DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything save for the children.

A/N: Thank you to EcstasyofSesshoumaru, Porcelain.Heart, bigred20, and angelraine for giving their reviews. I know I told you I'd update soon, but I suffered from a massive writer's block so I wasn't able to update. Not to mention the tech problems I've been having. Anyway, on with the show, but don't forget to R&R!


Draco raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "Parkinson? It can't be…"

Draco rushed to the fireplace to confirm this latest news. He threw a pinch of Floo powder and enunciated clearly, "Private Quarters of Professor Zabini, Hogwarts!" before sticking his head clearly into the fire.

"Blaise! Blaise, where the hell are you?" Draco practically shouted, scanning the room.

"Draco? What is it?" Blaise emerged from what would seem to be the bathroom, as he was wearing a bathrobe and performing a Drying Charm on his hair.

"Blaise, it's urgent," Draco said.

"Well, what is it?" Blaise asked, taking a seat by his fireplace.

"I've just received a letter from the children. It stated that they have a new Charms teacher whose name is Professor Parkinson. Who is she?"

Blaise gave a sigh. "I was supposed to write to you about it tonight. The children were one step ahead of me, it seems."

"Well, who is it?"

"Who do you think? Come on, Draco, all of the Parkinsons are extinct save two, one male and one female. So who do you think would be referred to as she?"

Draco felt his mouth fall open, but he did nothing to close it. "So, it really is Pansy Parkinson?" he said in disbelief. "Bloody hell."

"I second that, mate," Blaise said. "I could scarcely believe it myself when she first walked into the Faculty Conference Room. It's really her, but not quite."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the Pansy Parkinson we know is very blithe, as if she doesn't give a damn about the world. But now, it's as though the whole world is on her shoulders. She's going to be worse than Gran-er-Weasley, in my opinion. Plus, the fact that she's awfully quiet is a major change.

"But when you get to see her, you wouldn't be able to recognize her. Remember how she looked like a pug in our school days? Now she's just absolutely stunning," Blaise shared.

"I see," Draco mumbled. He had a pensive expression on his face.

"Why d'you ask anyway?" Blaise asked.

"Just curious," Draco replied absentmindedly. "Well, thanks Blaise, I'll see you around." And with that, he cut off the Floo connection.

"You're very welcome," Blaise grumbled, glaring at where Draco's head was.


"Where the hell is Apollo?" Hades asked to no one in particular. He, Artemis and Poseidon were already seated at the Slytherin table eating breakfast, but Apollo still hasn't showed up.

"Where is he? Did you try to wake him up, Arty?"

"Yes, as I usually do," Artemis said. "He muttered something like 'I'll be up in a few minutes' or something like that, so I left him."

Hades groaned in frustration, resting his head on his hand. He began to scan the Great Hall. As usual, the people surrounding the Weasleys are laughing their hearts out. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were all talking animatedly about Merlin-knows-what. His eyes strayed to the doors and finally, he saw who he was waiting for.

Apollo casually strolled to the Slytherin table and sat beside Poseidon. Seeing all of them so grim, he asked, "What's wrong with you all? It's a beautiful morning."

"What do you think?" Hades asked back sarcastically. "You come to breakfast late, and it seems like nothing to you! Where the hell have you been anyway?"

Taking a sip from his goblet, Apollo motioned near the Gryffindor table. The others followed his gaze and they immediately understood what he's been up to.

It was Lillian Potter, daughter of Harry and Ginny Potter and also in 2nd year. Hades only sighed and watched Apollo as he ate.

"What are you, her stalker? You know she hates you, right?" Hades said.

"I'm not stalking her. It's merely observing what she does," Apollo told him, taking a bite from his treacle tart. "And she'll warm up to me sooner or later. Any reply from Dad?"

"Nah, he must've received it only this morning. Don't worry, there's no reason why he shouldn't give a reply," Hades replied. "Before I forget, are you two going to try out for the team? Cadwaller told me earlier this morning it's set for next week, Saturday." Hades gestured to their team captain a few seats from them. Hades was a chaser for the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Yeah, we are," Apollo replied. "Though I haven't signed up yet."

"I've already put your name earlier," Artemis informed him.

"Oh, thanks. So who has Charms first?"

The other two dug in their bags for their timetables. "I do," Poseidon said.

Looks of disappointment were evident on his older siblings' faces and the rest of their breakfast was spent in silence. When they finished, they went to their groups of friends and proceeded to their first classes of the year.


Pansy sat at the staff table, observing the students as they went through breakfast. Her eyes strayed to the Slytherin table and two blonds immediately caught her eye.

"They look like their father, don't they?" Blaise whispered beside her.

"They're his?"

"Well, yes! Only one family has children who look like that," Blaise replied, rolling his eyes. "The taller one's Hades, the other is Poseidon. The girl sitting across them is Artemis. Apollo's missing, though. Woke up late again, I'm guessing."

"He has four children? Four?" she asked, surprised.

"Apollo and Artemis are twins," Blaise explained.

"Oh," Pansy said in reply. "A lot sure has changed around here. What about you, Blaise? Do you have children?"

Blaise hesitated for a minute. "Yes. I have two, but only one is here."

"Where?"

He nodded in the direction of the Ravenclaw table. "You see that girl standing up? The one with black hair and glasses. That's Elise, my eldest. She's in 3rd year already."

"She looks just like you," Pansy said, looking at him. "Where's the other one?"

"Elliot's with Daphne," Blaise said. "They're now in France. He's already 10. Daph and I haven't talked about whether he'll attend Hogwarts or Beauxbatons next year."

"Daphne? You married Daphne Greengrass?"

"Yes, but I filed for a divorce six years ago."

Pansy didn't know what to say, so she merely took a bite from her toast. Blaise gave her a knowing look.

"I know what you want to ask, Pansy, so just fire away," Blaise said.

Pansy looked at him, abashed. "Why did you split up?"

"She wasn't as happy with me as she was when we started," Blaise said, looking at his reflection on the pumpkin juice in his goblet. "She didn't have to tell me. I could see it in her eyes. So I gave her back her freedom."

"Did you love her?"

"I did, and I still do, but I can't really force myself upon her if she doesn't want me."

"You really have changed a lot, Blaise," Pansy said, squeezing his hand supportively and giving him a small smile. "Don't worry, she'll come around, and if she doesn't, I'm sure you'll find someone else who deserves you more."

"I'm not the only one who's changed, Panse. Since when have you acquired a sense of optimism?" Blaise joked. "I don't believe it, we should be preparing for our classes already!"


"Oh, Merlin, can this class get any worse?" Elise Zabini grumbled as she watched Professor Binns drone the lesson away.

"Don't worry, Lise, just a few more minutes and it's over," Hades replied. He was seated beside Elise near the window, just in case his father chose to owl his reply now. He glanced once every few minutes to see if there was an owl hovering outside, but until now, there's been no luck. So he was stuck with Binns' excruciatingly boring lecture with the others.

"Why hasn't he retired yet? Why?" Elise muttered to herself, exasperated. "I can't take any more of his incessant talk, I- Hades, isn't that your father's owl?" She pointed outside and indeed, it was Iris, his father's owl. He looked over to see whether Binns was looking their way (which he isn't) before opening the window to let Iris perch on the windowsill.

"About bloody time you got here, girl," Hades muttered, untying the letter from her foot. Glancing one more time at Binns, he shooed her and closed the window.

"What's that all about?" Elise asked.

"Nothing, it's nothing," Hades instantly replied, quickly shoving the letter into his bag. He'd be reading it over at lunch with his brothers and sister. Elise gave him a shrewd look but dropped the subject. After what seemed like an eternity, Binns finally said, "Class dismissed."

Hades hastily jammed his things into his bag. Elise merely gaped at him, wondering why the hell he's in such a hurry.

"I'll talk to you later. Gotta run!" Hades said quickly to Elise, literally running to get to the Great Hall.


When Hades arrived at the Great Hall, he immediately looked for any sign of his siblings. Looking over to the Gryffindor table, he instantly saw Apollo trying to get Lillian to talk to him.

"Come on, Potter, I'm not all that bad," Apollo said. "And I'm really having problems with Transfiguration. You can tutor me, since you're one of the best in the subject. Please?" He put on his best 'puppy dog look'.

"For the last time, Malfoy, no, no and no!" Lillian spat in his face. "Why can't you just understand?"

"But, Lillian-"

"Come on, Polo," Hades said, pulling him away from the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

"I've just received Dad's letter. D'you want to read it or not?"

Apollo let out a sigh of defeat. "Alright. What does it say?"

"I haven't read it yet. I wanted all of us to read it at the same time," Hades replied, taking a seat beside Artemis.

"So you have it?" Poseidon asked.

"Yeah, here it is," Hades said, taking out the letter from his bag and opening the letter. The others hovered above him to get a good view of its content.

Hades,

Send my congratulations to Poseidon for making it in Slytherin. I also thought he'd be Sorted into Ravenclaw (not that there's anything wrong with that). And thank Merlin you're all well.

To answer your question, yes, I did know your new Charms teacher. Her full name is Pansy Parkinson, a former Slytherin like me. She was in our year as well. She and I did not get along well, so be cautious around her. She might do something to you for revenge. Do not, and I mean DO NOT, get too close with her. She's a Slytherin at heart; she will strike when you least expect it. Do not be deceived by the kindness she is (or will be) showing you. She could harm you in ways more than one, so be careful.

Heed my warning. Stay safe. DO NOT LET HER GET TOO CLOSE TO YOU.

Love,

Dad

P.S.

Send my love to Apollo, Artemis and Poseidon.

Also, I'm currently dating someone (yes, someone else again, I know), but she's extremely nice. I'm sure you'll love her when you get to know her.

No one spoke for a few seconds, as they were all trying to absorb what was written in the letter. They shared glances, all showing shock and disbelief.

"Have you ever heard him talk like that?" Apollo asked suddenly.

"Never," Artemis said. "He's never spoken like that about anyone before."

"What are we gonna do, then?"

"It's simple, isn't it? We just have to follow what he said and stay away from her as much as possible," Poseidon stated.

"He's right," Hades said. "I wouldn't want to get on Father's bad side."

"Neither would I," Artemis said.

"Nor I," Poseidon said.

"Me too," Apollo said.

"So it's agreed," Hades concluded. "We will stay away from Professor Parkinson as much as possible. And no one, I mean no one else should know about this."

The other three nodded their heads in agreement. The four proceeded to eat their lunch.

"Don, you've just finished Charms, haven't you?" Artemis asked. "How was it?"

"It was okay," Poseidon replied. "She's a very good teacher, I can tell. Pity Father told us to keep distance from her."

"If you say she's good, then she must be really good," Apollo said. "But can you believe Dad's dating again? 'She's extremely nice', yeah right! As if I haven't heard that one before!"

"What could she be like, though?" Poseidon mused. "Dad seems to be really smitten with her."

The others merely shrugged, but they were all thinking of the same thing: what could she have that has made Dad fancy her so much?