((Here we go. Is the title okay? OOC is here.))

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Edmund looked around the by-now very familiar Great Hall with a sense of both immense satisfaction and not a little apprehension. As a sixth year, he had the right to feel superior to all the little ones below him, especially the fifth years who would be approaching that separator of the men from the boys, the O.W.L. exams. The seventh years were generally too busy with their N.E.W.T.s to bother with the years below them, so he was quite secure in his place at the top of the school hierarchy.

"Larchmont, Randy!"

The Sorting ceremony was about halfway done, with the usual row of mostly-terrified eleven-year-olds all trying to cower behind each other. Edmund gave them a once-over, mentally labeling them: Halfblood... Muggleborn... That girl there is a dead ringer for Gryffindor...

"Hufflepuff!" came the Sorting Hat's cracked voice. Edmund looked back at the stool in time to see a nondescript boy with mousy hair gratefully stumbling away from the spotlight toward their table. Edmund applauded politely and gave the boy a friendly smile. As a Prefect, he had to make sure they all felt welcome...

He sighed to himself, hoping the Sorting would go quickly, and his stomach rumbled in agreement. Emily Scarborough, sitting next to him, gave him a sympathetic smile and wrinkled her nose at him. She mouthed, "Me, too."

"MacDougal, Verna!"

"Gryffindor!"

Aha, I was right, Edmund said to himself smugly as Verna MacDougal practically ran to the Gryffindor table. Seeing her relieved face, he wondered whether she was Halfblood or Muggleborn—she definitely didn't look Pureblood. As he watched her getting to know her neighbors, he decided from her awed expression that she was probably another Muggleborn.

Tsch. He caught his facial muscles before they formed a sneer. It wouldn't do to be seen fomenting inter-House rivalry, now, would it?

Returning to Hogwarts was always something Amelia looked forward to, the long train ride shut away in a compartment with her friends, the sorting ceremony with the terrified eleven year olds waiting to hear their fates and of course, stuffing ones face during the feast. It was certainly a long day and with lessons starting in the morning, there was very little time to do anything other than eat and head to bed.

This year, however, the Sorting Ceremony seemed to be dragging on for longer than usual and Amelia found her attention starting to wonder. Hufflepuff had gained quite a few new students, Gryffindor wasn't too far behind, Ravenclaw and Slytherin on the other hand only seemed to have acquired one or two. Not that she was complaining, of course, the fewer Purebloods shoving their 'pureness' down everyone elses throats, the better.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Amelia sat herself up straight and looked to the girl sat beside her. Her best friend, Charlotte, currently fidgeting on the bench in an attempt to get a better look at the remaining first years in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her little brother. Bloody little brother. If she had a sickle for everytime Charlotte had mentioned her brother over the last year, she could have afforded to go and watch every match of the Holyhead Harpies until the day she died.

"Pssst, there he is!" Charlotte elbowed Amelia and pointed to the rather small, scrawny looking boy now sat on the stool. It took less than a minute for the hat to decide that Oliver should join his sister in Ravenclaw. The loudest cheer from the Ravenclaw table came from Charlotte, much to the embarassment of those around her.

((I'm going to fast-forward through some things so we can have our characters meet soon.))

The Sorting finally done, the food appeared on the tables and Edmund dug in heartily. It had been hours since lunch on the train. Emily, grinning, heaped potatoes onto his plate and began chattering about her summer holidays. She'd already told him in owl post every detail, but seemed to need to repeat it for the benefit of everyone around her who, to their credit, were listening politely.

"... and then this ghost came zooming out of the wall and absolutely terrified the poor Muggles standing next to us!" Emily giggled. "The poor things, they probably couldn't believe that a haunted house was actually haunted."

"Muggles don't ever believe things like that," Edmund said absentmindedly. "They haven't the imagination."

"Oh, Edmund," Emily chided him, bumping him with her shoulder, "don't say things like that. It's not their fault they're born without magic. You should know better."

Edmund only barely caught the slight emphasis on the pronoun and glanced around quickly to see if anyone else had noticed. No, they were all still laughing about the Muggles. Good. Edmund pushed down his moment of panic and shot Emily a dark look. She smiled sympathetically and nodded.

Dishes arrived, were emptied, and disappeared. The pudding came, enormous bowls of trifle, trays of tarts, platters of cakes, and everyone managed to find room in their full stomachs for just a little more.

Finally, when everything had vanished, Professor Dippet rose to his feet and wheezed out a few rambling words of greeting and best wishes for the first years. Before he had quite finished benches were scraped back, peoeple rose, and everyone began milling towards the doors.

Edmund jumped to his feet to assume his role. "First-years! First-years, follow me!"

"Goodness, they do get smaller every year, don't they?" asked Emily beside him as she joined him. She smiled reassuringly at the first years. "I hope you all enjoyed the feast -- tomorrow it'll just be eggs and toast and tea! Not that we starve here, the house-elves in the kitchen are very generous, and of course our common room is right next to the kitchens..." Rattling on like a chattering bird, she led the group, Edmund trying not to smirk, to their common room and showed the first years their new rooms.

"That's done," she said with a sigh as she flopped onto the couch next to him half an hour later.

"Any homesickers?" Edmund asked. "I had one boy who looked like he was going to snivel, but he kept it in, brave lad."

Emily nodded. "Two girls, Muggleborn both, but they come from the same part of England so they're having a nice talk together. It's better that way, for them to learn to rely on each other like this."

Edmund yawned wildly, a jaw-cracking stretch that lasted almost half a minute. He patted Emily's cheek -- he'd have kissed her, but she hated it when he did that in the common room where Oh, dear, Edmund, anyone might see!, even if no one was around, so he kept his more adventures displays of affection to secluded closets and abandoned classrooms.

"I'm going to turn in, love," he said as he stood up. "The train ride and the feast always render me completely senseless, you know."

Emily patted his hands and then, surprising him, winked. "I heard from Amy McPhearson, you know, the Gryffindor Prefect, that the Prefect baths are something amazing -- and lockable."

Edmund's blink of surprise turned into a grin. They hadn't "gone far" in their relationship, since Emily was the kind of girl who liked to take things slow and steady, but she'd hinted in one of her letters that she might let him put a hand under her clothes this year. Well, he was patient.

They exchanged goodnights, and Edmund walked down the narrow hallway to the room which now had a sign saying "fifth years." He cleaned his teeth, changed into pajamas, and fell asleep wondering what his schedule would be this year.

((Alright, I'll take it through to first lesson =p ))

The feast flew by, bellies were filled and Professor Dippet rounded off the evening with a few words of greeting and best wishes for the year ahead. The Ravenclaw Prefects rounded up the first years and escorted them from the Great Hall, a rather embarassed looking Oliver rushed on ahead after having caught sight of his sister waving at him like a lunatic.

"He's only been here five minutes and already you've embarassed him." Amelia said as she rose to her feet, an amused look upon her face. "Are you going to go and tuck him in too? Give him a good night kiss?" She joked, placing her hands on her hips.

Charlotte stood from the bench, linked her arm with Amelia's and walked with her out of the hall. "But he's my little brother! Though I suppose I should give him a bit of space until he settles in. If he needs anything, he knows I'll be around."

The walk to the tower was a long one, made even longer as with each step, their eyelids seemed to grow heavier and heavier. The two girls nattered right up until they both curled up in their adjascent beds in their nighties. Wishing everyone a good night, Amelia was one of the first to fall asleep..

.. and one of the first to wake. First day of lessons and she wanted to make sure she was ready for it. The female showered, dried, braided her hair and dressed herself in her Ravenclaw robes. Standing in front of one of the many full length mirrors lining the girls bathroom, she gave herself the once and twice over to make sure nothing was out of place. All seemed in order to her.

It seemed to be an eternity later before Charlotte and the other Ravenclaw girls were ready to leave the dorms and take the long walk down into the Great Hall for breakfast. The timetables should be ready too, though to stop herself having to run back to the dorms to grab a forgotten book, she'd simply charmed her bag and placed all of her books inside it.

Breakfast passed by in the blink of an eye, an owl brought her todays Daily Prophet and the Head of the house brought around the time tables. Amelia gave it the once over and heaved a sigh of relief, all in all, it didn't look too bad. First day of lessons and it began with Defence against the Dark Arts, what could be better? Finishing off the slice of toast perched between her lips, she slipped her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the DADA classroom.

((Sorry for the long delay. Been travelling a bunch this week 'cuz I'm home with my hubby for a change!))

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Professor Green, the current Hufflepuff Head of House and professor of Care of Magical Creatures, walked up and down the long house tables handing out schedules. It took a while for her to reach the fifth years, and as he waited Edmund ate his way steadily through five pieces of toast, four eggs, three slices of bacon, two cups of tea, and an apple which he was still slowly picking at when Green reached them.

"All right," she said cheerfully, riffling her stack of parchment to settle it straight. "Baines, Diggory, and Smith." With each name she handed the three fifth-year boys their schedules and then moved on to the girls.

Although the two other Hufflepuff boys had opted for Care of Magical Creatures in their third year when they'd been able to choose elective courses, Edmund had apologized profusely to their Head of House and opted for Arithmancy instead, citing convincingly his frequency of head colds as a reason not to want to spend several hours every week out in the Scottish winter tending smelly animals. He was, as far as he knew, the only Hufflepuff for several years who had chosen that course, which had a nasty reputation for massive homework loads. In truth, he'd pulled more than one all-nighter toward the end of term last year, finishing his essays.

So, as Edmund compared his schedule with the two other boys, and with Emily's, he wasn't surprised to see that his Arithmancy class was occupying an extra hour on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons. Professor Green gave him an indulgent but slightly exasperated look. "I'll have you know, Mr Baines, that it's just to accommodate you that the course is being given at that time. You'd best keep your marks up, young man!"

"Oh, I will, Professor, I will," Edmund replied with perfect honesty.

"And you'd better be sure to apologize to Viola tomorrow before the first class starts! She likes her afternoon tea, you know."

Viola Yardley was the Arithmancy teacher, and Edmund grimaced at a bitter taste in his mouth for that encounter. It would not be pleasant.

"Yes, Professor."

But Professor Green was only half-teasing him. He knew he was one of her favorites, and was not below taking advantage of that as needed. She moved away to give the schedules to the sixth-years, who were all on tenterhooks about being admitted to their N.E.W.T. courses, and as she did so Emily nudged him.

"We'd best get going," she said. "It's Defense Against the Dark Arts first hour, with Ravenclaw. I don't know whether to be relieved or worried."

Edmund nodded. "Professor Lestrange certainly knows the material, but this is the O.W.L. year after all. It's sure to be a lot more practical than before."

Emily groaned theatrically and twiddled her wand between her fingers. "I'm sure I'll do horribly," she moaned as they left the Great Hall. "And those Ravenclaws are always so competitive—"

Edmund cut her off more sharply than he'd meant to. "Stop that," he said brusquely. "You know you'll do just fine if you apply yourself. And lower your voice," he said, leaning in and lowering hers as he glanced pointedly in front of them at the group of Ravenclaw fifth-years who were preceding them out of the hall.

Emily's first look toward him was annoyed at his sharpness, but then hideously embarrassed at her potential gaffe, and she began talking as loudly as she could about the upcoming Quidditch tryouts and whether the captain would make her try out again to keep her Seeker position and if any of the second years might be good enough to fill that missing Beater post and...

((Sorry about the delay, it's been a bit hectic over the past week.))

Defence against the Dark Arts was always a fun lesson, it had a balanced mix of practical and theory to make sure all of the material was received and understood. This year, however, was going to be different because they had exams this year and she was certain the professor would be making things considerably more difficult to make sure they were ready. Amelia was going to have to pay more attention than usual, she didn't want to let her father down by receiving bad grades so it looked as though she would have to start burning the midnight oil. Oh well.

The Ravenclaw started out on the familiar route to the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom, only slowing her pace as an arm linked itself with her own left one. "I was wondering where you'd gotten too, Lotty." Amelia said, letting her emerald gaze rest on Charlotte, whom was now walking in step with her.

"Oh, I just wanted to see what my brothers schedule was like." Charlotte replied, resting her hand on her friends arm. "Can you believe his very first lesson is Potions? Straight after that he has Divination, he's going to be late for it! He only has little legs, there's no way he'll be able to get up all those flights of stairs in time!"

Amelia had to resist the strong urge to laugh at her friends concern for her brother. "I wouldn't let it bother you, it's his first day and the professors will understand if he's late." She said, giving her friends hand a gentle pat. "Besides, I doubt he'll be the only one that'll be late." Charlotte could only nod in agreement, she had been late for her first Divination lesson too.

The journey to the classroom seemed shorter than usual, the two were happily chattering to one another, the talk was interrupted only once as Charlotte looked over her shoulder having heard someone how competitive the Ravenclaws could be. Ah.. Hufflepuffs. Instead of making a comment, she simply smiled and turned back to her friend. It wasn't long after this that the two were entering the classroom with the rest of the fifth year Ravenclaws.

The girls looked around the classroom, though their choice of seating was chosen for them. Well.. the rest of Ravenclaw had chosen to sit on the right side of the room and they followed suite. They claimed a desk in front of two Ravenclaw boys eagerly pulling out their books and quills. Amelia sat on the right side of her friend and relaxed back against the wooden seat, awaiting the arrival of the professor and learning what they'd be studying this term.

(*surfaces after New Year's* Right, back to, er, reality? :P Okay, sort of business: what do we want to have happen during this lesson? I don't want to god-mod, so we should figure out either who plays which professor or come up with a general plan of progression.

And oh, oops, I wrote this whole thing with them as sixth years, which is what I'd initially decided for my character, but somehow in the writing above I switched them to fifth-years.... Is it okay if we keep them as sixth years?))

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Edmund let Emily pull him toward their seats on the right-hand side of the classroom, where the rest of the Hufflepuffs had sat. The usual separation, then, of Houses—Edmund looked over at the studious Ravenclaws, noticing for the first time, it seemed, that there were a number of girls among them as well. He wondered why they hadn't really struck him as "girls" before, but then looked at Emily, still talking absently about nothing at all, and considered that his model for girl behavior had probably blinded his perceptions. Well, everyone grows up, he told himself.

When Professor Black entered with barely a nod to the students, Edmund suppressed a groan. Artemis Black was notoriously biased toward the Slytherins, and this year was not going to be any different than before.

"... in conclusion," Black finally finished, after a long ramble about the O.W.L. results, "congratulations on achieving N.E.W.T. Level. You have shown some competence at the skills required to survive in a world that has as much black as it does white. The level of work I expect from you will increase this year—"

There was a collective groan as everyone remembered the hours and hours of sleepless revising they'd done last June.

"—though the workload will noticeably shrink."

And a collective sigh of relief.

"But," Black went on, "you will no longer be relying on the overly simple guidance of a textbook this year. You will be forced to stretch your understanding of magic to get away from rote repetition and into a fluid use of spells and enchantments as each situation warrants. You each cared enough about Defense Against the Dark Arts—"

"Or our marks," muttered Edmund's friend Roland into his hand, looking over at the Ravenclaws disparagingly. "Or careers," he sighed, giving Edmund a soulful look. Edmund knew Roland's mother wanted her darling boy to go into the Auror office, but Roland was much happier studying law than enforcing it.

"Or about other things," said Black in a loud voice, glancing over at Roland with a stern look "to be willing to put the effort in to pass your exams. Congratulations."

There was a half-hearted cheer from the Hufflepuff side of the classroom.

"So, this year," Black went on, "as I said before, you will be going outside the textbooks. As you may have noticed, this year's text is not quite the same as usual."

Edmund looked down at his shiny new copy of The Compleat Almanack of Magical Defense and opened it as Black walked the class through their new book. Instead of a guidebook, like their last five years' books had been, this was more of a reference, Black explained, that they could rely on for the rest of their lives.

When Black had finished explaining about the book, she assigned them to pair off and quiz each other on jinxes and counterjinxes, challenging their memories and their ability to look things up quickly. Emily and Edmund partnered each other, as usual, and the lesson progressed smoothly, though Emily still had half an eyebrow missing when Black called for order once more.

The lesson over, Black announced their homework. "It's an easy one, this time," she said with a tolerant smile. "I'd like a foot—and no huge writing, and that includes you, Miss Birch!—describing your mental process as you worked today. It would be best to do this as soon as you can after lessons, so the memory doesn't fade. Tell me what you thought, what mistakes you made, how you used the book, things like that."

"Yes, professor," chorused the class, beginning to pack up.

"And," Black went on, and at the tone in his voice everyone paused their motions, "in the spirit of Inter-House bonding, this year you will all be permanently partnered with someone outside your House for a long-term project."

Dead silence. You could have heard a pin drop. Emily dropped her feather quill, which landed with a soft rustle on the stone, and stared at Black in shock.

"You mean," she said, quite white, "we have to pair with a Ravenclaw?"

"I do indeed mean that, Miss Birch," Black replied, her voice quite stern. "It would do you good to experience another partner besides Mr. Baines, as competent as he is."

There was a titter throughout the classroom as everyone heard Black's double meaning. Emily went bright red and Edmund leaned down to solicitously pick up her feather quill.

"Your task this year is to choose an element of Dark Magic and study it in full. You may mostly design your own project, but it should include an experimental element, a practical display, and a substantial essay at the very least. You will have all year to work on this project, so it should keep you quite occupied! Anyone needing access to the Restricted Area in the library will have to apply to me, but only after your project outline has been approved, so as to prevent misuse of those books. Any questions?"

There were none, just stunned silence. "Very well, then, I'll assign you to your partners. No complaints, now!" she said as people began whispering to each other in morose little murmurs. "I simply went alphabetically."

"Edmund Baines"—Edmund looked up expectantly—"with Amelia Blythe."

Edmund turned to the Ravenclaw side of the room to try to find this Blythe, whoever she was, as Professor Black continued assigning partners.