Ch. 3
Kira stayed awake the whole night, sitting in the comfortable chair, staring at the set of stairs to the dormitories. As the sun slowly rose, some students burst from their dormitories and stopped suddenly, noticing a demon had spent the night sitting in the chair by the fire. The portrait hole opened as the room began to fill with students. A hand lay on Kira's shoulder. "I'm taking over." said a sly voice. Kira turned to see who she recognized as Nigel, an energy demon. He could control the currents of electricity just as easily as Kira could control the flames that sat in the fireplace.
Kira nodded and walked out of the room, happy to get away from the penetrating stares from the students. But, after meeting up with Artemis, found only more stares from the students along the corridors. Artemis transformed to his demon form and hovered by where Kira stood. She then followed him and the two flew into the air, patrolling the corridors that were surrounding the stairs and the large open space that covered all floors.
"When breakfast starts," Artemis said as Kira passed him on the third floor, "We're supposed to go in, so that when Harry goes to Dumbledore's office, we can follow." Kira just nodded as she flew up to the fourth floor and Artemis continued his descent down to the second floor.
As Kira passed the corridor right by the Gryffindor common room, she could Harry's voice echoing. She flew right towards the sound, convincing herself there could be trouble. Apparently, Artemis had been watching her, because he was right behind her as she landed on the corridor and watched Harry from a distance.
He was yelling at his friend, Hermione, who was sheepishly looking at him. His other friend, Ron, was standing to the side, looking awestruck. "Now don't lose your temper again, like last year!" Hermione countered when Harry took a breath.
"What do you mean 'like last year'!" Harry yelled back at her, "You're the one that started all this! I TOLD you! I don't want to talk about it, okay!" He then stormed off to the Great Hall where breakfast was being served.
Hermione looked up and noticed Kira and Artemis. She walked up to the two and said quietly, "Don't mind him. She's just sore because his godfather's passed away at the end of last year… and he still blames himself."
Ron nudged her, "Harry was right. You don't gotta tell the whole world."
Artemis smiled, "Don't worry, we already knew about Black. She's connected," he shoved a thumb at Kira. "See, she knew-" Kira shoved her hands out and pushed Artemis over the banister. He took to his demon form and flew up level to her. "What was that for!"
"Like he said," Kira said stubbornly. "You don't gotta tell the whole world!" She then also took her demon form and flew off the banister, "We have to go to the Great Hall." She said before swooping away from Ron and Hermione. Artemis shrugged and waved at the two before flying after her.
Once everybody had gathered in the Great Hall and begun eating, the morning owl post came as it did every morning. Hermione, who was still keeping a close eye on the Daily Prophet, got her issue and put a knut in a small leather pouch that hung on the owl's leg. The owl flew off and Hermione opened up the newspaper and searched through it as she ate her breakfast. After some students were finishing with their breakfasts, Professor McGonagall started handing out schedules for the year to all the students in her house. Along with handing Harry his schedule, she also gave him a piece of paper that had, in quick handwriting, and note that said "To the Headmaster's office after breakfast." Harry read it and turned to ask Professor McGonagall what it was all about, but she had moved on, determined not to look at Harry.
Harry then looked at his schedule. "Potions, double Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and double Transfiguration for today." Harry said with a sigh.
Hermione suddenly looked up, "So you did do well on your Potions O.W.L.s?"
Harry sighed, "Yeah, I just barely got an Outstanding on it." He had gotten his results of his O.W.L.s test just a few weeks before he had left to go to Hogwarts. Uncle Vernon was completely hysterical when he saw the owl fly in during breakfast with Harry's grades in its beak.
Ron looked at his schedule, "Looks like most of our classes are together." He said before he read out his schedule. "Potions, double History of Magic –I hope you have that with me, Hermione–" He added in, because he could never manage to stay awake as their only ghost teacher had a tendency to ramble in a dull voice all class, which caused most of the students to fall asleep. Only Hermione managed to resist Professor Binns's ability to put his class to sleep. "Defense Against the Dark Arts, and double Transfiguration."
Hermione looked down at her schedule and sighed, "Yes, we have Potions, Transfiguration, and History of Magic together."
Harry felt his stomach overturn; he only had two classes with Hermione and three with Ron. He knew he could do well in Charms without the two to help him. But later, when they compared the other days they had classes, he wondered how he could survive some of his classes without Hermione to help him.
After Harry finished with breakfast, he went straight to the Headmaster's office, noticing Dumbledore had left before everybody, undoubtedly so he could be ready for Harry's arrival. When Harry got to the stone humpback witch, he suddenly realized he didn't know the password. But, to his relief, at that moment, Artemis came striding out of the Headmaster's office himself. He jumped when he saw Harry, then smiled and moved to the side so Harry could get in. Harry stood on the constantly moving spiraled staircase and eventually reached the Headmaster's door.
He gave a soft knock and the door opened of its own accord. Kira stood on one side of the room, her arms crossed, leaning against the wall. Her black hair fell gently over her face and her narrowed eyes were watching Harry. He couldn't understand why Kira was acting so strangely to him when just the other night, they had enjoyed speaking and laughing together.
"You wanted to see me?" Harry asked in a much more quiet and shaky voice than he had expected.
"Please, take a seat." Dumbledore said in his usual, calm voice. "I am hear to talk to you about precautions I have decided to take considering the fact that Voldemort has now gone public. Many of his Death Eaters will become less cautious of what they do… and where. It is very possible that somebody may come into this school, looking for you. I have been troubled by this fact all summer, until I received some inspiration from a certain young lady." He smiled at Kira, who was watching him, unemotional.
"And, luckily, I think I may have found the perfect solution. Now Harry, I have learned from my mistakes, and I am now telling you the full truth, because you deserve to know what is happening in your life. It is my opinion that it is in your best interest to have somebody watch over you, to make sure you are perfectly safe at all times. I have also found that it may be necessary to have somebody that will be easier to relate to… maybe even become a friend." Kira closed her eyes; she wasn't here to make friends, as she had told her self over and over. "I am sure you have already met Kira… she will be your… sort of, guardian.
"She will watch over to and go with you to your classes to make sure you don't run into trouble." Dumbledore smiled, "I do hope you find this very reasonable… I am only looking out for your best interest." He then turned to Kira, "Would you like to say anything?"
Kira shrugged, "I'm just here to do my job."
"Right." Harry didn't know what to feel about what was happening. He didn't know whether to be happy or angry of what. He just stood there, looking at Dumbledore.
"Well, I'm sure you can make it to your next class without being late." Dumbledore smiled, "Hurry."
Harry nodded and walked out of the room, Kira following him.
"What do you make of this?" Harry asked as he walked at a quickened pace towards the dungeons where Potions with Professor Snape was held.
Kira shrugged again, "I don't really have much of an opinion. I had a feeling something like this was gonna happen when I found out you were probably going to get attacked and Sirius was your godfather."
"Well, I'd rather have you following me than somebody that thinks they know… but they don't." Harry said quietly. "I mean, you understand better than a lot of people."
"Define somebody that thinks they know." said an unsure voice behind Harry.
Harry turned to look at her, "What-"
"Hi." Artemis was standing behind Kira with a large smile. Kira put her head in her hand and closed her eyes as she shook her head.
"Oh… um… are both of you going to be following me?" Harry asked.
"We'd prefer to call it accompanying." Artemis said with a naïve smile.
"I think that's just you." Kira said sharpness in her voice.
"What ever." Harry said as he began to walk quickly to Snape's class, afraid that he was going to be late. Artemis shrugged and walked on with a wide grin still on his face. Kira followed a distance behind the two, wondering how she had gotten dragged into all this.
Potions class was just as dreadful as Harry had expected. Professor Snape walked in from the back of the class and closed the door with a resounding clink. The class fell silent and Snape walked down the isle, inspecting his first class. When Harry took his seat, Professor Snape looked at him with a smug grim as he begun his small, beginning of the year speech. "Although many of you are probably proud of yourselves for making it into my Potions class after your O.W.L.s, do not think that this means I will be any easier on you all. On the contrary, I will push you all harder than I have been. As I am sure most of you have understood earlier, I have very high expectations for all of my classes and all of my students. Many of you have worked very hard and rightfully earned your entry into this class. And some of you," He glanced back at Harry, "I even wonder how you managed to make it into my Potions class." Although he was without his usual accompaniment of Crabbe and Goyle, Draco Malfoy sniggered and managed to get a few more Slytherins to join him.
"Ignore them." Hermione whispered to Harry, who had clenched his fists.
Snape waved his wand and instructions appeared on the board. "Because it is the first day, I would like to see where most of you stand and where you need your improvements. Finish this by the end of the class." The then walked around the room sedately, eyeing student's attempts at the very hard spell, insulting students with his usual smirk. Half way through the class, Harry had messed up on one of the instructions, and Snape cleared out his cauldron and said quietly, but so the whole class could hear, "Start over. It must still be done at the end of the class, or you fail."
"That's really unfair." Hermione said in a whisper after Snape had left.
"Sorry, mate." Ron said, glaring at Snape's back, "He's just out to get you. Probably sore because you're in his class again." Harry nodded unemotional as he started his potion again.