Disclaimer: I own the moon, too. (yeah, right...)

Sorry. Real life called. It said it wanted my soul back.

Chapter Eight: Change of Schedule

Puu soared high above the Great Hall, scanning the crowds carefully for Yusuke or, at the very least, Kuwabara.

"Puuuu..." he cooed lowly, spotting Yusuke just below him.

A battle screech rent the air before a certain eagle divebombed the purple penguin from what seemed to be the sky.

Not much later, Professors Snape and McGonagall found themselves disentangling squabbling students and bird-type things.

"This brings about a sense of déjà-vu," McGonagall said sharply, in a much worse mood than she had been the other time, partially because this time she'd been knocked in the shin by someone's flailing limb. It felt rather unpleasant, to say the very least.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor and a detention for both."

"Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin and a detention for both."

"Fine," Snape snapped, also in a foul mood as he turned on his heel to storm his way to the dungeons.

"Er—Minerva? Severus?"

"What?" was the agitated reply from both of them.

Professor Lee took in a deep breath.

"May I be so bold as to ask to oversee the detention?"

McGonagall looked puzzled. Snape looked shocked.

"Sorra, why on earth would you want to do that?" the older woman asked with as much kindness as she could possibly muster.

"Yes, do tell."

"Well, I need to finish a project by, oh, two days from now," replied the Defense teacher. "And Malfoy and Urameshi already know what it is, so I can get it done faster. Hopefully."

"No...!" Malfoy moaned, distraught, rubbing an absent finger over the jaw that Madame Pomfrey had mended not too long ago. "Puzzles... No..."

Seeing this reaction, the other two professors nodded to Sorra, who beamed and walked away murmuring the strangest thing.

"Now all I need is Potter..."

Finally sitting back at his seat, Yusuke untied the letters on Puu's leg, both disgruntled and slightly less stressed out.

Me, me, Kurama, me, Hiei, Kuwabara, Yana, Kido, Kurama, Kaitou, Thia—

"Who the hell said she could use Puu!"

"What's up, man?" Yana asked before taking a chomp of toast that greatly contrasted to the high-speed feeding that was going on next to him, courtesy of Hermione.

"Who the hell said she could use Puu!"

"Ooh, is that for me?"

"Who the hell said you could use Puu!"

"I didn't. I use the school owls. One of the pitfalls of being a poor student with little to no financial support," Thia said calmly, breaking the seal on the envelope and sliding out the letter within.

"Bullshit!"

"Mmhmm," muttered Thia around a mouthful of toast and bacon stolen from the center of the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, lookit."

"'Lookit'? That isn't even a word, is it, Kurama?" Yusuke looked up expectantly at the redhead who had joined them only to sift through the mail pile Yusuke had received.

"Not to my knowledge, no. Yana, would you mind passing me that envelope?"

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side. Ravenclaws and—Whatever. I'm going back to my own table. Or better yet, to my next class, which has been changed because someone else used Puu to deliver all of our newly revised schedules. So HA! I didn't use Puu."

"We have new schedules?"

Thia shrugged and waved in the general direction of the letters with what remained of her toast.

Yusuke's hand snaked out to grab any random envelope and tear out the letter within, reading the first few lines of the letter quickly. He repeated it twice more until he found the right one. ("Hey! Opening other peoples' mail is, like, a felony! Or whatever you call it…" Kuwabara muttered, snatching away his letter.) However, one look at his newly revised schedule and Yusuke let out a loud groan.

"Muggle Studies? What the hell kind of useless-"

"Useless?" Hermione practically screeched as she looked up from her hyper-speed eating. "I'll have you know that Muggle Studies is an intensely fascinating class, Urameshi! I was devastated to have to drop it!"

"Yeah, yeah. Didn't answer my question."

"It's a class about muggles and how they live without magic," Harry told him shortly. "Probably rather easy if you're muggle-born," he added, unthinking.

"Not that you, having never taken the class, you know, Harry Potter! It is not easy! There's a lot of research involved!"

"...I liked Harry's version better."

An indignant sniff was heard before Hermione went back to eating.

"...Divination. Dude, that's with that freaky Tree-lady, isn't it?" Kuwabara asked.

"It depends. If it says you have it in classroom eleven, then it's Firenze, but if you've got it up in the North Tower, then it's Trelawney."

"North Tower."

Ron grinned widely.

"Have fun with the old bat, mate. That's why we dropped Divination."

Asato leaned over and peered at Kuwabara's schedule. "Divination? What's that? Advanced math?"

There was something wrong with Hermione. She was acting a little… batty, to say the least. So far, she'd skipped lunch to stay lodged in the library, with all of her precious texts and tomes.

Not that that was out of the ordinary when they were working on cracking Voldemort's newest plot, but currently… no, there wasn't all that much for them to do.

Not only that, but she'd also been scribbling on a long sheet of parchment almost nonstop since they'd begun classes. It was beyond unnerving. It was…

"N.E.W.TS, HARRY! HOW COULD YOU FORGET?"

…N.E.W.Ts year.

"But they're not until spring, at least."

"Well—well there's no harm in being prepared!"

Harry and Ron backed away slowly.

"Think she's taking it a bit far this time?" the red-head asked.

"…Yeah," was the response. Then, louder, "Well, er, Hermione. We'll just be... off."

And with that, the two boys bolted.

"POTTER!" Professor Lee bellowed from down the hall. "POTTER!"

"Er… yes, Professor Lee?" the dark-haired boy asked from behind her.

"Oh, there you are! I was wondering… Could you possibly come by after classes today? Say… 7:45?"

"Er… probably."

"Good! Meet me outside the Defense classroom, then."

"For what, professor?"

"Detention, of course!"

And while Harry was gaping, Lee simply walked away, a bounce in her stride.

"Wait! Professor!"

Kuwabara sat in the back of the classroom, watching in fascination as the teacher flapped around like an oversized bird, her thick glasses magnifying the freakishly wide, round eyes behind them and her lips moving as words of doom and destruction poured forth.

He yawned.

The air in the Divination room was thick with some sort of sickly perfume and just the sort of air that made one want to drowse off.

"As you know, my dears, this term will begin with an introduction into the noble art of—" here she took a dramatic breath, "—scrying into mirrors. This, in turn, shall be followed by astragalomancy, the divination of thrown dice. The Fates have informed me that after Christmas break, we should begin our review for the N.E.W.Ts exam. Now. Come up front and fetch your mirrors, class…"

She motioned to the wall behind her upon which several rows of circular mirrors now hung and her bangles gave a loud jangle-jingle-jangle.

Kuwabara made his way up to the front, trying not to yawn any more than he had to and wondering when this class ended. Before he could reach out and grab one of the hanging silver pieces, however, the professor—Trelawney—clamped onto his arm.

"My child," she whispered dramatically, and all eyes in the classroom shot to them.

"Uh…" Kuwabara fidgeted.

"I See… I See a great aura about you! My boy, you have the potential to become a mighty Seer!" The woman peered up at him and the rest of the classroom broke out into admiring whispers.

"But—oh! The Fates are cruel! I See much death in your future—" here Kuwabara grinned giddily; his job was hardly bloodless! "—and much darkness! Oh, my dear boy!"

A handkerchief materialized from her robe pockets and the professor blew into it.

Kuwabara had no idea what to say.

Ron and Harry caught up with Kuwabara in the next class.

"Hey, mate, how was Trelawney?" asked Ron, who was grinning maniacally.

The tall boy shook his head.

"She's got a few screws loose, man. Told me I was some kinda Looker or somethin'."

"You mean 'Seer'."

"Same difference. Kept telling me my future was dark or someth—"

"Mr. Kuwabara, this class is Transfiguation, not social time. Unless you have finished the work, there is to be no talking. Five points from Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall proclaimed, and the matter was closed.

Except, five minutes later: "Hey. Where's Urameshi?"

After classes, an unsuspecting Thia walked down the corridor, thoroughly engrossed in a novel.

Little did she know that danger lurked just behind the over-large tapestry of Igor the Imbecile; a hand shot out suddenly as she passed, grabbing at her robes and pulling her into the black abyss behind the seemingly innocent wall embroidery.

There was a blood-curling screech and a thump and then no more.

Author's Rants: Hey, I, too, thought Divination might be math when I first saw that word.

Hermione is a bit of a prat in this chapter—but then again, she's freaking out. When you freak out, you're entitled to pratty behavior.

Okay, so the rumor about Merlin's mother is that she's also his sister. And a nun. Meaning... well, yeah. Daddy's got issues. Don't ask me where I read it, but probably in one of the Arthur Trilogy books.

For your information, no, I did not intend to spend an overly long time writing this relatively short chapter only to have it end in a cliffhanger. I swear to you, I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can finish it. And it won't take months and months. Really.

Well, I won't waste everyone's time with excuses regarding the absence—unless you want me to, of course. Just leave a review, okay? Hey, you can even yell at me for taking so long (wince)… If y'all are still there, that is…


Responses:

Bluespark, Hiyuri Jaganshi, PrincessKrystal 01, Mihi-kun, samuraiduck27, Cattibrie393, poltergeist report 101, Serenader, Kuranga108, Taurus 07, KuramaIsFine, Time and Fate, Blackfire Kitsune, Megumi Muse, Kohaku-san, Shadow Fox777, Icy Tears, Asaake – Thank you all so much for the support! You've no idea how much my confidence levels are raised by reading and re-reading your reviews!

DarkWarLordofDoomness – A… Ha-ha-ha… Ha? I'm reallyreallyreallyreally sorry for not updating in forever, so pleasepleaseplease don't poke me! I swear, I'll have the next one up soon, really! Wow, that was a really ramble-topic review… But I think that way, too, so no worries, man. Thanks for reviewing!

slave2anime – A-ha… I guess this one is inexcusable, then? Long, long, long wait, but then the chapter's kinda dinky… But thanks for reviewing!

Rose – Gah! I lost your school e-mail address a while back… Bad me! Bad, bad me! Ack, Ron and Hermione aren't cooperating and, like… getting together… My grades last term were OK, and my overall average was 88-point-something. I hope my grades this semester are better, though. Thanks for everything!

Knight of the Sun – Yeah. I can't talk as long as Lee is without, like… blacking out. Suffocating, too. :grin: Thanks for reviewing!

Okhira – COOKIE! Ah, I'm sooo planning out the Thia-Kurama guard shift!

Long Live Asato Kido – Ah, yeah. Poltergeist Report was OK, but not the greatest… Yana's waaay off-kilter, but that's what makes him cool! Thanks for your review!

Hylian Dragoness – Gah! Confusing areas? Where? I really appreciate your review!

high-off-life – Oh… I'm really, really sorry! I think I threw out the disk with Secrets and Rain on it… Thanks for reviewing, though!

Rumiko Kaitou – Ah… Yeah. Kaitou kicks ass. Well, sort of.

SamuraiSirius – Thanks! I'm curious to see what's up with Professor Lee, too… :laugh:

dragonpurity – Aa, I hope I can get a career in the publishing industry! I've got no other talents! Thanks for the review!

Ryushi Nigami – Ooh… Those are some pretty darn good ideas! Thanks a bunch!

SunStar Kitsune – Um… I… don't really know…

FiretwinsCHOCOLATE! Thank you!

Animeobsessed13:blush: Thanks so much! Well, here you are, and I hope it hasn't lost any of its quality…

Aiiro-bara – Thanks for the sentiment, but it's easier said than done! But at least the Laptop Lives Once More! :laugh:

xKitsunex – Yeah, I've been having techie problems with my computer, too... Thanks so much for all your reviews! They came at just the right time to motivate me to find my floppy disks again and attempt to kick my little bro off the laptop! Not that it worked, but... :grin: