Chapter 2

            After the meal, all the students went to their own respective common rooms. Alison followed Alicia, Angelina and Katie to the Gryffindor common room where a warm fire burnt in a grate, the flames casting dancing shadows on the walls. In front of the fire, there was an assortment of armchairs, poufs and beanbags. All in all, it looked most inviting. She was then shown to the girl's dorms by Angelina who told her to come back down when she had finished. All of her stuff had already been left near her bed. She walked to the window and looked out across the Great Lake whose surface looked like a sheet of glass, not a single ripple disturbed its star-studded face.

            In the common room, the first years had gone to bed and the rest were sitting around the fire catching up on what the rest had done for the holidays. Alicia, however, was talking about Alison. "She seems really nice, don't you think?" to which Angelina responded, "Yeah, she seems pretty cool. She's in the dorms now." Fred, George, Lee and Oliver joined the conversation and they agreed that she seemed really nice. At this point Harry and Ron chipped in that she was very funny and had a bit of a wild streak. Just as Hermione opened her mouth to add that she too thought that Alison was very nice, Alison walked back into the common room and flopped down in the free armchair next to Oliver. The conversation had begun to flow again when the painting flew open and Professor McGonagall stepped in. In a clipped voice she shooed them all off to bed and then walked back out.

********

            The next morning Alison awoke early and seeing that the sun had already risen, decided to go for a jog in the grounds. She slipped into her shorts and a white polo neck T-shirt and then put on her sneakers. As she tried to sneak out of the dorm without waking anyone, she walked right into Katie's bed. Katie's groggy voice muttered something about "crazy South Africans" before burrowing under the covers and going right back to sleep.

            As she walked down the stairs, she shivered. She hasn't though it would be this cold; she was going to have to do some serious running to warm up.

            Ten minutes later, she was out in the grounds and while she ran, she watched the sky turn from gray to pink to orange, and then suddenly in a flash of gold, the sun rose above the horizon, silhouetting the north tower and casting long dark shadows on the ground beneath it. She headed straight for the Quidditch pitch; the only place that she imagined the teachers wouldn't mind her running alone. She reached the stadium and as she passed through the gates and the field opened up in front of her, she let out an audible gasp. Never before had she seen a field this big; it was quite perfect!

            A half hour and one and a half laps of the field later, she headed back towards the school, drenched in sweat and hoping that everyone would still be asleep. Luckily for her the only person in the corridors was Peeves and although he probably was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase on his day, he was unusually docile that morning. Perhaps it was the absence of unsuspecting victims upon whom to launch his assault. Whatever it was, Alison made it back to the common room only to find it still deserted for which she was more than a little relieved. She opened the door to her dorm to find three warmly covered heads in the dark and, oh, miracle of miracles, a pair of uncovered feet. She felt her way towards her bed and plonked herself onto it. As she pulled off her shoes, she realized that her shin was throbbing and when she went to inspect it further by the daylight filtering in through the window, she saw a huge blue bruise, roughly the size and shape of a fairly large bell. Groaning to herself, she walked back to her bed, opened her chest of drawers and fished out her clothes and a towel. Before heading out the door again, she yielded to overwhelming temptation and yanked the covers off Katie's curled frame and then fled.

*****

            When she got back from her bath, still toweling her hair vigorously, she found that her 'roomies' had finally gotten up. From the looks Katie was giving her, she figured that Katie was more than a little irritated by the whole bedcover incident. The three of them slowly dressed and then, when they were all finally ready, all four made their way down to the Great Hall.

            At the Gryffindor table, Alison began to pour out some milk for herself when there was suddenly a sound like the swishing of many wings and then owls of all shapes, colours and sizes flew into the Great Hall holding newspapers or parcels in their beaks and then dropping them near their owners. Oliver, who was sitting next to Alison got a parcel that looked suspiciously like sweets and other homemade goodies. George and Fred who were sitting opposite Alison and Oliver eyed the parcel with a greedy glint in their eyes and then both began to try and catch Oliver's eye. Oliver, though, refused point-blank to meet either twin's gaze and instead, studied his cornflakes with great earnestness, his dark eyebrows knitted and head bowed in the perfect picture of concentration.

            On the other side of Alison, Katie had got a copy of the Daily Prophet and a letter from her mother. As she had chosen to read her mother's letter first, Alison asked to borrow the newspaper.  Staring at her from the front page was a picture of Sirius Black, one of the most wanted wizards of all time. His black eyes stared out of a skeletal face framed by wild black hair down to his shoulders. Looking over her shoulder, Oliver shuddered and said, "scary looking thing, isn't he?" But Alison didn't answer. Instead, her shoulders drooped as she read the article. Apparently, a Muggle who remembered his face from the news a while back had sighted Black in the area. Fudge, the minister of magic was quoted as saying that he would do everything in his power to apprehend Black and avenge the murder of those twelve Muggles and one wizard so many years ago. As she read on, a frown creased her forehead and her hands began to tremble very slightly.

            Oliver noticed the frown on her face and was puzzled. For the frown wasn't one of irritation due to the inabilities of the Ministry of Magic, no, it was one of worry, but she couldn't be worried about a cruel murderer, could she? As soon as the thought drifted into Oliver's head, he banished it. That didn't make any sense. No, it had to be something else troubling her. Maybe she just had a headache. But there was still that niggling doubt in his mind that somehow, for some reason; Alison really did care about this man.

            Before he could puzzle any longer, he heard his friend Darren groan about having Potions with Slytherins again and when Oliver turned away from Alison to ask how he knew, he saw his schedule lying on the table in front of him. All thought of Alison were pushed from his head as he scanned the schedule looking for Potions. And there it was, on Tuesday morning, Potions with Slytherins!! Damn! It was like a curse, a jinx he would never escape.

            When Alison got her schedule, she saw the letters 'ext.' beside all of her subjects. When she asked what that was, Angelina grabbed for her schedule and let out a gasp. Turning to Alicia and Katie, she said, in an awestruck voice, "she got into the extended course in all her subjects." And then it was Katie and Alicia's turn to gasp and grab for the schedule. Among all this commotion, Alison stared at them, a look of utter confusion plastered on her face. When the other three had finally finished exclaiming and gasping, she asked them what the extended course was. Angelina explained that in sixth year, some of the best students in each subject, who already knew all the material of sixth year course, were pushed up into the extended course, which basically meant that they would be working with the seventh year. Angelina was in extended Care of Magical Creatures, while Katie and Alicia were in extended Herbology. Angelina and Alicia were also in extended Muggle Studies.  But they didn't know anyone who was in all the extended courses. All of this was said in excited tones, though Alison could not quite see what the attraction was with the extended course. Rather confused, and feeling more than a bit silly, she asked in a meek voice, "I don't get it. You all want to do more difficult work??" Looking at her like she had come from Planet Alien, Alicia explained in a condescending voice, as though she were talking to a three-year old, that the guys in the seventh year were more than a bit good looking and quite a few of them were single. And then it clicked in Alison's head. They didn't want to do extra work; they wanted to flirt with the guys. Now this was more something she could understand.

*****

            Her first lesson was Herbology with Hufflepuff. As she walked to the lesson with Katie and Angelina, they told her all about Cedric Diggory, the most eligible, single guy in Hufflepuff. Although she went along with them, pretending to be dizzy with lust at the thought of his perfect features, she secretly promised herself not to fall for this guy, or for that matter, any guy in Hogwarts.

            They were ushered into the greenhouse by Professor Sprout, a small dumpy witch. She explained that they were going to be learning about Polycartons, small, nasty white plants that, when flowering gave off a putrid smell, similar to that of rotting meat. But, as Professor Sprout explained, the petals of the flowers were extremely useful in cures. What cures she didn't tell them, but Alison knew that it was used to deaden the pain for people who had suffered great injuries, whether physical or mental. However, too much of it could lead to addiction and as a result many laws strictly governed its use.

            As they took down notes about the flowering patterns of this plant, Alison began to look around the class. Angelina and Katie were sitting at the same table as Alison. On their right, there was a group of three Hufflepuff girls: Caroline White, Penelope Perkins and Debra Thomson.  Behind them sat Oliver, Darren and Cedric and Jordan from Hufflepuff. After she had finished writing, she leaned back in her chair and began to think about the newspaper article she had read that morning.

*****

            Oliver, being a fairly fast writer was the first to finish copying the notes into his Herbology book. After he had done that, he began to twirl his pen between the fingers and toss it up into the air before catching it. Beside him, Cedric was still writing, his pen scratching across his paper. Every now and again, he looked up, squinted at the board and then went back to writing. In the end, he gave up on trying to read Professor Sprout's impossibly miniscule handwriting and instead, grabbed Oliver's paper and began to copy from that. The friendship between Cedric and Oliver was based largely on the fact that both were extremely competitive. At the same time their friendship was ironic as they were the Quidditch captains of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor respectively. On the other side of Oliver, Darren was writing as well, his soft breathing barely audible in the greenhouse. Above them, he could see the sun shining in the sky; it was a perfect day for Quidditch. If only, he could convince his Chasers to practice. Although they were all very good, they did sometimes argue when he called for practice early in the morning. Girls!! Who could understand them? Almost immediately, the answer popped into his head: Cedric. There was no one quite so smooth as him, or as popular with the girls. His blue-gray eyes, curly blonde hair and toned body made him the prize catch. The number of girlfriends he had had in his seven years at Hogwarts was unaccounted for, and the number of hearts he had broken, even more numerous. But, Oliver on the other hand had never had a girl friend, despite being attractive and the captain of the Quidditch team. All the girls in Hogwarts knew that his sole passion was Quidditch. It was his wife, his mistress and his religion. He walked, talked and slept Quidditch.

            Five minutes to the end of the lesson, Oliver got up from his seat, accompanied by Cedric, Darren and Jordan. He walked towards his Chasers and said, 'Umm…Angie, Katie, we have practice tomorrow at 6:30 in the morning. Could you tell Alicia that when you see her? I'll tell Fred, George and Harry. Ok?' At this, the two girls looked scandalized. In a plaintive voice, Katie said, 'But Oliver, it's barely the second day of school!' At this point, Angelina joined in, both trying desperately to get Oliver to reconsider. While all of this was going on, Alison had her back to them, her brown hair falling down to her shoulders in a series of steps. Then she turned around, a smile on her face and said, "Well, why can't you have the practice in the evening?' Despite himself, Oliver marveled at the perfection in her features. Her skin was a clear, chocolate brown and her eyes were a deep brown colour with tiny golden flecks in them. Her nose was straight, and perfectly proportionate to the rest of her features. Slightly distracted, he looked at Angelina, a look of bewilderment in his eyes. Angelina obviously mistook the expression for disappointment, and in a hurry, she agreed to go to practice in the morning and convinced the Katie to do the same.

            During this time, Cedric had not been standing about idle. Like Oliver, he gazed at Alison's perfect features but unlike Oliver, he did plan on doing something about the unfamiliar feelings stirring in his chest. For, although he had had many a girlfriend, he had never been in love. He imagined stroking her hair, touching her lips with his, running his hand down her spine making her tremble. The very thought of her lying helpless in his arms made him shiver.

*****

            As she looked at him, she thought, 'So this is Cedric…he's not too bad-looking, but certainly not my type.' With that, she turned her attention to Oliver who was looking quite lost, a look that the other two girls mistook for disappointment, thus changing their minds about not going to early morning practices. Just as Cedric was about to say something, the bell rang, and Alison gathered her books together before leaving. When Oliver asked why she was in such a hurry, Angelina explained that she had to go all the way to the Defense Against Dark Arts Room.

             As Alison hurried away, her brown hair glinting in the sunlight, she still couldn't push the article out of her head. Sirius Black's face floated into her mind, like a ghostly apparition, his tangled black hair framing his hollow face, his dead eyes staring out of sunken sockets. But, unlike most of the wizard population, she didn't feel hatred for this man, she didn't even feel disgust. Instead, she felt pain, a pain so deep that it pierced more than her heart, it pierced her very soul. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of the defense against dark arts classroom. She walked in and gasped, for in front of her was a man she had only seen in photographs, but never in the flesh.

            In front of her, looking tired and haggard, stood Remus Lupin. His clothes were shabby and his hair uncombed, but it was definitely him. He was rummaging through the contents of his suitcase, muttering in exasperation. Nervously, Alison cleared her throat, and Professor Lupin looked up. A smile broke out onto his face, erasing the lines under his eyes and making him look like the young man that he was. Softly he murmured, 'exactly like her mum!' but before he could explain what he meant, a group of kids from Ravenclaw trooped in, all chattering loudly and merrily. At the sight of Lupin, they fell into silence, their mouths gaping. For he had taught at Hogwarts before, for a year, before resigning due to fear of disapproving parents who resented the thought that their children were being taught by a werewolf.        

            Slowly, the group of Ravenclaws settled down in one corner of the classroom, and Alison feeling completely lost sat down in the back row at the opposite end of the classroom. She didn't think she wanted to intrude on their privacy being from Gryffindor. At that moment, Oliver walked in followed by a few other Gryffindor seventh year boys. Alicia was right; they were cute, very cute!! Looking at her, he smiled his warm brown eyes twinkling and began to walk over to where she was sitting. Amusement sparkling in his eyes, he asked, "is anyone sitting here?" gesturing to the seat beside Alison. Still recovering from her shock at seeing Professor Lupin, she shook her head dumbly. Lowering his bag onto the floor, he slid into the seat next to her and pulled out his quill. Alison couldn't help but notice that his hands were strong and masculine, but clean at the same time. Almost instantly, she turned her head away lest Oliver should catch her staring. That might give him the wrong idea. She wasn't looking for a relationship, she was still sore from the previous time she opened her heart to someone.

            Suddenly, she became aware of Professor Lupin clearing his throat at the front of the class. She looked up, and her puzzlement must have been mirrored in her eyes for he said, "Most of you know me, and for those of you that don't, I'm Professor Lupin. Before we start, I would like to avoid any confusion or misconceptions by saying that I am a werewolf. But, as Professor Snape has kindly agreed to make the Wolfbane potion for me at every new moon, I assure you that I am perfectly safe. Unless, you forget your homework, that is. If you do that, I'll sprout fangs and fur and howl at you till you beg for mercy!" At this, the whole class laughed, lightening the uncomfortable atmosphere in the classroom. Having thus broken the ice, he proceeded to teach them about the different types of curses. Unforgivable curses, they had already studied, and then there were the less dangerous curses. After giving them a brief description of each type, he began to give them notes. Half an hour later when the bell went, Oliver and Alison swept up their books and headed out of the classroom for the Great Hall for lunch. As she was about to step out of the classroom, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Professor Lupin standing behind her with a sad smile on his face. In a soft voice he told her to meet him in the classroom during lunch. Alison nodded once, her heart pounding in her chest. Then she turned around to go to the Great Hall to see Oliver standing there waiting for her. She smiled at him and he said, 'what was all that about?' In response she just shrugged her shoulders and pasted a puzzled look on her face. But she did know, at least she thought she knew what Lupin wanted to talk to her about. Either way, she would find out that afternoon.

            As they entered the Hall, Alison scanned the Gryffindor table for Angelina, Katie and Alicia, and she saw them sitting at the far end of the table. Next to them were two empty seats. She headed for the empty seats, followed closely by Oliver. As she walked past the other tables, boys' heads turned, their mouths gaped and girls scowled. Oblivious to all of this, Alison sat down next to Katie. The three girls turned to her and asked her how the lesson was so Alison filled them in on what they had missed, which she insisted really wasn't much. She was about to say something when Fred, George, Lee, Harry, Ron and Hermione walked and sat down opposite them. Katie smiled foolishly at Fred who grinned back and sat down opposite her. Further down the table, Angelina and Alicia did the same thing to Lee and George respectively. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down opposite Alison and Oliver. Realising that her three friends were too involved with their 'boyfriends' to pay any attention to her, she smiled at Hermione. Hermione smiled back and asked, 'are you really in all the Extended classes?' at this Harry and Ron looked up and stared at her. Chuckling, Alison said, 'yeah, I am, but it's really no big deal!' then, sneaking a sideward glance at Oliver, she added, 'the seventh years are really a big bunch of brutes anyway…'Oliver exclaimed, 'Hey! What'd you mean? I'm not stupid!!' Giggling, Alison remarked, 'you said it, not me! If you think you're stupid, that's really not my problem…' All of a sudden, she felt a leg rubbing against hers and she stopped talking. Oliver looked at her and said, 'what, cat got your tongue?', but Alison didn't reply, instead she ducked under the table amid gales of laughter from Ron, Hermione and Harry. She saw a leg stretching out from under black robes with only socks on, and followed the leg to…

            'FRED!! What on earth do you think you're doing??' And under the table, his toes wiggled and he said, in a tone that suggested that he wished he could disappear right then, 'I thought you were Katie!' his face going as red as his flaming hair. If Harry, Ron and Hermione were laughing before, they were roaring with laughter now, Ron banging the table with his fist, tears rolling down his cheeks. Harry and Hermione were both shaking with mirth, Harry so hard that his glasses had slipped off his nose and fallen onto the ground. Oliver was almost rolling on the ground with laughter as were the rest of the Gryffindors who realized what had happened. Even Katie was laughing. After about ten minutes, when the laughter had died down, George had only to say, 'hey, Fred, you feelin the urge to rub someone's leg?' to set them all off again. Never had Alison laughed so hard before, her cheeks ached, and her stomach hurt from the strain.

            During lunch, Alicia couldn't keep from commenting on the unusually large number of boys who kept passing by the Gryffindor table on their way out of the Hall, only to come back in a few seconds later. She winked at Angelina and Katie and then said in a loud voice, "I wonder why all these guys keep walking past? What are they looking at anyway?' Alison heard her and looked almost as puzzled as the rest of the Gryffindors. After lunch, she pushed her chair back to get up, and when Katie asked her where she was going and if she wanted someone to go with her, she responded that she was just going to the common room to get some of her stuff. But from the way Oliver looked at her, Alison could tell that he didn't believe her, and that he could see right through all of her defenses. She picked up her bag and hurried out of the Hall and almost immediately the vast crowd flowing past the Gryffindor table ceased, another point shrewdly picked up by Alicia.

            Oliver leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling bewitched to look like the sky outside. He tried to think of Quidditch, but instead, all he could think about was Alison's perfect face, her ringing laugh, her glossy hair shimmering in the light, framing her slender face. Try as he might, he couldn't push her face out of his head, even though he knew he didn't stand a chance with her. Even he wasn't thick enough not to realize why so many guys had been streaming past the table. And with so many guys to choose from, why would she pick him? No, he would just be a friend, maybe even a good friend, but never a boyfriend. He was jolted back to reality by a rude voice near his elbow. He turned around to see Marcus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team standing behind him, a smirk on his evil face. 'Funny, wood, I would've thought you'd be practicing like crazy! You're going to need every second of it, if you're going to even make a bid for the Quidditch cup. All these years, you've been saved from embarrassment by the circumstances, but not this year. This year, we're going to give you the pasting you've been asking for all these years.' Oliver's face contorted with fury as he struggled to keep himself from doing what he most wanted to do, punch Flint square on the nose and keep punching till he bled and pleaded for mercy on bet knees. In an even voice, he said simply, 'why don't you put your team where your mouth is.'  With that he got up and walked out of the Hall.

*****

            Alison stood outside the door of Professor Lupin's classroom, her ears strained for anything that might suggest that he was busy and cause her to come back at a later stage. But she could hear nothing beyond the think wooden door. Tentatively, she knocked, softly at fist and then louder, when no one answered the door. She was about to knock for the last time when the door opened and Professor Lupin stood in the doorway, the same sad smile etched onto his face. 'Come in', he said, in a soft voice and she stepped inside, closing the door behind her. Once inside, she followed him to his desk where he told her to take a seat. Calmly, he said, 'I think you know why I called you here. You do know, don't you?' although she had told Oliver that she had no idea what he wanted to talk to her about, she did know! She said in a low whisper, 'you want to talk to me about my parents.' At this, Professor Lupin smiled, 'I'm not sure how much you know, so I'm going to tell you the whole story. Pardon me if I am but reinforcing what you are already aware of. Your father, Harry's father, James and I went to school together. We were friends; in fact, we were as close as friends could get. We did everything together, even after we left school. Your father met your mother in his last year. She, too, transferred from South Africa. Her name was Stephanie. Your father fell in love with her and was going to get married to her after she had the baby she was carrying, his baby. That baby was you. But after you were born, something terrible happened. Your parents had a fight and I regret to say that the fight was about me. You see, your father knew someone very close to us had been relaying information about the whereabouts of James and Lily to Voldemort. He though it was I who had turned traitor, but your mother didn't agree, she thought it was Peter. As it turned out, she was right. But this argument split your parents. Your mother moved back to South Africa with you and your father stayed here, to help protect James and Lily and their newly born baby, Harry. By that time, you were two and a half years old. Then a year later, Voldemort killed the Potters and only Harry survived. The next day, your father was convicted of murdering twelve Muggles and Peter Pettigrew. And I'm ashamed to say I believed the conviction. I believed your father was responsible for their deaths. But last year, we realized how wrong we were, that your father was innocent.' At this, his voice cracked and Alison saw that his eyes were wet with tears. 'Since then, we've been trying to track you down, but your mother was definitely one of the smartest witches to pass through Hogwarts. She certainly did make the task difficult before she died. But we found you and that's what's important. And what I didn't do for your father, I swear I will do for you. I don't know if anyone told you, but James and I are your godfathers.' Slowly, he raised his head, looked straight into Alison's eyes and said in a whisper so soft she could barely hear him, 'But I meant what I said in class. You do look like your mother. Exactly like her. Except for your eyes. They're like endless coal mines, the deeper you go, the blacker they get. But the black is not cold. On the contrary, it's like a veil, a warm shroud that comforts anyone who looks deep enough to see it. I would recognize those eyes anywhere and with that recognition, I would know you, your origins. And so would anyone else who has ever had the chance to look deep into the eyes of Sirius Black.'

*****

            When Alison reached Hagrid's cottage, she realized that she was the first one there. As she stood indecisively outside Hagrid's small cabin contemplating knocking on the door to announce her presence, the door crashed open and Hagrid came out, a wide grin on his face. She hadn't seen him since the previous day when he had met her after the long train journey from King's Cross to Hogwarts.  He had a huge wooden box under his arm, which, every few seconds, seemed to wiggle. Or perhaps, it was just Hagrid trying to keep it under his arm. When he saw her, he bellowed, 'all righ', Alison? Likin Hogwarts, eh? But what are ye doing 'ere? I 'ave me seventh years now. You're in sixth year, aint ya? Not tha' I'm not pleased to see ya!' Alison chuckled under her breath and said, 'Well, yeah, but I'm in the extended class for Care of Magical Creatures.'

'Oh, are ye, now? Like animals, do ye? That's good!'

'So what are we doing today?'

'Ah, ye'll find out when the rest do. No preferential treatment, that's me rule! Would ye like a cup o' tea? Come on in, then!' With that, he lowered the crate onto the damp ground near his pumpkin patch, and then beckoned to Alison to enter his cabin. Inside the cabin, it was stiflingly hot and Alison's black robe seemed perfectly designed to absorb all the heat it could. She could think of nothing more alluring than loosening her tie a bit. But she couldn't do that! It had taken her ages to tie it in the morning! It was one of the few things that she really could not do well, however hard she tried.

            Pulling up a chair, she sat down at the roughly hewn table in the center of the cabin and watched as Hagrid poured her a cup of steaming tea. Placing it in front of her, he opened a small cupboard in the corner and took out a tin of biscuits, which he proceeded to offer her. She was about to take a bit from one, when, suddenly, the door shuddered with the impact of a huge animal hurling itself against it. Alison sprang up, her wand drawn, her face set and her eyes narrowed. Looking at her in surprise, Hagrid said, 'it's alrigh'! It's only me dog, Fang.' And with that, he opened the door and a huge black boarhound, saliva dripping from its open jowls, charged into the room with the force of a small elephant, barking ferociously. It headed straight for Alison. But surprisingly, Alison didn't scream or even back away. Instead, she lowered her wand and placed her hand on Fang's head. In a soft voice, she said, 'Down, boy, down!' and almost instantly, Fang stopped barking. Hagrid looked at Alison, a look of utter shock on his ruddy face, and said, 'he's never done tha' before!' Before Alison could reply, they heard voices outside. Startled, Hagrid looked at his watch, and realized that it was time for the lesson to begin. He opened the door and walked out into the bright sunlight. He was closely followed by Alison.

            Ten minutes later, the whole class was assembled near the pumpkin patch outside Hagrid's cabin. Alison stood next to Angelina, both listening to what Hagrid had to say about Fire breathing Salamanders. Their project for the rest of that month would be to take care of the salamanders. At the end of the month, each group would have to give an individual report on what they had found out. When he had finished talking, all the students went towards the crate to get a salamander. Hagrid had said that there could only be a maximum of three to each group, so Angelina and Alison needed to find another member. Oliver was working with Darren and a boy called Stuart from Ravenclaw. They had already got their salamander, which turned out to be a brilliant orange creature with fiery yellow stripes down the length of its back. As Alison looked around for anyone who didn't seem to have a person to work with, a voice behind her said, 'Hey Angie! Have a good hols?' Alison and Angelina turned around to see a pretty girl with shoulder length black hair and glowing skin. Angelina beamed at the girl and said, 'Hey Cho! Yeah, I had a great holiday! You?', to which Cho replied in the affirmative. Then she turned to Alison and said, ' hey, you must be Alison, I've heard about you!' Unsure whether to take this as a compliment or an insult, Alison smiles in a bemused sort of way and said, 'Should I be worried?' At this, all three of them burst out laughing and made their way toward Hagrid to get their salamander.

*****

            On the other side of the pumpkin patch, Oliver was trying to poke a piece of lettuce down the salamander's throat, cheered on by Darren and Stuart. When Oliver managed to force the lettuce down its throat eventually, the salamander goggled at him out of its bright blue eyes for a few seconds and then coughed up the lettuce again, only now it was covered in a vile smelling, viscous orange liquid. What made it worse was the fact that it coughed the lettuce onto Oliver's hand, before bolting like a snake into the pumpkin patch. Recovering instantly, Oliver took off after the salamander, followed closely by Darren and Stuart. Realising that he would not be able to catch it once it reached the pumpkin patch, he made a last despairing dive in an attempt to catch hold of its tail. But instead, he landed face first in the mud. When he looked up, it was only to see the whole of the class bent over double, laughing and one girl even had tears streaming down the sides of her face. Darren helped him up and Oliver tried in vain to get the mud and salamander gook off himself. When everyone had gone back to their own salamanders, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Alison standing there with the salamander in her hands. The cheeky thing just sat there, without attempting to move. It seemed quite content too. In a soft voice, she said, 'I believe you're looking for this.'  His face burning, he took the salamander from her, mumbled his gratitude and then went back to his friends who were standing a few paces behind, smirking openly at him.

            Just then they heard the bell ring in the distance, and Darren picked up the salamander and took him over to Hagrid to put it in the crate. As Oliver stood beside Stuart waiting for Darren to join them before heading back to the castle, Stuart said, 'you are one lucky son of a gun, you know that? I would give anything to have that girl touch my shoulder. She is fine!! I didn't know a girl could look that good in a shapeless, black robe.' Oliver just stared at him, speechless, his mouth open. Luckily for him, Darren joined them at that moment and they walked back to the castle in silence. Oliver thought to himself, 'What is it with this girl? She isn't all that pretty. She probably wears a lot of makeup! Why do all the guys have the hots for her?' But in his heart, he knew that she was more than just pretty, she was drop dead gorgeous. And although he didn't want to admit it, he could tell that she didn't wear a trace of makeup and that her beauty was completely natural.

*****

            Alison walked back to the castle with Cho and Angelina, all three of them laughing about Oliver's attempt to catch the salamander. They were walking into the wind and their hair billowed behind them. The topic turned to what Fred had done that morning causing more bouts of laughter as Alison described in detail the look on Fred's face when he realized she wasn't Alicia. When the laughter had died down, Cho turned towards Alison and said, 'So, have you seen anyone who catches your fancy?' at this Alison stopped laughing and said in a very serious tone, 'yeah, actually, I think Lee is just so cute!' Angelina gasped and said, 'You bitch!' and then she saw the sides of Alison's mouth twitching and realized that she's been pulling her leg. Threateningly she advanced on Alison and Cho, who backed away slowly, shrieking with laughter. As Angelina raised her bag to smack one of them, they both turned and ran towards the castle with Angelina close behind. When they finally reached the castle, they leaned against the wall, panting and laughing. Slowly, they made their way inside the castle where Angelina and Alison parted ways with Cho.

Five minutes later, they entered the Muggle Studies classroom, to find that most of the people were there already. Angelina slipped into the seat next to Alicia. Alison looked around for another empty seat and saw one, right next to Oliver. She smiled at him and said, 'Anyone sitting here?' when he shook his head, she tossed her bag onto the dusty floor and sank into the seat. She saw that Oliver had managed to get most of the mud and Salamander juice off himself. Spotting a bit of mud on his lips, she stretched out her hand and wiped it off. As her hand brushed against his lip, she felt a desire begin to burn within her heart. Looking at his face, she whispered, 'you missed a spot.'  Had Professor Agallant not started talking, she would not have been able to resist the urge to kiss him, square on the lips. As it was, he did start talking and Alison withdrew her hand and looked at the Professor. He was a tall, tanned man, with deep blue eyes and dark blonde hair. He announced to the class, 'We have a choice as to which aspect of Muggle Life we are going to study this term, a choice between Muggle Sports and Muggle Music.' At this announcement, the class burst into applause with some scattered whistling and whoops. Alison turned to Oliver and said, 'I'll bet I can guess which one you would like to learn about.' At this Oliver grinned and said, 'it's pretty obvious what I would like to do, but what about you?' Alison replied, 'I'm not completely sure. I really like both. I love sport, but I also love music.' Before she could say anything more, professor Agallant waved his hands for silence and said, 'we are going to have a vote. And in the unlikely event of a tie, we will do both, but then it will last for the whole year. So all in favour of Muggle Sport, raise your hands.' Alison raised her hand as well, but she was the only girl to do so.

'Ok, so that's nine in favour of Muggle Sports and I'm guessing that the other nine are in favour of the music. So, it's decided, we'll do both!' With this decision, the whole class let out a cheer, only this time Oliver and Alison joined in too!

            When the cheering died down, Professor Agallant said, 'We are going to watch a video. I know that generally, electricity does not work around Hogwarts. But let us just say that there are certain charms that allow electricity to work. This video is going to be on a particular Muggle sport. Before we start watching, can anyone name a few Muggle sports?' A few hands shot into the air including Angelina's, Alicia's and Oliver's. The professor pointed to a girl from Hufflepuff first and the girl said, 'Tennis.' As he went around the class pointing to the people with their hands raised, other sports such as rugby, soccer, golf and basketball were named.  Finally professor Agallant said, 'you've got almost all of them, but you're missing out one that is very important especially here in the United Kingdom. Does anyone know what it is?' slowly Alison raised her hand and said, in a clear voice, 'Cricket.' At this, the professor's face broke into a wide beam and he said, 'ah, yes, of course you would know that one; you are South African after all!' Alison blushed and looked down as the professor continued to talk, 'Cricket is a personal favourite of mine. As is tennis. And hopefully we will be able to have some practical lessons as well. But now, we are going to watch a video on tennis, perhaps one of the most exciting tennis matches ever and as we go along, I will explain the rules. The match is between Marat Safin of Russia and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. It was played just a year ago and it was absolutely nail biting. Oliver, could you please draw the curtains… Thank you.'

When the bell rang for the end of the lesson an hour later, no one wanted to leave. Reluctantly, Professor Agallant turned off the video and drew the curtains. As they all walked out of the classroom, he said, 'and for homework, I would like all of you to research tennis. Next week, I will be asking about the rules and everyone should know them. Next lesson, however, we will be doing music.'

As Alison walked out of the classroom, Oliver on one side of her and Angelina on the other side of her, she was going over her classes that day in an attempt to try to remember if she had any homework from other classes. As it was, reading up on tennis was hardly homework; she knew all the rules of tennis already. After all, she had won the junior tennis championship in Cape Town. As she was trying to remember if she had any other homework, she felt someone bump into her from the back. She turned around to see Cedric smiling at her and in a soft voice he said, 'I'm sorry.' Before turning away, she assured him that it was all right. As she turned back, she caught Angelina smirking and before she could ask why, she realized that she had left her pen in the Muggle Studies classroom. Turning to Angelina, she said, 'Go on ahead, I'll be right there. I just have to go and get my pen. I left it in class.' As she walked back to the classroom, she heard a voice behind her saying, 'Hold on, I'll come too. Wouldn't want you to get lost, now would I?' she turned around to see Cedric walking towards her, his blue eyes sparkling. Together they walked back to the class, where Alison proceeded to look for her pen. When she couldn't find it, she got back up and told Cedric so, to which he replied, oh, is that what you're looking for? Yeah, well, obviously you're not going to find it on the ground, it's in my pocket!' and he took it out of his pocket and waved it annoyingly in front of her face. Alison glared at him and seeing the glare, he stopped waving it in front of her face and gave it back to her.  As they walked out of the class, Cedric asked, 'So, do you like Quidditch?' Alison looked at him, smiled and said, 'No, actually, I don't. I mean, I like watching it, but I can't play Quidditch, I'm scared of heights.' At this, Cedric looked at her, his gorgeous blue eyes wide with astonishment. 'Really? That's a pity, cuz it's a really great game!' by this time, Alison had reached the point where she had to turn right to reach the Gryffindor common room, and Cedric had to go left. Turning to her, he said, 'well, bye then, see you at dinner.' And before he left, he leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek. She froze, and five minutes later, she was still standing there. Then she came to her senses and thought, 'Oh, no! Not again! Not here! Not now!' and with that she raced to the common room. When she reached the fat lady's picture, she panted out the password 'Perfidious Tantalus' and then climbed through the portrait hole. 

*****

As he watched Cedric and Alison walk off together, his heart sank. He knew that once Cedric wanted a girl, he always got her, no matter who she was. He had some sort of talent with them, he seemed to say and do the right things at the right times. And he'd had a lot of practice. And practice makes perfect, as they say. And he, Oliver had had anything but practice. He was 17 and he had never kissed a girl. He was probably the only boy in the whole of seventh year who would be able to make this claim. Not that he was proud of it. It was just that till now, no girl had ever caught his eye. He had been happy in his own little world, with no girl to worry about, nothing to worry about except Quidditch. And then along comes Miss Alison, with her gorgeous chocolate brown eyes, her full lips, and her long luscious lashes and all of a sudden, he was acting like another one of those poor lovesick sods whom he used to pity. As he walked to the common room, he made a promise to himself that he would stop thinking about her, that they would be just friends, that he would make sure that she didn't get hurt. But that afternoon in class, when she brushed the mud off his lips, as her fingers brushed against his skin, he felt a shiver of anticipation run down his back. For a brief moment, he had thought she was going to kiss him, but then she pulled away. After all, why would she kiss him, when there were guys like Cedric who wanted to go out with her? Hanging his head, he climbed through the portrait hole, trying not to imagine what Alison was doing with Cedric at that moment.

*****

            When Alison climbed through the portrait hole, she saw Angelina, Alicia and Katie sitting around the fire, doing their homework. She walked over to them and plunked into the armchair beside them. They looked up in surprise at her depressed face. When Alison told them what had happened, they looked confused as to why she was upset. Alicia looked at Alison as though she had dropped off another planet and asked, 'so you're upset because the cutest guy in year 7 kissed you? Right! That certainly makes sense!' When they tried to persuade her to explain, she just said, 'I've not had the best of experiences with guys,' and refused to elaborate. Resignedly, she pulled her book out of her bag and began to write an essay about tennis, the rules, the most important tournaments and some of the best tennis players. Alicia and Angelina looked over her shoulder in amazement as her quill scraped across the parchment. In less than an hour, she had finished an entire role and just managed to squeeze the whole essay into it. Rolling up the parchment, she grinned at their amazed faces and shrugged nonchalantly, 'Hey, I work fast, ok?' Chuckling, Alicia responded, 'that's a bit of an understatement!!' At that moment, Harry, Ron and Hermione walked in followed by George, Fred and Lee. Almost immediately, the three girls' faces lit up. George, Fred and Lee made their way towards where they were sitting and squeezed into their respective girlfriends' chairs.

Realising that there was no real point to sitting there any longer as her friends were too absorbed in talking to their boyfriends than to listen to her, she got up and walked towards the stairs leading to the dormitory. She was about to climb the stairs when she heard Oliver calling her. She turned around and walked over to where he was sitting. Looking sheepish, he asked in a small voice if she could possibly explain the rules of tennis to him. Chuckling to herself, she sat down in the armchair next to him and began to explain. From tennis, they moved to tennis tournaments to tournaments that Alison had played in, to other sports. They talked for hours and were oblivious to the rapidly emptying common room. Oliver told her about his family and Alison told him about her life in South Africa. She told him how she had to live in a home for orphans. When she said the word 'orphans', she felt a twinge deep in her heart but ignored it. As the fire in the grate burned low and the shadows grew longer, they continued to talk. The fire went out but they barely noticed for the rays of the sun were creeping through the windows. Looking up, Alison realized for the first time that the room was empty, that the night was past and brand new day had begun. Oliver stood up, dislodging Alison who during the course of the night had moved from her armchair to sit on the arm of his. Stretching his arms towards the ceiling and yawning, he said, 'well that certainly was a short night!' Alison chuckled and looked at her watch, which read 6:05. Looking up, she said, 'I have to go change for my jog.'  He looked up in surprise and asked, 'you go for a jog every morning?' to which she replied in the affirmative. Then she added, 'Do you want to come too?' leaning against the armrest, he mumbled incomprehensively about a Quidditch practice that was due to start in half an hour. Shrugging, Alison assured him that it didn't matter and that as she was going upstairs anyways, she would wake up Angelina, Katie and Alicia.

When she entered the dormitory, all three of them were fast asleep, and one of them was snoring softly. She tiptoed to her bed at the end of the room and groped around for her shorts and polo shirt. When she found it, she quickly pulled them on and then collapsed onto her bed to tie her shoelaces. When she was done, she walked towards the door and on the way out, pulled the bedcovers off all three of them. She was about to leave the common room when Oliver came down the stairs that led to the boy's dorms. He had changed into a navy blue sweater and a pair of jeans. He looked as fresh as a summer breeze. When he saw her, he burst out laughing. Annoyed, Alison asked him what the huge joke was, but he couldn't answer; he was too busy laughing. He was almost bent over double and between laughs, he managed to wheeze 'your shirt' before going into another fit of hysterics. Alison looked down at her shirt to find that not only had she worn it inside out, but also front to back. What was more, she looked down to see that her socks didn't match. Thanking her stars she wasn't fair, she looked at him, a snooty look on her face and said, 'that's the latest fashion, you old fogie!' before stalking out of the common room, leaving Oliver behind still laughing his head off.

As she jogged towards the Quidditch field, she began to think about Oliver. Her thoughts drifted from the things he had told her that night to the way his warm brown eyes twinkled when he laughed. Suddenly, she shook her head and silently reprimanded herself. She had promised herself when she stepped onto Platform 9and three quarters that she would not fall in love. It wasn't worth it. No boy was worth the amount of pain love brought. Besides, she couldn't get close to anyone; she was the daughter of a murderer. She couldn't possibly go out with a boy and expect him to accept the fact that his girlfriend's father was a fugitive. Her father's face drifted into her mind. He was another reason she was afraid to open herself to anyone. She still remembered him from way back, how he used to toss her in the air and then catch her. How he used to sing songs to her, and rock her in his arms until she fell asleep. She could still hear his deep voice humming the tune of the song 'Hotel California' as he held her in his arms below the stars in the deep black Durban sky.  His face was replaced like her mother's. She felt gratified when people told her she looked like her mother. Her mother was one of the most gorgeous women on earth. When she walked, the whole world stopped to watch. When she sang, the whole world stopped to listen. When she laughed, the whole world stopped to admire the clear sound of her laughter like the tinkling of water in a mountain stream. But when she died, the whole world moved on.  Her face clouded over as she remembered how little people noticed her mother's absence from their midst. Grimacing, she continued to jog, forcing these thought out of her mind, replacing them with thoughts of how beautiful the sunrise was.

When the team walked out onto the pitch, they saw Alison racing around the perimeter. When she neared them, Alicia looked at her in amazement and said, 'what are you exercising for? You're as perfect as they get.' Chuckling, Alison replied, ' No, I'm not. I'm only perfect when guys fall all over themselves for me and as that hasn't happened yet, I can't be perfect!' with that she jogged out of the stadium and Alicia stared after her retreating back in amazement.

            A few minutes after Alison left the common room, the other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team joined Oliver Wood. As they rubbed the sleep from their eyes, and pulled on their shoes, Oliver paced up and down the length of the common room. Fred and George looked at each other, and rolled their eyes. They knew exactly what Oliver was doing; he was working himself up to the start of term pep talk, the pep talk that he gave them at the start of every Quidditch season. As he rumbled on for what seemed to the rest of the team to be hours, George's head drooped onto Fred's shoulders and Harry's eyes began to close. In fifteen minutes, the whole team had sunk into a stupor while Oliver droned on and on about various tactics he had devised during the summer. It was only when his lecture was interrupted by a loud snore from George that he stopped. As he surveyed his team, he realized that most of them had probably not heard more than a few words of what he had said. Picking up his broom, he headed to the portrait hole, leisurely followed by the rest of the team. When they finally reached the Quidditch pitch, he saw the slender figure of Alison sprinting around the perimeter. His breath caught in his throat as she came closer and he could see her face. Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were flushed. As she neared them, she slowed down to a jog and chuckled when Alicia asked her, in an incredulous voice what the purpose of the exercise was as she was already perfect. Oliver didn't hear the answer, he was wondering to himself how he could have possibly spent the night with her and not have done anything. If Cedric or Darren found out, he would never hear the end of it. As it was, he was Mr. Nice Guy, the guy who girls talked to but never fell for. If they found out that he had spent the whole night with Alison but had not gotten any closer to asking her out, he would never have a moment's peace again.

            When she left, he gave the team some last minute instructions and then kicked off from the ground. As he soared through the air, the wind rushing through his hair, all thoughts of Alison were pushed from his mind…for a few seconds, before they came hurrying back. As he looped the goalposts all he could think of was Alison's smile, Alison's laugh, Alison sitting on the arm of his sofa, the warmth from her body radiating towards his.

The rest of the team watched in amazement as Oliver missed a simple goal. As they flew past, Fred and George stared in puzzlement at him. By the end of the practice, the whole team had realized that Oliver's mind wasn't in practice today. As they all walked towards the changing rooms for a quick shower and to change into their robes for class, the three girls whispered amongst themselves and then suddenly they burst out laughing, and looked at Oliver. Oliver could feel his ears burning, and he knew that his face was turning scarlet. They couldn't possibly know what he was feeling, could they? And why was he feeling this way? He was Oliver Wood, he didn't like girls, he liked Quidditch!!

When he got to the Great Hall, everyone else was nearly finished with breakfast. He saw Alison at the far end of the table near Alicia, Angelina and Katie. His heart sank when he saw whom she was talking to. Cedric was standing very close to her chair, his blonde hair glinting as it caught the sunlight, his blue gray eyes sparkling as he told her what must have been a hilarious joke from the way the two of them were laughing. Noticing the empty seat near her, he walked towards it purposefully. When he had almost reached the seat, Cedric sat down in it. Oliver was about to turn away, when he heard Alison saying, 'you're gonna have to get up when Oliver gets here…oh, here he is! That was an awfully long bath…for a boy anyways!' oh, and this letter came for you, you weren't hear so your owl dropped it near me, pretty smart owl, huh' As Oliver sat down, he gave Cedric a watery smile, which was met by a sly wink from Cedric. Grimacing, Oliver poured himself some orange juice. He heard Alison say, 'Well, I'll see you later Cedric' and as he turned around to do the same, He saw Cedric kiss Alison lightly on the cheek. His heart sank somewhere near his toes and with a forced smile, he, too, said goodbye to Cedric. He shoveled his cornflakes into his mouth watched in astonishment by Alison. In a voice that didn't quite conceal her worry at his weird behaviour, she asked, 'you're acting dead strange! What the hell is wrong?? Are you mad at me or something, cuz you seemed fine last night.' Oliver looked into her eyes and saw the worry in them. Smiling, he said, 'No, nothing's the matter…I was just feeling a little out of sorts for a while, that's all. Now, I'm fine though.' Alison looked at him rather skeptically and was about to say something when Alicia, Angelina and Katie got up. Alicia turned to her and asked if she was coming with them to class. Alison shook her head and said, 'No, I'll wait for Oliver. Besides, I've got Potions next.' Nodding, the three of them walked out of the Hall. By this time, Oliver had finished his cornflakes and was working his way steadily through a pile of buttered toast. As he munched on the toast, Alison looked around the Hall and suddenly asked, 'Who do we have Potions with?' At this, Oliver answered, his mouth full of toast, 'Dam' roffen Slyfferins!' He swallowed the toast and repeated himself. 

Oliver was about finished with breakfast when he heard the most unwelcome voice in the world, the voice of Marcus Flint. Oliver turned around, his jaw set, ready for a fight. With Marcus stood his cronies, Palter and Gneiss. His arms crossed, Marcus sneered, 'Well, well, well, it looks like lil' Woodsie's finally found himself a girlfriend. I hope you know girlie, the only thing's he's ever ridden is a broom.' He burst out laughing but before Oliver could retort, Alison stood up, her eyes flashing menacingly, and said, 'At least he can ride a broom…last time I checked you couldn't even do that!' and with that, she stalked out of the Hall dragging Oliver with her. Fuming, she dragged him all the way to the Potions class. Inwardly, Oliver thought, 'Jesus, that bugger really asked for it!'

When she got to the dungeon where the Potions classes were held, she pushed open the door and walked in. the class was empty except for them. She headed straight for the bench right at the back and tossed her bag onto the slimy floor. Then she sat down, and Oliver took the seat next to her. Slowly, the class began to fill up. As a boy sat down beside Oliver, he smiled at him. Surprised, Oliver smiled back wondering why on earth Thomas, the smartest boy in the class, wanted to sit next to him. However when Thomas leaned over him to ask Alison if he could borrow a pen, the reason dawned on Oliver, Thomas liked her too.

Just then, Flint sauntered in, glanced around and then headed straight for them. In a voice dripping honey, he said, 'Pardon me madam, but this is where we sit,' and at this he gestured to Palter, Gneiss and another boy with hooded eyelids, 'this is where we sit. So could you move? And you, too, Woodsie darling.' Alison replied, using a tone so similar, it sounded mocking, 'Sorry Flintstone, but unless you can show me your name on the bench, I wouldn't waste my time trying to persuade me to move. I'd get my sorry ass onto an empty seat and not ask to get it kicked. Comprendez? Or need I let my fists do the talking?' All of this was delivered in a whisper, one so deadly it sounded like the hiss of a snake. Oliver looked at her and saw her fists clenched and a nerve in her temple working furiously. The toned muscles in her tanned arms had gone rigid and tight. They looked more than capable of taking out Flint and anyone else who asked her to move. Before Flint could reply, Snape burst into the classroom, his black cloak flying behind him as he walked to the head of the class. He looked around the class and gestured for Flint and the rest of his cronies to be seated. Glaring at Alison, he sat down on the seat in front of her and Oliver. His cronies followed suit.

Snape then began to talk. He didn't raise his voice. But his low voice was as chilling as a draught of cold breeze in winter. He said, 'well, well, for most of you this is your last year. In fact, it is your last year for all but one of you. But I hope that one person', and he looked right at Alison, 'I hope that one person does not think she can play the fool. Because no one plays the fool in my class and gets away with it. She will be taking the exams with the rest of you at the end of this year. Speaking of the exams, do not think they will be easy. They will not. They will be hard. And I do not intend for any of you to fail however useless you are in class, which many of you are. So do not be surprised if I give you a lot of homework, for I will. I will work you till you beg and plead for a rest. But I will not give in. I will keep working you till you drop. And do not think that you can get away with not doing your assignments. I do not care if you were ill, you will find out the homework and do it. I will expect the assignments off every single child present in the class the day it is due. And if you do not hand it in, whatever the reason, you can expect at least a week of after school detention. Now, are there any foolish questions you would like to ask before we begin? No? Good!'

As he turned around to write on the board, Alison turned to Oliver and whispered, 'Jesus, is he always that fucking mean?' Chuckling, Oliver replied, 'yeah, he is! He's always that fucking mean! Especially if you're in Gryffindor.' Snorting, Alison turned away to look for an extra quill in her bag, when something hit her on the head before falling to the floor. It was a rolled up bit of parchment. She looked up to make sure no one was looking, and then picked it up. Nudging Oliver, she showed it to him. Slowly he opened it, with her looking over his shoulder. It said, in smudged ink, 'you made a big mistake talking back to me bitch! And I'll hurt you like you've never been hurt before.' It wasn't signed, but instantly, Alison knew whom it was from. She looked up to see Marcus Flint glaring vehemently at her, a mad gleam in his cold eyes.

An hour, and many deductions of points from Gryffindor later, the bell rang, and Snape's voice was drowned by an uproar of packing and scraping chairs. Oliver and Alison were two of the first to leave the class. Alison had had more than enough of Snape's taunts that she was goofing off in class and Flint's spiteful glances. As they trooped to the DADA classroom, Alison felt someone shoulder roughly past her and turned to see who it was. Yet again, she saw Flint's unpleasant face and heard his voice whisper, 'Think about what I said, or you'll be sorry,' before he disappeared around the corner. Alison glared after his retreating back and was startled from her own little world where she could kill Flint everyday and still get away with it, a place where she used his head for a punching bag, by Oliver's warm hand on her shoulder. Looking up at his handsome face, she felt the stirrings of desire deep within her soul. All her anger was replaced instantaneously by gratitude, gratitude that he was her friend, gratitude that she had such an understanding friend.

They walked into the classroom talking about all sorts of things from school lunches to the look on Snape's face when Alison had given him the right answer to a question he said was worth 200 points. Professor Lupin stood by the door, a warm smile lighting his young face. The usual lines of worry had vanished and the difference that their absence made to his appearance was startling. He looked about ten years younger. Oliver and Alison sat down in the same seats as before. Alicia and Angelina walked in and headed for their table, wide smiles on their faces. Alison wondered what the reason behind their happiness was and then realized that their previous lesson had been Divination with Fred, George and Lee. Alicia was wearing an exotic scarf around her neck, and as she shifted her weight, Alison thought she saw something sore and red underneath, something that looked suspiciously like a hickey!

Alison leaned over to brush a strand of hair off Alicia's face and with one swift movement, Alison grabbed the scarf from her neck. And sure enough, she did have a hickey. Oliver stared at it before looking down at his shoes to keep Alicia from seeing his laughter. His shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. Alicia turned scarlet and Alison burst out laughing. Looking up, Oliver began to laugh too, followed hesitantly by Angelina. Everyone stared at the four of them, but they couldn't help themselves. Alison clutched Oliver's shoulders in an attempt to stop laughing. Tears poured down Angelina's face. All the while Alicia was getting redder and redder. Her whole face now looked like a ripe tomato. Between splutters, Oliver managed to choke out, 'George been busy, has he?' before dissolving into spasms of laughter all over again. Finally Alicia walked away in a huff followed by Angelina who was trying in vain to control her laughter.

For the next hour, the class worked on an exercise from their textbooks in silence. Well, mostly in silence. Alison and Oliver kept bursting into audible fits of laughter, their shoulders shaking, their chests heaving. If it wasn't about Alicia, it was because of a pen fight that one of them had lost or a silly mistake either had made in the exercise. Despite all the laughing, they were the first to finish. Then they just sat around doodling. Oliver began to draw Quidditch tactics in the corner of his page and was soon engrossed with it. Looking over his shoulder, Alison was impressed. She had never seen anyone come up with so many ideas spontaneously. As she waited for the bell to ring, she sank into a silent reverie of her father and wondered if she would ever see him again. She was jolted from her thoughts by Oliver's finger prodding her shoulder. From the irritated look on his face she gathered that he had been doing it for quite a while.  She gave him a sheepish smile. Oliver asked, 'I never asked you what position you play in Quidditch. So, I'm asking you now.' Alison coloured and muttered, 'I don't play Quidditch; I'm scared of heights. I have been ever since…' 'Ever since what?' persisted Oliver. Looking down at her hands, she said, 'Ever since I was a child.'

'Why?'

'I just am'

'That makes no sense! Why don't you play Quidditch?'

'GOD DAMN IT Oliver, will you let it go?? I can't play Quidditch, I can't fly, alright?'

All of this was delivered in a loud whisper that broke the silence of the classroom like a blade slicing through a cloud. Everyone turned around to look at them before turning back. Professor Lupin walked towards them the corners of his mouth twitching as though fighting back a smile. It looked to Oliver as though he was fighting a losing battle and sure enough, by the time he reached their table, he had given up and he had a huge smile on his face. Softly, he said, 'Perhaps, you two would like to show me your work as it is painfully obvious that you have finished?' blushing, they gave him their copybooks and then sank back into their seats. Five minutes later, he handed them back their books and said, 'Obviously, this work is much too easy for both of you. However, you, Oliver seem to have problem spelling the word anecdote. It is not a-n-e-c-t-o-t-e but a-n-e-c-d-o-t-e. But apart from that, I had no other problems. And as for you, Miss Adams, I have left a little post-it in your book outlining some of my queries. Perhaps you should read it, hmmm?' with that, he walked back to his desk and sat down. Smirking, Oliver said, 'I only made one mistake, you made lots. You suck, I don't. I'm smarter than you! Who's the dumb brute now?' Grimacing, Alison turned her back on Oliver and opened her book. There, on a yellow post-it was a note that read:

Sorry about that. Your work was great, but it was the only way I could think of getting this message to you, without anyone else finding out. Professor Dumbledore has arranged for you to meet your father at midnight tonight near the entrance to the Quidditch pitch. If you do not want to meet him, something that both the Professor and I would understand completely, then do not look at me as you walk out of the classroom. If on the other hand, you do want to meet him, smile as you walk out the classroom and then at five minutes to twelve tonight come down to the entrance to the Quidditch pitch.

Alison's heart jumped for joy. She was going to see her father for the first time in so many years. Trying to keep her real feelings from flooding onto her face, she sat quietly with her head on the table till the bell rang. When the bell rang, she felt Oliver's soft hand on her neck and heard his concerned voice asking, 'are you all right? I was just kidding about you not being very smart. I wasn't serious.' Looking up, Alison grinned and said, 'well, it's about time you apologized, you fuckin pig!' Laughing, they walked out of class and as she passed Professor Lupin, she looked right at him and smiled. Together, they walked down to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry, Hermione and Ron fell into step beside them. Alison smiled and enquired, 'good day so far?' to which Harry replied, 'Not bad, but we have potions after lunch, with the Slytherins, ugghh!' 'Yeah, I know what you mean; we just had potions with them this morning. And Snape was in a seriously vindictive mood.' They walked into the Hall grumbling about how unfair Snape was to them and calling him things that would have made a sailor blush.

            During lunch, Alison saw Professor Lupin walk into the Hall, head straight for Dumbledore, whisper something in his ear and then walk back out. Her curiosity piqued, Alison wondered what the conversation concerned. She had an uncanny feeling that it had something to do with her father and the rendezvous that night. Her eyes followed him out of the Hall. Craning her neck to see which direction he was heading in, she saw him marching rapidly towards the door that led out to the grounds. Suddenly, the image of her father- as she remembered him from so long ago- being dragged out of the school grounds by hoards of Dementors shot through her mind, making her flinch. 'That would never happen,' she told herself, 'not while Dumbledore's in charge. It couldn't happen, could it?'

            Oliver watched Alison's eyes follow Lupin out of the Hall and into the grounds and thought that he saw a fleeting trace of pain sear across her face, contorting her beautiful features, but only for a fraction of a second, and then it was gone. Yet again, he experienced the nagging impression that there was something very painful in her past, something that was hurting her. And it seemed to him that pain was like a thorn embedded in her skin, covered by a scab, but still just as painful. And with every passing day, the thorn went deeper and deeper into her flesh, becoming harder to extract and increasing the agony she felt. Only this agony was worse because eventually she would forget what was causing it and then her soul would rot away, piece by piece, slowly but so steadily, until all that was left was the thorn, until all that was left was the pain.

            That evening as she sat in a soft armchair in the common room, trying desperately to work on the Potion's homework, all she could think of was her approaching meeting with her father. She barely knew him. What ought she to call him? Father? Dad? Daddy? Her head spun with confusion. She forced her thoughts back to the Potions homework she had to do for the day after the next. She glared hatefully at the question, which read Create your own recipe for a potion that would cure boils and state the purpose of each ingredient to the final potion. She had no idea where to begin and from the way Oliver was chewing on his lower lip, she could tell that he hadn't worked it out either. Slowly, the common room emptied out as people went up to their respective dormitories. At about quarter past ten, Oliver got up and stretched his arms. Looking at Alison, he said, 'Well, I think the both of us had better go to bed, seeing as how neither of us got any sleep last night.' When Alison tried to stand up, her legs gave way from sitting on them for too long. Before she hit the ground, Oliver caught her in his arms and helped her to the dormitory. As he half lifted- half dragged her up the stairs, Alison could smell the musky smell of his deodorant or aftershave. It smelt like Wild Rain, but before she could ask him what his deo was called, they had already reached the door to her dormitory. Softly, he said, 'Well, do you think you could make it to your bed from here? Or should I carry you in?' when she shook her head, he let go of her and then turned away. Suddenly, he turned back and before she could say anything, he leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips before hastening down the stairs and disappearing into his own dormitory.

*****

            Lupin walked quietly down the stairs and out into the grounds. He made his way stealthily to the Quidditch pitch. There, he waited for what seemed like an hour but was actually no more than a few minutes. Suddenly, he thought he saw something move in the shadows. He whispered, 'you're late, Sirius.' And from the shadows emerged a man the whole wizarding world knew. But with his hair cut short, few would recognize him. He walked over to Lupin and embraced him. 'Moonie,' he said, 'It's been too long!' when they drew apart, a shadow passed over Sirius's tanned face. In a worried voice, he asked, 'Does she want to meet me? She probably doesn't! she probably hates me!! She hates me, doesn't she?' Lupin smiled inwardly and said, 'well, Sirius, I don't know about hate, but she seemed very eager to see you. Make of that what you will!' at this Sirius's face burst into a wide smile of relief and he asked in the eager voice of a father, 'Who does she look like?'

'She's exactly like her mother, the same high cheekbones, the same beautiful lashes, the same perfect teeth and smile, the same glowing skin. I wouldn't have even made the connection had it not been for her eyes. Her eyes are your eyes, Sirius. When I looked in them, I saw you fifteen years ago. She has the same fiery spirit, the same willpower as you. I would not want to be the person she hates. And when she laughs, everyone stops to listen, to watch, to wonder at her beauty.

'And she's coming, isn't she?'

'Yes, she is, she'll be here any second now, I'll leave her with you for a while, but she will have to go back up to the castle by 3:00 at the latest. And take care of her, Sirius…'

At that moment, they saw a slender figure running across the grounds, her hair glinting in the moonlight. As she got closer, they could see that her cheeks were flushed and her breathing was coming hard. She rushed straight into the outstretched arms of her father who wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug. They stayed like this for what seemed an eternity. Lupin slipped away, not wanting to disturb them. Finally, they pulled apart and he held her at an arms distance to get a good look at her. Tears were streaming down her face, but that didn't affect her beauty one bit. In her, she saw his dead wife, and he realized how lucky he was to finally see her again. He wiped away the tears and placed a finger on her lips before guiding her to a bench surrounded by bushes. As they sat there, silently, Alison looked up at her father and grieved the time she had lost. She could see the lines in his young face, the wrinkles near his eyes. Slowly, he said, 'I'm sorry…I should never have left you…I…' but before he could continue, she covered his mouth with her hand and said, 'You never left me, Dad…whenever I'm feeling sad, I sing to myself and do you know what song I sing? I sing 'Hotel California' cuz that's the song you used to sing for me every time I cried.' Sirius looked at her and wondered, 'there must be someone in heaven who loves me, I would never have been so fortunate as to have a daughter like her if there wasn't.'

Softly, he said, ' we have a lot of catching up to do, so we may as well start now!' and then they talked of how her mother died and how her last words had been, 'God, please let Sirius find my baby again.' They talked about Alison's life in Durban and her life here. Slyly, he asked, 'so what with my good looks, you must have a boyfriend, right?' Blushing, she replied, 'Not really, I sort of like this guy but he's my best friend here and tonight, he kissed me. But I'm not sure if that kiss meant anything or if he kisses every girl he's close to. And I'm scared that we might ruin our friendship. And that's the last thing I want to do. When he kissed me and then practically ran away, I must have stood there for an hour at least. It's like my mind froze and I didn't know what to do. But…'

'Look, the question is, do you like him enough to take the risk of losing your friendship with him?'

'I don't know! I should not have told you this. This isn't the sort of conversation one has with her father.'

'Yeah, well, how many people do you know who's father was convicted of murdering twelve people with one curse. We're going to be different from every other father and daughter. I want you to come to me with every problem you have. In fact, I want you to think of me as your friend. So you think you could do that?'

'Hey, I can do anything! After all, who's daughter am I?'

*****

            As he walked away from Alison, his heart pounding, Oliver though to himself, 'Jesus Christ! What the hell came over me?' it was like he couldn't control himself, like he was meant to have kissed her. He could feel her eyes on his back and walked faster. Half his mind screamed, 'God, go back to her and kiss her, you know you want to…' the other half yelled, 'Now you've just screwed up your relationship with the best friend you ever had! Well done, smart Alec. What are you going to say to her in the morning? Oh, sorry, I was drunk?' When he entered his dormitory, Darren, Fred, George and Lee were already asleep. Not that he would have told them what had happened, even if they were awake. The only person that he could have talked to about this would have been Alison. And as he pulled off his shirt and got into bed, he no longer felt lust, no, he just wanted her back as a friend…just a friend, nothing else. But he knew in his heart that their friendship would not work, not while he felt like this about her, not when he wanted to kiss her soft lips every time he was close to her, not when he wanted to run his fingers through her silky brown hair, not when he wanted to run his hands down her spine and make her feel safe in his arms. Their friendship would not work as long as he loved her.

            And as he lay in bed, all these questions pounding in his head, he tried to think of some part of his life that wasn't associated to her. But he couldn't think of one. Not even Quidditch. Even Quidditch reminded him of how beautiful she had looked when she defended herself about not being able to fly. He realized that she had become a part of him, a part without which he could not live, could not breath.

*****

            In the moonlight, Alison was still talking to her father. She had realized that she had missed him a lot more than she had thought. She had missed his bold smile, his strong, protective arms, his deep laugh, his corny jokes, but most of all, she missed having someone who sang to her. When she told him that, he laughed and then all of a sudden, began to sing the chorus of 'Hotel California'. She joined in and their voices mingled to form one. When they stopped, he looked at her in surprise and said, 'You're a better singer than your mother was, and that's saying something. When she moved to South Africa, she began a career in music, did you know that? And then she…and then she died.' His voice cracked and he looked down at the ground. 'I really did love her. She was an amazing woman, and you're just like her.' And he wrapped his arms around Alison and he could feel his body racking with silent tears.

            They only let go when they heard someone clearing their throat in the bushes. Sirius jumped up and slunk into the shadows. A reassuring voice said, 'Calm down, Sirius, it's only me, Remus. It's 3:30, Alison must get some sleep or she won't be able to disrupt the class, and Oliver might actually have to work. Now, you wouldn't want that to happen, now would you?' At the sound of Oliver's name, she winced and Sirius placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and whispered, 'Just act like it never happened, play it cool. Bye, Honey, I'll see you soon, and if I don't I'll send you a letter, ok?' he kissed her and then vanished. Well, she though he had, but when she looked down, she saw a huge dog wagging its tail furiously. Speechless, she croaked, 'Dad, you're an Animagi?' Lupin chuckled as he led her back to the castle. 'You obviously had lots to talk about if he didn't tell you about the fact that he's an Animagi! Anyway, goodnight and go to sleep!' she realized that she had reached the entrance to the Common Room. She bid the Professor goodnight and thanked him profusely before entering the Common Room. As she climbed the stair to her dormitory, an overwhelming sleepiness overcame her and as soon as her head hit the pillow she fell into a deep sleep where there was no Oliver, no Sirius, just darkness, plain and simple.

*****

            The next morning, Alison's eyes opened at about 6:00. She looked around the semi-darkness to see that the rest of her roommates were not in their beds. Groggily, she sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the dorm, she realized that they must have gone for Quidditch practice. 'God, that Oliver, he was crazy about Quidditch, he had probably been out there since five in the morning, warming up, looping the hoops. The thought of Quidditch made her sick. Choking back her tears, she lay down in bed and closed her eyes. In a while, she fell asleep.

            His face loomed over her, leering at her, daring her to get up, to defend herself. As she lay flat on her back in the grass staring up at his face, he got off his broom. She tried to get up, but she couldn't; he had always prided himself on his Full Body Lock. He walked towards her, a smirk growing on his handsome face. Only now it did not seem so handsome, it seemed the face of a devil. As he walked towards her, his Quidditch robes flapped against his legs. Pulling out a wand from somewhere within his robes, he pointed it at her while muttering the counter curse for the Full Body Lock. All of a sudden, she was free. She scrambled to her feet and began to run away from him when she felt a rope around her waist. Screaming, she was dragged back to him. Holding the rope in one hand, he ran his fingers down her spine. As she screamed, he used his free hand to cover her mouth while he whispered, 'True, Muggles are inferior, but I find some of their ways of torture to be much more amusing than magic, wouldn't you agree?'

Alison jolted up in bed, her breath coming in short ragged gasps. Sweat poured down her face and mingled her tears. She looked up to see Alicia, Katie and Angelina staring at her, shock and fear all over their face. Alicia came forward and placed her hand on Alison's shoulder. Softly she said, 'we could hear you screaming in the common room when we got back from practice. The guys are outside; they want to know if they can come in. But honey, is there something you want to talk about? Cuz we're here whenever you need us, just say the word.' The tears still pouring down her face, she said, 'I was raped…' as she said this Oliver burst into the room and said, 'what? By whom… Can the rest of you leave us alone for a while?' Alicia looked at Alison, who nodded. The three girls walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. Oliver sat down on the edge of the bed and said tenderly, 'Alison, I swear to you as your best friend, I will kill the person who did this to you. Just say the word and…'

'You don't know him, Oliver…he was in my old school. He was the captain of the Quidditch team. He raped me on the Quidditch field. That's why I hate Quidditch. Every time I see a Quidditch uniform, I think of him, his robes flapping against his calves, smirking. He raped me thrice and then he let me go, not out of mercy but because he was tired. He would have raped me again, and yet again, had he the stamina to do so. And I fled from the field wearing nothing but my torn shirt that I tried to keep from falling apart. And the next day in school, I could not look him in the eye. I could not look anyone in the eye. And I saw him joking with his friends as I think I was meant to do so. I was nothing more than a conquest, a pretty little trophy. And when Professor Dumbledore gave me the chance to come to this school, I readily accepted it; it was the chance of a lifetime. I would get to come here and start afresh and not be the girl who was raped, the naïve girl who had dared to cross swords with the most popular boy in school. And he did hate me, he hated me ever since I told his girlfriend and at that time, my best friend that he was cheating on her. And this was his form of vengeance, the most powerful kind a man can wield. I was screaming because I was reliving those few hours, the most painful in my life…' While she was telling the story, she had been coherent but now, she began to sob again. Oliver wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair, murmuring the words, 'It's ok, everything's going to be fine…' over and over again. He could feel her body trembling and he felt a surge of hatred for the bastard who had committed a crime so heinous.

            As she sobbed, she suddenly realized whose arms she was in. she had half a mind to pull away from him for fear that they might kiss again, but in his strong muscular arms, she felt protected. As he stroked her hair and murmured words of consolation, she rested her head on his strong chest and closed her eyes. Gently, he pushed her away and said, 'Now, come on, get ready and we'll go down for breakfast, ok? And I don't want you to think about it, just try and forget about it, can you do that?' with that, he walked to the door and said, 'Ok, you lot can come in now.' With that, he walked out of the dorm and the three girls came in. Silently, they changed into their school robes. Alison, got up from her bed and said, 'You don't have to be silent, it happened a long time ago…' 'Then what made you remember it now,' asked Katie. 'I don't know, I honestly don't know! But whatever it was, it's over and I thought I had dealt with it, put it behind me, and I have. It's just that sometimes, when horribly things happen to you, they keep coming back to haunt you, again, and again, and again. But can we just not talk about it? Please?' And then she began to change as well. She went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. When she came out, she found Alicia, Angelina and Katie putting on their make up. Looking up, Katie said, 'God, Alison, why don't you wear some make up? You're gorgeous as it is…with a little bit of eye shadow and blush, we could make you drop dead gorgeous.' 'Yeah, magazine cover material!' chimed in Angelina. Holding a mascara brush in her hand, Katie advanced on Alison. When she turned to run out of the dorm, she found that the door was now blocked by Angelina and Alicia who were now brandishing various implements of make up. Slowly, all three closed in on her and Alison ran shrieking onto her bed, from where she tried to ward them off by throwing pillows at them. Eventually she ran out of pillows to throw at them and as they closed in on her, circling her like sharks, Oliver poked his head into the dorm. Before he could say anything, all four girls shrieked and dashed for the bathroom, Alicia who was wearing nothing but her underwear in the lead. Oliver slammed the door shut and when Alison walked out into the common room a few minutes later, he was standing near the portrait hole, his face red and shameful. Giggling, Alison said, 'Wellll, now that you've seen Alicia in her underwear, its only fair that she sees you in yours. What do you think?' He attempted a sneering laugh but it turned out more like the bark of a starving dog. Alison laughed too, though something inside her told her that if anyone else saw Oliver in his underwear, she wouldn't be able to forgive that person.

            As they were climbing out of the portrait hole, they were joined by Harry, Ron and a very concerned Hermione. Gingerly, Harry asked, 'Are you all right, now?' Smiling, she replied, 'Yeah, I'm fine now, thanks.' Together, they walked to the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. As they passed the Slytherin table, Alison was sure she heard someone whispering her name. When she looked back at the table, all she saw was a boy about Harry's age with white blonde hair slicked back staring right at her. When he saw her looking back at him, she averted his eyes. But as she sat down, she could feel his eyes boring her back. Softly, she asked Harry, 'Hey, who's the kid at the Slytherin table with the white blonde hair?' 'Oh, that's Lucius Malfoy, one of the most vile people on Earth.' At this, Oliver joined in and said, 'Who, Flint?' to which Harry replied, 'Yeah, him too!' They're all rotten in that house.' Just then Alicia, Angelina and Katie walked to the table with their respective boyfriends. As they sat down, they gave each other simpering looks that made Alison feel sick. She was glad she wasn't sitting anywhere near Fred in case he had the urge to feel up his girlfriend's leg. As she was eating her cornflakes, the post arrived and she felt a parcel thud onto her lap. She looked down to see that it was a Muggle newspaper. Slowly, she untied the newspaper and from it fell a letter. She picked it up and unfolded it. It read:

Hey honey,

How are you? I know you like cricket (don't ask how I know, I just do!), and so I took out a subscription to this newspaper for you. Oh, and what happened with that boy? Hopefully, you're still best friends. Anyway, I have to go scavenge for food...haha, just kidding!!!!!

Bye honey, take care of yourself,

Love,

Dad

Smiling, she unfolded the paper and opened it to the Sports Section. The blaring headline said, 'Klusener rocks Aussies, secures fastest hundred' Ecstatic, she read the article through thrice. Oliver looked over her shoulder and asked, 'Is that a Muggle newspaper?? And who the hell is Klusener?' Grimacing, Alison explained to him that Klusener was only the most explosive player in cricket history. She gave up, however, when Oliver said, 'So, cricket's the game with the hoops?'

'No, that's basketball!!'

'Oh…but then what's cricket?'

'It's the game with the three sticks on either end of the pitch and…Oh, you won't understand!!'

'Fine, don't tell me!'

'Fine, I won't!'

Before either Alison or Oliver could say anything else, they heard someone laughing. They turned around to see Harry, Ron and Hermione cracking up. 'You wouldn't think they were any older than five year olds,' spluttered Ron through a mouthful of cornflakes, showering Hermione with little bits of half chewed cornflakes and flecks of milk. 'Oops, sorry, Hermione, 'he said sheepishly.

After breakfast, Oliver and Alison walked to their Muggle Studies classroom, to find Professor Agallant prancing around the classroom in a state of great excitement. When he saw them, he dragged them into the empty classroom and said, 'Alison, you're half Muggle aren't you? Brilliant! You can help me tune this music system to a radio station!' And when Alison looked behind her, she saw, to her astonishment, a big music system with speakers and surround sound. Gaping, Oliver said, 'That's a music system?? Wow!'

Alison turned the volume up a bit and then began to twiddle the tuning knob. Eventually, she found a station that she liked which didn't play hard-core rock music, which would be impossible to dance to. For Professor Agallant had informed them that they would be dancing the whole of that lesson, while listening to the different genres of music being played. As Alison tuned the system, Oliver leaned against the desk, panic shooting through his system. 'Dance?' he thought, 'Dance? I can't dance! He can't possibly force me to dance! Shit! I am going to make such a fool of myself! Jesus Christ!' His worry must have shown on his face, as, when Alison stood up after finding a radio station, she asked him what the matter was. In a sheepish voice, he told her that he couldn't dance and she burst out laughing. 'You can't dance? How can you not know how to dance? Haven't you ever danced at parties?'

'No…'

'Why not?'

'Cuz then I look really foolish!'

'So what's new?'

'Shut up, you bitch! Tell me what to do!'

'Don't worry, I'll teach you how to dance…it's not that hard, it's all about letting yourself go.'

            When everyone had arrived, Alicia and Angelina wearing excited looks on their faces, Professor Agallant said, 'Alright, Today, we are going to have a practical lesson, a dance lesson. And for those of you who are worried bout not being able to dance, don't worry about it. Most Muggles don't know how to dance anyways. The important thing is to have fun. Alison has kindly tuned this system to a radio station. For those of you who don't know what that it is, a radio station is like the WWN. This one plays continuous music so that we can dance without any questions. If, and notice the emphasis on if, the class goes well, we might have a competition, a competition between the four houses.' At this, he paused as the majority of the girls burst into loud cheers and applause. When the applause had died down, he continued, 'There will, of course, be tryouts, not everyone will be allowed to take part, you understand? Any questions?' When no one raised their hand, he turned to the system and pushed the volume up to the maximum! The subtle chords of Kryptonite blared out of the system. The classroom was plunged into semi darkness and disco lights started flashing from somewhere in the ceiling. But these disco lights were not light ordinary Muggle disco lights; they were so much better. The lights flashed white and black and all the colours of the rainbow, forming patterns on the walls, floor and everyone's faces.