Rising to power.

Christmas and Quidditch.

Professor Robards stood in front of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first years lecturing them on the dangers of underestimating Pixies in the wild.

"They are devilishly tricky creatures that fool you with their mischievous and often 'cute' appearances but would sooner steal your wand and attack you en masse then allow you to pet them" he went on, not sounding enthusiastic about lecturing about this particular subject in the slightest.

The Defence against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts was a revered and often sought after job at Hogwarts - surprisingly enough, for the past half century, no teacher has lasted longer then a single term in office, or so 'Hogwarts: A History' stated.

Looking to his left, he saw Cedric scribbling down notes at a furious pace, trying to keep up with the professor's lecture. Archades, on his right, seemed to be just as bored as he was; they had, after all, covered this a while ago in their weekly study sessions with the fifth years.

"You been to see Flitwick yet?" Archades asked tiredly, trying to stay awake by starting a conversation.

Harry looked up from his doodling and thought about the question. Once a week, Flitwick has invited one of the first years into his office for a talk. Those who came back from the meetings merely said that the tiny professor merely talked about what they thought of Hogwarts, their results in class, and about them personally. Harry figured that the man was merely trying to bond with the students and get to know his charges better - he was, after all, responsible for them.

"I haven't been yet, have you?" Harry asked, wondering if he was the only student who hadn't yet.

"Yeah" he replied "I had to go two weeks ago, it was OK" he answered "nothing hard, and he's a cool enough guy" he said, adding his two cents.

"Am I the only one who hasn't gone yet?"

"I'd imagine so, it's the ninth week of school and there are nine first year Ravenclaws; if you haven't gone yet, odds are you're up next" he said with a tired shrug, showing a surprising amount of logic for once.

"How long did the meeting go for?"

"About an hour I guess, why?" he asked, with amusement "you got somewhere else to be? Secret rendezvous with a forbidden love interest you haven't told me about? Its professor Sinistra isn't it!" he accused.

Harry just grinned at his friend and bopped him on the head. It was no surprise that Archades would suggest such a thing, the astronomy professor was the object of many male students' -even some females' - affection at Hogwarts. The woman was in her mid twenties, Harry would guess, and she was quite beautiful. Harry and Archades often joked about how Roger Davis would go on and on about her porcelain like skin, rich ebony locks, and dazzling blue eyes.

"So, how's Stephanie been lately? Aside from Transfiguration and Charms classes, I barely ever see her" Harry asked, trying to change the subject so that his mind wouldn't wander too much...

"She's okay I guess..." Archades offered with a small frown "she spends a fair bit of time with her little group of friends in Slytherin I guess" at the mention of said group, Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance. Lately, Stephanie had been spending a lot of time with three girls in particular, three very annoying girls in his opinion. Harry only knew them as Candice, Ashley and Samantha, not caring to know their surnames and their constant giggling in classes and in the corridors between them often raked on his nerves. From what he knew of Stephanie, he couldn't understand how she put up with them, especially if Archades apparently annoyed her so...

Archades looked at his friend, silently creeped out by the grin that suddenly appeared on his face. It was the grin he had come to realize was one of many that he tried to categorize. Harry often kept his emotions sealed behind a mask of neutrality, the likes of which even the most experienced of Slytherins would be proud of, however, sometimes Archades would see him let a grin slip that would tell a little about his mood or something about him. The grin he was currently sporting told Archades that Harry had figured something out that amused him greatly...he just wondered what that was.