"Well, here we are," said catania looking at the door in front of them. "Should we go in?"
Sanyukta rolled her eyes and pushed the door open, a gasp expelling from her throat at the classroom in front of them. It was about half the size of the Great Hall with desk lined up in neat rows. Students from each of the four houses were sitting down with their friends, glancing nervously at a closed door in the back of the room where the teacher currently was.
A large, crystal chandelier hung from the center of the room, candles sparkling amongst the gems. An ornate red and silver rug was beneath their feet, the only classroom they knew of to have carpeting. Golden picture frames adorned the walls, all of them holding a scroll of some sort.
"This isn't actually a classroom," said Sanyukta, sliding into one of the empty desks. "Lawrenceville a History says that this is actually a conference room for the teachers that they use to plan out events and course schedules. Back in 1944 the Prefects actually got to use this room as a meeting place for themselves."
"Is everyone from sixth year here?" asked catania in wonderment, glancing around the gigantic room. In a far corner sat Randhir singh shekhwat , legs propped up on the desk with jiggy, vidushi and sahil sitting on either side of him.
A cluster of tanager's were towards the center of the room and phoenix's dominated the front rows of the desks. Other students were dotted around the class, talking in small groups or remaining strangely silent.
"Looks like a full house," remarked Dean Thomas, dropping into a chair next to parth kashyap. "Why do you think all of us are here at one time? Can one teacher really handle us all?"
"I would think they could if we didn't a few certain people in our class," said parth , giving a dark look over to randhir and comapny. "But it is weird."
Two sharp handclaps caught the group's attention and everyone at once quieted down and turned to look at the front of the room. A rather petite woman was standing there, her black hair cut to chin length with clips holding back some of the shorter strands. She wore a set of light purple robes, a wand in her left hand.
"Welcome to Parenting Class," she said with a bright smile. "I'm Professor Tobin and will have all of you for the first few weeks of the school year. If you are not a sixth year student and somehow accidentally wound up here please show yourself out." No one moved.
"Very well then. First off, I'd like to announce the schedule for this year. Quidditch will be canceled for now and restarted in February," she began, ignoring the gasps from the Quidditch players.
"This class will only go on from now until the end of October. During that time, some of your classes you normally take may have to be changed to incorporate your charge's needs." Here several glances were exchanged warily amongst the students.
"Professor?" asked Sanyukta raising her hand. "I understand that this is a parenting class but would you please tell us what it is?"
"I'm getting to that Miss Agarwal," the professor said with a chuckle. "I'm sure that many of you will be happy to hear this next part," she said, turning to face the class. "This is the only time we will ever meet here. In fact, this is the last time you will have Parenting Class." Eyebrows were raised in confusion but Tobin continued.
"Today you will all be randomly split into groups of three depending on the closeness of your schedules. And yes, you may be paired with other houses," she said in answer to the unasked question.
"From now on, skip over this period and use it as a free class until Parenting Class ends. You will then go back to your normal schedules. In your group of three one of you will be turned into a five year old child."
"What the-"
"She can't be serious!"
"No way!"
Exclamations of protest rose among the students until Tobin raised a slim hand for silence.
"There is no use making a big deal out of it," she answered calmly.
"In turn, every two weeks someone else in the group will turn into the child and the previous child back to their original age. Each 'family' so to speak will be given a small house of their own inside of the castle. It is there you will live for the two months with your group."
"What exactly are we learning from this, Professor?" queried Sanyukta.
"To be a responsible, mature adult," the teacher responded promptly. "As a parent you must never let the child out of your sight unless you have worked out arrangements with your partner or a friend to watch him or her for you. You may not however have a younger student sit for you. Are there any more questions?"
"How are we being graded on this?" asked Vidushi, her brown eyes sparkling with enthusiasm for the project.
"Your grade will be based on how content the child is and how well you are managing. Your charge will come with you to classes that both you and your partner share where professors will observe your interaction with the child."
"When you're the child will you have any memories after the five year old age?" asked Sanyukta.
"The potion we're using is very complicated. The child will remember events from their past but his or her current 'guardians' will be in place of his or her mother and father. You will of course look different but to the child you will be that parent. Another handy little spell is all of the child's clothing will shrink to fit as soon as the potion had been drunk. If no one has any further questions I'll call out the groups."
Sanyukta tightly gripped her friends' hands, wanting to be with them. "First group is Padama Patil, Seamus Finnagin, and Hannah Abbot. If you could please come here..."
The three said students nervously rose to their feet and made their way up to the teacher. "So I only have to say this once listen up," ordered Tobin.
"I'm giving each group a map to bring them to their temporary rooms where their trunks already are. In the top corner of the paper is the password to your room. Inside you will find three glasses. Please have everyone take one and drink it. One of them has the potion and as soon as the glasses have been emptied your assignment has started."
Hannah took the rolled up parchment and her small group left the room, a relieved smile on all of their faces. "Group two is Jignesh modi , Catania Anderson, and dean thompson. "
"Have fun, nia" whispered sanyukta to catania as she got up and left the classroom a moment later, her face a slight shade of green.
"Group three is Sanyukta Agarwal , Randhir Singh Shekhwat, and Parth Kashyap."
"This can't be happening," murmured Sanyukta, rising to her feet and going to the front of the room, Parth walking protectively next to her.
"If the ferret tries anything I'll make sure he'll regret it," Parth comforted, a grim smile on his face. Randhir joined the two a moment later, a scowl on his pale face. Whispers ran around the class as the pair stared at the Falcon.
"Thank you," said Sanyukta stiffly, taking the handed map from Tobin, her hazel eyes never leaving Randhir's black. Silently she turned and exited the room, the map clutched tightly in her hand.
"Listen here Shekhwat," growled parth, pausing once they were out of the class. "If you try to do anything to Sanyukta you will pay."
"Let's all just try to get through this," sanyukta pleaded. "No fighting, insulting or teasing, okay? It's only for two months...can we try to get along for that time?" She held out her hand expectantly to randhir.
He hesitated before quickly shaking her hand before wiping his on his robes as though he'd just caught a germ. "I'm doing this so I don't fail the class," he hissed, glaring daggers at sanyukta and parth.
"Where are we supposed to go?"
butted in parth, trying to avoid arguments at all costs. He too wanted to pass the class and prove that he could survive life with the falcon for two whole months.
"We're down by the charms corridor,"Sanyukta said, peering intently at the map. "Our portrait should have a jester on it. The password for the two months is 'Parvulus'." In a tense silence the trio made their way to their temporary home, each thinking their own thoughts.
'I can't believe it! Two Phoenix! And they just happened to be the Mudblood and Kashyap. Can life get any worse?' grumbled the falcon to himself, black eyes stormy. 'Father will be furious with the arrangement...I should talk to Tobin and see if I can get a new group, but for some reason I don't think she'll change us.'
'I guess I should be lucky it's only shekhwat,' thought parth. 'What if I'd gotten stuck with him and jignesh or vidushi or some other falcon instead of sanyukta? I think they would have either brought me to PKC as a sacrifice or I'd have much bodily harm done to me. Yep, guess I'm very luck to have sanyu.'
'Maybe this won't be so bad,' mused sanyukta, her expression thoughtful. 'If Loona were here instead of parth I can see some problems...with her temper and Shekhwat's mouth we'd be digging ourselves into a pretty deep hole. But if we can all work on our truce we should be okay, right?'
"We're here," said sanyukta, pausing a few moments later. The trio stood in front of a portrait of a man wearing a red and black jester's outfit, his face painted white with a large grin.
"Ah ha!" he exclaimed, juggling several bright green balls. "You must be the group I'm taking in. I'm Leviculus and at your service. Do you have the password?"
"Parvulus," said sanyukta clearly.
"Jolly well done," Leviculus chuckled. "I'll open up after I lay down some basic information that Professor Tobin gave to me. Righty, first off is each of you has your own bedroom so no sharing unless you happen to be the child. That is allowed if the child would like to stay with someone. Second, the portrait is child locked from the inside meaning whichever of you is the little tyke you can't exit unless you have a guardian with you. And that's it. Go on in."
Leviculus swung open and the three entered, eyes taking in their living conditions.
"Who decorated?" exclaimed randhir, eyes widening in horror. Bright orange couches sat in the front room with yellow fringe on the pillows. The walls were a sky blue with green polka dots and the carpeting was a dazzling shade of red.
sanyukta giggled. "We do have a jester as our portrait...he probably gave his input on the room. It's quite different, don't you think so parth?"
But he wasn't listening, his eyes focused on three glasses sitting on a pink table. Each glass was half full of a deep purple liquid. Hesitantly he picked one up and sniffed it. "It smells like grape juice," parth said with a smile.
randhir picked up a glass and sanyukta took the last one. "Cheers," she said, the three of them clinking glasses before downing the liquid.
randhir set his glass back down on the table. "None of us changed," he remarked, staring at his reflection in the mirror that hung on the wall. He was still almost six feet with his jet black hair , parth was a bit taller than him and sanyukta came up to his chin.
"It does take a while," yelled Leviculus from outside. "Just you wait."
Seconds later one of the images in the mirror wavered and began to shrink until a small child was standing on the floor and peering up at the two teenagers.
"Oh my God..."
Anupamaa
