"I feel like their love is so obnoxiously innocent that if they ever had sex, she'd birth a puppy."

Cristina and Meredith sat disinterested, as usual, in the damp and dark dungeon where their Potions lesson was being held. Alex and Izzie laughed across from them, flirting for all to see.

"Speaking of puppies, it looks like someone just kicked George's." Meredith added, causing Cristina to laugh at the pouting boy across the room from them. Meredith leaned on the back legs of her chair, groaning out of nowhere. Cristina checked their potion again, realizing it still had a while to go before they could continue putting their ingredients in.

"The hell's wrong with you?" the Slytherin asked.

"My fucking Mother. She keeps asking me the weirdest questions in these letters, and the owls have seriously not stopped coming since I got here.''

"Well, what's in them?" said Cristina. Meredith shook her head as she waved an uncaring hand out, exasperated by the whole topic.

"She's working on some business deal with some guy for the Ministry, whatever, who cares? It's just annoying. Like last night, Derek and I were-"

"I don't need to know that at all-"

"Ok, we were busy, is that good? And another owl just flies right in, interrupting everything! Another pointless letter from Mom."

Cristina scrunched up her features. "I thought we were both in the 'My Mom Actually Just Loves Herself and Not Me' club? What happened to that? We bonded, Mer." Meredith laughed and shrugged.

"I don't know, I thought it was where I belonged, too! Oh well. Are we supposed to add anything to this thing?" she asked, peering over the top of the pewter cauldron hesitantly. Cristina shoved her friend's face away.

"The fumes can seer your eyebrows off, Mer! Jeez, do you pay attention at all?"

Meredith stared at her friend incredulously. "Um, yes! You're the one that doesn't!" Cristina nodded, pointing her quill at her friend.

"You are right on that one. But seriously, it's only because I already learned all this stuff from the book this summer. For some reason, Korea was just not the fun it usually is."

"Speaking of places I know nothing about," Meredith interrupted, "what kind of creatures are in the Forbidden Forest? Mom was asking."

Cristina muttered to herself as she bent over her chair, rifling loudly through her messy pile of school supplies. Finally finding what she was looking for, she popped back up, chunking a red and gold book at Meredith's face who just barely caught it in time. The Ravenclaw studied it curiously. It looked as though an animal had ripped the side of it with it's claws.

"Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them?" she read aloud. Cristina nodded, checking their timer and stopping it right before rolling her sleeves up and standing in front of their cauldron.

"Yeah, should tell you what you want to know. If not, ask Callie Torres. She's the one that's spent all her time there. Will you pass the snake fangs?"

Meredith carelessly plopped the brown sack next to her friend's station. She watched as Cristina followed the instructions from their Magical Drafts and Potions book, running her index finger against the page in line with her eyes.

"You're friends with Callie Torres? I thought no one was friends with her. She seems a bit stuck up to me." Meredith said. Cristina laughed openly at that.

"Callie Torres is the polar opposite of stuck up. You must be thinking of her older sister, Aria. You know, the skinny hispanic 7th year one? The one with the word 'bitch' practically stamped across her forehead? Ok, give me the billywig stings. Oh, you can find those in the Forbidden Forest!"

Meredith chewed at the inside of her lip as she stared at the ingredients spread out in front of her.

"Dried or wet?"

Cristina rolled her eyes, snatching them for herself.

"What do you mean dried or wet? There is no such thing as wet billywig stings. If that was supposed to be a joke, it only made you look like an idiot." the Asian girl said, pinching some into the mortar. Using her pestle, she began crushing the ingredients, using as much strength as she could. Meredith frowned at her friend.

"Is that Owen guy you were talking about the Keeper for the Gryffindor team?"

"Blah, stupid mortar! Getting cracked and ruining my mixture..." Cristina muttered. She looked up momentarily at the Ravenclaw girl who was eyeing her expectantly. She rolled her eyes at her.

"Ok, ok, yes he is. But, so? You know I don't care about sports. Sorry he beat up your boyfriend last week."

"Well," Meredith said, ignoring the shot at her, "are you two dating or whatever?"

Cristina sighed, thrusting the mortar and pestle into her friend's hands who fumbled with it. Slight beads of sweat were forming on the Slytherin's forehead. She sat back in her chair, pinching her sweater vest and pulling at it, trying to get fresh air to touch her hot skin. Meredith struggled as she attempted to finely grate the mixture in her hands.

"I don't know. He sort of invited me to some thing with his friends on Halloween night, but it's supposed to be top secret."

"Yeah, well, he's one of The Quartet, so I'm sure it will get you into tons of trouble." said Meredith. Cristina shrugged, sighing as she threw her hair up. She ran her tired hands across her scalp, attempting to massage the stress away.

"I didn't say I'd go...necessarily. But, you asked, so..." she said. Meredith measured the quality of the mixture. Once she thought it was up to snuff, she put 3 pinches into the cauldron.

"You're right," she said as she sat back down in her seat, "I did. Thank you for telling me."

Across the room, a loud bubbling sound caught the attention of the two girls. At George's station, he and Lori McLarty, a red headed Slytherin girl, were frantically trying to blow on their potion. The gurgling purple liquid sloshed over the edges of the cauldron, sending everything it touched up in pink flames. The class jumped out of their seats and stared at the scene in shock, some high fiving at the luck of possibly getting out of their first big Potion's test. Professor Lopinto, a tall, thin Mexican man with a graying goatee rushed over to the cauldron.

"Class-" he coughed, covering his mouth with the sleeve of his black robes, "Class dismissed!"

Teddy smiled at Owen as she watched him put up a magical poster of their favourite quidditch team, the Pride of Portree's, on the wall of The Wreck. The different shades of violet jumped all over the picture, their favourite players flying in and out of the poster. A large golden star would leap out at the observer if they stared long enough, causing the two of them to laugh excitedly.

"So fucking cool!" Teddy exclaimed. Owen nodded his agreement. The "Prides", as their fans called them, were from Teddy and Owen's home, the Isle of Skye. Tim rolled his eyes as he sat on the red cushions, polishing the wood of his Nimbus 4000 with the utmost care.

"How about you start to like a team that actually wins, yeah? Like the Magpies! Now there's a team worth showing off in here!" he said, grinning widely. Owen and Teddy just ignored him, pointing out each player that would appear and quickly listing their stats.

"How about we put a gigantic, full bodied poster of Morgan Jordan and hang it from the ceiling?!" Arizona suggested happily. The rest of the room laughed at her ridiculous outburst.

"Arizona, the only reason you even like the Holyhead Harpies is because it's an all girls team." Tim said.

"Yeah," Arizona defended, "and your point is?"

The others laughed again, not taking her seriously in the least. Although Arizona knew all about quidditch because of the other three in the room, she was a horrific flyer, so they didn't take her as seriously when she spoke of the sport. Besides, the usual reason she watched the sport when one of her friends or family members wasn't playing was because she had a thing for the athletic women that were on the teams.

"But Morgan is so hot! Come on, you guys, we all like women now! We should embrace it by getting a giant poster of her!" Teddy slapped Arizona upside the head, effectively shutting her up. Arizona scowled at her friend while she rubbed at the spot.

"So the other day I sort of umm...invited Cristina to go with us on Halloween night." Owen said quickly, hoping maybe if he said it quickly, his friend's wouldn't freak out. No such luck.

"You WHAT?"

"That was supposed to be our thing!"

"Who's Cristina?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Owen said, holding his hands up to stop the onslaught of noise that immediately arose from his friends. "I thought it would be better if we brought people! What? It's not that big of a deal is it? And she's the girl I fancy, Arizona."

"Wait," interrupted Teddy, "Cristina...Yang? That Slytherin 4th year? You're dating a 4th year?!"

Owen groaned, rubbing his face tiredly. The other three stared at each other in confusion.

"Yes, ok? Well, we're not dating, we're just...talking. Or, I don't know! God! Just say she can come, yeah? Teddy? Arizona? Tim?"

Tim crossed his arms, abandoning his broom momentarily. Arizona and Teddy looked at each other, shrugging as they warmed up to the idea. Suddenly Teddy's eyes lit up a bright yellow.

"Oh, can I bring Addison?! I'd love that! Please Tim? Please?" she asked, pouting for good effect. Tim and Arizona glanced at each other, mulling it over with one another. Owen and Teddy waited patiently for a verdict. After a very small meeting, the Robbins siblings nodded their head.

"Ok, fine, we can each bring one person. But just one!"

"Yes! The Prides do it again, folks!" Teddy announced. She and Owen hugged excitedly, going as far as to start singing The Pride's official song. Arizona and Tim laughed at their friends, letting them have their fun.

"Now remember," Professor Leonel announced, "I'm counting on all of you today! I need everyone to collect as many Horklumps as possible. Tobias is passing out jars for everyone to put your collections in. Whomever gets the most will be awarded ten points for their house." Arizona and Teddy looked at each other, determined to get the most. Unfortunately, because of some idiotic first year performing a curse he didn't quite understand and setting the library on fire, Gryffindor was deducted house points and had the lowest amount out of all the four houses. Hufflepuff had the most, then Slytherin, and then Ravenclaw.

"So go ahead and wander off! When you hear my whistle know that you have ten minutes to arrive back to my hut before class is over. Happy hunting!" he said. He gave Callie a smile as she eagerly stood up. Turning around, she held out a hand to Arizona, who took it happily.

"Come on, let's go have a look!"

Derek, Mark, Addison, Teddy, Callie, and Arizona were having a great time hunting through the forest. Although Mark kept finding Doxies, tiny little fairy-like creatures that were black and furry with double the limbs of a normal creature, to come up and try and bite the girls every now and then, they were having a nice enough time.

"Here, Teddy, let's join forces!" said Arizona, dumping the pink mushrooms she had been collecting into Teddy's jar.

"That's cheating!" said Derek. The girls giggled conspiratorially, ignoring the Ravenclaw. The six of them wandered deeper and deeper into the forest, singing songs and poking fun at one another. It wasn't until a flash of gold darted out in front of them that the group quieted down.

"The hell was that?" asked Addison. Callie bit her lower lip, gesturing for her friends to stay where they were.

"I think I have an idea..."

Walking as quietly as she could, Callie treaded lightly around the thicket of trees they had seen the flash of light wander by. A hesitant smile formed on her face as she saw what it was. Her friends began moving closer, but she quickly motioned for them to stay.

"Shh, don't move! You'll scare her!"

"Scare who?" Mark asked. As soon as he finished his sentence, a light stomping sound was heard approaching them. Everyone tried leaning forward to see what was happening as Callie bent down, smiling and reaching out her hand.

"There, there, little girl. It's ok. What's wrong?" she asked the creature. Teddy, Arizona, and Mark glanced at each other for a moment and then smiled, all knowing that none of them could sit still in a curious situation. They very slowly approached Callie, stopping and gasping when they saw what it was she was speaking to.

A glimmering, golden unicorn was standing in front of Callie, nuzzling her palm as it snorted at her. Since unicorn's are only golden for the first two years of their life, it was considered to be a baby. Callie seemed incredibly focused on the unicorn, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"She only looks like that whenever she's talking to them." Mark barely whispered from beside Arizona. The blonde smiled widely upon hearing this. She loved that both she and Callie had such a rare gift and could speak with creatures that most people couldn't, magical or otherwise.

Standing up, Callie began walking with the unicorn.

"You guys can follow us, if you want. Just don't talk." she called over her shoulder. The five of them quickly fell in step behind her, both Addison and Derek staring in awe at the creature once they saw it.

Callie grabbed a branch from nearby, tearing off a large leaf and feeding it to the unicorn. She stroked it's neck affectionately, cooing at it slightly the way a mother would.

"Can we keep it, Cal?" Mark asked playfully. The unicorn froze for a moment at Mark's voice, but then, once deciding there was no threat, kept eating. Callie scowled at him and placed a finger up to her lips, signifying for him to hush.

"She's lost. She can't find her Mother, so we actually just might have to. Baby unicorns can't stay by themselves for very long. She's just so cute!" she said, resting her forehead on that of the young mythical horse's.

"I'm afraid I'll have to take her off your hands, Calliope." came a deep, womanly voice from behind her. Everyone but Callie's eyes bugged out in shock at what was standing behind her. The Slytherin girl turned around, immediately standing up and bowing once she saw what everyone else had.

"Lucinda, how wonderful to see you! I did not mean to intrude upon your land." she said to the centaur standing proudly before her. The centaur had the torso and head of a woman, but the body of a horse. She had auburn hair and neon green eyes, a tan colouring for skin, and an auburn coat. Her black tail swished as her hooves stomped in place. She gave a small smile down to Callie. Reaching out her hand, her giant palm connected with Callie's cheek, who smiled at her appreciatively.

"Sweet child, you have not intruded. We were informed of your class's assignment this day. You have aged so beautifully since last I've seen you!" Callie blushed at that, placing her hand lovingly against the centaur's. She turned around and gestured to the small crowd behind her.

"Lucinda, these are my friends Addison, Derek, Mark, Teddy, and Arizona."

At the mentioning of Arizona, the centaur's eyebrows furrowed. Pushing Callie gently to the side, the half horse stomped up closer to Arizona who, like a true Gryffindor, remained rooted to the spot with her chest held high. Lucinda eyed her curiously, circling the blonde, leaning in occasionally for closer inspection.

"You are Arizona? Arizona Robbins?" she asked. Arizona nodded, making sure her eyes never left that of the centaur's. She knew she was to treat the beast with the utmost respect. It was the same as getting to know the merpeople.

"Yes, ma'am. I am."

Callie walked closer to Arizona, taking her hand in her own as she curiously watched Lucinda's odd interaction. The centaur froze at the sight of the two of them together.

"So it's true..." she whispered mysteriously. The group of students all stared at each other, wondering what the centaur could possibly be talking about. The baby unicorn trotted up to Callie again, nudging her hand affectionately. Leaning down, Callie kissed the top of its head and stroked its back.

"What's true, Lucinda? And where is this unicorn's mother? They never leave their young like this."

Lucinda shook her head, a solemn expression on her face.

"I wish I knew where these animals were disappearing to, Calliope. But that's what I need to tell you. See, your friend here is-"

"Lucinda!" a gutteral male voice said forcefully from their right. An all brown centaur with bright blue eyes approached them, his chest puffed out proudly as he eyed the cautious students. After staring threateningly at all of them, he turned his attention back to that of the female.

"We need to go. Something's happened." he looked towards Callie, recognition sparking in his eyes on closer inspection.

"Good morning, Calliope. Sorry, but I'm going to need to take that foal with me." he said as gently as possible, leaning over to tug at the unicorn's mane. Looking up and sniffing Callie's face, she smiled as she gave her one last quick kiss on the muzzle.

"Be a good girl and follow Raul. That's it. Goodbye!" Callie said as she waved to their retreating forms. It was silent for a while before Mark spoke up.

"What the bloody hell was that?!"

"I'm gonna do it."

Arizona and Teddy were sitting at the Gryffindor dining table. It was early that Saturday morning; the Great Hall had only just opened. There was a certain glint in Arizona's eye that Teddy noticed upon waking up. She was excited about something.

"Gonna do what?" the dirty blonde asked. Arizona smiled widely as she saw a tired looking Callie walk in next to Addison and Mark.

"I wish we could sit at each other's tables..." Teddy mumbled as she longingly gazed at her girlfriend. The two girls laughed as they watched Mark pulling Callie's hair, causing her to spin around every time and slap at him.

"I don't have time for your shit today, Sloan!" Callie said haughtily. But Mark, being himself, only got more excited by the warning growls of the brunette. As Callie took her seat, she looked up, smiling sleepily at Arizona. The blonde smiled broadly back, leaning over to whisper in Teddy's ear.

"I'm gonna do it!"

Teddy rolled her eyes, shoving her friend lightly. Arizona giggled, knowing she was annoying her best friend.

"What are you going to do woman?!"

Arizona puffed out her chest with a smile on her face. She took another look at Callie, who was piling some french toast onto her plate while Mark and Addison took turns trying to poke her, seeing how much they could get away with before she snapped. To them, morning Callie was just too much fun.

"I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend!" Arizona said with her head held high. Teddy clapped excitedly next to her friend.

"Go do it! Do it now!" Teddy said ecstatically. Arizona smiled at her, laughing at her friend's antics.

"Ok I will, just let me-"

"Callie Torres!" she heard a man's voice bellow over near the Slytherin table. The entire Great Hall shifted, turning their attention to the 5th year girl. A 7th year boy with black hair and light green eyes was holding a bouquet of exotic orange flowers out for the confused brunette. Arizona's heart sank as she saw Callie timidly reach out for the flowers, mumbling a quiet thank you when she had a good hold on them. The Ravenclaw boy tugged her up onto her feet as he kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in his own. Teddy and Arizona watched as Callie blushed a brilliant shade of pink, looking towards Addison and Mark with wide, scared eyes. They both looked on helplessly at her, not knowing what to do. The 7th year boy smiled charismatically at her, kissing her hand and winking at her. Arizona scowled and squeezed her fists together at her side.

"Callie, would you do me the honor of going on a date with me tomorrow evening?"

The Great Hall gasped as excited whispers floated around. No one could believe that someone was actually daring enough to ask THE Callie Torres out, and so publicly as well. As everyone waited for her answer with bated breath, Callie felt as though she was going to have a heart attack. She just wanted the boy to leave her alone, and there was only one way she could think in her foggy, early morning mind to get him to go away.

"Um, well...yeah, sure, I guess..."

Arizona's face fell. Teddy raised a hand up to her open mouth, shocked by what Callie had just done. As the crushed Gryffindor's eyes began welling up with tears, she heard a man's excited laugh from across the hall. She looked up just in time to see him stand up and kiss Callie right on the lips. After pulling back and smiling widely at her he turned to the rest of the dining hall, his arms spread wide as if he had just done the unthinkable and was preparing to bow before an audience.

"She said yes!"

Most people applauded for him, some laughed at his audacity, and some booed once realizing this meant that she was most likely off the market. But there was a small group of silent people, curious as to what in the world had actually just happened.

Teddy turned to her friend ready to console her when suddenly she was bumped hard in the shoulder by the blonde's knee, who was doing her absolute best to rush out of the dining hall.

"Don't chase after me, Teds." was the only thing she heard as she watched her friend take off down the aisle at break neck speed. A loud 'BOOM' from the double doors interrupted everyone's chatter over the current events and, upon looking over at the flash of blonde hair that disappeared out of them, Callie felt her throat constrict as sudden realization hit her.

"Oh no," she whispered, "what did I just do?"