He was her amazing and romantic mystery boy and he'd been about to kiss her. Until she'd messed it all up.

"I'm okay now. Madame Pomfrey made me drink something. But..." She looked down at the white covers on the hospital bed. "I've been having problems with my eyes and headaches and I kinda see things that aren't there," she finished with a sigh, unable to look up at any of them.

Dumbledore strode across the room in two steps and with a snap of his wand made a chair appear right next to Rose's bed and sat down. His eyes twinkled as they burrowed deep into Rose. A smile tugged on the corners of his lips. "What kind of things Ambrosia?"

It was bad enough trying to explain things to her closest friends, telling the headmaster about her problem seemed like the height of embarrassment. "It's a little hard to explain, sir. I sorta see... it sounds so silly, but I see like strings of light. They go through people and around them and all over the place. I started seeing it last summer but it was just in dreams. Now it happens when I'm awake and it makes me dizzy and sometimes gives me headaches and... now... makes me pass out."

The Headmaster nodded. "I was wondering when this would happen." He said almost off hand like he was commenting on a quidditch match. He turned to Professor Flitwick, Dan and Madam Pomfrey. "May I please have a moment alone with our Ambrosia?"

Flitwick and Pomfrey both nodded, but Dan hesitated seeing the look of near-panic on Rose's face.

"I assure you," The Professor nodded reassuringly, "I will take very good care of her."

Dan nodded and left with Professor Flitwick.

He turned back to Rose. "So." He said conversationally as he folded his hands onto his lap. "Where shall we start?"

"I don't know, sir." She shook her head, feeling a little confused. "I thought Madame Pomfrey would just be able to give me something for my eyes and we'd be able to forget about everything and I could go back to normal."

Dumbledore chuckled for a moment. "Do any of us really believe in normal?"

Rose flushed at his laughter. "Normal in comparison. You know how amazing all my friends are."

"You my dear," Professor Dumbledore stared into Ambrosia's eyes, "Are more special than you realize."

"Because I see things?" She truly didn't mean to argue, especially with Dumbledore himself, but the fact that she'd just scared off her dream boy colored her mood. "Sir, do you know what's wrong with me?"

"My dear," his hand patter her on the knee, "there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You like your great grandmother Ambrosia are a Raveler."

Rose lifted her head to stare at him, green eyes questioning. She'd heard stories about her namesake, of course. But they were just family stories, what house she'd been in, what kind of grades she'd gotten... stuff like that. Not once had anyone ever mentioned that great grandma could see strings of light. "Really? A what? I've never heard of... This has a name?"

"Oh my yes." A twinkle shot across his blue eyes. "It is a rare condition of magic." He said as he stood. "Rare, but very powerful." He paced slightly, his arms behind his back. "There have only been a handful of Ravelers throughout history. The most famous was Anistasia Toothill. She lived in the Fourteenth Century in oddly enough Yorkshire." He shot her a caring smile.

The Headmaster stopped talking for a moment turning his back on Rose. He walked toward one of the windows on the opposite side of the room. "What do you know of the magic of love?"

Her golden brows arched toward the ceiling. "I... um... read a lot of books. But they're just stories. Mushy stuff to make girls sigh."

Dumbledore laughed again, still not looking at Ambrosia. "Personally, I enjoy those." He turned, a bright smile on his face. "But there is much more to love then that. It is said that when the world was young and magic was being formed, there was one element that was more powerful than the others. Love." He nodded as he said the word.

"Love, more than any other magic binds us together. And you my dear," he sat back down next to her. "can see those bonds."

"I can see..." She let the thought trail off. As crazy as it seemed, what he said made sense. "No way." The tiny blonde sat in stunned silence for a moment, then a million questions came to mind. "But why? If my great grandma had this, why doesn't anyone else in my family? And why now? I'm sixteen. Why haven't I ever heard of this before?"

"For one because it is an extremely rare bit of magic." Albus Dumbledore replied "Only one hundred have ever been known to exist, and it is also only carried through the female line, which makes it even harder to follow.

The second reason is that unfortunately, most wizards either fear or don't believe in the magic of love." The Headmaster's head bowed for a moment. "Of course there is a whole room in the Ministry dedicated to unlocking the secrets of love."

Rose sat in silence, trying to take it all in. When she finally looked up at the Headmaster, her eyes were filled with tears. "So I'm not sick? I thought... maybe... it was something that happened to me because Eric hit me with... well... you know..."

The smile faded from Dumbledore's face. "I was wondering if that could be the trigger." The sunlight hit his face it seemed older than before, and even more caring. "You cared quite a great deal for Mister Netrue didn't you?"

The blonde nodded sadly. "I did. I was his friend, even if he wasn't mine. I just thought this year would be easier than last. But now I'm getting dizzy and having these headaches and even if it has a name, it's still hard to live with."

His old hand found hers and gripped it tightly. "I am sorry Ambrosia." He said softly almost so quiet she could barely hear him. "I had a feeling this would happen. I should have come to you sooner. Can you forgive me?"

The touch of his hand startled her almost as much as his words. "Of course. I mean, it's not anyone's fault, sir. You didn't do this." She squeezed his hand. "I should have talked about it. It was just new and weird and stuff."

"Then we shall move on." His other hand patted hers. "Firstly, we will have someone train you in the art of controlling and mastering this gift of yours. Sadly there are no other living Ravelers in the world today."

"Then how...?" The little Ravenclaw seemed unable to complete a full sentence on the subject.

Professor Dumbledore smiled again. "I'm sure I'll think of something dear." Dumbledore stood up. "I am fairly good at that you know?" His eyes twinkled.

Meanwhile, Danny paced in the hall. Rose had passed out when he tried to kiss her. The same thought kept running through his mind. She was his mystery girl, she hadn't said anything and when he tried to kiss her she fainted dead away. He couldn't think of a worse situation.

"I'm sure she'll be fine Daniel." The tiny Professor patted Danny on the hand. "These things, uh happen."

"How come is it aye mah mukkers wha seem tae faint, git hurt or huv accidents?" The young man leaned against a stone wall and sighed. "Tis aye someone close tae me. Nicolette is practically mah sister 'n' Rose is..." Dan trailed off, not really sure what was the situation was between Rose and him.

The door to the hospital wing opened as if on it's own accord. "Mister DuMorne," The headmaster's voice called out, "could you please join me for a moment?"

Danny stepped through the doors and into the hospital wing once more. "Aye, Perfesser?"

"I need you to do me a favor and fetch Professor Qasim please." Dumbledore smiled at the Ravenclaw.

"Whit?" Danny asked, incredulously. "Ah mean, Perfesser Qasim, sir? Why?"

"Mister DuMorne," the Professor said calmly, a kind smile on his face, "you trust me do you not?"

Nodding, Danny replied, "O'coorse, Ah trust ye sir," he said, silently adding But I don't trust Qasim.

"Then please fetch Professor Qasim for me." Professor Dumbledore said with a finality in his voice.

"Aye, Sir." Danny turned and rushed through the castle halls once more.

The Headmaster turned back to Rose with a reassuring and pleasant smile on his face. "With your permission I would like to inform your head of house of the situation." He bowed his head to the prefect. "Do I have your permission?"

At first, Rose had been so busy trying not to die of embarrassment at what Danny must think of her now, that she didn't even register the Headmaster's words. "What? Oh... of course. That's a very good idea, sir."

"Excellent." The Professor said happily. "I shall be right out side." The old wizard turned to leave, but stopped cold. "I almost forgot," he said turning to face her again, "when I have had a trying day, a sweet pick me up always helps." He reached into his robes and pulled out a white paper bag. "Have a lemon drop. Always good to calm the nerves."

She halfheartedly reached for the bag then shook her head. "No thank you, Professor." Feeling a little more like herself even without the candy, Rose managed a small smile. "But thank you. For everything."

Dumbledore patted Rose on the hand. "That is why I'm here."

[Tom Llewelyn]

With school starting, it was harder and harder for Tom to keep an eye on his new target Liam Liddell as it always seemed that when the Gryffindor was on one side of the school, his prey was in the other. Not only that, but after a solid week of him expounding theories on why Liam seemed to be constantly following him and the rest of the gents, Cee and the boys were absolutely exhausted with hearing about it. Tom skulked down the hallways toward the library. The library was always quiet and a good place to think. As he pushed open the double doors and slung his bag off of his shoulder and into his hand, he heaved a heavy sigh as he tossed his bag on the nearest table and threw himself into a chair. He pulled his copy of Advanced Potion Making out of his back and leafed through the pages carelessly, not really caring what potion or theory he landed on.

"Tommy!" A bundle of blonde sunshine came to sit beside him. "Are you doing extra potions work too? Can I study with you?" Without waiting for an answer, Rose came to sit beside him, dropping her own potions books onto the table. "It's always more fun to study with a friend."

Tom looked up out of his stuper and blinked at Rose, "Huh what?" He said blearily. "Oh hey Rose. Yeah sure, more the merrier."

The tiny prefect frowned. "Are you okay? You and Cee didn't have another fight, did you?'

"Oh," Tom laughed, "no. I justs have my mind on something." He looked down at his potions book. Apparently, he was reading the ingredients for draught of living death...upside down.

"Oh good." Rose breathed a little sigh of relief then watched her friend for a long moment. "You know," she said finally, "I've never tried reading upside down like that. Does it help? Because if it doesn't, sharing your thoughts with a friend always helps."

Tom sighed again. He closed the book, and set it on the table. "Do you know Liam Liddell?"

Of course I do. Don't you remember when we were first years?" She cocked her head to the side and looked at him, long curls brushing against the tabletop.

---

It didn't matter that the fall day was crisp and beautiful. Or that she was starting to love being in Ravenclaw, even though Tommy had clearly been sorted into the wrong house. Ambrosia Sheridan's first flying lesson had ended in complete and utter failure. Her housemates had taken to their brooms with ease while she remained on the ground with a broom that wouldn't listen to her. By the end of the class even the extraordinarily patient Madame Hooch couldn't get the little blonde into the air.

The whole embarrassing situation was enough to crush Rose's mood and leave her crying on a bench between the practice field and the castle.

"Hi." A black haired Ravenclaw boy slightly older than her stood above her casting a shadow over her. "Yeh alricht?" He gave her a shy smile and pulled some of his hair out of his eyes.

Rose sniffled but didn't look up. Her eyes were too red and puffy to want to show her face to anyone. "I'm fine. It's just a bad day."

"I wad rec so." The boy nodded at the open spot on the bench next to her. "I've seen ye around the common room. I think this may be the first time I've seen ye without a smile. Mind if I sit?"

"Okay," she mumbled. She scooted to the far end of the bench to give the older boy room.

"So..." He appraised her with that smile. "I'm guessing you just had your first class with Professor Snape?"

Despite herself, the blonde gave a half smile. "No. That was yesterday. Is he always that scary?"

"Yes..." the boy nodded, "yes he is." The boy laughed, and his eyes locked with her's but he quickly looked away. "Then what happened?"

"Flying," she told him with a shuddering sigh. "I can't do it."

"Oh is that all." The boy smiled.

Tears welled up in her bright green eyes. "All? It was awful. I didn't even get off the ground."

"No, no that's not what I meant." He said quickly. "Flying a broom is tough." He looked around quickly. "I can't fly either." He said quietly.

Her head came up and she really looked at the boy for the first time. He had an awfully nice smile... even if she wasn't convinced he was telling the truth. "Really? But everyone can do it..."

"Well apparently we can't." He nudged her with his shoulder.

She giggled and wiped her eyes. "Thanks. I'm Rose, by the way."

"Liam." He grinned.

---

"Rose?" Tom gave his oldest friend a worried look. "You alright?"

"What?" The tiny blonde blinked. "Of course I'm alright."

"When I mentioned Liam, you seemed to go a million miles away." Tom's eyebrows knitted together. "I take it that means you know him?"

The blonde somehow managed to blush and look incredulous at the same time. "I never told you about him? No. That's not possible." She watched his face for any sign that he might be teasing her. "He was the super nice boy," she said, as if that explained everything.

"There's something...odd about him." Tom sighed, tapping his wand on the table. Several little green sparks shot out of the tip. "We just happened to meet him at Grandpa Irvin's pub, and then he was watching us as we walked through Hogsmeade last week." Tom shook his head. "Something bugs me about him."

"Tommy..." Rose drew a deep breath, trying to make him see reason. "The pub is a public place. And so is Hogsmeade. Are you sure it's not just one big coincidence?"

"It's a muggle pub." Tom said with a bit of agitation. "Other than us I have never ever seen a single other wizard there ever."

The blonde shook her head. "Liam's a nice guy. Don't you remember me telling you about how kind he was after my first flying lesson. He's always been nice and encouraging. And if he was in a muggle pub it was probably for a perfectly reasonable reason... like to get a drink or something. Kinda like you guys were doing."

"You sound like everyone else." Tom sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes. "I'm not crazy. And I know, I there is something going on."

"I'm sorry." She reached out to touch his arm. "I didn't mean to make you feel like I was calling you crazy. I just don't understand."

"All I'm saying is," Tom folded his arms and lay his head on them, "just keep an eye out. Something strange is going on, again, in Hogwarts. I can feel it."

Her golden brows arched in concern. "I trust you, Tommy. I do." Rose pulled a lock of hair to her mouth as she thought it over. She bit down on it for a minute, looking away from him. Then, decision made, she dropped it to reach out and run her fingers across the back of his head. "I'm emotional. Everyone knows that. And I really... I didn't trust you enough last year. Any of you. So if you say something is going on, something is going on."

"That means a lot Rose." Tom smiled. "Just keep an eye out and let me know if you see or hear any thing."

The little prefect nodded, still trying to mesh the older boy who'd been so nice to her with someone Tommy found capable of doing anything suspicious. "But then what?" It was so hard to voice her questions while trying to keep from sounding like she doubted him. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't really know." Tom sighed. "Once I know something then I can go from there. I just want to know if I'm right or wrong for sure."

"That seems reasonable. Just... don't get hurt or anything." She gave his hand a little pat then reached for her book to get back to studying. She felt like she should make a joke or point out how watching Liam wasn't all bad since he was rather good looking. But for some reason it just didn't feel right. "And for Merlin's sake, don't tell Laun. He doesn't need another person to be suspicious of."

Tom snorted trying to keep from laughing out loud and alerting the librarian. "Are you trying to get me in trouble?"

Fluttering her eyelashes in an exaggerated show of innocence, the blonde shook her head. "Of course not. That's just an added bonus."

[Dan DuMorne]

Danny had been pacing back and forth in front of the Fat Lady for close to ten minutes, apparently trying to make up his mind about something. The woman in the portrait finally had enough.

"Young man, you are beginning to wear me out. What business do you have here?"

"Matters o' th' hert mah guid woman." He flashed the portrait his best smile."Ah'm sure ye hud mony a suitor in yer day, hen. Surely ye ken."

As the picture blushed and giggled, Dan made up his mind. Looking back at the picture he said "Blathering Blatherskite" The portrait swung open and Danny stepped through the entryway.

Tommy leaned back and rubbed his temple. He wasn't sure how long he had been out in the common room studying, but from it's empty state it, he had been there a long time. He closed his Transfiguration book, and took in a heavy, deep breath. As he did, the portrait hole opened and his brother walked through.

"Well this is a surprise," he yawned.

Danny nodded and flopped down in one of the big easy chairs. "Ah hawp tis a pleasant yin. Especially considering whit a'm 'ere tae blether aboot.

"Um, okay." Tommy leaned further back and put his feet on the coffee table. "What's up lad?"

"Ah'm..." He hesitated, not knowing if he should tell Tom about this. Rose was something like a sister to Tommy, and Dan had already broke Cecelia's heart.

With a deep breath, the Ravenclaw decided to go for it. "Ah'm in love wi' Rose."

Tom nodded. He sat quiet for a few moments, and then finally he spoke. "Well. That's a galleon to me."

Blinking, Danny's mouth opened but no words escaped.

"I bet Cee that Rose would say something to her first." Tom threw his legs up on the coffee table.

Dan's mouth closed and then opened again. "You knew?" Danny's accent temporarily vanished.

Tom cocked his head to the side. "We had a good feeling." Tom laughed a little. He picked up his wand and flicked it. A tapestry moved to the side with a flourish and to butter beers came flying to his and Danny's hands. He popped the cap off and took a sip.

A moment passed as Danny sat, looking at his butterbeer. Abruptly he looked back at Tom. "How come wid Brosia say something first?"

"For a Ravenclaw," Tommy laughed, "you are really are thick. No, that you two fancy each other."

Danny frowned. "Ah ne'er said Rose fancied me."

Tommy shook his head. "You didn't have to lad. I've known her all my life. The two of us share a bond."

"Aye, but Ah dinnaekin she fancied me!"

"Dan," Tom said like a someone teaching a toddler that one plus one was two, "have you ever really thought about it?"

"Nae really," he said honestly. "She wis aye yer neighbor, yer mukker. Then she wis mah housemate, then mah mukker..."

"Wait, then why was she tryin' tae help me get back taegether wi' Cissy?"

"You're asking me how a girl's mind works?" Tom questioned. "I'm dating the Ginger."

The Ravenclaw man shook his head. "Cee's easy tae understand. She's aweys right, an' when she's wrong she's right."

"That is a very good point." Tom took another sip. "My point still stands. I love Cee with all my heart, but bloody hell." He shook his head.

Danny tipped the butterbeer bottle upward, draining it in one swoop. "Ah've got tae do somethin' then."

Tommy's eyebrow raised. "Lad," Tommy said directly, "is it what you want?"

"Whit Ah want?" Dan asked incredulously. "Ah think aboot her aw the time. Ah love bein' around her, nae matter whit we're doing. Ah meant it when Ah said Ah love her."

Tom nodded. "Okay then." Tom took a long draft from the butter beer. "Well then lad," he gave Danny a smile, "you do need to do something."

"Her birthday, Valentines Day, is next month," he said with the smile that usually appeared when he had a plan in mind. "Ah kin just th' thing."

Tommy nodded. "Good then lad. I give you my official blessing."

"Ye better," the Ravenclaw man said with a grin. "Gif ye dinnae Ah'd sic th' Ginger on ye."

"Now that's just mean." Tommy said as he finished his butter beer and gave Dan a smile.

Danny summoned two more butterbeers from the stash and, after the bottles was opened, Danny raised his. "Tae loue."

Tom clinked his bottle against Dan's. "And to our ladies."

"What the bloody hell do you mean ladies?" Cecelia leaned against the doorway her bag slung over her shoulder.

As the two boys looked over at Tom's sister, Danny sighed. "Hi, Cissy. D'ye want a butterbeer?" he said weakly.

"What are you doing down in the common room at this hour?" Tommy grinned.

"If it is any of your business," Cecelia said sarcastically, "I was looking for a quiet place to study, It's a bloody madhouse upstairs. So what is this ladies thing all about and if it's that Ravenclaw fifth year I will turn your shoes into badgers."

"Ravenclaw fifth year..?" Danny wasn't sure who Cissy was referring to, and he wasn't afraid to admit it. "Whit are ye talking aboot?"

"You said ladies," she dropped her bag on the floor, "and Tommy is the only one with a lady."

Danny smiled. "Yuir brither said ladies," the Ravenclaw said, hoping to get away with a technicality. He stood up and walked over to the butterbeer stash and grabbed the last three bottles.

"Ye need tae restock, brither," he said, handing one to Tom and offering the second to Cissy. "And ye are richt, Tommy is the only ane wi' a lady."

Nodding, Tom opened his own bottle. "Unless you count Orlando."

"Orlando aside," the Gryffindor fourth year rolled her eyes, "I know when you're lying DuMorne."

"Ah'm nae lying," Danny said, which was technically true. He did not have a lady in the same way Tom or Foozle did, but if what Tommy had said was true and if Rose did feel the same way about him, then he would soon.

"Ah'm nae lying, but Ah'm nae telling th' truth either."

Cecelia sighed and threw herself into the nearest chair. "We gonna talk in riddles all night?"

Danny offered the girl a butterbeer again and this time she took it. "Ah don't have a girl, Cissy. But Ah love Rose."

"Yeah so," she shrugged, "everyone loves... ohhhhhhhhhh."

"Aye, Ah should hiv said Ah'm in love with Rose." Danny sighed again. "Ah'm sorry, Cissy."

"For what?" Cecelia smiled.

"Well, Ah..." He wasn't expecting this reaction from Cissy, especially not after her attitude five months before. "Ah dinnae mean frae it tae happen. It just did while she was trying tae help me... help me win you back."

"I think I'll leave you two to this." Tom said as he rounded and headed up the steps to the dorm. "Night."

Once Tommy was out of earshot, Cecelia responded. "Daniel. I've had a thought this was going on since right after Halloween."

Danny laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "Halloween.. Aye, tha's aboot richt." He shook his head and looked at the girl. "Ah dinnae know it at the time, but aye, tha's when it started."

"Does she know yet?" Cecelia yawned.

"According tae yuir brither, she loves me too." He shook his head again. "But Ah dinnaekin if she knows how I feel, or even if she remembers Halloween."

"I dunno either Danny." She shrugged. "All I can say is don't be a git this time, tell her and tell her soon."

Danny smiled at his friend. "I intend to."

[Ambrosia Sheridan]

Céilidh sat in what was becoming an all-too-familiar chair in the library. Researching ways to fix... cure... whatever they needed to do to get Wordsworth back to normal, was proving more challenging than the Lady and the Gentlemen had thought at the outset. A grumbling from below the table's edge signalled the redhead that time for the evening meal was fast approaching. Heaving a sigh, Céilidh added yet another title to their growing list of books that were no help whatsoever.

Piling her stack back upon the shelving cart, Céilidh stuffed the parchment list into her bag and made her way through the canyons of bookcases toward the library exit. She went to pull the heavy doors and was surprised to feel very little resistance. The reason for this came in the petite blonde form of Ambrosia, who nearly bowled straight into Céilidh.

"OhmygoshCee!" Rose's words tumbled together as she caught herself. The tiny Ravenclaw gave her friend a playful shove. "You startled me."

Céilidh chuckled, "It wouldnae be th' foremaist time fur that, 'Brosia."

"Yes, well..." faint pink colored Rose's cheeks, "Actually, I was kinda hoping to run into you. I mean, not really run into you. But I've been looking for you all over the castle."

"Oh?"

She pulled a curl away from her face and twirled it around a finger. "Well I was thinking and well... when it comes from moving your body from one place to another there's pretty much no one better at it than you and you completely taught me how to fly and..." The little blonde paused for breath. "I could kinda really use some help again."

It was Céilidh's turn to blush as her stomach gave her another reminder - loudly - that it was time to eat. "Aye, weel, let's blether aboot it ower a plate o' bangers 'n' mash."

---

"Sae, let me git this straecht," Céilidh said through a mouthful of food, "Ye'r worried aboot apparition class?"

"Not worried. Worried is the biggest understatement in the history of understatements." Rose broke apart her donut and watched as the crumbs fell onto her plate. Then, because the pieces weren't quite small enough, she began stabbing at them with a fork. "You saw how awful I was on a broom. I'm not going to be any better at this. It's a family thing. If it's not Floo Powder or her own feet, my mom hates it. So we never do it. And I just know I'm going to end up making a fool of myself in front of Dan--" Her head drooped tragically toward the crumbs of her breakfast. "In front of everybody."

Céilidh's brow arched at the slip, letting it pass, but filling it away for a later conversation. She reached out and lay a calming hand on Rose's wrist to put an end to the pastrycide. "'Brosia, wance ye git ower yer initial resistance, didnae ye lik' flying?"

"If by, 'getting over my initial resistance,' you mean how you bullied me into it?"

The redhead waved a hand, "Let's nae argie ower mah teaching methods. Th' important hings ur th' ootcomes."

Ambrosia's green eyes narrowed, "I think your logic is flawed."

"Aye," Cee nodded, "that gey weel kin be true, bit dae ye deny it?"

"Anyway." Rose decided to brush that aside... along with the crumbs that covered the table in front of her. "I don't think I'd be asking for your help with this upcoming Apparation mess if I wasn't happy with the flying outcomes. I've had some very nice flights since the end of our lessons. Okay, it was really only one. But it was still nice."

"Weel, ah jalouse tis a guid thing we huv a day at Hogsmeade comin' up." Céilidh looked thoughtful for a moment. "'Brosia... How come nae yin o' th' lads? Foozle 'n' Danny baith hud muckle better luck at th' stairt than ah did."

The little blonde hesitated. "I..." It wasn't exactly something she knew how to explain to Orlando's best friend. She'd been so hard on him, so quick to think the worst. It didn't feel right to come running to him for a favor. Not yet. And Danny... well, just thinking about it made her blush. "Um... I just wanted girl time, you know?"

There was clearly more to it than that, but once again, Céilidh decided not too press. She shrugged, "Fair enough, bit dinnae git mad at me if ye lose th' seat o' yer breeks"

"Um..." After waiting a minute to make sure the redhead wasn't joking, Rose gave a tentative laugh. "I'll... just... wear layers?" She laughed again then finally decided to eat her mangled donut. "You can say no, you know. I just thought it might be nice and you'd be good at it and stuff."

"Aye, weel..." Far be it from Céilidh to ever admit a lack of confidence. The image of Tommy's arm lying in the bloodied grass, however, made her take pause. The risk of falling off a broom was one thing... Splinching was a whole different matter.

Rose drew a deep breath as her friend hesitated. "Cee..." she began in voice that barely carried across the table. "Do you remember when you were teaching me to fly and I told you about all the stuff that happened at Halloween and with my eyes and everything?" She looked down at the table and her half-eaten donut. "Well a lot more has happened and I haven't told you. I've been talking to Danny and a lot has happened there too and it's crazy and discouraging and I just wanted to be good at one of these new things and if that meant getting to spend time with someone good at it and good at listening to my problems... Pausing for a breath she looked back up at the redhead. "And I know you have more than enough on your plate..."

"Tis nae that, tis juist..." Céilidh reached out and grabbed her friend's hand. "Tis nae as easy as learning tae fly. Ah dinnae waant ye tae git discouraged if hings juist... dinnae wirk oot richt awa'."

"Learning to fly wasn't easy." The little blonde's head drooped until it hit the top of the table. The problem was that she was already discouraged. "But you always win, Cee. I just thought you could help me find a victory here."

Céilidh winced at the sound of Rose's head hitting the table. "Ah will dae mah best, 'Brosia."

---

The day was pleasant by typical highland winter standards. The sky was a clear, crisp blue, and though the entire landscape was shrouded in a thick blanket of fluffy white snow, there was very little wind to speak of. This made the necessity of being exclusively outside almost bearable.

After a quick warm-up at the Three Broomsticks, Céilidh and Ambrosia excused themselves from the boys, citing "girl talk," and made their way to one of the less traveled side-streets of Hogsmeade village.

"Sae lik' ah wis saying, th' maist important hings tae mind ur th' three D's," Céilidh explained. "Destination, Determination, 'n' Deliberation. Ye huv tae keep yer mynd sufficiently determined, concentrate continually oan yer destination, 'n' shift wi' deliberation, otherwise ye'll git yersel' splinched."

The little Ravenclaw nodded. Theory was good; she could handle theory. Because, as her friend mentioned the word 'splinched', it suddenly occurred to her that they had left the security of the castle and the watchful eyes of their teachers and friends to engage in a highly dangerous activity. "Okay. I can practice being determined... and stuff..." She stuffed her hands into her pockets, reminding herself that this was her idea. "I'm sure that will help."

"Ye'r hee haw if nae determined, Ambrosia." Céilidh said with a smile. They managed to find a spot that was well sheilded from prying eyes, as well as having the most of the snow blown into a nearby drift. Céilidh pulled out her wand and waved a large hoop into existence several meters away. Her mind drifted back to the instruction given to her by Aunt Rhane and Uncle Giles over the summer break. "Okay... Whit yi''ll need tae dae is fix yer mynd oan yer destination." She pointed to the hoop laying in the slush. "Concentrate oan th' center o' th' hoop 'n' mak' ilka pairt o` yer body wantae be in that plook."

Ambrosia chewed on her lower lip. "Okay. Concentrate on the hoop, put my body in the plook. Got it."

Céilidh smiled again, all the while fingering the small vial of Dittany she'd managed to pilfer from the hospital wing. "Ye mist caw oan th' plook whaur yer standing 'n' wi' deliberation, apparate intae th' hoop."

"Just like that?" Rose attempted to snap her mittened fingers, resulting in not much more than a muffled pop.

"Aye weel, thare wull likelie be a guid bit o' falling oan yer bahookie 'til ye git it richt. Then comes th' vomiting."

"Well you saw my breakfast go in," the blonde muttered, trying to resist the temptation to find a lock of hair to chew on.

"Thir's nae muckle mair in th' wey o' instruction," the redhead shrugged. "Juist gie it a gang."

Rose blinked. "Right now?" This was not going exactly the way she'd planned. But, reflecting on it a bit, it did seem typical for Cee's teaching style. After all, she clearly remembered a good deal of pushing that resulted in solo broom rides much faster than she'd been entirely comfortable with. But that had all worked out fine...

"Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything? Large chunks of instruction maybe..." It was hard to stall without sounding like she doubted her friend. "It feels like there should be more to it."

The Gryffindor's eyebrows rose sympathetically. "Sorry lassie, that's a' th' instruction we wur given. Uncle Giles 'n' Aunt Rhane juist tellt us tae gang tae it." A short puff of condensed breath shot out of Cee's mouth, "Luik, 'Brosia, if ye'r nae comfortable daein' this, ah ken. We kin juist girl-talk th' rest o' th' day."

"No no. I'm fine." There was no way she was going to give up without trying. Not after dragging Cee all the way out here, away from the million and one other fun things she could be doing on a Hogsmeade day. "It's just... Tell me the steps one more time."

With no outward signs of impatience, at least as far as Rose could see, the redhead repeated the three Ds. Taking several deep breaths, the Ravenclaw stared at the hoop for a long moment then closed her eyes. Her body stiffened with the effort of concentration. Then, opening one eye at a time, her shoulders slumped. "Well, that didn't work."

"Ye forgot tae shift, 'Brosia." Céilidh pointed out. The redhead thought perhaps that a demonstration might be in order. "Lik' this..."

Céilidh looked at the hoop. Her hips twisted slightly to the right, as though she was winding up, then sprung to the left, her shoulders and knees following behind. A swish-pop echoed off the nearby building as Céilidh disappeared in a puff of crimson and gold smoke. This was followed quickly by the cracking of her reappearance within the hoop.

The Gryffindor stepped out of the wooden ring. "Gie it anither gang."

Despite herself, Rose stifled a giggle. "I guarantee Professor Dumbledore doesn't wiggle his hips when he does it." Her golden brow clouded in a frown as she stared at the hoop lying in the snow. "Do you have to wind yourself up like that? Or is that just what you do? I mean, you're good at it. You landed right where you were supposed to."

Céilidh grinned wickedly, "Ye ne'er ken whit micht be gaun oan under they robes."

"That's a mental image I could have gone without my entire life, Céilidh," Rose chided.

"Ye'll git ower it, Ambrosia. Th' movement is pairt o' th' process, howfur ye shift, is up tae ye. Noo c'moan," the redhead beckoned.

The blonde closed her eyes again as she tried to think of a movement that felt natural. Swinging her hips was definitely not an option. Especially since to be able to swing them properly like Cee, she'd had to actually have some. In the end she settled for bending her knees as if about to bounce. This, of course, despite the three Ds, led to an actual bounce that threw her off balance and sent her on her first trip to the snowy ground.

"That wasn't any better."

"If it mak's yer feelin' ony better, that's aboot as weel as mah fairst try gaed. "

Rose thought about it before answering, "That does help, a little." She remained on the ground a little longer, snow making wet spots on her knees as she thought through the process. "How long did it take for you to get it?'

"Ye mean wi'oot leaving th' seat o' mah breeks behind?"

"You didn't!" The blonde's cheeks colored at the thought of something so embarrassing.

"Aye," Céilidh grinned, a bit of color touching her own cheeks that wasn't related to the chill air "Ah did. Richt fernent th' lads tae."

"How did you not die? I wouldn't want anyone to see me in that state, let alone..." She paused and pushed herself back to her feet, brushing the snow off her pants.

"Fooze 'n' ah grew up th'gither. Thare wis a wee stretch o' time whin we thought mooning wis funny. 'N' Tommy, weel..." more color came to her cheeks, "thir's nae muckle he hasn't seen. Th' ainlie yin it micht huv bin freish tae is Danny 'n'," she shrugged, " tis juist skin."

"The skin on your butt," Rose felt compelled to point out. "I still think I'd die. Tommy hasn't seen my butt since we were babies and I'd like to keep it that way."

Céilidh had a sudden, devilish, thought, "Sae, does that imply that thir's someone ye wouldn't mynd seeing it?"

The tiny Ravenclaw's blush immediately darkened into a flaming red. "Of course not!" She fanned her cheeks then forced a laugh as she remembered the disaster of earlier this week. "It would only scare him off more," she muttered.

Céilidh's brow arched and her hands went to her hips. "Ambrosia Sheridan, ye'r a tairible liar. Ye ken tha', richt?"

"I am not!" Still trying not to melt the snow with her skin, she gave her friend a puzzled look. "I mean... thank you? Or... what?"

"How come dinnae we buird this fur noo. This isnae th' proper steid fur me tae try 'n' drag speirins oot o' ye. We'll need somewhere warmer whaur ah kin gie a bevvy." The redhead said. Then her eyes narrowed, "Bit amurnay letting ye aff th' hook.

"Back tae th' three D's..."

---

The duo entered the Hog's Head tavern, stamping their feet against the cold outside. The effect the dingy pub had on Rose was immediately apparent as she looked around. This was certainly not Madam Puddifoots Tea Shop. There was, however, something familiar about the unkempt barman that Rose couldn't quite place.

"It's nae bonnie," Céilidh said, reading the look on Rose's face, "Bit thir's nae tae mony students that come in 'ere either." Céilidh took the little blonde by the elbow and lead her over to small table tucked into a corner. She asked the barman for a couple of bottles of butterbeer as they passed. A guttering candle in the center provided sufficient light to hide the overall shabbiness of the place. Neither girl removed their coat to sit, as the inside temperature was only slightly higher than the outside.

The barman arrived, setting the butterbeer down with a grumbling thum and then stumped back to his position behind the bar. The redhead took a swig as she settled back into her seat.

"Nae ill fur yer foremaist gang." The wicked grin returned once more, "Though noo a'm pure curious whit's oan yer mynd, leaving yer sweater behind 'n' a'..."

"I wasn't thinking anything," the blonde protested, eyeing her bottle suspiciously. "It just happened."

"'Brosia," teh Gryffindor girl sighed. "Tairible. Liar."

"Fine." Deciding not to worry about how clean, or not, her bottle was, Rose took a drink and gave up. "But it's embarrassing. Like 'lose your pants in front of your friends' embarrassing. But worse." Her head flopped forward onto the table. "A lot worse. So it's a secret, okay?"

It was not much of a leap to say that Céilidh's threshold of embarrassment was much higher that Rose's. Still, she wouldn't be much of a friend without some measure of reassurance, "Yin fur sorrow, twa fur joy, three fur a lassie, four fur a boy. Five fur silver, six fur gowd, 'n' seven fur a secret that mist ne'er be tellt."

Giving a little smile, Rose lifted her head and leaned in across the table. "Do you remember when I told you about not remembering Halloween? And I told you about how I see things sometimes? Well, they kinda came together the other day. I know who my mystery kissing boy was. And, since my vision freaked out and went crazy and I fainted in front of him, I think I'm pretty safe saying that he's not going to try it again."

"Och, ye'r kidding? Ye found oot wha 'twas? That's stoatin, 'Brosia!" Céilidh smiled as she took another drink. Her grin faded though, as the rest of Rose's explanation sank in. Her brow knitted together and she straightened up in much the same manner she did when tackling an exam problem. "Hrm. Nae trying it again doesn't sound guid. Mibbie..., mibbie yer brain juist gaed intae overload wi' th' figuring oot o' it a'?"

Rose sighed. She clearly hadn't made Cee understand how truly catastrophic this was. "Cee... the boy... it was... Danny." She said his name very fast as if expecting her friend to have a heart attack from the revelation.

While she wasn't afflicted with a coronary, the declaration did cause the Scot to choke on her drink. After a moment of coughing and sputtering, Céilidh was finally able to croak out, "Danny? Danny DuMorne? Oor Danny? Danny is yer Halloween laddie?"

"Yes," the blonde choked out, her eyes filling with tears. "I told him about my eyes too and he's been kinda watching out for me. The other night we went for a walk and things just clicked. He was going to kiss me, I know it. And I was so going to kiss him. But then poof! I remembered Halloween and that it was him and my head exploded and I passed out at his feet." She covered her face. "He had to take me down to the hospital wing and the professors talked to me and it was just a disaster."

"'Brosia," Céilidh said gently, laying a hand on her friend's arm, "Ye'r nae keekin at th' bricht side."

"No. That's because there isn't one. Only really really dark embarrassing sides."

"Aye thare is," the redhead smiled, despite Rose's gloomy outlook on the situation. She started ticking things off on her fingers. "Ye ken Danny, it wasn't juist some stranger ye'v ne'er met. Ye'r awready mukkers wi' a lot in common. 'N' frae th' soonds o' it, ye baith wantae tak' hings tae th' neist level."

The blonde shook her head. "Well we did... until I ruined it. I can't just ask him to try it again."

"Ambrosia Sheridan, Ye'r acting sae..." Céilidh's inside voice told her that 'silly' would not go over so well in this case, "hardheaded ye cuid bygae fur a Scot. A'm willing tae bet mah broom that th' realization o' it a' overwhelmed ye 'n' that's a'."

She took a drink to punctuate her statement, then added, "Weel, mibbie Tommy's broom."

Something about Cee's complaint struck Rose as funny. Despite the doom and gloom she'd created for herself, she began to laugh. "But this is serious! I've been trying to figure out the mystery for months. And Danny's my friend... and... and the most amazing boy I know. And I haven't even liked anyone since Bobby..."

"'N' fur figuring it oot, ye huv mah congratulations." Céilidh leaned over and struck the kneck of her bottle to Rose's in toast. "Bit noo that ye'v solved th' mystery, ye huv tae figure oot whit ye'r gaun tae dae aboot it."

Her tone grew serious. "This isnae yin o` yer bodice-rippers, loue. Ye said yersel' that Danny's th' maist amazing lad ye ken. Ah reckon he feels th' same aboot ye. A'd be a pity fur ye tae pass up whit cuid be th' best thing that ever happened tae ye fur ye fainted th' foremaist time ye tried tae winch."

The blonde's head drooped. "I know. I really do. But wouldn't it be worse to lose the amazing friendship I have with him right now?" Looking down she watched idly as her feet swung back and forth, heels barely brushing against the wood floor. "I'm probably overthinking it or being dramatic or both. It's just... new. Along with the other new things I have to figure out. You know, I have to take extra lessons with Professor Qasim now too."

Since all it took was knowing Cee's name to know her thoughts on Qasim, Rose held up her hands to fend off any argument. "Dumbledore picked him. I didn't have much say in the matter. And I know he's kind of..." She couldn't think of a word to satisfy her need for politeness, so she left it hanging. "But he's not a bad teacher."

Céilidh tried to force the dark look from her face. "Aye, weel... Juist be canny."

"I will." She frowned, wondering if Cee was talking about lessons with Professor Qasim or the situation with Danny. Deciding it was good advice for either, she drained her glass then looked over her shoulder to the door. "But first things first. Let's practice a little bit more before I forget everything you were trying to teach me."

[Tom Llewelyn]

Tom stared across the Great Hall at the Ravenclaw table. Liam Liddell sat with his back to Tommy talking to several other Ravenclaws. He knew that there was something about Liam that wasn't right. Something just beyond his reach, but it was right there taunting him and it was maddening. It was all he could think about. Why did he just happen to be at the pub on New Year's? Why did he just happen to be in Hogsmeade when they returned to school, especially when everyone else usually took the Hogwart's Express?

"Are you even listening?" Bill's voice brought him back to reality.

"Huh, what?" Tommy shook his head clearing it.

"Where the hell were you for the past like," Bill looked at his watch, "five bloody minutes."

"Oh, mate I'm sorry." Tom sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "I was just working through something and just kinda..."

"Flaked out?" Bobby laughed as he heaped shepherd's pie onto his plate. "Geez and people thought I was spacey."

"Oh you are so very funny." Tom pulled a platter of roast beef near him.

"I try." He said his mouth half full.

"As I was saying before you went off to, wherever it was," Bill shook his head, "did you finish that ruddy paper on the goblin council of sixteen thirty two?"

"Oh lord that stuff puts me to sleep." Bobby laughed.

"I am so bloody glad I dropped that class." Tom laughed as he looked in between his two friends' heads at the back of Liam's.

Bill turned his own head toward the Ravenclaw table. "You better not be looking at a girl over there, I would hate to see Cee shipped to Azkaban for killing you."

"I dunno for some reason I think she knows how to kill and not get caught." Bobby laughed.

Bill nodded, "He has a point."

"It's not another girl you gits." Tom picked at his plate.

"Is it a bloke?" Bill arched his eyebrows.

Tom looked up. "Really?" He said sarcastically as he pulled a hunk off of the roll that lay on his plate and shoved it in his mouth.

The other two both shrugged.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that."

Tom's eyes narrowed. "It's not a bloke, and it's not another girl. My mind was just wandering."

Bill looked over his shoulder. "To the back of Liam's head?"

"I can understand," Bobby shrugged, "He does have a nice head of hair."

The Gryffindor prefect laughed. "Sometimes you really worry me Bobby."

"What?" Bobby stabbed his fork back toward his plate. "A man can't enjoy another man's hair now?"

"Oi, will you to gits give it a bloody rest." Tommy glowered at the other two.

"Oh wait don't tell me," Bill filled his goblet full of pumpkin juice, "this is about your mad Liam Liddell is up to something idea that's crept into your head since beginning of term isn't it?"

"Oh I haven't heard this yet," Bobby leaned in and grinned. "This anything like that time..."

"Get bent, both of you." Tom snarled as he picked at his roast beef.

"We're just giving you a hard time." Bobby reached across the table and gave Tom a light shove.

"Yeah, Bill nodded. "But lad you gotta admit you don't have any proof, other than strange coincidences."

Tom opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. He knew they were right . As much as he hated it, without proof he was just chasing his tail.

Liam stood up and left the hall. Tom's eyes followed him out of the hall. Tom excused him self saying something half heartedly about having to work on a paper for Professor Flitwick and dashed out of the Great Hall.

He was almost half way up the first set of stairs by the time Tom skidded out of the great hall. He desperately needed to follow him. Looking around quickly to be sure no one was paying attention before turning into a cat and racing up the stairs toward the Charms corridor and his next class with Professor Flitwick. Tom slinked down the corridor and past him completely unnoticed. Luckily Tom had a free period this afternoon and could afford to wait and watch. As the bell rang again and the hall emptied into the class rooms.

Looking around, Tom found himself a closet to hide in and wait. The door pulled open with creek. Inside the closet were your usual non flying brooms, mops, buckets and other cleaning supplies. This was the perfect place. Tom slipped inside. He would wait here and when Liam came out of Charms, he would follow him as a cat again until he caught him. he would get him for sure now.

As Tom waited, there was the tiniest of scratching sounds came from the back of the closet. Tom shrugged it off as the sound of a mouse in the back of the closet. then came the softest, buk.

Tom turned toward the back to the closet but it was too dark to see. He turned his attention back to the crack he had made in the door. A few moments later there was another buk behind him, this time much louder and followed by more buk's getting louder and louder. Tom could feel beads of cold sweat build and trickle down the back of his neck. He knew he should turn around and look, but he just couldn't. He knew if he turned around it would be there. He could feel something like hot breath on his neck.

The door to the closet burst open and Tommy busted running panicked from the closet. A loud
brrr-awk screeched from behind him as a jet of flame belched out of the closet, as a fire breathing chicken chased after him.

---

Céilidh sat on the couch in the common room flipping through a well read copy of Which Broomstick? as the portrait hole swung open. Her green eyes looked up from the magazine and widened as Tom, his school uniform smoldering slightly, trudged in.

Her mouth opened to speak but Tom silenced her with a look. "Don't ask." He mumbled as he headed toward the stairs toward his dorm.

---

Several hours, and a change of clothes later, Tom was sneaking up the stairs toward the Ravenclaw common room. When he was close enough, he changed into his animagi form again and snuck in behind a first year who was returning from the library. Tom had been in Ravenclaw tower several times in the past, but never from this angle. Even though he was a larger cat than most in his wildcat form, he could still pass for a house cat albeit with brilliant blue eyes. As Tommy wound his way around the furniture toward the back of the common room where Liam sat huddled with Brett Douglas and Moira Brennan. Tom's heart felt like it was about to leap out of it's chest as he crept closer and closer to the table.

"What a cute little kitty..." A pair of pink fuzzy socks, complete with the feet and the rest of the body of Ambrosia Sheridan, stopped in front of the furry intruder. "...that doesn't belong here. Are you lost pretty kitty?" Before the kitty could get away, she reached down to gather him up and cuddle him in her arms.

"Look, Danny," she called to her friend. "Isn't this the cutest kitty who isn't Monkey? Don't you just want to love him to pieces?"

Danny peered at the large cat then laughed involuntarily. "Tha's nae a kitty, hen. It's a Tom cat."

Tom let out a frustrated and strangled meow as he struggled in Rose's arms trying to get back to the table where Liam sat. "And he's so cute!" Rose answered her housemate with a wicked grin, stroking Tommy from head to tail with enough pressure flatten his hair.

The cat gave Rose a murderous glare.

"Ah'm wonderin' gif the poor dumb beast kin breathe." Danny had gotten himself back under control and his face showed no sign he recognized Tommy. "Ye micht want tae loosen yuir grip."

"Oh no." The blonde's eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'm never letting this cutey-face go. Just look at him..." She held Tommy out, still keeping a firm grip in case he tried to twist away. "Don't you just want to hug him to death? After all, I'm sure he came in here because he was lonesome and needed some lovin'."

Danny raised his eyebrow. "Let's nae get too friendly wi' him. Micht hiv fleas gif he's aw lee lane."

Tommy hissed. and struggled against Rose, making sure not to use his claws.

"Naughty boy!" Rose's shoulders shook from the effort of holding in her laughter. She set the cat firmly in her lap and held him there. "If you're going to wander into strange rooms you should at least be polite." Something between a strangled laugh and a snort finally escaped her lips. "Or I'll go get the hair bows."

"Mrrrrrrrrrrr." the Tomcat moaned. I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea.

The blonde's eyes grew wide. "Ohhhh!" she exclaimed in sudden understanding. "He has to go potty. Don't worry, everyone," she announced as loudly as possible to every Ravenclaw within earshot. "The kitty just needs to go potty. I'll take him out." Then, satisfied that she'd been mean enough, she lifted her friend over her shoulder and began to walk toward the door.

Another meow came from Tommy, this time one of agreement. Scratching his head, Rose grinned back at Danny. "You're going to help me. You're good with cats," she told him, giving him no choice about accompanying her.

Dan heaved himself off the blue and bronze couch with a sigh, a wry smile still on his face. "Awricht, but Ah'm nae cleanin' up after him."

The cat's eyes narrowed on Danny as they went out the door of the Ravenclaw common room. Once the door was firmly shut behind them and the tower stairwell was checked and rechecked for any other signs of life, Rose set the angry cat down on the stone floor and prudently took a step or two backwards.

"You really are a cute kitty," she giggled.

With a slight pop the cat turned back into Tommy. "That was bloody uncool." He hissed kind of like the cat he had been moments before. "And was quite a bit embarrassing." He grumbled.

"Ye fergot," Danny said, interspersed with laughter, "bloody hilarious."

The blonde leaned against her friend and co-conspirator. "It really was. You made it so easy... sneaking around our common room like that... without even giving your friends a heads up..."

"And if I had said Hey I'm gonna sneak in and spy on Liam is that cool? you would have said...?" Tommy crossed his arms.

"Ah'd say we shoud let Monkey do it an' ask him later," Danny said with an eyebrow wiggling. "An' failing that, Ah'd say gae ahead. Ah kin he's been a wee bit stalkery wi' ye an' Foozle. Nae tae mention Nic an' Ginger."

"He's still been perfectly nice to me. But I told you... if you suspect him of doing things, I support you." Rose shook her head. "But I don't know what you expected to hear in there. Our common room isn't the most exciting place in the world."

Tom sat and thought about it. "Yeah well," he sighed, "you never know what people will say in their common rooms."

Chuckling as he thought about how he found out about Nicolette and Foozle, Danny nodded. "Or whit they micht do..." The Ravenclaw Gent paused for a moment. "Foozle was tellin' me aboot some muggle film he'd watched... some sort of secret agent used something tae listen in on his target. Would that work?"

"I wouldn't think anything muggle made would work in the castle. I remember it saying something in Hogwarts: A History that..."

"Ah meant the knuts, brither," Danny said rolling his eyes. Tommy knew he'd never read the book about the castle they called home for half the year.

"Oh...well..." Tom looked down at the floor, "I hadn't thought of that."

Rose wrapped her arms around her friend in a gentle hug. "Well, Danny's the one to talk to if you want any help thinking of brilliant things like that," she winked at her housemate. "I would have told you to hold a cup against the wall or something."

Tommy rolled his eyes as he hugged Rose, "Ravenclaws." He said with a laugh.

[Ambrosia Sheridan]

"Alright Mister Belby," Tom sighed as he rubbed his eyes in consternation, "let's try this again. The wand movement is key. It's one," Tom flicked his wand, "two, three and then tap the matchstick and call out Acus." The match on the table made a metallic tinkling sound and turned into a needle. Tom tapped it again and it turned back into a match.

The first year Slytherin looked at Tom like he was something foul on his shoe. "Why is it that McGonagall trusts a blood traitor like you to tutor?" His lisping drawl was enhanced by his snarling smile.

Not taking the bait, Tommy grinned at the little urchin. "Because, I have been studying Transfiguration for almost six years, I am a registered animagus, and I have been published in Transfiguration Today." Tom smiled, "And if that isn't enough, because I can actually transfigure something."

"My uncle can transfigure himself into a love seat and back." He said matter of factly."

"Good for him." Tom said half listening.

"If you're so good let's see you do that." Belby said folding his arms.

Tom's eyes narrowed. "I know the theory," Tom grumbled looking at the annoying little toe rag, "I've never put it into practice."

"So what you're saying is that you don't know how to do something?"

"I never said," Tom's face was red with anger, "Fine you want to see it done? Here we go."

---

Rose juggled the stack of novels in her arms with a content smile on her face. It had been nice to spend time with Dee. It felt good to catch up and talk about everything and nothing. And, even though the little blonde was completely positive she was never going to read The Incubus in the Mirror: One Man's Quest to Embrace the Monster Within, it was awfully considerate of the Slytherin girl to lend her a few books to read.

Passing by the designated tutoring rooms on the first floor, the prefect wrinkled her nose at the sounds of a loud study session taking place down the hall. Shaking her head, Rose decided it had to be for Care of Magical Creatures. There was something about magical animals that made people get unreasonably noisy.

Slowing her steps as she drew closer to the loud room, Rose cocked her head to the side to listen. It certainly didn't sound like the typical jokes at the expense of animal mating habits or the juvenile laughter at the mere thought of various excrements. It sounded more like someone was in trouble. But that was ridiculous. Or at least she hoped so.

Deciding that, as a prefect, she didn't need to bother knocking, she pushed the door opened and paused just inside. "Excuse me. I hate to interrupt. It just sounded like you might need help..." The last word died in her throat at the sight of a Slytherin boy torn between horror, remorse, and amusement and his tutor.

"Tommy!"

The sight Rose saw was at once horrifying and hysterical. Before her sat what looked like a part of an overstuffed armchair with a paisley printable on its left arm rest and the seat and back, where the right arm rest should be was a regular human arm and at the top of the back of the chair was what looked like the top of Tommy's head.

"Rosie." A muffled whimper came from the Tom chair.

"What happened here?" She snapped her finger at the Slytherin boy. "I need to know everything."

"Ask the chair." The boy grinned as he ran off.

"Petrificus Cruris! The prefect's spell hit the boy as he passed through the door, locking his legs together and sending him crashing to the stone floor. His upper body remained free enough to push himself over onto his back so he could continue displaying his Slytherin charm. "Five points from Slytherin. Honestly, there's no need to be rude. Just tell me what happened in here."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Paisley boy over there was trying to prove he could do anything in Transfiguration. Apparently he was wrong." He grinned.

"He goaded me." Came Tommy's muffled voice from behind them.

The blonde gave a sigh. "Oh Tommy." With an absent flick of her wand, she released the smirking Slytherin and turned her full attention to her oldest friend. "You let him goad you into this? You really need to control yourself." She paused and chuckled at her own advice. "You should have just cursed him and docked house points. But anyway..."

She walked around him in a slow circle, examining the damage from all angles. Though it was easy to see what was wrong, she had no clue how to fix it. "You know you're way beyond my abilities in transfiguration. The best I can do here is run for help." She really hoped her attempts at staying calm were helping... because it was awfully hard.

"I can walk you through it." Tom said in exasperation. "It's easy."

The tiny Ravenclaw opened her mouth to protest but what came out was simply, "Okay, Tommy. You just tell me what to do." If he had confidence enough that he could teach her, she owed it to him to at least try. It wasn't like he could be worse off... well... much worse off.

"It's this moffin," his only hand waved in a spiral and then a point, "and you say fewwa fumaffs."

"I say what?" Rose asked with a frown, unsure if she'd heard correctly through all the stuffing.

"Fewwa fumaffs." Tom said frustrated by the fluff over his mouth.

Biting her lip, Rose practiced the spiral silently, trying to make her hand move like Tommy's hand. "Are you ready for this?" Without waiting for an answer, in case one or the other of them changed their minds, she blew out her nervous breath and cast the spell. "Fewwa fumaffs."

The effect was immediate and, for a moment or two, encouraging. Tommy's form began to collapse back on itself, the fluffy chair stuffing seeming to fade away. Then, as his two sides began to look normal again, his backside began to rapidly expand, the armchair growing out of the seat of his pants.

"Uh san Fewwa fumaffs na Fewwa fumaffs." Tommy muffled angrily.

"I did not," she snapped, horrified at the change she'd caused. "I did it just like you said."

Tom moaned. "Nu oo, Uh san Fewwa fumaffs na Fewwa fumaffs."

The blonde groaned in frustration, wondering how much it would hurt to kick him... just a little. "Stop talking. I'm going to get real help."

"Oooo," Tom growled "Memamama ill ill e."

"She will not. Everyone makes mistakes. She'll understand. I'm sure of it." She patted her friend on his overstuffed back. "Unless you can think of someone else who can handle this."

"Duhduhor?" Tom said hopefully.

Rose's eyebrows arched toward the ceiling. "You really want to explain this to the headmaster?"

Another exhausted sigh came out.

"You know what..." The tiny blonde pursed her lips together as she looked at her friend. "You don't get to decide. You need help and I know I'm only going to make things worse. So I'm sorry, but I'm going to get Professor McGonagall because I know she can fix this. You can be mad at me later... after you have a normal body back." With a defiant flounce of her curls, she turned her back on him and raced out the door to find the head of his house.

---

"Michael Thomas Llewelyn," The Transfiguration Professor stormed as she swept into the room, her dark robes and tartan scarf billowing around her, "what the devil were you thinking?" She flicked her wand in a haphazard fashion and the part chair that was Tommy turned back into the sixth yeah.

Tom slumped into a desk and hung his head.

"I was...uh," he rubbed the back of his head.

"Professor, I'm sure Tommy realizes that this might not have been his best idea. But having me find him and then needing you to help change him back... there pretty much isn't a worse punishment in the world." Rose shifted her weight from one foot to the other, hoping to end her friend's embarrassment as soon as possible.

Tommy nodded, "Yeah," Tom gave Rose a hearted smile.

Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed on Tommy. "I ask of you to tutor young students and I give you a lot of freedom and responsibility young man. I expect you to conduct yourself like an adult."

Tom's head drooped lower.

"I'm sorry," Tom sighed, "I guess he just got under my skin."

"Do you not think students have gotten under my skin before?" She snapped. "Michael I appreciate your courageousness and brashness on the quidditch pitch, but I expect you to use your brains and your patience inside these castle walls."

Rose put her hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Thank you, Professor. I'm sorry I made him worse before I came to get you. I really thought I could handle it," she lied, trying to shoulder at least some of the blame.

"Well," the Professor sighed, "I'm sure that given the fact that we will not even touch this spell or even this theory until second term of seventh year, I am sure that you did your best." She inclined her head toward Rose.

"Tommy always does his best too. He's an amazing tutor. It was just a bad moment. But um... we'll just put the room back together now and go do homework and stuff." She squeezed her friend's shoulder, not entirely sure that she'd help the situation all that much.

The muscles in the Professor's mouth relaxed. "Thank you Miss Sheridan," the corners of her lips curled up, "and next time turn the little toe rag into a chair instead." With that she left the room.

The blonde could barely hold back her giggle. "She does have a point there..."

"Yeah I know," Tom said leaning back in the desk chair, "he just bloody pushed the right buttons on me. I don't know why but I just let my temper get the better of me."

"Yes. You should really try to be more calm and mature... like me." Rose gave a snort of laughter then wrapped her arms around him. "Don't feel bad; we've all done it. There was this one kid who used to make me daydream about cutting off his fingers and feeding them to the Chomping Cabbage because he wouldn't stop bragging about his blood-status during our Herbology sessions."

"Oh I know! And like it bloody matters anyway." Tom huffed. "I'm betting this is the last time I'm tutoring Belby."

The little Ravenclaw laughed. "And here you were getting along so well. You're going to miss him, I just know it."

"Oh I was just doing it for chair-ity." Tom said completely deadpan.

With a groan, she reached out and shoved him. "You're awful. No wonder I have to rescue you. You're just awful and hopeless."

"But you love me." Tom grinned.

"I have to. Because if you keep saying awful things like that, no one else will," she teased.

"Are you saying I'm not funny?" Tommy pouted.

She hugged him again. "I'd never say that... out loud." With a wicked sparkle in her green eyes, she moved away to put the chairs and desks back in order. "Now come on. We're supposed to be fixing this room. Then we can go do something fun and maybe tell our friends all about Tommy the chair."

"We will never speak of that to any one." He said standing up..

"Oh, of course not," Rose agreed with complete innocence.

"You're going to tell everyone aren't you." He said defeated.

Her laughter filled the room as she took a seat on one of the desks. "Maybe not everyone. I'm sure there will be two or three first years who might miss the story."

"You are just plain evil do you know that?" Tom laughed as he flicked his wand and the chairs and desks tap danced back into place.

"Yes," she agreed. "And that's why you love me."

"Even if you can't cast Sella Humanis." He snorted with laughter as he leaned against the teacher's desk. "I mean honestly."

"Ohh... that's what you were trying to say. Wow," the blonde giggled. "I wish you could have heard yourself."

"I can only imagine." Tom rolled his eyes. "At least you didn't have a camera."

Deciding that the room looked just fine now, Rose hopped down from her perch and reached for Tommy's arm. "No camera. Only the pictures in my mind... which will undoubtedly get funnier as I share them with our friends. Now, come on."

"I can't just hide in here until the end of seventh year?" Tom said with a chuckle.

"Nope." Still laughing, she drew him out of the room and into the hallway. "We'd miss you too much." That impish twinkle lit her eyes again. "And I'd miss out on telling the story of Sir Tommy Chairsalot."

[NicoletteAinscough]

Orlando MacFoozle was smiling as he pulled the dark hooded sweatshirt on and zipped it up. He wasn't sure why, but he felt good about today even if it was just another day like every other day. And Nicolette had told him that is just what it should be several times. "A day the same as any other." Still, the Hufflepuff, humming as he tucked his wand up his sleeve, couldn't and wouldn't wipe the smile off his face.

Of course, the Scot wasn't terribly sure what she had meant by that or if she had even meant it at all. He thought he had an advantage on those matters, considering he could rather literally slip into her thoughts, but there had been no such luck there. Since they had gotten back to school, she had been much more guarded in that respect.

So he played it, as he did so many things: by ear.

"Nae cheating," he said to himself, looking at the simple little wooden box on the coffee table.

In the corner Wordsworth made a reply in nonsensical rhyme that sounded straight from the other side of The Looking Glass.

"Sorry, Wirdswirth." He picked the box up and slipped it into his pocket. "Ah will be back tae check oan ye efter. Chin up, pal." And he ducked out through the cave's opening.

The Hufflepuff's stomach was grumbling before he got there, but when the smells wafted under the Great Hall's large wooden doors, it was almost painful. He had already missed breakfast, and lunch was nearly down to the straggles, such as himself.

At the Gryffindor table Cee looked up and seeing him walk in, waved him over. "Ye missit breakfast. Ah awmaist thocht ye wisnae e'en gaentae mak lunch." His sister slid the platter of chips and sandwitches over in front of the open space beside her. "Howfur late did ye stey wirkin lest nicht?"

"Till nou." He chuckled. "Ah sneaked a few winks in oan th' couch efter ye left thou."

She watched as Foozle forwent a plate of his own and just helped himself to the platter. "An?"

Lando looked over. His cheek puffed out like a chipmunk saving for winter. "An whit?", he asked with a bit of a muffle.

Céilidh jabbed him in the arm with an elbow. "An did ye ye finish?"

The boy swallowed down his food and fished the wooden box out of his pocket. He set it on the table between them. "Aye."

The redhead's fingers twitched towards the box. "Kin A?" Foozle nodded. Céilidh carefully lifted the lid, not putting it past her brother to jinx the box just for grins. He hadn't. Inside the silver pendant shone brightly as it caught the light streaming through the windows of the Great Hall.

The design was elegantly simple, a mischievous looking raccoon backed by a full, silver moon. "Och, Orlando, she's gaun tae loue it." She left the box open and slid it back to Orlando, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small velvet pouch. She deposited it next to the box.

"Ah houp sae." He was smiling again, this time with a little warmth of pride to it.

"Sae ye git it?" Foozle wiped his hands on his pants before picking up the little bag.

She nodded. "Ye wis wirried?" Her lip curled with that hint of playful ribbing.

The Hufflepuff laughed. He shook his head. "No a bit o it."

Dipping in with two fingers, a chain was drawn from it. It was made of the finest silvery braiding which shimmered just a little as the light caught it. "Och. Tha's priddy, tha is." He let it pool in his palm, and fished out the clasp. "Ah owe ye yin," he told her as he slipped the pendant onto the chain. "Ye n' yuir maw. Somethin' crankin for shuir."

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks."

"Dinna fash yirsel aboot it." She waved him off. "Ma said 'twas na trauchle at a'. She's happy that 'Collette's daein' weel, 'n' we're baith juist happy tae see th' twa o' ye happy."

Céilidh pushed herself away from the table. "C'moan, ah'll donder ye tae yer lassie. A'd lik' tae wish her a Canty Birthday, then ah'll be aff."

"Soonds guid." Lando unsaddled himself from the seat, scooping up another half sandwich as he did. "Hiv ye keeked her the day?"

The Gryffindor shook her head. "Nae. A wis late fur breakfast thou."

The pair of Scots strolled through the castle and up the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower where the eagle adorned door addressed them with a rapping of its knocker.

"If you break me I do not stop working, if you touch me I may be snared, if you lose me nothing will matter..."

Leaning against the spiral staircase's rail, Cee was the first to reply. "Hert," she answered the door with a sly smile in the direction of her brother.

The knob-less door crept back, opening the way to the Ravenclaw's common room.

They stepped in to the round, airy room. Sun streamed through its high windows and across its dark blue carpet. On the far edge along a wall lined with enough books to make the school's library a little jealous, Nicolette sat in an armchair with her feet curled under her and a book on her lap.

Orlando cleared his throat and began to sing in a loud voice. "Happy Birthday tae ye..."

Without looking up, the girl cut his song short. "Your singing voice would make a mermaid jealous," She looked across the room at him. "above water."

The boy smiled quite undeterred. "Thay say th' hearing is the foremaist tae gae." His head cocked to the side the way it did so often when a thought would strike him. "Or wis it memory?"

"If I'm lucky, it will be my memory of your singing." She slid the ribbon place holder in the book and closed it. "I assume you have something planned?" Despite her subtle attempts at prying, Orlando had kept a tight lid on his thoughts surrounding her birthday.

The boy looked to Céilidh a moment as the pair of them crossed the room. "Ye sain ye didnae want tae dae onythin," he replied to Nic. "Sae Ah didnae plan onythin."

The redheaded Gryffindor shook her head with a little roll of her eyes. She gave the birthday girl a smile. "Canty birthday, Colette."

Nic turned her attention to the girl she had warmed to considerably. "How often does he do what anyone tells him?" She smiled "And thank you."

Cee regarded her brother. "Tis rare."

"Och," grumbled the Hufflepuff, "ye wound me. Ma twa closest lasses sullyin' ma guid name as a gentleman."

The Ravenclaw pulled herself out of the comfort of the chair and took her place beside her boyfriend. "Thank you for coming." She slid her arm in under his.

Lando chuckled. "It is yuir birthday." He planted a kiss on her cheek. He swung her about by the link of their arms. "An Ahm yuir boyfriend." He said the word a little extra loudly, as if announcing the fact to the few housemates that sat about the open common room. "An while Ah didnae plan onything, Ahm exceptionally guid at improvising."

She thumbed towards the stairs that led back to her dorm room. "Well, if you don't have anything planned, I could always go back upstairs..." Nicolette grinned playfully.

"Nope." He tugged her along, back out the door he and Cee had come with the Gryffindor close behind. "Ahm improvising nou. Wha kens whaur we'll end up. Could be the dungeons. Could be Madam Puddifuits. We dinnaken."

Nicolette let him pull her with no resistance, her fingers giving his arm a light squeeze of affection. "That sounds promising. It was no exaggeration that her life had become far more unpredictable since it had become filled with the boy at her side. She wouldn't have it any other way.

The three of them trotted down the spiral stairs. "Whit are ye up tae than, ginger?"

She laughed a little. "Ah thocht A micht wirk oan tha wee little hitch Ah wis running intae the ither nicht."

"Ah think we juist micht follae ye oot." The boy smiled.

"Och, ah dinnae wantae be a third wheel oan 'Colette's birthday," Céilidh protested as they took to the stairs leading down from Ravenclaw tower.

"Tha's alricht," replied the Hufflepuff. "Ah wis juist thinking. Ah ken a wee little spat oot o the wey whaur Ah micht tak ma hen fur a nice little picnic."

"In January." She sounded amused.

It was a sentiment Nicolette seemed to share as she chuckled softly. "Orlando has a fondness for snowy picnics, I think." She squeezed his arm affectionately. "You pulled the same thing last winter, remember?"

"Acoorse Ah remember." Fooze pushed open the heavy wooden door that lead out. He held it for the ladies like a gentleman. " Tha wis oor fuirst date."

His girlfriend scowled playfully. "That was not a date."

Foozle laughed. "Says ye."

"It was closer to blackmai-" Nicolette jerked into a stumble as the scarf around her neck tightened, her eyes widening in alarm. Quickly, the tightness stopped as the woven material gave and flew into the hand belonging to the girl that cast the unheard spell.

"Behold the mark of the blood traitor." Mariella, Nicolette's one time friend, crossed her arms and smiled in a cruel satisfaction. "Too bad your mother couldn't finish the job and save your family from this disgusting display of disgrace."

Orlando had caught his girlfriend by the elbow as she had begun to fall, but the sound of the Slytherin's voice pulled attention immediately. Flanked by a small cadre of her purist friends, she stood just yards away on the stone path.

"Gang bile yuir heid, Mariella, ye fud." The yellow in the boy's eyes burned hot as the words dripped off his lips seething with anger.

The Ravenclaw held onto her boyfriend's arm, feeling the tension beneath. The blue and purple that wrapped around her neck made her feel exposed under the scrutiny their argument was getting from passers by. "Just ignore her. She's upset her mother doesn't even care enough about her to choke her."

"I'd be willing to bet your parents would offer a hefty reward to have this shame wiped from their bloodline." The girl wrapped Nicolette's scarf around her fists and pulled it tight. "Trim the dead branches from the tree."

"Blood ower friendship, that's whit ah ca' shameful." Céilidh stepped between Nicollette and Orlando, and Mariella. She gave the taller girl and her cadre a lingering once-over. "Though tis nae th' ainlie thing."

She held out her hand, "Th' scarf. Noo."

"This scarf belongs to an Ainscough." The dark haired girl looked around, everywhere but at the scarf's owner. "I don't see an Ainscough around here anywhere."

Setting her jaw, Nic stared at her very former friend. "Keep it, you maudite vache. You need it to try and hold your wildly flapping lips to your goblin face more than I need it to hide a little bruise."

"Whit she means tae say," the Scot said with a hint of a growl in his voice, "is tha gif ye keep usin' yuir gob lik tha ye'll need it tae set yer jaw." His flicked his wrist and his wand dropped deftly into his fingers from the sleeve of his coat.

"Careful with that," Peter Porsblatt sneered, stepping up to flank Mariella, "we're all well aware that things tend to blow up in your presence, MacFoozle."

Céilidh had yet to take her eyes off Mariella. It was quickly becoming clear - at least in the redhead's mind - that this situation was going to end with some form of violence. Given the numbers stacked against them, that suited Céilidh just fine. "We're nae set tae duel fur twa weeks, Porsblatt. Ye sure yi'll waant an earlie lesson in butt th' hell oot?"

"I've nothing to learn from, nor am afraid of, a motley collection of half-bloods and blood-traitors." Porsblatt's lip curled, "Especially from a pair of... Scots."

"Better a pair of scots than a pair of salopes. Me faut retourner à la pute qui m'a accouchée!" Nicolette often dissolved into french when her language devolved to profanity. "Watch yourself, or I'll turn all the skills I learned from all the years on your side against you."

Mariella threw her head back, laughing. "Please..."

Foozle's eyes narrowed sharply, and he gripped his wand tighter. He caught the motion of Peter's wand raising toward the pair of girls beside the Hufflepuff. The Scot stepped in on the Slytherin faster than Seamus Morgan reaching for a free pint at the bar. His left hand swung hard, catching the older boy across the jaw.

Peter's head snapped around with that loud smack. "Urk.." A small arc of blood shot from his lips across the ground. He stumbled to his knees, gripping his mouth, and in those seconds the other black and green robed young wizards flourished their wands.

The bigmouthed Mariella found a length of ash jabbed into the soft flesh under her chin. "Do not, for one moment, forget those years at my side, Ella. You watched what I did with this wand to countless other witches and wizards. Choose what you tell your dogs very carefully." Her words hissed out from between clenched teeth. She was done letting the scum in her life terrorize her. "Wands down or I will carry out my boyfriend's earlier threat." She pressed the tip further into the other girl's flesh to emphasize her point.

"Och, 'n' 'ere ah wis thinking this wis gaun tae caw intae a proper row," Céilidh tsked as the Slytherins lowered their wands. The redhead made to turn away from Mariella but spun back around, her fist connecting with the Slytherin girl's upturned chin. Mariella's eyes glazed as she fell into a heap on top of Porsblatt.

"Cheers fur teeing her up, dear." Céilidh said to Nicolette as she bent down to retrieve the scarf from the Slytherin's limp grip. "Ah think this is yers."

Staring down at the prone girl, her wand still pointed at their still standing opponents, she took the scarf from Cee and draped it behind her neck. "Next time, wait until I move my wand before you take out the trash. You made me nervous." She rolled the wood in her fingers a bit before resetting it in her boot. "I'd hate for you to have to hold back."

Orlando stood upright. He looked over the nervous faces in front of them. At their feet he could hear Peter Porsblatt struggling with the weight of the unconscious girl atop him. "See this a lessin in keeping yuir gob shuit whin ye ken better," he said. He jabbed a toe into the shoulder of Peter. "Ah reck ye a' shuid pik up yuir mukkers 'n mynd tae dae the same neist time yer feeling th' urge tae gang sew tha hate filled crap." He jerked his head back toward the castle. "Git."

They moved a bit hesitantly at first, but quickly managed to hoist Mariella up onto a pair of their shoulders. Peter too was helped to his feet, still holding his jaw. Despite the angry glare the teen held his tongue as well and lead their way back to the castle.

They watched the group depart, and when they were far enough all Foozle took a deep breath and let it go in a satisfied sigh. "Weel," he turned to the pair of girls with a bit of a smile on his face, "Ah think tha wint raither weel, actually."

Nicolette flicked the scarf off her neck and onto the ground. "It stinks of salope now." She kicked it away and brushed her slightly mussed hair out of her face. "I don't want it near my face.

"Ah bet ye kin knit an e'en better yin onywey." Her boyfriend leaned over and kissed her cheek. "In fact, didnae Santa git ye some needles fur Yule?"

Her face softened and she smiled a little. "Yeah. They are taking some getting used to though." She laughed, thinking about her most recent attempt. "They definitely require practice."

"Seeing as A've delivered ye safely frae th' castle," the Gryffindor hugged each of her friends in turn, "ah will tak' mah lea 'n' let th' twa o' ye huv th' rest o' th' day tae yourselves."

"Ye ken," Foozle glanced to his girlfriend at his side, "Ah reck efter tha we coud aw uise a belt."

"That's your answer to everything." She laughed and slipped her arm into his.

The boy nodded as the pair fell into stride beside Céilidh. "Tha's acause it's a guid answer!"

"Och! Ah dinnae wantae be a third wheel." Céilidh appealed to Nicolette, knowing full well that Orlando would be dismissive of her, Céilidh's, desire not to be intrusive on their birthday plans.

"Don't look at me. He's the one in charge this time." She shrugged helplessly. "I'm just along for the ride."

Orlando looped his other arm through his sister's, "Than it's settled."

[Céilidh MacAllister]

The trio crossed to the far end of the grounds and the "Do Not Cross" line of trees that marked the beginning of the Forbidden Forest. With little more than a casual glance to make sure no eyes were upon them, they slipped in one by one.

The Gryffindor lead the way along a path that was all but invisible if you didn't know it was there and had been really looking for it. Ducking under and around the spindly, knobby knuckled branches that tried to tangle in their hair, It lead deeper and deeper, meters past the edge of where any direct sunlight broke through the canopy until a small rocky burm sat in a small clearing.

"Here we gae," Cee said.

A pair of curtains hung over the cave's mouth, blocking the little warm glow behind. The Gryffindor drew back the Gold lined crimson half and disappeared inside.

Foozle gave Nicolette a smile. "Home sweet home," he said, pulling open the bronze trimmed velvet blue curtain for her.

Ducking a little to pass under his arm, she looked around the brightly colored room filled with familiar green and silver furniture and laughed quietly. "I'm actually more surprised at how unsurprised I am that you have a secret hideaway cavern..." She paused to delicately sniff the air. "distillery?"

"Mebbes." The boy followed her in, that little smirk on his face. He waved a hand around, gesturing to the long, squat table in front of the sofa that was covered in papers and to the mismatched shelves with books. "Among ither things."

On the far side of the room, Céilidh had drawn back the dark cloth that covered the oak barrels. In front of them was a line of several dark bottles. She hooked one with her finger and lifted it to give its Gentleman label a cursory look before uncorking it. "E'en A wis surprised howfur weel he 'n Danny seem tae be at it. Ah think oor potions master wad be floored."

Foozle picked up some glasses, holding them up to the flickering light of the sconces to check them. "Ah think Snape wid uise it as a final nail in oor coffin." He blew in the glasses.

Nicolette chuckled. "I suspect Professor Snape would use anything as the final nail in your coffin."

"Fair enouch."

He held the trio of glasses up. "Danny an awreddies hae a working," he paused a beat to think of the right word, "agreement wi The Leaky Cauldroon. He's been sellin oor drink fur a guid year nou. Atween tha an the notesbeuks, we've made some priddy decent seed monies."

The former socialite muffled a giggle behind her fingertips. "It shows in your choice of... decor." She shook her head and sighed exaggeratedly, teasing her boy with playful affection. "New money."

"Och? Tha?" Orlando smiled. "We staw tha," he said to punctuate the obvious.

"Appropriated," Céilidh corrected, "staw is sic an awfy wird."

"Awful appropriate."

Foozle looked at his sister. "Ah reck she juist made a pun..."

"You can't prove it." She raised a brow at him.

Cee laughed and filled the three glasses with the amber liquid of the Gentleman's bottle.

"Sairy," the boy apologized, handing the glasses out among the three of them, "we dinnae hae ony wine oan haund." He looked around a little. "Thare wis some grape juice in here afore tha's prolly fermented oan its own, gif ye'd raither..."

"I prefer not to chew my drinks.

"Aye," chuckled the boy. "An Ah'd prefer no tae send ye tae wifie Pomfrey oan yuir birthday. An speakin o yuir birthday..." He took a drink from his glass and set it down on the table beside the large yellow parchment. He reached into the pocket of his coat and drew out a little wooden box. He held it forward on an open palm and smiled. "Canty birthday, hen."

She deposited herself in the boy's lap as they all sat and pressed a slightly glossy kiss in the corner of his smile. "Trying to keep me spoiled, hmn?" She set her drink beside his and held her hands open beneath the box.

"Juist open it..." he told her, dropping the gift into her cupped hands.

With great care, Nicolette opened the hinged lid of the simple, beautiful little box. Inside, amid folds of blue and bronze tissue paper was a small pendant. The piece was intricate in its design, that familiar raccoon she had come to adore curled up on a bed made of the full moon. Both features sending ripples across her memory. The moon would always remind her of her boyfriend; from that first Halloween night to many stolen moments in the Astronomy tower.

She slid her fingers under the delicate silver chain and lifted the piece of jewelry out of its box. "Orlando... It's beautiful." She caught the hanging pendant in her other hand and ran her thumb over the surface of the detail.

"Ahm gled ye like it," he said and kissed her cheek. He took it from her fingers and let it hang by the full length of its braided silver chain. She pulled her long, black hair aside for him to latch it around her neck. "Cee wis the ane wha gat the chain fer me."

Nicolette smiled across the room as he put the necklace in place. "Thank you, Céilidh." The cool metal warmed against her skin as it settled into place. "The whole thing really is perfect."

Céilidh, already feeling much the third wheel waved a hand. "Tis na muckle. Ma kens a Muggle jeweler..."

"The ingenuity of muggles never fails to amaze me." The Ravenclaw ran her fingers over the chain. "No magic at all and yet they still manage to make such beautiful things."

Foozle let her slip off his lap onto the seat beside him. He leaned forward and picked his glass up off the table. "Ah hae been tellin ye tha fur a guid while nou."

"Oh hush." With her own glass in her fingers, she picked up the parchment that was now the sole occupant of the table. Looking over it, she realized it mapped out the area surrounding their exact location. "I wouldn't think any of you the types to get lost easily, especially in a place you have made your own."

"Och," Foozle's grin grew to a Cheshire Cat proportion, "Tha? Tha's juist a wee project o Cee an mine. Gif Ah've leart onything ower the years at Hogwarts it's tha it's guid to ken whaur ye are, whaur yuir gaen, an wha's in between." He leaned forward and tugged the map forward. "Sae we've been wirking oan this map. Mad haundy tha is."

"We based it oan a similar map frae some former students. Made a few modifications sae tis nae rooted tae yin location." Céilidh explained as she settled herself into one of the purloined easy chairs. "Th' ainlie thing we're hung up oan is th' back-tracking."

Nicolette cradled her glass in her fingers. She looked up from the map to the girl in the chair. "Back-tracking?" Her dark brow rose a little.

At her side Orlando fished something out of his bag, a folded piece of yellow, worn parchment. "Ah solemnly sweir tha Ah'm up tae nae guid." No sooner had he spoken that the parchment bled with black ink which crawled around the paper to form the lines of the castle and grounds of Hogwarts, right down to little copies of its denizens.

"Where did you get this?" Her tone was somewhere between intrigued and concerned when she asked.

"Twas bequeathed tae me 'n Danny at the end o oor foremaist yuir," he told her. "Ah jalouse haunding it doon haes bin a Hogwarts tradition fur a lang while."

The boy grinned and looked at his sister. "But it anely wirks fur Hogwarts. Cee an A wantit something we coud tak oan the road..."

"I'm still not sure what you mean by 'back-tracking'. It would seem you have nearly everything figured out." Nicolette, who had long since given up worrying about most things Orlando found himself in, marveled at the pair of maps. "This looks like you took a few notes from the maps you made before."

"Aye, 'twas ferr th' resource." The corner of the redhead's mouth shot up. "Whit we wantae be able tae dae insae ainlie see whaur folk ur, bit whaur thay wur. That's getting intae time-magic, something neither o' us takes lightly."

"Aye," nodded Orlando, "But wi the richt tools and cark, ye kin dae richt amazing things." He jabbed a finger in the direction of the blankets that covered the oak barrels. "Lik age yuir drink in a fraction o the time. Ye juist need tae be canny an smairt aboot it."

"But," the Hufflepuff shifted and took a drink from his glass, "this ane we cannae wirk oot yet. It's a puzzle tha's just...." He sighed. Or perhaps it was a groan. "Juist oot o reach."

Both of Nicolette's dark eyebrows arched towards her hairline. "How terribly nosey of you." Her thumb ran over the bump under her sweater that set just below her new necklace. "Is this your subtle way of asking if I will risk my academic career so you can use my time turner?"

"Weel, ye cuid juist misplace it fur a weekend 'n' be pleasantly surprised whin it turns up Sunday eve."

Foozle could read the hesitation in her face, though his girlfriend hid it well. After all if she were caught without it in her possession expulsion could be the least of her worries. "Oor," he said with a smile, "mebbes ye wad lik tae gie us a haund?"

The Hufflepuff's eyes rose to his sister's a moment. "Efter aw, wha ense kens th' tyme turner better?"

Looking back to Nicolette he continued, "A cannae imagine ye hivnae pokeit intae tha marvel aroond yuir neck..."

Chewing on the inside of her lower lip, Nicolette fidgeted with the hem of her sweater. "I didn't want to break it..." She pulled the double looped fine chain out from its hiding place. "There is no way I could make it to every class without it."

"Acoorse no." Orlando shook his head. His eyes sparkled with the prideful smile that grew over his expression. "Cee an Ah excel a learning wioot breaking."

The Gryffindor agreed. "Tis true."

"I recall a certain washboard that would disagree if it were still alive today to tell its tragic story..."

"Ah cannae speak fur the centaurs, he replied with a teasing scowl, "but tha's a differ thing, differ pairt o the process. Thair is ayweys trial an error in ony project." He picked up the map. "This is oor third prototype. Prototypes ar meant tae be brak while ye test yuir theories." He pointed to the golden hourglass pendant. "Ye niver brak yuir source. Gif ye dae, ye cannae keep learnin."

Careful not to spin the center ring, Nicolette thumbed it thoughtfully. "If you mess it up, I could miss my class and end up the wrong place in time..."

"An tha juist winna dae." The boy smiled and kissed her cheek. "Ahm raither fand o haen ye in the richt tyme."

Orlando got up and walked across the room to a dresser and began rummaging through the top drawer.

"It's alricht, Collette," Céilidh's smile was one of sympathetic understanding. "Naither o us wad pat ye in hairm's wey. Physical oor ither. Gif yuir no comfortable wi daen onythin we dinnae hae tae. Lik Ah sain, we dinnae tak tyme magic lichtly."

Orlando had returned. He knelt on the ground by the Ravenclaw's knees. "Hauld it oot fer me?"

Doing something she very rarely did, Nic pulled the delicate chain over her head. The necklace swept her hair over her shoulder as it left its place. The gyroscopic device was surprisingly light in her palm as she held it out to him.

The Hufflepuff revealed what appeared to be a bone handled magnifying glass. Around the large, round centerpiece, the holding metal clasps were separated like a series of rune laden dials. As he leveled it over the ornate, golden gyroscope the gold metal began to glow with an intricate script that seemed carved right into it.

"It's cawd a spellglass," he explained. "Thair uised tae inspect maigics in canny detail." Adjusting the first level of dials, the surface of the hourglass faded away, revealing secrets hidden within.

The boy's grin was back. "Thair no exactly legal, strictly speakin. Highly regulated by the Ministry." He gave a twist to another dial and the glowing script changed. "This ane wis ma Gran's."

A soft smile pulled at the corner of her lips and she couldn't help but run her fingers along the side of his hair. "I don't think there is much you do that is legal." She always felt a warmth from him whenever he spoke about his Grandmother. A warmth that was always touched with loss.

The Scot scoffed with mock offense. "Ah dae plenty tha's legal. Why, juist this efternoon A haen lunch in the Great Haw lik ilka ither guid, law abidin student."

"Efter ye spent the nicht in this verra forbidden cave," added Céilidh not remotely under her breath.

"And there was that thing we did yesterday afternoon..."

"Weel..." Foozle exaggeratedly averted his eyes.

Cee cleared her throat. "Onywey..."

She finished her drink and refilled the three glasses. "Sae, Collette?"

It took her a few moments of thought to decide. "Only on the weekends, I am here at all times.... and if I disappear from class only to see you again as an old lady, both of you are in deep trouble." She tipped her hand and carefully dropped the time turner into Orlando's hand. "Merlin save us, they will regret giving me this."

"Thay micht, Lando's fingers carefully closed over the time turner. He stretched up from where he knelt in front of Nicollete and kissed her, "But ye winnae."

[Ambrosia Sheridan]

Since studying, or doing nearly anything, in public places still proved to be difficult, Rose had elected to spend a quiet afternoon in the Ravenclaw common room. Outside the high tower windows, the winter sky rolled with dark clouds, announcing an imminent snow storm. And, while a layer of fresh snow would be most welcome tomorrow morning, today it simply made Rose want to nap.

Blonde curls hanging around her face as she attempted to read yet another fascinating assignment, the prefect held back a yawn. At least she was inside, instead of out in the horrible weather, she decided.

From the window across common room came a tapping from the window. Half afraid it was Idril, or any other owl stuck outside in this horrible weather, Rose jumped up to open the window. Relieved not to see her tiny pet outside, the blonde stood aside then quickly shut the window behind the large gray owl that came fluttering inside. "Can I help you find someone?" she asked the windblown bird politely.

In answer, the owl made himself comfortable on her books and stuck out his leg. Frowning slightly, Rose took the message and slowly unrolled the parchment.

Miss Ambrosia Sheridan,

Please come to my office at three o'clock sharp. I have things I must discuss with you.

Yours Truly,

Professor Amen Qasim

Reading the message twice, the blonde couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling. The note was completely formal and didn't really give much information but she felt sure she knew what it was about. Three o'clock was a half hour away. Just enough time to make sure she looked presentable and worry a little bit.

With a deep sigh, she took her quill and wrote a quick, I'll be there on time. Then, sending the poor owl back out in the weather, she hurried to put away her books so she could have plenty of time to worry about the upcoming conversation.

---

Rose paused at the door to Professor Qasim's office. She had promised to be on time, and she was... she just wasn't quite ready to have an extended chat with a professor she wasn't entirely sure of. He was nice. And encouraging. But there was something about him that made her hesitate. Maybe it was his comments about 'just a flower shop' that still bothered her.

However, she wasn't about to stand outside his door forever. So Rose raised a hand and knocked, knowing she was expected.

The swung open as soon as her knuckles hit the wood of the door. "Miss Sheridan." The Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor's voice echoed through the empty chamber all around her.

The blonde winced. "Yes, Professor Qasim. I'm um... here."

"Please come in." The African wizard's deep bass voice rang out from the back of the room. "I am just preparing for tomorrow's first year classes."

Rose stepped inside and let the door shut behind her. "I remember some of my first year classes. Now, looking back, I think I was very sheltered. I've learned a lot since then. Everyone I know has learned a lot."

Professor Qasim finally turned around toward Rose. His eyes scanned the 6th year prefect and then he smiled. "Sit." He flicked his wand, and a tea kettle sprang to life. A few moments later, it flew through the air and poured two perfect cups which then levitated themselves onto Amen's desk. "Tea?"i

It would be rude to refuse. "Yes, please." She took a seat in the chair offered to her, feeling like she was about to take some sort of quiz.

Qasim took a very measured sip of tea from his cup. As the cup moved away from his lips he spoke again. "I have been meaning to speak with you in private for some time Miss Sheridan." He smiled again. "You have a very," he paused for a moment, "amazing talent."

She couldn't hide the confused frown that creased her brow. "But... Professor Dumbledore just figured out my... the reason for my headaches and vision problems... It hasn't been long at all.."

Qasim chuckled. "Not that my dear, though we will discuss that." He leaned forward onto his desk. "I have watched you with your friends. You may not realize it, but you have a great ability to bring very different people together."

Since it would also be rude to tell her teacher he was crazy, Rose did her best not to look anything other than dubious. "I'm fairly certain that's no great talent of mine, Professor. My friends don't need anyone to bring them together. That's why they're so special."

"You're also humble." He smirked. "That is a trait you don't see often enough."

She wasn't getting anywhere by arguing with him. Taking a small sip of her tea, the tiny Ravenclaw tried to smile and shift the conversation. "You said you needed to talk to me. Is my performance in your class satisfactory?" Even if she was failing, which she was fairly certain wasn't the case, it was still better than listening to him call her humble when she knew she was painfully prideful.

"Of course it is." The African wizard nodded. "You are here to have tea with me." He took another sip. "And to discuss your training."

Rose's hand was halfway to a curl before she made herself stop to put tea in her mouth instead. "I'd really like to know more about it, sir. I need to be able to live with this thing. Right now it's just..." She paused, hanging her head a little. "It's just... in the way."

Qasim nodded. "Well without Professor Snape here," Qasim took another sip, "the pleasure and responsibility falls to me." He bowed his head low. "and it would be my honor you guide you through this."

She couldn't resist any longer. One blonde curl made its way to Rose's mouth so she could think. Of course she couldn't say that she might have preferred Professor Snape. That wasn't an option. "Thank you, Professor Qasim. I'm ready to work hard and get past all this."

The Professor nodded. "I can appreciate how a gift like this can seem like a burden, especially when it is untrained and overwhelming like yours is." Amen gave her a slight smile. "I am sure that Albus expressed to you how rare this gift is?"

Nodding reluctantly, the Ravenclaw girl gave a little sigh. "He did. I just can't say I understand. Or maybe it's just..." Looking down at her lap, she focused on the folds of her skirt as the words began to tumble out. "Just because its rare doesn't mean it's useful or helpful or anything. I know the headache part won't last forever, especially with your help. I just don't see this as anything to be excited about. It's already caused problems," she said, thinking of Danny.

"You think it's unhelpful?" Qasim chuckled. "If trained well, a person with this ability can become practically indispensable. Imagine being able to tell someone's true feelings towards others. That is something that could be a great help."

Her eyes came up to meet his, looking for any sign that he was making fun of her. But instead all she found was sincerity. "I hadn't thought about it that way," she confessed.

"Exactly." He smiled. "You never really think about how valuable your talents are. No one does. They always see the talents of others as more important."

Rose nodded. "You sound like my dad now," she told the professor, a ghost of a smile starting to touch her face. But, while she was feeling a little better about the prospect of spending an extended amount of time with him, it didn't help with the immediate problem. "But how do I go from a tangled mess of stringy light things to being a great help?"

"Ah," Qasim smiled. "that brings us to your first assignment." He sat back in his chair again. "I do not know you as well as others in this school do. But in speaking with the Grey Lady as I am want to do on my nights alone in my office, I she confirmed something that I felt I knew already. You are closer to Mister Llewelyn than anyone else in this school's walls am I correct?"

As much as she didn't like the thought of rating her friends, Rose nodded again. "I've known him practically my entire life. He's like family... but better."

"Precisely," Qasim nodded. "Your first assignment is to try to see the lines between you and Michael on purpose, and to make them change from the slightly stringy mess to strings of color. As a bonus I would like to know what colors you see."

"I can do that." Green eyes shining with excitement, the blonde inched forward to the edge of her seat. Taking a more enthusiastic sip of tea she looked to Professor Qasim with a new sense of purpose. "Thank you, Professor. I can totally do this."

---

It wasn't all that hard to find Tommy. With the weather making Quidditch practice nearly impossible, that left only a few places to have to look for her friend. The Great Hall was empty, the next meal still too far away, so that left the Gryffindor common room or another of the various studying spots in the castle. Twirling a curl around her finger, the blonde considered it for a moment then decided that she didn't feel like climbing stairs.

Madame Pince looked busy and put-out as always, but that didn't stop Rose from giving the librarian a smile as she passed by the front desk. She tiptoed through the rows of books, taking a peculiar delight in the smell of the dry pages around her.

Tommy sat at one of the long tables near the ice covered windows. He tapped his quill lightly against a huge stack of parchment as he read from a large dusty book propped up by several others called, "Nearly Impossible Transfigurations You Shouldn't Ever Try" by Gladdys Stotepamplet. His blue eyes scanned the pages of the book as he scribbled notes onto the parchment.

"Hi Tommy!" Rose said brightly as she flopped into a chair across from him. "What are you up to today?"

Tommy looked up from the book and smiled. "Hey Rose." Tom stretched and rubbed his eyes. "Just a little light reading and extra credit."

The blonde smiled as she took the book from him. "Is it any good?" she asked, always interested in the potential for extra credit.

"Well," Tom smiled, "just more theory about transfiguring yourself into an inanimate object.."

"Oh. Like a chair maybe?," the Ravenclaw teased, watching her friend closely to see if she could see anything between them.

Tom chuckled. "Something like that." His eyebrows knitted together in thought, and he started to scribble down on the parchment again. "I'll have to look into that." He gave her a grin.

She cocked her head to the side, blonde curls brushing the table top as she squinted in an attempt to find the cord between them. "I never even got to sit on you. I'm sure you were perfectly comfy. If you try it again you should let me test you out."

Tom continued to scribble down notes. "Yeah," He didn't even look up. "but that is a long way away." Tom laughed.

"That's probably for the best. I don't want you to do something like that again without being sure. You're my best friend and I just don't want anything to happen to you." There it was, as she focused on her friendship with him a glow began to light the air between them. Her brow furrowed. It was so much harder to do this purposely. "But I know you can do it."

"Oh I'm sure I could." Tom said offhandedly. "Just time and preparation."

Tom continued on for a few moments until his eyes flicked back and forth from the page to Rose. Finally after a few moments he spoke again. "What?"

"Oh." The little blonde blushed and looked down. "You're um... kinda... my homework."

"Oh o..." Tom stopped and blinked several times. "What?"

She continued to stare at the cord between them, rather pleased at how strong and bright it looked. "Um... well.. it's kinda complicated. I've been seeing things and having headaches and I thought I was just sick or something but it got really bad and Danny took me to the hospital wing and then I talked to Professor Dumbledore and he said it's really this rare form of divination and he sent me to Professor Qasim to help me control it and now you're my first homework assignment," she told him breathlessly.

Tom blinked again. "What?" He gave her a frustrated look. "And how long has this been going on?" Tom started quite a bit louder, but then with a dirty look from Madam Pince, he ended with a whisper.

Her green eyes came up to meet his in a guilty look. "Since... the forest and Eric last year..." she answered, knowing he would understand exactly when she meant.

"So how does it work?" Tom said now giving Rose his undivided attention.

Haltingly and with several glances to the light that connected them, the blonde told him the whole story. Because he was Tommy, she went into as much detail as possible, though she did skim over the fainting just as Danny was about to kiss her incident. "So Professor Qasim is helping me learn how to control this. He says it's not useless or anything. And because I'm closest to you, he decided to make you my homework."

"Um, ok?" Tommy leaned back away from the book. "So what do I need to do?"

"Nothing." Rose grinned at him. "You can keep on studying. I'll just be here quietly staring at you."

"Okay." Tom nodded and went back to his book. As Tom scanned the book, taking more notes, he could feel Rose's eyes on the top of his head. His eyes jerked up toward Rose but his head stayed in place. "This is weird."

"Fine. Don't study quietly. Tell me about it." She couldn't help but laugh at the situation. "It's perfectly normal to look at each other when we're talking."

"Well," he said looking up with a huge grin on his face, "I had a thought the other day during Transfiguration class. You know when Professor McGonagall was talking about Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. I started thinking. We can turn a human being into an animal and back right?" He didn't stop for her to answer, was too excited. "Well the thought struck me. Can we do the opposite? Can we transfigure an animal into a human?" He grinned. "Theoretically it's possible. A human is an animal just like a cat, rat or pig. So I've been studying the theory."

The golden light between them grew brighter as she smiled fondly at his excitement. It was just so... Tommy. As much as she hated to admit it, Professor Qasim was right. It felt so natural to see the connection because, in a way, she'd always known it was there. "Animals?" she asked after a moment's pause, realizing that she'd been paying more attention to his face than to his actual words. "Wait. What?"

"Transfiguring an animal into a human." He said very plainly. "We've always been able to go one way, why not the other?"

Rose wrinkled her nose as she thought it over. It had taken nearly six years to get over feeling bad about transfiguring innocent animals into inanimate objects. "I'm not so sure, Tommy..."

His eyebrows knitted together. "Why not?"

"Well... what if the animal doesn't like being a human? Or what if they like it so much they don't want to turn back?"?

Tommy sat there and stared at her. "Hadn't thought of that."

She smiled at him, reaching across the table to pat his hand. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. And if you should do it. You're kinda brilliant, you know."

"Well I don't know about brilliant." Tom laughed.

"Oh I'm sure of it," she giggled. "You're just too humble to admit it. And that's a good thing." As they laughed together she could almost see the strength in their cord. "I'd have to smack you around if you ever got too confident."

[Tom Llewelyn]

Frost covered the windows of the of the Gryffindor sixth year dormitory . Tom pulled the curtains back on his four poster. Tom wasn't so much nervous as he was excited. Today was the first match of the second round of the duel tournament and he was going to face one of his best friends Bill Weasley in the second round.

"Oi." A pillow came flying through the air and landed with a fwump against Tom's face. "You ready?"

Tom bent down and picked up the pillow and lobbed it back at Bill. "Why of course, Mister Weasley," Tom said with a with a mockingly haughty voice, "are you?"

Bill's face pulled into a wide grin. "Well of course, my dear Michael." Bill bowed low to Tommy.

"Well, I hope you're ready for disappointment." Tom grinned. "I don't plan on losing."

"Well, you know what they say about plans, old man?" Bill smirked as he started getting himself ready for the day.

Tom chuckled. "That you can't believe in old sayings?" His eyebrow raised as he pulled off his pajama top. "Now then, I'm going to go shower and get some breakfast. If you decide that you are afraid to face me, I will completely understand."

"And the same goes for you, old boy." Bill laughed as he left the dorm.

---

Danny was leaning up against the wall outside the Gryffindor common room, ignoring the Fat Lady's attempts to shoo him. "Ah'm waitin' for ane o' yuirs, my guid wumman," he protested after her sixth or seventh attempt to run him off.

"He's with me, Lady." Tommy said as he swung the portrait open. "Alright Dan?"

"Aye," the Ravenclaw said with a grin. "You'd think efter five 'n' a hauf years, she'd stop interrogating me ilka time ah shawed up. Whit's th' new password, by th' wey?"

The Fat Lady let out an exasperated hiss as Tom said nonchalantly said, "Flobberworm."

"Flobberworm," he repeated with a smile. "So are ye ready fra yuir duel wi' Bill?"

Tom chuckled. "Yeah." He shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wand. He twirlled it in between the fingers of his right hand. "It's gonna be a lot tougher than my match with Helena. Bill may just be cleverer than me."

Danny pretended to think for a minute. "Weel, ye'r a'maist as clever as me, 'n' a'm a Ravenclaw, a stoatin yin at that. Sae Bill, who's an average Gryffindor cannae be as clever as ye." He grinned at his fellow Gent.

"Funny." Tommy slammed his left shoulder into Danny as they walked. "All that from the guy who got stuck in his animagi form."

Ainlie wance, 'n' sin amurnay th' Transfiguration Head's pet, ah didnae huv th' expert teaching me." Danny laughed, answering with his left elbow.

"What can I say," Tom shrugged, "I am the silent partner after all. I have to keep up the cover."

Danny laughed again as they walked down a sweeping staircase. He dug deep into his jeans pockets and came up with a sheaf of notes. He handed the paper to Tom. "Notes oan Bill's last duel. He's got a couple tells."

Tom took the paper and looked at it. "I dunno." He shook his head slightly. "I don't wanna cheat Bill. I want this fair."

"Dae th' Falcons swick if thay scout oot a Tutshill gam afore thay speil thaim?" Danny asked. "Tis nae against th' rules. In Dueling 'n' Defense lest summer we hud tae read a book by a Chinese general." The Ravenclaw paused, trying to remember the exact words. "He said 'Know yer enemy 'n' ken yersel' 'n' ye kin rammy a hundred battles.' Ah figure th' same holds true fur duels."

Tom sighed. "Yeah, yeah I know." Tom gave the paper a once over again. "I've been working on a few new tricks to use. Young Master William knows me far too well."

Chuckling, Danny clapped his friend on the back. "Ah'll be shuir tae take notes," he said with a laugh as they walked into the Great Hall.

They were early. There was only a small smattering of students already in the hall. One of them being Céilidh. She did not call out, opting instead to raise her steaming mug of coffee in morning greeting. The two boys took up seats on either side of the redhead. Tom leaned over and gave Céilidh a kiss on the head.

"Morning, beautiful." He said.

Céilidh beamed at him, then looked a Danny, "Aye kens th' richt hings tae say, this yin daes." She scooped a forkful of breakfast - three eggs, over easy, hashbrowns, and sausage all cut up and mixed together in one sticky yellow pile - into her mouth. Chasing it down with a swallow of coffee, she turned to Tom.

"Mornin' loue. Duin fur round yin o' th' stoatin' Gryffindor battle?"

Tom nodded as he sat down next to her with Danny sliding on the other side of her. "You know, I'm actually rather worried about this." Tom grabbed a piece of buttered toast and bit into it. "I mean," he said with a mouth full of toast, "Bill is damn good." Tom swallowed the toast.

"Ye hae ivery richt tae be wirried." The Hufflepuff announced his presence and swung a leg over to take a seat.

He leaned forward and shifted everybody's attention down the Great Hall to the long table. At it the school's headmaster was having a pleasant conversation with the diminutive charms professor who also happened to be the head of the dueling club. "A little bird telt me tha Flitwick wis juist tellin Dumbledaur tha this match is gauntae be a real nail biter. What body wins the day coud win the tourney. Definitely the final twa..."

He reached across the table and snagged the carafe to fill his mug with coffee. "Aw Dumbledaur sain wis tha fowk aft unnerestimate the Weaselys..."

Tom chuckled as he bit into his second piece of toast. "I would never underestimate Bill."

"Ye better nae," Danny said, taking a bite of his eggs Benedict. "An' ye better beat him, tae. Ah've gat a lot mair notes on ye than Bill."

Tom eyed Danny over the top of Céilidh's head. "Anytime you care to try Colonial." Tom smirked.

Danny laughed. "I might just take you up on that Welshy," Danny replied in his best American accent.

Tom's eyes narrowed for a moment and then he broke into a wide smile. This is what Tom needed. He could feel the butterflies ebbing out of his stomach.

He grabbed a few pieces of bacon and slapped them between two more pieces of toast. He looked back at the staff table and the butterflies returned. His eyes caught the Headmaster's, who smiled and lifted his glass of orange juice to Tommy.

Tom smiled weakly back at Dumbledore.

Orlando leanded over, his shoulder pressing the Gryffindor's. Hiding his face behind his mug he whispered, "Dumbledaur kens yuir gauntae win."

Tom suddenly found it almost impossible to swallow. "Y-yeah."

The Scot sat back. "Juist saying." He poached some bacon from Danny.

"Hey guys!" Laun bounced over happily.

"Laun," Orlando raised his mug toward the Slytherin prefect.

"Laun," Céilidh said through a mouthful of food, "haes a'body tellt ye that ye'r tae cheery in th' mornin'?"

"Far too cheery." Tom grumbled beside her, feeling the butterflies resuming their formation flying in his stomach.

"Is it mornin?" Even as he spoke a yawn pried his jaw open before he could choke it back. Aside from a quick nap in the cave while decoding some research to help their discombobulated safe, he had been up since yesterday. "A thoucht 'twas still lest nicht..."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Ah huv ne'er hud a kinch wi' mornings in principle," the Ravenclaw said as he sopped up some egg yolk and hollandaise with a piece of toast. "Bit how come dae thay happen sae earlie?"

His friends laughing and joking around him seemed like it was a million miles away to Tommy. His eyes scanned the Gryffindor table till it found his opponent for today, his friend and roommate.

"Well why not be cheery? Should be a great day!" Laun took a seat.

The Hufflepuff at the table scooped up some of the potatoes. "A day is like a brakfast, it needs tae be digeested ower tyme." He paused a bit. "Wi coffee. And a nip o whiskey gif it's really a guid day."

"Oor a ill ane."

---

Before Tom knew what had happened, the long house tables were pushed against the walls and the raised dueling platform stood in their stead. Tom stood staring at the platform his mahogany wand tapping nervously against his leg. He took in several deep, slow breaths. He closed his eyes and could see the duel unfold in front of him in his mind's eye.

As the room began to fill, Tom could feel most of the eyes in the room on him and Bill. There was an anticipation about this duel. Bill had laid waste to John Krease of Slytherin in under two minutes, while Tom had almost lost to Helena Gomes of Ravenclaw in his first round match. Never mind that Helena had been a deceptively strong dueler, or that apparently Dumbledore himself thought Tom might win the duel, the talk of the club was that Bill was almost assured a place in the final eight.

Tom's nerves steeled themselves. Again he could hear the words of Professor Qasim run through his head, You are sharp. Intelligent. You have all the makings of an excellent auror. Listen to what your mind tells you. Tom's eyes opened with a jerk and a lopsided confident smile arched across his face. He was going to win.

"Wands at the ready." Squeaked Professor Flitwick.

Bill flicked his wand up toward Tommy and back down again. "Good luck, old boy."

Tom smiled back as he raised his wand. "Same to you, sir."

The match was on.

"Stupify!" Bill's wand stabbed at the air. A red jet of light shot through the air toward Tom.

Tom dove out of the way at the last moment. The red jet of magical energy sparked as it hit the wood of the platform. Tom recovered quickly and spun around to retort, but Bill fired again.
"Carpe Retractum!" A rope shot from the tip of Bill's wand and wrapped around Tom's leg. Bill pulled tight slamming Tom to the ground of the dueling platform.


All the air escaped from Tom's lungs. He could see the pop of tiny fireworks in front of his eyes as he tried to pull himself back together. His eyes went wild around the hall, and caught Céilidh's. Her eyes sparkled with worry. That was enough to pull Tommy back together. He pointed his wand at the rope and with a bang the rope around his ankle snapped. Tom pulled himself back up to his feet the whole time brandishing his wand at Bill.

Bill however continued to press his advance. He slashed his wand again at Tom, "Confundo!"

Tom slashed his wand in retaliation. "Protego!"

Bill's spell slammed into Tommy's shield charm and the two exploded in a flash of blue light that radiated through the hall like an exploding firework.
Again the eldest Weasley slashed his wand. "Everte Statum!" The air between the two Gryffindors rippled like the waves of a still pond when a pebble is tossed into it.


Tom tried to put up another shield charm but wasn't in time. The wave hit him full, launching him spinning through the air, and deposited him back to the ground with a sickening thud. Once again, the air left his lungs.

He attempted to pull himself up again with his now shaking arms. His ears rang. All the noise of the great hall came to Tom like he was yards underwater. Everything was muffled. He heard what he thought was Bill yelling out another spell.

Tom was now running only on instinct. He rolled again more feeling than hearing the spell blistering the floor of the platform where he was a second before. He rolled again, missing getting hit again by the merest of inches. He knew he needed to act, that he absolutely needed to get into this fight and now.

He rolled forwards slashing his wand towards Bill. "Stupify!" His spell missed it's mark by inches. In those inches however, Bill had given Tom the opening he finally needed.

Tom snarled as he fired another spell, "Glisseo!" This time he hit. The ground underneath Bill became slick as ice.

The Gryffindor Prefect's feet slipped and slid along the surface of the dueling field. Finally he lost footing and landed backside first on the ground, but that didn't stop the slide.

Tom then pointed his wand at the ground just in front of Bill's path. "Subsido" The floor of the dueling field transfigured into a hole filled with clear cold water in front of Bill that the Gryffindor Prefect could not miss.

With a splash Bill landed backside first into the newly created water.

Tom finally got back to his feet as Bill sputtered his way out of the dunk tank. Bill turned back to face Tommy and slashed his wand again at Tommy.

Tom was ready however. He pointed his wand at the water in front of him. "Aqua Eructo!" A column of water ushered from the tank. Almost immediately he cast again, "Duro!" The column of water turned into stone just at the spell hit it sending red sparks splattering against it's surface.

Bill swore under his breath as he swung his wand to make the stone column go away. As soon as it vanished, he saw Tom smiling in front of him.

"Expelliarmus"

The blast of light shot toward Bill. He dove out of the way as quickly as he could. The spell glanced off of one of Bill's fingers, and his wand hit the floor just as Bill's body did. The Gryffindor prefect dove for his wand, but Tommy was just a second faster.

"Geminio!" A quick flash of light hit the wand just as Bill's fingers hit it.

A shower of wands issued for Bill's fingertip where his own wand had been.

Bill scrambled after the each of the wands and as he grabbed them, they burst into more wands.

A smile grew on Tom's face. He slashed his wand at Bill, "Everte Statum!" Bill was shot back through the air, landing far away from the large pile of copied wands.

A whistle issued from the tiny Head of Ravenclaw house. "Llewelyn wins!"

As the assembled crowd cheered and clapped, Tom waved his wand and the spell faded.

Tom walked up to Bill and extended his hand, "You almost had me, sir."

Bill grasped his hand. "It was brilliant, Tommy, even though you won." He grinned and pulled the other Gryffindor into a hug.

A small red-capped blur struck the two boys. "Stoatin duel, baith o' ye."

"Thanks, love." Tom groaned under the weight of his still aching back.

"I appreciate that, Cee." the prefect beamed as he pointed his wand at his clothes and warm, drying air hit them.

Danny stepped forward and clapped both of his classmates on the shoulder. "Stoatin battle, brother. Ye tae cousin."

"It really was." Popping up under Danny's arm, Rose waited until Tommy's clothes were fully dry before giving him a hug. "You both had me on the edge of my seat."

"Best duel o the tourney, lads. Haunds doun." Foozle shot a thumbs up to Bill. "Gif ye hae tae lose, tha's the wey tae dae it, mate."

Bill chuckled. "Yeah, yeah.."

The Scot grinned and gently pressed his knuckles against Tommy's chin. "A wisnae wirried fer a mament..."

"Bloody hell, I was worried enough for the both of us trust me." He threw his arm around Bill.

[Dan DuMorne]

Her homework wasn't studying itself. No matter how many times Rose reread the same page, the words didn't seem to string together into anything at all memorable. Instead, the parchment in front of her that was supposed to hold notes from the text was full of small swirls, flowers, and hearts. Blowing a blonde curl away from her face, the little Ravenclaw drew another heart then stopped herself from putting a pair of initials inside it.

It was impossible to concentrate. Too much had happened and the blonde was honest enough with herself to admit that she was scared. Not of her new skill. That was a family trait that she was relatively sure she could master. Her professors certainly seemed to have confidence in her. But, unfortunately, the person she wanted to talk to about it the most was the same one she was afraid of.

"I'm being ridiculous, aren't I?" she asked the tiny owl that sat on the windowsill nearby. Idril simply ruffled her feathers and refused to answer.

"I should just go talk to him. I'll... I'll... I'll tell him I didn't mean to faint when he was about to kiss me and ask him to try again." With a groan of despair, Rose's head hit the desk, golden hair covering her books. "Yeah... that'll go well," she mumbled.

For a long time she sat with her head down, imagining all the disastrously embarrassing things she could say to Danny and the many reasons why he'd want to stay far away from her now. With a sigh, she finally sat up and reached out a hand for Idril to hop onto. "I'll just tell him about what I've been doing. That's what friends do. And we're friends. So it's okay."

Finding a clean piece of parchment she wrote a short note in her looping handwriting. I've only had two headaches this week! She made sure to include several smiley faces after her first sentence. Then, afraid she'd change her mind and chicken out if she tried to write more, Rose handed the note to her miniature owl with strict instructions not to eat it and sent her off to find Danny.

---

The Ravenclaw man kept flipping through a sheaf of notes he and Orlando had worked up for their potential Gentlemen projects for next year. But no matter how many times he tried to check through the potions formulae or the arithmancy equations, he couldn't focus. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, kicking his feet up on the desk.

Danny's concentration was shot. His thoughts kept drifting back to last week, to Rose fainting, and he was worried. He had overheard what Dumbledore had been telling Professor Flitwick, how Rose's powers allowed her to see relationships, how people interconnected. And she keeled over right as his memories of Halloween came flooding back. He was afraid it was his fault, and the one person he should talk to was the person he feared hurting.

"This is daft," he said, looking over at Monkey, who was curled up on a pillow at the foot of Danny's bed. The cat, unimpressed, yawned and stretched.

"Ah shuid juist blether tae her, tell her that ah didnae mean tae mak' her faint an' promise nae tae ever try tae winch th' lassie o' mah dreams again..." With a heavy sigh, he kicked his feet off the desk and his chair rocked forward again. "Lik' that's gaun tae happen."

He sat, staring at the ceiling and thinking of all the stupid things he could say to Rose and imagining the worst possible outcomes for each phrase. Monkey, tired of being ignored, hopped up into the young man's lap and purred. "Ah'll juist write her a note, let her ken whit A've bin daein'. We're mukkers. Mukkers juist blether aboot hings." Danny mused as he scratched between the cat's ears, much to Monkey's delight.

Tearing a sheet of paper from one of his notebooks, he quickly wrote, Got a very good grade on my Herbology quiz yesterday, thanks to all the excellent tutoring last term. Tucking the note in Monkey's collar he gave the black and white cat instructions to deliver it to Rose. He knew Monkey would, because he loved to play with the little blonde.

Turning back to his desk, he began to go through the papers again. Dan and Lando were starting early on next year's project because of the demand for this year's no-quills notebooks. But just as he began to flip through the notes again he heard a high pitched hooting chuckle from his window sill.

"Hello, Idril," the young man said, reaching out to the tiny owl who hopped into his hand. Dan's eyes went to the lightly chewed piece of parchment Idril held in his beak. "What do you have there?"

Taking the scrap of paper from Idril, he unfolded it, immediately recognizing Rose's neat handwriting. "Ainlie twa headaches?" he wondered aloud, looking at the little owl. "That's aye twa tae mony."

He flipped over the parchement and grabbed his quill. "That doesn't sound good, Rose. Are you sure you're doing okay? Two headaches seems like a lot for you." He paused, looking at Idril. "Kin ye take this back tae Brosia wi'oot eating it?" He asked the little elf owl.

Getting a noncommittal squeak in response, Danny let the owl take the note in its beak and swoop out of the window.

---

Rose was still completely not studying. Her parchment now had a nearly complete border of hearts around its entire length. Dreamily twirling a curl around her wand she stared out the window and completely missed the entrance of a furry little visitor until the black and white cat jumped into her lap.

"Monkey! You scared me! I was just..." her voice lowered to a whisper and she lifted the cat so she could share her secret. "...thinking about Danny." She cuddled against the soft black and white fur for several moments before she noticed something in his collar.

The little blonde let out a soft squeak as she unfolded the note to find the very familiar handwriting. "He's so sweet. Isn't he sweet?" She held the paper out for Monkey to approve. The cat simply rubbed against it and started to purr.

Without hesitation, she began to write back. It's easy to be a good tutor when you have a brilliant student. She paused and looked down at the cat who was now curled happily in her lap. "We should celebrate. I can say that to him, right?" Since Monkey was no help in deciding what to write, she decided to risk it and add it to her note. Then, feeling only mildly guilty, she shifted her legs until the cat gave in and jumped down. "I'm sorry, Monkey, but you have to take it back to him right now."

The tuxedo cat gave her a mildly reproachful look but followed instructions and slunk toward the door. Rose watched him go then, looking at the pile of untouched homework, gave up on any pretense of studying. Flopping down among the soft pillows of her bed, she had managed to close her eyes and completely not daydream about anything impossible when a soft fluttering of wings and a gentle tugging on her hair interrupted her.

---

Monkey trotted back into the sixth-year boys dorm looking as irritated as a cat can look. He marched up to his owner and mewed, ducking his head so Danny could see the note.

"Ye gat anither note frae Rose?" he asked, pulling the note from Danny's collar. Quickly unfolding it and reading through the message, he paused. "Celebrate?"

He scrawled another note and tucked it back into Monkey's collar. The cat growled a bit, so Danny scratched him between the ears and the growl turned into a purr. "Back tae Rose wi' ye."

---

"Come on, Idril. Just one more time. Or maybe two or three." Rose was getting nowhere in convincing the tiny owl to make another trip to deliver a note to Danny. His response to her news about headaches had been so sweet she wanted to reassure him as soon as possible. Of course, reassuring him meant telling him about all the headaches she'd been hiding from everyone...

"Do this one and I'll give you a cookie as soon as you get back," she promised, appealing to her pet's love of all things sweet and baked. Idril had just cocked her head to the side and seemed to be considering the offer when the door to the room was nosed open. A soft, and somewhat dramatic, meow announced that Monkey had returned.

"Oh, you poor tired little baby." Extending her arms, Rose waited for the cat to jump onto the bed then immediately reached for the note. We'll hold off on the celebration 'til you aren't having any headaches. Reading it, she gave a dreamy sigh and rolled onto her back so Monkey could make himself comfortable on her stomach. "Do you see how considerate he is?"

She scratched the cat between the ears and under his chin, feeling the rumble of his purr while she worked on a perfect response. "Okay, who wants to take this one?" With both pets giving her blank stares, the blonde was forced to resort to bribery. "Why don't you both go together? Then, when you come back, I'll have treats..."

---

Danny had moved to his bed and was shooting a paper target hanging on the wall with his new wand. He had just cast a repairing spell on the paper for the third time when Idril flew through his window, then Monkey waked through the door.

"Hullo, cat an' owl." Danny flicked his wand at his nightstand and the drawer slid open. Two packages floated up to the young man. He cracked open the tin, setting it on the floor. "Sardines for my kitten," he said with a smile, then he pulled open the bag and held an almond cookie for the owl. "An' a treat fra Idril."

The owl opened its mouth, dropping the note it was carrying and snatched the cookie from the young man's hand. Danny picked up the note and unfolded it. We can celebrate your good grades and my headaches... since two is actually less than all the ones I wasn't telling you about before.

Danny looked at the animals, happily chewing on their treats. "Did either o' ye kin aboot her headaches?" he asked before he realized the futility of it. He sighed heavily and then rolled over. Grabbing a quill and a fresh scrap of paper, he jotted down another note and looked at the now well fed animals.

"Who's gauntae take this ane?" he asked, and both animals moved forward as if to volunteer.

---

Waiting for a message was almost as nerve wracking as the thought of talking to him in person. Rose lay sprawled among her pillows, unable to find any position comfortable for more than one or two minutes. With Idril and Monkey off doing their jobs, she didn't even have anyone to talk to except the stuffed acromantula Tommy had given her last year... and he was a little creepy.

The tiny blonde had nearly gone insane with impatience when the door finally opened. The two pets, now working together, entered triumphantly, Idril sitting on Monkey's fuzzy back. "Well?" she demanded, holding out her hands. "Get up here, you sillies. I have Monkey treats and Idril treats... and you have something for me..."

Though they didn't move as fast as she thought they would at the prospect of food, Rose was soon handing over Felix Cattarus's chewy cat and kneazle treats and bits of chocolate chip cookie. I didn't know you were having that much trouble, hen. I wish you had told me earlier how bad it had been. I would have made you get help sooner.

Hugging the note to her chest, Rose flopped back and stared up at the ceiling for a long minute, trying to think of exactly what to say. Then, promising more treats and cuddling, she quickly wrote another response and sent the pets on their way.

---

Unable to concentrate on anything else, Danny sat, looking back and forth between the window and door. Finally he was rewarded as Idril fluttered through the door right above his cat.

"Ah'm oot o' treats, guys. Sairy." The pets seemed unimpressed by this announcement, and Idril dropped the note in Danny's lap before landing on Monkey's back.

Danny unfolded the note and read Rose's flowing script. Thank you, Danny. What would I do without you?

Twirling his quill between his fingers again, a smile flashed across Dan's face. He wrote a quick note and handed it to Idril, who bit into the paper. "Ah promise, ye're gauntae get a treat at the end o' this ane." As the owl went out the window, Danny scooped up his cat and jogged down the stairs to the common room.

---

Rose was watching the door for any sign of movement when Idril came rapping at the window. "You're alone..." Trying not to sound disappointed to see her own owl, she quickly let Idril inside and let the bird snuggle into her curls to warm up a little.

"I suppose he had things to do and Monkey was probably getting tired and oh..." Any disappointment the blonde may have been feeling fled instantly as she read the latest note. Come down to the common room. Bring Idril. The next second the parchment fluttered to the ground to be replaced in Rose's hand by a hairbrush.

As soon as she was certain she was presentable, and Idril's feathers were smoothed and adorable looking, the little prefect was bouncing toward the door and the stairs that led to the Ravenclaw common room.

By the time Rose came bouncing into the common room, there was a small table set with white china decorated with small, brightly coloured flowers. Next to the tea pot sat two mugs, one blue and bronze, the other pink with swirled with small yellow daisies. The largest plate was stacked high with chocolate cupcakes.

"Ah hid Gerti put taegether a celebration feast," Danny said with a smile. "Ah'm glad ye're doin' better."

Rose gaped at him for a moment then, forgetting her fears and all of the awkwardness she imagined was between them, wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you, Danny. I'm glad you got a good grade on your quiz."

Offering the blonde a cupcake, Danny nodded. "Me too."

She resisted for only a moment then took a large bite of the cupcake. "Ohmygoshgood," she mumbled around the food in her mouth. Swallowing and trying to remember that she wanted him to think she was at least a little bit cute, she beamed at him. "You really have a talent for always making me feel better."

"Oneything fer... he paused a split second, not sure how to continue. "a friend, Rose."

With that one word, Rose's heart dropped into her shoes. "Um... thanks." Taking another bite to hide the fact that she was completely incapable of producing a smile, she looked around the room for something, anything, other than his face to look at. "So... um... tea..." Since she couldn't run away and cry, the little blonde tried to find a bright side to this disaster. Like... at least she didn't have to feel too embarrassed about fainting and missing the kiss... since it didn't appear that he'd be trying it again.

[Tom Llewelyn]

Tom sat starring at the rat that sat in on the table looking back at him. The Gryffindor tapped his wand against his teeth. "Alright." He sighed heavily. "How to do this? I mean there isn't exactly a spell on this." His wand snaked back and the tip scratched his scalp. Finally he made up his mind on how to start. He pointed his wand at the rat and took a deep breath. At the last moment, the scene from a few weeks before entered his mind staying his wand hand. He remembered himself as a partial chair, and the fear that had entered him.

He could see his wand hand start to shake slightly and immediately pulled it back to his body with his other hand. Since the incident he had stayed to Ordinary Wizarding Level transfiguration spells, and was actually for the first time in his life, afraid to experiment and stretch himself.

Back in December, Professor McGonagall had a paper of his based on his theories of animal to human transfiguration published in Transfiguration Today. His theory had caused quite a stir, mostly from the fact that it differed so greatly from the another theory that had been published in the same periodical almost a hundred years previous by his own headmaster. He had received several owls over the following weeks challenging his ideas including one from Dumbledore himself who was very intrigued by Tom's logic on the issue and was curious to see if it could really work.

So that brought Tommy to this empty classroom on this icy Saturday morning, pushed to show his theory correct.

"Ohmygosh I'm sorry I thought the room was empty... Tommy?" Hip still at an awkward angle from bumping the door open, Rose hugged a stack of books against her chest and stared at her friend. "What are you doing?"

Tom jumped, and the rat in front of him squeaked and ran behind a large stack of books.

"Bloody hell." Tommy said breathlessly. "You scared me half to death."

"I'm sorry." The little blonde's eyebrows knit together. "I was just looking for an empty room to spread out in." She sighed. "Sometimes we think a little too alike."

Tom's breath finally returned to normal. "I was just working on a wee bit of an experiment."

The blonde looked at him then at the rat peeking out from behind the books. "Let me guess..."

Tom nodded, "Yep." He scooped up the rat petting him on the head. "All those owls just keep coming. I want to prove myself right."

Her sunny smile shifted to the gold of compassion. And understanding. After the chair thing, this was no surprise. "I still think the owls, even the ones who think you're nuts, are a good thing." Setting her books down on an empty table, Rose immediately brought a curl to her lips as she tried to explain. "Just imagine how many owls like that Professor Dumbledore has gotten over the course of his career."

Tom nodded. "Oh I know. You haven't seen the most recent one have you?" Tom gave a chuckle as he handed her a folded piece of yellow parchment.

Rose unfolded it and read it silently, green eyes growing wide as she poured over the text. "Tommy! He's practically cheering you on. He wants you to try."

"Yeah I know but..." He looked down at the rat and to his still slightly shaking wand hand.

"No buts, Tommy." Rose put aside all thoughts of studying for the day. She was here to support her friend and, a slightly more practical voice in the back of her mind pointed out, be ready to go for help if anything happened. "There's no way he'd send that if he didn't think you could do it."

"Yes well after the," he thought about the word he wanted to use, "unpleasantness, as a chair I'm just sorta worried I guess about giving this rat a nice paisley design, you know?"

The blonde bit at her hair again then forced the momentary hesitation away. "I can't believe I'm saying this... but think of all the things we've turned him and all his brothers and sisters into over the years. Remember the goblets? Mine still squeaked when you poured water into it."

Tommy laughed, "It was a damn sight better than Beryl's. Remember it drowned when she poured in the water?"

"That was sad," she pouted. "Beryl didn't even feel bad... except about her grade."

Tom stared down at the rat, he could feel the creeping doubt in his head. He tried to put it aside, but he could feel it clawing at the back of his brain getting a strong foothold. He shut his eyes to fight it back. "Okay we're gonna try it."

The Ravenclaw nodded. "What do you want me to do? Should I stand out of the way?"

Tom looked at Rose for a second and then held out his hand, "For moral support."

She took his hand, curling her tiny fingers around his and giving a squeeze. "You can do this. I know you can."

"This won't hurt him." Tom's eyes flashed down toward the rat. "I don't think." His voice trailed off as he looked down at the rat. "When you think about it," Tom said with just the tiniest hint of a laugh, "you can transfigure a human into something else, it shouldn't be too much to go the other way. Should it?"

The blonde gave a small shrug. "That's what you said in your article. And you are the expert when it comes to transfiguring humans into furry things." She paused and looked up at him, not at all surprised to find that she completely expected him to succeed. "You just need to stop doubting yourself."

"Alright then," he rolled up his sleeves, "here goes everything."

"Dazzle me," she chuckled, hopping onto a seat and doing her best friend to look properly adoring as she watched him.

"Right." His head nodded with a snap. His attention went back to the rat. His wand snapped at the rat and a bright green flash hit it right on the nose. Once the light cleared Tom squinted open one of his eyes. "Did it work?"

Since she was trying to be supportive, Rose did her best not to laugh. "Um..." Wordlessly, she pointed to the unchanged rat who was now watching Tommy with a look of undisguised curiosity. "I think it tickled."

Tom's eyes opened all the way, a look of defeat crossed his face. "Damn." Tom tapped the wand grumpily on table. "Well if that didn't work, how about this." Tom flicked his wand after a quick swoosh. A jet of golden light launched from the tip and hit the rat. There was quite a bit of smoke that obscured their sight.

"Did it work?" Tom coughed.

Waving her hand in front of her face to clear the smoke away, Rose shook her head. "No. But you did set the table on fire," she added supportively. "That's impressive."

"Shut it." Tom tapped his wand on the table and fire stopped. "Well this is getting annoying."

"Tommy, don't get annoyed. You can do this. I know you can." Putting away her own misgivings, the blonde threw herself into encouraging him. "You can't let a few fires get you down."

Tom ran his left hand through his hair. His mind clicked through spells and once more he waived is wand again. This time a smokey blueish light snaked its way around the rat, completely obscuring it. When the smoke cleared. The rat was no longer there. Laying curled on the table in front of them was a short, incredibly naked man.

"Ew! Tommy!!!" the blonde shrieked, covering her eyes and turning her back. "Give him some clothes!"

Tommy, shocked that it actually worked, waived his wand covering the new man in a long black robe. "Hello?" Tommy said to the former rat.

The man on the table turned toward the sounds. His nose still twitched like the rat he once was and his two front teeth protruded slightly.

The man's eyes darted back and forth across the room before landing on the two sixth years.

The new man's mouth opened and closed for a few moments before he finally vocalized. A high pitched excited squeak came from him as his right hand came up and rubbed against his cheek and nose.

"Did he just..." Tom said with a shocked look on his face, "squeak?"

Rose, still half afraid to look, gave a hesitant nod of affirmation. "Well he is... was... a rat."

With a snap of his neck. The rat man's head popped up as he sniffed the air. His beady eyes narrowed on a plate of cheese that sat on Tommy's side. The new man lept with quite a bit of speed toward the plate.

"Oi!" Tommy flicked his wand and the plate levitated into the air and to the other side of the room.

The man landed on the ground on all fours. He sniffed the air again. With a bit of a jump, the rat set off after the cheese scampering on all fours down an open aisle of desks he stopped at the opposite end of the aisle and sniffed the air again before turning right and heading back down the next aisle.

"Is he running a maze?"

It was mean, horrible even, but Rose couldn't stop giggling. "He's doing ratty things." It was funny, but in a sad sort of way. "Tommy... I think this is maybe why people don't turn animals into humans."

"I guess so." Tom tapped his wand against his teeth again. He flicked his wand at the scurrying human. The same smoke wove around him again and a second later he was a rat again.

He then slumped back down onto the bench he was sitting on. "Well that was disappointing."

"Are you crazy?" The little blonde was out of her seat in an instant and sitting beside her friend with an arm around his shoulder. "You just performed an amazingly complex spell in the face of all your doubts. You took a risk, kept trying, and did something that most people your age wouldn't even dream of. How can that be a disappointment?"

"He didn't sing three blind mice?" Tom smirked.

With a laugh, she punched him in the shoulder. "You're horrible."

"Now is that a way for a prefect to act?" The headmaster's voice came from the door behind them.

Both Tommy and Rose jumped as they turned to the voice behind them. "S-sir," Tommy fumbled over his words, "how long have you been there?"

The blue eyes behind half moon spectacles twinkled as a smile played on Dumbledore's lips. "Long enough." He nodded to Tommy, then took a seat behind the teacher's desk and folded his long slender fingers in front of him. "I find myself in a position that, I must say, is unfamiliar to me."

"Sir?" Tom said questioningly.

"Why being proven wrong of course." Dumbledore's smile widened. "I will say it was when I was young and not the, if I may be so bold, brilliant headmaster you see before you." He inclined his head in bow.

"Sir, I didn't mean to..." Tom fumbled over himself.

Dumbledore held up a hand. "You have nothing to apologize for Michael." The hand went back to resting on the desk. "You have proven what seemed to be impossible. Now of course," he smiled again at the rat who was now rubbing its paws against its cheeks, "I think we both can agree that while you can transfigure the physical properties of a creature, its mind and soul are another matter entirely."

Tom nodded a little sadly. "I would have liked to have actually had a conversation with him."

Dumbledore nodded, "But," he said in a tone that showed that he was clearly enjoying this lesson, "would you truly wish to change a creature in such a fundamental way that nothing of its original self remained?"

Tom slid into a chair on the front row right across from Dumbledore. He took in a heavy sigh. "You have a point there sir." There was several moments of further silence until Tom spoke again. "So I guess the question now Professor," Tommy looked back up and Dumbledore, "should we tell the Wizarding World about this?"

The Headmaster nodded. "That is a good question Michael," Dumbledore tapped the tips of his index fingers together, "on the one hand, it is truly a one of the best finds in transfiguration in one hundred years." His lips pursed, and almost disappeared into his beard. "On the other hand, would it honestly be a good idea to let people know about this possibility? Would it be a good idea to let loose that Pandora's Box?"

Tom studied his own hands for a moment or two before looking up at the wizened face of the Professor. "I don't think it would be sir. If we do that there is a possibility that someone would abuse it."

Dumbledore nodded again and his smile broadened. "That my dear boy is exactly right."

"But sir," Tom said in a nervously questioning tone, "if we can't release our findings on this, then what was the point?"

Dumbledore laughed. "What was the point?" His blue eyes sparkled. "Stretching your mind beyond its boundaries. Gaining even more knowledge about the arts that we try to master."

"That is true sir," Tom nodded, "but all those people who think I'm wrong..."

"Will always think you are wrong Michael." The headmaster said standing up. "We however know the truth and that makes us all the richer for it. Now," he said crossing the room to the door, "I trust you will make sure our friend doesn't leave any surprises for the first classes in this room Monday?" He turned the knob on the door and stepped through "Good bye." And with that he was gone.

Letting out her breath in a long, relieved exhale, Rose sank down into a nearby chair. "Wow, Tommy. If you even think about saying this wasn't a success after that I'll... I'll... do something to you."

"I guess it was," Tommy laughed. He flicked his wand and the what there was of the rat droppings disappeared in a poof of lavender scented smoke. "I did kinda want the recognition ."

The blonde smiled sadly. "I know, Tommy. But I got to see how amazing you are. And Professor Dumbledore did too. That might have to do... for now."

Tom stood up from the desk and walked over to Rose. "You think he'll tell Professor McGonagall."

Rose thought it over as she looked up at him. "Is it important to you that she knows?"

"After the chair incident?" Tom laughed.

The chair scraped across the hard floor as she pushed it in and went to hug her friend. "I don't think you need to worry too much. The Headmaster knows what he's doing."

Tom nodded. "It still would have been funny to hear him sing three blind mice."

"The rat or Professor Dumbledore?" Rose giggled.

"Either actually." Tom grinned.

"You really are horrible."

"You can't tell me you wouldn't have loved that." Tommy laughed a little harder as he flicked his wand again and the rat flew through the air and landed safely in its cage.

"I'm not saying a word." Leaving Tommy's side, Rose walked over to the cage and slipped one of the cheese slices inside the bars. "Here you go, Ratty. Thank you for being a good sport. And I'm sorry I saw you naked."

"You know," Tom laughed a little harder, "You still are."

The blonde turned and stuck out her tongue. "I am not," she told him primly. "He's wearing fur now."

"I love your little semantics." Tom winked.

"You just love me," Rose laughed.

"This is true." Tommy threw his arms around Rose.

[Laun Orris-Whitmoor]

Laun was feeling pumped, he always did before a match. He had been perusing spell books well into the night in preparation.

He had little else to do these days. His romance with Elizabeth, the muggle girl he had met had fallen apart due to distance, and though he received regular owls from Damien, it wasn't the same since his only Slytherin buddy had moved and transferred to Durmstrang.

So Dueling club had become Laun's main source of fun.

As he entered the Slytherin common room though that sense of fun felt perilously close to disappearing. He came upon a huddled mob of his Slytherin "brothers" all looking intense, not quite murderous this time at least though.

"Just the man we were looking to see." the head of the group grinned with a smile that seemed to show far too many teeth to be believed. "I wanted to have a little discussion with you, my friend, if you don't mind."

"I do, but I have a feeling you're going to have it anyways with or without my permission so just go; I'll try to retain most of it..." Laun said with a sigh.

"That's the spirit, lad," Peter smiled again. The lake's green light made his blue eyes take on a brownish glow that reminded Laun of exactly how much excrement that exact same color was coming out of the older boy's mouth. "So you have your next duel today right?"

"You know I do, and we both know you wanna talk to me about just that so if we could skip the preliminaries get to to the main event that would be jim dandy."

"That's what I like about you, Orris-Whitmoor," his oily voice oozed out of his mouth from the much too toothy smile, "get right to the bloody point. I and my friends would like for you to throw this match with our good man Rosier."

"Oh, is that all?" Laun smiled, "Well of course I will. I'd do anything for you after all our years of friendship," Laun said mockingly. "Get real, Petey." He ended in a very serious tone.

"Listen, Laun," his voice came out as a deadly hiss, [color=#prosblat]"We all know that you are friends with the blood traitor, and we don't want to to have to go through the pain and torture of having to face him. Besides, Rosier and I have something very special planned for him, and we wouldn't want you to have the shame of embarrassing our house by losing to that little kiss ass."[/color]

Laun just looked at Porsblat for a moment.

"Oh, Petey, are you even trying at this? You could be so much better at this whole villain thing. You hate me, I'll give you that, but you also know me; you had to know doing the smarmy 'were best friends' act was a bad move, never mind openly inferring that by doing what you want me to do would lead to you torturing Tom in I'm sure a very inventive, humiliating way despite knowing very well that we are friends. Did you even think about the best way to actually achieve your goal here?"

Peter's eyes hardened. The grip on the back of Laun's neck tightened and his nails dug into his neck. "Bottom line, Laun, you are either with us or we make your life a living hell understand me?"

Laun didn't push Peter off he instead got closer to him their noses practically touching and gripped his shoulder just as tight.

"I'm going to be dueling, I'm going to win, and just for fun I may just make time to forget I'm a prefect and show you what Hell truly is. We clear, Petey?" Laun said, his green eyes practically on fire in the emerald light.

He then roughly released the taller boy and shook off his grip, only to turn and leave the room without another word.

---

Laun was partially laughing as he walked down the hall, still picturing Peter's face when he didn't back down. He tried to turn his thoughts back to the spells he had been practising.

"Good morning, Mister Orris-Whitmoor." The African wizard's voice echoed across the dungeon's walls.

"Good morning, sir!" Laun beamed back at the professor.

"You seem to be walking with purpose today," he lowered his voice conspiratorially as he placed a fatherly hand on the young boy's shoulder, "What brings you out of the common room today?"

"I'm next in the dueling tournament. I'm going against Devon Rosier, in mere moments." Laun said trying to be humble and boast at the same time.

Qasim laughed, his head rocking back slightly. "Ah I remember those days. I'm glad that Professor Flitwick brought that back. And Devon Rosier is your opponent? I'm sure Professor Snape would be proud of both of you."

"I sure hope he is!" Laun smiled honestly.

"So what is your plan, son?" Qasim threw his arm around Laun.

"I memorized a lot of spells, and of course my trademark has always been 'Rictusempra,' but I may try and wing it... I work best in the moment... I mean I work pretty good...in the moment." Laun said accidentally allowing his manner to become to casual before tensing up again.

Qasim nodded thoughtfully. "Winging it is not always the best thought, son." His hand was warm on Laun's shoulder. "When you face an opponent, you always need to have a plan. That is the first rule of any battle. You have to have a game plan. You go with out a plan, and you fail yourself."

"I just need to... never let him get a chance to get me cornered." He flashed back on the group of Slytherins waiting for him in the common room, "I've got to go on the attack and never let up." He now remembered the rush of standing up to Porsblat.

Amen nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Just remember to always keep your mind open and your emotions in check."

"Use them right? Not the other way around?" Laun smiled.

Amen's eyebrows raised slightly as he stared at Laun. After a few moments, the African wizard started to laugh.

Laun had heard Qasim laugh before, but never with such abandon. If someone had told Laun he would have seen one of his personal heroes in such a moment of uncontrolled emotion, he would have thought he would have been uncomfortable but instead he just smiled all the more.

---

"Good lord, lad," Tommy threw his arm around Laun, "you are almost late for your own duel."

"Sorry, Professor Qasim gave me kind of a pep talk!" Laun practically squealed.

"Focus, Laun," Tom smacked him playfully on the cheek, "Rosier is gonna be rough, but you can get him."

Laun laughed.

"Oh, I know I can. I know it for a fact."

Tom's lips curled in a smile. "And how, dear boy, do you know that?"

Laun looked over to the other Slytherin students and then turned to Tom, and said in a hushed tone;

"Rosier is big with the meaner of that little clique - very close, they talk all the time, and just before I met up with Qasim, Porsblat came up to me and asked me to throw the fight. They don't think he can do it." Laun smiled widely.

"Nice," Tom smiled, "well, then have at them."

"Porsblat askit ye tae throw the ficht?" Orlando appeared seemingly from nowhere behind laun. "Tha's no verra sportsman lik. Especially frae oor heid boy."

"Maybe in an odd way he was trying to inspire me to win all the more?" Laun laughed to himself, and in his own weird way, only half joking.

Now the Hufflepuff was watching Peter curiously. "Porsblat is crafty, Ah'll gie ye tha. Thare's ayweys an angle. Ahm sairy, mate. Ahe dinnae think it wis oot o the guidness o his hert." He looked at Laun. "He disnae lik ye."

"Ah jalouse gif ye win he's enjoy watching the twa o ye duke it oot." He pointed between Tom and Laun. "Than, gif a miracle strikes, face ye hisself efter surviving oor ginger."

Laun had that look he got sometimes, part dreamy and part thoughtful.

"I don't know, I mean I know he's horrible but I find it hard to believe anyone could be totally evil; through and through. It just seems so... boring." Laun shrugged.

The Scot appraised the boy for a moment, not quite sure if he agreed with him or not. He found his thoughts lingering on the man who had killed his father and pushed it away.

"Ah didnae say he wis He Wha Muist No Be Namit," smirked Fooze, "juist an arsehat."

Laun chuckled, "I'll give you that."

"Porsblat's a prat, Ah'll gie ye that," Danny said as he joined the group. "Bit while he kin nae be Ye Ken Wha, he wid huv made a guid death eater." Looking around the group he added, "Whit did he dae noo?"

After the others briefly filled him in, Danny shook his head. "Oi," he said with a scowl. "How come cannae he ever catch up wi' ony o' th' weird accidents that happen aroond this schuil?"

Foozle looked up with a misty expression and a shake of the head. "Dare tae dream..."

"Now, now you guys. You shouldn't wish harm on other people. What if something horrendous, like truly bad happened to him tomorrow? How would you feel about what you just said?"

"Wouldn't bother us." They all said flatly.

"Anyway," Rose shifted the conversation away from wishing accidents on potentially deserving people. "I'm sure your duel won't be boring at all. And really, there should be no complaints no matter who wins... since it's Slytherin against Slytherin."

"Oh, they'll complain." Laun smirked half-heartedly, casting an eye towards his his Slytherin housemates.

The tiny blonde smiled and gave him a hug. "You're going to be amazing. So go out there and dazzle us!"

There was a loud whistle and the dueling club fell silent. "If I could have Mister Rosier and Mister Orris-Whitmoor up on the stand please?" The tiny Ravenclaw squeaked.

Laun squeezed Rose's hand briefly and went up to meet Devon, who was grinning like a serpent with a rat in its mouth.

"Devon." Laun nodded, and Rosier just sneered.

"You should just lay down." Devon hissed as he bowed to Laun.

"And miss this?" Laun just kept smiling as he bowed back.

"And begin."

"Infucatus lux lucis!" Laun shouted suddenly, lunging forward slightly. From the tip of his now outstretched wand came wispy streams of colored light, mostly reds and yellows, melding a mixing together as the wound around Devon's head every so often touching his skin, sparking him as if electrically charged.

The other boy's eyes flew about as he was shocked again.

"Stupefy!" Laun shouted throwing his next spell.

The red jet of light shot toward Rosier. Devon rolled out of the way of the main blast of the spell, still clipping him and sending him sprawling hard onto the wood of the dueling platform. "Bombarda!" A silver blast of energy issued from Devon's wand toward Laun.

The incantation was poorly aimed, thanks to the hard fall Rosier took, and Laun easily sidestepped it.

"Petrificus Totalis!" Laun said excitedly.

Devin, still on his backside, attempted to roll out of the way but with no luck as the spell hit him mid tuck.

There was another whistle, and Flitwick climbed the stairs to stand next to Laun. "There we have it. Mister Orris-Whitmoor is our winner."

The room erupted into cheers with the noticeable exception of the Slytherins in the crowd.

Laun smiled and allowed himself to briefly enjoy the moment before going over to Devon and releasing the spell. He attempted to help the other Slytherin up but he violently batted his hand away.

"Just you remember, blood-traitor," Devon spit, "No matter how much you want to be you're not one of them," He gestured to Laun's friends, "And you are sure as hell not one of us!" Devon got up and followed after the other Slytherins who looked at him with disgust.

"Well, I gather you decided not to lay down?" Tom said laughing as he patted Laun on the back.

"But look at how happy you made them." Rose waved a hand at the departing Slytherin crowd then flashed Laun an impish little grin. "Now they get to complain and plot and grumble. It's exactly what they wanted."

"It's whit thare guid at," Foozle replied with a wink to Ambrosia, "compleenin an grummling, Ah mean."

"Yeah... darn Slytherins." Laun mumbled to himself, though his friends didn't hear.

Lando gave the dueling victor a thumbs up. "Brutal win, mate. Verra nice." His grinning face looked between Laun and Tom a few times. "Ah reck the neist roond is gauntae be a nail biter."

Laun looked at Tom with a small smile.

"Most definitely."

[Tom Llewelyn]

It was a usual morning weekday morning in the great hall as Tommy and Céildh walked blearily into the Great Hall.

Tom stifled a yawn as he and Céilidh sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"You were up late." Bill said with a laugh. "Long night of studying?" His eyebrow arched suggestively.

"If you must know," Tom said with sleepy grumble, "We were up late working on some new strategies for our game with Hufflepuff coming up."

"So that's what they're calling it these days." Bill grinned mischievously until Cee's foot connected with his shin.

"It's tay early fur ye tae be an arse." Céilidh snarled as she pored herself a cup of coffee.

"Okay, okay." The red headed prefect laughed as he rubbed his shin.

Danny strolled up and dropped into the seat next to Bill. "Guid mornin', cousin," He said, grinning at Bill. Looking over to Tommy and Céildh he added "Mornin' brother 'n' sister o' mines. How's hings wi' th' lions o' Hogwarts?"

Both Céilidh and Tom groaned in unison.

"They had a late night ." Bill said using air quotes. For his trouble he received another kick to the shin.

The Ravenclaw chuckled. "A'm sure thay wur putting thair time tae guid uise. Quidditch is a complex gam," he said with a wide grin. "A' that weaving in 'n' oot, in 'n' oot. Grabbing th' stick tight, trying tae pat th' quaffle in th'... OWCH!"

Céilidh had delivered another kick, this time to Danny's shin while Bill tried to stifle his laughter. Wisely, Dan decided to change the subject. "How's th' family, Bill? th' twins excited fur schuil neist year?"

"Ready to meet you and MacFoozle is more like it." Bill laughed. "Mum says I shouldn't have told them half the stories that I have."

"Ainlie hauf?" Orlando said as he sat down beside Cee. "Ye haven't bin telling thaim th' richt stories."

"Well I can't give them too many ideas." Bill laughed. "You haven't met those two."

As the assembled teenagers all laughed there was a rustling above them as the school's owls flew into the Great Hall dropping the daily mail for the students. Several shiny paper birds broke off from among the flurry of beating feathered wings. A formation swooped around and headed in the direction of Tom, Bill and the others. They glided gracefully, and as they dropped toward their recipients their wings folded in, leaving silver envelopes in the hands of all of them except Orlando.

Tom took his in his hands and turned it over. On the silver paper was bright green almost glowing writing. It read:

Master Michael Thomas Llewelyn

Turning the envelope over and opening it, he pulled out a folded piece of parchment and read it.

Dear Mister Llewelyn,

I would like to formally invite you to a social gathering in my office on Saturday night at seven o'clock. Please send your answer to me by Friday morning.

Yours faithfully,

Prof. Horace Slughorn

Tom stared at the letter, reading it several times, before looking up at the rest. "Did all of yours say the same thing?"

"Social gathering?" said Foozle with a tone of piqued curiosity. He was looking over Tommy's shoulder. He looked around the table, each of the faces rereading their letters. "Wi Slughorn? Extrae credit fer potions?"

"I wouldn't think so." Holding the silver envelope in her hand, Rose pointed back to the Ravenclaw table where she'd been sitting until the dramatic delivery and then to the other house tables. "Look around. There's no possible way we all need extra credit."

"Nade, thare's nae wey ony o ye need ony special credit." He wagged a finger at the others around him.

From the large wooden doors, Nicolette walked toward her friends; a stack of books in one hand and a now familiar silver envelope in the other. Her eyes shifted across the room to the Slytherin table as several of its members fell silent and glared. Her slipper hushed steps quickened to join the safety of the others. "I thought this was from you at first." She took a seat near the Hufflepuff boy.

"Wha wad Ah try an trick ye intae gaen tae Slughorn's office?" His scarred brow peaked a little. "It's hardly the maist inneresting place in the castle tae visit."

"Because it was a bird." The girl laughed a little and rolled her eyes. "I knew that it wasn't when I read it."

"Wait." Tommy said realization, dawning on him. "I remember Benny saying something about Professor Slughorn inviting him to a parties with other students his fifth year before the he retired."

"Oi." Danny didn't look happy. "Ah'm nae shuir o' hiving a stuffy gatherin' wi' a perfesser."

Céilidh looked around. Of their group, Orlando was the only one who had not received an invitation to the Professor's party. She frowned, "Ah wonder whit th' criteria ur tae git an invite, seeing as it looks lik' oor mon in Hufflepuff seems tae be left aff th' guest list."

"Whit kin Ah say?" Foozle refilled his mug with steaming coffee from the carafe, "Ahm special."

"You certainly are." Tommy ruffled Orlando's hair.

"You guys got 'em to, huh? It was only a matter of time." Laun smiled knowingly as he came over to join his friends.

"You knew this was coming?" Tom questioned Laun.

"Well, you know that the Professor is an old pal of my folks... Well, more my dad, I don't think my mom knows what a mate is. Well, anyways; he's always telling me stories of his favorite pupils, his proteges and all the relationships he's cultivated. The parties are his ways of getting there."

"Soonds lik' fin." Cee rolled her eyes.

"Well, it means he thinks we have promising futures, that we have talent, he only picks those he thinks are gonna make it big." Laun grinned.

Rose frowned. "That seems awfully..." She paused, searching for a word to describe her thoughts now that she knew what her Hufflepuff friend had been left out of. "Short sighted. Orlando's just as promising as anyone here."

"Lando didn't get one?" Laun said wide-eyed, before catching himself, "Well he is old, he must be slipping." Laun smiled encouragingly.

The Hufflepuff Scot sipped at his steaming mug. His lip curled. "Ah lik tae keep ma potential hidden frae perfessers an the lik." Foozle shot Rose a wink from across the table. "Keeps expectations wee."

"Danny got an invite," she pointed out.

Danny shrugged. "My da is a Yank an' a diplomat." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Ah'd guess Ah'm invited acause o' my connections, nae my potential."

"Who is he to decide who has potential or who'll be what? He good guy at heart but I mean he's not psychic... I think..."

"You're brilliant, Danny. But so is Orlando." Deciding that she didn't want to be too hard on Professor Slughorn while he was still a new face, Rose chewed on a curl until she found a positive light to shine on the conversation. "I'm sure the invites will change a little after Professor Slughorn gets to know us a little bit better."

"You're right Rose and until then, I'm pretty sure we're allowed to invite guests once in a while to these parties!" Laun smiled.

"He would be foolish not to. Exceptional people have exceptional friends." The girl dabbed her croissant with honey, paused a moment, and added a dollop to her tea as well.

"Whoa, whoa whoa." Foozle held up his hands. "Wha are we trying tae git Foozle tae a," he looked back down at Tommy's invitation from Slughorn, "social gaithering wi a perfesser again?"

"Cause we love you." Tom wrapped his arm around Orlando's neck and pulled him close.

Nicolette brandished her spoon at her cousin. "Hands off. Go fondle your own Scot. This one's mine."

"Yeah you're right." Tom said releasing Orlando from the hug. "Besides he's just so unexceptional."

"Aye, tha's Orlandae MacFoozle fer ye," he slipped his arm around the waist of his girlfriend. "Perfitly unexecptional." A little wink flashed at Nicolette. "In aw the richt weys."

Those playful silver irises rolled in exaggerated exasperation. "Unexceptional people don't find themselves in trouble a tenth as often as you do." Nic leaned into his side a little, poking him with the spoon she had used to threaten Tommy moments before.

"Trauchle?" The Scot wore a face of mock innocence. "Ah niver git intae trauchle. 'Trauchle free sin eighty-three, tha's whit thay say aboot me."

"Two thousand eighty-three, maybe." She peeled the crisp sticky outside from her pastry and stuffed it into the Scot's mouth.

Foozle's cheek stuck out like chipmunk. "Anlie a cannie, cautious wizard lik me shoud be sae jammy tae bide sae lang," replied the Hufflepuff.

"Sae," he snagged a few extra pieces of bacon from the platter between Rose and Tom. "onybody need an illicit trip intae in ogsmeade fer a nice new ootfit fer thair dinner?" He stuffed the strip into his broad grin. "Ah micht juist ken a lad."

---

Candle light flickered across the granite walls of Professor Slughorn's office. Trophies covered almost every inch of the small office. One wall was dedicated to pictures, but these weren't just any pictures, they were his most prized trophies. The pictures were of his collection of former students who all were successful, prominent people in the wizarding community. They all waived and smiled at the students as they filed in.

"The Professor sure does love his former students." Tom said with a bit of a laugh as he stared at the picture of Gwenog Jones.

Rose, who had gotten somewhat airsick watching Gwenog fly around the photograph, had turned to look at the group assembled in the office. "This is completely non-creepy, right?" She inched closer to Danny. "Professors do this... sometimes."

A wry smile flashed across Danny's face. "Ah've done a bit o' researchin' on oor Perfesser Slughorn. He's a knack fra finding unique talents... an' political connections."

"Oh." She nodded in understanding but decided that right by Danny's elbow was still the safest place to stand. "I just hope he has good food for us."

"He has good everything, food, clothes, houses, brooms, wine and what not, if its not completely expensive and simply the best, he doesn't own it." Laun laughed.

"If the Professor is looking for unique talents," Peter Porsblat snarled at Danny, "then what the hell are you doing here?"

Rose's green eyes grew frosty as she faced down the Slytherin boy. "What's he doing here? Let's see... an auror and the American Attache to the Mystery of Magic's Department of Magical Cooperation for parents. High marks on his OWLs. The inventor of those notebooks you see all over the school, not to mention many other creative inventions. A talented duelist. And, unlike some people, he's even nice to members of other houses. And oh yeah..." A little smile pulled at her lips. "He was Father Christmas. I think some of that might have impressed Professor Slughorn just a little bit."

"Aye, but aside frae my Da, aw that kin be said for Foozle, tae." Danny's continuance turned dark. "An' he wasnae invited."

The tiny blonde pinched him in the arm. "We're talking about you right now, and you're brilliant. So hush."

Peter stared at them looking like he was trying to form a snappy comment back. At that moment though, Another door opened on another side of the room. "Welcome one and all!" The Professor beamed from under his walrus like mustache. "I am thrilled to see you all made it. Please, please have a seat." He waived his hand at a table that took up almost three quarters of the office. "Food will be served soon."

"Thank you for inviting us, Professor." Tommy gave him a grin as he and Cee pulled into a seat at the table.

"No," the older man's eyes sparkled a little and he waved off the notion with a meaty hand, "no thanks at all needed." He pulled out a chair near what might have been the head of the somewhat round table. "I just like to get to know my students a little better."

"Over the years I've seen so many rise to such heights." He looked over to the part of his little office that was adorned with all of the photos. His chubby face beamed and his fingers folded across his large belly. "I like to think I'd had a little hand in helping them achieve their dreams. Well, or so they tell me, anyway. Just happy to do what I can."

He picked up a bottle and poured some of its contents into a goblet. "So much potential in Hogwarts. Just look around this room!" He passed the wine down to his left, "Why, I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a future Minister of Magic sitting at this very table, eh Laun?"

Laun blushed. "That very well could be, sir. I mean we are all, they are all so talented."

"So I'm learning. And no need to be modest, my dear boy." The big man leaned over on his armrest and wagged a finger, "In fact my old student, Dorivan Groomb, is currently serving as High Assistant to the Minister herself, if you're interested I'm sure I could put the two of you together. You'll be graduating soon, never too early to start thinking about the future."

"You mean there's a chance I could actually meet her? The Minister herself?" Laun was practically drooling with excitement.

"Meet her?" His belly shook with laughter, "I'm talking about working for her! Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic positions are hard to come by, but Dorivan has always taken my recommendations quite seriously. He's a sharp young man." Horace took his wine goblet and drank, leaving a rosy shine to the lower bits of his great mustache. "I'll send him an owl in the morning, I think."

"That would be amazing sir! I'm honored!"

Cadyryeith Probert spoke up. "Professor, may I just say what an honour it is to be here. My parents send their regards."

"Ah yes, yes." Professor Slughorn said with a laugh in his voice. "How are those dear people? Your father helped cure me of a terrible case of Groiterborg last winter with his potion making talents."

Probert beamed. "He says he learned all he knows from you, sir."

Slughorn's smile belied much of his humbleness, "Well he's certainly come a long way since he was in my class."

The house elves had entered the room and went about the business of handing out pates. Horace seemed to pay them little mind as one slipped beside him to set his dinner before him. "Tell me, Cad, do you share your father's interest? I'm finding our dear Ambrosia is quite the hand at potions already."

The little blonde's cheeks colored. As nice as it was to take the attention away from Cad, especially after the way he'd pushed his way into Laun's conversation, compliments about her efforts in potions were not something she was used to receiving. "I found that as soon as I stopped telling myself that I really didn't like the subject, things got much easier. I had a similar revelation with Transfiguation." She smiled and easily shifted the conversation to someone more deserving of the professor's attention. "Of course, having a friend like Tommy doesn't hurt either. He's amazing. Did you read his article in Transfiguation Today?"

"Did you really?" Horace shifted his attention to Tom. "I confess, some of my reading has... gone slack in my retirement. Well, I can't say I'm surprised, Tom. I must say Professor McGonagall has lauded your praises since I arrived back at Hogwarts. Mind you, that's all without your achievement as an animagus," he laughed adding, "and such a young animagus at that!"

The potioneer took his fork and stabbed at a roasted, golden potato. "In fact, it's been a good twenty years since one was registered with the ministry and here we have not one, but three!" He ate cut it and ate a bite. "And all of them here at our table. Remarkable, you know."

Tom could feel his cheeks turn red. He gave the substitute potions master a polite smile "Thank you sir. If I didn't have a teacher like Professor McGonagall, I doubt I would have gotten this far."

"So, Tom," continued the Professor, "do we have further aspirations for publishing? Perhaps a career in the academics. It seems you're already quite the tutor."

Tom cocked his head to one side. "You know sir, I hadn't actually thought about that." Tom took a bit from his plate. "I had plans to go into healing."

The place went quiet for a few moments then Tom spoke up again. "Sir if I may?"

"Of course my boy, of course." He grinned.

"Why was Orlando MacFoozle not invited." Tom said as his eyes scanned his friends.

A few choked laughs flickered around the table. There was a barely contained "Seriously?" from Peter Porsblat. Cad rolled his eyes.

"Orlando Who now?" The professor's round head seemed to cock to the side curiously.

Quietly, as if easing into the whole public association between herself and the mentioned Hufflepuff, Nicolette Ainscough spoke for the first time during dinner. "The son of two extremely accomplished Aurors and rather accomplished in his own right. Definitely making waves in the wizarding community." The girl smiled as if at a private joke.

"He's also the grandson of Diane MacFoozle," Tom leaned forward his eyes murderously staring into Porsblatt, "one of the top Charms innovators of the twentieth century." Tom leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry sir, I don't mean to show ill manners, but Orlando should have been invited."

Slughorn seemed unconcerned with any impropriety. He seemed to think on this. "Diane Magoon. A brilliant witch. Her passing was a great loss to magic, very sad. She shared quite a few of her spells with me while working on them." His brow furrowed as he took another drink of his goblet. "And you say her grandson is in my class?"

"Aye," Céilidh began, a slight edge creeping into her voice, "he's table-mates wi' oor laddie Danny, 'ere." She directed a venomous look first at Probert, then Porsblat. "'N' he's git mair talent in his pinky toe than some sittin' at this buird."

"Now now," Horace Slughorn waved his big hands a little, seeking to calm the mood around the table. "I like these dinners to be a place of support. Camaraderie, you know." He seemed a little concerned and his light green eyes shifted about the table. "Hogwarts is full of bright students. In the past I got to spend a little more time getting to know them before a dinner."

Feeling a little bit sorry that dinner wasn't going exactly the way their professor had imagined it, Rose spoke up and addressed the older gentleman with a soft smile. "You came to be our potions professor under unusual circumstances, to put it mildly. I think getting to know each other is a great idea, especially with the goal of unity. I know particularly in my own year, we have many strong friendships that cross between houses. The more time you spend with us, the more impressed you'll be. I'm sure of it."

"Very diplomatic. Tom whispered with a laugh in Rose's ear.

"You were making him feel bad," she whispered back with a little pout. "He's our host."

"For the record," his voice still a whisper, "I merely asked a question." He punctuated his sentence with a smile.

Between Danny and Laun, Nicolette was politely covering her mouth with her napkin to hide a quiet laugh while passing it off as wiping her mouth. Her house brother looked over with an almost casual curiosity.

Reading his expression she replied, "I have it on good authority that Orlando would be thrilled at being a topic of conversation over dinner here."

"That's wonderful to hear, Ambrosia." A smile had curled up under the bristly mustache that gave Horace Slughorn his walrus-like look. "Too much importance has been over houses in Hogwart's long years. Never here around this table though. I'd say many many long friendships were built here."

The sunny blonde beamed. "That's an impressive legacy to leave, Professor. Of course we'll remember what you teach us in class too," she added with a grin.

A snort came from Peter Porsblatt. He gave Rose a snarling smile as he picked up the golden goblet of wine that sat in front of him. He took a deep sip before speaking. "Finally found a way to be the teacher's pet to the potions master to, eh, Sheridan." He said with a mirthless laugh. "You must be pleased?"

"Don't be silly, Peter," she answered with an innocent familiarity that she knew would drive him crazy. "All teachers love me. Didn't you know that?"

The group around Rose all laughed.

"Yeah," Tom gave a wide grin. "You've met Rose before right?"

"Aye." Céilidh gave Peter an evil grin. "Tae ken Rose is tae loue her." She tilted her own gauntlet and gave Peter a wink.

The Head Boy's cheeks filled with angry burning color. His teeth gnashed behind his lips as his eyes burned into her.

"So," Slughorn coughed. "Miss Raven, tell me how are your wonderful parents? Her father Josef is a high ranking official in the Department of Magical Law, don't you know?" He turned and said to Laun who sat on his side, his moustache flapping from his breath as he talked.

"Oh they are wonderful." Mariella shot a simpering smile at the people across the table across from her and then back to Professor Slughorn. "As a matter of fact," her cold green eyes landed on Nicolette. "I just got an owl from him saying that there was a complaint over Christmas of some half blood kidnapping a pure blood girl from her home."

Nicolette stared at her plate, her eyebrows arching. She said nothing though.

"Some half blood? What does the alleged kidnapper's blood status have to do with anything?" Laun asked curtly.

Mariella made a tutting sound, "Laun." She said like a mother talking to a toddler. "Your mother must be ashamed. You almost belong in the Weasley family as much of a blood traitor as you are."

Cad and Porsblat both snorted.

Bill, who's cheeks turned an angry opened his mouth but was cut off by Laun.

"Well then dye my hair red and paint on some freckles! Because I loves me some muggles! Muggles, muggles, muggles!" Laun shouted, "Oooh scary isn't? I happen to hold no ill will towards fellow human beings who have done absolutely nothing to negatively effect my life!"

"And that is more than can be said of some people in this school." Nic finally raised her eyes and returned an unimpressed look to the three Slytherin across the table. She gave a polite smile to the Professor and poured herself a fresh cup of tea. "There are many gifted students who were not invited and several positively mundane students who were but you have to start somewhere." She dropped a sugar cube in her cup to punctuate her statement.

"And you, my dear?" Their professor tried changing the subject with his question to the Ravenclaw. "How was your break? Your parents weren't at the Christmas party. I trust the alternative was enjoyable."

"Oh," she took a sip of her tea, "didn't you hear Mariella? Though, as you are sure to see reflected in her grades, she is terrible at getting facts correct." Her cup clinked against the saucer. "I was, in fact, rescued by a talented wizard." Her fingers gingerly touched the lace collar she had taken to wearing around her neck.

Professor Slughorn spluttered with nerves as he pulled his napkin up to his lips. "My word." His voice was barely audible and tittered nervously.

"Pay no attention to them, Professor." Cad smiled at the Professor that sat next to him. "Most of these others have quite a love of muggles and do not not understand the finer points of protecting their bloodline."

"It's not about protecting a ficticious bloodline Cad," Tom said with a look of disgust for the fifth year, "the simple truth is, it's about respecting all of humanity not just one little segment."

"It is interesting, Professor," Reagan said off handedly as she dabbed her mouth with a napkin, "in the United States, houses and especially blood don't matter as much as they do here in England."

"Weel," the Ravenclaw said with a smile. "That micht depend oan whaur yer. Mah ain family in th' States wis divided ower blood 'n' dark magic. An' Ah spent a summer in mah Da's auld schuil, whilk is segmented intae houses."

"That's right." Slughorn focused on Danny trying to get things back on track. "I've met your father, Mister DuMorne. Brilliant man in the realm of International Diplomacy."

Danny nodded. "He originally studied law enforcement wi' some guid success, planned tae be a Warden," he said, sitting his knife on his plate and fiddling with his fork. "He's a richt guid duelist tae."

"Too bad it wasn't hereditary." Cad smirked.

"Oh," Horace Slughorn turned toward Cad, "I've heard Daniel is quite accomplished in that area. Professor Flitwick is quite impressed. In fact quite a few the duelists in his competition have apparently exceeded his expectations. Most exciting!"

"An' some o' 'em were felled by ane spell," Danny said softly.

Not hearing Dan's comment, Slughorn lifted his goblet. "Could be quite a few talented aurors being born here. Of course there's much more involved than dueling."

This time Danny spoke loud enough for Slughorn to hear. "Aye, mah Da told me aboot combat apparation." He made eye contact with Todd and Céilidh. "Suppose tae be pernicketie"

The old man's brow furrowed beneath his bushy brow. "Per...?"

"Difficult and precise," Nicolette translated for the professor.

"Ah!" He nodded with a laugh. "Very. Beyond me even in my youth, not that I was of the mind, mind you. Not my cup of tea."

The evening went on, and Professor Slughorn kept the conversations going, speaking with each student in turn. He asked Probert to explain what his mother had been doing recently, then briefly asked Bill Weasly about his father's role in the Ministry's new Muggle Protection proposals.

During dessert the conversation began to wind down, and the Potions Master glanced at his hourglass. The sand was running very quickly, and the last grains began to trickle away. Slughorn announced that it was getting late, and the students said their goodbyes.

The night was over and Tom, Céilidh and the rest of the group marched out of Professor Slughorn's first floor office. As the rest of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins headed toward their common rooms, the others with Laun in tow headed toward the main stairs.

"Well that was certainly interesting." Tom said as he loosened his tie. "Anyone else feel like they just went through a job interview at the ministry?"

The corner of Danny's mouth turned up as he took a seat on the bannister. "Ah just want tae kin wha told Slughorn aboot the spells Ah used in th' duel..." As if to punctuate his point about American magic, he tapped the banister with his wand and muttered "Upsidasium" which sent him sliding up the balustrade to the top of the stairs.

"Show off." Tommy called up to him.

"I still can't believe it..." Laun muttered to himself, "Millicent Bagnold herself!"

Danny shook his head. "Ye wid git that jab oan yer ain, Laun. Ye dinnae ony recommendation frae yin o' Slughorn's pet students."

"He's got a point, Laun." Tom threw his arm around Laun. "You are an amazing wizard."

"I am, but so are you guys! Can you imagine us as the creme de le creme of Wizarding society?" The others could practically see the sparkles in Laun's eyes as he beamed from ear to ear.

Chuckling, Danny leaned against the lintel post and waited for the others to reach the top of the stairs. "Wha wants tae be th' creme de la creme?" he asked. "Ah'd ower be th' cratur de la whiskey."

"Well said." Tom nodded.

"Ah cuid uise some o' th' cratur richt noo." The red headed Gryffindor yawned as she trudged up the stairs.

"He barely spoke to me at all after he asked me what my parents did." Bill frowned as he followed Céilidh up the stairs.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much, William old man," Tom threw his arm around the red headed prefect, "I love you just the way you are."

"Watch it, Ginger," Danny said, handing a small flask to Céilidh, "Ah think Tommy haes his een oan anither rid heid."

"What can I say?" Tom laughed and planted a joking kiss on Bill's temple "I love red heads."

"At least they lou ye back." On the next landing Orlando was leaning against the bannister. He smiled down at them. "Ah heard a body say whiskey."

Céilidh's lower lip jutted out and she blew, forcing her bangs to fly up, "Aye, a wee nip a' aroond. 'N' by wee, ah mean a double. At least fur me..." The redhead waved her wand and conjured up several squat glasses that floated in the air. Unscrewing the flask that Danny had given her, Céilidh poured a generous measure of amber liquid into the glass in front of her before passing the flask to her Hufflepuff brother.

Foozle took the silver from her and plucked a glass out of the air. "Soonds lik ye haen quite the dinner." He filled the rocks glass up several fingers worth. He reached down and handed Danny's flask to Nicolette.

Brushing fingers in passing, Nic did the same as the others. Handing the flask off, The girl swept her wand over her glass and turned the brown liquid to a deep plum. Her eyes rolled back as she took a deep drink and sat on the floor. "I don't even know why I went."

Orlando came down a few steps. He stood at her side and Nicolette leaned against his leg, her head propped beside his knee. "Fur Ah ken whit wis oan the menue an the fairn wis gauntae be magic." He took the flask from her and passed it along to Tommy who in turn took it upon himself to fill the rest of the glasses. "An fer tis aye fin tae an opportunity tae stick in the craw o' a bas lik Porsblat or Probert or Raven."

"That's hardly the way it turned out." Nicolette sighed and closed her eyes. "Mariella felt the need to bring up my kidnapping."

"She wid." He reached down and gently stroked her dark black hair back across her scalp. "She's jealous. Ainlie the guards at Azkaban wid be innerested in kidnapping her."

"I don't think the dementors would even want that cow." Bill said angrilly as he leaned against the banister.

"Try being related to her." Tom laughed as he took a drink. "It's bloody torture."

"Elle est une chienne." The dark-haired Ravenclaw huffed, blowing her bangs up.

Orlando laughed. "Tae richt."

Céilidh tipped her glass back, draining it in two swallows. The heat of the previous hours was replaced by a wholly more welcome warmth. She smacked her lips and nudged Danny for a refill. "If naethin' else, th' forenicht wull surely mak' dueling Porsblatt th'morra a' th' mair interesting."

"Do me a favor "accidentally" mess up his face somehow during fight!" Laun winked and raised his glass.

"Houfer will ye tell?" Orlando smirked and drank a large gulp of his whiskey.

Smiling behind his glass, he caught the bobbing curls of gold rising up from the dark stairwell. "Still," he leaned on the bannister, "it coudnae been aw bad."

"It really wasn't bad at all," Rose answered, finally joining her friends on the stairs.

Danny looked down at Ambrosia and hopped on the bannister again, sliding down and hopping off beside her. "Brosia! Whaur ye bin?"

The sunny blonde beamed at her friend. Without thinking about it, she put a hand on his arm to steady him... just in case he wasn't quite done sliding off things yet. "Oh, I told Professor Slughorn that two wands make light work and that my mom would be horrified if I didn't offer to help the host clean up. So he let me stay." She shrugged and gave a little laugh. "And I was able to reassure him that we all really did have a nice time but that some old... um... habits are hard to break."

"That's our Rose." Tom threw his arm around Rose and kissed her on the forehead.

The tiny Ravenclaw gladly returned the hug, snuggling into the crook of her friend's arm. "Well, he's fresh out of retirement. I didn't want him to feel discouraged."

"Naebody is gauntae be discourage wi' ye aroond, hen," Danny said with a smile.

Fighting back a blush, Rose returned her housemate's smile. "He was awfully impressed with you, you know."

"Why?"

"Because you're awfully impressive, silly,' she told him with a laugh.

"So does that mean we're all in for next time? Though that of course means interacting with those small minded twits again... while trying to eat..."

Tom shrugged. "I guess. I didn't see much of a point in it."

Leaning against the railing Danny felt Rose lean against him tentatively. "Mebbes," the Ravenclaw man began, "Mebbes it's a sort o' way tae get us tae meet people nae in oor own hoose." He looked around at the group and added, "Nae that we need it, but..."

There was a raspy mewing at Tom's feet as he was about to speak. All looked down to see the dreaded dust colored fur and skeletal body of Mrs. Norris. She turned her lamp like eyes up at all of them and mewed again.

Tommy swore under his breath as they could hear the wheezing and shuffling coming down the corridor.

"Students out of bed." Filch wheezed happily. "I'll have all of you in detention for sure."

"Mister Filch," Bill's voice rang out through the hallway, "we all just left Professor Slughorn's dinner party."

"All of you?" His eyes narrowed on Orlando. He pulled a list out of his pocket. "I don't see his name on my list." He pointed a bony finger at the Hufflepuff.

"Nae." Orlando shook his head. He crouched down and scratched Mrs. Norris on behind the ear. "Nae, Ah wis juist coming back frae tha big ruim wi aw the beuks. It gits sae quiet in thare tha A juist felled asleep in the corner."

Nicolette chuckled. "The Library."

Foozle snapped his fingers. "Tha's the ane. Missed dinner completely, Ah guess."

"A likely story," He sniffed heavily, "just like you and that other miscreant didn't blow up the Prefect's Bathroom last year." He sneered victoriously.

The Scot groaned, looking down into the cat's bright yellow eyes. "He still cannae let that gae, can he?"

"We wis aquitted, Mister Filch." Danny said with an innocent smile. "An' we were jes' headin' up tae oor beds."

His eyes sparkled as he threw his arm around the little blonde leaning against him. "Ah've e'en gat a Prefect tae escort me."

"Oh no!" Filch's sneer turned into a snarl. "I know you all are up to something. Turn out your pockets."

Rose looked around at their sizable group of friends. "We'd be happy to follow your instructions, Mr. Filch," she agreed brightly. "Naturally, you'll want to check all of our pockets. Then, of course, you'll want to walk all us back to our own common rooms so you can explain to the heads of our houses why we're getting back so much later than expected. Slytherin is closest, so you'll need to take us all there first. Then you can escort us to Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and the Ravenclaw tower. I'm sure we'll all finally be safely in our beds in only an hour or so. Right?"

The old man's eyes narrowed on the blonde Ravenclaw. For a long time he considered the girl before talking. "Fine. This once. Get out of my sight before I take you in front of the Headmaster. Come on Mrs. Norris." With one more evil glare, the care taker hobbled away.

"Mr. Filch. Wait. Are you sure you don't want to escort all of us up to the Headmaster right now?" she called sweetly.

All the sixth years sniggered as Filch stalked away. "That was impressive, Rose. I say that deserves one last toast."

"Aye." Cee grabbed the flask and passed it around one last time. "May the hinges o frien'ship ne'er rust, nor the wings o' love lose a feather!"

[Dan DuMorne]

The view of the grounds from the Ravenclaw dorm window revealed a nice blanket of snow. The perfect snow for snowman building, thought Danny. He grabbed a heavy coat and the scarf Nicolette had knitted him and dashed down the stairs.

The common room was almost completely empty, save for Rose who had quill in hand and was busily scratching at a roll of parchement. Danny grinned as a thought entered his head.

"Hey Rose..."

"Yes, Danny?" The tiny blonde set her quill aside and looked up at him.

"What're ye workin' on?" he asked leaning against the couch. "Ah wis gauntae gae ootside an' mebbes build a snowman or somethin'."

Very deliberately laying her arm across her parchment, a teasing smile blossomed across Rose's face. "Well... I'd hate to think of you all alone out in the cold..."

Danny twirled his wand in his hand then pointed at the girls' dorm stairs. "Accio Rose's coat."

She giggled as her fur trimmed coat came flying down toward them. "Give me just a minute though. I need to put this away." She picked up the quill and parchment and left her coat on a chair to keep him company. "Besides... you forgot my hat and mittens." With a laugh and a wink, she flounced up the stairs but made sure she didn't leave him waiting too long.

In minutes she was back downstairs and beaming at him. "I think I'm ready now."

Together they walked out the common room and down the stairs. As they reached the ground floor, Danny glanced over at his friend. "Whit wur ye writing, anyway? A'd hate tae tak' ye awa' frae schuilwork."

"Oh." Her cheeks colored and she quickly busied herself with picking the lint off her fuzzy mittens. "It wasn't schoolwork. It was just a letter. Nothing that can't wait until later."

The young man nodded. "Writing tae yuir fowks? Howfur ur thay daein'? An' Halcyon? How's th' seicont cutest bairn lassie ah ken daein'?"

The little prefect smiled and linked her arm through his. "Well, I'm sure my parents are fine. But I was um..." She looked up at him, blushing a little bit more. "Don't laugh... but I was um... writing to Halcyon."

Danny blinked. "Dae yer parents read thaim tae her?" He smiled sheepishly. " Ah mean, ah ken she's yer sister 'n' is gaun tae be smart, bit ah cannae jalouse her reading yet."

"Well... she's not reading them yet. I just thought maybe it would be something nice for her to have when she got older. You know... like maybe when she starts Hogwarts." Rose gave a sheepish little smile, afraid he was going to think she was crazy. "In case she's homesick at first or something... like I was."

"Sisterly advice in advance." Danny thought for a moment as they reached the entrance hall. "That's richt sweet. A'm sure she'll appreciate it."

As his hand reached the door, Danny paused for a moment. The door was the dividing line between the warmth of the castle and the cold of outdoors. "Are ye ready?"

"Of course I'm ready." She cuddled against him, bracing herself against the cold to come by stealing some of his body heat. "Let's go make adorable snowmen!"

Danny threw the door open and the Ravenclaw duo walked out into the cold and snow.

---

"He needs a hat." The blonde Ravenclaw dusted her snowy mittens off on her legs. Her cheeks were pink with the cold and she was pretty sure that the snow had managed to find a way inside her clothes to make her as cold as possible. But she was outside enjoying time with Danny... it would take a lot more than a little bit of a chill to dampen her spirits. "And a name."

"Weel," He reached into the pocket of his jeans and rummaged around a bit before pulling out a pointy wizard hat. "Ah've gat the hat gif ye hiv th' name."

She took a step back and gave the snowman an appraising look. "Well he's a boy... and he's awfully tall." Tall enough that Danny had been forced to place the head on top of the pile on his own. "So his name is Gus."

"Gus?"

"Yes," she answered without bothering to give an explanation. She turned to her left to look at their other nearly finished snowman. "And she's a girl. So, of course, she's Matilda."

Danny nodded. "Awricht." From his left sleeve the young man let the spiral wand drop into his hand. Dan pointed the wand at each of the snowman and each time said "Glacius," freezing the two snowmen solid.

"Ah need tae figger a way tae keep 'em frozen 'til August," he said with a laugh.

She laughed with him but shook her head. "August may be a little long. I'm sure they'd get lonely or... bored. Ooo... unless we made a whole family." Those emerald eyes sparkled with excitement at the thought of their expanding snow village.

Ah dinnae hiv oney wey tae keep them frozen, hen." Danny laughed and threw his arm around the girl. "Asides, gif we're gauntae make too many more, we micht need tae... Oi!"

The young man was cut off mid-sentence as he was smacked in the side of the head with a snowball. Mentally tracing the trajectory back, he saw a cluster of Slytherins packing more of the frozen projectiles.

"Hey!" Reaching up to wipe the snow off his head, Rose glared across the field at the Slytherins. "We didn't do anything to you."

Of course her protest brought only another volley of snowballs. Holding Danny's hand, she ducked behind one of their snowmen, narrowly avoiding a snowball in the face. "They're gonna hurt our snow people."

"Nae," Danny beginning to pack a retaliatory snowball. "Ah've frozen 'em solid." He handed her the finished snowball and quickly slashed his wand, saying "Parietis!"

At once the snow began to pile up in the same arc Danny had slashed, forming a solid four foot tall snow wall. "Tak' cover 'n' return fire!"

Rose ducked behind the snow wall and looked over at Dan. "Where did you learn that wall thingy?" she asked her friend.

"A beuk aboot Wizard archetecture," he said with a grin. "Auld Rowena liked tae model wee scale structures afore she built th' muckle ones. Ah juist figured oot howfur tae..." He paused, searching for the right word. "Overdo it."

Completely mesmerized by his grin, the blonde forgot about the snowballs flying past their wall. "You really liked the book?" Green eyes shining, she leaned closer to him. "I'm so glad!"

After hurling two snowballs back towards the Slytherins, who were now taking cover behind trees, Danny ducked down again and grinned at Rose. "Ah loue it. Did ye ken Ravenclaw designed Radford Castle as a meetin steid fur th' Wizard's Council?"

"Really?" The snowball she'd been forming in her hands--and squeezing a little too hard--crumbled and fell back to the frozen ground. "I never knew that."

"Aye. It's a great beuk." He flung another snowball then glanced back at Rose.

"Here," he said as he took her hands and helped her pack the snowball, his gloved hands around her mittens. "Ye hiv tae be firm, but gentle."

"Um... right." Cheeks coloring, Rose tried again, making sure to give the little snowball her full attention. "I... I think I've got it now..."

Danny smiled warmly. "Guid." He turned back to face the barrage of frozen orbs flying in their direction.

Encouraged by his smile, she threw a couple of snowballs. Then, when they dramatically failed to hit their targets, she decided that maybe throwing wasn't her strong suit. Instead she popped her head over their wall and did her best to explode the incoming snowballs before they got too close, letting them shower back to the ground in tiny harmless snowflakes.

"Aren't they tired of this game yet?" she complained, breath steaming in the air.

"If not, they will be," came a voice from behind them, followed by a furious cascade of snowballs. Rose and Danny turned to see a two of their housemates standing there, wands drawn, magically propelling hunks of snow at the Slytherins.

Danny nodded at them. "Guid work, Douglas."

"Not a problem, DuMorne. Moira and I happened to see you get ambushed."

The lady standing next to Brett Douglas nodded. "And we thought we would come to your rescue."

"You guys are amazing!" Rose gushed, standing up and brushing the snow off her legs. "Thank you so much for helping... because I'm clearly no good in a snowball fight."

Danny flashed her a lopsided smile and started to speak, but was cut off by Brett. "I'd say you did quite well for someone who wasn't prepared for the fight."

"Aye," Danny said looking at Douglas, his eyes narrow. "She's a richt talented lady."

Rose beamed. "Thank you." She took a step closer to Danny and gave his arm a little hug. "Danny's totally amazing at this. But I'm still glad you guys rescued us." She gave a small laugh then looked back at their snowmen and the now-still battlefield. "We should go have hot chocolate now or something."

Moira's eyes widened. "We so should!" the other girl said with a smile. "But where are we going to get hot chocolate?"

But Brett was shaking his head. "Maybe some other time," he told his housemates, taking Moira by the arm. "But we have other plans for the afternoon. We just wanted to help throw a few snowballs."

Danny raised his eyebrow. "Awricht, Douglas. Hiv a guid efternoon." He glanced at the little blonde standing beside him and then looked back to watch Brett and Moira walk away through the snowy landscape.

As the reached the castle entrance, he looked back at Rose. "Tha wis weird," he said with a frown.

"What was?" She brushed the snow off her mittens as she glanced up at him.

He quickly glanced away as their eyes met. Smiling sadly as he looked back at the tracks. "Ah dinnaekin. They were..." He frowned. "They were talkin' tae Liddell that nicht when Tom came intae the common room as a cat."

The blonde nodded, painfully aware of her promise to support Tommy in his theories. "I can't say I noticed. Is that something they don't usually do?"

"Ah dinnaekin," he said with a sigh. "An' turnin' doun hot chocolate? It's like they dinnae want tae be... social."

"I don't know," she repeated, smiling as the warmth from the castle flooded over them. "Maybe they really were just busy. They did help us, after all."

Danny looked at the adorable girl next to him and smiled. "Aye," he said as the two of them walked up the steps to the front door, kicking snow off of their boots as they went. He had been having a great day up to this point and he didn't want suspicions to ruin it.

"A'm sure ye'r richt. Tis nae lik' we dinnae huv plenty o' homework. Bit ah think someone mentioned het chocolate..."

Rose paused in the middle of the hallway, puddles of snow melting off her boots growing around her feet. "No. I'm sure [i]you're right," she said in a tone of great resolve. "If you think it's suspicious then you should talk to Tommy and work together to figure things out. And we should totally get hot chocolate!"

Grinning at Rose, Danny offered his arm. "I'm sure Gerti will have it ready for us by the time we reach the common room."

"Sounds perfect." The sunny blonde beamed as she took his arm. Maybe it wasn't so bad being just his friend... not as long as they kept having amazing afternoons like this.

[Ambrosia Sheridan]

It wasn't exactly normal homework. Winding her blonde curls into a knot at the top of her head, Rose stared down at the chart in front of her with a curious mixture of pride and discomfort. It was definitely up to her usual standards: detailed, neat, and slightly more comprehensive than the assignment had actually called for. But none of that could stop her from wanting to hide it from sight anytime one of her housemates passed by.

It was nearly time for another lesson with Professor Qasim. He'd been suitably impressed with the results of her first assignment. So impressed that he'd decided to, as he put it, stretch her a little. So she'd stretched. And now it was time to show him the proof.

With a sigh, the tiny Ravenclaw rolled up the parchment and set out for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office. She paused outside his door, rocking on her heels and wishing she'd taken the time to remind Danny where she was going. Then, because he probably knew she was there already, took a deep breath and knocked.

"Enter." Qaism's silky voice came through the hard wooden door.

With only one glance down the hallway to see if anything conveniently catastrophic might be happening to get her out of this lesson, Rose put on a smile and stepped inside Professor Qasim's office. Shutting the heavy door behind her, she couldn't shake the sensation that she was stepping into night. "Good evening, Professor," she greeted him, because it would be rude to just stand there feeling small.

The Egyptian Warlock sat behind his desk reading several scrolls of parchment. He looked up and set down the essays. "Right on time Miss Sheridan." He said warmly as he pulled away from his desk. "Tea?"

Privately convinced that the professor had some insidious plan to turn her into a tea drinker, Rose shook her head. "No thank you, sir." She paused for a minute, fingers itching to pull at least one curl down closer to her mouth, before holding out her rolled chart to him. "I finished last week's assignment."

"Ah excellent," the professor nodded. He took the parchment from Rose and unrolled it.

Rose could only wait a moment for him to look at the multicolored lines before she started explaining the work she'd taken so much time on. "I started with myself in the center, like you suggested," she told him, touching the small red flower she'd used to represent herself. "Then I added the lines to show my friends and family and people I see around me."

She blushed suddenly, wondering why she'd picked the color pink for Danny's line. "My closest friends really show up like this," she continued, hoping he wouldn't notice. "They're stronger than the rest, thicker I guess." She stopped and traced the yellow line from her flower to Orlando's name as an example. It still amazed her that even after all the times she'd been unfair to him that their connection was as bright as any of the others, brighter than some. People like Sam and Dee, who she'd been so close to just a few years ago, seemed so pale and insubstantial by comparison.

"But it seemed incomplete so I connected my friends to each other a little too. Just to round things out." She touched the silver lines she'd drawn between the boys, the housemates, the boyfriend and girlfriends. The complete picture made quite an impressive web. She'd stopped short of including family beyond her own, or favorite professors. That seemed like too much of an invasion of privacy.

Rose let her hand drop back to her side and let the professor examine her handiwork for himself. "I hope that's okay."

"Very impressive young lady." Qasim looked up from her work and smiled at the blonde. "You seem to have gotten even further than I expected."

She beamed at the praise before remembering that she didn't want to like him. "Thank you, Professor. It's just kinda hard to stop once I get started."

"So let me ask a question," Qasim sat back in his chair and knitted his fingers together, "have you had any side effects to this? Any of the headaches?"

"Now that you mention it..." The blonde cocked her head to the side as she thought it over. "I haven't. That's so strange. I didn't even think about it but I haven't had any since you've been giving me assignments to concentrate on."

Qasim nodded like that was the answer he was expecting. "And do you know why that is?" His smile widened.

Rose thought it over, biting at a fingernail instead of her hair. "I don't know. I was getting headaches when everything was so crazy and it was all coming at me at once. Maybe it's better now because I'm doing things on purpose?"

"If we were in class young lady," he looked at her with a proud expression, "I would give you house points."

"Really? I thought I sounded kinda crazy there." Rose grinned. It was so hard not to feel comfortable around him.

"It means your body is attempting to control your gifts, which of course is a vast improvement." The professor said approvingly.

She couldn't argue with that one. "I'm going to miss the skull splitting headaches," she laughed. "And now I can't use fainting as an excuse to miss class." Looking back down at her chart, Rose touched her flower again. "It feels really good to be able to beat this though."

"I would not call it beating it my dear," he gave her a reproachful look, "I would call it learning to control a gift given by God."

Her sunny brow furrowed as she turned that over in her mind. "Starting to learn how to control it," she conceded. "Though I don't imagine knowing how connected I am to my best friends is the most useful thing in the world."

"Which brings us to our next assignment," He stood up and stroked one of the black tapestries that hung on his office wall. As his touch receded, it seemed to still move on it's own. "I want you to choose someone that you do not have normal connection with. I want you to follow them and map their relationships."

"But..." Nose wrinkling at the thought, Rose tried to express her feelings without sounding like she was arguing with a teacher. "Isn't that kinda... an invasion of privacy? It's like staring in the window of a stranger's house."

"A very good point." He turned to face her again. "If I was asking this as a member of the auror office under the authority of the Ministry of Magic, then yes I would agree with you. At this point however, I am a teacher assisting a student to learn how to control a power that she did not ask for. In that instance, I feel that a little privacy can be played with in order to hone your skills."

It seemed almost reasonable when he put it that way. But the idea of playing with privacy made her skin crawl, like those rippling black drapes. "Should it be someone in my year or my house or just anyone?" the blonde asked, trying to work her way around her misgivings.

Qasim took a moment to think about it before answering. "I would take a first year Ravenclaw. Someone that did not have any love interests or secrets we may discover. Does that sate your morals?"

Rose blushed and looked down at her chart. She was being silly, overreacting again. He was taking time out of his schedule to give her these lessons and help her with this totally unwanted gift. She needed to get past her issues from earlier in the year and let him do his job. "Of course, Professor Qasim. I didn't mean to be difficult. I can totally do this."

"Excellent." He clapped his hands together. "Shall we meet together next week to discuss this?"

She nodded. "Of course, Professor." She took a step toward the door then paused and looked back at her chart. "You don't need to keep that, do you?" She looked again at the pink line connecting her to Danny. "Because it's kinda... personal."

Qasim smiled. "You may take it with you my dear."

"Thank you." Her smile lit the gloomy office before growing into an almost impish grin. "I'll be back next week to impress you again."

"I hope to see you do so as well," He returned her smile. As she left, he turned and stroked the curtains once more. His smile becoming something other than pride.

[Céilidh MacAllister]

Dawn broke over Gryffindor tower, and particularly the sixth-year girl's dormitory, entirely too bright and early for at least one occupant. Ceilidh tossed about, trying in vain to go back to sleep. After another half hour of cursing the tiny ray of light that streamed through a chink in her bed curtains, finding her eyes no matter how she tried to avoid it, the redhead finally gave up the ghost and got out of bed.

Finally dressed, the redhead stomped down the stairs and into the common room.

"Morning." Tom smiled as he looked over an open daily prophet at his girlfriend.

Céilidh grumbled as she slumped into one of the couches. "Coffee afore ah hex ye."

Tom rolled his eyes and flicked his wand. A moment later, a carafe that looked amazingly like like one from the Great Hall and two mugs appeared on the coffee table in front of the couch.

Tom lazily pulled the paper back upright and continued to read. "There you go."

Cee charged the carafe and poured a cup. "Whit teuk ye sae lang?" She smiled at Tom as she took a long pull from the mug.

"Sorry, dear." He said not looking up from the paper. "Don't forget you have your duel today."

"Lik' ah cuid forget." Céilidh grumbled as she took another sip of coffee. "That prat Porsblat haes bin giein' me clatty looks a' bloody week."

"I doubt you have anything to worry about from him."

"Doubt?" Céilidh gave him a look of mock disbelief, "A real boyfriend wid be sure, noo wouldn't he?"

"Well then," Tom said putting the paper down to stare at Cee, his lips curled into a smile, "I am sure you will flatten the little toe rag."

"Noo that's whit a proper boyfriend wid say."

"Make sure and remember," Tom mimicked casting, "Porsblat drops his shoulder before he casts."

"Oi!" Orlando MacFoozle's voice announced his arrival to the Gryffindor common room long before he came in from its foyer. "Paging Miss Céilidh MacAllister o Hoose Gryffindor." He stopped at the opening and looked around the room. His eyes locked on to the fiery redhead and he clapped his hands together. "Thare she is!"

He crossed over to the couple, grinning. "This is a guid day. This micht be the best day in the history o Hoggy Warty Hogwarts." He stopped and sang the first line of the school's song, doing a little dance as he did. "Are ye excitit? Ahm excitit."

Céilidh winced at the exuberance spilling forth from her brother Scot. It was almost painful to her early morning mind, but didn't fail to bring a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "'N' whit, pray tell, urr ye sae excitit aboot?"

"Whit am A-" He stopped himself short and shook his head. "You, Miss Céilidh Grear MacAllister, hae a deul wi ane Peter Porsblat the day." He gave her a poke in the chest with his finger. "Tha means you git tae whump the holy hell oot o tha bas fernent the hail schuil an no tak a lick o' punishment fer it."

The redhead choked on her coffee. She gave Lando the devil with her eyes as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Thanks a lot ye arse! Tis nae enough that A've bin dealing wi' th' Snakes a' week, then thir's mah boyfriend 'n' his 'doubts,' Céilidh smacked Tommy in the chest, sloshing the dregs of her coffee into his lap, "'n' noo ye huv tae gang 'n' jinx mah duel!"

Foozle leaned over and looked at Tom. "Ye hae doubts?"

"I'm a very loving boyfriend," Tom flicked the paper opening it wide again, "I have no doubts at all."

The Hufflepuffed looked at Cee once more. "This is in the bag, ginger. It's a bonnie day. An efter the duel is ower and ye hae plantit yuir foot oan the heid boy's chest Ahm gauntae get. ye. blootered. Richt proper."

"Och, weel, wi' incentive lik' that!" The redhead let out a sigh. "A'm gaun tae git something tae eat."

"Brilliant idea." Tom jumped up out of the chair. "I'm famished."

---

After breakfast, the tables of the great hall were pushed aside and the platform set for the dueling club.

"Alright beautiful," Tom rubbed Cee's shoulders, "no pressure, but I bet that toe rag Lathan twenty galleons you would win." He kissed the back of her head, becoming slightly dizzy on its smell of cinnamon.

Danny and Rose walked up, grinning at the Gryffindors. "Guid luck, nae that ye'll need it, hen. An' mind," he said, flipping through a pocket notebook, "Porsblat dips his shoulder afore he throws a jinx."

"But it doesn't matter," Rose added, looking around at the boys. "Cee's going to beat him because she's Céilidh. She doesn't need tips or tricks. She's going to be amazing."

"Aye," nodded Foozle who flashed the fiery Scot a wink, "juist mak it embarrassing, yeah?"

"Ah'll dae mah best."

The redhead stepped up onto her end of the platform. Porsblat had yet to arrive, so she made the best of the time by loosening up; rolling her shoulders, head and neck, and stretching the rest of her body. Professor MacGonagall, Céilidh's Head of House made her way over to the dueling platform.

"How urr ye feeling, Miss MacAllister?" A rarity indeed, the transfigurations professor's usual proper diction falling away in favor of her native Scots dialect. Without waiting for a reply, MacGonagall turned to the huge double doors at the back of the hall, "Porsblat's keekin tae mak' some grand entrance na doubt."

"Na maiter," the elder Scot waved a dismissive hand, "Ah huv a' th' confidence in ye, dear. Och, 'n' he tends tae drap his shoulder richt afore he casts." MacGonagall gave Céilidh a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Guid luck."

No sooner had Professor MacGonagall set off to take her seat, then Professor Flitwick ambled over from his referee's position. He made a show of greeting Céilidh formally, but couldn't seem to meet her eye. As he waved to his Ravenclaw charges in their seats, Flitwick's squeaky voice whispered in Céilidh's ear as though he had his hand cupped to it. "I know I shouldn't be telling you this, but Mr. Porsblat tends to drop his shoulder before he casts."

Céilidh rolled her eyes, but gave the diminutive professor a polite smile. With a wink and a nod, Flitwick went back to the center of the platform as quickly as his little legs would carry him.

With a deliberate avoidance of the primarily silver and green populated side of the room , punctuated by a dismissive flick of her hair, Nicolette Ainscough joined her friends. Despite glares and murmurs, she had come without escort to what was becoming one of her favorite pastimes; watching Céilidh hit Peter. Granted, this was a magic only bout, but that wouldn't detract from the enjoyment of each and every hex, curse, and jinx her newest friend blasted right in that insufferable connard's face.

Without her opponent present, the Gryffindor still had a few spare moments to be stolen before it all began. "So, just how many people have told you about his shoulder by now?"

"Ainlie aboot, um, a' body."

"Well, I've never seen you have a problem handing him his teeth before." Nic glanced over Cee's shoulder to the belligerent crowd. "I doubt you need any help now."

"Cheers, loue. Ah -" Céilidh's gratitude was cut short when the doors to the great hall boomed open.

Nicolette mouthed a 'Good luck,' and made her way over to sit next to Orlando. Conversation throughout the hall was drowned out by what could best be described as an honor guard, complete with standard bearers carrying the Slytherin house crest, along with a fife and drum corps escorting the Head Boy into the hall. The snares tapped out a tattoo reminiscent of a rattlesnake tail while the fifes droned a snake-charmers melody, all the while moving at a snails pace up the aisle.

Laun had slipped in with the other Slytherins but was not taking part in the overt display of house pride. He sidled up to his friends and took a seat.

"I begged them not to do this. Its just so sad." Laun said stifling a chuckle.

The cacophony finally fell silent when Porsblat reached his end of the platform. He vaulted to the stage to cheers from the Slytherins and jeers from the rest of the assembly. Clearly agitated, Professor Flitwick stepped forward. "Quite an entrance, Mr. Porsblat."

"Thank you, Professor," Peter bowed deeply. "I was going to include bagpipes in honor of my opponent," his eyes met Céilidh's, "but I couldn't find anyone willing to gut a sheep."

"Dinnae ye worry, Petey, a'm mair than happy tae shaw ye howfur tis dane. Then ye kin shove it up yer -"

"Alright then, it seems the two of you are more than ready," Professor Flitwick interrupted. He moved back to the referee's position. "Please bow."

The duellists complied, neither taking their eyes off the other. Porsblat's lip curled into a sneer as he settled into his stance. Céilidh shifted her left foot back, settling into her usual sixte stance, though instead of raising her non-wand hand over her head, she placed it on her hip.

Tom caught Céilidh's eye and winked.

The red headed Gryffindor returned the wink and returned her attention to Peter.

Tom let his gaze land on Peter's retinue and grinned wickedly. "Lads," Tom said jovially, "I have twenty galleons on Céilidh, any takers?"

"Please," Foozle shook his head, "the odds are sae stacked ye winnae mak a hauf a sickle in profit."

One of the green and silver clad boys threw his head back and laughed. "You must be joking. She doesn't stand a chance. That is the School's Head Boy."

"He's schuil's Arse Boy, A think ye mean." Foozle rolled his eyes.

The boy narrowed his thick black brows. "I've got 40 galleons that says different." He folded his arms across his chest. "If that's not too rich for your mudblood."

Tom and Orlando looked at each other for a moment, their eyebrows raised and then Tom's eyes returned to the Slytherin. "You're on." The two shook hands.

Tom then turned back to Cee and whistled. "Oi, Ging," Tommy called out over the din of the other duel club members, "you win this and you are going to have one hell of a good time our next Hogsmeade trip."

Professor Flitwick cleared his throat, "Well, quite," the little professor squeaked, "Begin the duel on my whistle." The Professor stepped back and blew his whistle.

Before the sound of the whistle faded from the air, Céilidh winked at Peter, blew him a kiss, and screamed a silent Everte Statum!

Her fallacious show of affection might as well have been a stunning spell, freezing Porsblat's body and mind and allowing Céilidh's hex to strike with the full force of a charging rhinocerous. The impact hurled the Head Boy from the dueling platform arse over teakettle. For a split-second the Great Hall was as silent as a tomb. Then, the collective voice of the assembled Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw students exploded in raucous cheering and applause.

Professor Flitwick's pronunciation of Céilidh's victory was lost in the din. Also lost to the commotion was a barely audible whimper from Forster Barclay, Céilidh's potential next opponent.

"Weel," Danny smirked as he elbowed Tom in the ribs, "it looks lik' he didnae drop his shoulder."

"No," Tom shook his head in shock, "no he did not."

"Toldja she didn't need to know about it," Rose added with a grin. "She's Céilidh."

Orlando raised his hands, giving the champion two thumbs up. "Tha wis juist stoatin." He shook his head. "Absolutely stoatin."

He turned to the Slytherin. The boy seemed to have lost all of that confidant bravado that had inflated him not even minutes ago.

"Weel, Ah dinnaken if we kin say tha yuir lad wis a dueler juist than, but tis sauf tae say tha he lost. An whin A say he lost, Ah mean th' match an his dignity."

The boy's nostrils flared and his cheeks reddened. "She cheated!"

"Oi," Foozle poked a finger at him, "It's no cheating gif yuir opponent is as overconfident as he is stupit."

"Not only that, lad," Tom placed his hand on the Slytherin's shoulder, "Petey boy there is Head Boy. That little toerag should have the wherewithal to defend against one silently cast spell. He lost fair and square," Tommy squeezed his shoulder tightly, "now pay up."

The Slytherin gritted his teeth as he threw Tommy's hand from his shoulder. He swirled around to face Tom. He snarled as he pulled a bag of his robes and handed it over. "You better watch where you spend that, Gryffindor." He said threateningly before turning on his heel and storming out of the great hall.

"Charming chap,"[/tom] Tommy bounced the sack of gold in his hand, [todd]"gracious loser and all that."

"Quite." He smiled as Céilidh approached.

Tom threw his arms around the redhead's neck, "Well done, love, very well done." He kissed her on the forehead.

Céilidh beamed, "Aye, weel, th' prat needed tae ken that he wasn't th' ainlie yin wha cuid pat oan a shaw."

"He certainly did." Tom nodded. "Now I need to find that toe rag Lathan to get my twenty galleons before he slithers back into the Slytherin common room.". He kissed Cee on the lips and grinned. "Care to join me?" He arched his eyebrows slightly.

Céilidh glanced over to the group of Slytherin's crowded around the still-prone Head Boy. She wasn't particularly welcome near the Slytherin common room on a good day, and the dark looks she was receiving from many of the green-clad students made it apparent that a trip to the dungeons would most likely end badly. Céilidh's grandfather always said there was a difference in running from a fight and looking for one.

She shook her head, "A've hud enough o' snakes th'day. Howfur aboot ye catch up wi` me at th' victory pairtie we're aboot tae huv at th' cave. Ah promise nae tae be tae blootert by th' time ye git thare."

Orlando threw his arm around Céilidh's shoulder and gave her tug. "Ah cannae promise the same."

Tommy shrugged, "I can always catch up to him later." Tom gave the group a large smile, "shall we retire to the cave my dear." He held out his arm for her to take.

"Aye," Céilidh hooked her arm in Tom's and looked around at the rest, "Let's gang git blue-blind paralytic drunk..."

Ambrosia and Nicolette looked at the Gentlemen and the Lady, then back to one another. "Oh dear."