Harry Potter slowly took in the glow of the candles suspended from the ceiling of night sky in the Great Hall, the aroma of pumpkin pasties, and deafening chatter of hundreds of students greeting each other after a long summer. Despite the brief respite in Diagon Alley that he enjoyed from the Dursleys towards the end of the summer, Harry knew at this moment that he was home.
He looked up at the head table. Professor Dumbledore, dressed in eye-watering bright yellow robes, was happily chatting with a stern-faced Professor McGonagall who was currently casting a wary eye towards the front of the Gryffindor table where Fred and George Weasley were conspiratorially huddled with Lee Jordan. Professor Lupin sat with a weary smile in his shabby robes next to her, looking slightly wistful at the crowd of students. Harry paused as he looked next to Professor Lupin. A woman that he had never seen before sat beside him in deep conversation with Professor Snape who looked as if he had swallowed a lemon. Harry was puzzled by this. He had assumed that Professor Lupin was the new Defense Against Dark Arts professor. Were they hiring two new professors this year? This woman cut an impressive figure next to the disheveled professor from the train. In sharp contrast to his worn robes, her robes were almost a shiny black, her dark hair was pulled back in an elaborate braided up-do. Harry watched as she rolled her eyes at something Snape had murmured and despite his sour look, Harry had never seen Snape speak this earnestly to any other adult that he could remember. There was also something about the woman that seemed vaguely familiar to Harry though he could not place this feeling and quickly shrugged it off. At that moment, the woman turned to look at Harry and smiled warmly at him. Harry smiled shyly in surprise and looked away. The kind of smile directed at him was one that he often witnessed when Mrs. Weasley greeted Ron or when Hagrid smiled at one of his many creatures. It was familial and Harry couldn't quite help but feel nervous in its presence. He had never had that kind of smile directed at him. His aunt and uncle had always greeted him with at best cold stares and curt nods and more often with their faces contorted in anger.
He turned to pay attention to Ron and Hermione, the latter of whom was excitedly going through all of the different subjects that she would be taking as the former shoved what seemed to be an impossible amount of mashed potatoes into his mouth. Unable to successfully catch what they were saying, he furtively glanced up again at the head table. The woman appeared to be directing some questions at Snape and motioning in Harry's direction. Snape, if possible, looked even more discomfited by the start of term feast than Harry had ever seen him and he cast a disdainful glance in Harry's direction while appearing to list what Harry imagined was a never ending list of Harry's faults. Arrogant, spoiled, reckless, just like his father…Harry could imagine Snape's sharp tone even though he could not hear the specific of the conversation. The woman seemed to furrow her brow in slight confusion. Harry let out an inaudible sigh. One teacher hating him was enough and though he did not realize it consciously, Harry felt a deep pang of disappointment at possibility of never being on the receiving end of a warm smile again.
"And of course we'll have to take divination though I've been through the book at least once and I haven't been able to see the value in it…" Hermione chattered on oblivious to her friends' preoccupations: Harry with his observations of the staff and Ron with the platters of food in front of them. They barely paid any attention to the sorting ceremony that was taking place around them.
Harry was spared from Hermione's umpteenth question about whether he had read any of the course materials for the following year when Dumbledore stood up with his usual twinkling eyes. Dumbledore tapped his goblet, the faint ring causing a hush amongst the excited crowd of students. He held his wand to his throat and declared in the most mild mannered tone, "Welcome back students to another year of Hogwarts and welcome first years to the start of your magical education! No doubt, you are all ready to be in your beds after such a wonderful and lavish feast but as always, there are few matters of importance to discuss. First and foremost, we would like to welcome our newest addition to our esteemed staff. This year, Professor Remus Lupin has graciously agreed to fill the vacancy of our Defense Against Dark Arts post."
A tepid applause filled the hall and Harry overheard snickers from the Slytherin table and Draco Malfoy's murmured comments about the state of Professor Lupin's robes. Hermione and Ron seemed to notice the head table for the first time in the evening. Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered "Who do you reckon that is next to Professor Lupin if he's the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher?" Harry shrugged. It seemed that many of the students had noticed the other addition to the table and were furiously whispering about who she could be if the only vacant position had been filled. Harry noticed that Professor Snape, who had long been known to covet the position, looked at Lupin with look of fury and loathing that even Harry had never received at his worst moments.
"Ahem" coughed Dumbledore mildly as his twinkling eyes took in the students in the hall. Another silence fell across the room. "Now on to more serious matters. As some of you are undoubtedly aware, there is the issues of Sirius Black." He seemed to gaze straight at Harry during this portion of his talk. "We at Hogwarts take your security extremely seriously and additional precautions have been added to ensure our students' safety. Due to this, the ministry has seen fit to install a special agent at Hogwarts this year. As a result, you will see Lady DuLac around the castle this year. She will be the head of the security here at Hogwarts. Students are advised to follow her instructions." Harry noticed that some of the Slytherin students seemed to furiously whisper at the mention of her title and even Ron looked awe-struck. The Lady merely nodded her head in acknowledgement and gazed around the room. Harry elbowed Ron and asked "err..am I missing something?"
Ron nodded, "I've heard about her from my dad before. She doesn't work for the Ministry but is a liason…something to do with the muggles…but I reckoned she was some kind of unspeakable. Anyways, I've heard that even the minister has to defer to her decisions."
Harry did not know what an unspeakable was but figured that if the Slytherins looked impressed and if this woman had some kind of rapport with Snape, then she must be a witch from some kind of ancient pure-blood line with a lot of power in the ministry. Harry never liked anyone that the Slytherins respected and quickly decided that despite her initial appearance of warmth towards him, that she must be as haughty and unpleasant as the rest of the house. In fact, he observed her expression and found it to be quite cold and arrogant. He noticed that she barely acknowledged attempts on the part of Lupin to engage her in discussion. Harry determined that she would not be worth his notice.
