It was odd to share a couple of classes with Fred and George over the years, to almost sharing all of her classes with the two, with the exception of her electives. But following the O.W.Ls, it was time for the older students to start narrowing down the classes they needed for their future careers, not to mention, if students didn't get the necessary mark required to move to the next level, it left the class numbers smaller than what they had been used to over the years. However, before her classes were set to begin, Eleanor had a meeting with Professor Sprout to go over, which classes she wished to continue taking, which ones she qualified for, and if she had given anymore thought to her future.

Of course, half-jokingly, Fred had told her that she could always work as their future joke shop and while George added that she was technically already an investor, Eleanor noticed a rather solemn air that fell over them shortly after.

"Why do you two look so sad all of a sudden?" she questioned before she was supposed to meet with Professor Sprout. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't tell her?" George whispered to Fred, to which Fred delivered a rather deadly glare before letting out a heavy sigh.

"About the investment thing, Love, we ran into a bit of a problem," he confessed, "Ludo Bagman cheated us out of our winnings. We didn't realise it right away, but he paid us in leprechaun gold. Naturally, it all vanished a few hours later, we sent him a letter but it's not like he's responded. Lee told us that his father was cheated out of his bet too. I didn't want to say anything until we had the money to repay you for the ten galleons that you added in."

The last thing on Eleanor's mind was getting her money back, knowing she had parted with those ten galleons with the intention that it would help the twins. She never expected to get them back and she certainly didn't want Fred or George to feel as though they owed her. The fact was, she was furious that Ludo had played them, especially since the twins planned to put all the money towards their aspiring business.

"You two don't have to repay me for anything, I gave you two those ten galleons with no intention of getting back. It's going towards Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and Ludo Bagman has another thing coming if he thinks he's going to get away with not paying you properly. We'll talk more about it later, alright?"

With a reassuring look and a promise that they would get back at Ludo, Eleanor left the twins and made her way to Professor Sprout's office. Upon her arrival, the door was opened, something that annoyed Eleanor because she wasn't sure if she was supposed to still knock on the door or just walk on in. She decided to go with both as she gently knocked on the door to gain Professor Sprout's attention from whatever paperwork she was looking over at her desk.

"Ah, Ms Ross," she greeted warmly, "come in, come in. Prompt as usual. Take a seat and we'll get started."

Eleanor adjusted her bag to hold in her lap, while sitting down in front of the large wooden desk. Professor Sprout grabbed Eleanor's O.W.Ls, looking them over with a smile.

"Well, it's no secret that you performed well on your exams. You qualify to move on to all your N.E.W.T level classes, with the exception of Potions. As you know, Professor Snape requires an O in order to continue his classes. He's not known to make exceptions either-"

"That's alright, Professor," Eleanor said, "I don't think I would continue on with Potions even if I had made an O. I spoke with my grandfather over the summer and he told me that I didn't really need it if I wished to go into Wizarding Law."

Behind Professor Sprout's grey curls, her eyes widened in surprise. "It seems like you did have an eventful summer," she said, "last time we spoke, you weren't sure what you wished to do and now you've decided you want to be an Auror?"

"No, not an Auror," Eleanor shook her head, "I don't wish to enforce laws, I want to create them. Or at least, be an advocate of some sort. I haven't heard much about the legislative branch or judicial branch in the wizarding world, outside of what Professor Binns has briefly mentioned when he was going over Wizengamot."

"May I ask what made you suddenly interested in Wizarding Law?"

"I'm sure you're aware of what took place over the summer, Professor," she answered, alluding to the fact that it probably wasn't a secret anymore that Remus was her father, "but during the time I spent with my father, learning more about his condition, I realised how little assistance there is for those who are infected with lycanthropy. I was reading into it and there's this woman, her name is Dolores Umbridge, she's the Senior Undersecretary for the Minister of Magic. Just last year, she started drafting an Anti-Werewolf Legislation. It's disgusting. Not to mention, the cost of Wolfsbane is incredibly expensive, if this legislation were to pass, that's making it even more difficult for those with lycanthropy to find employment. Meaning, they won't stand a chance when it comes to affording the one thing that can help them."

Eleanor didn't realise she had been rambling away over the matter, but Professor Sprout didn't stop her either, pleased to hear a student talk about their future endeavours with such passion.

"And it's not only werewolves I want to help, but muggle-borns and their families. Or single muggle parents that are raising magical children. There aren't any resources put into place and the only sign of help seems to come when a child is old enough to start attending school. By then, there is so much damage that can be done. I understand the Statute of Secrecy, but there also needs to be resources for families that don't live in the wizarding world."

"Well, Ms Ross, I'll admit, I'm very impressed," Professor Sprout said, "it sounds like you know what you wish to accomplish, and I'd like to help you. Unfortunately, there aren't classes that really focus on wizarding law; however, I recommend that you continue with all of your classes that you are currently taking, don't bother with Potions. But I do have a good friend of mine that I think would be thrilled to hear about someone with your enthusiasm. Perhaps, we can work on setting you up for an internship programme."

With the prospect of an internship being put in place for the summer, Eleanor was excited to see what awaited her. If the person Professor Sprout spoke about came highly recommended, she knew that it would be something to look forward to. Her timetable was put in order and as the late morning settling in, she was scheduled to attend Advanced Arithmancy Studies, before she had her first class with Professor Moody.

Upon walking into the classroom, Eleanor could clearly see that not many had chosen to continue on with the class that involved studying the magical properties of numbers, and numerology. In fact, after greeting Professor Vector, she quickly made note that there were only four other students inside the classroom.

She recognised two of them from Ravenclaw, Judith Wagner and Renna Washburn, but her gaze fell over to where she spotted Artemis Carrow, scowling in the corner.

Remembering her rude encounter with Artemis back in Flourish and Blotts, Eleanor immediately looked away from the girl and chose the seat furthest from her as well. She pulled out her textbook "Numerology and Grammatica" and waited patiently for Professor Vector to begin the lesson. All the while, she kept thinking about what she could do, in hopes of getting the twins their money from Ludo.

As satisfying as it would be to send the man a Howler, she didn't see it as being highly effective in the long run. If Ludo had cheated plenty of people out of their money, more than likely, her Howler wouldn't be the first one he received since the Quidditch World Cup. She thought about writing home to her father or even Grandpa Lyall to ask for advice, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to admit that she had gambled.

But she saw how upset the twins were regarding the loss of their money, which was probably why Fred was so set on attempting to enter the Tournament in hopes of winning the prize of a thousand galleons. However, even Cedric was talking about entering his name, and Eleanor only found herself filled with worry. Although Professor Dumbledore had stated that the Ministry had worked diligently to make sure that the Tournament was safer, how could she believe such a thing when this was the same Ministry that was so full of corruption and was practically incompetent in so many ways.

With a heavy sigh, Eleanor could only pray to herself that Fred and George didn't figure out a way to enter their names as underaged wizards and that Cedric wouldn't be selected if he did, indeed, entered his name.

Thankfully, Professor Vector kept the class light with the material, only assigning several pages of reading as the class came to an end over an hour later.

Eleanor gathered her things, excited for her next class with the anticipation of being reunited with her friends again, but as she made her way to the door, there was a bit of a scene as Artemis practically pushed her way through where Judith and Renna had been attempting to leave through.

"Did she just- "Renna appeared bewildered at Artemis' gruff behaviour before she turned back to Judith. "What the hell is her problem?"

"Just ignore her, Renna," Judith said, pushing her friend out of the classroom, "she's probably just having a bad day."

"If that's the excuse, then she's always having a bad day," Eleanor muttered to herself.

A bittersweet feeling washed over Eleanor as she approached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. She had hoped that somehow, her father had pulled together some elaborate prank and he really had returned to teach another year, but as she spotted Professor Moody in the doorway, it was definitely not the case.

"Afternoon, Ms Lupin."

There was a long pause as Eleanor stopped before she could enter the classroom. She was aware that people knew about her father, but nowhere had she claimed to have changed her last name to his over the summer. She didn't even know Professor Moody, so for him to make an assumption felt odd.

"It's Ross," she corrected him, "and good afternoon, Professor."

Not willing to make any conversation with him, Eleanor hurried inside the classroom where she was glad to see Marnie, Cedric, and the twins, although they were sitting opposite of the classroom, leaving Eleanor to wonder where she should sit. She took a step towards Fred as she smiled in her direction, but suddenly, Marnie grabbed her hand and dragged her to sit between her and Cedric.

"Oh no, you don't!" Marnie said as Eleanor came crashing down. "You're not getting away that easy. We want to hear all about it!"

Eleanor glanced back and forth as both Marnie and Cedric, propped their elbows onto the table and rested their chin in their hands, with expectant expressions.

"Er, I'd love to play along with whatever this is, but I really don't know what you two are talking about," she said, " but do you two smell fluxweed and knotgrass in here? I-"

"We're not talking about Herbology right now, Ellie, you don't have to put up a front," Marnie said, "we're your best friends, we deserve to know. Cedric said he overheard that you were seen talking to Fred this morning in the Great Hall and then he started snogging the hell out of you. I understand if you don't want to go into those details, but Merlin, just confirm that you two are together."

"Dammit, Queenie!" Eleanor turned to him with her hands on her hips with a harsh whisper. "Will you stop repeating everything you hear? For your information, that's not what happened and no, we're not together- "

"OH, WHY THE FUCK NOT!?"

The classroom fell silent as everyone looked over in their direction, including the twins. Even Professor Moody looked in from the corridor to see what was going on and all Eleanor wanted to do at that moment was vanish.

"Ellie, I don't understand what you two are waiting for? You've had so many opportunities just over the summer alone," Cedric whispered to her as things settled down again, "I mean, you like him, don't you?

"Well, yes, I do," Eleanor squeaked, "and I was going to ask him last night and then this morning, but I don't know. We had a bit of a spat last night, so that didn't happen, but this morning, I was going to do it, but I got scared. I keep thinking that if he liked me as much as we think he does, well, how come he hasn't asked me?"

"I can't do this," Marnie sighed, placing her head on the table, "Cedric, please, talk to her."

Cedric made a face at Marnie for her lack of support before he turned to Eleanor with a sympathetic smile. "Maybe it's because the two of you are afraid of the same thing and that's stopping both of you from making the first move? Ellie, I don't even see some couples share as much affection as the two of you, it's really obvious. But one of you is going to have to make the first move if it's ever going to happen. Otherwise, you two might tiptoe around your feelings until one of you loses interest."

Eleanor opened her mouth to respond, but she was drowned out by the slamming of the classroom doors that caused her and the rest of the class to jump. The students turned around in their seats, watching as Professor Moody limped his way through the aisle of tables to stand at the front of the classroom.

"For those of you who took out your books, you can do both of us a favour and put them away," Moody said gruffly, "there's nothing in that book that's going to prepare you in the way that I can. You can read about curses and counter jinxes all day, but if you don't know how to cast one or deflect one properly, what's the point? A book isn't going to save you in a duel."

"I wish I would have known that before buying it," Marnie grumbled. "Thanks."

"Saxon!" he called out suddenly before removing his wand and pointing it at her. "I'm going to attack you in three seconds, defend yourself. Three...two...one...."

Marnie appeared absolutely panicked, not even managing to make a grab for her wand before Professor Moody came to stand beside her, his wand pointed directly between her eyes as he made his countdown. When the three seconds were up, he lifted his wand, his electric blue eye scanning over where the three friends sat before he turned and walked up to the front of the class.

"Your reflexes are slow," he said, "I only have a year to prepare the lot of you to be on your toes and ready at any given moment."

"Only a year?" Lee's voice rang out. "Why only a year?"

"I'm only doing this as a favour to Dumbledore, the lot of you are in some desperate need of catching up. I'm willing to bet you're all behind. Professor Lupin informed me that you are all well informed with Dark Creatures, that's good..."

Eleanor felt many eyes, including Professor Moody's when her father's name was mentioned briefly.

"And you may know what the name of curses, the incantations, and maybe even the counterjiNxes and hexes, but can you put them to good use? Are you able to defend yourselves? It only takes a second, the moment where you blink, and everything can change drastically. You don't have time to be scared when you're facing an opponent that wants nothing more than to hurt or kill you. It will always come down to who is faster. You won't know what spell your opponent is going to cast, you need to be prepared for anything and everything. Now let's get started..."

Professor Moody pointed his wand to another student's head.

"Defend yourself. Three...two...one..."

There was such a panic that raced through Eleanor because while Professor Moody hadn't cast a spell on Marnie, he was casting jinxes on the rest of the students as he made his rounds. They weren't anything dangerous, whether it was encasing their heads in pumpkins or making leeks sprout from their ears, he just wanted to see if someone would be able to act fast enough to counter him.

Most of the students had their wands drawn when he approached but became too intimidated under Moody's glare as he practically loomed over them. When it came to Eleanor's turn, she did have her wand ready, but even though she had watched her peers go through the same task, she didn't like having a wand pointed at her head. Professor Moody never said the incantation before the spell was cast either, he only counted down from three.

"Three. . . two . . ." Eleanor closed her eyes, just waiting for it to happen. "One. . ."

But nothing happened.

Peeking one eye opened, Eleanor glanced up to see Professor Moody staring directly at her. He had an eyebrow raised, perhaps in curiosity as she had been able to escape his jinx. He lowered his wand, still making eye contact the entire time, making Eleanor feel incredibly small under his gaze.

"Well done, Ms Lupin."