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.

A/N: I know I'm late, but I'm rather busy at the moment. I'll try to write as much as I can, though. This one doesn't contain all that I promised, I'm afraid. Somehow it just wouldn't all fit.

Chapter 11: The Soccer Team

When Billy arrived in the common room the next morning the Soccer list was already gone. In its place hung a small note saying that the Soccer tryouts for fourth to seventh years would start at nine, while first to fourth years were to be at the Quidditch pitch at two in the afternoon.

"Hey, why do the fourth years get to try out twice?" Rupert complained when he saw the note.

"They don't." Billy stated. "At least not most of them. At West Hogsmeade they have a senior and a junior team, too. The fourth years are assigned by size. Small ones usually play as juniors, tall ones can already join the seniors."

"So we can't get into the first team in Soccer either?" Danny frowned.

"Of course we can." Billy shook his head wondering just what he'd said to give that impression. "We'll just play in a different age group than the seventh years. You don't really want to be overrun by Tall Tom in the big game, do you?"

Since nobody knew who Tall Tom was, that didn't impress his classmates much.

Still the Soccer tryouts were the talk of the day.

"So, are you coming with us to the pitch, Colleen?" Anny asked while spooning up the last of her pudding at lunch.

"Her?" Danny sneered. "Why should she come? She's going to snobby French."

"So?" Anny asked. "Nobody said French students weren't allowed to watch their friends play Soccer."

"What friends?" Danny snorted. "Nocturne doesn't have any friends. We don't want her there."

"Well, I do." Anny declared calmly. "I want all my dorm mates there to encourage me. I'll be less nervous, if Colleen is there."

"You'll have all the rest of us and the boys, too." Danny declared.

"And me." Colleen added in exactly the same tone. "Because it just happens that I was planing to watch anyway."

Danny glared. Colleen stuck her nose up in the air haughtily.

Dinah sighed. "You'll never get those two to get along, Anny."

"I'm not trying." Anny returned calmly. "All I want is to be friends with both of them myself."

Tullia and Dinah exchanged baffled looks.

"Well, you can't say Anny isn't ambitious." Pank decided.

"What did you expect?" Anny asked him. "I was sorted into Slytherin, you know."

At first glance it seemed like the whole school had gathered at the pitch when they arrived for the tryouts.

"Are we really up against that many people?" Rupert sounded a little doubtful.

"Nonsense." Pank declared with more conviction than he was actually feeling. "Most of them probably just came to watch. Nocturne's here, too, isn't she? That doesn't mean she wants to play."

Colleen had different worries at the moment, though.

"Are you sure that's the right clothing?" she asked Anny for about the fifth time since they had met up in the common room. "It's hardly decent for a young lady."

"It's just fine in the Muggle world." Anny assured her. "They always play Soccer wearing shorts. You have to kick the ball with your feet, you know. Long robes would get in the way."

"But a witch shouldn't show off her legs like that." Collen insisted. "Couldn't you wear one of those things Billy's using?"

"Maybe, but I have only one pair of jeans with me and they're new." Anny declared. "I don't want to ruin them. I promise to owl home for an old pair, if I make the team, though. The shorts will be too cold in winter anyway."

"Won't we get uniforms like the Quidditch players?" Tullia wondered. She didn't have any trousers in her trunk at all and had had to choose a knee length skirt instead.

Colleen frowned at her. "I certainly hope so."

"What?" Tullia demanded. "My skirt covers my knees. That's perfectly decent."

"It doesn't hide your ankles." Colleen explained. "The Gryffindor wizards will think you're a slut."

"Only the pureblood ones." Professor Snape materialised out of nowhere and for a moment Pank wondered whether he'd apparated. "Pank and Rupert, you really shouldn't play Soccer in robes. They'll get in the way and might even trip you. Put on some Muggle trousers."

"We don't have any." Pank had to admit. "And Billy already lent his second pair to Aterus."

Snape shook his head. "That won't do. Blinky!"

"Yes, master Professor, Sir?" A tiny house elf popped up right beside their head of house.

"Transfigure these boys some trousers for the game, Blinky." Snape ordered. "Then stay here to turn their clothes back after the tryouts."

"Trousers, master Professor, Sir? Blinky ises not sure what trousers ises to look like."

Snape regarded the students around him for a moment. "For this occasion the clothes this girl is wearing would be best." he decided pointing at Anny.

"See." Anny smiled at Colleen.

Blinky snapped her fingers and suddenly Pank felt very light and his legs were cold. He looked down at himself and found that he was indeed wearing exactly the same clothes as Anny. In fact, even the colours were the same.

"It looks almost like a uniform." Rupert commented once he too had gotten the surprise of the sudden change.

Professor Snape nodded at Blinky and moved on to the next group of Slytherins, a bunch of excited third years.

None of the other teachers seemed to have come to the tryouts and at first Pank wondered whether Snape might be in charge of the Soccer team, but then a tall teacher he'd never seen before showed up wearing muggle training clothes and a whistle around his neck. Now that he thought about it, he thought he remembered the man sitting between Dumbledore and Snape at lunch.

"Hello, everybody!" he called out. "Please call me either Pit, or trainer. I don't like to be addressed as Professor or Sir."

That earned him some laughs and he smiled.

"I am very happy to see how much interest this school is showing for a game that is still rather new to it." Pit continued. "I have to admit that I was a little worried whether we'd really be able to double the teams so suddenly, but it appears I severely underestimated you. Believe it or not, we have 39 candidates here to try out for the Hogwarts junior Soccer team today."

"Thirty-nine?" Anny gasped. "Does that even leave us a chance to make it?"

"Of course we have a chance." Danny snapped. "Those others have to try out just like we do. We just have to be better."

"Seven of them already tried out for the senior team this morning and I haven't made my final decision about that, yet, so don't think I have to stuff all of them into the junior team." Pit waved to get the students' attention back. "I want to have 22 players in the junior team and only four places are currently taken."

"See, there are lots of places still free." Danny declared.

"Now, if those students who aren't here to try out, could please move over into those beautiful stands you have here. You have a wonderful view from there and can wave and shout your support from up there as much as you want. I need to see my candidates, though."

More laughter.

"Well, I'll be going then." Colleen announced. "I'll see you afterwards."

Anny nodded. "Thanks for being here."

"Maybe you can find Gangolf somewhere up there." Pank said. "I don't like to leave him on his own with so many Gryffindors about. I'd feel better, if I knew there was someone to stop him from getting into trouble."

Colleen sneered, but nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him, if I meet him. Don't expect me to go looking, though."

"You probably wouldn't find him up there anyway." Aterus said. "He was headed for the shower just when we left the dorm. Knowing him he's probably still fiddling with his hair."

"Since there are 32 candidates that I haven't seen, yet, we're going to form teams of four who will play against each other." Pit announced. "Now to start with we have a total of 16 first years. That's more than in any other year. Thank you for your big interest first year."

There was some cheering and applause from the stands, but the candidates left on the pitch felt much too nervous to join in.

"Now, my list here is by year, house and alphabet so I'll just start with the Gryffindors." Pit continued. "Which one of you is Charles Forbes? Come here, Charlie Forbes!"

"That's Charles, not Charlie." the Gryffindor corrected as he walked up to the teacher.

"Ah, Charles, I see. Named after the next king, I suppose?" Pit smiled. "So have you played Soccer before?"

"Yes, Sir ... I mean Trainer."

"Excellent, then please step over to this side." Pit pointed to his right. "Dominic King of Gryffindor house?"

Pank caught Danny sticking her tongue out at Dominic as he walked by.

"How about you Dominic, do you know how to play?" Pit luckily didn't seem to have noticed.

"No, Trainer." the Gryffindor admitted.

"I see, over there, then." Pit pointed to his left. "Can't really compare you to Charles, then, can I? Hermelindis Berring, our first Hufflepuff?"

"You can call me Hermy."

This time Danny didn't stick out her tongue, Pank noted with relief. Apparently she did make a difference between Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors.

Hermy too, hadn't played before and joined the left group.

"Melitta Eagle." went to the right. "Alexander Vauxhall of Hufflepuff house?"

"Alex, Trainer."

Pit smiled. "Okay, Alex, have you played before?"

"A little." Alex said. "No real games, though."

Pit pointed to the right anyway. "Carmelitta Weasley of Hufflepuff?"

"Cam. And I haven't played before."

Left side for Cam.

"Lucinda Iterton of Ravenclaw?" hadn't played before and went to the left. Shannon O'Malley however had actually been on a school team before and was sent to the right.

"Excellent." Pit decided. "Those are our first two teams then. Now for the Slytherins. Pankratius Anterhill?"

"Pank. I don't even know the rules, but I'd love to learn."

"Okay, in that case you'll form a new team on the left side." Pit returned. "Just keep a few steps away from the first team, so I can tell you apart. Dinah Laxter?"

"I can't play either." Dinah admitted right away and stood next to Pank.

Rupert soon joined them while Danny and Anny went to the right.

Aterus became the last member of the second left side team.

"Billy Snape." Pit nodded towards Billy. "I don't really have to ask, do I?"

Billy laughed. "No, Pit, I can play."

"And Tu ... Tullia?" Pit blinked at Tullia. "Is that correct? I've never heard that name before."

"Yes, it's an old Roman name, I think. I'm named after my great grandmother."

"I see. Well Tullia, can you play?"

Tullia shook her head.

"In that case, you'll have to wait a little." Pit decided. "At the moment I really need someone to complete Billy's team. Lets try the second years. Andrew Rogan of Gryffindor?"

"Yes, Sir, I can play very well." a big blond boy declared.

"Perfect." Pit smiled. "Then we'll play a little game without keepers. Just try to get the ball though between the two stones on either side of this field. I know they're no real goals and it's a much too small field, but for now it will suffice and I can judge your abilities better this way."

"Charles, Shannon, Melitta and Alex?" he pointed at each of them in turn and waited for them to confirm their identity with a nod. "You take this side. Billy, Danny, Anny and Andrew? The other side. Try to score as often as possible until I whistle."

Pank watched wide eyed as the two groups stormed towards the ball. There was a big muddle of players for a moment, then some surprised shouts and little Shannon O'Malley dashed out of the group with the ball. A quick kick and it went right through between the stones.

An older student who'd been waiting behind the makeshift goal stopped it with his foot and kicked it out to the players once again.

"Excellent!" Pit shouted out to the players. "Nike? Note: Shannon, very good footwork."

Pank just barely caught the remark and crept closer to hear. So this Nike was taking notes for the trainer, huh? That meant Pit had to tell him what he thought of each candidate.

"Hey!" Anny's voice rang out from the field and Pank quickly looked to see what had gone wrong.

"Andrew!" Pit yelled immediately. "Anny's on your team. Try playing together."

Andrew didn't react, though. He had the ball and was running straight at Alex. Alex sped up to meet him, but Andrew pushed him out of the way with one arm.

"Play fair!" Pit yelled. "You could have gone around easily."

Andrew scored and the girl posted behind the other goal kicked the ball back again.

"Andrew, very forceful, slightly reckless." Pit told Nike. "Anny, fast and persistent."

The ball went to Alex again, but he stopped when Andrew ran up to him again and surrendered it without a fight.

"Alex, easily daunted." Pit diagnosed.

Seconds later Pank wondered whether Alex hadn't been right to react like that when Andrew bowled over Charles and ran right over him.

Pit blew his whistle. "Charles!"

"I'm okay." the Gryffindor insisted, but there was blood dripping from his nose.

"Go up to the school nurse and get a potion for your nose." Pit ordered anyway. "Andrew, off the field."

"But Trainer!" Andrew started.

"I have seen all I need to of you already anyway." Pit returned his voice suddenly stern. "I want even teams."

"Andrew, too brutal." he dictated to Nike after restarting the game.

Pank wondered whether that meant that Andrew was permanently out of the running. He'd been really successful in the game after all.

"Try some teamwork!" Pit yelled out to the players.

Now Billy had the ball. He dove through between Melitta and Alex, then shot it to Danny just before Shannon reached him. Danny however missed the goal.

"Danny forceful, but little ball control." Pit diagnosed. "Billy, good team player."

Anny snatched the ball on its way back just before Alex could get to it and scored.

"Melitta, shows understanding of tactics." Pit commented to Panks surprise.

He hadn't noticed Melitta doing anything special at all. She hadn't even scored, yet.

The first tryout game ended soon after that and Pit told the two left side teams to form a circle each and kick a ball around it.

"Try to make your partners run as little as possible." he advised. "Remember that you have to kick it with the side of your foot. The inside will be easier for the start. Tullia, you can join one of the groups for this exercise."

Kicking a ball in the right direction turned out to be a lot more difficult than it looked. Not only did it take Pank some time to figure out how hard to kick it so it landed exactly at Aterus' feet, he also had to experiment for a while to find how to kick it in the first place and every small dent in the ground could make it run off course.

How had Billy, Anny and Danny managed to do it so casually while running all over the field? Panks estimation of the three's abilities grew with every shot that went wild.

The exercise certainly left him no time to watch Pit pick through the second and third years for the next mini game and he was quite surprised when they were called off the field so the others could start.

All but one of the older students had claimed to have played be able to play, though two of this group seemed very clumsy compared to the first one. Pank assumed that Pit had noticed that as well, but since he didn't know these students by name the trainer's remarks to Nike didn't mean much to him this time.

The third game was between two groups of three and then Pit sent out the beginners in two groups of five after all.

Their game seemed much slower to Pank than the other three, but hopefully that was to be expected. Pit had said that they would get a fair chance, right.

"Fine. This should give me an idea of your abilities." Pit said after that last game. "But there's one more thing I need. The reserve team still needs a keeper. Are any of you interested in playing that position? The skills required of a keeper are very different than of the other players, so we have to test them separately."

Billy's hand went up right away. "Me! I've always wanted to be a keeper."

Pit regarded him closely then shook his head. "I'd rather have a slightly older and bigger student who can cover more of the goal and I already have another position in mind for you. Something I really need someone like you for. Anybody else? Andrew perhaps? You're quite big and fast."

"I could try." one of the third year girls suggested. "You'd still consider me for another position, if I'm no good at it, will you?"

"Of course." Pit promised.

The girl, a Hufflepuff who turned out to be called Samantha, was sent into one of the goals and each of them had to try to shoot the ball past her. To his embarrassment Pank's shot went straight into her hands, but none of the other beginners fared much better. Several even missed the goal entirely.

After seeing Samantha's success two others decided to try as well and Pit asked Andrew once again, but the boy insisted that he wanted to be an attacker.

"Okay," Pit told them at the end. "You've all done well today and I wish I could take you all, but I can only pick 18. You'll find the list of players in your common rooms after dinner today. Those of you who won't make it, I'm really sorry and I hope you'll try again next year. Also remember that you can still sign up for Basketball or Volleyball."

Pit wasn't there for dinner, but Billy just shrugged it off and told them that he was actually part of the West Hogsmeade staff.

"He probably just ate lunch here, because he didn't want to have to run all the way back to town and then back here for the second half of the trials." he explained nervously pushing his food around. "Oh, I just can't eat. I have to know whether I made the team or not."

"Oh come on." Danny rolled her eyes. "The trainer practically said you did. He didn't want you to try out as keeper, because he'd already picked you for something else."

"He didn't really say it, though." Billy fidgeted. "What if he changed his mind?"

"He was really impressed with you." Pank reported. "He told that kid who was taking notes for him to write that you're a good team player. Remember how he always said to play together more? You're exactly what he was looking for."

"Yes, you were the best player out there." Aterus confirmed. "Who'd have beat you?"

"Andrew was much better than me." Billy stated. "Shannon's almost a professional and Mel stuck to me like glue for most of the game. I could barely get at the ball by the end."

"Mel didn't score a single time." Colleen remarked. "What's so good about that?"

"Of course she didn't." Billy rolled his eyes. "She was obviously trying out as a defender. She already knew her strength and picked her role accordingly. I'm a clumsy fool for trying out for everything at once."

"That's just two out of 18 positions." Danny reminded them. "So what if they take Shannon and Mel? That still leaves 16 positions for the rest of us."

"15." Anny corrected. "No first years as keeper, remember?"

"14." Rupert added. "They're sure to pick Andrew."

"Then why did Pit keep pushing him to try out as keeper?" Danny asked. "It looked like he was already sure he didn't want him as an attacker."

"He probably was. He said to note that he was too brutal." Pank said. "I don't think he liked the way he ran over Charles."

"That was a foul." Billy conceded.

"Right, he probably fears that Andrew would get too many penalties." Danny confirmed. "If you commit three fouls in a game you have to leave the field without being replaced. Then we'd have to play ten against eleven."

"So Andrew's out, Mel and Shannon in. Billy in." Dinah summed up. "Who do you think was the best keeper?"

"The first one." Colleen said to everybody's surprise. "She caught more balls than the other two."

"And she volunteered first." Danny added glaring at Colleen. "She wants the position."

"Shannon for keeper then." Anny said. "That leaves 13."

"See, we'll make it for sure." Danny stated.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, if I were you." Colleen sneered. "After all you missed the goal."

"Only once." Danny hissed back at her. "I scored twice."

"Still not that great." Colleen declared.

"Why don't we just go and check?" Gangolf suggested looking up from his plate turned mirror.

"Because we're not finished with our dinner." Pank answered calmly.

"Some people want more than a few bites of salad in their stomachs, Mirrorboy." Colleen informed him while elegantly cutting up a potato.

"Where were you all afternoon anyway?" Rupert asked. "Pank was so worried he sent Colleen to look for you, but you didn't turn up."

"I took a shower, applied my beauty mask, took my beauty nap, did some homework and did my hair and nails." Gangolf answered. "What did you think I'd do?"

"We thought you'd come to watch us try out." Dinah sounded a little hurt. "We were counting on your support."

"Too much time spent outdoors is bad for my taint and try outs are boring anyway." Gangolf shook his head. "I don't like sports."

"Well, you're going to have to do sports on Sports class tomorrow." Colleen told him.

"Which reminds me. You're going to need sports clothes for that." Anny said. "You know, like the ones we wore for the tryouts today."

"I have to put on something like that?!" Colleen shrieked.

"You can wear long trousers." Anny assured her. "But I don't know where to get them. I'll lend you a shirt, though."

"Can I wear my skirt again?" Tullia asked. "It wasn't all that comfortable when playing Soccer."

"No, you need trousers." Danny said. "You'd better owl your parents for them."

"Hogwarts needs a proper sports uniform." Colleen stated. "Something decent and practical. The Soccer team will look terribly ragged without it."

"Maybe my jeans will fit one of you." Anny hesitated. "I don't think we'll get dirty in the very first Sports class, will we?"

Unfortunately nobody knew the answer to that and they went back to wondering whether they'd made the Soccer team or not.

For once Billy was at the notice board even faster than Danny.

"Mel made it." he reported as he scanned the list. The Slytherins had all been marked with big green lines, but he still went through every name top to bottom. "And Lucinda, Pank and Anny. Samantha is keeper. I told you it wasn't sure I'd make it." He sniffed a little.

"What do you mean not sure?" Rupert demanded. "That's the reserves, you dolt! You're on the main team. Look."

Billy blinked and looked to where Rupert was pointing. And indeed there it was. Snape, Billy, attacker.

"Attacker." he repeated incredulously. "I'm one of the tree main attackers?"

"Along with Shannon and Caligula Lestrange." Rupert confirmed. "Hey, I didn't see him at try out at all."

"Then he must have already been on the team before." Pank stated. "He's a third year. He could have joined two years ago."

"Yes, that also explains what he was doing in the common room during the Quidditch trials." Colleen said. "He wasn't interested, because he prefers Soccer."

Danny stood before the notice board staring. "I didn't make it." She couldn't believe it. "I didn't make it."

"Well, neither did I." Tullia tried to console her. "You're still signed up for Gymnastics, anyway and I can concentrate on Math better. And next year I can take a second year of Math besides Chemistry."

Rupert sighed. "I guess I should have expected this. I really didn't do very well."

"We've still got the Riddles club together." Pank reminded him. "And you can try again next year."

"I wanted something with actual competition, though." Danny finally stated still sounding slightly shocked.

It was however Dinah who took it the hardest. She simply turned around and bolted up the stairs to the dorms.

"Dinah! Dinah, wait!" Anny ran after her after the first moment of surprise and the rest of the girls followed, Danny forgetting her disappointment in a heartbeat.

Colleen was the last to reach the dorm. She didn't really know what to do right now. Dinah was the most socially acceptable of her dorm mates. After all she was definitely the daughter of a wizard and a witch, even if they were Hufflepuffs. Hufflepuffs did occur even in the best families, after all. It was embarrassing, of course, but not actually indecent.

Her parents would probably expect her to make friends with Dinah and the girl seemed nice enough, but she hadn't shown any signs of liking Colleen. It was probably proper to show her concern, but what if Dinah didn't want her there? And how did one show concern properly, if one hardly knew the person? She couldn't quite give Dinah a hug like her grandmother did to her whenever she was upset.

Staying in the common room would probably cut her off from the other girls again, though and Anny might not throw her a rope again. It was hard enough to just get them to tolerate her with Anny's help. She might not manage on her own at all. No, she could not waste this chance.

Colleen stepped into the dorm and found the other girls all assembled on Dinah's bed.

"You like Colleen better than me, don't you?" Dinah burst out between sobs. "You'd rather be with her."

Colleen froze in the door. Oh, what to do! Maybe she'd better leave after all.

"What?" Anny asked. "What does Colleen have to do with the Soccer team? She didn't even try out."

"But ... but I thought we'd have that together. Now you'll go without me."

"So?" Anny asked gently. "You're going to Gymnastics with Danny, I'm going to play Soccer with Pank and Billy and Colleen is going to French class with whomever she meets there. What's the problem?"

"We're not doing anything together." Dinah sobbed. "And Colleen hates me."

Anny looked to the others for help and finally noticed Colleen standing in the door looking confused. She shrugged.

"But that's not true." Colleen finally burst out. "I want to be your friend. ... I mean, I want to be friends with both of you. I just ... just ... Well, I'm not particularly good at it."

"Not good?" Danny sneered. "You told all of us that we're icky."

"So I had a bad day." Colleen snapped. "Hogwarts isn't quite what I expected. I was tired and in a bad mood."

"So we're supposed to suffer you moods, are we?" Danny hissed. "I think not."

She brushed past Colleen as she stalked out followed by Tullia.

Anny shrugged again. "I guess Danny's just in a bad mood today."

"It doesn't matter." Colleen decided. "I don't like her anyway. She's so vulgar and loud. I just ... I want to tell you two that you're not icky and I shouldn't have said that."

Anny was too much of a witch to be a Mudblood anyway, Colleen thought. Maybe her parents just hadn't told her that she was adopted, yet, or perhaps her father wasn't really her father and her mother didn't want him to know. Either way Anny was just Muggle raised. She could live with that, right?

"See, Dinah? Colleen doesn't hate you and we're still best friends." Anny coaxed. "Colleen is just another friend."

Dinah sniffled a little. "Sorry. I always was bad at sharing." She sat up rubbing her eyes. "I guess that's why I'm not a Hufflepuff."

Anny smiled. "Well, lucky you're not or we wouldn't be best friends."

"So what do we do to make it better?" Colleen asked still standing in the door.

They just looked at each other for a moment. Colleen had promised them to make friends with Dinah, but how did you go about that? How did one make friends after officially declaring the intention to?

"I know!" Anny said suddenly. "We can sit on the bed and share some chocolate. Mum gave me some for the trip that I never ate."

She jumped up and ran to her night stand.

Colleen walked over to Dinah's bed hesitantly and sat on the edge. "Muggle chocolate?"

"Oh, you've never eaten that, have you?" Dinah realised.

Colleen shook her head. "My grandmother never allowed me much candy. She said it's too common and bad for you. When I was very good, she sometimes let me have a chocolate frog or colour changing lollipop, though. Most other sweets were too undignified."

Anny and Dinah stared at her.

"No Fizzing Whisbies?" Dinah asked. "No Blowing Gum?"

"They attract undue attention." Colleen explained. "Children of good breeding should always remain in the background and not be noticed. I did try Everyflavour Beans on the train, though." She giggled at the memory of her little rebellion.

"Well, you don't have to worry about this." Anny explained returning to the bed with a flat wrapped up bar in her hand. "It tastes like chocolate frogs with nuts and that's all it does. Consider it today's second pudding."

She tore the paper open and offered it to Dinah who thanked her, broke off a rip and bit off a piece. Then she held it out to Colleen.

Colleen stared at the little brown rectangles for a moment. She'd never even seen anything like this! Cautiously she stretched out a hand and did exactly as Dinah had. That couldn't be wrong, right? At least Dinah seemed to have eaten Muggle chocolate before. She'd know how it was done.

She took a tiny bite. "Mmmh, that's good!"

"And your grandmother couldn't disapprove of it either, could she?" Anny grinned.

Colleen wasn't entirely sure of that. After all it was Muggle made and her grandmother heartily disapproved of Muggles. Still, what Grandmother didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Are you worried about that, too?" Tullia asked Danny suddenly.

Danny glanced up in surprise. They'd returned to the common room several minutes ago and were watching Rupert and Pank play chess. Tullia had been unusually quiet all this time, but for once Danny had no idea what she'd been thinking. She'd assumed that it was just another daydream, but this remark indicated that she'd been pondering something important.

"About what?" she asked back. "Rupert losing his bishop?"

Tullia laughed. "Of course not. No, I meant what Dinah said. That we're not doing any club together."

Danny shrugged.

"Because we can still change our choices today. I could sign up for Gymnastics, if you want." Tullia continued.

"But you don't like that." Danny added. "And I really wanted a competitive game. Something that's a little like Quidditch."

"Take Basketball then." Billy suggested. "It's a game where you have to throw balls though hoops."

Danny considered it. They'd never played Basketball in primary school, because their teacher had said that they were too small.

"You have to be very tall to play Basketball." she commented, but did get up to check the list anyway. "And these are all fourth years and above. I don't think we'd stand much of a chance against them."

Tullia looked a little sad at that.

"Wasn't there some other game the trainer mentioned?" Aterus remembered. "Bolleyball, or something like that. Why don't you try that?"

"Volleyball." Billy corrected. "That's nice. Very popular with girls. You have to push the ball over a net with your hands, but you're not allowed to catch it or to let it hit the floor. And you can't get run over by bigger opponents, because each team stays on its own side of the net."

"That sounds good." Tullia decided. "What do you think, Danny?"

Danny had never even heard of the game before, but it couldn't hurt, could it?

"Okay, lets give it a try. We can always quit, if we don't like it." she decided.

"Have you found a solution for the Sports clothes, yet?" Pank asked looking up from the his game. "I'm sure you won't be able to play Volleyball in your skirt either."

"Gangolf went to ask Professor Snape about it." Aterus reported. "He was worried about his Ballet class as well."

"Gangolf!" Rupert squeaked. "We sent Gangolf to ask for clothes?"

"I'm not going to Sports class in a tutu." Danny stated right away.

"We sent Gangolf to my Dad." Billy reminded them. "I assure you he knows what clothes we need for Sports and he probably wouldn't want to be seen with a tutu in his hand anyway."

"Still, you never know what Gangolf might ask for." Rupert frowned. "Professor Snape could transfigure our clothes again. Then he wouldn't have to touch them."

"That's a very temporary solution." Danny shook her head. "And, if he does, he can just give Gangolf his tutu and the rest of us normal clothes."

Gangolf returned about half an hour later looking deeply disappointed. "He said the problem has already been brought to the headmaster's attention and we should owl home and make due with whatever we can find right now. He thinks we probably won't do much in the first lesson anyway."

Tullia jumped up at the news. "Then I have to owl my parents right away!"

She dashed right up to the dorm where for some strange reason Anny, Dinah and Colleen were sitting on Dinah's bed giggling like mad.

"We have to owl home for Sports clothes." she told them as she ran past for pen and parchment. "The school isn't giving us any."

"Oh, but what will I wear tomorrow?" Colleen asked, but Tullia didn't stop to hear the answer.

She simply dashed back down to the common room where she could write more comfortably.

Lillian-is-fickle – Ups, sorry about Draco. He'll be in the next chapter, though. The Sopccer got out of hand, I'm afraid.

Pam Briggs – Draco teaches both Alchemy and Chemistry. I'm not sure about Physics, yet. He definitely wants to, but already has the biggest workload of all the West Hogsmeade teachers. ... Er ... advisor? What exactly do you mean by that? (Maybe I'm just unfamiliar with the English terminology. What I think of when I hear advisor just doesn't fit in with a subject in school.) ... Gangolf is just the way he is. He's grown up with a vain and clingy mother, while he has almost no relationship with his father at all. Hence his mother is his role model. He's the junior version of Lockhart, I'm afraid.

Elaanabeth – Colleen is reorienting herself in her new surroundings and as you can see quite successfully. ... Sorry, West Hogsmeade just didn't fit into this chapter. Starting it this close to the end wouldn't just have made the chapter even later than it already is, but would also have meant that I'd have had to either rush through it, or cut it somewhere in the middle. It'll be in the next chapter. ... Is this about Billy going to Hogwarts? I'm not sure what it's about, but I think it's about all ten of them. Greenie is running wild with this fic and I have next to no plan at all. He has by now given me a rough idea of where we're going to take this, but I'm mostly still in the dark. (Maybe that's his revenge for Double O where everything was planned ahead and he had very little room to play?)

None of the Above – Colleen is working hard on herself right now. Gangolf ... ah, poor boy, but I wrote him with the intention to make him suffer. ... Actually Danny is much more likely to beat someone up than Billy. If he hadn't become a Slytherin, he'd have made a good Hufflepuff (taking after Sarah, the medicine brewer and stray pet feeder). ... What is the plot of this? I'd tell you, if I had the slightest idea myself, but unfortunately I've been wondering that ever since Billy arrived at Hogwarts (where I'd planned to end the fic). This is purely the work of Greenie the green plot hedgehog (= inspiration) now. I think we're showing how a group of first years find their places at school as well as within the group, but Greenie might have something else in mind without telling me. (I've never written anything this much into the dark before. It's scary.)

A/N: Was , its review system or its review alert system malfunctioning, or am I losing readers through this story? ... Okay, okay, better questions: Will Colleen find something to wear for Sports class? Will Danny get over the disappointment of not making the Soccer team?

In the next chapter: Our first years visit West Hogsmeade for the first time, Draco shows up again and Gangolf ends up in the girls' gym.