Year One - Back To School (Torchwood/Harry Potter)

Chapter 6: In Which There Are Redcaps and Remembering

"Right class," Professor Smith began, Ianto leaned back in his chair, between Jack and Owen, he was basically on the splitting line between Slytherins and Ravenclaws. He fiddled with his pen, seeming distracted but completely focused on the teacher's words "Thank you for handing in your deepest, darkest fears." The man grinned, Ianto heard a girl behind him sigh, he rolled his eyes. Admittedly John Smith was very handsome but why some girls just have to swoon over boys was a mystery to him, and a majority of the rest of the population. "We won't be doing anything to do with them today, instead we will be focusing on the study of Redcaps, I'm fully aware a lot of you would much rather be practising offensive and defensive magic but this is a large part of you O.W.L's so it has to be covered." 

Jack vaguely listened as the handsome teacher explained the habits of the Redcaps, the other part of his brain- the majority of it not listening to the professor- was thinking about the Weevil, there shouldn't have been one, this universe didn't have aliens. He was busy contemplating the issue when he was startled out of his trance-like state with a snap of fingers in his face.

"I asked, Harkness, why do you think a battlefield is the perfect place for a Redcap?" The man asked, the corner of his mouth turning up into a slight smile. Jack blinked a few times, for dramatic effect, before smiling widely and cheerfully giving his answer.

"Blood everywhere- depending on the species- World War One, Ypers. So much blood, bet the Redcaps were having a field day, now World War Two, boy the stuff was everywhere, your clothes stank of the stuff, that and sick and mud, sometimes there were body parts trodden into the ground, and going over the top, the shell holes were filled with pink water." He leaned back in his seat and grinned, putting his arms behind his head and leaning his chair back, clearly pleased with the gobsmacked and disgusted expressions of the other students.

"You just couldn't even pretend to be normal, could you?" Ianto asked under his breath, this caused Jack to grin even wider, he seemed to have it set on his mind to be a huge figure in this school. The teacher still looked vaguely amused verging on absolutely horrified

"Can you two stay behind after class please?" The man said, the class let out a low 'ooooooh' and a few giggles. Jack grinned- Ianto groaned. Owen laughed and the teacher shot him a glance "You too Harper, please." the class giggled even more as Owen groaned and let his head fall forwards onto his desk with a heavy thud and then a curse. "Five points from Ravenclaw, no swearing please Harper." The blue robed students groaned and the green robed ooooohed. The teacher rolled his eyes and then- with a swish of his robes- got back to his speech with a grin and a glint in his eyes.

Gwen was plotting cold blooded murder, she was in potions- and wishing she wasn't. The potions Professor was a Complete Bloody Arse. Capitals extremely necessary, he seemed to take pride in his ability to find fault in even an almost perfect potion, he obviously hated students and didn't tolerate the slightest noise- unless it was asking to borrow equipment. He took generous amounts of house points off every house, including his own- Slytherin. Owen burst into the lesson as the large man was telling the students how to make a simple boil cure potion, the class had had, as of this one, three lessons, an utterly ridiculously small amount of time to learn about them- however, large quantities of homework had been set and some of that was making simple potions.

"Sorry sir, I was held behind by Professor Smith." He grinned and sauntered over to his seat, the Professor almost growled, scowling.

"And now, children- because of that most delightful intrusion from Harper- we will be starting the potions now." The class groaned and the teacher shot them a warning look before telling them the page number they were to go onto. Behind the mask of casual smiliness Owen was panicking, the teacher had remembered everything, Ianto had assured them that he had given the man the most foolproof Retcon so far and he hadn't even felt the least bit drowsy. Owen absentmindedly began to make the potion, he found them extremely easy and infuriated the teacher by being the only person to get everything right. His years of training as a Doctor were not wasted here, not one bit.

Ianto sat down next to James and Jack, again the border between Slytherin and Gryffindor. History usually would have been one of his favorite lessons but the teacher was a ghost, a very boring ghost, he spoke in a monotone and Jack had made a joke about him being partially cyber-converted before gaining a look from Ianto that told him to never- ever- joke about that again. Ianto had already spent most of his nights reading up on the history and was now contemplating the idea of asking to go to the toilet and cutting class, the teacher was droning on about something or other that Ianto probably already knew about in great detail, his mind was organised in a layout of his childhood home, the wizarding history had been placed in chronological order in his parents bedroom in his father's record case. Each important year was a record and had the important events listed as tracks on the back, just thinking about one thing like that would make some people's- for example Jack's- head hurt. Ianto dug a book on quidditch out of his bag and sneakily hid it behind his history book, Jack was the only one to see this and raised an eye to Ianto, Ianto winked, Jack grinned back and leaned his head on his partners shoulder, Ianto jerked said shoulder upwards in an attempt to dislodge Jack- an unsuccessful attempt that only rewarded him with a cheeky grin and wink. He sighed and looked to James, who was smirking, Ianto flicked his eyes to Jack and back to James, giving a pleading look. James shrugged as if to ask 'What am I supposed to do?' Ianto sighed, defeated, and went back to reading.

That day went quickly for Tosh, she enjoyed almost every lesson, apart from potions, she was more a technical person than a physical person, that had always been Owen's job. At dinner she sat in her usual seat next to Owen and across from Rose, another ginger girl sat next to Rose and the two were chatting away as Owen and Tosh sat down. Rose smiled at them and responded to what the other girl was saying before introducing the children.

"Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Amelia Song." She pointed at them all in turn, as if she were Tarzan pointing at Jane. They chuckled a little.

"Hi." Said Amelia in a soft Scottish accent, in no way shy and- though it was soft- there was a sense of authority about it.

"Hey there." Owen replied, Tosh rolled her eyes, recognizing this- with a sad pang- as him beginning to flirt. The conversation from then on developed into Tosh and Rose teasing Owen and Amelia joining in when she could. James and Albus soon joined them and the meal appeared, cutting the talking to a few sentences every time any one of them were freed from the warm, tempting embrace of the meal in front of them.