The Dragon Tamed

Chapter 4.

Thea and Ginny were pelting down the corridor towards the Transfiguration classroom. They were nearly late and neither of them wanted to face the wrath of McGonagall. Thea also hoped that they wouldn't run into any teachers either, otherwise they could probably wave hello to a string of detentions.

They skidded to a halt outside the door, just managing to avoid knocking into McGonagall who was approaching from the other direction. Thea prayed she was in a good mood and would let them off this once.

Surprisingly she didn't tell them off. Instead she raised an eyebrow in question, while they looked at her rather guiltily. 'While I appreciate your enthusiasm for this class may I suggest that next time you get here before I do?'

Nodding, they both ducked into the classroom as McGonagall waved them in before her. As Thea walked in she could hear the buzz of excitement from her classmates; they were finally going to learn how to Apparate.

Glancing at each other and heaving sighs of relief they quickly made their way to where Benji and Colin where sitting.

As they sat down Benji muttered, 'Nice of you to join us.'

'Sleep in?' asked Colin, grinning.

Ginny glared at him. 'Well, obviously. It's not like we planned to be this late.'

'Ooooo, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed,' whispered Colin.

'How could I have got out on the wrong side of the bed?' asked Ginny. 'There's only one side to get out of. I hate it when you all say that.'

'Just a figure of speech,' Thea told her, hiding her grin.

Ginny scowled. 'So you keep saying,' she said sourly.

Thea rolled her eyes and looked around the classroom. Although some of her fellow Gryffindors were no longer taking Transfiguration, they were all still sitting in the same seats as they had done for the last five years. Funny how some things never changed.

'Now then, class, settle down,' said McGonagall sternly. She waited until everyone was giving her his or her undivided attention before continuing. 'Apparation is a serious business. You must all pay attention to everything that I tell you, otherwise unfortunate accidents will happen. Classes will take place every two weeks, except in the summer term so you can concentrate on your exams.'

Jessica, one of Thea's dormmates, and a prefect, raised her hand.

'Yes, Miss Tyler.'

'I thought the Ministry of Magic taught Apparation.'

'Ordinarily they do, but the war is putting a lot of pressure on the Ministry. As such they have requested that qualified staff at Hogwarts teach the classes. When they are able the Ministry will send an examiner to test you.'

Thea leaned over to Ginny. 'She doesn't sound too impressed by all of this.'

'I'm not surprised,' Ginny whispered back. 'When do they expect her, or any of the teachers here, to have time to teach us Apparation?'

'I bet that's why the classes are only every couple of weeks,' said Benji. 'It could be the only way that they could be fitted in.'

'You're probably right,' agreed Thea.

'And is it really a good idea for the Ministry to admit that they can't cope?' asked Colin. 'It doesn't really inspire you with a lot of confidence that they are so overrun that they can't spare anyone to teach a load of sixth years Apparation.'

As McGonagall began to explain the extensive theory behind Apparation, with particular emphasis on what happens if you do it wrong, Ginny leaned over to Thea. 'Why is it that the one class we all want to do is only every few weeks? I'd be much happier if it was Potions. Seeing Snape only that often would be wonderful.'

Thea grinned at her best friend, she was right; Apparation every week and Potions every other week would be much more agreeable.

Thea returned her attention to McGonagall as she saw Colin and Benji wince.

'Just what I've always wanted to know; how it feels to splice yourself into a tree.'

'I'm sure the conversations with the squirrels would be fascinating though,' said Benji.

Thea smothered a laugh as McGonagall glanced over at them.

After McGonagall let them out of Apparation they began the long walk towards the library for another fun filled session of homework.

Benji suddenly stopped walking, forcing the others to stop with him before they crashed into him. 'What are we doing?' he asked them.

'Looks to me like we're walking to the library,' said Ginny, raising an eyebrow in the process.

Benji rolled his eyes. 'Really? I would never have guessed. What I meant was why are we? It's gorgeous weather outside. It's not going to last, we should be outside, taking advantage of it while we can.'

They all looked around at each other.

'He has a point,' admitted Thea. 'Why are we choosing the Library over relaxing in the sun?'

'And if we really wanted to work, we can do so outside, anyway,' added Benji.

'So are we going down to the lake?' asked Colin, turning around.

'Sounds good to me,' said Ginny.

'Let's go,' agreed Thea. Anything was better than the library and Benji was right; soon the sun would be disappearing from the skies above Hogwarts.

They quickly made their way to the entrance hall, anxious to get into the sun.

'Hey, where do you reckon they're going?' asked Colin, pointing across the grounds.

Thea, Ginny and Benji all looked to where he was pointing and saw the Dream Team making their way across the grounds.

'Looks like they are going to the Shrieking Shack,' commented Ginny, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand.

'Why would they be going there?' asked Benji. 'It's bloody haunted.'

'While Hogwarts is the bastion of normalcy,' said Thea. 'Nothing weird goes on here.'

'Whatever,' said Colin impatiently. 'I have a far more pressing question; how do you two know that?'

'Yeah,' adding Benji. 'And just how would they get there? You can't leave school grounds.'

'I think we have a lot to catch them up on,' Thea told Ginny.

'But I want to follow them,' said Ginny.

'Oh come on,' Thea said. 'We can't drag these two along with us without telling them anything. They'll keep nagging until we do and by that time the Dream Team might have heard us and then how would we explain?'

Ginny watched them as they disappeared out of sight. 'I guess your right,' she agreed. 'Come on, lets go down to the lake and talk.'

They made their way down to the lake, skirting the Forbidden Forest as they did so, and waved to Hagrid as he taught the second years, and carried on walking down to the furthest part of the grounds away from the school

As they sat down by the lake, Thea pulled off her robe. It was too hot to be wearing it, plus it made a really good rug. The others quickly followed suit.

Ginny looked across at Colin and Benji. 'What I am about to tell you goes no further, understand? We're in a war and anything could help the other side, but I trust you and you have to know some of what is going on.'

'Some?' questioned Colin.

'It's a war, guys. There are some things I just can't tell you, others I shouldn't even know. Thea doesn't know everything, so don't worry.'

'Makes sense,' admitted Colin.

'Right then, boys, get comfy. This is going to take a while.' And with that Ginny launched into the story of what had been going on at Hogwarts over the past six years.

'Holy hell,' breathed Colin, as Ginny finally finished nearly an hour later.

'Hell's bell's and a bucket of blood, he's still sane?' exclaimed Benji.

'Hard to believe, I know, but he's Harry. He knows how to bounce back,' Ginny said.

Thea laughed at her friends' reactions. She had been somewhat similar the year before when Ginny had sat her down and gone through everything.

She hadn't been at school when Ginny had gone off with Harry to the Ministry of Magic. Her dad had finally succumbed to his cancer and had finally died; although it had taken him a good seven years. While Ginny had been throwing curses and hexes at Death eaters, she had been saying goodbye to her dad.

She had returned to Hogwarts to find Umbridge gone, Dumbledore back, Ron in the infirmary and her best friend still sporting a few healing injuries from her adventure. She had had the distinct feeling she had missed a few things. She had also been delighted that Umbridge was gone. Those pink cardigans had been a crime against nature: as had been her detention punishments. Thankfully she hadn't managed to get as many as Harry or Lee Jordan, otherwise her arm would be sporting a few scars.

In the rush of the final days of term Ginny had been unable to tell Thea anything, other than she promised to explain. In the end Ginny had invited Thea to the Burrow for a few weeks. This had the added bonus of getting her away from her stepbrother, so Thea quickly agreed.

Thea had loved everything about the Burrow the second she saw it: it was everything she had imagined it to be. She had loved Ginny's parents, although she hadn't seen much of Mr. Weasley as he was often at the Ministry. She had also finally met Bill and Charlie, the only brothers she hadn't met at Hogwarts. She had only seen Percy once, at a very awkward family meal where Fred and George had made several snide comments about traitors. Apparently it was going to take them a long time to forgive the betrayal.

Over those two weeks Ginny had told Thea a lot about what had happened to Harry in his first five years. She had also told Thea about her own experiences in their first year. Thea couldn't believe that her best friend had gone through such a horrible experience all by herself. She hadn't really known Ginny in the first year. They had become friends in the second year and best friends in the third.

Although Ginny had told her a lot the one thing she hadn't really mentioned had been The Order of the Phoenix. All that Thea knew was that they existed, they fought Voldemort and had gone to the rescue of Harry, Ginny and everyone else at the Ministry. Thea knew that Ginny knew more than she should, or more than her mum would want her to know. However, if you had Fred and George as your brothers, one sure learnt how to sneak around. Thea did suspect more than Ginny had told her, not all that surprising really since she spent so much of her time with Ginny. She was pretty sure Dumbledore was the leader of the Order, although perhaps it didn't take a rocket scientist to work that one out. She suspected that all the Weasleys - with the exception of Percy - were Order members along with Sirius and Remus. She was also convinced that the Dream Team had to be at least honoury members of the Order. It would be really rather strange if they weren't considering everything that had happened to Harry over the years. Thea never voiced her suspicions since it would be totally unfair to put Ginny in that sort of position.

'I mean, I knew that Harry had faced You-Know-Who in his first year, getting that stone thing and then at the end of the Triwizard Tournament. But I had no idea the Balisk had anything to do with him. And then in the Ministry, he was actually there. Scary,' Colin said.

Benji nodded dumbly in agreement. 'I had no idea.'

'Very few people do, Ben,' Ginny told him.

'I can't believe I ever doubted him,' said Benji, sounding slightly guilty. 'Coll told me what he said in the Hog's Head but I just didn't believe it. It all sounded just too bizarre.'

'I wouldn't worry about it. The whole wizarding world didn't believe him two years ago. You know the truth now, that's what's important,' said Ginny kindly.

'No wonder you want to keep an eye on the Dream Team. They just have to get out of bed in the morning and trouble finds them,' said Colin.

'Well, since Sirius did get into Gryffindor in our second year and stuff, I don't think they are even safe in their beds,' said Ginny, grinning.

'This really is overwhelming,' said Benji, flopping down on the grass and looking at the sky.

'We'll leave you to get used to it then,' said Thea as she turned to Ginny, remembering something from the night before. 'Hey, Gin. Where was the Dream Team last night? They weren't in the common room when I got back from Potions.'

'I'm not sure, to be honest with you. I just suddenly noticed they were gone. Think Harry took the map with him too.' Ginny frowned. 'I just hope it's too early in the year for them to be getting themselves into trouble.'

Thea snorted. 'Not likely with those three.'

'I saw them last night,' volunteered Benji.

Thea and Ginny whipped their heads round to look at him.

'What where they doing?' demanded Ginny.

'They were in the library. They were looking at some books, although I have no idea what they were about.' Benji told them.

'Did you try asking them?' asked Colin.

'Of course I did,' said Benji. 'I'm not that stupid. Ron said they were doing some research for an Arithmancy project.'

Ginny frowned. 'But Harry and Ron don't do Arithmancy.'

Benji grinned. 'That's what I said and Hermione spluttered something about them helping her.'

Thea laughed. 'Oh, that just gives it away. Since when has Hermione ever needed help? Especially with Arithmancy.'

'And if she did, I doubt she'd ask Ron or Harry,' added Colin.

'Did you get to see what they were looking at, then?' asked Ginny, excitedly.

'Not really,' said Benji, frowning in concentration. 'Though they were very old books and it looked as though they came from the Restricted Section.'

'How do you know they came from the Restricted Section?' asked Thea.

Benji shrugged. 'I've no idea. They just felt as though that was where they should have come from.'

'So the books were talking to you, were they?' asked Colin.

'Fuck you,' said Benji good naturedly, giving Colin the middle finger, who returned the favour.

'If they had dark magic in them, it was probably that that Benji was feeling,' Thea pointed out reasonably.

Ginny deflated a bit. 'How will we get into the Restricted Section?'

'Sirius,' Thea told her. This would be so easy.

'Why's Sirius going to give us permission?'

'He's not. But he will give me permission to look for books on History of Magic.'

'I get it,' said Benji, grinning at her knowingly. 'You get an open pass and then you can go and get whatever you want, whenever you want.'

'Exactly,' agreed Thea, feeling slightly smug.

'OK, so we know how to get the books, but here's the thing,' said Colin, 'What books are we looking for?'

'You're not expecting me to recognise them, are you?' asked Benji in horror. 'Cause I couldn't, you know. All those books look the same to me: old and musty.'

Thea smiled. 'No, we're not. Although that would be nice.'

'We have a vague idea,' admitted Ginny. 'They'll probably be about prophecies.'

'Why prophecies?' asked Benji.

'Well, there's one about Harry and,' Ginny shuddered. 'Voldemort.'

'Ginny!' exclaimed Benji, looking about himself.

'Don't say that,' added Colin. 'So what's the prophecy?'

Ginny winced. 'That's the thing; we don't actually know.'

'So how do you know there is one?' asked Benji.

'That's what Lucius Malfoy said at the Ministry of Magic,' Ginny told him. 'I heard him say it.'

'He didn't know what it was?' asked Colin.

Ginny shook her head. 'Nope. And neither did Voldemort. And as far as I know, he still doesn't.'

'Is it something about Harry being the Chosen one?' asked Colin.

'Coll, that's just Prophet nonsense,' Ginny told him.

'Yeah, it's as stupid as the one about Harry becoming the new Dark Lord,' added Thea.

'It can't have been good news, though,' Benji decided. 'Harry would have said something otherwise.'

'Or maybe he just doesn't want to advertise what it said to Voldemort. You know, that whole having an advantage thing.'

Benji grinned sheepishly at them. 'Oh, I didn't think of that.'

'Ok,' sighed Colin. 'I think a subject change is in order here, my brain is about to explode. Are Hermione and Ron any closer to getting together after the holidays? Surely there must have been some development.'

Ginny groaned. 'No! And it drove me and Harry mental all summer. Why can't they kiss already and be done?'

'They are going to be on their deathbeds before they admit anything,' agreed Thea, smiling.

'They enjoy making us all suffer. That plus, if they did get together, we would need another "will they won't they" soap opera to entertain us Gryffindors,' Colin told her, laughing.

Ginny laughed too. 'It is fun to watch, isn't it?'

'Any idea of how we could get them to see the light, or at least each other?' asked Colin.

Thea and Benji swapped a look and burst out laughing.

'Maybe we could get Malfoy to mention it every time he runs into them,' gasped Benji as he laughed.

'Huh?' Ginny looked between the two of them with a frown of confusion on her face.

'Didn't we tell you about that?' asked Thea, shocked that she could have forgotten to tell her best friend something so damn funny.

Ginny and Colin shook their heads.

'It was after Transfiguration. Harry had a go at Malfoy for me and Ron joined in.'

'It was a valiant effort,' said Benji solemnly, 'but ultimately useless.'

'So Malfoy mocked him for not having had a go with Hermione yet. It was nasty, you know what he's like. It was both funny and not funny at the same time. But he didn't say anything that we haven't all thought over the past few years,' Thea told them.

'What? You mean like, "it's pathetic he hasn't got laid yet"?' asked Colin.

Thea tried half-heartedly to hit him. 'No, of course not. More like, why aren't he and Hermione together yet.' Thea cocked her head to consider things. 'Of course, it is entirely possible that Malfoy meant what you said,' she conceded.

'It didn't go down too well,' Benji added.

'I can imagine,' breathed Colin.

'What happened?' asked Ginny.

Thea grinned at the memory. 'Well, Ron fumed...after he tried to beat Malfoy to a pulp. I really think that if Harry and Seamus hadn't held him back, he would have tried to kill Malfoy.'

'Bet Malfoy was cacking himself,' said Ginny smirking. 'Little Ferret deserved it.'

Thea frowned. 'No, he really wasn't.'

'Are you sure?' asked Colin. 'Cause I know that if I had a mad Ron gunning for me, I'd be trying to put some distance between us.'

'I'm positive. In fact he looked positively unimpressed.'

'He wasn't worried about my brother killing him?' Ginny clarified.

'Well, stranger things have happened,' Thea said.

'Such as?' scoffed Ginny.

'Dark wizard rising from the grave to kick start his reign of terror; Fudge still not being sacked; Ron and Harry getting into Potions; Eurestant's hair; and that's only the beginning.' Thea smiled cheekily at her friend.

'Fair point,' conceded Ginny.

'So what happened after Ron failed to kill Malfoy?' asked Colin.

'Well, Hermione rung her hands not knowing what to do and everyone else wisely said nothing,' Benji told them.

'And I bet they both carried on as though nothing had happened,' said Ginny, sighing.

'They were fine by the next afternoon,' confirmed Thea, thinking back to her conversation with Harry.

'Perhaps you could ask Malfoy in your tutorial tonight,' suggested Colin wickedly.

Thea laughed. 'Yeah, cause I'm going to do that. I don't have a death wish, you know.'

'Well, it was worth a go,' said Colin, shrugging.

'Anyone else got a tutorial tonight?' she asked, wanting to check that even though she was the only one who'd have to endure Malfoy, she wasn't the only one who had to endure a tutorial. Selfish she knew, but still, who could blame her.

'I've got Transfiguration with Hermione and then Astronomy with Zabini at midnight,' Benji said glumly.

'Yuck. You poor thing,' said Ginny sympathetically.

'Well at least you haven't got Malfoy,' Thea told him, her heart sinking as she thought about that night. Just how bad was it going to be?

'True,' he agreed.

'Yeah, but at least he's cute, right? You get eye candy for a couple of hours.'

Thea turned to Ginny, shocked. 'Not you as well! You think Malfoy's cute? You're a Weasley for crying out loud.'

Colin and Benji were looking at Ginny like she was mad.

'Yeah, but still, he is yummy. That Quidditch toned body, if it looks that good in clothes, imagine what it will look like out of them, those icy silver eyes, those chiselled cheekbones, that white silky hair and, oh god, those lush looking lips. It's kinda hard to not notice how gorgeous he is.'

Colin turned to her, looking rather sick at the thought. 'Tell me you're kidding, Gin, please,' he begged.

Thea grinned. Unlike the boys, she could detect the slightly sarcastic tone to Ginny's voice. She had basically lumped all the things girls around school said about Malfoy, together.

'Only a bit, Coll,' Ginny said, smiling wickedly at him.

'Just because he's insanely hot does not make him a nice person or someone I wanna spend a lot of time with,' Thea said. She had to spend two hours with him that night and she really didn't need a conversation like this one playing around in her head. She would no doubt look at him while thinking about it and blush furiously, making Malfoy tease her mercilessly. 'Plus there are plenty of other good looking guys in school as well.'

'Such as?' asked Colin.

'Well, there's Harry. There is a reason so many girls are chasing him. Then there's Seamus, it's that Irish charm.'

'Dean,' added Ginny.

Benji laughed. 'Just cause you don't want anyone thinking you don't have good taste.'

Ignoring him Ginny continued. 'Then there is Tony Goldstein, he's pretty cute.'

'And Justin is rather hot too,' added Thea.

'Zabini is another one too,' mused Ginny.

'Hey,' said Colin looking hurt.

'What about us?' asked Benji.

'Oh, we thought you were talking about seventh years,' said Ginny, winking at Thea.

'If you want us to go through guys in our year...'Thea trailed off.

'OK, OK, you can both shut up now,' grumbled Benji.

Ginny laughed. 'Oh, boys. We love you both.'

'But really Coll, haven't you got your eye set on someone?' asked Thea teasingly.

'I don't know what you mean,' mumbled Colin, blushing.

Benji laughed at Colin's embarrassment.

'What are you laughing for Ben? I thought you might have something in the pipeline, too,' teased Ginny.

Benji immediately shut up.

Colin looked at Thea. 'What did you mean when you said "not you as well" to Gin?'

'Just so you know, I know you're changing the topic, but I'm going to let you off,' Thea told him. 'Before Elemental class, me, Abi, Lauran and Alicia were talking about tutorials and obviously we got to talking about the charming Malfoy. And they told me they wouldn't say no to him.' She could feel her face grimace in disgust.

'Girls!' exclaimed Benji in exasperation.

'Oh, but only if he couldn't speak so he couldn't say any of the crap he normally comes out with,' added Thea, having forgotten that, not that it made all that much difference. Half of Malfoy's insults came from his facial expressions.

'Oh, and that makes it all ok,' said Colin sarcastically.

'Exactly,' said Ginny, looking at her watch.

Colin glared at her.

'Don't worry, Colin. I totally agree with you,' Thea told him. 'It's a really nasty thought.'

'Nice to know that one of you is right in the head,' muttered Benji.

Ginny arched an eyebrow at him before looking at Thea who stuck her tongue out at her in defiance.

'Real mature,' said Ginny. 'We'd better get back to the castle. It's nearly lunch and some of us have class after lunch.'

Groaning, they all stood up and trundled back through the grounds.

-------

Thea managed to get to her Transfiguration tutorial dead on time, impressing herself. As she walked in she stifled a groan; she was the last to arrive, and once again that meant she had to sit next to Malfoy. Why was it that no one ever wanted to sit next to him? She really hoped that tonight wasn't going to be like Potions.

As she sat down Malfoy gave her a half smirk before busying himself glaring around the small group. The time the group was slightly less scary, in Thea's opinion. There were actually people Thea knew and liked this time. There was Sara Madison, a Ravenclaw who she had spoken to occasionally in Arithmancy last year and Giles Harris, another Ravenclaw who she had been paired off with in Astronomy every now and again.

Thea felt her lip curl as she glanced at the Slytherins present. Corrine Eurestant was in her group. This actually had the potential to be worse than her Potions, if that was possible.

Corinne Eurstant hated Thea and Ginny with a fiery ferocity and they hated her right back with equal passion. If asked Thea and Ginny would be hard pressed to pinpoint exactly when or why the rivalry had started. But begun it had. Not least because she was a vain, egotistical bitch whore from hell. She took every opportunity to embarrass Thea and Ginny, or get them into trouble. Of course, they gave as good as they got, hence Ginny's wonderful question in Potions earlier that week. Thea was dreading to see what Corrine would throw at her that evening, or in any of the other tutorials. She also happened to be a Slytherin prefect and had used that to her advantage at every opportunity the year before.

Thea snapped her attention back to Malfoy as he began to speak. 'Hopefully some of you sixth year degenerates have managed to do some reading over the last few days so lets begin, shall we?'

They began with Malfoy giving them an overview of what he would be going over that term. He detailed exactly what he expected of them, which could be summed up with: Do all that I tell you, or else!

For the rest of the time Malfoy fired questions at them, picking on people to answer them. Thea noticed that he rarely, if ever called on a Slytherin to answer any of the hard questions. Those were generally reserved for her or Sara. However, unlike in Potions, Thea actually knew stuff, and she threw it out there with abandon as he kept trying to catch her out.

When not answering Malfoy's questions and half listening to his scathing explanations whenever people answered wrong, Thea was watching Corinne. That girl was anything but subtle. Every time Malfoy looked at her she made eyes at him. It was like she had a huge sign on her forehead that screamed, 'fuck me now' and Thea had no doubt that Malfoy would be making himself available to the services being offered at the earliest possible moment. She was trying to ignore the sickening display in front of her but it was rather difficult. You would have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to notice how she was acting. Yuck.

By the end of the tutorial Thea was desperate to leave, she had been counting down the minutes of the last quarter of an hour. She hadn't been the only one either, several times she had seen Sara looking at her watch as if willing the time to go faster. There was only so much of Malfoy she could handle without losing her temper. However, she was quietly optimistic that she could grow to enjoy this tutorial. He might be insufferable and arrogant, but there was no denying he knew his stuff. It was no wonder that he had been chosen to tutor in so many subjects, although she was surprised that he had agreed to do all of them.

Finally Malfoy let them go, after giving them another mountain of reading to do. Thea could swear that she had been given more reading over the last two days than she had had in the whole of the first term of her fifth year. She really hoped it was not the beginning of a continuing trend, and if it was, when was she going to find the time to do any of it.

Thea walked back to the common room in a much better mood than she had done the day before. As she was walking up to the portrait of the fat Lady she saw Benji and Hermione walking towards her from the other direction. Benji was looking rather glum.

'Thea,' said Hermione brightly. 'How did you tutorial with Malfoy go? Ours went really well, didn't it, Ben?'

Benji looked as though it had gone anything but well. Thea could only imagine how seriously Hermione would be taking this and how thorough she would be.

'It was fine, Hermione,' Thea told her.

'Malfoy wasn't too bad?'

Thea shrugged. 'No worse than usual.'

'Good.' With that Hermione said the password and walked into the common room. Thea and Benji followed her in.

Ginny glanced up at them as Thea sat down on the floor next to her. 'You're not as homicidal as last night,' she commented.

Thea grinned at her. 'No, I'm not, am I?'

'So it went well then?' asked Colin.

'I wouldn't say that,' protested Thea. 'He just wasn't a complete arse. I think I might actually survive this one to the end of the year.'

'You're kidding, right?' Colin said, looking up from his homework.

Thea rolled her eyes. 'I'm not saying he's nice; just that he's manageable in this tutorial.'

'Let's hope he stays like that for Friday, huh?' Colin said.

Thea stuck her tongue out at him. 'Thanks.'

'Benji on the other hand looks as though his dog just died,' said Ginny.

'You have no idea what it's like,' said Benji, lowering his voice and glancing round the common room.

'What what is like?' asked Colin.

'A tutorial with Hermione. It's like she's channelling McGonagall or something.'

'That bad, huh?' asked Thea.

He nodded.

'Just be glad she isn't channelling Snape.'

Benji shuddered. 'I don't know which would be worse,' he confessed.

'Snape,' said Thea, Ginny and Colin in unison.

'You're probably right,' Benji agreed, reluctantly.

Thea, Ginny and Colin stayed up doing homework until Benji went off for his tutorial with Zabini in the Astronomy Tower. As soon as he left they all retreated to their beds.

'Poor Ben's going to be knackered tomorrow,' Colin said as he disappeared up the stairs.

'Shouldn't have done Astronomy then,' Ginny said shrugging.

Colin laughed. 'Harsh, Ginny. Night, girls.'