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.
Disclaimer 8: The looks of the five Slytherin girls are taken mostly from a drawing by Iremione.
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A/N: Sorry for taking so long once again. I've been very busy. The next chapter will hopefully arrive faster, though.
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Chapter 13: Boys and Girls
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When the boys entered their changing room Billy was immediately greeted and dragged into a corner by Jimmy Harson.
Gangolf stared at the two with slight worry. What did the West Hogsmeade kid want with his classmate? Not that he was too worried about aggressive Billy coming to harm, but what if that monstrous half-goblin got a similar idea and grabbed him?
"Billy told me they went to primary school together." Aterus told him softly. "Him, Jimmy and Isran, too. They're old friends."
That was friendly behaviour for West Hogsmeade kids, then? And no wonder Billy was scary, if he'd had to put up with those monsters for five years. What had Professor Snape been thinking to send his son to school with ... with creatures like that!
"Aren't you going to change?" Rupert asked him.
He was already wearing a slightly too large pair of trousers he'd apparently borrowed from an older student and a spare t-shirt from Billy.
Gangolf wrinkled his nose at the sight, but did slip out of his robe and started folding it up.
"Well then, come on inside!" a teacher appeared in the door behind them.
Gangolf blinked at him for a moment, then continued to take off his shoes while the other students disappeared through the door.
The teacher smiled at him. "Not ready, yet? Hurry up then. You don't want to miss out on the fun."
Fun? Gangolf couldn't see what could possibly be considered fun about this class. It was all about doing dangerous things and getting dirty and sweaty.
Still he'd probably better not miss too much of it, or he might be put into detention, or even worse, have to stay after to complete his exercises. He put his shoes under the bench neatly and walked into the classroom in his socks.
Classroom? Whatever kind of classroom was this?! It was all empty with weird wooden things against the walls!
His classmates and the dangerous strangers were sitting on the ground in a circle along with the teacher who waved at Gangolf to join them.
"Well, hello then, class." the teacher greeted them as soon as Gangolf had sat down between Aterus and Pank. "As you have probably guessed already, I am your Sports teacher, but please don't call me Professor. I'm not much for formalities. I'd much prefer, if you simply call me Pit."
What a weird teacher, but none of Gangolf's classmates seemed to be very surprised.
"Now, I already taught some of you last year and I recognise some faces from the Soccer tryouts." the teacher continued and Gangolf suddenly understood the lack of surprise. "But some faces are still unfamiliar and I'm not sure I remember all of your names. I'm sure I recognise Billy and Pank." he nodded towards the boys. "And I believe you are Rupert and ... Anthony?"
"Aterus." Aterus corrected.
"Aterus." Pit repeated. "I knew it was something with A.
"I'm Anthony." one of the older boys volunteered.
"Anthony." Pit confirmed. "And next to Anthony we have Keith, right?"
Keith nodded.
"So, who are the two between Keith and Rupert, then?"
"I'm Damian and his name's Thor." a dark blonde boy reported.
"Anthony, Keith, Thor, Damian, Rupert, Aterus." Pit listed pointing at each boy in turn coming to a stop at Gangolf. "And you are?"
"Gangolf." Gangolf answered obediently.
"Gangolf, Aterus, Billy ..."
"Jimmy." Jimmy continued the list without waiting to be asked.
"Isran."
"Gangolf, Aterus, Billy, Jimmy and Isran." Pit repeated happily. "So which ones of you are first years?"
Gangolf raised his hand along with his classmates, Jimmy and Isran.
"Well, we have a problem, you see." Pit said. "There are seventeen of you in this class, but I can't allow more than sixteen, so one of you will have to join the girls' class."
"The girls?" somebody gasped. Gangolf couldn't tell who it had been, one of the group that wasn't first years in any case.
"Only for the actual lessons." Pit explained. "He'll still use the boys' change room, of course and it's only for first year. Next year we'll recombine the classes and if there are still too many boys, one of the new first years will have to go. ... Any volunteers?"
"Not Billy!" Jimmy called right away. "I hardly ever see him anymore."
"And not Aterus either." Billy added. "He's my best friend."
"I don't want to be separated from Pank." said Rupert.
"Maybe you'd best discuss this amongst yourselves?" Pit suggested. "Perhaps there's one of you who has a friend in the girls' class."
"It's either Gangolf or Isran." Pank decided.
"I'm not a girl!" both of them shouted at once.
"But you don't like Sports." Billy smirked at Gangolf. "I bet the girls' class is easier than ours."
"Yes, girls aren't as strong as boys, so they probably don't have to lift as heavy weights." Aterus agreed.
"And you're practically a girl anyway." Rupert teased. "Taking Ballet. I bet there'll be only girls in there with you as well. Might as well get used to it now."
"But I'm a boy." Gangolf protested. "I'm part of the group."
"The girls are part of the gang as well." Billy pointed out. "It's not like we're leaving you to fend for yourself. Danny will lead the girls' group. I'm sure she can protect you, if any disobedient brooms should show up in that class."
"So, have you reached a decision?" Pit asked much too soon.
"Yes, Gangolf." six fingers pointed at him.
"Well then, Gangolf. It's right across the corridor. Just walk right back through the change room and into the room with the girl symbol on the door. You'll find a second door in there which leads right into the girls' gym. My colleague is expecting you. Just tell her your name and that I sent you."
Gangolf suppressed a sob, nodded and slunk out of the gym. Now the others didn't only consider him a coward, they even thought he wasn't really a boy. What an insult! How could they not want him? The great Gangolf Bartering, best Hogwarts student ever!
Ha, he'd show them. He'd be so much better than the girls that they had to send him back. After all how hard could a girls' class be?
With new confidence Gangolf strode through the girls' change room and opened the door at its other end.
"Hi, I'm Gangolf Bartering."
"Ah, did Pit send you over to join our class?" the teacher smiled a little.
"Yes, Professor. There were too many boys, so I decided to help out."
"That's very kind of you, Gangolf." the teacher said. "You should fit nicely between Maggie and Colleen." She pointed at a spot between Colleen and another girl who moved over to make some room.
Seeing that all the girls were standing in line, Gangolf decided that that probably meant that he was supposed to join them and stepped into the opening.
"Oh my." the teacher exclaimed surprised. "You're even smaller than I thought. You should go between Anny and Maggie instead."
What? Small? Gangolf felt his face turn red as the line rearranged itself around him once again.
"Okay girls," the teacher declared happily completely ignoring the fact that there was a real boy in their midst. "For our first lesson we'll play a little game of catch. Who wants to be it?"
Several hands went up right away.
"Okay, Ilsa." the teacher decided and waved one of the girls over to her. "Everybody else, you have until three to get away. One ... Two ... Thee, go!"
And the girl apparently called Ilsa was off chasing after them. The girls dashed away squealing with false fear. Gangolf tried to follow Anny, but his stocking clad feet slipped and the girl was gone. Well, never mind, he'd just ...
"Got you!" a hand slapped him on the shoulder. "You're it!"
"Gangolf's it! Eeee ..." the girls squealed.
Well, he'd show them. He took off after Maggie who was squealing the loudest, but she dove in between two taller girls. Gangolf recognised Danny, but she ducked away and was gone. He stopped short for a moment, then launched for Freya, but a long jump carried her out of his reach and his feet slipped out from under him.
A sharp whistle.
"Gangolf, I think you should take off your socks before I restart the game." the teacher declared.
"But then my feet will get cold and I'll get sick." Gangolf protested.
"Nonsense." the teacher snorted. "Not while you're running around."
"Oh, does little Gangolf require a warming charm on his little toes?" Danny teased.
"I could cast one for you if you beg nicely." a Chinese looking girl suggested haughtily, much to the enjoyment of the rest of the class.
"Why should you?" said another girl Gangolf didn't know. "He's just a little crybaby."
"Yeah, should I get you some pepper-up from Madame Pomfrey?" one of the older Hogwarts girls sneered.
"He ought to be able to find the hospital wing on his own at his age, Stephanie." Freya chastised her.
"Come on, Gangolf." Even Anny was against him! "Just take off the stupid socks so we can play."
"Yes, you're spoiling the game, Mirrorboy." Colleen added. "And just when I was beginning to enjoy it."
Oh well, they had a point about pepper-up potion. He really could go to Madame Pomfrey for some, if he caught a cold from this.
With a sigh Gangolf took off his stockings and stuffed them into his pocket.
Another whistle restarted the game and he was off after stupid Colleen Nocturne with her constant sneering. It was easier to run barefoot he had to admit, but Colleen still got away when he took a swipe at Tullia who was dancing past him.
"God, that boy's slow." Danny groaned somewhere behind him. "Even Nocturne outruns him easily. Where's the fun in that?"
"Come on, Gangolf, catch me, catch me, catch me!" Dinah was hopping up and down waving at him, but she was long gone by the time Gangolf reached that end of the room.
He was panting and had a stitch in his side and now there were five girls dancing around him just out of reach, laughing and teasing.
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Meanwhile Pit had decided that after all the Soccer games he'd seen on the weekend they should play hand ball for a change. Not that any of them really knew the rules. They simply formed two teams and Pit made sure that there were an equal number of students from each school and year on each team and then everybody just tried to throw the ball into the opposing team's goal.
Billy was sure that there was supposed to be more to playing hand ball than that, but it was a lot of fun and Pit insisted that it gave him an idea of their abilities and constitution.
Aside from the fact that Billy was convinced that West Hogsmeade second year Tommy Leads was secretly enhancing his throws with levitation spells it was also a quite fair and even game. He hardly minded when his team lost in the end.
Gangolf trudged back in while they were changing back, looking exhausted and miserable.
"Gangolf is such a loser." Danny told them on the way back to Mr. Smith's office. "The professor had to relieve him of being it three times, because he's too slow to catch anyone. Honest, Nocturne's faster than him and she's in no shape at all."
"Yes, why did you have to send us the spoilsport, anyway?" Freya demanded. "Why not Anthony. He's a lot more fun."
"Pit said it had to be a first year." Billy explained. "Anyway, he was the only one nobody was going to miss and he behaves like a girl all the time, too."
"Do not." Gangolf pouted.
"Yes, you do." Pank declared. "In fact you're more girly than the girls. Except Colleen perhaps."
"What me? Why me?"
"Well, you don't like worms and you're fussy about your looks." Tullia stated.
"Fussy?" Colleen repeated. "Fussy? Because I don't drop my robes in the middle of the floor where they'll get all wrinkled? I do not spend all of my spare time in front of a mirror. Or starve myself to death."
"Oh yes?" Danny asked. "What was that about the spaghetti, then?"
"I'd never eaten any before." Colleen defended herself. "I didn't know how. And I was homesick anyway. Didn't have an appetite."
"Spaghetti are fun to eat." Anny stated. "I'll show you how next time we get them."
"Oh please!" groaned Jolanda Courtier. "Not those ugly tangle noodles again!"
"They were good, even if it is hard to eat them." Aterus pointed out.
"Babies." huffed Jolanda and refused to talk any more for the rest of the trip back to Hogwarts.
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Tuesday, right after the sixth lesson was the first meeting of the Volleyball Club. Tullia and Danny were so excited they could hardly sit still during Transfigurations causing Professor McGonagall to take a total of six points from Sylytherin and Tullia's needle ending up crooked.
The moment McGonagall finally let them out they took off for Filch's office, followed to their dismay by Sophie-Marleene Patter-Hendrics and ugly Laura Warthay. All hopes that the two Gryffindors might be going elsewhere died when they reached the dungeons and Danny could only pray for them to be put into a different group.
They had already noticed that the schedule listed five different Volleyball classes, so there was a chance.
Filch's office was full of excited students from all years who were all talking at once. It seemed most of them had already played the game before and knew everything about it.
"Do you think they'll even let us stay once they find out we don't even know the rules?" Tullia asked nervously.
"Of course they will." Danny willed it to be so. "They didn't say anything about tryouts, did they? It's just a fun class. Noone will care."
Tullia didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything more.
"Silence!" Mr. Filch yelled over the crowd. "There are too many of you to go all at once, so we'll just send you over in groups. When I call your name come up to the front and take hold of the portkey. Patter-Hendrics, Sophie-Marleene?"
"Here!" yelled the annoying Gryffindor and squeezed herself through to the front.
"Warthay, Laura?" Filch continued and the second Gryffindor followed her.
Next it was Danny's turn and then Tullia's. They took care to take the opposite end of the rope from the Gryffindors. Filch didn't seem to mind. He simply continued reading out names until he reached McQuire, Howard.
"McQuire?" he repeated after a second of nothing happening. "Howard McQuire? Has anyone seen Howard McQuire?"
Apparently nobody had. In fact, Danny hadn't even known there was anyone by that name at Hogwarts at all.
"So what happens now?" one of the older students asked.
"Nothing." Filch decided. "He's probably just a little late. I'll pass over his name and try again later. Anderson, Felinda?"
Soon Filch decided that their portkey was full and they ported into Mr. Smith's office once again. Filch immediately grabbed the rope and ported back to Hogwarts while Smith waved them towards the door.
"The change rooms, just like Sports class." he told them. "You know the way. The club meets in the girls' gym, but boys please wait until the professor calls you over. We don't want you running in on any changing girls."
When they stepped out of Smith's office West Hogsmeade looked completely different than it had the day before, though. The corridor was filled with green robed students who were laughing, shouting and pushing in every direction.
"Hey look, it's a bunch of Hogwarts nerds!" a very fat girl called. "Get lost posh-kids! We don't want your kind here!"
Several other students called out similar threats, but most just glanced their way and continued towards wherever they'd been headed.
"Oh, shut it, Tessa." a tall black boy said lazily, but still loud enough to be heard. "They're just a bunch of kids."
"Yeah, better get your essay done or Proffessor Tiller'll give you detention tomorrow." another girl said.
"What, you mean she still hasn't handed it in?" the black boy asked her incredulously.
Danny breathed a sigh of relief when the West Hogsmeade kids took to discussing Tessa's habit to forget homework and lost interest in their group. The didn't think any of the first group ported over were above fourth year and Tessa looked like she was at least sixteen. Danny certainly didn't like the odds, if they got into a fight.
The changing rooms were overflowing with students. Clearly they weren't made for such numbers and not only were there a lot of Hogwarts students still on the way, additional West Hogsmeade students arrived every few minutes as well.
The first years were forced to move on into the gym and change there, because there was no way they could have gotten a spot on one of the fought over benches. Even Danny had to accept that she wasn't strong enough to compete with these fighters when she saw one girl pull out a pocket knife to threaten a seventh year with.
The teacher turned out to be the same one they'd had in Sports class and aside from a sharp "Davie, put that knife away!" she didn't seem bothered by the goings on at all.
A little while after she had passed through the boys started streaming in and the situation got even worse until everybody was finally sitting on the floor in the gym.
"Okay, today will be mostly for logistics." the teacher announced. "I want you to come to me one by one for a little talk, so I can determine what team to put you in. In the meantime grab some balls to practise with."
There was a loud shout and suddenly everybody was running towards the equipment room where the balls were apparently kept. Tullia jumped up along with everybody else and started to follow them, but Danny grabbed her arm and pulled the other way.
"Come on. If we don't go now, we'll be last." she explained while dragging her friend over to the teacher.
"I'll probably put both of you in group five anyway." the teacher was just telling two very tall girls. "I can't promise that you'll be on the same team, though. It depends on how good the other players are and with all the new people this year I just don't know, yet."
"But Jo's my very best friend in the whole world." one of the girls pleaded.
"And you will train together." the teacher promised once again. "I just don't want to put both of you in one team, if that means the other side will have only beginners. It wouldn't be any fun to have such uneven teams."
The girls finally stomped off complaining loudly about the Hogwarts students lowering the quality of their club and the teacher finally turned to Danny and Tullia.
"Ah, you two are in that class with the boy, aren't you?" she asked. "You're the girl with the skirt."
Tullia nodded a little shyly.
"These clothes do fit in here much better." the teacher smiled at her.
"They're Anny's, though." Tullia explained. "She doesn't need them today, so I could borrow them. My parents still haven't owled me any sports clothes of my own."
"They haven't had much time, yet." Danny reassured her. "I'll bet they'll be here before our next Sports class."
The teacher was studying her list of students. "You're first years, if I remember correctly ... Daniella and Tullia?"
"Danny."
"Oh right, Danny." she noted something on her list. "So Danny, have you ever played Volleyball before?"
"No Professor." Danny admitted. "But I've always been good at Sports and I love ball games."
"So why did you choose to join the Volleyball Club?"
"Well, to be honest, I really wanted to play Quidditch, but I can't try out until next year and we didn't make the Soccer team. So we decided to try another sport and a friend told us how great Volleyball is, so we thought we'd give it a try."
"We'll try really hard to catch up to the rest of the team." Tullia promised quickly. "And you can always put us in the reserve until we know the rules. We don't have to participate in the actual games at all, if ..."
The teacher laughed. "Calm down girl. This isn't a school team. If I didn't want to teach beginners, I'd have held tryouts. I'm sure most of the other first years and probably a lot of the higher years haven't played before either. Volleyball is rarely played in primary school, after all. I'm putting you in group one, which will most likely be entirely for beginners."
"And we'll be together, right?" Danny asked.
The teacher nodded. "No problem for now. I decide what team you play on once I'm able to judge your abilities, though."
That scared Tullia a little, but then she could always quit after this year, if she was separated from Danny and how bad could the consequences of skipping a voluntary class like a club be?
They watched some of the older students play for a while and tried to imitate the way they pushed the ball at each other, but there had to be some sort of trick to it that they couldn't figure out. Their ball seemed to fly everywhere, but where they were trying to make it go.
When an older boy finally snatched it away from them Tullia managed to stop Danny from demanding it back and directed her back towards the teacher instead. By now most of the groups were almost full and it was interesting to watch how the teacher dealt with the problems that brought.
"My you are tiny for a third year!" she exclaimed at a girl Tullia thought she'd seen at the Hufflepuff table before. "And you've never played before?"
"No, Professor." the girl confirmed looking quite embarrassed.
"Oh, I really should put you into the first group then, but it's full."
"Can't she be in the second?" somebody suggested. "You put a lot of beginners there already."
"But those were all a lot taller." the teacher explained staring at her list. "They'd probably always snatch the ball away before you could reach it. No, it has to be the first group. I'll have to move the tallest second year into the second group in exchange. If only I remembered which one that was ..."
"Damian." one of the students supplied.
"Damian?" the teacher called out over the noise in the room, which seemed quite a feat to Tullia. "Damian Handerson, you'll be in the second group instead of first!"
"But ... but Andy's my best friend!" came the apparently expected protest. "We want to be together."
The teacher cast a look over at the two boys. "He's the one who's already played Volleyball? Fine, you're both moved to the second group. That gives us another opening in the first. Are we still lacking any first or second years?"
And thus it continued until well after the start of dinner. For a while Tullia was worried that Danny might be put into the second group as well. After all she was very tall for her age, but the teacher never moved any of the first years around.
When they came out of the changing rooms, stomachs growling with hunger, they found Mr. Filch waiting outside the door. He held two little pieces of paper out to them.
"Food tickets." he explained at their puzzled looks. "The lunch hall is at the other end of the corridor. Just hand the ticket to the witch who hands out the food and wait for me after you're done."
"We're expected to eat here?" Danny asked surprised.
Filch just nodded and turned to the next girl in a Hogwarts robe who'd just walked through the door.
"I suppose it's simply too late to go back." Tullia decided. "Dinner would be over by the time the last group could be portkeyed back."
At first everybody was going the same way, but when they neared the stairs things got more complicated. Some students disappeared into a room to their right, while others went on straight and the largest group seemed to disappear to the right exactly in front of the stairs.
The girls stopped and exchanged a worried look.
"So which way do we go?" Tullia asked.
Danny looked around, but all the other Hogwarts students in sight seemed to be just as undecided as they were. "I suppose the West Hogsmeade people would have to know. They must be going to dinner as well."
"But they're all headed in different directions." Tullia argued.
"The largest group's going that way." Danny pointed. "Lets see where that leads."
They didn't have to go very far to realise that that way led towards the school's main doors.
"Do you think the lunch room could be in a different building?" Danny asked Tullia.
"Mr. Filch said it's at the end of the corridor."
"Then it must have been that door to the right." Danny decided. "We have to go back."
By now there was a whole group of other Hogwarts students following them.
"Are you sure?" the tiny third year from Hufflepuff asked them. "It seemed like hardly anyone went there."
"Well, most of them live here in Hogsmeade." a boy said. "Maybe only those who don't eat here."
They returned to the door, but once they stepped through it was obvious that they were lost once again. This was a wardrobe with benches and hooks on the walls and a few cloaks and pair of shoes. The only other door led back towards the entrance hall.
"So what do we do now?" Tullia asked. "This is the end of the corridor and all the other doors are locked."
"Maybe it isn't." somebody said. "Maybe we're supposed to go on past the stairs."
"I wish Billy were here." Tullia mumbled to herself as they crossed the now almost empty entrance hall. "He'd know where the lunch room is."
"Wait! I think I just smelled food!" someone exclaimed and indeed the smell of hot soup was drifting down the corridor.
Once one had crossed the entrance hall the lunch hall was hard to miss. It was huge with wide doors and it smelled of food.
There were only very few West Hogsmeade students in there at this time. The main crowd was made up of bewildered Hogwarts students. This place was nothing like the great hall!
"I think we're supposed to line up." Danny decided pointing at a line of students before the counter at the end of the hall. "That must be where the witch with the food is."
Indeed a witch wearing a shawl over her hair appeared behind the counter only moments later and pushed a plate over it. The student at the front of the line accepted the plate and put it on an orange tray that he was carrying.
"Where do we get those trays?" Tullia asked.
They looked around feeling rather lost once again until Danny spotted a stack of trays at the side of the counter.
"Hey, there are knives and forks right here, too!" she exclaimed drawing the whole group to that spot.
"But where are the spoons?" asked the boy from before. "I know I smelled soup."
"Here." a taller boy pointed. "And napkins, too."
As the line moved on they even came past rows of glasses and then little bowls of salad.
"Look! " the tiny third year pointed at a student who'd just passed the food witch. "There's pudding and bread over there."
"Haven't you guys ever eaten at a self service restaurant before?" an older girl in green robes asked rolling her eyes.
"Well, no." Tullia had to admit. "We never went out to eat much. Mum always cooks at home."
"What, you man you don't have a house elf?" a boy sneered at her.
"House elf?" Tullia repeated confused. "Do I look like some posh manor girl who'd own a house elf?"
"Colleen probably has one." Danny reminded her. "And Aterus mentioned having one, too."
"Yeah well, but they're rich." Tullia shrugged. "Do I look rich to you?"
"Um ... yes?" the boy returned no longer sneering.
"What about me looks rich?" Tullia looked down at herself as much as she could while holding her tray straight.
"Um ... your robes." Um really seemed to be that boy's favourite word.
"But that's my school uniform." Tullia protested.
"Exactly." the boy nodded. "If you're not rich, how come you're going to Hogwarts?" he demanded and Tullia took an involuntary step back at his tone.
Luckily Danny had caught on by then. "Both her parents work hard for that!" she snapped at the boy. "As do mine and those of most of our friends. Sorry if yours didn't deem you important enough to do the same."
"My Mum would do anything for me! It's not her fault Dad ran away!" the boy yelled at her.
"So you're blaming us for that or something?" Danny yelled back. "We never even met the guy."
He took a step forward, but the girl from before put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "She's right, Ary. They didn't do anything. Leave the children alone. And you," she pointed her other hand at Tullia. "Are holding up the line."
Indeed Tullia had reached the end of the line without even noticing and the food witch was looking down at her expectantly.
"Oh, sorry." Tullia stuttered and held up her bit of paper.
The food witch snatched it out of her hand and shoved two plates across the counter. One contained soup, the other a small piece of meat, vegetables and two large potatoes. Tullia only hoped that the meat wasn't cow again.
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Dinner without Danny and Tullia was quite an improvement, Colleen thought, though she didn't really mind Tullia all that much. Yes, the girl was part fish, but so far that remained the only wrong she'd done. It was Danny that really bothered her. Danny and Gangolf.
Colleen glared at the boy who had pushed his chair as far away from the table as possible while still being able to reach his salad. Unfortunately that meant that he was blocking the path for any student who might want to walk down between the house tables.
"Just what is wrong with you this time?" she demanded. She wasn't overly fond of eggs with spinach herself, but with the salad and lots of pumpkin juice it was edible enough.
"Don't you realise what stains spinach leaves on your robes?" Gangolf answered as if it were obvious. "I don't want to ruin my uniform."
"Gangolf, the uniform's black." Dinah blinked at him.
"So?"
"Black doesn't show spinach stains." Dinah explained.
"And, even if it did, that's what house elves are for." Colleen added. "They have special spells to deal with persistent stains."
"Really?" Anny asked wide eyed. "Oh, house elves are so cool."
"House elves?" Colleen repeated incredulously. "What could be cool about those ugly things?"
"Anny means how useful they are." Billy translated. "Muggles don't have them, remember. They can't do anything about spinach stains."
"Are you Muggle born, Gangolf?" Aterus asked.
"Of course not!" yelped Gangolf. "My mother is one of the greatest witches in the world and my father ... well my father is even greater. He ..."
"An even greater witch?" Billy smirked. "I could almost believe that."
Teasing was quite enjoyable when you weren't the one being teased, Colleen found, but unfortunately she had a class to get to right after dinner and she didn't want to miss her very first French lesson.
What was even more unfortunate was the fact that French was held at West Hogsmeade and she didn't know anybody else who was taking it.
At least she remembered the way to the caretaker's office quite well. Colleen was used to living in a big manor with lots of rooms so she didn't get lost very often and the office was in the dungeons after all, really close to the Slytherin common room by the standards she was used to.
There were five students already in the room when Colleen arrived, two of which she recognised as Ravenclaws from her year, but couldn't name. Of the other three two were strangers and the third the Weasley girl. At first Colleen frowned, but then she reminded herself that the girl was a Hufflepuff, not a Gryffindor.
Her classmates all liked the Hufflepuffs, so it was probably best to be friendly. Considering that the other four all formed pairs the Hufflepuff was probably her best chance at making a friend in this class as well. The Weasleys were an old pureblood family and therefore acceptable. What was her name again? Oh right!
"Hi Cam." Colleen gave her what she hoped to be an inviting smile. She had to be feeling a little left out in this group, too, didn't she?
"Hi ... um ... Nocturne." Cam returned blushing.
"Colleen." Colleen corrected.
"Oh sorry."
"No problem. I can't remember the names of those two Ravenclaws either." Colleen whispered so only Cam could hear her. "Not even the last names."
"Cait and Nonius." Cam whispered back.
There was a sudden bang and Filch appeared with a group of students.
"Okay, okay, Volleyballers please clear out. Where are the French students?" Filch shooed the new arrivals out.
"Here!" Cam called raising her hand and waving.
Colleen decided to imitate that.
"One, two, three ... six." Filch counted. "That should be all of you. Now next week you will meet me here before dinner, understand?"
They nodded.
"I will give each of you a food ticket and you will eat at West Hogsmeade, then go to class and Mr. Smith will send you back afterwards." Filch ordered.
"Why do we have to eat there?" Nonius asked.
"Because that way we avoid the problem we have right now." Filch grumbled. "I have two more loads of Volleyballers to bring back here and you to take to your class and didn't get any dinner. Next week I'm going over with you, will eat there, then take the volleyballers back. Come on now, take the portkey."
Mr. Smith's office was in chaos. The caretaker had to physically push back the students to make room for them to arrive.
"Alright, French students, stay with Mr. Smith, Volleyballers take a hold of the portkey. No more than twelve at a time!" Filch started shouting right away.
For a moment Colleen thought she caught sight of Danny's red hair in the group that pushed past her towards the portkey, but there were too many taller students between them to be sure and she didn't want to see Danny anyway. The less conspicuous Tullia was nowhere in sight.
"Alright, you stay here and wait quietly until Mr. Filch comes back for you." Mr Smith told the small group of Volleyball players left in the office. "French students, follow me."
This time Colleen wasn't surprised at the way this school looked anymore. After all she had already seen it when they'd had Sports the day before. What difference did it make that this time they went up the stairs and into another corridor?
"Colleen, look!" Cam pointed at the first door Mr Smith walked past on the corridor.
Colleen could only stop and stare.
"Beautiful!" one of the two older students gasped.
"It's a tradition." Mr. Smith explained. "When the school was first started the rooms only had little numbers above each door and the students, especially the first years, kept getting lost. So one day one of the teachers decided to help their orientation by putting a large inscription on his door. The method was so successful that the others soon started to imitate it. In order to make each door really memorable they all got different decorations and when the teachers realised how well an advanced demonstration of their art motivates students it became the custom for them to link the form of the decoration to their subject."
"This, for example." he said stopping in front of one of the doors. "Is a picture of the French flag and the Eiffel tower in Paris. "And when you go on inside you will find even more pretty pictures of France there."
There was no chance to look at those pictures, though. They were already late for their class and the moment they opened the door the teacher's attention was on them.
"Ah, bonjour les élèves!" she exclaimed waiving them inside. "Entrez, entrez."
"Um ... bonjour." Colleen stuttered nervously. It was the only word she thought she understood.
Did the teacher speak only French? If so what was she going to do? She'd expected to be taught from the very beginning.
The teacher smiled. "Come on in and sit down, students. Do any of you already know a little French?"
Colleen quickly sat down on the chair next to the one Cam picked and glanced through the room. Including herself there were fifteen students in here, but only six had their hands raised, all of them wearing the green robes of West Hogsmeade and sitting together in the window row.
"Only the students I already taught last year?" the teacher asked sounding a little disappointed. "What about you?" she turned to Colleen. "You seemed to understand me."
Colleen shook her head. "My grandmother knows French. I think she once mentioned that bonjour means hello."
"Actually it means 'good day'." the teacher smiled. "The French use it the way we use good morning and good afternoon. Hello would be allo, but it isn't used as much as our hello. Anybody else know a French word?"
There were a few raised hands, but it soon turned out that except for the six advanced students they didn't know much.
The two strangers from Hogwarts turned out to be second year Ravenclaws and the advanced students were second and third years from West Hogsmeade. Then there were three West Hogsmeade first years who knew even less French than Colleen.
"Alors, le livre." the teacher announced finally and pointed at a white panel on the wall on which the title and author of a book had been written in black letters. "The book. Please copy it down. We will need it by next week. You can get it at the book shop in the market place, or order it at any other book shop."
"We're not allowed to visit Hogsmeade until third year, Professor." one of the second years informed her. "And then only on three weekends in the year. I don't think this week is one of those."
For a moment the teacher seemed dumbfounded, but she recovered quickly. "Well, then you'd best ask your parents to owl it to you. Unless any of you live unusually far away it should be possible for them to be here in time."
Oh no! "Er ... Professor?" Colleen timidly raised her hand. "I ... um ... My parents ... They are very busy people, you know, and they don't always find time to read and answer my owls right away. I ... There's another item I owled home for at the beginning of last week, but they haven't found time to send it, yet. I'm not sure how long it might take them to send the book."
"I see." the teacher looked at her oddly. Colleen wondered what she was thinking. "I suppose you and your friend can share a book for a while, if yours doesn't arrive in time. Now, back to our first lesson. We are going to learn how to introduce ourselves in French."
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Eowyn-Faith – Colleen will probably have a few very hard years trying to reconcile the values she is learning from her peers with the ones she has to deal with at home in her family. In the end she will have to break with either her friends or her family, if she wants to be free of that conflict, but it will be years before she is old enough to make that choice. For now she will be constantly torn between trying to be a good friend and trying to be a good daughter.
midnight tiger – The boys don't have a mirror in their changing room at all, but neither do the girls, so Gangolf was disappointed on that issue. ... Aparating accident? Um yes, but he didn't splinch. Rupert would tell you that it was much worse than that, in fact. ... Colleen isn't that bad deep down. It's just the way she was raised.
schkuro – I have to thank Greenie for making me put in the letters. They were originally meant as a character study while I was working out the relationships between the kids and their parents.
Lillian – Maybe, but Draco wouldn't know. He hasn't used the Malfoy name since the day the Snapes officially adopted him. Jeremiah Malfoy probably is doing his best to uphold the name, though.
Mystical Witch – If you look back at the beginning of the fic you'll notice that Minerva sent the first years' letters out long before the school partnership was even suggested. They didn't know there would be a Sports class at the time and even later on Albus didn't realise the need, because he was distracted with other things and didn't really have a clear idea of what a Sports class is in the first place. The letters sent out to next year's first years will include a description of the Hogwarts Sports uniform, but this year Hogwarts just stumbled in without a plan. (Hey, they decided to make mayor changes to the schedules and organisation of the entire school about four weeks before the implementation of those changes and the only thing they forgot were Spots clothes!)
ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies – Not yet, but he probably would have been, if he'd stayed for the actual game.
Kyzara – Thanks. Sorry it took so long.
Pam Briggs – The letters were actually an idea I got at the end of chapter 11 and meant to be a character study for my own use. When I got the first few done I liked them so much, however, that I decided to put them in the fic after all.
LM – Well, I don't think Albus could be convinced to change the Hogwarts menu, because an already underweight eleven year old wants to lose weight. He'd probably offer him a lemon drop, though. Anyway, Gangolf is very hard to convince that a normal meal could be healthy.
angelgothgirl – I'm afraid this is an extremely busy time at my job (including stupid events that practically constitute overtime, but aren't paid as such, because I'm apparently supposed to love going there and not getting to do the things I enjoy). The next chapter is already started, though, so maybe we'll get lucky for once.
Sailor Bluestar – Actually, his duties as a head of house and Hogwarts teacher. He's obliged to stay and supervise the students who remain behind, though those duties are rotated among the teachers, so occasionally he does get the chance to take off with the kids.
Angel-Wings-Forever – Actually, it intentionally doesn't prove that Ginny married Draco. It might just as well mean that one of Draco's descendants married one of the Weasleys'. The point was actually to show how much Hogwarts can change while still remaining the same (The Malfoy pranksters, the Longbottoms Slytherins ... but still the same old house feuds.) I've gotten very mixed reactions to the epilogue, though. It seems people either love or hate it and as I've already told others before, if you don't like it, consider the last chapter the end. (Hey one person even reviewed saying it wasn't allowed to have an epilogue, if you don't have a prologue.) The story does work fine without the epilogue.
Colibi – LOL! That would have been entirely in the realm of the possible, but alas, he actually was sent by the teacher. (One has to wonder whether he won't be a burden for the class, though.)
Iremione – Actually the letters were a spur of the moment idea at the end of chapter 11. At first I didn't even intend to include them and just wrote them for myself. ... Actually what was hinted in Rupert's letter isn't the entire story, but we will learn the rest later. It may not be his fault, but his school mates teased him about it so much that it became his problem anyway. ... Gangolf in fact never did see much of his father. His parents didn't actually divorce for appearances' sake, but his father moved out when Gangolf was just a toddler. He is more like a distant acquaintance than a parent to Gangolf. ... Dinah is loved indeed, but sometimes feels stifled by it. She is of a slightly more solitary nature than her Hufflepuff family. It's not big enough to count as a problem, though. Her family will definitely back her all the way whatever path she will choose in life and that will give her the confidence she needs to excel. ... Once again, you're a little off concerning Danny, though. She's simply bad at writing letters and doesn't know how to express her feelings. She loves her parents dearly and if they came to visit she'd greet them with wild, crushing hugs. But then she'd be off again. Danny is very independent. Unlike Dinah she doesn't take her confidence from the support of her family, but from her own inner strength. She's a talented young witch who has rarely experienced failure which has given her a very positive self image. Whatever life might throw at her, she is sure she will master. ... Dread is too strong a word for Aterus' relationship with his father. Mr. Sorrel is a very reserved and occasionally stern man and Aterus has learned to show his love for him by keeping a little distance and obeying him. His father is his hero, while his Mum is where he goes for emotional warmth. ... Tullia knows that Hogwarts is important for her and that it isn't natural to have the chance to attend the school. The little merpeople she grew up playing with for example can't go and neither did her half blood father. She knows her parents are very happy that she was accepted into the school and doesn't want to spoil that for them. (And she is beginning to feel better about her new life as she is getting closer to her new friends.) ... I loved your picture so much, I simply had to use it! As for Danny's hair colour, I thought why not. She really could have had any hair colour and we didn't have a redhead in the group yet. (Rupert has black hair. No way will I have a redhead called Rupert!) ... I suppose you know what Gangolf is doing with the girls by now, so I'll just leave it at that. ... If it's any consolation people also think we have kangaroos in Austria. (Well, we do have zoos.) ... Gangolf unfortunately still hasn't got a clue thatt he's doing something wrong at all, while Colleen recognised her mistake and is making an effort to correct it. ... I've decided to make Jorge more interested in Art and Music than Sports. He does like to watch Quidditch, but he isn't a fanatic. If given the choice between playing Quittitch or rehearsing with his band, he will pick the band anytime. (Inspired by your mentioning that Spanish children have to learn to play the flute in school, by the way.) ... That's exactly the point I'm trying to make about Lockhart. Gryffindors accept their own despite silly quirks, while Slytherins will draw the line at the ridiculous. (Maybe that's why Dumbledore wasn't sorted into Slytherin?) ... It's the large cast that has made this one go so slow. In Runaway Dragon I had one main character exposed to an entirely new world, this time I have ten. One character alone couldn't experience all these things, but in a group of ten it's quite likely one of them will experience almost anything. ... Attending school is a legal obligation, you know and some people might like to gain a qualification, even if they don't actually need to. (I believe you of all people should understand the joy of learning something new and doing well at it.) Others, like the Malfoys might just do it as a status symbol. ... Actually, as long as the Slytherins are outsiders among Hogwarts they need the hate for Gryffindor to give them a focus point for their anger and a purpose to hold them together. In this fic with Volemort gone they are more accepted by Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff than they are in Harry's time and Sevi might be a little bit more mellow, but the Gryffindors still call them all Death Eaters. It's just not the right way to endear yourself to someone. ... Sorry, Billy might not be fully conscious of it, but deep in his heart he knows that he will follow in the footsteps of his parents and admired brother. It wasn't intentional, but he was raised to love alchemy. ... It would depend on the kind of physical exercise and just how long and wide the skirt is. I have played Volleyball in a skirt, but I doubt it would be comfortable to climb ladders or exercise on the double bar. Even a forward roll might get difficult in a long skirt. Sports class isn't entirely about running and ball games. ... No, you didn't tell me anything about your classmates, yet! You only mentioned the lessons and teachers so far. Do tell!
Cestrel – I considered doing that, but in the end I just couldn't see Albus give up on this issue. He just doesn't understand what good West Hogsmeade can do. He's gotten a few surprises already this school year and as the school partnership continues he will learn a lot. ... Alas, poor Luke continued to be gangless for almost two years before the Sharks who were facing a severe lack of little wannabes at the time took him in. He became one of the biggest Raker haters which helped him be fully accepted by his new gang.
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A/N: Will Tullia and Danny like playing volleyball? Is Colleen making friends with Cam, and if so, what will her family say? And is she ever going to get her hair pins, Sports clothes and French book?
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In the next chapter: Aterus makes a new friend, Billy searches for Draco and snakes are wise, not evil.
