Night Silverose
nightgate6@yahoo.com1/1/2001
http://www.geocities.com/nightgate6
Rating: PG
Distribution: Anywhere as long as you let me know the addy.
Feedback: It's a fanfic writers paycheck.
Disclaimer: If I was J.K, don't you think that I would make Hermione love Draco back? (lol) ps: stole title from 'Tale of Two Cities'
Summary: It's the start of another school year and things aren't turning out that great for anyone.
Unwilling To Surrender Chapter 1
It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times
Harry Potter blew out the candles on his birthday cake, marking his best birthday ever. How did it earn this title you ask? For one, it was Harry's fifteenth birthday (hence the birthday part), second, all of his friends were celebrating it with him.
"Mrs. Weasley, you did a wonderful job on the cake." Hermione admired.
"Thank you dear. Anything for Harry!" The older woman laughed.
"Oh, anything for Harry." Ron muttered softly. His brothers, Fred and George, hit him on the back.
"Come on Ron. Remember his last birthday? He had to be on a rabbit food diet. We have to do something to compensate for that."
"You're right. I know." He really did. He does get jealous of all the attention Harry gets, but he'd rather be poor and bored than go through what Harry has been through these couple of years. Nobody said anything, but Ron knew Harry was still shaken by the death of Cedric Diggory merely a few months ago.
"Don' keep us waiting, 'arry!" Hagrid said excitedly. "Open yer presents!" Although only Harry, Ron and Hermione noticed, the big black dog next to Hagrid nodded in agreement.
Because of his love of creatures great and small, Hagrid had really liked the big animal, although things might not have been the same if he knew the dog was really Sirius Black, the man he though had betrayed James and Lily Potter.
Although Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia strongly disliked the Weasleys, they were all too glad when Harry asked to stay with them for the summer. The only condition was that neither Harry nor 'his kind' were to contact them at all. That worked perfectly for Harry. He happily stayed at the Burrow.
The presents were stacked on the table and Harry almost cried at their thoughtfulness. He carefully opened them and noticed who gave what.
Hagrid had thoughtfully given him an assortment of chocolates and sweets, Ginny had given him a book and when he got to Ron and Hermione's gift, he was quite puzzled.
"Not that I don't appreciate it guys, but I really don't need a new pair of glasses..." He pickd up the delicate black frames.
"They're NebulSpecs. Ron and I combined our money and got them for you. It's for seeing through deceptions. We thought you might like them." Hermione leaned in closer and whispered so only Harry could hear. "You should be careful where you put them though. I think they can see through your invisibility cloak."
"Wow. Thank you! This must have cost a lot." Harry looked at his best friends.
"Thank Ron. He thought of it." Hermione smiled.
"Enought about you guys. Harry open our present!" Fred shoved his present in Harry's hands.
Harry took another moment to think about how good everything was now and wished it would always stay like this. Unfortunately for Harry, that rarely happens.
*****
Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George all hugged Molly Weasley before they boarded the Hogwarts Express.
"Remember, stay out of trouble boys!" She waved to them as they all stepped onto platform 9 ¾. Fred and George both shared a look. They had put the thousand galleons Harry gave them to good use.
They got on and immediately greeted the friends they hadn't seen for so long.
"Hey, Neville!" Ron and Harry joined him.
"Hi guys! How was your summer?"
"Oh, it was great, but I can't wait to get back to school." Ron answered.
"Yeah. Me neither, although I wish I didn't have some classes, like Potions." he sighed and the others nodded agreement. "By the way, have either of you heard anything about the new Defense teacher?"
"Actually, not at all." Harry was surprised he hadn't heard any rumors from the other students yet.
"Maybe because of so many incidents and the ratio of them wanting to kill you, Harry, Dumbledore dropped the course." Ron jokingly theorized.
"You can't drop it, Ron." Hermione startled them. "It's required."
"Hey Hermione." Ron had such a ridiculous grin on his face and tried to cover it up so fast that Harry just had to roll his eyes.
They all sat down comfortably as the train slowly left the station. All was well until they heard a comotion coming from somewhere infront of them.
"Give it back now!" Harry could hear an unfamiliar voice cry out. Up ahead, he could see Goyle and Crabbe laughing and a girl that Harry could tell was forcing herself not to punch them both in the face.
"What's going on here?" Ron walked up to them and asked.
"Those two goons just stole my sketchbook." her eyes shot them dagger looks.
Harry pulled out his wand. "I'm warning you, if you don't want a repeat of what happened last time..."
Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other and unhappily threw the book at them and left in a huff. The thin, raven haired girl picked it back up and turned to them.
"Thank you..." she seemed to be in a trance when she looked into Harry's green eyes, but quickly recovered. "Um, I'm Mabel. Mabel Nightgate. I'm new to Hogwarts."
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville each took turns introducing themselves.
"So, you're a first year? You'll love Hogwarts. Introduction to the magical world is amazing. You'll also make great friends, well, as long as you're not in Slytherin." Ron scrunched up his face at the thought.
"Actually," Mabel answered, "I'm in fifth year."
"Oh, are you a transfer student?" Hermione asked.
"Well, no, I've never actually gone to a Wizardry school before." She explained uncomfortably. "I've practiced at home though." She successfully changed the subject. "You know, from what I've read, I want to be in Slytherin."
"What?" Neville replied. "They breed evil wizards and witches! And they're all so...mean."
"That's why. I say break the stereotype. I want to find out what make Slytherins doomed to that title."
Hermione lifted a skeptical eyebrow, but Harry understood what she was saying. After all, he was almost put in Slytherin his first year and it would have been horrible if people pinned him as bad because of it.
"Well, I should go. I'll see you guys around I guess." She walked away without waiting for a reply.
"Rude much?" Hermione turned away and began to walk back to her own seat and they all waited anxiously for the arrival to school.
*****
"I wonder who the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher is this year?" Harry was quite nervous for no DADA teacher had every stayed for more than a year since he's been here and two of the four had, like Ron said, indeed tried to kill him.
"Well, we know it's not Snape, thankfully." Ron watched the loathing expression of the professor's face. "If he had gotten the job, you'd think he's be happier. I mean, he's been pinning for that position forever."
Professor Dumbledore gave them the signal to quiet down and everyone prepared for the traditional welcoming. Unfortunately, although they didn't know it yet, it wasn't destined to come this year.
"Students and staff, I want to welcome you all back for another year at Hogwarts. For all you new comers, you will soon become accustomed to our castle, rules and ways, and if not, you will be providing great entertainment for us old folks who had the same problem when we first arrived here." A few people smiled knowingly, thinking back to a time where they got lost and ended up where they were not suppose to be.
"I would also like to welcome a new member to our staff, but unfortunately he is indisposed and the moment and will arrive later tomorrow."
"He must be talking about the new Dark Arts teacher." Hermione whispered to Ron and Harry.
"Now, normally, this is the time where all the new students are sorted into one of the four houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Sadly, due to circumstances above my control, there will be a slight change of plans." Almost all the brows of the students furrowed because of their confusion. Harry, Ron and Hermione shared a look, hoping that one of them knew what was going on.
"I have done almost everything in my power to prevent this, but there are a few factors that have pushed me and the rest of the staff to a decision. One being an overflow in one of the houses. It seems that the old sorting hat is isn't doing his job quite right and not putting some people where they truly belong." Harry could almost see the sorting hat, which all students had put on at one time or another, shake with fury at Dumbledore's comment. If you only had one job all year, it must have been very insulting to be told you didn't do it right. "That in itself isn't much of a problem though, but another factor is the wing of the same house has been infected with Procinctu Beetles."
"They're rare, fast reproducing bugs that generate hallucinations to people, making them hard to extinguish." Hermione quietly answered Ron and Harry's question before they even turned to ask.
"Because of some ministry rule, we cannot just zap them off and must slowly use the traditional methods of exterminating them." Dumbledore continued. "This is why, to much dismay, one of our houses must dispense and join the remaining three." Quickly, shouts of protest came from all directions of the room.
"Now, now, don't worry. Hopefully these problems will be sorted out in a few months and the old tradition of the four houses will once again give us pride," Professor McGonagall helped hush the unsettled crowd as Dumbledore carried on. "But for now, I must give my sincerest apologies to Gryffindor."
*****
Give you one guess which house Harry will be put in...*g*
This is just sorta the intro. I swear it gets more interesting. Next Chapter- our friends get re-sorted and we get to meet the new DADA teacher. Don't worry. You'll like him.