Harry Potter and the Return to Hogwarts

"Quis rex, quae curia, quale palatium, quae pax, quae requies, quod illud gaudium."

"What a king, what a court, how fine a palace, what peace, what rest, what rejoicing is there." - P. Abelard (1079-1142)

"The night has a thousand eyes,

And the day has but one;

Yet the light of the bright world dies,

With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,

And the heart but one;

Yet the light of a whole light dies,

When love is done."

Chapter 5.

Diagon Alley, August 8^, 2012.

Harry did not care much for shopping and shopping for clothes in particular was rather low on his favourites. He liked wearing some other clothes than Dudley's cast-offs, but he rather disliked having to shop for them. Shopping with an eleven-year-old girl was ten times worse. The fact that he had a list helped some. He could tell her that it wasn't on the list, and then hopefully be done with it. It was, unfortunately, a rather long list. Shopping hadn't been a priority of his the previous year, and now all of Aimée's clothes looked either too short or too small on her. He loved his daughter and he did not want her to look like soething the cat dragged in. He also knew that if he waited too long with the excursion his sister-in-law would offer to do it. Padma was a sensible woman, being a Ravenclaw it was rather hard for her not to be, but still she had these ideas about what young girls liked to wear. Those ideas did not at all correspond to how Harry wanted his little girl to dress.

He was thankful that Charlie had taken David off his hands for a short while. Shopping was horrible enough without having to go searching for a loo every five minutes. He hoped David was having a better time in Romania than he was having here. Aimée was, of course, enjoying every second of the excursion. They had already visited Muggle London, for those basic items like jeans and t-shirts. He was exhausted. Did all eleven-year-old girls dress as tramps these days? Wearing t-shirts that barely covered their midriffs? Too tight jeans? Aimée had thrown a major temper tantrum when he had insisted that she would get her sweaters a size too large. Fortunately her Hogwarts uniform wouldn't give her much chance to rebel. A school uniform was prim and proper, and nobody looked more grown up than they were, mostly they looked younger.

As Harry stood in Diagon Alley he took a quick breath. It looked just like it had done on his first visit. Everybody was busy, hurrying about from shop to shop, once in a while stopping up to chat with friends. There was Gringotts where he had been astonished to discover that he was not reliant on his aunt and uncle. And there was the place where he had eaten ice cream with Parvati when they had discovered that she was pregnant with Aimée. He still felt like throwing up whenever he thought of her choice in ice cream that day; who in their right minds would eat spinach ice cream with chocolate sauce?

Aimée had to drag him away from the display of brooms at Quidditch Supplies. Maybe it was a good thing. It would hardly do for the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts to be seen drooling over a broom - even if it was bloody beautifully designed.

"Do I have to? Can't you just..." Harry made a vague gesture with his hands as they stood outside Madame Malkin's shop.

"No. You have to come, you promised."

"But I clearly remember trying on robes alone, or at least partly alone the first time. Hagrid wasn't there while it happened."

"Well. I am not you. You aren't Hagrid either. So you're coming in with me, but I get to pick the robes I want. It'll be faster that way."

"Oh no you don't. I pick the final design on the robes. I won't have you traipsing about at Hogwarts half dressed. If God had intended for you to be naked, you would have been... never mind. You aren't wearing anything that doesn't have my stamp of approval on it."

"So, let me see if I got it right? I have to start wearing clothes with your approval stamp on them." She took a pause and looked into the air before she continued. "Boy is that going to make blending in at school a breeze."

"Cut the sarcasm, o' kid of mine. You're sounding like Malfoy's potential offspring would sound like. And what's with worrying about blending in anyway? You've managed it fine so far, haven't you?"

"It's hard to blend in at Hogwarts when you aren't sorted, Dad. All the others are nice to me, but that alone makes me stand out. If you add into the equation that you're my father..." She trailed off, allowing him to make sense out of it.

"At least when we get you robed you'll look just like the others. Let's go in and find some nice sensible robes, ones that cover all of you."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hogwarts Express, August 31, 2012.

Aimée pressed her face to the window glass. Her father had insisted that she actually would take the Hogwarts express to London, and then return to Hogwarts along with the rest of the pupils. It seemed like a waste of time to her. Why would she sit all alone on the train to London, only to make the proper entrance at Hogwarts? It wasn't as if she wasn't living there already. Well, she wouldn't be living in her room anymore, she would change to whatever House she was sorted into. Her mother's family was hoping that she would be a Ravenclaw; it had been all they had talked about when she last saw them. The exception there had been her great-great aunt Persephone. "Just be who you are, dear. It won't matter in the long run. Your mum went into Gryffindor, and did a nice job of it." Then there was "grandfather" Sirius. He was dead set on her being in Gryffindor. "There have been Gryffindors in the family for as long as Hogwarts has been standing." And then she was given a lecture on the various Potters that had come out from the proud House of Gryffindor. The thing was that she didn't really have a preference. This year had aught her that the boundaries that separated the different Houses were close to non-existent, and only kept alive through prejudice and pride.

"Anything off the trolley, dear?" Aimée didn't need anything. She had a bag of goodies already, courtesy of Oli... - Professor Wood, Herm... - Professor Granger and Drac... - Professor Malfoy. Her father had equipped her with a sizeable lunch. All her favourites. He didn't like her having to go off by herself, but he had to spend some time preparing his lessons. She would spend the night at her great uncle Orpheus'. He had a flat close to King's Cross, and would see her off the following morning. She hadn't packed much, it made even less sense to drag all her belongings with her, when they would just switch rooms in the Castle, than her actually taking the trip. A small overnight bag, stuffed with the essentials and everything anybody could think of that would entertain her.

She thought they were getting closer to something resembling a cityscape. The train was moving awfully fast, so it was rather hard to tell. They had told her, when they all went down to Hogsmeade Railway Station to see er off, that she would probably be in London around four o'clock. Her uncle would be waiting for her at platform 9 3/4. They had all been in a strange mood as they saw her leave. David had wanted to know why he couldn't come with her, her father had been in the oddest mood of them all; trying to give her confidence to manage on her own, but at the same time trying to preserve the imagery of school as something and Sinistra had even shed a tear.

She liked the idea of travelling with her new schoolmates up to Hogwarts, it was after all how the first buds of friendship were started and perhaps even finished. It was just so pointless; she had been in London not long ago with her father. He could've deposited her there with her uncle then, and she wouldn't have had to make this trip with the train.

~*~*~*~*~*~

At the same time, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It was empty without her, Draco decided. He hadn't realized how much he had come to depend on having Aimée following him around all the time, listening to his comments, scorning them and teasing him. If it had been a grown-up who had been doing it he would have been rather steamed about it. Nobody messes around with Draco Malfoy, mess as in the non-biblical way. Nobody except Aimée Potter. She was what he would want a future child of his to be like. If he ever decided to reproduce, that was. Smart, snappy, good at Potions (a miracle, considering her lineage,) dedicated to what she wanted and inquisitive. It was just so bloody empty at the school without her. So she would arrive in a day. Her father's big scheme had botched up all the plans Draco had. He had wanted to work on the Wolfsbane Potion, try to sort out the kinks. He couldn't do that if he was in a rotten mood, could he? He couldn't see why she had to take the train anyway; all the so-called friendships made on the Express weren't truly accurate. It was where you were Sorted that decided that. He knew probably wouldn't be happening, but he wished that Aimée would get into Slytherin. Still, considering that she really was a Potter, it might be too much to hope for. He could use a decent Seeker on the House team. Not to mention all the House points she would be bringing. The Head of Slytherin House imagined that his three colleagues, the Heads of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were all secretwishing that Aimée would be sorted into their House. He would leave the Dungeons for a while. See if anything needed his assistance in the upper levels of the castle.

~*~*~*~*~*~

September 1. The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Breakfast. The experts say you need it. Eating your breakfast in the company of others may improve your relationship with them, and it may destroy it. Some people are morning persons; others aren't. Breakfast on September 1 had always been a dubious affair at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had tried getting everybody into school mode a few days before, early to bed and early rise, but looking around on the tables he realized that his plan hadn't quite gone as he intended. Was that a butter-knife sweet even-tepered Katharine was holding to Oliver's throat?

The staff had spread out over the five tables in the Great Hall. Dumbledore and Sinistra were the only two sitting at the places they would be frequenting for the rest of the year. Hermione, Harry, Oliver, Katharine, Seamus, Charlie and Astrid had settled at the Gryffindor table. Draco, Eric, Serena and Helen had joined the Bloody Baron at the Slytherin table. Justin and Lavender were making eyes at each other at the Hufflepuff table. Everybody else, even if they happened to be Hufflepuffs, like Eleanor, was seated at the Ravenclaw table. Justin and Lavender were too much to deal with on empty stomachs.

"If you were my husband, Eric, I think I would flavour your coffee with poison."

"If some mishap should cause me to be your husband, oh sweet Helen, I'd drink it."

Dumbledore shook his head as he listened in on the argument over at Slytherin table. The four of them would never stop bickering, yet they always were in each other's company. What would this year be like? There were too much unresolved tension between the teachers for it to be completely normal. Last year they were getting to know each other, this year? Well, Dumbledore took a bite of his toast with gooseberry jam, this year did most certainly promise to be different.

At his side Sinistra's attention was focused on the Gryffindor table. Gryffindors were so much easier to understand than the Slytherins. So much funnier too. You could always rely on Gryffindor House to provide some comic relief. If it wasn't the Hecklethorpe triplets or the Weasley twins the teachers usually managed to get caught up in all sorts of melodramatic situations that she had to scold them for, but got a good laugh over later on. The topic up for discussion at the Gryffindor table was Romania, or rather who Charlie had met while he was in Romania during the summer.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione was having a field day tormenting her fellow professors. She wasn't really upset, but from the look on everybody's faces when Charlie casually had told them all that Benjamin, David and he had run into Viktor Krum in Romania. Krum had been in Romania playing with his team in a training match, which Charlie had brought David and Benjamin to.

"Of course you met him. All my exes know each other." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Harry knows all your exes too, Hermione." Oliver found necessary to point out.

"He's my best friend. Of course he knows all my exes. I just don't expect my exes to form this happy little We-used-to-go-out-with-Hermione-Granger-club. I don't want them to."

"You don't want me talking to Draco? It's going to be terribly hard, seeing as we're both teaching and living at this school. But I suppose I'll manage it just fine."

"I didn't mean it like that," Hermione said. "Of course you can talk to Draco, assuming you really want to. It just felt odd, you having talked to Viktor."

"Hermione, we didn't talk all that much. What we talked about was mostly how he played bloody brilliant in the match, your name hardly came up at all."

"Hardly at all, huh?"

"Well, is this really the place to discuss it?"

"WHAT did you talk about that can't be mentioned in public?" Hermione's voice rose an octave. Suddenly her ploy to annoy Charlie didn't seem so important.

"We had plenty to discuss. Both of us being the dumpee in a relationship with you..." Charlie trailed off.

"If you'll excuse me? I have an Howler to send." Hermione didn't bother finishing her breakfast, before she stomped out of the Great Hall slamming the doors behind her. Everybody stared at the doors, then at Charlie.

"What?"

It was Astrid who smacked his head, in a way that made him think of his mother.

~*~*~*~*~*~

September 1, King's Cross Station, platform 9 3/4.

Aimée and her uncle Orpheus were just in time for the train. "Not too early, which would be frightening us into thinking we were too late, and not too late which would ensure that you were late for your first proper year at Hogwarts." Orpheus Wigglybottom was a short plump man around 80 years of age. He still had a crown of white hair around his head, sadly not on the top, and his brown eyes were not in need of any aid to see clearly.

&ldqo;We would have been earlier if you hadn't insisted that I needed that thing with me, uncle. Insisting on it, and then you couldn't find it." Orpheus noted with some regret that his grandniece was channelling her grandmother Penelope, his sister, when it came to scolding him with a stiff upper lip. Maybe it wasn't too late to break her of that bad habit, he thought hopefully.

"Don't be daft, girl. I found it didn't I? In the very last place I said I was going to look. I'll wager you'll put it to good use, just like I did. It's of no use to either of us if it's just stuck in your bag the whole time."

She shot him a glance sideways. "Or stuck in the bottom of your umbrella stand."

"Or that," he agreed. "It might not be a bad idea if you didn't mention this to your father. He might mention it to your aunt. She's a nice girl, our Padma, but she is a stickler for the rules."

Aimée giggled. Her hair wasn't braided today. Uncle Orpheus had no notion of pretending he knew how, and she had just put it in a pigtail. "She is nice. But I think it had better stay hidden, until I decide to use it."

"Did your father lend you the Invisibility Cloak of his?"

"Not yet. It's not like he uses it." Her voice had taken on a nagging tone and Orpheus was once more reminded of his sister. Aimée looked like an odd mixture of his niece and that Potter chap, but she sounded more like her grandmother and aunt than her father.

"Patience, Potter girl." He escorted her onto the train. "You'll manage to find a compartment by yourself?" She nodded. "I'll be off, then. Just remember, girl, there is no one that claws like a Ravenclaw."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Once her uncle left Aimée walked down the train, she might as well use the compartment she had used on the way down yesterday. It was not one of the compartments that you could get to directly from the doors, this was about midway in the wagon and pretty close to the locomotive. It was as empty now as it had been yesterday. She sighed contently and sat down, digging out the magazines she hadn't finished reading yesterday.

~*~*~*~*~*~

She had just got to the really interesting part (How to make a perfectly innocent face when caught, and how to get away with it) when they appeared. Two boys, who had to be first years like her, because she had never seen them before. The tallest of the boys, by half a head, was the one who talked first. "Would you mind if we sat here with you? Therest of the train is full, we were a bit late. My mother was supposed to bring us to the train, and she is somewhat of a scatterbrain. My name's Ion Sinclair, this," he indicated the other boy, "is Peregrine MacNamara. He prefers to be called Perry." They both seated themselves across from Aimée.

"Can't he talk for himself? He'll have a bit of a problem at Hogwarts then. Not you lot." She groaned. The Hecklethorpe triplets had arrived in the compartment.

"Just admit it, baby." One of the boys seated himself next to Aimée. Since they hadn't given anyone a clue last year who was who of them she had no clue, whatsoever who it was.

"You missed us like crazy this summer, darling." One of the other boys plumped down on the other seat next to her.

"Of course she did. How dreary, exactly, was your summer? Desolate?" The third boy squeezed down between Ion and Perry, so that he could sit right across her.

"I had a smashing summer. It was enhanced by you lot not being there, actually. Just being able to brew a potion without having to worry about explosions of any kind. It was heaven. Visiting the relatives was nice, too."

"You prefer making potions with Professor Goldielocks instead of hanging out with us? The best mates you'll ever have, baby?" The boy to her left was giving her puppy-dog eyes.

"Uhm. One, are they your relatives? Two, are they mental? Three, are you a Second Year?" Even if Perry was holding up his fingers as he counted he still looked as if he was about to bolt.

"One, no they aren't, thank Merlin. Two, yes they are. All of them. Three, I'm a First Year." Aimée snickered as the triplets objected to being mental. "I'm thankfully not in their year. My name's Aimée by the way. It's nice getting to know you."

"So, what House do you want to be in? Me and Perry here, we want to be in Gryffindor, like Harry Potter was. Did you know he is a professor at Hogwarts? Brilliant! Mum didn't believe me when I told her, but he really is." Ion was jumping up and down like he'd been drinking Kangaroo petroleum of some kind. Or had been eating too many sweets.

"I don't know. Mum and Dad were in Gryffindor, but my aunts and uncles were in Ravenclaw. I guess I don't want to be a Hufflepuff. Other than that I really haven't got any idea."

Marius snorted. "Oh, you're a Gryffindor at heart, baby. You don't belong any other place than in Gryffindor House."

"She might as well be in Slytherin." The voice came from the doorway. Everybody turned their heads to see. It was a girl with long black hair and blue eyes that Aimée was positive that she hadn't seen before.

"And you are?"

"Desdemona Bletchley at your service."

~*~*~*~*~*~

After the long, and fairly eventful train ride, Aimée was relived to see Charlie going around looking for the first years. That girl, Desdemona something or other. had taken up residence in their compartment. She had talked and talked and talked. Whenever anyone had tried to change the subject, which had been the brilliance of Slytherin, she had glared, but not stopped talking. Whatever House Aimée got into, she dearly hoped Desdemona wouldn't be there. Something about the girl was just plain weird.

"Aimée, good to see you again, girl." Charlie patted her back.

"Was only gone for less than 24 hours. Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?" She looked up, eager for any gossip or farfetched tales.

"Well," he broke off, looking around. "First Years will gather around me." He looked back at her. "There was this one incident at breakfast where Professor Granger tried to kill Professor Malfoy and myself. Claimed we knew too much about her. Other than that, nothing much happened." He looked around again. "Are everybody here? Well, we have to be off then. Wouldn't want to keep Hogwarts waiting for us, now would we?" He grinned at a girl with blonde hair, who blushed back to him.

The boats were amazing, Aimée could see why her father had wanted her to experience it. She'd got into a boat with Ion and Perry. Ion was looking green. "Are we there yet?" She could practically hear him gulp.

"Soon. You get seasick?" He did not look like the same boy she had met back on the train.

"All the time. Even when I look at waves at my granny's telly." He looked greener just by thinking about it."

"You could've asked Cha- Professor Weasley if you might've taken another route tothe school. It isn't necessary to actually get there by boat, you know."

"Are we there y..." He turned over the rail and Aimée heard some unpleasant noises.

"I certainly hope so," Perry muttered at his friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~

They were kept waiting outside the Great Hall. Ion had recovered some from his experiences on the boat, but still didn't look completely well. Desdemona made a great deal out of telling everybody how exactly he had looked leaning out of the boat. "Ahem. If I may have your attention, please. My name is Professor Sinistra, and I am the deputy headmistress of this school. In a few minutes you will all be sorted into the four different Houses. Each House has its advantages and disadvantages, do not, and I repeat, do not assume that simply because you're sorted into one House you have all rights to behave according to it. Hogwarts have a little thing called a point system, whenever you do anything that the professors approve of, your House gets points. Whenever you break any rules, and so on, you lose points and may wind up in detention. Let's go." She turned around abruptly, motioned and the doors to the Great Hall opened before them.

Aimée was embarrassed. Everybody kept waving at her and shouting her name. It wasn't nice, even if they perhaps had intended it to be. She tried to ignore it, looked ahead to the staff's table. That was even worse. Did all of them have to give her thumbs up? She was fine, or she would be if they all could stop embarassing her. The floor looked very fascinating, all those tiny cracks - what if the floor could talk?

She was so absorbed in her study of the floor that she didn't hear the Sorting Hat singing its clever little ditty. She only looked up when Sinistra called her name. "Aimée Kathleen Potter."

She went ahead and put the Hat on. It began to murmur at once. "A Potter. Well... well... well... Isn't this interesting? Ravenclaw would be happy to have you, as would Hufflepuff. I don't think you're destined there however. In you lies great courage and great cunning; so what will it be? Slytherin or Gryffindor?" She shrugged.

"I don't know."

"You don't know, or you don't care?" The voice asked slightly. "Very well, then. I'll jolly well just have to put you in GRYFFINDOR."

She looked down at the Gryffindor table, they were all cheering, for her. She looked up at the professors. Her dad winked and smiled. Her aunt Padma smiled, the rest of them, save Draco Malfoy, smiled as well. Professor Malfoy winked, then proceeded to scowl at her. She gave the Hat to Professor Sinistra and went down to sit with her fellow Gryffindors. Ion looked at her with big eyes.

"Your dad is Harry Potter!" He looked up at the Staff table, then back at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would you have believed me?" she countered. "Shush. Professor Dumbledore is speaking."

"This is a grand day for all of us. It is the first day of a new year at Hogwarts. The Forbidden Forest is still forbidden for all of you, and punishment will be given to those caught. Remember you may feel sometimes that the roots of education are bitter in their taste, but the fruit that comes from it is as sweet as it can be." He looked at the tables before saying the magic words. "klick and lick, klock and lock."

They all dug in with the food. David, sitting between Harry and Hermione, made a castle out of his mashed potatoes. Nobody minded much, it was the first day of a new year.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A few days into the new year.

Justin and Lavender had started the Saturday by eating breakfast together, in Justin's rooms instead of down in the Great Hall. What had begun as a peaceful and somewhat romantic meal hadn't remained one for long. Justin had felt insecure about Lavender for a while, she'd had a very long list of exes before they'd got together and not very many of them had lasted very long.

He looked angrily at her. "It's just a matter of time, you know?"

"A matter of time before what? Before my tiny brain short circuits and I dump you and start bedding every bloke with fast brooms and large biceps, like before?" She stared right back at him. "Just because my past history with others have been brief doesn't automatically mean this one will." She stumped back and forth. "Or maybe you want out? Maybe this isn't working for you as well as it is for me? Well let me tell you something, I am never, I repeat never the girl that gets dumped. If you want out so badly that you have to invent reasons for getting out - consider you out of my life, Justin." She turned around and left him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Later the same evening.

Upon laying eyes on Lavender after the break-up Helen had declared the evening to be "girls only" and ushered the female professors down to Hogsmeade and "The Three Broomsticks." As she reasoned when she'd ordered the males to stay put and create some semblance to order within the school, "All girls want to have fun once in a while, what better way to do that, without moping, than with your friends?"

They had managed to get tables at the establishment. Ginny had looked once at Hermione, whose eyes had been rather pointedly fixed at Lavender and given them nice seats. The female professors at Hogwarts might not have all that much in common, besides being female and professors, but somehow they could always bond over the terrible guys in their lives. Since Hermione and Charlie had broken off, and Lavender and Justin had ceased to exist as an item none of the female professors actually had boyfriends. For some of them this was a rarity, for others it was the norm.

Sinistra sipped her white wine, before casting sympathetic looks, or what in Sinistra's world counted as sympathy, towards Lavender. "You know, Brown, All our young lives we search for someone to love, someone who makes us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope, all the while wondering if somewhere and somehow there is someone searching for us." She downed the contents of her glass, fearing that she might be getting maudlin. "Either you find it, and he turns out to be a homicidal maniac or you don't," Hermione broke in, determined to give Lavender some support.

"You'll find someone else. Take it from someone who's been around the block more than a few times, and who yet has to find true love. It's better to settle for Mr. Right Now, until Mr. Right decides to make an appearance." She took a big mouthful of her drink and looked around. "If you'll all excuse me, my Mr. Right Now over there looks like he might need a quick snog." She got up and walked, rather wobbly over to the next table.

Padma looked at Lavender. "She never could hold her drinks, what was it that she drank? I'm betting something with a low percentage of alcohol, anything else knocks her out." They all looked over as Hermione practically performed a lap dance on her "Mr. Right Now" and kissed him several times in various places.

"Well, we all know that she isn't going to remember that in the morning." Lavender turned to the rest of the professors, who hadn't been in the same year as Hermione at school. Hermione hadn't partaken in many of the outings to "The Three Broomsticks" the previous years, and when she had she'd usually had non-alcoholic Butterbeers. "Hermione is a good girl, faithful to her boyfriends and she rarely drinks. When she does drink all that seems to go out the window. She flirts with everything that moves, is not too discriminating about who she snogs and - is that legal in a public place?"

"Well it's no wonder her boyfriends were careful about her drinking," Padma said. "I mean, she's not an alcoholic, she just... well, I want to be loved for being me, or rather actually in spite of who I am. The Ravenclaw that never got out of Hogwarts." She smiled wryly as she noticed her attempt to change the subject had gone awry and threw a quick glance at the rest of them before turning back to the Hermione show.

"I discovered something earlier today. Unless it's mad, passionate, extraordinary love, it's a waste of your time. There are too many mediocre things in life love shouldn't be one of them." Lavender smirked, then squinted a little. "My question about whether or not that is legal is still standing, but that can't possibly be legal? None of my boyfriends have ever tried that, and most of them haven't been on the right side of the law. Well, except Dean and Justin." They looked as Hermione came wobbling back to the table.

"You know," Hermione looked at the rest of them as she finished off Serena's glass of Tequila. "Men are nicotine soaked, beer besmirched, whiskey greased, red-eyed devils."

"Mr. Right Now didn't work out?" Serena patted her shoulder with one hand and signalled to the barmaid that she needed another drink.

Hermione looked straight at Serena. "He was fine, and is now Mr. Right Then. Why can't men be easy to understand? Like Serena. I know she's a bitch and I'm fine with that. Why can't a man be more like a woman."

"You thinking of switching sides, Granger?"

"What good has a man ever got me? I don't really think I could be a lesbian, though. Men are nice, some of the time. When they carry your books for you and when they hug you and smell all manly. I don't think I'd like a girlfriend that smelled all manly." She looked into the air, as if she was pondering that last question.

Eleanor looked around at the rest of them, and shrugged. "Men are nice, but I don't think they are the answer to everything." She received a big no from the rest of the group. Only Astrid looked at her for a while, before she asked the eternal question.

"Then why do we always end up talking about them? It's not like we don't have anything more interesting than whether or not Draco's a boxers or briefs man." That last remark snapped Hermione out of her reverie.

"You really shouldn't judge Draco by his boxers, Astrid. It's what inside them that counts." She floated back into her intoxicated dreams and probably went to a scary place that Eleanor had no desire of visiting. Draco Malfoy without boxers. Eww.

"Well I think that having a good boyfriend is like having a good bra, it's all about support, but you never find the one that fits like it was made for you." Ginny had come over to make her input on the conversation, handing Serena her drink and Hermione a mug of coffee. "At least I never found one, and I've searched through plenty of stores for the first one and all over the place for the last one... Oh, Sweet Merlin here we go again." Ginny walked over to the door and kissed the three people who came in. Fred and Katie decided to settle down with the Hogwarts tables, as they had a few empty seats. George took place behind the bar, determined to avoid the girl from last year, who'd kissed him like he'd never been kissed before and then never given him a hint that she was alive. He wasn't such a bad kisser, was he?

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hello. I'm feeling lucky tonight. Me and all these lovely ladies." Fred smiled as he put one hand over his wife's shoulders and another one over Sinistra's.

"Weasley, you're not still a student at Hogwarts. There's no need for you to suck up. We can't help you pass your exams and if you put anything in my drink, I'll hex you into oblivion." She shrugged off his arm.

"With your wife sitting next to you I'd rather send the flattering her way, then maybe you'll get lucky tonight." Lavender smiled slightly at them.

"Yeah," his little wife hit him in the arm. "More isn't always better, Fred. Sometimes it just means more trouble for you. Listen to the wise woman." Fred held his arm where Katie had hit him.

"Bloody hell woman, that hurt. Didn't we agree that you weren't supposed to hit me again?" His wife smiled sweetly at him.

"If you cannot answer a man's argument, all it not lost, you can still call him vile names or hit him."

"You... You're married." Eleanor looked at Fred.

"Yeah... I have been for about nine years..." he trailed off as she slapped him. Lavender nearly choked laughing.

"Eleanor, this is not the same man you were kissing last year. This is Frederick Weasley also known as Fred. He is married to Katie here and he's easily distinguishable from his twin, George, by the simple fact that Fred wears a wedding ring, while George doesn't."

Fred merely raised his eyebrows at his wife. "This is the reason my boy has been all surly lately. His girlfriend thinks I'm him."

"I don't think this has anything to do with you, dear. Eleanor, is it? George made a beeline towards the counter as soon as he noticed who we were going to sit with. I'd go over and talk to him."

"Yeah," A drunken Hermione, who hadn't sobered up much from her coffee, gave her input on the situation. "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams, Nellie."

"Since you gave me a scary visual not too long ago, I'm going to ignore your dreams." She got up and walked over to the counter and the redheaded twin named George.

~*~*~*~*~*~

George was busy serving Ginny's customers their weird requests. His chosen occupation was as an inventor of quirky gadgets that worked as pranks, but he rather liked mixing drinks as well. It was somewhat like potion making, except nothing blew up all the time. Drink-mixing was a relatively safe thing to do on a Saturday night. Later that evening he would probably be the bouncer, he could say a lot of things about his sister, but she wasn't afraid to let people work.

"Might I have a word?" The girl who taught Divination at Hogwarts slid up at one of the barstools in front of him. He shrugged, not certain about what she was trying to achieve by propping herself in his line of vision.

"Sure, have a sentence even," he said graciously, but his mind was racing with thoughts about her. She wanted to talk to him. Why did she want to talk to him? Was there something wrong? Had she met someone else, and she didn't want him to continue having fantasies over her? Had she met someone else and got married? Was she pregnant? It couldn't be his, as no one could get pregnant from merely kissing, not even from a fantastic kiss like that.

"Well, I just made a fool of myself with your brother and his wife. Figured I'd come over here to make the evening even more perfect." She shrugged. "Why didn't you get in touch after last time? You asked about it and I said it would be ok..."

"I think you used the words it wouldn't suck."

"So why didn't you?"

"Did you want me to? Or was it just a ploy to get respect from Malfoy and that other bloke?" A wry grin. "A good turn gets most of the blankets. But have you ever noticed that going with "what the hell" always seems to be the right decision? Let's get out of here, I need privacy." He tossed his apron to his sister, winked at her and grabbed Eleanor.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Ginny and her two barmaids were on full duty while George was flirting with Eleanor, she didn't mind. He deserved being happy, ever since Alicia died it was like he had lived in a cocoon. The only one who had been able to get him to act like the old George Weasley from Hogwarts was this girl, this former Hufflepuff. She smiled at Fred as she caught George's apron. It was a genuine "told you so" smirk. He shrugged back at her, before her sister-in-law nudged him and pointed in direction of the bar. It looked like she might be getting help this night after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~

After Eleanor and George had made their exit and Fred had begun his duty of mixing the various drinks Katie Weasley sighed. "I suppose I'll be getting a sister in law soon. Judging by George's expression it won't be long. Eleanor made a good choice. Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that's a real treat." She leaned back in her seat.

"I don't know," Serena drawled in a way that reminded everyone present about Malfoy. "Coffee, chocolate, men - some things are just better rich..."

Hermione, having sobered slightly up, but not completely, decided to contribute to the conversation. "I just want a normal guy, one that doesn't cheat on me or thinks of me as a sister." Serena leaned over and patted her head.

"My darling girl, when are you going to understand that "normal" isn't a virtue? It denotes a lack of courage."

Fred grinned at Katie. "My girl is wicked smart, she'll understand soon."

"Hermione has never been your girl Fred." His wife smiled.

"More like a sister to all of you than one you thought of as a girl, at least there are some Weasleys I've never gone out with." Hermione tried to count on her fingers. "I dated Ron, briefly, I went out with Bill once or twice, I think I snogged Percy at a party once, he was a great kisser you know." She leaned over to tell Fred, who began to make a sour face at the idea of anyone kissing Percy. "Then there was Charlie. I've been with three, no four," she said as she recounted her fingers. "Of the Weasleys. I'm missing George, Ginny and Fred. " With that she passed out at the table.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The same time, back at the school.

Harry and Draco had decided to take the first shift in patrolling the hallways. Harry because David would surely wake him up at seven the next morning, the boy had no understanding of the words sleeping in, Draco because he wanted to avoid spending time with Justin. The former Hufflepuff had been devastated over being dumped and Draco had no patience with fools like that. Either you had a girl or you didn't. Life was good either way.

"I guess I can understand them." Harry looked once at the Marauder's map.

"Huh?"

"Justin and Lavender. Love is a tricky thing."

"I haven't found it to be all that difficult."

"Because your track record is very good." Harry smirked as he tried to nod solemnly. "You've had so many relationships that lasted beyond the one year mark."

"Well, you know experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward. I haven't had time to study yet." He smirked. "But aside from your marriage your relationships have been fairly short too. Whatever possessed you to get married Potter? And stay married until death did you apart at that?" They had finished mucking pupils out of the Astronomy Tower (You would have thought that some time someone would come out with a new place to meet their romantic interests.) and were heading for the former Divination tower. Harry looked at the paintings on the way, casting glimpses at his map now and then.

"I reckon it was special. I needed someone, and it came as a surprise to me to figure out that that someone was Parvati Patil. But it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them up, they meant we were supposed to be together. Meeting her again was like coming home to the only real home I'd ever known. Turns out that we made the only home I've ever known, together." Draco hit him on the back.

"Don't make me sappy. If a pupil see me cry I'll hex something off you, Potter."

"Yeah. Well, no one in the Divination tower. I guess whatever you were planning on hexing off is safe for now."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Aimée had utilized the gift from her uncle, granted it wasn't something like the fantastic cloak and map of her father and grandfather, but still it allowed her a great deal of freedom. She was glad that Uncle Orpheus had insisted that they would spend a little time looking for it. It had been in with the rest of the umbrellas, which, she supposed, was the proper place for an umbrella to be, even if it was a magical one.

Still, an umbrella that had flying powers weren't too bad. If she used it outside, or even at home, people would simply think that they'd had too much to drink and seen Mary Poppins. No one would guess that the umbrella was real. Of course the tricky part was getting out of the school without the map and the cloak. "Where do you think you are going, dear?" Aimée turned around. Oops. Eri... Professor rker.

"The man in the moon was waving at me?"

He sighed. "I have never fully understood the female capacity to completely avoid a simple answer to a direct question," he muttered. "Look, kid. I almost hate to burst your bubble of happiness, or whatever you're high on. There is no man, Aimée, only the moon. And no rain, whatsoever. I suggest you take the umbrella and get back to bed."

"Fine. Good night." I wonder if I can try flying out of my bedroom window.