Julia was about to take a sip when she could smell the drink inside changed. With a small wave of her wand, she turned it back to pumpkin juice before looking over and sticking her tongue out at Caelum, knowing that he was the one who had hexed her cup. She would have to play a little prank on him later, not wanting to cause any trouble that first night.

After the feast, Julia said goodbye to her friends and headed up to the library to rewrite her essay and make sure her homework was all up to snuff.

Caelum watched the Potter as she took a sniff at her drink, waved her wand, and stuck her tongue out at him. He chuckled, but then feigned a pout, turning back to move the pieces of chicken on his plate with his fork. He looked bored, now that the Potter didn't get tricked, but honestly, he was amused.

He remembered the first time he changed her drink, and the fountain of carrot juice that followed afterwards was hilarious! Sadly, people can't fall for the same trick thrice. He had to come up with new things. Perhaps self-untying shoelaces? He had a lot of time to think about his plans with the school year just starting.

The night had passed peacefully.

When the morning came, Caelum rose from his bed excitedly, the traces of sleep not visible on his face while Aren had his hair stuck on his cheek and Frank had slept with his glasses on. The three made their way to the great hall, successfully making it to the tables before the first years flocked the hallways. They started putting food on their plates when Professor Prince arrived with their schedules.

"Hm? Potions and DADA with Gryffindors? They never learn, do they?"

Julia started downstairs for the great hall after a good night's sleep. She let out a soft yawn as she made it to the Ravenclaw table. She smiled and sat down with her friends, looking up as class schedules were passed around. She read down the list and wrote everything down, making sure it was correct. "Hmmm...Transfiguration is first thing..." She said to herself as she wrote,"Then Charms, then History of Magic...." After writing everything down, she passed the list along and put her parchment away so she could start eating breakfast.

After finishing her breakfast, she grabbed her bag and smiled at her friends,"I'll meet you guys in Transfiguration." She said,"I have a little more homework I want to finish and since I'm done eating, there's just enough time to finish." She waved and started out of into the great hall, hoping to get to the library in time to get these last few things finished.

"Before we celebrate having Potions with Gryffindors, we have to get past Professor Turpin in Transfiguration." Frank spoke while chewing on a muffin. Aren groaned and planted his face onto the table causing a ripple in their goblets. "I hate going to Turpin's class. Everyone knows she's got a thing against Slytherins, that bumbling hag." he muttered, his voice distorted against the table.

Caelum sighed and pocketed his schedule. "Either we go to Professor -" he stressed the word hoping that Aren would remember to use it, "- Turpin's class or we repeat our sixth year. You pick." He stood up while still keeping an eye on his two hopeless friends. "You two wanted to follow me to work at St. Mungo's and somehow, however strange it may be, achieved an Exceeds Expectations in all of your O.W.L.s. We need to pass our N.E.W.T.s next year for all five subjects if you two want to get in, and Transfiguration is one of them."

He turned and started to walk out of the Great Hall. "And don't forget our Apparition classes." he smirked at his friends who groaned in reply. A waste of twelve galleons, they say, we only need the class to get certificates. We already know how to apparate!

The two scurried after their blonde friend and soon after, the three were walking down the hallways towards Transfiguration. "If only we didn't need this class to become healers." Aren muttered before they entered the classroom and sat at the row farthest from Professor Turpin who scowled at them as soon as they entered her field of vision.

Shortly before the bell rang for the class to start, Julia came into class,"Good morning, Professor." She said when she saw her before going to the desk she usually sat at in the second row. She liked sitting there so she could see the notes and make sure she had everything needed for homework assignments. Transfiguration was one of Julia's favorite classes. She was surprised the other students that had made it so far were Caelum and his friends. She looked towards the door as a flood of students entered the room, including her friends.

"Did you get the essay finished?" One asked her.

"Yeah, I just had to rewrite it so it wasn't so messy." Julia said,"I had so much I wanted to get down I just wrote too fast." She pulled out the parchment her essay was on, knowing that the professor would want them to have them out.

"Good morning students." Professor Turpin announced in a sickeningly sweet voice. "As you all know, the subjects you've chosen for your N.E.W.T.s are the only subjects you will be taking for your sixth year. This is, of course, to prepare you for the aforementioned exams. Now I am pleased that you've chosen Transfiguration and I hope that ... most of you will pass." she finished as she glared at the three Slytherins sitting at the back. "Now stand in front of a mirror. We will be practicing the Crinus muto spell."

The three frowned at her in reply but did nothing to retaliate as they stood from their seats and chose their mirrors. "I do hope you have all written that essay about that spell. I will be collecting those only after you've successfully cast it on your own eyebrows. Be thankful I didn't ask you to cast it on your eyelashes."

Caelum sighed as he studied his blonde eyebrows, naturally just a tad bit darker than his own hair, then looked at Frank's brown ones then at Aren's who's already turned his own pink and was suddenly sporting an equally pink mutton chop beard. He listened as the Italian wailed and received a scolding from the professor, together with a ten-point deduction from the Slytherin House. He frowned as he glared at the mirror but relaxed his expression as soon as he saw his own eyebrows twitching in annoyance. He calmed himself and cast the spell.

He had turned his eyebrows black making a great contrast to his almost white hair. He stepped away from the mirror, retrieved his essay from his bag, and strode towards the professor's desk. A Hufflepuff arrived at the desk at the same time and they both submitted their essays. Professor Turpin studied their eyebrows and skimmed through the papers then smiled at the Hufflepuff. "Wonderful work! Ten points to Hufflepuff!" she shooed them away and told them to reverse the spell.

Caelum walked away with clenched fists and returned to the mirror, immediately reversing the spell and sunk into his seat. The Italian continued to wail with a new pair of blue eyebrows and a balbo beard while the Longbottom had turned his own brown locks red resulting in a point deductions to Slytherin yet again. "How did they even get an Exceeds Expectations in their O.W.L.s?" Caelum muttered as he tried to massage his growing head ache.

Julia had gone up to her mirror and looked into it, her long red hair and eyebrows reflected back at her. She thought of the spell, thinking of the incantation to cast it, and then glanced up at her eyebrows. Instead of the brilliant red color they had been, they had turned into a light blonde color. She blinked in surprise that she was able to cast the spell non-verbally. She then grabbed her essay and took it up to the professor. She was thankful she was able to get it rewritten. Before it was a jumbled up mess, but now it was smart, neat looking, and overall better than before,"Here you go, Professor." She said, a bit nervous about turning it in. She got the counterspell to change her eyebrows back and headed back to the mirror to change them. A few seconds later, they were brilliant red again. She smiled, glad to know she was able to do the spell properly.

She had watched Caelum and his friends cast the spells and watched in surprise as Frank's and Aren's messed up somehow. She couldn't help but frown when she noticed out the Professor seemed to be so biased against Slytherins. 'That's so unfair.' She couldn't help but think to herself,'Caelum did the spell right but got not points?'

Somehow, Frank and Aren managed to successfully cast the spell before the end of the class and celebrated in avoiding another set of point deductions. They'd already removed sixty points from Slytherin and hoped they'd make up the difference in their other subjects.

The three Slytherins silently left the classroom with Aren sneaking a glare at the aging professor. They flowed with the mass of students towards the third floor before entering their Charms class.

As they did in their last class, the three sat in the back together with a few other Slytherins who chose charms for their N.E.W.T.s and waited for all of the students to pile in. The professor stepped onto the podium and addressed the class.

"Good morning, students. As sixth years, I expect all of you to know the basics of charms. We've been in class together for six years, after all." The man chuckled. "Today we are starting with nonverbal spells. This gives you a split-second advantage when fighting adversaries since they won't know which spell you're going to throw at them. I expect everyone to use nonverbal spells by the end of this week. I do not want to hear a single incantation in this class afterwards. Now, off to the sides, students. I want all of you to practice a nonverbal tickling charm, which I'm sure I taught you all last year."

Caelum and Frank walked towards the right wall and Aren towards the left. Frank and Aren faced each other and started trying to cast the spell, looking constipated as they did so, trying to concentrate on shouting the incantation in their heads. Caelum was facing a quivering Hufflepuff and cast the nonverbal charm. The Hufflepuff let out a squeak as he held his sides, turning a little red as he did. Caelum frowned as the Hufflepuff tried to hold his laughter in and cast another charm, the grip on his wand tightening.

The Hufflepuff burst out in laughter as he fell onto the floor, rolling back and forth as he did so. And with a smirk, Caelum returned to his seat. He looked back at his two friends, both looking equally constipated as they flailed their wands at each other. He rested his chin on his palm and looked out the window. "Everything is ... too boring."

He recalled his grandparents' tales on Draco Malfoy's stay at Hogwarts. There was so much danger and adventure! Sure Caelum appreciated the peace and quiet of his five years at Hogwarts, but he wished there was excitement. Where was the Cerberus? The Azkaban escapee? The new dark lord? The Tri-Wizard Tournament?

((So sorry for the late reply! I meant to respond much sooner))

Later that evening at dinner, there was a special announcement: There was going to be a ball thrown for the students when it got closer to Christmas break, like the Yule Ball from years ago. But this one was just for Hogwarts students, although the students were allowed to invite students from other schools if they wished. Julia smiled, excited for this, as she had always wanted to go to a beautiful winter dance. She had heard the stories that carried through the generations about the Yule Ball, part of the Triwizard Tournament. Although she was glad there was nothing dangerous happening, at least this dance would bring a little excitement to the school.

After eating dinner, Julia excused herself from her friends and walked passed the other tables, deciding to spend the time out on the grounds. She liked to relax by the lake and watch the giant squid as it floated down through the waters of the lake. She wanted to sit and think, think about what this year would bring, think about things she would like to see happen, and think about things she hoped wouldn't happen.

"I'm surprised the squid's still alive after all these years." Caelum spoke as he stood a ways off beside Julia. He had not meant to meet her by the lake when he left the great hall. The noise and excitement around him just did not feel right. So he left his two friends gorging on their dinner and headed to the lake where the cold and the silence of the night was just right. He discovered Julia as a black blob of shadows when he went outside and his curiosity led him to identify it as the Ravenclaw.

He moved closer to her as he spoke, his hands hidden in the pockets of his robe and his breath leaving a puff of mist as he exhaled. He looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze but agreed with himself that she looked acceptable under the moonlight. He could see how each strand of her hair glowed faintly in the dull light and how her skin seemed like porcelain in the darkness of night. But what he marveled at most was the Avada-green of her eyes that shone from the light that reflected off the lake's surface. Little did he know that a soft smile started to grow on his lips as he studied her.

He finally stood over her, blocking her view of the moon. "So, what brings you to sit by the lake all alo-" He paused when he felt a chill in the air. It was different from the comforting cool of the night's breeze. It felt ... dead. His eyes widened as he turned around, scanning the surrounding area. They did not move too far from the building, but any noise they'd make would be drowned out by the celebrations in the great hall.

He wrapped his fingers around the wand he kept in his pocket as the temperature kept dropping. The night seemed darker as something started to block out the moon and the stars completely vanished, leaving an even fainter light to illuminate the area. Then he heard it. A rattling breathing that seemed to want to taste the very air they breathed. The chill bit into his flesh now as he looked at the cloaked figure. It glided over the lake with a speed that did not seem possible with the rotting flesh it had. And with the blink of an eye, it was hovering over them.

"Expecto Patronum!" he yelled, a sliver of silver light streamed from the wand but faded into nothingness. He cursed under his breath as he took Julia's wrist and stared running back to the school but stopped when a second dementor blocked their path. He pulled her behind him and raised his wand at the soul-sucker. "We've never been able to conjure a patronus." he told her with a hopeless chuckle, "because we're good for nothing dark wizards." He turned his head to look at the first dementor slowly making its way towards them. "And they'll only be teaching the patronus charm near the end of the school year. So unless you know how to cast it, I suggest-"

He pushed her to the ground as soon as he saw the dementor in front of him raise its hood. He saw the scarred sockets of its eyes and the black hole it had for a mouth. And what happened next was all he could describe as all the light being sucked out of him, forcing him to recall the lowest points in his life.

(( Kinda long ... I got carried away ))