Disclaimer: No money is being made or received for this work in her playground of characters.

Chapter 18 -- Survival without Magic

The week started as any other. The seventh year Slytherin and Gryffindors' first class was Survival Without Magic, with Professor Black. Everyone, except Mason and Madison, were astonished when they walked in the classroom to find an entire shelf lined with toasters that were plugged into the wall. Along the wall beside the door, were wand holders with names next to them. Once seated, the class turned their attention to their new teacher. She had a large music box blaring some twangy country music to which she was singing, without care of the class hearing. Madison was moving her head to the beat of the music.

Mason rolled his eyes but said nothing as he just walked over and pulled the plug. Holding the cord, he began swinging it around; the grin on his face grew when he noticed that she hadn't stopped singing. When their eyes met, he noticed a sparkle in her eyes he hadn't seen in awhile. He fleetingly wondered if she had been dating since she got there, but put that thought out of his head. With a final smile to his mom, he took his seat beside his sister.

"Hello Class, I am Professor Black. I will be teaching a new course here at Hogwarts: Survival without Magic. Some of you may have noticed the wall by the door which is filled with wand holders. Please raise your wand in the air and say "norius"." A collective gasp went around the room as each wand was sent out of the hands of it's owners and into the proper wand holder. As Rowan looked she noticed that several were still empty.

"Mr. Malfoy? Where is your wand?"

A smirk came from the back of the classroom, "I don't give up my wand for anyone; especially a Muggle."

"That's fine, fifty points from Slytherin. And you are expelled from my class until you can follow my rules." She pointed to the door.

Rowan heard something about "my father…" But the boy did not move.

"Let me put this another way." Slowly and deliberately she walked nearer him. He physically hurt as she drew nearer. "I do not give a rat's tail who your father is or what he thinks he is going to do to me. I will not be intimidated by him any more than some dark wizard who has tried REPEATEDLY to kill one of my students. The one who calls himself, what was it again? Oldy-fart?" Ron snorted loudly as he watched his new favorite teacher put his oldest enemy in his place. "He does not intimidate me, why would you think you could? I do not put up with rudeness or disrespect because of who my parents were, because my parents were amazing people. I will not tolerate you and your better-than-anyone-else antics in my classroom. I don't care if you are Head Boy or the class idiot. You either put the wand in the holder or get out of my classroom." The room fairly crackled with electricity as Draco held his wand high and muttered "norius", releasing the grip on the wand as it flew to its proper holder.

"Who else? Who else does not have his or her wand in the proper holder?"

She rounded on Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. "Ten points each from Gryffindor for not listening to me. If you have a smart ass comment, or argument, I will be glad to make it fifty each." No one said anything, considering further, she added, "Ten points from the Head Girl in addition to the original number. Put them away - now." They all four muttered the spell and the wands left their hands. A bit shocked at her lack of favoritism.

"Now back to class and introductions. As I was saying I am Professor Black. I am thirty-eight and yes, as you can tell from my accent, I am American, from Texas actually. I have been hired to teach here for two years. Between my past employment, older brothers, Dad, and now dead husband, you will find it takes a lot to get to me. I don't put up with the crap a normal teenager gives their teachers. You can't dish out anything here that I haven't dealt with at home. Now, that being said, I am going to teach you how to survive in a world without magic. In case you wonder why that may be important some day, I'll be glad to answer it." She leaned against her desk and crossed her arms, her legs straight out in front of her.

"For those of you who don't know or for some reason refuse to believe, there is a very bad guy running around in a dark cape with other evil people following and listening to what he says. He believes that there should be a purity of race regarding Wizard and Wizard families. Of course, he is a half blood, but that has completely skipped what he has left of a mind at the moment. Anyway, I will teach you how to survive. If Oldy-fart wins this war, he will hunt for any signs of magic. Only those who can live without will be able to survive the potential purge he plans to make.

"One other thing, I do have two seventh years here, in case you missed it last night. You may get angry at me throughout the school year, but should you plan to take a moment's revenge on either of them, I can assure you, you will find it will not be in your best interests." Both Mason and Madison looked horrified and wanted to slide under the desks.

She waited for questions. No one seemed able to say a word. Okay. Next on her list…"Muggle money. These are pounds…." The rest of the class period everyone learned about how Muggle money was used. At the end of the period, she stopped them all. "In order to regain your wand from it's holder you must be completely ready to go. The counter charm for it to release from the holder 'bearius'" Once all had their own wands, they made their way out of the classroom. Mason and Madison close together waved at her and followed Neville out of the room. Harry grinned at her from his desk, her favorite students watching her. "So how'd I do?"

Ron clapped a few times and said "Bloody brilliant… except taking points away."

"Tell me then, why did you keep your wands?" She asked the small group.

"Because of what happened with Draco. No matter how he helped me last year, we still assumed he would not give his up, and we have learned not to be disarmed around him. Besides the fact that you said we should treat you as though you didn't have any powers." Hermione answered.

"Ah, so the memory charms did not take effect?" They all shook their heads. "Well, thank you. However, you may find I can always help myself when there are magic wands around, you'll see someday. Fifty points each to Gryffindor for being sure the new teacher is safe. Fifty points to the Head Girl for uhm… oh how's this? Showing leadership to disarm a potentially dangerous situation for the new teacher. Yes, I like that one." smiling at their beaming faces, she added, "Hope that makes up for what I took earlier. Now go, before I give you detention!"

They left quickly with a small wave and huge smiles as they made their way to Transfiguration, then Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and Charms. By the time dinner came, they were all hungry and excited to have Ginny in all their classes. They ate and laughed; just the four of them off in their own little world. They exited the great hall before the rest and were about to climb the staircase when a familiar voice sounded from below.

"The golden trio becomes a quartet huh?" Draco's drawling voice was full of mirth. Crabbe and Goyle flanked him as he strode casually toward them. Harry looked past Malfoy for a second, before answering.

"Hello Neville. Mind dealing with this ferret again? We heard you did well on the train."

Draco turned quickly to look into the face of none other than Neville Longbottom. He was flanked by Mason and Madison and no less than ten members of the DA, all of whom owed Malfoy for their fifth year and more. He turned to look at Harry. "So, you've got your own hit wizards protecting you huh?"

Harry smirked. "Nope, but be assured, I have friends Malfoy. And they don't like you. It seems that I may end up just being the excuse they need to hurt you this year. Looks like you've picked the wrong side this time." Taking a step towards him, he lowered his voice, "Haven't you learned anything about your father? He's in flipping AZKABAN. Dementors or not, he won't come out of there the same man he went in. He will slip further and further into the dark abyss. And when he's done - is he going to draw you in with him? Or are you going to have the guts to stand up for what's right instead of what you have been baby fed all these years?" Stepping away from Draco, he raised his voice and added, "DA MEETINGS - SUNDAY AFTERNOON 2:00 - SAME PLACE."

Then to Draco's irritation, Harry swept up the stairs, Ginny on his arm, Hermione holding the Weasel's hand. He connected gazes with Madison as she followed the others up the stairs. Leaving him to tuck his tail between his legs and go to the Slytherin Common room before he got hurt.

The Gryffindor common room was a little different that they had in previous years. The same beautiful colors were there, but behind one of the tapestries was a door they had never noticed before. The door had the now familiar Gryffindor Lion's Head knocker on it. The four waited until they were quite alone before Harry said Dobby's name. With a small crack, Dobby joined them in the common room. "What can Dobby do for his favorite four?"

Hermione asked "Do you know where that door leads?" Pointing to it, Dobby followed her arm to the door. Dobby let out a little squeak.

"Yes Miss 'Mione. It is a secret though. There is a password, but only one will know it."

No one had that answer, but thanked him anyway. When they left that evening, to return to their private quarters, the four sat by the fire; each lucky girl to be wrapped in the arms of the man of their dreams. Draco came in, snorted at the four of them, and went quietly to his room. Hermione was the first to notice it: a single door near a bookcase. "What does that go to?"

As she drew closer, she saw that there were actually two doors, one had the same lion's head knocker that she had seen on the door to the Gryffindor Common Room. The second one had a snake on it. No one knew, but Hermione stood and tried to open it. She tried to magic it open. Finally, she looked at her friends and said "Harry, you try." He looked at her funny.

When he drew closer, he recognized the familiar lion. He introduced himself, Ginny, Hermione and Ron. The beautiful metal glowed for a moment and they heard the lock release. Harry opened the door slowly. On the other side was the Gryffindor Common Room. He turned with a grin to his friends. "Guess I had the password after all - huh?"

They made their way up to their dorms, pausing below to have a kiss goodnight. "Now remember Ron, if he wakes you up, ring your bell on your table, and it will ring ours. We will be over to help." Harry groaned, "We should tell Draco about the other door in the morning, or when he decides to speak to us. I can't believe we are rooming with him."

Sleep for Harry was okay that night. The nightmares were more of watching a movie with great flashes of Gold light which got stronger as time progressed butting against a green light that rebounded off the gold. He was surprised when morning came, to find that both he and Ron had remained in their own beds, and Hermione wasn't in there either. He stood and walked to the girls' room. For a split second, his wildest fantasies, flashed in his mind. Ginny lay on her side with her arms wrapped around Hermione. Both girls were sleeping peacefully. He watched them for a split second, before hearing someone behind him. Turning he saw Draco looking over his shoulder. "Beautiful aren't they?" The thin blonde asked. Harry closed the door and decided to go take a very cold shower while he tried to put it completely out of his mind.

Author's Note: I am updating as often as I can, but if you are reading this, a review here and there would help the pride.