Chapter 44: Herbology and Old Connelly

Their first afternoon class was Herbology for which they usually met in the school gardens as Cathy and Charlie explained. Draco was shocked to see all the students there when they arrived and very disappointed to see that the school only owned a number of flowerbeds outside and a single glasshouse.

"How do they expect to fit a class this large in there?" he asked his friends.

To his surprise they both laughed. "That isn't the class, Dragon." Charlie said finally. "That's the whole year. Professor Azalea will split the classes up when she gets here."

"Oh." Draco took a look around at all the students gathered.

So this was the entire fifth year? It looked like the whole house of Slytherin assembled. Except for the different colour of their robes and the lesser variation in sizes. All of these students were of the same age, after all, while the Slytherins ranged from first to seventh years.

There were about ten Slytherins in every year which meant about seventy students altogether. If he hadn't misjudged the number of West Hogsmeade fifth years and it was about average that meant seventy students in each year which meant that there were a little over two hundred more students at West Hogsmeade than at Hogwarts.

And the people at Hogwarts acted as if the school didn't even exist!

A group of four students wearing sunglasses were throwing pebbles at Lisa and the boy who'd sat beside her in History of Magic. The two tried to retaliate, but couldn't quite manage against the attackers' larger number.

"Who are the kids wearing sunglasses?" he asked the girls.

"The Demons." Cathy answered. "They live near the river. The Black Ring are between us and their territory, though and just like us they're not big enough to challenge Angel Anna."

"There seem to be quite a lot of them." Draco commented while watching Lisa's friend lunge at the nearest Demon.

"Only in our year." Charlie corrected. "Their oldest member is their only sixth year and they don't have any fourth years. There's one in third year and a new girl in first year, I think."

"Curt's really in trouble now." Cathy commented as the largest of the Demons held back Lisa while the other three were beating on the boy who'd dared to attack one of them.

The arrival of a very small Asian looking woman saved Curt and Lisa just in time.

"Good afternoon, children!" she shouted to attract everyone's attention and the Demons immediately let go of their victims and looked innocent.

Draco wondered what would have happened, if Professor Azalea were a little taller and could have seen them over the other students around them.

"Class 5D to the greenhouse, please, 5C stays in the garden with me, 5B to Herbology classroom 2 for a surprise quiz and 5A gets to watch a film on African magical plants in Herbology 1." Professor Azalea announced.

There was some cheering and groaning along with some long faces as the students picked up their backpacks and book bags and walked off in different directions.

Draco, still unsure who else was in his class, stayed close to Cathy and Charlie who had to know the way. The Herbology classrooms turned out to be the two very last rooms on the right corridor on the ground floor. The doors were decorated with pictures of flowers painted directly onto the wood. The pictures didn't move, but Draco still liked them.

There was some pushing around until 5A and 5B had separated and Draco could finally make his way into the classroom. It was full of pictures of all sorts of plants with potted plants at the windows and on the teacher's desk. The students' desks had been pushed against the walls and the chairs formed a half circle of two rows facing what Draco now recognised from his Muggle Studies classes as a TV and Professor Azalea.

He was going to see an actual TV in action! He should have realised that when the other version of Professor Azalea had said the word film, he supposed, but he'd probably been too distracted with wondering about the Demons and where their class would be held.

"Good morning, class." Professor Azalea greeted them. "Please take your seats quickly so we'll have time to watch the whole film."

Draco eagerly sat down in the first chair he found and Cathy and Charlie predictably chose the seats beside him.

There was a little commotion on the other end of the half circle as the Shark twins apparently wanted the same chair Keith was already sitting in.

Professor Azalea regarded her class for a moment. "Alex, Andy, sit down! Keith, move over a bit so the twins can sit together."

Keith frowned, but complied and the Shark twins sat with triumphant grins on their faces.

"Oh, take off those glasses. I don't want to see them in my class." the teacher continued.

"But Professor!" a boy in the second row exclaimed clutching his thick glasses with one hand. "I can't see a thing without them! "

"Not your optical glasses, Clarence, darling." Professor Azalea specified. "I'm talking about sunglasses. You don't need them inside the school."

The three Demons looked murderous and only one actually removed his glasses. The other two's looks darkened even more at the sight.

"Thank you, Nico." Professor Azalea said. "Lenny, Amanda? We're waiting."

No reaction.

"Do I really have to confis ..." the teacher started very slowly and broke off the moment the two took their glasses off. "Very good. Now, there's supposed to be a new student in this class. Where is he?"

"Here." Draco raised his hand and the teacher nodded.

"Good. Your name?"

"Dragon." he chose. The first two teachers had picked the nickname, so the rest of them could stick with it as well.

"Good, that'll be easy enough to remember." Professor Azalea commented. "Now, I suggest you all watch this film very closely, because you'll be writing an essay about it as homework and there's very little information about these plants in the library."

She bent down to the smaller box under the TV and pressed a button. According to the pictures Draco had seen in Muggle Studies this was either a CD-Player or a video recorder. Both were electrical and required plugs and that was all the teacher had said about them. Draco wished he knew what they did. Then maybe he could have figured out which this one was.

In his fascination with the video recorder he unfortunately missed seeing Professor Azalea use the remote control, which he would have been deeply disappointed about, if he'd known.

The TV suddenly showed a picture much like a fast moving painting. A map of the African continent. A disembodied voice told them about some national park and a little arrow appeared on the screen to point out where in Africa that was. The TV zoomed in closer on that spot and suddenly the painting was replaced by dense jungle that looked more like it was seen through a window than like a painting.

The disembodied voice continued by explaining why the muggles thought the area worth protecting, then pointed out various birds and other animals that jumped, hopped or flew into view obligingly as soon as they were mentioned.

When the voice started to remind them that they were here to see plants however, most of the other students dug into their bags for parchment and ink to take notes. Draco quickly followed their example while trying to miss as little of the film as possible. He was forced to set his ink pot down on the floor and bend down every time his quill ran out of ink, though.

After a while of growing more and more frustrated with this inconvenience he finally tore his eyes away from the screen for a little longer and checked how the other students were coping.

Ah, the Shark twins had solved the problem by working together. They would only need one set of notes anyway, so one was holding the ink pot while his brother was writing. Clarence with the thick glasses was holding his ink pot open in the same hand he used to hold his parchment. He'd already left some black blotches on his hand and most likely on the parchment as well, but since they were only notes and he wouldn't have to hand them in, he probably didn't mind so much.

Amanda, Lenny and Nico simply weren't taking any notes at all, Cathy was using the same method as Draco. And then Draco's eyes fell on Charlie and he almost gasped. Charlie was happily scribbling away with a muggle pen on muggle paper completely unbothered by such things as ink pots and quills. Was that even allowed?

Another look around however proved that Charlie wasn't the only one doing it. Keith was even using a muggle pen to write on parchment, while two other kids, that Draco didn't know by name, yet were using simple pencils on muggle paper.

Draco watched them in fascination for a moment. He absolutely had to get a muggle pen. Right now, though, none of the solutions were available to him. He'd have to continue with his ink pot on the floor.

The disembodied voice was now explaining the particular needs the jungle plants had when grown in a glass house and Draco quickly returned his attention to the film. If he didn't catch these facts, he'd never be able to write a decent essay and the plants seemed to be picky indeed.

As if to confirm that thought the disembodied voice stated that it was very difficult to grow these plants in an artificial environment. They could be bought ready for use, but were rather expensive here in Britain. As an alternative it suggested apparating to Africa and buying them at a local wizarding market.

"Most of the plants are still considered expensive, by local standards, but as the region is extremely poor any European witch or wizard can easily afford them." the disembodied voice continued.

"Yeah, if you can afford the apparition lessons first." somebody commented somewhere behind Draco.

"We aren't interested in your sarcastic comments, Nora." Professor Azalea admonished the girl.
v Draco peeked over his shoulder for a moment. No, he didn't think he'd seen Nora before. She was a small girl with lots of freckles, that reminded him a little of Ginny Weasley except for her dark blond hair. Her gang insignia weren't visible, but he couldn't remember seeing her with Svenja during lunch and her comment indicated that she was of a rather poor family, which led Draco to assume that she was a local. Maybe another Railrat?

The film continued some more about how the plants were harvested and prepared and Draco did his best to write down everything. The primitive methods the native African wizards employed were fascinating. They all seemed to be ancient traditions that had been passed down from generation to generation since long before there were such things as ministries or wizarding schools in Europe.

Just before the end there were a few more pictures of one of the local markets and the plants being sold in little sacks or bundles. Draco smiled as he saw them. It didn't quite look like West Hogsmeade market, but it had that very same atmosphere. Would he get to go to the market on Monday?

"All right class, I want at least 200 words about what you learned from this film from each of you, no later than Tuesday." Professor Azalea announced just before the bell rang.

"We're off to Arithmancy right now." Cathy told Draco as they packed up their parchments and ink pots. "Do you think you'll be okay on your own for an hour?"

"Sure." Draco almost laughed. "I'll just go back to the library and work on my History essay. I found some pretty interesting things I want to research some more."

"You'll find your way?" Charlie asked a little worried. "You've only been there once."

"I can find my way around Hogwarts." Draco pointed out. "That's a lot bigger and more complicated."

Cathy nodded. "Okay then, just meet me at my locker after the class. We'd better not be late for Charms."

As Draco looked up from his backpack he saw Amanda take off her robes in the middle of the classroom. He had to swallow hard at the sight. Luckily Amanda wasn't naked underneath and her figure wasn't nearly as great as Cathy's, but still the tight leggings and t-shirt she was wearing left very little to the imagination.

Amanda didn't seem to care that all the boys still in the room were staring at her. She fished a black jumper out of her bag and pulled it over the t-shirt, then put her glasses back on. Bag in hand and robes over her arm she walked out of the room. One of the other girls had taken off her robe as well by now, but the muggle clothes she wore underneath were much wider than Amanda's and didn't invite any stares.

"What?" was all Draco managed.

"They've got Sports next and the changing rooms are dreadfully cold in winter." Charlie explained with a grin.

Cathy just looked angry.

'Ups, should try to avoid staring at other girls.' Draco realised.

Charlie helped him out, though. "Oh, come on Cat! Dragon was staring at her in disapproval, not in appreciation. It must have looked like she was going to put on a strip show to him."

Cathy frowned even more. "And she really could wear some decent Sports clothes, if she's going to change in front of everybody. That Amanda is such a whore."

"Why? What's wrong with her clothes?" Clarence asked as he passed them. "I like them."

"Oh Clarence, get yourself a girlfriend." Charlie answered him.

Cathy giggled. "Don't tell me you like Clarence, Charlie."

"That owl-eyed idiot?" Charlie snapped. "Never!"

Draco thought she'd blushed a little, though. Maybe he should give Matt a little push after all. Just in case he didn't get his courage up before Clarence did. Somehow Draco suspected Charlie would be so excited at being asked out by a boy that she'd accept no matter who he was.

Then again he wasn't really supposed to know that Matt liked Charlie. Or was he? Maybe he should just talk to Sammie about it.

There were a lot of fifth years in the library, when Draco arrived, but almost all of them were boys. Were all of the girls either in Arithmancy or in Sports class?

He found the History books he'd been working with during lunch break quite easily again, but once he'd picked them up and started looking for a place to sit he realised that there weren't any empty tables left.

He hesitated for a moment. Did each gang claim a table at the library as they did in the lunch-room? No, over there a smaller girl wearing the Railrat's purple wristbands was sitting at a table with two fifth year outsiders and Curt was even whispering with Nico at a table to Draco's right.

It seemed to be okay to join members of another gang then.

Draco took another look at the tables to consider his options. Curt, Nico and Lenny were already a mixed group, but, if they were working together, Draco's presence might disturb them. The outsiders' group didn't have much room left and sitting with the Shark twins sounded like a really bad idea.

Instead Draco started looking for a quiet group that didn't have an enmity towards the Rakers.

Maybe not too close to the Demons either. Draco just didn't like them. They probably were no different from any of the other gangs, but what he'd seen of them so far wasn't exactly endearing.

The Lords of the Market, though, didn't seem troublesome at all. Draco walked over to Bubbles and Keith.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked them.

Bubbles looked up surprised. It seemed he had been so caught up in his work, that he hadn't even noticed Draco approach.

"Course not." he said and went back to work.

"You take Muggle Studies?" Keith asked when he saw the books Draco put down as he sat.

"Yes, but these are for my History essay." Draco explained. "It seems there are some parallels between wizarding and muggle society of that time and I wanted to put that in."

"If you're going to Hogwarts you have to be pretty powerful, don't you?" Keith continued.

"Well, they don't teach squibs, but they have very weak students there as well." Draco answered with a shrug. "I don't think there's much of a difference in the student's ability here and there from what I have seen so far."

"You've got strong magic, though." Keith insisted. "I watched you in Transfigurations and you claimed you weren't any good at the subject."

"You were a lot better than me." Draco pointed out. "And we already transfigured wood into rats at Hogwarts. That gave me an advantage."

"You're still a powerful wizard, so why do you take Muggle Studies?" Keith insisted. "It's a subject for squibs."

"No, it's not." Draco insisted with a slight glare. "They wouldn't offer it at Hogwarts if it were and anyway I want to go to muggle university after I graduate and then I'll have to fit in with the muggle students."

"Muggle university?" Keith asked. "Whatever for? What wizard would ever go there?"

"My aunt and uncle, for example. They both learned Chemistry there. It's a forgotten form of Alchemy that only the muggles still understand." Draco said.

"I thought your uncle was a Potions Master?" Bubbles had finally stopped writing to enter the conversation.

"He is, but he's also an Alchemist." Draco shrugged. "It's more of a hobby, I think, but I've watched him and Aunt Sarah sometimes and it looks really fascinating."

"Why do you go to Hogwarts, if you're a Raker anyway?" Keith asked now.

"Because his uncle teaches there of course." Bubbles assumed at once. "That much is obvious. Why does a Potions Master work as an ordinary school teacher, though?"

This one was difficult. He couldn't admit that Uncle Severus was really a spy and he didn't want to tell them about his time in Azkaban either.

"I'm not sure." he tried to pretend he didn't know. "He's pretty close friends with Dumbledore, though, so maybe he's doing it as a favour to him. They do need a Slytherin teacher to function as head of the house and from what Uncle Severus tells me, there aren't many left that are trustworthy and willing to take such a job. I think he likes it, too. He definitely is the best head of house, they've got, always there if you need him, always willing to help. He understands a lot of things the others don't."

"Well, you're his nephew." Bubbles said. "He has to like you."

"I'm not." Draco said. Suddenly it felt great to tell them that. "He just took me in after I lost my parents and none of my real relatives wanted to have me. I just call him uncle, because he told me to."

All in all Bubbles and Keith weren't that bad, Draco decided later. They'd been very curious, but that was probably, because he was the new kid and had made a rather unusual entrance in the middle of the school year.

Despite the interruption he got most of his essay done before the bell rang and he had to run off to meet Cathy. The books about World War I weren't overly helpful since they mostly gave facts about battles and weapons used, but The Time Between the Wars was full of the problems of the German muggles and their society. Times had been hard, the lost war had cost them and the economy had been down. It wasn't just the witches that had had trouble finding jobs. A lot of muggle men had been unemployed and discontent as well. A lot of families had struggled just like the Grindelwalds had.

These discoveries provided more than enough material for his essay. Draco even added a note that there might well have been many others that felt like Grindelwald and the only reason they hadn't turned to the Dark Arts as well, was probably that most of them were muggles who couldn't learn them.

He was a little disappointed when he heard the bell and knew he had to stop, but he was also convinced that he could finish the rest of his essay at home now.

He returned his books to their shelf, said good bye to Bubbles and Keith and waded out into the masses of students going down the stairs.

This time he reached Cathy's locker before her and that left him time to just stand around and think. His next lesson was Charms. Charms with Old Connelly. Considering what his first meeting with the witch had been like and how afraid of her his friends were he wasn't exactly looking forward to the lesson.

Would she recognise him? Was what he'd learned in Flitwick's class good enough for 5A Charms? Did 5B maybe have a different teacher? He knew that 5D Magical Theory didn't have her from Charlie and that usually there were two teachers for each subject from Sarah, but how did they distribute the classes between those two teachers? Would Old Connelly have 5A and 5B and the other teacher 5C and 5D, or would she have 5A and 5C and the other 5B and 5D?

What exactly would one have to do to get switched down on one's first day?

Cathy didn't look very happy either when she arrived.

"How was Arithmancy?" he asked her in an attempt to figure out what was wrong.

"Boring as usual. " Cathy answered. "It's a useful class, but the teacher's like a bottle of sleeping draught. Charlie and I actually did all the homework during class time, because she kept repeating herself like a broken record. I think some of the others even fell asleep."

"I'm a bit nervous about Charms." he admitted.

"Just try to make yourself small and not be noticed." Cathy advised. "It's what Connelly's used to from everybody. Never volunteer and always obey her immediately. I think it shouldn't be too much of a problem since she only started explaining the theory of summoning charms in the last lesson, so she can't really expect anyone to know them, yet."

"Summoning charms?" Draco asked surprised. "Like Accio?"

"Yes, I think she mentioned that one." Cathy said. "Why?"

"We learned those last year. I thought this was supposed to be an advanced class?" Draco felt a little confused.

Could West Hogsmeade really be that far behind Hogwarts in Charms? They were about at the same point in Transfigurations and about one or two lessons behind Binns' droning, not to mention the better quality of their History lessons.

"Last year?" Cathy was really surprised. "The other groups are nowhere near there, yet. Are our other classes that far behind as well?"

Draco shook his head. "Not at all. Herbology is very different, since Hogwarts has several glasshouses and we always worked with the plants there, but in the other subjects so far we did almost the same as in Hogwarts."

"Strange." said Cathy. "I always thought we were going rather fast in Charms."

Could Flitwick have been that far ahead? But it had never seemed like he was hurrying new Charms. He'd even stopped and gone back to explain something again, when he'd seen that Gregory hadn't mastered it, yet.

Charms was held on the third floor, though, as Cathy added, some people said that it was a mistake to have Old Connelly high up enough that jumping out of a window in their fear might kill students.

Magical Theory was drawn out of pictures of wands and Charms C flashed at them in all rainbow colours, but Charms B and A were totally bare except for the inscription on the plaques beside the doors. Those last two doors also were locked, the students milling about in the hallway.

Well, that answered which classes were taught by Old Connelly.

"Can't we just walk into Charms C and pretend we belong in there?" Draco nervously suggested to Cathy.

"I think they'd notice. They haven't even got a single seat free in that class, because everybody wants to be downgraded." Cathy whispered back.

That much for his idea of just failing so badly, that Connelly had to switch him out of her class.

"Maybe she isn't even here?" he said after another look at the closed doors.

"Connelly's always here." said Pat who'd been standing behind them. "They say she uses a time turner to prevent her from having any sick days."

"Then why are the doors locked?" Draco asked her.

Pat shrugged. "They always are until she arrives."

The two Old Connellys appeared in the corridor the moment the bell rang. They glared sternly at the students and everybody fell silent and stood up straight. Draco decided he'd rather be back in Transfigurations. Maybe even with Professor McGonagall.

The Connellys separated each to one door without even a look at each other. They pulled out two identical looking keys at precisely the same time and unlocked the doors, then held them wide open letting the students pass them.

Once the last student was inside Charms A Connelly number one walked in closing the door behind her. The classroom looked even more bare than the Transfigurations one. It had exactly the same equipment with the single exception of the cupboard. Old Connelly obviously didn't even need that.

Another difference was that there were even less students in here, only eight if you counted Draco, and they were all sitting as far back as they could. The first row remained entirely empty and only the window side was taken in the second row.

Draco and Cathy had managed to claim the middle desk in the last row, though the window desk would probably have been better since they'd have been able to duck behind the two unfortunate ones who'd landed in the second row.

Everybody was still standing straight at their desks when Connelly finally accioed a roll of parchment and began to take attendance.

"Ms. Allan, Anya." Connelly read out.

"Here, Sir." answered the girl that had managed to get the very best seat right in the back corner by the window.

Connelly nodded and Anya sat down. "Mr. Carter, James."

"Here, Sir." answered a boy Draco would later find out was usually called Jim and not James.

Draco felt a little confused about the Sir, but obviously it was what Connelly expected.

"Ms. Dormer, Patricia."

"Here, Sir." Hey, that was Pat!

"Mr. Harper, Keith."

"Here, Sir. " Keith sat down on Draco's other side.

At least he was surrounded by familiar faces.

"Mr. Malfoy, Draco." Old Connelly frowned.

Well, only one thing he could do. "Here, Sir." he tried to keep a straight face.

"What kind of a name is Draco, Mr. Malfoy?" Old Connelly demanded with distaste.

Draco shrugged. "The kind my father liked, I suppose. I never really asked him that."

"You may sit." Connelly granted him. Maybe that had been the right answer then?

"Ms. McDougall, Catherine."

"Here, Sir."

Draco wished he could have asked Cathy about the Sir, but in the complete silence that hung over the classroom between Connelly's calls he just barely dared to breathe.

"Mr. Parker, Eric."

"Here, Sir."

"And Ms. Rayleigh, Elisabeth."

"Here, Sir." answered Lisa and sat down with a look of relief.

She'd managed to get that nice spot between Cathy and Anya and right behind Evil Eric which gave her some cover now that she finally had permission to sit.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Connelly called the moment she was done with the attendance list. "Come out here."

Draco didn't like the look in her eyes at all, but there was no way out. He got up and walked to the front of the class. Oh yes, he was sure that Connelly remembered him now.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy, I've been told that you're from the great Hogwarts School for Witches and Wizards." Connelly said almost condescendingly. "Now, they claim to be the absolutely best there, I hear, but personally I have my doubts. This is a very advanced class, Mr. Malfoy and I seriously doubt you'll be able to keep up with it since you haven't had the privilege to be taught by me, but the headmaster insists that I give you the chance to prove yourself, so if Hogwarts is really that great, I'm sure you'll be able to summon that book Ms. Allen is reading right now."

Draco had to fight down a gulp. Which one of the girls was Ms. Allen? If she'd only given him a first name to go with.

'All right, Draco, don't panic. There are only four girls in the class and you know Cathy's name is McDougal, so it can be only Pat, Lisa or that outsider girl in the corner. Anya, her name was Anya.' Draco's eyes flashed from girl to girl. Connelly had read the names out by alphabet and Lisa had been last, so her name couldn't be Allen.

Anya! Anya had been the first one called and she was also holding a book in her hand and looking slightly nervous.

"Accio, Anya's book!" Draco called with a slight flick of his wand and the book sprang out of the girl's hand and flew towards Draco.

The girl's face went ash white and she ducked down shivering. Not good. He probably shouldn't let Connelly see exactly what Anya had been reading, but she was holding out her hand demandingly. There was no way out now. Nervously he handed it over.

"A Herbology book, Ms. Allen?" Connelly almost shouted.

Everybody in the class ducked. Draco wished he were at least still sitting at his desk.

"I ... it's a library book, Sir." Anya stuttered weakly. "I need it for my Herbology homework. The bookmark fell out and I was looking for the p ..."

"Silence!" Connelly thundered. "I will not tolerate your weak excuses to steal any of our class time." She quickly checked the book over. "As it does appear to be a library book, I will not confiscate it. More deserving students might be robbed of the chance to read it, if I did. You will report to the headmaster for detention right after this class, Ms. Allen. Mr. Malfoy, you may sit down and return that book to Ms. Allen."

Draco knew she meant for him to carry the book back. He also knew that showing off probably was a mistake, but he really wanted to take Old Connelly down a notch so he cast a quick banishing charm on the book and it flew back onto Anya's desk right out of Connelly's hand.

The whole class stared at him as he returned to his seat.

"That was quite impressive, Mr. Malfoy." Connelly said sharply stopping him halfway there. "Who is your Charms teacher at Hogwarts?"

"Professor Flitwick, Sir." Draco answered outwardly humbly. Internally he was smirking, though.

"And Professor Flitwick already taught summoning and banishing charms this year?" Connelly asked.

"I don't know. He taught them to my class around this time in fourth year." he said honestly, but almost lost control of his features when he heard Keith's gasp.

"You mean to say that Hogwarts is a whole year ahead of this school?" Connelly almost screeched.

"Only in Charms, from what I've seen so far. You're only about two weeks behind in Transfigurations, about at the same point in History of Magic at the moment and what we learned in Herbology today was all new to me." Draco reported obligingly. "I haven't had any other subjects, yet, but until now all the teachers seemed to be really good."

Connelly fumed and launched herself into her class work. "Ms. McDougal, summarise the last lesson for us!"

Cathy jumped up and gave a hasty description of what summoning charms were and what they were used for.

"There are three types of summoning charms." Connelly continued Cathy's explanation hardly giving the students time to ready their quills and parchment. "Charms to summon objects into your hand, as Mr. Malfoy demonstrated for us, are the most frequently used. The most efficient is Accio. Then there are charms to summon an object to a particular place other than in your hand, such as Apero, but generally levitation charms are more practical and lastly there are charms to summon ghosts or creatures, such as Voco. For obvious reasons we will not perform those in class. We'll return to them once the weather is better and will allow us to practise outside."

She hardly left them time to catch their breath before she continued with a more detailed explanation of Accio. The class scribbled furiously trying to keep up.

"For homework I expect you to write an essay on the Accio charm and by the end of the next lesson, I expect every student in this class to be able to perform it." Connelly closed her lesson almost five minutes after the bell had announced its end.

The students escaped out the door as quickly as they could. Only Anya trudged after them more slowly as she wasn't in any particular hurry to meet the headmaster.

"And I always thought Connelly couldn't get any worse!" Pat exclaimed as they reached the stairs.

"I wonder what's gotten into her to drive us like this." Lisa said more softly. "Usually she gives us two lessons time until we have to be able to perform a new charm."

Draco stared at the girl for a moment. He couldn't remember Flitwick ever setting any deadline other than the end of the year exams for the learning of a new charm.

"Dragon implied that Winter's better than her." Keith grinned. "That's what's gotten into her. She might have grudgingly accepted that the Hogwarts teacher is better and may be able to live with Dragon respecting Tempore or Azalea more than her, but being compared to Winter was an unacceptable insult."

"Why?" Draco asked surprised. "I didn't think that much of Tempore, if that's the History teacher's name, but the way Winter just transfigured himself a working floo was quite impressive."

"She just can't accept his personality, I think." Cathy remarked. "They're complete opposites."

"So your History teacher's better than Tempore?" Lisa asked.

Draco was glad that they didn't seem to think him a traitor for bringing Connelly's wrath down on Anya and causing the teacher to push them even more than she usually did.

"No, but it doesn't take much to outdo Binns. He doesn't even notice that everybody sleeps through all his classes. It's more interesting to read the History book than to listen to his droning," he shrugged. "Tempore's okay, I guess, just a little disorganised at the beginning of her class."

"Oh, she's fine once she finds her folder." Keith assured him. "It's some sort of psychological crutch for her, I think."

The gang was waiting for them in the entrance hall and Jack frowned when Cathy announced that they had to run back to the locker once more.

"It's not our fault Connelly went completely overtime today." Cathy said. "At least Dragon didn't mean to humiliate her in front of the whole class."

"Humiliate her?" Jack repeated. "Whatever did you do?"

"I just told her she's a year behind Hogwarts and that Winter impressed me." Draco shrugged. "How should I have known she'd react like that?"

"She actually believed you?" Mike asked surprised.

"Well, I did show her a summoning and a banishing charm." Draco said. "So she has to accept that we already learned them. Whether or not she believed that we learned them a year ago, is up to her, I guess."

"And is it true?" Jack asked rather sharply.

"Of course it is. Why should I lie about that?" Draco smirked.

"Think they might move you up a year?" Mike asked hopefully.

"I don't see how they could. You can't have Charms at the same time, we do, so I'd miss some other class."

"So you're not that far ahead of us in all subjects?" Jack asked a little less forcefully.

"No, the other classes are just right so far." Draco grinned. "It's just Connelly that can't keep up, I guess."

"Did you have Potions, yet?" Sammie asked excitedly.

"No, tomorrow afternoon." Cathy answered. "And I won't even get to see it."

"What's so important about Potions?" Draco asked them surprised.

"Well, Uncle Severus always says that Professor Funnel is an excellent teacher." Mike grinned. "We just want to see how the two compare."

"Be back here for Soccer in half an hour." Jack ordered when they separated at the Soccer lawn.

Draco practically ran up the stairs. All he had to do was change into his muggle clothes and grab Hugin and then he'd play Soccer again!

"So, how was your first day?" Sarah greeted him the moment she opened the door.

"Dako!" shouted Billy and threw himself against Draco's legs.

"Home! Caw!" Hugin proclaimed and in his excitement overshot Draco's shoulder and flopped ungraciously into his arms.

It didn't really matter to Draco at that moment, though.

"He's talking!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Yes, Hugin! I'm home!"

He hugged the bird for a moment then placed him on his shoulder. "He's actually talking."

"Well, he missed you." Sarah said. "That's probably why."

"Dako, Dako, Dako!" Billy pulled on his robes to get attention.

"Hugin's talking, Billy!" Draco announced as he picked up the baby and swung him around.

Hugin protested the wild movements loudly, but was ignored.

"Oh, come on in, boy and sit down." Sarah said. "Tell me about your day."

"I can't just now. I've got to get back to the park to meet the gang." Draco shouted, sat down Billy and dashed into the lab. "I'll tell you everything when I come back for dinner."

"Don't you have any homework to do?" Sarah shouted through the closed door. "And don't forget to write a letter to your Uncle. Severus must be worried."

"I can do the rest of my homework after dinner." Draco shouted back. "And write that letter, too."

Less than five minutes later he was on his way back down the stairs with a still very unsettled raven on his shoulder. Hugin wasn't used to such quick changes of clothes or this much running around. 'That Dog' on the other hand bounced down the stairs even more eagerly than Draco. He hadn't had a chance to go play Soccer in a long time.

All three of them were a lot calmer when they came back and sat down for dinner. Billy to Draco's surprise was now able to feed himself, though it was a rather messy business. Either the spoon was too long and big, or Billy wasn't entirely sure where his mouth was just yet, Draco thought with a smile.

Still Sarah wouldn't let him feed the baby, claiming that he could only learn by trying until he got it right.

She was happy to hear how well Draco had done in school that day and once again urged him to write to Severus to tell him as well.

"I haven't even had Potions, yet." Draco reminded her, but he did write a long letter right after he finally finished his History of Magic essay. It felt good to write it all down like that.

Then he dug out his Herbology notes and did his best to turn those into an acceptable essay as well. There wasn't enough time left to finish his Charms homework and he felt a little sorry for Cathy for whom the Accio charm was completely new. How long would it take her to do all her homework? She might have been able to finish Arithmancy in class, but he'd used that time on History, which she still had to finish as well.

Instead of starting on Charms he pulled out a piece of parchment and practised turning it into a rat and back a few times. That reminded him of something else.

"Aunt Sarah?"

Sarah looked up from her book. "Yes?"

"I need a glass object for Transfigurations on Friday. Professor Winter said it could be broken, though."

Sarah nodded. "No problem at all."

She walked into the lab and soon returned with a cracked jar. "Here, the cat must have knocked this over. I was going to perform Reparo on it, but the pixie dust has gotten into the crack and won't wash out and we can't afford it possibly contaminating valuable ingredients put inside by mistake. To leave it standing around only invites such errors."

Draco nodded and packed the jar into his backpack right away. He'd just put it into Cathy's locker tomorrow. After a quick check of his schedule he also put three books inside, then went back into the living room to find Sarah.

"What's Sports class. Aunt Sarah?" he asked her. He remembered Amanda changing after Herbology, but still didn't really understand what it was about.

"Oh, that's where you get some physical exercise, like you did in Flying at Hogwarts." Sarah explained. "West Hogsmeade hasn't enough brooms, so a Flying class can never have more than twelve students and since there isn't enough time to let all students Fly an hour a week, the classes have to take turns doing something else instead. I guess you'd better wear your muggle clothes for it." she advised.

Draco sighed. How should he get all he needed into his backpack?

In the end he stuffed his jumper into the backpack on top of the books and potions kit and left his cauldron outside to carry in his hand. He wasn't even sure that he had Sports tomorrow. According to Cathy it might just as well be on Friday.

Well, he'd just have to figure that out tomorrow.

A/N: Will Draco like Sports class? How will he do in his other classes? And how will he get along with Connelly after this?

In the next chapter: Draco's second day at West Hogsmeade, he finds that there's another subject besides Transfigurations that might cause problems and makes some new friends.