Chapter 04

In the end Madam Pomfrey released Harry after a quick examination, a few admonishing noises in the back of her throat, and the announcement that his ribs were perfectly all right, no thanks to him, and the gentle warning to be more careful the next time, lest he end up in the hospital wing for longer, and wasn't he here often enough already? The Hogwarts nurse did look admonishingly at Sirius, though it wasn't a I suspect you of having done it gaze but rather a I would tell you to keep an eye on him, but the holidays are over, anyway, and besides, I know you and him only too well-look, though there was a healthy dose of amusement in it, as well. Generally she seemed to have kept Sirius in far better memory than Sirius had thought. Harry found himself amused by it, too. Everybody except from maybe Ron's mother seemed to consider Sirius definitely capable of taking care of him, yet at the same time they all seemed to think that a certain degree of chaos in his life was unavoidable from now on. Well, Harry thought he could live with that. With the little experience he had so far, he could already tell that life with Sirius would never be boring. He was hoping for a certain degree of normal come Christmas, yet definitely not boring.

They said their goodbyes in the infirmary after Madam Pomfrey had left for her office again, and seeing that there was no audience to serve, Sirius did not practice for his Oscar performance. Instead he settled on giving Harry another hug, mindful of the bruises, and vanished through the fireplace. Harry waited until he had gone, then he left the infirmary and made his way down into the Great Hall. He desperately hoped that the feast was not yet over, after the relief to find that Sirius was all right, he only now noticed how hungry he was. The cauldron cakes were somewhere in his backpack, and Harry's mouth watered at the thought of the splendorous feast with which the start of a new term was always celebrated. He quickly checked his watch. A bit less than an hour had passed since his arrival at the castle. He had surely missed the Sorting, but probably not the feast.

Carefully, he opened the doors to the Great Hall, mindful not to make too much noise so as not to draw too much attention to himself. He needn't have worried, though. The Great Hall was abuzz with the conversation and chatter of the students as well as the sound of cutlery and dishes in use, and only the students closest do the doors paid any attention to his entry. Harry quickly made his way over to the Gryffindor table and sank down in an empty seat beside Ron. Hermione was sitting across from Harry's seat, but while he was approaching Harry had been able to see that she had been chatting with Lavender and had not paid any mind to Ron, who had been engaged in a discussion with Seamus and Dean. They all looked at him as he sat down in his chair, but before he said anything, Harry quickly reached for the food that stood closest and began to load a healthy portion of chicken and ham pie onto his plate. Food had a tendency to simply vanish here when Dumbledore decided to close the feast, and Harry needed something to eat now.

"And," Ron asked after a few seconds, obviously not able to contain his curiosity for any longer. "What did McGonagall want from you? She was back quickly with the first years, what kept you so long?"

"Sirius," Harry said between two bites of pie. "Could you hand me the potatoes?"

Ron did so, the questions still obvious on his face. "And," he repeated. "What did he say? Or don't you intend to tell us?"

"I will. But I haven't eaten since breakfast, I'd really like to get something in my stomach before the food vanishes. So, did I miss anything?"

Ron shrugged. "Not really. The sorting, obviously. We've got three new boys, and four new girls."

They had indeed, the seven new Gryffindors were sitting not so far away from them, seemingly torn between excitement, fatigue and a little bit of remaining fear as to what was awaiting them here. Harry only too well remembered that feeling from his first day at Hogwarts, yet looking at the new first years, he asked himself whether he had been this small upon coming here. He didn't have much time to contemplate this, however, as Ron continued to talk.

"You also missed the Sorting Hat's new song, but seeing that you heard last year's, you can guess what it was about. It was another variation of "I sort you into houses because that's my task, but you have to remember that only together you can defeat evil". Seeing that the hat had exactly a year to make up a new song, I'd say it was lacking a certain degree of inspiration and novelty."

Harry grinned. "Or maybe it thinks we haven't heeded its advice from the past year."

"Yeah, right. I don't have any problems working together with two thirds of the remaining houses, there's only one I can't imagine getting any closer to."

Harry snorted into agreement at the thought of combining forces with the likes of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle to defeat Voldemort. Though it did seem like an interesting experiment. Pretty much like using mice to clean out a house of rats.

With his stomach finally filled, Harry leaned back in his seat and allowed his gaze to drift around the Great Hall, and over towards the teacher's table. Hagrid caught his eye and waved cheerily, and Harry gave a small wave back. A few quick looks assured Harry that all the staff had returned for this year's classes. McGonagall obviously, sitting in her usual chair next to Professor Dumbledore, but all the others were there as well. Flitwick, Binns, Madam Hooch, Professor Sprout, and of course, Professor Snape. The tall Potions master and head of Slytherin House was sitting next to McGonagall, his plate with food untouched in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, and looking as sour as Harry had ever seen him. If that position was supposed to provoke some sort of reaction from his fellow teachers, they chose to ignore the hint and continued with their meal and conversation without paying any mind to Snape.

Next to Harry's least favourite teacher, the only unknown face on the teacher's table was seated, a tall blond man wearing midnight blue robes, who also didn't pay any mind to Snape's behaviour but instead was engaged in a lively discussion with Madam Hooch, laughing and gesturing as he spoke. Harry half-turned towards Ron, Seamus and Dean.

"It seems obvious that the guy next to Snape is our new Defence teacher, but has Dumbledore already said who he is?"

"No," Dean said, pointing his thumb discreetly over his shoulder to a group of fourth year girls sitting close to him. "But the swooning has already started. He's sooooo cute. And sooooo handsome. Do you think I should learn a charm to curl my hair? Do you know how to spell my eyelashes longer? Merlin, this is going to become a hard year. Marigold Pillwinkle has already started talking about trying a new spell against her acne, and we all knew what a drama it was when the last one failed."

Harry snickered. "They haven't been here to see Lockhart. That would have taught them that looks can be deceiving."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me of Lockhart, please. That guy was a nutcase even before he ended up in St. Mungo's."

"Maybe this year it'll be better. I have to admit that I don't particularly fancy the idea of sitting in a classroom with ten swooning, sighing or snickering girls ever again, but maybe this guy proves to be a capable teacher, contrary to Lockhart. At least I hope they Dumbledore hasn't resorted to choosing the teachers by their looks."

Ron nodded in agreement. "Last year should have proven that he doesn't. Once we get a female Defence teacher, it's someone like that toad Umbridge. That's not exactly what I'd call fair."

Harry saw Hermione raise an eyebrow, a sure sign that she had a remark at the ready, but she chose to keep silent and pretended to be engaged in a deep discussion with Lavender. Before they could continue their conversation, the food vanished from the plates and at the teacher's table, Dumbledore got up and clapped his hands. The room fell silent as the students interrupted their chatter and turned towards the headmaster. Dumbledore beamed at the room for a moment, looking from one table to the next, then he began to speak.

"Another splendid meal starting what will hopefully become another splendid year at Hogwarts. I welcome all of you back, and I heartily welcome those who have joined us this year amongst us. However, before you all leave for your dormitories and some well-earned rest, there are a few announcements I have to make before the start of term tomorrow.

Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has urgently impressed the need of announcing once more that the use of magic on the corridors in between classes is strongly discouraged. Furthermore, he asked me to bring to your attention that there is a large number of objects students are not allowed to possess at the castle. An updated list containing now a proud one hundred and twenty-seven of those forbidden items in alphabetical order from Acid Stinkers to Zonko's Self-exploding Quills can be found posted on the door of Mr. Filch's office."

A snicker went through the hall and there was a twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes as he paused for a moment before he continued.

"On a lighter note, the first Hogsmeade weekend is scheduled for the last week of October, third year students should not forget to hand in their signed permissions with their heads of houses before that.

As you all know that Dolores Umbridge has left our staff at the end of the last year – which, I might add, also implies that all Educational Decrees installed under her are now revoked –I am more than glad to welcome a new staff member amongst our midst. I'd like to introduce Professor Dante Fairbanks to you, our new Professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Applause sounded through the Great Hall, and Professor Fairbanks got up from his seat and gave a small bow before sitting down again. With quite some glee, Harry noticed that Snape's expression had turned even darker and more sour, though Harry would have thought that impossible only a few moments ago. When the applause died down, Dumbledore gestured for another moment of silence.

"We all know that the world outside is about to become increasingly dark and dangerous. Here at Hogwarts we are rather safe, but that doesn't mean we can close our eyes to what is happening outside the castle grounds. Knowledge and preparation is all we here can give you, and in these times we have to double our efforts to give you as much of it as we possibly can. There will be slight changes to the usual schedules, but that your heads of houses will inform you about tomorrow. For tonight, all there is left for me to do is wish you all a good night and pleasant dreams."

He spread his arms wide and the doors to the Great Hall opened. Ron pushed back his chair. "All right, time to get those kids up into Gryffindor Tower as quickly as possible. They can have the great tour of the castle tomorrow, I am tired. I see you upstairs, I guess. Password's Bowtuckle."

"Thanks", Harry said and got up from his chair. In all honesty he didn't envy Ron for the task to guide the new first years up to the dormitories. It always took some time, there was so much new to see in the castle that the children had to be reminded repeatedly to keep moving.

Harry was up in Gryffindor Tower in less than ten minutes, and by the time Ron and Hermione came up with the first years he had already changed into his pyjamas and was sitting on his bed. Judged from the look on his friend's face, Harry guessed that another encounter with Hermione had taken place, but in all honesty he was too tired to ask Ron about it. Besides, Ron didn't seem in the mood to talk about it right now, more in the mood to grumble lowly before he vanished behind the curtains of his four-poster. Harry said good night to the others, then he closed the curtains around his own bed and sank down on the mattress. So much had happened that day, yet as soon as his head hit the pillow, fatigue began to overwhelm him and within minutes he was fast asleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The next morning, Ron's mood had improved remarkably, and not even the prospect of the upcoming classes could dampen it.

"Anyway, Snape said he'd only take the best students in his class. It's still a mystery to me that I haven't failed my Potions' O.W.L.s, but unfortunately "Acceptable" isn't enough of a good grade." He made a small jump in the air while walking. "No more Potions. And, even better, no more Snape."

He grinned at Harry and Harry found himself grinning back. "Yeah, no more Snape. No more dungeons, no more bat-like swooping, no more being shouted at, no more of his sour visage."

"Yes, and that is such a pity."

Snickering, they made their way into the Great Hall and sat down in their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. There was more activity in the Great Hall than on the evening before, students were bustling to and fro between the tables, talking about the past holidays or about the schedules that had been handed out by the heads of the houses. Just as Harry and Ron sat down and started on their breakfast, Professor McGonagall started making her round at the Gryffindor table, a stack of schedules in hand. The students of the lower years were quickly dealt with, but the head of house remained with the sixth years quite a bit longer, discussing their schedules and choice of subjects. She reached Harry and Ron a few minutes later and placed two pieces of parchment in front of them.

"Your schedules, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. Due to your O.W.L. grades, both of you cannot participate in Professor Snape's N.E.W.T Potions class. As for your other N.E.W.T. classes, you have to decide which to drop and which not, your options are marked on your schedule. From your O.W.L. grades, I don't see any subject which should pose a problem for either of you. However, I'd suggest that you, Mr. Weasley, make up your mind whether an Acceptable is a good enough basis for continuing with Divination. However, this year Defence Against the Dark Arts is an obligatory class and cannot be dropped at all. If you have any more questions concerning your schedule, feel free to ask me."

Harry cast a quick glance down at his schedule. There was indeed no Potions class marked on it, to his eternal relief. He scanned the parchment to see if all the classes on it were ones he intended to take. Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy. So far, so good. Care of Magical Creatures and Divination took place at the same time, and Harry quickly picked up a quill and crossed Divination out. He had failed his O.W.L., anyway. There was still his promise to Remus that he'd talk to Binns and McGonagall about whether he could repeat his O.W.L. test for History of Magic, but just as Harry looked up at Ron to ask him whether he thought it would be a wise decision, his eyes fell on something strange on his schedule.

"Erm, Professor?"

McGonagall, who had proceeded a little down the table, looked back at Harry. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"Have the Defence Against the Dark Arts periods been doubled? I have it on my schedule twice as often than last year."

"Me too", Ron fell in after a quick glance at his own schedule.

McGonagall nodded. "Those are the changes in schedule the headmaster talked about yesterday. All students from year four on will receive additional lessons in active Defence."

Harry frowned. "What's active Defence supposed to mean? Duelling?"

McGonagall nodded. "In part, yes. Obligatory, and in far smaller groups than during the few times that Professor Lockhart tried to teach during his duelling club. Hopefully also more long-lasting and successful. But it won't only be about duelling but about all aspects of defence and self-protection. I'm sure Professor Fairbanks will tell you exactly what he has in mind during your first lesson."

"All right, thanks Professor."

McGonagall nodded again and turned back towards the task of distributing the remaining schedules to the few students who had come late for breakfast. Harry quickly downed his tea. "Starting with Charms today, aren't we?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah. We'd better go, otherwise we'll be late. I'm just curious as to what those additional Defence lessons are about."

"Well, the wait won't be all that long", Harry said after another glance at his schedule. "We have our first Defence class this afternoon."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Hurray to the fawning and swooning."

"Maybe the girls from our class have grown out of that age."

Ron just looked at Harry, then shook his head and silently set off towards Flitwick's Charm's class. Before they had reached the door to the Great Hall, however, Harry was stopped by Katie Bell.

"Harry, a minute if you have it."

Harry stopped. "Sure. And congratulations on becoming team captain."

Katie smiled a little nervously. "Thank you. I honestly thought that McGonagall and Dumbledore would choose you, though."

Harry shrugged. He hadn't spent all that much thought on captaincy for their Quidditch team, and in all honesty he was glad that he didn't have to carry that responsibility.

"We need to hold tryouts soon, our first game is already in the middle of October. I'll put a notice up in the Common Room, I was thinking about holding the tryouts this Saturday."

Harry nodded. "Sure, I've got the time."

"Good. I seriously doubt that you'll have to try out, though. So far, nobody has approached me for the position of the Seeker. I guess nobody thinks the could stand a chance against you. However", she turned towards Ron, "there might be a tryout for Keeper. From what I've heard, Cormac McLaggen wants into the team."

Ron turned slightly green around the nose, at the thought of trying out for Quidditch. His career on the Gryffindor team had been marked by a number of ups and downs during the past year. Actually, it had been marked by a lot of downs and one big up towards the end of the year.

"Saturday all right with you, Ron?", Katie asked.

Ron nodded numbly. "Sure. Perfectly all right."

"Good, I'll see you Saturday at ten. And don't you worry, if you play the way you did during our last match, McLaggen won't stand a chance against you. He's in my year, and I can tell you that he's just a bragging idiot."

Katie vanished and Harry and Ron set out towards their Charms class.

"Yeah, and if I play the way I did during the matches before the last one, then I'll be the laughing stock of Gryffindor tower again."
"Don't you worry about that now. I'm fairly sure that it'll work out. If this McLaggen truly was such a blast as a keeper, he'd have tried out last year as well. I'm sure it won't be that bad."

Ron didn't look truly convinced, but he avoided talking about Quidditch for the rest of the day.

Charms might have been the first lesson of the new school year, and while Harry's entire world had been thrown upside down and back again in the span of the summer holidays, he now had to realise that not only his own life had hanged. Voldemort was back again, after yesterday morning's events there was absolutely no doubt about that anymore, and from now on most of what they were learning at Hogwarts was not solely aimed at giving them a thorough education. This year they'd cover Disillusionment Spells, Shielding Charms, Warding Charms, Vanishing Spells, Tracking Spells and some basic Healing Charms. Flitwick didn't say it explicitly, but the intention behind this curriculum was obvious – to prepare them for what was about to come, just as Dumbledore had said. Now Harry understood about the doubled Defence lessons.

But for this morning, he and Ron did their best to try and cast a Disillusionment Charm on each other. Neither of them got the combination of flicking the wrist and tapping the wand on the other's head right, and when the lesson ended, all they had to show was Ron's left ear, which seemed slightly more transparent than before. Hermione, who had taken a seat at the far end of the classroom, managed to cast a near-perfect Disillusionment Charm on Parvati halfway through the lesson, and in squealing excitement Flitwick called the entire class to stop their own attempts and have a look at the translucent Parvati, who was nothing more than a ghostly outline against the wall behind her, barely discernibly except from when she moved.

"Flick and tap", Ron mimicked Flitwick on their way out of class. "Flick and tap. Look at Ms. Granger, look how she moves her wrist just before she taps the wand. That is how it's done." He grunted in annoyance. "Probably practiced it all summer, just so that she could shine in the first lesson."

"Ron, Hermione isn't allowed to perform magic during the holidays, just as we aren't. She can't have practiced."

"Yeah, but probably she read up everything about the theory beforehand."

Harry sighed. "Listen Ron, I know it's hard that Hermione is not talking to you because I dragged you into all this last summer."

Ron shook his head and waved Harry off. "You know Hermione, mate. That is why she was angry when it happened, right now she's just trying to prove her point. Don't go around blaming yourself for something we can't change anymore. She'll come around."

Harry seriously doubted that point, though he didn't tell Ron as much. Hermione could hold a grudge, and judged from the past two days she had no intention of changing the momentary situation. He'd have to try and catch her during a moment alone, there was still some talking he had to do with Hermione, anyway.

But he was quickly torn out of his musings when he turned to walk down the staircase, yet Ron turned left and made move to walk to another part of the castle entirely. Harry stopped and frowned.

"Ron, where are you going? We have Care of Magical Creatures now, don't we?"

Ron grimaced uncomfortably and scratched his head. "Erm, you see…I don't…I mean, I didn't really plan on continuing Care of Magical Creatures."

"But why? Are you going to tell me that you'd rather take Divination? You'd prefer a fraud like Trelawney over Hagrid?"

"Yes, Trelawney is a fraud, for the most part at least. Not to mention unbearable at times. Harry, you know that I like Hagrid. I really do. But…as much as I like Hagrid as a person, but if you're honest with yourself he's not exactly a really good teacher. What he's doing during lessons has been downright dangerous more often than is hasn't been."

"Oh, but Trelawney is a good teacher? Or Firenze, for that matter?", Harry snapped back, angered at Ron's decision.

Ron only shook his head. "No, we both know that. But Trelawney's harmless, and so is Firenze. Both are boring to death in their very own way, and either way it's a double period of sitting around, fighting sleep, and in Trelawney's case making up predictions about somebody's untimely demise. It's a lot easier, and a lot safer than trying to evade one of Hagrid's lethal beasts."

"Ron, you can't be serious about this."

"Sorry mate. I gotta go, otherwise I'll be late."

Harry's mood took a turn for the worse as he walked out of the castle on his own, making his way towards Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A small group of students was already clustered at the fence near the hut, mostly Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Dean and Seamus were the only Gryffindors present, which meant that Hermione had also skipped Care of Magical Creatures for another lesson. Just great.

The only good thing was that there was no trace of Malfoy or his cronies anywhere around, either. In fact, no Slytherin at all was present, only the three Gryffindors and another handful of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Ernie McMillan hurried up and together with Harry they joined their classmates at the fence next to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid looked over the small crowd of students in front of him and smiled.

"Everybody 'ere? Good. Let's get started, There's much we've gotta do 'tis year. I've a gran' project for y'all 'tis term."

Dean turned towards Harry and Seamus and raised a doubtful eyebrow. Harry didn't like to admit it, but Ron had not been all that wrong. When Hagrid got that excited about one of his projects, it mostly was about something sane people would call dangerous. His loyalty for Hagrid aside, Harry contemplated for just one moment whether Ron's decision to continue with Divination wasn't the right one. Hagrid didn't notice anything about Harry's pensieve behaviour, he strode over towards his cabin, picked up a large roll of parchment and fixed it to his door with five-inch nails and a hammer the size of Harry's head.

"Alright, gather 'round 'ere, folks."

The class did, and Harry saw that the parchment contained a large number of creatures. Hagrid turned towards them and beamed.

"Alright. 'ere's a little list I've made, of some of the animals 'ere in the forest. The next coupl'a lessons, we'll go and have a li'l look at them all, and then y'all pair up and pick one animal to care for this term."

Ernie McMillan raised a hand. "Erm, I've got a question."

Hagrid looked up at him and his smile grew even wider. "Yeah, sure. Go on and ask."

"What exactly do you mean, care for the animals?"

"Why, studyin' 'em, for one. Feedin' them if possible, learnin' their ways. Carin' for them. Those are all creatures that don't live too deep in der forest, or ones I c'n ask to come closer at times. You'll be in pairs, and you willna be far into the forest, or only with me at certain times. You'll all learn the ways of your animal, whom they're livin' with an' who their prey is, whom they're prey to an' how they behave t'wards humans, all important things ter know. But that'll only be in a couple of weeks, for now we're all studying all of those animals, see where they all live and how they behave towards each other an' us. An' if at any point you have a question or don't want to go inter the forest alone, you can always ask me or Firenze to help you along. I asked if he was willin' ter help an' he agreed."

Harry was starting to get a little more worried with each of Hagrid's words. Ron was right and Hagrid truly wasn't the best teacher to have ever set foot to Hogwarts, but that wasn't the problem. It had never been a problem before. Hagrid was one of Harry's most favourite people, and he enjoyed being around him, whether he learned exceedingly much during a Care of Magical Creatures lesson or not. And it definitely wasn't as if there was nothing interesting to be learned during his lessons.

The problem was that Hagrid had a serious problem with the definition of what was dangerous and what not. Hagrid might not have a problem going into the forest alone, Harry was nearly sure of that. Most of the creatures there knew him, some evaded him and others accepted him. Some even had a pet-like quality for Hagrid, and he surely understood a bit about their ways. His big, no make that huge problem was to understand that the same rules didn't apply for everybody else. Harry only too vividly remembered his and Ron's encounter with Aragog, the giant spider. The beast had all too willingly helped Ron and him, only to announce that though they were friends of Hagrid's he'd let his children eat them now.

Caring for a creature of the forest and learning about their ways was good and fine, and Harry certainly had no qualms about going into the forest with Hagrid, but he most certainly wouldn't do it on his own. And he doubted that Firenze would be of much help when it came to protection. True enough, the centaur had already helped Harry a great deal once, against the protest of his fellow centaurs even. But Firenze still remained a centaur, no matter that he was an outcast now, and centaurs spend a whole lot of their time with gazing at the stars and pondering the meaning of their constellations. Aside from being hellishly confusing, it also provided little to no help should any of the creatures of the forest decide to attack at the precise moment when a centaur discovered a particularly interesting star constellation.

And ever since the end of the previous term, even the centaurs were prone to attack people at times. Harry wondered why Hagrid even suggested going back into the forest after everything that had happened the previous year. And during the next moment that he was alone with Hagrid, he definitely needed to ask him what had happened to Grawp. He had not forgotten about Hagrid's attempt to civilise his half-giant brother, and Grawp's presence had definitely not helped calming things in the forest just one bit.

For the remaining lesson, Harry and his classmates listened to Hagrid's explanations as to what he expected their project to look like. Before the lesson ended, he handed each of them a copy of the list of creatures and asked them to make up their minds about possible animals and creatures to watch for the next week. The small group of students was oddly silent as they made their way back up to the castle, the lists all having vanished into their schoolbags quite quickly as none of them was yet ready to face what they might have to deal with this term. Harry guessed that he was not the only one who had slight doubts as to why he had not taken a different lesson that Care of Magical Creatures. But now the dye was cast, he'd just have to make the best out of it.