Note: Ok, I had to do this for a reading class of mine. It only had to be a ten-page story, and lets just say I got a little carried away with it. I'm on page 72 right now in my little notebook, and still going. . Now, for all you Harry Potter fans out there that are reading this, I'm only going by what I've seen in the movies. I tried to read the first book, but I'm the type of reader that needs to be instantly hooked on the first page to continue reading, and the book didn't quiet do that for me, so needless to say I just threw the book down. I have done a little research so I don't seem like a total idiot to all you out there that know the books well, and my interest has been sparked a little. I'm considering giving the series another try, but after I finish reading a few other books that my friend would like me to read. Well, hope you enjoy it. The original chapters were actually much longer than they are here, but it was taking to long to type up so I shortened them greatly. Oh yeah, and it takes place right after the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, cause that was the movie we watched. Just so you know. .
Disclaimer: Oh and I don't own Harry Potter. Just thought I'd let you guys know that. .
"Harry, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed as she hustled over to her two dear friends. She held her arms out wide so she was able to embrace both Ron and Harry at the same time.
Harry smiled and returned the friendly hug to Hermione. He turned his head to glance at Ron, and his smile grew bigger. A chuckle escaped him as he continued to look at Ron, who was trying his best to hide his blush as he too hugged Hermione back. After a moment Harry decided to pull back; as he did he kept his hand on Hermione's shoulder and said, "It's good to see you again."
Ron hesitated for a brief moment, then added in his usual unsure tone, "Yeah, good to see you again, Hermione." As Ron pulled away from Hermione he heard the sound of the train's horn, signaling that it was time to head out. He gestured his head towards the compartment the usually sat in on the ride to Hogwarts, "Come on, we'd better take our seats."
The three turned to the small compartment, and one by one they went it. Hermione and Ron sat on the same side, and Harry across from them. The entire train ride to Hogwarts they spoke of their summer. Harry was with Ron the entire summer. He didn't want to go back home to his horrible Aunt and Uncle, so the Weasly's took him in without hesitation.
They all laughed at the experiences they had during the summer, and all was good until they neared the school. Their laughing died down, and everything got quiet. Harry looked out the train window and saw they were almost to Hogwarts. He pondered on a thought, then turned to the others and asked, "Do you think he'll come after me while I'm in school?"
Neither Ron nor Hermione needed to ask whom he was speaking of; they both knew. "It's hard to say," Hermione began, "He hasn't bothered you this summer, so maybe he's trying to regain all of his strength. He was nearly dead for, what, fifteen years or more? Don't worry about him though. If he does come after you, I know you'll be able to fight him off again like in the graveyard."
"Fight him off?" Harry repeated. "I didn't fight him off…I held him off long enough so I could make a run for it."
Harry removed his glasses and began to clean him on his shirt. He remembered the incident from last year like it happened three minutes ago. He could still vividly remember that terrifying flash of green light, and the way Cedric's cold corpse fell lifelessly to the ground. He could depict every detail of his body from this memory. Every smug of dirt on his face, every cut and bruise he could see on his body that wasn't covered, every small tear in his clothing, down to the placement of each hair follicle. The image was burned into his mind, and it would never go away so long as he blamed himself for Cedric's death.
Harry felt his weight being pushed forward, so he knew the train had arrived at Hogwarts. He took in a deep breath, then forced a smile for his friends and stood up. As they walked off the train and drew closer to the school, Harry seemed to forget his troubles just for the moment. He looked around to see all the new faces that would be attending Hogwarts for their first time and remembered his first year.
Soon Ron, Harry, and Hermione entered the main dinning room. Hermione smiled warmly and looked around the room. "It's good to be back here," she said softly.
They stood there admiring the room for a few moments, then took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. Their attention soon turned towards Professor Dumbledore as he approached his podium to make his usual speech, then to introduce the new students attending Hogwarts. One by one they were called up to the front, and they each had the sorting hat placed on their head. The members of the group that the individual was selected to would clap for the kid and beckon them to join them at the table. Ron, Harry, and Hermione would sometimes whisper to one another as a different child went up, sometimes making churlish remarks about them. They weren't trying to be spiteful, just trying to have fun.
The entire process took around forty minutes to complete, and afterwards Dumbledore stepped back up to his podium to make a few more announcements about the new year at Hogwarts. He began by explaining how every one has to be a bit more cautious this year now that the dark lord has come back. He was about to make a few more announcements, but he stopped mid sentence.
There was a loud banging sound, as the large entrance doors were swung open. The sound startled even the bravest of souls in the room. After the sound of the door hitting the walls as it was forced open, the room was filled with the sounds of gasps and small yelps. Every one whirled around in their seats and stared at the mysterious figure that was standing in the doorway. There was a long silence, but that was soon broken by the sounds of the figures footsteps as they glided across the room.
No one could tell who the mysterious person was. Who ever it was wore a long black hooded cloak that hid their face. As the person walked down the walkway to the front of the room, then cloak flowed behind them so that their arms were revealed. As she passed by, some students caught glimpse of The Dark Mark on her left forearm.
Harry in particular got extremely tense as the figure passed by him. The very sight of the mark made his blood run cold, and a pallid look to come over his face.
Hermione took notice to the nervous look Harry had, and reached over and placed her warm hand on Harry's shoulder. She quickly withdrew her hand when Harry unexpectedly jumped. She paused, and then asked, "Are you alright?" Hermione hadn't caught glimpse of the dark mark on the figures arm; only few did. Most were focused on trying to see through the shadow of the hood.
Harry couldn't reply to Hermione at the moment; he was to focused on watching the hooded figure exchange some words with Dumbledore. He tried to ease drop, but was unable to hear what was being said, though he couldn't help but notice the disgusted look on the faces of the teaching staff. Harry blinked and broke his concentration when he felt a firm tap on his shoulder. He turned to Hermione and managed to blurt out, "Oh, uhm, yeah I'm fine."
When Harry turned back, the strange person and Dumbledore had finished up there short conversation. The hooded figure stepped back and to the side, while Dumbledore turned back to the podium once more. He looked around the room at all the curious faces staring at him, eager to know what was going on, and who the mysterious person was. "Attention everyone," he began, even though he knew he had their attention the moment they saw the hooded figure enter the room, then continued, "This year we'll be getting yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Let me introduce…" then he stopped. When he turned to point out the new teacher, he saw that the mysterious person had vanished.
Dumbledore's gaze darted around the area, trying to locate where the new teacher had gone. Hagrid made a small gesture with his head towards the side door, where apparently the teacher disappeared through.
Dumbledore let out a small sigh, and then slowly turned back to the students with a slightly irritated expression. "Well, I guess you'll just have to meet your new teacher tomorrow," he said briefly, then added, "I look forward to another good year with you students here at Hogwarts."
With that all the students turned away from the front of the room, and began to eat and gossip about who the new teacher could possibly be. Those who saw the dark mark didn't mention it to the others, for they themselves weren't sure of what they saw. If they did see it, it was only for a brief moment, not long enough to be sure that it was a skull with a serpent emerging from its mouth.
When dinner was over and done with the students returned to their rooms, and the new students were shown to their quarters. Hermione said goodnight to Harry and Ron, and went her separate way to her room, while Harry and Ron walked to the room they shared together. It had been a tiring day, and they didn't plan on staying up very late just shooting the breeze, so they both started to get ready for bed almost immediately after walking through the door.
"Who do you suppose it is?" Ron asked Harry, pulling his baggy grey T-shirt over his head and slipping his arms through the sleeves. "I doubt we know the person, but it's fun to guess."
"I don't know, but this person's giving me a bad vibe…" Harry replied, his voice trailing off towards the end of his sentence as the image of the dark mark on the forearm of their new teacher flashed in his mind.
Ron pulled the red comforter on his bed back, and then crawled under the sheets. Once he was comfortable lying on his side with his knees pulled close to his chest and his head rested on the pillow he asked Harry, "What do you mean, 'a bad vibe'?"
Harry was standing by the single window in the room, shaking his head and drawing in a deep breath. "When he, or she, walked by me I saw something on their arm. It was his mark, Voldemorts mark," Harry said in a distant, almost frightened voice. Slowly he reached up and ran his fingers very lightly over the thunderbolt scar located on his forehead, thinking back to the event at the graveyard yet again.
Ron was startled by Harry's claim and stared at the ground shaking his head in disbelief. "No, they wouldn't let some one like that teach here. They might be a threat to the students, so I think you might have been imagining things," he rationalized.
After a moment of silence Harry turned from the window and walked to his bed and drew back the comforter and plopped down so he was lying on his stomach. He could have proved Ron wrong just then if he chose to reveal that he knew Snape used to be a death eater, but that wasn't his business to expose so he kept his mouth shut for the time being. For now he went along with Ron's theory only for that reason, and replied, "Maybe your right. I've still been out of it since, well you know."
Ron didn't need to verbally respond to that, but only nodded his head. Their conversation came to an end with a quiet exchange of 'good nights'. They both snuggled deep into their beds and bundled up under the covers, but only Ron was able to find sleep. Harry, on the other hand, couldn't seem to get to sleep no matter how long he lay there with his eyes closed. All he could think about was their new teacher, and the dark mark they bore. To a certain extent he was almost afraid to go to class the next day, though at the same time he was curious to find out whom the stranger was and what they looked like under the hood. All those thoughts and emotions ran though his head over and over again for almost two hours. Finally his thoughts were put to ease when he was finally able to drift into a deep slumber.