Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you may recognise from the book. All of them belong to that wonderful writer J.K Rowlings.

Dom, Nicolas, J.P and Anita are all real people that are really enjoying being in my story.

I have created any creature and person you don't recognise from the books.

This story takes place after the publishing of The Prisoner of Azkaban, and the release of the second Harry Potter movie.

Harry is in his fourth year at Hogwarts.

---------------------------------- o ------------------------------------------

Chapter nine: Fears unveiled.

Strangely enough Draco and his peers left Dom and Ian alone for the night. No harsh words, no insults. Only a icy silence, as if the two wizards never had existed.

Ian felt scared by this change in behaviour and decided to move his things closer to the side of the room where Dom was sleeping. He was lucky that none of the snakes wanted to have the bed by Dom's, apparently they thought they were too good to sleep by an ex -muggle.

Dom was happy to know he had atleast one friend in Slytherin, even when it was a young first year boy. It was better than having to cope with the cold atmosphere alone. While the other students were sleeping he and Ian had a chat.

Ian was from Dublin, as he had already stated, and he was the youngest of 4 children. His family was pure blood, but like the Weasleys they were not rich, barely having enough money to come by. Ian was hoping to finish school soon and find a job in the Ministry to help out his family.

Dom in exchange told him of his life as a muggle. Both him and his three friends were from Canada. They had simply been on a school trip when they decided to do the prank that changed their lives.

Ian couldn't help but laughing at the joke, but each time Dom said the name of the dark lord the young wizard cringed. Dom noticed this and started calling Voldemort for 'Old V'. This was causing Ian to laugh even more.

Night grew deeper and soon they were fast asleep. Not knowing that a certain blonde boy had been listening to each and every of their words, blue eyes glowing coldly in the darkness.

Morning came and another day started. Classes were interesting and frustrating at the same time. All four of the Hooligans felt that there was so much they yet had to learn about the magical world. Hermione had been helping Anita in finding several books in the library, most of them about the wizard world in general. She had even borrowed Anita her own copy of "Hogwarts; a history" so she could find out more about the school.

During breakfast a large barn owl swooped down over the table of the Ravenclaws and dropped a sealed parcel in front of Anita. Orla Fiona and Kat immediately urged her top open it, curious as they were. Anita followed the urging of the girls and swiftly broke the seal.

There was very little written on the parcel, almost nothing. Only three words scribbled in a writing Anita didn't recognise.

You are pretty.

Anita blushed furiously and crumbled up the paper. Who could have sent her this? What it a joke or did someone actually think she was pretty? She looked around but no one was looking toward the table. This was quite a mystery, did she have a secret admirer? She would have to find out more about this later.

J.P and Ron seemed to get along quite well, but not as good as J.P and the twins. The two crazy Weasleys had decided to show the Hooligans around the school during lunch time. Harry and Ron joined them and with the use of the Marauders map they pretty much had explored all of the first floor of the castle before the end of lunch break.

J.P had his first class of potions with Snape, where he was lucky to avoid being the laughingstock of all the class thanks to Hermione that helped him discreetly out with his potion. Snape seemed in a worse than usual as he watched the students as a hawk. Actually managing to get Neville so nervous that the poor boy dropped more dried nettles than the formula indicated. As a result his potion started oozing out of the cauldron and dripping onto the floor. Mould growing instantly where the greenish liquid touched. Snape looked like was about to murder Neville when he walked over to where the plump boy was sitting. But instead he simply stated in a cold voice that Neville was the most useless student ever, and gave him detention.

J.P felt sorry for Neville and was about to protest when Hermione pinched his arm and shook her head. Making Snape angrier was NOT a good idea. And even less when you were a Gryffindor.

J.P frowned and decided to let things be. He didn't feel like being responsible for the loss of house points.

The results were that he left the class in quite a worse mood than when he had entered. J.P had always hated people who abused their power, and Snape was quite abusing his position as a teacher.

Dom, Nicolas and Anita alike didn't have too much to tell about their classes. The teachers have given them loads of homework. Anita was complaining because of the artimancy, she hated numbers of any kinds, and the foul subject consisted mostly in complex mathematical formulas.

Nicolas was proud as a rooster as he had received 10 more points from McGonagall for his excellent transformation of a tortoise into a teakettle. He was beaming Dom and Anita, as they had not yet managed to transfigure their matches into needles, usually only setting fire to them.

Dinner came and went in a flurry of chatter, most of it actually caused by Anita showing the note to the three Ravenclaw friends. The girls immediately started trying to figure out who could have sent her the note. Guessing everyone from Neville to Cedric could be the responsible one. Kat even suspected that one of the twins could have set his eyes on Anita.

This made her blush and stray away from the twins during most of the dinner only receiving strange looks from both Fred and George.

"What do you think we did now Fred?

I don't know... maybe she finds you smelly.

NO WAY!"

This caused the two Weasleys to bicker during most of the meal. Of course Fiona and Orla took this as a sign that they were fighting over who was going to keep Anita to himself. Ron just stared at his brothers and wondered what had got into their skulls this time. Harry and J.P were discussing the methods of Snape as a teacher, both of them agreeing in one point. He was nothing more than a slimy, greasy git.

Dinner was over before any of them realised it. The four Hooligans excused themselves with their friends and left for their first extra DADA class.

Lupin was waiting for them in one of the towers. He seemed happy to see the four students once more, greeting them with a wide and hearty smile.

"Ah... so there you four are. Or should I call you, you Hooligans."

The teacher chuckled slightly as he saw the amazed look on their faces, it had only been a day since they had been baptised with that particular name and yet he knew.

"I have been speaking with Dumbledore, don't look so suprised.

By the way, great job you two did on Draco, it was about time someone else than Harry dared to give him a taste of his own medicine."

Lupin beamed at Dom and Anita, the two of them blushing slightly. Lupin then turned towards J.P and noticed the teen was looking slightly warily at him, as if he was worried the teacher was about to jump on him for some reason. Lupin lost his smile slightly and wondered what could be the problem but before he could ask Nicolas simply stated.

"Get over it J.P. We all know Trelawny is nothing more than a hoax. There is no way Lupin here is going to gore you to death"

Oh so that was it! What a relief! Lupin felt as if a great burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He wouldn't want the four students to fear him. Besides Harry and his peers, they were some of the students that he appreciated the most. They could even be thought of as friends.

He suddenly remembered that they were supposed to have classes and swiftly shooed them inside the room before locking the door behind them to avoid intrusion from any curious student.

"Very well. This first class we will work with something quite interesting. You all se the broom closet in the other end of the room? Good. In there I have managed to strap a boggard. I suppose you all know what kind of creature that is.

Now I want you all to concentrate on making the creature into the most ridiculous thing you could imagine. The incantation to perform the spell is 'Riddikulusยด. Alright mister Prevost, you will be first."

Dom looked apprehensively toward the closet. This was their first meeting with a magical creature that could actually harm them if they were not able to control its magic. He gave Lupin a short nod to indicate he was ready. Lupin opened the door of the closet.

And out came... Dumbledore.

"Mister Prevost! What do YOU think you are doing? Did you actually think a simple muggle as yourself could perform even the simplest of spells? Don't make me laugh."

Dom took a few steps back as the elderly mage continued mocking him, his lips were trembling ever so slightly. Lupin noticed the troubles Dom was having and with a shout he attracted the attention of the boggard. The magical creature immediately turned into a small full moon. Lupin waved his wand and made the shining ball of light enter the closet once more before shutting the door and walking over to Dom. The teen looked slightly embarrassed and flustered over what just happened.

"I see... I see. I do believe we need to work a bit more on your magic Dom. Don't worry. This was just a first try."

He patted the teen on the shoulder and turned to J.P, simply nodding towards the door. J.P swallowed and nodded, heading towards the do. Lupin waved his wand and the door flew open.

What emerged seemed to be taken directly from a nightmare. A humanoid creature moved out of the closet, its skin covered with hundreds and hundreds of needles of different length and thickness. The creature groaned and headed towards J.P, stretching out a hand that was covered with needles.

J.P seemed quite scared of the creature but he had enough presence of mind to lift his wand and shout the magical formula at the creature.

*CRACK*

The creature was suddenly covered in corks, each cork covering the needles on its skin, making it completely harmless. This caused the laughter of all the four friend.

Lupin made signs for Nicolas to step ahead.

The boggard sensed a new presence and turned toward Nicolas.

*CRACK*

The cork covered creature turned into a rather short and stocky man. He had an abundant moustache and eyes so dark that they almost seemed completely black. His skin was slightly darker than that of Nicolas and his hair was grey and starting to disappear, yet there was a familiar resemblance that gave away the family link between Nicolas and the apparition.

"Son, I am very disappointed of you."

Nicolas seemed to deflate slightly at the words of the apparition, but it didn't last for long. He whipped up his wand and shouted out the counterspell.

*CRACK*

The man was suddenly completely covered in duct tape, resembling a mummy, only the black eyes visible between two strips of tape. Lupin smiled quite pleased at the results and nodded to Anita.

The girl took a short step towards the boggard. The creature noticing her immediately. The change didn't occur... Instead the creature somehow managed to crawl back into the darkness of the closet.

Lupin was puzzled, he had never seen or heard about a boggard escaping from anyone. He nodded to Anita and the girl approached the closet. Only to scream and almost fall back as the darkness of the closet was lit up by what seemed like the headlights of a truck speeding out of the small side room.

Lupin reacted swiftly and whipped out his wand, making the door slam shut before the boggard could escape.

He turned toward Anita that was sitting on the floor in the far corner of the room, crying in silence. She was hugging her legs to her chest and hiding her face against her knees. Lupin walked over to her side and whispered something in her ears that the other three friends couldn't hear. The girl simply shook her head and continued crying. Lupin waved Dom over and asked him to stay with Anita until she had managed to calm down. For a moment he questioned himself. Had it been right of him to introduce them to such a magical creature on their first real DADA class?

Dom and Anita had not been able to utter the counterspell when the boggard had approached them. But J.P and Nicolas showed little problems in mastering the spell. Lupin sighed. Some times it was not easy to be a teacher. He made Dom repeat his encounter with the boogard and this time the teen managed to perform the spell, the mouth of Dumbledore being replaced with a closed zipper.

Anita, however, refused to even try again. She was still sitting in the far end of the room, her face slightly greenish as if she was feeling sick. Lupin trued to get her to tell him what was wrong, but the girl simply refused to speak, shaking her head at every question he asked her.

Slightly frustrated he continued the next part of the lesson, about the Red Caps. All four of the Hooligans taking notes about the small creatures that could be found wherever there had been bloodshed.

As the class ended Lupin asked Dom and J.P to stay behind, asking Anita and Nicolas to wait outside. The teacher was quite grim-faced when he turned to the students, his arms folded over his chest.

"There are two things I need to know. Both of them are about you friends. I know I should ask them directly about it but I would probably get no answer.

First of all, could any of you explain why Anita's boggard turned into two floating lights? I am not familiar with the muggle world, but that looked quite like the headlights of a truck.

And second, why didn't any of you tell me that Nicolas' father was a wizard?"

Both Dom and J.P seemed astonished with the second statement. Nicolas' father was a wizard? That was something that none of them would ever had suspected. Both of them shook their head, too suprised to actually utter a word about the matter. Lupin saw their expressions and realised that they didn't know any more than he did about the matter. He decided to ask Dumbledore before prying anymore.

But then there was the matter of Anita. The girl had seemed scared out of her wits as she saw the approaching headlights, there had to be some plausible reason for her behaviour, he inquired once more.

Dom remained in silence but J.P answered the question of the teacher.

"Anita's father was killed in a automobilistic accident. Anita was with him in the car when the truck hit them. But the strength from the impact somehow catapulted her out of the car, saving her life.

She was only nine years old when it all happened."

Lupin suddenly went serious. This was a matter of great concern. The girl was obviously traumatised by the death of her father, a mental barrier had broke as she saw the boggard, she had relived the moment of the accident. He shook his head slowly and dismissed J.P and Dom. Slowly Lupin moved over to the other side of the tower room. It would take time and patience to build up her confidence enough to face the boggard.

He sat down by his desk and pondered about the matters that had been revealed to him.

Outside the room Anita and Nicolas were waiting for their friends, Nicolas gently patting his friend on the shoulder to calm her down. The poor girl was still trembling slightly, but her face had recovered its normal colour. As Dom and J.P emerged from the room they immediately questioned them about what Lupin had wanted. Anita felt slightly annoyed at J.P for revealing something as personal as her past to the teacher, but she knew that one way or another it would be known. She sighed slightly and shook her head. How long would the past continue torturing her.

J.P and Dom stared at Nicolas, making him feel quite uneasy. The tall teen fidgeted as he felt himself being almost glared at.

"What?"

He inquired at his two friends that were still eyeing him in a quite little friendly way.

Dom was the first one to speak, and unlike his usual playful tone his voice was slightly snappy as he questioned Nicolas, looking at him as he really didn't know him.

"Why did you keep it a secret?"

Nicolas looked at Dom, not understanding what his friend meant. J.P saw Nicolas' confusion and stepped in front of Dom, his voice was calm as ever as he spoke.

"You could have told us, Colas. We would have kept the fact that your father is a wizard, secret."

Both Anita and Nicolas looked like they had just been drenched in a bucket of ice-cold water. The news could not have been more suprising. The father of Nicolas, a wizard? The thought was almost too ridiculous. Nicolas' father was as muggle as a muggle could be.

They both shook their head slowly. Nicolas barely finding his voice to answer the inquiry of his friends.

"I... I honestly had no idea my father was a wizard. I promise you... I really didn't know!"

The four friends suddenly felt extremely confused. Could it be that all four of them carried wizard blood in their veins? This was something they would have to investigate further.

Chatting excitedly they started walking down the steps leading away from the tower, all four of them completely decided to find out as much as possible about their respective families.

------------------------------------------- o ----------------------------------------------

End chapter nine

Oh yes. Anita has a secret admirer, who could it be?

And finally there is some light cast over the fact that our friends actually got magical powers after a life of being muggles.

There are still many suprises waiting in the next chapters.

Thanks for your patience.

Any reviews will be apreciated.