I wish I could be J. K. Rowling right now, because I could go straight to writing this chapter, rather than bother with disclaimers.
AN. Sorry it took so long. EnjoyEveryMoment had the difficult task of putting me to work again after the New Years Eve...
The weekend ended, and the standstill that the world seemed to be in changed into a mad rush, while days were just passing by. But even when the world turned into one big blur, there were some changes that you just couldn't omit.
After that first Divination lesson, the tradition of Professor Trelawney predicting one of the students death was broken, because now she was more concerned about her own life. Her own knowledge of fatal signs and omens could be enough to make her worried, but we can't forget that Harry was there to lend a hand.
While Professor Snape was a spiteful man who couldn't talk to you for five minutes without pointing out everything he thought was a flaw, he still knew his art and was remarkable potion brewer, thus deserved at least a little respect. Professor Trelawney on the other hand, while seemed to know all the omens and signs by heart, had obviously no idea how they were tied together, or what was relation between them and the conditions they have revealed themselves.
Given that, all Harry had to do was to sit there, and in the right moment find interesting something like crack in the glass of the window, an uneven rock in the floor, or even a particular length of blank wall, and Professor Trelawney would do the rest, seeing death, destruction, disaster, and everything else she was predicting for students, threatening her from every corner of her own tower.
For the rest of the class, it looked like she was jumping as far as she could from the place that Harry was currently looking at, and remembering the very first class, they just couldn't stop thinking what he knew, and they were missing.
Another such change was with Care of Magical Creatures, and to everyone's relief, this was to ensure students' safety.
After that first class with Hippogriff, on his next visit, Harry spent some time talking with Hagrid about his class. Being the one to interact with Buckbeak, he certainly couldn't complain about the lesson, even given that initial fear. He also knew that Hagrid couldn't be persuaded about "those misunderstood creatures" that people called dangerous. Instead, he concentrated on pointing that Hagrid already knew how to tame them, and it would be better to let students slowly get used to things with sharp teeth and claws. Having recent picture of Draco nearly disrespecting a Hippogriff, it wasn't long before Hagrid could see his point.
From that point on, lessons were proceeding in similar way as Hagrid was taught, when he was still training to be a Gamekeeper. All of the class would stay behind the fence, taking notes, and Hagrid would call them one by one to come inside and present some kind of animal-handling technique, while he gave lecture to the entire class from nearby, from where, if something went wrong, he could easily distract or tackle the animal, giving the student time to get to safety. So, even if in class they sometimes encountered animals more dangerous than they would like to, it was entirely different with mountain of muscles guarding you, and knowing working techniques how to handle them yourself, certainly eased everyone's mind. And even if it wasn't deep in the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid felt somewhat sentimental about that one-on-one, student-teacher interaction.
Even if Care of Magical Creatures was a little too exciting for some, they quickly forgot about it after coming to Defence Against the Dark Arts class. After the story of Harry's class Boggart lesson travelled around the school, everyone couldn't wait for their next opportunity to watch Professor Lupin's laid-back-style of teaching. Of course, lesson's haven't suddenly changed into one non-stop party, but still, students had so much fun just going along Professor's instructions, that they haven't even noticed how easily they could remember the essential information regarding the lessons topic.
There were some, mainly Draco with his gang, who still found something to complain about, but Harry related that to the fact that it became obvious that what earlier was called "elite" of the school, now wasn't looking so good in class. Harry also couldn't help but notice that sometimes Professor Lupin would watch him, maybe just a little too intently for it to be just teacher watching his pupils progress...
When it came to changes that you just couldn't omit, the first place this year would have to take Potions classroom. Seemingly, nothing have changed. Students still took ingredients from the store room, made their potions by following the notes from the blackboard, gave samples of their product at the end of the lesson, and received horrible scores for their brews. By that description alone, you could say that nothing have changed. But again, that description haven't included the Potions Master, who this year seemed to be... distracted. First time anyone noticed that, was when there was no reaction from him when the story of Boggart-Snape teaching ballet circulated around the school. From that point, people noticed major change.
Before, he would give them instructions, then spent all the lesson making everyone feel miserable. Now, he would give them instructions and without a spoken word make it clear that he wanted to be left alone. Seeing his maniacal expression while he sat behind his desk, staring at a blank piece of wall and muttered to himself, no one objected to that, and soon, Potions became much more student friendly class.
Soon everyone noticed that without Snape hanging over their heads, watching their every move and insulting everything they've done, they could concentrate better. And since he wasn't paying attention to them, they could freely talk and exchange pointers among each other. That, and the fact that Slytherins couldn't do whatever they wanted without their Head of House protection, eliminated accidents during class practically to zero, and those that happened, were no more than a cloud of smoke. On one occasion, someone pointed out that since Potions became "mandatory study group" they understood more from it.
Slytherins on the other hand, couldn't understand the change of heart, or the bad scores they now received. As it was, while earlier Snape gave them higher scores, now he didn't pay attention to anything, and just filled minimal passing grade from top to bottom, giving a plus every couple of spaces, all the time muttering what would be a good way to torture a werewolf...
Given the amount of classes Harry had to attend, homework he had to do, study group he and his friends held regularly, and Quidditch training which Wood made so much murderous than before, just to help them remember that it was his last year, Harry sometimes found himself not minding small things, like...
"Where would you like to go in Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked one evening, while they were resting in the common room after one particularly hard day.
"Hmm?" Harry responded intelligently, being shaken half awake. He centred his glasses, and attempted to flatten his hair.
"Hogsmeade. Where would you like to go?" Hermione asked again, her words mumbled from the pen in her mouth as she rearranged her papers.
"When is it?" Harry asked, still not fully awake, looking around for a clock to make sure what time it is, completely forgetting the one on his wrist.
"It's on Halloween. Everyone in the school is talking about it. Haven't you noticed?" she asked, only now lifting her gaze to watch him, and laughed lightly at the state he was in, while he tried to shake his head. "So, where would you like to go?"
"Must we go?" he asked while rubbing his eyes. Harry sighed, looking on as Hermione's gaze narrowed at him.
"Has anyone ever told you that it's rude to answer a question with a question?" Hermione chastised him, scowling.
"You just did it yourself," Harry pointed out, making her huff in exasperation. She blew a strand of hair away from her eyes, and tilted her head at him. "Besides, a question can be an answer too." This gave him her full attention again. "Because it isn't important to answer every question, you just need to answer the right one, for all the others to be obvious, or at least not important."
"So, what is the right question in this case?"
"Well, I asked if we must go to Hogsmeade, so you should ask..." Harry stopped, staring at her intently.
"Why don't you want to go?" Hermione supplied.
"Yep, that should be the right one," Harry said after a while of thought, rubbing last bits of sleep out of his eyes. Hermione just shook her head. "So, you hear all those good things about Hogsmeade. That it's fully magical village, have those amazing things to see, so much history, and all that... But while you think about it, with Hogwarts so close, so many stores in the village, doesn't it seem like a shopping district?"
"Well, you could say that," Hermione said with a nod, putting down her book and focusing on her friend.
"Okay, so there are some things you can do there. But think why you shouldn't go."
"I can see that you have it all planed out, so I'm not going to entertain you. Stop stalling and just speak your mind." she said, annoyance clear in her voice, which made Harry smile.
"Okay, okay... Remember that this is first trip this year, and now try to imagine it. While some from the older year students may stay as well, everyone from our year will probably go. With older students, lets say that two to three times that many people will go. In shops you will have to wait in long lines, you won't see much of town because of the people in the streets, and if it will be cold or even raining, any café or bar will be crowded... As I said before. Hogsmeade seems like a shopping district, so imagine a mall on a busy weekend."
Hermione thought about it, and could agree that it wasn't the same image that she had before.
"Great, now you ruined it for me. Now you have to fix it. When will be good time to go to Hogsmeade?"
"Around Christmas."
"Why Christmas?"
"Because if you go an hour or so later than everyone else, they should get cold and hide in a bar. Those who will see that there are no places left, will probably come back sooner. When we'll arrive it should be less crowded, with houses decorated for Christmas, snow laying everywhere... And when we will get cold, people who were in the bar should be gone too..."
Now that was a picture Hermione could enjoy. Having a town taken straight from a Christmas card all for themselves.
"I can work with that. But what will we do when everyone leaves?"
"I was thinking about Luna, since she can't go anyway, and her small, fluffy friend, and..." Harry left it hanging. Hermione's brow furrowed for a while, then she smiled.
Rose was sitting in Slytherin common room, observing her surroundings. She was doing it a lot lately. All those things she saw earlier, people striding around acting superior, those jabs to score a point at a non-existent board and be placed higher in the hierarchy no one spoke about, even those gentle signs indicating someone was just pretending... maybe an alliance of smaller players to topple a bigger fish and split the influence. All was there, but since that little chat she had with Harry, everything changed from threatening, to interesting.
To use a comparison, people say that everyone is just a little cogwheel in a bigger machine. If it was true, then Slytherin common room was like a giant clock, where every part tried to be more important, ultimate goal being the face of the clock, gaining all the praise while everyone worked for you. Of course, as competitive Slytherins were, in this particular cock, every part was working it's own way. Earlier she was just a small cog, left alone to be bullied by higher players, to be put in her place and do her work for them. Now she felt more like a grain of sand, just watching where to put itself to screw everyone big time, while she fell safely on the other side of machinery once it fell apart. To do that, she had to know where to be, and when to get out of there to stay out of the harms way.
Rose was sitting there, contemplating things, when she noticed certain thing. By now it she was somehow familiar with it, but it was quite a surprise to see a elephant-looking toy wearing a uniform with crests of other houses, sneaking through the common room... Well, if you could call what it was doing "sneaking". Walking slowly, with back pressed to a wall, while in full view, wasn't the stealthiest action Rose ever seen. Well, until she saw that it scrambled on top of the couch only to walk on the narrow headrest, while people still were sitting there.
But, surprisingly, no one seemed to notice. For a while, she thought that she might be imagining it, what with an enchanted castle. But then the toy finally got to her, and took a letter from a bag you would most likely see on a postman.
The letter was from Harry, explaining that the toy, Seizie he called it, would be best way to communicate, and that she shouldn't pay attention to it's weird antics. The toy was spelled to be invisible to anyone who meant it harm, and since it was carrying "super secret plans for destroying the Slytherin dominion in Hogwarst... *insert evil laughter here*"... Rose just shook her head at the memory of that letter, and reminded herself that it wasn't only the toy's crazy antics she shouldn't be paying mind to.
The toy finished it's crazy dance across the room, delivered it's usual letter, and surprisingly, a small gift box as well. Rose read the note on the box which said:
"Read the letter first... Damn, too late," Rose just had to roll her eyes. "Be prepared to get more of these. Inside the envelope are instructions what you should do with them when the coyote will howl under the tree which at noon cast a shadow of a squirrel... or when I write you it's time. Do not fail me... *insert evil laughter here*"
Rose snorted at the note, then chuckled at the instructions, and couldn't wait until it would start.
It was Halloween, first Hogsmeade weekend just finished, and Draco Malfoy wasn't pleased. He just came back from the village, where he had to wait in mile-long lines in every shop, frozen all over because there was no free space at the Three Broomsitcks, and got drenched when it started to pour a freezing rain when he was returning to school. Unbeknownst to him, it wasn't the end of his bad luck.
He was heading to his dorm to get changed to something dry and worm, so he could at least enjoy the Halloween feast. He was at the door to the common room, gave the password, and was suddenly blinded by a radiant light. He stood there, blinded, not understanding what was going on, when suddenly interior of the common room became clearer, as the white hue disappeared from the front of his eyes.
The common room looked nothing like it used to, the change from dark and unlit to white and bright being responsible for the initial shock. The dark look vanished, being replaced by white, soft yellow, and even pinkish tones. Dark green leather sofas turned to red seats which were forming booths against the walls, and in the middle, there were tables. While slowly walking into the room, he noticed other students who came from Hogsmeade earlier, looking around the room with as much bewilderment as he was feeling. Then he noticed the most prominent change. Right in front of the fireplaces, there stood a long counter, with mannequins dressed as a cashier, and further back, right in front of the fire, two more dressed as cooks.
Of course, Draco couldn't know that, since he never have seen a muggle cook, or was in a muggle shop to recognise a cashier, but he probably got an idea that the Slytherin common room, at the moment was exact replica of a muggle diner. If not, sign above the counter saying "Eel diner" was a big clue.
"Eel?" Draco said to himself, never before encountering the word.
"Yes, sir. Best eel meals in Hogwarts. Our display specimens are on your right. Would you like to order now?" said a little plastic man with an oversized head, standing right by the door.
Draco turned to the right as told, and after seeing what swam in a fish-tank standing by the wall... "EEW!"
"Stew for you, sir. Would you like to order something else?" said the little plastic man with an oversized head.
"Of course not!" Draco snarled.
"Loaf of coarse snot. I'll add that to your order. Something to drink?"
"Screw you!" Draco screamed in exasperation. His eyes were starting to bulge, and he seriously considered reaching for the wand in his pocket.
"Two screwdrivers coming up. To receive your alcoholic beverages, you are required to show your ID at the counter. Thank you, and have a nice day."
While Draco pulled his hair out, Rose grinned more, her smile getting bigger with every new "customer".
AN. Yeah, I know that Eel isn't a type of snake, but I just couldn't think of anything else. Also, another chapter should be out shortly.