Finally, Charms ended. Lily stayed after with Mr. Flitwick. He smiled, putting his feet up on the desk. "You like animals, don't you?" Lily nodded.

Flitwick beamed at her. "Do you know that I run the Owlry?" She shook her head. She didn't have an owl, so she never went there, although she liked Horus a lot. Besides, it was only the first day of school.

"I run some of the animal programs at Hogwarts. I have many animal programs I was wondering if you'd like to help out in. I believe that you care enough about the animals, as I could tell by the owl feather question. I was wondering if you could stay for lunch with me to talk about the possibilities."

There goes my prank, thought Lily mournfully. Oh well. I have seven years…

Flitwick conjured up some food.

"I was wondering if you would like to help me train some owlets- owl chicks. Also, I have a program where we take birds and other animals from a Muggle animal shelter, and train them to be wizard's pets… I even had a student who trained a parrot- a Scarlet Macaw, at that, to deliver mail for far away, or in hot places where an owl couldn't go." Flitwick's eyes twinkled.

"I asked one person from every house to go. I got one definite answer from a Hufflepuff- do you know Paulo Berness? He seemed interested in training shelter rats to be wizard's pets…" Lily smiled, and nodded. Because of their house difference, she could spend little or no time with Paulo. Now she had an excuse!

"Also, there is a Ravenclaw named Lara Howerton. I think that you will find her nice… She loves cats, mainly… Then, there is a Slytherin, Severus Snape. Although he is one of the meanest people to other people I know, his love for animals is unequaled- he finds something in animals that people lack. He'll save anything. The first meeting will be Saturday (it was Thursday). This will take up a while, though. It is actually a full day trip. Saturday is our first shelter run of the year. Any animal you want to save we will most likely save. It is a large commitment, but it is worth it."

Lily smiled. "I'd be happy to!" Here, she found a way to save Jessica.

Finally, she ran to Ms. Jensings' room. Ms. Jensing was her Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. She instructed everyone to sit in a circle cross-legged.

"Feel the vibes," was all she said in explanation. James and his companions snorted, raising an eyebrow.

"What you are about to learn is how to defend yourselves against dark and evil wizards. Besides learning how to magically defend yourself, you will learn how to mentally prepare yourselves for attack. We will learn how to resist the Imperius eventually, and we will learn Occulmency. You will learn basic gymnastics so that you can dodge almost any curse that will fly your way. You will learn basic fencing skills with your wand, and Patchens, the art of patching a physically damaged wand with your mind. I am the only teacher who covers these physical aspects, and not just the magical spell-casting. Also, you will learn basic martial arts skills, from boxing to karate to ti kwan do. If you are good, you will learn how to turn an evil object into a good one again. All this and more will be learnt over the course of the next seven years."

James squinted at her. She was certainly a most strange-looking lady. She was large and rough. Her wiry hair fell in every which way. She was wearing guys' clothes and yet, there was something very calming about her.

She smiled. "Also, if I can get McGonagall, the Ministry, and Dumbledore to approve, an elite few of you shall learn the art of becoming an Animagi."

James raised his hand. "Are you one?" She smiled. "Me, and many other teachers here, most certainly are. It was offered as a course years ago, but someone with lion power sort of went crazy… Poor Imogene was never the same. How she missed that leg of hers."

James raised his hand pointedly once more. "Could you show us?" Muttering angrily, she went behind a desk, and moments later, a wolf came out. Then, she went behind the desk again and changed back again, and walked out calmly. "Are you a werewolf?" Remus asked, surprised.

She smiled. "No, I am a wolf-shifter. Pretty rare. I shift into a wolf, NOT a werewolf, but if I stand out under the full moon for more than fifty minutes, I will turn into a wolf (not a werewolf, a wolf). Well, I can turn right back two seconds later, and I do keep my mind when I transform, but it is a terrible inconvenience occasionally." Remus nodded.

Jensing set them to work with a spell Lily had never heard of called 'Expellimarus!" Although it was a second year spell, Ms. Jensing assured them that they could do it easily. Lily was paired up with a Ravenclaw.

This Ravenclaw was tall and thing, and a little pale. The Ravenclaw girl had a brownish-blondish shade of hair. Her eyes were brown with green flecks all over them. She appeared to like cats- almost all of her clothing was adorned with them. "Are you Lara Howerton?"

The girl nodded. They started practicing the charm with each other. They were both quite good at it, with Lara being a little better.

Both of them were very in tune with each other; they flowed into liquid motions together, setting up a sort of rhythm, until both of them with practice and experience got better, much better at Expellimarus.

Finally, with a resigned sigh, they stopped their poetry in motion, they stopped the spell dance, and saw that all had encircled them with looks of awe.

Ms. Jensing shook her head. "I am impressed, girls, seriously impressed. You two can do it better than I can!" The girls beamed with pleasure. They compared schedules, instant friends and companions, and would remain so for years to come. "Cool, we both have Madam Hooch 7th!"

With the promise of seeing the other again, both departed with a smile on their face.