How the Other Half Lives

"Oh, thank God!"

"What could you possibly have to thank God, or anyone else, for? We're awake at the crack of dawn!"

"It's hardly the crack of dawn, Connie. And you might be a bit more bright eyed and bushy tailed if you had woken up early enough to take a shower," Mack smirked at her as he slid into the seat next to her in the Great Hall.

"Never mind that," Connie glared at him. "What is Mariah thanking God for?"

Mariah smacked a fresh page of parchment down in front of them. It was the seventh year schedule for the Ravenclaw students. Mack leaned down and read it.

"I don't see anything to be thankful for. We have Potions with the Slytherins for the seventh year in a row!"

"Not that," Mariah pointed to another listing on the schedule. "We have Defense Against the Dark Arts first."

"So?" Connie asked. "It's not like we have a cute teacher this year."

"So, I'll get my wand back, or have you forgotten? It was our new Defense teacher who took it." Mariah snatched her schedule back up. "Oh, and if you want your own copies of the schedule, Spencer has them," she pointed down the table to where the prefect was passing pieces of parchment out to the first years.

Lindsay slid into the seat across from Mariah. "You only get your wand back if you've been on best behavior, remember."

"What are you trying to say, Lindsay?"

"Oh, nothing, Miss Everett... I've just heard naughty..."

Mack reached over quickly and clamped his hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her as he nodded his head in the direction he was looking. The three girls whirled around to see.

Quincy Franklin stood at the front of the Great Hall not ten feet away from where the group of Ravenclaws was sitting. He was talking agitatedly with Professor Snape.

"It's just not fair, Professor, you have to do something," Quincy whined. "I'm Head Boy, I can't function without my wand, and I don't have Defense Against the Dark Arts until Wednesday!"

Mariah snorted with laughter, but quickly quieted as Quincy and Snape turned to glare at her.

"Which student was it you had the problem with?"

"Other than Everett there?" Quincy pointed across the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table. "That little blonde."

"Rachel?" Professor Snape hissed. "You're lucky it was Professor Figg who caught you, then. I should think your punishment would have been far worse otherwise."

Professor Snape turned quickly away and strode to his seat at the head table. Quincy watched his head of house leave in shock as the Ravenclaws who had heard the conversation burst into laughter.

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"Oh no," Tomas Sebastian moaned as he looked down at his schedule. "No flying lessons until Friday." Cowyn grabbed for his own schedule and stared at it in disbelief.

Lillah Rothschild grinned at them, "I wouldn't think you two would need lessons, the way you've been boasting."

"We don't need lessons, thank you very much," Cowyn retorted. "Except that lessons are the only time we'll get to fly, being first years and all."

"Flying?" Jacklynn Fitzpatrick whispered nervously.

Cowyn grinned, practically bouncing with excitement as he spoke, "Oh, it's just the best, Jack, you'll love it."

Jacklynn didn't look so sure that she would. "I don't suppose you mean flying in airplanes?" The other students looked at her as if she were speaking another language. "I guess not... do we have to do it?"

"You mean you don't want to?"

"But it's amazing!"

"What's amazing?" Davis Poole asked as he sat down next to Jacklynn. "Something on our schedules?"

Lillah handed him a copy of the schedule, "No, those pretty much suck. Potions this afternoon, but at least it's with Gryffindor. And no flying until Friday."

"Forget about that, when's Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Davis reached directly for the nearest plate of food and dumped a pile onto his plate.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts..." Lillah ran her finger down her schedule until she found the class. "Ah ha, here we go, first class is Wednesday morning."

Jacklynn looked up from a banana she was delicately slicing into pieces. "What exactly is Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Just what it sounds like," Davis answered through a mouthful of eggs. "We learn how to fight Death Eaters!"

Jacklynn looked even more confused, so Lillah elaborated on this explanation, "Really we just learn about how to defend ourselves against dark spells, curses, wizards, creatures... anything bad, really."

"And Death Eaters are bad?"

The three boys busied themselves with their eating, leaving Lillah to continue the explanation. "Death Eaters are the followers of a very dark wizard who just came back to power last year. He killed a boy who was a student here."

"What's his name? This dark wizard, I mean?"

"We don't say it," Tomas whispered. "Just call him You-Know-Who."

Jacklynn laughed, but stopped when she saw that it wasn't a joke. "You're serious?" They all nodded. "It just seems like, well, like something out of a Spielberg film, I guess."

"A what?" Lillah wrinkled her nose in confusion.

"You mean you guys don't watch films?" Jacklynn asked incredulously. "Do you even know what a film is? Oh dear, where do I start..." she began to explain, finally finding a topic she knew more about than her new housemates did.

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"It's our lucky year!" Mandy Brocklehurst grinned as she looked over her new schedule.

"Why is that?" Terry Boot asked as he and Padma Patil sat down across from her.

"See for yourselves," Mandy responded as Spencer Cunningham came over and handed schedules to the two new arrivals. "Just a hint, though, look at herbology."

Terry and Padma both scanned over their schedules quickly, but Terry caught on first, "We've got herbology with Gryffindor this year!"

"But if that's true," Padma looked over the rest of her schedule, "and nothing else's changed, then..."

"We've got nothing with Slytherin!" all three students exclaimed.

"Did I hear the magic words?" Lisa Turpin sat down next to Mandy at the table. "Nothing with Slytherin this year? Oh I knew this would be the best year ever. I knew that old spook Trelawny was crazy!"

Padma grinned, "Why, what did she say?"

"Just that I was in for the worst years of my life." Lisa grinned. "Her crystal ball said so."

"What a fraud," Padma laughed. "According to Parvati, who worships her, of course, she predicts Harry Potter's death all the time."

Terry laughed as Stephen Cornfoot, a skinny boy who looked just like the stereotypical nerd, sat down beside him. "That might just be over-enthusiasm, you know."

"That's true," Mandy added. "He does seem to come close every year, doesn't he?"

"We're talking about Potter?" Stephen confirmed. "Well, first year there was the thing with Professor Quirrell and You-Know-Who, then second year there was whatever happened with You-Know-Who in the Chamber of Secrets, and last year there was... well, you guys all remember last year..."

Terry nodded, "And then third year was the whole bit with Sirius Black. Potter really should've been a goner then."

"Don't talk about what you don't know," Padma warned.

"What is it with you, Padma? Always coming to Black's defense..." Mandy wondered. "Some might think you had a crush on the man."

"Does the Azkaban escapee look do it for you, Padma?" Lisa teased.

Padma stood up, grabbed her book bag, and glared at her friends. "I said don't talk about what you don't know about. Now come on, if you don't mind, we have Transfiguration to get to. I for one don't want to be late on the first day of classes."

To be continued...