Okay, so this disclaimer goes for ALL of the chapters in this story: I do not own Harry Potter or the Cirque du Freak series. All rights go to their respective owners.

Enjoy!

Chapter 7

"Biscuits and Unicorns"

Harry walked quickly in front of me, not slowing down. I was still new to this place, so I followed quickly behind him, not wanting to get lost. Halfway through a ghost (way different from Harkat!) floated up to Harry and me- and promptly started juggling ink wells.

"Why, it's Potty Wee Potter!" the strange poltergeist said, cackling madly and throwing inkwells.

I jumped out of the way, a bit too fast, but Harry didn't notice in his attempt to also dodge the ink.

"Get out of it Peeves," Harry said, in no mood to converse with the juggling specter.

"Oh Crackpots feeling cranky," he hissed. He finally noticed me and said, "Ooh. Does Potty have a new friend? What does this one do? Does he also speak in –"*raspberry* "tongues?"

As I pondered what the ghost meant by that, Harry yelled at the specter, which began singing:

"Oh, most think he's barking, the Potty wee lad,

But some are more kindly and think he's just sad,

But Peevesy knows better and says that he's mad–"

"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled at Peeves, who sped away laughing when a door opened.

The strict looking Professor McGonagall stepped out of the door and into the hall, no doubt looking for the source of the loud noises caused by Peeves and Harry.

"What on earth are you shouting about, Potter?" she said before giving our presence a second thought. "Why aren't you two in class?"

"We've been sent to see you," I explained.

"Sent? What do you mean, sent?" she said worriedly.

As an answer, Harry handed her the note from Umbridge. The Professor took it with a frown and tapped it with her wand. It opened and she began reading it. As she read it, her eyes began narrowing. By the end of the letter, her eyes were thin slits, glaring at the page.

"Come in here, Potter, Shan."

We followed her into the room, which seemed to be a sort of office. The door shut behind us, making me jump, and McGonagall turned to us.

"Well?" she began, "Is this true?"

"Is what true? Harry asked, rather rudely. "Professor, he added in an attempt to redeem his manners.

"We weren't allowed to read it," I added.

"Is it true that you two yelled at Professor Umbridge?" she asked.

"Yes," we said together

"You called her a liar?"

"Yes," we said, shrinking away from the Professor, from fear of scolding.

"You both said that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?"

"Yes," we sighed together.

The professor then sat behind her desk and frowned at us.

"Have a biscuit."

"Huh?" I said confused, at the same time that Harry said, "What?"

"Have a biscuit," she said, beginning to sound impatient. "And sit down."

We each grabbed a cookie from the tin on her desk. I nibbled on the cookie, trying to figure out what had just happened. When we were sent to the strictest looking teacher in the school, I had not been expecting to be given a cookie. If this is how she treated misbehaving students, I wondered how she rewarded good students."

"You two need to be careful," she said seriously. "Misbehavior in Dolores Umbridge's class could cost you much more than House points and a detention."

"What do you–"Harry began.

"Use your common sense boys," she snapped, "You know where she comes from, you must know to whom she is reporting."

The bell rang just then, and the sounds of hundreds of students thundered around the room.

"It says here she's given you detention every evening this week, starting tomorrow," she said, looking down at the note.

"Every night this week!" I said, aghast.

"But Professor, couldn't you–" Harry started to say.

"No, I couldn't," she said, allowing no arguments. "She is your teacher and has every right to give you two detentions. You will go to her room at five o' clock tomorrow for the first one. Just remember: Tread carefully around Dolores Umbridge."

"But we were telling the truth!" said an outraged Harry. "Voldemort's back, you know he is, Professor Dumbledore knows he is–" ]

"For heaven's sake Potter!" she said while straightening her glasses- which had fallen when she heard Harry say Voldemort. "Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It's about keeping your head down and your temper under control! Didn't you listen to Dolores Umbridge's speech at the start of the year feast?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "Yeah… She said.. uh.. progress will be prohibited."

"Or in other words, the Ministry of Magic is infiltrating Hogwarts," I finished.

When I finished my statement, Professor McGonagall and Harry both looked at me. Harry's eyes held surprise and respect. Professor McGonagall just stared at me, trying to decide what to make of me. In the end she just shook her head and led us out of her office.

"Er.." Harry began, "Thanks for um.. standing up for me back there. You shouldn't have done it though."

"It was nothing," I replied simply.

"Well, if you ever need anything.." he said, leaving off the ending.

"Well, there is one thing," I said, when I realized I had lost my guide.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. I had Muggle Studies with Ernie, who was part of the anti-Umbridge brigade, and he showed me how to get to transfiguration. At dinner, Fred and George managed to slip something into my drink, which left me steaming for hours- literally! Homework was piling up, (and it was only the first day!) so I spent my evening with Ernie, writing a report on the difficulties of animal transfiguration. By the time I made it to my four-poster, I was ready to drop. I fell asleep almost as soon as I hit my pillow.

I woke up the next morning before the plants began to sing. Most of my fellow Hufflepuffs were awake too, sitting on their beds and rubbing their eyes. I had left my hangings open last night, and the light from the sunny dormitory had woken me up. I stretched like a cat and hopped down from my bed. I reached into my, now messy, trunk and pulled out a set of robes. I pulled them on and waltzed into the common room. Justin and Hannah Abbot (the girl prefect) were sitting together on a yellow couch, proofreading their essays. I sat in a chair that was sitting near them, and started a conversation.

"So, is the Great Hall open yet?" I inquired.

"Yeah, but almost no one is in there" replied Hannah. "Just a few first years trying to make a good impression. Did you finish your essay?"

"Yeah. I did it all last night. I know there is going to be even more homework today, so I wanted to get it out of the way," I explained.

"Too right. You can bet that Professor Snape will give us a load of work," piped Justin.

We spent the next few minutes in silence. Justin and Hannah finished their papers, while I made multicolored smoke rings come out of my wand. We headed to the Great Hall, and enjoyed a nice breakfast, all of which I smelled carefully; I didn't want any more surprises in my food.

"Look Fred! It's the human tea kettle!" yelled George.

I rolled my eyes and spun in my seat, turning to face the Weasley twins.

"Look Jordan! Two speckled monkeys in the great hall! I wonder if they do tricks!" I said, nudging Jordan with my elbow.

Fred and George laughed. George playfully swung a fist at me, which I dodged- not too quickly though!

I stood up (breakfast forgotten) and walked with Fred and George to the Gryffindor Table. They looked surprised when I sat with them; I guessed that house didn't mix much. But, they welcomed me and introduced me to a few more Gryffindors.

After breakfast, I left the twins and walked over to Stebbins, who was heading to potions class.

"Hey mate!" he said. "I heard you got detention with Umbridge; on your first day too!"

"Haha... Yeah," I mumbled in reply, as we descended further into the castle.

We went down a ton of staircases before we reached Professor Snape's classroom. We took a seat near the front (which was empty) and pulled out our supplies. The bell rang a moment later, and all talking ceased as the doors slammed shut menacingly. A pallid, bat-like man stormed to the front of the classroom and slammed his hands on his desk.

"Welcome, to what will be, to many of you, your last year of Potions," the greasy man drawled. "This June, each of you will be taking your O.W.L exams, and only those who manage to make and Outstanding will be allowed to continue my class."

Many of the Ravenclaws leaned forward eagerly, ready to accept the challenge. But, one timid Hufflepuff girl looked about ready to cry.

"But," he said dramatically, "You still have one more year before you can end your studies with me, so let us begin. Today, we will begin with the Draught of Peace. This potion is commonly seen in your owls, so I expect the very best from you. You will find all your ingredients in the student's cupboard, and all instructions are on the board. You may begin."

Potion making wasn't all that bad. It was a bit like cooking; if you followed the instructions, you were fine. By the end of the hour, I had a somewhat shimmery potion, which I put into a flask for grading. The Professor looked at my potion and simply nodded, which was an improvement to how he treated the others. I rather liked this professor. His gloomy demeanor and long greasy locks, reminded me of Mika. The gloomy prince had taken a liking to me… in his own way, (He only had a small grimace when he looked at me now!) and the reminder of the mountain made me smile. I went to my seat and packed my bag.

My next class was Care of Magical Creatures, (COMC) with Professor Grubby-Plank. I walked with Justin and Stebbins to the outside of the castle, where the Professor was waiting with unicorns. Two were golden and small, but the third was the pure white, horned creature of myth. The girls around me were practically drooling at the tied up creatures. The teacher walked to the front of the class and looked to the class.

"This year," she said in a rough, but pleasant, voice, "is your O.W.L year. For most students, it is the hardest year of their Hogwarts career. It does not have to be this way. This year is only as hard as you make it. I am here to teach you about magical creatures. If you pay attention and do your work, there is no reason for you to make anything less than an Acceptable on your exams."

After her introduction speech, she gestured to the unicorns behind her.

"These," she said, still gesturing, "are unicorns. They are coveted for their blood, hair, and horns. They are gold for the first few years of their life, before they turn..."

She drabbled on about unicorns for the better part of the hour, before allowing students to pet them. At first, she only allowed girls (they were considered more trustworthy to the beasts) before allowing us guys to touch them. When it was my turn to pet them, I walked up to the small gold ones, squatted down, and petted the smallest one. I had barely laid my hand on it, when it promptly kicked me in the face. I fell to ground with a huff and tried to clear my head. The unicorn was now spazzing out, trying to kick me again. I backed away. As soon as I was out of its range of smell, it calmed down.

I turned to the now laughing class; even the professor was trying to suppress a chuckle! I stomped to the back of the line, where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were snickering.

"Hey mate," chortled Ron. "You've got a bit of dirt on your face."

"Shut it"

Sorry for the wait on this one guys! I left my OOTP book at my dad's house, and didn't get it back until today! In other news, I got a pet hedgehog! He is now keeping me company as I write. Next chapter has Harry and Darren in detention!

Blood and guts

-Rebarbative