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.
Disclaimer 9: I first encountered the Ravenslyth-terminology on the Slytherin Rising e-group. I don't remember who invented it, but it's not mine.
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A/N: A Christmas gift for you all, because here in Austria Christmas is celebrated in the evening of the 24th, not the morning of the 25th.
I know I'm late, but I just had to post a chapter of my other fic, co-hold a stupid three day seminar, attend several Christmas parties I didn't want to go to, or ended up not enjoying, if I actually happened to look forward to them, work and I got sick on top of it all. Between all that I didn't find much time to write and what I did write ended up so bad I had to rewrite most of it. There's a weak chance next chapter might be on time, though.
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Chapter 15: Huffleslyth, Ravenslyth ... Gryffinslyth?
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"I just don't understand why they hate us so much." Anny sniffed. "Are snakes really evil?"
"No animal is evil, Anny." Salazar said mildly. "If you could talk to snakes the way I do, you'd see, but unfortunately it is a very rare gift."
"But the bible. Does it really say that snakes are the symbol of the devil?"
"The bible, is a very dangerous book and you should treat it with extreme caution." Salazar answered as if stating the obvious.
"Dangerous?" Anny gasped. "But isn't it the word of God?"
"It claims to be." Salazar allowed. "And that is exactly what makes it so dangerous. But tell me one thing, who wrote the bible? Was it God?"
"Of course it ... Oh right! It wasn't God, it was Jesus' apostles." Anny realised. "But they only wrote down what Jesus told them."
"Even if that were true it is easy to misunderstand what others tell you. The apostles were only human and prone to human errors. But in truth they didn't write the bible. They only told their stories to others, who told them to others again and so on. Stories always change with each telling, so finally some people decided to write them down. In fact several people did and most of them took the name of an apostle for the task. The real apostles however were long dead by then. For a long time there were a lot of different accounts going about until finally the church decided which ones were to be put into the bible. The others were banned and declared false."
"But how did they know which ones to choose and which ones to ban?"
"They chose the ones that were opportune to them at the time, of course." Salazar smiled. "One of the simplest tricks, really, and one of the most dangerous. People back then didn't have much of an education. Most couldn't even read or write. It was easy to mislead them."
"The bible is meant for good, though. So how can it be dangerous?"
"How can it be dangerous? Lets see ... witch hunts, crusades, religious wars ... Have you ever heard of a man called Gallileo Gallilei? All the poor man did was make a scientific discovery that contradicted an innocent little sentence in the bible. They burned him for it. Then there were Calvin, Luther ... Religion itself is a very dangerous thing, Anny. Those who believe to have the only truth are the most dangerous people of all. They believe themselves to be superior to everybody else and will not tolerate other people's arguments or world views. They kill and torture."
"But you were a Christian, Salazar, weren't you? Back in your days everybody was."
Salazar laughed. "Not the wizards, Anny. I was raised by druids. Druids who had to die in the name of the mighty church. Back then Christianity was at its worst and I saw too much of it for my comfort. It didn't tolerate magic any more than it did those of different belief, you know. It was a terrible and dangerous time."
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Gangolf was having a bad day. Yes, another bad day. There was a Flying lesson threatening after lunch, he'd missed breakfast once again and then the whole class had laughed at him in Latin.
Even Jorge, who never understood much of anything, had laughed at whatever it was he'd actually said. Gangolf still didn't know what exactly his mistake had been, or why it had been so funny, but he didn't dare to ask. It was too embarrassing to admit that it hadn't just been a lapse of concentration. Maybe if he didn't ask, people would even think it had been an intentional joke.
And on top of all that their next class was Transfigurations. Not that Transfigurations was that bad as a subject, but Gangolf disliked the teacher.
McGonagall wasn't the worst of his teachers in his opinion, but she was the one unanimously disliked by all Slytherins, so it was safe to admit it. Maybe one of the others was actually willing to talk about it? Gangolf looked around for his classmates.
"What do you think we're going to do in Flying class today?" Rupert was just saying to Pank. "I'm so looking forward to really getting off the ground."
Not quite the kind of conversation Gangolf wanted to try and join. Maybe he could risk talking with Billy on such a safe topic?
"West Hogsmeade is really fascinating." he heard Aterus comment. "How do they manage to teach both wizards and squibs and still get such good results with both groups?"
"Draco says it's all a question of how you organise it." Billy answered. "Their schedules are much more individual than ours, so they're able to adapt to each student's needs."
Stupid squibs and their stupid school! Maybe the girls were a better choice. Girls were more likely to discuss interesting things and he wasn't really used to having boys around him from home.
"So the seeker dove right through between the beaters and got so fast that he didn't manage to stop in time and his broom caught on the goal post. He was thrown right through the hoop and the keeper caught the broom instead of the quaffle." Danny's eyes were glowing with fascination as she told her scary story.
"That couldn't possibly happen in underwater polo." Tullia commented. "For one thing our goals are much smaller and then all players have to be able to swim."
Well, Gangolf didn't really want to talk with Danny anyway.
"Great Aunt Enid has a special notice board in her entrance hall where she has a picture of each relative arranged as a family tree." Dinah was telling Anny and Colleen. "So every second year we have to send her new pictures to update her board."
"Our family tree's etched into the main dining room's wall in golden lettering." Colleen said. "It goes all the way down the length of the room by now. My brother's children will probably have to be written around the corner."
"What about your children?" Anny asked.
"Well, they'll be on the family tree of whatever family I marry into of course." Colleen answered.
"And not you family's?" Dinah gasped. "Isn't that a bit unfair?"
Colleen shrugged. "To be honest, I don't really care so much for the family tree. When I was five my grandmother made me sit in that dining room for hours every day and learn it by heart. Do you know how hard it is for a five year old to decipher that old artful writing? I learned to hate that wall back then."
"Five?" Dinah gasped. "That's cruel. I only had to be able to recognise all my living relatives at that age."
"Yes, five. That's just the way it is. My brother had to do the same last year when he was five." Colleen returned. "Anyway, have you two noticed the painting of the catwoman? The one just down that hallway?"
"You mean the witch that turns into a tiger while you watch?" Anny asked. "She's so cool!"
"Well, I overheard the sixth years talking about it and they say there's a secret passage behind it that leads into the original Transfigurations classroom, where Rowena Ravenclaw taught." Colleen continued. "I wonder whether it's true."
"We could ask Salazar." Anny suggested. "I need to visit him later anyway, so he can help me with my snake pronunciation. Maybe if I'm really realistic I'll get to keep the role."
"I absolutely hate McGonagall." Gangolf told the three girls. "You know, she graded my homework a three even though I wrote a whole sentence more than she asked for."
"I think your snake impersonation is great." Dinah declared. "I'm sure you'll get the role."
"Or maybe you'll get an even better one once the teacher sees how good you are." Colleen added. "Do you think they'll let us go see the play at the end of the year?"
"I think we'll put it on long before then. The teacher said it was the first of the year, not the only one."
Gangolf almost sighed. Hadn't they heard him at all?
He started to repeat himself, but by then they had reached the classroom and it was already full of Gryffindors. Gangolf quickly ducked into his seat before any of them decided to hit him. He didn't want them to break his perfect nose after all.
"Hi Colleen." somebody called.
"Hello, Xavier, Barthemia." Colleen sneered at the small Gryffindor in the shabby robes. Gangolf was quite sure that her name wasn't Barthemia and probably not Xavier either, but he couldn't remember her real one.
"It's Barbara." the girl told Colleen right away. "Barbara Xanton. Barthemia's just something Binns made up."
"At least Barthemia made you sound like you had a bit of class." Colleen returned haughtily. "Then again in those robes nobody could ever mistake you for anything other than a common mudblood."
"I'm Muggle born, too." Anny reminded Colleen. "And I don't run around wearing dirty rags."
"Well, that's what makes her a common mudblood and you just unfortunately a mudblood." Colleen declared.
"I was just going to ask whether any of you are taking Ballet." Barbara stated bravely. "I seem to be the only one in my house who does so I thought I'd just ask some of the other people I know."
"Ballet?" Danny snorted. "You? That's got to be a joke. What are you going to be? The swan in rags?"
"I'm taking Ballet!" slipped out of Gangolf's mouth. Finally someone who shared his interest!
"Really?" Barbara beamed at him. "But you're a boy."
"So? They need just as many male dancers at the ballet as female ones." Gangolf explained. "I'm going to be a big star someday."
"Oh, have you been taking lessons for very long then?" Barbara asked. "I've always wanted to, but we could never afford the lessons. At least my Dad said we couldn't. He probably just meant he didn't want to pay for them."
"Don't worry, I'm a beginner, too." Gangolf told her. "But I've often been to watch the ballet with my mother, so I know all about it. I can explain to you, if you have any problems."
"That'd be so great!" Barbara exclaimed. "I really need a friend in Ballet class. You're Mr. Bartering, right?"
Gangolf nodded. "Yes, but you can call me Gangolf. I've been looking forward to meeting some more civilised people as well. The Slytherins are such a rough lot."
This was wonderful! Finally he had found someone in this school who was worthy of being his friend! Gangolf was so happy that he didn't even notice how all their classmates were glaring at them as they talked.
"Rough lot?" Colleen whispered to herself incredulously. How dare that little nancy-boy! Yes, the other girls were a little undisciplined and common, but except for Danny Colleen certainly wouldn't describe them as rough.
Of the boys Billy and Rupert seemed a little rough around the edges, but Aterus was a perfect young gentlewizard and Pank just a little boyish. After getting to know Anny and Dinah a little better and finding out about their background Colleen was inclined to believe that most of her classmates would shape up quite nicely with time. Their parents simply hadn't been as thorough in their education as her grandmother had and maybe it wasn't really expected of modern children to be perfect ladies and gentlewizards by the time they entered Hogwarts. They had seven more years to grow up, after all.
So how could Bartering call them rough! Including herself! When had she ever lapsed in her ladylike manners?
And now he was actually inviting that shabby Gryffindor to sit at his desk. In her chair!
"Traitor." Billy hissed angrily. "We can't tolerate that. He's collaborating with the enemy."
"Let him." said Danny. "They're welcome to him. At least he won't hang around us as much, if he becomes an honorary Gryffindor."
"Easy for you to say." Colleen glared at Barbara. "You don't have to sit next to him in class."
"Just ignore him." Pank suggested. "I doubt he'd dare to harm any of us on purpose. He is a Slytherin and will have to live with us. We just can't let him overhear anything the Gryffindors could use against us. He's stupid enough to just go and tell them whatever they want to know."
"I want to sit with Anny and Dinah." Colleen complained. "Or at least Tullia, or Aterus."
"Professor McGonagall said we couldn't change the seating order anymore this year." Rupert reminded her. "And anyway the desks are for two people, not three. There aren't any free seats left."
"I'll sit with you in Transfiguration next year." Anny promised. "And I'll take Gangolf in Charms."
"I suppose I could sit next to him in History." Dinah said. "I always do homework in that class anyway."
"Maybe we can come up with an arrangement that will have each of us sitting with him for only one class." Pank decided. "That'd be fair, wouldn't it?"
"I can't sit with him." Danny announced. "I'd throttle him by the end of the first lesson."
"Then neither can I." declared Billy.
"Fine." sighed Pank fishing around in his bag for a fresh roll of parchment. "I'll try to avoid assigning you two to Gangolf, but if it means somebody else would have to take him twice, you're out of luck."
He didn't get to start his seating plan though, because before he found the parchment Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom.
Colleen started to run to her desk like everybody else, but Barbara Xanton was still in her chair and she stopped in the corridor between the rows of desks unsure what to do.
"Order please!" McGonagall demanded. "Mr. Sanger will you please stand behind your seat not on it! Miss Nocturne, to your desk. Mr. ..."
"But Professor!" Colleen called. This wasn't her fault, after all. "That Xavier girl's in my chair. There's not enough room behind her."
"Xavier?" McGonagall asked sounding confused.
"She means Barbara." Cesareus Tonks supplied. "Professor Binns called her Ms. Xavier instead of Xanton."
"Ms. Xanton!" McGonagall finally noticed Barbara and Gangolf. "Kindly stop talking and move back to your own place. Mr. Bartering, please get up."
Colleen gave Barbara her most haughty look as she reclaimed her finally vacated chair. She wished she could stick out her tongue at the Gryffindor, but of course a Lady would never do that and she couldn't risk getting detention today. It'd be simply impossible if she had to miss her first Choir Club meeting.
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"I can't believe Gangolf is in the hospital wing again." Rupert announced when they met up in the common room after Charms class that day.
"Well, I can't believe how he managed to collide with Nocturne of all people." Danny sneered. "She was the furthest one away from him. He should have had plenty of time to correct his course, even if he doesn't know how to stop."
Colleen rubbed her shoulder where Gangolf had slammed into her. "You know, I think I've got a bruise."
"At least you managed to stay in the air." Tullia said. "I'm sure I'd have been swept right off my broom and crashed along with Gangolf. I bet that would have caused more than one bruise."
"That Gangolf is a menace to wizardkind." Colleen agreed. "Sooner or later he's going to seriously hurt someone."
"And he's a hexing Gryffindor lover to boot." Danny nodded. "He should be kicked out of Flying class."
"He should be kicked out of Slytherin." Billy said. "He doesn't belong here."
"The sorting hat placed him in our house, so we still owe him house loyalty." declared Pank. "And we have an hour left before Soccer training that we should use to visit him."
"Do we have to?" asked Danny and Billy groaned, but they all followed Pank up to the hospital wing.
Where they found Barbara Xanton already sitting at Gangolf's bedside chatting away happily.
"His Gryffinbitch's already here." Danny concluded. "He's happy and doesn't want to see us. We can go."
She turned to leave, but Dinah grabbed a hold of her robes and held her back.
"No, we can't. That'd be impolite." she explained.
"Who cares about being polite to people they don't like?" Danny shot back.
"You mean we have to sit here with the mudblood?" Colleen frowned.
"Will you just stop calling her mudblood?" Anny hissed under her breath. "I'm Muggle born too."
"You're not filthy, though. I wouldn't say that to you." Colleen assured her.
And indeed there were some splatters of ... something on Barbara's robes. It was probably only ink, since they hadn't been there when she had entered Charms class and she hadn't had much time to get in contact with anything else since it appeared that she'd come to the hospital wing straight from class.
"So Gangolf," Pank said trying to be nice. "How are you? Not hurt too badly, we hope."
"Hurting all over." Gangolf complained. "I even have bruises in my face."
"Ah, but bruises heal fast." Danny snorted. "If that's all that's wrong with you ..."
"Danny means to say that you're lucky that you don't have any cuts that might leave a scar." Dinah attempted to save the situation. "We were worried that you might have fallen onto a sharp stone or something."
"But I also sprained my ankle." Gangolf whined. "If it isn't healed by tomorrow I can't go to my Ballet class. I'll miss out on my very first lesson!"
"Nonsense!" Madam Pomfrey snorted. "Your ankle should already be mending. You'll be absolutely fine by breakfast."
"So he can come back to the common room with us?" Rupert asked.
"Not yet, dear." the nurse shook her head. "It will heal better, if he doesn't put any weight on that foot for the next two or three hours. Since there aren't any more classes today anyway it will be best, if he stays here overnight and rejoins you at breakfast."
"We have Astronomy tonight." Aterus corrected the nurse.
"Oh, I see. In that case, I will send him up to the Astronomy tower at midnight, if you'll bring his book with you." Pomfrey decided. "We wouldn't want Mr. Bartering to miss any more classes than absolutely necessary."
Gangolf shot Aterus an angry look. "Ah, but one single Astronomy lesson can't do much harm." he told the nurse. "I'm sure I can catch it up easily."
"One lesson, yes, but considering how accident prone you are we'd better assume that you are going to miss a lot more classes until the end of the year and we do want you to be able to pass your exams, don't we?" the nurse warned.
"I'm not accident prone!" Gangolf protested. "And I'm an excellent student. I learn so easily ..."
"Not accident prone?" the nurse repeated. "You've been in school for two weeks so far and this is the what? third or fourth? time I've had to treat you for injuries. If that's not accident prone, I don't know what is."
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An hour later Anny, Billy and Pank stood out on the Quidditch pitch in their Sports clothes. A Hufflepuff fourth year called Lindy had cast warming charms on them to protect them against the cold wind that was blowing today. Just like the first years she was new on the team and very excited about having been picked for a first team, even if it was only the juniors.
"I'm going to be a defender it said on the list." she told them.
"Me too." said Pank. "Billy and Anny are attackers."
"I'm only a reserve, though." Anny added. "Billy's on the real team."
"So am I." said Shannon O'Malley. "I'm so glad I won't be the only first year on the first team. I hope the older students won't just run us over all the time."
Billy shrugged. "Why would they? They're not even all that big. Back at home I'd probably be playing with the Rakers by now. There everyone from eleven to seventeen plays in one team. Eleven to fourteen is nothing."
"Oh, stop boasting." snapped Lucinda Iterton. "I bet you've never really played at all."
"Of course I have." Billy pouted. "I've been playing Soccer since I could walk."
"Liar!" accused Lucinda.
"Actually, that might be true." Pit stepped between them. "You see, Billy has a brother who's quite a bit older than him and he used to be the Rakers' keeper. He probably did start teaching his brother very young."
"Like a so much older brother would play with a tiny baby." Caligula Lestrange snorted.
"Believe it or not, I have a very good relationship with Draco." Billy informed him.
"With an age difference as large as yours it's not really surprising and most of the children I know from West Hogsmeade do watch out for their siblings a lot." Pit confirmed. "Now, let's get started."
They did all sorts of exercises that were supposed to help them learn to keep better control of the ball that day and Pank soon began to envy Billy and Anny their skill. In these exercises it was quite obvious which students had played Soccer before and which hadn't. Even Billy had a hard time with some of Pit's precision exercises near the end, though. Pank and Lucinda luckily weren't even asked to try those.
"We'll practise that once you have mastered the easier exercises." Pit told them. "Until then it won't do you much good anyway. We can't expect you to learn everything in only one day."
At the end of the lesson they even played a short game, which the first team clearly won, but Pank still left with the feeling that he had done well. The result could have been worse. After all they had managed to stop almost all of Shannon's attacks. Only Billy and the first team's third attacker, a forth year called Tadeus, had gotten past Samantha a few times and Caligula had actually missed a lucky shot by a boy called Gregor. Yes, Gregor, not Gregory. Pank had no idea where that name came from, nor what house or year Gregor was in, but he was definitely proud to be on the same team.
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"What is that thing?" Colleen poked the food on her plate with her fork.
"Looks like rice with pieces of meat in it." Rupert diagnosed and led a forkful of the offending food to his mouth.
He chewed, then nodded. "Yep, definitely rice and meat."
Tullia pierced a piece of meat with her fork then held it up for inspection. It didn't look too appetising in her opinion. She nibbled on it.
"Eeewww! This is worse than cow."
Aterus, too frowned at the taste. "Are you sure that meat's okay?"
Rupert nodded. "Seems fine to me."
"Some of the pieces are rather hard to chew." Dinah admitted. "But I think that's just sinews."
"Sinews?" Colleen asked. "That settles it. I'm not eating it."
"Right." Tullia pushed away her plate and grabbed for the salad bowl.
"You should at least eat the rice." Danny advised her. "It's fine and there's no telling what we're going to get for pudding. What if you don't like that either?"
Colleen considered her plate once again. Should she, or shouldn't she? The food looked positively icky, but so had the spaghetti at first glance. Maybe the rice was really good once one tried it?
"So what's for dinner?" Billy asked happily as the Soccer players joined them. "I'm starving."
"You'll probably have to continue to do so." Tullia informed him sadly then grinned at Colleen. "It's icky."
"Oh, can't you finally stop teasing Colleen about that?" Anny exclaimed. "It's ..."
"I'm not. I really mean it. This food is icky. Even Dinah said so." Tullia defended herself.
"I didn't." Dinah protested. "I did not use that word."
"But you meant it." Tullia insisted.
"And I definitely thought it." Colleen admitted. "Just look at that lump, Anny! It is icky."
"It ..." Anny started, then hesitated looking at the 'lump'. "Well ... How does it taste?"
"Okay." Rupert declared.
"Edible." said Danny.
"But just barely." amended Aterus.
"Even worse than it looks." claimed Tullia.
Anny looked to Dinah and Colleen.
"The rice is really good." Dinah evaded the answer.
"I don't know." Colleen admitted. "I'm still deliberating whether to try it at all."
Meanwhile Billy had taken a plate and dug in. He seemed to have no more problems with the taste than Rupert.
"I'll give it a try." Anny decided. After all Tullia had proven to be picky about meat dishes before.
In the end she had to agree with Aterus, though. Just barely edible and definitely not up to the usual standard of Hogwarts food.
"Maybe the cook got sick and they had to get a replacement." Dinah suggested when she mentioned it.
"But Hogwarts has lots of house elves who know how to cook." Aterus reminded her. "I think somebody must like this food. Maybe one of the staff."
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"Excuse me, Mr. Portrait, Sir?" Anny pulled Colleen up to the picture of an old wizard dressed in purple robes and a red hat. "Excuse me!"
Apparently the picture was hard of hearing on top of being colour blind. Colleen very much doubted whether she should get involved with a character like that, but then she really wanted to get to her class.
"Do you know the way to the old music classroom?" Anny yelled at the portrait.
"Olde music classroom?" the portrait repeated and Colleen began to wonder what was older, the picture or the castle. "I know not of any olde music classroom, but the young folks, they built a music room somewhere down yonder corridor. Might it be that is what thou art searching."
"Young folks? Art?" Anny looked completely confused and Dinah simply gaped at the picture.
"Oh yes, that might well be it." Colleen jumped in. "Thank you very much good Lord."
"Radulf Gryffindor at your service, fair maiden." The picture bowed to her elegantly.
Colleen quickly pulled her friends away in the direction Radulf had indicated.
"Wait a minute!" Dinah exclaimed just as they rounded the corner. "Wasn't Radulf Gryffindor Godric's grandfather?"
"Maybe." Colleen allowed. "But I really don't care about the Gryffindor family tree. If you're interested, I'm sure Salazar would know. Right now I just want my classroom."
Whoever Radulf was, he'd been right, though. The Choir was meeting in a dusty, but large room down that corridor.
A weird witch wearing multicoloured shawls and all sorts of mismatched jewellery was sitting at a large piano which two house elves were eagerly dusting while a third appeared to be checking the strings and occasionally got hit by a hammer when the witch absently struck a key.
"Typical." a tall Gryffindor commented to her friend. "She had at least two weeks to get the room prepared and when does she get started? Five minutes before the lesson. That's Trellawney for you."
"At least the elf seems to know how to tune a piano." a boy in West Hogsmeade robes commented. "The one at our school is so out of tune the Conjuring teacher usually brings his private keyboard so it won't mess up the incantation."
There seemed to be a lot of students in the Choir club and Anny and Dinah decided to leave before they were mistaken for part of the class. Apparently Dinah hated to sing.
So Colleen decided to take a short trip around the room and look for familiar faces. The fist person she recognised was Jorge, but he shied away when she waved at him. Maybe she shouldn't have snapped at him when he'd come to collect her homework.
She had better luck with the girl Dinah referred to as Lauri and the two other Hufflepuff first years, Nigel and Jon, were willing to at least talk to her as well. Her chances at making a friend in Choir class didn't look that good, though, Colleen thought. The four Hufflepuffs were an even number and the rest of the first years all seemed to be from West Hogsmeade. Colleen was quite sure that her grandmother would not approve of her getting close to any of them.
"Alright class!" Professor Trellawney finally announced after the house elves informed her that the piano was ready and went on to dusting off the conductor's board. "Get in position."
What position? Who was supposed to stand where?
There was a lot of yelling and shoving until somebody finally got through with the suggestion to line up by year, first years in the first row, seventh years in the last.
"Oh no, no no!" Professor Trellawney declared when she saw the result. "All those wearing green robes to the left, black robes to the right."
"Shouldn't we sort by gender and singing voice?" somebody said from the back. "I'm a baritone. I know this isn't going to work, if I have to stand between a bass and a soprano."
"Very well, but then we have to check everyone's voice." Trellawney agreed. "You there, sing God Save the Queen!"
Jorge blinked at her. Trellawney started to play.
"I don't think he can, Professor." Nigel informed her. "He just moved here from Spain."
"Fine then ... I don't know any Spanish songs." Trellawney realised all of a sudden.
"Well, maybe if you let some other students sing it first, maybe he'll be able to memorise it." the baritone suggested. "It's not like he has to get all the text right for you to judge his voice."
So Trellawney started at the other end of the first row and each of the eight first years had to sing the first few lines of God Save the Queen, then was assigned a place to stand. Colleen ended up between a girl from West Hogsmeade and Lauri, and Jorge did indeed sing the song almost perfectly after having heard it seven times.
For the second years Trellawney mercifully switched to Greensleeves and the third years had to sing Scotland the Brave with the only exception of one Irish girl who insisted on being allowed to sing Greensleeves as well.
Colleen was feeling seriously bored by the time Trellawney picked I'm a Little Teapot to the horror of the fourth years and the house elves saved them by reminding Trellawney that the class was running late anyway.
"Oh well, it seems we have to continue our singing test next week." Trellawney decided. "Be punctual."
Colleen wondered whether the professor meant them or herself for a moment.
"I really hope she forgets about the little teapot over the weekend." sighed a forth year as he slipped out past Colleen.
Colleen sighed as well. "And I was looking forward to this so much."
"Maybe it's just starting problems." Lauri suggested. "Give it a few weeks."
"I hope you're right." Colleen said. "My French club started a lot better, though."
"Yes, I heard. Cam was all excited about it, too." Lauri nodded. "Do you already have your book as well? Cam's arrived at lunch. I think she's still busy staring at all the pictures in it and trying to read out the chapter titles."
Colleen sighed. "No, my parents still haven't even sent my Sports clothes."
"Oh, do you live very far from here?"
"Not at all." Colleen shook her head. "It's just that they're always so busy and I suppose they can't well send a house elf to shop for Muggle clothes."
"But you're still worried that something might be wrong." Lauri remarked.
"Well, I thought my grandmother would find the time to owl a little reply to assure me that the owl arrived at all." Collen admitted. "Just a few lines of advice. You know, the usual: 'Remember to conduct yourself like a lady, wear your cloak when you go outside, don't befriend any mudbloods ...' Maybe even a little: 'Congratulations on getting into Slytherin'."
"Maybe she thinks you're old enough to know those things anyway and her congratulations will arrive with the clothes and book." Lauri suggested. "Yes, she probably just wanted to spare her owl a double trip."
Or maybe Grandmother was sick and couldn't get to the owlery. Colleen nodded mutely hoping that Lauri wouldn't notice that she was fighting a sudden lump in her throat.
"Would she really forbid you to make friends with Muggle borns?" Lauri asked maybe sensing that a change of topic was in order.
Common as they might be Hufflepuffs still seemed to have a natural talent for these things, but Colleen still didn't trust her voice not to break, so she just nodded again.
"But why? They're our classmates." Lauri exclaimed. "You're not really going to listen to that, are you?"
Colleen shook her head. "I'm not going to look for friendships with people my family wouldn't approve of, but I can't well turn down every offer of friendship I get. I wouldn't even know what to do without Anny anyway and I have a feeling they're not going to approve of my liking Cam either."
Lauri beamed at her. "So you do want to be friends with Cam? She wasn't sure, because you seemed so cold at first. She'll be so happy when I tell her!"
Colleen actually felt herself blush. "I don't mean to be cold. Really, I like Cam. I'm just not used to being so open with my feelings when I hardly know a person. It's something Slytherins just don't do."
"I'll tell her." Lauri promised. "And don't you worry about your Gran. I'm sure her owl will arrive any day now."
If only Colleen had been so sure. She'd never before gone so long without hearing from her family, but then she'd always lived with her family until now and even when her parents had been away her Grandmother and brother had always been there. Usually there'd also be an owl from her parents, if they stayed somewhere for over a week.
But then the owls were usually addressed to her grandmother with only a few words added for her and her Phelippe.
"So how was Choir class?" her classmates were sitting at the table right next to the common room entrance.
"Boring." Colleen admitted. "The teacher's just testing everybody's voice. The only thing I got to do was sing a few lines of God Save The Queen."
"Oh, sorry to hear that." Tullia was actually talking to her?
That was new, but remembering her promise to Lauri Colleen decided not to show her surprise.
"I talked with Lauri, though." she remarked instead. "She seems nice."
"Oh, what did you talk about?" Dinah asked.
"Just the choir and French class. She says Cam already has her book, so I suppose I don't have to worry about the next lesson anymore."
"Is that all you care about?" Pank snapped. "Whether you'll have someone to lend you a French book?"
"No!" Colleen yelled back at him angrily. "If you have to know, I'm worried that my Grandmother might be very sick. I'm worried that something might have happened to my owl. And I'm worried about my family, because they haven't owled me back even though I sent them three separate owls. That's what I'm worried about!"
Pank paled and drew back. "I ... I didn't mean to ..."
"Pank just meant to ask whether you'd care to be nice to Cam at all, if you had your French book already." Dinah translated. "Or if you're just using her."
"What? No, I wanted a friend in my French class anyway and I think Cam's really nice." Colleen returned hastily. "I like Hufflepuffs."
"She's a Gryffinpuff, though." Billy frowned.
"A what?" eight pairs of eyes stared at Billy.
"A Gryffinpuff." Billy repeated. "A Hufflepuff with Gryffindor tendencies. Don't you know that nobody is perfectly suited to only one house? There isn't really one kind of Hufflepuff, there are three: Slythepuffs, Ravenpuffs and Gryffinpuffs according to what is their second strongest house influence."
"So what about Slytherins?" Aterus asked. "Are there three kinds of us, too?"
Billy shook his head. "No, Slytherins only come in two kinds, I think. You can be either Huffleslyth or Ravenslyth."
"Why not Slythepuff?" Anny asked.
"Because the second part defines the dominant house." Billy explained. "The first part defines the second influence. I for example am a Huffleslyth. The hat put me in Slytherin, but it said I was also suited for Hufflepuff."
"But why not the other way around?" insisted Rupert. "Shouldn't the stronger house go first?"
Billy thought for a moment, then held up his quill. "Is a goose feather a goose or a feather?" he asked Rupert.
"Why it's a feather, of course."
"See, the second word counts more." Billy smiled.
"So how do you tell what kind of Slytherin you are?" asked Anny.
"Well, what other house did the hat suggest to you?" Billy asked back.
"Hufflepuff." Anny answered.
"Then you're obviously a Huffleslyth as well." Billy declared.
"That would make me a Ravenslyth, then." Colleen decided. "The hat said I wasn't suited for Hufflepuff at all. Do you think that will affect my friendship with Cam?"
Billy just shrugged, but Dinah shook her head.
"No way." she promised. "Hufflepuffs enjoy being friends with a lot of different people. She'll probably be fascinated with your differences."
"You'll just have to accept that she's completely different from you as well." Anny added. "The situation calls for tolerance."
"Because that's something Nocturne's at all good at?" Danny laughed.
"Oh, leave her alone." Dinah groaned. "So how about the rest of you? I'm Huffleslyth, obviously."
"Me too." Rupert admitted. "I almost became a Hufflepuff in fact."
"I'm a Ravenslyth." said Pank. "Aterus?"
"The hat didn't consider much with me." Aterus shrugged. "I think Ravenslyth as well, though."
"I almost became a Ravenclaw." Tullia confessed. "And I bet Danny's a Ravenslyth as well, right?"
Danny actually blushed and evaded her eyes. "Yes." she lied. "Though the hat didn't consider it much either."
"So Gangolf, what are you, Huffleslyth or Ravenslyth?" Pank asked the group's last member.
"Neither." Gangolf said.
"What?" Billy stared at him. "That's not possible. You've got to be something."
"I'm not." Gangolf insisted.
"Can't be." Billy insisted.
"Well, what did the hat say to you?" Pank asked.
Gangolf thought for a moment. "It said: 'Well, you're definitely not loyal enough for a Hufflepuff and not studious like a Ravenclaw either. Gryffindor might work, but you're not exactly brave and you don't have the strong ambition of a Slytherin.' It went on about that for a while and finally said that I'd probably be ambitious once I knew what I wanted to do with my life and sorted me into Slytherin."
"Does that make him a ... Gryffinslyth, then?" Rupert asked. "I thought they didn't exist?"
"I thought they didn't." Billy said. "But I suppose they're just very rare."
"Do you think it's a very bad thing to be a Gryffinslyth?" Danny asked unusually softly.
There was a moment of silence while everybody just stared at Gangolf.
"I suppose it's okay, as long as you're a lot more Slytherin than Gryffindor." Pank finally said to restore the peace. "But you've got to have a very contradictory personality, Gangolf."
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Angel-Wings-Forever – Thanks. I'm trying, but I don't get as much time to write as I'd like to at the moment.
Romilly McAran – Ah yes, I think I've heard that story before, but I don't think it would fit into the fic. The real problem isn't the meaning of the snake, after all, but the prejudices between the houses. The Gryffindors would probably still call Anny evil, if the Slytherin house animal were a white pigeon. ... Well, I doubt the magic gene cares much for religion. Witches and wizards can be born into any family and Hogwarts proudly accepts them all. In Letter, as in all the other fics I've posted so far (The Catar will be different in that respect) Hogwarts has students of all confessions, but the Muggle borns would be mostly members of the Anglican Church, as that is the most widespread one in Britain. As for the wizards I've been deliberately avoiding making a decision on that, but religion is not meant to be a big factor in their lives in this fic. This particular little witch (Anny thinks of her as older, but I see her as a second or third year only, so she's not very mature) comes from a very Christian family and isn't exactly logical about her beliefs. She will quote the bible where it suits her, but ignore things that don't (like the bible's stand concerning witches.). Don't expect her religious prejudices to make sense. She's just aping others.
Mystical Witch – Like I just explained above, that little witch isn't much older than Anny and definitely no more mature. She's no authority on anything, but likes quoting the bible. ... No, she probably doesn't know that. After all it isn't a very respected quote in our times and religious people tend to ignore it.
schkuro – In the Letter universe that prejudice has become much less common at Hogwarts than it was in Harry's time. Most Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws no longer believe it now that the threat of Voldemort is gone. The Gryffindors however cling to it and their feud with Slytherin.
ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies – Thanks, and I'll try!
midnight tiger – Oh, our little Slytherins aren't the perfect little angels towards the Gryffindors either, but from their perspective it is the Gryffindors who started it. (In the end none of the current students did. They're just continuing the feud their older housemates and sometimes ever their own parents handed down to them as has been done for generations.) ... Well, Billy chose to join a club that isn't open for his year. He had to be aware of the consequences. (He might come to decide to wait for Tullia before moving on to Alchemy next year, but I'm not sure about that yet.)
raptors galore – Oh, Draco might have married anyone. Maybe his son married Ron's daughter ... (No, not really. I wouldn't do that.)
Kyzara – Thanks!
Pam Briggs – Well, Jessica was rather easy to get along with, because she isn't bitter about being a squib. I see West Hogsmeade as a place that gives its squibs confidence and a positive feeling about themselves, but of course not all of them will react to is as well as Jessica. There will always be squibs that aren't accepted in their own families and those would be very difficult. I doubt that Aterus would have been able to handle one of them, though.
Kazza – Thanks. Glad to finally get a review that accepts that it was only a one shot.
pyrobrat88 – Thanks!
Iremione – Ah, but I am just as guilty of letting everybody wait. Taking this long to write the new chapter ... Well, would you want the fifteen year old boys to play their sexual harassment 'jokes' on the girls in class? Of course it's not that much of an issue at 11. ... As for the lining up by height, it's not meant to be humiliating in any way. You keep mentioning playing games when talking about sports class and as long as that's what you do height hasn't got much meaning, but Spots class is supposed to be mostly about exercising and things are very different when using the rings or ... well, it's called Reck in German. I remember we usually had the rings set to the height of our ears so we could perform the exercises properly. Four sets of rings, each set to a different height, so everybody would have a set at the right height and we were all in the same year. For the 'Reck' there was one exercise where I remember the teacher saying it was impossible to perform it, if the bar wasn't exactly at a spot slightly below shoulder height. The lining up by height is to help her assign the students to groups requiring the same height settings. Considering the age differences in class setting the rings to the same height for all students would force the tallest to draw up her knees in order to swing without scraping against the floor, while the smallest would be dangling helplessly in the air unable to touch the ground and push herself off. Would you want to grade those two on the elegance of their performance then? ... Poor Gangolf has never liked physical exercise and is very out of shape. Colleen at least has the advantage of having played on her broom and had dancing lessons, while the other girls all grew up loving to run and hop around playing with their friends. ... The skipping class issue will probably become an issue later on, but the teachers do take attendance, so the skippers would be missed and reported to Hogwarts. At the same time Filch takes attendance when port keying the students over, so a simple comparison of Filch's and the West Hogsmeade teacher's lists should land the skipper in detention pretty fast. ... Of course there is the option of sneaking out instead of having lunch or dinner at West Hogsmeade, but hey, there also is the chance to sneak into the forest, or Myrtle's bathroom at Hogwarts. Leave the rule breakers some little chances for adventure. ... It's not quite the same as your (delicious) spinach omelette, but another of my favourites: cream spinach with boiled egg. A lot of children apparently dislike spinach, though, so it's no surprise some of them are complaining. ... Actually once the children are used to it, they're planning to just hand them the port key and send them over on their own most of the time, so it will get a little easier on the caretakers then. ... Really? Nothing interesting about Colleen's choice of seat in French? ... Yes, Danny's is a problematic personality. Her manipulativeness is a Slytherin virtue, though. As I mentioned before, she's the younger, female version of one of the characters form Both or Neither and you bet Jesse is having problems dealing with the original. (Of course Jesse isn't exactly the easiest person to get along with either. BON's full of angry and aggressive people.) ... Red-headed Rupert?! eeek! I told you I picked the name, because I like it, but I don't associate it with that guy! ... Well, Hufflepuff would have been the most accepting towards Lockhart, yes, but I can't imagine someone that conceited, egocentric and lazy getting in there. He is everything Hufflepuffs are not. ... Manga? What manga? I read a Yami no Matsuei fanfic more or less by accident and: He's cute, he's dressed all in black, he's done something really bad, apparently some betrayal, in his past, he acts rather cold and snarky and he transforms into a snake! Sevi, Starscream and Jesse rolled into one? Come into my arms Touda! ... (Lets talk about your classmates in private mails, okay?) ... Ups, fell right into the trap here. Remember that Jessica is the same age as Billy, who was born sometime during Harry's third year. I wanted a connection with one of Harry's school mates, but those weren't old enough to have children that age. Jessica is Angelina's cousin, not daughter. They both take their names from their fathers, who are probably brothers. ... Well, they are friends of his son, who definitely isn't the least bit afraid of Sevi. ... Gangolf was practically raised by a single mum who clung to him as her only company and forced all her interests on him. She was very lonely after his father left her and she never had many friends. Poor Gangolf became the victim of his mother's emotional problems. He's been treated like a girl all his life, so he has become very girly. ... Neither Sevi nor Sarah have green eyes, so why should Billy? (I'm trying to show an ordinary, average Slytherin boy here, not the great hero and saviour of the world. Billy isn't another Harry, none of the Letter kids are. They're just another average bunch of first years, each as special as every child is, but no more than that.) ... Well, you're coming straight out of your lab courses, but your classmates aren't! Billy's grown up in a family that probably is as likely to discuss advanced Chemistry over dinner as they are to talk about the weather forecast. Some of his classmates however know little more about it than I when I first read the word Physics on my time table at age 12 (Hey, some of them are 12! None are your age.) Draco is just checking what advance knowledge each of them has so he'll know where to start from. ... Yes, Anny is a sweet girl. She could have been happy in almost every house, actually. (Though that has a lot to do with the fact that she's muggle born and came in without any preconceptions about the houses. She'd be very hard to transfer by now.)
Colibi – Well, they had to. They'll never be as close with them as with each other, though.
Midnight Tiger – Thanks.
Alia5 – Sorry about that. I'd hoped the scene where Billy saw those Ravenclaws talking to some Gryffindors would show our POV characters' misconceptions without forcing me to add another POV character, but I guess it wasn't enough. I'd also forgotten that the fear of peer pressure that is obvious to me will only be clear to others if you mention it. ... So in your honour, I've decided to add another plotline that will show why there are no friendships between Sylytherins and Gryffindors at Hogwarts. At first I'd thought I'd have to add a Gryffindor POV character to show their side, then I toyed with making Jorge a POV character and giving him a Gryffindor friend, then I thought about having McGonagall step in as head of house (I used her POV in the beginning, so it wouldn't actually be adding another POV), but then I finally saw the simple solution: Gangolf will work. The others all either wouldn't start a friendship with a Gryffindor, or I don't want them to make the experience at this time. You see, I want them to be a normal bunch of eleven year old Slytherins and that means they need to hate Gryffindors. They can't be eleven year old miracles who are so mature they can see through generations of prejudice. So as the final solution to the problem: Here comes Barbara waltzing into Gangolf's life.
blythe-uy – I think Rd and MNS are very different. I used to think MNS was my most popular work, but I've had several people tell me they liked RD much better, so I really can't say. I suppose they both have good and bad points. ... Colleen realised what she was doing wrong, while Gangolf keeps living in his own world and pretending everything is fine. The adults might recognise his problem and try to help him, but his peers are simply too young to understand him. They just see a kid who behaves strangely and has no real strengths or merits. ... Indeed it is the Slytherin POV! Thank you for noticing that! At eleven the kids are simply too young to look through the mechanisms that perpetuate the house rivalry and hence cannot break the circle. The Slytherins simply accept that the Gryffindors are mean while the Gryffindors accept that the Slytherins are evil. By the time they'd be old enough to question those believes they have become too deeply entrenched in the fight to stop. ... OOC stands for Out Of Character, a character reacting in an unusual way, especially in a way that doesn't fit in with canon (for example Sevi awarding 100 points to Harry and punishing the Slytherins for teasing him.)
Nerfi-Tiri – Well, it was my first attempt at mystery and I have to admit it isn't my genre. And I'm probably cured of writing sequels after that and this one anyway.
addmoose2004 – Yikes! That must have been one monster session. (Tell me how long it took you should you ever decide to read Runaway Dragon in one go ... just kidding!)
CurlsofSerenity: Erm, no he couldn't, but he doesn't like to admit that. Sarah would have managed, but Transfigurations isn't her specialty either.
Yuikey: Thanks!
Maki-P: No need to apologise. Your English is fine as long as I understand and I understand you perfectly. Glad to hear the story and Daga's translation are still being read. It's my oldest, but still among my most loved.
Lindiel Eryn: Thanks! Hope you caught your bus alright.
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A/N: So, if there are ten Slytherin first years, why were only eight pairs of eyes staring at Billy when he first mentioned Gryffinpuffs? Why did Danny lie? And is Gangolf really a Gryffinslyth?
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In the next chapter: The Slytherins have a bad Friday, Danny has two classes at once and Gangolf and Barbara got to their first Ballet lesson. (And I've never been to the ballet so how am I going to write this?!)
