Hogwarts One Half
Chapter Seven

by Lionheart

I O I O I

"Where are you going? I thought we had all of our classes together?" Hermione accosted the quintet of students leaving the first year Gryffindor/Ravenclaw mob to go off in another direction.

Ranko glanced back at being addressed, and looked over the group doing it. The only person she knew in that group was Kodachi. Was she another fugitive from Nerima? The only way to know was to ask, she guessed. But that could wait til later. "My mother insisted that I take extra lessons. We're going to another class."

Hermione checked over her own group of friends and bravely hefted her books, declaring. "Then we'll go with you."

Kodachi and Ginny, having met Hermione on the train and since made friends, gave her this one for free and supported her, mostly out of curiosity. Lavender Brown and Susan Bones went along with this mostly because the other two did, and girls being what girls were, two more looked as if they might follow along for the ride because the rest were going.

"Come along then, we haven't got much time." Ranko said over her shoulder before starting to walk away at the head of her little group, the additionals quickly following.

The dozen girls all came around to the Hospital Wing at a quick pace, arriving just a hair after another group, consisting of Dumbledore and a very old Auror. That man had scars on top of his scars, walked with a wooden leg, and had a vivid, electric blue eye that rolled about ceaselessly, twitching in every possible direction. That man had his wand out and appeared threatening as he approached Nodoka, who was just finishing up with some bandages on a mummified patient. "Ranko-chan, be a dear and wait patiently, will you? Another customer just showed up at the last moment, but I'll be done in a second."

The younger Miss Malfoy relaxed, leaning back casually against a wall. "It's not me, mom."

Snipping off the end of a roll, Nodoka turned about and saw the man advancing on her. "Oh! Albus brought me another customer! How nice." Seeming to teleport across the forty intervening feet and catching the scarred man's wand just as he was about to raise it, she effortlessly disarmed the auror and subdued him about as casually as a seasoned mother did a wiggling infant, wrestling him onto a bed before stunning him.

"There, there. You're not the first auror to get second thoughts at this stage. Don't worry, I'll have you fixed up in no time. My! You are a specimen, aren't you? So many scars! But I think I'll start with that leg..."

Still leaning casually against a wall, Ranko leaned forward to smooth her skirts and told the eleven girls with her. "Mom hid as a muggle for twenty years, and to do that you've got to have a muggle job. She started as a student at a junior college because she didn't know anything and a student's job is to learn. After a couple of years just taking electives and soft classes she told me she decided to start learning some more of what muggles know that wizards didn't, and got into pre-med. That worked out so well that she just followed it all the way through to become a reconstructive surgeon. By then she knew enough about life as a muggle to quit and claim a stock portfolio and investments supported her. But mom says that she couldn't let it go, and started to combine magic spells with muggle know how to get really good results. All summer she's been offering to fix up old aurors and guys wounded in the last war, and just bill the Ministry, who owes them medical care anyway."

By now Nodoka had effortlessly stripped her new patient and was giving him a cursory examination. The guy looked like a clay model of a human that got dropped into a blender and only roughly stuck back together by someone who didn't care much about accuracy and was in a terrible rush. Nodoka clicked her tongue. "Well, those scars are all bad enough, but I still think we'll start with that leg."

First off she cast an Engorgement Charm on the upper portion of his severed leg, doubling the size of that limb. Then with quick, neat Severing Charms, after a quick Numbing Jinx, of course, started dividing the extra skin, fat and muscle into surgically precise chunks which she then had reassembled into a lower limb in moments. Stretching Charms were used on the nerves, blood vessels and tendons to get them running through the new area. Ligaments, cartilage and other components were found, doubled, harvested, reattached, and the new bits put into place for the lower leg she'd been forming. In moments she had rebuilt the entire limb, putting scars to rights as she did so. Finally, she wrapped that whole leg up in bandages and force-fed her patient doses of blood replenishing potion and Skele-Gro.

It was with almost brutal practicality she then went forth and began rearranging skin, fat and muscle, plus bone where necessary, all over the rest of the man's stunned body to even out the scars and correct old injuries. When she was done the old guy looked almost, not quite but almost, ruggedly handsome.

It was over in two minutes, tops, and as Nodoka was tying off the final bandages around her mummified patient, she began apologizing. "I'm sorry there's nothing I can do for the eye. I've been experimenting with Twinning Charms to replace lost lungs and kidneys, but I'm still having dreadful trouble with organs in general. They're so tricky! You won't feel well over the next few days, but I'll ask Madam Pomphrey to transfer you over to St. Mungo's so they can dose you as needed with the required potions and watch over you. You'll be right as rain in a few weeks, better than you have been in years, I'm sure. Just do make sure to stay off that leg for at least seven days. It's been through quite an ordeal and won't bear your weight until it's healed some. I'm afraid every inch of it has just been injured, inside and out. But once it's had some potions and rest it will be bearing you about in no time. In a few months your body will have replaced enough tissue so that you'll be in no danger of having those charms canceled, though for a week or so it'll be ugly, if it happened. Chow!"

She stuck the man's wand through his chest bandage, with a little note attached with her care instructions for the Healers at St. Mungo's to read, ending with bundling up his clothes as a little package by the end of his feet. Then she turned about to face the little flock of a dozen girls, smiling brilliantly. "Well, now that's done we can move on to our lesson! But Ranko, who are these other girls?"

I O I O I

Before Nodoka could be answered the sound of pattering feet came and she was covered in a hug by an eleven year old boy. "You gave me back my parents!" Neville cried into her skirt. "I didn't get a chance to thank you this summer. But thank you! You made them better, they can recognize me now! They're just like everyone else's parents!"

Professor Malfoy, recognizing an emergency when it body slammed her, reached down and began stroking the boy's back. "There, there. They aren't ordinary, they're yours. That makes them special. You know they always loved you. All I did was a targeted Obliviate. Albus could have done as well." She shot Dumbledore a glance that was hard to interpret.

Soothing Neville for a few more moments and receiving his oft-repeated thanks, she then shooed him off to his business and moved out of the Hospital Wing, collecting a dozen girls on her way, who all followed in her wake.

Soon they were out on the school lawn, heading out toward the Forbidden Forest. The girls in the new group, Kodachi excepted, grew increasingly nervous as they drew close, but they stopped well short of that leafy barricade.

Nodoka turned to address the assembled girls. "Alright, before we go any further I believe that you need to know what is going on. I didn't want to discuss this in the castle for fear of being overheard, which always happens if there is a painting or a ghost nearby, Professor Dumbledore follows after his predecessors in using them as scouts and spies. Plus he has his own tricks, don't meet his eyes and he can't use most of them. But I digress. I asked my daughter to do as I had done and start on all the electives in her first year. That gives you two extra years to master them, and is a great advantage later in life. More important still, some opportunities only come once, and if you aren't active you'll miss them. Also, there is the small but considerable advantage that tests come comparatively late for you, and you will be more relaxed and score higher when OWL and NEWT examinations come."

At this point in the little speech Hermione was glittering, hugging her schoolbooks tightly in inquisitive wonder, and you'd have to use wild horses to drag her away.

"It is a burden starting so early," Nodoka warned, her mannerisms advising caution. "But not one that I think is beyond anyone who really tries. If any of you wish to coast through your schooling, however, this is not the path to take as it requires effort and attention. So if any of you want to back out, now is a good time. Not the only time, but a good one."

Hermione was, if anything, even more enthusiastic about this and couldn't wait to start. The others, from the Patils to those hangers-on following Kodachi or Hermione out of curiosity, were less sure. Two factors kept them hanging around. One was they were embarrassed and no one wanted to be the first to leave. But also they'd already had Professor Malfoy's class earlier that day and admired her as an instructor. There was a little of the temptation of advantage involved as well. Fifth year students were already moaning and groaning about their upcoming OWLs. Besides, most of them were Gryffindors, too brave to be scared of a little extra work, and the others were all Ravenclaws, too thirsty for knowledge to turn this opportunity down.

Ranko and her two friends from Nerima had already bought into this program long ago, and so after a moment when no one turned her down, Nodoka turned around and motioned for them to follow her into the Forbidden Forest.

They stopped a short way in at a clearing, just inside of the cover of the trees. Professor Malfoy again turned about and began distributing soft candies with a waxy texture and dark brown color, with a band of irregular white on one end. "Okay dears, from this point on humans aren't really welcome. Go ahead and take these, I'll talk while you're chewing."

Nodoka took her own candy, turned her back and snarfed it down real fast trying hard not to sound deplorable as she briefly used one of Genma's eating techniques. That done, she swiveled back to address this impromptu class. "Very well, the Forbidden Forest is actually forbidden for two reasons. Who can tell me the first?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air, though her reply was somewhat garbled as she tried to speak around the excessively chewy candy and the mouthful of slobber it produced. "The Forbidden Forest is home to many dark and fearsome creatures, Professor."

"Very well, take five points for Gryffindor. And before you ask, I'll award them to Ravenclaw this evening when you get your dual-house status. I have no doubt you'll do it, dear, unlike Albus who hasn't taken a measure of you yet. He'll be flattering enough once he's seen you can be of use to him. Bear that in mind when his eyes start twinkling. But true enough, this forest is home to many a dark creature. The dark creatures accumulated here, however, after this forest had been forbidden. They found it a refuge from hunting wizards, and so they remained. The wizards did not venture here for another reason, and that is that pre-Roman civilizations had left behind artifacts of great power located here, most of which are broken, and the rest are ill-understood, with great difficulty telling between those two. The intent was to keep the curious or ill-prepared away while experts went in and studied those ruins for the betterment of magic-kind. Unfortunately that didn't happen for any number of reasons, and people just fell into the habit of avoiding this place. The curious really shouldn't be in this forest, as the standard five year course in Ancient Runes barely conveys the beginning of what you need to know in order to study some of these ruins safely. In all honestly, I myself don't know half of what I need to to understand how they work. But the centaurs, who live here, have found out how to operate one or two just by centuries of opportunity to study what they could read on those stones, and a little trial and error. One of the things we are going to try to do here is befriend them so I may learn what they know. Look at your feet."

The girls all did, and every one of them was a horse from the waist down. Different colors and different markings, but each girl had become a centaur. Nodoka, who had a beautiful red color to her horse half, handed out a rough dozen soft leather tops. "Put these on dears, the people we are going to meet don't like humans, and Hogwarts robes would be a dead give away. And I'm afraid those dresses aren't suitable, either. You can put them in this bag that I've enchanted to keep clothes unwrinkled and fresh for when I travel."

Nodoka held open a satchel. Glad they had privacy, the girls changed.

I O I O I

"Elder, I have brought the yearlings," Nodoka, the centauress told an old and wizened grey centaur whose coat had gone white all over. With a start, the children realized that he was blind when he looked at them all with grizzled, empty sockets.

"Let them come near, so that I may feel them, herd-daughter."

The old grey guy was sitting, legs folded under him, at the cavity between the roots of a great old tree probably as old as he was, though it bore its age better. Ranko was the first to trot up, with typical Gryffindor boldness (or rather the bold self confidence most of that House wished they had but didn't). The wizened old guy ran one hand's fingers as light as snowflakes over her face, the other started at her head hair and carefully followed her spine all the way down to her horse's tail. With a flick to the flank he set her hopping off, and the next in the queue, Ukyo, trotted up to have the same done to her.

Shampoo was next, and then Kodachi. By then the girls' jitters had calmed down. The old guy was blind, and this was the only way he could see them. They'd been half afraid he'd want to touch naughty bits, but this was just another form of introduction, so they all got in line.

"This first was your foal. Your energy tingles all throughout her." The elder spoke when he was done getting to know their faces and outline of their spines.

"She is," Nodoka answered simply. She'd informed the girls before they got here that none of them would be required to speak at all; and in fact it was best if they didn't, as there were customs and culture none of them would be aware of, and a misstep could be disastrous.

"Let them stand at rest, or sit comfortably. Not many come to learn this lesson anymore. The hearts of the herd have turned toward the stars, finding in them enough to sate their hunger for things unknown." Kodachi's ears perked up at this, her devious mind sensing a test.

Nodoka's answer did not disappoint her. "These know the stars, honored elder. They are not remiss."

Apparently Nodoka's knowledge was not complete of this ceremony of introduction, either, as the ancient, blind elder then proceeded to quiz each girl there on stars, their movements and patterns, names and details. He didn't repeat a question once, and he addressed each girl directly allowing no others to interfere. Hermione had to be shot a stern, and somewhat frightened, look by Nodoka when on impulse she'd raised her hand. While it was difficult for the Granger girl to stay in her seat and not answer every question put to anyone, they all came through alright, though most of them were surprised by how much they knew and how easily they could access that knowledge.

Nodoka was even more surprised that the old centaur had questions they didn't know the answers to. Fortunately, he provided the answers in a kindly manner when they admitted they didn't know.

"It is enough," the elder centaur declared, once he'd done grilling them one by one. "Their knowledge is sufficient, even admirable for ones so young."

Taking a deep breath, the old centaur heaved himself to his feet, composing himself with arms folded across his chest, shoulders back, in what had to be a ritual pose. "You have come seeking to know the Arts of Divination. Humans taught us the start of what we know, but we have expanded upon this knowledge while they have largely forgotten. They focus on the future. This is an error. While the future can be seen, it is as a distant mountain viewed through fog at night. Through great skill, devices and cunning one might pierce the fog and shadows of the night, yet the distance itself will render all things seen indistinct. However, as one moves closer more becomes visible.Yet if you want to know great events of futures not yet come to pass, it is best to study that which has gone on before. You can easily know the details of a mountain if you have been there. The leaves and grass may have changed, yet the bones remain unaltered, so when you cast your gaze to the mountain again the slightest hints tell a deeper story, for you already know the patterns."

The old, grizzled, grey head looked as though it would shake in sorrow, but could not without dropping its ritual pose. "As with gazing at a mountain, events of the future can be detected in the broadest sense from far away, and in increasing detail as you get closer to that future becoming present. Yet always you must be mindful of what patterns you seek. Great events are as predictable as the patterns of the stars, and just as complicated. Small events are as infinite as the faces of the sea, and as subject to change without warning from pleasant to dire."

The old, grey beard nodded gravely. "For the future, remember not to ask 'what will be' for yourself. That surrenders your will to a prediction. Instead, when asking for yourself ask the question 'what would be the consequences of this decision'. That is perhaps the highest of all the arts of predicting the future, and the only one that is useful if applied properly. That is the Great Riddle, and the first mystery of Divination: What the heart most yearns to know, the uncertain future, it profits least from learning. Our futures should be shaped by actions, not bound by predictions from tea leaves."

The old guy dropped his pose, and Nodoka motioned the girls, who brought forward the baskets of fruits she'd previously given them to carry and lay them at the base of the tree, after offering a sample of each to the centaur.

"Return this evening, when you have thought on my words." The grey coated elder told the group as they were about to leave his clearing.

"That was a great teacher," Ranko breathed, obviously impressed, as soon as they'd passed the centaur patrols and crossed enough forest so that she thought it was safe to talk.

"But it didn't mean anything!" Susan Bones protested.

"Sure it did!" Ukyo replied, trotting along. "Look, sugar, that was the most practical lesson we've had all day!"

"I don't get it," Parvati voiced finally. "He didn't teach us to do anything we couldn't before going to see him."

"Old man centaur not tell what do. He tell much more important: Why do, what not do, and where value in doing. Not waste self or time struggling for what you not want achieve. Very good lesson!" The purple haired amazon enthused.

"But all he taught us was that it wasn't very useful to see the future. How can that be right?" Lavender objected.

"Child," Nodoka instructed, trotting along back toward Hogwarts. "Compare it to casting a curse. Today he did not mention an incantation for how to cast the spell, he told us when and under what circumstances it is best to use it. Only once you know those is it safe to learn the spell. And if you can grasp the metaphors he was using, it was both practical and beautiful. What concerns me is there has typically been a ten day waiting period between lessons in the centaur culture, and now he wants to resume with you this evening. It worries me, and he quizzed you when he shouldn't have felt it needed. But it seems I have returned you in time for lunch. Sorry about your morning free study period, but I trust you won't regret using it for these extra lessons."

The girls reassured her that it was interesting and they would be there that evening, after dinner, as she passed out the antidote drinks for the centaur candies.

Kodachi reserved her opinion as they came back in sight of the castle.

I O I O I

The staff were sitting at the head table as the Sorting Hat was brought in that evening. The looks on their faces grew gradually more horrified as they listened to it sing:

"The world today seems absolutely crackers, With nuclear bombs to blow us all sky high. There's fools and idiots sitting on the trigger. It's depressing and it's senseless, and that's why...

"I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're always friendly, and they're ready to please.

"I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
There's nine hundred million of them in the world today.
You'd better learn to like them; that's what I say.

"I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They come from a long way overseas,
But they're cute and they're cuddly, and they're ready to please.

"I like Chinese food.
The waiters never are rude.
Think of the many things they've done to impress.
There's Maoism, Taoism, I Ching, and Chess.

"So I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
I like their tiny little trees,
Their Zen, their ping-pong, their yin, and yang-ese.

"I like Chinese thought,
The wisdom that Confucius taught.
If Darwin is anything to shout about,
The Chinese will survive us all without any doubt.

"So, I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're wise and they're witty, and they're ready to please.

"All together.

"verse in Chinese
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Ni hao ma; ni hao ma; ni hao ma; zaijien! (How are you; how are you; how are you; goodbye!)"

Ranko was chuckling to herself as she slipped out the back, hearing the Hat sing the reprise as she snuck out on her way to Hagrid's Hut. Who even knew the Sorting Hat knew that song? She was tempted, briefly, to stay and sing along.

If Shampoo or Cologne hadn't left already they probably would have stayed and sung.

Evening at Hagrid's hut was one of the more remarkable things to look forward to as they always recounted the events of that day. Only the core group of seven were there visiting: Nodoka, Cologne, Ranko, Shampoo and Ukyo, plus the two Patil twins. This had been a daily event for most of them ever since they'd fled from Nerima and taken up residence at Hogwarts.

The girls were allowed to stay at the castle over the summer because they had no other place to go, and their parents were here. In between their normal activities of building up resistance to Voldemort by preparing other people for his return, they had focused quite a lot of time and energy on their own preparations.

All summer long the girls had practiced spells under Nodoka and Cologne's close tutelage. The entire family (and they did view themselves as a family) had practiced Anything Goes, learning together over the summer.

And Genma had passed on all he knew to the woman he'd thought was his wife. The only time he'd ever touched her was during sparring. She hadn't even needed an impotence jinx to keep him out of her bed, though she'd used one anyway as a precaution. That man's only appetite was for food, and meals were a small price to pay for his fighting techniques.

Nodoka had only tricked the fool into believing he was married to her for his martial arts knowledge, and had endlessly grilled him for everything he knew, including especially his secret techniques. Liquor spiked with truth serum was a combination the mental midget had never figured out, and the idiot could not resist a bottle when she left one out. Nodoka had trained more intelligently than he did and was better for it. But when Genma had gotten rid of his master and left off training (meaning he'd never have a useful thing to teach again, as she was already better than he was) she'd kicked him out and made him think it was his idea.

The only thing she hadn't counted on was the pathetic moron kidnapping her son on his way out the door. Undoing the damage from that was an almost infinite task. Ranko had been stunned to learn that the greedy fool who'd raised her was not related to her at all, and that he'd made up horrible things about her mother to keep her from seeking her out.

Though Nodoka had practiced the beheading stroke, that was in anticipation of having the thief and kidnapper kneel before her, not her only child.

Since arriving, the small family had practiced everything together, doing the work to merge the best aspects of their fighting styles, and the strongest base to build that combination off of was Anything Goes. They'd even played tag and pillow fight with Hagrid, never leaving the reach of his arms while they bounced about trying to avoid the pillow he'd wave at them for hours and calling that a game.

Of course, accidents will happen, and after a few holes had appeared in the walls of his hut, Nodoka had felt so ashamed of herself that now the Groundskeeper lived in a much larger stone outbuilding with four floors if you counted the two levels of basement, and an average of three rooms a floor. All of them had shortly been filled with assorted herbs and things, except one that they used as a sort of meeting chamber.

But for tonight, they were doing as they had done for months: reviewing their lessons and asking Hagrid for help. Everyone there knew this was more for Hagrid's benefit than theirs, but no one was rude enough to say that. It was just a convenient excuse and that was good enough to get the half giant to study along with them as those girls memorized the first two years of subject matter over the break. Close tutelage by their parents made that whiz past and sink deeply in, providing an enormous advantage.

Ranko poured another glass from the enormous jug of milk. Bella was happy, and Kasumi and the others were fine. The mare was practically dancing in anticipation of the next day. Speaking of the next day, their first evening lesson as centaur mares had gone better than anticipated, with the old, grey guy teaching them all a charm that had been useful enough to get the other girls excited about returning for future lessons.

Nodoka was still worried about the accelerated pace, and what that might bode, but at least their class as a school of merfolk had gone off without a hitch, and Undersea Herbology was looking to be every bit as interesting as promised.

"Rock cake, Ranko?" Hagrid offered a plate, beaming with a big smile.

"Yes, thanks." The girl reached out and grabbed a half dozen, crushing one in her fist over her milk. The dang things were tasty as anything once you softened them up a bit! She took a bite of one, still hard, and began to chew while reading. But the other girls put theirs in the drinks to soften up first.

Hagrid was happier than he'd been since school.

"Hagrid, I'm having trouble with this Defense lesson. Would you review it for me?" Ukyo took off her earrings and offered one to the giant.

"Well, that's yer mothers class, ain't it, Ranko? Let's see what I can do fer ya there, Ukyo-chan." The half giant bent down and took one of the proffered earrings, holding the stone to his forehead. Those jewels held all of the same enchantments as omnioculars, only Nodoka had done something funky with the playback so that it took only seconds to review hours worth of experiences, and it felt like realtime.

Hagrid took the stone away and set it down moments later. "Well, that's simple enough. It's only a werewolf after all. Come ta think of it, I know one. I'll invite him up ta the castle this weekend. Full moon's not too far away, and I've got a real sturdy cage. If he's of a mind ta, ya could even watch him transform! It ain't like he's got a better place ta stay."

The best thing about offering to help Hagrid like this was so often he found a way to truly offer help in return.

"Hagrid," Ranko offered a wonderful smile, an essay, and an earring to their host. "Can you make sure that I didn't miss anything in my History homework?"

"Sure now, here jest a sec and I'll check." That gentle man finished scribbling a note to Remus Lupin, folded that into a letter, and shoved it into his pocket. Then he took the stone and touched it to his head.

While he was thus occupied, Ukyo gave a scandalized whisper. "We don't HAVE any homework for History of Magic!"

Ranko returned a grin that said 'I know that', and Ukyo almost laughed. When the half giant regained his outside senses he returned the stone and read the essay. "Looks pretty good to me, Ranko-chan. I'm sure you'll get a good grade on that'un."

"Hmm, amazon eyes soooo tired! Hagrid be angel and read to me?" The purple haired eleven year old stretched out lazily on the couch, offering her textbook to the giant.

Nodoka practically had to laugh as Hagrid went over 'One Thousand And One Magical Herbs and Fungi' with her, and had practically every one of those mentioned on hand, right there in his hut! So the girls got to handle and gain experience with them.

The Patils ate this up, getting really useful insight, even though for the others this was all review.

"Now dears," Cologne reminded. "It's getting on toward curfew, and you have Potions in the morning. Hagrid, would you show them? I'm so busy with this knitting, you see, and..."

"Sure!" The big man responded, looking around. "Now where did I leave my cauldron? Ah, 'ere it is! Let's see now..." The girls watched as, with great difficulty, Hagrid brewed the boil remover that Snape had all of his first years start their practice on. Getting him to where he'd become willing to show them anything, even 'just fer practice, unnerstand' had taken them most of the summer, but the giant's skills were returning to him now.

"Hagrid," Nodoka got out of her seat when the potion was done and he was unexpectedly wiping sweat from his brow over the difficulty it had cost him. The Defense teacher went over and began to measure the giant, taking a tape to his armpit, elbow, fingers and so on. "Tomorrow I was wondering if you'd be willing to show the girls a few wand motions, just so they could see them, of course. You've been so good at helping them out so far, and with Cologne and myself getting so busy as classes start... you will be a dear, won't you, and do it for us?"

"Well, sure madam Malfoy. That is, I reckon I could... that is.."

The Professor beamed a smile at him. "Don't worry. I'll cut you a nice stick to use. Now dears, it's time to go back to the castle. Say goodnight, everyone."

"Goodnight, Hagrid!" Everyone chorused. The rather embarrassed giant waved.

Nodoka paused in the door on her way out, the last one to leave. Looking back, she asked, "Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy wasn't it?"

Then she vanished.

Blaise came back in a moment later, carrying a bucket. "Hey, if they didn't need a gallon of flobberworm mucus why did they send me for one?"

Hagrid smiled, too happy to be curious. "Don' pay it no mind. They didn' get that far in their lessons anyway. They'll use it tomorrow, I'm sure. Now you'd best get off ta bed."

I O I O I

That evening in the Gryffindor girls dorm the first years were having a chat as they got ready for bed, and they'd invited a few Ravenclaws to join them, getting the full dozen of those that had joined together for extra lessons that day to attend.

Hermione was proudly wearing her blue and bronze House badge next to her red and gold one on her nightshirt as she brushed out her hair. "Will Professor Snape behave better now, do you think?" She was concerned, they had Potions class tomorrow, and all of the rotten things she'd heard of the man did not bode well.

Ukyo, in an amazingly good looking comfortable and yet frilly nightdress, snorted in disdain. "Feh, there's no record that Dumbledore has disciplined him even once. From the way he acted over the summer it's obvious he hasn't. Snape's so sure he's immune to reprisal that he's broken every school rule regarding teacher-student relations and never yet has a word been said about it by the Headmaster. Snape won't change now, he's too certain he can still get away with it, that Dumbledore will shield him in spite of anything. The only question is: Will our Headmaster at last realize that the price he's paid to keep this spy is more than the man is worth? If it was a question between a handful of grudging crumbs of information the guy doled out ten years ago (while passing back at least equal information to the evil side, as a good double agent must do) or having another thousand trained Healers and Aurors, I'd take the extra trained people any day, in a heartbeat."

"Snape is a spy?" several girls asked at once.

"Was one, but no very good one. He turn just in time to save neck at end of last war, not do anything earn pardon, just get one." Shampoo snorted. "Man paid for services already by not slap in jail, not need be allowed be teacher on top of what he already get. Man do too too much harm. Wonder if he not still work for Moldyshorts, just fool Headmaster. Work he do is all for support of dark side."

"If you count his horrible teaching as an attack, he's put more potential aurors out of action than all the other Dead Munchies combined." Ranko was hanging from a ceiling beam by her toes, her red hair and pretty pajamas hanging down as she meditated.

"Ranko? Can I ask you something?" Ginny asked.

The upside down maiden opened her eyes to scan her a second before she answered, quirking a smile, "Sure, it's just us girls, right?"

Ginny nodded. "Why did your mother accept us so easily when we were just tagging along? That forest trip had to be dangerous, and she had planned it so well that it had to be important to her. Adding so many of us who didn't know what was going on had to increase the risk of her plan failing. Yet she took us out into the forest twice today for those lessons. Why did she trust us?"

Ranko's toes released the beam she'd been holding on to and she flipped midair to land softly with her toes on the ground before settling into a relaxed 'I don't care' stance. "Mom is of the opinion that the better skilled or armed Voldemort's foes are, the safer she is. An she believes that some people are worth trusting more than others. But if you want to know the real reason how she felt she could trust you, it was because she's got a kneazel, and it said that you're okay."

"Where did she hide it?" Hermione inquired, curious as she'd never seen one of those animals and they sounded so perfectly useful.

"In her hair," Ranko replied, taking out a locket from her own fiery red locks and expanding it to dinner plate size, then popping open the lid. All of the girls crowded around as they heard mewing, and what they saw within was not unlike a mother cat, with eight little kittens whose eyes were not yet open.

"Oh! She's so cute! Can I have one?" One of the Gryffindors with a mountain of bouncy brown curls inquired.

All of the other girls thought they were darling as well.

"Maybe." Ranko sighed, smiling with moist eyes. She liked cats, after... well, she liked them. "Kneazels don't trust everyone, and we've got to wait for their eyes to open and for them to be weaned. But if you still want one and they like you, sure you can have one. Mom told me we ought to breed them so more people can have them, and if we trust you with our extra classes this'll be no problem."

"Ranchan's just gave birth the day before school started. It nearly made her eyes bug out to watch over little neko-chan and help her through it." Ukyo teased. "But her mom's pet is still a few days away from having her litter." She took a locket out of her own hair. "Mine is not so far away as that. She might even have hers during Potions class."

Ginny bounced out of her bed, announcing, "I'll go get a plate of cream for the mother cats." And she walked out of the girls' room in her nightgown, throwing on a robe over that as she went to find her brothers, since she knew they knew where to find the kitchens.

She caught Fred and George on their way out of the portrait hole, on their way to do some mischief. She didn't care, and just asked for directions.

As she was leaving, Lavender Brown leaned forward on her bed, resting her chin on her hands. "Okay girls, now for the meat of this evening. Where did you get your dresses, and do you have more of them?"

"We made them," Ukyo returned.

"Mom insisted, and I'm glad." Ranko glittered, brushing out her hair. "I'd hate to say this, but those robes everyone else had to wear aren't very flattering. I can't imagine anyone who'd look good in them."

Actually, her mom's plans had been a little more intense than that. Nodoka's daughter's and her friends outfits were a deliberate ploy on the Lady Malfoy's part. A scheme that she was even now furthering by talking privately to Molly, chatting with the new teacher in her room, and subtly encouraging her to offer sewing charms as part of her classes.

The fancy dresses they'd worn were something to grab other girls' interest. If you were the flightiest, least likely to concentrate on classes girl in existence, you were still likely to notice another girl's dress being prettier than yours; and want to do something about that, seeking out charms and whatnot to acquire your own pretty clothes (as these styles were not sold in stores). And once you'd mastered that one aspect of magic, it was so much easier to branch out and learn others.

It was an attempt to trick girls into taking to their studies seriously by using fashion as bait.

"Charms no so very hard." Shampoo was brushing another girl's hair for her.

"Would you like to see our wardrobes?" Ukyo offered.

"See?! We'll want to borrow clothes for tomorrow!"

"I wish you could," Ranko shrugged. "But a rule made in the thirteenth century prohibits any girl from wearing borrowed clothes. I think they had a lice problem back then, but it's never been repealed. And you know Snape would take points off, even if no one else noticed. But," she glittered, pulling open a drawer packed with fabric and sewing tools. "I'd bet in fifteen minutes you could get the hang of the two charms you need, and I've got the cloth. You won't be as fancy as we are until you've had a few months to practice and get the more advanced charms. But you won't be wearing Awful-Drab tomorrow morning, either."

She was predictably swarmed by eager recruits.

I O I O I

Author's Notes:

The single biggest problem about teaching is getting students who want to learn. And, well, if you can dangle bait before their eyes, like offering girls pretty clothes, you can often get motivated students.

And nothing learns so well as a motivated student.

Besides, can't you agree that Nodoka has a point? EVERYONE is safer if the people most likely to resist Voldemort are stronger and better trained!