The Dragon Tamed

Chapter 3.

The next morning Thea managed to drag herself out of bed and down to breakfast in relatively good time. She scowled at Ginny, still blissfully asleep in her bed as she walked out of the dorm.

As Thea entered the Great Hall she saw Hermione and Harry sitting at the Gryffindor table. Hermione, naturally, had a book in front of her.

As she sat down Harry looked at her. 'What are you doing up so early?' he asked.

Thea smiled. 'I have History of Magic this morning,' she told him.

Harry nodded wisely. 'I see. So your favourite subject is now being taught by someone who isn't going to bore you to death, meaning you get up in time to actually have breakfast before class.'

Thea just rolled her eyes as she reached for the milk to pour on her cereal. 'So what are you two doing up? You don't have class just yet, do you?'

'Well I have Elemental Magic at ten and Hermione has Ancient Runes after break.'

'I'll ask again, what are you doing up?'

Hermione looked up from her book. 'It's our NEWT year. I thought Harry would want to study particularly hard this year. So, I've got him out of bed to go to the library this morning. Elemental Magic is one you have to work extremely hard at.'

Harry shrugged at Thea as if to say he just could not be bothered to argue with her over it.

As Hermione returned to her book, Thea turned to Harry. 'Ron?' she enquired in a low voice. It was rare to see Harry without Ron.

Harry sniggered into his breakfast. 'Pretending to still be asleep.' He glanced quickly at Hermione and rolled his eyes suggestively.

Thea resisted the urge to laugh out loud. 'They aren't going to avoid each other now, are they?'

'Don't think so. I guess it'll all be back to normal in the next couple of days.' He smiled at Thea. 'You know as much as I dislike Malfoy, yesterday was quite...well, I can't say amusing, but you know what I mean.'

Thea grinned at him. 'I know what you mean. Me and Benji found it pretty funny too. Oh, I forgot to say yesterday, but thank you for standing up for me. You didn't have to.'

'Not a problem,' said Harry. 'Malfoy has to learn that he can't treat people like that.'

'Chance would be a fine thing,' muttered Thea as she looked around the hall. 'Where are all the other sixth years?' she asked, suddenly realising that there weren't any others sitting at the tables.

'Still in bed,' answered Hermione, frowning.

'But surely some of them have History as well.'

Both Harry and Hermione swapped a look.

Looking between them, Thea asked, 'What?'

'You don't know?' asked Hermione.

'Know what?' asked Thea, fear gnawing at her.

'I don't think she knows, Hermione,' said Harry.

'What?' insisted Thea.

'You're the only sixth year doing History of Magic this year.'

'You mean I'm the only Gryffindor doing it, surely.' She did not like the way this conversation was going, not at all.

Hermione shook her head. 'I mean there are no other sixth years doing it.'

'Not at all?' asked Thea, her eyes widening and she took in the full implications of the statement. 'Does that mean I am the only one in the tutorial with Malfoy?' she questioned, horrified at the prospect.

Hermione nodded while Harry looked on sympathetically.

'But he'll kill me,' she moaned as she buried her face in her hands. If the tutorial wasn't a perfect opportunity to kill her, then she didn't know what was. She was going to have to spend at least two hours a week alone with Malfoy.

'You don't think killing you when he'll have no alibi and be the prime suspect might be a bit too, well, obvious?' asked Harry, reassuringly.

'Well, he is Malfoy, isn't he?'

'Still, I don't think he's stupid, Thea,' Harry told her.

'Maybe not,' she grudgingly agreed. 'So, how big is the class then, if there are no other sixth years or Gryffindors?'

'Apart from Malfoy, there are a few Ravenclaw boys. Anthony Goldstein is one,' Hermione told her.

'That's it?' asked Thea. 'Malfoy and a few Ravenclaws. I'm totally doomed.'

'Thea, you're forgetting the most important Gryffindor in that class,' Harry told her.

'Who?' Thea asked. If there were no Gryffindor students in the class, who else was there?

'Sirius.' Harry grinned at her as he said it.

Thea felt an accompanying grin grace her face. How could she have forgotten? Sirius was going to be there. He would keep Malfoy in check. However she still wanted to get back into bed and cry. Even if she survived the class, she still had the tutorial to get through.

Hermione ended up accompanying her to the History classroom; she did not trust Thea to not escape back to her dorm and safety. To be honest Thea wished she could do that, but all it would do is stave off the inevitable. Eventually she would have to enter the class and face Malfoy. She might as well do it now, instead of waiting and probably stressing herself out completely. Plus, she didn't want Malfoy to think she was afraid of him.

'I'm going to wait out here until Sirius arrives, Thea. No sneaking off,' Hermione said as she opened the door to the classroom.

'I'm not Ron, Hermione. I'm not going to skip class. I'm not going to let any of this get in the way of class or my NEWTs.' Hermione looked rather sceptical but she did not say anything as Thea walked through the door.

She walked over to an empty desk just behind the Ravenclaws who were already there. She groaned and threw her stuff onto a desk before throwing herself into the chair. Apparently she had made a lot of noise because the Ravenclaws all turned to glare at her. They all had textbooks out in front of them and had obviously been reading them before she had walked in. She glared back at them, meeting them gaze for gaze. Normally she would not have been that insolent to older students but she was not in the mood to be meek, or to be particularly friendly. Nothing like the impending gloom of being stuck in a classroom with Malfoy, and probably a vengeful one at that, to get her pissed off, and slightly afraid. As the Ravenclaws all turned back around to wait for Sirius to arrive she heard someone chuckle under their breath as they approached the desk next to her. It was so quiet she had almost missed it.

'You're not good at making friends, are you, Maggi?' asked Malfoy as he sat down next to her. 'First you insult me, then you try to intimidate the Ravenclaws, whatever next?'

Thea glared at him as he smirked at her. Surely she hadn't just heard him chuckle, had she? Never in all her years at Hogwarts had she ever heard of Malfoy chuckling. 'What do you want Malfoy?' she demanded.

He spread his hands in an innocent gesture that looked anything but innocent on Malfoy. 'Nothing at all. What makes you think I want anything from you?' His voice went from slightly mocking, to down right unpleasant by the end of the sentence.

'Yesterday,' she said succinctly. No point beating around the bush.

'Ah,' he said, slowly nodding his head. 'I am going to get you back for that, you know,' he told her conversationally.

She nodded. 'I know. But when?' She could not believe she was asking him when he was going to hex her dead but hey, it was worth a go. You never knew when you were going to get lucky, and have an enemy give you a time, date and preferably planned method of death. For some reason though, she didn't think Malfoy was quite that stupid. He was a Slytherin after all, and he would prize his advantage.

Malfoy smirked at her. 'Getting nervous, are we?'

She raised an eyebrow and looked defiantly back at him but didn't bother to actually deny it, she was a terrible liar and she knew it. If Ginny could see through her then Malfoy certainly would be able to.

Just as Malfoy opened his mouth, Sirius walked into the classroom and everyone became very still and silent. As he made his way through the empty desks, he said, 'Now I'm sure you're all rather distressed about the loss of Professor Binns; I remember how fascinating I found all of his classes.'

At this declaration one of the Ravenclaws exclaimed, 'You can't be serious.'

Thea closed her eyes, praying Sirius wasn't going to give his usual respond. He over did that "joke" way too much. Thankfully Sirius laughed as he turned to face the class.

'Actually I was forever copying Professor Lupin's notes,' he admitted ruefully.

Thea laughed as the Ravenclaws smiled politely, obviously not quite sure how to receive Sirius, and Malfoy rolled his eyes.

'I dunno, Professor, perhaps we might manage to stay awake for longer than five minutes with you teaching,' said Anthony Goldstein, smiling.

'Well, I won't be falling asleep in the same room as a deranged killer,' muttered Malfoy, just loud enough for everyone, including Sirius, to hear.

The Ravenclaws all gasped, whether it was at the audacity of Malfoy or the reminder of what their teacher had been accused of, Thea didn't know.

The smile that had been hovering around Sirius' mouth disappeared immediately and he turned his stare on Malfoy, who unconcernedly played with his quill.

'Oh, for crying out loud, Malfoy,' snapped Thea, turning to glare at him.

He looked at her in mild shock and raised an eyebrow enquiringly.

'You know as well as anyone that he was cleared of all those stupid charges, so you can stop it with the malicious comments.' She stopped suddenly as she realised who it was that she was snapping at. Malfoy already had one reason to want to kill her; she really should not be giving him another one. But so what, if he was going to insult Sirius she certainly wasn't going to let him get away with it. He was just lucky none of the others were there.

As Malfoy started to respond, Sirius cut in. 'Malfoy, shut it,' he growled. He looked at Thea. 'Thank you for that vehement defence.' He gave her a slight smile before turning back to look at Malfoy, who still looked a little stunned that a teacher could, or would, speak to him in such a manner. 'Malfoy, believe what you want to believe, it makes no difference to me. However, I am your teacher, so you will accord me the same kind of respect you lay at the feet of Sniv...Snape. Is that understood?'

For a moment Malfoy looked outraged and seemed to be on the verge of talking back to Sirius, but at the last moment he seemed to think better of it. Instead he just gave a terse nod.

Sirius carried on. 'Finally, if you, or anyone, has a problem with my appointment, go and see Dumbledore about it. Though, I doubt he'll do anything about it except offer you a cup of tea, listen politely as you complain and then dismiss you. Now to class.'

The next hour and a half was spent vigorously taking hundreds of notes, but Thea found that for the first time she found the class fun and interesting and not just easy. It was very much a new experience for her and judging from the reactions of her classmates they thought the same. Malfoy kept quiet for the whole class but in-between taking notes he alternated between glaring at Sirius and Thea.

At the end of the lesson she packed her things away quickly and walked out, so that Malfoy would not have the opportunity to talk to her again. It was far too unnerving. She walked out of the classroom and found Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Colin and Benji all waiting outside for Sirius. Accompanying them was Remus, who smiled as he watched Sirius walk out of the classroom. As Sirius joined them he said, 'How about going to Moony's room for tea and chocolate so you can all hear about my lesson?'

Thea smiled as she looked at Remus. He was shaking his head in resignation. As Sirius looked at him, Remus looked at him pointedly.

'If it's OK with Moony, of course,' he added, somewhat sheepishly.

'That's fine, Padfoot. I don't have a class until before lunch. Although the same can't necessarily be said of the children.'

'Sorry, no can do,' said Harry regretfully. 'I've got Elemental Magic now. Just stopped by to say hi really. How did it go?'

'I bet it was brilliant,' said Ron. 'This is the first time I've ever regretted not doing History.'

'I thought it went well, but ask Thea, she was there.'

'Are you joining us or not, Potter?' Thea heard Malfoy call impatiently.

Harry rolled his eyes at them while he waved Malfoy quiet. 'Well?' he asked her, 'How was the lesson?'

Ron glowered at Malfoy but did not say anything. He did not like it that only Harry, Malfoy and a couple of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had Elemental Magic together. However, Harry and Malfoy seemed to have developed a kind of truce while in class. Said truce though, did not seem to extend to any of their other classes or personal time. Having said that, there had seemed to have been fewer clashes between the two of them the previous year.

Thea smiled. 'It was great. I didn't fall asleep once.'

'Thea, you've never fallen asleep in History of Magic,' Colin pointed out to her.

Thea shrugged. 'That's so not the point,' she told him.

'You'd best go, Harry,' Remus told him. 'You don't want to be late.'

Thea was watching Malfoy out of the corner of her eye when Harry gave Sirius a brief hug before he walked over to Malfoy, to walk to their class. Malfoy was watching Sirius very closely, she noticed. She wondered why but did not have time to ponder it.

'I'm afraid we have to beg out of tea and chocolate too,' said Ginny gloomily, indicating to the four of them.

'Yep, we have Charms now,' said Benji.

'You're all useless,' Sirius told them good-naturally. He looked at Ron, Hermione and Neville expectantly.

'Don't worry, Sirius,' Ron grinned, 'we won't let you down.'

'Of course you know he only wants food, right?' said Neville.

'Neville!' said Ron, sounding scandalised.

Ginny and Thea laughed as they went off to their Charms class with Colin and Benji.

As they entered Ginny waved hello to Luna who motioned for her to come over. 'Ill join you in a moment,' she told them.

As they walked over to their desks Benji turned to Thea. 'So? How was class?'

As they sat down Colin spoke. 'Malfoy didn't turn you into a frog or anything unnatural, obviously.'

Thea rolled her eyes heavenward before scowling at Colin, who smiled wickedly at her before laughing. Thea just kept staring at him.

Benji just tried to ignore what was going on between them by unpacking his bag. Quickly it all got too much for him. 'Remember she still has the tutorial with him on Friday.'

Thea ignored Benji's grin. 'Exactly. Just because I survived the lesson does not mean I'll live past Friday. You know I'm the only one who is going to be there, right?'

'Yeah, Hermione told us on the way down.'

'Harry said you didn't take the news so well,' said Colin as Flitwick walked into the room.

Thea just looked at him. 'Would you?'

Her friends all shrugged their agreement before turning their attention to Flitwick's explanation of the Dazzling Charm that they would be practising in next week's class. Now that they were doing their NEWTs everything just got more complicated and Flitwick wanted to make sure everyone understood the theory before they practised.

As Flitwick went around the room, explaining queries about the theory or helping students with their wand movements, Thea whispered, 'Class was fun though.'

'Of course it was, Sirius was there,' said Ginny, as she began copying down the instructions on the board.

'It was more what he said to Malfoy that I found fun.'

All three of them turned to her, their Charms books totally forgotten.

'What did Sirius say to Malfoy?' asked Ginny gleefully.

'He told him to "shut it," quote, unquote.' She laughed. 'The look on his face was priceless.'

'I bet it was,' said Colin. 'Why did Professor Black say it?'

'Who?' asked Ginny blankly.

Thea laughed. 'He means Sirius, you ninny. How many students do you think will think of Sirius as, well, Sirius? He's Professor Black to most of them.'

Ginny thought about it before grinning widely. 'Oh that's priceless. Sirius, a Professor. I never thought about it like that.'

'Obviously,' Colin remarked dryly.

'Next time I see him, I am so calling him Professor Black. See what he does.'

'Anyway, Malfoy called Sirius a deranged murderer,' said Thea, bringing the conversation back to where it had been.

'He what?' interrupted Ginny indignantly, her good humour evaporating. 'No wonder Sirius had a go at him.'

'No, that's not it,' Thea told her impatiently. 'I had a go at him for that one. No, Sirius told him to shut up when Malfoy was about to say something to me. Told him he didn't care what he thought, but if he had any problems to go see Dumbledore. Though he also pointed out that Dumbledore would probably give him a cup of tea and then tell him to go away.'

Ginny grinned. 'He would as well. I can just see it.'

'Do you think Malfoy's dad could do anything?' asked Benji.

'Like what?' asked Ginny. 'He's a fugitive. It's not like he could come up to the school, is it?'

'I dunno,' said Benji vaguely.

'Could he attack Black?' asked Colin. 'You know, out of school, or something?'

'He could try,' said Ginny scornfully. 'Doubt he'd get very far though.'

'What makes you say that?' asked Colin.

Ginny looked around her to make sure no one was listening to them. Everyone was busy and not paying them any attention. Ginny turned back to them. 'Look, I can't tell you much, or at least not here. But don't you think it's rather interesting that Dumbledore brings Remus and Sirius here after a summer of increased violence. I think he brought them here to protect the school, and specifically Harry.'

Benji looked at her blankly. 'Why does he need to protect the school?'

Thea hit him lightly on the arm. 'Dolt. Why do you think? Hogwarts is a target for...well...you know. Dumbledore and Harry are both here. This is also said to be the safest place to be when everything goes bang. He probably thinks that if he can make Hogwarts fall, then the rest of the wizarding world won't be too far behind.'

'That would do it,' agreed Colin. 'If Dumbledore and Harry can't stop the bastard, who can?'

'So, he brings in Sirius and Remus...to do what?' asked Benji, still clearly confused.

'Added protection. They both know the kind of things to look out for, plus, when the shit hits the fan, they can take out Death Eaters left, right and centre,' Ginny told him.

'Don't you think it's a bit...risky, talking about this in a Charms lesson?' asked Colin, looking around again.

'Yeah, but it's not like we have discussed anything that couldn't have been guessed. He probably knew why Sirius and Remus were being hired before they did,' said Ginny.

'Hey, wait a minute,' exclaimed Benji rather loudly.

Several heads turned to glare at Benji as they had been concentrating on either reading their textbooks or perfecting their wand movements. Benji waved an apology at both the class and Flitwick as Thea, Ginny and Colin glared at him.

'What is it, Ben?' asked Colin, when he realised that Thea and Ginny were not quite done glaring.

'We're right in the firing line, aren't we, in this war against...'

'Have you only just realised that?' asked Thea as she leafed through her textbook, looking for page 21. Somehow her books always seemed to open near the back.

'Haven't really thought about it before,' said Benji defensively. 'I mean, I know there is a war on but I always considered us safe here, you know?'

'Yeah, I know,' agreed Colin. 'And we're Muggles, there is only so much you can hear over the summer, so you forget that horrible things could be happening.'

'I always forget that you are all Muggle-born, stupid as it sounds. I always assume that you all read the Daily Prophet and have some idea as to what is going on,' said Ginny. 'Doesn't help that Thea spent most of the summer with us.'

'Dunno if I want to know more or less,' admitted Benji.

'At least if we know more, we'll be better prepared,' Colin pointed out, swishing his wand according to the pattern in the book

'Yeah, but what can we do?' asked Benji.

'Look at all the things that Harry, Ron and Hermione have done since they were eleven,' Ginny told them. 'It's not impossible and anyway, someone needs to keep an eye on the three of them to make sure they don't get themselves into too much trouble.'

Colin narrowed his eyes and looked at her suspiciously. 'What do you mean by that?' he asked.

Thea and Ginny swapped looks. There was no way Colin or Benji would leave it be, might as well confess all.

'Well,' Thea began. 'The thing is, while I was at the Burrow we heard the Dream Team talking and got a bit curious.'

'So we started to, well I hesitate to use the word spying, but, well...spying on them to see what they were up to.' Ginny looked around before continuing quietly. 'We didn't get much but we did hear some very interesting stuff. We can't tell you any of it now but maybe later tonight we can talk. Anyway it was enough to get us worried.'

'Worried about what?' asked Benji, as he dropped his wand onto the table in frustration. 'I just can't seem to get this twirl right. It's stupid and complicated, and really when is it ever going to be of use?'

'Yeah, but a Dazzling Charm could be really useful when facing a horde of Death Eaters,' Ginny told him.

'Why, what would it do to them?' asked Benji, grumpily.

'Dazzle them?' suggested Thea, shrugging. Ask a silly question and all that.

Ginny glared at her. 'Ben, were you not listening to anything Flitwick has said today? It would be like getting a torch shone in your eyes at night. You know how all you can see is the light and it flashes in your eyes for a while? Well, it would be like that, only it doesn't matter if you do it at night or in the day. Result is the same. It would help you get away from anyone trying to catch, or kill you.'

'Well, when you put it like that, I guess it makes sense,' said Benji, grudgingly.

'Well of course it does,' said Ginny. 'Oh, and I'm worried about the life expectancy of the Dream Team,' she added as an afterthought.

'But why?' asked Colin.

'Ron's my brother and Harry is an honorary Weasley. I don't want them to get hurt. Even with Hermione around they have this ability to get into trouble,' she told them, sketching the wand movements.

'That wasn't quite how I meant it, Gin, but never mind,' said Colin pained.

'And that's never going to change, you know that,' Benji told her.

'We don't expect it to,' Thea told him. 'However, maybe if we're around we could help them and stop too many bad things from happening.'

Colin looked at them both doubtfully. 'You really think it will help.'

'We have to try,' Ginny told him firmly.

'Fair enough,' Benji said, swapping a look with Colin. 'So, what do we do then?'

'Huh?' Ginny asked him, putting down her quill.

'Hey! You two didn't think we were just going to sit back and watch you both put yourselves in danger, did you?' demanded Colin.

'We're in this together,' agreed Benji. 'As if we'd let you do this alone.'

Thea and Ginny smiled at them.

'You two are, by far, the best friends a girl could hope for,' Ginny told them. 'If we wouldn't get told off I'd give you a huge hug.'

---------

After break Thea, Ginny and Benji made their way to the library as Colin went off to Ancient Runes.

Ginny and Benji spent most of their time bemoaning the amount of work they already had, the tutorials and sixth year in general.

Thea, though, couldn't bring herself to join in. She was reading one of her textbooks for her next class, Elemental Magic. This was the class that Thea had been quietly looking forward to this year.

She had become interested in the subject in her fifth year when she had spotted Harry sitting on the sofa, reading. Since it wasn't Quidditch Through the Ages, Thea had been rather curious as to what it was about. It had to have been good; he hadn't even heard her when she had called his name. When she asked him, he'd told her that it was all about Elemental Magic. Thinking that it had to be interesting if Harry would spend his time reading about it, Thea had nicked, or borrowed, the book when Harry had put it down and he'd had one hell of a time getting it back off her.

That summer, when she'd been choosing what subjects she was going to be doing for her NEWTs, Elemental Magic had been the first one she had ticked off. Ginny had also been a little envious that she had been given the opportunity to do it. She had then spent much of the summer after her trip with the Weasley's to Diagon Alley, reading books about it.

The class itself was by invitation only. Only a few students each year were asked if they wanted to take the class and you didn't know if you had that option until you got your NEWT selection form. The professor of the class was the one who decided, Dumbledore didn't have a say. Just quite how he decided was something Thea didn't really know. However, from her reading she guessed he could tell when people had an affinity to Elemental magic. It was a bit like how Trelawney saw auras around students, but a lot less kooky.

Thea was brought out of her daydreaming by someone punching her on the shoulder. She shook her head to clear her mind. 'What?' she demanded.

'Where were you?' asked Ginny. 'I've been calling your name for the last few minutes.'

'Sorry,' Thea told her. 'I was just thinking about my next class.'

'What is it?' asked Benji as he poured over an Arithmancy book.

Ginny rolled her eyes. 'Elemental Magic, what else?'

Benji looked up from his book. 'You got into that, huh?'

Thea grinned and nodded at him.

'You have to be asked to join the class, don't you?'

Ginny nodded. 'And not even Dumbledore gets to say who is, or isn't in the class.'

Benji frowned. 'How come?'

Thea leaned forward. As excited as she was about her Elemental class, she didn't really know much about it, what she had read not withstanding.

'Well, for starters, the Professor who teaches it, is a bit, well, weird. And weirder than is normal for wizards, I mean. However, he is the best Elementalist around. No-one better.'

'Only a few students are allowed in his class each year,' Thea said.

'Yep,' agreed Ginny. 'Normally no more than three or four.' Ginny grinned at Thea. 'But whatever you do, don't get thrown out!'

Thea looked up from her book, alarmed. 'What?'

Harry told me that Morag had also been in the class to begin with, but the Professor didn't like her, so he chucked her out on her ear.' Ginny frowned. 'And by the way he said it, I think he meant literally.'

'So, does this Professor even have a name?' asked Benji sarcastically.

'Uh, yeah. It's Othniel Algaron. Or Professor Algaron.'

'That's bit of a weird name,' commented Benji.

'Oh, just you wait till you meet him. He doesn't look much, but by golly he's a nutter,' Ginny told them. 'Before all the stuff with You-Know-Who and Harry, he was always in the Prophet for doing something or other.'

'What for?' asked Thea, curious about her new teacher.

Ginny shrugged. 'I'm too young to remember. I can only remember mum pursing her lips in disapproval whenever he was mentioned. You know, a bit like she does with Fred and George. I think that's how she got so good at it.'

Thea and Benji laughed.

I could always write to Bill or Charlie. Or maybe Fred and George. They'll remember some of his more fantastical antics. I'll see if I can get them to tell us.'

'I've never seen him around school,' said Benji, frowning as if he were mentally going through every person he'd ever seen in Hogwarts.

'You probably just didn't see him,' Ginny told him.

'Huh?'

'He's just good at blending in, I guess,' said Ginny Shrugging. 'Harry says he's always around.'

'The man sounds strange,' decided Benji.

'Because that never happens in this school,' agreed Ginny solemnly. 'Everyone here is just so normal.'

Thea looked at her watch as Benji swatted at Ginny. 'Well, it looks like I'm about to find out as class starts in ten minutes. I'd better not be late.' She pushed her book into her bag and pulled it over her shoulder. 'I'll see you guys at lunch, then,' she told the others before walking off to find her new classroom.

-------

Thea walked away from the library and towards the North Tower. She knew that her class was around there, somewhere. She finally spotted a couple of sixth years she knew walking into a room she had never noticed before. She hurried up to the door and walked in, looking around to see who else she knew there.

There were only five other girls in the room, all of whom she recognised to varying degrees. She was also kind of relieved to see that Luna Lovegood wasn't in the class. That girl was weird enough for it and Thea had thought Luna would definitely be part of the class. Thank god she had been wrong.

Instead she saw her friends Alicia Hawthorne from Ravenclaw and Abi Murphy from Hufflepuff. Standing with Abi was another girl Thea vaguely recognised as Lauren something or other, who was a Prefect. To her disgust she also recognised a couple of Slytherins, Salmissra Trellis and Myra Flint, neither of whom were very pleasant.

Thea then took her time to look around the room and did a double take before realising he had been right the first time. There was nothing in it. It looked empty, indeed there were none of the usual things you expected to see in a classroom: no desks, chairs, bookcases, blackboard, nothing. The room itself seemed relatively normal, just like any other classroom and whenever Thea looked directly at the walls they were grey but out of the corner of her eye she could see an array of colour. It looked as if every colour of the spectrum was there, and then some. Also, every now and again a little ripple ran around the walls, like a wave of magic, it seemed to Thea.

'Weird, huh?' called Abi, waving her over. 'I've seen many things in these walls but a classroom with no classroom stuff in it, is just strange.'

Thea nodded distractedly and made her way over to her friend. Alicia joined them as well.

'I think strange is a gross understatement.' Alicia told her. 'Bizarre would be closer to the mark. Or anomalous. Or perhaps capricious.'

'English please, Alicia. You've got to be kind to us poor mortals,' said Thea wincing at the long words.

'Yeah, what did that all mean, Alicia?' asked Abi.

Alicia laughed. 'Basically they all mean strange or weird.'

'But that's what Abi said,' exclaimed Thea.

Alicia grinned. 'I know. I just wanted to annoy you,' admitted Alicia unrepentantly.

'You couldn't have just said "strange"?' demanded Abi.

'I'm a Ravenclaw. I'm supposed to know big words that confuse you,' Alicia reminded her.

Thea rolled her eyes.

'Shall we sit down?' asked Abi. 'I'm getting tired of standing up.'

Alicia looked round her in confusion. 'But where? There are no chairs.'

'On the floor,' suggested Abi. 'Not too bright for a Ravenclaw, are you?' she teased.

'But...' Alicia started to protest but Thea pulled her down.

'Do you really want Abi to start teasing you about you pureblood fussiness this early into the term?' she asked.

'I see your point,' conceded Alicia, arranging her robes neatly.

'Right then, you lot,' said Abi brightly. 'I dunno if you all know each other so I'm going to do introductions. This here is Lauren and these here are Thea and Alicia. Both mad as hatters, so don't worry.'

'Hi,' said Lauren before turning to Abi. 'Mad as hatters,' she questioned.

Abi threw Thea a long-suffering look. 'I hate it when our pureblood friends have no idea what we are talking about, don't you? How can you not know Alice in Wonderland? Surely there are a few things that purebloods should just have to know.'

Thea laughed, sympathising with Abi. 'I know what you mean. I've got Ginny pretty well trained by now. Every once in a while I throw one out that knocks her a bit. I guess it helps that she took Muggle Studies though.'

Abi turned and mock hit Lauren on the arm. 'See? I told you to take Muggle Studies, but would you? No!'

'Well I'm sorry. But honestly how long do you think it would take me to learn the significance of even half of what you say? And anyway, you're a half-blood. You could speak so I understand you, but I think you enjoy making me go, "huh?"'

'Well, yeah. And your point is?' Abi told her.

As Lauren opened her mouth to respond, Alicia jumped in. 'So, who has everyone got for their tutorials?' she asked brightly.

'Nice save,' muttered Thea to Alicia.

Lauren pulled a face. 'I can't believe they are really making us do them. Like we haven't enough to be getting on with.'

'I know,' agreed Abi. 'We suddenly have so much more work this year. We're seriously going to have no lives this year. Although, having said that, my groups aren't so bad. I've got Ernie for Herbology, Harry Potter for Care of Magical Creatures and Justin for Astronomy.'

'Yeah? Well I got Zabini for Astronomy, so I'm not so happy,' said Lauren, scowling.

'So has Benji,' Thea told her.

Lauren brightened. 'Really? That might not be so bad then. I've also got Terry Boot for Care of Magical Creatures. I never knew he was so good at that. Oh, but guess who I've got for Ancient Runes?' She scrunched up her face in disgust as she asked.

Thea could think of only one person who could elicit such a response from someone. 'Malfoy?'

Lauren looked surprised. 'How did you guess?'

'I know the feeling,' she told Lauren. 'So Alicia, what about you?'

'Oh, I've got Hermione for Ancient Runes, which should be fun.'

Thea exchanged glances with Abi and Lauren. Alicia wasn't joking. She really thought that two hours with Hermione, talking about Ancient Runes, was a fun way to spend your time.

'Oh, stop it you two. And you're one to talk, Thea. You're the only sixth year still doing History of Magic,' said Alicia pointedly.

'She has an excellent point, Thea,' Abi told her seriously.

'OK, you win,' said Thea, laughing. 'What else have you got?'

'Ummmm, Transfiguration and Care for Magical Creatures are with Harry Potter. Padma for Muggle Studies and, unfortunately, Malfoy for Arithmancy.' She scowled and looked at Lauren. 'I wonder what we did to get saddled with Malfoy. I'm not going to learn a thing this year.'

Thea laughed. They thought they had it bad. Just wait until they heard about her tutorials.

'Why are you laughing? Do you think it's funny having Malfoy? Who have you got? Harry? Hermione?' demanded Alicia.

Thea stopped laughing. 'Malfoy,' she told them.

'Pardon?' asked Lauren.

'I have Malfoy,' Thea repeated.

'Oh, OK. And who else?' asked Alicia.

'That's it. Only Malfoy.'

'Oh God. You poor thing,' exclaimed Abi. 'How many tutorials is that?'

'Three,' she told them.

Alicia, Lauren and Abi all looked at her with comprehending horror. That was the kind of reaction she had expected. Not laughter like Colin.

'Oh Thea. I'm so sorry,' Abi told her.

'Can't you get out of at least one of them?' asked Alicia. 'Perhaps Hermione could...'

Thea shook her head. 'No such luck. I've already asked her.'

Just as Lauren opened her mouth, she was rudely interrupted.

'Don't know what you are complaining about,' said Salmaissra Trellis. The Slytherins had been on the other side of the room but had obviously been listening in.

'The Slytherins can't believe that poor Malfoy is being forced to spend time with you lesser beings. His talents should be put to use within Slytherin. None of you are worthy of his time,' said Flint, sneering at them.

Thea and Abi looked at each other and sniggered. As one they started chanting, 'We're not worthy, we're not worthy,' before laughing.

'You just don't understand the privilege you are getting,' continued Trellis, ignoring Thea and Abi.

'Oh, yeah, we feel real privileged. No doubt about it,' Lauren told them, ever so slightly sarcastically.

'Believe us, we'd all be more than a little delighted if we didn't have to endure Malfoy. The whole school would appreciate it if all you Slytherins retreated to the dungeons and stayed there,' snapped Alicia.

'So would we, believe us. Being told what to do by Scarhead and stupid Hufflepuffs is no fun for us.'

Mentally Thea rolled her eyes. At least Malfoy had discovered new ways of insulting Harry. It seemed the rest of Slytherin hadn't yet been enlightened. However, Thea wasn't going to let the Slytherins get away with it, no matter how pathetic they were. Thea quickly got to her feet. 'Don't you talk about Harry or my friends like that again,' she told them angrily.

'Or you'll what?' sneered Flint.

Thea heard the others stand next to her.

'Do you think you can best all four of us?' asked Alicia.

'Yeah,' scoffed the other girl, but Thea assumed that since they were backing away that wasn't really the case.

'We could put that theory to the test, if you wanted,' said Abi, sounding deceptively calm.

Both girls moved over to the other side of the room.

'I wouldn't worry,' said one. 'You'll appreciate Malfoy's tutorials soon enough.'

'About the time he starts giving you "private" sessions,' said the other, smirking.

Thea looked at them, horrified. 'Ewww! That's disgusting. You're talking about Malfoy. I happen to be a Gryffindor, in case you hadn't noticed. That automatically means I have taste, and that automatically counts Malfoy out. Eww.'

They laughed. 'Tell that to Parvati Patil,' they told her.

Thea turned to her friends. 'What a horrible thought,' she told them, feeling somewhat disgruntled.

Lauren shrugged. 'I dunno. I'd do him.'

'You would?' asked Thea incredulously.

'Yeah. But only if he couldn't speak.'

'He only becomes unattractive once you hear the thoughts in his head,' agreed Abi.

'Or see the superior look in his eye...or notice the arrogant way he carries himself,' added Alicia.

'So you two wouldn't, if you got the chance?' asked Lauren sceptically.

'Oh, in a heartbeat,' Abi told her.

'Wouldn't say no,' admitted Alicia.

Thea looked at them all, her mouth slack in shock. She was obviously surrounded by desperate women, for lack of a better word. She was just too shocked to think of anything better. 'I'm truly speechless, I don't know what to say,' she told them.

'You don't have to think of anything,' Alicia told her.

'Why not?'

She pointed behind Thea. 'Teacher's here.'

Thea twisted herself around quickly, so she could finally discover what the most mysterious teacher in Hogwarts was like.

--------

As Thea walked down to the Great Hall to meet her friends for lunch, she reflected on her first Elemental class. She was, she decided, somewhat disappointed.

As Thea had turned and taken in the appearance of the teacher, she had been startled to realise that, considering the aura of mystery surrounding him, the man standing in the middle of the room was...normal. Or at least, he looked normal. He had been an average-sized man with grey hair and small, rounded glasses that kind of made him look like an owl. Thea didn't know what she had expected, but that most certainly wasn't it.

Once he had had their attention, he had dismissed them. He hadn't even talked about Elemental magic, much to Thea's disappointment. He had said that he had been in the room the entire time, observing them and now he wanted time to consider his observations before their class on Friday, where he would also explain how he had watched them without being seen, and apparently it wasn't anything so simple as an invisibility cloak. He had also said something about informing them of his decision. Thea was pretty sure it was who was going to be thrown out of the class on their ear, in Ginny's words. She just hoped it wasn't her. Be nice if it was Flint or Trellis though, she mused.

Thea scowled as she walked down the corridor. She felt completely wrong footed. She didn't know exactly why she felt like that but she was sure something important had happened in that room but she was at a loss as to explain what. She was also positive that that was exactly what the teacher wanted...well, probably.

She sat down with Ginny, Colin and Benji, relieved to see them already at lunch, since she had been let out a bit early.

'So, how was it?' asked Colin. 'And aren't you out a bit early?'

Thea considered that for a moment. In the end she shrugged. 'I'm not entirely sure, to be honest with you. And yes, we were let out early.'

'You're not sure?' repeated Benji. 'How can you not know how a class went?'

Harry glanced at her from where he sat, talking to Seamus. 'First Elemental class?' he asked her with amusement.

Thea nodded. Maybe she could get some answers from Harry.

Harry grinned. 'Just wait. It becomes even more baffling before it gets better.'

Thea scowled, her mood worsening. Just what she wanted to hear: it got worse. Wonderful. Although, that did seem to be summing up her life at the moment, so it was probably appropriate. 'Thanks, Harry. You've been a real help,' he told him sarcastically.

Harry just laughed at her and turned back to talk to Seamus.

Thea, on the other hand continued brooding about her class. Ginny and the others left her alone. They knew what she was like once in that mood and it was best to leave her to work herself out of it, it rarely took long.

--------

Thea sighed tiredly as she sat down for dinner with her friends. She had spent all afternoon in the library, reading. It had mostly been Dark Arts and thoroughly fascinating, but it had still been tiring.

'You OK, Thea?' asked Colin.

'Just tired, that's all,' she told him. 'I can't wait until this evening. I'm going to collapse on the sofa and not move for hours.'

Benji looked up from his dinner and frowned at her. 'Ummmm, Thea? I think you're forgetting something.'

'You have your Potions tutorial tonight,' Ginny reminded her.

Thea's eyes widened in horror. 'No! Please tell me you are kidding,' she begged them. None of them would look at her so she dug about in her bag until she found her tutorial timetable. She didn't even know when it was and Malfoy would kill her if she was late. She froze with it in her hand as another thought came to her, unbidden. What if she had already missed it? It didn't even bear thinking about. She groaned as her eyes fastened onto the relevant information. 'Eight to nine thirty tonight. How will I survive?'

'Don't say anything unless he asks you, don't get anything wrong...and pray,' Benji advised her.

Thea just looked at him. 'Thanks,' she said dryly.

'Anytime,' he replied brightly.

A few hours later Thea found herself heading down to the damp, dark and distinctly musty dungeons. Snape had apparently refused to let even his favourite student use his beloved classroom, so they were in a smaller room next to the Potions dungeon. As Thea opened the door, she realised that everyone else was already there and her heart sank. Late the first time, how bloody typical. Then her heart sank even further; the only chair left around the table was next to Malfoy. Bloody brilliant.

Malfoy looked up at her as she walked to the table and sat down next to him. 'Any particular reason you're late, Maggi?' Thea thought he sounded a bit like McGonagall had on Monday when he'd been late to Transfiguration.

'It's a long walk from Gryffindor to the dungeons.' And since she had put off leaving the common room for as long as possible she hadn't left herself enough time to get down to the dungeons. But he didn't need to be told that.

He raised an elegant eyebrow. 'Well, in that case may I suggest that next time you either leave earlier or walk faster.'

The Slytherins sniggered into their hands while the other two gave her commiserative looks. Thea rolled her eyes as she got out her Potions things. It was going to be a long night.

Nearly an hour and a half later Thea couldn't decide if she wanted to kill Malfoy or the damn sixth year Slytherins more. Alison York had spent the entire tutorial making eyes at Malfoy, making Thea feel sick. Malfoy had picked on her through the entire tutorial, which, when she thought about it, wasn't really all that surprising. When she'd known the answer he'd been distinctly unimpressed and when she hadn't known the answer, which had been most of the time, he'd ridiculed her in much the same manner as Snape did. At least she didn't show Malfoy might possibly intimidate her. Poor Janet Martin, the Hufflepuff had noticeably jumped every time Malfoy had addressed her. Thea suspected that he had only spoken to her half the time so he could see her jump. Why had they put the poor girl in with Malfoy? Someone like Abi would have been much better as she would never let Malfoy know he scared her, even if he did. Of course, she didn't do Potions so that ruled that out. She just wanted to forget the entire experience. Or at least until next week when she would have to do it all again. She was counting down the minutes until the clock hit nine thirty, so she could escape. If all her tutorials ended up being this bad, she wouldn't survive to the end of the month, let alone the year.

As Malfoy stirred next to her she pulled her attention back to what he was saying. It would not do to be caught daydreaming by Malfoy. Who knew what he would do to her?

'Right then. I suppose tonight wasn't as much of a waste of time as I thought it would be, with some exceptions, obviously.' With that he looked pointedly at Thea. 'Still, you all have room to improve. To this end I want you all to have read the following chapters by next week, or face the consequences. And let me assure you that Professor Snape has given me permission to use whatever punishments I feel are necessary.'

As Malfoy read out the list in his hand Thea felt the pit of horror in her stomach getting deeper and deeper. He not only gave them chapters from the textbook but also from various books in the library, some that she knew were in the Restricted Section. How would she get to them? Hermione might have some of them, but not even she could have that many books on Potions.

As Malfoy finished talking, Thea threw her stuff haphazardly into her bag. She really couldn't bring up the energy to care right now: she just wanted to get out of the dungeons. Malfoy gave them permission to leave and Thea literally bolted for the door, but not quick enough.

'Maggi,' an imperial voice called out to her.

She turned to look at him.

'Don't be late tomorrow. Twice in a row is not the kind of impression you want to make on me.' With that, he swept out of the room, everyone rushing to get out of his way.

Thea scowled after him. Like he knew what kind of impression she wanted to make. She grabbed her bag violently and stormed out of the room. She walked back to the common room, fuming and stomped her way over to where Ginny was sitting with Colin and Benji. She dropped her bag on the floor and threw herself onto the sofa. Cleo wrapped herself around Thea's legs before jumping onto her lap, turning around a few times before settling down. Thea started to stroke her absentmindedly.

'So, it went well then?' asked Colin, glancing at the other two.

'Well, she's still here to tell the tale. That's got to be a good sign,' commented Benji.

'How awful was Malfoy?' asked Ginny sympathetically.

Well, he asked me all the questions I'm sure he knew I wouldn't be able to answer. He was obnoxious, arrogant and generally smug,' Thea told them, the anger still evident in the voice.

'So, completely normal, huh?' said Colin, grinning at her.

Thea nodded wearily. 'I survived tonight. I just hope the same can be said of tomorrow.'

'Tomorrow?' questioned Benji.

'Transfiguration,' she reminded him.

'Oh yeah.'

They sat and talked for a while about nothing until Thea decided she really needed her bed. She'd spent entirely too much time with Malfoy and her first Elemental class had been rather tiring.

She stood up. 'Night, guys. I'm off to bed. I'm about to fall asleep right here.'

'I'll see you upstairs if you're still awake,' Ginny told her.

'Night, Thea,' said Colin.

'Don't have nightmares about Malfoy,' Benji advised her.

Thea threw him a dirty look before picking up her bag and walking toward the dormitories. She looked around to say night to Harry, Ron and Hermione but they weren't there. She really couldn't be bothered to ask Ginny if anything was up. She'd ask her tomorrow when she might actually care.

As she got ready for bed she pondered why she hadn't told her friends what had really annoyed her. She was still having trouble deciding why Malfoy's opinion even mattered and why what he had said had bothered her so much. She didn't care what Malfoy thought about her, at all. Who did he think he was, acting like that? No way she was going to be late for Transfiguration tomorrow, no way.