The Difference One Choice Makes
1st September 1992
One hour later…
Euphemia and Lacey having changed into their pyjamas were sat on their beds in the four-bed dormitory talking and enjoying the last few sweets they had left from the train when the door opened and their two roommates walked into the room.
Lucy Mclaggen was a little bit taller than both Euphemia and Lacey and had shoulder-length dark blonde hair tied up in two pigtails while Ginerva Weasley was shorter with long ginger hair like her older Brothers which ran down to her shoulders with a few freckles on her face.
Both girls went to get ready for bed taking a good few minutes each before they sat down on their own beds in silence.
"So umm… what are your names?" said Euphemia trying to break the ice.
Both girls turned to her.
"I'm Lucy… Lucy Mclaggen" said Lucy.
"Ginerva Weasley, but call me Ginny" said Ginny with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"Lacey Lupin" said Lacey kindly.
"Euphemia Potter" said Euphemia.
"Potter… do you have an older brother?" said Lucy curiously.
Euphemia slowly nodded.
"Two, my Brother Edward is a Fourth Year, and Harrison is in Second Year, but he tells everyone to call him Harry" said Euphemia.
Lucy sighed.
"Is it Harrison who played as a Seeker for Gryffindor last year?" said Lucy.
"He is the Gryffindor Seeker… why?" said Euphemia warily.
"My Brother Cormac wanted to try out for Seeker last year, came home at Christmas saying it was unfair how a First-Year could automatically get onto the team before try-outs" said Lucy.
"Harry is a really good Seeker, he caught the snitch after just five minutes in their game against Hufflepuff, just wait until you see him in the first game" said Euphemia proudly.
Lucy held her hands up in surrender.
"I didn't mean anything bad by it" said Lucy quickly.
"You have a few older brothers at Hogwarts don't you Ginny?" said Lacey quickly changing the conversation.
Ginny nodded.
"Four, my two older brothers Bill and Charlie have already left school and work halfway around the world now, I haven't seen them for some time" said Ginny.
"You have six Brothers?" said Lucy in slight shock.
"Yeah, and I'm the only girl" said Ginny.
"I bet that was tough, growing up with six big Brothers… I've got two brothers but they're both younger than me" said Lacey.
"A bit yeah… it wasn't too bad though, I had a friend my own age called Luna who lives just a short walk away from us, but I haven't seen her much in the last year, she's in Ravenclaw" said Ginny nervously with their journey on the Hogwarts Express being the first time she had seen Luna in over a year.
The four girls talked for another hour or so before they went to sleep feeling tired but anxious about what the morning would bring them.
4th September 1992
Harry and Neville took seats around the middle of the classroom along with the rest of the Gryffindor students while the Slytherin students were either sat at the back or the front of the classroom.
Remembering their DADA classroom from last year when Professor Keaton taught them, the room that had once been filled with dark detectors and old newspaper clippings about Professor Keaton during his days as an Auror was now filled with various pictures and painted portraits of Professor Gilderoy Lockhart engaging in a variety of activities including painting a portrait of himself and flying a broomstick over the countryside.
As the rest of the class took their seats Professor Lockhart emerged from his office at the top of the small staircase dressed in fine robes which were gold and cream in colour.
"Let me introduce you to your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher… me" said Professor Lockhart proudly.
No one said a thing in response to his words though some of the students in the class were looking up at Professor Lockhart with admiring looks including Hermione and Ellen Morrison.
"Gilderoy Lockhart… Order of Merlin, First Class… honorary member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner… of Witch Weekly's most charming smile award" said Professor Lockhart as he walked down the stairs.
Again no one in the classroom replied to his words.
"But I don't want to talk about that, I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at it" said Professor Lockhart before chuckling.
He stopped chuckling when he realised that no one was laughing along with him.
Feeling a little flustered Professor Lockhart walked over to his desk and picked up a stack of parchment sheets.
"But more on that in a little bit… I think we'll start with a little quiz, only fifty questions" said Professor Lockhart causing a few groans around the classroom.
He walked up to the first row of students and handed some smaller piles to them.
"Take one and pass it along" said Professor Lockhart handing the smaller piles to the front-row students.
As Harry and Neville received a sheet apiece and passed the stack to the students behind them they looked at the two-page parchment sheets.
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW FAMED AUTHOR GILDEROY LOCKHART, ORDER OF MERLIN (THIRD CLASS), HONORARY MEMBER OF THE DARK FORCE DEFENCE LEAGUE AND FIVE-TIME WINNER OF WITCH WEEKLY'S MOST CHARMING SMILE AWARD?
1) What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
2) What is Gilderoy Lockhart's dream job?
3) What is Gilderoy Lockhart's lifelong ambition?
4) Where did Gilderoy Lockhart hide from the Werewolf of Wimbourne in Wanderings with Werewolves?
"What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?" said Ron in confusion and slight disgust from the table beside Neville.
"What is Gilderoy Lockhart's lifelong ambition?" said Joshua Sloper in equal confusion from next to Ron.
"These questions… this isn't about Defence Against the Dark Arts, it's all about him" said Ron.
"You have most of the lesson to complete the quiz… starting now" said Professor Lockhart.
Harry and Neville like everyone else in the classroom got their quills and some ink out of their book bags to start writing their answers.
Forty-five minutes later…
"Tut, tut… it seems that many of you have not read the course material, or you'll know that my favourite colour is lilac, or that my lifelong ambition is to see an end to all dark wizards" said Professor Lockhart with disappointment evident in his voice.
Leafing through some of the parchment sheets Professor Lockhart straightened up.
"And only one of answered all fifty questions correctly… a Miss Hermione Granger" said Professor Lockhart.
Hermione who was sat in one of the front row seats with Janet Spinnet managed a nervous smile where she was noticed by Professor Lockhart.
Professor Lockhart was positively beaming when he saw Hermione and he quickly took her copy of Year with the Yeti which was on her desk opening it.
"As a reward… my autograph" said Professor Lockhart scribbling into her book with his favourite eagle feather quill.
Hermione felt a little heat rush to her cheeks as Janet giggled and Professor Lockhart stepped backwards from their desk and pulled his wand out drawing their attention to a cage that was covered by a blue cloth.
"Now, be warned… it is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind" said Professor Lockhart.
He tapped the cloth-covered cage with his wand which caused it to shake slightly.
"Know only that no harm, can befall you whilst I am here, I must ask you not to scream… it might PROVOKE THEM!" said Lockhart in a voice that grew in volume towards the end while he took hold of the cloth and whipped it off revealing the contents of the cage to the class.
Small blue, winged Cornish Pixies were rattling around in their cage shrieking loudly.
"Cornish Pixies" said Seamus Finnegan with amusement in his voice which nearly every other student in the class shared.
"Freshly caught Cornish Pixies" said Professor Lockhart confidently as more laughter could be heard around the classroom.
He started to unlock the cage door.
"Let's see what you make of them" said Professor Lockhart as he opened the cage door unleashing the pixies into the classroom.
Screams and shouts could be heard from the students as the pixies started to cause mayhem around the classroom.
"Come on now, round them up, their only little pixies!" shouted Professor Lockhart seemingly oblivious to the mayhem the pixies were causing to his classroom as they ripped pages out of some of the books while throwing others through the air.
As some students started smacking the pixies away from them making a beeline for the door to escape the carnage, four of the pixies grouped together two apiece on either side of Josh Sloper's head seizing him by his ears and the collar of his robes.
Josh Sloper shouted out in pain as the pixies lifted him up into the air with slight difficulty all the way up to the chandelier dropping him slightly so his outer robe was hooked onto the chandelier leaving him dangling in the air.
"GET ME DOWN!" shouted Josh flailing his arms and legs around.
Professor Lockhart quickly readied his wand.
"Pesky Pixie Pestanomi" said Professor Lockhart waving his wand from side to side which had no effect before one of the pixies flew past him snatching his wand in the process.
"Thank you!" shrieked the pixie in question flying up to the small dragon skeleton hanging from the ceiling and waving the wand carelessly at the support cables holding it in the air.
The cable snapped immediately dropping the heavy skeleton down to where it landed with a crash in a heap on top of the bookcase.
Professor Lockhart bolted up his stairs seizing a photograph of himself which the pixies had taken though they ultimately managed to take it from him.
"I'll ask you six to just pop the rest of them back into their cage" said a flustered Professor Lockhart before he slammed his office door shut and locked the door.
The six students in question were Harry, Neville, Ron, Hermione, Janet and Josh Sloper with the latter still hanging from the chandelier.
"What do we do now?!" shouted Ron in slight panic.
Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed it up at the pixies.
"IMMOBULUS!" shouted Hermione unleashing a shock wave throughout the room which stunned all of the pixies dropping them to the floor.
"Nice one Hermione" said Janet.
"Yeah yeah, nice work… now can someone please get me down?!" shouted Josh Sloper.
After several seconds Hermione used the Levitation Charm to get Josh Sloper down from the chandelier, he thanked Hermione before he left the classroom with Ron with Harry, Neville, Hermione and Janet left shortly after.
7th September 1992
"I spent this summer devising a whole new training program… we're going to train earlier, harder and longer, especially now as we're getting the chance to play against these foreign schools" said Oliver Wood as he led the Gryffindor Quidditch team through one of the hallways towards the courtyard.
They had all changed into their red Gryffindor Quidditch robes in their dormitories before coming down to their first practice of the season.
"What… I don't believe this" said Wood in frustration as he led them into the courtyard.
As they entered the courtyard they saw the Slytherin Quidditch team dressed in their own team robes walking towards them with brand new Nimbus 2001 broomsticks in their hands.
"Where do you think you're going Flint?" said Wood in slight frustration.
"Quidditch practice" said the black-haired, stocky Sixth Year Marcus Flint who Wood could see was holding a parchment scroll in his other hand.
Ron, Hermione and Janet who were sat on one of the benches nearby started walking towards them sensing that trouble was afoot.
"I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today" said Wood.
"Easy Wood, I've got a note from Professor Snape" said Flint holding out the scroll to Wood who took it.
He unrolled it and started to read out loud for everyone to hear.
"I, Professor Severus Snape, do hereby give the Slytherin team permission to practice today for the entire morning, owing to the need to train their new Seeker, so you've got a new Seeker, where?" said Wood frostily handing the scroll back to Flint who pocketed it.
All of the Slytherin team stepped aside allowing a Slytherin Quidditch robe-clad Lucan Malfoy to make his way to the front with a smug look on his face.
"Malfoy" said Harry in disbelief.
"That's right… and that's not all that's new this year" said Lucan smugly.
Ron who was now stood next to both teams looked at their new brooms in shock with Janet and Hermione next to him.
"Those are Nimbus 2001's… how did you get those?" said Ron eyeing the shiny black-handled broomsticks with shock and envy.
"A gift from Lucan's Father... a new broom for each of us, on the condition that Lucan is guaranteed the Seeker position" said Flint.
"You see Weasley… unlike some, my Father can afford the best" said Lucan snidely.
"Well at least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in… they all got in on pure talent" said Hermione in a stinging voice which earned chuckles from the Gryffindor's.
Lucan made his way towards Hermione with an angry look on his face.
"No one asked for your opinion… you filthy little Mudblood" said Lucan harshly.
Hermione did not understand what the name meant but she still felt shocked and hurt knowing that it meant something really bad as all of the Gryffindor Quidditch team gasped.
"How dare you" said Alicia Spinnet in shock.
"Take that back Malfoy" spat Harry.
"You better apologize right now Malfoy" said Janet angrily.
Lucan chuckled.
"I'll apologize when the Mudblood goes back home where she belongs" said Lucan snidely which earned some chuckles from the Slytherins.
"You'll pay for that one Malfoy… eat slugs!" said Ron angrily waving his wand at Lucan not noticing that Flint already had his wand out.
Ron was blasted backwards across the courtyard when Flint silently deflected his curse back onto Ron who landed on his back on the grass.
The Slytherin's roared with laughter as the Gryffindor's ran over to Ron who was still on the floor looking like he was going to be sick.
"Ron are you okay… say something" said Janet sounding concerned.
Harry and Hermione helped him to his feet where he suddenly vomited up a large black slug.
The Slytherin's laughed even harder while the Gryffindor's made noises and faces of disgust.
"Let's take him to Hagrid's, he might know what to do" said Harry as Ron vomited up another slug.
He handed his broom to George before he and Hermione walked Ron towards the courtyard exit followed by Janet Spinnet.
As they passed Lucan Ron was able to vomit up another slug on Lucan's chest which wiped the smirk off of Lucan's face.
Ten minutes later…
"This calls for specialist equipment" said Hagrid making his way over to them with a large wooden bucket in his hand.
There was only one room inside Hagrid's hut which was located on the edge of the grounds on the border with the Forbidden Forest. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.
Hagrid handed the bucket to Ron who was sat on Hagrid's large settee with Harry, Hermione and Janet.
"There's not much to do but-" said Hagrid.
Ron vomiting up another slug into the bucket which was now sat in between his legs cut Hagrid off mid-sentence.
"Wait for it to stop I suppose… who was Mr Weasley trying to curse anyway?" said Hagrid sounding curious.
"Malfoy… he called Hermione a, I don't like to say the word he called her" said Harry bitterly.
Hermione stood up still feeling upset at what had happened while Ron stopped himself from vomiting long enough to get some of his own words out.
"He called her a Mudblood Hagrid" said Ron bitterly.
Hagrid gasped in shock.
"He did not, I'll be having words with Dumbledore about him if he did" said Hagrid in shock.
Hermione nodded.
"That's what he called me, I don't know what it means though" said Hermione sadly.
Hagrid and the others remained silent for a moment unsure of how to explain this to her before Harry swallowed his nerves.
"It means dirty blood Hermione, its a very foul name given to muggle-borns, people with non-magic parents…" said Harry regretfully.
"People like me" said Hermione finishing his sentence for him.
Harry nodded.
Hagrid leaned forwards towards Hermione.
"You see Hermione, there's some of our lot… like the Malfoy Family, who think that they're better than others because they got purer blood than the rest of us, same goes for some of the other older families as well" said Hagrid in slight disgust at the whole blood purity situation.
"That's horrible" said Hermione in shock.
Ron suddenly vomited once again.
"Disgusting" said Ron with tears and a look of disgust on his face.
"Its codswallop is what it is, dirty blood… truth is there are not many purebloods left anymore, most of us now are either Half-Blood or less… but not all purebloods from the old families are like that Hermione, take Harry's parents, they both come from pureblood families much older than the Malfoy's and they're two of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing" said Hagrid with his voice turning from one of distaste to one of fondness.
Harry managed a smile at Hagrid's words.
"Come here" said Hagrid softly.
Hermione gave a small smile cheering up slightly as she made her way towards him.
"Being muggle-born doesn't change anything Hermione, there are quite a few muggle-born witches and wizards who like you came through this fine school and turned themselves into great witches and wizards" said Hagrid kindly.
"Like who?" said Hermione.
"Well, I know of two… Dirk Creswell for one, he's just been promoted to the Head of the Goblin Liason Office… and Professor Snape's Wife Lily, she was a fine young witch at school, top marks in her Owl's and Newt's, Prefect, Head Girl… probably one of the best students I've ever seen come through this school" said Hagrid fondly.
The four children stayed in Hagrid's hut for another half an hour waiting for the effects of Ron's curse to wear off before leaving.
20th September 1992
Narcissa sat down opposite Remus and Julia who were sat on one of the settees in the sitting room at Potter Manor while James and Narcissa were sat opposite them on the other settee. In Narcissa's hand was a folder that contained a lifeline for the Lupin's though Narcissa was not sure they would take it knowing their reluctance to take things they could not pay back but she really hoped that they would.
While their Parent's were in the sitting room sharing tea and biscuits, John and David Lupin were playing next door in the playroom.
"Something for you both to think about" said Narcissa handing the folder to Remus who took it with a wary look on his face.
Julia leaned closer to Remus as he opened the folder and gasped in shock at what he saw while Julia's eyes went wide.
Inside the folder was an unsigned share certificate for Sleekeazy's which when signed would give the person who signed it a small number of shares in the company as well as a monthly stipend of Galleons.
"There's not many shares there… but enough to give you about 400 Galleons a month, enough for you to live comfortably" said James kindly.
While he and Narcissa had wanted to give them more shares in Sleekeazy's than they were currently giving them to give them more than 400 Galleons a month, they both knew that Remus and Julia would never accept it, not wishing to receive too much from the Potter's.
"We can't accept this, it is too much" said Julia in shock.
"You can accept it… think about it, you can finally get out of that small cottage, take those holidays with the kids you always wanted to go on" said James.
"Please don't refuse this… James and I are fed up of seeing you guys just scraping by when you deserve so much more than that, we're tired of seeing you struggling to get brand new clothes for yourselves, tired of seeing you struggling to afford one potion of Wolfsbane or even some ingredients so you can make your own, just sign your names and take the money, please" said Narcissa in a slightly pleading voice.
Remus and Julia looked down at the share certificate taking a deep breath before turning to each other as though they could read each other's thoughts.
True. They had always wanted to move out of their small two-bedroom cottage and into something more spacious and suitable for their family. They had saved for years to go on holidays or day trips with their children but it had never worked out, even more so when it came time for Lacey to go to Hogwarts with the couple spending as much as they could afford to make sure Lacey went off to Hogwarts with brand new robes and equipment even if it was not enough to get all of her books in brand new condition.
Julia thought about accepting their offer knowing that it would mean that she could leave her job at St Mungo's feeling sick and tired of all of the treatment she had received from her bosses and co-workers because she was married to a known werewolf.
After a few minutes, the two took hands and squeezed them knowing that this was their road to a new future. A better future for them and their family.
They turned back to the Potter's.
"We accept" said Julia.
Narcissa inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
"We wanted to offer you more but-" said James before he was cut off.
"We don't need more than this Prongs, this is enough for us" said Remus.
Narcissa called for one of the House Elves to bring them a quill and ink for Remus and Julia to joint sign it with their names and the Lupin Family Vault number at Gringotts.
Within a minute or two, both of them had signed it and included their vault number which meant that they were now the proud owners of 5% of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion.
31st October 1992
Edward and Cassiopeia were stood in a large group with the rest of the Slytherin students with Professor Snape stood in front of them.
They were all out on the Hogwarts grounds not far from the Black Lake along with every other student and member of staff waiting for the three delegations from Castelobruxo, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Mahoutokoro School of Magic to arrive at the school with eager chatter coming from the students from the other three houses about how each delegation will be arriving at the school.
As the chatter continued, Dumbledore who was stood at the front of the four columns of students got everyone's attention with his next few words.
"Ah… that will be the students from Ilvermorny I believe" said Dumbledore calmly.
Everyone turned their attention to the Black Lake where a large amount of pure white smoke could be seen right at the end of the lake. As they watched the smoke a large 17th Century style ship bearing the name of "The Mayflower" emerged from the fog quickly sailing across the lake.
As the Ilvermorny ship made its way across the lake a small sinkhole opened up in the middle of the lake before a larger than usual river barge-like boat emerged from the depths also making its way towards the shore.
"And our guests from Castelobruxo" said Dumbledore as the students behind him whispered and talked amongst themselves with great excitement.
Suddenly some of the students were making noises of excitement and pointing up to the clouds.
Edward and Cassiopeia followed their gaze where they saw eight large golden-brown Thunderbirds emerge from the ground towing a small carriage that was roughly the size of the average Hogwarts classroom. The fact that these Thunderbirds who were not really renowned for their strength were towing this carriage belonging to Mahoutokoro School of Magic was an incredible feat of marriage as they brought the carriage into a graceful landing a good eighty feet away from the students.
With all of the eyes on the carriage, the door opened and twenty boys and girls aged between 14 and 18 dressed in knee-length robes which were pure gold in colour emerged from the carriage followed by two female teachers dressed in dark grey floor-length robes and tied gold belts.
Edward of course had heard about the different robe colours at Mahoutokoro with gold symbolizing that these students were at the very top of their studies having to have achieved top grades to wear such colours.
Once they had exited the carriage and undone the ropes binding the Thunderbirds to the carriage leaving all eight birds to just stand on the ground all twenty students took up positions several feet away from the carriage in a straight line.
Even both ships approaching the shore did nothing to distract the students from watching the Mahoutokoro students using Transfiguration to expand their carriage to almost three times its size as well as change its appearance from a simple carriage to that of a traditional Japanese Temple/Shrine with the Thunderbirds taking flight and landing on the top of the largest part of the carriage turned castle.
"Alas… that is some truly impressive magic" said Dumbledore fondly as the Mahoutokoro students started walking towards the Hogwarts students led by their two teachers.
As the Mahoutokoro delegation reached Dumbledore who greeted them by bowing his head respectfully the Castelobruxo ship dropped anchor a short distance from the shore followed by the Ilvermorny ship.
Not saying much other than their greeting the Mahoutokoro delegation stood to the side of the Hogwarts students as the delegations from the other two schools had reached the shore in rowing boats and were now making their way towards them being led by two teachers from each school.
The Castelobruxo students were dressed in green outer robes with gold trim, blue and gold patterns on the waist and two tassels attached to the right waist one blue and one gold. Underneath their green outer robe were dark grey suit style robes with brown shoes while the two male teachers were dressed in almost identical robes though their robes were crimson with silver trim.
The Ilvermorny students were dressed in blue and cranberry coloured robes held together by a gold Gordian Knot style pendant at their neck while they had white collared shirts and black trousers underneath the robes with different animal sigils on their backs depending on which school house they were in. The male and female teachers however were dressed in dark blue floor-length suit style robes and matching hats.
Dumbledore greeted each of the teachers from the schools in turn before suggesting that they all walk up to the castle for the feast.
Professor Snape turned to his Slytherin students and silently ushered them to start walking back towards the school.
As they walked back in the direction of the castle Edward turned to Cassiopeia.
"I'll look forward to learning from these other schools more than I look forward to another one of Lockhart's dreary lessons" said Edward.
"That fool is sounding more and more like a fraud as time goes on" said Cassiopeia dryly as they carried on walking up to the castle.