Author's Notes: Thanks go to Peggy (Medieval Mystic: USER ID: 796384) for doing such a wonderful job beta'ing. Additionally, thanks to all those who have added this story to their alerts list.

Chapter Two: Project Partners.

The following morning, breakfast arrived with the usual start of term commotion. Professor Flitwick walked around our house table, handing out new time-tables.

"I wonder what our first class will be?" I commented out loud, as Professor McGonagall passed the Gryffindor table and I saw Lily Evans receive her time table.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, I hope we're with the Gryffindors," remarked Stephanie, as she cast a hopeful glance at the 'Marauders'.

Remus Lupin then caught my eye and he stood up a little in his chair to wave over at me.

"Yeah, me too," I replied. "It'll be nice to be surrounded by friendly faces and not a bunch of Slytherins."

My friends nodded in agreement as Professor Flitwick approached us, handing out our class schedules.

"Well, it looks as though your wish has been granted," said Michelle, as she leeaned over to look at my time-table. "You and me have Arithmancy with the Gryffindors first."

"Lucky you," returned Stephanie ruefully. "Heather and I have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs first. I don't have a class with the Gryffindors until Potions tomorrow afternoon."

"I'm sure you can wait that long to drool over Sirius Black," I insisted. "Besides, he'll be strutting around the castle with James Potter so much that I doubt you'll be able to miss him."

Stephanie giggled into her cereal at my comment, then we all finished eating and prepared to go to our first classes.

I was actually quite looking forward to Arithmancy. I always enjoyed putting my brain in gear first thing in a morning, as I knew it'd keep me prepared for the remainder of the day.

As we continued chatting – mostly about the Marauders – my friends and I made our way out of the Great Hall, before Stephanie and Heather headed off outside to the greenhouses, leaving Michelle and I to walk up the grand staircase on our own.

"We've got Defense after lunch," commented Michelle. "So, I guess we'll see what this new professor is like."

"Yeah, hopefully she'll more be more astute than last year's professor was."

Still debating about the new Defense professor, Michelle and I made our way into the Arithmancy class room and found Lily had already saved us seats beside herself and Remus.

"Good morning," I greeted them cheerily.

"Morning," Lily replied, looking up from the text book she'd been reading, before adding, "Hey, Michelle."

"Hello."

Then, as we both took our seats, I asked, "So, did you both have a nice holiday?" Directing my question more towards Remus, having already spoken to Lily briefly the previous evening.

"Yes, thanks," he answered. "Did you?"

"I did, thanks. I was kept very busy helping my mum and dad out in their book store."

"I hope they paid you for it," commented Michelle cheekily, and we all began laughing.

Professor Vector entered the class room, taking her place in front of the students. We all fell quiet, preparing for the lesson to begin.

Arithmancy was always my favorite subject, so I listened eagerly as Professor Vector explained what we'd be studying this year. I was excited to begin learning again, feeling that my brain power had been slightly neglected during the summer. True, I'd had homework to complete, and I did a little extra reading to prepare myself for the new term. However, the majority of my time had been spent working for my parents, and I can't really say that serving customers taxed me especially.

We were soon given our first assignment – which was to research and write an essay on the magical properties of the number twelve – and then divided into pairs to work on the project.

As Professor Vector wanted to help build and maintain inter-house relations, she coupled each student with someone from a different house. I found myself working with Remus, while Michelle was paired with Lily.

As Remus moved to sit closer to me, I felt a little bubble of excitement forming in my stomach, putting it down to the fact I was looking forward to working with a friend I knew I'd be able to get a good grade with and nothing more.

"So, have you had any thoughts on what we should do for the assignment?" I asked Remus, as we moved to sit closer to each other.

"Well, I guess starting in the library would be a good idea," he suggested, as he pulled out a quill and roll of parchment, and I did the same.

"Yeah, it would. But as we still have half an hour of class left, we need to come up with a plan before that," I reminded. "So maybe we could make a list of which books from the library would be useful."

"Okay, but can you think of any apart from our current text book we use in class?" Remus countered. "Because, despite how much time I spend in the library, I certainly can't."

I turned to him with a triumphant smile, and said, "Ah-ha, you're forgetting I just spent the entire summer cataloging books."

Remus smirked, and then looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Ok then, smarty-pants, what are your suggestions?" he inquired.

"Well, obviously, our class book will be useful," I said, referring to the set text for the year, which was New Theory of Numerology, by Barbara Wenlock, the ancestor of famous Arithmancer Bridget Wenlock. "And it wouldn't hurt to see if we can get hold of copies of Numerology and the Divine Triangle, Numerology - The Spiral Path and The Wisdom of Sound and Number: Phonetic Chaldean Numerology."

"Whoa, that's some list," said Remus with a small chuckle.

"Well, it pays to be prepared, doesn't it?" I returned with an eager smile.

Professor Vector then announced class was over, so I turned to Remus to make arrangements to study with him in the library later.

"I have a free period now, if you wanted to get a head start?" he offered.

I was about to reply that I'd love to, as I had a free period too, when Michelle interjected.

"Actually, I thought we could go back to the common room? You know, catch up with Stephanie and Heather to see how their first class went," she said hopefully.

With a roll of my eyes, I said, "Alright then, I guess it'll have to be later," before I turned to Remus and asked, "Is this evening after dinner with you okay or do you have prefect duties?"

"No, this evening is fine with me. Maybe if we have any more homework throughout the day, we can work on it together?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea," I agreed happily. "Alright then, I'll meet you in the library after dinner, and enjoy the rest of your day."

"You too."

When we arrived in our common room, we found Stephanie and Heather sitting besides the fire place, chatting excitedly.

Instantly, the name Sirius Black caught my attention, and Stephanie revealed she'd run into him and James Potter on the way back from Herbology.

"Oh, he looked so cute with his black hair falling into his eyes," she gushed.

Having heard the exact same thing for the past three years, Stephanie's enthusiasm over running into Sirius Black was growing a little tiresome, so I took out my Arithmancy text book and began reading that.

We spent our free period chatting, the topic of conversation drifting from the Marauders to when our first Hogsmeade trip would be. While Michelle, Heather and Stephanie were looking forward to the prospect of getting out of the castle for a few hours, the visit didn't really bother me. Hogsmeade was nothing new to me, and in all honesty, I'd prefer to be inside studying.

When our free period was over we headed down to the Great Hall for lunch.

Once again, Stephanie was lost in a dream world as she saw Sirius Black sit down with his friends, and I couldn't help but chuckle when Remus looked over at me and rolled his eyes.

As I took my seat, I thought about that evening, when Remus and I would be working on our Arithmancy project in the library. Remus and I had worked on class projects before, and always had good fun together. He was a lot like me; kept his head down and liked reading, but was always up for a bit of joke too. I knew tonight would be no different and that we'd make a good start on the project, as well as being able to have a laugh together.

With lunch over, it was time for our afternoon classes, and the chance to finally see what the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was actually like. I knew there was no way she could be worse than last year's professor, but experience had told me there was something seriously lacking in the Defense Against the Dark Arts department. It was so bad, some of the older students actually joked that the job was cursed – not that I believed such stupid things. I mean, who would want to curse a teaching position of all things?

Together, Stephanie, Michelle, Heather and I made our way up to the first floor class room, and were disappointed to see we would be having Defense with the Slytherins this year.

I groaned inwardly as Snape and his creepy friends gave us a nasty look and then started whispering something.

Snape always gave me a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach, so I was eager to be away from him as soon as possible. Thankfully, my prayers were answered when the class room door swung open, revealing our new teacher on the other side.

The professor with the long, curly blonde hair – that I'd seen at the teachers' table night of the welcoming feast – stood on the threshold of the door, and with a bright smile, beckoned the class inside.

Michelle, Stephanie, Heather and I entered the Defense classroom, and took our usual place near the front of the room, directly opposite the teacher's desk.

Slowly, the rest of the class filed in, and I shuddered as Snape passed me and gave me a cold look as he passed me.

However, my discomfort was soon forgotten when the new professor stood in front of us and began addressing the class.

"Good afternoon, sixth years. I'm Professor Trimble, and as I'm sure you'll have guessed, I'll be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," she informed us pleasantly, before explaining what we'd be studying this year, which included non-verbal spells, defensive incantations and eventually producing a Patronus Charm.

After the introduction from Professor Trimble, we were divided into pairs – me and Heather working together, leaving Stephanie and Michelle to make up the other Ravenclaw couple – and told to practice non-verbal spells.

By my third attempt, I was able to successful hit Heather with an non-verbal incantation, that - despite her own shield charm being strong - my friend had no time to parry, as she couldn't anticipate when it would be coming. The resulting effect was that Heather spent most of the lesson rolling around on the floor, giggling from my cheering charm that had hit her no less than four times.

To my right, Michelle and Stephanie were also doing quite well. Stephanie had gotten the hang of non-verbal spells, but so had Michelle and they were now having a silent battle to better each other. Coloured jets of light flashed across the class room, and it was only when one of the spells hit its mark that I was able to tell what incantation my friends had been using.

Suddenly, Michelle sprouted purple feelers, as Stephanie recoiled in hysterical laughter. The distraction was enough to allow Heather to parry my ill-aimed cheering charm, which ricocheted and hit Snape square in the chest, at the same time as a blast of light from Heather's own wand hit me.

I watched in horror, as Snape crumpled to the floor in uncontrollable laughter, while my ears began to shrink to a size so small you could hardly see them.

Michelle and Stephanie were now watching the scene, and I couldn't tell if their laughter was magically induced or genuine mirth at the fate that had befallen me.

Muttering the counter-spell under my breath, I risked a glance at Snape, who was now pulling himself up off the ground. Between guffaws, he cast a deadly glare at me, and I knew my accident would some day have serious repercussions.