A/N: I do not own Harry Potter.

Courses

Dumbledore sat in front of his desk, which was overflowing with papers and odd contraptions. He seemed to be searching for something. Frowning at the mass of paper in front of him, pulled out a short scroll at random, and glanced at it before dropping it back onto the desk. Another scrap of parchment was picked up, glanced at and dropped back down.

"I'm sure it was here somewhere..." he muttered, and reached further into the sea of paper. "There!" And, fully unrolling the parchment, he began to read aloud, occasionally making muttered comments: "To Professor Dumbledore,

A teacher training course, (teacher training, it's the students that need training...) will be held on the 9th of November this year. All teachers must come in order to do their days training and receive their certificates of merit. (Certificate of merit! Ha!)

Two courses have been set up for the students while the teachers are training. For the younger students, a tour of the Magic London and the Muggle London. (What's the point in that? Sight-seeing, I suppose...I wonder if we get to do any sight-seeing. Probably not, though I wouldn't say no! We might visit a muggle sweet factory!) and for the older student a childcare course, or a CCC. Pupils going on tour should be in Hogsmede by Honeydukes at eight o'clock sharp to catch the ministry bus. (I wonder if

Stan will drive...) Pupils doing the CCC should be ready by the shrieking shack at eight o'clock sharp. Teachers should apparate to the Reception and sign in so they can be directed to the right level.

Yours Sincerely,

Cornelius Fudge"

Dumbledore tucked the parchment into a hidden pocket and popped a sherbet lemon in his mouth. After counting slowly to ten, he jumped up and ran down the stairs, out past the gargoyle and along the hallways until he reached the great hall. "Suppertime!" he cried happily before smoothing his robes, assuming a dignified

expression and sailing inside.

Ginny Weasley sat surrounded by a group of fellow fifth-years, gossiping happily, while watching Harry Potter and his friends out of the corner of her eye. Draco Malfoy entertained his friends with unfriendly impressions and jokes of and about Harry. Luna Lovegood sat alone on the Ravenclaw, smiling dreamily at passersby. Cho Chang smiled brightly at Harry and whispered something to her friend Marriette, who in turn pointed at Blaise Zabini and giggled. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott chatted cheerily to their friend Justin, while Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil talked darkly about Professor Trelawny's most recent predictions. Seamus and Dean were questioning Neville on something or other, the Creevy brothers were exchanging timetables, and the noise in the Great Hall was tremendous. Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat.

"Students, students! Tomorrow we will all be going on a trip. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year pupils will be going to a tour of magic and muggle London. Years 5, 6, and 7 will be going on a Childcare Course. The Professors themselves will be going on courses, so I ask you to behave well. I want everyone to have breakfasted and be ready to go by half past seven, so some of the slower eaters will have to get up early. At quarter to eight, we should be on the way to Hogsmede. When we get there at five to eight, the younger pupils will wait for the bus by Honeydukes with the teachers, who will then apparate to their course. The older pupils will board the eight o'clock bus which will be waiting for them outside the shrieking shack. " with that, Dumbledore clapped his hands and the feast appeared on golden platters. Only two seconds later, everyone was tucking in.

Harry Potter was woken by his alarm at seven in the morning. Groaning and muttering darkly under his breath, he got up and shook a snoring Ron awake.

"Come on! We have to be ready to go in half an hour!" Ron grunted, but began to get up slowly. The others were already getting dressed. Seamus spoke:

"Where's my shirt? Anyone seen my shirt?"

"No. What do you think about this childcare course?"

"I dunno. Do you think we'll have to actually meet children?"

"Yeah! Obviously!"

"How old will they be?"

"No idea."

"Ten?"

"By the way, has anyone seen a red sock?"

"Heres one!"

"Ron! Get back out of bed!"

"But I'm bloody freezing!"

"Put on your jumper then!" at last, all five boys were dressed and cleaned, their hair brushed and/or gelled. Then they rushed to the Great Hall.

Hermione Granger was up and dressed by seven o'clock. Parvati was a quick dresser, but was having trouble with her make-up, so Lavender and Hermione talked to her while she fretted over what color eye-shadow would be best.

"I hope we actually get to look after the kids!"

"I wonder how old they'll be?"

"Probably about five, maybe four or six."

"As long as I get a sweet little girl I'll be fine."

"Mmm. What would you call a child if you had one?"

"Not sure....Maybe-"

"Hurry up Parvati or you'll be late for breakfast!" Ginny knocked on the door and entered with her friends.

"Come on! Dumbledore is going to make a speech!" Parvati finished applying mascara and followed the others in a downward stampede.

Draco Malfoy was sitting drinking coffee at six in the morning. He didn't like the idea if small children. What if he got a mudblood or a muggle? He shuddered, and poured some of the coffee into a hip-flask for later.

Cho was undecided on the matter of looking after children. Marriette didn't really like them.

"I don't know, I suppose if I was really good with children and Harry wasn't I could help him. Or if I wasn't very good he could help me, though I'd prefer it the other way around."

"Come on, downstairs!"

The Hufflepuffs sat in their common room, discussing the matter of the childcare course.

"Well, I think children are sweet!" Hannah decided.

"I wouldn't say sweet, but if they need us, we should help them." Justin informed them.

"They might be orphans!" Susan cried.

"I wonder how the course works..." mused Justin.

Once everyone had finished eating, Dumbledore cried:

"Get your bags and coats everybody! We are leaving in one minute!" Professor McGonagall whispered behind her hand:

"Have you got any provisions, Albus?"

"Yup." He told her, and opened a little bag. It was full of sherbet lemons. Professor McGonagall looked disapprovingly at them, and stood a little straighter. Soon everybody was standing in one of three groups: Older pupils, younger pupils, and teachers.

"Right everybody! Older students first, younger students second, and teachers at the back! Off we go now! Quickly!" Professor McGonagall called, and the school slowly began to file out.

It was a good job everybody arrived early, as the first and second years dawdled so they could see the shops better, and the older ones kept stopping to round them up. The teachers sent the CCC pupils up to the shrieking shack, where they boarded a black bus with the letters MM on the side in white, with a wand crest next to it. The tour pupils boarded their bus, chattered loudly, and the teachers apparated.

A/N: This story is going to be based on the older pupils looking after small children. Please review and tell me whose experience I should write about first!