"Maybe by Now He's Forgotten"

Pomona, Hufflepuff's Herbology professor, liked the story of Noah's Ark. When the great flood came, all the animals lived peacefully together aboard the ark.

Slytherin's Potions professor defeated her with a single question: What did the lions eat on the ship?

It was impossible to make carnivores switch to grass, just as it was impossible to make cats stop chasing mice. That went against their nature. Yet some natures could not be allowed to remain so "natural" forever.

Bavaria had not yet reached its finest season of the year, but the forests of fir, oak, and birch had already begun to don new clothes. Listening to the violin's melodious music along the way was still wonderfully soothing.

Yet the children of that family were running back and forth through the corridor of the first-class carriage, playing with toy wands in the observation car and making it impossible for anyone to have any peace.

"How did we survive?" Pomona asked Severus, who was reading the newspaper, as she listened to the commotion outside.

"I don't know how you survived," he said without looking up from the paper, his tone dark. "I always wanted to leave that hell."

That was right. The wizarding school Harry loved so desperately, the place he could not wait to return to, was hell for the teachers. Who said every child was an angel? There were clearly little devils among them!

"I thought nobles all had flying carriages," Pomona said. "Like Beauxbatons."

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Complaining about how noisy children are?" He put down the newspaper and stared at her.

"What?" she asked, puzzled.

"I always thought you were cool, but the things we're talking about now sound like something an old married couple would discuss."

"What's wrong with an