Slowly, October passed into November; the leaves began to turn their lovely shades of reds, oranges and gold. Life progressed smoothly for the Hogwarts students for the next few weeks. Umbridge suddenly had a loss of students for her detentions. She had finally stopped her round of inspections, to the teachers' delights. The Gryffindors showed the Slytherins that one summer didn't change anything, when it comes to Quidditch; obviously, the Slytherins lost. John hadn't been sighted for a while now, and a feeling of normality began to spread throughout the school.

Ron was elated because he got picked for Keeper; Char was excited because he got an E on his Transfiguration essay; Hayden managed an A on his Potions essay (to both Hayden's and Snape's surprise); Damien and Amanda found a passion for chess; Char and Aly spent their weekends at Hogsmeade, merely enjoying each other's company.

Merely enjoying each other's company?

Quite the contrary.

Char often found himself staring at Aly for long periods of time. She'd catch him staring at her, question him, and of course, the reply would be the same.

"Nothing."

Of course, it just wasn't nothing.

Eventually, this girl is going to catch his drift.

"I can't believe I got a P!" Aly wailed.

Adam awkwardly patted Aly's shoulder.

It was now Mid-November, and Adam and Aly had just gotten out of Potions. They were standing in the corridor that led to the dungeons, and Aly has been wailing ever since.

Aly swept aside some of her brown hair and rubbed her red eyes. "My mum is going to kill me," she mumbled as they continued walking. She stared blankly at the essay handed back to her with a big spiky P in the corner.

"She is not. It's only your first!" Adam said cheerfully.

"First or not, it's a failing grade," Aly shot back. She sighed with sadness.

"Oh, cheer up, Aly," Adam said, rubbing her shoulder. "Everyone's gotten a failing grade on Snape's essays some time or another. Even I did!"

"You?" asked Aly. She looked up at him with surprise.

"Yeah. I got a D. Dreadful. That's a worse grade than poor, you know," Adam said nonchalantly.

"Great," Aly said miserably as they made their way to the common room.

"Just think about it like this, Aly: Poor isn't that bad. It just means that you were a little bit short of it being acceptable. So really, your essay was good...but it just came up a little bit short." He looked over her essay. "You messed up the net weights of moonstones. And they're not cures for werewolves." He smiled.

"Well, how do you now all this," demanded Aly, "If you got a D?"

"Oh, I know this stuff," Adam replied, "I just didn't feel like doing it up to standard. I was really tired, so I just wrote down all the wrong stuff."

"And your Mum doesn't care?!" exclaimed Aly.

"Well, she'll care, eventually," grinned Adam. "But it's just one grade. Stop obsessing!"

Aly inhaled and exhaled. "All right."

"Good. Now, all we have to do is sit down and go over your essay to find out what you messed up on," said Adam with confidence.

"Sounds good," said Aly. She smiled. "Thanks. I just won't tell Mum about it." She winked.

"Now, you're talking."

Aly looked around angrily. Joy looked around with worry.

"Where's Hagrid?" Aly growled. "He hasn't been here at all this year!"

Amanda looked around the grounds with uncertainty. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had Care of Magical Creatures today, and Hagrid was no where to be found.

"Excuse me, excuse me! Out of my way, Perkins!"

Aly looked over her shoulder and frowned. Professor Grubbly-Plank was making her way up to the front of the crowd, knocking students out of her way.

"Grubbly-Plank?" Amanda muttered, leaning closer to Aly. "What is going on here?"

Joy moved closer to Aly and frowned.

Professor Grubbly-Plank finally made her way to the front, smoothed her robes and straightened her spectacles. She looked around expectantly.

"Good morning class, I am Professor Grubbly-Plank."

The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws merely blinked.

"Professor Hagrid is on leave right now, so I will be substituting for his classes until he returns. Now! Porlocks and kneazles is what we'll be studying today, so listen up!"

"That was a load of malarkey," Joy muttered as they were dismissed from class. "I like Hagrid better."

"Yeah, me too," Amanda said as they made their way up to the castle. "I actually learned something."

Aly grinned and shook her head. "Hopefully Hagrid will be back. I barely noticed he was gone until now."

Joy nodded her agreement as they entered the castle and turned left, separating from Joy to head to their common rooms.

"Have you heard from John lately?" Amanda muttered as they continued walking.

"No, actually, we haven't. Not since early October, actually," Aly replied brightly.

"Why d'you think that is?"

"Well, ever since Damien told John about our Ministry friends," Aly sighed, "He's probably been in hiding."

"Good point."

"But at least that means John isn't around. That's a good thing, right?"

"Yeah, it's a good thing."

Behind the bushes, John smirked as he watched Aly and Amanda turn a corner. He shook his head and smiled darkly at a portrait of a lady being painted.

The lady in portrait stared at him.

"Who are you?" she asked, flouncing her brown curly hair.

"Someone you don't want to reckon with," John replied, his lips curling into a dark smile.

"You're a death eater, aren't you?!" the lady exclaimed.

John smiled and disappeared behind the bushes.

Unbeknownst to him, the lady in portrait was spreading this information around the school to other portraits.