Disclaimer: All of the characters that are depicted in this story belong to J. K. Rowling except the ones that are first introduced in this story.

Authors Note: Finally the gang goes back to school. In this chapter, a once small character gets slightly bigger (and I mean that in terms of importance not size). Also I just reread chapter six and I personally think that there were some things I could have done differently. All I can say is I'm not J. K. Rowling so they're not all good.

Chapter 7

He's Nott Crazy

Harry opened his eyes and looked at his alarm clock. 8:15am. Panic suddenly seized him. He jumped out of bed, threw on cloths and started chucking things into his open trunk. "Why had he slept late?" he demanded of himself. "Why had he put off packing until this morning? Why hadn't Mrs. Weasly come to wake him like she usually did? We're going to miss the Hogwarts express. It leaves at nine and it's at least a half hour drive."

Just as Harry picked up his head boy badge, he immediately stopped everything and sank back onto his bed feeling positively foolish. "Half hour drive? What the bloody hell is wrong with me? I can apparate!" Harry changed out of his muggle cloths and into his school robes. There was no need for muggle cloths this time for he would be apparating directly into platform 9 ¾. He pinned his head boy badge onto his chest and finished packing his new school books which Mrs. Weasly had bought for him while he had been at Godric's Hollow the day before. Then he headed downstairs.

Ron was sitting at the table eating the breakfast that Mrs. Weasly had made for everyone before leaving with Ginny. Hermione was standing at the edge of the table pacing back and forth looking extremely nervous. When she saw Harry she made a bee line straight for him. "What took you so long?" she demanded. "We're going to be late!"

"Hermigonig" Ron said with a mouth full of food. Ron swallowed his eggs and corrected himself. "Hermione, it takes us a split second to apparate. We could leave at 8:59 and we still wouldn't be late"

"Ronald" Hermione said sternly "that would be cutting it way to close. Harry and I are head boy and girl and we need to set a good example by showing up a reasonable amount of time early." Ron seemed to get peeved at the mention of Harry and Hermione being heads. Hermione seemed to notice this and she seemed to wish she could take back what she had just said. Harry, not wanting his best friend mad at him on their first day of school, decided to take Ron's side.

"Ron's right Hermione." said Harry. "Every year we end up having to run for the train. This year let's just take our time." Hermione gave him an annoyed look then looked around for an excuse.

"What if the clock is slow?" she asked finally settling on the clock on the wall.

"How can a clock be slow? It's not going anywhere." said a confused Ron. Harry laughed as he sat down for his breakfast.

"Hermione" Harry said, "magic clocks don't get slow or fast and you should really know that by now." And with that Harry picked up a piece of bacon, shoved it into his mouth and looked over at Hermione. It wasn't often that she said something stupid, but when she did, it was a moment worth remembering.

Hermione finally convinced them to leave at 8:50 so that they would have ten minutes to spare. Harry picked up his trunk and Hedwig's cage and apparated. The next moment, he was on the familiar platform 9 ¾ looking up at the big red train that would take him to Hogwarts. Harry looked around the platform and was a little surprised to see so few people had arrived. "Am I that early?" Harry thought out loud.

"I don't think so." said Hermione who had just apparated next to him.

"Then where is everybody?" Harry asked her.

"I bet a lot of students were pulled out of school by their parents because of Dumbledore's death."

"Oh right." Harry suddenly remembered running into the Patil twins at the wedding and how their father had been anxious to get them away from him. Harry thought for a second that maybe he himself was the reason so many parents wanted their students to stay away from school. He was, after all, the one Voldemort wanted dead.

"Well I'm glad to see that you three showed up early." Harry turned and saw that Mrs. Weasly had just come through the fake wall followed by Ginny. Mrs. Weasly gave them all the usual goodbye hugs before they boarded the train and waved goodbye to them as the train took off.

"Come on Harry" Hermione said once the train had started moving. "We need to go to the prefect meeting." Ron snorted in anger as Hermione led the way to the end of the train. Once they were far enough from Ron and Ginny, Hermione commented "Ron really wanted to be head boy you know. But he'll get over it."

They were the first ones to reach the front carriage but slowly the fifth and sixth year prefects arrived one by one. Harry, never having been a prefect, had never been to a prefect meeting, so Hermione led it. She helped them all pick out patrol schedules and they agreed on Tuesdays for meetings. Once the meeting was finally over, Harry found that he was extremely hungry. Luckily the trolley had made it's way to their side of the train and Harry told Hermione to go ahead while he bought himself some lunch.

After buying his cauldron cakes, Harry made his way down the train looking in windows trying to find his friends. He noticed that there were a lot more empty compartments than usual. Several people waved to him. He also saw several people who should have graduated the year before, but had to come back to take their N.E.W.T. exams, Cho Chang, Harry's ex-girlfriend among them.

When Harry looked back in front of him from checking a compartment for his friends, he saw that his way was blocked by the two widest students at Hogwarts, Crabbe and Goyle. Standing in front of them, arms folded looking intently at Harry was Draco Malfoy's girlfriend Pansy Parkinson. When Harry got up to them, they didn't look like they were moving. "Excuse me." Harry said trying to get them to move. No one moved or said anything. "I don't know if you realize it, but you two are so fat, that when you stand side by side like that, you block the whole hallway." Crabbe and Goyle glared at him.

"Why should we let you pass?" asked Parkinson, clearly trying to sound intimidating.

"So you've taken over babysitting these two then have you?" Harry asked Parkinson. Then he turned back to Crabbe and Goyle. "Are the two of you so stupid that you always need someone to do your thinking for you?" Crabbe and Goyle's glares got even meaner, but then suddenly changed to looks of fear at something behind Harry.

"Better move boys or the 'head boy' might give you 'detention'." said a low voice behind Harry that he did not recognize. To his great surprise, Crabbe and Goyle both nodded and headed back to their compartments. Parkinson, peeved at Crabbe and Goyle deserting her, gave Harry one last glare and turned to leave. Harry turned around to see who had spoken and found that he was face to face with a stringy Slytherin that had never spoken in front of him before. "Harry Potter." the boy said smugly.

"That's my name don't wear it out." Harry replied, not wanting to show that he was confused. "And you are…" Harry waited for the boy to finish his sentence but he said nothing. Then Harry found that he remembered the boys name. "Theodore Nott right?" The boy nodded.

"So tell me" Nott said, "is it true?"

"Is what true?"

Nott looked around to make sure no one could hear him. Then he said to Harry in a low voice "That Dumbledore begged for his life before Snape finished him." Harry suddenly filled with rage and before he knew what he was doing, he had reached into his robes, pulled out his wand, and pointed it at Nott's throat. Nott didn't even flinch. He simply stood there as if welcoming the wand pointed at his throat. His eyes were wide and hungry looking. Harry was reminded of a young Tom Riddle holding the locket of Slytherin.

After a standoff that lasted several seconds, Harry took a deep breath and lowered his wand. Nott looked disappointed and turned to go back to his compartment. Harry thought for a minute about the odd confrontation he had just had. Any normal person would have shown at least a little fear of getting cursed, but apparently Theodore Nott was not a normal person. Harry also wondered how Nott knew that Dumbledore had indeed begged Snape for his life.

After a few more seconds of walking, Harry finally reached the compartment that contained, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, a round boy named Neville Longbottom, a girl with dirty blonde hair named Luna Lovegood, and to Harry's surprise, the brown haired adult witch that Harry had seen at Bill and Fleur's wedding. When Harry opened the compartment door, all of his friends greeted him happily. Harry got the idea that they had all been having a very entertaining chat.

"Harry what took you so long?" asked Hermione excitedly. "Let me introduce you. This is Professor Donovan."

"Please Hermione." said the brown haired woman. "Classes haven't even started yet. You don't have to call me Professor." She had a very good natured voice and she seemed to be a genuinely happy person. Harry had a little difficulty believing that this person was a teacher.

"You're a teacher?" Harry asked.

"When the school year starts, I will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Until then, my name is Angelica. Angie for short." she responded holding out her hand to shake. Harry took it and shook it. "And you of course need no introduction. Your Harry Potter."

Harry sat down in the crowded compartment while Angelica continued the story she had been telling before Harry had interrupted. Apparently Angelica had spent the last several years in America working as a hitwitch, which was what they called aurors in America. The stories she told were very entertaining ones about hunting dark wizards in America. Angelica was a very good story teller, and she seemed to find just the right moments to pause for dramatic effect or crack a joke.

As Harry listened, he wondered several things about Angelica, having temporarily forgotten his run-in with Nott. The first thing he wondered was how a totally business-like man such as Andrew Donovan could have a sister as happy and laid back as her. They looked enough alike, they both had the same pointy ears, the same eyes, and the same nose, but that seemed to be their only similarities. Angelica seemed much more awake and did not share Andrew's pale skin or the bags under his eyes.

Secondly, Harry wondered how she had been found to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. The year prior, Dumbledore had actually been so desperate to find a teacher that he'd had to give the job to Snape whom he had avoided giving the job to for as long as Harry had been going to school. The fact that she had just come back from America was probably a factor, but Harry noticed that did not seem to want to go into detail about why she had left England or why she had suddenly decided to quit her job and come back to teach.

The third and final thing that Harry wondered was why she looked so familiar. Where had he seen her before? It must have been several years ago because Harry had a vague picture in his head of Angelica looking much younger. But how was that possible if she had just gotten back from America?

Finally, the train arrived at the station. Harry hopped off the train and heard the familiar "First years this way." from Hagrid. Harry waved at Hagrid who waved back happily. Angelica, who had gotten off after Harry waved at Hagrid as well who waved back. Harry wondered briefly why everyone seemed to know her except him.

As head boy, Harry was responsible for making sure that all the students got off the train safely. Once the train was empty, Harry headed to the thestral-drawn carriages. There were only two left. One was full of his friends who were waiting for him. The other seemed to be populated only by Theodore Nott, who was standing outside of the empty carriage looking directly at the thestrals. When Nott noticed Harry looking at him, he nodded towards the thestrals and gave Harry a small wink. This registered in Harry's mind. "Theodore Nott can see the thestrals." Harry thought. "Theodore Nott has seen death."

Authors Note: And there you go, another chapter in the bag. Hope you liked this one. There was some more foreshadowing in this chapter so I hope you were paying attention. Just for the record, most of the details about Theodore Nott are not made up. Check out if you don't believe me.