Author's Note:  Hey! I am SO sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter posted here! I moved a month ago and still don't have internet in my new place.  I've been writing every so often tho, posting really on the HP boards when I can steal away to my parents house. Anyway, here is a new chapter (and another is coming today as well)

Thanks for the reviews, and I hope that you can forgive me! Toodles!


 

Chapter 7: In With the New… And Back with the Old?

The first day of classes at a new school are never easy, but all of that seemed to be multiplied 10-fold for Mel. First she had to adjust to the castle itself (although the Marauders Map that Harry had given her was already proving to be more than useful in navigating her way around), and then, Monday came. Because September 1st fell on a Friday this year, all of the students had the weekend to adjust to life at Hogwarts before beginning the rather tedious, albeit exciting, educational journey. Bright and early on Monday morning though, they all found themselves gathered at their house tables in the Great Hall waiting expectantly for their schedules to be handed out.

"What's up, Dot?" Aaron smirked giving his sister a noogie before sitting down beside her at the table.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with the teachers rather than the students?" Mel yawned.

Aaron tactfully ignored his sister's sarcasm and reached for the parchment schedule that had landed in front of her. "Oh, look! You have me right after lunch!"

Mel, ever the dramatic soul that she is, crashed her head straight down onto the table, her hair narrowly missing Elizabeth's bowl of cereal. "Why do the gods insist on punishing me?" she muttered as Elizabeth giggled. Then, just as quickly as it had gone down, Mel lurched her head up and sat bolt upright in her seat, glaring at her brother. "What do you mean I have you right after lunch?" she demanded. "You said I wouldn't be in any of your classes!"

Aaron grinned. "I lied."

"Why you monstrous lit-"

"No, no, no," Aaron said, standing and wagging his finger at Mel. "I can't have you insulting a teacher. I might have to take points away from your house. Imagine how that would look on your first day…"

Mel looked at him with horrorstricken eyes. "You wouldn't dare!"

Aaron then started to walk toward the head table, turning his head back to his sister for one final comment. "Dot, consider yourself lucky that you've got both shoes." He then flashed her one of his famous smiles and joined Charlie and Star for breakfast.

Mel stared at him as he walked away. "Elizabeth, prepare yourself for battle because this means war."

"What do you think would happen if I added the frog spleen to the potion before the shrivelfig rather than after?" Mel asked Elizabeth with a mischievous gleam in her eye.

Elizabeth gulped nervously and glanced at their potions master, Professor Snape, before answering her friend. "Probably a lot of trouble."

Mel followed Elizabeth's gaze to where Snape was (she was pleased to note) reprimanding David Crawford (a Slytherin no less) for doing something wrong. "Well, it'll make things more interesting at least…" Then, without a second thought, she hastily added the frog spleen and watched eagerly as the potion turned an electric blue color and began to bubble over. Elizabeth and their fellow Gryffindors looked on in horror as Mel, grinning from ear to ear, tossed in the shrivelfig for good measure, causing the cauldron to erupt in a now bright orange volcanic mess.

"Miss Lupin!" Snape roared. His dislike for all things Gryffindor was common knowledge, but his hatred for all 'things' Lupin (or Potter or Black for that matter) was beyond legendary. "What possessed you to do such a stupid and foolish thing? You will meet me for detention tonight and before you leave this classroom you will also clean this mess up. Is that clear?"

Mel smiled sweetly, secretly delighted at seeing the man responsible for losing her father his job four years ago unhinged. "Crystal."

"As for the rest of you, clear off your tables and get out," Snape barked.

After the eventful potions lesson followed by naptime – er – History of Magic, the young Gryffindors found themselves back in the Great Hall for lunch before heading off to the class Mel was dreading more than anything: flying.

"So, how did you first morning go, Dot?" Ginny asked, sitting down across from Mel.

Elizabeth giggled. "She got her first detention."

"What happened?" Annabelle asked.

"I kinda maybe got a little bit of revenge for dad."

Ginny and Annabelle exchanged glances before Ginny questioned the first year further. "Revenge?"

"Maybe I accidentally-but-really-on-purpose made my potion explode."

"Oh, Dot, you didn't…"

"Right then, flying," Aaron said, clapping his hands together and smiling brightly at his students. "Before y'all hop on your brooms, how many of you have done this flying thing before?" Almost every hand was raised, the obvious exceptions being those students that were muggle born, despite some impudent rolling of the eyes from the Slytherin half of the class which Aaron chose to ignore. Mel, of course, didn't, and she in turn glared at her classmates, a certain David Thomas Crawford in particular. "Cool. Then you guys pretty much know what you're doing right?" The class nodded and Aaron motioned for them to disperse to the brooms lying on the ground.

"Alright, now, just give me the benefit of the doubt and we'll walk through this for those of you who haven't done this before and those that think they know what's going on. First thing to do is get your broom ready at mounting height. Best way to do this: stand on the left side of the broom, put your right hand over it, and say 'Up.' Everyone give that a try."

It took a few minutes, but eventually, everyone's broom was hovering at a reasonable mounting height, Mel's being the first ready to go. "Lookin' good so far! Now I want you to mount your brooms, but before you kick-off, I want to make sure that everything's all good. We don't need anyone falling in their first lesson, right?" Aaron laughed.

He then started walking from student to student, correcting their mounts on their brooms. "No, you don't want to lean back like that, Simon, you'll slide right off the handle…"

Mel rolled her eyes. What the heck were they thinking, hiring him for this job? she thought. I'm a thousand times better at flying than him! I could teach this class blindfolded!

Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, yet another class was being taught by a new teacher. Star West, while she had assisted Professor Trelawney for the past year, never really held her "mentor" in high regard. In fact, she saw the woman as an outright fraud, and made no attempt to hide that from her class of seventh year Gryffindors.

"First off, last year when I assisted with this class, you all called me Star. This year, I might be your professor, but really… there's no need to call me Professor West. That should be my mother, not me, so keep that in mind and just keep calling me Star. Now, that having been said, while I'm sure that all of you came into this classroom dreading yet another year of boring and pointless Divination lessons in which you will learn absolutely nothing other than to make up the most gruesome predictions that your imaginations can muster, I hope that by the end of the year you will all at least have a basic understanding of how useful actual divination can be," Star said. "Some of you will have the gift, and others, well… you can get to know the ones who do," she smiled, her violet eyes sparkling.

The class laughed at Star's speech from their comfortable brown and royal blue leather chairs. Ginny was more than pleased to note the change in appearance in the formerly stifling tower room. She looked around from her comfy chair, taking in the refurbished surroundings. The walls had been painted a pale yellow, making it look as though the sun was shining brightly from the enchanted ceiling, which was, to put it simply, a smaller version of the one in the Great Hall. The main difference though was that it did not simply change as the sky outside did. In fact, Star made sure that the enchantment would be adjustable so that she could charm it herself to portray the sky at various points of the day or night. But, all that will be discussed later. For now, Ginny was simply pleased to see the welcome changes that the young professor had brought about… not to mention that she was also amused to note that Star's hair was being held in place by her wand.

"Something you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Miss Weasley?" Star questioned.

Ginny suppressed a giggle. "I was just wondering what would happen if your hair got mad, Star, that's all."

Star grinned, realizing that Ginny had noticed her wand. "It might just hex you. But, for now, I think we'll start with today's lesson. Astrological predictions. Everyone lie back in your seats, and we'll get started!" With that, Star quickly pulled her wand out and muttered a charm, turning the ceiling view to one of the night sky.

The first week of classes had finally ended and Mel couldn't be more relieved. Somehow she had managed to survive through another one of Snape's awful potions classes, not to mention two more of her brother's flying lessons.

"I can't wait for this stupid year to be stupid over," Mel huffed, collapsing onto one of the Gryffindor common room sofas.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked.

"I can't take this brother-as-teacher thing! He's driving me batty!"

"Well then, let's do something fun, because if I have to stare at any more homework-"

"Ooh!" Mel squealed. "Wanna meet my best friend from home?"

Elizabeth looked at her friend as though she were insane. "You know we can't leave the castle! We're barely allowed to go to the lake! Melissa, where are you going?" she demanded of her friend who had begun sprinting up the stairs toward their dorm. Elizabeth took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with that girl…"

"Hey Lizbeth, what are you doing?" Cosette asked.

"Waiting to see what insane thing Mel wants to try."

"I heard that," Mel said, scowling.

"What's that?" Elizabeth asked pointing at the thin black box Mel was carrying under her arm.

"This? You mean you've never seen a laptop?" Mel then took a few minutes to explain to her friends the finer points of high-tech communication in the muggle world.

Meanwhile, in a corridor just a little ways away from the common room, a very frazzled Head Girl was making her way to the portrait hole, her best friend close in tow, trying to have a conversation with her while trying equally as hard to ignore the greetings of those passing by.

"Oy! Annabelle! Looking good," a seventh year Hufflepuff called as he walked passed the two Gryffindors.

"Ginny, Annabelle," another seventh year, this one from Ravenclaw, nodded as he too walked by with his friends.

"Damn it, Gin, slow down for a sec. I need to talk to you," Annabelle hissed.

"I know, Belle, but I'm rather on the clock here," Ginny replied.

"I've been trying to talk to you all week about this summer, can't you just give me two seconds?"

"What?" Ginny said, exasperated. "Isn't there someone that you can go snog?"

Annabelle let out an annoyed sigh. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't say that," she said, somewhat miffed.

"Well, what do you expect, that's what you do. Snog and leave, snog and leave, snog and-"

"People change, it's been known to happen. I changed."

"Oh really?" Ginny asked, stopping in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady and turning on her friend. "How so?"

"I've actually been seeing a boy since early July."

Ginny's annoyed façade melted into a wide grin. "Really? Tell me! Who? When? Where did you meet? How did it happen?"

Annabelle smirked. "Well, it all started-" Before she could continue though, she was interrupted by the portrait swinging open and several first year girls walking out.

"Gin!" Mel shouted. "I'm glad I found you! I left it in the third drawer of my dresser, but you better hurry, you've only got a couple minutes before-"

"Shit!" Ginny shouted. "I mean – er – you didn't hear that. Belle, we'll talk later, I've got to go meet Harry…" And with that, she disappeared into the common room and up to the first year girls' dormitory to retrieve the Marauder's Map leaving a very disgruntled Annabelle behind with three confused first years and Mel.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Annabelle tried several times to speak to Ginny alone but was always interrupted by one of three things: Head Girl stuff, annoying professors who wouldn't let them be ("Since when does that slimy git do research in the library, anyway?") or, more often than not, Mel and her annoying first year friends. Needless to say the seventh year was becoming rather frustrated, especially since the clock was ticking.

Mel, on the other hand, had been genuinely enjoying her time at Hogwarts. She and Elizabeth grew quickly to be inseperable and could often be found haunting remote corners of the castle pouring over what appeared to be a piece of old parchment to anyone who passed them by.

"See? There he goes again," Mel said.

"What? Where?" Elizabeth asked.

"Right there," she said, pointing to the Map. "I don't understand what he's doing there either, he hates Divination with a passion. Doesn't believe in it, just like Dad. So why is he suddenly haunting the North Tower all the time?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Why do you think?"

"I don't know! That's why I'm asking!"

"Maybe he fancies Professor West, duh," Elizabeth told her friend, rolling her eyes.

Mel's face instantly lit up. "Ohmigosh! This is it! I know how to get revenge on him now..."

"Prongs? What the hell are you doing here?" a very confused Sirius asked, walking into his living room.

"What d'you mean?" James replied, not looking up.

"I thought you said that you couldn't meet up today because you were busy. So, I ask again, what the hell are you doing here? This is my house, right?" Sirius began looking around the room, obviously taking a mental inventory of what was in front of him to make sure that he didn't end up in his friends' home by mistake.

"You stupid prat, of course this is your house." James rolled his eyes at his old friend. "Honestly, as if Lily would let that damn recliner back in the house… did you know she was ready to throw a party after you moved out just to celebrate the thing being gone?"

"So then, for the third, and hopefully last, time: what the hell are you doing here?"

"I had a date."

"A date."

"Yeah."

"Really."

"Well, two dates, if you want to get technical."

"What?" Sirius collapsed into the god-awful recliner trying to work out what his best friend just told him. "You're cheating on Lil so you need a place to crash? Is that it?"

"Yes, that's it," James said flatly. "I'm cheating on my wife."

Before Sirius could express his sheer disbelief, two voices drifted into the room followed instantly by Pamela's twin daughters, Lex and Mia.

"Siri!" they called, innocent grins wide on their faces, though perhaps too innocent. The grins grew even wider (if possible) when they saw the involuntary sneer appear on his face at the mention of his nickname. He hated being called Siri, and they knew it.

Suppressing a shudder, Sirius answered. "Hello, little ones." They glared in response. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing," Mia answered, or was that Lex, Sirius wondered.

"Just wanted to watch some tele," the other added.

"Can't you do that upstairs? We're in the middle of a conversation here!"

"Sirius, leave them be. Maybe something good is on for a change," James shrugged, winking quickly at the girls who stifled their giggles as they climbed onto the couch and turned on the television.

Sirius took a deep breath and shook his head, muttering something under his breath that James couldn't quite understand but smiled at anyway. He and the girls then watched as Sirius slowly but surely pulled the lever on the side of the chair that would move it into the reclining position he always watched television from.

Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out as planned. As it happened, the chair folded in on Sirius, snapping shut around him, much like a Venus flytrap around its prey.

"What the f-" Sirius yelped as Lex and Mia burst into laughter, pointing and clapping as James' body shook from his own silent laughter.

"It worked, it worked!" the twins shouted gleefully. "James, look! It worked!"

James beamed with great pride at the two girls he had affectionately started calling his "fallen angels." That sounded so much better to him than "little devils" anyway. And then he turned back to his best friend, trapped in the giant mouth of his recliner and could have sworn that he could see steam rising from between the cushions.

After letting Sirius remain stuck for a moment longer, and trying to wait for the twins to calm their laughter down (which didn't happen at all), James finally pulled out his wand and released his friend.

"Not bad, eh?" he asked proudly.

"What the hell did you do," Sirius said through clenched teeth.

"Serves you right for thinking I was cheating on Lily. But really, I didn't do a thing, did I?" he asked the girls.

"That was fun," Mia said.

"Wonder what we should do next time," Lex thought out loud.

Sirius' face reddened with anger. "There will be no next time."

"But, Siri, James said-"

"James? You call him James? How hard is my name to say?" Sirius roared.

"You might not want to do that to these two fallen angels, Padfoot. They got you this time, and they'll probably get you even better next time," James said smugly.

"This, this is what you were doing all day." James grinned. "You bloody traitor."

"For the last time, mum, I am NOT going out to dinner with your friend April's daughter!" Harry shouted.

"Now really, Harry, there is no need to yell," Lily said, biting back her own temper. "You have to understand that I am simply looking out for my only child-"

"Mother. I know that this is hard for you, but you have to let me live my life! I'm all grown up and can handle things on my own. If you have trouble dealing with missing my childhood, why don't you take a page out of dad's book and find some other poor, unsuspecting children to dote on! I need to go..."

"That is an unfair statement, Harry, and you know it. I just don't see why you can't just-"

"Bye, mum. Happy Halloween," Harry said, cutting her off as he pulled out his wand and disapparated to Hogsmeade. Once in the village, he turned down the familiar main road and headed into the pub where he was supposed to meet Ginny. Today was not only Halloween, but it was also the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year for Hogwarts students.

"Gin," Mel whined. "How come I can't go too?"

Ginny smiled and shook her head briefly before finishing the application of her eyeliner. "You know why, Dot. You're a first year, and first years aren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade."

"But it's not like I've never been before! I totally know my way around!"

"Good. That means you already know what goes on there so you don't have to feel bad for not going. You've been."

"Humph. I wanna see Harry though?"

"You just-" Ginny stopped suddenly and looked around her room at the other girls in her dorm who were getting ready. She then sat next to Mel on her bed and continuted in a whisper. "You just saw Harry last week. Remember?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Melissa. Go and find your friends. Have a good time today around the castle. I'll bring you back some candy, ok?"

Mel sighed before suddenly breaking into a huge grin. "Fine." She then got up to leave the seventh years' dorm and head to her own.

"Oh, Dot, one more thing," Ginny called after her.

"Yeah?"

"Give it to me."

Mel's face fell. "What do you mean?" she asked casually.

"You know exactly what I mean. I'll be there in a minute to get it from you."

"You know what Gin?"

"What's that?"

"Sometimes you suck all the fun out of life."

Annabelle, who overheard this last bit of the conversation started to laugh. "And that is why she is Head Girl, Mel." Once the first year was out of the dorm, she turned to her best friend. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, just need to get the you-know-what from Mel and then we're golden."

Harry sat at a table by the window in the Three Broomsticks drumming at the tabletop with his thumbs waiting for his girlfriend to arrive. Actually, he was sitting at their table, if one wanted to get technical. This was where Harry and Ginny had shared their first kiss, thanks in great part to a dare gone astray (Ron had stopped talking to Hermione for nearly 2 weeks for setting his best mate up with his baby sister). So now, it was only fitting that this was the table they always met at in the pub. Suddenly, his eye caught a familiar patch of red hair outside and a grin formed on his face. It wasn't that he hadn't seen her for so long (which is obvious, since he had been sneaking into the castle to be with her at least once a week since she arrived), it was simply the genuine feeling of joy he felt when she was nearby.

The door to the pub opened and Harry could just barely hear Ginny's voice over the clatter made by the other students inside.

"So when do we get to meet this mystery man?" Ginny asked, smiling broadly at her best friend.

"Soon," Annabelle replied, somewhat nervously.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad."

"It's not that!" Annabelle insisted. "It's just that... well, you see, he's-"

"Virginia!" Harry said, rushing forward and spinning her in his arms.

"Hi there," she replied softly.

He then set her down in front of himself, wrapping his arms tightly around her. Ginny smiled and sighed contentedly, sinking into his embrace. Harry then nodded to Annabelle. "What's going on?"

"Today's the big day," Ginny told him. "We get to meet Annabelle's
boyfriend."

"You mean you've actually got yourself a boyfriend? I mean, a real one?" Harry joked.

"Ha ha ha," Annabelle said dryly. "But seriously, I've got to tell you both... I had hoped to do this before, but-"

The door to the pub then opened and Harry narrowed his eyes at the newcomer. "And I was hoping today would be a good day."

"What is it?" Ginny said, turning her gaze to the door. "Oh. Him."

"Who?" Annabelle asked.

"Malfoy." Harry and Ginny said in unison.

"Oh," Annabelle said, shuffling her feet.

"I thought we'd be rid of that git for good now that he's out," Harry added. "Oh, perfect, here he comes..."

Draco Malfoy was indeed walking toward them, his eyes narrowed dangerously and his traditional sneer on his face. "Well, well, well, what a surprise. Potter and the poor little Weasley."

"What the hell do you want, Malfoy?" Harry spat. Needless to say, time apart had not helped the two solve their differences at all.

Draco, however, ignored Harry's question and took another step forward. "Hello, Love," he said, kissing Annabelle's neck.

Annabelle watched her friends apprehensively as their eyes were nearly popping out of their heads. "Perhaps we should all sit down," she said, forcing a smile.

"How could you do this? HOW?" Ginny yelled at her friend as soon as they entered the Gryffindor common room.

"Gin-"

"No! I just can't believe -- I mean, really, Belle. Why Malfoy? Of every guy who has ever lived on the face of the planet, why do you have to date the biggest bastard I have ever met?"

Annabelle's face reddened slightly with repressed anger. "Don't talk about him like th-"

"What?" Ginny exploded. "How can you defend him? Do you remember what he used to do to us? Do you remember the endless teasing and name-calling?"

"Of course," Annabelle replied through slightly clenched teeth. "But I don't think this is the proper place to-"

"Is he good to you?" Ginny asked with a sudden tenderness more befitting a best friend.

Annabelle's face softened slightly. "Yes. I wouldn't be with him if he wasn't."

Ginny looked her friend directly in the eyes. "Then just answer me this: why?"

"I don't know. Why do you date Harry?"

"Because I love him," Ginny answered, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. Realization suddenly dawned on her. "Oh my god. Do you... I mean, are you sure?"

"I don't know. It's possible though. But maybe we should continue this conversation upstairs and away from certain prying eyes and ears?" Annabelle offered with a half-smile.

"Hey!" Mel protested, jumping up from the couch where she was sitting and watching them, before she realized her mistake and clamped a hand over her mouth.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Come on, Dot. Better you sit in on the conversation than eavesdrop and gossip about it later."

Mel scowled but didn't deny it. Instead, she moved to follow the older girls up to their room, turning to give an excited look to Elizabeth and the other girls as she left.

A/N: Review? Please? Pretty please? With sugar and a cherry on top? Yay! J