Hey! I'm on holidays now! Normally this would mean I'd be able to update faster because I don't have schoolwork to worry about, but actually I'm going to be overseas visiting family for a month. I'll be taking the laptop, but don't be too hopeful. Of course, if i got some nice messages/reviews from people asking me to update...

Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

If you have any thoughts, comments or criticism then please tell me in a message or review.

Disclaimer: If a song hasn't been written about it then it's not worth learning about.

"Right, Giant Wars... I gotta say, I'm a bit uncomfortable actually teaching you this stuff because most texts that are available are incredibly biased. All written by wizards, most of whom probably lost loved ones at the hands of giants. Nobody ever got one of the giants to sit down and pen a novel about their lives and their experiences in the war. You know why? Because most wizards are close-minded little weasels who don't want to hear any opinion which is remotely different to their own. But, if you want to pass this course, you're gonna have to know about them.

"Now, because most stuff is incredibly anti-giant, we probably won't be doing so much stuff out of the textbook this year. Sorry. It'll be used to get names, dates, and vague facts about the events, but the rest... Well, I'll get you stuff, yeah?"

Mike grinned sheepishly at his fifth years. It was the Gryffindors and the Slytherins together again this year, and already some of the Slytherins looked dubious. A couple of Gryffindors seemed sceptical too. Mike sighed and picked up the pile of booklets which he had put together. These had small passages from various books he'd read about the subject, as well as a few which he'd written himself. Hopefully they'd offer a well-rounded look at the Giant Wars. Humming, Mike trotted around the classroom and handed one booklet to each student.

"Did you write any songs about the Giant wars?" Neville asked.

"No, sorry. The Goblin Rebellions were more my thing. You never know, inspiration might strike sometime this year. Stay hopeful."

"Were there any famous witches in the Giant Wars?"

"Pansy, there were loads. Turn to page sixteen. There's a piece about a witch who parleyed with one of the clans in order to protect her village. You might enjoy it."

"How much of our OWL exam will be based around Giant Wars, Professor?"

"Uh... I don't actually know, Hermione. Maybe... Maybe fifteen per cent?"

"Fifteen per-?"

"Or less! I don't know! I'll ask and get back to you."

"You sound very anti-wizard, Professor," said Draco when he was handed a booklet.

Mike shrugged. "I'm not anti-wizard, Draco. I'm anti-idiot. And if someone is too afraid to come out of their little box and see things from someone else's point of view then that makes them an idiot. They're who I'm against." He gave a smile which Draco didn't return, then instructed everyone to turn to page three and start reading.

000

At the end of the lesson, Mike rubbed the dates off of the board, then found an old book propped up on his desk. He picked it up, looked at the cover, then called out, "What classes do you guys all have next?"

"Divination."

"Muggle Studies."

"Care of Magical Creatures."

"Ancient Runes."

"Who said 'Ancient Runes'?"

Over by the door, Hermione raised her hands. Mike grinned and motioned for her to wait one moment. "Brilliant, I'll walk with you. I just found this book I have to give back to Professor Babbling." He picked the book up and trotted out of the door, waving for Hermione to follow him. As he passed them, Lavender and Parvatti whispered something and cast Hermione angry looks. Then they swept out of the room to Divination.

Harry and Ron followed them, but Ron turned his head to watch Mike and Hermione. He raised his hand and ran his fingers through his hair. "You reckon girls'd like me if I gelled my hair up?" he asked as he and Harry walked.

Harry looked at him, struggling not to laugh at the idea. "No," he said. "Something tells me it wouldn't be a good look for you, Ron."

000

"I haven't been able to talk to you in ages," Mike said as he and Hermione walked down the corridor. "Congratulations on the prefect thing. I knew you'd get it."

"Thank you!" Hermione smiled. "I was so surprised when I got it, I didn't expect to. I thought for sure-"

"Don't do that," Mike said, rolling his eyes. "You knew full well you'd be a prefect. I mean, who else would've been picked? Lavender, due to her extensive knowledge of eyeshadow?"

Hermione blushed and looked away. This made Mike snigger and he poked her on the arm. "Hey!" he said, making her look up. "I'm just saying, modesty's fine but occasionally you're allowed to be vain. If I were as smart as you, I'd be yelling it from the rooftops."

Hermione turned an even brighter shade of red and sped up. Unfortunately, Mike had longer legs than her and kept pace easily. "Listen, how's Harry been holding up?"

Hermione looked up. "He... Well, he's been a bit on edge really," she admitted in a low voice. "What with people not believing him. It's been really annoying for him, having to hear everybody's comments about how their parents don't believe You-Know-Who's back and he's just lying. It seems he's always on the end of his tether and he keeps getting angry at the smallest things."

"I can imagine," Mike nodded. "And I bet Umbridge isn't helping, huh?"

Hermione shook her head. Mike gave a long sigh and scratched at his eyebrow stud, another nervous tick of his. "Well... If he ever needs someone to talk to or yell at or shoot curses at, my office is always open," he said, trying to grin. "Same for you and Ron, of course." He grinned widely and tossed the book from one hand to another. As he did so, Mrs Norris appeared from behind a nearby tapestry. He stepped over her, lost his footing, stumbled, and had to grab hold of Hermione's arm to stop from crashing onto the floor. Still clinging to Hermione, he righted himself, then straightened up when the school caretaker emerged from behind the tapestry. "Oh, hey Argus! Good to see you!"

Argus Filch passed by the two of them, going the other way. He shot Mike a dirty look and didn't return the greeting. Mike winced. "Man, I guess he's still not over it."

"Over what?" Hermione asked, turning to look at Filch's retreating form.

"Last year Peeves broke off all the taps in one of the bathrooms and an entire floor was flooded," Mike explained. Hermione nodded, remembering coming out of Arithmancy and stepping into a puddle. "And Filch was working on it and I may have said something along the lines of 'Well you have to admit, this is a little bit funny.' I don't think he's ever forgiven me."

Hermione gave a tinkling laugh, then paused. "Professor?"

"Yeah?" Mike was still looking over his shoulder at Filch, sucking his lip ring.

"You're holding my arm rather tight, it's starting to hurt."

"What? Oh shit, sorry." With a sheepish smile, Mike released Hermione and took a step away. There was a cough, a nervous shrug, and the two of them walked in silence for a bit. Then, after a minute's silent walking, Mike chuckled to himself. "God, I still can't believe Ron was made prefect. I thought Neville was gonna get it."

"Neville?" Hermione frowned in confusion.

"Oh yeah," Mike nodded. "Good ole reliable Neville. May not look like much, but there's solid stuff in there. Er... Not that Ron isn't wonderful, of course, I just-"

"No, I was surprised about Ron as well." Hermione was smiling slightly as she remembered the day she'd received her badge. "I actually first saw Harry holding the prefect badge, so I thought... Well, Ron wasn't too pleased that I'd automatically assumed Harry was going to be the prefect."

"Yeah?" Mike grinned, thinking about the Yule Ball the previous year. He was pretty sure that Ron would be annoyed if Hermione talked about anybody other than the young Weasley himself. Mike wasn't about to say anything to Hermione about it, though. Not then anyway. It was just so cute watching the two of them.

They'd reached the Ancient Runes classroom by this point and Mike bobbed up to Bathsheda Babbling, a short witch with wispy grey hair and a round, kind face. She thanked Mike for bringing the book back and offered him a toffee from a bowl on her desk. Mike accepted the sweet, then turned to leave. Just as he had one foot out of the door, Hermione said, "Professor?"

"Mm?" Mike said, his teeth clamped shut due to the toffee.

"Well... Ron said something about you holding auditions for a band?"

"Mm!" Mike nodded, then mumbled something.

"I'm sorry?"

Mike struggled for a second, then wrenched his jaws apart. "Gah! Uh... Is Ron thinking of auditioning?"

"Oh! Yes. I just wanted to say... Well, he's not very good." Hermione looked away, feeling awkward. She'd heard Ron practising during the Summer Holidays and hadn't been particularly impressed. "Just... Could you go easy on him? I don't want you to let him into the band or anything, just..." She trailed off. Mike smiled.

"For you, my best pupil, I shall grant your wish." With that, he turned, dodged around a group of Ravenclaws, then trotted off down the corridor. He wasn't sure, but he thought he was meant to be teaching a class just then in which case he should be getting back. Last time he'd left students in class unattended they'd started going through his desk, accidentally set off some fireworks he'd confiscated earlier, and nearly set one girl's hair on fire. It would probably be a good thing if that didn't happen again.

000

Ron twanged on the guitar strings a few times, his tongue clamped between his teeth. When the song was over he gripped his guitar awkwardly and looked up. He was standing in Professor Smitt's office, auditioning for the band that was being put together. In front of him, Professor Smitt and -Ron still couldn't quite believe it- Luna Lovegood were sitting behind the desk and listening to him. Smitt had arched his fingers and was watching Ron contemplatively. Luna was looking out of the window.

After a moment of awkward silence, Mike straightened up. "That was good, Ron," he said. "We'll get back to you."

"Was it good?" Luna asked, turning round. "I thought it sounded a bit out of tune. But then, maybe that's what we're going for."

Ron looked at her, his eye twitching. Seeing this, Mike hastily got to his feet and lead Ron out the door. "No no, that was really good. You've got a distinct style and an interesting fingering technique. Hard to beat. Who's next?"

Jeremy Stebbins, a sixth-year Hufflepuff, stood up and walked past Mike into the office. Mike grinned, waved goodbye to Ron, then stepped back into the room and shut the door. Luna was smiling dreamily at Jeremy who was starting to shift uncomfortably.

"Hello, Jeremy," Mike said, taking his seat next to Luna. "Show us what you got."

000

At half past seven that evening, the History of Magic teacher was hunched over his desk repeatedly banging his forehead against the wood. Luna watched him for a moment.

"I don't think that will make things any better," she said after a few seconds.

000

On the first Saturday of the first term, Mike was writing out a possible song for Suburban Avalon when there was a knock on his office door and Hermione entered. She wanted to know if Mike had any other books which she could use to learn about the Giant Wars. Harry and Ron would have been there too, she said, but they were both out at Quidditch practice. Ron had managed to get on the team thanks to Mike's excellent coaching and the two boys had been out playing all day. Hermione seemed extremely put out about this. Apparently they had lots of homework they should've been doing.

"Leave off them, it's only the first week," Mike had said when Hermione had started to complain. She had shot him a hard look which had reminded Mike of Molly Weasley and asked pointedly if he would get her her books. Currently, Mike was standing on a stepladder, running his eyes over all the books on his office shelves. Hermione was standing in the middle of the room, looking around.

"Sit down if you want," Mike said, indicating the chair by his desk. "I can't find the one I wanted. Ah! There it is. Hang on."

Hermione obediently made her way round the desk and sat down in his polished chair. Mike scrabbled for a few seconds, then grabbed the book he wanted and jumped down. There was a sizeable stack of books on his desk and he added this last tome to the top.

"This should do you," he said, brushing dust off his hands. "I've bookmarked all the interesting passages already. Just look through those and if you need anything else then give me a shout."

He grinned, but Hermione sighed. "You're a good teacher," she said after a pause.

"Oh. Thank you, Hermione. Means a lot to hear that."

"I really mean it. You're much more helpful than some teachers at this school."

"Er... You know, I'm really not meant to talk about my colleagues-"

"Umbridge!" Hermione said, folding her arms in annoyance.

"Oh. Yeah..." Mike frowned. He had never had a full conversation with Dolores Umbridge, but he'd said enough to her to know that she would get on his nerves. If even Hermione was irritated by her then she couldn't be good. "Well what is it about her that's...worse than me? Purely so that I can improve myself, you understand."

"You actually teach us," Hermione huffed, getting up and thumping the books. "Umbridge doesn't. We just sit and read the textbook."

"Uh... Well that's not good."

"Especially since this is our OWL year," she continued, ignoring Mike. "We need someone who can teach us spells and curses, not someone who just makes us read."

"I understand..." Mike paused, then laughed. "Yeah, you need to know how it feels to cast the spells. Heh, I guess that means Harry won't have any problems with Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL, will he?"

Hermione looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on Hermione. Harry knows all those jinxes and hexes, right? He learnt a whole bunch for the Triwizard tournament last year. Plus, he's been in quite a few duels, so he knows his stuff."

Hermione blinked, not saying a word.

"I mean," Mike said, starting to feel uncomfortable. "I mean, if I had to choose somebody to tell me about spells, I'd choose the guy who's gone head-to-head with the most evil wizard of our age and lived. You know, 'cos he's had give first-hand experience. Uh, maybe if your Defence lessons aren't enough then you could ask Harry for some pointers."

Hermione was silent, but she was frowning down at her hands. Her lips moved, muttering something Mike couldn't hear. Then she smiled. "Professor, you're amazing."

"I am? I mean, yeah. Of course I am... Why exactly?"

But Hermione had picked up her books and headed out of the door without a backwards glance. Mike stood for a moment, then shrugged. He had never heard 'you're amazing' in this context before, but he was going to take it as a compliment just the same.