The following day dawned just as leaden and rainy as the previous one.

"Double Charms and double Transfiguration today" Chris said, yawning widely as he poured himself a coffee. He discovered his love for coffee after trying a cup a week after arriving in London.

Double Charms was succeeded by double Transfiguration. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both spent the first fifteen minutes of their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of OWLs.

"What you must remember," said little Professor Flitwick squeakily, perched as ever on a pile of books so that he could see over the top of his desk, "is that these examinations may influence your futures for many years to come! If you have not already given serious thought to your careers, now is the time to do so. And in the meantime, I'm afraid, we shall be working harder than ever to ensure that you all do yourselves justice!"

They then spent over an hour revising Summoning Charms, which according to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their OWL, and he rounded off the lesson by setting them their largest ever amount of Charms homework.

It was the same, if not worse, in Transfiguration.

"You cannot pass an OWL," said Professor McGonagall grimly, "without serious application, practice and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an OWL in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work." Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise. "Yes, you too, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence. So… today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until NEWT level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your OWL."

She was quite right; Chris found the Vanishing Spells horribly difficult. By the end of a double period, neither he nor Draco had managed to vanish the snails on which they were practising, though Draco said hopefully he thought his snails shell had paled. Hermione, on the other side of the room, had successfully vanished her snail on the third attempt, earning her a ten-point bonus for Gryffindor from Professor McGonagall. She was the only person not given homework; everybody else was told to practise the spell overnight, ready for a fresh attempt on their snails the following afternoon.

During lunch, Chris dropped by the library to pick up a book to read up about Moonstones. Chris spotted Ron and Harry in the library franticly looking for information for the Potions homework. Chris gave Harry a short wave, who returned it with a small smile. Ron scowled at Chris suspiciously, and the blue eyed boy rolled his eyes.

After dropping the book off at his dorm room for further reading, the bell rang for the end of lunch and the start of the next session, and Chris left the castle to go down to Hagrids hut for his first CoMC class.

Chris was walking behind a crowd of Slytherins, who seemed to orbit a certain blonde boy. Draco was telling a joke, to which a lot of the Slytherins sniggered while glancing at someone in front of them. The day had become cool and breezy, and as he walked down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he felt the occasional drop of rain on his face. Professor Grubbly-Plank stood waiting for the class some ten yards from Hagrid's front door, a long trestle table in front of her laden with twigs.

"Everyone here?" barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, once all the Slytherins and Gryffindors had arrived. "Let's crack on then. Who can tell me what these things are called?"

She indicated the heap of twigs in front of her. Hermione's hand shot into the air. Behind her back, Draco did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in eagerness to answer a question. Pansy Parkinson gave a shriek of laughter that turned almost at once into a scream, as the twigs on the table leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixie-ish creatures made of wood, each with knobbly brown arms and legs, two twiglike fingers at the end of each hand and a funny flat, barklike face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered.

"Oooooh!" said Parvati and Lavender, thoroughly irritating Chris. He usually tried not to judge people, but that squeal gave him a headache.

"Kindly keep your voices down, girls!" said Professor Grubbly-Plank sharply, scattering a handful of what looked like brown rice among the stick-creatures, who immediately fell upon the food. "So - anyone know the names of these creatures? Mr Johnson?"

"Bowtruckles," said Chris. "They're tree-guardians, usually live in wand-trees, and they come in different colours depending on what tree they are born from"

"Five points to Slytherin," said Professor Grubbly-Plank. "Yes, these are Bowtruckles, and as Mr. Johnson rightly says, they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"

"Woodlice," said Hermione promptly, glancing at Chris with a warning look on her face. Wow, she is really competitive at this. "But fairy eggs if they can get them."

"Good girl, take five points for your house... So, whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree in which a Bowtruckle lodges, it is wise to have a gift of woodlice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will try to gouge at human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs. So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few woodlice and a Bowtruckle - I have enough here for one between three - you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all body-parts labelled by the end of the lesson."

Chris surged forwards with the class, and collected a handful of the woodlice and a Bowtruckle. He carried the little creature over to a small area off to the side, and held the handful of woodlice out to the Bowtruckle. It trilled happily in a voice that sounded like wind going through leaves, and shoved its face into the woodlice. Chris laughed, and settled the Bowtruckle on the ground before pulling a notepad out of his bag and sketching the magical tree guardian.

Chris kept a small routine going of handing the Bowtruckle a woodlice, which then made it stay still so it could eat, giving Chris a chance to sketch it. After a bit, the Bowtruckle seemed to realize what Chris was doing, and to his amusement started to pose for him. There was an outcry, which caused both student and magical creature to jump in fright. Chris quickly gave the Bowtruckle some woodlice to calm it down before it zipped off, and looked over to where the noise came from.

Harry was clutching a cut on his hand, and glaring at a laughing Draco and his cronies. Chris sighed, and wondered if it was worth the effort making Draco into a decent person. When the bell echoed distantly over the grounds, Chris folded his finished Bowtruckle picture and handed it to Grubbly-Plank before marching off to Arithmancy.

On the way to dinner, Chris was listening closely as Draco explained a complex arithmetic algorithm they had to solve and rearrange to achieve a certain effect. Arithmancy was one of the first steps towards spell creation, something that Chris was VERY interested in. On the way to the hall, Chris spotted some guy in a black coat and wide hat trying, and failing, to sneak stealthily down the hallway that the Hufflepuffs usually go down.

'Probably one of the Weasley Twins friends having a laugh' Chris thought, mentally shrugging and going back to the conversation with Draco about magical maths.

Dinner came and everyone was enjoying their meals. Everything was happening as per normal, but halfway through the meal, something happened to Umbridge. She had stopped eating, staring at her plate in horror, and standing up abruptly and screaming in horror and fear. The entire hall jumped collectively, and stared up at her in shock and varying states of fear as the woman's eyes darted around the hall and she stumbled back, as if trying to escape invisible attackers.

The staff got up to assist her, but their movements only worked to make Umbridge panic even more, as if she didn't recognise her colleagues. It got so bad, that Snape pulled out his wand and stunned her, ending the noise. Dumbledore said something quietly to McGonagall, who nodded and hurried out of the hall, probably fetching Madam Pomfrey.

"What the hell was that?" asked Chris, looking at Draco. The blonde boy shrugged, his eyes wide in shock.

"You think someone poisoned her?" the blonde asked.

"I dunno, how would someone manage that? Aren't the meals cooked and prepared by the House Elves?" asked Chris, watching as Pomfrey entered the Hall and levitated a limp and snoring Dolores Umbridge, who's annoying black bow was now hanging limply from her hair. Chris snickered as Pomfrey "accidentally" bumped the toad woman's head against the door frame.

"It's a mystery... Ah well, if it's that old cow, it doesn't bother me" Draco said, smirking slightly and going on with his meal. Chris decided to follow the blonde's example.

Over the next few days, very little happened in regards to Chris. He'd heard over the Hogwarts grapevine that Umbridge was still recovering from her 'freak-out'. According to some doubtful sources, Madam Pomfrey had found traces of an unknown substance in Umbridge's stomach after pumping it. Chris continued with his work, and struck up a few chats with Harry when he was alone. Chris tried to help him out by letting him vent to him, and usually had to silence a classroom so that his angry shouting didn't draw unwanted attention. Once his anger was drained, Harry was much more open to talking about things, whether they be Quidditch, magic, how much they hate Umbridge ("I thought you liked her?" said Harry. "Pfft! Yeah right, I was only being nice to her so she didn't blow her top and give someone detention" Chris replied, grinning) and so on.

By the time Friday rolled around, Chris and Harry were on first name basis, and would often nod to each other in the hallways. He took great pride in keeping up with his homework, and even gave Draco's cronies some help in their work, which shocked them quite severely. Chris was becoming known as the Friendly Slytherin, and while a few of the older Snakes jeered him for this, Chris took it in good humour and just said, "You can catch more flies with honey then with vinegar" effectively shutting them up.

Saturday morning came, and Chris decided he'd take a morning stroll to the Owlery and back, to clear his head. He decided rather than his robes, he'd wear his t-shirt, black coat, jeans, sneakers and green and silver scarf. He also wore a beanie, and with that done, he set out on his walk. As he climbed the stairs, he heard voices inside. Three of them. He recognised two of them. Harry and Filch. The other was a girl's voice.

"I have my sources," said Filch in a self-satisfied hiss. "Now hand over whatever it is you're selling."

"I can't, it's gone" said Harry.

"Gone?" said Filch

"Gone," said Harry calmly.

"How do I know you haven't got it in your pocket?"

"Because…"

"I saw him send it," said the girls voice angrily. Chris came up to the door, and watched the proceedings calmly, leaning against the doorframe.

Filch rounded on her.

"You saw him?"

"That's right, I saw him," she said fiercely. Chris liked this girl's spirit.

There was a moment's pause in which Filch glared at Cho and Cho glared right back, then the caretaker turned on his heel and shuffled over towards the door, glaring suspiciously towards Chris, who smiled and gave him a mock salute. Filch turned back at the last second, the looked back at Harry.

"If I get so much as a whiff of a Dungbomb…"

"It'll be an improvement on your B.O" Chris quipped, grinning cheekily. Filch gave a growl, and stomped off down the stairs. Mrs Norris gave a last longing look at the owls and followed him.

Harry and the girl looked at Chris, the Boy-Who-Lived relieved and the Chinese girl guarded. Chris held up his hands.

"Relax, I come unarmed!" he said sarcastically. "Hey Harry. Any problems?"

"Nope, just sending off a letter and getting hassled by caretakers. What about you Chris?"

"Just on my morning walk," Chris said, turning to the girl. "The name is Chris Johnson, also known as the Friendly Slytherin, at your service"

He bowed with a flourish, bring an amused smile to the girls face.

"Cho Chang, Ravenclaw Seeker. Charmed" she said, doing a mock curtsy. Chris noticed that Harry was scowling at him, and mentally chuckled. Looks like Harrykins has a crush. Chris backed out of the room when Cho turned her attention on Harry, winking at him and flashing the boy a thumbs up.

"Ahem, thanks for… you know… helping out" Harry said.

"No problem," said Cho, finally fixing the parcel to the barn owls let, her face slightly pink. "You weren't ordering Dungbombs, were you?"

"No," said Harry.

"I wonder why he thought you were, then?" she said as she carried the owl to the window.

"He's a hateful old bugger!" Chris called out from behind the door. The two stared at the door for a minute, before Chris spoke up again. "Right! Rhetorical question! Shutting up now!"

Chris left the two awkward teens alone, and headed back to the castle for breakfast, feeling rather pleased. There was something about young love that made Chris smile. He still didn't know whether it was amusement at how awkward it was, or half-faded memories of when he went through it… maybe a bit of both?

He sat down at the Slytherin table, catching sight of a beaming Cho Chang at the Ravenclaw table. He didn't need to be a mind reader to know she was thinking about Harry Potter. As he arrived, he found Draco reading the paper and spooning cereal into his mouth.

"Hey, can I read that when you're done?"

"Sure, nearly finished anyway"

"Thanks"

Chris got his breakfast ready as he waited, and chewed his buttered toast slowly, enjoying his morning meal. After a minute, Draco closed the paper and handed it to Chris, who thanked him.

He opened it and read through it, though there was nothing interesting. Apparently some bloke called Sirius Black was sighted in London, (the name rang a bell) and there was some kind of robbery or trespassing at the Ministry of Magic.

Chris ate his breakfast and decided he'd head to the library and do some reading, and maybe practise spells with Draco later. He brought it up with Draco, who said that he was planning on going to the Gryffindor Quidditch Practise to heckle them, but decided that he needed more practise with his spells.

He joined Chris after telling Crabbe and Goyle to go do something else, and they went to the library.

"You know, I was thinking. What exactly are the limitations to Runes? I mean, from what I've seen so far, we could probably use Runes to make magical devices that can rival and even surpass Muggle Technology" Chris said, looking thoughtful.

Draco snorted.

"Our spells already surpass muggles."

"Um, Draco? What is the most recent muggle invention that you know?"

"Those tellyfone things are getting kind of popular. And I also know about flintlock pistols. Dad has one that he modified with magic a while back as a pet project." Draco said, looking confident that these were indeed the latest inventions of the Muggles. Chris gaped at the boy.

"Um… Draco? Flintlocks were first invented in the 1600s, and the telephone was invented in the 1800s. The magical community is hundreds of years behind the muggles." Chris explained. Draco was surprised.

"Really? But… wizards are superior to muggles. We have magic and they don't" Draco said.

"Draco, have you ever been in the muggle world? Yes, they don't have magic, but Muggles have managed to invent so many ways of bettering their lives without it. Sure, we can apparate, use Floo Powder and Portkeys, but without these in their lives, Muggles can reach the same distances, and even more, in less time. They may not be instantaneous, but they can be quick. Take example of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a jet plane that broke the flight speed record in 1976 at 3,500 km/h. Now, for reference, the distance between Hogwarts and London is around 750 km. The train from Kings Cross takes about 9 hours to get here. Using the Blackbird, we could get to London in 10-20 minutes, tops." Chris finished explained. Draco was staring at him with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

"Bu...But… that's impossible! Not even brooms can fly that quickly! You must be lying!" Draco accused, pointing at his friend in anger. Chris casually knocked the finger away.

"You really think I could come up with those numbers off the top of my head? I'm not a Ravenclaw. And now we come up to the Flintlock pistol you mentioned. Flintlocks used flint and gunpowder to fire the bullet, which is more like a pellet, forward. While effective, the newer guns are much more quick, clean and deadly. The basic weapon used in the British Armed Forces at the moment is the SA80, a selective fire, gas operated assault rifle. This weapon can fire 775 bullets per minute. In the time that you pull out your wand, you'd be able to go to a Halloween Party as a block of Swiss cheese" Chris said, looking at Draco. He was pale, and shaking slightly.

"My god. The Muggles could kill us if they wanted to!" he said.

"They could, but they wouldn't. Not unless you threatened them. Muggles aren't the angry, threatening muggles that caused the Statute of Secrecy to form anymore. While some exist, many would be fascinated by your powers. What I'm getting at with this, is that wizardkind have hidden behind their spells and wards for so long we have completely missed the world evolving around us while we stayed where we were" Chris explained. Draco looked thoughtful, and a bit of colour was returning to his face.

"Maybe your right... but what do you mean by 'magical devices that can rival and even surpass Muggle Technology'?"

"I mean that we could theoretically create magical counterparts for different kinds of technology. For example, by shrinking the Floo Powder Network into something small like a lighter, we could have a handheld way of reaching people, negating the need for owls. Broomsticks? Use the same enchantments on something larger and we could have a passenger aircraft for travelling. With runes and magic, we could even do things that are only possible in science fiction!" Chris said, grinning widely.

"Science Fiction?"

"I'll send you some comic books over the summer. They're great entertainment"

"Alright then…"

"But we can focus on that after we do some spell practise. And reading!" Chris said, smiling and hurrying along, leaving a puzzled and confused Draco, who followed after a second.