This story takes place well after the Harry Potter and his generation of students have left Hogwarts. ElfFlame and I had created several sets of children from the various stories we've written, and since they were all around the same age, decided to throw them into school together. So this is a story, hopefully soon to be a series of stories based on several others. To help make more sense of these stories, it may help to read my story, De Die In Diem: From Day to Day, and ElfFlame's stories, Dragon's Tears, and Lost Love. Most of the kids come from those. We've also created many original kids not from our stories to help fill the ranks. Many of their last names may sound familiar to you. ElfFlame has files of the names and basic family trees of some of the children for all who are interested in finding out more background on these kids. Email her at if you want them. We hope you enjoy these, we've been having lots of fun thinking about them!

Arsinoe de Blassenville: I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter. Draco's just never going to give up is he! I actually have a bit more planned before he'll start to calm down, just a bit, over Teecie's love life. It was just time that the students should have a newspaper in my opinion, so I had to do it. Being the foodie that I am, any description of food is going to be as detailed as possible, I think it just adds another element to the story. I'm really glad you liked the interview. ElfFlame and I actually made a list of 50 questions and have been interviewing each other as the different professors and have made files of the entire interviews. I'm trying to decide if we should post them on or at the club or if you wanted them, we could email them to you directly. Please let us know if you're interested and how you'd like to get them. And speaking of the club, ElfFlame and I have been playing with her new Sims 2 game and we have created the Orendes family. We've put pictures of them on the club so go check them out and see if they fit how you've imagined them in your mind all this time, because they were all designed to look exactly how I have seen them in my mind and I'd love to get your opinion on it! Well, enough chatting, here's the next installment for your enjoyment!

The Inheritance

Ubaldo, the Wizard Warrior Lover, held Teecie in his arms. "My dearest Ticia," he murmured in her ear, "You are my life, my love, my sun and moon. Let us make sweet, passionate love until the dawn."

"Oh, Ubaldo!" Teecie cried as he kissed her neck and ran his hands up and down her bodice. Ubaldo tried to undo the buttons of her bodice, but couldn't get them open, so in his frenzy to get Teecie undressed, he ripped her bodice off of her, freeing her from the confines of the tight material. Ubaldo kissed Teecie while caressing her rosy peaks. Teecie moaned loudly while he moved down to kiss her heaving bosom.

Suddenly, Ubaldo stood up, and Teecie watched as he tore his own clothes off his body. Teecie gazed at his muscular body. Ubaldo had dark wavy hair and brown eyes that she got lost in. He had dark bronzed skin and rippling muscles. He was a very powerful man, and Teecie knew it was no use trying to resist him. Not that she wanted to resist him.

Ubaldo lay back on the bed, wrapping his strong arms around Paige as she sighed. "Oh, Ubaldo. I want you to take me! Take me now Ubaldo!" she cried.

"Your wish is my command," Ubaldo replied. He pressed his hot lips to Paige's and moved on top of her. Paige's heart pounded as Ubaldo entered her for the first time. Paige moaned while Ubaldo made passionate love to her. After several minutes, Paige and Ubaldo reached a crescendo, and cried out together in ecstasy before growing silent and falling asleep in one another's arms.

Remus Lupin walked up and down the aisles of his classroom while his students read from their books. He noticed that Teecie and Paige seemed very absorbed in the book they were reading, their heads bent down close to the book, and while pogrebins were fascinating, he seriously doubted they were that obsessed with them.

When Remus got within a few feet of the girls, he started to sense that there might be more behind their reading than a simple book. As he drew nearer, he felt as though he'd stepped through an invisible veil and as he crossed to the other side, he began to feel slightly aroused. He tried to keep his breathing under control, for the air was now thick with the scent of the girls' pheromones. As he inhaled, he couldn't help but notice the familiar smell of Teecie's essence, like peaches, that he was used to smelling when she came to tea after spending time with his son. Paige emitted a similar scent, though hers was tinged with the scent of roses instead. Remus had to make sure not to look at any of the female students too closely, as he always did in a situation such as this, while he walked over to the girls. Looking down, he could see a novel hidden inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts book they should have been reading. He quietly leaned down and snatched the book up away from them. "Girls, will you please see me after class?" he asked quietly before walking back to his desk, his hormones settling down as he walked away from them.

Remus looked at the title of the book Teecie and Paige had been reading: "The Adventures of Ubaldo, the Wizard Warrior Lover." He rolled his eyes as he reached his desk. He'd been a professor at Hogwarts for over ten years now, and it never ceased to amaze him the smut girls read in class. Though, to be fair, he'd caught many boys over the years looking at magazines with nude witches in them. Teenagers, Remus thought to himself. It didn't seem like so long ago when he and his best mate Sirius Black had been fourth year students reading a copy of This Witch magazine while they should have been studying. Professor McGonagall had caught them reading it in her class, and the result hadn't been pretty. Ah, memories, Remus thought to himself.

There had been several wonderful smutty novels that Remus had confiscated over the years. His very favourite though, had been, The Amorous Conquests of the Werewolf. The things it had suggested about the libido of the average male werewolf were preposterously overblown, yet had been quite amusing to read nonetheless. There was at least one poor girl each year that had an innocent werewolf sexual fantasy. Most of the time it came in the form of a crush, a desire to spend with him, though sometimes it got out of hand. One year, five or so years before, Remus had returned to his office one night after supper to find a sixth year girl waiting for him inside. She had removed all of her clothing and was positioned in a provocative manner on top of his desk. It had been quite an ordeal to get through to say the very least. The very idea that he would participate in any such activity with a minor student of his was insulting to him as a person and as a professional educator. Remus liked to think of himself as having better control over his instinctive needs than what trashy books like that said about people like him.

Teecie had been startled when Professor Lupin had taken her book away. She was also a little embarrassed by what she'd been reading. What if he read it too and wanted to talk to her about it or something? Looking over at Paige, Teecie could see the look of sheer terror on her face. It had been Teecie's book, not Paige's; it didn't really seem fair to punish Paige when she was still so scared of Professor Remus.

After class ended, Teecie turned to look at the very pale Paige. "It was my book, why don't you go and I'll try to smooth things over with the professor, OK?" she volunteered kindly.

"Thanks Teecie, I owe you one," Paige stammered as she picked up her book bag and scurried out of the room.

Teecie took a deep breath, picked up her book bag, and walked slowly up to Professor Lupin's desk, where he was sitting on the edge, arms folded, waiting for her. "Um…Look, I know we shouldn't have been reading something else in class, but…" Teecie started, her voice trailing off as she realized she had no good excuse for wasting class time.

Remus looked down at Teecie and frowned. "Teecie, where did Paige go?" he asked, unfolding his arms and standing up to his full height.

"Oh, I said she could go," Teecie replied, smiling weakly up at her professor.

"You said? Ticia, I am the professor, and I asked for both of you to stay after class," Remus replied, frowning.

"But it was my book, and she's so scared of you still. I didn't want her to cry or anything. So, can I please have my book back?" Teecie asked, holding her hand out for the book.

Remus was displeased over the fact that she'd overruled his request. "Ticia, I was going to give the book back to you, but now I'm thinking I shouldn't. You seem to be having some trouble remembering who the authority figure here is, and who is not," he replied, still frowning. He couldn't help but wonder if all the years of Saturday teas together were having a negative affect in how Teecie viewed him. Perhaps they'd grown too familiar for her to see him as the adult. It pained him to think of having to put a stop to their fun time together each week, but it seemed that it might be having a detrimental effect on her, and in the long run, would only do more harm than good.

"No I'm not! I know you're the professor. Can I please have my book back?" Teecie cried unhappily, clasping her hands and looking imploringly up at him.

"Ticia, don't you see how you're acting? You're acting quite childish right now," Remus said calmly.

Teecie narrowed her eyes. Why was he being so difficult? So she'd been reading another book in class. So what? It wasn't the end of the world! "Can I please have my book back and go? I'm going to be late for my next class," she said as calmly and maturely as possible.

"No, you may not have your book back. But what you can do is come to this classroom after dinner tonight for detention. And make sure to bring Paige with you," Remus replied before sitting back down at his desk and starting to go through a stack of papers, ending the conversation.

Teecie was in a bad mood for the rest of the day. Here it was, the beginning of October, Reni and Peter would be returning from their honeymoon in just a few days, and her professor was being horribly cruel by giving her detention! She made sure to break the news to Paige gently that evening at dinner. She knew how scared Paige still was of Professor Lupin, and had wanted to spare her the experience, but it seemed as though it was not to be.

The two girls trudged off to detention that night. Professor Lupin was waiting for them, and assigned an essay about the proper usage of class time, and the importance of not wasting their education. Paige trembled in the corner of the room as she sat at a desk, writing her essay. Teecie sat up front by Professor Lupin as she wrote her essay. Every few minutes she'd look up and glare at him.

After the two girls had turned in their essays and Paige had left, Remus talked to Teecie. "Ticia, I'm afraid that all our fun Saturday afternoon teas together have given you the wrong impression. You seem to be having some trouble remembering that I am the professor and you are the student. That needs to be a line we don't cross. Do you think we could work on that? I take the blame for some of this, because I've allowed it to go on for too long and now it's gotten out of control. So, why don't we take a couple weeks off from tea on Saturday, and when we meet up again, we'll both work hard to keep the student-teacher boundary intact, all right?" he asked calmly, looking at Teecie to see how she'd react.

"But…but…" she sputtered, while tears filled her eyes, "But I don't want to stop meeting for tea! It's my most favourite time of the week!" she cried.

"I've enjoyed it a lot too, Ticia, but I just think it's given you the wrong impression. I'm the professor, you're the student. I think we've just gotten too familiar, and friendly to remember that barrier. It's only for a couple weeks, to give both of us a chance to remember that," Remus replied, with a sad look on his face.

"But I'm sorry Professor! Really I am! I know I shouldn't have been reading that book in class," Teecie cried, tears streaming down her face. Within a minute, she was sobbing uncontrollably.

Remus stood up and folded his arms. Now was not the time to cave in to her. "Ticia, perhaps you should go to see Master Wilkes and get a Calming Draught from him," he replied kindly.

"I-can-make-one-myself," she gasped in between sobs.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Why don't you go talk to Master Wilkes, it'll make you feel better," Remus replied while walking Teecie to his door.

Teecie took Remus's advice and went to the Hospital wing to talk to Master Wilkes. She cried for several minutes while explaining what had happened. Master Wilkes poured her a small Calming Draught which she drank while he talked in a soothing tone to her. "Teecie, Professor Lupin does make a good point. I think you tend to see your teachers, and myself, as friends, and you must remember that it isn't like that. You are a student, we are the adults, and that is simply the way things are while you are here," he said while Teecie sighed and began to look much calmer.

"I suppose you're right, Master Wilkes," Teecie said, her eyes looking glazed.

"How do you feel now?" Wilkes asked.

"I feel fine…so peaceful…it's kind of funny," she replied while smiling lazily.

"You'll not be making this potion for yourself though, understand?" Wilkes asked sternly.

"I guess not…I can just get some from you if I need it," Teecie replied slowly.

"I can assure you, that will not be very often," Wilkes said.

"No…not so often…" Teecie's voice trailed off as her eyes closed. She slithered down in her chair, asleep. She kept sliding out of her chair, and Wilkes whipped his wand out of his robes and floated her to the nearest bed right before she hit the floor.

Teecie woke up the next morning in the Hospital wing in a much better mood. She'd slept well, and had a peaceful feeling inside as she ran to her dormitory to get ready for breakfast.

The day passed quickly, and she was quite surprised to receive a letter from her mother that evening at supper, asking her to come home for the weekend. Teecie ran to Kali to see if she'd gotten a letter, and found that she had. Both girls were nervous, for the letter didn't say why they'd been asked to come home. Why did they need to leave the school? Was something wrong? The only thing they could think of was the fact that Reni and Peter were due to return that weekend, maybe they wanted to visit with them before finding a house and moving away. Maybe something was wrong with their father that they needed to come home for.

Teecie went to Draco's office without finishing her dinner, in order to find out what was wrong. She figured he must know what was happening back home. "There's nothing wrong with anybody, Teecie, I promise," Draco assured his sister, "Father and your mother just want to tell all three of you girls about something important. I'll be taking you and Kali to the property after school tomorrow, and you'll stay for the weekend." Teecie left the office and conveyed this information to Kali, who was worriedly waiting with Paul in the Great Hall. She seemed quite relieved that it was nothing too serious.

After classes on Friday, Teecie packed a bag with some clothes, school books, and a few other items that she couldn't live without for two days, and walked to Uncle Sev's office where her brother and sister would be meeting her to floo home to the property.

When the group arrived in the living room, they were met by Lucius and Adriana. Lucius and Adriana took turns hugging their children. After Lucius had hugged Draco, Adriana smiled warmly and welcomed him to the house. Reni and Peter walked into the room with Hunter shortly after, and another round of hugs and hellos ensued.

Hunter was holding his pet puffskein in his hands and grinned up at Kali. "Kawi, say hi to Fwossy," he demanded, holding the animal up to Kali.

Kali wrinkled her nose, but smiled before saying, "Hello, Flossy."

Next, Hunter turned to Teecie and held the pet up to her, "Teethie, say hi to Fwossy," he said, waiting patiently for her to obey his command.

Teecie bent down and petted the animal for a few seconds. "Hello, Flossy, my how you've grown. Your owner must be taking very good care of you," she said, smiling at Hunter. Hunter beamed up at her before hugging the animal to him and running over to entwine himself in Peter's legs. Peter bent down and picked up his son, holding him tightly in his arms.

Teecie turned to Adriana and asked, "So, what's wrong, mum? Why did you ask us to come home?"

"Well, your father and I have some good news to share with all three of you girls. Now that Reni and Peter have returned from their honeymoon, it's time we told you. So, why don't we do into the dining room and enjoy dinner, and your father and I will tell you everything afterwards," Adriana replied. She led the family into the dining room and then ran to the kitchen to carry out platters of steaming food.

Lucius sat at the head of the table, passing out plates of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding to his children. Once everybody had a plate of food, they tucked in with gusto and were soon chattering happily. Teecie was dying to know what the important good news was, but spent her meal talking to Hunter and helping him eat.

When the family had finished their dishes of plum pudding, Adriana brought out cups of coffee for the adults, and asked everybody to come into the living room. When everybody was comfortable on chairs or the sofa, Lucius stood up, carefully leaning on his cane, and looked at his daughters. "Girls, I have some good news to share with all of you. Now, your brother already knows, and was kind enough to help us keep it a secret until now," he started before taking a small item out of his pocket and handing it to Reni. "That," he said, pointing to the object in Reni's hand, "is a key to a vault in Gringotts bank. In it is 500,000 galleons for you, Peter, and Hunter to begin your new life together," he explained slowly.

All three girls' jaws dropped open. "500,000 galleons?" Reni repeated; her eyes huge as she held up the key and gazed at it.

"Yes, your mother and I wanted to give this to you to help after your marriage," Lucius said, beginning to explain in more detail, "Most of my family's money was lost during the war, or soon afterwards, except for one vault. My mother, Rowena, had a vault with two million galleons saved in it, and it managed to stay out of Death Eater or Ministry control. I decided to divide the money between you four children. I gave Draco his money after he married Tanith. Kali, you and Teecie will each receive an equal share after you get married."

Kali furrowed her brow and looked up at Lucius. "But father, what if we don't get married?" she asked curiously.

Adriana began to talk at this point in time. "Girls, we don't want you to think that your inheritance is dependent on your marriage to somebody. It's to help you get started out in your life, and we don't want you to feel pressured to find a husband, just so you can get your inheritance. So, if you don't get married, you'll receive it on your 21st birthday," she informed them. Teecie knew her mother had always resented being forced into her first marriage several hundred years ago to a boy she barely knew, and wanted to give her daughters more options than she'd had.

Teecie hadn't really heard any of this though. The only thing going through her head at the moment was: 500,000 galleons, 500,000 galleons! Think of what she could buy with that. "Dad, how many pounds is 500,000 galleons?" she asked.

Lucius cleared his throat before responding. "Well…according to the bank, it's valued at about…two and a half million pounds," he said slowly.

Teecie had been sipping a glass of water, and spat it out in a fine spray across the coffee table. "Two and a half million? Two and a half million?" she repeated, standing up and running up to Lucius. "I'm rich! I'm rich! I'm the richest girl in the world!" she shrieked, jumping up and down excitedly. "How much do you think a unicorn costs? I could buy a unicorn farm! Think of how many glitter pens I could buy with that kind of money!"

Lucius held his hand out and patted Teecie on the head. "Honey, calm down please. I understand this is very exciting, but you can't think about wasting your money on such frivolous things as pens and unicorns. This money is to help you buy a house, and pay for any help you might need while you train to become a healer, or whatever you choose to be," he explained calmly.

Teecie still wasn't hearing any of this though. "I have to tell Patty and Paige! Wait till the rest of the school hears!" she cried excitedly while running off to find a piece of paper to owl her friends.

Draco was up and able to catch her before she found anything to write on. "Teecie, no! This isn't the kind of thing to parade to your friends, in fact, the fewer amounts of people who know about this, the better," he said, taking Teecie by the arm and gently guiding her back to the sofa.

Draco sat with his arm around Teecie's shoulders, holding her close to him, as though afraid she was going to run off to write to her friends if he let go of her. Everybody was excited by this time, so he had the chance to talk to Teecie about it some more. "So, you now have some money to buy a house. Where do you think you'd like to live?"

"I don't know. I suppose it depends on where my job is, though I could floo pretty much anywhere. It also depends on where my husband works," Teecie replied. "I do like where you live, in Bath, maybe we could move in next door!" she cried, looking up at Draco with a huge smile on her face.

"Well, like you said, it depends on where you and your husband will end up working," Draco replied, while praying that neither of them ever got a job in Bath. "You can start dreaming of what you want your house to look like. You can have all the furnishings and designs that you want. You could buy a house, or have one built, if you want," he said, trying to get her mind off of trivial things and onto the more important things money could buy.

After another hour, Draco left to visit with his wife and children, leaving the girls alone with their parents. Teecie knew she was much too excited to sleep that night. "Mum, do you think we could talk tonight?" she asked once everybody else had left the room. She didn't know how much longer she could stand not letting James know she loved him, and knew her mother was an expert on love. This would be a perfect chance to get some good advice.

Adriana looked at Teecie with a surprised look on her face. "You want to talk with me? What about?" she asked.

"Well…there's this boy…and I want him to know how I feel about him…" Teecie said quietly, blushing and kicking the table leg with her foot.

"You want to talk about boys with me? Like girl talk?" Adriana said excitedly, "Oh, Teecie, of course! We can have a slumber party in your room! Just let me change into my pyjamas." With that, Adriana ran off to her room to change, and emerged several minutes later in a pair of red silk shorts and a matching tank top, and with several pillows and blankets in her arms. "All right, let's go talk!" she cried while walking into Teecie's room.

After Teecie had changed into her pyjamas, she wrapped herself up in a blanket and laid herself widthwise across her bed, with her head hanging over the edge, and her legs propped up against the wall. Adriana made a nest out of pillows and blankets on the floor and lay on her stomach, her head propped up on her hands and looking up at her daughter. "So…who's the boy?" she asked, though she thought she already knew who it was.

"James," Teecie replied after a minute of debating with herself over to tell or not. "When we went out in second year, I knew I liked him, and we had loads of fun together, but it didn't seem like anything more than that. But now…it feels like more. All I ever do is think about him, and dream about him. It's terrible," she confessed.

"But that's what love is, darling," Adriana replied. "Your mind and body become completely focused on that one person, and if he isn't there, or doesn't feel the same way for you, it makes it even worse. Is he still going out with Candace?"

"Yes, and I hate her! She's a total cow!" Teecie exclaimed bitterly.

"Well, she's going out with the boy you like, but you should still be nice to her. What do you intend to do about it?"

"I don't know, all I want to do is scratch her eyes out!"

"Well, I can't condone scratching anybody's eyes out, but have you tried talking to James?" Adriana asked kindly.

"I want to tell him, mum, but how? I can't just walk up to him and say, 'Hi James, I just thought I'd tell you that I'm in love with you,' now can I?" Teecie asked exasperatedly.

"I suppose not, but there's got to be a way to tell him how you feel. Do you have any idea if he's still in love with you?"

"I don't think he does. He's always going on about her, and what a good friend I am to him," Teecie replied glumly.

"But that's a good thing, honey. I think he's trying to make you jealous, so hopefully, you'll go after him," Adriana explained.

"You think so? Maybe I should tell him I love him then," Teecie said.

"You would probably want to be less vocal about it than he was with you," Adriana chuckled, remembering the story of James professing his love for her daughter in front of the entire school.

"Oh, believe me, I won't be doing anything like he did!" Teecie replied. "I just don't know when or how to do it, mum. How did you tell dad you loved him for the first time?"

"Well…we'd had a row, and as I was yelling at him, it just sort of…popped out," Adriana replied. "He was as surprised as I was."

"That's so romantic," Teecie sighed. "I just want James to hug me and hold my hand. That's romantic too, don't you think?"

"Sometimes it's the most romantic thing there is. You can get very close to a person with only holding hands," Adriana replied dreamily.

"And when you want to do more?" Teecie ventured to ask.

"Well, when the time is right for kissing, and…more…you'll know. But Teecie, sex is something that really takes a lot of maturity to handle. It would be best to wait until you're much older. Fourteen is a frightfully young age to be having sex," Adriana advised.

Teecie flushed and said nothing as she remembered her birthday and running away to France to sleep with Owen. Her mother would kill her if she ever found out Teecie had already lost her virginity.

The time had clearly come to change the subject, to deflect the attention away from her. "So, mum, I've been wondering lately, why isn't Uncle Sev married?" she asked curiously.

"I've often wondered that myself," Adriana replied, "He's a very private man. Maybe he doesn't want to share himself with another person. Maybe he doesn't feel like putting in the effort it takes to keep a relationship going. He doesn't have much patience when it comes to other people. I suppose he just likes being alone better, or he'd have somebody he loved in his life."

"But he must get lonely sometimes, don't you think? He's such a great man, and I wish he could be happier, but he never seems too happy to me," Teecie replied.

"I know, but he's living the life he's chosen. If he wanted something different, he'd make the changes," Adriana said firmly.

"I don't know…maybe he's too scared to try. Maybe somebody needs to set him up on a date," Teecie replied devilishly.

"Yes, but with whom?"

"Somebody else who's scared and lonely I suppose. Do you know anybody like that? Any woman near Uncle Sev's age who's all alone in the world and needs a wonderful man like him?" Teecie wasn't going to name Narcissa, she wanted to see if her mother would or not.

"I'd have to think about it for a while," Adriana replied, beginning to look uncomfortable over the subject. "Teecie, darling, will you let me brush your hair? It's been so long since I've done that," she said, sitting up and looking hopefully at her daughter.

"All right," Teecie replied, sitting up and turning so her mother could brush her hair. Soon, the two were chattering about clothes and make up and talking about boys again while they painted each other's toe nails. It was two in the morning before they finally fell asleep; Adriana nestled in the blankets on Teecie's floor. Teecie couldn't remember having so much fun with her mother in quite a while, and would treasure that memory for the rest of her life.

The next morning, Teecie enjoyed a wonderful French toast and bacon breakfast with her family. She listened as her parents talked to Reni and Peter about their plans on getting their own home. "Well, Reni and I have talked about it a lot, and we think it makes sense that that we should live in London. She wants to focus on her music career, and I'm still working in the Ministry," Peter explained to his in-laws.

"We'll try to find a nice suburb where we can buy a huge house, or buy land to have a house built. All the houses in London proper are horrifyingly small," Reni added.

"Hunter's lived his entire life in Reni's bedroom, it's high time he got a room of his own," Peter said while wiping his son's face off with his napkin. "Isn't that right?" he asked Hunter.

"Dat is wight!" Hunter cried emphatically, though not knowing what they were talking about.

"We thought we'd move into the Burrow, with Peter's grandparents, until we find a place. Their house is almost empty and they have plenty of rooms to spare. We can't stay here, it's just too small," Reni said bluntly.

"But we appreciate everything you've done for us," Peter added hastily.

Kali and Teecie looked at each other warily for a few seconds. Reni was leaving…that meant her room would be free. "Mum, can I have Reni's room? You could knock out the wall and expand it so it would be twice as big!" Teecie blurted out quickly, trying to beat Kali to the same question.

"Mum! I'm older, I should have the room!" Kali cried.

Adriana exchanged a knowing glance with Lucius before speaking. "Actually, your father and I have discussed this already, and we have decided to remove the wall between Reni and Teecie's room and move her room further down, and do the same with Kali's wall. So, the space that was divided between three rooms will now be shared between two," she said with an air of finality about the subject.

Kali and Teecie looked at each other. "That sounds fair," Kali finally replied. Teecie nodded her head in agreement.

The rest of the weekend passed pleasantly, and on Sunday evening, Draco returned to escort his sisters back to school. After a round of hugs, the girls flooed back to Hogwarts.

Patty and Paige were very curious to hear about Teecie's weekend. After a long debate with herself, she finally decided to tell them, but swore the girls to secrecy first. The three girls screamed and jumped up and down excitedly as they thought about all the money.

Two days passed before strange things started to happen. One morning at breakfast, when Teecie was eating and talking with a group of her friends at the Gryffindor table, three older Slytherin boys walked over to her. "Good morning, Miss Orendes," one boy with black hair and steely brown eyes said while holding his hand out to shake hers.

"Uh…good morning to you too," Teecie replied, holding her hand out to shake his.

Another boy held out a single red rose to Teecie and smiled suavely at her. "Hello, Miss Orendes, I'm Winston Krantz, sixth year," the boy said, kissing Teecie's hand. Before the third boy could say anything, the first boy began to insult the second. "Why are you even here? You're not her type. Why did you try to meet her? She'd never go out with you," Winston sneered sarcastically to the black haired boy.

"How do you know? I'd be a much better match for her. Besides, you don't even know what to do with a girl!" the black haired boy cried.

"Oh, I don't, do I? Just ask your girlfriend, she'll tell you all about what a good lover I am," Winston bragged.

"Hey, break it up! You don't want to behave like this in front of the school," the third boy interjected, walking in between the two and trying to stop the argument. Winston shoved him lightly, to which the other boy grabbed his arm, and the black-haired boy's arm, and dragged them back to the Slytherin table, depositing them on opposite sides, and keeping a close eye on them. There was no more trouble from them afterwards.

When Teecie had a chance to look over at the Ravenclaw table, she noticed a few more boys trying to speak to Kali. One boy with auburn hair tried to give her a pink rose, but had to face Paul, who wouldn't allow him to speak to her at all. When a large boy with thick muscles approached Kali from the other side, Paul whipped out his wand and bellowed something at him which made him back away slowly with his arms raised in the air. After a few more minutes, Paul finally took Kali by the arm and escorted her out of the Great Hall. "How did they find out?" Teecie heard her mutter as they walked out of the room. She noticed Kali looked quite upset, and seemed to not be able to get out of the room quickly enough.

"What was that about?" Teecie asked, looking at her friends who had watched the scene unfold in silence. Paige blushed and looked down at her porridge while Patty began to whistle and looked up at the clouds showing through the ceiling. "What? What did you two do?"

"Well…" Paige began quietly, with a guilty look on her face, "I sort of told Carl about your money."

Teecie turned to Carl, her eyes wide with surprise. "Carl?"

"I swear I only told Rey," Carl quickly replied, shaking his head to deny his part in it.

"And I only told Zeren," Rey chimed in.

Teecie turned to glare at Zeren. "Ticia, I didn't tell anybody. It wasn't any of my business, so why would I tell anyone?" he said calmly, looking her in the eye to assure her of his innocence.

"So how did they find out?" Teecie asked quizzically.

Patty cleared her throat. "I only told Daniel," she assured her friend, holding her head high.

Teecie turned to look at Daniel. "I didn't know it was a secret," he replied, "I might have told a few people."

"How many is a few? One or two people?" Teecie asked.

"More like…ten or twenty," Daniel confessed, looking at his hands.

"Daniel! How could you blab that to all those people?" Teecie cried angrily, her face flushed the same shade as her hair, while Patty punched his arm.

"Yes, Wood, that was rather unintelligent of you, wouldn't you say?" Zeren added.

"Are you saying I'm stupid, Travers? Because if you are, I might have to pound your face in!" Daniel growled, standing up to show off his full height to Zeren.

"Sit down Daniel," Patty said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back down next to her. Teecie noticed that Patty kept her hold on his hand.

By this time, Draco had made his way to the Gryffindor table. "Miss Orendes, I'd like to see you in my office, now," he said sternly while walking out of the hall. Teecie glared at Daniel for a moment before getting up and following her brother to his office.

"I thought they'd know to keep it a secret," Teecie cried as soon as she had closed the door to her brother's office.

"You told the twins about the money, didn't you?" Draco asked, his eyes burning holes into Teecie's face as he stood before her with his hands on his hips.

"Yes," Teecie sighed. "I couldn't keep it from them. It was just too exciting. It was the first good secret I've had in quite a while," she said quietly.

Draco's face softened as he listened to his sister's words. He had expected as much from her. She'd never been good at keeping secrets, so why would she start with this one? "Oh, Teecie, I'm not angry with you. It's just now I'll have to keep an even closer eye on you. Those boys are going to try and get you to like them, now that they know you have money coming to you when you get married. Don't be surprised if one or two of them even propose," he replied quietly.

"People will look at Kali and me differently now, won't they?" Teecie asked.

"Some will, yes, but your true friends won't," Draco replied.

"I hope not. It would be really weird otherwise," Teecie replied. "Look, I need to go to class, can I go now?" she asked while standing up and walking to the door. "Yes, but I still need to talk to you. Can you visit me after class today?" "Sure," Teecie called out while running out to get to her class. The day passed quickly, and soon Teecie found herself back in her brother's office. "Teecie, I've been wondering if you wanted to go on another date," Draco began, "I know of a couple boys that I think you'd get along with quite well." Teecie bit her lip. She wanted to go out with James, but she didn't want to hurt her brother's feelings. Besides, if she went out with other boys, it might make James jealous and want to go out with her again. "I guess I can try going out with one boy," she finally replied. Draco smiled, "Good, I'll arrange a meeting for you. The Hogsmeade weekend is coming up, and we can all plan on going out to dinner that night." "He's not one of the boys who talked to me this morning, is he?" "No, none of those boys would be allowed to see you," Draco replied. "Because they only want me for my money?" "Yes, and the fact that they don't come from good families," Draco said. "Oh, I see," Teecie replied. "And I don't have to marry him?" "Not if you don't sleep with him, which I'm sure you won't, right?" Draco asked sternly. "No, of course not," Teecie replied. "Good, so plan on meeting here on Friday night to meet Mr. Payne," Draco said. "Payne? You want me to date a boy named Payne? What's his first name?" Teecie asked. She couldn't help but notice Draco hesitated for a moment. "His name is Fenton, Fenton Payne," he finally replied, "and he comes from a good family," he added quickly. "Fenton? Fenton Payne? What kind of a name is that?" Teecie cried. Draco looked exasperated by now. "Teecie, his name doesn't matter. What does matter is that he's a nice boy who comes from a good family. He'll treat you like a proper lady," he explained. "Why don't you go and eat your dinner. Everything will sound better by the morning." "Somehow I don't think 'Fenton Payne' will sound better ever, but I'll give it a try. One date, that's all I'm promising," Teecie said while standing to leave. "That's all I ask. Then it's settled. You're really going to like him, Teecie; I have a good feeling about this boy." "Well, that's…good I suppose," Teecie replied as she left the room. That night at dinner, Teecie tried to imagine what a boy named "Fenton" must look like. By night's end, she was dreading her date with him. At least she had the Hogsmeade weekend to look forward to.