AN: Thanks to those who are following. I shall endevour to write for your pleasure. Again, I own nothing.

Hogwarts Library

Salvadore felt fortunate that he didn't have any close friends at Hogwarts. With the amount of work that was given from just two classes he was pretty sure he'd hardly get the chance to see them. He had plans for his free time and they certainly did not include being bogged down in homework. Taking advantage of the free period he decided to tackle his homework from Professor Snape first.

He was almost done when he noticed the time and went to find his Arithmancy class. After getting some directions for a fourth year Ravenclaw, he made his way while considering the remaining days schedule.

'Lunch, break, then double potions. Finish defense homework, might be able to get Arithmancy done during lunch and the break then get started on runes and potions.' He thought hoping no complications arose for the remainder of the day. Quickly taking a seat in the front row he half-wished that his housemate would not sit next to him. While she seemed more approachable alone, seeing Ron's reaction as he handed her back her books made him wonder if the trouble he'd have to experience with her as a study partner would be worth it.

Hearing a large group enter the classroom he turned around to see almost the entire sixth year Ravenclaw class, by his estimation, make their way in. He immediately saw a few that he recognized from his Defense class start to point and whisper to the rest of his classmates. He idly wondered what was going to be said about him by the end of the day before pulling out his class materials for the days lesson.

"Is this seat taken?"

Looking up Salvadore saw a petite girl of asian descent.

"Not at all, Salvadore Thatcher, pleasure to meet you" He said as he stood up and extended his hand to greet his new female acquaintance.

"Su Li" she said simply "If I may ask, what brings you to Arithmancy? " She asked trying to gleam some new information on the new student.

"Career Aspirations" He said with a small smirk knowing that he really didn't give her much of an answer. He wanted to expand on his answer in response to her eye roll but was distracted by Hermione entering in a hurry muttering about boys and homework. She gave a small pause when she noticed the seat next to Salvadore was taken but quickly found an empty seat and pulled out her class materials before the class started.

After making arrangements to meet up with Su in the library to work on Arithmancy after dinner at the end of class, Salvadore found Hermione waiting for him.

"How is your first day going so far?" She asked while walking with him to lunch.

"Good, I'd say Hogwarts reputation is well deserved from what I've seen so far" He said thinking back on the classes attended so far.

"It was very impressive what you did in Defense today. I only managed to get a shield to work toward the end of class. Does the same principal apply to all spells cast silently?" She asked thinking back on when she finally had success in class. Outside of Salvadore, she was the only one to successfully cast a spell silently.

"In principal yes. It really boils down to focus and intent. Like accidental magic as a kid. When we're kids it's really easy for us to focus on that one thing we really want, whether it be a cookie, to get away, or not to get hurt." Hermione looked down with a little bit of embarrassment as she remembered her cases of accidental magic involving books located on the top shelf of bookcase in her living room.

"The funny thing is that we lose that level of desire as we grow up and we train so that accidental magic happens less often. At this point it's not enough to simply will a spell into being. We really have to focus on the spell from the wand movement, incantation, and what the spell is suppose to do." He explained.

"So what advice would you give someone who's struggling with this lesson?" She asked, already thinking of a way to help Ron and Harry.

He looked at her as if to read her mind. He would have liked to hope that the interest was purely academic he knew that the information was going to make its way to friends Harry and Ron. While normally he would be all for the sharing of knowledge, one of the two stated individuals was already hosting a healthy dislike for him. Did he really want to arm a possible attacker with a new skill set?

"I'm not sure I want to answer that question" He said as they approached the Great Hall.

"Why not!?" Already thinking the reason was a slight against her. She had seen him, with the rest of the class, try to give hints to Parvati before Professor Snape used him to demonstrate the technique. Since he had tried to help someone before it had to be a personal reason against her. Or more specifically, as she thought on the matter a little bit more, her association with Ron.

"Because I really don't want to give your boyfriend a way to cast at my back without my hearing it" he admitted.

"He's not my boyfriend!" she said with a blush, while realizing that her conclusions were confirmed. While she was originally hopeful that a relationship was on the horizon over the summer, things had definitely not turned out for the better. Additionally, Fleur had given her much to think about on those last couple of days. While she was still open to the idea she was looking at the situation in a new light and had yet to come to a conclusion.

"I would thank you to stop saying that, he's just a friend." Hermione heard a deep intake behind her before the aforementioned boy rudely walked past her bumping her shoulder on his way to the table to sit by Dean and Seamus.

"I think he heard you" Salvadore added humorlessly.

Groaning to herself, she shot a dirty look to Salvadore before she made her way over to her usual spot grumbling about stupid boys. Salvadore looked back to find a questioning gaze on Harry Potters face. Shrugging his shoulders in response he made his way to where Parvati was sitting to see if he could help her further with her spell casting.

Looking torn for a moment, Harry looked between his best friends before deciding to let Ron vent to others. He had been hearing his unconvincing rants about Salvadore all day. Looking at Ron take his frustrations out on his food before putting it in his mouth, Harry decided to lend his support to his other best friend who looked like she needed a shoulder to lean on. Harry had tried, unsuccessfully, to get Ron to admit his feelings to their mutual friend which would usually result in a 'W-what are you talking about!? You're mental' as a reward. Thinking that some time to himself might do Ron some good, he sat down by Hermione to see if he could help her out.

"You all right?" he asked, noticing she still looked a little flustered.

"You don't have to sit by me you know, I'll be fine" she replied. While she was grateful for the company she also knew that by sitting by her Ron would be even more petulant since his best friend was seen to be taking her side.

"I know, just thought for once you'd like to have the friendly ear" Harry said with a shrug as he started to load his plate.

"Thank you" she responded quietly. "I take it you heard me as well?" she asked hoping that he wouldn't hold it against her.

"Yeah, the last few bits as we turned the corner. He looked really happy for a second then turned to that" he said gesturing to the sandwich tearing redhead further down the table "when he heard you."

"I don't get him" she said realizing that Harry was probably aware of her own feelings toward Ron. "I mean he's just so frustrating"

"I know, I've lived with him for the past five years remember?" he replied with a smirk. "He'll come around, just give him a sec. I told him to write to Bill if he was so concerned. He seemed to be thinking about it when we came down here."

"I hope you two at least got your Defense homework started. I honestly don't think there's enough time in the day to keep up with all the work we're going to have" was Hermione's attempt to change the subject. While Harry was a good person to talk to about this, she didn't want to have the conversation in such a public setting.

"Started…yes." He replied with a chagrined look.

"Honestly, boys" she said with a roll of her eyes letting the conversation fall to more mundane and repetitive subjects.

Hogwarts, Potions Lab

Salvadore was feeling quite accomplished. After a quick lunch, he managed to get two homework assignments complete and had a whole evening to complete two more. While the Ancient Runes assignment looked to be complicated, he was very familiar with the subject due to his time spent with the Skewers. While it would take some time he was sure he could process through it without much problem. He was only slightly worried about what potions assignment they would get. From his experience, potions homework could range from a recipe analysis breaking down every procedure to the 'why's' and 'how comes' to a treasure hunt looking through the library for the correct references.

The talk with Parvati had been beneficial. While not getting the technique down yet, she felt she was on the cusp and thanked him for his help in getting her there. Her friend, however, had decided to glare at him between shooting glances toward Ron on the other end of the table. Making his hasty retreat to the library after a quick meal he had finished his Defense and Arithmancy homework before setting down to review his notes and mark any interesting bits for further research before heading down to the dungeons.

Salvadore approached the potions professor with Harry and Ron as soon as they were allowed in the classroom. The three of them got some spare material to use until their school supplies could be delivered. Seeing himself as the odd man out as far as tables went, Salvadore took a table in front of the trio who had Ernie Macmillan as their fourth.

He had heard stories of the rotund professor from the Skewers. They were each from members of one of the few pureblood families in Australia, where they were educated, before being recruited by Gringotts. With Jonathan being three years older than Samantha, they didn't formally meet until they were both assigned to an expedition in Egypt where they fell in love.

Once their Gringotts contracts were up they decided to open their own firm and took their skills to those willing to pay. Over the years their prominence grew and eventually gained the attention of the English pureblood society, where they decided to base their company due to its proximity to the main branch of Gringotts who held their services on retainer.

Unfortunately, much to their ire, they gained the attention of Professor Slughorn who had made many overtures through mutual acquaintances to meet with them. After relenting once while between expeditions they came to two conclusions. First, the man's network of who's who in the wizarding world was astounding and second, due to how they operated neither the man nor his network really had much to offer them. With that being said the Skewers limited contact with him and his known associates and went about their business with tight lips less they get unwanted overtures to help.

While questioning the class on the various potions in the front Professor Slughorn, as expected, stopped to lavish praise to both Harry and Hermione, whom Harry had praised during the Slugclub meeting on the train, much to Ron's growing ire.

As the professor made his challenge for the Felix Felicis, Salvadore tuned in and resolved himself to make a serious effort in this potion. He was taken for a pause, however, when he noticed the additional notations in the book. Some of the instructions he was aware of, having picked them up from Samantha, like crushing the soppphorous bean with the flat of his knife but others like the additional counterclockwise stir were foreign to him.

Deciding to err on the side of caution he went with what he knew and resolved to research the additional steps at a later time to confirm their quality. Looking behind him he noticed Hermione making good progress with her potion followed closely by a struggling Harry. Ron and Ernie looked like they had all but given up hope to salvage their efforts.

Looking around the various potions the professor went to grading their efforts. His eyes perked up when he got to Hermione and Salvadore's potions.

"I must say you two are not making it easy on this old chap are you! Just splendid! However, there can only be one winner and after some careful consideration I must declare our young gentlemen here the winner. Good show my young man, may I ask your name?" The portly professor asked with an odd gleam in his eye.

"Thatcher sir, Salvadore Thatcher" Salvadore reckoned the man would lose interest as soon he realized that he wasn't from a pureblood family with business or social connections. He was partially right.

"Thatcher you say? You wouldn't happen to be related to a Steven Thatcher by chance would you?" he asked, wondering if this could be his chance to reconnect to the elusive Skewers.

"Yes sir, he was my brother." Salvadore answered not noticing a certain blonde slytherin paying more attention than he normally would to what the muggleborn was saying.

"Was?" Professor Slughorn asked seeing his chance to talk with the Skewers slipping away.

"Yes sir, he died several years ago. Accident on the job" Salvadore said, seeing the interest in diminish but not quite extinguish.

"My condolences young man. I'd heard good things about him" He said with a sincere voice before handing out the days homework and dismissing the class.

Packing his belongings Salvadore turned around only to find an evaluating gaze on the face of the Slytherins in the back of the class. Realizing they'd been caught looking their looks quickly turned to sneers as they grabbed their bags and left the potions classroom.

Draco had heard from his father that various Death Eaters had been sent to make contact with the Skewers. Their wards were renowned throughout the wizarding world and the dark lord wanted them for himself. There were grumblings about a Steven Thatcher as some had recounted his efforts in a raid at Diagon Alley. While skilled, they grudgingly acknowledged, the mudblood had not right to apprentice to such prominent purebloods. While most laughed at the fact that Steven was now dead, they also realized that he was their most probable method of locating the elusive Skewers, who made an effort to take all the jobs out of England that they could find.

Their Lord had actually noted that Steven's death 'was a pity'. His Lords' interest in the dead man was not his concern however. While the elder Thatcher might be dead, the Dark Lord might very well be interested in the fact that the mudblood had a younger brother. He quickly made his way to the owlery to ask his father for further guidance as it pertained to Salvadore Thatcher.