"Welcome, Welcome," Snape began, his grave and gravelly voice taking all the cheer out of the words, turning them stone-cold. "You will note that we will celebrate a new member joining us today." Harry at last found people's eyes looking at him, but - for once - they didn't seem more than slightly curious.
Draco Malfoy spoke up, looking small and pallid beside Snape's sallow complexion, "Remember, all that you say here is truth. Here, It is most unwise to try to lie."
"We will speak now, and tell the tales that need to be told, so that we do not repeat them." Snape said firmly. "None need feel forced to speak, although we will all listen without question. None need feel forced to reveal, though we will not speak of this outside this room. None need feel forced to feel, although we will look away if you come to tears." The last lines had had a peculiar cadence, and Harry wasn't at all surprised to see three circles come to life around the crowd. What he hadn't expected were the circles to be offkilter - like a drawn atom's triple circle around the nucleus. What sort of spell did that?
"Our newest member may begin." Snape said, although it took Draco Malfoy walking over and discretely elbowing Harry in the side for Harry to realize that he was wanted. The look of amused exasperation was enough to make Harry Potter want to hide. If Snape wasn't upset or horribly angry at Harry Potter, something was wrong.
Harry wasn't sure he wanted to know what.
He didn't have anything to say, so he stood firmly, trying to look like a soldier, as people looked him over.
[a/n: there we go! Can you guess what they'll talk about?
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Psst. Yes, of course, the newest member never says anything the first time. How would they know what it's about?]