A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this out! I went on a really long vacation with my family and didn't have any computer access! Anyways, here it is and I hope you like it! Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

Lily got out of Defense Against the Dark Arts about 2 hours later. She had been paired with Frank Longbottom, a kid who seemed to be genuinely nice and was pretty popular. The teacher, Pontus Rovenforth, was laid back and didn't seem to expect too much, to Lily's great relief. DADA was never one of her best subjects.

She looked at her schedule again. She had Ancient Runes next, without most of her friends. It seemed to be a limited class. She had a hard time finding the classroom and barely made it on time. It looked, however, as if no one else had been able to find it easily either: there were only five other people in the class, and no sign of the teacher.

Lily looked around, but the only person she recognized was Severus Snape. She walked over timidly, wondering if he had heard about Bellatrix's snub, and what his take on the matter was. He didn't seem particularly hostile, so she set her books down next to his.

"Hi, Severus."

"Hey Lily. What's up?"

"Um.. not much. I wonder where the rest of the class is."

Severus looked around, and then shrugged, "There probably isn't any 'rest of the class'. People drop out every year, and no one new takes it on. Except for you, of course."

"Welcome back, everyone! I am pleased to see that so many of you have decided to continue, especially since we will begin to learn the very advanced material."

Lily turned to the front and was surprised to see the desk still empty. It took her a while to locate the owner of the voice, but finally saw the head of a wrinkled old woman sitting inside a cabinet. It saw her looking and winked.

Lily poked at Severus without taking her eyes off of the strange head, "Severus? What is a talking head doing inside that cabinet?"

Severus laughed, "That's the teacher. I forgot that you haven't had her before. Apparently she's the best around, and she requested the job, so Dumbledore gave it to her."

"Wha- how did she end up like that?"

Severus looked at her, "To preserve a head that well takes some deep Dark Arts. Only someone very powerful could have reincrnated her so thoroughly that she's still around 50 or so years later. The rumor is that she was preserved as a head simply for someone's amusement. She does have a rather biting sense of humor."

"I don't- how- why would someone agree to that?"

"Mmm, she didn't have to agree. You can raise up whoever you want, if you're powerful enough. It does take some energy, and a lot of time, to preserve someone permenantly, as she appears to have been. I personally don't think anyone, especially with that type of knowledge, would bother raising her up, just for amusement value."

Lily turned to look again at the head, which continued to speak.

"I know that you all have assigned seats in your other classes, but there will be no such nonsense here. You can sit with whoever you'd like, whenever you'd like. I only ask that you don't switch seats once class has begun. You have already seemed to have seated yourself today, so I'll get started. As you've probably already noticed, we have someone new joining us this year. Since she doesn't know any of us, we are going to do some introductions. Shacklebolt, you first."

A tall black boy stood up on the other side of the room, "Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hufflepuff 6th year."

The boy sitting next to him stood and said in a wheezy voice, "Elphias Doge, Hufflepuff 7th year."

Lily stirred, "Why are there 6th and 7th years in this class?"

"Since this is an extra class, people can pick it up anytime 3rd year and on. This is the third class in the series. Only the 5th years in here started it in their 3rd year."

A girl with very long, light brown hair stood, "Dorcas Meadows, Gryffindor 6th year."

The black girl with a short afro next to her said, "Marlene McKinnon, Ravenclaw 5th year."

Severus didn't bother standing, "Severus Snape, Slytherin 5th year."

Lily was looking for it, or she wouldn't have caught some of the looks people were shooting at him, and at her. This, Lily realized, was because she had chosen to sit by him.

She stood up next and pushed her hair back over her shoulders, "Lily Evans, Gryffindor 5th year."

"Splendid, splendid. Now that we all know each other, let's open our books to p.7. These are the new runes that you will begin to learn now. I will give you fifteen minutes to start reviewing them. Use it or not, whatever you want."

Lily looked over the list of runes, some of which she knew, and some of which were completely unfamiliar.

"So, uh, I heard about Bellatrix."

Lily looked over at Severus, who was giving her a very shrewd glance. She muttered something under her breath.

Severus looked amused, "You shouldn't take it too hard, you know. It was poor judgment to put her with Potter. Almost as if someone wanted conflict. She always goes on a Gryffindor hate binge after clashing with him. She'll be over over by tomorrow, hopefully. Besides, we'll be getting class assignments soon, and I would be very surprised if you weren't on the list."

"Class assignments! I've already got my schedule."

Severus just smiled slightly

Lily rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to punch him violently in the arm. She contented herself with thinking evil thoughts about close-mouthed Slytherins who kept on dropping hints everywhere.

After a few minutes, Severus spoke up again, "You know, we have two hours of free time after this class. If you want, I'll introduce you to some other people you might like."

"I've got plenty of introductions this morning."

"I doubt you met anyone that I'm even on speaking terms with."

"Most likely not. They don't seem to care for your group very much."

"That's quite all right," said Severus cheerfully, "We don't care for them very much either. But seriously, c'mon with me. You'll have plenty of time to spend with them later, if you really want to."

"Of course I want to! They're my friends! But, I think I will hang out with you for a little. I don't think I could deal with Sirius and James right now."

Severus made a growling noise in his throat, but simply said, "Cool."