Author's Note: Thanks so much to my kind reviewers who have urged me to continue on with the story! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!

The next morning, the Gryffindors headed off to Transfiguration. Hermione, Lavander, and Parvati eagerly sat up front.

"He's so cute," Lavender whispered. "His gentle eyes, and the way he smiles…I just want to melt."

"He's very friendly, too," Parvati added. "And the sixth years told me he tells lots of jokes."

"Professor Hanratty says he's a brilliant wizard," Hermione breathed.

"Just listen to them," Ron nudged Harry from a few rows back. "I'll be surprised if they can learn anything from him if they keep oogling over him."

Professor Gordon cheerfully entered the classroom and closed the door. "Good morning," he smiled, looking more attractive than ever in forest-green robes. "I'm Desmond Gordon, and we're in N.E.W.T. Transfiguration. Please just call me Desmond. This whole 'Professor Gordon' thing is really starting to creep me out." He paused and took a sip of water. "I mean, I start teaching, and all of a sudden I'm a professor. That isn't right. This is the first time I've taught anybody! I'm no professor!" There were scattered giggles throughout the room.

Desmond sat down at his desk. "Now, while we're in class, I sit down a lot, because if I stand up too much, I feel lightheaded. And I do get sick a lot, so you may have a substitute from time to time."

The girls up front let out a very upset "Awwww." At once, the rest of the class started laughing, including Desmond. "I know, a lot of people feel that way," he laughed. "But there's honestly nothing I can do." He took another sip of water. "Anyway, down to work. I'm going to tell you right now that this class is not easy, but I'm going to do everything I can to make it as easy as possible. Most of this year, we'll be transfiguring some very difficult things…including people."

"People!" gasped Ron. "We're going to transfigure each other?"

Desmond seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Ron hadn't raised his hand. "That's right. But we won't start doing that until later in the year. For today's lesson, we'll be transfiguring our chairs into wild animals."

Hermione raised her hand. "Professor Gordon--"

"Desmond," he corrected her, smiling.

"I mean, Desmond," Hermione said, blushing. "Will you be teaching us how to become Animagi?"

"I wish I could, Hermione, but I'm afraid I can't. The Ministry of Magic won't allow me to. But, if you're seventeen and wish to try it, I could set it up with the proper authorities." Desmond rearranged himself so that he was sitting on his desk, with his chair out in front of him, facing the class. "And now, without further ado, I am going to demonstrate the proper way to turn a chair into a zebra."

"He kind of reminds you of Professor Lupin, doesn't he?" Ron asked Harry at lunch that afternoon. "He seems like a very nice teacher, but he has a serious health problem--"

"I know," Harry interrupted. "And I'd like to find out exactly what that health problem is."

"Harry, you're getting too carried away," Hermione told him. "Maybe he's just a diabetic, and gets sick when his blood sugar goes out of control."

"But do diabetics crave that much salt, Hermione?" Harry asked in a low tone, nudging his head in Professor Gordon's direction. Up at the staff table, Professor Gordon had a saltshaker in his hand, and was sprinkling massive heaps of salt over anything and everything.

"I'm going to do some research and try to find out what he has," Hermione said softly. "I want to make sure he's okay."

"He's fifty-five years old! I think he can handle it!" Ron said, annoyed.

"Speaking of Professor Lupin," Harry said, trying to prevent a fight between the two of them, "I wonder to see how he's doing. Is Slughorn making him the wolfsbane potion?"

Within the next few days, which passed by without incident (unless you count the part where Professor Hanratty announced she was in the middle of planning a class trip to Azkaban so they could study dementors more carefully—needless to say, the entire class had balked in horror, but then calmed down because they figured the Ministry couldn't possibly permit it), Hermione had finished the new edition of Hogwarts: A History, and passed the book on to Harry.

Harry sat on his bed with the book and immediately flipped to the index. Instead of going through the entire book, he only found it necessary to study the pages where Voldemort was mentioned. But while attempting to locate an index listing for "Lord Voldemort" or "Riddle, Tom," he came across a very interesting listing:

Gordon, Desmond…404, 406

Harry blinked. Professor Gordon was included in this book? He hurriedly turned to page 404. He just had to read about him.

"'Of all the notorious troublemakers that have descended upon Hogwarts through the years, none were more careless or destructive than the Skeleton Crew, a group of eight Ravenclaw students who attended Hogwarts from 1953 to 1961,'" Harry read aloud from the book. "'It was the constant antics of these students that caused Headmaster Arnando Dippet to announce his retirement.'" The page went on to say that the members of the Skeleton Crew currently held the record for the most detentions ever given at Hogwarts. And one of the great eight had been Desmond Gordon.

Harry couldn't believe his eyes. The friendly, sensitive Transfiguration teacher had been a serious troublemaker? No way!

Reading on, Harry found out that the Skeleton Crew's clowning had ranged from harmless practical jokes (suspending a pail above a doorway and bewitching it to pour confetti on top of any person that walked through) to seriously dangerous stunts (dangling an invisible crowbar in the middle of the stairs, causing people to fall down the staircase and break bones.)

With shaking, disbelieving hands, Harry turned to page 406. What else was there on him?

Page 406 listed the current whereabouts of the eight Skeleton Crew members. Unfortunately, there were only three still alive and not in prison. Roebus Lurrus has been murdered in 1971 by Michael Tillford. Julius Koontz had committed suicide in 1985. Michael Tillford was in Azkaban for killing Roebus Lurrus. Rosemary Brawlak was in Azkaban for being a Death Eater. Irene Newport was killed in 1977 by Lord Voldemort. Megara Conway lived in Greece, and was a pop-singing star. Artemis Wilder was a proclaimed Seer, and taught Divination at a Wizarding school somewhere in Scandinavia. And of course, Desmond Gordon had been proclaimed a magical genius, invented loads of new spells, and had worked for the Department of Mysteries before teaching at Hogwarts.

Harry flipped through the next couple of pages. The only other thing the book mentioned was that the Skeleton Crew and the Marauders remained bitter rivals until sometime in the early 1980s, when they had called a truce. The two groups remained good friends ever since.

Harry just stared at the book in amazement. He had had no idea.

"Hermione!" he finally shouted as he ran down to the common room.

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