Sitting beside him in her usual place at the staff table, Professor McGonagall heard Albus sigh deeply, and decided she had better interrupt his thoughts before he got too lost in them. "Albus, perhaps it would be best to start the feast?"
Albus took a deep breath and replied, "Yes, of course, Minerva. I was just…thinking." Then, with a slight shake of his head, he put away his thoughts for later, and rose to his feet to begin the traditional announcements he made at the start of every new year.
As Professor Dumbledore stood up, students all around the hall immediately quieted down. Harry sighed. He new this speech like the back of his hand, and all he wanted was for it to be over. However, he knew that he rarely got what he wanted, so he settled down to listen patiently to Dumbeldore's speech. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! I would like to remind you all to please check Mr. Filch's list of things NOT allowed in the corridors, as it has been enlarged from 657 items to 894 items." At this, Harry thought he heard someone at the staff table snort in amusement, but put it off, thinking he was imagining things. "I also know that many of you are nervous over the return of Voldemort." A collective shudder went around the hall at the mention of Voldemort's name. "I would like to ask you all to please, refer to him as Voldemort. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. I would also like to reassure you that you are all extremely well protected here at Hogwarts, and that we are doing everything possible to keep your families safe from harm." Harry sighed. That was a new addition to Dumbledore's annual speech, and he didn't like it at all. "Now, on a slightly happier note, I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers!" At this, Harry finally looked up at the staff table, and gave a small jump of surprise. Professor Lupin was sitting at the staff table! Harry felt his face break into a small smile. "I'm sure you all remember Professor Lupin--" Dumbledore was interrupted here by the torrent of cheers and whistles that came up from three of the house tables (the three better houses, in Harry's opinion). Professor Lupin blushed and waved slightly at them all, grinning broadly. "And his dear friend, Professor Brion! I'm sure you will help them both feel at home here at Hogwarts." Harry directed his attention to the man sitting on Professor Lupin's right. He had dark brown hair, playful blue eyes, and a charming grin that Harry thought looked eerily familiar. Harry cocked his head slightly to one side, studying the new professor. Why does he look so familiar? He thought to himself. When Professor Brion caught his gaze, his grin faltered a bit, and Harry suddenly became very interested in his empty plate. "Thank you all for your patience" Professor Dumbledore concluded, "Tuck in!" and as usual, the tables filled themselves with varieties of delicious foods, and Harry busied himself with piling food onto his plate. Even though he knew he wasn't going to eat it, it gave him something to do to distract himself from Professor Brion's piercing gaze, which he could still feel on the side of his face.
"Sirius!" Remus scolded. "Stop staring at him!"
"I can't help it, Remmie!" Sirius whined. "I miss him!"
Remus put down his fork and turned to look at Sirius. "I know you do, Padfoot." He murmured. "I know you do. But there's nothing you can do about it now, we have to wait until Dumbledore gives us permission to tell him."
"This isn't right." Sirius said vehemently, stabbing at his chicken violently with his fork. "I shouldn't be keeping this from him. Besides, I'm his godfather, shouldn't I be the one to decide whether he knows I'm alive or not? Because personally, if it were up to me, he would have been the first person I saw when I came back out of the Veil."
"Sirius." Remus said pointedly, "you DID try to make him the first person you saw. You went to Privet Drive and were ready to blast down the door, but Moody stopped you and dragged you back to Headquarters, remember?"
Sirius grumbled. "Stupid Mad-eye Moody. Would've loved to play a good prank on Petunia, maybe turn her hair bright pink, or do something else equally… un-Dursley-ish. Teach them a lesson for treating Harry badly all these years."
Remus shook his head and sighed in an overly dramatic playful manner. "Your hopeless, Padfoot." He said wistfully, and went back to eating his dinner.
"Shut up, Moony." Sirius said, and whacked him lightly up the backside of his head.
"OW!" Remus yelped. Sirius grinned slightly and continued his grumblings over not being able to tell Harry who he really was.
The two were silent for a moment, each deep in thought over all the changes that had happened so rapidly in their lives. Sirius refused to talk about how he escaped from the Veil. Whenever he was questioned about it, he merely replied that it wasn't important, because he was here now, and that was all that mattered. That always had been Sirius' view on life when he was a student at Hogwarts- live in the present and always make the most of it. Health wise, Sirius seemed perfectly fine after his encounter with the Veil. As a matter of fact, he seemed healthier now then before he went through it—the sunken and sickly looks that years of Azkaban and being on the run had given him had melted away, and the end result was the young and devilishly handsome Sirius Black that had graduated from Hogwarts himself not so long ago. Sirius was back and he was living life to its fullest as an under cover Hogwarts professor. Now he only wished he could live life with his godson.
Remus was marveling over the fact that after Sirius had fallen through the Veil, he had once again lost everything, but then his best friend had miraculously jumped back into his life for a second time. Sirius was not easy to get rid of, and Remus was thanking god for that fact every day. With Sirius' resurrection, Remus' depression that he had sunken into after his death disappeared, and Remus was now smiling all the time. He even found time to prank Sirius one morning by turning all the hairs on his head a vibrant green, which had been the start of a vicious prank war between the two mauraders. Remus also seemed to find a new love for life, and its result had him looking better than ever. People often thought he looked much older for his age, and at times he did, but that was only from stress. He now looked his true age and was as vibrant as ever, and was happily dating one Nymphadora Tonks. Like Sirius, however, the only topic that could put a damper on his mood was Harry.
Both Sirius and Remus had had many late night conversations concerning their young Prongslet, and their only conclusions had been that they both loved Harry more than life and wanted, more than anything, for him to be happy. And right now, the only way the could see to make him happy again was to tell him that Sirius was alive. Unfortunately, Dumbledore wouldn't let them, and both Sirius and Remus found an unwanted dislike forming in the pit of their stomachs towards the Hogwarts Headmaster.
"Just look at him, Moony. He's miserable." Sirius said glumly. Remus looked down at Harry, and he did indeed look thoroughly miserable. He had tons of food on his plate, but he wasn't eating it- he was merely pushing it around on his plate with his fork. It looked to Remus like he was trying to see how many peas he could fit into his circle of mashed potatoes. Suddenly, Harry froze. His fork was midway between pea and potato, and it looked as if every muscle of his body had tensed up.
"Sirius, look at Harry." Remus said urgently, his eyes never leaving the boy sitting rigid in his seat.
"That's what I've just said, Rem." Sirius said, while pouring himself a cup of pumpkin juice.
"No, Sirius, there's something wrong with him." At that Sirius' head snapped up to look at Harry, and when he did, he dropped the full pitcher of juice and it began to spill everywhere, seeping towards all the professors and down to the floor.
"Honestly, Professor!" Exclaimed Minerva as she said grabbed a napkin to keep the juice from spilling down onto her robes. "Couldn't you at least be a little more--" she stopped mid- sentence when she saw both Sirius and Remus staring horrified in the direction of the Gryffindor Table. She turned to see what they were staring at, and she immediately noticed Harry and forgot about the spilt pumpkin juice, which was now flowing freely down into her lap. "Albus…" she whispered.
"I know, Minerva, I'm watching him." Albus was now extremely tense, and by this time all of the eyes of the professors were on Harry. Ron and Hermione were frantically trying to get his attention, shooting pleading glances up at the head table every now and then. It appeared as though Harry was…listening for something very, VERY intently.
Suddenly his head snapped up and to the left, and within seconds he was on his feet, leaping up onto the Gryffindor Table and pointing his wand at something at the other end of the hall. "STUPEFY!" He shouted as he jumped off the other side of the table and began pelting down the hall, looking searchingly under the table the entire time. "God Damnit!" He shouted in frustration. All the professors were on their feet now, wands out, waiting, searching, for what Harry was so desperately trying to find. Then he yelled, "Everyone pick up your feet! Pick them up!" Surprisingly, no one questioned him, and everyone did as they were told as quickly as possible, some pulling up their feet and sitting on them, others standing up right on their chairs. And in the cleared space beneath the Gryffindor Table, Harry's target was plainly visible. A fat gray rat with one silver paw was scampering as fast as its little paws would take him towards the door to the Great Hall, frantically trying to get away from an enraged Harry. As it turned its head to look at it's attacker, it gave one terrified squeak before—
"STUPEFY!" Harry bellowed.
The stunner hit the rat directly in its side, and it fell over, leaving the occupants of the Great Hall in shocked silence. Harry hurried over to the stunned rat, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste to get there, and picked up the rat and looked down at it with disgust and hissed out one, rage-filled word.
"Wormtail."