Chapter 2

Terry awoke to the sound of a bell and it took him some time to become fully awake as he changed, his eyes drooping and his movement sluggish. However, as he Michael and Anthony headed to breakfast together, they soon realised that they needed all their wits about them to navigate Hogwarts corridors.

Michael was teasing Anthony about his singing of the school song, asking him to sing the song again and none of the boys noticed the ink bottles floating in mid air above them until three ink bottles had fallen on each of the boys' heads.

"Aargh!" Terry raised his hands, feeling black ink running down his face and into his eyes.

"Three out of three!" A voice cackled above them," Peevsie's best score yet!"

Looking up, Terry saw a dark- eyed man with a wide mouth, wearing a belled hat, floating overhead who cackled at them before zooming away through the air.

"This is all over me," Anthony attempted to wipe ink off his face," we can't go to breakfast like this!"

"What choice do we have?" Michael asked bitterly," I can't see any bathroom around here, can you?"

"Perhaps we should go look for one?" Terry suggested.

"We'll get lost," Michael said," I can barely remember the way to the Great Hall. I definitely remember going down this corridor, but do we go left or right?"

Taking a chance, they went left and found themselves at the bottom of a staircase that Terry was sure they had been down before.

As they stood, planning another route, they heard the sound of laughter behind them.

"Why, there seems to be some sort of skin disease going around the first years, Fred. Hideous, isn't it?"

Terry saw two twin boys who looked as though they might be around third year and who he remembered seeing at the Gryffindor table during the feast, jeering the first year Slytherins.

" I know first years get crazy, but I've never known them to smear themselves with ink," the other twin sniggered.

" We didn't do this ourselves," Michael said, rudely.

"Well," the first twin, Fred said, after a pause in which he and his twin looked at each other," we know how to sort it out," he grinned," there's a spell you can use which will get all the ink off. Just tap your face with your wand and say, " Inkus Permanentus. I can do it for you if you like."

" Even I know that that spell will just make the ink stay on permanently," Anthony scowled at Fred.

"Ooooh, we are smart, aren't we," Fred laughed," be careful, George, these kids are dangerous!"

"Yeah, aren't they clever," George pulled out his wand," perhaps we should bring them down to size. This one's head could do with some shrinking."

He pointed his wand at Anthony.

Terry did not have a clue what to do. He knew know spells to defend himself and the boys were considerably larger than him.

Before he could move, however, Michael had pulled out a small, grey toy gun and was pointing it at Fred, saying, " Stop, or I'll shoot!"

Fred froze, eyeing the gun with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"What's that supposed to be?" He asked.

" A gun," Michael said calmly," you know, those things Muggles kill each other with."

" That thing?" Fred asked, contemptuously," no way is that dangerous."

"Oh, really," Michael pulled a switch at the back, which made a clicking noise," you've never heard of bullets, triggers- being shot through the heart? Your knowledge of the world is sadly lacking. Me, I like learning about other cultures- and other weapons."

" You'd never dare use it," George raised his wand, but Michael spoke up," the thing is, my cousin- he's a Muggle- taught me how to shoot and I'm pretty good at it. I wouldn't actually kill you, but I could shoot you in the hand, or shoulder and then you'd have to go to the Hospital Wing and then the Matron would have to get the bullet out and mend all the broken bones and clean up the blood- there's always a lot of blood with shooting. That's why I like it- so much more... personal. I just hope I don't miss and hit you through the neck 'cause then you'd be dead." He grinned a rather evil grin, raising the gun.

George caught sight of the shattered vase and turned to his twin, " C'mon, Fred," he said," we've got better things to do than deal with these sickos." The twins disappeared.

"Wow," Terry said admiringly, " you are one amazing actor! Where did you get the idea for that Psycho act?"

"Oh, mostly the novels, I read," Michael replied causally," you know, where the Hero gets into a tight corner and gets out of the situation by bluffing."

"And they didn't even see it was a toy," Anthony took the gun and looked at it," I don't know much about guns, but surely they would have the sense to realise that you wouldn't bring a deadly weapon into the school."

"No, and we'd better get out of here," Anthony said, " before they start reconsidering what just happened and return."

The boys looked at each other and ran, not entirely noticing where they were going- until they found themselves near the Great Hall.

"So that's how you find your way around Hogwarts!" Michael cried, as if he had suddenly realised something, " you have to first get lost!"
Terry laughed and said," so about that stuff about you learning to shoot?"

"Made up," Michael confessed," I mean, if something's right in front of me, like that vase, I'm fine, but shooting isn't really that much fun. I mostly only brought this to Hogwarts to show people as a point of interest, you know- look at this, this is a Muggle weapon, but when you were attacked on the Hogwarts express, I realised that as first years, we couldn't really use our wands to defend ourselves and I also realised that a lot of wizards wouldn't know much about guns, so it would be quite easy to pretend the gun was dangerous."

"Good thinking," Anthony said," I really never expected so many bullies at Hogwarts. What happened to you on the Hogwarts express?"

Terry told him as they entered the Great Hall and sat down to eat what was left of breakfast.

When they had finished, the tiny Charms teacher, whose name was Professor Flitwick and who was head of Ravenclaw House, approached them." What's this I hear about you having a deadly weapon?" He asked, looking both angry and puzzled," The Weasley twins said you'd threatened to kill them."

" That's not what happened," together the boys told Professor Flitwick about what had happened and Michael showed him the toy gun and Professor Flitwick turned from angry to amused.

"Oh, yes, I know about these," he said, taking the gun apart and looking inside it," am I correct in thinking this is a water pistol?"

"Yes, sir," Michael said," but it's empty, sir."

Professor Flitwick examined the gun, peering inside it," Yes, well, this is hardly dangerous, but I must speak to Professor McGonagall. Those twins are really getting out of hand."

He handed all the first years time tables and Terry realised they had only ten minutes to eat what they could and find their way to Potions.

After breakfast, they followed Lisa, who had used her free time to draw a rough map of where their classes were, to the Potions classroom. They seemed to be making good progress until they came to a solid wall.

"I'm sure this was a door when I came down here," Lisa said nervously.

" Maybe it's just disguising itself," Michael approached the wall and looked at the bricks. Terry followed him and the two looked for any possible openings to the door.

" Well, this brick is slightly squarer than the rest," Terry said, after at least ten minutes. He touched the brick and jumped backwards as the wall turned into a door.

"Oooh, clever firstie," came a cackle from overhead and Michael, Terry and Anthony instinctively raised their bags over their heads as Peeves soared above them," let's see if its clever enough to avoid...this!"

Several cream pies came flying at them, only hitting the boys' bags, but falling on top of Lisa's head.

"Well, it could be worse," Anthony said as Lisa scraped the cream off her head as Peeves zoomed away," we had ink bottles thrown at us this morning."

"Yes, you can still see it," Lisa replied.

"Really?" Anthony rubbed his face," I tried to wash it off with some water, but I guess it didn't work."

" Well, it's mostly gone," Lisa got most of the last of the cream off her," you know, I'm really not enjoying Hogwarts as much as I thought I would. The corridors seem so dangerous. What if that... thing... had been throwing something really hard?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't be allowed to do anything really dangerous," Terry said. He looked at the others," wouldn't he?" He asked again, uncertainly. They had no answer.

"It's not only him," Lisa continued," some of the students are really nasty, too. I asked these twins- I think they were in Gryffindor- for directions while I was doing a map and they told me to go to the dungeons, to this particular room and when I went in, the door shut and locked behind me. It was really scary," she shivered," a creature came at me, it was like my worst nightmare come true. I saw my mother dead- a zombie. Her skin was all pale and cracked and there was blood all over her," Lisa was shaking now," I just screamed and screamed. I feel so useless," she added," a Slytherin Prefect rescued me and told me that it was a Boggart, whatever that it is and that I was in no actual danger, but..." her voice faded.

"Do you think the twins knew this thing was in that room when they directed you to it?" Anthony asked.

"I'm sure of it," Lisa said," they gave very exact directions."

"Were they red haired, freckled and quite stocky?" Michael asked.

"Why, yes," Lisa frowned," do you know them?"

Michael told her about their encounter with the twins and showed her the water pistol. Lisa burst out laughing, smiling for the first time since the Sorting," They thought this was real?" She asked, covering her mouth to stifle her giggles.

"I don't think they were sure," Michael grinned," but they weren't about to take chances."

The four first years found their way to Potions, where several Hufflepuffs were already gathered, including Susan and Hannah.

"Found your way around here alright, I see," Terry commented to Susan and Hannah," that solid wall is quite a problem to get past, isn't it?"

"I think we went a different route," Susan said," the Fat Friar showed us a short cut, but you have to belong to Hufflepuff to pass through one of the doors."

"That's not fair," Terry frowned.

"Well, plenty of other portraits only admit Ravenclaws," a stout boy who Terry recognised from the Sorting as being Ernie McMillan, spoke up from near them.

"Which ones?" Terry asked.

"Um, well, the Friar mentioned them," Ernie said," there's others that only admit Gryffindors or Slytherins. Apparently it depends on the prejudices of the subjects. There are some portraits that won't admit first years- or alternatively only admit first years. It can get very confusing."

" Yeah, " Terry agreed and turned to look at Hannah, who still looked miserable," what happened with Hannah?"

"Bullies," Susan spoke up, confirming Michael's suspicions," there were some Slytherin girls who were, well, really horrible to her."

"What happened?" Michael asked, but Susan looked awkward and Ernie said," it doesn't really matter."

Michael continued to look curious, but, looking at the miserable expression on Hannah's face, Terry diverted the subject to Peeves, telling the others about how Peeves had thrown cream pie all over them.

Terry was immediately glad that they were not late for Potions as there was no doubt that the Potions Master, Professor Snape, was a scary man, almost as scary, in fact, as his classroom, which was located in the Dungeons. The room was dark and cold and dimly lit and full of jars of slimy things that Terry could not identify, floating in jars around the room. All the students instinctively sat toward the back of the class, going silent the moment Professor Snape shut the door and turned to face them.

He started by taking the register, calling Terry's name first."Boot!"

"Here, sir," Terry had felt his mouth go rather dry and he had to force the words out, struggling not to sound too nervous, but Snape simply went further down the list without comment. Terry felt his heart rate return to almost- normal.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of Potion making," he said softly. Terry had the feeling that he had said this speech before, probably many times.

"As there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic..." he continued in this vain for some time, telling them of the power of potions, how one could bottle fame, brew glory or even bottle death- if they were not dunderheads. None of the class much reacted to this speech. By the table across from Terry, Padme seemed to be frozen and Terry had the impression she trying not to make any sudden moves, as if she had been confronted by a snake about to strike.

Despite his nervousness, Terry was eager to get down to making Potions and he felt a thrill of excitement as he measured out water into his cauldron and set it to boil, all the while hoping that Professor Snape would not come near him.

"That's wrong! You're boiling it too long!" Terry heard Snape snap and he nearly dropped the bottle of horned slugs he was holding, before realising that Snape had been speaking to Padme, who had been boiling the crushed snake fangs. He turned to Mandy, who was working at the same table as Padme, " You've crushed the snake fangs too fine. The steam should be blue by now! How stupid are you?"

Terry flinched as Snape approached his table.

" You've forgotten to add the porcupine quills!" He snapped to Anthony," Tell me, how did you get into Ravenclaw?" He turned to Michael," and you've stewed your horned slugs incorrectly. Pour out your potion and start again."

He glanced over Terry's potion. Terry turned his face away slightly, so Snape would not see the tension on his face. He had been so careful...

" Let me see you stir that potion," Snape stood directly behind Terry, looking down at his potion. Sweat that came from more than just the heat from the cauldron broke out on Terry's brow and he gritted his teeth.

Remember, clockwise, he told himself, while terrified that he might suddenly forget and stir the wrong way.

"Faster!" Snape snapped and Terry flinched, but speeded up his stirring, but not too much.

There came a crash from another table and everybody, including Snape turned to look. Sue Li, who had been working at the table farthest to the back of the class, had dropped a bottle of horned slugs all over her robes.

"Urgh!" She cried, disgusted.

"Pick them all up," Snape swooped over to her. Despite his flat, emotionless voice, Terry sensed a faint tone of pleasure as he saw horrified look on Sue Li's face," by hand. No gloves. That'll teach you to be less clumsy in future."

"I definitely hate potions," Michael said as they climbed the steps to the Entrance Hall.

"I hate Snape," Terry replied," that potion was actually quite interesting."

" Only if you have boils or warts," Michael said.

" Or any kind of skin problems," Terry said," the venomous properties of skin fangs can destroy all types of tissue. You could make a potion to remove lumps, freckles, the roots of hair. Lots of things."

" Wonderful," Michael rolled his eyes," maybe we can make a potion to remove Snape's tongue. Then I'll call the subject interesting."

" We have Charms next," Anthony looked at his time table," I hope it'll be a better lesson than Potions."

Professor Flitwick, fortunately, proved to be very different to Professor Snape.

"Welcome to your first Charms class," he beamed, after taking the register," now Charms is one of the most important subjects you'll learn at Hogwarts- it's really a Wizard- or Witch's- bread and butter. Most of the spells you will use in your day to day life are Charms- that is, spells that affect the behaviour of objects around you. Of course, I say objects, but there are many Charms that can be used on people, too. Can anyone name such a Charm?"

He peered around at them. " Has no one read their charms books? Can non one think of any spell that is used on people?"

" Well, " Terry raised his hand," I did read about one, a Cheering Charm?"

"Ah, yes," Professor Flitwick beamed," five points to Ravenclaw for knowing about that one- that's Third Year level. Anyone else?"

" What about the Disarming Charm?" Michael asked.

"Yes, another five points for Ravenclaw to you," Professor Flitwick said, "Now, can anybody give me any examples of some commonly used Charms? Any of the girls, perhaps?" He turned to the girls," Miss Turpin?"

"Um, well, I'm Muggle born," Lisa looked extremely awkward," so I don't really know... um. Is the levitation charm commonly used?"

"Excellent!" Professor Flitwick looked very pleased," another five points to Ravenclaw, oh, I do like giving points. Right, take out your parchment and quills please and take down these notes."

The rest of the lesson was spent taking notes while Professor Flitwick spoke, frequently throwing in questions and topics for discussion, including asking them to give examples of how Charms could be used in Duelling.

" Um," Isobel McDougal, a very shy girl sat by herself, said after Professor Flitwick asked her to give an example of a way Charms could be used in Duelling," you could lift someone of their feet with the Levitation Charm."

"Yes," Professor Flitwick said, slowly," but there are more effective ways. Anybody else?" As he looked around, Isobel bowed her head, looking embarrassed and upset at being passed over so quickly.

No one else suggested anything.

"The Disarming Charm," Professor Flitwick tapped the board and the words appeared on the board and several of the class hit their heads in frustration.

Terry, Michael and Anthony all agreed that Charms was an infinite improvement to Potions, even if they had only begun with theory.

" What do you think Transfiguration will be like?" Anthony said as they sat down to lunch," it's supposed to be a very difficult subject."

" And Professor McGonagall looks scary," Terry added, looking over at the Staff Table," I wouldn't like to make a mistake in her class."

"Or be late be late for her class," Anthony added and the boys left for Transfiguration as soon as they eaten, leaving plenty of time to get to class.

Professor McGonagall, although an improvement on Professor Snape, was a very strict woman and the class was very quiet as she took the register and gave them a talking to, telling them how dangerous and difficult transfiguration was. Hannah looked more miserable than ever at this, but most of the rest of the class took on rather determined expressions, bracing themselves for the worst as they took down complicated notes, with no one speaking to each other.

After taking the notes, they were each given a match and told to turn it into a needle.

Michael instantly began waving his wand and saying the words, concentrating hard on his match. Terry and Anthony both spent longer reading their notes, trying to understand them, before trying.

First, make it a blank, Terry told himself, you'll never do it all at once, not at this stage. Paging through his text book, he read through this first stage again. He sensed Professor McGonagall watching him and he felt rather embarrassed, reading his text book while everybody else was waving their wands, but Professor McGonagall did not tell him off, so he relaxed a little.

"After casting the appropriate spell to remove all properties of the original object, one has no more than two seconds with which to create and place the new template of the object one desires to create from the original object onto the blank form of the original object," Terry read aloud to himself," I suppose that means that I have only two seconds after making the match into a blank to turn it into the needle."

It was only fifteen minutes before the lesson was due to end when Terry started trying to work on the match, but, to his surprise- and relief- he found his first attempt worked better than most of the rest of the class had managed during most of the lesson. The match did not turn into a needle, as such, but it turned straight, smooth and sharp. Only the colour was wrong, having remained a yellowish colour.

However, Professor McGonagall seemed pleased at this progress, telling him "Well done."

By the end of the class, only Terry and, to the Ravenclaws' surprise, Isobel, had made any progress at all. Isobel had turned her match into steel, but had struggled with shaping it.

The entire class was given homework to keep practicing until they could at least change one aspect of the match, while Terry and Isobel were told to try and improve on what they could already do.

Their last lesson of the day was Herbology, which they would do with the Slytherins. Terry was not entirely looking forward to this, as it would mean working with Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

Herbology was held in the Green Houses across the lawn, which were some of the few places that Terry did not have trouble finding as they were visible from most of the windows.

"We'll be working in Green House 1," Professor Sprout announced, carrying a bag of fertiliser, which she handed to Malfoy, who was nearest," Hold that for me, will you?"

Terry and Michael grinned at the disgusted look on Malfoy's face.

"Take this," he hastily handed the fertiliser to Goyle, while Professor Sprout unlocked the Green House.

"Now, Herbology can be a rather dangerous subject," Professor Sprout said when the students had gathered around a long table on which several plants were placed in pots," so I urge you all to pay attention in class and to obey all safety instructions with the utmost care. Does everybody have Dragon Hide gloves?"

Everybody checked in their bags and muttered yes, or simply nodded.

"Today we will be working with Wolfsbane, a plant commonly used in potions ingredients," Professor Sprout said," it's not particularly dangerous in and of itself, but its leaves are very poisonous, so wear your gloves when we work with them."

Everybody duly got their gloves out of their bags.

"Now," Professor Sprout asked," does anybody know what other names Wolfsbane goes by?"

Stephen Cornfoot's hand shot up," Monkshood or Aconite," he said.

"Does anyone know another name for a know- it- all?" Malfoy muttered, loud enough for Stephen to hear him, " a freak, a weirdo..."

Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.

"That's enough," Professor Sprout snapped," and a point to Ravenclaw, Master Cornfoot."

Malfoy sniggered," Cornfoot? Why not wheat foot? Or Oat foot?"

"Enough!" Professor Sprout snapped," two points from Slytherin!"

Malfoy scowled.

They started by taking notes about the properties of Wolfsbane and about ways of looking after them, including having look up rather complicated formulas about the ratio of the various substances in the fertiliser and the long names of the various diseases that could affect them. Terry had always thought of Herbology as an easy subject, but he discovered that, while it did not come close to being as hard as Potions or Transfiguration, there was a lot more to it than watering pot plants.

After they had finished the notes, they started cutting off the flower heads from the plants and pulling off the petals, putting them into bowls. It was rather mindless work, but quite relaxing- if one did not mind the acidic smell that rose from the broken stems.

" I wonder what's for dinner," Anthony asked as they cut up the plants," I don't suppose it'll be as nice as the Feast, but I hope there'll still be plenty to eat. I'm starving."

"Going to have meat this time?" Michael asked, grinning.

"I had meat last time," Anthony protested," I'm not a vegetarian, you know."

At the far end of the table, the Slytherin girl who had laughed when Terry had been attacked on the train, whose name was Pansy Parkinson, was cutting up plants with a disgusted look on her face and Malfoy looked just as unhappy.

" Stupid subject," Terry heard him mutter.

Some of the Ravenclaws were not particularly happy, either, most noticeably Padme, who wrinkled her nose as she leaned over the plants.

"Try not to breath in too much over the plants," Professor Sprout said, noticing Lisa sniffing the plants interestedly," the fumes aren't as deadly as the pure sap, but you don't want to breathe in too much of it."

Malfoy sniggered," Breathing in poison, what, are you some sort of Mudblood?"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Padme snapped just as Professor Sprout said," ten points from Slytherin. I will not tolerate such language in my class."

"Mudblood?" Lisa asked Padme in an undertone.

"Suffice to say it's an insult," Padme said awkwardly.

"What's it mean?" Lisa asked and Padme pretended not to hear.

"What does it mean?" Lisa repeated.

" Well, it's an offensive term about someone who is Muggle born," Sue, who was working on Lisa's other side, said softly, so none of the Slytherins would hear," very offensive. Some people," she gestured with her head toward Malfoy," usually pure- bloods- that is people from wizarding families- hate people born from non- magical parents. It's basically racism."

"Oh," Lisa looked rather surprised and hurt.

"Not all pure bloods think like that," Isobel said quietly, causing Lisa to jump. Isobel was usually so quiet that it was always a surprise when she spoke. Apparently deciding she had said enough, Isobel returned to her plants.

Over all, most of the class looked rather exhausted when they returned for dinner, although Terry was quite pleased that Professor Sprout had congratulated the Ravenclaws on the amount of Wolfsbane petals they had picked, while the Slytherins had been told to do better.

After dinner, Terry, Michael and Anthony headed to the library to get started on their homework, which included an essay for potions and Herbology and reading over chapters in the text book for Charms, as well as practicing the needles- into- matches spell for Professor McGonagall, who had given them all an extra match, as most wizards did not use matches for lighting fires.

Terry could not help but be over- awed by the size of the library when he first entered it, looking up at the shelves that towered above him so high that one needed a ladder to reach them.

"Where do you think we'll find books on potions ingredients?" Anthony asked, instinctively keeping his voice to a whisper, " in the potions section or the Herbology section?"

"Perhaps we should look at both," Terry replied," I'll look by potions, you and Michael can look by Herbology- and see if you can find something to help us with our Herbology essay, too."

Terry felt a thrill of excitement as he looked at all the potions books, ranging from simple potions like a cure for boils to complex potions like love potions and potions to induce euphoria. After realising he was spending too much time browsing the titles, Terry controlled himself and headed to the skin care section, where he was faced with many different titles, including, " Beauty Without- a guide to Beautification Potions; The Smoother The Better- Potions To Improve Your Skin; Basic First Year Potions; Now It's Gone- Wart and Boil Removing Potions."

Since most of the books contained extra information, Terry brought them all to the table.

It was quite late when they headed back to the Common Room, after writing as much as they could on their essays and Terry felt rather nervous, as the corridors were dark, only lit by torches. He knew that first years were still allowed in the corridors at this time, but he walked fast, all the same, until he heard a voice ahead and stopped, groaning softly as he identified Brandon's voice up ahead somewhere.

"Take that, you stupid little man!" There came the sound of laughing and Peeves cursing.

"Can't we take another way?" Terry asked the others.

"Why?" Michael asked.

"There's someone I would rather not run into," Terry muttered.

"Well, I don't want to risk getting lost trying to find another route," Anthony said," can't we just try and sneak past whoever it is?"

"Maybe," Terry said doubtfully.

They moved toward the voices and Terry saw that Brandon had cast a spell at Peeves, trapping holding him with a rope of purple light and swinging him around his head like a lasso while a crowd of his friends laughed themselves silly.

"Should I let him go?" Brandon yelled to the cheering crowd, as if he was standing on a stage," What do you say!"

Terry noticed that there were several pretty girls about Brandon's age, all gazing at Brandon with adoring eyes. Brandon did not seem to notice them, until Terry noticed Brandon wink at one of them.

"Wow," Michael said, looking at Brandon swinging Peeves around," that is pretty impressive."

"Not you, too," Terry groaned," c'mon, let's go."

They edged around the crowd. If Brandon saw Terry, he gave no indication of it, for which Terry was grateful.

"That's my brother," Terry explained to Michael," and he's not impressive, he's an idiot!"

"If you say so," Michael shrugged," but-"

"I do say so!" Terry snapped, very irritated. Brandon was such a show off, he thought angrily, being able to deal so easily with Peeves, when he, Terry, had ink dropped on his head and cream pies thrown at him.

Michael looked as if he was about to retort, but he caught sight of Anthony, who shook his head. Anthony could see that something was upsetting Terry and that angry words would not improve the situation.

"You don't get along with him, then?" Anthony decided to get to the root of the problem.

"He's a bully," Terry muttered.

"Oh," Michael remembered something," is he the same brother you told Susan about on the Hogwarts Express? The one who has friends who played a nasty trick on a Muggle?"

"That's the one," Terry replied as they reached the top of the staircase to Ravenclaw Tower," I didn't realise you were listening."

"Oh, I'm always listening," Michael said in a mock- creepy voice and grinned.

Anthony knocked on the door and the woman's voice spoke," What is the breeze that contains un- death within it?"

"Great," Michael rolled his eyes," word play, that's all we need."

"Language is a tool that men and woman use to grow in their knowledge," the woman's voice came out of the door.

"It heard me!" Michael exclaimed, jumping into the air in fright.

"To listen is to learn."

"Um, ma'am, couldn't we have a clue?" Terry asked, nervously.

"No clues," the door fell silent.

"Well," Terry turned to the others, acutely aware of the door behind him," Michael, you seem to know about word play. How does it usually work?"

"There's usually a double meaning, or the answer is hidden in the sentence," Michael said," let's think. Breeze. That's an odd word to use. People don't name breezes."

"You get a summer breeze, or spring breeze," Terry said," and there's descriptions. A cold breeze, a warm breeze."

"But it still doesn't fit," Michael argued," what's another word for breeze?"

"Wind, draught?" Terry suggested.

" What sort of wind contains un death?" Michael asked.

" Well, some would contain death, like hurricanes," Terry suggested.

"Yeah, but Hurricanes aren't breezes," Michael replied.

They continued like this for some time, until Anthony, who had remained quiet, cried," I've got it. It's the Draught of Living Death!"

"Correct," the door replied and opened.

"Brilliant!" Michael punched the air," We've answered our first riddle!"

" Only the first of many to come," the door said," so you will continue to learn."

"Or just sleep outside," Michael replied, as he entered the Common Room.

None of the boys heard the door chuckle to herself as the door closed.

Feeling pleased at their triumph at entering the Common Room by themselves, Anthony, Michael and Terry joined Stephen and Lisa at the only available seats.

"You seem pleased about something," Lisa commented, watching them.

"We've just answered a question the door asked us," Michael said," well, Anthony really figured it out, but I'm sure we helped."

"Yeah, Padme and I had to figure out the answer to our question by ourselves, too," Lisa said," it was quite straight forward, I suppose, just ' what Charm is used to make water in a dry place?' but we had to go all the way back to the library, find the answer and come back, not sure if the question would have changed or not. Fortunately it didn't and we had only just come from the Library, so we knew the way pretty well."

"It's really great when you get it right, though," Terry said," you feel like really belong in this House. I don't suppose we'll figure out every answer, though. I don't think either Michael or I would have thought of the answer to our question without Anthony."

Anthony did not respond to this, but he looked pleased.

They continued practicing turning matches into needles, with Stephen getting rather frustrated as time went on, saying," what's the point of this exercise? If I need needles so badly, I'll buy some. Why waste matches?"

" Well, you might be out of money," Terry said, examining his needle happily," well, this is a bit big. Maybe I'll tell Professor McGonagall that I wanted to make a darning needle."

"Excuse me," a pretty, second year, Asian girl approached them," are you the boys who got the Weasley twins into trouble after you frightened them with a gun?"

"They got into trouble, then?" Michael asked.

"Oh, yes," the girl said," Professor McGonagall took points of Gryffindor for bullying and they've been teased a lot about not recognising a gun when their own father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artefact Office," she said," so they're out to get you. My advice, is that if a Gryffindor boy with dreadlocks- he's a friend of theirs- offers to show you a short cut around the school, don't accept it. A friend of mine overheard them talking and I thought I'd better warn you."

"Thanks," Michael said as the girl rejoined her large group of friends and Terry vaguely wondered which one of her friends had overheard the supposed plot. It was nice of the girl to warn them, all the same, he thought.

Not long after this, Terry went to bed.