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: I'm afraid the Riddles Club didn't quite make it into this chapter after all. There was too much else going on and I ended up having to choose between it and Ballet. It will be at the beginning of the next chapter, though.

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Chapter 16: Bad Luck and Math

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Friday started out badly for the Slytherins.

First there was no hot water in the boys' bathroom forcing them to either take cold showers or content themselves with a quick wash at the sink.

Billy, who didn't seem bothered at all, and Rupert chose the shower and came out cold, but refreshed. Pank and Aterus opted for the sink, but after washing the most indispensable spots with chattering teeth Aterus decided to forego any further cleaning for the day. Hopefully the warm water would be restored by the time they went to bed.

The biggest problem however was Gangolf. He absolutely refused to allow any cold water to touch his skin, but he was even less willing to leave the room without his customary shower. Apparently it was an absolute necessity to wash with warm water before applying his skin care potion.

Meanwhile, in the girls' dorm Colleen had almost overslept and couldn't find her hairbrush. Anny and Dinah were in the showers, where she didn't want to disturb them, so she reluctantly decided to approach Tullia with the problem.

Tullia didn't know Colleen's hairbrush at all, but understood that the girl couldn't appear at breakfast uncombed. Together the two girls started to search Colleen's trunk, cupboard and bedside table.

"I'm sure I put it on the bedside table after brushing my hair before bed." Colleen said for about the third time. "Do you think the house elves would take it?"

Tullia shrugged. She didn't know too much about house elves.

"Well, maybe to clean it." she suggested. "But why would they clean our dorm in the middle of the night with us sleeping in it and why didn't they put it right back where they took it from? It can't take more than a minute or two to clean a hairbrush."

"What are you doing with that death eater!" Danny had just walked in to find both of them kneeling in front of Colleen's open trunk.

"I'm not a death eater!" Colleen yelled.

"We're just looking for Colleen's hairbrush." Tullia tried to explain, but Danny wasn't listening.

She grabbed Tullia's hand and physically pulled her away from Colleen continuing to yell at both of them the whole time.

Tullia lowered her eyes feeling ashamed of being such a push-over and at the same time ashamed of Danny's reaction to what she considered a harmless little interaction with a classmate. And there she saw it!

"Colleen! It's under the bed!" Danny and Colleen both stared at her in surprise for a moment. Neither had ever heard Tullia yell before.

Then Colleen's eyes went over to the bed and indeed, there was her hairbrush lying on the floor half under it. It must have dropped during the night and then in her frantic search she must have accidentally kicked it under the piece of furniture!

"Oh, thank you! You found it!" she called out and hastily picked it up.

Danny glared and didn't speak to Tullia all through breakfast.

Gangolf meanwhile spent breakfast in the girls' dorm where Dinah and Anny had reluctantly allowed him to use one of their showers after finding out that the boys' side was entirely without hot water this morning.

On the way to History class Billy ran afoul of a group of disgruntled Gryffindors who had a Potions test later that day. They kept teasing him and calling him daddy's boy until Billy punched the tallest of them in the face, right as Professor McGonagall walked around the corner.

With twenty points less, for fighting in the halls and talking back to a teacher the Slytherin first years finally made it into History class seconds after Professor Binns drifted up through the floor. They lost another ten points for being late for class.

Somehow the news of the fight must have reached the History classroom before the Slytherins, because the Gryffindor first years kept chanting "Daddy's boy, daddy's boy." under their breaths all through the lesson.

At least the Charms lesson went by without any incidents and the children began to breathe more easily, until at lunch Gangolf somehow managed to trip and pour a bowl of hot soup into Caligula Lestrange's lap. Only the fast intervention of Professor Snape saved Gangolf from suffering any serious damage.

Before leaving the hall to change into clean robes Caligula sent Gangolf such a hateful glare that even Billy worried about him for a moment, but Gangolf never noticed. He was too busy playing the hero for Barbara who'd rushed over the moment she'd seen Snape draw his wand.

Apparently Barbara was terrified of Professor Snape. The Slytherins didn't quite understand why, though. How could anyone be afraid of their favourite teacher?

Meanwhile Danny was desperately trying to find out who the teacher of the Gymnastics club was as she had just noticed that the Gymnastics junior class was at exactly the same time she had Volleyball. In fact it was in the boys' gym, while Volleyball was in the girls'.

"I can't possibly be in two classes at once." she whined to Tullia. "Just where should I go today?"

"Volleyball of course." Tullia answered at once.

"Gymnastics." insisted Dinah.

Danny groaned. "I have to talk to the teachers."

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There was chaos in Filch's office when Danny, Dinah and Tullia arrived to be portkeyed to West Hogsmeade.

"Silence!" Filch was yelling at the top of his lungs. "Basketballers to this end of the room, volleyballers to the other and gymnasts stay in the middle."

Dinah obediently joined the middle group and Tullia after a moment walked over to the right where she frowned at the Gryffindors already there. Danny hesitated right by the door. She still hadn't decided what class to go to.

"Well," Filch demanded rather roughly. "You're too small for today's Basketball lesson, so are you here for Volleyball or Gymnastics?"

"I don't know." Danny admitted. "I'm signed up for both classes."

Filch blinked at her. "I see." he said finally. "Then join the Volleyball group for now. I'll just check attendance, then port you over."

"So I'm to join the Volleyball class then?" Danny asked. "What about Gymnastics?"

"You'll have to ask your teachers about that." Filch shrugged. "I'm only supposed to portkey you there. When I call your name, come to my desk for your food ticket and then grab a hold of the portkey."

Things grew no less hectic once they arrived, though. As it turned out, both Basketball group three and Gymnastics junior claimed the boys' gym for themselves. The Basketballers were mostly sixth and seventh years, while Gymnastics junior was for first to third year, but there were only ten Basketballers and twenty gymnasts.

Curious as usual Danny ran right over into the boys' gym after changing and left it to Tullia to explain her problem to the Volleyball teacher.

She didn't recognise either of the teachers who were yelling at each other in there, but it seemed that the witch was the Gymnastics teacher and the wizard the Basketball teacher.

"We cannot possibly play without hoops!" the wizard roared. "You can set up a cursed stereo to hop around to anywhere. Ask that fool Dumbledore for an empty classroom!"

Either he had a point there, or the witch simply gave up, because she couldn't match his volume. She finally rounded up her students and herded them over into the girls' gym.

"There's a Volleyball class over there." a West Hogsmeade girl warned her.

"And I should be in it as well as in your class." Danny added. "Do you think Dinah and I could perhaps join a different group?"

The teacher stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned around to regard Danny. "What year are you?"

"First." Danny stated wondering what that had to do with it.

"Impossible." the teacher decided. "I have only two Gymnastics classes and the other one is fourth to seventh years. They'd be much too tall for you."

"But my friend Billy says in Merlin Park Soccer teams have players ranging from eleven to seventeen." Danny argued.

"I've seen gangs with members ranging from ten to nineteen play Soccer together, but I still don't think it's a good idea." the teacher returned. "Try switching groups in Volleyball. They've got more classes."

In the girls' gym Tullia had been assigned to training how to properly hit a volleyball with the Gryffindor first years and it was not going well. All the other groups were working in pairs and, to be honest, so were Sophie-Marleene and Laura. Tullia was doing her best to get at the ball whenever one of the two missed, but the Gryffindors would only hiss disparaging comments at her and snatch it back.

The Sports teacher seemed torn between stepping in there and investigating the sudden arrival of twenty more students for a moment, but finally settled on a hasty: "Now girls, do remember to let your friend play as well. It works perfectly fine as a three way."

"What friend?" snapped Laura. "That slimy snake isn't any friend of mine."

But the teacher had already turned away when she noticed her colleague who'd stepped in after her students.

"Mara!" she called out to her. "What the hell is going on? I'm trying to teach here."

"Well, so am I, but dear Michael decided to kick me out of my assigned classroom." the Gymnastics teacher, apparently called Mara, complained. "He said to set up a stereo in an unused classroom. The nerve of the man!"

The Volleyball teacher blinked and decided she wanted no trouble with her colleague while she was in this mood.

"Oh, I'm sure Ralph will fix it easily." she assured Mara. "And we can live with it for today. In fact, how about doing some ball exercises? Gymnasts do work with balls sometimes, don't they? And it will give my students a chance to get a feeling for the ball as well."

"Different balls." Mara pointed out. "And different exercises. We don't throw balls about much."

"So your students use a Gymnastics ball and mine a Volleyball and we'll do your types of exercises. It's all about familiarising ourselves with the ball for us anyway. The exercises themselves won't make a big difference and . . . Just what is it with the three of you?"

"Slytherins are evil gits." Laura declared pointing at Tullia.

"Well, the Gryffindors are all bullies then." Tullia returned.

The Volleyball teacher blinked once again, then looked to Mara, but the Gymnastics teacher couldn't help either. They'd both heard of the Hogwarts houses, but didn't quite get their point, nor did they have any understanding of the relationships between them. To them the houses were much like the different levels classes had at West Hogsmeade, though neither of them had any direct experience with those either. Sports classes were assigned based on what students were free at what time and the availability of the gyms and Mara normally taught Care for Magical Creatures, an elective where students were only split into two classes due to the popularity of the subject.

They knew that Hogwarts students were assigned to their houses rather randomly by some ritual around a magical hat rather than their academic abilities and that the system was rather rough compared to their own due to not allowing different combinations in different classes or even reassignments in later years, but the consequences of drawing such clear lines between the groups hadn't occurred to them until now. From their perspective there'd been West Hogsmeade students and Hogwarts students and it was their duty to slowly form a union between the members of those two groups in their classes. They had expected to find prejudice and resentment there, but now it turned out that the same problems existed within what they had until now thought of as the Hogwarts group.

"I suppose they're like rival gangs." Mara suggested after a moment. "Maybe the curly girl would do better with a different group?"

"Well, the friend she brought is currently in your class." the Volleyball teacher returned. "And those two are the only other Hogwarts students that are about the same size. Do you think she'd do better with some of ours?"

Mara looked from her colleague to the three girls and decided to take control. "Alright, we're going to switch to individual exercises next anyway." she announced. "You!" she pointed at Laura. "Come here. You're staying right at my side until I tell you differently. You." she continued pointing at Tullia this time. "Go, get another Volleyball to work with. They're in a big basket through that door. And you." pointing at Sophie-Marleene. "Take the ball you already have and stand over there."

The girls exchanged nervous glances, but when their own teacher didn't step in they did as they had been told.

"Now those Volleyballers who don't have a ball in their hands right now, go get one from the big basket." Mara continued pointing at the same door through which she had sent Tullia again. "Not you!" she hissed when Laura made to follow them. "Did I tell you, you could leave me?"

Laura shrank back and shook her head. Danny smirked at her. The stupid Gryffindor was finally getting what she deserved.

Mara however ignored them both and continued to set up the Volleyball students at regular intervals from where Sophie-Marleene stood. When Tullia returned she started another line of students at the other end of the gym.

"Alright, you can go get your ball now." she told Laura in between two place assignments. "Now, Gymnastics students! If you go through that door, you will find two big ball baskets in there. One contains basketballs, the other volleyballs, if there are any left. No, no, stop! Don't run off, yet. You don't know what I want you to do!"

Danny and a few others who'd dashed off for the door trudged back reluctantly.

"Behind the baskets is a cupboard that my colleague should have unlocked by now." Mara continued. "In there are the smaller balls. Now don't get them confused! The gymnastics balls are blue and a little smaller than volleyballs, but distinctly bigger than the tennis balls and baseballs. I want you to each bring out a gymnastics ball."

They stormed off into the small storing room and stopped in front of the cupboard pushing and shoving. Danny easily managed to grab one of the smooth dark blue balls thanks to clever use of her feet and elbows, but by the time Dinah finally reached the front of the group there were no more blue balls in sight.

The Sports teacher pulled one last shabby and almost airless volleyball out of the volleyball basket and handed it to the boy in front of her then shrugged.

"There are five soccer balls in here and ten handballs in the cupboard." she suggested. "No more gymnastics balls or volleyballs, I'm afraid."

Dinah decided to go for a soccer ball, but when they walked into the gym with those Mara sent them right back.

"No, no, no. Those are soccer balls." she declared. "Totally unfit for Gymnastics."

"We're out of gymnastics balls." the Volleyball teacher stated. "Unless you want to go over and get them from the other gym."

Mara frowned. Whoever Michael was, she clearly didn't want to risk his wrath any further.

"Give them handballs then. Those are at least the right size." she decided.

With a sigh Dinah dropped her soccer ball back into its basket and received a smaller but similar ball instead. She couldn't help thinking that the handball was very different from the smooth plastic gymnastics ball Danny had. It consisted of little leather patches like the soccer ball, but due to its smaller size the resulting corners and edges were much more obvious. Not nearly as pretty, she thought.

Mara however seemed satisfied with the exchange and assigned her a place in the front of the group.

"Now, everybody stretch the arm that isn't holding the ball to the side and turn around a few times to make sure that you have enough room." the teacher ordered. "If you're in any danger of colliding with somebody else's hand move further away from them."

There was a commotion somewhere behind Dinah where some students apparently had stood too closely together, but it was soon corrected and Mara showed them how to balance the ball over their heads in one hand without looking at it.

After a moment of insecurity as she raised her hand she found that exercise quite easy as did the other three students who'd had to be equipped with handballs. It was quite different for the rest of the children, especially the volleyballers, though. With soft bumping sounds the balls dropped from their hands and rolled away causing surprised and angry exclamations and one loud bang as a frustrated West Hogsmeade boy kicked his ball against the wall.

The ball immediately took revenge by bouncing back against his other leg and rolling away forcing him to chase it almost through the entire room.

The Volleyball teacher bent down and caught it elegantly.

"Please remember that this is a volleyball, not a soccer ball, Davy." she remarked as she threw it back to the boy. "It's not meant to be kicked."

The class laughed and a few more balls dropped causing more students to chase after them and collide with each other.

All in all they didn't learn much that day, but they had a lot of fun and Dinah was eagerly looking forward to the next lesson when she returned to the changing room.

"Danny, you're transferred to Volleyball group two." the Volleyball teacher said as they ran out. "Please be here on Thursday instead of Friday next week."

Danny stopped short and almost caused a collision as the boy behind her had to stop abruptly. "But what about Tullia? We wanted to play together!"

The teacher hesitated for a moment and gave Tullia a measuring glance, but then shook her head. "It wouldn't work. You're very tall for your age, so, if you can jump very well I think it will be okay, but Tullia just wouldn't be able to reach as high as the rest of group two. The taller players would always snatch her balls away."

Danny and Tullia trudged to the West Hogsmeade lunchroom looking very depressed and not fitting in with bouncy, happy Dinah at all. Dinah did in fact do her very best not to seem too happy in the face of her friends' misery, but she just couldn't stop herself. She was having such a perfect evening!

"Oh come on!" she tried to cheer them up. "I'm sure it won't be that bad. It's your chance to make some new friends outside of our class, maybe really get to know the Hogsmeade students. And there's always next year. You'll definitely have grown a bit until then."

"But so will Danny." Tullia reminded her. "They'll probably just turn her group into number three and mine into number two."

"Then they'd have to get twelve new players out of next year's first years." Dinah pointed out.

"There are thirteen first years this year." Tullia stated. "Hey, what is that?"

She'd just received her food and was sure she'd never seen anything like it before.

"An omelette." Danny stated rather patronisingly. "With cheese, bacon and mushrooms."

"Looks good." confirmed Dinah. "Go ahead and try it, Tullia. I'm sure you'll like it."

Tullia was indeed quite positively surprised and once she got over her first fear her omelette disappeared in record time. Soon she was pulling out ink and parchment and started on her Latin homework.

Dinah stared at her. "You brought homework?"

"I've only got a little over an hour to wait until Math." Tullia explained. "And it's just not worth going back to Hogwarts, so I thought I'd just stay and do some homework until then."

"But won't Mr. Filch miss you on his list, if you don't go back?" Dinah worried.

"Not if you tell him that I'm staying." Tullia declared. "Lepi? Whatever is a lepi?"

"Uh ... plural of lepus?" Dinah suggested.

"Well, what's a lepus then?" Tullia amended.

Latin was the only subject where she really felt that English wasn't her first language. She was almost bilingual and had started to learn it when she'd been only four, but Mermish had always been her preference when talking to people who knew both and it did result in a smaller English vocabulary than her friends had. It never showed in day to day conversation, but the weird grammatical terms and some of the more obscure words used in Latin class went right over her head.

"Hare." a girl from the Basketball class told her.

Tullia raised one hand to her head. "My hair? What about it?"

"No, not your hair." the girl laughed. "Hare, the animal. That's what lepus means."

Tullia looked no wiser than before.

"Oh, those things!" Danny exclaimed, though. "But why do they write about hares instead of rabbits?"

The girl shrugged. "They always use lepus in Latin. Maybe they don't have rabbits in Italy and the Romans never needed a word for them."

"What is a hare?" Tullia asked. "And why is it golden?"

"A very big rabbit that's not quite a rabbit even though it looks like one." Danny explained.

"What do you mean golden?" Dinah asked. Golden hares sounded weird and she almost wished she'd done the translation already so she could tell Tullia whether it was correct.

"Well, it says aura lepi." Tullia declared. "And aurum is gold, isn't it?"

Dinah nodded.

"So aura lepi must be golden hares." Tullia concluded.

"But wasn't it obulus aureus in class?" Danny asked.

"And -a is the feminine singular ending." Dinah added. "While -us is masculine and -i is the masculine plural."

The older girl laughed again. "Well, here are two tips for you: That aura is not related to aurum and lepi isn't the plural in this case."

Tullia scrunched up her nose and stared at the parchment.

"Then it must be the genitive singular." Dinah decided.

Unfortunately Tullia had very little idea what exactly a genitive was and it didn't help her with the aura at all, but she didn't dare admit it. Maybe she could get it out of Danny or Dinah by asking some other question?

But it was too late for that. The Hogwarts students were already leaving and Danny and Dinah jumped up hastily to run after them waving a quick good bye at Tullia.

Aura. What could aura be, if it had nothing to do with gold?

Soon the lunch hall was entirely empty and finally a cook approached Tullia to tell her that they were about to lock up the room for the night.

"Oh!" Tullia hadn't realised that unlike Hogwarts' great hall the West Hogsmeade lunch room and kitchen were only open during mealtimes. "Is there anywhere else I can stay for an hour and do my homework?"

The cook shrugged indicating that she didn't care, but her younger companion proved to be more helpful.

"You could go up to the library." he suggested. "It's still open, I think, and you can do research there as well."

Even with his directions the library proved hard to find, but at least Tullia had enough time left to hunt down a Latin dictionary and look up the word aura. Luckily it wasn't even any obscure form.

Math was taught in the Arithmancy classroom to which Tullia asked directions from the librarian. Remembering her long search for the library she left early, but this time the directions were much easier to follow and she was the very first student outside the classroom. She tried the door, but it was still locked forcing her to wait in the corridor.

She spent a few minutes just looking at all the doors. Each one was different and almost all of them decorated nicely. The most beautiful was a teacher's office which was decorated with lots of colourful lines and swirls. Trying to follow each of them with her eyes kept Tullia entertained until the first West Hogsmeade students arrived.

When three boys in green robes stopped outside the Arithmancy classroom Tullia stopped her exploration of the hallway and returned there as well.

"Hi." she greeted them feeling a little unsure of herself. "Are you here for Math class as well?"

The boy she'd addressed nodded apparently equally insecure.

"Shouldn't you guys arrive as a group later?" the one to his right asked.

"I had Volleyball before dinner." Tullia explained. "It didn't seem worth going back. I'm Tullia, by the way." She held out her hand to the speaker.

"Marvin." the boy took her hand a little hesitantly. "And they're Dagger and Bert."

"Dagger?" Tullia gulped.

"It's just a nickname." Dagger allowed.

"His Mum stuck him with Heathcliff." Bert elaborated.

Dagger glared daggers at him.

"You could go by Cliff for the Lady's sake." Marvin teased.

"I'm not a Lady." Tullia protested.

"You act like one, though." Marvin returned.

"I don't! . . . Do I?" Suddenly she wasn't sure anymore. She thought she knew wizarding culture well enough, but maybe the manners her mother had taught her were a little old fashioned after all? "I'm much better with Mermish customs."

"You're Mermish?" Dagger seemed interested.

"Part." Tullia admitted. "More witch than mermaid, actually, but I grew up with their culture and language."

"Is it true that Merpeople ride on dolphins?" Dagger asked eagerly.

"Oh no." Tullia laughed. "That's the Seapeople. Dolphins live only in the sea and Merpeople live in lakes. We do ride large fish when playing underwater-polo, though."

"Underwater-polo?" Dagger beamed at her. "That sounds cool."

"It is." Tullia confirmed happily. "It's the coolest game ever."

Tullia hardly noticed the arrival of several more West Hogsmeade students while she described her favourite sport to Dagger.

Their Math teacher turned out to be a tall wizard in jeans and a striped jumper. One Gryffindor even whispered to her friend that he had to be a Muggle, but then he pulled out a wand and closed the door with a spell.

"The lock's broken." he explained when he noticed the incredulous stares. "If you close it by hand it won't stay closed unless you lock the door entirely and I didn't think you'd appreciate being locked in."

The class laughed a little nervously. It seemed even most of the West Hogsmeade students weren't familiar with this teacher.

"So," the wizard continued with a smile. "As you probably know, this class is called Mathematics junior, but if you take a look around you, you will notice that we have students from almost every year here. The reason for that is simple. I don't like teaching advanced students and beginners at the same time. I can either teach basics, that the advanced students already know, or I can do more advanced stuff, that beginners won't understand. With both groups in one class I have to alternate between the two which reduces the time I can dedicate to each group. Hence this is actually Mathematics, the basics and Mathematics senior is for the more advanced students, no matter how old they are."

He smiled at the class, walked around his desk and sat on top of it.

"So, none of you have had Mathematics before. The next thing we need to figure out is why you are here. What are your expectations of this class, what things should we look into more deeply this year, where will a short overview suffice? In general Mathematics are very important. They are in fact a basic survival skill in the Muggle world. In the wizarding world they are useful, but not as much of a necessity." he paused to look at each of his students for a moment.

"It's clear then why Mathematics is a must for Squibs and why I have quite a number of them in my advanced class. You however are all wizards and witches, so there must be very specific reasons for your choice to learn Mathematics." he continued. "Who of you is really here for the love of Mathematics itself and planning to continue into the advanced class next year?" he looked around, but the class remained entirely silent.

"Nobody? You know something? I'm not surprised. It's a difficult subject and why should you love something you don't even know. Maybe, though, if I ask you again at the end of the year, your answer will be different. Maybe I can teach just some of you to love Mathematics. I'd definitely like to try. For now, though, who of you is here, because they're considering a career in or in close contact with the Muggle world and want to be prepared?"

This time there was a reaction. Three hands rose into the air.

"Ah yes," the teacher smiled. "Unsurprisingly most of our oldest students who're already at a point in their lives where they ought to very seriously consider job options. So," he nodded at a tall boy. "Tell us your name and plans."

"Well ..." the boy seemed a little embarrassed. "My name's Evan and I ... Well, I'm not a particularly talented wizard. Neither are my parents and both of them have a hard time finding jobs in the wizarding world. They're simply not very qualified. So, I thought, that maybe ... well, maybe I'd have a better chance at a Muggle job. Nothing much, just a steady job, really."

"That's a very good idea, Evan, and very mature of you." the teacher praised. "And by finishing your wizarding education anyway you're not really closing the door on a possible wizarding job either. You are simply widening your options."

"Megan." said the second student, a girl wearing a Ravenclaw badge. "My father is a Muggle and runs a small company. As his only child I will inherit that someday and, if I don't want to just sell his life's work, I will need to know bookkeeping and how to calculate prices."

"Ah, now that's a very concrete goal." the teacher declared. "You will not find much use in the more scientific and playful forms of Mathematics, but require very specific practical abilities. In fact, the same things might prove useful for Evan as well. Good bookkeepers are much appreciated by Muggles and accordingly well paid. A good knowledge of bookkeeping enables one to run ones own business as well as to work for all sorts of enterprises and it's at the very least useful in private life, if you want to watch your expenses."

"George." said the third boy. "I'm very interested in Muggles and would like to study them more closely, maybe work in a Muggle relations office someday."

"Then you'd most likely want a general overview of Mathematics and its different directions rather than practical skills." the teacher agreed. "Muggle relations are a promising career as well, as few wizards have a sufficient knowledge of Muggle cultures and contact with Muggles is becoming harder and harder to avoid completely. . . . Next group then. Who of you is here, simply out of curiosity about the subject?"

Two hands went up. Tullia recognised Gabriella Atlas from Ravenclaw and the other was a seventh year Slytherin. The teacher nodded at the boy.

"Antonius." he introduced himself. "I'm from an old wizarding family and regrettably didn't think to take Muggle Studies in my third year, so I know very little about Muggles. I just thought that the Muggle subjects sounded interesting, but only Math and French were an option to me as the others require a year of Math first and this is already my last year. It can't hurt to give it a try, though."

"Gabriella." the Ravenclaw stated with a shrug. "Notoriously curious."

"You will both find that Mathematics are very fun for curios people as they provide a way to figure out all sorts of obscure facts." the teacher said apparently not bothered by the lack of a good reason for taking his class. "And who of you is here to prepare for Physics class next year?"

Five hands rose into the air, all of them West Hogsmeade students and judging by their height mostly third or fourth years. The teacher only asked them to state their names, not to give any reasons for their interest in Physics.

"Physics is another subject for curious people." he explained afterwards. "It explains a lot about how the non-magical world works and allows us a look into how the Muggles' machines work. You George might find it helpful in your planned career as well, so at least consider the option of taking it. . . . That leaves ten more students then." he smiled widely. "Would any of you perhaps want to continue into Chemistry class?"

Tullia happily noted that Dagger and his two friends raised their hands along with her. Clearly she wouldn't be alone in Chemistry class next year. She also made sure to remember the names of the four other students who wanted to learn Chemistry: Pete, Liane, Xin and Dan. Maybe it would be good to make an effort to get to know them.

She did seem to be the only Hogwarts student interested in Chemistry, but if she knew that many classmates anyway that shouldn't become a problem and she'd catch up to Billy once she started Alchemy in third year.

The teacher looked at them oddly for a moment.

"I must admit, I'm stumped." he said finally. "I've stated all the usual reasons for students to pick this subject and there are still two people left over. This has never happened to me before, so please help me out: What are your names and why are you here?"

"I'm Jean White and I'm here, because of my stupid Muggle parents." the rather well rounded Gryffindor girl answered. "They've always complained that I wasn't learning anything 'real' at Hogwarts and it's been a struggle to convince them every year. I'm hoping that learning Math will prevent them from transferring me to Muggle high school."

"Alex." said Alex Vaxhall. "It was my parents' stipulation for allowing me to go to Hogwarts. They'd already declined the offer, because it didn't offer a proper education, but then Professor McGonagall sent another owl with the list of additional elective and club offers and they said, if I promised to take Math, Physics, Chemistry and French, I could go."

"Your parents chose your electives for you?" Marvin gasped.

"They're forcing you to take four additional subjects?" George asked incredulously.

"Well, only one this year." Alex amended. "I have to add Physics in second year, then take French as an elective in third year and add Chemistry in fourth and they'll decide whether I have to take Psychology after that."

"That is quite a workload." the teacher said sounding slightly worried. "I'd never have thought that Muggles would do such a thing to their children."

"They just don't understand the worth of a magical education." Jean tried to explain. "They don't see any job options at the end of it, so they want their children to have qualifications they can understand."

"Well, if there's no way around it, I suggest that you take both Mathematics and French as electives in third year." the teacher decided. "It takes away all your choices, but you have to take two electives and that reduces the number of subjects."

Alex nodded sadly. "I really wanted to take Art, though." he sighed.

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At about the same time that Tullia's Math class started Gangolf stood in the dark boys' changing room and wondered how to get the lights to work. It seemed that he was the only boy in Ballet class and therefore the only person expected to change here.

Unfortunately he'd never before heard of a light switch and the only thing he could think of to do was wave his wand around and look for candles or an oil lamp. He never connected the strange white tube on the ceiling with his problem at all, much less the tiny white square next to the door.

Instead he finally decided to change in the dark. He knew his clothes well, after all and could probably feel his way into them in complete darkness. The little light that was in the room would be more than enough.

Still it took longer than usual and when he finally knocked politely on the girls' changing room there was nobody there to hear it anymore. After waiting for about a minute Gangolf carefully opened the door a crack and peered in, ready to slam it shut again the moment he caught sight of any half dressed girls.

The room was empty, however, and Gangolf found it safe to go in. This wasn't all that different from Sports class, so he wasn't afraid to open the door to the gym.

A very tall witch - or did she just seem that tall, due to being very slim and wearing tights? Gangolf's mother had told him about such appearance tricks. – smiled at him kindly.

"So, you must be Gangolf then." she stated. "Come on in."

The room was full of girls most of whom were wearing tights just like their teacher, but surprisingly no tutus and very little pink and white. Gangolf took one look around and decided to sit down next to Barbara. Most of the faces were unfamiliar, so probably West Hogsmeade students!

"I'm Charlie." the teacher introduced herself. "And I took this class myself as a student. In this very room."

The West Hogsmeade girls beamed at her proudly. Gangolf felt a little uneasy. So the teacher was a dangerous West Hogsmeade student herself?

"After school I danced professionally for a while, but stopped and came back here to teach when I got married." Charlie continued.

A small girl with a pink ribbon in her hair raised her hand.

"Yes Angie?" Charlie already knew her name.

"Why did you stop?" the girl asked surprising Gangolf with her strong confident voice. "Why give up such a dream job?"

"Because," Charlie said. "It's also a very hard job and involves a lot of travelling. When I married my husband I had to make a choice to either continue dancing, or be with him. I love Matt and I knew I wanted to have children and when a friend told me my old teacher was retiring and the school looking for a replacement I saw my chance."

"And do you have children?" an older girl asked.

Charlie beamed. "Yes, I have a baby daughter named Maggy and in a year or two I'm hoping to give her a little brother or sister. Matt and I would really like to have both a boy and a girl."

"So, if you get another girl, will you give her up for adoption?" Barbara burst out.

"Of course not!" Charlie looked scandalised. "She'd be my baby! I might decide to have a third child in that case, though."

"And a fourth, if it turns out to be another girl?" Gangolf grinned.

"No, I don't think so." Charlie shook her head a little sadly. "I'm not sure we even have enough room for three children in our flat. Four would definitely be too much. I want my children to have a happy, relatively carefree childhood. Two really would be the perfect number for us."

"Will you bring Maggy to class someday?" somebody called. "So we can see her?"

"Yes, please!" another girl cooed. "I love babies!"

"Maybe." Charlie promised. "When she's a little older and can take all the excitement. Lets get back to ballet, though. I'd like to know, whether any of the new students have had lessons before."

One girl raised her hand.

"You, Ramona?"

What a weird name, Gangolf thought.

"My grandmother taught me some steps." Ramona had a hard foreign accent. Gangolf moved away from her slightly. You never knew with foreigners. "She used to dance professionally as well."

"I learned a little from my sister." a girl called Katie said. "But I'm not sure she's any good as a teacher."

"Then we'll just keep you with the beginners now and see how you do." Charlie assured her. "If it turns out you're already up to dancing with the second years, we can always send you over later on. For now, lets get up and start with some warm up and stretching exercises."

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ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies: Thanks and I'm trying.

Pam Briggs: I don't think it ever showed up in Jenna's stories at all. It's something that came up in conversation on the e-group and I unfortunately do not remember who was the first person to use that terminology. I don't remember it being used there recently either. It's been a long time and the original list members seem to have all disappeared ... in fact even the ones that replaced them seem to mostly be gone now. Ah, the good old days ...

Colibi: Well, I'd love to show it to you ... but I haven't the slightest idea how ballet classes work. I remember two classmates in primary school talking about some 'positions', but I wouldn't have dared ask questions at all lest the popular girls notice they were allowing me to listen to their conversation, so that's all I know about it.

Joou Himeko Dah: Thanks.

Madame Moony: Well, I'm trying to get in everything I need to happen before Christmas right now and Billy's position is pretty much clear from here on in. He'll get some attention in the Christmas Chapter, though.

Anjela--spelling mistake?: Thanks, but that one is a finished one shot, I'm afraid.

ANNA: Thanks. HPHC was quite a different experiment after MNS, but to my surprise it didn't shock the readers the way I thought it would. At least not at (Weird how I put it into TheDarkArts at fiction alley and there the readers complained that it was dark, but on it was fine in the general section.)

Blythe.Naurin: Hi again Majo! Just keep telling me when you change your name, so I'll still recognise you. . . . It's kind of hard to make up excuses when the party starts right after work and everybody walks over together, I'm afraid. (And I couldn't stay home from work, because I needed to bring in the overtime for the two days that we can't go to work at, but also aren't free. It was either eight hours overtime, or lose two days off.) . . . It's a matter of how you interpret the bible, but religion is always dangerous when it gets intolerant and there are always people to interpret it that way. . . . Trelawney didn't even volunteer for Choir class, but she knows that her job is in danger now that her class is combined with West Hogsmeade. . . . About Barbara (only Professor Binns calls her Barthemia), you'll see what happens next chapter. . . . Billy learned it from Sevi, who has spent years watching and interpreting the various types of students. . . . I'm a Huffleslyth, I think, but still a lot closer to a Ravenclaw than a Gryffindor. In Gryffindor I'd be as lost as Gangolf is in Slytherin. . . . Yep, Danny is indeed a Gryffinslyth, but that is something no true Slytherin would ever admit. Ravenclaw on the other hand is a safe and acceptable house. . . . Yes again, poor Gangolf doesn't really fit into any of the houses, so the hat decided on the one it felt was going to receive the fewest students that year hoping that he'd adapt. . . . On the last one you're really close. Gangolf was there, but he's so used to not getting everything the others talk about, he wasn't surprised. (That, and he's still afraid of Billy.)

English School-Go-er: Four?! The poor children! Doesn't anybody today remember how important playing and love are for little children anymore?

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A/N: Anybody want to guess at the aura lepi problem? Why did Barbara think that Charlie would give up a daughter? And will the Gryffindors ever leave Billy alone?

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In the next chapter: The Riddles club I promised for this chapter, Colleen finally gets mail and Barbara gets into trouble.