A/N: And here's the next chapter! Seriously, thanks to those who follow/favorite this story and thanks to those that review!
4. The Llama Song
The Hogwarts Express whistled loudly as a ten-minute warning. I looked at my packed trunk and patted my pocket to ensure my wand was still there. It was.
A black dog at my feet barked, grabbing my attention. I smiled at Padfoot, who was really Sirius, and patted his head. That morning, Sirius had changed into his Animagus form and bombarded me in my bed and barked until I got up. He said it had been my "kind-of birthday" present by not letting me miss the train by sleeping in. Everyone had wished me a "happy kind-of birthday" because I had technically already turned 15 and we weren't sure if I was turning 35 or 36 or what. It was a very confusing morning.
"Can't help being nervous, Padfoot," I said. "It's a whole new time, I'm sure everything's changed."
After all, time change's everything. I'd have different teachers and different friends. I would be a stranger to everything. And I hated being the new kid. People would ask me where I transferred from and teachers would ask how I was still fifteen. I frowned at the thought of explaining the whole Death thing to anyone. At least the castle would be the exact same.
Apparently, my frown was clearly visible and Fred and George decided to take matters into their own hands.
"What you need, Miss Isabelle Fiona Hendry-"
Ew, my middle name. I scrunched up my nose and glared at Padfoot; Sirius was the only one who would've told them.
"-is a good prank to cheer you up."
"Don't ever say my middle name again or I'll hex you," I said. "What kind of prank?"
"Oh, you'll see when we get to the castle," said George. We were standing by the train, now. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had already boarded and had told me that they would save a spot for me in a compartment. Fred and George both said their farewells to their parents and Padfoot and started to board the train. "See you later, Isabelle Fiona!"
I sent them a rude hand gesture, which I was pretty sure they didn't even see, and began my goodbyes. I gave Arthur Weasley a firm handshake and got pulled into hug by Molly Weasley. I received a curt nod from Tonks, whose hair was bubblegum pink that day, and Moody. I gave a Remus a pat on the back and he smiled at me. It was probably the first proper smile I'd seen him have in a long time. He turned at patted me on the back like I had to him and in synchronized voices we said, "Possibly the worst I've never done."
Padfoot whined at us while the others gave us strange looks.
"Inside joke," I explained. They nodded in understanding.
I knelt down on the floor to say bye to Padfoot. I wouldn't see him until Christmas, and Moody had already warned us not to send to many letters and to be careful in our writing. I rubbed behind his ears a bit and he licked my hand.
"Blegh!" I wiped my hand on my jumper. "Bad dog, Padfoot!"
He simply wagged his tail and nuzzled my hand. I couldn't even be mad at him for longer than a few seconds. I smiled at my old friend. I stood as the train whistled again and I stepped onto the platform. They all wished a few last-minute "Happy kind-of Birthdays" and I waved a final goodbye. I left all of them standing there with a simple, "See you soon, then."
I checked all the compartments as I walked through the corridor, looking for the one with Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Look left, then right. No Harry. Forward, look left, then right. No Harry.
However, the constant looking left and then right led me to crash straight into someone's chest.
"Sorry," I said, looking at the person I had crashed into. He looked annoyed and familiar. He was tall with white-blond hair and silver eyes. He was the spitting image of Lucius Malfoy. The very same Lucius Malfoy that had graduated from Hogwarts just two years before I disappeared. The same one that hated my guts because I had dyed his robes into a shimmering gold color in my second year.
"-transfer student or something?" he said. I missed the first part of what he said because I was lost in my thoughts.
"Uh, no?" I said. I silently begged that he wouldn't ask any more questions.
He squinted his eyes at me before pushing past me and into a nearby compartment.
"Thank Merlin," I muttered. The guy is probably Malfoy's son, but he's already less nosey than his father was. I kept walking through the corridor until I found Harry's compartment. I made it just in time to see Ron and Hermione leaving.
"We've got to go to the prefect cart," explained Hermione when I asked where they were off to.
"Oh, right. Er, have fun, I guess," I slid past them into the compartment. "Hello."
Besides Harry and Ginny, there were two other people in the compartment. One of them was a roundish boy who had a worried expression on his face. The other was a blonde girl who was reading an upside down magazine. The girl just kept reading the magazine while the boy gave me a meek smile.
"Neville Longbottom," he introduced.
Longbottom, just like Frank Longbottom. His round face and soft eyes reminded me of Alice Fortescue, however, so I concluded that this must be their son. I smiled at him.
"Izzy Hendry, I'm sort of new this year."
He smiled back at me and I turned to look at the girl. She seemed to be completely engrossed in her magazine.
"That's Luna Lovegood," Ginny told me. When she heard her name, Luna looked up from her magazine.
"Oh, hello," she said in a soft voice. She set down her magazine and I noticed her necklace made of butterbeer caps and the fact that her wand was tucked behind her left ear.
"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," said Luna dreamily, she seemed to not be able to take her eyes off of Harry. And she also seemed to not be blinking as often as a normal human would be. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," she added.
"I know I am," said Harry.
Neville chuckled and Luna looked to him. "I don't know who you are," she said.
"I'm nobody," he said quickly.
"No, you're not," said Ginny. She was so sweet. "Neville Longbottom- Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," said Luna in a singsong voice.
"What's that magazine you're reading? The Quibbler?" I asked her, turning my head so that I could read the title.
"Oh, yes. The Quibbler is a fascinating magazine, better than the Daily Prophet. My father's the editor," Luna told me proudly.
"That's nice, then."
She stopped talking after that and raised the upside-down magazine high enough to cover her eyes. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Harry and Neville. Ginny stifled a giggle.
Luna seemed entirely out of the conversation, so Neville started another one about what he had gotten for his birthday. He showed us some weird plant called mimbulus mimbletonia. It looked somewhat like a cactus of sorts, except that instead of spines it had boils. At that point I stopped paying attention. Sure, Herbology was interesting enough, but I could never bring myself to really interest myself in a specific plant.
Instead, I looked out the window. The train was now passing through the open country. The previous sunny weather was now gone and dark, gray clouds passed overhead. It looked like it was going to rain soon. Not that I had anything against rain, I loved it, in fact.
Soon after my observations, I turned to Harry and Neville. Neville had a quill in his hand, clearly about to poke the mimbulus mimbletonia. He prodded the tip of the plant with the quill and suddenly every boil on it began to squirt stinky, dark green jets of liquid. I raised my hands to cover my face as soon as I saw Ginny do the same.
I could feel the stinking liquid in my hair and made a sound of disgust. Ginny's red hair- though it was a lighter shade than mine- was also covered in the nasty green liquid. Harry was not as fortunate as us though; he was completely covered in the slime.
And of course, that was when someone decided to visit our compartment. It was a pretty girl with dark hair and eyes. I didn't know who she was, but I did notice Harry's face began to turn red under the slime. I figured it was his crush or something and smirked. She had some pretty terrible timing.
"Oh… Hello, Harry," she said rather nervously. "Um… Bad time?"
"Yeah, no kidding," I muttered, wiping slime off of my hands and onto my newly ruined jumper. I had liked that jumper too.
Harry wiped his glasses of quickly and I noted the toad in his hands. He really did have such horrible luck. He looked at the girl and said, "Oh… hi."
"Uh…" said the girl, looking a little awkward. "Well… just thought I'd say hello… 'bye then."
And she closed the door and left, but not before I saw the faint blush forming on her cheeks. I smiled at the awkwardness that had been exchanged between Harry and her.
"Never mind," said Ginny, taking her wand out. "Look, we can get rid of it this easily. Scourgify!"
The slime disappeared in a matter of seconds. It felt nice to run my hands through my hair and not have them covered in stinky green liquid.
"Sorry," said Neville in a small voice.
"Who was the girl that came in?" I asked Harry, watching his face for his reaction. Sure enough, I saw the slightest bit of pink in his cheeks.
"Cho Chang," he responded.
"She was rather pretty, wasn't she?" I asked him.
Harry did not respond to me. Instead, he turned to return the toad to Neville. Neville gave him another quiet apology and seemed to recede into a corner of the compartment, clearly embarrassed.
The food trolley stopped by soon after and each of us had bought a few things from it. I had purchased a couple chocolate frogs and a carton of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. After that it was a pretty quiet ride until Ron and Hermione returned from the prefect cart.
They were just about bursting with prefect gossip, telling us who the new prefects from each house were.
"Who're the Slytherin prefects?" said Harry.
"Malfoy and Parkinson," said Ron spitefully. He scrunched up his face into a crude look.
"Malfoy? So that was his son I ran into earlier!" I said. I had predicted it would be so, but now I knew for sure.
"You knew his dad?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, yeah. A total uptight, pure-blood elitist, jerk. He hated me in my second year, though I didn't really care," I told them with a smirk, remembering his shimmering gold robes.
"I bet he was just as rude in school as he is now," Harry said making a face similar to Ron's previous one.
"If he's still an egotistical jerk with a "pure-bloods are gods" complex, then yes."
"Wait," said Ron, holding in a laugh, it seemed, "are we talking about Draco Malfoy or Lucius? 'Cause they sound like the exact same person."
"How did you go to school with Malfoy's father?" asked Neville, looking a bit nervous.
This was the part I still hadn't decided. What would I tell everyone? That I was missing for twenty years and mysteriously came back, or pretend to be a whole new person? Then again, Dumbledore knew who I was, so I wasn't certain that pretending would work. But what would I say happened in the twenty years I was gone? On how the bloody hell would I explain that I hadn't aged at all.
"It's, uh, complicated," I said, hoping he wouldn't ask any more questions like that.
Neville took my hint and said, "Oh, okay."
Luna, however, was not so easily evaded. She stopped reading her magazine to stare at me. Her blue eyes staring me was a little unsettling, so I finally told her, "Take a picture, it'll last longer."
Thank Godric she didn't have a camera with her, because I had the feeling she would actually take the picture. Luna went back to her magazine eventually and the rest of us carried on in conversation about the people in the school.
The train came to a slow stop in Hogsmeade. It was a chilly night, colder than it normally was. We left our luggage on the train, per usual, but I decided to shove the stuffed llama into my rucksack. Luna saw me perform this action.
"What's that?" she said in a dreamy voice.
"Er, stuffed llama, sort of a gift from a… old friend," I said quickly. Old friend? Really, Izzy, that was the best you could come up with? The reason I had brought it with me was because I wasn't sure I trusted the thing that was supposed to guide me in the hands of anyone else. Because they would totally want a stuffed llama.
"I like llamas," Luna told me as we walked towareds a carriage. The plain black carriages were the same as before, except I noticed pale, thin, horses with wings pulling them along. I had never seen them before.
"That's nice," I said lamely. I wasn't paying much attention; the strange horses had completely garnered my attention. How could I have never seen them before?
"I know a song about llamas. It's called the Llama Song," said Luna, my attention veering to her once more.
"Uh, cool," I said, not really sure how to respond.
"It goes like this:
Here's a llama, there's a llama. And another little llama. Fuzzy llama, funny llama. Llama, llama duck."
Why was there a duck at the end? I smiled at Luna and she started humming the surprisingly catchy-yet-kind-of-annoying tune.
Hermione and Ginny were already on the carriage and I looked behind and saw that Harry and Ron slowly were slowly approaching us. They seemed to be arguing about something.
"Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?" Harry asked Ron. Ron looked alarmed and bewildered.
"Are you feeling all right, Harry?" he said.
"I… yeah…" said Harry, looking a bit unsure. I was confused. Harry could see the horses but Ron couldn't?
"Shall we get in, then," said Ron uncertainly.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah, go on…" Ron disappeared into the carriage and I began to follow.
"It's all right," said Luna in her dreamy voice. "You're not going mad or anything. I can see them too."
"Can you?" said Harry desperately, turning to Luna.
"Oh yes," said Luna, "I've been able to see them ever since my first day here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."
Luna walked past me and smiled softly at Harry as she climbed into the carriage. Harry looked not at all reassured.
"I can see 'em too, Harry," I said. "Don't know why. I don't know why Ron can't either."
Harry gave me a tight smile and a nod. He climbed into the carriage and I followed suit. I slammed the door of the carriage shut behind me and sat down.
"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny. Everyone nodded while I shook my head. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"
"Hagrid? I remember him. Nice folk, never told on us when we snuck into the Forbidden Forest," I recalled. He was fairly nice to us, even when we accidentally set part of his garden on fire.
"You knew him? He teaches Care of Magical Creatures now," said Ginny. "Or possibly not since Grubbly-Plank is back."
"I'll be quite glad if he's gone," said Luna. "He isn't a very good teacher, is he?"
"Yes, he is!" said Harry, Ron, and Ginny angrily. Hermione and I were silent until Harry glared at Hermione and she quickly agreed with them.
"Well, we think he's a bit of a joke in Ravenclaw," said Luna, completely unfazed by their aggressive response.
"You've got a rubbish sense of humor then," Ron snapped, as the wheels of the carriage began to creak into motion.
Luna wasn't bothered by Ron's rude comment; she simply watched him for a while. The carriages moved slowly up the road. As they rattled slowly along and passed some significant pillars, I saw Harry looked out on the grounds. The grounds were pitch black with no signs of life.
The carriages came to a halt near the steps in front of the entrance to the castle. We slowly climbed out of the carriage, Harry taking the lead, and made our way to the front doors. We made our way into the Great Hall and I took a deep breath. Everything looked the same as twenty years ago. I was actually quite relieved. Hogwarts would feel more like a home since it was the same familiar castle I had caused so much trouble in years ago.
Luna drifted away from us as we made our way to the Gryffindor table and she made hers to the Ravenclaw table. Ginny also separated from us as she joined some of her friends farther down the table. We sat down and I had the unsettling feeling someone was watching me. When I looked up at the staff table and saw a familiar head of greasy, black hair. Severus Snape.
This year really was going to suck.
"He's not there," said Harry. I realized that Hagrid was indeed missing from the staff table.
"He can't have left," said Ron.
"Of course he hasn't," said Harry firmly. I had a feeling he was mostly just reassuring himself.
"You don't think he's… hurt, or anything, do you?" said Hermione uneasily.
"No," said Harry at once. Self-reassurance, again.
"But where is he then?"
There was a short pause, then Harry said quietly, "Maybe he's not back yet. You know – from his mission – the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."
"He was on a mission?" I asked. This was news for me. Ron nodded as answer to my question.
"Yeah… yeah, that'll be it," he said. Hermione looked a little less reassured than he, but didn't say anything more on the subject, nevertheless.
"Who's that?" she said, pointing toward the middle of the staff table.
Sitting next to Professor Dumbledore, was a short, stubby woman I had never seen before. She was wearing a pink, fuzzy cardigan of her robes of the same color. She had short brown hair and a toad-like face, complete with a set of unsettling eyes. She didn't look at all friendly, despite her bright colored clothing. In fact, it may have been the clothing that made her look slightly deranged.
"It's that Umbridge woman!" said Harry, who seemed to recognize her.
"Who?" I asked.
"She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!"
"Fudge? The chocolate?" I said confusedly.
"Cornelius Fudge," said Hermione in hushed tone, "he's the Minister of Magic, now."
"Oh, right," I said and allowed them to keep talking about the Umbridge woman.
While they talked in whispers, I evaluated Umbridge. She seemed girly, maybe to girly for a woman that old, I mean she was wearing a pink bow in her hair for Merlin's sake! I wasn't entirely sure why she was there, maybe she was a teacher? Harry told me the only open position would be Defense Against the Dark Arts, and it didn't make sense why someone from the Ministry would take up a teaching position here.
A tall woman with grey hair pulled into a tight bun interrupted my thoughts to begin the Sorting. I had always loved these; it was exciting to see what new kids we'd get in the house that year. And, following tradition, the Sorting Hat always began with a song:
In times of old, when I was new,
And Hogwarts barely started,
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted.
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning
To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning.
"Together we will build and teach"
The four good friends decided.
And never did they dream that they
Might someday be divided.
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there, so I can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry's purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose
Intelligence is surest."
Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name."
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot
And treat them just the same."
These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light.
For each of the four founders had
A house in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so,
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning just like him.
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest
and taught them all she knew,
Thus, the houses and their founders
Maintained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
for several happy years,
but then discord crept among us
feeding on our faults and fears.
The Houses that, like pillars four
had once held up our school
now turned upon each other and
divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
must meet an early end.
what with dueling and with fighting
and the clash of friend on friend.
And at last there came a morning
when old Slytherin departed
and though the fighting then died out
he left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
were whittled down to three
have the Houses been united
as they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
and you all know the score:
I sort you into Houses
because that is what I'm for.
But this year I'll go further,
listen closely to my song:
though condemned I am to split you
still I worry that it's wrong,
Though I must fulfill my duty
and must quarter every year
still I wonder whether sorting
may not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
the warning history shows,
for our Hogwarts is in danger
from external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you...
let the Sorting now begin.
The hat ended its song and the applause began, though it was a bit punctured. Was that a warning that the hat had given? I couldn't remember it ever giving a warning before, maybe it was something new.
"Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it," said Ron, his eyebrows raised.
"Too right it has," said Harry.
"I wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" said Hermione. She gave me a quick glance and I shook my head.
"I've never heard one from the Sorting Hat before," I said quietly. Hermione looked a little anxious at my response.
"Yes, indeed," said another voice that I immediately recognized. It belonged to Nearly Headless Nick. I internally groaned. I had forgotten about the ghosts; it was possible that some of them would remember me. I was so engrossed in my thoughts about the ghosts, I missed the rest of what Nearly Headless Nick had said.
The ghost looked at me and stared for a moment before floating away. I let a breath I didn't know I was holding.
The professor began calling out the first years' names after the rest of us quieted down. Many of the new students looked excited, the others had looks of pure terror on their faces. I smiled, remembering my own sorting. It was similar to this one, except the hat's song was a bit more cheerful and the students were different.
When the first student was sorted into Gryffindor, I clapped loudly along with everyone else. Slowly, the line of first years thinned and in the end, "Zeller, Rose" was called out and the last student was sorted into Hufflepuff. The professor grabbed the hat and stool and marched away as Professor Dumbledore stood up to talk.
"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands – welcome back There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"
There was an appreciative laugh and then the food appeared. Thank Merlin for Hogwarts' feasts. I mean, they were heaven on a plate. I reached and grabbed some chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a good amount of salad.
"Glad to see your at least eating healthy," said Hermione, glancing at Ron's towering plate of foods. He had served himself as much sweets as he did meat, which was to say, a lot.
Ron seemed to notice that we were looking at his stockpile and quickly swallowed the food he was eating. "This is perfectly healthy."
"No, Ron, it's not," I shook my head, laughing a little. "But, hey, if it works for you, by all means go for it."
And he did. He and the rest of the school dug into the food. While we were eating, Harry and Nearly Headless Nick got into a conversation about the Sorting Hat. In the end, Ron managed to somehow offend Nearly Headless Nick and the ghost left us to finish eating.
"I would've thought he recognized me from twenty years ago, but he didn't. Well, that or he didn't care," I said quietly.
"Maybe Dumbledore told all the ghosts not to say anything about it, or ask any questions," said Hermione.
"Thank Merlin for that, if he did. I don't think I can handle anymore awkward questions."
"You never did tell us where you were," said Ron. He wanted me to tell them. Hah! Not today.
"You're correct, Ronald, I did not tell you."
The stopped eating to look at me. They probably expected me to tell them right then.
"And I'm not going to tell in a room full of other people that aren't supposed to know."
Ron grumbled something as he shoved in another mouthful of food and began chewing. When we were all done eating and the talking level began to rise, Dumbledore got up once more.
"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students – and a few of our older students ought to know by now too."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged smirks. I gave them a raised eyebrow.
"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door."
I wondered if anyone would actually go to check out that list.
"We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
There was a bit of polite applause, but it was fairly quiet. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I exchanged significant looks. Dumbledore began to speak again, but he barely got five words out before Professor Umbridge interrupted him with an annoying "Hem, hem."
She stood up and Dumbledore sat down quickly and looked at Professor Umbridge as though he wanted to listen to whatever she had to say. I, however, didn't.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge said, "for those kind words of welcome."
I already hated her. Her voice was high-pitched and really annoying; I wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle even one lesson with her. And the fact that she so rudely interrupted Dumbledore got on my nerves.
"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking back at me."
I looked around, as did Harry, no one was smiling. In fact, they looked a bit annoyed at being talked to like little kids.
"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all…"
After Umbridge's dull and unbearably long speech, we were sent off to bed after a few more notices given by Dumbledore. I climbed through the familiar portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room. I had noticed on the way up that some of the same portraits I had known previously stared at me on the way up but didn't say a word. Perhaps Dumbledore had talked to them and the ghosts.
The Gryffindor looked almost the same as before. Red plushy couches and a few desks and familiar red walls graced my vision. It looked as though the rugs and curtains had been changed, but if they hadn't then the room would be ten times more dusty than it was.
I bid goodnight to Ron and Harry, then Hermione and I made our way to the girls' dormitories. I was sharing a dorm with Hermione, thank Merlin I wouldn't be with a bunch of strangers. I found my trunk by the bed closest to the window and slung off my rucksack onto the floor and quickly changed into pajamas. Soon I was snuggled in the warm red sheets of my bed. I found myself humming the Llama Song for a bit, the silly tune stuck in my head. Soon I found my eyes drifting close. Sleep came quickly that night, for which I was grateful.
It had been a long day.
A/N: Thanks for reading! First day of lessons in the next chapter. Sorry this one took longer to update, I've been quite busy of late. Anyway, here are some questions to ponder:
How will Izzy get along with Umbridge? What's going to happen in Potions with Snape? Will Izzy make any progress with her elemental powers?
Tell me what you think in the reviews! By the way, the llama song is real. Just go on to YouTube and search "the llama song" and watch it. It's a pretty interesting song. Thanks for reading, please review!