You what? Marco was so confused. This lady was crazy. "Erm excuse me Professor. But surely the whole point of legend is that there is some truth in the story. And the legend is that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. What is the truth in that?"

Jezz was extremely confused. That was nothing like what she had been told all of her life. If that was what really happened, she wondered what other legends she had heard were so wrong.

Gwen frowned. What did Lainey have against house elves? "I think it's more likely that leprechauns are more closely related to erklings than house elves," she piped up.

Qaz looked around. There were a few other students that looked as confused as she was. She absent-mindedly reached for one of the chocolates that she had tossed in her bag, but caught herself just in time. She continued with her notes, shaking her head as she wrote.

Ah.....that makes sense.....wait....since when did ANYTHING make sense? Hmm.....James was in a deep thought process. When was the last time?....

Anna shifted in her seat and took down a few more notes. This was turning out to be as interesting as the last class. She listened to hear what the professor would say next.

James looked around, not being able to come up with an answer. Perhaps he could make a joke?....no.....

"The truth is that he rid Ireland of snakes for his own use, and put his 'gold' into cauldrons, and set house elves, or whatever variation of them you prefer, to guard it. Simple really...," Lainey stared back at all the blank faces. "Maybe he had yellow snakes that muggles confused for gold?"

"Regardless, that's the truth of it, folks. The point of today's lesson wasn't to ruin your view of the legend. The point of today's lesson was to give you Slytherins a bit of added knowledge about your own house...." Dun dun dun!

James snickered. BURN......to the Slytherins. This was hilarious. He almost broke out in hysterics but stopped suddenly when he realized she would either take points off of him, or try to explain that Ravenclaws had an even worse story.....Er.....

"Hmmm...interesting," Anna thought to herself. This surely gave her a completely different outlook on St. Patrick's Day. She rolled up her parchment, put away her quill, and listened to see if any homework would be assigned.

Xana grinned. "That's absolutely brilliant of him, I must say. But... " she paused, contemplating the ramifications of this theory. "If he turned all the snakes of Ireland into Horcruxes as you say... and knowing what we do of Horcrux creation... are you suggesting that St. Patrick was in fact a mass murderer?" She wondered if perhaps Professor Lainey had once worked for The Quibbler.

Cassandra who was writing down notes, stopped, and looked at her professor. What was she getting at here... St. Patrick's day was when people wore green... Patrick himself was a parseltongue and created horcruxes.... "Was Evil Patrick the first dark lord?"

James' neck made a loud crack at the speed of his head turning the Slytherin prefect. Yes, that was the question he wanted answered....suddenly his neck didn't hurt so bad anymore...

Qaz was really confused now, so she raised her hand and asked, 'How could St Patrick have been in the Slytherin House when he lived over 500 years before Salazar Slytherin?'

She thought the whole thing was crazy. If this had been April Fools Day, she would have thought this was a big joke.

"And I thought Claws were supposed to have the brains..." She shook her head. "Being a Slytherin doesn't mean attending a school... as I said before, we snakes are everywhere..." She continued writing, and added "Plus he could have been an ancestor of Salazar Slytherin."

Qaz couldn't believe the rudeness of the Slytherin girl, as if she'd asked her.

'That's making friends.', he thought to himself as Cassandra commented on the Ravenclaw girls brains. Besides Alex and a few people who seemed to look-up to her, he wondered if Cassandra did have many friends.

Crikey, Trel, back off... It was a valid question. Xana thought. Merlin, Trel needed to learn a little inter-house diplomacy. She looked at the Ravenclaw girl with a pained smile, shaking her head slightly as though apologizing on behalf of their House for their very rude Prefect.

Jezz heard Cassandra make a snide remark and said, "Well, I think Qaz has a good point. You don't have to be such a jerk about it." She turned to Qaz and smiled.

She rolled her eyes. Well, if stating the obvious thing that everyone was thinking makes me a jerk... well then... she thought to herself. But thought better of voicing it... she wasn't going to deign the girl with an answer. Plus, this was a class... no chatting. She simply smirked.

"Hm. I believe so. Yes. History of that time is a bit sketchy, sure, but all the clues point to it."

"I don't know about the first.... but I'd say early. A pioneer of the Dark Arts, without question. He wasn't all bad though."

"He wasn't, darling. But, 500 years before Salazar - there were Patrick. The original snake talker to-er. The great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather of.. You-Know-Who."


"So... the question is... if leprechauns still exist today... does Saint Patty?" Lainey laughed. They all thought she was crazy! Poor skeptical darlings.

"He'd have to be so old... But I guess with a Horcrux, or horcruxes.... it's possible." Xana contemplated. "And if he didn't, then leprechauns would have no reason to protect the pots of gold or whatever. So... I'd say he probably does. " She paused. "'Scuse me professor- did you say that the Dark Lord was a direct descendant of Patrick?"

"He'd have to with all the horcruxes, wouldn't he?" She answered to her professor.