Dear Miss Bagman,

Thank you for your letter setting out your prosecution request against Mr Ludo Bagman. The Ministry of Magic condemns scams of any nature, and we are very appreciative of you bringing this matter to our attention, in particular as it is about a head of department, and you are a close family member. It takes great courage to report the misdeeds of those closest to us, so we would like to commend you. We would like to inform you that Mr Bagman's contract with the Ministry of Magic has been suspended until futher notice, and a warrant for his arrest has been issued. In addition to the points you raise, our colleagues in the Goblin Liason Office inform us that they also suspect him of financial dishonesty. We believe he is attempting to evade justice, as he has been absent without notice since December 18th. We will inform you as to any developments and potential trial dates as and when they occur.

Hoping you are well,

Amelia Bones,

Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement,

Ministry of Magic

"Well, it seems like they're taking us seriously" I said, handing the letter back to Amy. It was now January and term had restarted.

"Yeah, I was a little bit worried about that" Amy said

"I was always sure we would be" said Demelza "Amelia Bones is the aunt of my mate Susan from Hufflepuff. She told me she's very fair and always takes any criminal allegations seriously, no matter who they're about or who reports them"

"I assume you met her through Stefan?" I said

"Yes, of course"

Today's Care of Magical Creatures class was going to be interesting, because in Hagrid's absence, we had a new teacher. She was an elderly witch with closely cropped grey hair and a very prominent chin. She seemed like an even more severe version of Professor McGonagall, if that was possible. She had a couple of large metal crates next to her, in which some fires were burning, and there were some small tables in front of them, on which were some red lizards.

"Gather round please everybody" she said briskly. "I am Professor Grubbly Plank, and I will be temporarily taking these classes while Rubeus Hagrid is absent. Now, who can tell me-"

"Where's Hagrid?" called Amy

"Currently unavailable, now, as I was saying-"

"Where's Hagrid!" I repeated loudly

"None of your concern!" snapped Grubbly-Plank

"Excuse me, I happen to be his friend-" I began, but Demelza nudged me, shaking her head

"It can wait" she said firmly, bowing her head in my direction.

I bit my lip and reluctantly fell silent

"Thank you Miss Robins. Now, unless anyone else wants to make any more rude interruptions, can someone please tell me what these are?"

"Salamaders Professor" said Demelza

"Yes, well done, 10 points to Gryffindor. Now, the first thing that you need to know about salamanders is that they live as long as the flames they come from continue to burn, except in one circumstance. Anyone know what that is?"

"Unless they're fed pepper, in which case, they can be away from the flames for six hours" said Demelza

"Precisely, take another 10 points"

"Oh my god, Hermione, is that you in Polyjuice?" I said, winking to her.

"I'll take that as a compliment" Demelza replied, smiling

"Have you all used Salamander blood in potions?"

"Yes" everyone said

"They have excellent regenerative and curative properties" I said, before even being asked.

Everyone stared at me.

"Who's Hermione now?" Demelza asked, giggling.

Grubbly Plank looked taken aback.

"Err, yes, well done Miss Weasley. Now, I want you all to get into groups of four, and take one each. Your job will be to tend to the fires and make sure your Salamander stays alive for the entire lesson. We have no pepper, so we are reliant on the flames alone. 5 points to everyone in each group who manages to do so"

Demelza, Amy, Magda and I all got together around one of them.

"When did you two become such know it alls?" Amy asked, pointing at Demelza and I

"Salamanders are interesting" Demelza improvised

"Besides, it's not like taking after Hermione is a bad thing right?" I said.

There was a short silence, before we all collapsed into giggles at my ironic statement.

"Honestly that was such a stupid fight wasn't it?" I said to Amy

"You could say that again" Demelza said

"Honestly, that was such a stupid fight wasn't it?" I repeated, now looking directly at Demelza, who rolled her eyes as I giggled again.

"In all seriousness, I don't know what either of us were thinking, especially as it now seems like you could have been right all along Amy"

"Look, guys, the important thing is that we're all back together and we've learned from it" Demelza said, "now, let's get started on this fire"

We spent the rest of the lesson collecting dry wood and leaves to keep the fires burning, and we soon noticed that the more we added to the fire, the more energetic and excited they would get. Eventually, most of us had them climbing up and down our bodies and riding around on our shoulders affectionately, which we found pretty cute, and it also warmed us up considerably in the single digit air temperatures.

"Can you buy these as pets Professor?" Magda asked as our salamander crawled up her right arm.

"If you want your house to be blisteringly hot in the summer" she said

That dampened our spirits a little, but it was nonetheless still a very effective and fun lesson.

"That was good wasn't it?" Demelza said as we entered the castle for lunch.

"Yeah, they were adorable, I hope Hagrid learns to teach lessons like that eventually" Magda said

"What lessons?" said Hermione, joining us from the marble staircase alongside Harry and Ron.

"Salamanders"

"Oh those are wonderful, that was one of the best lessons we had last year. Hagrid taught us though, so he is capable of it"

"Have you had Grubbly Plank yet?" I asked as we sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah, she did unicorns with us" Harry said

"I can't lie, she felt like a better teacher than Hagrid" said Hermione "but of course I want him back!" she added, seeing the looks on our faces.

"We discussed this yesterday mate" Harry warned her.

"What's this about Salamanders?" Fred said, arriving with George from DADA.

"We've used their blood in some of our stuff, super useful" George said. He dropped his voice to a whisper, then added "anyway, have you heard back from the Ministry?"

Amy showed him the letter.

"Ah, great, Amelia Bones. If little Susan is anything to go by, we should get him convicted no problem" said Fred

"Oi, she's the same age as me" Ron said

"And you're our little brother"

"What am I then?" I asked

"You're our sister"

We all laughed and Ron scowled.