A/N Two chapters yesterday, don't miss Severus and Alicia. Also, because of the issues with published stuff not being available, some of you may have missed, 'Sorting Secrets' so you may want to double check your chapters :) JCWriter.

XVIII

Class Interruption

Lucky couldn't help but be a little envious at how Bill fell so neatly into place over the first couple of weeks. In some ways, it was almost as if the entire school had been created a thousand years ago just for him. He got along with everyone, even the testier of students. He always knew what to say on any given occasion. And he breathed in everything new he encountered like a breath of air fresher than any he had taken in his life before that moment.

But if Bill was a salmon in this river, Lucky was most definitely a wet chinchilla. Eating on a schedule, let alone sleeping on a schedule, let alone doing anything at all on a schedule, reminded Lucky of juvenile hall more than what she knew of as school. Even stranger, none of the teachers seemed even remotely afraid of the students, nor could a class disruption get so out of hand that a teacher couldn't with a single snap of the fingers bring it back to order again.

Attempting to 'cut up' in class ended her a lukewarm reception at best from the other students, and her stories of New York did not impress most of her classmates. Many of her fellow Gryffindors would furrow their brows at her as if in attempt to figure out what she was saying and give up, while some of the older students would simply shake their heads as if not believing a word of what she was saying.

The problems outside of her house for the most part were much worse, and there had already been more than one incident she had attempted to stick up for herself in the halls only to be carted away by one teacher or another who gave her warnings and point losses. Only Bill seemed to be supportive, and loved to listen to her rattle on about her old life, even if he didn't necessarily understand everything she was saying.

Having no better options (and after not particularly enjoying Hermione's idea of detention, which involved writing out the first fifty pages of the Encyclopedia of Magic Volume "A-As,") Lucky decided it was in her best interest to do what she could in her classes. But outside of them, Lucky found herself in a constant state of restlessness and boredom, often using her time to explore the grounds or parts of the castle she wasn't familiar with. Most of the time she went alone, but when Bill's classes coincided with hers or he had a study period free he came along too, listening to her when she was in a talkative mood, but content also to be a silent companion when she wasn't. That morning, though, Bill was rather worked up, and chased her down right after breakfast.

"I just knew he was up to something last night," Bill said excitedly, showing her a copy of the Daily Prophet. "When I was coming back from the library, Snape walked past me smelling like cinders, I was sure he was gone on some sort of adventure. And so he was, making headlines again: 'Famous Auror Harry Potter and Headmaster Snape capture wanted Dark Wizard gang'. See?"

"Bacchus' Street Boys? Qué el nombre estupido!"

"Yeah, pretty impressive, huh?" Bill said cheerfully.

"And who is this Auror guy?" she asked. Bill stared at her for a long moment, very much like her fellow Gryffindors often did when she said anything, but then finally grinned.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting you're not from around here…rather strange, I know, considering you do have a foreign accent…"

"Get to the point, chico."

"Right…well, an Auror is someone who catches criminals, and there's none more famous than Harry Potter," Bill explained with a grin.

"So he's a cop," Lucky said.

"Sort of a step above that, really," Bill said. "But they do often work along side the Enforcers, of course. Anyhow, it says they took on not only two dark wizards but a troll and giant too! That's pretty amazing, don't you think?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure I believe in giants and things," Lucky said.

"Next you'll be saying you don't believe in magic," Bill shook his head at her with a smile. "You really are lucky, you know that?" he added, and then immediately changed his tone. "Let's go ahead and walk to Potion's. I want to go ahead and set up before Professor Craw gets in there. I'm so glad that Arithmantics class of yours made you take Potions with us instead of with Slytherin and the rest of your house. You make it much more interesting!"

"Sí, but why are you always in a hurry to go to class?" Lucky complained, but followed behind him anyhow.

"What, I thought you liked school," Bill said.

"I like learning. I hate public institutions," Lucky said. "Trying to fit as many people as they can into the same mold. In New York I was my own boss, with no one around to tell me what to do. Here, everybody tries to tell you what to do, and it's all work all the time."

"Well yes, but, how else are you going to learn anything?" Bill said.

"Experience is the best teacher, mi amigo, there ain't nothin' you can't learn on the streets of New York."

"How about not using double negatives?"

"Nobody likes a smart ass," Lucky said, nudging him. "You just don't understand is all! Not long after I discovered I had a knack of picking numbers and things, I helped an old lady win a lot of money and she gave me half of it. And you know what I did? I put nearly all of it into a metro card, because then the city was mine for the taking! I rode the train for hours, wandering the basement shops, buying hot dogs off the streets and then…it hit me. Here I was, standing on Manhattan island and the smell of money was everywhere; in every building and in all the bustling crowd, and not a pocket needed pinched from me to climb as high as I wanted, to the penthouse even, and I did not need nobody else to do it! That was when I knew I was going to break the system someday and make it for myself, understand?"

"Not a word of it," Bill said cheerfully. "But it all sounds fascinating!"

"It means I'm only lucky if I actually use my luck," Lucky said.

"I suppose that makes sense," Bill said thoughtfully. "And that's how you got here, isn't it?"

"I guess so," Lucky said with a shrug. "But I don't know if I made the right choice yet. So far I don't see how this is going to get me where I want to be. Uniforms…following rules…it's almost too much to take at times. I took to the streets to get away from this kind of authority!"

"You made the right choice," Bill assured her, pausing a moment outside the door to the lab. "Give it some time, that's all you need. Besides, I'd be lost without you."

"Well, you are pretty hopeless at times," Lucky agreed. "Come on, if things get boring I'll just try to blow up the lab again."

"Hope it works better than your last attempt," Bill said, following her in.

The two of them had their labs set up before the rest of the students arrived, and Lucky was already going through her very elaborate potion kit to see what she had that might liven things up a bit. It had a little bit of everything, even rather rare ingredients…in fact, the only one who had one anywhere near as elaborate was Bill. The rest of the class had standard potion kits that came right off the shelf of Willowby's Wands and Weeds.

"You actually have a few components I don't have. I have double phials in some," Bill said as they went through them. "Things he thought I might run out of halfway through the year…"

"Who's he, your father?" Lucky asked curiously. Bill never talked about his family at all, and it was obvious the mention made him uncomfortable.

"My father, sure," Bill said.

"Is your father a Muggle?" asked a girl sitting behind them, and Bill turned to see Delia Agate, a fellow Hufflepuff, gazing at him curiously.

"No, no, a wizard, of course," Bill said defensively.

"Really? I've never heard of him before."

"Like you would know," Lucky said in annoyance.

"Well, my father is one of the Owl Keeper's for the London Owl Postmaster. I help him in the summer so I see a lot of names, that's all," the girl said. "Although it's really nothing to be embarrassed about, if you are one. I was just curious."

"He's from Canada," Bill said after a moment. "Very famous there too, I'm surprised you never heard of him. I'm named after him," he added. "He's an Auror. They sent me to school here because…well, to keep me out of harm's way, you know."

"Really?" Delia said thoughtfully. "So that's why you two are such good friends then, I suppose, being over the pond, practically neighbors and all of that! Although you really don't sound very Canadian…but then again, Lucky doesn't sound very American either."

"Why don't you mind you own business, you bitchy mother f…." Lucky suddenly choked. Bill cried out in concern as Lucky pawed at her mouth, pulling out a rather large bar of soap. The class began to laugh as she futilely began to wipe her tongue with her sleeve to try to get the taste out of her mouth, but they hurriedly settled down when Professor Craw, looking exhausted and unusually unkempt, appeared in the office doorway.

"What in the world is going…oh, no, Lucky, please don't start all of that again today, it's bad enough you forced me to put that charm on the room as it is," Jennifer said tiredly as she headed over to her desk. "Please, everyone face forward and open your books, and send up that homework I gave you on basic salve formulas," she added, leaning on the desk for support. "Oh, and Lucky, do you have that extra worksheet I gave you on metric conversion finished yet?"

"Oh, um, no…I think I left it somewhere or something…" Lucky improvised.

"Well, make sure you'll bring it tomorrow. Anyone with as much number sense as you ought to be able to make the switch to…to…" Jennifer suddenly felt as if she couldn't breathe and crumpled to the floor, the entire class jumping up in surprise.

"Jackie!" Lucky blurted out in alarm. Bill ran over to her side and turning her over and propping her head up.

"Someone had better get the doctor," Delia said.

"And the Headmaster," Bill added, and Lucky nodded, darting out the door.

As luck would have it, however, she didn't have to go far. Standing in the hallway near the stairwell, Severus was in some sort of casual discussion with Professor Weasley over foreign exchange students.

"Professor! Professor, it's Craw, you need to come, pronto," Lucky blurted out, Severus cutting off his sentence to stare at her.

"Why, what have you done this time, Fortuna?" he squinted.

"Not me, her! She fainted or something, I don't know for certain…she did not look so good…" Lucky explained, having to almost jog to keep up with Severus' long strides as he headed down the stairs to the dungeons.

"Do you think she is dead?" one of the other students asked pensively.

"No, she's breathing," Bill said, looking up as the Headmaster came in. "She just fell over, mid-lecture. That's not like her at all!"

"I should say not," Severus said, waving at them to get out of the way.

"Shall I call Sagittarius down?" Hermione asked.

"He would never make the stairs down here. I'll take her up. Hermione…why don't you deal with the class?"

"Of course, Professor Snape," Hermione nodded solemnly as he carried her out. The moment he was out of sight, the class all began to talk at once. "All right, all right, everyone take your places, I'm sure she'll be fine and there's nothing to worry about," she said in a firm voice. "Turn your pages to thirty-four, I believe you were going to start on basic reaction experiments, I think? Bitterroot salve, correct?"

"How in the world do you know what we're working on?" Bill asked in surprise. Hermione gazed at him a moment then flipped over the paper she took off the desk.

"Class notes, of course. Besides, as Deputy Headmaster, it's my job to know what the rest of the faculty is teaching. Now, take to your seats at once. I won't have you getting behind because of this…this little incident," she finished. "If I have to say it again, someone will be losing some points." Quickly the class got back to their seats, and Bill exchanged a worried look with Lucky as they sat down. Bill had a hard time concentrating after that, and Lucky very quickly decided that the class had more than enough excitement that day and dutifully did the lab as it was supposed to be done.