The night before Hogwarts started was Chaos itself at 12 Grimmauld Place. With so many disorganized students (and Hermione) packing to leave early tomorrow, the whole house was thrown into a tumult with everyone trying to relocate their necessities after a summer of disarray.

Ultimately, Mrs. Weasley had to force everyone to the dinner table for Ron and Hermione's celebratory feast. It wasn't everyday that one was named Prefect, after all!

Sirius and Remus were talking about the pranks that had resulted in James not making Prefect in their fifth year, and their reminiscing had everyone around them in hysterical fits, and Harry feeling a lot better than he was a little earlier.

"So in fourth year, James and Sirius decided it would be a good idea to try and convince Minerva that she had been sleep-walking in her cat form by leaving a trail of fish bones from the Kitchen to her Quarters every night."

Before Remus could finish, they heard the front door opening and two voices talking.

"The next time you are in London, you really must take some time to explore- it truly is a wonderful City. I know it quite well, thanks to a scar on my upper knee that is very conveniently shaped like the Muggle Underground system map."

"Absolutely, Professor! I've been dreaming of visiting London since I was very young, I hope you wouldn't find it too presumptuous if I asked you for advice on where to go?"

"Not at all, my boy!"

Everybody at the dinner table looked up to see two of the unlikeliest travel companions stride into the parlour connected to the dining room. Albus Dumbledore, dressed in his usual resplendent robes, was making small talk with a boy dressed in simple Muggle clothes.

This was the first time Harry had seen Dumbledore since his trial, and he couldn't help but resent the boy accompanying Dumbledore and the easy camaraderie that they shared. Dumbledore seemed to have a problem even looking at him, recently.

The boy smiled at the table, and took a quick look around the room. His eyes first stopped near the centre of the table, "Congratulations, Ron, Hermione" with a large smile and a nod to each.

Ron looked a little confused, but Hermione smiled back and muttered a quick thanks.

"Have we met before?", Ron asked.

"No, sorry- I read the banner and thought it would be impolite to interrupt your party without at least a greeting." the boy smiled.

"But how did you know who we were?"

"Oh! I hope I haven't incorrectly identified you? The two of you were sitting at the centre, and the cake is between you so I assumed. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

Hermione smiled broadly at the stranger, "No, you were right! I'm Hermione and this is Ron."

Mr. Weasley and Sirius stood up and looked enquiringly at Dumbledore while Mrs. Weasley waved her wand to summon two chairs, two plates and two sets of cutlery to the table. "Headmaster, won't you and your guest join us for dinner?"

"Thank you Molly, that would be lovely. I do have an introduction and an announcement to make once we are done with dinner, and I would loathe missing an opportunity to miss your wonderful cooking."

"Thank you, Ma'am! The dinner smells wonderful." The boy smiled at first at the matronly woman who seemed to be the hostess of the event, and then the rest of the table, "Good evening! Sorry to interrupt your celebration."

A number of hearty denials propagated through the table, as the boy sat down and said "Looking forward to properly being introduced to you after we have enjoyed this incredible feast!" This statement solicited a broad smile from Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione couldn't help but study the boy as he ate. There was something very curious about him, he was obviously very hungry- but he didn't eat with any haste (unlike that vacuum cleaner, Ron), maintaining a cool grace as he worked through his now-filled (thanks to Mrs. Weasley) plate. What was most interesting to Hermione though; his use of cutlery was thoroughly unorthodox. His clothes, his posture, his veneer- it all spoke of Upper Class etiquette lessons similar to ones that she had attended as a child. He was using his Soup spoon and his Dinner fork to work through the pile on his plate. Using the right cutlery was a very strongly reinforced part of her etiquette class, and something she couldn't help but remember and follow to this day. It wasn't a very big deal, she knew, but it seemed a very curious dichotomy to her.

On the other side of the table, Sirius was very intrigued too. The dark-skinned boy was dressed in a black dress shirt, grey trousers and a very elegant overcoat. His clothing was not overly attention-grabbing, but it was quite obviously tailor made for him. It wasn't the Muggle clothes that caught his attention, however. On the index finger of his left hand, he was wearing one of the Family Rings of the Order of the Lotus! The Order of the Lotus was an Ancient Intercontinental Alliance of some of the oldest and most powerful magical families in the world across all the inhabited continents. The terms of the Alliance state that all families that are part of the Order are honour bound provide sanctuary and shelter to any member of any other family in the Order, if they should so require. It was created about six centuries ago to facilitate traveling and the pursuit of new knowledge across the magical elite in various societies and locales. The Order was vastly selective, and had not allowed any new families to join since its initial set up. Sirius knew that the Blacks were the only family in Britain that was part of the Order, but for this boy to be part of a family affiliated with the Order too was a very big deal. He might not have believed in the greatness of Ancient Families, but some people certainly did.

Everyone rushed through dinner (with compliments for Molly from Dumbledore and the boy for each dish they tasted) and the cake to get to the introductions quickly.

Post-dinner, as every one stood to head into the parlour- the boy said to Ron, who looked a little disgruntled at not being the centre of attention any longer, "Sorry to have interrupted your party."

Ron brightened up a little, "Don't worry about it, mate. Not to be rude, though- who are you?"

"Hafiz Kashem, nice to officially meet you." He offered his hand to Ron, who hesitated a split-second before taking it.

They were interrupted by a serene but powerful voice cutting over everyone else's, "I would like to introduce you all to a son of one of my dearest friends, Abdul Kashem, the Minister of Magic of the United Indian Subcontinent Ministry of Magic, Hafiz. He will be transferring to Hogwarts from the Jewel Aich school of Magic in Dhaka this year."

"I didn't know Hogwarts had a transfer program, Professor?" Hermione asked.

"We do indeed, Miss Granger. The concept was introduced to Hogwarts when I became Headmaster in 1947, and we used to get a lot of transfer students from the smaller Eastern European Magic schools. Do you remember Igor Karkaroff from Durmstrang?"

Hermione nodded quickly.

"He transferred from a Ukrainian magic school to finish his last four years of schooling at Hogwarts. However, the transfer program did lose its popularity concurrently with Voldemort's first rise to Power." He then looked around at the audience and said, " Mr. Kashem was sorted earlier this evening by the Sorting Hat into Ravenclaw and he will be sitting the OWL's with this year's fifth year." Looking at Hafiz and then at the students around him, "Messrs Potter, Weasley and Miss Granger will be your classmates this year." Harry noted that this seemed to be the first time the Headmaster had actually looked in his direction since the Triwizard Tournament finished. The Headmaster then proceeded to introduce the others present to Hafiz. As the introductions finished, he announced to the room, "If the members of the Order of the Phoenix would just stay back for a moment, there is some further information to share with you."

The Hogwarts students (except Hafiz) correctly identified that as a dismissal and rose up to leave. "Professor, as everyone here will be my Schoolmates from tomorrow- shouldn't they know the full reason I am here?" Hafiz suddenly said. "I don't think there is anything really sensitive about that information, is there Sir?" Harry felt a lot of the resentment he felt for the new arrival disappear with that statement. Finally, after a summer of keeping things from him, someone had finally stood up to Dumbledore on his behalf.

Dumbledore seemed to mull this over for a few moments before he finally stated, "You have a point, Mr. Kashem. Would you mind if I did the explanations, or would you like to do it?"

"Of course not, Professor!"

"Very well, then. About forty years ago, I received the first application to enter Hogwarts from Bengal. We had taken foreign students in before, of course, but we had never had a coloured student studying at Hogwarts- I was absolutely thrilled, but the Ministry was far more uncomfortable about the situation. They were adamant that a coloured student didn't fit with Hogwarts Identity as a British or even European Institution for Magical learning. They refused to allow this young Bengali student in to the country."

"I was absolutely appalled by this- to refuse a candidate because of the colour of their skin, the very idea is repulsive, is it not? I found this attitude so abhorrent, I said that I would step down as Headmaster of Hogwarts and as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and leave Magical Britain in search of a more tolerant society. You must understand that the war, and the principles of discrimination that drove it weighed very heavily on me- I had had enough."

"Fortunately enough for me, the fall of Grindelwald was still quite fresh in the minds of the British magical population- if I were to leave my positions in Magical Britain as a result of disagreements with the Ministry, it would have reflected very badly on the Minister and his team. They backed down, and Hogwarts had it's first coloured student in 1954. It is not quite my achievement, but it is still an achievement I take a lot of pride in for what little role I had in it."

"However, I digress. The student, Abdul Kashem, started at Hogwarts that year and consistently placed at the Top of his Year for all Seven Years that he was there. He and I had formed a close mentor-mentee relationship during his time at Hogwarts, and he asked for my recommendation to St. Mungo's when he went to start his healer traineeship. He stayed in London for a few years to finish his traineeship, and then moved back to his home country to become one of the world's most renowned Healers. I was incredibly proud of this young man who had shared his dream of a more open magical society with me over numerous lemon drops in my office. "

"I had been in constant correspondence with him, but we were both too busy to really make time to visit one another. We would not see each other again until 1968. The circumstances that we met under were not pleasant, though."

"It was the years before Voldemort first came into the open, nothing was visibly wrong- but a feeling of unease and dread had come over the Magical population. There were many unexplained disappearances, and a lot of odd behavior through the country. I had just turned down the man that was to become Lord Voldemort a job teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts."

At this, most of the room that had been deathly quiet, rapt in attention erupted in exclamations of shock. "Voldemort applied to teach?!" Harry asked.

"Indeed he did. He was extremely displeased to have been rejected, but I did not find out exactly how displeased he was until a few months later. One day, out of the blue I started feeling unwell. Not very unwell, but noticeably so- convinced that it would pass, I ignored it. A few days later, as it consistently got worse- my curiosity was piqued. I had not really ever been sick before. I asked our then new Matron of the Hospital Ward, Madame Pomfrey to test me for any abnormalities. She took a sample of my blood and noticed that it seemed to be very gradually but completely unnaturally getting thicker and more viscous in the time that she examined it. It did not seem like the effects of any illness or poison that she had known, so she treated a small sample of blood with blood thinners before she tried to administer them on me- and it was very fortunate that she did. The blood thinning potions resulted in a drastic speeding up of the thickening process until the blood turned solid. While, medically, I was no better off- mentally, this confirmed to me that I had been poisoned somehow. This greatly interested me because I did usually cast diagnostic charms on my food, just to make sure nobody tricks me into eating anything vomit flavoured again, you understand. My diagnostic charms did usually check for different kinds of poison and poisonous ingredients as a useful side-effect. For it to not have showed up on my checks suggested a deal of ingenuity in creating a brand new poison with completely innocuous ingredients that I had only witnessed in one person. While I was never able to prove it substantially, I remain confident that Lord Voldemort was responsible for that poisoning effort."

Again Dumbledore took a small break to let the excitement his story had created in the room settle.

"I did, however, find out how he managed to get the poison to me. Only the house elves at Hogwarts are allowed to handle the food that leaves our kitchens- and their checks are even more stringent than mine. It was clear that the Hogwarts elves had been compromised, and I am ashamed to admit that before that incident- I had never really paid attention to the cooking and cleaning at Hogwarts. I was just satisfied that it was always done to a high standard. Once we were able to identify the source breach, we were able to find the elf responsible quite easily. This elf had been freed from her family, obliviated and then put under the Imperius curse. It was then forced to mix the untraceable poison into my food. You see, an elf bonded to a family cannot be put under the Imperius curse. That is part of their inherent magic. I assume Voldemort had made a family loyal to him free their elf to claim plausible deniability. It was brilliantly simple, and showed how well Voldemort knew about how Hogwarts worked. Any elf could come to work at Hogwarts once it passed a preliminary screening from the castle caretaker, and the security measures were woefully inadequate. I hardly think anyone thought an attack was going to come from house elves, so every elf that applied was usually accepted. Since then, though- I individually meet every elf looking to work at or bind itself to Hogwarts."

"Pardon me, I have been rambling again! Perhaps my age is catching up with me? So back to the story, I was attacked with a new poison- and my friends in the potioneering circles and I were all agreed on one thing, this new poison did not seem to have any identifiable ingredients- so it was far too dangerous to try to find an antidote without potentially aggravating the situation. My condition got steadily worse and soon I was convinced that the poison was going to claim my life. I had sent letters out to my considerable network to ask them about the unknown poison without mentioning any specifics. One of the people I had written to was Hafiz's father. Abdul, one of the most renowned Healers in the world at that time, had deduced from my letter that the poison had afflicted someone close to me. He had dropped everything and got himself to Hogwarts as soon as possible to make himself available to me. Once he got here, I decided that I could trust him with my condition- and was soon caught in a very charged debate about the actions of the poison. He deduced that as the poison acted purely on blood and simply using replenishment potions would just allow the poison more room to grow. In the end, he had deduced that the only way to save my life would be to drain all the blood from my body first, and then immediately put in a mixture of blood from donors and replenishment potions to replace the poisoned blood. He told me that there were maybe two other Healers in the world that could get the stasis spell to keep me and my organs absolutely inactive during the procedure just right. Even with the stasis spell, he said, the procedure would have to be completed incredibly quickly to make sure my organs didn't shut down. He then offered himself for this procedure, if I trusted him enough. Now, I did trust him- do not get me wrong- but I was certain that the process was impossible. I did not want my friend, a boy I had come to think of as a surrogate son, want to think himself responsible for my death and was initially hesitant to let him operate on me. Eventually, I saw that he would not forgive himself if he did not at least try to save me so I gave him permission to operate on me with the condition that he would under no circumstances, blame himself for my death. I went into the operation with all my affairs settled; fully expecting to never see the light of day again."

"When I awoke after the operation, I saw Abdul waiting for me by my bed with tears in his eyes. He had saved my life, and I would forevermore be in his debt. He would hear nothing of it, and merely said that it was his duty to someone who he had come to regard as a second father."

"Three years later, he ran for Minister of the United Indian Subcontinent Ministry of Magic and won by a landslide. He has now been Minister for 24 years, and under his management- the United Indian Subcontinent Ministry has become the best run, wealthiest and most powerful Ministry in the World. The only stain in his reputation comes from the fact that their team has never qualified for the Quidditch World Cup." Dumbledore shot an amused glance at Hafiz with that last statement.

"After Voldemort returned last summer, I sent him a letter immediately. He pledged his full support but said that he could not officially act until the British Ministry asked for assistance-but as they refused to acknowledge that Voldemort was back- they would hardly be asking for help. He did suggest a compromise, though. He could not act in an official capacity, but he could act in a personal one. By sending one of his sons to Hogwarts, fully in line with his son's wishes-just in case you were wondering-he would have a valid reason for interacting with the British Ministry and to reinforce the local embassy with some of his best Aurors. With these considerations, it was decided that Hafiz would complete his fifth year at Hogwarts- with an Auror force stationed at Hogsmeade at 'his' beck-and-call for his protection. Hafiz and his Auror force, thanks to the political clout of his father, are here with full sanctioning from the British Ministry."

This was the longest that Harry had ever heard Dumbledore speak and he had to admit that the Headmaster was a gifted storyteller. During his whole story, Harry had been on the edge of his seat. Dumbledore must have been one hell of a teacher! He was brought out of his reverie by a question from Hermione. "What happened to the Imperiused elf, Professor?"

Everybody shared vaguely guilty glances at having forgotten the plight of the poor elf. "The elf, who asked to be called Biddy-although we have no way of knowing if that was her actual given name- had been sent to St. Mungo's to help clear her of the Imperius. Once she was cleared off the curse, she was inconsolable. Her healers said that she had sunk to self-destructive tendencies and requested me to come and speak to her. Understanding, rationally, that it was my fault that the poor elf had been in this condition, I agreed. Once I arrived and saw her, she broke down into loud tears apologizing for what she had done. She said she had no right to continue to sully the good names of house elves everywhere and she asked me for the boon of ending her life in retribution for the attempt on mine."

"She had no family and no purpose, and her life seemed to be heading towards a very destructive end. She then forced me into making one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made, but also one I have never regretted since that day."

At Hermione's shocked expression, Dumbledore continued "No Miss Granger, I did not carry out Biddy's request. I asked if it would be suitable for her to bond to me and my family in retribution for what she perceived as her crime. She was ecstatic, but I will be honest- I believe in Second Chances, but actually granting one is far more difficult than it appears to be. I knew she was not to blame for my woes, but it was very difficult to let go of the lingering resentment to invite her to bond with me. I knew it was the right thing to do, so I buried my feelings and made the offer. Biddy was the most loyal elf that I could ask for, and not having been used to being the exclusive pampering of a house elf- it was a wonderful experience. She made sure that she tasted every meal that I had consumed from that day on to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. It was one of the best decisions I had made."

Hermione's expression changed from shocked to one of disapproval, Harry noticed- but she didn't say anything else.

"I don't think I have to tell anyone that this information, while not classified or even very sensitive, should not be shared freely. We are all doing all we can to stop Voldemort, and we must not reveal our cards too early. I hope you will not mind one extra tenant this evening and one extra passenger going with you to King's Cross, Sirius and Arthur? "

"Not at all." both men supplied.

"If that is all, I will take your leave tonight. Children, I will see you tomorrow at the feast. Hafiz, make sure you get a good night's sleep- you've had a very long day." Dumbledore then addressed the rest of the room," I will see you this Thursday, at the usual time. Good night, everyone." With that he nodded and strode out of the parlour and the house.

Molly allowed no further interrogation of Hafiz and showed him to a medium sized room that had very recently been made habitable for him to spend the night. He fell asleep almost immediately.

In the mean time, the other Hogwarts students converged in Harry and Ron's room to discuss the events of the evening.

"I don't know, he seems like a bit of a ponce- doesn't he? Always smiling at everyone and everything. " Ron started, "And he's a Minister's son- I'll bet you anything that he turns out a spoilt brat like Malfoy."

"I don't know, Ron. He seemed very polite." Hermione said."And charming." She didn't say.

"Didn't you notice how he interrupted and overruled Professor Dumbledore?"

"That's not what happened, Ron, and you know it." Ginny said, "You seemed very cold to him this evening, why?"

"I'm not really sure, there's something about him that keeps reminding me of Malfoy!"

"Maybe it's the fact that he's so handsome?" Ginny asked innocently.

"GINNY!" Fred, George and Ron all exclaimed together, while Harry and Hermione were torn between amusement at the reaction of Ginny's brothers and disgust at considering Malfoy handsome. Their discussions about how attractive Malfoy was went on for a few more minutes and left every one so tired they decided to turn in for the night.