Prologue.
This is my first fic' in 3rd person so please keep that in mind
Sirius was dead; he was not coming back.
Harry had mulled over this thought this one thought for the whole three months of the summer holidays. He tried to perk up towards the end, but when he did he would start dreaming about Cedric's death instead. When he finally met up with Ron and Hermione at the Burrow he found he cheered up a lot during the day, but at night the nightmares still returned.
Finally going back to Hogwarts; he would be back home in Gryffindor tower with his friends and away from the torments the Dursleys' brought.
He looked at the countryside rolling past as the Hogwarts Express sped through the British countryside. Earlier he and Hermione had had an argument about the fact that he thought Malfoy had become a Death Eater after his dad went to prison. They had both gone on their prefect rounds so he had the time to relax.
About an hour later Harry was roused from his sleep by a knock on the compartment door. The door slid open to reveal Katie Bell. The tall dark haired chaser stood in the doorway looking at him, "Alright Harry, mind if I come in?" she asked. Harry shook his head and sat up. She came in and sat down opposite him, looking nervous. "So, Harry I wanted to get to you before McGonagall did. I turned down the captain's job and told her to give it to you." She said staring right at him trying to gauge his reaction.
"WH…Why?" Asked Harry, Katie had wanted the captaincy almost as much as Angelina and now she was giving it up?
"Because I have my NEWTS this year and to be honest I don't think I have the time to run the Quidditch team, I even considered quitting …but if you wanted me as your second in command, I wouldn't say no…"
"Sure…" he said immediately "…but I'll hold you to that offer of co-captain." He smirked. Harry had always liked Katie, she had been one of the nicer Gryffindors, but as he had gotten older he had started to notice her in a different way and he be kidding himself if he didn't admit that he'd spent more than one occasion in the boys bathroom thinking about her. He'd even considered asking her to the Yule Ball, but by the time he got round to actually asking anyone she already had a date.
"Okay; I look forward to it." She said before getting up and leaving to go and find her friends. A few seconds later the door opened again. Hermione and Ron sat down again without a word, Hermione pulled out a book and stuck her nose in it as usual and Ron, well Ron just sat there staring into space. Harry was worried for him he hadn't really been the same after he was attacked by the Brains in the Department of Mysteries.
About an hour later the train pulled into Hogsmead station and the trio headed up the slope towards the castle. They climbed into one of the carriages and were soon joined by Neville, Ginny and Luna. Nobody spoke on the short ride up to the castle. They were all thinking about what had happened at the Ministry.
Once everyone was sitting down at their respective house tables Dumbledore stood up at his lectern. "Welcome back to all. I know that you are eager to have your dinner so I will be as brief as I can. Firstly I would like to introduce Professor Horace Slughorn who is resuming his post here as our new Potions Master, meanwhile Defence against the Dark Arts will be taught by our very own Professor Snape." The Slytherin table erupted in cheers, while the other houses showed their displeasure in a series of en masse groans. "In other news after dinner is over we shall name our new prefects and Quidditch captains and present them with their badges. Also the Hogwarts duelling club will be restarted this year under the guidance of Professors Flitwick and Snape and its student advisors and Duelling team captain shall be picked at a later date with preference being given to those who were members of the so called D.A. last year." He paused for a moment to let the last few words sink in. "now… Dig in!" he said and the food all magically appeared on the house tables.
As per usual Ron Dove right in and before Harry or Hermione had even gotten their hands near the food Ron's plate was piled high with chicken and had a little circle of chips round the outside. "So what do you guys think about the duelling club?" asked Hermione
Ron simply shrugged and continued to eat his dinner. "I don't know…" said Harry "…I'll join it but I think I'm going to restart the DA anyway, even if it turns into nothing more than a glorified slightly illegal study group. But we'll have to make sure that everyone held onto their coins from last year." He finished before turning to his own dinner. Hermione frowned but her hunger too got the better of her.
-HP\KB-
After Dumbledore stood up again and waited at the podium for Professor McGonagall to come forward carrying a large box. "Now we will present the prefect badges and badges for Quidditch captains and such. Firstly the two students replacing the Head Boy and Head Girl as 7th year prefects are Cormac McLaggan and Katie Bell from Gryffindor…" The Gryffindor table burst into applause and wolf whistles. Katie and Cormac went up to receive their badges and stood next to the podium. When they had settled down again Dumbledore started again. "After both sixth year prefects from Slytherin had to be removed it loses one of its prefects. The new Slytherin prefect is Daphne Greengrass. The second slot was given to Gryffindor and all the staff… bar one voted that it should be given to Harry Potter." Harry smirked when he heard Draco had lost his prefects badge, but that soon disappeared when he was called up with Daphne. Dumbledore went on and named all the new 5th year prefects by house and called all prefects and Quidditch captains to the front of the hall. "Now we have to name the new Quidditch captains. Hufflepuff retains Mr Appleby as their captain for this year, Professor Flitwick has chosen Ms Cho Chang as Ravenclaw captain and Professor Snape has chosen Draco Malfoy as Slytherin captain, Now Professor McGonagall informed me earlier today that her first choice of captain declined citing that they did not have the time due to academic reasons, something which I applaud them for! Too often do we forget that we are here to learn, not to see who can play the best Quidditch or get the most house points. So without further adieu the Gryffindor captain for this year is Harry Potter." The end of Dumbledore's sentence was drowned out by the cheering form the Gryffindors the collective groans from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and the cries of indignation from Slytherin.
Harry blushed as Dumbledore pinned the captain's badge onto his chest underneath the new Prefect's badge. Part of him knew that the prefect's job was Dumbledore feeling guilty over Sirius and not giving Harry the job in the first place because he thought Harry had 'too much on his plate already'. arHaHHHHHH Harry didn't really care tomorrow was Saturday so he didn't have any classes and he was looking forward to one of Fred and George's legendary back to school parties for the older Gryffindors.
When he got back down to the Gryffindor table Rona and Hermione were already starting to lead the first years back to the common room. "Oi, Gryffindor Midgets! This way" Ron shouted over the general din in the hall.
"Ron! They're first years you can't call them midgets." admonished Hermione, as they led the ten or so first years towards the seventh floor. She then began to recite nearly the exact same speech the three of them had heard from Percy 'I've got my wand stuck up my own bum' Weasley five years earlier.
When they finally got to the top of the stairs Harry said the password "Tapeworm" and let all the first years in. "Dormitories are upstairs boys in the left girls on the right." He said in a commanding voice. "Now off to bed with you… Oh and the other prefects and I will be bring you up and down to the Great hall tomorrow and to your classes for the first week so that you can find your way around." There were some groans coming from the young Gryffindors but they slowly filled up the stairs
Over the next ten minutes students from the first four years filled up the stairs to the dormitories and the fifth years and above stayed in the common room. There hadn't been any parties last year because of Umbridge's reign of terror and Molly had discovered Fred and George's stash of Butterbeer and Firewhiskey before they left the year before so there was no back to school party. After everyone was back in the common room it was after eleven. Ron and several others had gotten owls while they were on the train saying the party was still going ahead.
`Suddenly the fireplace flashed green and out stepped the Dynamic Duo of Hogwarts. "Well Fred these poor young souls look like they need some cheering up." said Fred setting down two crates of Firewhiskey.
"I do believe you're right George… One year without one of our parties and look how depressed they get." Replied Fred as he relit the fire.
"So…" they began together. "We declare this year's annual Gryffindor welcome back party officially open!"
A/n: Please review and tell mw what you thought. Chapters 1 through eight are already written and should be posted once a week until I get some more writers block.
Until Next time.
- Slygrifflepuffclaw