Black Fortunes

Chapter 17

September 5th

Harrigan had been warned to expect a prank from the Marauders the morning of September 2nd and it had come as predicted. Unfortunately for the foursome of pranksters, Harrigan was a true expert in Defense and had noticed something off about his morning cup of tea. He had subtly flicked his wand under the table, transferring the contents of his cup to the four pranksters and just for fun, Regulus as well.

The students at large had burst into laughter when the five teenagers were 'gifted' with bright pink and purple striped hair that sparkled with gold and silver glitter. Once the four had realized their prank had been turned back on them, they had burst out laughing as well, aside from Pettigrew, who had complained vociferously about not having brewed the antidote. Sirius had apparently told him to shut up after a few moments because he had subsided into a very ungracious sulk.

Regulus had taken it much more gracefully than Harrigan had thought he would, staring at it in the shine of his goblet before shaking his head a little and chuckling at a no-doubt dry comment his friend Severus Snape had made. Over the past few days, Harrigan had noted that the dark-haired teen had a smart mouth and an even sharper mind, which he used most efficiently against the Marauder's good-natured taunts and the less genteel ones of the more uppity pureblood students.

Today was his first class with the Gryffindor and Slytherin 7th years and he was looking forward to it. According to Minerva McGonagall, these two groups could be incredibly difficult to teach together, but he felt that he was up to the challenge. With a few of the things he had planned for today, they wouldn't know what hit them. He was almost mentally rubbing his hands together in glee and amusement when he had outlined this plan to Orion the older man had stared and him and then burst out laughing.

The first bell for the class rang and he watched as the Slytherins arrived, almost all in one group. They were together in small groups of no more than four but no less than two, and it saddened Harrigan a bit when he remembered Orion explaining that the students traveled in such a manner because they were prone to being attacked if they ventured out alone.

The very last of the Gryffindors, meanwhile, arrived at the classroom just before the last bell rang. With a bit of amusement Harrigan stated, "While we let the Gryffindors catch their breath," a few Slytherins sniggered, "you all might as well stay standing. There will be assigned seating and groups in this class for the entirety of the year."

No laughter after that, they all stared at him in shock. He continued on, "I am well aware that I haven't done that with my previous classes of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but the notoriety of the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin has spread far beyond this school and it stops now, in this classroom. I do not tolerate bigotry or prejudice of any kind, so let's start off with a few rules, shall we?"

Seeing that he had their attention, he flipped over the chalkboard to a blank slate and smacked it once with his wand, the sharp rapping noise-making several students jump in surprise. The words Code & Conduct appeared on the board in neat, slightly slanted calligraphy before the chalk dropped a row and wrote the Roman numeral one, waiting for his words.

"Number one: Within this classroom the school houses do not exist. Lockers will be provided for students to place their school robes. Each student will wear a color of robe according to their skill ranking within Defense, to be tested by the Professor. Colors are from lowest to highest: Black, Red, Blue, Green, Purple, Ivory, Bronze, Silver, and Gold."

"Number two: The word 'Mudblood' or another equivalent is worthy of immediate expulsion from the day's class. A make-up session will be offered, either written or demonstrative, on the student's own free time. Calling a student a 'Death Eater' or something similar will receive the same response and punishment."