Went to see the last Harry Potter movie the other night, just LOVED it. I actually enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. And I must say, I was quite amused by the director's thinking in the last scene. 'We need to make these guys look middle aged. Let's just put them in patterned shirts and jackets, then make them grow some stubble. Yeah, that'll work.' Hee hee.


Draco walked along the third floor corridor, glancing around to make sure he wasn't being followed. Apart from a group of first year Hufflepuffs he'd passed five minutes ago, he hadn't seen any other person. There had also been no sign of the Society members, prospective or otherwise. Draco paused for a second, wondering if he had been tricked. Then he reminded himself that the Society meeting had been top secret, nobody could have found out who wanted to trick him. With a grim resolution, he reached the end of the corridor and turned to his right.

In front of him was a large tapestry depicting a dragon sleeping beneath an apple tree. Several children were sneaking around the beast and stealing apples. Draco looked at the scene for a moment, then glanced around. There was nobody in sight. Following the instructions that had been in the note, he pushed the tapestry aside and stepped through into the hidden corridor.

"Ah! Our fourth and final attendee. Right on time!" a voice called from the corridor. Draco looked up and saw a figure striding towards him. He recognised it as the sixth year, Kaelan Sands.

"Who else is here?" Draco asked, letting the tapestry fall back into place behind him. He glanced past Sands and saw two students, one tall and one short.

"We have our beautiful buddies Blaise and Bronwen," Kaelan announced with a smile. "Unfortunately, Mizako was deemed unsuitable for a return visit."

"Why?" Bronwen asked quietly, stepping up behind Kaelan. He looked at her.

"Why do you want to know?"

The girl went slightly pink under his gaze, and looked at her feet. "A foolish man does not learn from his mistakes," she said, sounding as if she was quoting something. "But only an idiot does not learn from the mistakes of others."

There was complete silence in the corridor. Then Kaelan gave a short, loud laugh and ruffled Bronwen's hair.

"I could not have put it better myself, and that's saying something," Kaelan said gleefully. "And I would love to tell you. But unfortunately..." He turned to look at all the third years. "Such information is reserved for full Society members. And I'm afraid you just don't cut it yet. However!" He strode down the corridor, motioning for the others to follow him. "That could all change very soon. I am going to be giving you a little lesson about something very important. Something which is integral to the way this Society works."

Kaelan reached a second tapestry which lead to another corridor and, just before he slipped through, he said, "Manipulation."

The third years stood in the corridor for a moment, then Draco strode out after Kaelan with the other two behind him. Kaelan was walking swiftly away from the tapestry through a busy corridor and talking as he went. The third years hurried to catch up with him.

"Power comes from connections," Kaelan was telling them. "If you know the right people, you can have anything you want. It's simply a matter of how much you know them. A simple hello every now and then won't work, you need to understand how they work. What makes them tick. Then you will know how to manipulate them. Then you will be able to get what you want. That is how it is all done." He stopped suddenly and whirled round, pointing a finger in Blaise's chest.

"You know about manipulating people, don't you Blaise?" he said with a grin.

Blaise narrowed his eyes slightly and took a step back. "What do you mean?"

The grin widened. "There is a Miss Forrest in your Charms class, isn't there?"

Blaise nodded.

"And is it not true that you frequently compliment her hair and smile at her? Then do you not copy her notes?"

Blaise looked to one side.

"Is it not true that Miss Forrest is one of the best at Charms in your class?"

Blaise nodded again.

Kaelan clapped him on the shoulder. "Blaise, you have been manipulating that poor girl to your own ends," he said, grinning widely. "And that is fantastic. I'm not going to lie, you're a handsome fellow, and you have been using that to your advantage. Which is good. It's exactly what we've been looking for. You're a natural." He took a step back. "However, you have to exercise caution. Flirting is a perfectly legitimate means of getting what you want, but in the long run this girl might realise you've been playing her. This may lead to her disliking you, even seeing you as a pig. Hey hey, I'm just stating facts, calm down. What I'm saying is, if you go over the top you'll probably end up losing a good thing. Whose notes will you copy if Miss Forrest hates you?"

He shrugged and started walking again, the third years right behind him. He didn't say anything for a while, then he stepped to the side of the corridor and stopped. The third years gathered round. Kalelan scratched his chin thoughtfully, looking over the third years' heads at something.

"Yes, manipulation is key," he said after a pause. "Get a smart person to give you the answer. Get a pretty person to go out with you. Get a political person to rewrite the law in your favour. The list is endless. But the question is, who do we choose to manipulate? For example..." He pointed a finger at a boy walking down the corridor. "That boy there, Percy Weasley. He and his entire family are muggle sympathisers, surely it would be unthinkable to be nice to him."

He glanced round to see heads nodding at his words. Then as Percy Weasley went by, he smiled.

"Afternoon Percy, how's it going?"

"Good afternoon, Kaelan. I'm fine. Yourself?"

"Oh, never better." Kaelan stood grinning as Percy walked to the end of the corridor and turned out of sight.

"It doesn't matter who a person his," He told the third years without looking at them. "Just the amount of power they have. I can use the headboy's bathroom, you know. Percy told me the password. Let me tell you, getting to use that bathroom is worth anything."

"You have to focus on the end goal," he told them with a smile. "Sometimes to get what you want you have to get your feet a bit dirty. If I have to mingle with muggles to get a job done, then I shall mingle with muggles. That's the way it goes."

He checked his watch and started off down the hall, but not without casting a small grin over his shoulder and saying, "Not that there's anything wrong with muggles."