Chapter 2
A Direct Appointment
Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.
On the following day, James and Lily gave Harry and Hermione a portkey, and it teleported both of them close to Saint Acute Academy of Magical Arts.
Harry glanced around, and saw a building not too far away from him, there was an office, and some other buildings. There were also a multitude of new students, some of them were accompanied by their parents.
"Next please," Harry heard someone speaking, and another student entered.
Half an hour later, the students in front of them were cleared, and then they moved forward.
Another moment passed, and then Harry heard another voice.
"Next one please."
Harry and Hermione entered.
As soon as they had entered, they saw a woman who was in her forties stood there.
"My name is Patricia Sullivan, how can I help you two?" she asked.
"We would like to be enrolled into this school," said Harry.
"Name, and age, please," Patricia said.
"Harry Potter, fifteen," said Harry.
"Hermione Granger, fifteen, about to turn sixteen in roughly three weeks time," Hermione said.
"Apparently you two are transferring students," Patricia said. "You will need to book an appointment, and you will need to sit a test so we can decide what year you are going to be."
"We are starting our fifth year here," Harry said.
"Have you two been studying in another magical school previously?" Patricia asked.
"Yes, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Harry replied.
"How many years have you two been studying there?" asked Patricia.
"Four years already," Harry said.
"We will need to test you two before we see whether you are going to get into fourth year or fifth year," Patricia said.
Harry felt slightly nervous, after all, he didn't do his exam in his fourth year at Hogwarts due to the fact that he was the Tri-Wizard Champion.
He had decided to drop Divination since he no longer think he really needed it, and he decided to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, which means that he will need to work harder since he had never taken these subjects before.
"When are you going to test us?" asked Harry.
"It really depends on what day you choose," said Patricia. "We have a number of test days that will run through from August until the second week of December."
"How about the end of November?" asked Harry, as he felt that might be a bit better than worrying about it before Christmas.
"Sure," said Patricia. "I will send you a letter by owl telling you the date and time."
"That's fine, but I want to take optional subjects that I have not been taking at Hogwarts," Harry said.
"Well," said Patricia, taking a piece of parchment from the table, "have a look, and tell me which one you want to take."
Harry took the paper, and carefully examined it.
As his eyes reached Divination, he simply looked past it, and as he continued to search down the list, he saw Arithmancy, and then he continued to run his eyes down the list, he found Ancient Runes.
"Arithmancy and Ancient Runes," he said.
"And you haven't been taking either of these subjects before?" asked Patricia.
Harry nodded.
"The thing is that, no matter whether you have taken these subjects before or not, you will need to sit a test on each of them anyway," said Patricia. "Be sure to work extra hard since you need to pass a test on them."
"All right," said Harry.
"The Orientation date will start on the third week of December, ends on the last day of the month," said Patricia. "Again, we will notify you about the date by sending letters using owls."
She paused, and then said.
"In order for us to make sure that what you told us about your name and age are true, we need some kind of identification from you. Do you have any identification?"
Harry and Hermione immediately took out their passports, and handed them over to Patricia.
"Very well," Patricia said after she had looked at their passports, and then she handed them back to Harry and Hermione. "You two may be dismissed for now, we will see you again on your test day."
Harry and Hermione walked out of the office, and then they took the portkey back to the hotel.
/Scene Break/
At 6 pm that evening, the Great Hall of Hogwarts was once again huddled with students, as they have seated, Professor McGonagall instructed the first years of the sorting before placing the hat on the stool.
After the hat had sang its song, Professor McGonagall called out the first name on the list.
The cloned Harry noticed the woman sitting next to Dumbledore, and he realised that he saw her once before, in the Ministry of Magic.
After the sorting had ended, Dumbledore got to his feet.
"To our new students, welcome, to our older students, welcome back! There is a time for speech making, Tuck In."
Then the food appeared on the table as usual, and Ron started to grab the food, and filled his plate to the max.
"You don't have to fill your plate in such a hurry, Ron," the cloned Hermione said. "No one is going to grab anything from your own plate, and we have plenty of time."
The cloned Hermione's advice didn't really make Ron to slow down at filling his plate, however, and the cloned Harry was feeling slightly annoyed while he started to fill his own plate.
After the feast, Dumbledore got to his feet again.
"As we have already eaten, I would like to give you a few notices," he said. "First years should know that the Forest is out of bounds to every students, and a few of our older students should know this by now."
"Mr Filch, the caretaker, had reminded me again to remind you that no magic are allowed to be used in the corridors."
"We have two staff changes this year, firstly, I would like to welcome back Professor Grubbly Plank, who had kindly accepted the offer to continue to teach Care of Magical Creatures, while Professor Dolores Umbridge, will be teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts."
/Scene Break/
After Dumbledore had dismissed the students, Ron and the cloned Hermione were leading the first years to the Gryffindor common room, whereas the cloned Harry went up to the stairs alone.
As soon as the Gryffindors arrived at the Gryffindor Portrait Hole, they were waiting for the password.
A few moments later, Neville and Ginny arrived.
"I know the password," Neville said. "Mimbuius mimbletonia!"
The Fat Lady swung open the portrait hole, and the three of them climbed in.
A moment later, Seamus and Dean appeared.
"Hey Harry, how is your holiday?" Dean asked.
"Not bad," the cloned Harry said.
"Yeah, it was okay, at least better than Seamus's holiday," Dean said.
"What happened, Seamus?" asked Neville.
Seamus didn't answer.
A moment later, he said.
"My mom didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts."
"Why?" the cloned Harry asked.
"Well, it is because... because of you," Seamus replied. "Not just you, though, but Dumbledore as well."
"She thinks that I am a liar, and Dumbledore is an old fool?" asked the cloned Harry.
"Well, yes, something to do with that," Seamus said.
"She believes the Daily Prophet?" asked the cloned Harry.
"That's right," said Seamus.
The cloned Harry said nothing. He threw his wand down on his bedside table, pulled off his robes, stuffed them angrily into his trunk, and pulled on his pajamas. He didn't like the fact that he was being stared at all the time. If only they knew what it felt like to be in his situation...
"Who else thinks that I am a liar?" he asked.
"Well, we don't believe the Daily Prophet," said Neville. "My Gran says that's rubbish."
A few moments later, Ron entered.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Seamus reckons that Harry is lying about You-Know-Who's return," Neville said.
"Yeah, and I don't want to share a dormitory with Harry anymore, he's mad," said Seamus.
"You have already gone a bit too far, Seamus," Ron said.
"What, you believe You-Know-Who is back?" asked Seamus, "just by Harry's word?"
"Yes," said Ron.
"Then you are mad like him!" Seamus said.
"Watch your mouth, Seamus, stop saying any more things about this, I am a prefect, unless if you want detention," Ron said.
Seamus fell silent.
"Anyone else got a problem with Harry?" asked Ron.
"My parents are Muggles," Dean said. "They wouldn't have a problem with Harry."
"Your parents don't get the Daily Prophet, Dean, they didn't know that our Headmaster had been sacked from the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards because he is losing his marbles..."
"My Gran says that's rubbish," Neville said. "She says that it is the Daily Prophet that is going downhill, not Dumbledore. We believe Harry."
The cloned Harry felt a rush of gratitude.
/Scene Break/
Meanwhile, Harry was sleeping, and James and Lily appeared again.
"Mum, Dad, is there anything you want to tell me?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I do have something to tell you, it is about your clone," Lily said. "At the moment, your clone had been mistrusted about the fact that Voldemort is back."
"Are there still students in Hogwarts who believe that Voldemort is back?" Harry asked.
"Yes, there are," Lily said simply.
"Who is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Hogwarts right now?" Harry asked.
"The same person who had sent Dementors after you during your summer holiday," said Lily.
"What!" Harry shouted.
"Calm down, the Ministry is interfering Hogwarts right now," James said.
"And what do you reckon they are going to do next?" asked Harry.
"At this time, I cannot give you a direct answer regarding with what they might do to Hogwarts," Lily replied. "Nevertheless, I want to inform you this, the book: Defensive Magical Theory, has been added into the Hogwarts book list."
"Why do the fifth years have to learn theory?" asked Harry. "They had already mastered the basics."
"It is quite possible that Umbridge might use it," James said. "Remember what the Order of the Phoenix had been telling you about what the Ministry thinks of Dumbledore on the night that you had arrived at Grimmauld Place?"
Harry nodded.
"Fudge doesn't want the Hogwarts students to be trained in combat, he thinks that Dumbledore would try and seize power, forming his own army to take over the Ministry of Magic," James said.
"At least I don't have to worry about this right now," Harry said.
"We will give you update on what's happening to the fake you later," Lily said. "Goodbye for now."
"Bye," Harry said.
/Scene Break/
Vernon and Petunia Dursley, meanwhile, had found themselves in a place they had never been before.
"What is this place?" asked Petunia.
"I don't know," Vernon replied.
He shockingly glanced around the place that they are in, they were standing on a place full of sand, but it was not really hot, so he concluded that the place that they are in would not likely be a desert.
"How are we going to get back to Number Four, Privet Drive?" he asked.
"I don't know," Petunia said.
"If we cannot find our way back, who would be picking up Dudley?" asked Vernon.
Petunia shook her head, apparently she hadn't got a single idea what was going on.
All of a sudden, a burst of flame surrounded them, and then they felt they were being dragged inside a black hole.
Vernon and Petunia gasped in horror as they saw several monsters approaching them, the monsters looked as strong as giants, and they were also quite fat, too, and their faces looked fierce and scary.
The monsters were called Multi Hobbits, because they had several hobbies, like eating human meat, playing sports, and they often have to chuck rubbish away into the rubbish bin. They had skills to transform human beings and animals into objects so they could use them.
"We haven't been eating anything for several days, and I am going to eat you both tonight," one monster said.
Vernon and Petunia both gasped, and they tried to escape, but there was not a single exit around the hole they were in. There was a hole above them, but they couldn't reach it.
"No, don't eat them, we will shrink them so they look like cricket bats," said another monster.
"And what does that do?" the first monster asked.
"We can just use the cricket bats to play crickets," the second monster said.
"Or else take it as if they are rubbish, and throw them into the rubbish bin, and let flies and mosquitos fly around them," the first monster said.
"Let's just turn them fat," said the second monster.
"There's no point making them scare anyone," said the first monster.
"Turn them into balls and kick them around, how about that?" asked the second monster.
"Yeah," said the first monster.
Vernon and Petunia looked at the monsters with disgust. To be honest, they hated magic, and they hate to be transformed into objects and being used. But they had no choice since they couldn't escape the hole, or fight with the monster, since they knew that they are too weak to fight them.
After several seconds, Vernon and Petunia were turned into balls, each ball were as big as a football.
"Let's play the balls," said the first monster, and he kicked the ball to the second monster, and the second monster kicked the ball to the third monster, going through the motions again and again.
After a few hours, the monsters were tired, so they placed the balls inside a box, and sealed it shut.
Then they sat down, and sighed in relief.
/Scene Break/
As the week had passed, James and Lily appeared again in Harry's sleep.
"We have cloned your aunt and uncle, and right now the real ones are in a hole which is called Monster Gap, and the monsters turned Vernon and Petunia into balls, and were playing with it," Lily said.
"Dudley wouldn't be able to tell if their parents is fake or not, would he?" asked Harry.
"Of course not," Lily said.
"I am going to tell you what had happened in Hogwarts," said James. "Dolores Umbridge had refused to teach the students real defensive spells, and she had claimed that all the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers had taught spells that are inappropriate for the age group."
Harry knew exactly what his parents were talking about, and he knew that Umbridge must have been simply following Fudge's advice.
"Did anyone attempt to have a go on her about this?" he asked.
"Your clone did," Lily answered. "However, Umbridge had given him detention, forcing him to write in blood quills 'I must not tell lies', simply because he told her that Voldemort is back to power."
"So she believe that my clone was lying about Voldemort's return?" asked Harry.
James nodded.
"Angelina had become the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, and she had already scheduled a Quidditch try-out on Friday, however, the fake you could not attend because of Umbridge's detention," James said.
It was the first time that Harry had heard of blood quill, and he wondered what it does.
"Excuse me for asking, but what is blood quill?" Harry asked.
"Blood quill is a sharp, quick, and painful object that does not require any ink," James explained. "Whoever uses it will have anything they write be craved onto the back of their hands, and the blood from the words sliced into their hand will be magically siphoned and be used as ink on the parchment."
Harry gasped, although he felt relieved that he didn't get to use the Blood quill at all, as it created not only physical pain, but also, in the case of his clone, emotional pain too.
"Do Hermione and Sirius know what happened to the fake me?" he asked.
"Not all of them are required to know this," James said. "You are not hurt after all."
Harry smiled again.
"Do you really think you can call Hogwarts home now?" asked Lily.
"Of course not," Harry said. "This is my home."
A/N:
So here you are, another chapter done.
Any reviews/comments are appreciated.
If any of you want to discuss this story, you can also send me a private message through fanfiction website.
Once again, if there are any grammar mistakes in this chapter, point out where I went wrong, or else I would not know how to fix it up.