Chapter Nine (Read author's note at bottom!)

Steven threw open the doors and walked in, laughing with his friends at his side. He headed over to the Gryffindor table without thinking and had to sharply turn. He mentally slapped himself, hoping no one had noticed. He looked up at the head table to see Dumbledore chucking and Cassius rolling his eyes. He smiled sheepishly and sat down at the Slytherin table, unaware of the slightly suspicious brown eyes looking at him.

The boys had just finished eating their breakfast when Professor Eltanin approached them. "Draco, Steven, Ash, here are your timetables. How was your first night, boys?" He asked, looking at his sons.

Ash shrugged. "It was fine." Steven glared. "Until they decided to give me a pre-waking shower."

Cassius snorted and smirked to Draco and Ash. "Congratulations. Prank well done. But, be prepared for the payback I am sure my eldest son will ensue on you."

Draco and Ash looked at each other and their eyes grew wide. Draco looked at his timetable and said in a rush, "Yes, well we better get going. We don't want to keep you waiting at class, professor."

Cassius grinned. "But class does not begin for another half hour. Oh well, I will see you there." Draco and Ash ran off and Steven rolled his eyes in their direction as Cassius chuckled.

"Steven, you really do need to get them back. If you don't I know that Ash will make you target practice."

Steven grinned. "Oh, I plan on retaliating. But I also plan to make an alliance with them. There are people here I would much rather prank." Steven looked over at Ron Weasley and Cassius grinned.

"That is an even better choice, son. Go on and get ready for class." Steven nodded and stood.

"See you in class, dad." He said as he walked out of the hall.

"That had better be professor Eltanin in class!"

Steven was walking down the main dungeon corridor when a hand grabbed his and he was pulled into a closet. He pulled his wand and aimed it at the intruder. When he saw who it was he dropped it to his side. "What is it, Ms. Weasley?" He asked, annoyed.

He then saw a good look at her face. It was tear-stained and she had been crying. He grabbed her hand. "What's wrong, Ginny?"

She sniffled. "You were right....I saw it. He...I looked when he was asleep and he had the dark mark on his arm."

Steven nodded, looking down. "But...there is something I want to know..." She said. Steven looked at her face. "How did you know if you aren't a death eater?"

Steven sighed. "I can't reveal that."

Ginny looked him in the eye and nodded. "I....show me your arm. I want to know if I can trust you."

Steven held out his arm to her and he grabbed his wrist, pulling his sleeve back with the other arm to reveal white, unblemished skin. She smiled and nodded. "So...what do I do?"

Steven sighed. "You do nothing, now. Harry Potter was betrayed by his best friend to his worst enemy. I am sure he would do the same to you. Do not give any hints that you know. You would not only end your life...but possibly many others." He grabbed her hand. "Even more importantly, do not speak of the war unless it is a forced situation. Appear to be neutral so that Ron and Voldemort do not see you as a threat."

Ginny looked into his eyes. "You...you said his name."

Steven nodded. "I do not fear words....I fear actions."

Ginny nodded. "Well...you better go to class. You only have fifteen minutes until classes start."

"Okay." Steven said a little sadly.

"Okay." Ginny said with a matching tone. Steven turned around to walk out of the closet but a hand on his stopped him. He turned around to look at Ginny and she smiled at him. She then leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, right next to his lips. She pulled away and they were both blushing. "Have a nice day." She said as she ran out of the room, with a silly grin on her face.

Steven stood in the closet for another second with a stunned look on his face before nodding and walking out. "I am sure I will." He said, grinning widely.

Steven walked into the potions classroom with the same goofy grin on his face. The only people in the classroom were the Gryffindors, Draco, and Ash. Steven walked over to the table with Draco and Ash and took the empty seat between them.

Draco sneered. "What's gotten you all optimistic?"

Steven smiled at him. "Nothing. But I do have something to talk to you about later." Draco nodded and was about to ask what about when the door opened and Professor Eltanin walked in calmly.

"Good morning, class. I am Professor Eltanin, the new Potions Master and the new Slytherin Head of House." The Gryffindors groaned.

"There will be no house rivalry shown in my classroom. You would do well to understand that from the very beginning. Today, I will be dividing you into pairs. Most of you will work with a member of the other house. Seeing as how this is the NEWT potions class, all four houses are combined. We will be working on a floating potion called Massexous. Here are the pairings..."

Harry heard Draco groan. "Granger..." He muttered before walking over to Hermione. Steven and Ash chuckled after him.

"Mr. Steven Eltanin and Mr. Ronald Weasley." Steven's eyes snapped up and he saw his father glance at him apologetically. He sighed and watched as Weasley plopped his stuff down on the table. Ash had already walked over to Blaise Zabini's table...lucky guy...at least he got a smart person from the Slytherin house...

"Hello, Eltanin. Any good at potions?" Ron said with a grin.

"Weasley." Steven acknowledged with a slight hiss. "Yes, I am good. So back off and just let me handle it."

"Hmm...you hissed my name as if you didn't like me. Tell me, Eltanin, do you have any interesting tattoos?" Weasley asked with a smirk.

Steven rolled his eyes. "That is none of your business, Weasley."

"Come on, Eltanin, it is well-known your family is dark...are you? Are you willing to be?"

Steven glared and started to add the ingredients. "I don't see how that is any concern of yours."

"Well, Eltanin, you need to decide who you side with...the question will come up. And I hope you choose the side I did."

"And which side would that be?" Steven asked, calmly.

"The winning side, of course." Weasley replied with a smirk.

"You seem confidant." Steven asked, starting to get angry. "As if you knew from example how easy it was to hurt the other side."

Weasley chuckled. "I do...I was friends with Harry Potter."

Steven was about to respond when a voice interrupted. "Mr. Eltanin...nice job on the potion." Steven looked up and saw his father. Cassius was, he supposed, trying to help. But he had just ruined a perfectly good chance to get information. "Ten points to both of your houses."

The bell then rang and Professor Eltanin dismissed the class. Steven met with Draco and Ash at the door and they walked out, leaving behind the Gryffindors and other Slytherins. "Weasley is definitely a..." Steven looked over at Draco and saw a blush lighting his cheeks. Ash looked at him and snorted. "What brightened up your day, Draco?"

Draco shook and pulled himself from his gazing. "Oh...uhm, nothing?" And the blushed just grew. Ash and Steven shrugged at each other as Draco began to look ahead again in a daze.
Authors Note: Hey, guys. I have been writing on an RPG site for the last two months and it is totally cool. It is set at Beauxbatons but other than that and that wizarding stuff it is not an HP thing. It is really cool though and lots of fun. I put details on my bio page so that you can check it out...I don't think I am supposed to put links on here. I am sure a lot of you would enjoy it. I sure do! Check out my profile page for info! Next term starts on June 1st! Tell me in a review if it catches your interest and you sign up and if you have questions, email me with them, I'll be glade to answer.This is also my last week of school, starting tomorrow, so the chapters should start getting better after this one or the next.