Disclaimer: I own Colonel Quoniam Quinn, and Colonel Quoniam Quinn alone. All other characters, settings, etc. are the sole property of J.K. Rowling.
This story takes place almost immediately after the events in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's meant as, more than anything else, a morsel to tide us over until Order of the Phoenix and a repository for my own hopes as to where the story will go. Because of the highly speculative (and hopeful) nature of this story, chances are everything in it will be made obsolete—nay, laughable—by events in Harry Potter canon. Nevertheless, I hope this will prove as enjoyable to read as it was to pull out of the depths of my twisted mind. PLEASE read and review; this ambitious project is my second fanfic ever, and so any help (including out-and-out flames) anyone can give would be most appreciated. To reiterate: HELP ME, PLEASE!
Ahem. Without further ado…
Chapter One: (Summer) School's In
Harry Potter awoke one bright summer morning to the most curious sensation of his pet owl Hedwig jumping excitedly up and down on his chest. Hedwig was usually a fairly reserved bird (except for those occasions when Harry failed to adequately compensate her for sending letters), so this behavior immediately struck Harry as very odd indeed. He stumbled around a bit, looking for his glasses—Hedwig's vigorous activity must have knocked them off of their usual resting spot on the counter—and attempted to see what the fuss was about.
"OUCH! Watch it, Hedwig! What's the matter with you?" Just then he noticed that Hedwig had an envelope in her beak. "Oh…a letter. But I get letters all the time. Is this one urgent?"
Hedwig shook her head, but nevertheless forcefully placed the letter in Harry's lap. Still quite puzzled, Harry carefully opened the envelope and read its contents:
Dear Mr. Potter,
As you have no doubt realized, there is now more danger facing the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry than there has ever been since the fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Students enrolled at Hogwarts are required to enroll in seven years of Defense Against the Dark Arts; however, in this very precarious time, the Heads of Staff have all agreed that these introductory courses do not adequately serve the increased security needs of students.
To solve this problem an emergency six-week summer session, exclusively focused on Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, has been called for all students at or above fourth year. There are no books or materials to purchase, as the new teacher (Colonel Quoniam Quinn) is providing students with all they will need for the course. The date of arrival is July 1, and the date of departure is August 12.
Please note that the regular school session begins as usual on September 1. A separate letter will be sent after the summer session with a list of books for the new year.
Yours Sincerely,
Professor M. McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Most students would be extremely annoyed, to say the least, that they were being forced to go to school over the summer. Harry Potter, however, was overjoyed—and Hedwig, he decided, was all too right about being very excited. Harry would take the joys of studying magic in the twisting corridors of Hogwarts over the utter tedium of life with the Dursleys in Number Four, Privet Drive any day. Besides, this gave him a chance to see his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, for most of the summer.
And maybe…just maybe…he'd see the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang. Harry sighed deeply. He wasn't really sure what to do or think about her. He'd had a crush on her for almost two years now, and had asked her to the Yule Ball when the Triwizard Tournament was in high swing. Unfortunately for him, she had already been asked to the dance by Cedric Diggory—the other, exceptionally handsome, Hogwarts champion—who over the course of the rest of the year became her steady boyfriend. All the way until…until…
Harry's stomach lurched. Cedric…he had died senselessly, without any chance of survival, hit by the Avada Kedavra curse. And all because—Harry felt the sting of tears forming in the corners of his eyes—all because of his decision to share the Triwizard Cup with Cedric. If he'd just fulfilled Cedric's request to take the Cup, he would have escaped Voldemort regardless, and Cedric would have stayed alive. Harry mused bitterly that Voldemort didn't make being noble easy. Neither did he make being fourteen, almost fifteen, easy. How would Cho react to Harry, now that Cedric was dead? Had she known about his feelings for her? Another sigh escaped him, but he decided not to worry about Cho until he was forced to—until the start of the summer session.
Flopping down on his bed, Harry eyed the small calendar in the corner of his room; the date was June 24th. That made exactly one week before he had to be at King's Cross station; Harry couldn't decide whether to be looking forward to leaving the Dursleys or dreading the prospect of explaining to them that he had to be transported to London not once but twice this year. He soon made up his mind, though, that whatever unpleasantness he might have to deal with, an extra six weeks of Hogwarts would make up for it in spades.
Harry got up, stretching and yawning, and began his descent to the Dursleys' living room. Hedwig looked at him inquisitively, and Harry spoke.
"Time to break the bad news."
And he laughed, his smile growing wider with each passing step.
* * *
"You WHAT?" Uncle Vernon roared at a flinching Harry Potter.
"I have to go to Hogwarts for an emergency summer session."
"And I suppose you want ME to drive you all the way to ruddy LONDON, don't you? I'm sure you're only being summoned back to that FREAKY school of yours because you've been CUTTING UP!" Harry began explaining the purpose of the return to Hogwarts, but Vernon cut him off. "DON'T interrupt me! If you weren't such a worthless GIT, I'm sure this wouldn't be necessary. I have half a mind to make you hitch your own way to King's Cross station…but…" Uncle Vernon's voice faltered, and he seemed visibly shaken. "Poor Petunia was so shaken last time you left. I'd rather take you myself than have to deal with your freaky friends barging in here through the chimney like some insane family of Saint Nicks. Now GET OUT OF MY SIGHT before I change my mind!"
Harry didn't say a word; he just turned and went right back the way he came, feeling Dudley's hateful stare pierce the back of his head. Try as he might to seem nonchalant about the matter, he could barely contain his excitement, and started bounding up the stairs, another grin forming on his lips. Once back in his room, he hastily began writing letters to Ron and Hermione expressing his immense joy at being able to spend the summer at Hogwarts.
* * *
Time, it has been noted, has the most annoying tendency to speed up as an unpleasant event approaches. Perhaps even more annoying, however, is its tendency to slow down as something pleasant comes. The hours stretched on for days at a time as July the first crept all too slowly towards the Dursley residence. Dudley made sure to make Harry's life as miserable as possible, but Harry absolutely refused to be brought down into feeling bad. Unfortunately for Harry, this made Dudley's attacks ever more brutal, and though he said nothing, Harry could not help but wait in silent expectation for the start of July.
Finally, the long-awaited day came. On the morning of July 1, Harry leapt out of bed, threw on a pair of clothes (making sure to pack his wizard robes to change into once he had gotten on the Hogwarts Express), and greeted Uncle Vernon at breakfast. Uncle Vernon, as well as Aunt Petunia and Dudley, was entirely silent through breakfast. When the time came to leave for King's Cross Station, he simply pointed to the car and gruffly told Harry "Get in."
If the weeklong wait to go to London was bad, the drive itself was absolutely unbearable. Harry was certain that some Dark Wizards had conspired to make the trip last longer than a week; but, once it was finally over, Harry got out of the car with his trunk ("Get out," Uncle Vernon had barked at him), and started to make his way to Platform 9 and ¾. He felt relief pour down on him like a storming flood after a long, hard drought, and boarded the Hogwarts Express with nearly half an hour to spare.
As Harry went to the car traditionally inhabited by Gryffindors of his year, he overheard a snippet of conversation between Draco Malfoy and some second party he could not identify:
"Honestly, what's the point of this? If they'd just teach us how to use some ruddy curses, we could just destroy anyone who came after us…Not that anyone'd come after me. Hah! I have my priorities straight. What's so wrong with getting rid of the Muggles and the Mudbloods, anyway? It's just like my dad says…" Harry felt he might be sick if he overheard any more, and so made a point of speeding to his car. He was so upset, though, that he wasn't looking carefully, and plowed right into Ron Weasley—who let out a string of words that would no doubt have made his mother quite upset, had she heard him.
"Hey, watch it! Where the hell are you going in such a—Harry? What's got you in such a rush?"
"So sorry, Ron. I just overheard Draco whining to some slimy Slytherin git about how much he hates Muggles and the like, and had to get out of there as quickly as possible—for my stomach's well-being."
Ron smiled, and clapped Harry on the back. "Right."
"I'm surprised to see you here this early, Ron. This is more the kind of extra time that Hermione leaves for herself."
Ron's ears went slightly pink. "Yes, well, mom wanted to avoid the kind of fuss and muss that always happens when we leave for Hogwarts. Of course, she says that every time, but for some odd reason, today it worked."
Harry was visibly impressed. He found his place and sat down next to Ron. "Speaking of Hermione, is she here yet?"
"Ah—no," Ron said, his face now flushing more than before, "She's not here yet." Harry noticed Ron's peculiar reaction to Hermione's name, but didn't know what to make of it.
"Oh well. Say, do you know anything about this teacher of Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts? I mean, is he good, this Lieutenant… err… Calligula… Quorum…—"
"Colonel Quoniam Quinn, if you'd bother to read The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort, is the head of the Magical Department of Defense's Auror Training Program," called out the distinct voice of Hermione Granger.
"Hermione!" exclaimed Harry, and he jumped out of his seat to embrace his friend. Hermione's eyes sparkled, and she spoke again.
"Good to see you, Harry! Aren't you looking forward to this summer term? I can't wait! We're so lucky to have the chance to study under Colonel Quinn; he's one of the best, and sure to teach us everything we need to know to keep ourselves alive should anything… unfortunate… happen." She then furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Say, where's Ron?"
Ron, who had made himself scarce by getting behind Harry at Hermione's entrance, stuttered out a greeting: "He-hello, Herm-hermione." The color of his face approached the fiery hue of his hair. Hermione reached out to hug Ron, but he backed out, shaking her hand instead; both Harry and Hermione were more than slightly nonplussed by his response, and both shrugged their shoulders.
Ron soon calmed down and didn't let whatever it was that was bugging him affect him from there on in. For the next half hour the three friends relived the events of the previous year at Hogwarts: the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament, the mystery of Harry's entrance into the competition, Ron and Hermione's aiding Harry to prepare for his challenges, the Yule Ball—Ron's ears went pink again at the mention of the ball—and the horrific death of Cedric Diggory. All three of them became visibly distressed as they recalled how they witnessed his death; Harry remembered being tied up and powerless to do anything but watch as the evil green light robbed young Cedric of his life, while Ron and Hermione remembered being totally shocked when, out of nowhere, the lifeless body of Cedric materialized. It was obvious that Hermione was only just managing to hold back tears.
Half an hour soon elapsed in this manner, and a shrill whistle announced the departure of the Hogwarts Express. As the scarlet train pulled out of King's Cross station, Harry's thoughts wandered—from his two best friends, to his new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (who, Hermione was quick to inform him, had a reputation for being tough as nails), and then to the matter of how exactly he would deal with Cho Chang this summer. Unable to come to a satisfactory resolution about the matter, Harry closed his eyes and lost himself in sleep as the English countryside whizzed by his head.
~End Chapter One
So…what do you think? This is obviously only an introduction; if it seemed hasty to you, that's because it was designed that way (I want to butcher canon as little as possible, and adding in a traditional pre-Hogwarts Express arc would be a really effective way of destroying all that makes this series great). There's more interesting stuff coming soon, I promise—this story's just getting underway! Any questions, comments, or suggestions, please drop a line either by making a review or sending me an email at Rask0lnik@aol.com. Thanks for reading!
