Note: I can't write Hagrid's voice, so just use your imagination!

To Howl in Harmony

Chapter 4: Lessons

Monday's lessons were cancelled in honour of the new A-P's. However, Tuesday's weren't.

"Can't we skive off today, Sparky?" Draco groaned that morning when they'd all been woken for their 5:30 routine.

"Yea, it's our first day of lessons!" Neville added.

"No, you may not skive off today. I don't care if today's the first day of lessons. You're doing it." Harry said firmly, before proceeding to push the two grumbling boys from the room, the half-asleep Ron and the girls following behind.

The Pack showed up at breakfast 2 hours later grumbling at Harry, who ignored them. Taking their seats, the new A-Ps barely had time to eat before they were being pulled away by their new mentors.
XoXoXoXo

"Alright," Hagrid said to his 3rd year Ravenclaw- Hufflepuff class, "Today we'll be looking at Hippogriffs!" A wry grin flitted across Draco's face as he remembered his own first experience with the hug, winged creature. Because of his trip down memory lane, he missed Hagrid's introduction to for the class as well as his request for a volunteer. "Alright," Hagrid said when nobody volunteered, "Draco, why don't you show them how it's done?"

"Sure Hagrid," Draco agreed before stopping suddenly, going pale, saying, "No Hagrid, oh no. Not him! I'll have a go with another one, but not him!"

"Why is Assistant-Professor Malfoy afraid of that Hippogriff?" A blonde Hufflepuff asked curiously, gesturing at the grey hippogriff with her well-manicured hand.

Gulping and taking another step back, Draco explained, "Back in my 3rd year, I was stupid enough to ignore Hagrid's warning and insult the hippogriff I was working with. That hippogriff!"

Hagrid shook his head impatiently, commanding, "Then go and make your apologies!"

Nervously, Draco stepped forward, meeting Buckbeak's eyes. Bowing low, Draco forced himself to keep his eyes open, waiting. After several, rather uncomfortable, moments, the great beast bowed back. Draco breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward.

At least he didn't tear me open this time!
XoXoXoXo

Rose hid her giggle behind her hand, watching the tiny professor clamber aboard his stack of books. Harry had told her about it, but she'd never quite believed it.

It was a first year Gryffindor-Slytherin period. Flitwick had decided upon a review before Christmas and was doing "Wingardium Leviosia" that day.

From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a small, blonde boy struggling with the spell. Rushing over, she greeted him with a smile and an offer of help that cost her 20 minutes.

With only 5 minutes left of class, Rose returned to the desk that had been set up for her. Grinning, she thought, 'Well, that wasn't such a bad first lesson.'

At that precise moment, she was flung up into the air. The small blonde she'd previously been helping gave a loud cheer. Hopping up and down, he chanted, "I did it! I did it!"

Sarcastically, Rose thought 'Oh yea, not bad all.'
XoXoXoXo

Neville watched silently as the 2nd year Gryffindor-Slytherin Potions class glared hatefully at each other. Much like when Neville himself was a student, both Houses sat on opposite sides of the room.

Leaning casually against the teacher's desk, he silently watched them. To his left, Snape was stalking the room, dishing out insults. Pulling himself to a standing position, he walked forward through the Slytherin half of the room.

"Er-A-P Longbottom?" a petite brunette girl asked tentatively, raising her hand nervously.

"Yes?"

"I-um, I don't know why my potion isn't blue." The brunette said shakily, eyes downcast.

"Alright," Neville said gently, kneeling down beside the young girl, "Why don't you tell me exactly what you did and we'll see if you can figure it out, okay?"

Gathering strength from Neville's gentleness, the brunette's (whose name was Eliza Zambini) voice steadied out. With Neville's help, they discovered the problem and Eliza's potion became the dark, metallic blue it was supposed to be.

From across the room, Snape's obsidian eyes gazed with undisguised pride at Neville's potion abilities.
XoXoXoXo

Luna drifted ghostily down the length of the Hospital Wing, humming tunelessly. Her arms were loaded with potions bottles and jars, which she carefully loaded into the storage cupboard. That done, she turned and made her way back down the room towards Madame Pomfrey's office where more boxes were filled with potions and jars to be stocked.

The door was suddenly flung open and a tall, 7th year Hufflepuff entered, a younger student cradled in his arms. The small girl was crying hard enough to make herself sick, and her left arm was bent at an odd angle.

"Oh, dear!" Luna said, calmly leading the younger man to a bed for the girl, "What happened to her?"

The young man gently laid her on the bed, stepping back to gaze down at her uncertainly, "She's my younger sister. Me and the guys were goofing off, near the top of the stairs. I-I pushed her, harder than I meant to and she-she fell down them."

Madame Pomfrey came out then, and, while the 7th year repeated his story to her, Luna went over to the bed. Pushing back the hair from the young girl's face, she brushed the tears away gently.

"Hush, now, darling," she soothed gently, "Madame Pomfrey will fix that in a moment. There now, what's your name, love?"

"M-M-Melanie Daniels," the young girl sniffled, staring curiously at Luna, forgetting the pain in her arm in favour of speaking with the mysterious woman before her.

"Well, hello, Melanie. My name's Luna."
XoXoXoXo

Ron grinned, perched on the edge of McGonagall's desk, watching the first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs walk into the classroom. They were loud and boisterous for about a minute.

McGonagall's sudden presence in the room elicited immediate silence-much like Snape's presence did. However, Snape's-presence-caused silence was because of fear and hate, whereas McGonagall's was caused by respect and only the smallest touch of fear.

"McGonagall's sharp voice commanded, "I want you to read Chapter 6 of your textbooks. Assistant-Professor Weasley will watch you. I have pressing matters to attend to."

"Er-Professor?" Ron called out after the retreating woman, "Are you sure it's such a good idea to leave me alone with them?"

"You'll be fine Weasley!" McGonagall called back, before departing into the corridor.

Just under 2 dozen eyes turned to stare curiously at Ron, who tugged nervously at the collar of his blue polo-shirt, saying, "Uh-hello."

"Do we really have to read the chapter?" moaned a Ravenclaw boy with black hair.

"W-Well, Mc-Professor McGonagall said you have to and she's in charge in this classroom," Ron said with a helpless shrug.

"But it's boring!" whined the blonde-haired Hufflepuff at the other boy's side.

Ron chuckled, nodding his agreement, "It always has been."

"So can't we do something else?" the blonde demanded.

"W-ell," Ron said thoughtfully.

"Oh, please!" the boys begged, giving Ron big, puppy dog eyes.

Ron laughed, saying, "Okay, how about a compromise? I'll do some tricks for you-ten minutes worth- and then, you read the chapter."

The first years cheered, staring excitedly as Ron began transfiguring the items on McGonagall's desk. From behind the door, McGonagall grinned.
XoXoXoXo

"Good morning class," Lily greeted her 7th year N.E.W.Ts class.

Within moments, they were immersed in their lesson. Despite herself, Hermione found herself impressed with Lily's teaching methods.

Lily had re-arranged the classroom so the student's desks were in a circle around her desk. The walls were covered in Arithmancy problems, rules, explanations and inspiring quotes. None of the student's had to raise their hands and everything ended up as being more of a discussion.

"Okay, wait," said the only Slytherin, in confusion, "I don't know how to do this one.

"Hermione, could you help her?" Lily asked distractedly from her desk, where she was grading papers.

"Yes, Mrs. Potter," Hermione said icily, putting emphasis on her formal use of Lily's name.

Lily looked up at her with a frown. Hermione met the upset gaze with icy disdain, letting Lily know just where she stood in regards to the older woman's past actions regarding Hermione's best friend and alpha. With a last flick of her hair, Hermione turned to the confused Slytherin.

She pulled an empty chair over to the other side of the Slytherin's desk. Smiling, disdain gone, she asked, "Now, what's the problem?"

The Slytherin pushed the paper forward, switching it around so it faced Hermione and pointed at the third one down, "This one."

Hermione's eyes followed the problem, and, after only a moment's thought, she said, "Oh! This one is simpler than it looks. You just have to…"
XoXoXoXo

Ginny could not help the dark look that crossed her features whenever she set eyes on her new mentor. The stupid jerk, causing her Sparky all that pain and suffering in his life.

They were on the Quidditch Pitch, with all the old school brooms spread out before them., As part of the requirement as Flying Instructor, James had to clean the brooms once a month.

Carefully, Ginny tried to rearrange the twigs of an old Comet 360. The old broom was well near unsalvageable, with bent and broken twigs and chips taken out of the handle. Ginny sighed, giving up on the twigs as a lost cause and moving on to polish the handle.

Beginning to sweat (thanks to some well-placed warming charms) Ginny brushed a sweaty hand across her forehead, leaving a black streak of Broom Polish in it's wake. Across from her, James caught the movement and his head flew up, catching the black streak on his son's love's forehead. A slight smile crossed his face, lost in memories of Lily doing the same thing.

Feeling eyes on her, Ginny's head snapped up, meeting James' out of focus eyes. Ginny's lips lifted in a sneer at her mate's biological father, her eyes flashing her anger at him.

"Why do you hate me so much?" James asked with a frown.

"Why do you think?" Ginny sneered.

James sighed heavily, slumping to the ground, "You don't understand."

"What is there to understand?" Ginny demanded, "He was a child! Your child!" And you sentenced him to a life filled with misery and emptiness."

"I didn't want to!" James yelled suddenly, face filled with sadness, "I didn't want to leave my child behind! He was my son, my baby!"

"Then why did you?"

"I was scared!-no, not of Voldemort!" Ginny stopped mid-snort in surprise, "Well, yes, I was scared of Voldemort, but that's not why I left. I was scared I'd fail Harry. That I might raise him to be like me-rash and impetuous- and have him do something like rush headlong into Voldemort's hands in an effort to be 'brave'. I was scared I'd lose my son because I raised him wrong, but I lost him anyway."

Ginny's expression did not change, however, and she said simply:Maybe you should have thought it through before you condemned him."
XoXoXoXo

"Hey little one," Sirius greeted, pulling Harry into a headlock as Harry walked into the room.

"Let me go you old mutt!" Harry yelled playfully, punching Sirius' thigh.

"Old? Old!" Sirius yelled in mock-outrage, shaking his godson lightly and rubbing his knuckles into his hair.

"Oh, your very mature Siri," Remus commented as he entered the room, leaning casually against the desk a few steps away from the struggling pair.

Sirius looked up at his mate, a lock of black hair fell over one, laughing eye. Remus shot back a suggestive grin, causing Sirius to let go of his godson as his own eyes lit up. Stalking forward, Sirius trapped his laughing mate against the desk with one hand on the desk on either side of Remus' body, Sirius caught his mate's lips in a kiss.

Harry allowed this for about 10 seconds, before yelling in a 'kid' voice, "Ew! Cooties! CIR, CIR!"

Sirius broke the kiss but did not move his arms, looking sideways at his godson with an inquiring, upraised eyebrow, asking, "What the hell is CIR, Harry?"

"Child In Room," Harry clarified with an impish grin.

Sirius and Remus shared a significant look, before turning to Harry. As they stalked predatorily forward, Harry nervously walked backwards. He made it two steps before Sirius jumped forward, tackling Harry to the ground, Remus joining in moments later, creating a playful brawl on the classroom floor.

Harry, Remus and Sirius were so caught up in their playful scuffle that they missed their classroom door opening. The 6th year N.E.W.T class entered the classroom, catching sight of the wrestling trio, and burst into laughter.

Harry looked up from his spot pinned beneath Sirius and Remus, and, in a mock-pompous voice, told the class, "This, dear children is what you don't do when in a fight!"

The teens just laughed harder, and the 3 men joined in. Slowly, Sirius and Remus lifted themselves off of Harry and then pulled him up off the floor. Harry dusted himself off, throwing his mentors a mock-glare of anger.

"Okay, class," Sirius laughed as Remus smacked Harry on the back of the head to make him drop the glare in favour of rubbing his now sore head, "take your seats."

Obediently, the 6th years took their seats, chuckling and giggling at Harry's indignant face. Harry stuck his tongue out at them, ducking the hand that Remus brought up to hit him with again, resulting in Sirius getting hit instead.

"Oy!" Sirius yelled, rubbing the side of his head and glaring at Harry, "Brat."

Harry grinned winningly at his godfather, "Yes, but you love me anyway."

"And Merlin knows why!" Sirius joked, earning himself an elbow in the ribs.

Remus chuckled, shaking his head at his family before turning to the class, "'Lo, everyone."

"Hello Professor Lupin," the class replied obediently, causing a look of shock to cross Remus' face.

"Yea," Sirius said with a grim smile, "Umbridge did a number on them."

Harry frowned thoughtfully before saying to the class, "You know guys, Umbridge is gone. You don't have ti be mindless drones anymore. After all, Sirius is your teacher now. You could call him 'Hey, you' and all he's do is say 'Yes?'"

The class laughed and then Harry said mock-sternly, shaking his finger at them in mock-disappointment, "Now stop following what Umbridge taught you and go back to being immature!"

The class laughed and Dean jokingly saluted, saying mock-seriously, "Yes, sir, Assistant-Professor Potter, sir!"

"Ick, Dean, call me Harry," Harry said, wrinkling his nose in distaste at his formal title before impishly adding, "After all, Dean, there's no need to be so formal since I've seen you and your ugly knees in your football boxers.
XoXoXoXo

A/N Hey people, sorry for the delay, but I've been busy. As a special treat, I put up both chaps. 5 and 6. I probably won't be able to update again until next week, cuz that's my X-mas break, but no promises, cuz my cousin's coming down and I don't know when I have to work. I'll try my best, but until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!
My Luv

Red