Disclaimer 1: Draco, his parents and teachers all belong to JKR. (As if you didn't all know that.)

Disclaimer 2: Severus Snape owning a raven belongs to J.L. Matthews. (Go read her story everybody. It's great.)

Disclaimer 3: The gang name Sharks is borrowed from the musical West Side Story of course. I don't remember where I found the name Rakers, but I know I read it somewhere.

Disclaimer 4: The idea for Snape having a family comes from Al's fic Time of Trial.

Disclaimer 5: The Glizzard family and Gringolf Glizzard belong to my friend Pega Pony and so do all of Gringolf's songs. Thanks for letting me borrow them!

Disclaimer 6: My friend Edmund owns himself and his horse Apollo.

Disclaimer 7: Old Joe and Tess' Joe belong to Zebee.

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A/N – Good news. It looks like this will have more than five chapters after all. At least I feel the hint of a plot hedgehog in the back of my mind ... Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs fans might spot two names in here.

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Chapter 4: At Hogwarts

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September came much too soon. At first Billy had been excited about going to the mysterious boarding school, but the closer the day came, the less he wanted it to arrive.

He'd have to spend the entire day and even the nights there. What if he didn't like the place? What if the other children didn't like him? What if he wanted his Mummy's advice on something?

The night before he had to go to school he suddenly woke up from a dream about other kids laughing at him for having second hand robes with the realisation that he wouldn't be in the same school as the Rakers. What if Mely forgot about him, if he was never there? What if she decided he wasn't worth accepting, if he'd only be around in the holidays?

The next morning he watched the gang march off to school all proudly wearing their blue caps. If he ever got one at all, he wouldn't even be able to wear it in school.

A few minutes later Jimmy and Mandy, two of his classmates from last year, crossed the park in their new green school robes. They were laughing and talking excitedly.

What if he didn't find any friends at Hogwarts? He knew none of the kids there. What primary schools did future Hogwarts students attend? Certainly not his. What if everybody already knew somebody and he was the only one left out?

"Eat!" Munin called and let himself drop onto Billy's shoulder.

He would most certainly be the only kid in his class without a familiar. He'd begged his father to buy him a raven, but Dad had remained hard.

"You're not old enough to train him." he had insisted.

"But Draco got Hugin when he went to Hogwarts, too." Billy had protested.

"When he went for his fifth year." Severus had reminded him. "Ravens are very difficult pets. An eleven year old just isn't up to keeping one."

"How about an owl, then?"

"Too expensive. We already spent too much on your school books."

"Cat?" Billy had suggested.

"Too expensive as well."

"Toad?"

"Whatever for? Toads are useless. You might as well take the dog to school."

"Can I?"

"No!"

And that had been it. Billy was going to Hogwarts without any friends except for his old teddy Eddy. He'd have to remember to introduce him as Edward to his dorm mates, even though the name had actually come from his first babyish attempts to say teddy.

"Billy!" Sarah reminded him. "Come here and eat your breakfast. You don't want to make Daddy late for the teachers' meeting, do you?"

Down in the park Draco and Uncle Mike were walking past on their way to work.

Billy sighed and trudged over to the table. "I'm not really hungry."

"You have to eat. You'll only get a sandwich or two until the feast and that is after the other students arrive and the sorting ceremony." Sarah told him sternly.

Billy sighed and sat down to nibble half heartedly on a piece of toast. "Do I have to stay at Hogwarts, if I don't like it there?"

"You're not even there, yet." Severus reminded him. "At least give the school a chance, before starting to look for alternatives."

"I bet all the other kids have brand new robes and familiars and pretty eagle feather quills."

"And you have the Potions teacher for a father." said Sarah. "I bet none of the other children have that."

"With my luck one of them probably is the son of the minister of magic." Billy grumbled.

"The minister's children are all already out of school." Severus stated. "Thankfully. They were abysmal at Potions."

"Were they?" Sarah asked absently.

"Well, the youngest boy. The rest were about average."

"I bet they all have new cauldrons, too." Billy frowned.

"That were never even touched by a real Potions Master." Severus continued. "It's all in how you look at it. I still remember how proud Draco was of his ratty old backpack."

"That was Draco, Dad." Billy complained. "Draco doesn't need cool things to be cool. He simply is."

"And so are you." Severus told him.

"I'm not." Billy said drawing a line into his porridge. "I'm just ... just me. I couldn't be like Draco."

"Of course you can." Sarah snorted. "He's your brother. You're a lot like him."

Billy just shrugged and tried to pile the porridge up into a mountain. It flopped off his spoon and sank back in. Too wet.

It wouldn't help to remind his mother that Draco was adopted and Billy wasn't. She'd only say that he was insulting his parents and denying his brother again. Adoption wasn't something people spoke about. Lots of kids in Merlin Park had been adopted by one of their parents and unlike Draco they didn't even have any official papers to prove it.

Well, Billy could always try to fail all his classes. Then Hogwarts would kick him out and he could start again at West Hogsmeade next year.

Half an hour later Severus and Billy were on their way to the castle. It looked huge and imposing to Billy, much bigger than he remembered it. Did he really want to know what was waiting for him inside? His old classmates were probably already laughing and having fun with their new friends at West Hogsmeade.

There was a soft plop a little to their right as a tiny old wizard apparated in.

"Good Morning, Filius." Severus greeted him without even slowing down.

"Morning, Severus." the tiny wizard was caught up with them anyway. "An early student?"

"My son." Severus explained. "Billy, this is Professor Flitwick. He teaches Charms."

"Like Uncle Mike?" Billy asked trying to sound friendly. He'd much rather have Uncle Mike as his Charms teacher. That tiny wizard looked weird.

Of course one shouldn't judge people by their looks. Half ogres looked ugly, too and were usually very reliable people, good to be friends with. And one of his best friends in Merlin Park was part goblin. Billy attempted a smile.

"Ah, first year?" Flitwick asked, though he probably had to know. "Are you excited to start Hogwarts?"

Billy looked up at the huge castle once again. "I'm not sure." he admitted.

"He's a bit nervous." Severus translated.

"That's only natural." Flitwick nodded. "But there's no need for it. Just think of all your friends that will be arriving soon."

"I don't know any Hogwarts kids." Billy said with a slight frown. "All my friends are going to West Hogsmeade."

That surprised Flitwick so much he didn't know what to answer.

"A lot of the other first years haven't met any of their classmates, yet, either." Severus volunteered.

"That's right." Flitwick gladly grabbed for the straw. "Most of the Muggle borns haven't even seen magic at all before and some of the others are home schooled until they reach Hogwarts age. They'll probably be glad to meet someone who already knows his way around."

"I've never been inside the castle before either." Billy complained.

"But you know wizarding culture." Flitwick insisted. "Just look for a nice Muggle born that looks a little lost. I'm sure he'll love to be your first friend."

They had reached the castle by now and for a moment Billy was distracted from his worries by all the pictures and other decorations, but there wasn't any time to look. His father and Professor Flitwick kept walking right on to the teachers' lounge. At least Billy assumed that was what the room was, because that's where Dad had said the teachers' meetings were usually held.

The room was full of adults that stared at him in surprise as he entered. Billy pressed himself tightly against his father who put his arm around him protectively and sneered at the curious masses.

At least Uncle Albus was here, too, and greeted him happily and the Minerva woman even smiled a little, though Billy still didn't like her. Draco had told him that she was very strict and taught Transfigurations, the hardest subject of all.

When his father sat down Billy pressed himself tightly against his chair and Severus finally pulled him onto his lap.

Somebody protested the presence of a child in a staff meeting, but Uncle Albus said they weren't going to talk about anything Billy couldn't know.

Then he cast a glance through the room and his eyes fell on an empty chair.

"Are we missing anybody?" he asked. "I was sure we had as many chairs as teachers."

"Sybil." the Minerva woman stated as if the word left a bad taste in her mouth. "Did somebody think to remind her today is the first day of term?"

Uncle Albus sighed and stepped towards the floo. "Normally I'd just leave her, but this concerns her as well." He threw a pinch of powder into the flames. "Sybil? We're waiting for you."

"Of course you are." a woman's voice answered, then hesitated for a moment before asking: "Why?"

"Because the staff meeting started five minutes ago." the headmaster stated calmly. "Just check your crystal ball and I'm sure you'll see all of us sitting here in the staff room waiting for our dear Sybil."

"I'm in the middle of a really complicated reading, Albus." the voice announced. "Can't you do without me this time?"

"I'm afraid not. You are one of the main reasons for this meeting, after all." Dumbledore answered patiently. "It's about the third years' electives."

"And I got up early for that?" yawned a fat wizard who was sitting on a sofa in the back of the room.

"Yes Hermes, but I think you will want to know this as well." Albus said and started searching through his pockets.

"If you're looking for the new schedules, I put them on the desk, Albus." Minerva hinted.

"Thank you, but I'm just checking whether I still have Harald's owl address. I have a feeling I might have to call him soon." Dumbledore explained with another glance at the man called Hermes.

Despite the many little scraps of note-parchment in his pockets Dumbledore found the address before the door opened and Sybil Trelawney walked in.

Billy blinked. He had seen all sorts of strange creatures in his life, but never anything like that.

"Dad?" he whispered. "Dad, what kind of creature is that?"

"What creature?" Severus asked a little annoyed. "Hagrid is a half giant, of course. You've seen them before."

"Not him," Billy shook his head and nodded towards Trelawney. "Her."

Severus snorted drawing the attention of the whole room. "That, Billy, is one of the most annoying creatures there are, a diviner. As far as I know no agreement on the question whether they are magical or non magical creatures has been reached so far."

"The evidence leans towards non-magical at least as far as this particular specimen is concerned." the Minerva woman added.

"Mark the day on the calendar, Severus and Minerva have agreed on something without any insults, yelling or bribery." a tall, thin witch in a pink robe commented.

"Please, Callisto, I really have something important to announce." Uncle Albus sounded almost like Billy's primary school teacher had. "Severus, Minerva, please don't tease Sybil. Sybil, quit sulking, that encourages them."

"They have no respect for the high art of Divination." the Sybil creature declared.

Billy still didn't know what kind of mixture she was. Maybe a little mermaid and two parts of something else?

"Quite so, Sybil." Albus nodded. "Now, the reason I have called all of you here is that there will be some organisational changes this year due to the fact that we have a new partner school. Students from West Hogsmeade will portkey here for Flying lessons and to participate in some of our clubs and electives, while our students will portkey to their school for Sports and other classes."

There was some mumbling and protests. Apparently Billy's new teachers thought his friends were dangerous.

"Muggle Studies will be taught only at West Hogsmeade from now on, as will Conjuring, Mathematics and French. In return Ancient Runes and Divination will be taught only at Hogwarts for both schools." Dumbledore continued. "I want to remind the heads of house, that students having a class at the other school right before lunch will be expected to eat there. Students eating in West Hogsmeade are expected to pay for their food, therefore they will need to be given so called lunch money. As the school money for Hogwarts already includes the meals the heads of house will be responsible for handing out the lunch money."

The Sybil creature protested against having West Hogsmeade students in her classes. Professor Flitwick had questions about the school and a woman called Professor Sprout wanted to know exactly how much lunch money the students would need and where the West Hogsmeade students would sit during the meals.

"We have to make sure that they mingle with our students so they won't feel left out." she insisted.

Billy almost yawned. Teachers' meetings were dead boring. He wondered why they actually forbade students to attend. Any student who walked in here would leave voluntarily after a few minutes and never return.

Around two in the afternoon sandwiches were served and then the meeting finally broke up. Professor Sprout caught Severus and Billy at the door and asked almost the same questions Professor Flitwick had. She was probably just trying to be nice, but Billy really didn't want to talk about his feelings about Hogwarts.

After getting rid of her Severus led Billy down into the dungeons and showed him his office and lab.

"I have to unpack the books and ingredients I brought from home." he explained, but you can brew some pepper up potion for the hospital wing, if you're bored. Just remember to use peppermint instead of the lemon leaves."

"Can't I brew something interesting instead?" Billy frowned a little.

"I don't have time to supervise you right now." Severus shook his head.

Working in the big, well equipped Hogwarts lab turned out to be fun anyway, though. While his cauldron bubbled happily Billy explored the shelves trying to name all the ingredients. He was familiar with all sorts of ingredients most wizards never saw, but in here there were things he'd never even heard of. Rare, perhaps even restricted ingredients, samples of potions ...

Billy was quite disappointed when they had to leave for the feast and his sorting.

The great hall was already filling up with black dressed students when they arrived, but none of them appeared to be first years, so Billy just followed after his father who strode right to the head table where the teachers he'd already seen in the morning were gathered.

The Minerva woman was discussing something with uncle Albus, but over all the noise from the students it was impossible to overhear. In fact the only words Billy could clearly discern in the chaos were names that the students yelled out at the sight of their friends.

"The second train just arrived at the station when I passed the second floor landing." old Mr. Filch reported as he arrived. "I assume Hagrid has them halfway across the lake by now."

"Excellent." Uncle Albus beamed. "Then the carriages should all be on their way as well."

The noise had begun to settle down a bit, but a few minutes later a new wave of students rushed in and it flared up again.

"That's the students from Scotland and Ireland coming in now." Severus explained to the boy. "The first batch came with the Southern train that starts from London. A small group from Hogsmeade should have arrived on foot even before then."

When the last trickle of new arrivals finally stopped Uncle Albus nodded towards the Minerva woman and she got up and slipped silently out of the hall. Most of the students were sitting now, though they were still talking animatedly.

A few more minutes passed, or did it just seem that long to Billy? Then the doors behind the head table suddenly swung open and the Minerva women led in another group of students.

Severus gently nudged Billy towards them and he tried to slip in at the end of the line unnoticed.

He didn't succeed entirely, though. The two students in front of him turned around and stared at him. Billy shrugged and attempted a smile, but their only reaction was to turn away again.

Being small and in the back of the group Billy was unable to see the sorting hat and its song didn't sound all that impressive to him either. It had sorted witches and wizards for over a thousand years? So what? In West Hogsmeade first years were distributed into four groups according to their grades and it worked just as well. Who needed a magical hat anyway?

"Now, when I call your name, just sit on the stool and put on the hat and you will be sorted." the Minerva woman announced. "As soon as the hat makes its choice you will get up quietly, pass the hat on to the next student and then walk over to your new house. No yelling out in triumph, no big scenes and no running. Lets start: Anterhill, Pankratius!"

Billy tried to get a peek at Pankratius Anterhill, but all he could see were the heads of other first years and black robes.

"Slytherin!" the hat announced and Billy heard the applause from the Slytherin table, even though he couldn't see them.

"Atlers, Gabriella!"

"Ravenclaw!" It sounded seconds later and again there was applause.

"Bartering, Gangolf!"

Nervous laughter flittered through the group of first years and Billy was glad that his name wasn't Gangolf Bartering. The poor boy!

"Slytherin!"

At least he'd gotten into a good house.

"Berring, Hermelindis!"

Herme what? Another poor kid.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Bonk, Connor!"

This one took very long to sort. Finally the hat settled on "Ravenclaw!" however.

"Carmey, Wendy!" took even longer than Connor. After over a minute the hat finally said: "Gryffindor." without much conviction.

"Domally, Arnika" and "Donelly, Salvatore" became Ravenclaws, "Eagle, Melitta" a Hufflepuff and "Forbes, Charles" the second Gryffindor.

Billy didn't really care about that, though. He couldn't see any of it and the only thing he wanted to know was what house he would be put in. Then he could try to memorise his housemates' names. Remembering the entire first year seemed an impossible task, though.

He wondered whether this was any more interesting, if one could see it. Maybe he should try jumping to see over the students in front of him? But that was probably very improper behaviour.

Draco had warned him that a lot of things that seemed absolutely natural at West Hogsmeade were considered impossible at Hogwarts where the students were expected to have excellent manners.

Meanwhile it was "Laxter, Dinah"'s turn.

"Slytherin!"

And Slythern right again for "Lennox, Rupert!"

"Montrey, Randolph!" caused some mumbling and surprised looks when he was sorted into Ravenclaw. Billy had no idea what that was all about and drifted off again until an impossibly long name caught his attention.

"Patter-Hendrics, Sophie-Marleen!"

"I really hope that one's okay with being called Sophie." a small red haired girl with freckles whispered to her blonde friend somewhere to Billy's right when the hat announced "Gryffindor!"

The group of students was thinning out now and Billy occasionally caught a glimpse of a student on the way up to the hat. How much longer until they finally reached the Ss?

They were getting close now. Patter-Hendrics was followed by Porter, Quentin, Rassle and Rouen and then finally:

"Sanger, Oliver!"

The boy took very long to sort and Billy started to fidget. He was probably next.

"Gryffindor!" the hat yelled out after what seemed like an eternity.

"Sharpe, Mary-Anne!" the Minerva woman announced instead of the expected "Snape".

Billy could see the girl walk confidently up to the stool. She smiled at them as she placed the hat on her head.

"Slytherin!" That had been fast.

Billy's brain was still a second behind events when the Minerva woman announced "Snape, Billy" and he completely forgot to fidget.

"Snape? Did she really say Snape?" Whispers flew through the hall. Several of the other first years openly stared at Billy as he squeezed through to the front.

More whispering. Billy knew they were comparing him to his father and unlike Draco he looked a lot like their Dad.

He stumbled up to the stool hoping that he didn't look as clumsy as he felt. The hat smelled dusty and old as it slipped over his head.

'What do you know, a Snape.' a weird voice in his head greeted him. 'It's been a while since I sorted one of those. And what's that? I don't even know your mother? Difficult, difficult.'

'Mum went to West Hogsmeade.' Billy thought. 'As did all my friends. I wish I'd gone with them.'

'Ah, not a Gryffindor, are you?' the hat sounded amused. 'Not that the Snapes ever were. You care a lot about friendship. Hufflepuff might suit that need. Not a traditional Snape house either, though.'

'Hufflepuff would be fine, I guess.' Billy thought. With his Potions knowledge nobody could mistake him for stupid, could they?'

'So, you've already studied ahead.' the hat commented. 'And you're not restricting yourself to considering only one option. Your father had some Ravenclaw tendencies as well.'

'Isn't Ravenclaw a little stuffy?' Billy wondered. 'I like to play outside much more than reading. I want to be on the Soccer team and maybe try out for the Quidditch team as well next year.'

'You'd like to play on both teams?' the hat almost seemed to laugh. "Slytherin!"

Billy blinked a few times. His father's house? Was that even permitted?

He slowly pulled off the hat and blinked a few more times against the bright candle light as the Minerva woman read out: "Sorrel, Aterus!".

A tall boy with long dark hair held out his hand and smiled at Billy and he obediently handed over the hat. What was he supposed to do now? Oh right, sit down at the Slytherin table!

He started down the hall.

"Slytherin!" the hat's voice sounded behind him.

What was the boy's name again? Atrus? No, Aterus. Billy hoped they'd get along.

"Tonks, Caesareus!" was on the stool now and Billy had finally reached the end of the Slytherin table where several seats had been left for the first years.

He looked around at the kids already sitting there, but didn't recognise any of the faces that were staring at him wide eyed. He decided to sit next to a boy.

"Hi, I'm Billy." he introduced himself.

"Yeah, Snape, Billy." the brown haired girl across from him said. "We heard."

"Are you related to Professor Snape in some way?" a blond boy to his right asked.

Billy nodded. "Sure, he's my Dad." Then he smiled. He should get a little more personal, if he wanted to make friends with these children. "I didn't expect the hat to sort me into his house, though. I thought there'd be rules against that, but then my brother was a Slytherin, too."

Aterus quietly slipped into the chair beside Billy, but made no move to introduce himself. Was he shy?

The others were all staring at Billy not saying anything.

"Uberey, Cait!" rang out from the front.

The Slytherins continued to stare at each other.

"Ravenclaw!"

"Vaxhall, Alexander!"

"So, who are you all?" Billy asked. "I heard your names, but I was standing too far in the back and couldn't you be sorted, so I don't know what faces to match them to."

More staring.

"Warthay, Elenor!"

"Gryffindor!"

"I'm of the Nocturne house." the brown haired girl responded first apparently expecting Billy to know who the Nocturnes were. "Colleen Nocturne."

"Gangolf Bartering." the blond boy introduced himself with a sneer.

The older Slytherins suddenly broke into applause. Apparently another first year had been sorted into Slytherin. Billy looked up to see a tiny girl with dark brown hair make her way down towards them.

"Pankratius Anterhill." Gangolf's neighbour announced. "Usually called either Pank or Ant." He wrinkled his nose at the later name.

"My fiends call me Slipper." Billy admitted. "Because I'm so small and thin I can slip through anywhere, they say." He'd been hoping to earn himself a better nickname when he was accepted into the gang.

"Dinah Laxter." the girl beside Colleen spoke up for the first time. "My whole family was in Hufflepuff."

Colleen pushed her chair away from her with a frown. "Hufflepuffs? Ewww."

"I'm Anny." the girl on her other side started. "Mary-Anne, actually, but nobody ever calls me that."

"I hope your parents aren't Hufflpuff's as well." Colleen stated still frowning.

"No, my father's a plumber and Mum works in a factory."

Colleen hastily shifted back towards Dinah. "A Mudblood, yuck."

Dinah however held her hand out to Anny. "Thanks. I hope we're going to be great friends."

Billy regarded Colleen a little thoughtfully. "Is there anyone that you don't find icky at all?"

"You mean, you don't mind being surrounded by Mudbloods and Hufflepuffs?"

"I almost became a Hufflepuff." Billy informed her. "The hat said one could make lots of friends there."

Colleen looked shocked and turned towards the last two girls, one of whom had only just arrived. "Tell me you at least are purebloods, please."

The new one nodded at her. "Yes, I think I am. I'd have to ask my Dad, though."

"Name?" Colleen demanded.

"Tullia." she held out her hand.

"Last name, stupid." Collen did not touch the offered hand.

"Oh,! Waterwall." the girl blushed. "Tullia Waterwall."

Colleen groaned.

"What now?" Pank asked warily.

"The Waterwalls are part mermaid." Aterus supplied. "Nocturne probably finds that ... How did you put it? Icky. I'm Aterus Sorrel, by the way. Pureblood, if it helps." He nodded towards Colleen.

"Danny Rassle." the last girl informed Colleen with a nasty sneer. "Halfblood."

"And my name's Rupert Lennox. Nothing special."

"What do you mean nothing special?" Pank asked with a grin.

"No recent Muggle ancestors, no non human ancestors, no pureblood, just your common everyday wizard." Rupert grinned back.

Billy smiled. He was going to like Rupert. He could already see that. Pank seemed nice as well and Aterus was getting more relaxed now. He was probably just nervous. Only Gangolf still hadn't said much besides his name.

Billy was just about to address him when Aterus hushed them.

"The headmaster's about to speak."

Indeed the sorting was over and Uncle Albus had gotten up to address the crowd. The few words he said weren't really worth the interruption of their introduction in Billy's opinion, but the food certainly was.

Billy had never seen that many delicious things in one room before. It did seem like a waste to offer this much, though. There was no way the students could eat it all.

"What are they going to do with all the leftovers?" he wondered between two bites.

"Who cares?" shrugged Colleen.

"Probably feed them to the house elves and other servants." Aterus commented.

"That's right. I completely forgot about them. Of course they need to eat, too." Billy nodded relieved. The food wasn't wasted after all. "That'll feed a lot of elves, though."

"Well, there must be a lot of them with so many people in the castle." Dinah said. "And this is a special feast. They'll probably give some of the food to the poor and reuse the rest in tomorrow's soup."

"My Mum always makes stew when she has lots of leftovers." Anny said.

"Yes, mine too." Billy confirmed. "Bet we'll get stew tomorrow."

"I do hope you're joking." Collen frowned again. "I refuse to eat leftovers."

Billy stared at her. "Don't you realise how much money all this food must cost?"

"Who cares about money?" Colleen asked. "This is supposed to be a noble school. I expect them to serve us accordingly."

"It's still financed only through our school money." Aterus told her. "I think Billy is right. This is a lot more food than a single family eats at home and they need to feed the entire school everyday. That has to cost a large part of the school money and then they also need to pay the staff and equipment. They wouldn't want to throw anything away."

"I won't eat stew." Colleen insisted once again.

"Then don't." said Dinah. "Go hungry, if you're too good to eat. Why should we care?"

"Common brutes." Colleen hissed. "But then what should one expect from half- breeds, Hufflepuffs and Mudbloods."

"You wouldn't have lasted a day at my old school, you know." Billy told her. "The half ogres would have beaten you to a pulp. ... Unless the goblins would have got at you first, of course."

"You went to a real primary school?" Aterus asked excitedly. "I just had a tutor who came to our house every second day. My mother didn't want me to be taught with other kids."

"Why not?" Tullia asked. "Mine says it's very important that children spend lots of time with other children their age. She called it socialation, or something like that."

"Socialisation." Dinah agreed. "It means to learn how to act among other people. How to make friends and realise when somebody needs your help."

"Yes, that." Tullia nodded happily. "What has your mother got against that?"

"She said other kids would give me the measles and things like that." Aterus shrugged helplessly. "I had whooping cough as a baby. I think that scared her."

"It's dangerous." Billy agreed. "Matt, that's a friend of my big brother, had a sister who died of whooping cough. Mum did everything she could, but she was just too small and got weaker and weaker until she couldn't take her potions anymore and died."

"Your mother's a healer?" Danny asked. "How exciting!"

"No, no, she's an Alchemist just like Dad and Draco." Billy shook his head. "But she brews medical potions for the Hogsmeade hospital so a lot of neighbours turn to us when they're sick."

"Those potions are magical medicine?" Anny asked.

"Yes, or sometimes even Muggle medicines made by wizards." Billy explained. "We often tend to say Potions when something's really Chemistry. Both arts evolved from Alchemy, when the two worlds split apart. There are illnesses that can only be cured by one of them and others that require a combination."

"Did your mother teach you all that?" Pank sounded deeply impressed.

"My mother, Dad and Draco. We're a family of alchemists."

"Who's that Draco you talk about all the time?" Rupert pushed away his plate.

"Oh, he's my big brother." Billy explained.

"Um ... Gangolf, what are you doing?" Aterus stared at the boy who was staring into his empty plate.

"Just checking my hair." Gangolf replied absently.

"On your plate?" Pank asked sounding slightly doubtful.

"Of course." Gangolf returned while smoothing down a lock of hair.

"Oh .. oh ... okay. Of course." Pank stuttered looking towards Billy and Rupert for help.

"Oh, I put a mirror charm on it, stupid." Gangolf sighed. "Haven't you ever seen someone use a plate for a mirror?"

"To be honest, no." stated Pank.

Gangolf looked from one first year to the next hopefully, but they all appeared equally baffled.

"Well, my mother sometimes does when she's in a real hurry to get away after a meal." Colleen remarked. "But I've never seen a man do so. Or a boy."

"Then you only know sloppy men." Gangolf sneered. "Proper looks are extremely important, especially, if you have hair like mine. It would simply be a waste of my good looks not to take perfect care of them."

"Whatever has he eaten?" Rupert asked looking a little spooked.

"Just a little of the salad." Dinah reported. "I really don't know how he can think of his hair with an empty stomach."

"Well, in that case I'm not touching the salad." Rupert decided. "Who knows what's in there."

"I had some salad as well and I feel fine." Tullia said between two forkfuls of baked fish.

"But what if that's just because the magic doesn't work on mermaids?" Danny suggested. "Better not take the risk."

"Nonsense." Tullia snorted. "I'm only one quarter mermaid. How could that be enough to protect me?"

"You never know." Rupert declared and covered the salad bowl with his empty plate before anyone else could accidentally try it.

After dinner Uncle Albus held some big speech, but Billy felt much too tired to listen to him by now. It had been a long and exciting day and he was glad when one of the prefects finally led them to their common room and he could fall into bed. He didn't even take the time to unpack first.

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Teri – Well, for now even their kids don't know, though it was in Albus' speech. Maybe a few of them listened to it.

JerseyPike – I'm used to headaches due to low blood pressure, so I don't mind so much.

Madame Moony – I doubt Rowling ever plans more than Harry's own class' schedule. ... I always start my plans with Potions (The double lessons are the worst, because they force you to pair Potions with two other subjects for the other houses.) and rotate the schedule. (Whatever sequence of classes the seventh year has on Monday, the sixth year can have on Tuesday, fifth on Wednesday ...). Al once told me the British had two hours of school before and three after lunch and none on Saturday, but that's definitely not enough hours. You need at least six a day and even that gets tight, if you want to put in subjects with more than two hours a week per class.

duj – I was afraid of that and actually wanted to do just that, but somehow I didn't manage to slip into any of the characters. (It might have something to do with having to retype five pages. That didn't leave much time or patience for editing. I really didn't want to work on that chapter anymore by the end of it.) ... As we have seen with Hermione time turners tend to exhaust you too much if you use them frequently over a longer period of time. ... Lets say Hogwarts has six hours a day of classes (About the normal amount for Austria, though we add Four additional ones on Saturday, and two in the afternoon on one day.) on five days. That's thirty hours. Sevi teaches 14 classes (two for each year). They have a double lesson at least once a week, so lets say each class has three hours of Potions a week. That's 42 hours, when there are only thirty. In addition Sevi has to head Slytherin house, mark and grade homework, make lesson plans, supervise detentions, spy for Albus, tutor Harry ... and he even finds time to take some of Lupin's classes in third year! (Either he has a twin, or Hogwarts a second Potions teacher. ... In my next fic he'll teach only two houses up to fifth year, which makes his schedule almost bearable.)

kassio – Sarah would have been a Hufflepuff if she'd gone to Hogwarts. She understands the greater good for both schools, though she is keeping the option to switch schools later on in her mind. ... I'm not sure about the wedding, because I'm not very experienced with them. We'll see how it goes.

Midnight Tiger – Well, if you look at how well the wizards in the books deal with Muggle things, could you see them dealing with the everyday tasks of Muggle school? Ginny was a victim of bad preparation. ... Neville might make an appearance, if I write the wedding, but I might not. I was about eight last time I went to a wedding. I don't remember anything ... and our wizards aren't even catholic in this fic! How do they do marriages in the Anglican church?!

Pam Briggs – This one actually went rather fast, because I knew I didn't have a scanner and could only write on this PC and the notebook. Hopefully things will continue going so well.

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- A/N: So who will become Billy's best friend at Hogwarts? Who will he get along with? And who will be the ring leader in this little pack of snakes?

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In the next chapter: Sevi inspects his new students, the Slytherins go to their first classes and the Hogwarts students find out that they have classes in West Hogsmeade.