Harry piled food onto his breakfast plate, Ron and Hermione sitting around him. None of them spoke, though there was a great deal of whispering and chatter around them. It had been like this ever since they got off the Hogwarts Express. Harry had stopped reading the Daily Prophet after last year; whether they now believed him or not, he'd not felt like giving them so much as a Muggle coin. Yet it seemed they had been busy with stories on the Death Eaters over the summer; rumoured sightings, Auror deaths, strange disappearances...anything that could be remotely connected to Voldemort had ended up all over the papers. The Sorting Hat had given another warning song this year. The way some students were talking, you'd think they were Moody after taking Polyjuice Potion. Seamus and Dean had immediately asked him about the scene outside The Leaky Cauldron; the Prophet had apparently picked up on that as well. As Lupin had told Danny, all those who had made him and Dumbledore look like lying crackpots last year were still more than a bit bitter over being made fools when proven wrong, and it showed. One article had still claimed that Voldemort was not back, and that these attacks were really orchestrated by Dumbledore in his plans to take over the Ministry, It did come as a bit of a consolation to see everyone's indignation on their behalf, instead of believing every word they said. That was another topic floating around the tables now.

"New course schedules," Hermione slid Harry's and Ron's over to them.

"History...I could really do without it this year," Ron sighed, "Managed to get into Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures...bloody hell, still with the Slytherins! Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts later in the week...I can't wait to see what Lupin has this year..."

"Where's Transfiguration on your list?" Hermione looked over at Ron's schedule, "And neither of you have Potions! What did you get on your O.W.L.s," knowing they couldn't put it off any longer, Harry and Ron pulled their grades from their robes; they'd brought them down in case this came up.

"Just an A in Transfiguration!" Hermione cried out when she saw Ron's grade, "A T in Divination! Altogether just eight O.W.L.s? Ron, the only thing better than an A on here is..."

"Thank you, Hermione," he grabbed his parchment back quickly, his ears turning pink.

"And Harry...eleven O.W.L.s, that's not bad, but you wanted to be an Auror, didn't you? You can't expect to get in now, Snape will never..."

"He won't take anything higher than an O, I know," he muttered. Required for an Auror or not, Harry was still not ready to be anywhere Professor Snape after last year, "I can always find something else to do."

"Yes, but...oh, never mind," she looked over his grades again, "Where's your History of Magic grade?"

"Must've gotten torn off the parchment. It was a P."

"A P! After all those notes I let you use?"

"Y'mean I'm stuck with Hermione alone in that class?" Ron shouted. Hermione still looked shocked.

"Harry...oh, never mind...an O in Defence Against the Dark Arts – well, you were bound to pass that one, but still..."

"Let me guess," Ron smirked, "You got an O in everything."

"Well...yes," they could tell she was trying not to sound too pleased with herself, but that didn't stop them from grinning even more.

"So...Harry," she said abruptly, "Are you going to apply for Quidditch captain?" it was a bit of surprise that Hermione had changed the subject to something like Quidditch, but still a relief.

"Maybe. I was going to talk to Katie about it."

"Well, you've got more free lessons this year," she said it with a bit of disapproval in her voice, "You could catch up with her then."

"We'll have to spend some of that time watching out for the Muggles," Ron said in a whisper. They'd been told that the out-of-bounds rooms this year were where Danny and his friends were staying, and were supposed to check in on them during the weekends...though based on what Sam had told Hermione about Tucker, they would probably be wise to look in more often.

"How do you think they're doing?"

----

"I can't believe it!" Tucker shouted, "It's horrible! An outrage! A CATASTROPHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Tuck, knock it off," Danny sighed.

"Knock it off? Knock it off!? You do not tell a man to knock it off when none of his electrical necessities work!" Danny sighed again. It was true; ever since they'd arrived, none of Tucker's gadgets had been able to work. Danny would have been more sympathetic, except that Tucker had been moaning about it non-stop all morning. They'd all gone over to Danny's room for breakfast, and thanks to Tucker it was impossible to enjoy. Breakfast had been brought to them by one of the house-elves that Hermione (and now Sam) seemed to feel were oppressed slaves ("Dobby is liking his work here, miss!" the excited elf had said to Sam when asked about it, "Dumbledore is paying Dobby, he is, and Dobby is getting one day off a month!"). After putting up with Tucker for as long as possible, Sam had left under the Invisibility Cloak to go to the library, using a map Harry had lent them, on the insistence that they never let it out of their sights if they were using it to move around.

"Why didn't we go with Sam again?" Danny asked Tucker, his voice monotone.

"You're supposed to be helping me fix this stuff!"

"We've tried everything already."

"This place is crazy! When we got here it looked like an old ruin with a sign that said not to enter!"

"It's probably a spell to keep Muggles away. It looked fine when I went ghost," Tucker's bad mood persisted, "Why don't you grab one of these books Hermione lent us and..."

"Hold up," Tucker marched over, looking deadly serious, "You know what you're asking me to do Danny? You're asking me to read. R-E-A-D. Read. Reading, Danny! We're not in school...well, we are, but we're not students, and outside class, I don't read!"

"Come on. You've been moping long enough. Some of this stuff's pretty cool," he turned back to The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, which he had turned to as a way to drown out Tucker's complaints, "Did you know Dumbledore defeated some Dark Wizard named Grindelwald in 1945?"

"Fine! You won't help me, I'll figure it out myself!" he turned back to his electronics. Knowing he was likely to start back up again, Danny set the book down and went ghost.

"I'm gonna try and catch up with Sam," Tucker didn't even answer. He phased through the door and headed down the corridor. Even though it was lighter than last night, the long halls and passageways were still dark, the paintings moved around so much you couldn't rely on them to keep track of where you were going, and the staircases moved. Rather than risk falling over when a staircase decided to move from by one door to another, Danny floated around, phasing through walls and looking for the library, though how he'd find it without the map or find Sam was beyond him. He'd been told where they were last night in the Great Hall, but he couldn't see under the Invisibility Cloak, even in ghost-mode. Going up one hallway, he ran into Peeves the Poltergeist.

"Ah, the new ghostie runs into Peeves!" he cackled, flying in circles around Danny, "Poor, poor Danny boy...dead so young..."

"Yep," Danny sighed to himself, "This guy is definitely worse than The Box Ghost," Peeves had begun singing.

"Dim, dim Danny...oh dim, dim Danny...

Dead so young, his brain must be dung

Oh dim, dim Danny..."

"I so don't have time for this," and with that, a huge circle of green ectoplasmic energy shot up around Danny, about two or three yards in diameter. It sent Peeves flying down the corridor, cursing. Smiling lightly to himself, Danny phased through a wall and kept going. Unfortunately, finding the library continued to be a lot more difficult than getting rid of Peeves. The castle seemed to go on forever in all directions, and fifteen minutes later Danny found himself in the same corridor as when he had met Peeves.

"This is ridiculous," he mumbled.

"Hello there!" a cheery voice called from behind. The Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, was there, "Having trouble finding your way?"

"Oh, yeah. Do you know where the library is?"

"Of course! Follow me...Daniel, was it?"

"Yeah. Call me Danny, though."

"Very well, Danny. Let's head to the library," Nick flew down the corridor, Danny right behind him. At least there was one ghost in this school he knew he could ask for help.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Nick said as they floated down a few flights of stairs, "Why is it you have such a different appearance from us other ghosts?"

"Oh. Uh..." Danny tried to think of a good excuse, "A spell my friend cast went haywire and...hit me."

"I see," Nick nodded, apparently buying the story, "And that is a most interesting outfit you're wearing."

"Thanks," he did have a point; against the wizards robes of the students and teachers and the old-fashioned clothes of most of the ghosts, a black-and-silver lab suit did kind of stand out.

"Here we are," Nick said, "The library. If you get lost again, feel free to seek out my help. And don't worry; I'm sure you'll find your way around very quickly.

"Thanks," Danny said, and Nick floated off. Danny looked around; compared to the rest of the castle, the library actually looked somewhat like the one back in Amity Park.

"Wow," he said, heading down through the bookshelves, "Hard to believe this place is..." he felt himself run into something, but couldn't see a thing.

"Sam?"

"Danny?"

"Who's there?" they heard the librarian's voice. Danny reached around a bit, grabbed Sam's arm, and phased them upstairs.

"Did you get your books?" he asked Sam, who had moved the cloak back so that Danny could just see her.

"Yep. And I still have the map."

"Can I see it?" she handed it to him. The library wasn't as far from their rooms as he'd thought; the pacing footsteps with a ribbon that read, "Tucker Foley," weren't too far away on the scale from where they were. Danny had gone around in circles a few times before meeting Nick.

"Still can't get his stuff to work, can he?" Sam asked, looking at Tucker's footsteps on the map.

"Nope," he looked over the map a bit more. "Hagrid's Hut" was marked a bit away from the castle, and Hagrid's name appeared along with a collection of others. Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's names were among them.

"Wonder what kind of creatures Hagrid has?"

"Danny, we shouldn't interrupt lessons and we're not supposed to go out of the castle unless..."

"Come on," smirking, he grabbed her hand and phased them out through the wall.

----

"Gather 'round, now!" Hagrid called, "Great teh see yeh all again! Have a great year planned!" it was their first class of the new term, Care of Magical Creatures. The class was gathering around Hagrid's hut. There were no crates or boxes lying around, so whatever Hagrid had for them, it wasn't going to be small or an egg.

"Got a great year planned!" Hagrid beamed, rubbing his hands together, "Been talkin' ter a friend in Romania; we may be goin' on a trip!" Harry, Ron and Hermione all exchanged nervous looks; in addition to his duties for the Order, Ron's brother Charlie was still studying dragons in Romania. After his experience with a Hungarian Horntail during the Triwizard Tournament, Harry was not eager for another encounter with the dragon.

"Tha'll be late in the year, though," Hagrid said, "Righ' now, we're goin' ter start trainin' creatures and workin' with 'em instead of jus' meetin' a new one ev'ry class. Let's start with some riding lessons," he led them along the edge of the forest, and stopped at the paddock. Three unicorns were inside, drawing admiring looks from the girls.

"Figured we'd start with these. Now yeh've learned unicorns with Professor Grubby-Plank," he said, "She told yeh that they prefer a woman's touch, unicorns. That's true, but we've got teh the boys started with 'em if we're gonna get ter riding anything. Besides, it's only fair. Ridin' unicorns is just like bein' on a horse, 'cept the horn. Don't grab it, 'cause they won't like that. Now, any girl want to come and try ridin' one? Just ter give a demonstration?" a few girls raised their hands, including Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. No one was surprised to see Hermione's hand shoot up in the air.

"Hermione! Come on up," the rest of the girls put their hand down, looking a bit disappointed. Hermione approached the paddock door.

"Yeh've ridden any Magical Creatures, Hermione?" Hagrid asked. Hermione opened her mouth, but didn't speak. She had ridden Buckbeak the hippogriff with Harry in their third year and thestrals the past year, but none of the students were supposed to know that. They had suspected that Sirius told Hagrid about it once they joined the Order, but they had no way of knowing for sure.

"...No," she said. Out of the corner of his eye, Hagrid gave Hermione the smallest of winks.

"Well, here's yer firs' chance," he unlocked the paddock gate. The white unicorn pawed the ground nervously, but did nothing drastic. Hermione moved towards it slowly, the class watching intently. Harry could see Malfoy muttering to his gang of Slytherins, probably hoping she'd get gorged on the unicorn's horn. Harry looked back up towards the unicorn. Hermione had made it all the way over, and was now stroking the unicorn's neck.

"Hop on its back," Hagrid called, and Hermione did so, a bit more nervously than when she had been walking, "Give it a kick in the sides, and hold on ter its back," following instructions, she lightly kicked her heels into the unicorn's sides, and it took off trotting at a mild tempo. Hermione had her hands around its neck and still looked a bit nervous, but she was doing a good job. Malfoy looked disappointed.

"Well done, Hermione!" Hagrid clapped, and the Gryffindors and a few Slytherins followed his lead. Then he let out a whistle. Four more unicorns came out from the forest, looking at the class nervously and not approaching the one Hermione was riding.

"Oooooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, "Hagrid, how did you manage to get five?"

"Yeh need ter know where teh look," he winked, "Let's see how the boys get on with 'em. Any volunteers?" figuring that a ride on a unicorn couldn't be any worse than a ride on a hippogriff or a thestral, Harry stepped forward. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan followed; and after some hesitation, Ron came forward, pushing Neville Longbottom in front of him.

"Well done!" Hagrid beamed at them, "Now, yer likely ter find this a bit different than broomsticks...or hippogriffs," he looked over at Harry, "'Cause yeh'll be on the ground and there's no wings. Now these five, they're used ter me. If yeh have any trouble, I'll be able ter keep 'em calm. Go towards 'em slowly, and I mean slowly. Took me forever teh get 'em ter be comfortable aroun' me."

"Oh, what a surprise!" Malfoy said loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Really a shocker, that is!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry turned to face him, but Hagrid held out a hand to keep him from walking anywhere.

"Well then, Malfoy," Hagrid said in a strange, relaxed voice, "If yeh think yeh can get on better with a unicorn, go right ahead," he motioned towards the open paddock doors as Hermione hopped down from her unicorn and walked back to the main group. Malfoy's attitude faded away at once, and he looked a bit fearful.

"...Fine then," he put on a wide smirk, attempting to remain calm in front of the Slytherins. He hopped over the paddock fence rather than go through the open door and headed towards the unicorns. All five of them began backing away, pawing at the ground and snorting at Malfoy.

"I'll manage this," Harry could hear Malfoy say, "If they'll go for a Mudblood girl, then they're not about to..." the unicorn nearest Malfoy suddenly reared up, kicking its front legs around in the air. It brought its legs down hard and charged at Malfoy, its head lowered so the horn was aimed right at him. All dignity and pride aside, Malfoy took off as fast as he could as Hagrid ran into the paddock. Malfoy's robes were flowing a bit too loosely around him; he caught his foot in them, falling face-first into a muddy patch of ground close to the forest. Hagrid just managed to get between him and the unicorn in time.

"Woah!" he waved his arms around, and the unicorn slowed down, though it reared again, "Woah, boy!" it took a few more moments and some gentle whispering in its ear to fully calm the unicorn, but it eventually settled, trotting back over to its fellows.

"Apparently, it don't make much difference whether it's a hippogriff or a unicorn in yer case," Hagrid said, looking over the mud-drenched Malfoy, "They all want teh charge yeh down," the Gryffindors laughed a bit as Hagrid seized the hood of Malfoy's robes and lifted him to his feet, sending him back over to Crabbe and Goyle. All three through murderous glances at Hagrid from the corner of their eyes.

"Now," he suddenly smiled, "If our five will please come on over," though a bit shaken up at seeing the unicorn's reaction to Malfoy, Harry walked into the paddock slowly. The other four seemed more shaken. Ron wore his usual terrified expression whenever something he found even remotely unpleasant came up, Neville had backed up a few steps, and Seamus and Dean both gulped.

"Don' be shy," Hagrid nodded towards the unicorns, "Just mind yer manners," with a sigh, Dean and Seamus followed Harry into the paddock. Neville needed some shoving, but all five got in and looked closely at the unicorns. They had again retreated back towards the forest, the one who had run down Malfoy still looking ready to pick up speed again.

"Take it slowly, you five," Hagrid emphasised the third word in a cautious tone, "Go even slower than Hermione did," none of the boys argued. Harry doubted they could go any slower; Neville was taking one step every ten seconds. A full three minutes passed before they were a little over halfway to them, and at this point, the unicorns began stirring restlessly.

"Let's hold it there," Hagrid called from behind them, "Take it one at a time. Neville, you first," Neville turned to Hagrid, a look of pleading horror on his face, but eventually he turned back and started forward, even slower than before. One of the unicorns moved towards him as cautiously as he was moving towards them. The entire class watched in anticipation, Malfoy muttering under his breath. Finally, the unicorn let Neville pat its head and proceeded to lick his face.

"Well done, Neville!" Hagrid called, "Next!" the remaining four boys went one at a time. Ron's unicorn didn't mind having him around, but it did seem to mind if he tried touching; every time Ron stuck his hand out the unicorn walked just out of reach. While they didn't charge them down, Dean's and Seamus's unicorns definitely did not want them around. Harry had the one that had charged down Malfoy. It just stood in place, staring at him with no sign of wanting to do anything. Harry did not know whether he should keep going or not, but as Hagrid had asked why he wasn't moving, he kept going forward. The unicorn stuck out its head and let Harry pat it.

"Now, let's see if they'll mind yeh riding on 'em," Hagrid walked over, "Ron, I'd think yeh'd better give up. She don't seem teh mind yeh, but yer not havin' much luck tryin' to let yeh pat her," as Ron had been trying to touch the unicorn for the last few minutes with no success, that might have been an understatement. Shrugging and throwing his arms up in resignation, Ron ran back over to the crowd by the paddock. Hagrid picked up Neville and set him down on the unicorn's back. It took off, throwing Neville forward and his arms wrapping around its neck. It ran a full three circles around the paddock, during which time Harry's unicorn had bent down to let him climb on its back. Neville's reared up, pawed the air, and came down, trotting around in a circle once more. Hagrid, Harry, and the entire class save Malfoy and his cronies broke into tremendous applause as Neville came down from the unicorn, shaking but smiling. Harry's unicorn walked around a bit, jumped over a fallen tree, and head directly over to Hagrid, who helped Harry down.

"Well done, the pair of yeh!" he grabbed both Harry and Neville into one-armed hugs, the class still clapping, "Well done!" he let them go and turned to the class, "Anyone else want a go at 'em? Anyone at all?" as the class flew towards Hagrid, their hands up, Harry looked up. Danny was floating above him, a grin on his face. Harry waved up at him.

"Harry, what are you..." Hermione looked up to see where he was waving and let her jaw drop, "...What is he doing!? We're in the middle of a class, someone could see him, and..."

"Ghosts are allowed to leave the building, aren't they? They can float around the grounds, can't they?"

"Yes, but...oh, well...I guess for him it's not a problem," she waved up as well. Danny waved, waited until they had gone back over to the group, and looked over his shoulder. Not wanting it to look like he was supporting someone under an Invisibility Cloak, Sam was clinging to his back.

"OK, we saw the lesson, it was cool," she said quietly, "Can we go back in now?"

"Yeah, we'd better check on Tuck. He's probably tried getting someone to come in and fix his stuff," the potential catastrophes of such an occurrence hit him like lightning, "Let's get back in there," he sped towards the castle, Sam barely holding on.

----

Tucker had not tried to get someone to fix his gadgets; he'd spent too much time brooding and pressing buttons, desperate to get them up and running. Nothing had proven successful, and Danny and Sam had gone into her room to look over the map and the books Hermione had lent Sam rather than put up with him. About half-an-hour after they had looked in on Hagrid's class, a knock came at the door. It was Harry and Ron, both grinning.

"Nice of you to drop by," Ron said.

"I thought you guys were only coming by on weekends," Sam raised her eyebrows.

"Well, we have a few more free lessons this year, and sitting around studying on the first day doesn't sound too exciting," Ron threw himself down on the bed, looking over all the books, "Think Hermione's lent you enough of these?"

"Do you still have the map?" Harry asked. Danny handed it to him.

"That thing's great," he said, "Where'd you get it?"

"My dad and Lupin wrote it with some friends when they were at school."

"There you guys are!" Tucker had heard them come up, "Why the heck won't any of my electronics work in this place!?"

"You mean you didn't tell him?" Harry turned to Sam, who slapped her forehead.

"Oh, yeah, that's right!"

"What!?" Tucker shouted.

"It's in this," Sam tossed him Hogwarts, A History, "Electricity can't work here. There's too much magic."

"WHAT!? You mean I have nothing to listen to my music on!?"

"There's got to be a wizard's wireless around here somewhere," Ron said.

"A what?"

"Er – it's kind of like a radio, but magic instead of electrical," Harry explained. He didn't have one, but he didn't need one to figure that out.

"Really?" Ron nodded, "SWEET! What kind of music do you guys get?"

"Where do I start?" Ron stood up, put an arm around Tucker's shoulder, and led him off to Danny's room, "There's the Weird Sisters – they were here for the Yule Ball, I'll tell you about that later – you can get great Quidditch broadcasts..."

"Another Tucker?" Sam said, an annoyed look on her face, "This is gonna be a long year."