24

Dear Papa,

I know it has only been a week but I felt there were some things I needed to tell you and that you would want to know.

First, let me assure you that I have been well treated here. The English students have been very willing to accept me and my fellow foreign students, some have even defended me from the bullies of the schools. I have been invited into a group of friends which includes Harry Potter. It seems that he is a Dragon Shifter and his best friend, Neville, is a Phoenix animagus, but they call it a magimagus. We were treated to a magnificent sight of three dragons and two phoeni (phoenixes? Which is correct?) and a snowy white owl playing in the air above Hogwarts on our first day. It is a sight I will treasure forever and hope to show you in a pensieve soon.

Harry was eager to spend more time around me, but not because of my allure attracted him. He says that the dragon tries to emerge and protect him because my allure is invasive to him. He hopes prolonged exposure will strengthen him. He is a wonderful boy and I do not mind especially as he is clearly in love with his girlfriend, Hermione, who has befriended me with his adopted sister Luna and their friend Ginny.

Having spent much time with Harry and his friends, I have spent a fair amount of time with his father, Xander Harris. He seems completely unaffected by my allure, he claims he has some theories as to why but seems very reluctant to share them. His girlfriend, Nym, spends a lot of time with me and assures me that he will tell me eventually.

Papa, I know one of your greatest fears for me coming here, was that I would be sexually assaulted. Harry Potter adopted Luna as his sister after he stopped an attempted rape on her. He then spent many months creating a charm based on the Fidelius Charm that can effectively prevent such violations from occurring. It was such a break through that it has already been introduced to their medical people and nearly every female in the country is protected. Even the ones in their prison.

I beg you to bring Gabrielle to Hogwarts to have the charm placed on her. It is very safe and has many protections in it to prevent accidents. Please raise this issue with the Veela Council and the Ministry of Magic as it is something that even men would wish for.

But, I must now tell you the real reason I am writing so soon after arriving.

We were told on the first day during the school announcements that there are many werewolves living in the nearby forest. We were even told that we could venture into the forest and the werewolves or centaurs would guide us back to Hogwarts if we got lost.

I thought werewolves were dangerous at all times? Is this not true? I understand there are werewolf communities in France, but I thought they were forbidden around children, even their own?

I await your advice.

Love

Fleur

Alain Delacour stormed into the Great Hall of Hogwarts ignoring the fact that it was filled with children, he marched straight to the table where the staff were seated. His opinion of the school was falling even more. Werewolves roaming free and amongst the children and even he could march straight through without any security stopping him. This Headmaster Harris was going to get a good piece of his mind. He simply couldn't understand why that Fudge character was afraid of the man.

"Where is Headmaster Harris? I demand to speak with Headmaster Harris." Alain demanded furiously.

He was mildly pleased to notice the children try and edge away from him. They clearly saw he was a man to respect he smirked a bit.

"No you idiot." Said a burly bearded man further down the table, reading his face. "They are trying to avoid the blood splatter from when my brother rips you to pieces."

"Not to mention his mother." Said a blonde haired woman sitting near the middle next to a man with yellow eyes.

"And his son."

"And daughter."

Alain was shocked to hear the two children's voices from behind him. He was a little confused and unsure of himself. He was actually having trouble remembering why he had stormed the castle in the first place.

"I- I- I… erm."

"Maybe you could start with an introduction?" The witch from the other side of the yellow eyed man asked with a Scottish accent. He felt lucky she hadn't threatened him as well, the look in her eyes was enough.

"Delacour… yes! I am Alain Delacour!" He said triumphantly, finally he was getting somewhere… he wasn't sure where, but at least he wasn't stalled.

"Fleur's father?" The blonde woman asked in astonishment.

"Does your wife know you are here, Mr. Delacour?" The burly man asked.

"I- My wife? What? No, she doesn't." Alain had no idea why Apolline his wife would be involved.

"That explains that then." He chuckled. "Having spent some time with your daughter, I assume she gets her temperament from her mother."

"Ok, that's enough." The yellow eyed man declared as he stood up. "Mr. Delacour, I have no idea why you decided to barge in and disturb our breakfast, but I have several grumpy werewolves moaning at me because I didn't let them take you out.

"First you will apologise to my pupils for your interruption. Then you will apologise to your daughter for embarrassing her. Then you and I will take a walk and discuss whatever it is you came here for."

Alain did not like to be ordered about. He was beginning to wish he hadn't ordered his entourage and bodyguards to remain in France.

"And if I refuse?" He asked haughtily.

"You will be forcibly ejected from the grounds." He then growled, it was terrifying. "And I doubt your daughter or wife will forgive you anytime soon."

Alain looked to where the man indicated and saw his daughter with tears streaming down her face as several people tried to comfort her. He also noticed a large dark shape inches behind him, a warm breeze was pushing at him.

"I don't say this often Harry, but don't you think that's overkill?" The yellow eyed man asked the dark shape behind him.

The next voice he heard chilled his bones and nearly voided his bowels. It was deep, gravely and loud, despite not being a shout. "He hurt Fleur, insulted everyone. I should get to play."

Alain stiffly shuffled his body around to face the voice. He was not expecting to see nothing but teeth and scales. His eyes slowly rose up and took in the full size of the dragon that was inches away from making him his next meal.

"I want to play too!"

The overly chipper declaration and the sight of the young blonde girl poking out from behind the giant head of the giant dragon was too much for the Deputy Minister of Magic for France.

He fainted.

"Thank you very much Harry. I was hoping to enjoy my breakfast before I had any patients." Poppy groused at the sheepish looking dragon.

"Harry, change back." Minerva instructed authoritatively as she took charge. "Poppy, take care of Monsieur Delacour." She waved her hand and the man vanished causing the foreign students to gasp. "He's waiting in the Hospital Wing for you when you finish.

"Miss Delacour, when you are finished, we will visit your Headmistress and mother. I am sure she will be anxious to here what her husband has been up to." Minerva said with a kind smile.

Fleur simply stood with a steely resolve. Her Veela magic cleared her splotchy face. "I am ready when you are Headmistress." She said respectfully.

Minerva saw that the girl could use an escape so she indicated for Fleur to follow and they left, Minerva wasn't surprised when Hermione accompanied Fleur for support.

Alain struggled through the fuzzy haze that separated him from consciousness. He could hear muffled voices and focused on them, shaking his head slightly to clear it.

"I see you are awake, Alain."

Why the devil was his wife there? Wasn't he at Hogwarts in Scotland?

"Polly?" He murmured sleepily.

He suddenly felt a large hand grip his arm and he was suddenly very awake with the yellow-eyed man staring down at him.

"What did you do?" Alain asked. "And who are you?"

"I gave you a jolt to wake you up quicker. I think it's like an Enervate spell, only I don't know 'cause I don't use a wand. Oh, and I'm Xander Harris." He grinned.

"No more stalling!" Apolline Delacour demanded. "I want to know why you stormed this man's school and embarrassed yourself, your daughter and your country!"

Despite being very awake, Alain still needed a few seconds to process the questions and formulate a response.

"Werewolves! Fleur wrote to me and told me that there were werewolves roaming freely amongst the children." He said beginning to regain some of his outrage that had prompted his Norman Invasion.

"So?" Alain then noticed that the young boy who claimed to be Xander's son was sitting on the bed next to his with his legs crossed.

"So? Don't they teach you anything in this school?" Alain demanded.

Alain's eyes widened as the boy emitted a very deep growl.

"Harry, you control yourself or leave." Xander admonished sternly.

Harry just grunted and slouched. "Still hasn't answered my question."

Xander shrugged at Alain. "Well, Monsieur Delacour?"

"Werewolves are dangerous! One bite and you become one of them. They are forbidden around children."

"In France." Xander added.

"Anyone with any sense would do the same." Alain declared.

"No, anyone with your narrow mind set would do the same." Xander corrected. "You ever spent time with werewolves when it wasn't the full moon?"

"Are you deaf or insane? Didn't I just say that that would be suicide?"

"ENOUGH!" Apolline screeched. "All these years we have been together, Alain, and I have never known you to be so narrow minded!"

"You have never had to deal with werewolves or their victims." Alain spat.

"I am Veela! Veela have spent centuries caring for werewolves that seek aid."

"Really?" Xander asked in surprise. "I never knew that, but then again, I don't think there are any Veela in this country."

"Yes, because of the persecution we face from the British, we fled to the mainland." Apolline explained.

"Should I assume we have an abundance of werewolves here for similar reasons?" Xander asked.

Apolline just nodded sadly. "Werewolf males were favoured mates among the Veela. Likewise Veela were favoured mates or companions for all werewolves as during the full moon we could sooth their transition and violent tendencies with our allure. There is a mutual attraction."

Alain looked horrified at the thought. "My daughters will have nothing to do with werewolves." He declared.

"Too damn late." Harry snarled.

"Language." Xander warned.

Harry just stared at him in disbelief. 'Damn' was not usually a banned word.

"Our mother is getting stricter. She's even working on Nym, that is not going down too well." Xander said with an apologetic shrug.

"What do you mean 'too late'?" Alain demanded.

A quick mental conversation between Harry and Xander and they decided not to reveal his status… yet.

"My uncle is a werewolf. He is often here in the evenings with the rest of my family." Harry said proudly. "Fleur spends time with us sometimes, they have very in depth conversations about the school for werewolves that he runs."

Alain looked at Apolline triumphantly. "See! They have placed our daughter in danger!"

"Our daughter told me about Professor Lupin." Apolline fumed. "She described him as the gentlest soul she had ever met… apart from a girl named Luna."

"And he hides a beast that could rip her to shreds and destroy her life." Alain spat. "I am removing my daughter from this-"

Whatever Alain Delacour was about to say was lost in a blast of red light as Apolline stunned her husband.

"Headmaster Harris, I apologise for my husband. I very much don't want to destroy Fleur's dreams." She said sadly.

"Maybe we should let him have his way for a few days?" Harry suggested.

"I hear a plan in there kid." Xander grinned, which Harry returned.

"Let the idiot take Fleur home. In three days time I will kidnap him and take him to the werewolf village."

"Three- the full moon?" Apolline asked.

"Yep, he can spend all night cowering whilst a bunch of oversized puppies lick him silly." Harry giggled.

Alain was quite proud of himself. He had rescued his daughter from the clutches of the insane British Wizard who sent children into the hands of werewolves.

The only problem was his wife and daughter were so angry with him that they refused to be in the same room as him.

They had thrown him out of the house and he was relegated to sleeping in another house he owned. If this continued, he would begin to have troubles at work and in the press, they would love the scandal of the Deputy Minister having trouble at home. Rumours of affairs would run rampant.

Alain checked the clock, it was 4pm. He felt another wave of satisfaction. The full moon would rise tonight and his family would be nowhere near those evil beasts.

Alain spun as he heard the Floo fire up. It was restricted but it paid to be careful, he stood wand in hand. He lowered it slightly as his wife, two daughters and a fourth figure came through. The fourth somehow managed to tumble through into his family sending them all to the ground.

"I told you I should have gone first!" The voice spoke in English and was very familiar.

"Yes Harry, we will definitely listen to you in future." Fleur responded in English.

Why was Harry Potter here with his family? It could not be a good thing, he had very little respect for the boys father but couldn't imagine he would send the boy to make apologies on his behalf.

"In your own time Harry, I see no need to drag this out by engaging him in pointless debate. Maybe facts seen with his own two eyes will sway him." Apolline said tiredly.

Alain was about to enquire as to what was going on but he found himself in the middle of a quaint little village surrounded by trees where a number of people were gathering in the village square.

"Welcome to the Lunar Village." Harry said with a grin.

"Where are we? Why are we here?" Alain demanded.

"As Harry just told you, we are in Lunar Village. It is the werewolf village in the Magical Forest on the grounds of Hogwarts." Apolline informed him tightly.

Alain looked to the setting sun and began to panic. "We have to get out of here! These monsters will tear us to shreds!"

"Monsters? Are there really monsters coming mummy?" A little boy asked.

"Now what sort of monster could possibly defeat Harry?" Another familiar voice asked from behind Alain.

"Xander!" The boy cried along with several other children.

"Hey kids, ready for the puppy pile?" Xander asked as he strolled past the trembling Alain Delacour.

Alain watched in horror as the moon rose and the adults and some of the children began to contort and transform into their wolf form. Alain backed up as quick as he could only to bump into something large and warm. He quickly spun around to bypass the obstacle and found himself face to face with a huge black dragon.

"Are you really such a fool, husband, that you would ignore your own wife? I have first hand knowledge of dealing with werewolves. These werewolves would never hurt you. Lord Hogwarts says he will reveal the secret in the morning.

"For the time being, I suggest you relax before Harry decides to play with you."

Alain was staring at the huge dragon, barely hearing his wife's irritated voice. He felt something tugging at his trousers and looked down to see the young boy who had spoken earlier and a small wolf puppy. Alain was confused as to where the puppy came from before he realised it was a werewolf child.

His current situation became clear to him, he scooped up the boy and hurried over to his wife and children.

"Come, we have to run!" He hissed as he tried to grab Gabrielle, his youngest daughter's hand.

"Petrificus Totalus."

Alain slowly fell to the ground as his wife's binding spell immobilised him. Harry, not really caring about the man's health but wanting to prevent the boy he was holding from being hurt, slowed his fall.

"Pack," Xander called out to the assembled wolves all milling around. "this man needs proof that werewolves are not dangerous in controlled circumstances and that you lot aren't a danger to the kids. Have fun!"

For the next hour Alain was held in place by the spell as nearly every werewolf came up and either sniffed him or gave him a lick. He was particularly smelly when Xander released the binding.

"So, have we proved our point?" Xander asked as Alain used his wand to clean himself. "Or do you need to speak with the Centaurs and Unicorns first?"

Alain looked to were Xander indicated and saw several centaur foals and unicorns playing with the younger werewolves. Without a doubt it was a fairly huge statement.

"I suppose you have." Alain admitted nervously. He still couldn't shake the fear. No mere hour would.

"Try and relax. These guys and gals wouldn't hurt you. If I'm not around then they have plenty of Wolfsbane potion, if that runs out they have secure basements to lock themselves in and the Centaurs are always around to monitor things." Xander assured him.

"Wait… aren't they on the potion now?" Alain asked as his fear spiked.

"Nope, something else keeps them sane and in control whilst I'm around." Xander saw the curious look on his face. "I'll show you when the sun rises."

Alain sat next to Xander as they watched the human children and his family play with the puppy werewolves. Above them Harry relaxed in the air keeping a discrete eye on things.

Eventually the dawn came and Alain grimaced as the werewolves resumed their human forms. They tottered tiredly off to recover some sleep as they collected their families.

"There was one werewolf you didn't see today, Monsieur Delacour." Xander said quietly, without looking at the man.

"Oh? What's so-" Alain froze as he saw the huge wolf sitting where Xander had been moments before.

"I am the Omega Werewolf." Xander growled in his gravelly voice. "I am essentially the king of the werewolves. They actually consider me more 'godlike' though."

There was a quiet thud and Xander tilted his lupine head down to see Alain passed out on the grass.

"I didn't think it was that bad." Xander whined, an unusual sight to see on such a fierce looking creature. "Why are you on the floor?" Xander asked as he noticed Apolline and her oldest daughter on their knees with their foreheads touching the ground.

"You are the Lupine King." Apolline declared reverently.

Xander flowed into his human form. "Yes, I believe I just said that. So why is there a couple of Veela kneeling down to me? Even the Goblins don't kneel, just bow." He said as he physically lifted the two ladies to their feet.

"It was prophesied that you would come and re-unite the Veela and Werewolves and together you would bring them up as equals amongst humans."

Xander closed his eyes and sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "FIRENZE!" Xander shouted to one of the Centaurs that had come for the full moon.

"Xander." Firenze acknowledged with a tilt of his head.

"Do you know about a prophecy saying I'll unite the Werewolves and Veela?" Xander asked in irritation.

"We do." Firenze responded simply and unconcernedly.

"And you didn't mention this before… because?"

"It was not ours to discuss." He stated calmly before he trotted off.

"It's a damned good job we live long lives or I'll never get this finished." Xander sighed. "Fine, let's get your dad up to Poppy and then I need to have a strong word with Joyce."

Alain Delacour woke later in the day at home with his wife and Xander present. Xander was there merely to assure Alain that he wasn't dreaming. Fleur was already back at Hogwarts. Joyce had apologised profusely to Xander claiming she had no clue that this was all pre-ordained.

Nym and Luna began to take a much more willing Fleur off on secret meetings now. Xander didn't want to know.

Harry and the twins had begun to implement Harry's prank. It was subtle and understated… yet highly annoying to the victim.

It was Monday, the quietest day of the week for Argus Filch. All through the weekend he had chased after the unruly and dirty kids and cleaned up after them. Xander had offered him a team of wizards or house elves to assist him. But truthfully, he liked to work alone and found the manual labour to be therapeutic.

Monday was the day when he sat in his office with his feet on his desk and read the latest trashy romance novel that had found its way into the lost and found box.

But not today.

Minutes after breakfast there was a knock on his door. A first year boy was asking for a copy of the banned items list. He wanted to make sure his parents didn't send him anything on it.

Argus grunted and handed over one of the ten copies he kept on hand, just in case.

Just as he did, another boy from a different house appeared and requested the same thing for similar reasons. Maybe Xander's warnings were more effective than Dumbledore's.

At lunchtime, a group of five third years appeared. They didn't appear to be together, but they all wanted a copy of the list so that they could make sure they didn't get anything on the list during their first trip to Hogsmead.

Just before dinner, three second years appeared and requested the list to send to their parents as they had younger siblings starting the following year.

Argus was surprised. No one had ever requested the list before, and now he had just handed out all his copies. Just in case he sat down and wrote out another copy.

After lunch a seventh year girl appeared and requested a copy to use as an example of grammar and list writing by a professional. Argus was so flattered that he dreamily handed over his latest list before realising he would need to write another.

By the time he went to bed Argus was beginning to realise that he was being pranked. But Argus Filch had been around kids for a long time and knew how to handle them.

By Saturday a large portion of the student body had come down with a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome. And Harry was being blamed.

Argus had decided not to replace all his copies himself. Instead, every time a pupil came and asked for one, they found themselves copying out his original ten times in order to ensure the caretaker had enough copies. The list ran to over a foot in length and made Hermione's essays look like book blurbs.

Argus had regaled Xander and his brothers with tales of the hapless students to the sound of sloshing beer and laughter at the Three Broomsticks.

Harry was not the happiest of bunnies, but he grudgingly admitted that he had been brilliantly counter-pranked.

Saturday was also the day that the students began putting their names forward as Champions for the tournament. Xander had insisted that the Goblet of Fire be available for a long period of time so that the students would not need to rush into a decision.

The Goblet had been transferred in from the Ministry and would be guarded night and day by rotating squads of combined Goblins and Werewolves to challenge anyone not eligible to enter.

The students of all three schools gathered in the expanded classroom where the Goblet would be kept. They had simply had Joyce change it to match the Great Hall. Fudge, Crouch, Bagman, Maxine and Karkarov were there. Xander had point blank refused to allow Dumbledore onto the grounds.

"The rules for submitting yourself as school champion are quite simple." Crouch explained to the children. "You will write your name on a piece of parchment along with your school. On Halloween the Goblet shall expel the chosen candidates' parchments. Be warned that should your name come out of the Goblet, you will automatically be held to a magical contract. Fail to compete in the tournament and you will lose your magic."

Xander had hated that, but was shot down over and over again. He invested his efforts in ensuring the safety of the Champions.

"There are various measures in place to ensure you cannot enter your name if you are not of age. Including these… Goblins and Werewolves." Crouch said with un-concealed disgust.

Crouch paled as various individuals growled in anger at him.

"Sit down and shut up Crouch." Xander said angrily. "Bottom line is this. If you are of age then you are welcome to put your name in, just include your school on the same parchment. The Goblins and Werewolves will be happy to help you make sure you have filled out the parchment correctly… in fact, I will have a bunch of slips made up for you.

"The tasks are dangerous, people have died before so be very careful about thinking this through. If you really do this and your name comes out of the Goblet there is no turning back. I will be implementing various safety measures, but I can't account for everything.

"That said, good luck. The prize is one thousand Galleons and glory for your school… not really sure about that second one, but hey, it was part of the negotiations." Xander stood down and moved over to give the students access to the Goblet. This was not going to be a happy year for him.

"Why only a thousand Galleons?" Harry asked as the family and Fleur sat down in the living room of the apartment.

"'Only a thousand'? That's a fair bit of money, Harry." Neville pointed out.

"Not if you're risking your life and the school gets the glory." Harry argued. "I would have thought that at least ten thousand would be better."

"That's insane!"

"He's thinking in terms of non-magical currency." Xander explained to Neville. "For starters, one Galleon is about five pounds, so one thousand Galleons is five thousand pounds."

"Still sounds cheap to me." Harry said sceptically.

"Yes, but, you have to take into account the fact that the wizarding world is economically less than the non-magical world. If the average person in the non-magical world earns twenty thousand pounds a year, in the magical world they earn four thousand pounds a year. So winning one thousand is pretty good."

"The richest people in the magical world only have a few million Galleons." Hermione added. "The richest people in the non-magical world have billions of pounds."

"Well… used to." Xander grinned. "The richest people in the magical world are all in this room. And we have a couple of hundred million Galleons between us. Harry is the richest, as soon as I saw his account I started making investments using the knowledge of the future I had. Still pretty risky as I didn't know what would change, but it paid off and Harry is as rich as they come."

"What do I do with all the money?" Harry asked nervously.

"Forget you actually have it and continue with your life as you normally would." Xander said firmly. "Nobody needs that sort of money, get yourself a job you like and supplement your income with your riches, but use most of it to help others. You'll never find a decent use for it other wise."

"Could you do the same for me?" Hermione asked.

"Already did. Your parents gave me their savings and your education fund and you are sitting pretty on several million pounds… Hermione? Do we need Poppy?" Xander asked worriedly as Hermione began to hyperventilate.

Harry was about to run off to get Poppy when Sal grabbed him and whispered in his ear.

"WHAT!" Harry screeched.

"Trust me little brother." Sal assured him with a wink.

Harry steeled himself, squared his shoulders and pulled Hermione into a passionate embrace. Hands started wandering as Hermione's breathing eased and she started moaning.

"Sal!" Joyce scolded as the alarms started going off.

"What? I thought she'd get indignant and slap him!" Sal said defensively.

"Sure, if Harry actually spent enough time kissing and snogging in the first place." Nym laughed. "Hermione has been fairly frustrated recently."

"Yes, but now they've had a taste they are likely to get addicted." Xander groaned. He didn't want to know what his son was getting up to with his girlfriend. He waved a hand and the pair were drenched in ice cold water causing Hermione to squeal and Harry to… do the same.

"What'd you do that for?" Harry demanded as he dried himself and Hermione.

"Because it was the only way to get your attention!" Godric laughed.

"In light of today's… events, I am making changes to room assignments." Xander declared. "Neville, Harry, you two are going to share a room. Hermione, Luna, same deal."

"Yay! Roomies!" Luna cheered happily.

"Why exactly?" Neville asked curiously.

"Because then they won't have private rooms to get carried away in and set the alarms off in." Minerva smirked.

The following day Neville was marched into Poppy's domain to have his sinuses fixed. Harry went straight back to bed until Hermione roused him with a wake up call… which nearly set off the alarms.

Most of the students spent their time in the room with the Goblet of Fire.

"What are the odds that my name will come out of the Goblet?" Harry asked gloomily from where he and Neville were perched on a tabletop.

"Pretty good, the twins aren't making much money off this one as everybody assumes your luck will make another appearance." Neville shrugged.

"That's what I thought." He sighed.

"What did Xander say?"

"He's expecting it too." Harry admitted. "But he says he will be happy if I am in it as it will add another layer of security if I am in the thick of things. Says I won't have any trouble with the three tasks and not to try too hard."

"He's just going to let it happen?" Hermione asked incredulously from her position seated between Harry's legs on the bench leaning back into his chest as he sat on the tabletop.

"Nope, says he'll 'raise holy hell' but he wanted the three of us involved in the security and safety in someway regardless."

They were interrupted by the loud boastings of Draco. "Of course if I was old enough, the cup would pick me automatically. The Malfoy family has long been the epitome of what a wizard should be." He declared haughtily. "My father was outraged when he heard that I wouldn't be able to enter, but that fool of a Headmaster had to stick his nose in."

Neville and Hermione had to restrain Harry from going over and decking the little runt.

"Pay attention Harry." Hermione whispered up to her irate boyfriend. "So, Draco, you say that the Malfoys are the cream of the wizarding world, yes?"

Draco's nose turned up as though he smelt something rancid. "What of it Granger?"

"So… you're better than the Potters?"

"Far better."

"The Longbottoms?"

"Not even the same species."

"The McGonagalls?"

"Yes."

"The Parkinsons?"

"Always."

"WHAT!"

The screeching indignation that came from Pansy Parkinson was nearly as deafening as the sound of her hand slapping his cheek. Pansy proceeded to storm off.

"My father will hear of this Malfoy!" She declared over her shoulder.

"Quick show of hands," Neville called out, "Who thinks the Malfoys are better than them?"

The hall was decidedly quiet.

"And who thinks they are better than Malfoy?" Hermione called out.

There was a loud rustling as every hand shot up. Malfoy glared at his mutinous minions but they simply glared back.

"Just so we are clear… why are the Malfoys the cream of the wizarding world?" Hermione queried.

Malfoy was seething. "You'll suffer for this Mudblood." He threatened as he pulled his wand.

His efforts halted as he was hit by a spell and transfigured into a ferret.

"There'll be none of that Malfoy." Moody declared as he started bouncing the white ferret up and down with his wand. "You treat others like scum and they will treat you the same." He growled.

"Alastor! Put the student back!" Minerva screeched as she marched in, Joyce and Xander on her tails.

Moody grumbled but undid his spell work.

"We do not transfigure the students as punishment!"

Malfoy was fleeing away in fright as the rest of the school laughed at him.

"Why not exactly?" Xander asked. He quickly quailed under the combined weight of feminine glares from Joyce, Minerva and Hermione. "What? Aside from the bouncing, which I admit was a bit much." He added with an apologetic look to Moody. "Spending some time as a transfigured snail or object sounds like a good punishment. Dead boring but requiring little watching on the part of the teachers."

"We'll discuss this later in private." Joyce declared, heading off the potential arguments she could see Hermione and Minerva building to eruption.

Moody stomped off grumpily, the other teachers following.

"Hermione, would you excuse Neville and me for a bit, we need to see the twins." Harry grinned.

Hermione sighed. "Fine, just try not to get into too much trouble. Xander finds your pranks funny, don't change that by getting anyone hurt."

"We won't, just a little… justice being served in a manner that was practically requested." Harry smirked.

"I don't want to know." Hermione said with a dismissive wave of her hand as she gathered her books and wandered over to Fleur and Luna.