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: Yes, late again, but not that late ... I'm not sure about the next one, though. My schedule is pretty full.

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Chapter 18: Going Home for Christmas

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"Have you seen my turquoise socks?" Gangolf asked Aterus.

Aterus blinked and cast another confused look over the items spread out on and around Gangolf's bed as well as the torn open cupboard and drawers and the wide open trunk.

"What are you doing?" he asked finally.

"Packing." Gangolf stated and waved a roll of parchment under Aterus' nose. "But I can't find my turquoise socks. Have any of you seen them?" he repeated this time including the rest of the boys as well.

"Turquoise?" Aterus repeated. "Is that some special brand?"

"No, it's a fancy way to say light green." Rupert explained. "Are you sure you haven't got them? There seem to be more than enough socks on your pillow already."

"No, no, I have them all checked here on my list, see." Gangolf stuck his parchment under Rupert's nose now. "The turquoise socks are missing."

"So maybe they're in the laundry." Pank shrugged. "What's the problem? You can just wear another pair, can't you?"

"But I need to pack my trunk for the holidays." Gangolf insisted. "I need all my clothes."

"You're really taking everything back home for just two weeks?" Billy looked up from packing his own backpack. "Didn't you leave any clothes at home?"

"And shouldn't that be enough socks for two weeks?" Rupert added gesturing towards Gangolf's pillow.

"But I can't just abandon my favourite socks!" Gangolf protested.

"You'll be back in two weeks." Pank pointed out once again.

"I'll have to ask the house elves." Gangolf decided. "Where can I find a house elf right now?"

"In the kitchens." Billy answered smirking. This might have interesting results, if Gangolf really managed to find the kitchens again and got caught in there.

"I'm an idiot!" Pank groaned seconds after Gangolf had rushed out. "I put my toothbrush at the bottom of my trunk."

"Well," Billy smirked again. "You can either unpack again, or not brush your teeth until you get home tomorrow evening."

Pank groaned again and threw a slipper at him as he started unpacking. "Maybe I can dig it out, if I just remove a few of the biggest items."

-

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"Do you think my parents will take me to see Phelippe now that I'll be home anyway?" Colleen asked suddenly worried.

"Of course they will." Dinah declared with conviction. "Christmas is a celebration of family. It'd be completely impossible not to at least visit him to bring him his gifts, if he can't be home for the actual event."

"But what if they say I can't come along when they do?"

"They can't." Anny assured her. "He'll want to see you just as much as you want to see him."

"You'll have to be very quiet at the hospital and probably not be allowed to play with him." Tullia stated suddenly. "And not hug him too eagerly either."

She looked a little sad for a moment, despite her eagerness for tomorrow.

"I know that." Colleen snapped. "I'll be a perfect young lady, just like grandmother taught me. I'll walk in slowly and say: 'Good evening, beloved brother.' and kiss the air next to his cheek. And then I'll sit in a chair next to his bed and fold my hands in my lap. I'll ask how he feels and whether he wants me to read to him."

"And if he does?" Dinah asked. "You can't read him anything too exciting."

"That's right." Colleen nodded. "I'll have the house elves buy a book with bedtime stories for toddlers. It can be my Christmas present to him. I'll read him the most sugarly sweet story I find in there."

"He'll probably rather want to hear all about Hogwarts, though." Tullia declared. "After all he'll come here, too, in a few years."

"Eight years." Colleen stated sadly. "He can't be cured until he's thirteen and it'd probably be too dangerous to send him sooner."

"You shouldn't tell him anything too funny." Dinah suggested. "It might excite him."

"Nothing about the sorting either." Anny added. "Or about the ghosts. That's all exciting."

"And not about Flying or McGonagall." Tullia said. "That might scare him."

"Or about Sports class, or fighting with Danny." Colleen confirmed. "I'll tell him about you, though, Dinah. I'll tell him that you're my friend and of a good family and that Anny showed me how to tie a pretty ribbon into my hair. I'll tell him how Cam shares her French book with me and teach him a few words in French. And then I'll sing him that lullaby you taught me and say I learned that in Choir class."

"And what are you going to say about me?" Tullia pouted a little.

"Well, I can't tell him about the merpeople." Colleen decided. "That's much too adventurous. Maybe I could tell him that you don't like beef and that you take Math."

"You can tell him that Tullia helps you in Potions sometimes." Dinah suggested.

"But then I'll have to tell him about all the icky things we have to work with there." Colleen shook her head. "That's too disgusting. I'll tell him about Professor Snape, though, and that Billy's his son and Aterus' best friend."

"Don't tell him about Gangolf." Anny warned. "That's too funny."

"I should have brought my camera." Dinah said. "Then we could have taken a picture of all of us in front of the castle for him. He could keep it by his bed and look at it whenever he misses you. You'd just have to tell him that's where you are and those are the people you're with and he'd feel like he almost knows us."

"We can draw him a picture." Anny suggested and dug her pencils back out of her trunk. "And all sign it and write that we wish him well."

"Tullia!" Danny's yell startled Anny and she dropped the lid of her trunk onto her fingers. "Come and sit on my trunk! I can't close it."

"That's because you threw everything in like that." Dinah told her. "If you'd folded it in more neatly, like I showed you, it'd all fit nicely."

"Do you need a house elf?" Colleen sneered down at Danny who was still kneeling in front of her trunk pushing the lid down with both hands. Those were the exact words Danny had said to her when she'd complained about the time it took to fold up all her clothes the way Dinah had shown them.

Still, Dinah's way seemed to be the correct one. At least it looked a lot like the way the house elves had packed her clothes back at home.

"Oh, leave her alone." Tullia sighed and climbed onto the trunk. "That's just the way she is."

"Finally!" Danny gasped when she managed to close the trunk. "All packed."

"Do you want to help us draw a picture of ourselves to cheer up little Phelippe?" Anny asked from across the room where she'd spread out a roll of parchment on her night stand.

Danny snorted. "Colouring? How old do you think I am?"

"It doesn't matter how old we are." Dinah pointed out. "Phelippe is only six. Six year olds like coloured drawings. And it's only polite of us to show our concern and try to cheer him up a little."

"No way." Danny declared. "I'll be down in the common room, if you need me."

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The southern train departed only an hour after breakfast the next morning, so there was a big rush in the common room and it got even worse in the entrance hall. Still the Slytherin first years all dragged their luggage out together. Billy, who was taking only his backpack helped Gangolf load his especially heavy trunk into the carriage and back out at the station.

The Gryffindors were already there and pelted them with snowballs as they got off, but Marcus Fortescue stopped the resulting fight before it could become serious when Gangolf sought refuge behind his back.

It took Pank's promise that he and Danny would protect Gangolf to coax the boy out of his hiding place and onto the train. Anny quickly hugged Dinah and Colleen good-bye and Aterus, who'd boarded early to reserve a compartment for the others waved at Billy from the train window one last time.

Then the train whistled, rolled out of the station and soon disappeared behind a mountain.

"Well, they're gone." sighed Colleen wishing she could have taken the early train as well.

"We'll be home before them." Dinah reminded her. "Their train goes all the way down to London."

"They're not all going that far." Tullia countered. "I bet Anny will be home before me."

"I bet I'll be home before any of you." Billy grinned. "See the big houses over there? That's where I live."

Indeed Merlin Park was visible from up here, though not very well.

"I bet I'll be the very last to get home." Rupert said and tried to pull his hat further over his ears to protect them from the cold.

"But you are going to take the floo back to Ireland, aren't you?" Colleen asked.

"No, I'm not old enough to floo that far on my own." Rupert shook his head sadly. "I'm to take a portkey along with the students from Northern Ireland. It'll take us to the train station in Belfast of all places. Then I'll have to take another train to Dublin and my parents will meet me there. It'll be almost midnight by the time we get home."

"At least you are going home." Dinah tried to console him. "Hermy told me that Mel's little sister has the measles, so she has to stay at Hogwarts. The owl arrived just in time this morning."

"If you're taking a port key, why did you bring your luggage to the station?" Colleen asked Rupert with a nod at his trunk.

"Because I have to take the train first." Rupert sighed. "The port key leaves from the international magical transportation office in Aberdeen. I know Scotland to Northern Ireland isn't international." he added hastily. "But it's still a long distance port key, so they're not allowed to have it at Hogwarts."

"Oh, then we're getting off together." Dinah beamed at him. "I live in Aberdeen."

"I have to get off at Dundee." Colleen told them. "Our invisible carriage will get me from there. What's your stop, Tullia?"

"I'm going all the way up to Inverness and then on by floo." Tullia sighed. "The train doesn't go any further north, you see."

But it did at least arrive right then. The pretty blue engine announced it with a loud whistle and then the train rolled into the station.

The students gathered up their luggage and soon found an empty compartment and five minutes later they rolled out of the station. They could see Billy waving after them until he got too small to see and the station disappeared from view as well.

Tullia flopped back into her seat. "We're finally on our way."

"Do you think Billy's still there waiting for his Dad?" Dinah asked staring back even though she couldn't see the station, let alone Billy, anymore.

"Professor Snape has to stay at the school." Rupert volunteered. "To watch the students who couldn't go home. Billy's going alone."

"He has to stay at the school all year?" Tullia gasped. That had to be horrible!

"Of course not." Rupert shook his head. "Billy said the teachers take turns. At least one head of house has to stay for Christmas and Easter every year, but the others get to go home to their families. This year it just happens to be Snape's turn."

"But that's not fair." Colleen commented. "There aren't even any Slytherins staying and I know for a fact that neither McGonagall nor Flitwick have kids."

"I think he volunteered to stay now anyway, because Draco is getting married right after the Easter holidays." Dinah mused. "He'll want to have Easter off, so he can help with the preparations."

"Just how much can there be to prepare?" Rupert clearly didn't believe her theory.

"Oh, lots of things." Dinah laughed. "The last month before a wedding gets really hectic for the whole family. I remember when my aunt got married even the neighbours had to come over to help send out invitations, there were fifteen witches to prepare the food for all the guests and granny almost didn't manage to get the dress finished in time."

"Your grandmother sewed the wedding dress?" Colleen asked surprised. "Why didn't your aunt just go to the seamstress?"

"Because it's much more personal." Dinah explained. "And it's family tradition. The dress is a gift from the family, you know."

"My Mum wore a white bathing suit at her wedding." Tullia remarked.

The others stared at her.

"Well, my parents got married in the lake. It was the only way, you see. The human guests could all wear bubble head charms or snorkels in the water, but the merpeople wouldn't have been able to hear the ceremony, if they'd had to come in water tanks. Besides, the tanks would have been much more expensive."

"I still wouldn't want to get married underwater." Colleen frowned. "I want a proper wedding dress and church."

"Well, then you'd better not fall in love with a merman." Dinah teased her.

"Love?" Colleen repeated. "Love has nothing at all to do with it and a merman is out of the question anyway. My parents will pick me a proper pureblooded wizard to marry. I just hope he's good looking as well."

"Your parents will pick your husband for you?" Dinah sounded scandalised. "Don't you get any say?"

"But how can you marry someone you don't love?" Tullia couldn't believe it.

"It'll be a marriage based on mutual respect." Colleen explained. "And to the advantage of both our families. What could be better than getting an influential wizard?"

"Being an influential witch on your own merits." Tullia shot back. "And marrying the male of your choice. I think I want a merman myself. Or maybe I won't get married at all."

"I want a really handsome wizard who's completely in love with me." Dinah declared. "It wouldn't hurt if he were rich and had a big romantic manor house either."

"You'll have to marry Pank or Aterus then." Colleen giggled. "They've both got nice manors."

Rupert groaned. "Girls!"

"What?"

"Don't you have any more interesting topics than marriage and clothes?"

"Marriage is important for a young lady." Colleen declared. "It will decide he entire life."

"Will not." Tullia declared. "A modern witch has a job that allows her to control her fate. If you get a good job, you won't be dependent on any husband."

"You need a husband to have children, though." Dinah amended. "And I want lots of children. Don't you, Rupert?"

Rupert shrugged. "I don't know. That's years away. I've never thought about it."

"So what do you want to do with your life?" Tullia asked him.

"Well, I'll inherit my parents' shop someday." Rupert shrugged. "I could sell you your wedding dress ... or bathing suit."

"I'd like to become minister of magic." Dinah commented. "Do you think that's possible?"

"There's never been a female minister before." Colleen stated.

"I want to do research." Tullia said. "Maybe water plants like my Mum, or perhaps Potions or Alchemy. I like Potions and it probably receives more recognition, too."

"Well, I'd like to be the wife of the minister." Colleen decided. "But it doesn't necessarily have to be the British one. I bet the French minister would be much more classy."

The time seemed to fly until they reached Dundee, where Rupert and Dinah helped Colleen to unload her trunk. A tiny house elf wearing an elegant towel accepted it at the door and levitated it away.

"Grandmother, how wonderful to see you." Colleen greeted a stern witch in dark robes. "I hadn't expected you'd be able to meet me. Does that mean Phelippe is feeling better?"

"Welcome home, Colleen." the witch returned just as stiffly. "Are these your friends?"

"Oh yes, of course. Please pardon my rudeness. My worry, for my dear brother made me forget my manners for a moment. This is Ms Dinah Laxter, Master Rupert Lennox, from an Irish wizarding family, and there at the window is Ms Tullia Waterwall. They are all in my year and house. This is my grandmother Lady Anastasia Nocturne."

"Waterwall?" the grandmother frowned slightly.

"She was sorted into my house, grandmother, and we have to share a dorm." Colleen apologised. "Besides she appears to be quite talented at subjects I've found to be hard for me. It might prove worthwhile to keep a polite relationship."

There wasn't time to hear anything more, though. The train whistled and started to roll away.

"Good bye, Colleen!" they yelled out of the window waving at the girl. "Have a nice Christmas!"

"And merry Christmas to your brother, too!" Dinah added, but it was doubtful whether Colleen had still been able to hear her.

A few minutes later the sweets cart came through and they ate chocolate frogs and played exploding snap until they reached Aberdeen, where Dinah and Rupert had to get off.

Dinah's parents appeared to be part of a larger group of witches and wizards that stood together at the end of the platform. She disappeared into the group too fast for Tullia to make out which witch or wizard she was heading towards. Then a large group of Hufflepuffs ran out towards the same group and it became impossible to see anything at all as parents and children hugged each other welcome or good bye. Apparently most of the witches and wizards knew the others' children as well, so it was impossible to be sure who belonged with whom.

Rupert on the contrary looked rather lost and alone trudging after the group of Irish students as an official looking young wizard led them away. Tullia hoped he wouldn't lose the group entirely dragging his heavy trunk while everybody else seemed to have levitation charms, or a trolley for their luggage.

Soon the train was rolling out of Aberdeen, though and the long boring part of the journey began. There was nobody left in the compartment to talk to, but Tullia didn't quite dare to leave and look through the other compartments for some company. She thought she might interrupt an important conversation, or it might annoy people, if she forced herself on them and their friends. Colleen would certainly tell her that it wasn't polite to intrude.

Of course there might be other students who'd been left all alone by now, but what if she did indeed find someone, but lost her way, or forgot to return to her compartment in time? Would the train remain at the station long enough for her to find her luggage and drag it out? Where would she end up, if it left with her still inside?

Thus she stayed in the compartment and stared out the window trying to imagine what it'd be like to finally be back home. It was already getting dark outside by the time she finally saw the first lights of Inverness outside. For a moment she wondered where Danny was right now. Had she already reached London?

But now was no time to daydream. She dropped her trunk onto her head as she pulled it out of the luggage compartment over her seat and had to let it fall to the floor. Hopefully nothing inside had been damaged, she thought while rubbing the bump on her head.

Once again there was no time, though. The train was already slowing down. It would stop soon and she had to be ready to get off. Hastily she dragged her trunk out into the corridor and towards the door.

Only three other students seemed to have been left in the coach and they were still busy taking down their luggage and talking. They only glanced at her for a moment as she dragged her trunk past their compartment.

It seemed forever until the train finally came to a full stop and she could swing open the door. Where was her mother? Tullia didn't expect her father to be there as he hated flooing just as much as she did. Floo travel dried out their skin and made it itch for hours afterwards. Apparently it had something to do with being part merman, because Tullia had never met anybody else who'd complained about that problem.

For a moment Tullia feared that her mother had forgotten and she'd be stranded in this city she barely knew, but then she stumbled down the steps and onto the platform and there she was.

"Mum!" Tullia dropped her trunk and launched herself at her mother. "Oh Mum, I missed you so much. And Dad and all the merpeople. There's a colony in the lake at Hogwarts, but Professor McGonagall wouldn't let me talk to them ..."

She didn't even notice the bewildered stares of her fellow travellers at the squall of Mermish.

Her mother hugged her back tightly, then cast a quick levitation charm on the trunk to make sure it would follow behind them.

"Oh Tullia. Is Hogwarts really so bad for you?" she asked when the girl finally stopped to breathe.

Tullia opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again. Bad? Was Hogwarts bad?

"I ... I don't know." she admitted finally. "I mean it's really strange and sometimes lonely and some of the food there is absolutely terrible, but some foods are simply delicious and I've made lots of new friends. Our head of house is really great and I love Potions and except for McGonagall the teachers are all very nice. Well, Flying's bad, but I'd have that anywhere. It's really just not being allowed to see the merpeople, I guess."

"You know, noting in this world is ever perfect. You always have to take the bad along with the good." her mother told her. "You're getting a very good education at Hogwarts and learning more about wizarding culture. In return you'll have to accept that you have to be away from home for a while and that not everybody will understand your ways. Now come on, we should get to the floo station."

Indeed, they should. The sooner they reached the floo station, the sooner they'd be home.

"So, how are your new hobbies going?" her mother asked as they walked down the platform. "You wrote you'd joined a Volleyball club?"

"Oh yes, it's a fun game." Tullia nodded. "But I really just picked it, because of Danny and now she's in a different group. Of course that meant I got to know the other team members better, but I'm still not sure I want to continue to play next year."

"Why not? You say it's fun and you made friends there."

"Yes, but I want to learn Alchemy." Tullia burst out. "It's so fascinating. Billy's older brother teaches it. Billy's the son of Professor Snape, you know."

"And you can't do that and play Volleyball once a week on the side?"

"Well, Professor Snape says it's not really much use to take Alchemy, if I don't take Chemistry as well. One year of Chemistry is even required before you're allowed to start Alchemy, but the professor says it's not nearly enough if I'm serious about becoming an alchemist. He even thinks that I should continue to take Math as well to help me understand the Muggle sciences better. But that means taking three very serious clubs and Volleyball would mean a fourth extra class."

"An alchemist, Tullia?" her mother looked very surprised. "I don't know, sweetie. Isn't that a completely outdated art? And you are awfully young to make career decisions. There's so much you haven't tried, yet. Alchemy is obviously very complicated and ..."

"I know, Mum." Tullia cut her off before she could discourage her completely. "But Professor Snape says I've got the talent and true alchemists are still rare. There'll probably be a demand for them in a few years once people realise what they can do. He says that at the very least it'd be extra qualifications, if I apply for a job as a brewer."

"Potions, Tullia?" her mother asked once again. "I just don't know. It's so far from everything I'm familiar with. I always thought you wanted to study Herbology, like me."

"Oh, I'd like to and I'm still considering it, but I'm not nearly as good at it as at Potions. Pank's the Herbology talent in our class. Most of the Hufflepuffs are better than me as well. In Potions only Billy can beat me and he's been brewing since he was old enough to stir a cauldron." Tullia beamed at her mother proudly. "Billy's entire family are alchemists, you know. His Mum, his Dad and his big brother."

"And what do they do, Tullia? What jobs do they have? Are you sure you'd like that?"

"Well, Professor Snape is our head of house and teaches Potions. Draco is a professor, too. He teaches Potions, Alchemy, Chemistry and Physics at West Hogsmeade Wizarding School. And Mrs Snape brews medical potions for the Hogsmeade hospital."

"West Hogsmeade, that school for squibs?"

"They're the only school in Britain that has wizards and squibs." Tullia nodded. "They're very proud of that and Professor Snape says, that it makes teaching there a special challenge, especially for the Potions teachers. The squibs can't brew most traditional potions, you see, so the squib classes do a lot of Chemistry in their practical work. Billy told me that the school actually wants to have three alchemists teaching Potions, so all of them will be equally qualified to teach the squibs, but right now they have only two Potions teachers and only Draco is an alchemist. He's a bit overworked teaching three clubs as well."

"That school is actually looking for two alchemists?"

"It's a very big school. I think they have about three times as many students as Hogwarts. And it's really cool, too. They have those pretty spells and pictures on every door and ..."

They'd reached the floo station by now and Tullia had to stop her description of the school in order to throw the floo powder into the flames and give her destination. By the time Mrs Waterwall stepped out of her fireplace at home the girl was already dangling from her father's neck by both arms.

She'd be too heavy for that soon, Mrs Waterwall thought. Already Claudius Waterwall couldn't hold her up for very long and had to set her down again with a hug and a kiss.

"My little girl." he smiled down at her. "But you have grown quite a bit since September. I just hope your robes will last through the year."

Tullia giggled and kissed him again, then seemed to remember something.

"I have to say hello to my friends!" she shouted and sprinted out the door leaving it open in her haste.

Mrs Waterwall went to close it, but stopped in the open door to watch her daughter race down the pier towards the hole Claudius had hacked into the ice. Tullia dropped to her knees at the end of the pier and plunged her head into the icy water without even hesitating. Here on land it was impossible to hear her words, but Mrs Waterwall could well imagine her happy yell of "I'm home!".

How many more times would she return like this, though? She was growing up so fast.

"Claudius, our baby wants to study Alchemy." she said shutting the door and turning to her husband. "Alchemy. Wherever did she get that from?"

"Children get all sorts of ideas, honey." Claudius laughed. "She's only eleven. Let her have her dreams."

"But she wants to take all sorts of extra classes for it."

"They can't fail her for failing an extra class, can they?" Claudius smiled at her reassuringly. "And the extra knowledge won't hurt her, if she really does take them. Most likely she'll have forgotten all about it long before starting second year."

"And if she doesn't? What if our daughter grows up to be a brewer?"

Claudius shrugged. "Why not? There'll always be people in need of potions. It sounds a lot more secure than your research job, actually. I wouldn't worry about it."

"But how will she manage without our support? We don't know anyone in that business."

"How do all the muggle borns manage?" Claudius returned. "What about orphans and children of ministry clerks? Tullia's a very bright and strong girl. She'll make her own way, and if she doesn't, she's still fluent in Mermish. I can always get her a job in my business on the skills she already has."

-

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It was too cold in the bathroom on the train, Danny thought as she changed from her school uniform into her Muggle clothes. But she had used the need to change to excuse herself from Gangolf.

Unfortunately she'd been left alone with Mirrorboy since Pank had gotten off in Birmingham and her patience with him had run out long before that. It really was lucky that she didn't have any clubs with the idiot. He'd drive her mad, if the others weren't always there to run interference.

Right now he was probably practising his ballet in the compartment. How had that Barbara been able to take this?

Well, it didn't matter. Danny slipped into her jacket and throwing her robes over her shoulder marched out of the bathroom.

She killed some time by picking a fight with a Gryffindor second year who almost stepped on her toe in his attempt to squeeze past her in the corridor that was already filling up with students dragging their trunks towards the exits. Then she hopped over a few trunks, collided with a Ravenclaw caught her foot in a Hufflepuff third year's backpack that was standing on the floor next to her compartment and arrived in the compartment just as the train finally came to a stop.

To her disappointment Gangolf was still inside. Apparently he was unable to get his trunk back down on his own.

Danny pulled both trunks down despite Gangolf's protest that she was handling his precious possessions too roughly. Honestly, what did he expect her to do? Get expelled for casting a levitation charm during the holidays? Not likely.

"Help me!" Gangolf called once again. "I can't get it through the door."

"Have you tried pushing it though lengthwise?"

Of course not. He was trying to pull the broadside of the trunk through the door in his panic. This was the final stop. The train wasn't about to leave again anytime soon.

Danny was almost tempted to abandon Gangolf to figure it out on his own, but he was blocking the only door. With a sigh she tilted his trunk for him until it fit through the door then pushed him along the corridor towards the exit.

A hysterical blond witch descended upon them the moment Gangolf set a foot out onto the platform.

"Gangolf! Oh my poor baby!" she shrieked. "I already thought they'd lost you! Poor baby! And your poor pretty robes! All rumpled up!"

"Mummy! I missed you so much!" Gangolf wrapped his arms around her right away.

"Honestly." Danny snapped pushing Gangolf's trunk out after him and letting it drop onto the platform, because neither of the two bothered to accept it from her. "He's not lost at all. He just took his time getting off, so why the hell is he poor? And you might want to try an ironing charm on his robes when you get home. It takes about ten seconds. It's not the end of the world."

"You look so pale, my poor darling." the witch was almost crying by now and seemed completely unimpressed by Danny's advice. "And your hair's messed up as well. Oh, where is my comb."

Danny decided to get out of here before she had to strangle Gangolf's mother. The witch was even worse than her son!

Her own mother was nowhere in sight, so she grabbed an abandoned trolley for herself hoisted her trunk onto it and headed off towards the magical barrier. The cue was already very long thanks to her having been one of the last students to get off, but it didn't matter that much to her, because Gangolf and his mother didn't follow right away. By the time they were satisfied with the condition of Gangolf's hair there were enough people between them that Danny didn't feel like she had to acknowledge their presence.

She still heard them though.

"Your Daddy has promised to take you to the cinema tomorrow afternoon." Gangolf's mother promised her son as they cued up. "He'll probably also bring you your first Christmas present and then the day after that we're invited to tea at grandma's place and on Saturday we'll visit Aunt Betty and your cousins are staying with us the day after that. I'm sure you've been looking forward to playing with the girls again. I know they missed you a lot."

"Oh, can we use your make-up again, Mummy?" Gangolf asked eagerly. "Then we can play beauty parlour."

"Well, I'll have to get a few new lipsticks anyway, so I guess you can have the old ones. Don't let the girls ruin any of the new ones, though, you hear!"

"Of course, Mummy." Gangolf promised. "That won't happen again. I just didn't know that Miranda hadn't used lipstick before. She's older now and I'll be sure to show her exactly how to handle it properly before I let her play. No need to worry."

"I know, I know. But don't be too hard on her, either. I remember you ruined a few as well before you got the hang of their use. Just give her the almost empty ones to practise with. The poor girl needs to learn sometime. She'll be eight in only a few months."

Gangolf played beautician with seven year old girls? Danny grinned to herself. Just wait until the boys hear about that! Billy and Rupert would have a field day with that information.

Maybe it was even worth keeping as blackmail material? But then, what could Danny ever need from Gangolf? No, she'd just tell the boys, or better tell it at dinner when everybody was gathered to hear.

She wondered what the Gryffindors might come up with when they heard. With a little luck they'd get caught and lose some points for the prank on top of the fun.

Gangolf was now talking about school. He was best in Transfigurations, Charms and Latin? Gangolf? Next he'd probably claim that he got record marks in Flying as well. Well, he probably did hold the negative school record there.

After the detailed list of his imaginary academic achievements Gangolf started to complain about the Gryffindors, the West Hogsmeade students, Flying, his classmates, the Sports teacher ...

But then Danny had reached the front of the line and together with two fifth years was waved through the barrier. Her father was waiting outside. As a Muggle he couldn't enter the platform without the help of his wife and apparently Mum wasn't with him.

"Hi Daddy!" Danny gave him a quick hug. "Are you here by car?"

He nodded. "In the taxi stands outside."

Danny grinned. Some of his fellow taxi drivers were probably cursing him for abandoning his car right now.

"Don't you want to say good bye to your friends first?" her Dad asked when she started to steer her trolley away. "You do have friends, don't you?"

"What? Oh, sure I do, but none of them live in London."

"You shouldn't scare everybody off, you know." he looked worried. "Friends are very important."

"I have friends, Dad, honestly." she assured him. "I get on great with my fellow Slytherins."

"Then why don't you introduce me to them?" he challenged. "Show me just one of your friends."

"Because they aren't here." Danny insisted. "I can tell you about them, though. My best friend's called Tullia. She lives in Scotland, so she took a different train. Pank got off in Birmingham. Rupert took a port key to Ireland. Billy lives in Hogsmeade. That's the town the school is in, so he walked home. Dinah's Scottish as well and Aterus lives somewhere near Nottingham."

"And none of your classmates live in London?" her Dad insisted while fastening his seat belt. "There were so many children coming off that platform."

"Gangolf." Danny admitted flopping onto the customers' bench in the back. "But he's totally crazy. Nobody likes him."

"Don't ruin the upholstery." her Dad admonished her. "The feet remain on the floor."

Danny rolled her eyes. "Sure, Dad."

"Good girl." The taxi rolled out of the line and onto the road. "So how's Quidditch?"

"First years aren't allowed to play." Danny pouted. "I took Volleyball instead."

"That's nice." her Dad commented. "I had a friend who played that in high school."

"It's really cool." Danny confirmed. "Most of my team mates are second and third years, though. Tullia's really disappointed, because she's in a different group."

"That's a weird name, Tullia." her Dad said and stopped the taxi at a red light.

"It's Latin." Danny shrugged. "A lot of wizards and witches have Latin names."

"Sounds strange to me." The traffic light changed to yellow and the taxi shot away. Danny's Dad never had been one to obey the traffic rules too strictly.

"It could be worse." Danny shrugged. "Her first language's Mermish. I can't even pronounce Mermaid names."

"Where's Mum?" she asked when they finally left London and there was less to see through the windows.

"Work." her Dad answered. "They had some incident at a day care center. Apparently a little wizard was harassed by some other kids and set them on fire and for some reason the monitoring office missed it, so by the time they found out, it was too late to obliviate the day care worker."

"What about the children?" Danny asked more out of curiosity than actual worry. She didn't even know those kids, after all.

"Oh, they'll be fine." her Dad assured her. "They had to be treated for burns of course, but only two of them had to stay at the hospital."

"No, I mean, shouldn't they have been obilviated as well?"

"Nah, the oldest is only four. Nobody would believe such a small child. They'd think he made it all up, or had a dream, or just misunderstood. If the day care worker hadn't reported seeing the children spontaneously catch fire nobody would have thought much about it."

"So what's Mum supposed to tell the Muggles?"

"That one of them knocked over a burning candle, I think. There were candles in the room from an advent celebration they'd had earlier. The problem with that is that the day care worker wouldn't leave any matches lying around. Lets hope that one of the kids is indeed able to light a candle. Then it shouldn't be too hard to claim that they stole or found a book of matches and decided to continue the celebration. Then they got distracted by the little wizard and one of them accidentally knocked over the candle and now they're lying about lighting it, because they're afraid of punishment, or feeling guilty for hurting their friends."

"You think the parents will believe that?" Of course Danny knew that her mother had fed weirder stories to Muggles before, but she still had her doubts. "As convinced as they tend to be of the innocence of obviously guilty children sometimes ..."

"Ah, but that's the beauty of it." her Dad grinned. "They can all blame it on somebody else's kid. 'Oh, my poor baby was only watching.' 'He was talked into it by that bad boy.' There might be some quarrelling about who actually lit the candle and who pushed it over, but there won't be any more talk of magic."

And after all that was all Danny's Mum needed to achieve before she could come home to greet her daughter. Danny smirked to herself. Mum would probably have a story to tell this evening.

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ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies: You know, saying I'm in 1b here would be about the same as a Hogwarts student saying I'm a first year Slytherin (or any other house). I don't really know what to do with the combination of subject year and 'house', though. ... All the grammar was given away, though. Lepi is the genitive of hare, aura a nominative. Any Latin dictionary should be able to tell you the rest.

Joou Himeko Dah: Well, in an Austrian hospital, Colleen wouldn't even be allowed to visit at all. No children unless they are patients. her parents are probably worried that the excitement of getting to see his sister after so long could cause another attack.

Kyzara: You know, the alternative would have been even slower: I'd have to write several chapters describing those weeks. I'd hoped to loosen it up with the scenes I added in between, but I guess it didn't work. Well, maybe I'll come up with something else next time.

Megan: Yes, but not exactly. Air really doesn't make any sense in this combination, but it's very close. (Clem already guessed it, but you've got another chance, since that was in a private e-mail.)

Elaanabeth: Ah, but I don't have any good plot hedgehogs for that eight year gap and the hedgehogs for The Catar are by now so restless they're threatening to kill me, if I don't get around to giving them some attention. The oldest of them was in fact born quite a while before the oldest Runaway Dragon hedgehog. Then I have some very young but energetic plot hedgehogs for a founders fic, some really old and resigned hedgehogs for a ghost story and one that's almost as old as Greenie himself and really just requires a one-shot I've never quite gotten around to. I won't say never, but right now those eight years just don't have any room in my schedule. ... I still remember the time Cassandra Claire was on you know. Hers was one of the first good fics I read here. (And I still love it, though I don't like FA.) ... Stop writing? I could stop posting, but how does one stop writing? That's somewhat like stopping to breathe, you know. (I first tried to write a book at age five. Since I didn't even know how to read my mother had to type it for me ...)

Blythe.Naurin: We're not entirely done, yet, you know. First come the holidays and I intend to visit each of the kids, then there will be the return and an epilogue. (And then I'll finally get to make Draco mewl at Sevi ... I've been planning The Catar so long, I've probably forgotten more scenes I wanted to write for it than will be in there.) ... Uh ... The German translation wouldn't help you any, would it? Well, sphinxes pose riddles to people and if they can't answer them correctly, they eat them. (Does that help any?) ... I didn't expect my Slytherins to hit it off with the Hufflepuffs like that either, but Dinah's connection with them brought them together and Hufflepuffs are just too friendly not to get along with anyone willing to give it a try. ... I actually believe that there are Slytherin/Hufflepuff friendships in Harry's time, though most likely not in his year. Draco is the Slytherin leader there and he's been raised on so many prejudices that he won't give them a chance. A Slytherin in his year would meet with strong opposition from him, if they decided to befriend a Hufflepuff and it would make them an outcast in their dorm. I don't believe that Draco has such a big influence on all of Slytherin, though. Especially older students wouldn't let him order them about. ... Billy doesn't see anything wrong with any of the things he's revealed about his family. He's quite comfortable with his background and feels good enough about himself that he doesn't have to pretend that he's somebody else to his friends. ... Barbara will find good friends in Hufflepuff. She'd have done well with the Gryffindors as well, if she hadn't tried to fight her one girl against the house battle against the anti-Slytherin prejudice. Now that she's given that up she has a chance to reintegrate herself into her house over time. ... Actually it was easier for Neville, because he had already established relationships in his own house. Everybody knew that he was just shy, clumsy Neville and not a Slytherin in disguise. They wouldn't have attacked him, even if they would have tried to get between him and Draco. ... Colleen isn't that Hufflepuff-inclined. She will finish the year of Choir class for her friends, but then will choose another club for the next year. If any of them choose the same subject, she'll be happy about it, but she wouldn't think of inviting them along. ... Well, the problem is that with a lot of things I'm not at al sure how Americans would rate them. We have a different system and don't take it as seriously here. Also I don't always know how bad a swearword really is. I never actually learned to swear in English in school, you know. I've just heard, or more often read these words somewhere. Then there's the fact that you can lose your account for simply being accused (even falsely) of under-rating a story. I have accounts on two other sites, but my readers are mostly here, so this account means the most to me. It'd really hurt to lose it.

Pam Briggs: Sarah would have been a Hufflepuff, if she'd gone to Hogwarts. ... Barbara's mother at least would have been at Hogwarts with Harry, though in a higher year, but as we only really know the Quidditch players among them, we've probably not heard of her. (It would probably have been noticed if one of them had gotten pregnant.)

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A/N: Will Danny really tell on Gangolf? Will Tullia have forgotten about Alchemy by the time she starts her second year? And will Phellippe like the girls' picture?

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In the next chapter: Aterus tries to hide from his mother, Annygoes Shopping and Pank is bored. (Christmas at the Nocturnes will probably be moved to the chapter after that.)