I found myself paired up with Molly Hooper after the fifth time someone was thrown across the room by someone who knew more magic than the other—Merlin and the Doctor were having a practice duel while Arthur and Quinn kept disarming one another at the same time, which made Arthur grow more and more frustrated while Quinn laughed. This wasn't aided by Gwaine, who would disarm Arthur from behind every time he fetched his wand.
Molly and I had pretty much accepted that she was too frightened of hurting me to actually pull off the spell, and I managed to fling her wand into people's eyes whenever I practiced, so we just sat down and watched.
Donna and Martha were giggling more than casting spells. "I just hit Arthur in the face!"
"Sam and Amelia seem really close," Rory told Colin. "I just don't trust him."
"Rory's so sweet, to be worried about his friend," Molly said.
"Jealous, more like." I replied. "Rory's probably got it all planned out that he's going to marry Amelia Pond one day, and now he has to consider the fact that proposals made on playgrounds don't hold up in real life."
"How do you know?" Molly asked.
I shrugged. "My mum and dad grew up together. It was a really cute story, how they found each other when they were nineteen, but when she found out he was a wizard, they got divorced. I had to move to Dad's place when she realised I was a witch. My aunt tried exorcising me."
"I'm sorry," She offered.
"Nah, don't be. What do you think you're going to do when we leave Hogwarts, Molly Hooper?"
"I want to be a Healer at St. Mungo's. What about you?"
"I want to teach here. I don't ever want to leave this place—I grew up hearing stories about it, and my Dad used to take me on holiday to Hogsmeade."
Molly is a Halfblood too, but her dad knew her mum was a witch and even studied up on it. He got quite good with potion making, which requires very little magic, and her mum did all that. She'd told me this shortly before I collapsed onto the four poster beds with the blue drapes and fell asleep.
"That sounds lovely."
I hummed in agreement, ducking Arthur's wand as it soared across the room again.
X-x-X-x-X
I fell into step beside Sam as we headed towards the Transfiguration classroom. "Song scares me," I muttered.
He nodded. "She seems to know Rory, too. Hey, Rory!"
"What?" Rory asked, spinning around rather quickly.
"Do you know Professor Song at all?"
"No," He said. "Honestly, she kind of scares me."
"Agreed," I said.
"Maybe we're overreacting…" Molly offered. After a moment, she shook her head. "She's scary, isn't she?"
We all fell silent and ducked into a smaller corridor as a small cluster of adults swept past. They all seemed to be pretty posh Ministry wizards, led by Pendragon, who was being quite friendly with a Ministry witch in a pink outfit. Seriously, a lot of pink.
"Huh," Sam said when we were out of earshot. "Looks like Arthur might just get a new stepmother."
"A very pink stepmother," Molly giggled.
"I wouldn't imagine it would be quite so lasting," I replied.
They all turned to stare at me.
"Because she's already wearing a wedding ring…?" I said, feeling awkward. "It's not very clean or anything, but it's clearly still in use. If she wanted to meet a new husband, she wouldn't still be wearing it."
"Oh, blimey, I didn't even notice that." Sam said.
I grinned. "Blimey? We'll make a Brit out of you yet, Winchester." Everyone dissolved into helpless giggles again.
When we recovered, I checked our schedule and glanced around at the small corridor. "Um, guys? I think we're lost."
"Really?" Rory asked, sounding a bit more than suitably concerned.
"Yeah, I think we took a wrong turning, or maybe a staircase moved, because this is near the Headmaster's wing. Where Arthur, Morgana, and Pendragon live during the summer—that way must be the meeting rooms."
"Wonder why they're meeting?" Sam asked, a slow grin spreading across his face.
"You can't be serious," Molly said, clapping her hands to her mouth. "We can't eavesdrop on them!"
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I trust that guy about as far as I can throw him—without magic, that is. I think he's working on the Wand Watch Act." Sam said.
"No!" Molly gasped.
"It makes sense. He's obsessed with preventing another Wizarding War—imagine what he'd do to make sure that every usage of Dark Magic was flagged and investigated by the Ministry? And sure, that sounds great, until they start monitoring other things. They could make laws on what we're allowed to enchant, read letters we write using spells…"
We all fell silent at the picture Sam painted with his words. I'd gone to Muggle primary school and knew a few things about fascism—I read ahead in my textbooks. Uther Pendragon was clever and twisted enough to make it work. He could be worse, far worse, than Voldemort if he went wrong.
"And what do you suppose we do if he is?" I hissed. "Alert the press?"
"My Dad is an Auror. He'd think of some reason to have him watched. The Auror Office is slowly pulling away from the Ministry."
I frowned. The Auror Office and the Ministry were pulling apart, the Gryffindors were fighting among themselves, and one man, one twisted man, had far too much power for any one person.
"Do you get the feeling this is just the beginning of something more?" I asked.
The others stared at me. "Uh, no?" Rory said.
"Yes," Sam answered, his gaze appraising and shadowed. "I do."
I shivered.
X-x-X-x-X
We made it to the Transfiguration room almost twenty minutes late, wide-eyed and suitably abashed. "Sorry, Professor Song! We ended up on the other side of the castle, I don't even know how," I was rambling, but couldn't really stop. "Like, one minute we were on the right track, the next we found ourselves in the west wing. I think a staircase moved."
"We've just been discussing your first class," Song replied, her gaze flitting over us before landing on Rory. "I heard you six met the Doctor."
"Yep," Sam said easily, sitting down.
"The Gryffindors nearly killed one another," I added.
She smiled. "Well, I'm glad you six are getting on. After all, I am your Head of House, and the Headmaster holds me personally responsible for keeping you out of trouble."
"Pendragon wouldn't challenge you," Rory replied.
Song laughed aloud. "He might try." She said, sounding both amused and ominous at once. I was impressed.
"Anyway, we should really get to work. Transfiguration is a delicate subject…"