Pianossdriver

Draco checked to make sure no one saw as he skirted another corner toward Lockhart's classroom. Not that he was doing anything wrong. He just didn't want his actions to be common knowledge. That was a very Slytherin trait, he told himself. Professor Gilderoy Lockhart allowed select students to become his “assistants” throughout the school year. These assistants were supposed to help with things such as cleaning the classroom, preparing lessons, or even assisting Lockhart with his fan mail, but in reality it was more like a one-on-one fan meetup with the students Lockhart had sussed out were his greatest admirers. Draco knew Susan Bones and Dean Thomas from his year were both assistants. From Slytherin, Adrian Pucey, a few years ahead of Draco, was also an assistant, as was first-year Edwin Harper. There were others, but Draco did not know who. Draco felt somewhat ashamed to be counted among their number, but not so ashamed that he was willing to stop being an assistant.

Harry settled into the comfy chair in the Gryffindor Common Room. Today marked the fourteenth day in a row that Harry didn't have detention. Ever since Harry came to Hogwarts, Snape had tickle tortured him in his detentions. This latest detention had involved writing lines with a quill that tickled Harry’s feet when anyone wrote with it. For weeks he had suffered through hours of tickle torture by the Tickle Quill every night, but finally, finally he had written all of the sentences to Snape’s satisfaction. He knew it was only a matter of time before Snape gave him detention again, but for now, Harry enjoyed a normal, tickle-free school experience. Happy and relaxed, Harry opened his Herbology book and began to read. XXX Snape sighed. He hated being a teacher. He hated dealing with adolescent dunderheads, he hated documenting their negligible progress, and he hated grading their idiotic papers. Unfortunately, this was what Dumbledore required of him. With another

Neville never TRIED to misbehave. He always did his best to make his grandmother proud. Unfortunately, he was clumsy, and while he was quite intelligent, he wasn't clever in the sharp, obvious way that everyone else valued. The good news was that his grandmother was not abusive like some pure-blood families, and she loved Neville in her stern, critical way. The bad news was that she was old-fashioned, and she still used methods of discipline that hadn't even been used on most of his parents' generation. “Aww, has someone been a naughty boy?” Neville's Great-Aunt Alma cooed. “Yes, Aunt Alma,” Neville whimpered. He squirmed and tried to pull his shirt down so no cloth touched his underarms, but of course, it didn't work. “It brings back so many memories, doesn't it?” Cousin Agatha reminisced. They both giggled and patted his head, as if this were cute. “The old ways truly are the best ways,” Great-Aunt Alma said. “Now bear your punishment like a man.” “Yes, Aunt

Harry took a deep breath, straightened his back, and walked into Snape's office. He had detention. Again. Snape lived to make Harry's life miserable. He belittled him, taunted him, took points, and assigned detentions as often as he could possibly get away with it. Detention was never fun, but Snape's detentions were the worst at Hogwarts. Everyone hated Snape's detentions, but Harry gathered that the detentions Snape gave Harry were different from the detentions he gave everyone else. Ever since Harry's first year, Snape tickled Harry in his detentions. Back when it first started, Snape convinced Harry that tickling was a somewhat normal punishment in the Wizarding World and that if Harry didn't cooperate, he would be expelled. Now that Harry was in his third year, he wasn't certain that all of that was true, but he didn't want to risk losing his friends and magic just in case Snape could get him expelled. In Harry's very first detention with Snape, Snape had nearly

Fred and George Weasley loved making people laugh. Whether it was through jokes or pranks, nothing gave them more pleasure than hearing someone’s laughter and knowing they were the cause. This might not have been a problem if they’d stuck to jokes and pranks, but the twins also loved to make people laugh through – other means. Fred and George had spent the earliest parts of their childhoods being tickled by their older brothers, as is the fate of any child with an older brother. It wasn’t too long, however, before the ticklees became the ticklers. The pair honed their tickling techniques and tested them out enthusiastically on their four brothers, their sister, and each other. They didn’t stop tickling once they began Hogwarts. The Weasley twins were almost as infamous for their tickling tendencies as they were for their pranks. Their roommate, Lee, was a favourite target, as were the Gryffindors in the years below them. The twins did not, however, neglect their siblings as

Severus Snape was furious. He truly hadn’t meant to be angry at all. He’d planned on being cool, aloof, and level-headed when Potter’s spawn, Lily’s son, came to Hogwarts. However, the second Severus saw James Potter’s messy hair, James Potter’s brown skin, James Potter’s glasses, James Potter’s eyebrows, James Potter's mouth, he found himself fuming with barely enough control not to snarl right there in the Great Hall. Then the little Potter turned and had Lily’s green eyes. Severus felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest, seeing those eyes again like that. Worse, in James Potter’s face! Dumbledore insisted that Severus give the Potter spawn a chance, so Severus did so in his first Potions class with the boy. “Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” Truthfully, this was a Sixth Year level question. Severus didn’t believe for a moment that the frizzy-haired girl raising her hand actually knew the answer.

Slughorn had given Tom good information on Horcruxes, especially the possibility of creating more than one, but Tom had to find out how to make a Horcrux on his own. Every source he found said that it was a bad idea to make a living animal or person a Horcrux. Tom mostly figured this was good sense. After all, that would be limiting his lifespan to the lifespan of the living Horcrux. However, one obscure source also warned that living Horcruxes were vulnerable to love and laughter. Tom dismissed this as fairy tale logic. XXX "The one with the weakness to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have weakness the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the weakness to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...." Well, that's a very odd

“Pansy, could you help me with something?” Pansy Parkinson stared in shock and horror as Hermione Granger asked her this question. It's true that Pansy had been a bit friendly with Granger on the train and in the Great Hall before the Sorting, but that was before she'd known that Granger was a mudblood. They had been nothing less than sworn enemies since then. But now Granger was asking for her help. Like they were friends. Pansy snorted. “Why would I help you with anything?” She tried to push past Granger, but Granger blocked her way again and smiled. “I know what you like to do to the Slytherin Muggle-borns.” Pansy froze. No one outside of her victims should know the kind of torment she inflicted on those who stained her house with their impure blood. How had Granger found out? “What are you playing at?” Pansy snarled. Granger continued smiling. It was getting kind of creepy. “I was actually hoping for your help. I have someone I want punished, and I thought

Lee cautiously inspected his bed for any signs of booby traps before dramatically flopping onto it face first. Having Fred and George Weasley for friends was exhausting. Lee sighed and rolled over. It wasn't that he didn't like the guys. They were his best mates. They could always make him laugh, they dragged him into the most exciting adventures, and they came up with the most creative games. It also helped that they'd easily accepted him when he came out to them as a trans guy. However, life around the Weasley twins could sometimes be a bit too exciting. Being their roommate made him a convenient target for pranks. Just this afternoon, Lee had sat down on what appeared to be a normal chair in the common room that was actually Fred in a magically-assisted disguise. Lee's heart was still pounding from the moment when Fred had wrapped his arms, camouflaged as chair arms, around Lee while he'd been engrossed in the latest Discworld novel. And that didn't even take