FicWad

Chapter 8

Juggling schedules





"How'd the first session go?" a voice inquired as Professor Twigg-Jones walked to her desk.



"Who was that?" Pavarti Patil looked around. "There's nobody here but us, is there?"



"Just my late husband; let me introduce you." Pointing back over their heads, she indicated the portrait on the back wall.



Doctor Jones was folding up a newspaper and laid it on the table beside his chair.



"Christopher .. my sixth year N.E.W.T.s class. Class .. Doctor Christopher Jones, my late darling husband. He's been puttering around the school all week, meeting the other portraits and the teachers also, in our lounge, so get used to seeing him; he's an insufferable busybody."



"Oh, that's hardly fair," Christopher objected. "I just have a healthy curiosity about this school."



"Right...anyway, we did have a good start, to answer your question. I expect they'll do quite well, with a little training."



"Splendid! Just wanted to check how it all went. So, hello all .. and goodbye. I'm off to take the dogs for a run. Ta!"



He headed into the landscape painting, followed closely by the two labs.



X # X # X



"Now," Anna continued as they settled themselves in their seats, "let's talk about the D.A. and how we're going to manage to hold meetings, recruit new members, and keep you from getting too over-worked or over-extended, what with all your homework, Quidditch team practice, other activities, etc. It is going to take a bit of juggling; bit of a logistical nightmare, come to that."



Professor Twigg-Jones leaned against the front of her desk and crossed her arms, looking around at the students, waiting for ideas or discussion.



"Quidditch practice is going to be the biggest problem, I think. And we haven't had our first team meetings yet. They're scheduled for this weekend," Harry pointed out, "so, that's when we'll learn when the practice times and games have been scheduled, Professor."



"Well, we won't know who will want to join, anyway, till the following weekend, as I plan to have sign up notices put on the common room bulletin boards tomorrow, giving those who might want to join one week to make up their minds," Anna pointed out.



"I imagine the rest of the sixth and some of the seventh years will sign up. Any of the fourth and fifth years who sign up, I'll have to evaluate individually to see what skill level they have reached. But I can do that without them knowing," she explained, "while they are in their regular Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. I don't think anyone under fifth year has enough experience, excepting Dennis Creevey, to be allowed to join. I'll talk to them myself, in the next day or so.



"Keeping all that in mind, why don't we have a meeting of all the original D.A. members next Sunday afternoon, to divide up into groups?" Anna suggested. "Miss Edgecombe can tell Miss Chang and Miss Lovegood. Harry, you can give the news to the Creevey brothers and Ginny Weasley."



"What about the Slytherins?" Zacharias Smith asked in a low tone.



"If /the signup notice itself survives, /and a member of Slytherin House wants to join, they may do so. I'm not holding my breath. Professor Snape asked me if his House members would be allowed to join, and I told him yes. However, he didn't seem to think that there'd be a rush for quills in their common room. That's the least of our problems; Malfoy and company." She shook her head and the students nodded agreement.



"Anyway, once I get the signup lists back, we can 'crunch our numbers' so to speak. I think if we divide into small groups, it will be easier managed, plus less intimidating for the younger students and less embarrassing for the older ones. We don't want anyone to think they have to join or that we would think any less of them if they choose not to join."



"You think some will be too scared to join, Professor?" asked Neville. "It is like volunteering for the army."



"Precisely, Mr. Longbottom. Some students just aren't ready, and that's ok, too. I'll make sure everyone understands that. However, the Fifth years with O.W.L.s. and the Seventh years with the N.E.W.T.s exams looming over them next Spring will be the most willing to join, if only for the extra practice. That's where we might possibly pick up one or two Fifth year Slytherins, but again, I'm won't be surprised if their sign up notice just mysteriously disappears. Poof!"



"Why wouldn't they join the D.A., just to spy on us and see what we're up to?" Seamus voiced his concern.



"They know what we're doing, Mr. Finnigan. It's all in the course books; spells, defensive moves, counter moves. It's the practical, actual physical aspect that's important. That's why they think it's a waste of time. Memorizing spells and incantations is their forte. Very well versed in spells, Slytherins, but no practical application or practice. That is foolish, in my opinion." Anna shook her head.



"Anyone can memorize a cake recipe, but if you've never been in a kitchen and you're asked to bake a cake, you'd look a bit silly trying to figure it all out. Beep, time's up, you lose." Laughter greeted that mind picture.



"In other words, it's the Slytherin' ego, superiority complex, attitude...call it what you will. It's their 'pure blood' mania that blinds them to the advantages of a group such as the D.A. /PLUS/, have some /ex-Auror/, who 'gasp' was married to a /MUGGLE/; try to give them instructions on how to defend themselves against the very thing their families have practiced for generations?" Anna paused and shook her head. "I'm sorry. That was wrong of me to paint all of the Slytherins with such a broad brush stroke of malice. I apologize." Professor Twigg-Jones looked down, frowning. "I let my personal feelings towards certain Slytherin House alumni get in the way."



"No apology needed, Professor. We're well aware of the history of Slytherin House and its members," Hermione spoke up. "All of us have had their 'attitude' throw in our faces at some time or other."



"Professor, remind me to tell you about the time Hermione clocked Draco for being just a little too cocky," Ron stage whispered to Anna.



"/RON/! Shut it, will you. Ignore him, Professor!" Hermione blushed and swatted Ron on the arm.



"Girl after my own heart, are you Miss Granger?" Professor Twigg-Jones laughed. "We'll compare notes later."



The bell rang.



"What time is it? Oh my goodness, it's later then I thought, but no surprise there, eh? Let's keep the practice box our class secret, though, shall we? Don't want to raise questions or worry anyone un-necessarily." She wiggled her eyebrows and dawning understanding of her meaning put smiles on all of their faces.



"Can't have Malfoy losing any beauty sleep over this class, now can we?" Ron snickered.



"Or Pansy Parkinson," Hermione added.



"Too late!" Pavarti Patil shot back, which broke up the class.



"Meeeow! Rhymes with cow or so I've heard." Professor Twigg-Jones gave them a wicked grin. "Well, be sure and write down your sizes for me and then you can go. Class dismissed!"



X # X # X



Ten days later, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom looked like a dumping ground; balled up pieces of parchment, empty butter beer bottles and bowls with a few crumbs of popcorn, cookies, and pumpkin tarts in the bottoms lay scattered about. The D.A. members were lounging around on piles of cushions, the desks having been moved against the walls, with quills in hand, copying the schedule Professor Twigg-Jones was re-writing on the chalkboard.



"There! I think we've finally /got it straight! Does anyone see anything out of wack with /this mess," jerking her thumb at the diagram on the board. She closed her eyes and winced, waiting for someone to find a flaw, and then opening one eye, looked around and gave a big sigh of relief, "Thank God!" and collapsed on her chair.



Chuckles and a smattering of applause greeted that statement.



"It was just the two groups who only signed up for extra practice for O.W.L.s. and N.E.W.T.s. exams that messed us up," Cho Chang observed.



"Well, it's like I said last week, we didn't want to scare anyone off by making them think they were being trained just to fight Voldemort. I'm glad we added that little bit about the exam practice option to the sign up notices. We may have picked up most of those two groups just because of that reassurance. It makes more work for some of you, and I'll just thank you in advance for that extra effort."



"If we are going to be taking the exams, we may as well get the extra practice, too," Luna shrugged. "Only logical, two birds with one stone and all that."



"That schedule is a work of art, if I do say so myself." Professor Twigg-Jones stood back to admire the grid showing a week's worth of times and groups. "Now remember, if your Quidditch practice is changed or rescheduled for any reason, tell me straight-away and we'll just move that group's practice to Thursday at 7:30 PM, or if it's the Hufflepuff team practice being changed, you can use the Sunday afternoon spot."



"All done?" Doctor Jones entered his portrait and regarded the finished schedule. "My, that looks like you all have been doing a fair bit of schedule tweaking."



"You have no idea, dear. Where have you been, then?"



"I was at a whist party with the Fat Lady .. I call her 'Pinky' .. her friend Violet and Headmaster Dippett. Jolly good time we had, too. Those ladies are ruthless card players," he laughed.



"In other words, they beat you rather badly?" Professor Twigg-Jones tilted her head at him, smiling.



"Pounded us into the ground." Dr. Jones hung his head, shaking it sadly.



"Well, take a page from our book, and practice, practice, practice!" she said with great seriousness, although her eyes are twinkling.



"Oh, go on with you. Hello, all." He looked around at the D.A. members, who nodded and waved hello. "Finally get your ducks in a row?"



"Just now finished, Uncle Christopher, and it looks like it'll work." Neville got up and stretched. "We'll find out soon enough."



"How do you like Hogwarts so far, Dr. Jones?" Hermione asked, as she got up off the floor and worked the kinks out of her legs.



"It's /HUGE /and I've given up trying to count stairs cases. I'll just have to take Anna's word that there's one hundred and forty two. I've met some very interesting people and a few strange creatures and I'm not just talking animals, either!"



That comment was greeted with laughs and giggles.



"So, when do you start the new and improved, well, expanded, D.A.? The improvement will come with time, what?" Christopher inquired, leaning against the frame's edge, arms crossed.



"Tomorrow evening; so let me make copies of the master schedule, before all of you leave and you can post them on your common room bulletin boards to alert our new members." Anna answered him.



With a wave of her wand, three quills began dipping themselves into her ink well, and then started scratching across three large pieces of parchment on her desk, covering them with the schedule; names of groups, members, times, notices about what to do if the schedule was changed, what to wear and most importantly, where the room of requirement was located.



Rolling the parchments up, she handed one to Cho Chang, one to Justin Finch-Fletchley and the third to Dennis Creevey.



"Get those up as soon as you get back to your common rooms, so everyone will see it when they get back from dinner tonight."



The D.A. members filed out, waving to Professor Twigg-Jones and Dr. Jones, also. He smiled and returned the farewells.



X # X # X



Alone at last, Anna waved her wand and the crumpled pieces of parchment flew into the trash bin, the cushions sailed across the room into a large box, while the desks slide back to their proper places.



"I never fail to find your doing those little bits of magic just fascinating. If you, meaning witches in general, are so good at it, why would you need house elves?" Christopher put his feet up on the ottoman in front of his favorite chair."



"Why do Muggles have maids, butlers, housekeepers and cooks? Most witches feel they have better things to do with their time. My Mother and our house elf, Daisy, split the chores, mainly because, being a Muggle, she didn't want to get too spoiled by magic. That really pleased my Father, as he'd been warned a Muggle wife would take advantage of having a house elf and turn into a lazy lump. Daisy did the housekeeping and helped raise me and Mother did the cooking, except for parties, when the two of them worked side by side. It also gave Mother more time in her garden, which pleased her no end. It was her pride and joy." Anna smiled at the memory. "Too bad I didn't inherit her green thumb."



"Speaking of cooking..."



"I'm way ahead of you, Christopher, I've been keeping an eye on the time, so I'll just go change and be only a minute or two late for dinner, maybe even on time, if I stop chatting with you and hurry."



"Oh, no, you're not using me as an excuse for your repeated tardiness."



"I don't intend to," she retorted as she walked up the stairs to her chambers, "because I'll not be drawn into a discussion about it, or anything else with you right now. There!" Entering her chamber doorway, she turned, stuck out her tongue at him and closed the door firmly.



Dr. Jones laughed, then stood and calling the dogs to follow him, walked into the landscape painting and out into the woods.