Author's note: Phew...guys, I'm really sorry about not updating in ages ago. I really am! But my life was a bit...stress lately. Stress and sad but I don't want to bother you with my problems. Especially because I don't even know if there is someone who really follows this story and my non-stop rambling at the start of every chapter...

Anyway, today we have the real start of the Gnome-Project. The first day of lessons with those little monsters ^^ Not much to say about it...

Hope you'll like it. Maybe a short review would be nice...but I won't force anyone ;)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. All characters and the world belong to J.K. Rowling

Chapter 4

-Babies and Lessons-

The next lesson was the only one I did neither share with Malfoy nor with Zabini or Dominique. One lesson of History of Magic. Please, don't say something like 'How can she choose such a boring subject?' because it is not. At least not when you can ignore Professor Binns' voice and just see the facts behind it. History really was interesting. Much more than Ancient Runes in my opinion. This is by the way the subject more than half of my year had chosen…including the three I had already mentioned.

Fortunately I didn't have to copy or note down anything today as Professor Binns only told once again what we had already spoken about at the end of last term. And as History of Magic this year was only a subject of one hour, the time passed by quite fast.

Afterwards we had one free lesson in which I dragged Dominique into the library so that we could have at least a few minutes without anyone around us. However, this time was not really quiet as Dominique still had not been able to give her baby gnome to Zabini. And no, the gnome also still didn't have a proper name.

~(°|°)~

"It began to scream in the middle of the previous lesson. This was so embarrassing, I can tell you!" she told me.

"So it woke up? And…how did you get it quiet again?" I asked.

"Well…I fed it."

"With what? Hagrid didn't give us anything!"

"Professor Babbling gave every one of us a backpack with stuff in it. Malfoy got one for your gnome, too. I think Hagrid just forgot to give us those."

"I see…ehm…Dom, could I use your ink? I received a letter from Dad this morning but couldn't answer yet as we…well…emptied my ink last night. Sorry for the fast change of topic, by the way."

"Oh, no problem. I'm not soooo keen on this topic either. Here you go, write your letter."

She handed me her tiny ink bottle and laid her head on her arms on the table.

"Do you know by now how you'll call her?" I asked while taking out Dad's letter and a piece of parchment.

"I thought about Quisti." she mumbled.

"How did this name come to your mind?"

"Don't know; it just plopped into my head when I was feeding her."

"Okay…then you should call her Quisti…Zabini does hardly have a right to choose, right?" I asked, laughing.

"No, he's a bad Daddy so he's not entitled to choose a name. Mh…I still don't understand why you let Malfoy decide."

"You know…I think this project is rather senseless so I won't care too much about it. And of course I wanted to have a bit of peace and quiet during History of Magic."

"I see…okay…wake me up when it's lunch time, will you?"

"Sure. Good night."

And suddenly you could see that my cousin had fallen asleep as her breathing was much more even and she just had this…sleeping expression on her face. Quisti was lying in the backpack they had received and slept as well.

Smiling slightly, I now finally directed my attention to my parchment.

Dear Dad,

It's okay, I'm not mad at you for being away when I had to leave…at least I'm no longer now that I've received your letter. I'm glad that neither Uncle Harry nor you are hurt. However, I'm also sorry that you once again didn't catch him. More luck for the next time! ;)

You really want to have a truthful answer on how it is so far? Terrible. The ministry got us into two unnerving projects. The main project stretches through the whole year and says that we'll have to spend our time with a student from another house. In my case it's Ferret (Scorpius Malfoy, if Ferret doesn't ring a bell). You surely know how absolutely amazed I was *cough*.
The other one is a project which Mom knows quite well. In Care of Magical Creatures, we should take care of Forest Gnome babies until December. Of course together with our partner for the year.

I also already had one argument or another. You know me; I can't keep my mouth shut when it comes to certain people. But it's okay.

Ah yeah, today evening I have my first Prefect patrol of the year. My second will be on Sunday. Yes, I have two shifts this year…also together with Malfoy. You see, this year kind of…well…sucks a bit but nevertheless I'll get through it.

Greet the whole lot of uncles and aunts, take care of you and Mom and write again soon.

Love,

Rose.

PS: I need a new bottle of ink…Dom and I spilled the old one all over the floor.

It hadn't taken long to write this letter so I still had a few minutes in which I could relax as well. I just leaned back, my arms crossed behind my head and took in the silent air which was – as always – filled with the scent of thousands of books. I loved the library…

A few minutes later, however, it was time to leave for lunch. So I woke Dominique and we left for the Great Hall. On our way, Quisti awoke as well and screamed in such a loud voice, I had to dig my fingers into my ears to prevent me from getting deaf.

"Uhm…I don't think it's hungry again…what shall I do?" Dom asked loud enough for me to understand.

I just shook my head, indicating that I didn't have a clue.

"It's also not stinking…" she mumbled.

"Maybe it doesn't feel well because it still couldn't…well…pee and so on." said another voice through the scream. A dreamy voice.

"You think so, Lorcan? But how should I make it?" my cousin wondered.

"Maybe you should visit Madam Pomfrey…or consult a teacher in general. They'll surely be able to help." he suggested, rocking his own gnome baby in his arms.

"Mh…Rose, could you prepare a sandwich for me and take it to DADA? I think I'll really go to see Madam Pomfrey."

I rolled my eyes slightly, sighed and said, "Okay…but you really take this too seriously. If I were you I would give Quisti to Zabini and make him deal with the situation."

"He'll get situations even worse than this one, believe me. I'll make him take her for the night." she said, winking at me. Then she turned on her heels and went to the Hospital Wing. With every step she took, Quisti's scream became more and more silent.

"Say Lorcan…how comes you know stuff like that? You don't have younger siblings and so on." I asked when we both entered the Great Hall.

"Well…Mom often told us about the 'problems' she and Dad had with us when we were babies. We also used to scream when…well…we had eaten and couldn't bring it out again."

"Uh-huh…nicely said, I didn't lose my appetite. Thanks for not saying it differently." I laughed, "See you in DADA then?"

"Of course."

~(°|°)~

During lunch, I was finally also able to find my little brother…chatting and plotting with Lily. I joined them (also to avoid any plans to be finished) and told him about Dad's letter and our Gnome-Project. They then laughed at me like maniacs and yelled this news through the whole hall to their (from our all-year-project) partners. You'll understand that I had to smack my little brother afterwards…and I think that many other 6th years wanted to do the same.

"ANYWAY, back to topic…do you want to write back to Mom and Dad as well or at least sign my letter?" I huffed short time before I wanted to leave again.

"Nah, maybe next time. Say, sis…is it your turn tonight?" he answered.

"Prefect duty? Yes and I suggest you not do to anything stupid, you know that I won't spare you just because you're fellow Gryffindors!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't have to mention it."

"Whatever…come on, Hugo, we should get going or we'll be late for Herbology." said Lily all of a sudden and dragged him to his feet. They grabbed their partners and practically ran away.

I had a bad gut feeling. Maybe I should write a second letter to my dear cousins James and Fred to ask them to talk some sense into Lily and Hugo…but I doubt that they would do it…on the contrary, they'd be proud of those little devils!

Now that I was alone again, I risked a very first look through the hall. To my classmates. Some of them were already desperate, unnerved or – just in one case which you should know by now – still absolutely amazed. Should you want to ask, no, my 'baby' was nowhere to be seen. I wondered whether Malfoy had already shut it into a broom closet. This option really was possible and – when you think about 'who he is' – just logical.

~(°|°)~

However, I should see very soon that my negative thought was wrong. When I entered the DADA classroom, he and Zabini were already there, chatting. Chatting and feeding our gnome. I couldn't help it, my jaw dropped when I saw this.

"You okay?" asked the familiar, dreamy voice of Lorcan next to me.

"Fine." I just said and shook my head.

"He's done a good job so far." he said, "Malfoy I mean."

"Mh…probably…but maybe he also just poisoned the food for the gnome so that we can't take part in this project any longer." I grumbled, finally taking the seat next to Lorcan.

"You're quite pessimistic lately." he stated.

"Lately? She's never been one for an optimistic point of view."

"Thanks Dom…maybe I should eat the sandwich I made for you…"

I took my bag onto my lap to make space on my left-hand side for her.

"Don't be so mean, I'm starving!" she squeaked when I took hold of said sandwich and moved it to my mouth. With a big grin on my face I, however, eventually gave it to her.

"Does Quisti feel better?" asked Lorcan a moment later.

"Yeah, she's fine again. You were right by the way." she answered after her first gulp.

"Good to hear." he nodded. "Rose, why do you unpack here? Are we allowed to work with whomever we want to again?"

My head snapped back up from inside my bag when he asked this question. My eyes were widened. I had totally forgotten…but now I also understood why Dom still hadn't sat down.

"No, of course not…phew…I was just lost in thoughts and forgot that I have to…well…you know. And we were talking, weren't we? So I couldn't just go to Malfoy." I tried to defend myself.

He just laughed and nodded again. "Sure. The two of you should go now…Professor Parish will arrive in…probably ten seconds."

~(°|°)~

Sighing deeply, I stood up after this information and reluctantly sat down next to Malfoy.

"Carv." he then said without looking at me.

"Pardon?" I grimaced. What did he mean?

"Carv. Its name. You wanted me to give it a name and I did." he mumbled impatiently.

Once again, my mouth stood open. I hadn't imagined him to really…well…obey to what I told him to do. Not at all.

"This isn't a name, you know." I retorted after a few seconds.

"It is. Nathan's great-grand-mother's cousin was called like that." he answered grinning. From next to him you could hear a growl. Obviously Zabini did not approve Malfoy's choice much.

I decided not to say anything else but to listen to Professor Parish.

We should learn advanced jinxes, hexes and curses as well as their counter spells this year…of course non-verbal. The best thing was that we should try them in turns on our partner. You surely can imagine how much my day lightened up when she said that.

Half an hour into this lesson – after theoretical instructions – we then were allowed to stand up and ordered to bring all the babies into her office so that they wouldn't be harmed. As I had said I would take care of…Carv after lessons or after DADA in that matter, this was still Malfoy's job to do. Meanwhile Professor Parish flicked her wand and made the tables disappear so that we had enough space.

Do I have to mention that this time my first non-verbal spell worked after my third try already? Yeah, you could say that the possibility to legally hex Malfoy boosted my skills drastically. It was the same for him of course but who did really care?

~(°|°)~

Unfortunately DADA passed by so fast that I thought we had just started when our Professor called it a day.

"Have fun, Weasley, I think by now the diaper should be filled." Malfoy said, snickering.

I chose not to say anything but just grab my bag, go into Professor Parish's office and pick up the second bag in which Carv was sleeping. I wondered how he could amongst his fellow gnomes, two of which were screaming again.

Until dinner I then retreated into the library again, hoping that Carv wouldn't scream when he awoke. He didn't, if you want to know…but the smell of his poo was disgusting.

Anyway, the next 'interesting' stuff happened during dinner, when Dominique finally gave Quisti to Zabini. During this scene, I sat between Hugo and Lily, who I had shortly before caught preparing a prank, at the Gryffindor table.

"Here, it's your turn, Zabini." Dominique said and let the backpack with all the things you need for those gnome babies fall into his lap. A moment later, she also handed Quisti over.

Zabini looked confused for a second, and then tried to return the baby, saying, "Are you insane Weasley? I won't take care of this scum."

"Oh yes, you will. I WON'T take care of her alone. I don't have a problem to take her during the day but – different to you – I need my rest at night." she spat.

"Ah yeah? Thanks for the compliment, Weasley." he grinned, running a hand through his dark hair.

From where I sat I could see Dominique lifting an eyebrow. "Compliment? Which compliment? …OH! You think I meant that you don't need rest because sleep can't make you more 'handsome'…I see…Well, you got me wrong." She paused, obviously waiting for more attention from around her.

She eventually got it and thus went on, "I meant that you don't need it because not a thousand years' time of sleep could change your troll-like visage into something human-worthy."

Some people around her laughed, giggled or at least grinned. Even Slytherins did. Amongst them was also Malfoy. But everyone knew that Zabini and Malfoy insulted each other as well as they did other people.

"So, you'll take her during the night. Her name's still Quisti and I'll take her to me after breakfast again. Good night." And then she left. Her long hair whipped his face when she turned around, her head proudly lifted.

Zabini's face was an infuriated grimace and you could almost see steam coming out of his ears. I couldn't help it but laughed behind my hand and gave my cousin a high-five when she sat down across from me.

"That one was fantastic!" I whispered, "Just what he deserves! See, your hair left marks on his face."

"Really?" she turned around to see it. When she tilted her head back to me, she bit her lip to try and keep her grin only small. I don't have to mention that she failed, do I?

"Still think you're very poor." piped Lily.

"Well, you're absolutely right." said Dominique, "But maybe destiny is so nice to give you the honour *cough* of this project next year."

"We're not nasty at all, are we, cousin?" asked Hugo; his eyes narrowed.

"Not at all, no." she retorted and finally helped herself to dinner.

~(°|°)~

A few minutes later when we were too full to eat one little crumb of bread, we were eventually visited by my dear snake-cousin. He was carrying the backpack in which his gnome was currently sleeping. Different to most of the people in our year, he still looked kind of relaxed.

"Hullo! Nice show, Dom." he said, sitting down next to Lily.

"Show? Al, this wasn't a show, I just told the truth!" she mumbled, patting her stomach.

"Whatever. What do you think? Are you satisfied with how our first day as parents turned out?" his voice was forbidden cheerful. However, his happy grin faded when Dom and I just lifted our eyebrows at him. "I see you're not…"

"Well…I can't say much as I just got Carv after DADA…but there are sides on him which I really…dislike. Reminds me of 'his dad' if you know what I mean."

He rolled his eyes. Of course he didn't approve my comparison to Malfoy…as he was his bloody best friend.

"Okay…and how about you, Dom?"

"I had to take care of Quisti the whole day…it was okay, I think. Nevertheless I think that this project is rubbish and I don't know how we should do this until December.

"I'm also not sure about what we're supposed to do for such a long time. But up to now it's like taking care of Lily." He grinned and his little sister blushed terribly. "Roma and I took care of little Darius (he gestured to his backpack) in shifts of two hours."

"And how are you planning to do this at night?" asked Hugo.

"Tonight I'll take him; tomorrow it's her turn and so on."

Dominique and I nodded in respect for how well he and Roma got along and how well they had planned everything.

The ambitious part deep inside of me sighed slightly. It wished that I could also deal with this project so well…show a good performance. But with the partner I had to cope with, this was nothing but a hint of a dream. Not that the rest of my body and soul wanted to take too much care of this project. I already mentioned that I found it ridiculous and wouldn't put too much effort in it.

"Do you and Scorpius already have a schedule?"

I jumped a little when my cousin's voice suddenly asked this question. I blinked at him several times before grimacing and shaking my head.

"Let me guess…the two of you haven't even spoken a word about this project."

"We have. I told him to take Carv till after DADA and give him a name. That's more than enough for one day, isn't it?" His mimic told me that it was not so I just scowled and put my head on my left, fisted hand.

"You're mad again?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm not." I grumbled.

"You are."

"Am not."

"Are"

"Al, shut up!"

"Carv's awake, sis." said Hugo. A moment later, said baby started screaming and I hit my head against the table.

~(°|°)~

I really hated my life this year, have I ever told you? And you know what? I say this now, BEFORE my first Prefect Patrol...with Malfoy. You do understand me, right? Unlike my traitor of cousin who has fraternized with the enemy years ago. Of course HE couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to plan anything together with his stupid best friend. And of course he wouldn't understand how awful our 6th year turns out to be for me as he had a perfect partner and no duties except for playing Quidditch.
But I…I had more than enough duties on my account. I was Prefect, a 'Mom', companion to a sometimes unnerving Dominique and also had to look after both Hugo and Lily. And finally I also had to try and get along as good as possible with my archenemy Malfoy.

Stupid screaming baby.

Stupid projects.

Stupid Prefect Duties which were to start soon.

"I think he needs to be fed." said Dominique.

"Mmmmh…" was all I did before slowly lifting my head up again. "Okay Carv…do me a favour and be a better person than your 'daddy' is and be quiet…I'll prepare your dinner…"

Of course I was not lucky. Carv screamed until he finally felt food in his mouth. Looking around I saw the whole lot of Slytherins snickering at me. I swear when I see one of them during my duties I'll give them a year worth of detention…