"Hey Professor Sinistra, is there anything magical about the moon that muggles don't know about?"

"Not to my knowledge, Ibuki. Why do you ask?"

"So there is no magical illusion over it hiding a magical civilization from muggle eyes?"

"Merlin no! What weird muggle stories have you been listening to make you think that?"

Severus Snape was an important man who was not to be trifled with. His time was valuable and if it was to never be wasted, to do so would be an offence of the highest magnitude.

Which is what he liked to believe anyway. To be honest, he was planning on spending his time sitting in his office reading a gripping novel with only an ice cold alcoholic beverage to keep him company.

There were several snags in that plan.

The first was that supposed to be watching over some brats who were brilliant enough to earn themselves detention.

The sounds of eight sponges being scrubbed against pewter was almost music to his ears. "Get back to work Stebbins or you will find yourself back again tomorrow."

The sound of nine sponges being scrubbed against pewter was music to his ears.

Severus inwardly shuddered as he felt the need to look anywhere but Finnigan's attempt at explaining how to create an anti deafness cure before resolving to pair him with Granger for their next class and nowhere near anything flammable. Most likely directly below the room's sprinkler charm.

The other one of those problems was that the bottle of Firewhiskey he had been sitting on had gone missing.

Severus stared at his favourite mug with a sense of longing.

His thoughts were cut off as suddenly a loud pounding resounded from the door.

Severus got to his feet with a swish of his long black cloak and prowled past the shocked students before proceeding to unlock the door and pull it open in one smooth motion.

"Miss Ibuki, so you have finally decided grace my laboratory with your presence."

"Sorrrry, I was getting dru-"

"I do not care not care what your excuse is," Snape snapped, cutting off the girl from coming up with some inane excuse that he really did not care for at that moment in time. The room was quiet as time stretched on, the only sound being that of eight sets of sponges being raked across pewter.

"Fifty. Seven. Points." Every syllable was drawled as Severus stared imperiously down at the child. "Shall be taken from Gryffindor. One point for every minute of my time that you so shamelessly wasted."

"What!?" Came the angered outburst from the front of the room where the few students in red had been scrubbing.

"Get back to work Stebbins or that sponge will fill it."

It was a tactic Severus used often when dealing with problem students. Draw a wedge between the rule breaker and their house, and let peer pressure do the rest.

"'Okay. Can I come in now?"

As Severus stepped aside, more to not get scraped across the stomach by the girl's horns than to actually be courteous, he felt a sneer of annoyance threatening to split across his face but quickly schooled his features, "The set time for a detention is not just a mere suggestion. I do not care if you are attempting to write an assignment, watching a Quiddich game, or fighting a troll, you will show up on time."

"'kay."

Severus stared at the complete lack of reaction as the girl just slowly ambled past him and sat down at an empty table before resting her honed head on the table before seemingly falling asleep.

Severus spied the clock once more and swallowed as he felt the weight of the decision he was about to make fall over him.

He glanced at his mug once more.

The clock struck Six.

"Detention is over, get out of my sight."

"Her-mione Gr-ranger?"

"Present, sir."

"Daphene Greengr-rass."

"Here."

"Gregory Goyle."

"Here."

"Wayne H-h-hopkins?"

"Here"

"Suik-ka Ibuk-ki?"

"Suika Ibuki. Why do I evv-even both-ther?"

"I don't remember. Was it Yog with one g that was the dad?" Ron asked over breakfast.

"I couldn't tell you," Harry muttered as he ate, one eye watching the door to the main hall, all but ready to leap out of his seat and bolt for the entrance.

"Screw it, Yog's army was replaced with Yogg's with 700 raiders," Ron said as he finished his homework with a flourish and then slammed his quill down. "What sort of sick and twisted freak thinks that a deadline for an assignment should be Eleven Thirty Three on a Saturday morning?"

"Someone who has let the afterlife mash up their brain." Seamus Finnigan muttered from the other side of the table.

"If I ever decide that I want to torture people by becoming a teacher," Dean Thomas piped up. "Just exorcise me when I die."

"You know," Parvati Patil said from further down the table. "I think Binns is actually really hardcore." She received a tables worth of blank stares in response.

"What?" Ron broke the silence, blinking incredulously.

"Well just think, Nearly Headless Nick came back because the axeman was so bad at the job, the Fat Friar because he refused to let a death stop him from having a good time. And then there is the Bloody Baron, who even knows how he got those blood stains. And then Binns, he says screw you to the veil and decides to continue teaching anyway."

There was silence as the Parvati eventually found herself sighing. "He is still a boring teacher though."

Murmurs of agreement passed over the table before everyone went back to their own conversations.

The four Gryffindor first years were silent other than the scratching of quills and the clinking of cutlery on plates before Harry quickly jumped to his feet. "Sorry guys, gotta get to the pitch before Wood chucks a fit." He was out the door and onto the grounds before anyone even had time to respond.

"What was that about?" Seamus asked Ron.

"Not sure. You saw him, he was jittery all morning."

"Probably thinks I am going to chuck rocks at him."

Ron jumped as his head quickly swivelled around to face the newcomer. Dean and Seamus seemed nonplussed about the intrusion to the conversation. Greetings were exchanged as Suika sat down in the spot Harry once occupied and began to pile food onto her plate and grabbed an empty goblet.

"So Suika, you get Binns' homework done?"

The horned girl blinked as she regarded the question. An unmarked bottle that Ron never remembered her having was being poured into the goblet she held.

"Home...work?" She tested the words, as though she was unable to fathom how the two syllables were able to be combined. She put the goblet aside and then began to drink straight from the bottle.

"Yeah, the assignment that's due today at Eleven Thirty Three?"

"Oh that!"

"That." Ron winced in a show of sympathy.

"Yeah, I just added my name to Hermione's assignment when she wasn't looking. Binns' thinks that we did a joint assignment and had to mark us down to an E because of it."

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"Now students, the spell you will be performing is one of the most renowned spells in all of history; Wingardium Leviosa. Remember the wrist movement that we have all been practicing for the past few weeks, a swish preceded by a quick flick of the wrist. Now show me!"

There was a flurry of motion and wands as the class demonstrated the movement.

"Some of you who have read ahead may notice that the spells involving the animation of objects have wand movements that follow the same basic principle, this is no coincidence as Wingardium Leviosa is one of the key spells in charms that will form the basis for your entire spell repertoire."

Filius could see that he was losing some of the students at the barest mention of the theoretical so he switched course.

"The incantation is Wingardium. Leviosa." He flicked his wand in time with the incantation and the stack of books he was sitting on raised off the stool and he began to guide it around the room.

"Now you try!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The class devolved into a cacophony of mispronounced Latin and wild wand gesticulation directed at the feathers that had been handed out earlier, some achieving much more success than others.

"Oh wonderful! Miss Ibuki, take fifteen points to Gryffindor for that marvelous display of self application. I must say, I didn't think I would have needed to teach you how to dispel the enchantment so quickly, to do so just say… Er Suika? Stay away from the window, now."

"I must go, my people need meeeeeeeee."