I got the idea for this story from A Lioness and Her Cubs, by hermionewiz27

"Can you believe all this homework we have to do?!" Ron complained as he, Harry, and Hermione made their way into the common room.

"It's not so bad Ronald," Hermione countered. "If you begin now and follow the schedule I just lined out, you'll be fine. Look, I even scheduled you some free time."

"Oh, brilliant…" Ron said sarcastically. "Scheduled free time- I can't wait."

Harry remained silent. He had learned early on to never get in-between Ron and Hermione when they were having one of their disagreements. Instead, he began looking around the common room to see what everyone else was doing. It looked like most of the third years and above were in Hogsemade, which meant that he and his classmates could have the common room to themselves for the day. Lavendar and Parvati were huddled together in one part of the common room, reading what appeared to be Witch Weekly. The second years were scattered around- some were playing gobstones and wizards chess, while a few others were working on their own homework assignments.

Over in another part of the common room, Neville had taken up a table and had begun working on a potion assignment. Neville was terrible at potions- yesterday was so bad that Professor Snape had assigned him an extra assignment: complete the potion over the weekend. The resulting potion would then be tested on a random student of Snape's discretion. (Harry was sure that Snape would choose him.) Seamus and Dean sat next to Neville, practicing spells for what appeared to be Charms class…although Harry wasn't quite sure.

Harry turned his attention back to Ron and Hermione.

"Hermione, you just don't get it. Weekends aren't meant to be doing homework. They're meant for us to relax and have fun!" As Ron was talking, he had backed up and proceeded throw his arms out to emphasize the word fun. The result was that during the last sentence, he bumped into Seamus, who sent his spell straight into Neville's cauldron.

Immediately the cauldron began bubbling and dark green smoke began to form. Within seconds, the smoke had covered half the common room and everyone was making a mad dash to the exit. The students huddled together outside the Fat Lady, unsure of what to do next. Fortunately, at that moment, Professor McGonogall came rushing up the steps.

"Ms. Granger," she called. "What on earth happened in there?"

"You see Professor McGonogall," Hermione began. "Neville was working on a potion and Seamus was working on a charm, when someone (she stared daggers at Ron), bumped into Seamus, who ended up shooting his spell into Neville's cauldron. After that, the common room immediately began filling up with smoke so we did our best to evacuate."

"I see…", said Professor McGonogall. "Mr. Longbottom!" Neville rushed forward. "Pray-tell, what exactly were you concocting before Mr. Finnigan accidentally shot his spell into your cauldron?"

"A hiccup potion ma'am."

"A hiccup potion?! Are you aware, Mr. Longbottom, that a hiccup potion is supposed to be clear? Not dark green. I will need to go in and assess the damage. In the mean time, please describe to Ms. Granger exactly what steps you had followed up to the point in time where the potion was interrupted."

Professor McGonogall then promptly turned towards the Fat Lady, cast a silent bubble head charm on herself, and proceeded to march into the common room. She came out ten minutes later and immediately conferred with Ms. Granger to figure out what Neville had added to cause the potion to turn dark green. When she finished, Professor McGonogall had a grave look on her face.

"All Gryffindors report to the Great Hall. No students, I repeat, NO STUDENTS, are to set foot anywhere near the Gryffindor tower for the time being. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes, Professor," everyone responded in unison. As the students turned towards the great hall, Professor McGonogall sent a patrons to Albus Dumbledore and the other 3 heads of houses, telling them to meet her in the staff room immediately.

"Gryffindor house is uninhabitable at the moment," Professor McGonogall stated. "It appears that the combination of an unknown spell…Yes Severus, I asked Mr. Finnigan about the spell. He claims not to have remembered which one was said at the moment of the accident. As I was saying, the combination of the unknown spell with Mr. Longbottom's potion caused a toxic gas to fill the tower. I believe the toxicity is due to the addition of Asphodel instead of Armadillo Bile, as the instructions stated. Regardless, we will need to find a place for the students to sleep for the time being. For all we know, this change could be for the remainder of the year. All students are currently residing in the great hall and Mr. Filch is under strict orders to send any Gryffindor students coming from Hogsemade straight to the Great Hall as well. Obviously they cannot stay in the Hall itself for several nights, so we will need to come up with a solution. Are there any ideas?"

"We do have a little bit of extra space in most of the common rooms. I'm sure we can squeeze in some extra beds and have students sleep in there," suggested Professor Sprout.

Professor Flitwick nodded. Professor Snape, however, snorted. "I highly doubt your Gryffindors would feel comfortable in Slytherin house, nor do I feel like my Slytherins would be anymore accommodating."

Professor McGonogall shook her head. Sad as that fact was, Severus did have a point. "I agree Severus. But Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw would certainly be good options, if you're sure Pomona and Fillius?" They nodded.

"Good. Then most students should fit comfortably if we split them up into their corresponding dormitories. My only concern is the first years. As you all know, this was the largest class we received and I don't believe we will have enough space in the first year dormitories for them"

Pomona, Severus, and Fillius all agreed. Albus had remained quiet throughout this meeting, thinking silently instead about the possible options. Now he finally decided to chime in. "Might I suggest, allowing these unplaced students to stay with professors. Each suite contains a guest room, which I'm sure could comfortably fit up to three students, if need be."

The other professors paused. Allow students to live in their own quarters? Professor McGonogall thought about it. Albus was right- each of their suites did contain a guest room and it seemed only fair to set an example. After all, they were asking all of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to open their common rooms and dormitories as well.

"You're right Albus," she concluded. "If professors are amenable to having students stay with them for the time being, then we should set an example and take in some of the first years." "Wonderful!" said Albus. "Professor McGonogall will go around and speak to the other professors. She and I can then meet to determine who will go where. Severus, I assume you will not be willing to host any Gryffindors?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Snape sniffed, "You assume correctly, headmaster."

"What about you Pomona? Fillius?" "Of course Albus," squeaked Flitwick.

"I would be delighted," said Sprout immediately following Flitwick.

Twenty minutes later, Minerva sat down in the Headmasters office, staring at the list of willing professors she had found. It looked as follows:

-Fillius Flitwick

-Pomona Sprout

-Sybill Trelawney

-Minerva McGonogall

She was actually quite surprised that Sybill had volunteered. She was sure she was going to say no. Now she simply hoped that whichever students got placed with her would not fall into her false dramatizations and delusions.

Professor Dumbeldore stared at the list and then smiled. "Well Minerva," he began. "This looks like it should be easy enough to place the remaining 10 students. Who do you think should go with Fillius?"

Minerva pondered for a minute. "Eloise Midgen and Fay Dunbar appear to be rather adept at charms. Perhaps they would enjoy staying with him. I'm sure if they ask, Fillius would be more than happy to teach them some new charms on the side as well."

"Wonderful," exclaimed Professor Dumbledore. "And what about with Pomona?" Suddenly Minerva saw the picture clearly forming in her head.

"Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom would do well there. Pomona will be firm with Mr. Finnigan and Mr. Thomas, not allowing any nonsense. As for Mr. Longbottom… I heard he's wonderful at Herbology and lord knows the boy could use a confidence booster after dealing with Severus. Now, for Sybill, I believe Lavendar Brown and Parvati Patel will do nicely. They seem like the type of girls who are gullible enough to put up with her act…let's just hope they have enough common sense to not believe everything she says"

Minerva paused. She knew that her next suggestion would be a little out there, but she figured she may as well try and see what Albus would say. Ms. Granger reminded her so much of herself as a student, while the boys were very much like James Potter and Sirius Black. And while Minerva would never admit it out loud, they had formed a special place in her heart. She continued where she left off.

"As for me, what about Hermione Granger with Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. They have all grown so close and I'm sure Ms. Granger would not feel comfortable being so far away from them. As you remember, I have an additional room that once belonged to my nephew, Robert, so Hermione can have her own room as well." This was it. She saw Albus close his eyes and think for a minute. Then he opened them and smiled.

"Well Minerva, that sounds like a well thought-out plan. I don't see why anyone should have a problem. Please let the other staff members know who will be staying with them so they can begin preparing the rooms. We will tell the students shortly."