Victoire and Ella started their day as usual by getting their schedules and comparing it with everyone else. Then they rushed off to their first class leaving Ben to get his schedule, he had to work out with their head of house what classes he would be taking now that he was past his O.W.L.s.

And speaking of those wonderful tests, their charms teacher started out their first lesson by discussing how close they were to O.W.L. year. Victoire and Ella looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. If the teachers were starting this in their fourth year what was it going to be like in their fifth year?

Their Charms teacher was new, their old Charms teacher they’d had for their first few years had written a new Theory of Charms book and was now touring the world signing books. This seemed a very amusing idea to them, he had always been rather boring and they couldn’t imagine him signing books like Victoire’s aunts and uncles had always described Gilderoy Lockhart. But they were hoping their new Charms teacher was more interesting, she was a middle aged woman with long black hair. Her name was Estelle Baker and she was tall, skinny and rather pale but she had a friendly look about her. After her (thankfully) short lecture on the upcoming O.W.L.s she moved on to explaining what was apparently going to be her regular class schedule.

“I’m going to start this class by asking you some questions about what you have already learned and what you expect to learn in this year. After today though I will let you start out my lessons with asking any questions you had about the homework, after you have handed in the homework.” Ella glanced at Victoire out of the corner of her eye, just how much homework was she planning to give them in their first lesson? After checking up with what they had learned previously she moved on to asking what they expected to learn and the room got much quieter. “All right, I’ll rephrase it. What charms have you heard of that you want to learn?” The room was very quiet still and Victoire figured she might as well throw out some ideas.

“What about the summoning charm? And the banishing charm too I suppose.” She wondered why it was so impossible for someone to answer a simple question, especially since she was just asking their opinions. Then she realized she herself nearly hadn’t answered, she didn’t even know why, it was just a reaction they had all developed.

“Yes, that’s exactly the type of things we’ll be learning this year. We will learn the practical spells you will actually use. I may differ slightly from the suggested schedule Professor Michaels left for me if I think something more useful can be substituted.” Victoire and Ella once again turned to each other; there went all the interesting spells.

Awesome post. PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS

After all their classes were over and they’d finished dinner Victoire and Ella made their way up to the common room, making sure to stop by any interesting spots they found along the way. When they got there they found Ben already waiting for them, apparently he had been there for a while.

“So, no killer subjects yet? No teachers assigning long homework and apparently an early end today. I don’t see what you’re complaining about Ben.” Victoire knew, of course, that Ben would have a long and hard year ahead of him but she decided she might as well get her teasing out now rather than later on when he got his usual grumpy self while doing long homework.

“Amazingly enough nothing yet, I think they’re trying to lull us into a false sense of security,” He picked up on her sarcasm but chose not to respond. “So had Ella gloated sufficiently already or shall I add an ‘I told you so’?” Or not.

“Why do you two feel a need to gloat? It’s not like I was viciously arguing about how there wouldn’t be a ball. I just chose to deny the fact until the last moment.”

“What are you denying Victoire? I will sharply bring you back to reality, it’s much better that way.” Fred came in the portrait hole, grinning as usual. He didn’t seem at all phased by any change in homework load.

“I was talking in past tense. You look oddly refreshed for having just spent a day in classrooms.”

“Ah but classrooms can be so refreshing when you look at them the right way, especially from the viewpoint of someone thinking of future disruptions that can be made.”

“I can’t say I’ve ever looked at it that way.”

“I have,” said Ben, “wondering what I’d have to resort to so I could get out of that killer Transfiguration class.”

“Which killer transfiguration class would that be Ben?” now Teddy had come up as well.

“No one who is scoring higher grades than me is allowed to talk to me from now on.”

“You’re going to have a very lonely existence after this,” Fred ducked under a table, expecting to have something thrown at him. Ben faked reaching for a book then leaned back, leaving Fred under the table.

“But back to how this conversation started, several ages ago, what is your opinion on our ‘ball’ now Victoire?” Ben was talking again so Fred peeked out from under the table. Ben must have noticed out of the corner of his eye because he reached for the book again.

“I still don’t like the idea that much.”

“No surprise there, any reason for why yet?” once again Fred’s head came out and Ben reached for the book. After Fred went back down Teddy, always the peacemaker, sat down and picked up the book.

“I think I’ve narrowed it down to the fact that she doesn’t like the idea of going with a guy,” Ella chimed in.

Victoire tried to interrupt but Ben went on, addressing Ella this time. “Well it shouldn’t be that much of a problem, just go with one of us.” He gestured toward the emerging Fred and Teddy who was now trying to look like he was immersed in the book. “Right?” he turned toward Teddy who maintained his silence. Victoire took advantage of Ben stopping for a second and forced herself back into the conversation.

“It’s not just that. No, I still haven’t worked out why I don’t like the idea; it’s all very mixed up in my mind. It’s just that… It’s like… I don’t know… It’s like…” Victoire was frustrated; she couldn’t get past this block in her mind.

“You don’t like the idea because you’ve heard from your aunts and uncles what happened the last time between people who had been close friends and you don’t want a repeat of that.” Teddy was still appearing to read his book and Victoire was amazed, it was exactly what she’d been about to say.

“Yes, but there’s more, it’s what I’ve been trying to say for months…” she started again but he interrupted again, apparently he understood she was still trying to work it out.

“You also think the whole idea of anyone attempting any sort of relationship at this age seems fairly pointless.” Victoire ignored the slightly raised eyebrow look she was getting from Ella, she was very thankful for Teddy right now. The only way he could have possibly come up with that was if he felt the same way about the whole situation.

Awesome post. I can't wait for the chapter about the "ball". PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS

The Quidditch tryouts that year seemed, at least to Victoire, to be less stressful than usual. Tabitha knew she had a whole team of people she could count on already even if it turned out she didn’t have anything else and that was all she needed. She also knew that none of them would blame her if she chose someone else over one of them.

But she did notice that what stress there was got to Fred more than usual. She could understand that, since seeker was a much sought position, but it was strange to see Fred at all stressed and she had no idea what to say to him.

It turned out in the end that she didn’t need to comfort him; he got over it quite successfully and did very well when it came to his turn. She just wished she could say the same for herself; it seemed, at least to her, that she didn’t do quite as well as usual. But afterwards when she questioned her fellow teammates about it they hadn’t seen anything wrong.

As usual nothing could stop Ella from getting the butterflies in the stomach feeling. However Victoire was starting to think she worked better under pressure, a fact usually proved by her studying habits. Ben was usually the same way, in both studying and Quidditch. So apparently Victoire needed to revise her opinion on the amount of stress felt by her teammates.

There were exceptions to this though; it seemed to Victoire that nothing fazed either of her fellow chasers. If she hadn’t pretty much grown up with Teddy and seen what an excellent actor he was she would be convinced he was entirely emotionless as far as nervousness. And she had never seen Hazel get very emotional in any way as far as she knew. She had no worries for how well they would perform and once she got past her own turn she knew she didn’t have to worry about anything.




wonderful short entry You have probably deduced by now that the Quidditch team is the same as last year

Awesome post, PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS

The first match of the year Slytherin beat Hufflepuff soundly, apparently Slytherin was still going for the "size over skill" rule but they were fairly good anyway. But this also meant that their predictions about Hufflepuff were correct, they had lost most of their experienced players and were still working on training their new team.

The week before the Gryffindor team's first match was a Hogsmeade weekend, after much begging and pleading (mainly from Fred and Ella) Tabitha gave in and allowed them two hours in Hogsmeade before coming back to Quidditch practice. Consequently the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were eager to get out to Hogsmeade to make the most of those two hours. Once there Fred went immediately to the Hogsmeade branch of WWW. Victoire wasn't entirely sure why, he practically lived in the store since his Dad was the one who started it. He had the merchandise memorized, why would he need to go there? When she brought this up with Teddy he suggested that the reason he went to the store was because it was pretty much his home. It was rather like going back home.

After that they took Fred around to see the rest of the sites of Hogsmeade, this was his first trip. They saved the Three Broomsticks for last because they figured that's what Ella, Ben, Hazel and Tabitha would do as well and they would probably all meet up there.

And they did. They met up with Ben on their way in and Ella was already sitting at a table waiting for them. Shortly after they had sat down Tabitha and Hazel came in as well. Tabitha agreed that they could stay a little longer, their two hours being nearly up, after Fred offered to pay for anything she happened to want at the moment. Victoire figured Tabitha was probably already having a good time anyway and would have given in to just a little bit of begging. Not to mention she seemed to want to cheer up Hazel, who seemed a little down.

Fred picked up on this fact as well, and being the friendly person that he was struck up cheery conversation with Hazel. He was soon joined by Ben and Ella who couldn't resist joining in once Fred started. Victoire, Teddy and Tabitha discussed the prospects of the Quidditch season for a while and once that wore down they listened to the others ramble on and on talking about who knows what.

Somehow the subject turned to secret passageways inside and outside Hogwarts, Victoire wasn't really sure how, and Hazel mentioned that she knew of about seven different passageways out of Hogwarts. This seemed a bit odd to Victoire, from what she heard there were only seven passageways out of Hogwarts. She thought about this for a while, then it hit her; how could she know about the passageway under the Whomping Willow? No one was supposed to know about that. Teddy was apparently one step ahead of her, he must have been listening more closely.

"Seven, do you say?" he entered into the conversation. "I've heard that there are only seven in existence."

"That seems likely, I haven't found any lately," Hazel admitted.

"How did you know that..." Fred started.

"I'll get back to you on that, Fred." Teddy interrupted. "But actually I was wondering how you knew where one of those was. As far as I knew, no one would know where it was unless they knew why it was there."

Victoire saw what he was getting at, she was amazed. She had never thought of it before. It also seemed that Hazel understood what he was saying.

"She never told me you knew!" She seemed amazed as well, "It would have been nice to know."

"OK, there we run into the problem. No, I don't know who 'she' refers to, I just know the tunnel is there and I happen to also know why it's there." he stopped, he suddenly seemed to realize something. "Oh, I see now. I probably should have guessed before now. It's a pity she never told us, we could have helped."

Victoire had absolutely no idea what connection he had made, but it seemed clear that Teddy had finally found out who their mysterious werewolf was. It also seemed she wasn't going to Hogwarts anymore. Whatever else was going on she thought this was probably time to go. She nudged Tabitha, hinting that it was time to break it up. It took Tabitha a few moments to figure out what Victoire wanted because she had been busy looking around the Three Broomsticks for someone but eventually she got the hint.

"All right, you've had your break, time to get practicing."

Fred seemed reluctant to go, he was still very curious as to what was going on but Victoire grabbed him and brought him out with her. Hazel was quiet and walked at the back of the group on the way back to the castle. Once they were well on their way Victoire dropped back to where Teddy was. She raised her eyebrows questioningly at him but didn't ask anything, she knew he'd explain in time.




here's my bit of mystery for those sleuths out there. any guesses before I post my next one? (Not that I've written it yet )

I'm clueless, usaully I'm pretty good when it comes to predicting but you have me stumped. Nice job. *sighs* I guess I'll just have to wait for you to post. Which hopefully will be soon. PAMS
13~*Michelle*~13

By the time everyone was ready to start practice and Tabitha had given her usual pre-practice talk it seemed that Fred at least was willing to move on with life, Victoire had never seen him performing this well. This alone was enough to satisfy Tabitha, but it didn't stop there. By the time they'd finished practicing she was practically beaming at them, they had all apparently performed up to her standards.

After they had all landed and put the balls back Tabitha faced them and started "All right team," Victoire rolled her eyes, Tabitha only ever referred to them as 'team' when they were in practice, she seemed to think it made them more professional. "You all performed very well today..." "Oh, and you performed very well yourself Tabitha," Fred interrupted. She ignored him "and I think we have a very good chance of beating Ravenclaw. In fact, I don't see any way we can lose. Our chasers seem able to read each other's minds, our beaters are incapable of missing, and our seeker, right now I can not praise him high enough, even if he does interrupt my after-practice speech."

On her way out of the Quidditch field after she’d changed out of her Quidditch robes Victoire found Teddy and Fred waiting for her, apparently Fred had stayed of his own accord, seeing something was going on.

“Well?” asked Victoire, “I don’t think you’re both here acting as a welcoming committee.”

“Well it turns out we’ve been a bit oblivious,” said Teddy. “Though not as oblivious as we could have been. Hazel’s friend, Grace, the seventh year she was always with. That’s who it was, admittedly we don’t feel as stupid as if it had been Hazel herself but you’d think we might have noticed.”

“Yeah, having the experience that we have with werewolves, you’d think we’d be on the watch for anything suspicious. And it’s rather sad for her that we didn’t know it would have been nice for her to know there were more people who trusted her.”

“Actually,” Fred entered the conversation unexpectedly, “I suspected something was a bit different about her. I just could never put my finger on it.”

“Well I suppose it’s too late now. But I was thinking last summer how we should pay more attention to people like her who are always ignored. Not many of us could have got away with that because we all have family or friends we knew before Hogwarts, and we kind of adopted Ella and Ben, but what if we hadn’t? From now on I’m watching for anyone who looks lonely, we may end up with far too many friends for our own good, but hey, that’s better than not having friends.” She started up toward the castle leaving Fred and Teddy by the Quidditch stadium.

“Now why isn’t she in a year where she can be prefect?” asked Fred.

“Yes I was rather wondering that myself, well there’s always Head Girl.”

“Are you two coming?” Victoire called down the hill.

“Oh certainly, your welcoming committee was merely plotting your future,” Fred called back up.

lol, Fred is sooooooooooooooo funny. PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS

edit: ok, I had a new entry here but I have to go back and edit it, I wasn't quite done yet. a bit too eager to post...

sounds good, and lol. You were eager to post and I was eager to read.
*Michelle*

Yes, I'm rather bad about that. I barely ever revise. But probably once I finish the whole FF I'll go back and change stuff.



As the Christmas holidays drew nearer Victoire began for the first time to begin wishing she was going home for the holidays. They had won their Quidditch games and even Tabitha admitted that it was too cold to practice on these snowy days. She very nearly added her name to the list of those going home for Christmas, but she didn’t think she would have a very good Christmas without her friends there. She loved her family at home, and she would welcome seeing them again, but it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as staying at Hogwarts.

So she resigned herself to the fact that she would go to the Christmas party. She had the dress robes and she figured she’d never use them again while she was at school. Not to mention she was starting to see the okay side of the whole party thing, as long as no one went as a ‘couple’ she wouldn’t have to worry about the whole thing.

However she found the downside to this when she was asked to the party by someone she had never seen before. Silently resenting inheriting Veela blood from her mother she politely declined, hoping it wouldn’t happen again. Ella may have found this amusing but Victoire did not.

However she learned she was not the only one who had experienced this, Tabitha came in one day, looking very much like McGonagall when she’s made, and followed by Hazel who seemed to be stifling her laughter. Someone had asked Tabitha to the party and Hazel had ended up answering for her, Tabitha being too shocked to answer, the young man who asked her being a captain of an opposing Quidditch team. Hazel managed to pass it off as Tabitha being too shy or surprised to answer for herself, the surprised part being half true. When Tabitha finally spoke she said she was happy they had beat Ravenclaw so badly, if they hadn’t she probably would have just walked away without saying anything.

Victoire stuck to her decision of not going with anyone, even though she was tempted to say yes to someone to prevent being asked by anyone else she didn't know. However the rest of the time leading up to Christmas was fairly uneventful. They had their now traditional snowball fight, this time joined by Hazel and Tabitha; and went to Hogsmeade where most of them did their Christmas shopping. They also spent many evenings in the Gryffindor common room or the Great Hall playing Wizards Chess, Exploding snap or any game they happened to make up for the night. One of their favorites was rather a variant of Slap Jack in nature, made much more interesting by the exploding cards and a couple extra rules. And considering both the Gryffindor prefects were usually a part of this they didn't have much fear of being bothered except by the Head Girl, who often joined in herself.

wow, Head Girl playing slap jack, now thats funny. And I have a feeling Victiore is going to be asked to the dance again. PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS

The day of the party came, it was to be Christmas Eve. Victoire entertained herself in the hours leading up to the party by watching the girls in their dormitory getting ready, and even Ella admitted that it was amusing. Victoire, though more interested in clothes and such than Ella, could not quite understand their fuss about how they looked. She supposed she and Ella were the only girls in all of Hogwarts who felt that way right now though. Even Faith, who Victoire though was more sensible than the rest of them, had been affected by this.

At 6:00 they all went down to the common room, most of them to meet their dates. When they got down there it was too crowded to find much of anyone, and much more brightly colored than usual, instead of their Hogwarts robes. Victoire gave up all ideas of finding anyone she knew and ducked through the crowd, moving along the wall to reach the portrait hole.

When she came to the Entrance Hall it wasn’t much better but she continued forging her way through to the Great Hall. Here it was set up as any part would be, except on a much larger scale. She was not the only one who had stopped in the door to take it all in, the Great Hall had never seemed so large and open, and the snow falling from the enchanted ceiling made it seem even more like stepping outside on a wintry night. The Christmas trees were decorated with snow and icicles enchanted so they wouldn’t melt and there were ice sculptures of all shapes and sizes all over the room. The side toward the door was set up like a restaurant and the far side had a space for those who wished to dance (which Victoire knew she would be avoiding). The floor in the dancing area had also been enchanted to look like ice, smooth and white but not anywhere near as slippery. Victoire had to admit that it was all very impressive and in some ways intimidating.

By now she realized that she was still standing in the doorway and people were trying to get by her. She picked a likely looking table and started toward it, the problem being several other people had also picked out that table. It took her two more tries to get to a table before it was taken. She sat for a while watching the people coming in, she had never realized how interesting it could be just to watch a crowded room, there was always something happening. Then she realized that many of the people were eating already, she glanced at the table and saw that attached to the bottom of the ice centerpiece were instructions for how to get your meal. There was a menu on each plate and, as with the Yule Ball; you had merely to tell the plate what you wanted.

She was looking through the menu, which had more pages than you would think looking at the outside of it, when she was joined by Fred and Tabitha. Shortly after them came Teddy and just a few minutes later came Ella and Ben. By now the Great Hall was looking full even with the expanding charms that seem to have been put on it. Victoire kept expecting the headmaster to make an opening speech, but no speech came. She was not the only one finished with her meal and he was sitting at the teachers table talking to their Arithmancy teacher. She supposed that meant they were pretty much free to do whatever and there was no schedule, she supposed something in her thought that things should be more organized.

She spent the first part of the evening after everyone was done with dinner talking to Teddy and a Ravenclaw who had joined the table when he saw that there was a space. His name was Kyle and he looked like he was a little older than Victoire. But she knew he was a fourth year because she had seen him in some of her classes. They talked about pretty much anything that came up in that way that is so rare to find where you can just talk to someone about anything even if you don’t know them. But after a while Victoire couldn’t stand being inside anymore, having grown up in what seemed like the middle of nowhere she spent most of her time outside when she was at home. Usually she didn’t mind being inside Hogwarts that much but tonight it was just too crowded. Kyle and Teddy understood completely and let her go on outside.

ooh, nice post. I was off with my thinking though of what was going to happen. But your way was better then my way of thinking. PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS

Outside it was a beautiful night, the only difference between the grounds and inside the Great Hall what that it was colder outside. Paths had been made through the snow for wanderers such as herself and there were Christmas trees and ice sculptures scattered about the grounds as well. Victoire had planned on just walking around the paths once before going back in but she found herself exploring a path that seemed to go out farther than the rest.

As she walked she thought about how partners at the ball had worked out. She had known that Fred and Tabitha were going so no one else from another Quidditch team would ask Tabitha. She also knew that Ella and Ben were going together, though she didn’t quite know how that had worked out. But what she hadn’t known was that Teddy wasn’t going with anyone. She supposed she hadn’t really thought about it, she just kind of picked up on the rest of them by accident.

But what puzzled her was, why hadn’t Teddy gone with someone? Victoire was fairly sure Hazel had been hinting that she wanted to go with him. But then, Victoire had also noticed that Teddy seemed to be a bit oblivious to such hinting. She smiled to herself, it was really rather funny how oblivious someone could be when it came to matters of who likes who. She had to admit it might look to other people like she didn’t notice half the things going on. She just found that it was much simpler and smarter to keep your comments to yourself unless it directly involves you. But quite often if you keep to this strategy it just looks like you don’t notice anything, either that or you’re choosing to ignore it.

By now she had wandered to the end of the path she was on. It ended by a tree on the lake shore, unlike the others that were all connected so they didn’t have an end. She stood for a moment by the lake; the very edges were frozen in what looked like mid-wave. She suddenly realized how long she had been outside when she looked down at her watch; she’d only meant to be a few minutes. She was turning around to go back to the castle when she felt her ankle turning and the ground slipping away under her; apparently she’d stepped on an icy patch. She landed halfway in the snow and lay there for a minute, how could she have missed seeing that ice on the way in? She sat up and looked around, she heard someone yelling something and thought she heard her name but at first she didn’t see anyone around. A few moments later someone opened the doors of Hogwarts, giving more light to the grounds, and she saw someone running down the path toward her.




*your author feels that she may be getting a bit cliff-hanger happy*


Oh, and a belated Happy Easter!

What a cliffie! How dare you! jk jk. Great post and a Happy belated Easter to you also and everyone else who is reading this FF. Oh and before I forget... PAMS PAMS PAMS PAMS, did I mention PAMS.

Shortly after Victoire had left them Kyle and Teddy were joined by Ella and Ben. After being introduced to Kyle, Ella asked where Victoire had gone.

“She said she was going outside for a minute,” Teddy answered. “But she should have been back by now; I think I’ll go see where she’s gone.”

“I’ll go too,” Ella said, getting up from the table. “It is a bit crowded in here.” Kyle thought he’d go along as well and they left Ben at the table, seeing Tabitha and Fred coming to join him.

Even though the outside was lit by some soft light coming from the ice sculptures after the brightly lit Great Hall it took a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the change of light. From where they were they could see many people on the crisscrossing paths, some in pairs or large groups and some alone, but it was impossible to recognize anyone out on the grounds. Ella thought to herself that it could be a while until they found her with the way the paths snaked all over. Kyle seemed to be thinking the same thing and suggested that they split up. Ella agreed and started down a path that seemed to lead toward the greenhouses. She took a few turns and ended up back by the castle door, how, she did not know. Right when she came up to the door she heard Kyle yelling something about having found Victoire. As she turned around to see where he was the door opened behind her and Fred and Ben came out. She told them to follow her and turned back toward a path that looked like it led to where she had heard Kyle.

She tried to keep on a straight path leading toward the lake but the path always seemed to curve to some other direction. Slowly they got closer to the lake, always seeming to find the most twisted path. Soon they were in site of where she could see Kyle, and soon after she saw him he was joined by Teddy who came from over by the forest. However many times she tried she couldn’t get any closer, it seemed these paths had been made to frustrate anyone actually wanting to get somewhere.

Finally she got tired of messing with paths that were already set and got out her wand to melt a path. As soon as she did this a path appeared that led, as far as she could tell, straight to the lake. She sighed and decided to try one last time. They watched the lake shore from a distance while they followed the path and as they were watching they saw someone, Ella thought it was Teddy, running in the direction of the castle.

Ella realized how ridiculous it was that they were going so slowly and began sprinting toward them. She heard Ben and Fred start running as well, and then she heard Kyle tell them to watch out for the ice. She slid to a stop, there was a patch of ice in front of her. She walked cautiously across it and finally reached Kyle who was now sitting by Victoire, apparently trying to not appear worried. As for Victoire she was just looking annoyed with herself for having caused so much trouble.




Bad me, I left you for quite a while with that cliffie didn't I?