Disclaimer: Don't own anything but Lizi Simon and the plot! And don't u dare try to take them away because if u do I will chase u to the end of the world if I have to just to get it back!

A/N: Sorry it took that long again, I promise I'll try to get the next chaps faster, it's just that I have summer break and trips and camp… you know how it is…. Anyway, this is chap seven, This chapter is much calmer that the last few ones, life in Hogwarts seem very ordinary (as ordinary as Hogwarts can be) but don't worry, things will be warming up just in a little bit, both on the Quidditch filled and on the battlefield! Hope you like it and please review!

Love y'all

Tinc.

CHAPTER SEVEN

BIRDS AND MUSHROOMS

Harry!"

"But where?"

"What? Harry wake up!"

"No… where are they goi…"

"HARRY!"

Harry's eyes shot open so suddenly Ron jumped in a start.

"What??" He asked confusedly. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Ron said a bit startled. "It's the first day of school Harry remember?! Come on, you don't wonna be late." He said going over to Harry's closet and throwing his uniform at him. "And by the way, what did you dream about? You were asking where 'they' went…"

"They?" Harry said getting out of bed. "Weird, I don't even remember my dream at all… You sure?"

"Yes, you kept asking where 'they' went, how come you don't remember?!"

"I don't know." Harry said, trying to recall what he dreamed of but all he could remember were two figures walking in the dark.

The rumor of a new student was already across the school and when they found out whom it was the Slytherins didn't like it at all.

"Had a change of heart has she? Suddenly turned bold? Doesn't seem to me like she lacks any hair!" Harry heard Draco say over and over again to his fellow Slytherins. Elizabeth didn't seem to take it well either.

"Well isn't this a warm welcome." She muttered to herself darkly sinking in her chair.

"Don't worry Elizabeth, I'm sure it'll pass in no time." Ron said taking a sit beside her. Ron, unlike many other students was being very warm towards her.

"I hope you're right." She smiled towards him. "And it's Lizi." She managed to keep that smile on for a little longer but hearing Draco's comments she was soon gloomy as before.

Hermione wasn't helping much either. She seemed to be suspicious about the whole deal herself and was very cold towards Lizi. She handed her the timetable without saying a word and concentrated in her breakfast.

"Let's see," Ron said leaning over Lizi's shoulder to see the timetable. "We have History of Magic first," He groaned. History of Magic was the most boring subject in Hogwarts and the only one taught by a ghost.

"What's so bad about that?" Asked Lizi.

"Boring." He smiled shortly.

"Then we have Transfiguration. I bet Professor McGonagall will start on the O.W.L.s as soon as she can…"

"Then we have Herbology!" Harry said looking at his own list. "And it will be our first lesson with the Ravenclaws instead of Hufflepuff!"

"Not quite," Hermione said.

"Why not?"

"They seem to be having um… a little problem, with the change…" She said in a small smile. "It doesn't seem that either the Slytherins or the Hufflepuffs want it, and since Snape is their Head of House the whole thing 'll be held back until he returns."

"Returns!?" Harry dropped his toast. "You mean he's really gone?!"

"Really gone? McGonagall just told the prefects, how did you know he was gone?" Hermione asked him.

"I… I'm not sure… How did I know" Hermione gave him a worried look. "Harry, is everything alright?"

"I don't know… it's like I remember something about Snape leaving but I have no idea how…"

When the morning mail arrived Harry couldn't help but looking up to see if Hedwig or that old owl was up there though he knew Sirius couldn't have mailed him back already. Harry turned his head to look at Draco and his crowd who were still discussing Lizi jokes.

"Not a big fan of them are you?" Smiled Lizi seeing the look in his eyes.

"Surprisingly no." Harry smiled sarcastically.

"They were very nice when I learned here in my first year… It just seems they have a problem with all Gryffindors, or am I the problem?"

"Of course you're not you!" Ron snapped. "Forget about those gits, they're just looking for someone to mock!"

"Does anyone know who the new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Art is?" Asked Neville from across the table. "I don't see any new faces in there."

"I don't know Neville…" Harry said looking over at the staff table.

"By the way, Neville-- Lizi, Lizi-- Neville Longbottom" Ron said, unnoticing it he was completely doing in Hermione's job.

"Hey Neville, how are you?" She smiled at him, for some reason it seems like they already met.

"I'm alright." Neville grinned at her.

History of Magic was as boring as usual; Harry spent the whole lesson looking out the window at the big Hogwarts grounds.

He couldn't wait to get out of the castle and onto the grounds that were fresh from the rain in the previous night but before Herbology they had Transfiguration.

Ron was right, Professor McGonagall was talking about the O.W.L exams almost as soon as she opened her mouth. "Before we start class I have a very important announcement to make," She exclaimed seriously. Hermione moved in her chair, McGonagall gave each student a strict look. "Your O.W.L.s exams are taking place this year, and will spread through out the year," At this she took a pile of parchments from her table. "Here is the list of exams taking place this school year." She said while handing out the parchments.

Hermione was going through her list over and over again as she was mumbling mental notes to herself, Neville stared at the list desperately, and Ron didn't even dare to look in he's. Harry peaked at he's own list to see what was to come:

Ordinary Wizard Level Exams:

Every Fifth year student attending Hogwarts Boarding School for Witchcraft and Wizardry is required to take the following O.W.L. exams during his or her fifth school year:

Transfiguration exam--Theoretical and Practical

Potion exam & Herbology exam (combined)--Theoretical and practical

Charms exam--Theoretical and Practical

Defense against the Dark Arts exam--Theoretical and Practical

Care of Magical Creatures exam--Theoretical and Practical

History of Magic exam--Theoretical only

Divination exam--Practical only

Arithmancy--Theoretical only

The list went on and on.

"As you can see these are not like the other exams, most will be divided into two parts, a written one and a practical one in which you will have to perform the things you learned. So as you can see, we have a lot of work ahead of us so we ought to start working right away. I will not take any nonsense in my class so please try to behave yourselves if you wish to get an acceptable grade." There was total silence in the room when she finished talking and it was as if no one in the classroom had dared to move.

"So, lets see if any of you still remember a little of what we learned last year, I hope the Holiday hasn't completely whipped off your memory." She said and gave Neville who was searching his bag for the textbook a sharp look. "How can you…" The rest of the lesson was more or less a conversation between McGonagall and Hermione, only occasionally interrupted by a few other students.

"That is a lot of homework she gave us." Said Lizi when they were finally dismissed after a lesson full of dictated material into their notebooks.

"That's Professor McGonagall alright." Sighed Ron as they entered the Great Hall.

When lunchtime was over the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs made their way through the grounds to Herbology class.

"See?" Hermione showed Lizi the grounds as they walked as if they were on a tour, feeling she had to do at least part of her job. "These, over there, are the Greenhouses, Professor Sprout's really nice."

"My favorite teacher." Squeaked Neville from their left. Herbology was one of the few subjects Neville was good at.

"As you can probably tell, as it is the only one around," Hermione went on "This is The Forbidden Forest."

"Why is it ?" Lizi asked looking fascinated by the great green trees, and the things they may be hiding in them.

"Well… I think they're two mareasons: first of all, I don't suppose Dumbledore would like people running around in the forest, you can get lost quite easily. And other than that, I'm not sure even Dumbledore himself knows all of the creatures that might be hiding there." She said and gave Harry a look.

"You sound like you've been there," Smirked Lizi giving all three a suspicious look.

"I've been there," Said Ron with a sick look on his face, as if he still had nightmares of horse-sized spiders.

In their second year, Harry and Ron entered the Forbidden Forest trying to figure out the mystery of the Slytherin monster.

"And believe me, it's a very, very, very good thing that it's forbidden!"

"How about you?" She asked Harry.

"Well, I've been there with Ron that time, and in my first year with Hermione."

"Hermione?" She smiled in surprise; Lizi already spotted that Hermione and rule breaking don't get along.

"Well, we got a…" She started, but seemed to have trouble admitting that she got punished for sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night, so she just began on something else. "Anyway, that's Hagrid's hut, he's really nice, looks a little alarming but he can't hurt a fly."

"At least not on purpose." Harry laughed. Hagrid was a rally gentle soul but he got into trouble very easily and Harry knew (all too well) that Hagrid just couldn't tell the difference between interesting and dangerous.

"You're going to see him next lesson, we learn Care of Magical Creatures with him," Ron said in an alarmed voice. "Wonder what he would bring us this time."

They reached the Greenhouses and waited until Professor Sprout showed up. When she read the names she stopped at Lizi's and said "Oh, I see we have a new student to join us, hello Miss Moon," She smiled warmly.

"Hello," Lizi grinned back.

"This year we are going to work with the Potions class," Ron and Harry switched dark looks "I know Gryffindor and Hufflepuff do not attend Potions together and soon won't attend Herbology together but not to worry, everything was arranged.

"This term each of you will grow a few plants and then in Potion class, you will learn how to use them. This plant is called Fungusus Maaltrum. As you hear from the name, it's a fungus. It has quite unique powers, anyone knows what it does?"

A few hands went up, including Hermione's of course.

"Yes, Mr. Longbottom?" Asked Professor Sprout softly.

"It melts stuff." He said quietly.

"That's correct. Fungusus Maaltrum could melt various things from pimples to metal and stone. In some cases though, if used with some other ingredients you will learn about in Potion class it can also mend things, but first, we need to grow it, don't we?

"You'll need to use your gloves for this, they're still very young so they're not very dangerous but it won't be good if you spill some powder on yourselves. Now, here they are," She took out of a box beside her a weird looking plant. It reminded Harry of the mushrooms he saw in fairytale stories, only instead of white and red it was orange and purple. "Each of you gets five, we will put them into these," She pointed to some empty flowerpots "First you fill them with soil, and then, before putting the funguses in, you need to shake them and squeeze the poison out. This will help them grow stronger poison when they're in the soil. Any questions? Good. Let's begin."

Although a bit dangerous, Harry found it very fun to squeeze the poison, because the orange powder that came out was beautiful. They had so much fun in comparison to History of Magic and Transfiguration. That is right until Lavender Brown sneezed, spilling powder everywhere, Parvati jumped back to avoid the poison and accidentally flipped Neville's flowerpot which was already done on Seamus Finnigan's face.

"Aaah!"

"Au, I'm vewy soie Seamus! I think I'm allegic to somethin' here." Said Lavender Harry thought she was right, she did look quite sick.

"Oh dear! You need to get to the hospital wing, someone needs to go with him."

"Ah, here, I'll go." Said Lizi and put her mushroom down carefully. "Ow, that must hurt, you okay?"

"He'll be fine. Alright everybody, finish to plant them and then help Patil and Brown clean up," She shot Lavender and Parvati a dark look as if it was Lavender's fault she was allergic to something in the greenhouse.

After the lesson Harry Ron and Hermione went into the castle and found Lizi in the entrance hall.

"How is he?" Asked Hermione.

"He'll be okay." She smiled. "So, where are we headed now?"

"Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid, come on."

When they arrived at the hut Hagrid was already waiting for them looking very pleased with himself.

" 'Lo everyone," He said cheerfully to the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Malfoy gave Hagrid a sneering look. "This year is suppose to be yer O.W.L.s test and yeh should be learnin' here 'bout more dangerous creatures," The pupil in the class switched worried looks. "But I decided that since yeh already have a hard time with yer other classes and all that I'll be easy on yeh."

"Okay, so… right. Here they are." Hagrid walked them to the back yard of his hut where many metal cages with beautiful birds in all colors in them laid on the ground.

"They're Fwoopers," He announced. "You'll need ter take care o' em. Now there's a Silencing Charm on em so they can't hurt no one but their song could drive yeh nuts so once a week you'll need to renew the charm. Every one o' you gets a Fwooper here. They eat insects and stuff. Your assignment for this term is to take good care of em, and teach 'em to behave themselves, they're smart creatures yeh know, and they're yeng so yeh can teach em a few things…" He smiled. "All righ' so… just pick one… whatever color you like, and in the end of the class write yer name on da cage so yeh'll know which one's yers. Each lesson I will acquire you to teach em somethin' else alright?"

The Fwoopers looked like a really easy and fun job, especially considering it was from Hagrid who would probably rather give them some monstrous beast, but they weren't really as pleasant as they seemed to be. They weren't exactly the trusting types. The green Fwooper Harry had tried to take kept pecking him, and quite hard too. Lizi on the other hand somehow managed to get along very well with her blue Fwooper and it was already siting comfortably on her shoulder.

"Everybody yeh take a look at Miss Moon." Hagrid exclaimed happily.

"How did you do that?!" Asked Seamus as his red Fwooper kept turning its back to him whenever he tried to pat it.

"I'm not sure," She said calmly. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have a Fwooper feather in my wand… Here, let me help you."

"Here, let her help you." Draco Malfoy smirked to Crabe and Goyle who were both laughing at his words. Malfoy got a big, nasty looking, dark blue Fwooper to sit on his shoulder.

"Look," Ron whispered nastily. "Two of a theater."

Surprisingly though, Draco didn't seem to get as jerky as he usually did by now and except for the looks he gave them he pretty much ignored Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"So how is the school doin' here? Are yeh havin' fun?" Hagrid went over to Harry, Hermione, Lizi and Ron.

"We sure are, those Fwoopers were a great idea Hagrid!" Harry said as he was finally getting the Fwooper to like him a bit.

"Thanks, I'd thought yeh'd like em. How's it goin' Elizabeth?"

"You already know each other?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes," Lizi smiled. "Hagrid brought me to the school."

" 'T really was a shame yeh ended up missing the feast… Always next year though. Yeh guys really like em Fwoopers ehh?" Hagrid smiled broadly looking around and for the first time seeing the class enthusiastic rather than horrified to take care of the beasts.

"When will we be coming to visit you then?" Hermione asked when Lizi hurried to help Seamus who was now being attacked by his bird.

"Whenever yeh like. Harry, have yer Quidditch practices started yet?"

"Not yet, so I'm pretty much free to come whenever but Hermione's a prefect now so…"

"Yeh're a prefec'? Why didn' yeh say anythin'? that's great!" Called Hagrid to Hermione who blushed. "I'm so proud o' yeh! Will yeh be able ter come on Saturday?"

"Sure, Saturday afternthen?"

By the end of the lesson Harry got his Fwooper to finally sit on his shoulder. After each of them wrote his or her name on the tag on the cages they all went up to the castle for dinner.

After dinner Harry Ron and Hermione sat together by the fire talking cheerfully about the first day. But then when Lizi said goodnight to Hermione and she just murmured something back Ron waited until she left and then gave Hermione a vicious glare.

"Alright! What is it?!"

"What's what?" Hermione asked trying to look casual.

"You know exactly what!" Ron snapped. "Why are you acting so mean to her?!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Oh come on! You've had it in for her ever since she got here and she's been nothing but nice!"

Hermione had trouble finding an answer. She looked away blushing a little. "It's nothing, I just think that something weird is going on here. She was sorted to Slytherin last time, and the hat is never mistaken! And now she's suddenly sorted to Gryffindor, and Dumbledore wanted to do something against the hat's will?! And why was she resorted in the 1st place!? I'm telling you, something's going on!"

"It still doesn't mean you have to act like that!"

"Fine!" She called. "Though I don't think it would matter that much, seems like you're being 'nice' enough for the both of us!"

And with that she got up and raced up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"Fine!" Ron called after her. "I'm going to bed." He suddenly said to Harry who was silent the whole time and got up, storming up looking just like her.

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End of part 7!!! Again, I'm really sorry it took me that long, I promise I'll try to get it on track and put out more chaps!

Please review!!!

Love y'all!

Tincerbel.