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 PegaPony 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: Late, late, late as usual, but I have a new soundcard and my computer's talking to me again. The next chapter is well under way and might actually go up on time (gasp!). ... Well, well, well, it appears no longer accepts .doc documents at all, nor did rich text work, so I'm stuck with using a plain .txt file. Blame that, if it looks bad.
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Chapter 9: Flying, Quidditch and Other Offers
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It was a strange feeling to share a bedroom with others, Aterus thought. He'd always wanted to have lots of other children around him, but sometimes this felt too close. It was amazing how easily Billy, Pank and Rupert had taken to it.
Then again maybe it was all due to his isolated childhood so far. He was always nervous that he might say or do something wrong. Just how did one behave among other children?
"Come on, Gangolf! We'll be late for breakfast again!" Pank was once again banging on the bathroom door, even though the others were still straightening out their robes.
And once again the usual answer came from inside the bathroom: "I'm not done, yet. Go on ahead. I'll catch up."
"You're part of the group, Gangolf." Pank returned. "I don't like the idea of you walking around all on your own. The Gryffindors could catch you."
Gangolf seemed to give that danger a little more thought. Gryffindors were dangerous. That much Aterus had already figured out as well.
"Not down here in the dungeons." Gangolf finally answered. "They have no reason to be here this early in the morning."
"I hope you're right." Pank sighed then turned to the rest of the boys. "Ready? Then lets go."
Aterus wondered whether he'd find the way to breakfast on his own at all as he and Billy trudged after Pank and Rupert as they had been doing every morning.
"Why do we always do what Pank says anyway?" he asked his friend softly.
"Because every gang needs a leader." Billy stated as if that were obvious.
Maybe to him it was.
"We're a class not a gang." Aterus pointed out.
"There's safety in numbers." Billy explained. "The houses are like the gangs back at home. Slytherin and Gryffindor have been at war for over a thousand years. Only if we stick together and have a strong leader can we fight back properly."
Aterus didn't know much about war and even less about gangs, so he decided to just accept that answer. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Billy. If only he knew a tiny little bit more about the world!
The girls were already there when they arrived in the great hall. Even the Nocturne girl was sitting at the table taking tiny elegant bites out of a piece of toast. She didn't greet any of them, though.
"Latin's first this morning." Tullia announced happily after finishing the last of her porridge. "I like that class."
"Do you all have your homework?" Pank asked at once.
Rupert groaned and swatted at him with his toast. "We did that together, remember?"
"The second lesson's Transfigurations, though." Dinah remarked. "The Gryffindors again."
"And McGonagall." Tullia frowned. "I hate Transfigurations."
"Well, cheer up a little, because it's our first Flying lesson right after lunch." Danny announced.
"Really?" Aterus could barely contain his excitement. "I've always wanted to fly."
"You mean you have never sat on a broom?" Danny asked incredulously.
Oh no, was that the wrong thing to say?
"Well, neither have I." Anny stated calmly. "They can't expect us to already know how, can they?"
"Of course not." Pank declared. "You're not the only muggle born student at this school. Where should any of you have had the chance?"
"I've never flown yet, either." Billy admitted. "Draco once suggested to buy me an old training broom, but Mum forbade it. She said it would only make the other children jealous and hurt the squibs' feelings, if they couldn't even borrow it for a ride."
"My mother thought it was too dangerous." Aterus admitted. If Billy could tell them that he'd never flown so could he, right? "You know how much she always worried about me. She just wouldn't led Dad buy me any toys that might cause me to fall. Not even a simple self rocking rocking horse."
"We had Flying and even Quidditch on training brooms in primary school." Tullia reported. "But I always hated it, so I never wanted my own broom."
"But at least you can fly already." Aterus sighed. "I'll probably make a fool of myself."
"Nah," snorted Danny. "Flying is easy, you'll see."
"Besides training brooms don't go very high or fast." Dinah added. "We'll probably still have enough trouble on real brooms."
"Not me." sneered Colleen. "I have a real top quality racing broom at home."
"So what?" Pank sneered at her. "I own a broom as well. It's nothing that grand."
"I was even on a Quidditch team back at home." Danny reported. "With my mother's racing broom."
"Pah, I bet that old thing went out of fashion before your mother started school." Colleen sneered. "I have the latest model."
"But can't afford a simple hair band." Anny stated to Aterus' surprise. "Or why are you always wearing mine?"
"Because you dirty sluts stole my hairpins." Colleen accused. "I can't quite run around without one until my mother owls me a replacement and you're not using it anyway."
"Hey, who're you calling sluts?" Danny yelled.
"We didn't even touch your ugly pins." declared Dinah. "You misplaced them."
"Well, you might at least have asked." demanded Anny
"I? Go begging from a filthy mudblood?"
"Your precious parents don't really care much about you, do they?" Aterus realised. "I've already had two owls from mine, and I didn't have any urgent needs."
Colleen dropped her half eaten toast onto her plate, grabbed her bag and stalked out of the great hall without even looking back.
"You know, that was mean." Dinah remarked to Aterus. "Maybe her parents simply live further away than yours, or their owl's old and slow."
"Sure." Pank snorted. "The Nocturnes would use a second rate owl."
"And they don't live that far from here." Aterus knew. "A strong owl could make it there and back in one day. Sending a small parcel shouldn't take more than two. A set of hairpins can't be that heavy."
"Maybe they didn't have one at home and had to go to the market to get it." Billy suggested.
Danny snorted. "You don't buy hairpins in the market, Billy."
"And people like the Nocturnes wouldn't be caught dead going into an ordinary shop." Dinah said. "They probably sent a house elf to a beautician's to order them custom made. That's what's taking them so long."
"Wherever is Gangolf?" Pank scanned the masses of students at the doors. "It's almost time to go to class."
Indeed most of the students seemed to be heading out rather than in, Aterus noted, and Mirrorboy was still missing.
"Do you think he remembers the way to Latin class?" Tullia asked. "I don't want to be late because of his stupid preening."
"He'll have to." the fifth year boy prefect walked up to them. "I have Transfigurations now so being late is not an option. Where's the Nocturne girl?"
"I think she went alone." Pank reported. "She already had breakfast and can find her way pretty well. It's Gangolf I'm worried about. He promised to catch up with us."
"Well, I can't wait and Professor Stylus won't eat him for being late anyway." the prefect declared. "Come on."
Aterus had to admit to himself that he too liked Latin, though the class's level was very far below his own. Of course he understood that not every wizard and witch learned the subject from his or her parents from the age of three as he had, but it was a little boring to watch Anny struggle with basics he could have done in his sleep. He wished this class would have been assigned by levels of advance knowledge rather than houses.
Jorge walked up to them as they set down a pile of parchments in his arm.
"Good morning, Aterus." he said almost fluidly.
"Morning, Jorge." Aterus returned with a smile.
He liked the Spanish boy. Jorge had it even harder than him making contact with the people around him and trying to fit in, but he was still doing his very best to make friends.
"Good morning Aterus friend." Jorge greeted Billy. "What you name?"
Billy blinked a little. He hadn't had a chance to talk with Jorge, yet, and apparently still needed to figure out his way of speaking.
"Billy." Aterus supplied. "My friend's name is Billy."
"Good morning, Billy." Jorge repeated proudly. "Aterus and Billy done homework? I collect." He held up the parchments he was carrying to demonstrate.
"Oh, that's an excellent idea, Jorge." Aterus praised. "Thank you."
Jorge proudly accepted their scrolls and continued to the next pair until he finally reached Colleen.
He hesitated, eyed her cautiously, but apparently decided that she wasn't going to kill him for wanting to collect her homework.
"Good morning, Colleen."
Colleen glared at him.
"I collect homework." he tried to explain.
"Oh, learn proper English!" Colleen threw her scroll at him the way Aterus' mother sometimes threw letters at her house elf when she was in a very bad mood.
Jorge smiled kindly anyway. "I try. Where?" he pointed at the seat next to her apparently unable to remember Gangolf's name.
Colleen shrugged. "Who cares?"
"Gangolf is late." a boy Aterus thought was called Alex explained enunciating every word very clearly.
"Late." Jorge repeated. "Gangolf. Gangolf late."
"Yes, exactly." Alex nodded pointing at his watch. "Gangolf is late. Professor Stylus," he pointed at the desk. "Will be angry."
Jorge looked at his own watch, then showed it to Alex. "Not angry."
"Two minutes." Alex held up two fingers. "That's not much time for Gangolf."
As if on cue the door opened and the Professor walked in. "Good morning class." he greeted them brightly.
Jorge walked up to him and held out his stack of parchments. "I collect homework. Not find Gangolf."
"Oh, thank you, Jorge. That's very nice of you. Gracias." Jorge beamed at that, but apparently the teacher had not understood exactly what he'd meant by his second remark as he started taking attendance.
Gangolf barged in half way through the Hufflepuffs.
"I'm sorry." he apologised. "I simply couldn't get my hair right this morning. It took me three applications of hair gel."
Billy rolled his eyes at Aterus. "I just can't believe that guy. He's worse than Pretty Ricky."
Aterus had no idea who Pretty Ricky was, but he did know that Professor Snape had admonished Billy to be nicer to Gangolf. Billy had complained about the injustice of that the evening before after Gangolf had gone to bed. After all he'd never done anything to the boy!
His father's stepping in hadn't exactly endeared Gangolf to Billy. That much was clear.
"Just be nice." Aterus whispered back to his friend. "Gangolf is part of the gang. You don't have to be best friends, but it'd be nice if we all got along."
Hopefully that was the proper vocabulary to express his feelings about the situation. He still didn't quite understand what a gang was and how it worked, but it was clearly very important to Billy.
"No problem." the teacher told Gangolf. "After all it's still the first week and it's only a minute after nine. Just put your homework on my desk and sit down."
Gangolf nodded meekly and obliged.
Sometimes Aterus felt sorry for the boy. He looked so small and lonely when everybody else paired up, but then talking to him was always so boring. The only topics Gangolf seemed to know were beauty products and his own greatness.
Billy was a lot more fun and Aterus wouldn't give up his friendship for anything. That made it hard to try to include Gangolf in any of his activities. He could only hope that Pank and Rupert would make up for it and keep Gangolf close.
Some of his classmates seemed to find today's Latin lesson a little more demanding than the first, but Aterus was still bored. His thoughts kept drifting off until even the teacher noticed and admonished him.
Aterus blushed and lowered his head. "Sorry, Professor, desolatus sum."
Professor Stylus smiled. He seemed to do that a lot. "I see. Please try to pay attention and maybe you can help out some of your less advanced friends sometimes. I'm sure you'll find this class more interesting once we're ready to move past the basics."
Aterus nodded and suppressed a sigh. Eight years of learning Latin were a lot of basics to catch up to. He wondered whether they'd reach that point at all in only seven years of Hogwarts.
At least he had Flying class to look forward to. Flying had to be great. He imagined soaring up to the clouds on a stylish broom ...
"Aterus, hey Aterus!" Billy was pushing his shoulder.
"Huh?"
"Latin's over Aterus." Billy reported. "We have to get to Transfigurations now."
Aterus sighed and got up. Much as he'd love to continue his dream not getting in trouble with McGonagall was more important. The stern Transfigurations teacher was scary, though he'd never dare admit it in front of his classmates.
Tullia immediately picked Colleen's seat in the last row when they arrived in the classroom.
"Hey, that's my place, Fishgirl!" Nocturne shrieked predictably. "Get out! I'm not sitting next to you. Better the shabby Gryffindor than a fish."
"You can have my seat." Tullia declared. "I'd rather take my chances with one small Gryffingirl than with the dragon herself."
Next to Aterus Billy snorted with suppressed laughter.
Aterus shot him a confused look. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing." Billy giggled as if under a tickling spell. "I'm just trying to imagine Nocturne sharing a desk with Danny for an entire hour."
"Huh? ... Oh!" Of course Aterus had noticed that those two didn't get along. Sometimes he just found it hard to make a connection between peoples' thoughts or feelings and their actions.
Hadn't Professor Snape said something about it being an advantage to be able to predict peoples' actions? Apparently Aterus still had a lot to learn, if he wanted to become a good Slytherin. People were so strange and complicated.
"Oh no!" Danny was shouting right now. "I'm not sitting next to that ... that thing! I'm moving back with you."
For a moment Nocturne just stood there apparently as surprised as Aterus, then without another word she placed her bag next to Gangolf.
Gangolf blinked and smiled at her.
"Don't start thinking I like you or anything, Mirrorboy." Nocturne snapped. "I just think anything's better than a Gryffindor."
"I sort of liked that Gryffindor, you know." Gangolf stated.
"What?" several outraged voices exclaimed.
It seemed liking a Gryffindor was not a good idea, if you wanted to remain friends with your fellow Slytherins, Aterus decided. He resolved to always say loud and clearly that he hated Gryffindors. That seemed to be welcome and acceptable behaviour.
"Well, better than her, in any case." Gangolf amended.
"Nocturne's still a Slytherin." Billy declared. "A Slytherin is always more trustworthy than a Gryffindor."
Gangolf eyed Billy doubtfully, but before the conversation could go any further the first group of Gryffindors stumbled in.
McGonagall wasn't too happy when she took attendance and realised that her seating plan didn't quite match the students in front of her.
"That's not the correct seating order." she stated accusingly.
Aterus ducked behind his book even though the Professor wasn't actually looking at him.
"Nocturne decided she doesn't want to sit next to a Gryffindor." Danny reported. "So she gets to sit next to Gangolf and the Gryffindors get seats together and in the front in return."
McGonagall frowned, but seemed to see the logic in that. "Very well, I don't want to see another house war in my classroom, so maybe it is better to keep the houses separate, but I will not tolerate any further seat switching. The seating order is now fixed like this for the rest of the year, understood?"
"Yes Professor." the class chorused while Aterus wondered whether it had been wise to remain this close to the front.
Maybe he could convince Billy to pick a last row desk next year?
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That annoying Nocturne girl was actually eating, Danny noticed absently while putting another forkful of food into her mouth. It didn't really come as a surprise. Nocturne was confused, lonely and hungry. If the girl had been a little friendlier, Danny might actually have felt sorry for her. After all the arrival at Hogwarts had turned her whole world upside down. Everything Nocturne's parents had taught her was suddenly wrong.
Well Nocturne, that's life. Toughen up and learn, or get trampled. Danny predicted that Nocturne would choose the first option. She was strong and willing to fight.
Mirrorboy on the other hand was once again picking at the salad while admiring his reflection in his transfigured plate. Danny simply couldn't find a single redeeming quality in that boy. He was vain, cowardly, stupid and worst of all not even trying to fit in. The boys had really offered him all the kindness they could without looking like Hufflepuffs, but still Gangolf kept turning up late and leaving early every day. Danny wished Pank'd finally kick the cry-baby out the way he had Nocturne. She couldn't stand much more of this.
Pank was a good leader, though. A little too bossy for her taste, but fighting him would only break up the group and make them easier targets for the Gryffindors. Right now their larger number was their only protection against the much more splintered Gryffindors who usually showed up in groups of only two or three. As a group of eight - Gangolf didn't count as he'd probably just faint from fear if it ever came to a real fight - they had a clear advantage. Four girls alone might be easy prey for some of the bigger Gryffindors.
Tullia probably wasn't much of a fighter either. Danny had no doubt that she'd try, but she wasn't particularly strong, nor did she have much experience fighting. Tullia was cool for completely different reasons. Just imagine having gills and being able to speak two languages fluently!
In a fight Danny would much rather have tiny Billy at her side, though. Pank and Aterus might be much stronger, but Billy always tensed slightly at the first sign of a possible confrontation. Not nervously, as Rupert often did, but calmly, getting ready, not afraid. Clearly he had experience and would know how to hold his own in a fight.
Rupert was probably experienced as well. At the very least he recognised trouble as well as Billy did. He seemed like a child who'd been picked on, though, which led Danny to assume that he didn't know how to fight back successfully. Either he was a bad fighter, or his opponents had always been too overwhelming. The more confident Billy clearly got more trust from her, but Rupert would be her second choice.
And next? Not Tullia. Danny really liked Tullia, but in a fight she'd probably have to protect her more than get help from her.
Aterus clearly had no idea what to do in a fight. Pank would probably be alright, but didn't really give the impression of an experienced fighter.
Dinah might be a good fighter, if she got over her Hufflepuff inhibitions. Right now she seemed torn between her Hufflepuff upbringing and her Slytherin nature, though. Danny wasn't sure which would prevail, if she had to make a fast choice. Perhaps Anny was the better choice. The muggle born was quiet most of the time and sometimes even seemed timid, but Danny doubted that that was her real nature. Anny was holding back trying to assimilate her new surroundings. She probably had a few surprises in store for the group once she got used to the magical world.
Danny swallowed the last of her mashed potatoes and took another look at her classmates. Except for Gangolf they all seemed to have liked their lunch. Even Tullia who'd disliked the steak so much.
Danny had been a little worried about that. She didn't know for sure what Merpeople ate, but red meat was probably not a likely food underwater. Still Tullia wasn't showing any ill affects, so it probably really was a matter of personal taste and she'd be fine with other meat dishes.
"Oh, I can't wait to finally get to Flying class." Anny said. "It sounds so exciting."
"I can't wait until second year when we're allowed to try out for the Quidditch team." Danny returned. "That's real flying. Flying lessons probably will be boring."
"I don't know." Tullia sounded nervous. "Those brooms go terribly high up into the air, much higher than training brooms. Do you think we'll practise over the lake?"
"Thinking of jumping in to visit the Merpeople and calling it an accident?" Danny grinned. "I think McGonagall would see right through that, but maybe if you don't tell the Flying teacher about your heritage, you could get away with it."
"No, I just like to have water under me." Tullia didn't elaborate.
It wasn't necessary anyway. Danny had already noticed her fear of heights the day before. She might be fearless in water and on trees, but being levitated by McGonagall had scared her more than Danny had expected and she kept saying that she disliked flying.
Still Danny refrained from teasing her about it on the way back to the dorm even if it was hard. Tullia was her best friend and her habit of teasing people had lost her friends before. She'd resolved to stop that when she arrived at Hogwarts, but old habits were hard to break.
"I've never seen this many clubs offered at once before." a sixth year stated just as Danny stepped through the secret door to the common room.
The first years exchanged puzzled glances. There was a commotion next to the stairs.
"What's going on?" Pank asked one of the bigger students, but the boy ignored him.
Whatever everybody was so interested in was hidden by all the taller students.
Anny and Dinah tried to get a look by climbing the banister, but they weren't the first to have that idea either. All the good places were already claimed by second and third years. Danny didn't think they'd get anywhere like that. This situation called for a more direct approach.
"Hold my bag." she told Tullia shoving her book bag into her friend's hands, then elbowed into the masses.
"Danny!" she heard Pank call out, but didn't stop to answer.
For a moment it felt like it was impossible to breathe between all those tightly packed together bodies, but then she'd squeezed through the last two rows and it got a little easier. Some of the people here were already trying to get back out which caused the pressure to shift constantly. Danny was shoved, pushed, kicked and squashed, but she simply shoved, pushed and kicked back. You couldn't let these things impress you, if you wanted to succeed.
And Danny did succeed. It took her a little while, but she finally arrived in the very first row and found the center of the commotion. It was the message board which had been almost empty when they'd left the common room in the morning. Now it was covered in lists.
At first she didn't see what was so exciting about them. Who wanted to participate in a Chess club? Riddles club? Poetry, Acting, Ballet ... Quidditch team!
Some of these were interesting after all! Too bad the Quidditch list stated clearly that it was only for second to seventh years. The Duelling club accepted only third years and higher as well, but Danny thought she knew somebody who'd get all excited when he heard about the Soccer club looking to fill over twenty positions.
Maybe she should try applying as well? She knew very little about Soccer, but it might be better than nothing until she got onto the Quidditch team. There was time until Monday to fill out the lists and Danny decided to just report her triumph to her classmates for now. In the evening the commotion would most likely have died down enough to sign up in peace and if not, they had Astronomy tonight. There'd be nobody here to get in her way at midnight.
She squeezed back out and tumbled out of the mass of shoving people out of breath, with her hair messed up and her robes wrinkled.
"Danny!" Tullia rushed to her side. "Are you alright?"
Danny laughed. "Of course. And I found out what it's all about."
"Really?" Dinah asked eagerly. "What is it?"
"Some club lists have been posted on the message board while we were gone." Danny announced.
"Club lists?" Rupert asked with a slight frown. "What are club lists?"
"They're bits of parchment on which you can sign up for clubs, stupid." Danny simply enjoyed the abashed look with which Rupert stared at the floor too much. He was so easy. "You know, like Quidditch and Soccer and things."
"Really?" Billy beamed. "Oh, I have to sign up for Soccer right away!"
"There's no time for that now." Pank interfered. "I'm sure the list will still be here after Flying class. We'll be late, if we try to fight our way through right now."
"It'll be here until Monday." Danny confirmed.
"Fine then take your bags to the dorms and meet up back here right afterwards." Pank ordered. "Hurry up people. You don't want to miss your first Flying lesson."
Danny raced up the stairs, threw her bag onto her bed and almost collided with Dinah on her way back out and down. Tullia was still on the stairs when Danny passed her.
"Come on. Maybe we'll get to fly more, if we're there early." Danny told her.
Tullia just sighed and trudged on.
Pank seemed to have sent their prefect guide away. They already knew how to get to the Quidditch pitch and once Gangolf finally arrived they set off.
"I can't believe Gangolf took this long to drop his bag." Danny attempted to distract Tullia who was in a bad mood. "How much further away than ours can the boys' dorm be?"
"He had to comb his hair and apply some beauty cream while he was at it." Billy muttered darkly. "And I'm not even allowed to say something about it anymore."
"What?" Danny blinked in surprise. "Why ever not?"
"Because my Dad thinks Gangolf's afraid of me and now I'm supposed to be nice to him." Billy continued in the same tone. "As if I hadn't been trying all this time."
An old man and a large group of children in green robes came out of a room just a few metres ahead of them.
"Ah, the Slytherin first years." the man stated when he saw them.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Filch." Anny and Dinah seemed to know the stranger.
Filch smiled a little. "Are you going to Flying class as well?"
"Yes, Mr. Filch." Dinah answered smiling sweetly. "We're so excited."
"Then could you show these students the way? It's their first time at Hogwarts so I can't quite leave them to find their own way."
"Of course, Mr. Filch." Dinah answered like a perfect little Hufflepuff.
Danny glared at the green robed intruders. It wasn't even a proper uniform they were wearing. Some of them had caps or scarves or necklaces. They weren't supposed to have Flying together with them, were they?
Some of the green robes glared back, but behind them two were happily chatting away with Billy.
"Hi, I'm Dinah and that's my friend Anny." Dinah smiled at the glaring strangers. "The Quidditch pitch is this way. Just up the stairs and then down the corridor and right, past the great hall and out the door. You can't miss it once you're outside."
"We're Slytherins." Anny added as they started walking again. "Where are you from? You don't look like Hogwarts students."
"We're not." the tallest girl answered. "We're from West Hogsmeade Wizarding School. We just come here for Flying classes. I'm Laila."
"West Hogsmeade?" Nocturne asked looking scandalised.
Oh well, maybe her behaviour towards her fellow Slytherins would improve after this, Danny thought. Shock therapy had always been one of her favourites.
"Never mind Colleen." she told Laila. "She always finds something she doesn't like about everybody she meets."
"Yes, we're all icky." Anny agreed.
"Call me Danny, by the way." The West Hogsmeade students didn't even look surprised at the use of a boys' name for a girl. Point for them.
"Maggie." the small girl next to Laila introduced herself.
They seemed like completely ordinary children, Danny decided as they continued to talk on the way to the pitch. Some were shy, some excited and talkative and some distrusting, just like her year mates here at Hogwarts. It was hard to believe that these were supposed to be the people her mother had always warned her about when they'd visited Hogsmeade.
'Don't go wandering off.' she remembered her saying. 'You might end up in West Hogsmeade where the bad people live.'
Well, the bad people looked suspiciously like a bunch of nervous children in green instead of black. Not exactly frightening especially after Danny secretly counted heads and found there were only twelve, two more than the Slytherins. If it came to a fight some of them would most likely be just as cowardly as some of their own and Danny was quite confident in her fighting abilities. No reason to worry.
Professor Hooch, as Danny thought she'd heard to Flying teacher be called, told them to each take a broom and form two rows of eleven students facing each other. Brooms on the floor.
Soon a green row was facing a black row. Only at the very end of the black line, next to Billy, Danny occasionally noticed a flicker of green whenever the wind caught the last boy's robe.
The teacher had two attendance lists, one for each school. The fist one was boring. Why really, couldn't she just count heads and be done with it? Danny didn't even remember how often she'd heard her house mates' names read out by now.
"Waterwall, Tullia!" Hooch finally finished.
"Here." Tullia answered with surprising patience.
Hooch flipped her parchments: "Ar ... Ar ... Ark ..."
"Arhwke, Isran." the ugliest boy Danny had ever seen supplied. "Present."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Arha ..."
"Just call me Isran." the boy advised. "All my other teachers do. No need to learn Goblin for my sake."
For a moment the teacher looked doubtful, but then she nodded and continued with the next name on her list: "Bennett, Elsa!"
"Here." that was the girl right across from Danny who hadn't said anything so far.
Either she was a naturally quiet child, or that was her way of dealing with her nervousness.
"Carter, Josh!" Hooch called out. "Not Joshua?"
"Of course it's Joshua, but nobody ever calls me that. Much too long and stuffy."
"I see." Hooch said, but didn't look like she meant it. "Coursett, ... Dally?"
"Yes, that's me! I'm here!"
Oh dear, that one was really hyper. Danny remembered her talking to her friend non-stop on the way here as well. She really hoped that was just first flight nerves. If not, Dally would be impossible to bear for the entire year.
"Doran, Maggie!" was much more dignified, Laila's last name was ElKouan, which made Danny wonder whether she was even really British, "Fowler, Mik!" was a short form of Michael and the invisible boy next to Billy was 'Harson, Jimmy!', not James or even Jim, definitely Jimmy.
Dally's best friend was called 'Hawke, Ilsa!' and then there were 'Lasalle, Jenna!', 'Lorat, Angie' and finally 'McKay, Todd!'
"Here." Todd had to say twice before Hooch heard him.
How could such a tall boy be this timid?
"Alright then, class. Hold your hand over your broom and say 'up'."
"Up." The shabby school broom flopped into Danny's hand nicely.
A glance up and down the row revealed that that was a rare occurrence, though. Pank, Colleen and Dinah were the only others who managed on their first try.
"Oh, come on, Tullia." Danny rolled her eyes at her friend. "Quit pretending. We all know that you've already had Flying lessons before."
"Those were training brooms." Tullia protested.
"They're activated just the same as real brooms, though." Danny stated.
"Up!" Tullia sighed and indeed her broom rose into her hand, though a little hesitantly.
That was interesting, Danny thought. Apparently the broom's response was influenced by the will of the user more than the command. Meanwhile Rupert, Dally, Laila and Isran had managed as well.
Elsa looked at Danny pleadingly. Danny shrugged.
"You've never done this before, have you?" she asked.
Elsa shook her head.
"Well, you've got to really want it." Danny declared.
"I do." Elsa promised. "Up."
"Try to say it more forcefully." Isran advised.
"And try to imagine how it flies into your hand." Tullia added.
"UP!" Elsa roared suddenly and the broom was in her hand before they knew it.
Flopp! Gangolf sat on the ground staring at Elsa wide eyed.
"Are you having problems with your broom, dear?" Professor Hooch looked down at him with a touch of confusion in her eyes.
"Elsa's shout startled him and he tripped." Billy reported. "Come on, Gangolf, you can do it. Try again."
Gangolf climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off, then blushed as he noticed that everybody else was holding their brooms and staring at him.
He gingerly held out his hand right next to his body: "Up?"
The broom did nothing.
"Don't ask it ... Gangolf, was it?" Hooch tried to help.
Gangolf nodded.
"Okay Gangolf, it's not a question, it's an order. Make your broom do its job."
Gangolf nodded again: "Up!"
His broom jumped upright and began to sweep the lawn.
At first everybody stared at the scene in complete confusion, then Anny began to laugh and within seconds the whole class was roaring with laughter.
"Well, this is new." Professor Hooch caught the broom and put it back on the ground. "I have never seen a broom react like that before, though that is how Muggles use their brooms. Up."
The broom jumped into her hand without the slightest problem.
"There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the spells on this broom." Hooch diagnosed. "Try again."
Gangolf did and the broom went right back to sweeping.
"Strange." Professor Hooch stated. "I have to admit this problem is entirely new to me and I'm not sure how best to combat it. Before we start experimenting I'll try whether I can find anything about it in the library. For now just lift your broom manually."
Next they had to mount their brooms and Professor Hooch corrected their positions.
"Not that tight, child." she admonished Tullia. "There's no need to throttle your broom."
"Can't we do this over the lake?" Tullia asked her.
"No, no, absolutely not." Hooch shook her head. "I've tried that before. Trust me, you don't want to fall into it in this weather or lose your broom in there."
And then they finally got to hover in the air for a moment. Danny still thought it was terribly boring, but several of the others gasped in surprise at the feeling. Apparently most of the West Hogsmeade students had never flown before and for Muggle born Anny it had to be a huge adventure.
What really worried Danny was that Tullia kept her eyes closed while she hovered. This way she'd never be able to fly.
"That wasn't high at all, you know." Danny informed her friend. "You could at least have taken a peek."
"Very good." Hooch stated. "Now once again and try to fly a few metres. Form a circle and fly to the right so you won't collide and land as soon as the person before you does. One, two, three, go!"
This exercise put Tullia behind Danny, so she couldn't see how her friend was doing. She had to open her eyes for this one or they'd crash when Danny stopped.
"Gangolf, what's the matter?" the teacher's voice rang out and moments later Danny had to land, if she didn't want to either rise higher than Hooch had permitted or crash into Anny. "You're supposed to fly, not walk."
"But it's not flying." Gangolf complained. "This broom never does what it should."
"Let me see." Hooch ordered. "Try to hover again."
Gangolf just stood on the ground. "See, nothing's happening."
"How about trying to push off?" Danny suggested sweetly. "Really Gangolf, don't you know anything?"
Just how stupid was that boy? Even Anny who'd never even seen someone fly a broom before had gotten hers in the air without needing to ask.
"Just try jumping off the ground a little." Apparently Professor Hooch had indeed encountered students who didn't understand the command 'push off' before.
Danny wondered whether English had been those students' first language, though.
Gangolf jumped pulling his broom into the air after himself. For a moment it did indeed hover, but then Gangolf fell into it on his way back down. His weight landed too far in the front and pushed the handle down.
With a shriek Gangolf landed face first on the ground. His broom stuck in the ground next to him with its tail up in the air.
Once again the class burst out laughing.
"Oh dear! Are you alright, Gangolf?" Hooch looked worried.
"My hair!" Gangolf exclaimed. "My robes!"
Flop! Laila fell off her broom from laughing.
Hooch glared at them.
"That's not funny." she snapped. "Gangolf might be in shock. "Julian, please be so nice and take him up to the hospital wing. Tell Poppy that he took only a little fall, but seems disoriented. Maybe he hit his head."
The second teacher who had only been watching silently so far came over to pick Gangolf up.
"Of course, Hanna." he smiled reassuringly. "Glad to be able to help. Hello Gangolf, we always seem to meet at the most embarrassing times, don't we?"
Danny had no idea how this Professor knew Gangolf, but Gangolf smiled back at him trustingly. Obviously he recognised the man as well.
Hooch turned back to the rest of the class: "Alright, lets try that again. Remember that you can steer your broom by turning the handle, but that is better reserved for adjusting height. For a turn on the same level it's best to just lean into the direction you want to go in. One, two, three, go!"
They actually flew several metres before Anny leaned too far and lost her balance. Her broom jerked towards the middle of the circle and she had to land quickly to save herself.
"Well done, class." Hooch declared anyway. "Never mind the little slip. Most of our school brooms are very old and not as well balanced as they should be, so it's very easy for beginners to slip. You'll have time to get used to your broom's particularities before we go any higher, don't worry."
Well maybe it made sense to go slowly after all. Despite her impatience Danny didn't want Anny to get hurt her very first time on a broom.
"And again." Hooch announced. "One, two, three, go!"
Again they all rose into the air and this time made it almost completely around before Ilsa lost control of her broom and they had to land.
"Oh, but you are a talented class." Hooch praised. "We're almost done for today, but I think we can try to go around one more time and those of you who feel comfortable enough can try letting go with one hand. Next week we'll work a little more on that and fly some other figures to practise steering."
Danny easily flew the whole round one handed, of course. She'd already practised it on a training broom after all.
To her surprise she even saw Anny lift her left hand off the handle a tiny little bit for a moment. Oh yes, that girl wasn't nearly as quiet and shy as she seemed.
They managed to stay in the air until Julian returned with Gangolf and the teacher called them back down and told them to take their brooms back to the shed.
On her way past the teachers Danny overheard part of their conversation.
"I guess Gangolf simply isn't very athletic." Hooch said. "There's one such difficult case in almost every year. It's just particularly bad luck that the rest of this class is doing so well. He'll hold them back."
"We could separate them." Julian suggested. "I could teach him individually, while you continue with the normal programme."
Danny's hopes soared when she heard that, but Hooch shook her head.
"No," she said. "You don't have the experience to deal with such a special case. I don't want to leave you alone with a problem like that until I'm sure you're prepared for every eventuality."
Danny sighed, but at least Tullia looked happy that they were going to take it slow.
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ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies - sniffs Greenie, do you smell that? Greenie sniffs, too. Cookies! Yum! burned cookies 'magically disappear. What? Nobody in this household bakes at all. Burned cookies are way better than no cookies. ... Minerva is concerned about keeping her students away from drowning and pneumonia. The feelings of a Slytherin aren't something she stopped to consider. Most of the time she doesn't understand them anyway. They're so different from her Gryffindors. (I have to write my own version of the head of house exchange sometime.)
Luty Snape - Well, Jorge's only eleven and hasn't yet had English in school. I think he's doing rather well.
Kyzara - Ah, sorry for taking so long. I promise the next one will be faster.
Pam Briggs - I am planning to add that thing about Rupert's father, but might not find a good place for it. If you remind me at the end of the fic, I promise to tell you, though. ... Currently Tullia wouldn't dare to sneak out, but that might change in time. Or maybe not. It doesn't quite feel right for her. It'd be more Danny's thing.
Alia5 - Minerva has other things on her mind than the well-being of one single Slytherin child, I'm afraid. Sevi is doing the best that he can, though.
schkuro - blush Thanks. I'll try to update a little more regularly from now on.
safrie - doesn't always allow you to access the chapters right away. (I've tried refreshing, closing and reopening the browser ... yelling, cursing ... Nothing helps. It won't show the chapter until it feels like it. ... Minerva doesn't do it on purpose, but she isn't very considerate of the Slytherins' feelings. (She's found that she can't quite understand their mentality and given up trying.) Most of the time she just acts out of concern for somebody else and unintentionally hurts the Slytherins by it. ... I think Billy will most likely be able to deal with it. He's much less vulnerable than Draco (because he's always had a loving family behind him to give him strength. He feels strong.)
astrid ackerly - Um sorry, but MNS was finished over two years ago. I'm afraid I can't alter anything that might make you sad about it now. (Better stay away from HPHC, if MNS makes you sad. I wrote that one to be depressing.)
Somnia Lustre - That's okay, a lot of people disliked the epilogue, but the fic can be read without it and I wanted to show the future of the greenies.
I've gotten a few complaints about Albus as well, grin, but I don't like perfect characters. They're just wrong. I still love my Albus, no matter what others may think. ... Remus is a favourite of mine as well and at the time MNS was written it still seemed possible that one or several marauders might have been Slytherins. After book five I no longer see the slightest chance for that, but I didn't know James' character until then.
Double O might have been a mistake. MNS was finished and I had no room to continue with its main story line. Double O might have stood better on its own, but I was asked for a sequel so often ... I never liked Ron. Don't ask me why. With some characters one feels a connection right away as I did with Draco and Sevi, with some it comes once you use them (Albus, Luci, Argus) and some you just don't like from the start (Ron, Cho). I can't help it, but it's useful when I'm in need of a villain.
ElavielBlack - Thanks. Somehow that story is particularly dear to me as well (and I love all my babies) It's such a simple thing I can't even categorise it, but still ...
Iremione - Minerva is thinking of other students geting cuirious or being taunted (after all Tullia is a Slytherin) into imitating it and falling into the lake. They might drown, or at least catch a cold, maybe even pneumonia! She simply didn't stop to try and understand a Slytherin. ... Billy is a gang kid. He grew up in the usual wannabe style. For a Merlin Park kid he's actually very nice, but you have to be tough to make it there. ... Oh, some Slytherins have found the key to manipulating Argus before. Some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws get on well with him as well. The Gryffindors just don't understand that art. ... Yes, it is something stupid, but to Rupert it's dead serious. ... Merpeople and Seapeople don't meet as they can't survive in each other's natural environment. A crossbred child might have real problems with that. ... That's Gryffindor mentality talking again. A Slytherin won't make a move unless they see a chance at winning and Sevi sees no chance for Tullia in this. Minerva is set on keeping up the rule she once made. Maybe if Sevi had been there to stop her from setting it up in the first place ... No, ,00, doesn't want me to give those very hints you're searching for. ... Yes, but the salad tastes better and is healthier, too. ... Um ... could I answer that challenge in a different story, perhaps? My current set of characters has already established that they don't like her and I don't want to bring in another character. (But show me the Gryffindor that's friends (not lovers!) with Sevi.) Gangolf's already found his 'friend' in Julian and Colleen ... Oh, see next chapter. It'd be giving away the plot to tell you that now.
lia - Thank you.
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A/N: Will Danny learn to be friendlier to her friends? Will Tullia get over her fear of Flying? And will Gangolf ever get his broom under control?
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In the next chapter: Colleen has a talk with Sevi. Anny gets her hair band back in return for something unexpected and Gangolf runs afoul of a third year.
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 PegaPony 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: Late, late, late as usual, but I have a new soundcard and my computer's talking to me again. The next chapter is well under way and might actually go up on time (gasp!). ... Well, well, well, it appears no longer accepts .doc documents at all, nor did rich text work, so I'm stuck with using a plain .txt file. Blame that, if it looks bad.
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Chapter 9: Flying, Quidditch and Other Offers
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It was a strange feeling to share a bedroom with others, Aterus thought. He'd always wanted to have lots of other children around him, but sometimes this felt too close. It was amazing how easily Billy, Pank and Rupert had taken to it.
Then again maybe it was all due to his isolated childhood so far. He was always nervous that he might say or do something wrong. Just how did one behave among other children?
"Come on, Gangolf! We'll be late for breakfast again!" Pank was once again banging on the bathroom door, even though the others were still straightening out their robes.
And once again the usual answer came from inside the bathroom: "I'm not done, yet. Go on ahead. I'll catch up."
"You're part of the group, Gangolf." Pank returned. "I don't like the idea of you walking around all on your own. The Gryffindors could catch you."
Gangolf seemed to give that danger a little more thought. Gryffindors were dangerous. That much Aterus had already figured out as well.
"Not down here in the dungeons." Gangolf finally answered. "They have no reason to be here this early in the morning."
"I hope you're right." Pank sighed then turned to the rest of the boys. "Ready? Then lets go."
Aterus wondered whether he'd find the way to breakfast on his own at all as he and Billy trudged after Pank and Rupert as they had been doing every morning.
"Why do we always do what Pank says anyway?" he asked his friend softly.
"Because every gang needs a leader." Billy stated as if that were obvious.
Maybe to him it was.
"We're a class not a gang." Aterus pointed out.
"There's safety in numbers." Billy explained. "The houses are like the gangs back at home. Slytherin and Gryffindor have been at war for over a thousand years. Only if we stick together and have a strong leader can we fight back properly."
Aterus didn't know much about war and even less about gangs, so he decided to just accept that answer. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Billy. If only he knew a tiny little bit more about the world!
The girls were already there when they arrived in the great hall. Even the Nocturne girl was sitting at the table taking tiny elegant bites out of a piece of toast. She didn't greet any of them, though.
"Latin's first this morning." Tullia announced happily after finishing the last of her porridge. "I like that class."
"Do you all have your homework?" Pank asked at once.
Rupert groaned and swatted at him with his toast. "We did that together, remember?"
"The second lesson's Transfigurations, though." Dinah remarked. "The Gryffindors again."
"And McGonagall." Tullia frowned. "I hate Transfigurations."
"Well, cheer up a little, because it's our first Flying lesson right after lunch." Danny announced.
"Really?" Aterus could barely contain his excitement. "I've always wanted to fly."
"You mean you have never sat on a broom?" Danny asked incredulously.
Oh no, was that the wrong thing to say?
"Well, neither have I." Anny stated calmly. "They can't expect us to already know how, can they?"
"Of course not." Pank declared. "You're not the only muggle born student at this school. Where should any of you have had the chance?"
"I've never flown yet, either." Billy admitted. "Draco once suggested to buy me an old training broom, but Mum forbade it. She said it would only make the other children jealous and hurt the squibs' feelings, if they couldn't even borrow it for a ride."
"My mother thought it was too dangerous." Aterus admitted. If Billy could tell them that he'd never flown so could he, right? "You know how much she always worried about me. She just wouldn't led Dad buy me any toys that might cause me to fall. Not even a simple self rocking rocking horse."
"We had Flying and even Quidditch on training brooms in primary school." Tullia reported. "But I always hated it, so I never wanted my own broom."
"But at least you can fly already." Aterus sighed. "I'll probably make a fool of myself."
"Nah," snorted Danny. "Flying is easy, you'll see."
"Besides training brooms don't go very high or fast." Dinah added. "We'll probably still have enough trouble on real brooms."
"Not me." sneered Colleen. "I have a real top quality racing broom at home."
"So what?" Pank sneered at her. "I own a broom as well. It's nothing that grand."
"I was even on a Quidditch team back at home." Danny reported. "With my mother's racing broom."
"Pah, I bet that old thing went out of fashion before your mother started school." Colleen sneered. "I have the latest model."
"But can't afford a simple hair band." Anny stated to Aterus' surprise. "Or why are you always wearing mine?"
"Because you dirty sluts stole my hairpins." Colleen accused. "I can't quite run around without one until my mother owls me a replacement and you're not using it anyway."
"Hey, who're you calling sluts?" Danny yelled.
"We didn't even touch your ugly pins." declared Dinah. "You misplaced them."
"Well, you might at least have asked." demanded Anny
"I? Go begging from a filthy mudblood?"
"Your precious parents don't really care much about you, do they?" Aterus realised. "I've already had two owls from mine, and I didn't have any urgent needs."
Colleen dropped her half eaten toast onto her plate, grabbed her bag and stalked out of the great hall without even looking back.
"You know, that was mean." Dinah remarked to Aterus. "Maybe her parents simply live further away than yours, or their owl's old and slow."
"Sure." Pank snorted. "The Nocturnes would use a second rate owl."
"And they don't live that far from here." Aterus knew. "A strong owl could make it there and back in one day. Sending a small parcel shouldn't take more than two. A set of hairpins can't be that heavy."
"Maybe they didn't have one at home and had to go to the market to get it." Billy suggested.
Danny snorted. "You don't buy hairpins in the market, Billy."
"And people like the Nocturnes wouldn't be caught dead going into an ordinary shop." Dinah said. "They probably sent a house elf to a beautician's to order them custom made. That's what's taking them so long."
"Wherever is Gangolf?" Pank scanned the masses of students at the doors. "It's almost time to go to class."
Indeed most of the students seemed to be heading out rather than in, Aterus noted, and Mirrorboy was still missing.
"Do you think he remembers the way to Latin class?" Tullia asked. "I don't want to be late because of his stupid preening."
"He'll have to." the fifth year boy prefect walked up to them. "I have Transfigurations now so being late is not an option. Where's the Nocturne girl?"
"I think she went alone." Pank reported. "She already had breakfast and can find her way pretty well. It's Gangolf I'm worried about. He promised to catch up with us."
"Well, I can't wait and Professor Stylus won't eat him for being late anyway." the prefect declared. "Come on."
Aterus had to admit to himself that he too liked Latin, though the class's level was very far below his own. Of course he understood that not every wizard and witch learned the subject from his or her parents from the age of three as he had, but it was a little boring to watch Anny struggle with basics he could have done in his sleep. He wished this class would have been assigned by levels of advance knowledge rather than houses.
Jorge walked up to them as they set down a pile of parchments in his arm.
"Good morning, Aterus." he said almost fluidly.
"Morning, Jorge." Aterus returned with a smile.
He liked the Spanish boy. Jorge had it even harder than him making contact with the people around him and trying to fit in, but he was still doing his very best to make friends.
"Good morning Aterus friend." Jorge greeted Billy. "What you name?"
Billy blinked a little. He hadn't had a chance to talk with Jorge, yet, and apparently still needed to figure out his way of speaking.
"Billy." Aterus supplied. "My friend's name is Billy."
"Good morning, Billy." Jorge repeated proudly. "Aterus and Billy done homework? I collect." He held up the parchments he was carrying to demonstrate.
"Oh, that's an excellent idea, Jorge." Aterus praised. "Thank you."
Jorge proudly accepted their scrolls and continued to the next pair until he finally reached Colleen.
He hesitated, eyed her cautiously, but apparently decided that she wasn't going to kill him for wanting to collect her homework.
"Good morning, Colleen."
Colleen glared at him.
"I collect homework." he tried to explain.
"Oh, learn proper English!" Colleen threw her scroll at him the way Aterus' mother sometimes threw letters at her house elf when she was in a very bad mood.
Jorge smiled kindly anyway. "I try. Where?" he pointed at the seat next to her apparently unable to remember Gangolf's name.
Colleen shrugged. "Who cares?"
"Gangolf is late." a boy Aterus thought was called Alex explained enunciating every word very clearly.
"Late." Jorge repeated. "Gangolf. Gangolf late."
"Yes, exactly." Alex nodded pointing at his watch. "Gangolf is late. Professor Stylus," he pointed at the desk. "Will be angry."
Jorge looked at his own watch, then showed it to Alex. "Not angry."
"Two minutes." Alex held up two fingers. "That's not much time for Gangolf."
As if on cue the door opened and the Professor walked in. "Good morning class." he greeted them brightly.
Jorge walked up to him and held out his stack of parchments. "I collect homework. Not find Gangolf."
"Oh, thank you, Jorge. That's very nice of you. Gracias." Jorge beamed at that, but apparently the teacher had not understood exactly what he'd meant by his second remark as he started taking attendance.
Gangolf barged in half way through the Hufflepuffs.
"I'm sorry." he apologised. "I simply couldn't get my hair right this morning. It took me three applications of hair gel."
Billy rolled his eyes at Aterus. "I just can't believe that guy. He's worse than Pretty Ricky."
Aterus had no idea who Pretty Ricky was, but he did know that Professor Snape had admonished Billy to be nicer to Gangolf. Billy had complained about the injustice of that the evening before after Gangolf had gone to bed. After all he'd never done anything to the boy!
His father's stepping in hadn't exactly endeared Gangolf to Billy. That much was clear.
"Just be nice." Aterus whispered back to his friend. "Gangolf is part of the gang. You don't have to be best friends, but it'd be nice if we all got along."
Hopefully that was the proper vocabulary to express his feelings about the situation. He still didn't quite understand what a gang was and how it worked, but it was clearly very important to Billy.
"No problem." the teacher told Gangolf. "After all it's still the first week and it's only a minute after nine. Just put your homework on my desk and sit down."
Gangolf nodded meekly and obliged.
Sometimes Aterus felt sorry for the boy. He looked so small and lonely when everybody else paired up, but then talking to him was always so boring. The only topics Gangolf seemed to know were beauty products and his own greatness.
Billy was a lot more fun and Aterus wouldn't give up his friendship for anything. That made it hard to try to include Gangolf in any of his activities. He could only hope that Pank and Rupert would make up for it and keep Gangolf close.
Some of his classmates seemed to find today's Latin lesson a little more demanding than the first, but Aterus was still bored. His thoughts kept drifting off until even the teacher noticed and admonished him.
Aterus blushed and lowered his head. "Sorry, Professor, desolatus sum."
Professor Stylus smiled. He seemed to do that a lot. "I see. Please try to pay attention and maybe you can help out some of your less advanced friends sometimes. I'm sure you'll find this class more interesting once we're ready to move past the basics."
Aterus nodded and suppressed a sigh. Eight years of learning Latin were a lot of basics to catch up to. He wondered whether they'd reach that point at all in only seven years of Hogwarts.
At least he had Flying class to look forward to. Flying had to be great. He imagined soaring up to the clouds on a stylish broom ...
"Aterus, hey Aterus!" Billy was pushing his shoulder.
"Huh?"
"Latin's over Aterus." Billy reported. "We have to get to Transfigurations now."
Aterus sighed and got up. Much as he'd love to continue his dream not getting in trouble with McGonagall was more important. The stern Transfigurations teacher was scary, though he'd never dare admit it in front of his classmates.
Tullia immediately picked Colleen's seat in the last row when they arrived in the classroom.
"Hey, that's my place, Fishgirl!" Nocturne shrieked predictably. "Get out! I'm not sitting next to you. Better the shabby Gryffindor than a fish."
"You can have my seat." Tullia declared. "I'd rather take my chances with one small Gryffingirl than with the dragon herself."
Next to Aterus Billy snorted with suppressed laughter.
Aterus shot him a confused look. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing." Billy giggled as if under a tickling spell. "I'm just trying to imagine Nocturne sharing a desk with Danny for an entire hour."
"Huh? ... Oh!" Of course Aterus had noticed that those two didn't get along. Sometimes he just found it hard to make a connection between peoples' thoughts or feelings and their actions.
Hadn't Professor Snape said something about it being an advantage to be able to predict peoples' actions? Apparently Aterus still had a lot to learn, if he wanted to become a good Slytherin. People were so strange and complicated.
"Oh no!" Danny was shouting right now. "I'm not sitting next to that ... that thing! I'm moving back with you."
For a moment Nocturne just stood there apparently as surprised as Aterus, then without another word she placed her bag next to Gangolf.
Gangolf blinked and smiled at her.
"Don't start thinking I like you or anything, Mirrorboy." Nocturne snapped. "I just think anything's better than a Gryffindor."
"I sort of liked that Gryffindor, you know." Gangolf stated.
"What?" several outraged voices exclaimed.
It seemed liking a Gryffindor was not a good idea, if you wanted to remain friends with your fellow Slytherins, Aterus decided. He resolved to always say loud and clearly that he hated Gryffindors. That seemed to be welcome and acceptable behaviour.
"Well, better than her, in any case." Gangolf amended.
"Nocturne's still a Slytherin." Billy declared. "A Slytherin is always more trustworthy than a Gryffindor."
Gangolf eyed Billy doubtfully, but before the conversation could go any further the first group of Gryffindors stumbled in.
McGonagall wasn't too happy when she took attendance and realised that her seating plan didn't quite match the students in front of her.
"That's not the correct seating order." she stated accusingly.
Aterus ducked behind his book even though the Professor wasn't actually looking at him.
"Nocturne decided she doesn't want to sit next to a Gryffindor." Danny reported. "So she gets to sit next to Gangolf and the Gryffindors get seats together and in the front in return."
McGonagall frowned, but seemed to see the logic in that. "Very well, I don't want to see another house war in my classroom, so maybe it is better to keep the houses separate, but I will not tolerate any further seat switching. The seating order is now fixed like this for the rest of the year, understood?"
"Yes Professor." the class chorused while Aterus wondered whether it had been wise to remain this close to the front.
Maybe he could convince Billy to pick a last row desk next year?
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That annoying Nocturne girl was actually eating, Danny noticed absently while putting another forkful of food into her mouth. It didn't really come as a surprise. Nocturne was confused, lonely and hungry. If the girl had been a little friendlier, Danny might actually have felt sorry for her. After all the arrival at Hogwarts had turned her whole world upside down. Everything Nocturne's parents had taught her was suddenly wrong.
Well Nocturne, that's life. Toughen up and learn, or get trampled. Danny predicted that Nocturne would choose the first option. She was strong and willing to fight.
Mirrorboy on the other hand was once again picking at the salad while admiring his reflection in his transfigured plate. Danny simply couldn't find a single redeeming quality in that boy. He was vain, cowardly, stupid and worst of all not even trying to fit in. The boys had really offered him all the kindness they could without looking like Hufflepuffs, but still Gangolf kept turning up late and leaving early every day. Danny wished Pank'd finally kick the cry-baby out the way he had Nocturne. She couldn't stand much more of this.
Pank was a good leader, though. A little too bossy for her taste, but fighting him would only break up the group and make them easier targets for the Gryffindors. Right now their larger number was their only protection against the much more splintered Gryffindors who usually showed up in groups of only two or three. As a group of eight - Gangolf didn't count as he'd probably just faint from fear if it ever came to a real fight - they had a clear advantage. Four girls alone might be easy prey for some of the bigger Gryffindors.
Tullia probably wasn't much of a fighter either. Danny had no doubt that she'd try, but she wasn't particularly strong, nor did she have much experience fighting. Tullia was cool for completely different reasons. Just imagine having gills and being able to speak two languages fluently!
In a fight Danny would much rather have tiny Billy at her side, though. Pank and Aterus might be much stronger, but Billy always tensed slightly at the first sign of a possible confrontation. Not nervously, as Rupert often did, but calmly, getting ready, not afraid. Clearly he had experience and would know how to hold his own in a fight.
Rupert was probably experienced as well. At the very least he recognised trouble as well as Billy did. He seemed like a child who'd been picked on, though, which led Danny to assume that he didn't know how to fight back successfully. Either he was a bad fighter, or his opponents had always been too overwhelming. The more confident Billy clearly got more trust from her, but Rupert would be her second choice.
And next? Not Tullia. Danny really liked Tullia, but in a fight she'd probably have to protect her more than get help from her.
Aterus clearly had no idea what to do in a fight. Pank would probably be alright, but didn't really give the impression of an experienced fighter.
Dinah might be a good fighter, if she got over her Hufflepuff inhibitions. Right now she seemed torn between her Hufflepuff upbringing and her Slytherin nature, though. Danny wasn't sure which would prevail, if she had to make a fast choice. Perhaps Anny was the better choice. The muggle born was quiet most of the time and sometimes even seemed timid, but Danny doubted that that was her real nature. Anny was holding back trying to assimilate her new surroundings. She probably had a few surprises in store for the group once she got used to the magical world.
Danny swallowed the last of her mashed potatoes and took another look at her classmates. Except for Gangolf they all seemed to have liked their lunch. Even Tullia who'd disliked the steak so much.
Danny had been a little worried about that. She didn't know for sure what Merpeople ate, but red meat was probably not a likely food underwater. Still Tullia wasn't showing any ill affects, so it probably really was a matter of personal taste and she'd be fine with other meat dishes.
"Oh, I can't wait to finally get to Flying class." Anny said. "It sounds so exciting."
"I can't wait until second year when we're allowed to try out for the Quidditch team." Danny returned. "That's real flying. Flying lessons probably will be boring."
"I don't know." Tullia sounded nervous. "Those brooms go terribly high up into the air, much higher than training brooms. Do you think we'll practise over the lake?"
"Thinking of jumping in to visit the Merpeople and calling it an accident?" Danny grinned. "I think McGonagall would see right through that, but maybe if you don't tell the Flying teacher about your heritage, you could get away with it."
"No, I just like to have water under me." Tullia didn't elaborate.
It wasn't necessary anyway. Danny had already noticed her fear of heights the day before. She might be fearless in water and on trees, but being levitated by McGonagall had scared her more than Danny had expected and she kept saying that she disliked flying.
Still Danny refrained from teasing her about it on the way back to the dorm even if it was hard. Tullia was her best friend and her habit of teasing people had lost her friends before. She'd resolved to stop that when she arrived at Hogwarts, but old habits were hard to break.
"I've never seen this many clubs offered at once before." a sixth year stated just as Danny stepped through the secret door to the common room.
The first years exchanged puzzled glances. There was a commotion next to the stairs.
"What's going on?" Pank asked one of the bigger students, but the boy ignored him.
Whatever everybody was so interested in was hidden by all the taller students.
Anny and Dinah tried to get a look by climbing the banister, but they weren't the first to have that idea either. All the good places were already claimed by second and third years. Danny didn't think they'd get anywhere like that. This situation called for a more direct approach.
"Hold my bag." she told Tullia shoving her book bag into her friend's hands, then elbowed into the masses.
"Danny!" she heard Pank call out, but didn't stop to answer.
For a moment it felt like it was impossible to breathe between all those tightly packed together bodies, but then she'd squeezed through the last two rows and it got a little easier. Some of the people here were already trying to get back out which caused the pressure to shift constantly. Danny was shoved, pushed, kicked and squashed, but she simply shoved, pushed and kicked back. You couldn't let these things impress you, if you wanted to succeed.
And Danny did succeed. It took her a little while, but she finally arrived in the very first row and found the center of the commotion. It was the message board which had been almost empty when they'd left the common room in the morning. Now it was covered in lists.
At first she didn't see what was so exciting about them. Who wanted to participate in a Chess club? Riddles club? Poetry, Acting, Ballet ... Quidditch team!
Some of these were interesting after all! Too bad the Quidditch list stated clearly that it was only for second to seventh years. The Duelling club accepted only third years and higher as well, but Danny thought she knew somebody who'd get all excited when he heard about the Soccer club looking to fill over twenty positions.
Maybe she should try applying as well? She knew very little about Soccer, but it might be better than nothing until she got onto the Quidditch team. There was time until Monday to fill out the lists and Danny decided to just report her triumph to her classmates for now. In the evening the commotion would most likely have died down enough to sign up in peace and if not, they had Astronomy tonight. There'd be nobody here to get in her way at midnight.
She squeezed back out and tumbled out of the mass of shoving people out of breath, with her hair messed up and her robes wrinkled.
"Danny!" Tullia rushed to her side. "Are you alright?"
Danny laughed. "Of course. And I found out what it's all about."
"Really?" Dinah asked eagerly. "What is it?"
"Some club lists have been posted on the message board while we were gone." Danny announced.
"Club lists?" Rupert asked with a slight frown. "What are club lists?"
"They're bits of parchment on which you can sign up for clubs, stupid." Danny simply enjoyed the abashed look with which Rupert stared at the floor too much. He was so easy. "You know, like Quidditch and Soccer and things."
"Really?" Billy beamed. "Oh, I have to sign up for Soccer right away!"
"There's no time for that now." Pank interfered. "I'm sure the list will still be here after Flying class. We'll be late, if we try to fight our way through right now."
"It'll be here until Monday." Danny confirmed.
"Fine then take your bags to the dorms and meet up back here right afterwards." Pank ordered. "Hurry up people. You don't want to miss your first Flying lesson."
Danny raced up the stairs, threw her bag onto her bed and almost collided with Dinah on her way back out and down. Tullia was still on the stairs when Danny passed her.
"Come on. Maybe we'll get to fly more, if we're there early." Danny told her.
Tullia just sighed and trudged on.
Pank seemed to have sent their prefect guide away. They already knew how to get to the Quidditch pitch and once Gangolf finally arrived they set off.
"I can't believe Gangolf took this long to drop his bag." Danny attempted to distract Tullia who was in a bad mood. "How much further away than ours can the boys' dorm be?"
"He had to comb his hair and apply some beauty cream while he was at it." Billy muttered darkly. "And I'm not even allowed to say something about it anymore."
"What?" Danny blinked in surprise. "Why ever not?"
"Because my Dad thinks Gangolf's afraid of me and now I'm supposed to be nice to him." Billy continued in the same tone. "As if I hadn't been trying all this time."
An old man and a large group of children in green robes came out of a room just a few metres ahead of them.
"Ah, the Slytherin first years." the man stated when he saw them.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Filch." Anny and Dinah seemed to know the stranger.
Filch smiled a little. "Are you going to Flying class as well?"
"Yes, Mr. Filch." Dinah answered smiling sweetly. "We're so excited."
"Then could you show these students the way? It's their first time at Hogwarts so I can't quite leave them to find their own way."
"Of course, Mr. Filch." Dinah answered like a perfect little Hufflepuff.
Danny glared at the green robed intruders. It wasn't even a proper uniform they were wearing. Some of them had caps or scarves or necklaces. They weren't supposed to have Flying together with them, were they?
Some of the green robes glared back, but behind them two were happily chatting away with Billy.
"Hi, I'm Dinah and that's my friend Anny." Dinah smiled at the glaring strangers. "The Quidditch pitch is this way. Just up the stairs and then down the corridor and right, past the great hall and out the door. You can't miss it once you're outside."
"We're Slytherins." Anny added as they started walking again. "Where are you from? You don't look like Hogwarts students."
"We're not." the tallest girl answered. "We're from West Hogsmeade Wizarding School. We just come here for Flying classes. I'm Laila."
"West Hogsmeade?" Nocturne asked looking scandalised.
Oh well, maybe her behaviour towards her fellow Slytherins would improve after this, Danny thought. Shock therapy had always been one of her favourites.
"Never mind Colleen." she told Laila. "She always finds something she doesn't like about everybody she meets."
"Yes, we're all icky." Anny agreed.
"Call me Danny, by the way." The West Hogsmeade students didn't even look surprised at the use of a boys' name for a girl. Point for them.
"Maggie." the small girl next to Laila introduced herself.
They seemed like completely ordinary children, Danny decided as they continued to talk on the way to the pitch. Some were shy, some excited and talkative and some distrusting, just like her year mates here at Hogwarts. It was hard to believe that these were supposed to be the people her mother had always warned her about when they'd visited Hogsmeade.
'Don't go wandering off.' she remembered her saying. 'You might end up in West Hogsmeade where the bad people live.'
Well, the bad people looked suspiciously like a bunch of nervous children in green instead of black. Not exactly frightening especially after Danny secretly counted heads and found there were only twelve, two more than the Slytherins. If it came to a fight some of them would most likely be just as cowardly as some of their own and Danny was quite confident in her fighting abilities. No reason to worry.
Professor Hooch, as Danny thought she'd heard to Flying teacher be called, told them to each take a broom and form two rows of eleven students facing each other. Brooms on the floor.
Soon a green row was facing a black row. Only at the very end of the black line, next to Billy, Danny occasionally noticed a flicker of green whenever the wind caught the last boy's robe.
The teacher had two attendance lists, one for each school. The fist one was boring. Why really, couldn't she just count heads and be done with it? Danny didn't even remember how often she'd heard her house mates' names read out by now.
"Waterwall, Tullia!" Hooch finally finished.
"Here." Tullia answered with surprising patience.
Hooch flipped her parchments: "Ar ... Ar ... Ark ..."
"Arhwke, Isran." the ugliest boy Danny had ever seen supplied. "Present."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Arha ..."
"Just call me Isran." the boy advised. "All my other teachers do. No need to learn Goblin for my sake."
For a moment the teacher looked doubtful, but then she nodded and continued with the next name on her list: "Bennett, Elsa!"
"Here." that was the girl right across from Danny who hadn't said anything so far.
Either she was a naturally quiet child, or that was her way of dealing with her nervousness.
"Carter, Josh!" Hooch called out. "Not Joshua?"
"Of course it's Joshua, but nobody ever calls me that. Much too long and stuffy."
"I see." Hooch said, but didn't look like she meant it. "Coursett, ... Dally?"
"Yes, that's me! I'm here!"
Oh dear, that one was really hyper. Danny remembered her talking to her friend non-stop on the way here as well. She really hoped that was just first flight nerves. If not, Dally would be impossible to bear for the entire year.
"Doran, Maggie!" was much more dignified, Laila's last name was ElKouan, which made Danny wonder whether she was even really British, "Fowler, Mik!" was a short form of Michael and the invisible boy next to Billy was 'Harson, Jimmy!', not James or even Jim, definitely Jimmy.
Dally's best friend was called 'Hawke, Ilsa!' and then there were 'Lasalle, Jenna!', 'Lorat, Angie' and finally 'McKay, Todd!'
"Here." Todd had to say twice before Hooch heard him.
How could such a tall boy be this timid?
"Alright then, class. Hold your hand over your broom and say 'up'."
"Up." The shabby school broom flopped into Danny's hand nicely.
A glance up and down the row revealed that that was a rare occurrence, though. Pank, Colleen and Dinah were the only others who managed on their first try.
"Oh, come on, Tullia." Danny rolled her eyes at her friend. "Quit pretending. We all know that you've already had Flying lessons before."
"Those were training brooms." Tullia protested.
"They're activated just the same as real brooms, though." Danny stated.
"Up!" Tullia sighed and indeed her broom rose into her hand, though a little hesitantly.
That was interesting, Danny thought. Apparently the broom's response was influenced by the will of the user more than the command. Meanwhile Rupert, Dally, Laila and Isran had managed as well.
Elsa looked at Danny pleadingly. Danny shrugged.
"You've never done this before, have you?" she asked.
Elsa shook her head.
"Well, you've got to really want it." Danny declared.
"I do." Elsa promised. "Up."
"Try to say it more forcefully." Isran advised.
"And try to imagine how it flies into your hand." Tullia added.
"UP!" Elsa roared suddenly and the broom was in her hand before they knew it.
Flopp! Gangolf sat on the ground staring at Elsa wide eyed.
"Are you having problems with your broom, dear?" Professor Hooch looked down at him with a touch of confusion in her eyes.
"Elsa's shout startled him and he tripped." Billy reported. "Come on, Gangolf, you can do it. Try again."
Gangolf climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off, then blushed as he noticed that everybody else was holding their brooms and staring at him.
He gingerly held out his hand right next to his body: "Up?"
The broom did nothing.
"Don't ask it ... Gangolf, was it?" Hooch tried to help.
Gangolf nodded.
"Okay Gangolf, it's not a question, it's an order. Make your broom do its job."
Gangolf nodded again: "Up!"
His broom jumped upright and began to sweep the lawn.
At first everybody stared at the scene in complete confusion, then Anny began to laugh and within seconds the whole class was roaring with laughter.
"Well, this is new." Professor Hooch caught the broom and put it back on the ground. "I have never seen a broom react like that before, though that is how Muggles use their brooms. Up."
The broom jumped into her hand without the slightest problem.
"There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the spells on this broom." Hooch diagnosed. "Try again."
Gangolf did and the broom went right back to sweeping.
"Strange." Professor Hooch stated. "I have to admit this problem is entirely new to me and I'm not sure how best to combat it. Before we start experimenting I'll try whether I can find anything about it in the library. For now just lift your broom manually."
Next they had to mount their brooms and Professor Hooch corrected their positions.
"Not that tight, child." she admonished Tullia. "There's no need to throttle your broom."
"Can't we do this over the lake?" Tullia asked her.
"No, no, absolutely not." Hooch shook her head. "I've tried that before. Trust me, you don't want to fall into it in this weather or lose your broom in there."
And then they finally got to hover in the air for a moment. Danny still thought it was terribly boring, but several of the others gasped in surprise at the feeling. Apparently most of the West Hogsmeade students had never flown before and for Muggle born Anny it had to be a huge adventure.
What really worried Danny was that Tullia kept her eyes closed while she hovered. This way she'd never be able to fly.
"That wasn't high at all, you know." Danny informed her friend. "You could at least have taken a peek."
"Very good." Hooch stated. "Now once again and try to fly a few metres. Form a circle and fly to the right so you won't collide and land as soon as the person before you does. One, two, three, go!"
This exercise put Tullia behind Danny, so she couldn't see how her friend was doing. She had to open her eyes for this one or they'd crash when Danny stopped.
"Gangolf, what's the matter?" the teacher's voice rang out and moments later Danny had to land, if she didn't want to either rise higher than Hooch had permitted or crash into Anny. "You're supposed to fly, not walk."
"But it's not flying." Gangolf complained. "This broom never does what it should."
"Let me see." Hooch ordered. "Try to hover again."
Gangolf just stood on the ground. "See, nothing's happening."
"How about trying to push off?" Danny suggested sweetly. "Really Gangolf, don't you know anything?"
Just how stupid was that boy? Even Anny who'd never even seen someone fly a broom before had gotten hers in the air without needing to ask.
"Just try jumping off the ground a little." Apparently Professor Hooch had indeed encountered students who didn't understand the command 'push off' before.
Danny wondered whether English had been those students' first language, though.
Gangolf jumped pulling his broom into the air after himself. For a moment it did indeed hover, but then Gangolf fell into it on his way back down. His weight landed too far in the front and pushed the handle down.
With a shriek Gangolf landed face first on the ground. His broom stuck in the ground next to him with its tail up in the air.
Once again the class burst out laughing.
"Oh dear! Are you alright, Gangolf?" Hooch looked worried.
"My hair!" Gangolf exclaimed. "My robes!"
Flop! Laila fell off her broom from laughing.
Hooch glared at them.
"That's not funny." she snapped. "Gangolf might be in shock. "Julian, please be so nice and take him up to the hospital wing. Tell Poppy that he took only a little fall, but seems disoriented. Maybe he hit his head."
The second teacher who had only been watching silently so far came over to pick Gangolf up.
"Of course, Hanna." he smiled reassuringly. "Glad to be able to help. Hello Gangolf, we always seem to meet at the most embarrassing times, don't we?"
Danny had no idea how this Professor knew Gangolf, but Gangolf smiled back at him trustingly. Obviously he recognised the man as well.
Hooch turned back to the rest of the class: "Alright, lets try that again. Remember that you can steer your broom by turning the handle, but that is better reserved for adjusting height. For a turn on the same level it's best to just lean into the direction you want to go in. One, two, three, go!"
They actually flew several metres before Anny leaned too far and lost her balance. Her broom jerked towards the middle of the circle and she had to land quickly to save herself.
"Well done, class." Hooch declared anyway. "Never mind the little slip. Most of our school brooms are very old and not as well balanced as they should be, so it's very easy for beginners to slip. You'll have time to get used to your broom's particularities before we go any higher, don't worry."
Well maybe it made sense to go slowly after all. Despite her impatience Danny didn't want Anny to get hurt her very first time on a broom.
"And again." Hooch announced. "One, two, three, go!"
Again they all rose into the air and this time made it almost completely around before Ilsa lost control of her broom and they had to land.
"Oh, but you are a talented class." Hooch praised. "We're almost done for today, but I think we can try to go around one more time and those of you who feel comfortable enough can try letting go with one hand. Next week we'll work a little more on that and fly some other figures to practise steering."
Danny easily flew the whole round one handed, of course. She'd already practised it on a training broom after all.
To her surprise she even saw Anny lift her left hand off the handle a tiny little bit for a moment. Oh yes, that girl wasn't nearly as quiet and shy as she seemed.
They managed to stay in the air until Julian returned with Gangolf and the teacher called them back down and told them to take their brooms back to the shed.
On her way past the teachers Danny overheard part of their conversation.
"I guess Gangolf simply isn't very athletic." Hooch said. "There's one such difficult case in almost every year. It's just particularly bad luck that the rest of this class is doing so well. He'll hold them back."
"We could separate them." Julian suggested. "I could teach him individually, while you continue with the normal programme."
Danny's hopes soared when she heard that, but Hooch shook her head.
"No," she said. "You don't have the experience to deal with such a special case. I don't want to leave you alone with a problem like that until I'm sure you're prepared for every eventuality."
Danny sighed, but at least Tullia looked happy that they were going to take it slow.
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ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies - sniffs Greenie, do you smell that? Greenie sniffs, too. Cookies! Yum! burned cookies 'magically disappear. What? Nobody in this household bakes at all. Burned cookies are way better than no cookies. ... Minerva is concerned about keeping her students away from drowning and pneumonia. The feelings of a Slytherin aren't something she stopped to consider. Most of the time she doesn't understand them anyway. They're so different from her Gryffindors. (I have to write my own version of the head of house exchange sometime.)
Luty Snape - Well, Jorge's only eleven and hasn't yet had English in school. I think he's doing rather well.
Kyzara - Ah, sorry for taking so long. I promise the next one will be faster.
Pam Briggs - I am planning to add that thing about Rupert's father, but might not find a good place for it. If you remind me at the end of the fic, I promise to tell you, though. ... Currently Tullia wouldn't dare to sneak out, but that might change in time. Or maybe not. It doesn't quite feel right for her. It'd be more Danny's thing.
Alia5 - Minerva has other things on her mind than the well-being of one single Slytherin child, I'm afraid. Sevi is doing the best that he can, though.
schkuro - blush Thanks. I'll try to update a little more regularly from now on.
safrie - doesn't always allow you to access the chapters right away. (I've tried refreshing, closing and reopening the browser ... yelling, cursing ... Nothing helps. It won't show the chapter until it feels like it. ... Minerva doesn't do it on purpose, but she isn't very considerate of the Slytherins' feelings. (She's found that she can't quite understand their mentality and given up trying.) Most of the time she just acts out of concern for somebody else and unintentionally hurts the Slytherins by it. ... I think Billy will most likely be able to deal with it. He's much less vulnerable than Draco (because he's always had a loving family behind him to give him strength. He feels strong.)
astrid ackerly - Um sorry, but MNS was finished over two years ago. I'm afraid I can't alter anything that might make you sad about it now. (Better stay away from HPHC, if MNS makes you sad. I wrote that one to be depressing.)
Somnia Lustre - That's okay, a lot of people disliked the epilogue, but the fic can be read without it and I wanted to show the future of the greenies.
I've gotten a few complaints about Albus as well, grin, but I don't like perfect characters. They're just wrong. I still love my Albus, no matter what others may think. ... Remus is a favourite of mine as well and at the time MNS was written it still seemed possible that one or several marauders might have been Slytherins. After book five I no longer see the slightest chance for that, but I didn't know James' character until then.
Double O might have been a mistake. MNS was finished and I had no room to continue with its main story line. Double O might have stood better on its own, but I was asked for a sequel so often ... I never liked Ron. Don't ask me why. With some characters one feels a connection right away as I did with Draco and Sevi, with some it comes once you use them (Albus, Luci, Argus) and some you just don't like from the start (Ron, Cho). I can't help it, but it's useful when I'm in need of a villain.
ElavielBlack - Thanks. Somehow that story is particularly dear to me as well (and I love all my babies) It's such a simple thing I can't even categorise it, but still ...
Iremione - Minerva is thinking of other students geting cuirious or being taunted (after all Tullia is a Slytherin) into imitating it and falling into the lake. They might drown, or at least catch a cold, maybe even pneumonia! She simply didn't stop to try and understand a Slytherin. ... Billy is a gang kid. He grew up in the usual wannabe style. For a Merlin Park kid he's actually very nice, but you have to be tough to make it there. ... Oh, some Slytherins have found the key to manipulating Argus before. Some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws get on well with him as well. The Gryffindors just don't understand that art. ... Yes, it is something stupid, but to Rupert it's dead serious. ... Merpeople and Seapeople don't meet as they can't survive in each other's natural environment. A crossbred child might have real problems with that. ... That's Gryffindor mentality talking again. A Slytherin won't make a move unless they see a chance at winning and Sevi sees no chance for Tullia in this. Minerva is set on keeping up the rule she once made. Maybe if Sevi had been there to stop her from setting it up in the first place ... No, ,00, doesn't want me to give those very hints you're searching for. ... Yes, but the salad tastes better and is healthier, too. ... Um ... could I answer that challenge in a different story, perhaps? My current set of characters has already established that they don't like her and I don't want to bring in another character. (But show me the Gryffindor that's friends (not lovers!) with Sevi.) Gangolf's already found his 'friend' in Julian and Colleen ... Oh, see next chapter. It'd be giving away the plot to tell you that now.
lia - Thank you.
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A/N: Will Danny learn to be friendlier to her friends? Will Tullia get over her fear of Flying? And will Gangolf ever get his broom under control?
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In the next chapter: Colleen has a talk with Sevi. Anny gets her hair band back in return for something unexpected and Gangolf runs afoul of a third year.
