Author's Notes: Thanks again to all of my reviewers: StarWars-Freak, Blue Leah, hondagirl, sephora85, and lionesseyes13. You guys are awesome and I cannot thank you enough! Sorry this chapter took a little bit longer than I expected. I have been really busy lately. I must say though, reviews definitely make me squeeze in time! :)

xxx

Of Grims and Open Hands

Classes and Carrows

Right after evil people, bad dressers and people who called her dumb, waking up early was at the top of her list of annoyances for Parvati. When the barely audible alarm clock started ringing, she turned slightly in her bed, covering her head with her pillow. For thirty seconds, this muted the sound of clock. Too soon, her alarm clock started ringing louder and louder, which Parvati kept ignoring. Finally, her alarm clock flew from her bedside table and jumped repeatedly on her body. Knowing she had no other choice, Parvati raised slowly from her bed, before smacking the alarm clock with her pillow.

"I hate that thing," Parvati told Lavender, who was also awoken by the alarm clock. Usually, Parvati leaped from her bed the moment her alarm clock began to ring. She needed two hours of primping before she could look acceptable to eat breakfast in the Great Hall. Each year was a new chance to meet some cute boy who could be her new boyfriend. She did not mean transfer students, because they never came to Hogwarts, nor the new first years, because she was not a pedophile, but summer holiday was a long time for the boys she had always known to finally become men. It had happened to Dean last year, after all. Instead of being lanky and tall, his muscles became more formed and Parvati nearly drooled at the sight of him.

Yet now was not the time to dwell on the past. Pushing her comforter away from her body, Parvati placed her feet into her fuzzy pink slippers that were waiting at precisely the right spot. She stood from her bed, stretching so that her pyjama top revealed her smooth, chocolate stomach. Like always, she began her day with several exercises, which she read stimulate mind and health. She touched her toes, turned her upper body left and right, and stretched her arms. Blinking furiously, she at least felt more awake, but not yet ready to face the day ahead of her.

Parvati looked sadly at the spot where Hermione's bed should have laid, with her sleeping body wrapped tightly in the comforter. Parvati and Lavender's morning habits were ruined. First they would get ready, and finally, Hermione would crawl out of bed last minute, too tired from her late night rendezvous from the night before. Now there were only two girls who had to fight for the showers. It just wasn't the same. She wondered if she would wake every day, wondering where the girl who had annoyed her so many times was at. As she prepared for her shower, she tried to remember her other friends' lineage. How many others had not returned to school this year? After all of the hassle yesterday, Parvati assumed she would realize it today at breakfast.

xxx

Parvati and Lavender walked to the Great Hall together. The two liked to arrive early to acquire the best seats at the table and also to watch everyone enter. Much gossip could be gathered by who walked with whom and how. For instance, Parvati realized her sister, Padma, had a crush on Hufflepuff seventh year, Ernie, by the way she ignored her chatting friends to stare at his back while he strutted toward his table. Parvati vowed to Lavender she would make the two date, yet so far, she had not the time or the willpower.

Today as they made their predictions for future couples, Parvati watched the Muggle Studies professor and the Defense Against the Dark Arts (Dark Arts professor, she reminded herself) professor stride toward the professor table, both cackling about something. Parvati nudged Lavender and they both watched the professors sit on either side of Professor Snape (Headmaster Snape, again she reminded herself). Professor McGonagall was glaring at the three of them, yet none of them seemed to notice.

As Parvati ate her breakfast, the Great Hall began to fill with more students, most of whom looked equally as unhappy about classes beginning again. She was just about to start her toast when Professor McGonagall suddenly appeared on Parvati's side. The surprise almost made her choke on her toast.

"Miss Patil, you and I contacted over the summer about your classes. Were you still interested in those same classes, plus Muggle Studies?" Professor McGonagall's mouth pursed, making her look like she swallowed a lemon. It seemed she was not happy about the new mandatory classes.

Not wanting to be on the wrong side of Professor McGonagall's temper, Parvati quickly replied, "Yes, professor." Parvati was sure that she saw the look of pride across the older woman's face for just a moment before it was replaced with her usual stoicism.

"Well," Professor McGonagall began, "Here's your schedule then." She pointed her wand at the blank schedule which suddenly replaced itself with classes that would take up all of Parvati's free time. While Parvati looked at her new classes, Professor McGonagall moved on to Lavender's schedule. She could just hear the other woman's annoyance at Lavender's lack of classes.

Her smile was quickly erased when she saw her first class on Tuesday.

"Oooh, break first. Let's go back to the common room," said Lavender, not taking notice to Parvati's look of horror.

"I have Potions first," Parvati said.

While neither would say it, the Potions class would be their first class they did not have together. The two were mature enough that they could survive not being in the same class, but it would just be odd. Who would Parvati talk to when the class became boring?

"Well, I guess we should go back to the common room then," Lavender said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I have to get my stuff." It was going to be a long day.

xxx

Parvati had arrived early to class, dreading every step she had to take. She knew that everyone in the class was going to laugh at her for being behind in Potions. They probably would not have the class to say anything to her face though. This was such a bad idea.

As she entered the classroom, she noticed Professor Slughorn wasn't there. She sighed. The only reason she was not still back in the common room, complaining to Lavender was so she could talk about her arrangements to the professor.

Unfortunately, she was not completely alone.

Sitting in a seat unpacking her writing supplies was Ginny Weasley. Parvati groaned loudly. She had not imagined She-Weasley would be in her class. Never had the girls liked each other, but the detest grew after Lavender and Ron dated last year. For some reason, the girl thought Lavender was beneath Ron. Well, maybe she was during some of their more intimate moments, Parvati remembered. They were a bit more public than they should have been.

When Ginny heard the groan she looked at Parvati, raising her eyebrows, "This is Potions."

"Thanks," Parvati sarcastically responded, taking a seat in the back, as far away from Ginny as she could get.

"For sixth years," Ginny continued, obviously thinking Parvati was an idiot and did not know that.

Parvati rolled her eyes, "At least I know you're not Confunded." If Parvati could though, she would fix that. It would do the red head good to wander around the castle, not knowing who she was or why she was there. Perhaps she would wander away and never return. Parvati could only hope.

Luckily, Ginny was stopped from further responding by other arriving students. When everyone was settled, Parvati sat next to a Gryffindor boy, Ritchie Coote. As she could remember, he was on the Quidditch team previously. On his other side was a Hufflepuff girl, whom Parvati did not know. She really wanted to give the girl a makeover though. Those were horrible glasses...

Professor Slughorn was the last to arrive. Parvati had only seen him at the house table and never up close, so she took the first few minutes to get a good look at him. He really needed a diet. And a hair stylist.

When he began to speak, Parvati stopped evaluating him and paid attention. He looked at all of the students, winking at Parvati, who hoped no one got the wrong idea. What if (ew!) they thought she was here because she was providing services for him?

"Now then, I've prepared a few potions for you to look at today. These are the sort of thing you ought to be able to make after you've finished your N.E.W.T.s. You should have heard of 'em, even if you haven't made 'em yet. Can anyone tell me what this one is?" Professor Slughorn indicated the cauldron closest to Ginny. Immediately, she raised her hand. Parvati suppressed a groan. It was like being in class with Hermione all over again.

Batting her eyelashes, Ginny replied, "Amortentia! The most powerful love potion in the world."

Parvati could not help herself. She started laughing, quickly turning it into a cough. What a surprise that she who went through boyfriends faster than knickers could easily identify the love potion. Ginny looked over at Parvati, glaring madly. Parvati just looked back innocently, faking a cough once more.

Professor Slughorn looked at them both, then shrugged, "Quite right, Miss Weasley. This potion can be identified by the mother-of-pearl sheen, the steam rising in characteristic spirals and the smell, which changes to fit the person whom is smelling it, to whatever attracts them most." Moving to the cauldron near Parvati, he asked, "And who can identify this one?"

Parvati looked in the cauldron, not having done earlier. It looked like just boiling water, but Parvati knew otherwise. Surprised, she realized she could identify it. She raised her hand, shocked that what she had studied had actually helped. When Professor Slughorn called on her, she replied, "It's Veritaserum. It's a really strong truth potion."

"Right, right, Miss Patil!" Professor Slughorn said proudly, "You can tell by the colorless, odorless appearance. It can be mistaken for water, but you would not want to take this potion, no siree." He smiled brightly, moving to the cauldron in front of her, "And this one?" He looked back and forth between Parvati and Ginny.

Ginny raised her hand before Parvati could remember what the potion was. She knew she saw it in her textbook though. Who could forget that disgusting colour?

"It's Polyjuice Potion. It transfigures the drinker to the exact clone of the person that it was made with, most commonly hair," Ginny replied smugly. Parvati could feel Ginny's eyes on her, but she refused to look over. She probably only knew that because she made some. Parvati did not want to know who she turned into or why she wanted to. It would probably cause nightmares."

Professor Slughorn nodded enthusiastically, "Correct again, Miss Weasley! Now let's get to work. We have a lot to cover today."

A Slytherin boy rudely interjected, "What about this one?" He pointed to the potion on Slughorn's desk. It was gold and drops of it kept leaping around the potion. Parvati could identify it, but she was shocked at its presence.

"Oho, my boy. You are quite right. This is Felix Felicis. Can anyone identify what it does?"

Parvati raised her hand, gazing longingly at the potion, "It makes you lucky." Boy, could she use that for her N.E.W.T.s. Oh, sure, it was completely illegal to take for tests, but she could still dream. She realized she actually had been daydreaming about taking the potion and Professor Slughorn was actually talking.

"And that is the prize for today's lesson. One tiny bottle of Felix Felicis," Professor Slughorn brought a glass bottle with a cork out of his pocket, showing them all, "Enough for twelve hours' worth of luck. Now, be warned. This potion is banned in organized competitions. That means sporting events, examinations and elections. So the winner can only use it on an ordinary day. And watch how that ordinary day becomes extraordinary!"

Professor Slughorn began issuing directions to start working on Draught of Living Death. As soon as he mentioned the page, Parvati quickly opened her book, and gathered her supplies around her, just as the other students were doing. She had to win. It was not because she wanted the prize of the potion, although that was certainly a nice touch, but she just wanted to beat Ginny. There was no way she would let her win.

xxx

Parvati could not remember the last time she wanted to hit her head against a desk. Her potion was not the pale pink like it was supposed to be. It was more of a lilac color. She groaned. All of her hard work and she still could not do the stupid potion. Hers did seem a bit better than a few other people's potions though. One Slytherin had an orange potion. How in Merlin's name had he done that?

"And time is up!" Professor Slughorn called loudly, "Please stop stirring!" He then began to walk around the cauldrons, not saying a word. He would occasionally sniff or stir the potion. Parvati crossed her fingers as he walked by. The potions professor looked into her cauldron and nodded approvingly at her. She sighed with relief. She had won.

Professor Slughorn stood in front of the room again, "Well, well, well. We have had some great potions today. Nothing was perfect, but, of course, I did not expect that. The clear winner, however, is," He paused, obviously wanting to add dramatic effect before finally replying, "Miss Weasley!"

Parvati swore loudly. She quickly gathered her supplies, wanting to leave the room as soon as she could. She was almost out the door when she remembered she had to talk with her professor.

"Ah, Miss Patil," Professor Slughorn said when he noticed she was still there, "You wanted to set up a schedule to make up missed potions?" Parvati nodded and he continued, "Well, how about Monday and Thursday nights, at around eight?"

Trying to see if it conflicted with her schedule, Parvati remembered the new rules, "But professor, curfew is seven."

Professor Slughorn patted her on the shoulder, "Oh, pish posh. This is academics. I'll just give you a note saying it's okay. Severus was a student of mine. And he was a Potions professor. He wouldn't mind at all." Parvati could tell those were his parting words, so she said a quick goodbye and left. Well, on the bright side, she would at least be out later than anyone else.

xxx

Parvati crawled back into the Gryffindor Common Room and looked longingly at the stairs leading to her dorm. Yet she had no time to sleep. She had time to return her Potions supplies to her room and exchange them for Muggle Studies. The only bright side of the day was that Lavender would be in her remaining classes. They had Muggle Studies next, then lunch, then Herbology and the rest of the day was theirs, which was not much because of their curfew.

She found Lavender sitting in their dorm, flipping through the latest issue of Witch Weekly. When Lavender noticed her presence, she quickly asked, "How was it? Is he as bad as Snape? Worse?"

"No, he's a lot better than Snape. He's really encouraging. But you'll never guess who's in my class."

"Who?"

"She-Weasley," Parvati replied, wishing she had never wanted to become a Healer. All she had done was successfully overload herself with way too many classes. Well, at least she and Lavender had taken Herbology last year to please McGonagall. She would not be able to tolerate having her best friend's ex-boyfriend's little sister in two of her classes, "C'mon, let's go to class. You know, this is going to be dreadful. That hag is just going to drone about how all muggles are scum." The two talked the entire way to the classroom, each predicting what the class would be like.

To Parvati's surprise, when she arrived in the classroom. There were a lot more chairs than their usually was. There had to be 30 at least. She was also surprised to see students of every house scattered throughout the room. Spotting her sister, she waved and walked over, Lavender trailing behind her.

Noticing Parvati's reaction to the mingling of students, Padma whispered, "Ernie told me that the classes are so large because she's too lazy to teach so many classes, so she just shoves us all together. Can you imagine? A class all about muggles, which you know is going to be corrupt, filled with Slytherins and people like us." Parvati figured she meant members of Dumbledore's Army, but could not ask because at that moment, Professor Carrow entered the classroom.

Parvati could not believe there could be someone so ugly. She looked the result of way too much pureblood inbreeding. Her parents were probably cousins, as were their parents, and so on and so forth. Being a pureblood was so not worth having to look presentable, if not beautiful.

Professor Carrow stared at her clock, obviously waiting for the class to officially begin. As she waited, more students from her year trailed in. A few minutes before class started, all of the seats were full, with some Hufflepuffs looking around desperately for a seat. Two minutes before class began and Professor Carrow magically locked the door.

"Now!" The woman barked, making half of the class jump in fear, "We're going to start with a little test. Once you're done, get the hell out of my class." She pointed her wand at the papers sitting on her desk, levitating them, before shooting a paper out to each student, "As you may have noticed, we're short a few seats, so I recommend those who want to sit get here earlier." To Parvati's surprise, she laughed cruelly. She just wanted to finish the test and get out before something horrible happened.

When Parvati received her test, she stared in horror at the questions. These were obviously set up to find out the loyalty of students. She could either answer how she honestly felt or lie. There had to be a reason her and her brother were in charge of punishments. Parvati decided for a happy medium. She did not want to find out how they punished students just yet.

Parvati looked at the first question which read What is a mudblood? and wondered what to write. She could say A muggleborn is..., but then that could get her in trouble. Then she remembered that Professor Carrow never asked for essay answers and just wrote A person with no magical parents. There. That wasn't so hard. For most of the questions, she wrote neutral answers, such as with How do mudbloods steal their powers?, Parvati wrote I don't know. There were other questions such as If there was a wizard you hated and a muggle that was a stranger dying and you can only save one, which would you save? Parvati had to put the logical answer I'd save the muggle because the wizard should have means to help himself. Another answer that would probably get her in trouble was If a muggle tried stampeding you, what would you do? Parvati answered Why would a muggle do that, unless she wanted my good looking clothes or makeup tips?

Needless to say, when Parvati finally finished, she was glad the test was over. She looked at Lavender, who seemed to be waiting for her to finish. The two took their papers up together and placed them on the forming pile on Professor Carrow's desk. She glared at the both of them, as if they were going to steal from her desk. Parvati and Lavender quickly left the classroom.

"Well," Lavender said cheerly, "Now we only have Herbology left. That class is never weird. Just gross." And the two walked to the Great Hall for lunch.

xxx

Author's Notes: Et fin! Oh man, that took forever to write. Hopefully the length is worth it. And hopefully because it's so long, I'll get more reviews. :) Huge thanks to Jade who kept pushing me to write this and helping me when it wasn't working the way I wanted it to. Sorry I didn't include the Herbology class, but this was really getting long, I'm really tired and nothing exciting was going to happen anyway. Some of you may notice that Slughorn's class is almost exactly the same as in HBP. Well, the reason is not because I'm uncreative, but I just think he would do the same thing over and over again. He just seems like that sort of professor. Next chapter: Defense Against the Dark Arts class! See how Alecto compares to her brother, Amycus. :)