Early in October there was a parchment posted on the noticeboard in entrance hall announcing that on Friday, October seventh the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be arriving at six o'clock and that students should gather in front of the castle to greet them before the Welcoming Feast.
Rachel was curious about the other schools, but also felt a little bit of dread. Severus had warned her more than once now to be careful around the Durmstrang students and to not travel by herself through the hallways if she could possibly help it. It was strange, but it seemed like he had that warning almost every year for one reason or another. First it was Gryffindor bullies, then the Chamber of Secrets was being opened, then Sirius Black, and now Durmstrang students. She knew very well that Hogwarts wasn't perfectly safe, but she thought it was probably safer than Severus seemed to think it was.
On Friday the study group walked down to the entrance hall together from where they'd been studying in their room on the third floor.
"What do you think they'll be like?" Millie asked.
"Like anyone else, I'd imagine. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang can't be that different from Hogwarts if their students are taking classes here," Hermione reasoned.
"Keeping in mind that Durmstrang doesn't accept muggleborns and actually teaches the Dark Arts," Theo said.
"That's a really broad category though and really, any of us could learn some Dark Arts by Owl Ordering books or getting a pass to the Restricted Section," Hermione said. "Though how do muggleborns who are born in Russia and the rest of the Balkans get a magical education?"
"Probably through smaller schools that teach the basics of a magical education and not much else. There are some schools like that in Britain, for families who choose not to attend Hogwarts or for those who are magically powerful enough to do things like brew potions but can't manage much with a wand," Theo said. "But the real point is that they don't want muggleborns to get an education, because they want to keep muggleborns from having any kind of power. If the Dark Lord had his way, Hogwarts would likely have similar restrictions."
Rachel frowned. She couldn't imagine Hogwarts without Hermione.
"You don't think the Durmstrang students are going to cause trouble for muggleborns here, do you?" Neville asked.
"I doubt it, but I don't see the point in announcing that you're a muggleborn to them either," Theo said with a glance at Hermione. "We should also watch them around Rachel. I think it's likely some of them will have relatives who were Death Eaters, particularly considering Karkaroff is their Headmaster, and at the very least they will have been exposed to Death Eater ideals."
"I'll be fine," Rachel said quickly. "I'm almost always with at least one of you, and Professor Snape had me practicing the Shield charm and the Stunning spell over the summer."
"Oh maybe you can show us the Shield charm later. I read about it in our Defense book over the summer, but I haven't tried it yet," Hermione said.
"Sure," Rachel said.
"I think Theo's right though, it doesn't hurt to watch the Durmstrang students, just in case," Millie said.
"I don't think we'll see much of them though, if they're having classes with the sixth and seventh years," Ginny pointed out.
"Likely just in the hallways and in the Great Hall," Luna added.
"Good, that makes our job even easier," Theo said.
Rachel shook her head to herself. She didn't need to be protected in Hogwarts. Sure, she'd avoid Karkaroff, because that was just common sense, but she didn't think it was likely she'd run into him anyway.
"See you after dinner," Ginny called as they separated into their Houses once they reached the entrance hall.
Rachel, Millie, and Theo joined the line of Slytherins, standing behind Pansy and Daphne. Severus came down the line, his sharp eyes moving over them to see who was missing, though he nodded to Rachel when he saw her. He rearranged some of the students so that they were all standing with their years.
"Here we go," Millie said as Professor McGonagall led the line of Gryffindors out the front doors. Professor Snape followed behind the last of the Gryffindors, leading the line of Slytherins.
Before long the entire school was lined up in front of the castle. If Rachel wanted to see over the heads of the second and third years in front of her, she had to balance herself on her tiptoes and hold onto Millie's arm.
"Do you think they took a portkey to get here?" Rachel asked.
"I have no idea," Millie said.
"The delegation from Beauxbatons approaches," Professor Dumbledore called out after a moment.
"Look up," Theo said.
Rachel looked up into the dusky sky, the sun almost set, and noticed an object slowly growing bigger. "What is it?" she asked.
"A flying house?" Millie guessed.
Rachel thought she'd seen weirder things in the wizarding world, but not by much.
"A carriage, with flying horses," Theo said as it grew closer.
Once it was flying over the Forbidden Forest, the bottom nearly grazing the treetops, Rachel saw that Theo was right. It was an enormous light blue carriage, pulled by a dozen golden horses with huge wings. It landed with a loud thud that caused Rachel to jump even though she was expecting it.
Rachel stood on her tiptoes again, trying to see as the door opened and a boy jumped out. A few moments later a woman who rivaled Hagrid for size stepped out. She was wearing black satin robes and had a gleaming necklace and rings.
Professor Dumbledore stepped forward and welcomed her to Hogwarts, announcing that her name was Madame Maxime, as the rest of her students, all dressed in pale blue robes, stepped down from the carriage.
After Madame Maxime and Professor Dumbledore spoke for a few moments, she began to lead her students into the castle. As they passed by, Rachel noticed that most of the students were tall enough to be sixth or seventh years, but there was one small girl who looked about the same age as Millie's sister.
"Why do you think they brought someone so young, she can't be eligible for the Triwizard Tournament?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know," Theo said, following Rachel's gaze. "She doesn't look old enough to even attend Hogwarts, but she might just look younger than she is."
Rachel nodded. She knew how that felt. She still looked more like a second year than a fourth year, but she thought that was mostly because of her height.
"What's that noise?" Millie asked.
Rachel frowned as she listened. There was a strange noise, a sort of rumbling and maybe a wet sucking sound.
"The lake!" one of the Gryffindors shouted.
"What do you see?" Rachel asked, trying to see over the people in front of her, but not having much luck.
"A ship's mast, coming out of the lake," Millie said.
Before long, Rachel could see it too, and she watched mesmerized as a ship began to emerge from the water. The ship barely looked seaworthy, with some of the wooden planks broken or held on at odd angles. Finally the ship fully emerged and glided toward the edge of the lake.
"Karkaroff," Theo said as a man stepped forward.
Rachel managed to catch a glimpse of him. He was a tall, thin man, with white hair, a goatee, and heavy black robes. His students following behind were wearing thick fur cloaks.
Professor Dumbledore greeted Professor Karkaroff with the same friendliness and respect he'd shown Madame Maxime and invited them into the castle.
As one student stepped forward to join Karkaroff, Rachel's jaw dropped as she recognized the face. She's certainly seen it enough times rewatching the World Cup on her Omnioculars. "That's Viktor Krum!"
"No way," Millie said. "Merlin, it is!"
"I didn't know he was young enough to still be at school," Theo said.
"Wow," Rachel said. She couldn't imagine what the pressure of playing Quidditch professionally and attending school at the same time must be like.
Professor Snape waved for the Slytherin students to head back into the school and Rachel turned and followed the upper years behind her.
"I don't see why he'd want to take part in the Triwizard Tournament though. Why risk his life when he's already famous and well off?" Millie asked.
"Maybe he wants to be known for being a powerful wizard, as well as a good flyer," Theo suggested.
"Surely there are better ways," Rachel said.
They settled in at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall and to Rachel's surprise the Durmstrang students followed them and sat down in a group next to the fourth years. They began to remove their cloaks and showed that their robes beneath were a dark red. Rachel turned and saw that the Beauxbatons students had joined the Ravenclaw table.
Rachel found herself sitting two seats down and across the table from Viktor Krum. She tried not to peer at him, knowing that she didn't like it when people did it to her, but she did get a closer look. Viktor's nose was slightly crooked, probably from being broken by a Bludger, and his thick eyebrows hovered over his dark blue eyes.
"We saw you at the World Cup, you flew very well. That Wronski Feint was amazing," Draco was saying to Viktor.
Viktor nodded, but looked disinterested.
"What's Durmstrang like?" Millie asked him.
"We have a castle as well, but it is smaller than this. Fewer students. Our grounds go on forever, but they are very cold in the winter and there is not much daylight. In summer, we go flying over the lakes and the mountains," Viktor said.
Before they could ask him more questions, Professor Dumbledore called for everyone's attention.
"Welcome to our guests from Beauxbatons and from Durmstrang. We welcome you to Hogwarts and offer you our hospitality. I would also like to introduce Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports," Professor Dumbledore began.
There was applause around the Great Hall.
"As they have worked tirelessly to make arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament, they, along with myself, Madame Maxime, and Professor Karkaroff will be the judges. The Triwizard Tournament will begin on October 31st. On October 30th we will place the Goblet of Fire in the entrance hall. Anyone who is seventeen or older at that time may submit their name. On the night of October 31st the Goblet of Fire will select three names, one from each school, to be our champions," Professor Dumbledore continued.
"The champions will be faced with three tasks that will test them to the limits of their abilities in many ways: magical prowess, daring, ability to think quickly, and of course coping with dangerous situations. I wish to warn you that once you have placed your name in the Goblet of Fire it may not be withdrawn. Be certain that you wish to compete before you enter. And with that, I leave you to your feast. Enjoy," Professor Dumbledore finished, food magically appearing on platters all around the Great Hall.
Talk immediately dissolved into who was going to enter the Tournament. Rachel served herself some of the roast chicken and the sweet potatoes and listened to the discussion the Durmstrang students were having. Viktor was quiet for the most part, only answering when another student directly asked him a question. Rachel wondered if he was shy, despite his fame.
Maybe this part of the Triwizard Tournament wasn't so bad.
Over the next two weeks they got used to seeing the students from Beauxbatons and Dursmtrang around the castle. The Durmstrang students still sat at the Slytherin table for meals, but they had moved so that they were sitting with the sixth and seventh years now. Rachel noticed that Viktor still seemed uncomfortable and rarely spoke with anyone outside of one of the other Durmstrang boys, who could usually be seen in his company. She was glad that he had one friend to stick with, especially because they were in a new place. She couldn't imagine going off to an entirely different school for a year, even with her friends.
The Durmstrang students were also occasionally in the Slytherin common room, at the invitation from some of the upper years. When that happened, Rachel made sure to stick close with Millie, just in case, but so far the Durmstrang students seemed just like the rest of the upper year students. Theo sat with them sometimes in an effort to make friends with Jacob Turner and Avery Acker, but it was slow going and Theo reported that both of them were rather dismissive of him. Theo's efforts with Draco were going slightly better and Rachel encouraged Theo to ask Draco if he could view Quidditch games on Draco's Omnioculars so they could talk about them together.
Severus reminded Rachel again to be very careful around Professor Karkaroff, but so far Rachel had only seen him at meals in the Great Hall. Apparently Professor Karkaroff and the Durmstrang students were living on their ship, which they called The Chesma, while the Beauxbatons students were living in the giant carriage.
For their next Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Hagrid brought them to see the Abraxans, which were the giant golden winged horses, and told them about their care. Unfortunately the Abraxans were too temperamental for anyone to be allowed to pet them, but they were beautiful.
The study group stayed after the rest of the class left and Hermione took the lead.
"Hagrid, how are the Blast-Ended Skrewts doing?" she asked.
Hagrid's face fell. "The Ministry got wind of them and took them. Said they were dangerous. They were just babies."
Rachel felt a twinge of guilt. "Maybe they want to examine them, to make sure they wouldn't damage the life cycle of the Forbidden Forest?"
"The Ministry just doesn't like anything new and unusual. They have it out for interesting creatures," Hagrid said.
Rachel exchanged glances with Millie. What Hagrid called interesting creatures was usually what everyone else called dangerous creatures.
"You didn't get in any trouble with the Ministry?" Theo asked.
"No, but they told me to send them an owl if I found any other interesting creatures around the Forest," Hagrid said.
"Well, I'm sorry they took them from you, but I'm sure they can properly assess them and care for them," Hermione said. "Do you have some plans for our next lessons?"
"Couple of things I'm thinking of, yeah," Hagrid said.
"Do you think we could see the unicorn herd?" Rachel asked.
"Might do. Be a bit of work to get them to come out for us, but that would be good. You lot get along now, I've got to get the Abaxans settled for the day, they're not used to so many visitors," Hagrid said.
"Bye Hagrid. We'll see you later," Neville said.
Once they were a ways up the path, Rachel turned to her friends. "You don't think he knows that I'm the one who told about the Skrewts, do you?"
"No, I think he would have said something if he knew," Neville said.
"Neville's right, Hagrid is pretty direct, he would have said something," Hermione said.
"I feel kind of bad about it," Rachel said, glancing back toward Hagrid's house.
"You did the right thing. Imagine how dangerous those things could have been if they got bigger," Theo said. "And not just to us, but to other animals in the Forbidden Forest if they'd gotten out."
"Look at it this way, if it hadn't been a problem, Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have done something about it. It's better that he knew," Millie said.
"And now we can focus on creatures that will actually be on our OWLs," Hermione said.
Rachel nodded. Those were all good points, but she'd still sort of taken away Hagrid's pets and that wasn't a good feeling.
On Wednesday they had a practical lesson in Defense and once again Rachel wasn't too sure about Professor Moody.
Hermione immediately put her hand in the air once Professor Moody explained the lesson. "Isn't using the Imperius curse on another human illegal?" she asked.
"It is, which is why I have special dispensation as a Defense instructor to use it to teach students to resist it. We give the same lessons in the Auror Training Program. Practice and practical experience are essential to learning how to defend yourself in a variety of situations. However, if anyone would not like to participate in the lesson they can choose to do so," Professor Moody explained.
They cleared a space in the middle of the room and watched as their classmates one by one were placed under the Imperius curse. They did gymnastics tricks, danced, and sung popular songs. Even Hermione took a turn, where she did several cartwheels in a row.
"Miss Snow," Professor Moody called.
Rachel nervously stepped out into the open space. She hoped she wouldn't be made to do anything too embarrassing.
"Imperio," Professor Moody said, his wand pointed at her.
Rachel felt oddly floaty and she closed her eyes. It felt very much like her nowhere place, which Torey called disassociation. She hadn't been here in a while and it was very nice to return. It was like she was taking a break from the world around her. Nothing could get her here, and it didn't matter if it could because she wouldn't feel it anyway.
"Do a somersault," Professor Moody's voice said from somewhere.
Rachel tipped her head to the side. Why would she do that? She didn't do anything in her nowhere place. That was the whole point. She sat down on the floor, content to stay in her nowhere place until it was safe to come out.
"Do a somersault," Professor Moody's voice insisted.
Rachel exhaled and let the voice drift away. Nothing could touch her here.
"There we go!" Professor Moody said loudly. "That's how you do it!"
Suddenly Rachel felt very aware again and she opened her eyes. "What happened?"
"You completely resisted the Imperius curse is what happened," Professor Moody said. "Tell the class your thought process."
Rachel got back to her feet. "I heard you tell me to do a somersault and I didn't want to do it. The Imperius curse feels really nice though."
"It does, that's how it tricks you. You feel warm and comfortable and ready to go along with anything it tells you. You have to fight that feeling and recognize that it's unnatural. Resist!" Professor Moody said.
Rachel went back to join the rest of her classmates and watched as Dean Thomas took a turn.
After that they were dismissed and the study group went back to their room.
"How did you do it?" Theo asked once they were inside.
"Do what?" Luna asked.
"Rachel just resisted the Imperius curse on her first time. She just stood there and then she sat down, and that was it. The rest of us were doing cartwheels and flips," Neville said.
"Yes, how did you do it?" Hermione asked.
Rachel shrugged. "I just didn't want anything to interrupt the way it felt, and so I ignored the voice telling me to do things."
Theo shook his head. "There wasn't that much time or thought for me. Professor Moody's voice said to do a jig, and it just seemed like the right thing to do. I didn't even question it."
"Same here, just do a cartwheel and I was doing a cartwheel," Hermione said.
Rachel thought about it and wondered if it was because she was an occlumens, or just because she was familiar with her nowhere place and her friends didn't have one. Either one wouldn't be easy to explain to them.
"Well, maybe the essay Professor Moody assigned about resisting the Imperius curse will have suggestions on how to better ignore the voice. Or at least recognize it as something that should be ignored," Millie said. "What have we got tonight?"
"We finished our Astronomy homework over the weekend, so that means today we're working on Transfiguration and Ancient Runes," Hermione said, opening up her planner.
"Oh, that reminds me. I was considering Owl Ordering us some chisels so we could do more practice with rune carving, but I'm not sure how to get wood we can work with," Rachel said.
"That sounds like a good idea. There has to be somewhere that sells wood for practicing, because Professor Babbling said that people will practice carving their runes in wood before they carve them in stone or metal," Theo said.
"I could use more practice with that too. Maybe Professor Babbling could tell us where to order some wood," Neville suggested.
"Let's ask her after class tomorrow. Shall we do Ancient Runes before dinner?" Hermione asked.
Everyone agreed and settled in for doing homework.
"Expecto patronum."
Rachel glanced up from where she was reading Hermione's History of Magic notes in her two-way book and saw the silvery mist coming from Millie's wand and Millie's expression of frustration. Millie had been practicing the Patronus charm every night since they'd returned to Hogwarts - Hermione, Luna, and Ginny had reported that they were practicing every evening as well.
Millie waved her wand to disperse the mist. "Expecto patronum."
"I don't think it's going to happen, Millie," Pansy said from where she was sitting on her bed and looking through an issue of Witch Weekly.
"It will, I can do it," Millie insisted.
"It's a very high level charm. Why do you want to learn it now instead of waiting until they cover it in class?" Daphne asked. She was on her bed, painting her fingernails a pale pink.
"Because it's an important and useful spell and I want to be able to do it," Millie said. She took a deep breath. "Expecto patronum." She sighed heavily when it was just mist again.
"Hardly anyone can make a corporeal Patronus. I don't think I even know anyone who can," Pansy said.
"Professor Snape can and so can Professor Dumbledore," Rachel said.
"And they're both really powerful wizards. I mean, I know Professor Snape is mostly about potions, but I wouldn't want to duel him, would you?" Pansy asked.
Daphne quickly shook her head. "Professor Snape is a little bit scary. I'd hate to be on the wrong end of his wand."
"He's really nice," Rachel said, dropping her hand to rub Midnight's side as she rolled over on her bed.
"He's supposed to be nice to you, you're his ward," Daphne said. "He's just very intense. Anyway, Millie, we're only fourth years, I bet no one our age has cast a corporeal Patronus before."
Rachel quickly looked back down at her book. She, Theo, and Neville could all cast a corporeal Patronus, though they'd been keeping it as much of a secret as possible.
"I don't think it's age limited. I do well in Charms. I can do this. Expecto patronum!" Millie said forcefully.
"You're using a memory medley?" Rachel asked.
"Yes," Millie said. "I've got everything there. I know they're the right memories to use. I swear, I can almost feel it happening, and it's just not working."
"Maybe wait longer in between when you cast it. Try closing your eyes and remembering the memories so much that you can feel what you were feeling during them," Rachel suggested.
"Is that how you're supposed to do it?" Pansy asked.
"Our study group did some research into the Patronus charm last year, because of the Dementors," Rachel said quickly.
"Oh," Daphne said. "It makes sense that you'd want some protection from the Dementors. Those things were awful. I'm so glad they're not here this year."
"Me too," Rachel said, though she still wanted to test her Patronus charm on a Dementor, or a boggart, one day to make sure it actually worked like it was supposed to.
The room fell quiet again and Millie stood near the door, her wand drawn and her eyes closed, She moved her lips as if she was silently speaking to herself.
"Expecto patronum."
Rachel watched as the mist issuing from Millie's wand coalesced into a form. She slid off her bed, grinning as she watched Millie open her eyes.
"Eep! I did it! I actually did it! That's my Patronus!" Millie said, grinning proudly as she looked at it.
"Congratulations! I think it's a zebra," Rachel said, going over to give Millie a brief one-armed hug.
The silvery Patronus took a few steps forward and shook its head. The stripes were a darker silver and it flickered its ears as it walked.
"Sweet Merlin, you actually did it," Daphne said. "How?"
"Practice," Millie said, sharing a smile with Rachel.
"I can't believe it. You must be the youngest person to ever cast a corporeal Patronus," Pansy said as she got up and held her hand out to the zebra Patronus. "You have to show Professor Flitwick. I bet he'll give you fifty points for this."
Millie hesitated. "I'm not sure I want everyone knowing I can do this."
"Why not? It's incredible," Pansy said.
"It is pretty amazing. And it's beautiful. My father said that only powerful witches and wizards were able to cast the Patronus charm, and even then only if they had goodness in their hearts," Daphne said.
"Sometimes you don't want everyone to know that you're powerful. It's a strategy thing," Rachel said.
"If I had a Patronus I'd show it off everywhere," Pansy said. "Maybe you can teach us, Millie."
"Yes, I'd like to have a Patronus too," Daphne said.
"Well, it's pretty simple. You've heard me say the incantation plenty of times. What you really need is a powerfully happy memory, and it's even better if you have more than one. And then, it's like Rachel said, you have to feel that happiness again, like the memory is happening right now," Millie explained.
Pansy held out her wand. "Expecto patronum!"
"There's not even a mist," Daphne said.
"And it takes a lot of practice. It took me weeks before I could get the non-corporeal Patronus to even form. My suggestion is to take a week or two and really think about the memories that are made of pure happiness for you, the stronger the better," Millie said.
Daphne nodded. "We can do that. Rachel, are you going to try to learn too?"
"Oh, I guess I should," Rachel said, glancing at Millie. She supposed she could just pretend that she couldn't do it.
"You're really not going to show Professor Flitwick?" Pansy asked.
"Maybe in private. You won't tell anyone, will you?" Millie asked.
"I won't. But I think you could make yourself very popular with some of the upper years by showing it off. Think of all the boys who would want to ask you to the Yule Ball," Pansy said.
"If anyone was asking me to the Yule Ball, I'd want it to be because they liked me, not because they thought I was a powerful witch," Millie said.
"It's just a ball, it's not marriage," Daphne said. "I've settled on Anthony Goldstein. Rachel, have you picked someone yet?"
"No," Rachel said. By this point she'd given up on telling them that she didn't really want to go with anyone.
"You have to pick someone soon or all the good ones will be taken. Can you imagine going with Crabbe or Goyle?" Pansy asked.
"Maybe they'll go with each other. I can't imagine any girl agreeing to go with them," Daphne said with a giggle.
"What's wrong with two boys going together?" Millie asked.
"Nothing is wrong with two boys going together, it's the fact that it's Crabbe and Goyle," Pansy said.
"But we don't have to go with anyone, why wouldn't they just go alone?" Rachel asked.
Daphne sighed. "Because it's funny."
Rachel shook her head and went back to reading in her two-way book. Pansy and Daphne were both a bit crazy, but for the most part they were good friends.
"So we can use the Quidditch pitch up until the start of May. That should give us enough time to hold a full season, but we're going to have to organize the games around the professors' schedules, since the Heads of Houses will have to supervisor our games. Professor Snape said the Heads of Houses for the teams that are playing will be the ones present at the games," Rachel explained.
"That's great. I can't believe they even bothered to cancel Quidditch in the first place, they had to know we'd revolt!" Adrian said with a broad smile.
"That means we need a Beater and a Chaser as soon as possible. It also leaves us with another problem, we don't have a captain," Draco said.
"Didn't Professor Snape say anything about a captain?" Miles asked Rachel.
"No, he didn't. Do we really need a captain? We all know what to do," Rachel pointed out.
"We need someone to speak for us on the pitch, and someone who can call timeouts and things like that," Lucian said.
"Oh, that's the other thing we need. A referee. Madam Hooch is away on leave this year," Rachel said.
Draco frowned. "That will be more difficult. How are we going to get someone who isn't biased?"
"Maybe one of the Durmstrang or Beauxbatons students?" Adrian suggested.
"Or another teacher. Maybe Sinistra would do it, she's supposed to be a big Quidditch fan," Lucian said.
"Back to the matter of a team captain, how are we going to decide that?" Draco pressed.
"The simplest way would be for the person who has been on the team the longest to take the captain position for this year, and then Professor Snape can assign it next year," Miles said.
"I don't want to be captain," Lucian said quickly. "It's not very practical for a Beater to be captain anyway. Why don't we vote? Whoever gets the most votes is captain."
"Can we vote for ourselves?" Adrian asked.
"No. Then we'd just have four votes for ourselves and Lucian would basically be picking the captain anyway. Here, let's do this anonymously," Miles said, reaching into his bag for a piece of parchment and then tearing it into roughly even strips.
"If it's anonymous, how will we know people aren't voting for themselves?" Draco asked.
"Because I trust everyone here to do what's best for the team, and that means we pick whoever is right for the job. Right?" Lucian asked, giving each of them a pointed look. "Write a name on the parchment and fold it in half then drop it on the table and we'll mix them up."
Rachel nodded as she tried to figure out who would be the best leader for the team. Maybe Miles, because he saw everything from the goal? Or maybe Draco, because he knew a lot about Quidditch? Finally she wrote Miles' name on the strip of parchment, figuring he had more experience, folded the parchment in half and put it with the others on the table.
Adrian reached forward and moved them all around, so no one could see who had written on each one and began to open them.
Rachel leaned in to see and was surprised to see her name written on three of the strips, Draco's on one, and Miles' on the last one.
"Me?" she asked. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Lucian said. "You're one of our best players and have a better view of the game than any of the Chasers do."
"Captain Rachel," Adrian said, patting her roughly on the shoulder.
"You'll do fine, besides you have all of us to give you advice, and we will," Miles said.
Draco looked put out, but he nodded. "I have an idea. I'll be right back."
Rachel watched him as he went across the common room to where some seventh years were sitting with a few of the Durmstrang students. A minute later he came back with Viktor following him.
"Viktor, this is the Slytherin Quidditch team. We'd be honored if you would join us this year as a Seeker," Draco said.
Rachel's jaw dropped. Seeker was her position!
"We've already got a Seeker, we need a Chaser and a Beater," Lucian pointed out.
"But Viktor is a Seeker. Rachel can take the Chaser position just for this year," Draco said.
Viktor looked at Rachel. "You would do that?"
Rachel knew she had to do what was best for the team as a whole, especially now that she was captain, and she wasn't about to turn away a professional player. "I would, if you wanted to join us," she said.
Viktor nodded once. "It would be good to fly again. When are your practices?"
"Wednesdays at four thirty to six and Sundays at one to three. We'll bring you out to the Slytherin locker rooms after lunch on Sunday to show you where they are," Miles said.
"Good," Viktor said. He walked away and went to rejoin the other Durmstrang students.
"Viktor Krum wants to play with us," Adrian said. "No way!"
"Told you it was a good idea," Draco said smugly.
"You could have given us a little warning," Lucian said.
Rachel nodded. As much as she was excited to play with Viktor, it would have been nice to know what was happening beforehand.
"Excuse me?"
They turned and found a third year girl with bright red hair standing near them.
"Yes?" Lucian asked.
"I'm Scarlett Lympsham. I hear the team is looking for a Beater," she said.
"We are, do you know someone?" Miles asked.
"Yes, me," Scarlett said.
"You're a little small for a Beater," Adrian said.
"Good things come in small packages," Scarlett said, lifting her chin. "I'm a good player and I'll prove it to you."
Lucian turned to Rachel. "Do you have a problem if I take her out with a Bludger and see how she does?"
"That's fine, give her a chance. If it doesn't work, we'll hold open tryouts," Rachel said.
"Meet me on the pitch at five and we'll see how you do. If you do well, I'll train you up so that you can train the new Beater next year," Lucian told her.
Scarlett grinned brightly. "I won't let you down. You'll see what I can do!"
"Well she's nothing if not enthusiastic," Miles said once Scarlett had bounded away.
"And I think that takes care of team business until we practice on Sunday, unless there is anything else, Rachel?" Lucian asked.
"No, that's everything. If Scarlett isn't a good fit, we'll have to hold tryouts next Saturday," Rachel said, getting to her feet. It felt weird to have this responsibility. "Let me know how it goes with her."
"I will," Lucian said.
Rachel nodded and went back to where Millie was sitting with a book, passing Flora and Hestia as she went. They were still sitting closer to them than Rachel was strictly comfortable with, but it wasn't like she was going to talk about anything important in the common room. Theo was sitting with Avery Acker two tables away and had a very serious expression as he talked with him.
"How did it go?" Millie asked as Rachel sat down.
"Well, I'm now a Chaser and team captain and we'll be playing with Viktor Krum on our team. And we might have a new Beater," Rachel summarized.
Millie stared. "Want to run that by me again?"
Rachel smiled and settled in to explain what had just happened.
"Uh oh," Millie said, coming to an abrupt stop a few steps into the courtyard.
Rachel glanced at Millie and then looked in the direction she was looking.
Draco and Ron were facing each other, about ten feet apart, and both of them had their wands drawn. Quite a number of students, including a few of the Gryffindor boys in their year, were standing around the courtyard, but nobody was stopping them.
Rachel bit her lip as she remembered Ron saying that Draco had been bullying him. In any case, it obviously wasn't a fair fight - Draco had private tutors during the summer and generally did very well with spell casting.
"I said shut up about my mother!" Ron shouted loud enough for the entire courtyard to hear.
"This isn't good, we should stop them. Fighting is against the rules," Hermione said.
"That and Draco is going to hex Weasley to hell and back," Theo said.
Rachel nodded. "I'll do it."
"Rachel, wait," Hermione and Theo said simultaneously.
But Rachel was already walking. She kept her hand over the pocket where she kept her wand, just in case, and went up to Draco. "Draco, you don't need to fight him," she said quietly.
"Either draw your wand or back off," Draco said, not even looking at her.
"Sure, take his side! Two on one, is it? Merlin knows Slytherins don't fight fair!" Ron called.
"My God, Ron, she's trying to help you," Hermione said loudly as she and the rest of the study group approached. "Put your wands away, both of you. You can't duel at Hogwarts."
"You'll find out how Slytherins really feel about muggleborns if you keep hanging out with them," Ron said, still holding his wand ready to cast.
"We're not all the same, Ron. There's no need to fight," Rachel said.
"Sure there is. I don't think Weasley knows his place in the world," Draco said.
"My place in the world? At least it's not being a smug bastard of a Death Eater!" Ron shouted.
There were gasps all around the courtyard and Draco stiffened.
"Ron, walk away," Ginny said firmly.
"You think I'm going to let him walk away without teaching him a lesson after he said that?" Draco asked. "The rest of you back off. I have work to do."
"We're not going to let you fight," Hermione said.
"You don't get to let me do anything, mudblood. I do what I want," Draco said.
There were gasps all around the courtyard again and Rachel stiffened. "Don't call her that, Draco."
"I wouldn't if she'd mind her own business. Now back off, Rachel, and take your friends with you," Draco said.
Rachel had no idea what to do. Millie, Theo, Neville, and Ginny all had their wands drawn now. She couldn't just let Draco hex Ron, but how did she stop him without stunning him?
"Shall we make this a proper duel then, since we have an audience? You do know what to do, don't you?" Draco asked Ron.
"Fine," Ron said.
"Ron, don't," Hermione said.
"Go away, Hermione. You're as bad as the Slytherins," Ron said, not taking his gaze away from Draco.
"Shut up, Ron," Neville said, his fist tight around his wand.
"First, we bow," Draco said, still focused on Ron.
Each of them bowed their heads ever so slightly, not daring to look away from the other.
"Draco, you're going to get into trouble. Think of how mad Professor Snape will be," Rachel tried.
"He won't know if you don't tell him, and you're not going to do that," Draco said.
Rachel was pretty sure she would. This seemed like the type of thing Severus needed to know.
"Now, on the count of three. One, two, three -" Draco counted, and then a white flash went from his wand directly into Ron's face.
Ron dropped his wand and clamped both hands to his mouth. A moment later he was down on his knees.
"Stop, he's choking!" Hermione cried, running over to Ron.
"It's just a Wash Your Mouth Out Hex," Draco said. "Pathetic."
"Finite incantatem," Hermione said, tapping her wand to Ron's face.
Ron grabbed his wand and pushed himself back to his feet. "You'll pay for that, Malfoy!"
"Enough! That's enough," Professor Moody said as he stalked into the courtyard with his wand drawn. "Wands away, all of you."
Draco quickly put his wand away and those of the study group who had drawn their wands did so as well. Ron finally put his away as well, though he was still glaring at Draco.
"You, come with me," Professor Moody said, looking at where Draco and Rachel were standing.
Draco frowned, but moved to follow Professor Moody.
"Not you. You," Professor Moody said, pointing at Rachel.
"Professor, I was trying to stop them from fighting," Rachel said.
"Don't care, with me," Professor Moody said, walking away.
Rachel glanced helplessly at her friends and then hurried to follow Professor Moody.
Millie caught up with her quickly. "We're coming with you," she whispered.
Rachel looked back and saw that the entire study group had followed.
Professor Moody stopped in front of one of the ground floor classrooms and looked over all of them. "What's your plan?" he asked.
"Excuse me, sir?" Hermione asked.
"Your plan. You're clearly prepared for an attack on the Girl-Who-Lived. What would you do if I tried to portkey out of here with her?" Professor Moody asked.
"We'd attempt to disable you, sir. Most likely with stunners," Theo said.
"And then I'd send my Patronus to Professor Dumbledore asking him for help," Millie added.
"Work on that. Stunning is a good spell for low level fights, but you have to be ready to do something when your opponent has a Shield charm up. That forces them to be on the defensive, which is good for you, but not so good for your hostage. Also, you want to be careful with what you're casting when your opponent is holding a hostage because you might miss," Professor Moody instructed. "Now, I'm going to take Miss Snow into that classroom and have a private talk with her, I'll return her unharmed to you when I'm done."
"No, sir," Hermione said. "If you need to speak with Rachel privately, you can cast a privacy ward, but we'd like you to keep the door open so we can see her."
"And if I say no?" Professor Moody asked.
"Then we're summoning Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape to assist us. If you force the issue, we'll draw our wands," Theo said, his hand resting on his pocket.
Professor Moody nodded. "Good. Ten points to Slytherin and ten points to Gryffindor for using your damn brains. Now, Miss Bulstrode, you mentioned using a Patronus charm to summon help. Can you actually cast a corporeal Patronus?"
"Yes, sir," Millie said. She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. "Expecto patronum."
Millie's silvery zebra appeared and shook its head before taking a few steps.
"Very nice, Miss Bulstrode. Ten points to Slytherin. Work on your casting time, in the middle of a fight you don't have time to close your eyes and think. The rest of you might want to try learning that too," Professor Moody said.
"We're working on it, sir," Hermione said.
"Now, Miss Snow, with me," Professor Moody said.
Rachel followed Professor Moody inside the classroom but stayed within eyesight of the doorway.
Professor Moody came to a stop and noted where she was standing. "Good, at least you have some situational awareness," he said. "I'm just using my wand to cast a privacy ward."
The silver bubble of a privacy ward flashed around them.
"Now, what the hell were you thinking?" Professor Moody asked.
"Sir, I don't know what you mean. I wasn't fighting in the courtyard, I was trying to get Draco and Ron to stop fighting," Rachel explained.
"That's exactly what I mean. You walked into a combat situation and you didn't even draw your wand," Professor Moody said.
Rachel blinked. A combat situation? She wouldn't exactly call two fourth years drawing their wands in the courtyard a combat situation.
"Did you even think about what you were doing?" Professor Moody asked.
"Yes. Ron has said that Draco has been bullying him in the hallways, and I was trying to stop it from happening," Rachel said.
"And your solution was to walk up and ask them not to fight? Do you think we went up to the Death Eaters and asked them to stop killing us?" Professor Moody asked. "Do you know who Draco Malfoy's father is?"
"Lucius Malfoy. I've met him a few times," Rachel said.
"Of course you have, I don't know what Dumbledore was thinking, giving you to Snape," Professor Moody said, shaking his head. "They're Death Eaters, Snape and Malfoy both. They know enough Dark curses and hexes to make you wish you were dead several times over, and I guarantee Lucius Malfoy has been teaching them to Draco. You need to watch your back. You are not safe here."
Rachel was starting to feel more than a little bit freaked out.
"Now, if you want out of Slytherin, which would be the best thing for you, we need to go to Dumbledore and get you out of there. I'm sure he can get his damn hat to pick another House for you," Professor Moody said.
"No, sir. I like being a Slytherin," Rachel said firmly. "Not all Slytherins are bad. Not even most of us."
"Perhaps not, but the ones who are bad are the ones you've got to look out for. You're sleeping in a room with the daughter of a pair of Death Eaters, and you're sharing a common room with a dozen more children who are being groomed to be Death Eaters," Professor Moody said. "I don't know what Dumbledore has told you, but I'm willing to be blunt with you. The Death Eaters will kill you if they're given the opportunity. And you can damn well bet that they'll use their children to get to you."
"I know that, sir. I'm always with my friends," Rachel said. She decided against bringing up the fact that Severus was protecting her given how he'd said his name earlier.
"A bunch of fourth years who barely know the right end of the wand to hold. You're right though, safety in numbers. But you've got to learn to protect yourself. You have to be on your guard, constantly. I assume you know Nott's father is a Death Eater as well?" Professor Moody asked.
"Yes, sir. Theo is not like his father," Rachel said.
"That remains to be seen. Keep an eye on him as well. Don't turn your back. Do you understand?" Professor Moody asked.
Rachel nodded, mostly because she wanted out of this conversation as fast as possible. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Come to me if there's a problem. I'll get you to Dumbledore. Now go on," Professor Moody said, lifting the privacy ward.
Rachel left quickly.
"Are you okay?" Neville asked.
"Okay enough, let's get out of here," Rachel said. She needed to tell Severus about that conversation, but she thought it could wait until dinner on Sunday.
Severus drew his wand when he heard someone knock on his office door. It was just past ten o'clock. His prefects should be finishing the last of their rounds and everyone else should be in the common room or in bed. Under other circumstances, such as not having Moody, Karkaroff, and the Durmstrang students in the school, he would have left his wand accessible in his pocket and that would have been enough. As things stood there was no such thing as being too cautious.
He went through the permeable wall that connected his quarters to his office and opened the door.
"Severus. I thought we might speak in private," Karkaroff said, bowing his head slightly.
Severus had very little to say to Karkaroff but knew it would be wise to invite him in and find out what the problem was. If the circumstances that necessitated his retirement from being a spy weren't so dire, he'd be looking forward to the day. "Igor. Please, come in," Severus said after a moment.
"I don't suppose you have anything to drink?" Karkaroff said, making a show of looking around Severus' office.
"Scotch or firewhiskey," Severus offered. He wasn't about to give Karkaroff any of his good alcohol.
"Firewhiskey would be fine," Karkaroff said. "They do quite literally keep you in the dungeons, don't they? You'd think Dumbledore would have given you a better office."
"I prefer to be close to my classroom and to my students' dormitories," Severus said, silently summoning his bottle of firewhiskey and two glasses. "It enables me to keep a better eye on them."
"Ah, well. They will get up to what they get up to. There's no stopping them," Karkaroff said, accepting the glass of firewhiskey from Severus and taking a seat. "I assume you find my students' work in your classes acceptable?"
"I have had no issue with their work thus far," Severus said, taking a seat. His sixth and seventh year classes were going surprisingly smoothly. While he probably would not have given a few of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students an Outstanding given their abilities, their work was good enough not to pose a safety hazard to the class. Even more surprising was that the Weasley twins were behaving, at least in his class.
"Good. My students seem to like Hogwarts well enough, for the most part. I think it's a good experience for them," Karkaroff said.
"Are we here to talk about your students?" Severus asked, not willing to spend what remained of the evening listening to Karkaroff prattle on.
Karkaroff swallowed what remained in his glass and put it down with a loud clunk. "There was something else that I wanted to talk to you about. There are signs… There are rumors that the Dark Lord has returned."
Severus forced his expression to remain impassive. "What have you seen?"
"Not me, not personally," Karkaroff said quickly. "But I've heard things. For one, that the Death Eaters marched on the World Cup."
"I can assure you that was without direction from the Dark Lord," Severus said.
"But still, you wouldn't think they'd be so bold unless they knew something," Karkaroff said.
Severus thought the exact opposite, but he wasn't about to tell Karkaroff that. "Anything else?"
"There have been rumors that the Dark Lord was here, at Hogwarts," Karkaroff said, watching Severus closely.
"What did they say, exactly?" Severus asked. If Karkaroff knew about Quirrell being possessed then they had an information leak that they needed to plug quickly.
"They said he was opening the Chamber of Secrets, around two years ago," Karkaroff said.
Severus sighed. Unfortunately that much was more common knowledge than he would have preferred, but Albus had said that it was necessary to clear Hagrid's name. "There was an artifact left behind by the Dark Lord. A student was using it to open the Chamber of Secrets."
"Who?" Karkaroff asked.
"We don't know, but the artifact has been warded and isolated. It will not be used again," Severus said. "What else have you heard?"
"Nothing, really. But I can feel it, can't you?" Karkaroff asked.
"I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary. If the Dark Lord was returning, we would know about it," Severus said. Karkaroff obviously didn't know anything.
"If he does - I mean you don't want to go back to that, Severus, do you?" Karkaroff asked.
"I know where my loyalties lie. Do you?" Severus asked. They both knew full well that Karkaroff would not receive a warm welcome from the Dark Lord given that he had sent several loyal Death Eaters to Azkaban to secure his own release.
Karkaroff wilted. "I do."
"Was there anything else you needed?" Severus asked.
"Are you certain? That the Dark Lord isn't returning?" Karkaroff asked.
"Nothing is a certainty. It's entirely possible that the Dark Lord may yet return. I have yet to see any signs of his return," Severus said.
Karkaroff nodded and got to his feet. "It's good to see you again, Severus. It's been too long."
A lifetime would not have been long enough, in Severus' mind. "Likewise."
Karkaroff left and Severus took a moment before he finished his glass of firewhiskey and went to the fireplace to use the floo. "Albus, are you there?"
He waited, the green flames crackling, but there was no response.
That was alright. He could wait until the morning to tell Albus that Karkaroff was seeing the signs as well, even if Karkaroff couldn't put together a coherent argument.
"We're finally going to Hogsmeade!" Ginny said happily as they waited in line to leave the castle.
"And we don't even need Professor Snape," Rachel said, smiling back. Once again she was filled with relief that the Dementors were gone.
"Where are we going to go?" Luna asked.
"Well there's a number of places we could visit. Honeydukes should probably be our first stop before it gets too crowded. After that, we could go to the bookstore, or the quill shop, or go see the Shrieking Shack if you want," Hermione said.
"I'd like to see the Shrieking Shack," Luna said.
"Me too," Ginny said.
Rachel would be okay with seeing the outside of the Shrieking Shack, but she didn't want to see the inside again. "Sirius said he and Remus would meet us at noon at the Three Broomsticks," she said.
"It's just going on nine. We have plenty of time," Theo said.
It didn't take long to reach the front of the line and Rachel bent down to pet Mrs. Norris, who was standing with Mr. Filch.
"Hello Mr. Filch, how are you?" Rachel asked when she stood back up.
"Busy as ever. You staying out of trouble, Miss Rachel?" Mr. Filch asked as he checked them off his list.
"Yes, we're studying too hard to make trouble," Rachel said.
"Good, good. On with you then," Mr. Filch said.
"Thank you," Rachel said and they stepped out of the castle and into the brisk late October air. It would be Halloween in two days.
"Why is Mr. Filch so nice to you? He doesn't really like most students," Ginny asked.
"Professor Snape helped Mrs. Norris when she was Petrified and he seems to think that I helped," Rachel explained.
"I think Mr. Filch is lonely," Luna said.
"Well, I'm sure his job isn't easy, and it's not like he gets much time to meet new people," Hermione said.
"It's good that he's nice to us at least. I've seen him yell at some of the students," Neville said.
"Were they making a mess at the time?" Millie asked.
"They'd broken a window. I think that's why Ever-Bashing Boomerangs were banned," Neville said.
"You'd think they'd give Mr. Filch some help. One man to clean the entire castle is ridiculous," Hermione said.
"Well, the House Elves do most of the cleaning. I think Mr. Filch's job is more to stop students when they're making a mess or causing problems," Theo said.
"There has to be a better way to do that," Hermione said.
"Hold on, I want another group picture of us in front of Hogsmeade," Rachel said, pulling out her camera. "This time one where we're not bundled up in cloaks and hats. You can hardly tell who is who in the picture I took last year."
They gathered together to the side of the path, with Hogsmeade rising up behind them, and Rachel took a picture.
"You should show us more of your photos. I liked the ones you sent us over the summer, but I want to see the other ones you took," Millie said.
"Sure. I have some of them in a photo album," Rachel said as she slid her camera back in her bag before they kept walking.
"Bring it to the study room, I want to see them too," Neville said.
"Yeah, my mom liked the photos you gave her at my birthday party," Ginny said.
"Okay," Rachel said. It was nice that they wanted to see the photos she'd taken, but she still felt a little bit weird about offering to show off her photo album.
Rachel peered in the window when they reached Honeydukes.
"Is it going to be okay?" Millie asked.
"I don't know," Rachel said after a moment. She dug her money pouch out of her pocket and handed Millie a few Galleons. "Can you get me some chocolate frogs and jelly slugs?"
"Sure," Millie said.
"I'm going to wait outside with Rachel. There's nothing in Honeydukes I need today," Hermione said.
"You didn't have to wait out here with me, I would have been okay," Rachel said once the rest of their friends had gone inside.
"I don't mind, and I wasn't lying. I'm not really big on most sweets so I don't need to go into the sweetshop. Can I ask you something?" Hermione asked.
"Okay," Rachel said.
"Sometimes you seem to do okay with smaller places or crowded spaces, and sometimes not so much. Do you know why?" Hermione asked.
Rachel sighed. "Sometimes it's worse than others, I'm not really sure why. I'm okay in the Great Hall, and I'm usually okay in the hallways. Sometimes the common room bothers me a little bit, and so does being in my bed if I have the curtains pulled all the way around. The staircases in the stands at the Quidditch pitch are kind of hard too."
Hermione nodded. "Claustrophobia. Not an uncommon phobia at all. For me it takes the form of having things close to my face, especially if they're near or against my mouth."
Rachel nodded. That made a lot of sense. She wouldn't like that either.
"Is it something the therapist you see can help you with?" Hermione asked.
"It's on our list of things to work on. But that list doesn't seem to be growing any shorter," Rachel said. She was still working on things with Torey. It just felt very slow.
"Well, all of this stuff takes time. I think it's really good that Professor Snape is getting you help, and that he had you continue even after you were able to speak," Hermione said.
"You don't think it's weird? I mean, no one else leaves the school to go to a therapist," Rachel said.
Hermione shrugged. "Some people probably should. There's no shame in needing help. My mom saw someone for years because she struggled with depression after I was born. She said that the therapist and the doctors really helped her, and if she hadn't gone she couldn't have been a good mom to me. I think that it's good that you're going now, instead of spending years struggling with things when you could have had someone helping you."
"Thanks," Rachel said, feeling a little weird. She had known abstractly that other people went to therapists and Mind Healers, they wouldn't exist otherwise, but it was different knowing that someone like Mrs. Granger had gone to see one. She wouldn't have ever imagined it if Hermione hadn't told her.
"If you need something, or if we can help you somehow, you know you can ask us, right?" Hermione asked.
Rachel smiled. "I do. You know that the same applies to you, right? If you ever need help or if you want something to be different, you just have to tell us."
Hermione smiled back. "I know. It took me a while to understand that, but I got there eventually."
"I'm glad," Rachel said. She would have hated if one of her friends thought they couldn't come to her for help.
"Here you are, chocolate frogs, jelly slugs, and your change is in the bag," Millie said, handing her a shopping bag.
"Thanks," Rachel said. "Where to next?"
They went down to the Shrieking Shack, which Luna dubbed suitably haunted, though Rachel told her that she hadn't seen any ghosts while she was inside. Then they went to the post office to see all the owls. Then they walked for a while, looking in windows, until it was time to meet Sirius and Remus for lunch. They decided to leave the bookstore until after lunch since they usually spent quite a bit of time there.
"Sirius, Remus," Rachel said, spotting Sirius and Remus waiting by the bar as soon as they entered the Three Broomsticks.
"Rachel," Sirius said.
Rachel braced herself to be hugged by Sirius and settled for patting his arm again rather than hugging him back.
He finally let Rachel go and looked around at her friends. "And this must be your study group. I've heard all about you."
"We've heard about you too, sir," Theo said.
"All good, I hope," Sirius said.
There was a moment of silence where they all stared at Sirius and then he burst out laughing. "And of course you remember Remus," Sirius said once he stopped laughing.
"It's good to see you again, Professor Lupin," Hermione said.
"Good to see all of you as well. No need to call me professor anymore, I'm just Remus," he said.
"I've reserved us a room where we can sit and talk while we eat, let me just wave down Rosmerta," Sirius said.
"He is not what I was expecting," Millie whispered to Rachel.
Rachel shrugged. She felt like she didn't know Sirius well enough yet to know what to expect from him. He did seem to be doing better, even more so now than he was two months ago. His face was fuller and he was smiling a lot.
Madam Rosmerta led them to a side room with a table set for nine. Rachel sat down next to Sirius, and Remus was on Sirius' other side.
"Now, tell me all about Hogwarts these days," Sirius said once everyone was settled with a menu in front of them. They had been told to tap their wand on the name of the meal they wanted.
"Well, I already told you about the Triwizard Tournament. They're going to draw the names on Halloween," Rachel said. "And the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students have been here for almost a month now."
"Who came with the Durmstrang students?" Remus asked.
"Professor Karkaroff," Rachel said.
"They let Karkaroff into Hogwarts?" Sirius asked. "I have half a mind to go up to the castle and ask Dumbledore what he's thinking letting a Death Eater roam Hogwarts. He was in a cell near mine."
"Sirius," Remus said, putting his hand on Sirius' arm.
"Professor Karkaroff went to Azkaban?" Neville asked, clearly worried by this development.
"Oh yes," Sirius said. "Got there not long after I did. Used to scream in his cell in the middle of the night."
"Why did they let him out?" Hermione asked, looking aghast. "He wasn't innocent was he?"
"Not in the slightest," Sirius said.
"They let Karkaroff out because he informed on several more Death Eaters who were then captured," Remus explained. "Perhaps this isn't the best topic of conversation. What else can you tell us about Hogwarts?"
"Viktor Krum is going to join the Slytherin Quidditch team for the year, and I'm going to play as a Chaser this year so he can be Seeker," Rachel offered, hoping that would get them on more neutral ground.
"Your dad was a Chaser, you know. I'll have to see if I can get Dumbledore to let me on the grounds to see one of your games," Sirius said.
"They weren't going to have Quidditch at all this year, but we made them change their minds," Millie said.
"I'll bet you did. I don't know what they're thinking, trying to cancel Quidditch," Remus said.
"Would have been a riot in our days," Sirius said with a smile.
"What was Hogwarts like, when you were there?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, about the same as it is now, I expect. School work, causing mischief. Are they still letting Filch run the detentions?" Sirius asked.
"We don't really get detention," Hermione said.
"No," Sirius said, turning to Remus. "They're the good kids. Are you telling me none of you have ever been given detention?"
"I have," Rachel said. "I had to write lines."
"There we go," Sirius said with a smile. "What'd you do?"
"I wouldn't speak to anyone," Rachel said.
Sirius' brow wrinkled in confusion. "That's a weird prank. Though I suppose if you got enough of you doing it, it might work."
Rachel decided that she didn't want to explain why she couldn't speak and cast around for another subject. "Do you know Professor Moody?"
"Mad-Eye, of course. We were in the Order together. Can't say that I'd ever imagined him teaching a room full of kids though," Sirius said.
"How is Defense going this year?" Remus asked.
"Different from any other Professor we've had. He's very intense and we're mostly focused on spell-work and countercurses," Theo answered.
"That sounds about right for Mad-Eye," Remus said.
"Do people really call him Mad-Eye? Isn't that a bit rude?" Hermione asked.
"Aurors like to give each other nicknames, something easy to shout in the field. Before he lost his eye he was called Bludge, given that he favored the Bludgeoning hex to take down multiple combatants at once," Sirius explained.
"I wouldn't suggest that you call him Mad-Eye while you're his students, but he doesn't take offense to it," Remus said.
"Must be fun to have Mad-Eye and Karkaroff under the same roof. Mad-Eye was the one who tracked Karkaroff down and arrested him," Sirius said.
"Anyway," Remus said quickly. "Here's the food."
Madam Rosmerta came in with a line of plates following behind her and she began sending them around.
Rachel eagerly dug into her fish and chips. She wished the Hogwarts House Elves would learn how to make chips, though it was probably a little too unhealthy for them to consider it.
"Now that we're alone, Rachel has told us you're all trying to become animagi. How is that going?" Sirius asked, once Rosmerta was gone and the door was shut behind her.
"It's going well, I think we're almost finished with the first meditation. Is it true you became an animagus while you were at Hogwarts?" Theo asked.
"We did it in our fifth year," Sirius said.
"How did you keep people from noticing? It's not exactly subtle to walk around with a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month," Hermione said.
"Sticking charm to the roof of your mouth, keeps you from swallowing it and after a day or two you get used to talking around it," Sirius said. "Though, I'll admit, it took us trying multiple times in order to figure that out. James swallowed his leaf whole once and half choked on it."
"And none of the teachers noticed?" Neville asked.
"No, but they were used to us getting up to odd things," Remus said. "I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that we were troublemakers."
"Somewhat ashamed? Remus, we were great," Sirius said.
"Great at causing trouble and maham," Remus agreed.
Rachel smiled. It was really weird to think of her dad as a troublemaker. "Was my mom like that too?"
"Not at all. Your mom was quite sensible and wouldn't have anything to do with us until we'd grown up a bit," Remus said.
"Drove James batty trying to get her attention," Sirius said with a smile.
"So if I understand correctly, for now you're just working on the meditations and you're waiting until Minerva helps you once you're NEWT students?" Remus asked.
"That's right," Millie said.
"Hopefully she'll agree to help," Hermione said.
"Well, if not, I'm happy to take you on as my apprentices. Not that you'll need much help from the sounds of things," Sirius said.
"Did you know what your form was going to be before you transformed?" Luna asked.
"Not at all," Sirius said.
"It was chaos. All three of them took the potion at the same time. We were out in the Forbidden Forest and suddenly I had a stag that was struggling to walk, a dog that wouldn't stop barking, and I couldn't even find Pettigrew," Remus said, though he was smiling.
"Too bad you didn't accidentally step on him," Sirius said.
"You're about to begin on the second animagus meditation?" Remus asked, redirecting the conversation again.
"Yes. Do you have any advice for before we begin?" Theo asked.
"Only that it will feel very different from the first meditation. The first meditation is about knowing your body in your human form. The second meditation is about knowing your mind in your human form," Sirius explained.
"Is your mind different when you're in your animal form?" Hermione asked.
"In some ways it is. You're being given an entirely different set of sensory information and it takes some time to adapt to that. In some ways, you have to think like your animal form, while still retaining your human mind above that. Hence the mediation," Sirius said.
Rachel nodded, that made some sense, but she was sure it would make more sense once they were actually able to transform and feel it for themselves.
It seemed like the hour they had the room for lunch went by too fast and before long they were standing up to say goodbye.
"Mr. Black," Luna said as she approached Sirius.
"Just call me Sirius," he said.
"You can call me Luna," she said. "My father is the editor of The Quibbler, and he was wondering if you would be willing to do an interview with him about being sent to Azkaban while being innocent. He's writing an article about it."
"He wants to raise awareness of the possibility there were other people there who were innocent?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, he thinks the people should know what the Ministry did," Luna said.
"Well, I happen to agree with him on that point. Have him send me an owl and we'll set up a time to talk," Sirius said.
"He's out of the country right now, but I'll let him know to get in contact with you once he's back," Luna said.
"Sounds good," Sirius said. "Rachel, a minute."
Rachel walked with Sirius over to the side of the room. "It was good to see you again," she said.
"It was. We'll try to do this again next time you have a Hogsmeade weekend. Listen to me. I want you to be very careful around Karkaroff and his students," Sirius said.
"I know, Severus told me the same thing," Rachel said.
"Well good, listen to him. And send me a letter if you need anything. In fact, send me a letter if you don't need anything, I like to hear from you," Sirius said.
"I will," Rachel said. It was nice that Sirius wanted to be involved in her life.