= Wands High =

Chapter 15 - 13 May 1998, Wednesday

- May I have your attention, please – Professor Ashdrake rose from her place at the teachers' table; all eyes in the dining hall turned to her. Breakfast time was almost over. – I have some quick announcements to make. First, there is a slight change in today's schedule. Professor Phaedros will be busy in the afternoon so 7th year and 8th year students who have hours with him including our exchange guests will have a double Defense against the Dark Arts class together in the main auditorium, after your respective first classes. Second...

- Hear that, sister? You'll be seeing my annoyingly jolly face a lot more today – Jessie winked at Orianna who all of a sudden seemed very interested at whatever was at the bottom of her almost empty bowl.

- That's gonna be the best thing to happen in this class – Ri muttered under her breath.

- Come on, Cloudy, you'll see it won't be that bad.

- Riiight...

- Shush for a moment – Daynen interrupted, nodding towards the teachers' table.

- ...regarding tomorrow night's event. As I said earlier this week, it will be held as planned with that little exclusion and I ask of you to be cooperative and make the task of our friends from the Ministry as easy as possible...

- What was that again? – Daynen turned to Hermione.

- All instruments and other equipment must be presented for examination before sound-check.

- Oh, okay. As long as they are careful.

- The Principal said one of the Aurors will be supervising – I guess it's safe to assume that it will be your friend Griffin since he's a musician too.

- I hope so – Daynen didn't seem very convinced. – But I doubt that they will be so considerate.

- At least the double class probably means that we'll finish early, which means more time to practice – Jessie pointed out which seemed to brighten his mood a bit. That and the fact that Hermione managed to sneak out of his bedroom early in the morning without being noticed and get ready in time seemed like a good enough start of the day.

- You okay there, Grumpy Cat? – he asked, noticing Orianna's unusually quiet presence at the table. She just shrugged, her face expressionless; he did notice the dark shades under her eyes though.

- Didn't get my beauty sleep last night. Too tired to even grump. Just hope I can sleep through History of Magic so I can survive Phaedros.

- Maybe he'll be in a lazy mood again today.

- As if... - she mumbled to herself as they were getting up.

It turned out that her intuition was not asleep – all four of them had barely found places in the buzzing auditorium (Orianna showing a momentary sign of liveliness in her hurry to sit in farthest end possible from the center of the room) when Professor Phaedros entered. Limping energetically to the podium where a desk and a huge blackboard, as well as various instruments and charts stood, he turned facing the suddenly quiet students, a hint of anxious vigor barely noticeable in his motions.

- Today, my dear bright snowflakes, we'll be shaking off the dust from your wands and hopefully – from your skills in handling them – his voice filled the auditorium. – After a short collision of viewpoints and wills I was asked to show you a thing or two, which are not on your curriculum at least for two more years. Don't get your hopes high though – none of them includes blowing stuff up. But they will test your potential as wizards and witches in more than one way.

Phaedros looked around leaning on his cane with both hands. There was something in his expression, that made everyone follow his every word with twice the usual attention; the usually unbearably sarcastic teacher sounded almost... serious.