Alex, Damien and William made their way through the crowd towards Professor McGonagall's classroom, checking the signs on the doors along the way. Sunlight was streaming through the windows and some of the students were sitting along the walls in the shadow. Other students decided to stop in the halls and talk, but the trio had no time to waste. None of them knew how long they had between each class so they decided to play it safe. As they walked down the hallway, older students were rushing past all the first years, not paying any attention to them. Finally, the troupe arrived and found seats in the middle of the class. The class was Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students again. Alex looked around and Professor McGonagall wasn't anywhere to be found. His eyes met those of Ava's. She smiled, but turned away as the girl next to her showed her the pieces of rope on the desk. Waiting for the class to begin, Alex fiddled with the piece of rope that was sitting on his desk. Bored, he turned around and talked to his friends.

"I wonder where Professor McGonagall is?" he said. William and Damien both shrugged.

The doors of the classroom swung open and everyone turned to look who had entered. Most of the students were disappointed that it wasn't Professor McGonagall and turned back around to face the blackboard. However, Alex watched as the black cat strode through the aisle, and went to the front of the room. It meowed as the bell rang and began changing shape. The room was full of open mouths and wide eyes as the black shape morphed into Professor McGonagall. She gave a little smile as she looked around the room. When the room quieted down a little, Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and retrieved a piece of rope from her desk.

"Serpenterra," she said and tapped the rope with her wand. The rope writhed around and transformed into a brown snake. It hissed and flicked its tongue at the class, causing them to shift backwards in their seats. Professor McGonagall tapped the snake again and it turned back to a piece of limp rope. "Now, " she said, putting the piece of rope back on her desk, "please take out your wands and hold the piece of rope that is on each of your desks." Everyone followed her directions and waited anxiously for her to continue. "Tap the rope and say very clearly 'Serpenterra!'. Make sure you hold on tightly to your snake, for they will be startled to have you grasping their tail." The class hesitated for a moment, trying to summon up the courage to willingly put a snake in their hands. The boys began practicing the new spell while the girls were still staring down at the pieces of rope, looking as if they would spring to life and attack them, but no one could blame for being scared.

"Come on girls, they won't hurt you unless they feel threatened and even if you do get bit, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will fix you right up," Professor McGonagall said, sympathetically.

Most of the girls grabbed the pieces of rope and began doing their work slowly. Damien successfully turned his snake into a green garden snake and Gryffindor was awarded twenty points. Seeing this happen harmlessly, the rest of the girls picked up their rope and poked and prodded their rope while using the spell. Elliot had also completely transformed his rope into a sand-colored snake. He was playing with when it bit him on the index finger. Elliot dropped it and sucked on his finger while the snake turned back into rope. Several of the Ravenclaws were having fun with their assigments as well. Ava was giggling and leading her snake around the desk with her wand. Beside her, Artemis, the girl that Elliot had a row with at the train station, was letting her snake slither up her wand and back down again. Alex's rope was wriggling and slithering around his arm, but it was still a piece of rope while William's rope had grown scales, but was motionless in front of him. The bell rang and the class was dismissed.

"The next class is Potions," Alex said, recalling his schedule from memory.

"That's held in the dungeons," William, said as they descended the stairs to the first floor.

"What a great a place to put little children," Alex said.

The three of them laughed and entered the lower levels of Hogwarts. It was dark and the walls were stone, lined with numerous torches that made mysterious shadows along the grounds. They found the class and entered to see the same kind of walls that were in the hallways except there were windows, but they were closed shut. They found seats in the middle again and saw Slytherin and Gryffindor students sitting in the large desks beside them. All the Gryffindor members were talking to Gryffindors and the same went with Slytherins. An uneasy cloud was cast over the class and Alex sat down in an empty desk, sensing a couple of Slytherins behind him were giving him and his friends the evil eye. Beside each desk was a black cauldron and a large wooden spoon inside. Underneath the large cauldrons, there were black scorch marks, but there was no wood. A door was thrusted open and closed with a loud thud as a pale, crooked-nosed man walked into the room.

"I am Professor Snape, your Potions teacher. It is an essential part of your learning experience at Hogwarts. One day, you may be faced with with a very serious poison that threatens your life," he snarled, leering at the students that sat in front of him, "and that is why, today, we are learning to brew and antidote that works on most common poisons." He flicked his wand towards the board and white letters began to write themselves on the board. "The instructions are on the board. Split into groups of three. You may begin." He waved his wand and began walking around the room.

An assortment of ingredients appeared on the tables and students eagerly began working on their potion. Alex, Damien, and William all stood up and gathered around the cauldron. They read the instructions and looked into the black pit of the cauldron and frowned a little. They began there strenous work of making an antidote by looking at their ingredients on the table and looked for what they needed to add to the cauldron. Alex pointed his wand at the base of the cauldron and read the spell written on the blackboard. Flames erupted from the tip of wand and made a tiny fire underneath the cauldron. A smile spread across his face as the fire roared under the black bottom of the cauldron. He would definitely remember that particular spell. Snape was looming over shoulders as he watched the class prepare his assigment.

Aconite was being crushed to a fine powder by William while Alex dropped in Boomslang Skin and Damien stirred the cauldron. The contents of the cauldron became a glowing green color and emitted white smoke. William finished his mixing and poured in a gold powder. The color stopped glowing and became a dark green.

"I think its time for the Bezoar Stone," Alex said, picking up a silvery rock from the table and dropping it in the green liquid. White smoke erupted a large cloud into the room. Professor Snape walked over and peered into the cauldron, his face emotionless.

"Very good. You are the first ones to successfully make this potion. Fifteen points for Gryffindor," he said cooly. "Evanesco,' he muttered, waving his wand and the potion disappeared.

As he walked away, Alex turned to his friends and gave them a thumbs-up. Many of the students turned back to their potion after Alex, William and Damien sat down. The three of them sat there and talked while everyone else worked on their antidotes. Puffs of blue and red smoke filled the air and the room distinctly smelled like roses. Ten minutes before class was about to end, Professor Snape stood up and waved his. All the smoke cleared from the air and several students stopped what they were doing.

"Please pour a sample of your potion into a bottle and hand it in for grading," Professor Snape said as he waved his wand again and bottle appeared on everyone's desks except for the one Alex was sitting at. "Lancastler, Wolfe, and Winchester recieve an automatic perfect for the day." Several of the Slytherins glared at them as they walked by to hand in their samples. The cloaked girl from the Sorting Ceremony, who had the same last name as Damien, came by and removed her cloak, revealing the sparkling crescent moon charm that hung off her forehead. Her icy blue glinted in the dim light like her charm. She had a definite look about her that sent chills down Alex's spine.

"Hello, brother," she said softly.

"Hello, sister," Damien replied, looking at the charm on her head.

"You blokes are related?" Alex blurted out. Her eyes shifted from Damien to Alex.

"Yes, you clod. Isn't it a little odd we have the same last name?" she snapped.

"The two of you..." Alex began.

"Look the same?" she finished. Alex had an astonished look on his face.

"Yeah, but how come..."

"We're in different houses?" she said, finishing his sentence again.

"How..."

"Do I do that?" she said, a smile forming around her lips.

She flipped her hood over her head, covering her eyes and moon charm, and walked towards the desk at the front and set her bottle with the others. Alex still had the puzzled look on his face as she walked by and sat back down at her table. The bell rang and Alex shook the perplexed look off his face. He grabbed his bag and led his friends out the door, heading for the Great Hall in time for lunch.