As he arrived back in the common room he found Ron and Hermione waiting for him. Hermione was reading one of her school books whilst Ron seemed to be doodling on some parchment.

"So what did Dumbledore say to you?" He asked as he spotted Harry. He told them about the meeting and about the gold galleons they would be using.

"Really? It's just like the ones I made!" said Hermione excitedly as he showed her his coin. She apparently took it as a personal compliment that Dumbledore would use one of her ideas.

Harry skimmed over any mention about his dream, and went straight on to the part about him being a Slytherin prefect.

"You don't think I'm ever meant to go in to their common room do you, and you know, make sure they aren't messing about?" He enquired with trepidation.

"I don't believe so." Hermione replied after thinking on the matter for a moment. "You would have been told the password if you needed to know it. I wouldn't worry too much. Most prefect duties are general; it is only a few of the things like the start of term feast or other formal events where you need to specifically look after your house."

Having reassured Harry that he wouldn't have too horrible a time ahead of him, she returned to her book. Harry looked round and spotted Adam sitting on his own in a corner, reading a magazine about Quidditch.

"Hey Ron, shall we go speak to Adam? He might be able to give us some tips on dealing with difficult students" Ron shrugged.

"Might as well. I haven't got anything better to do."

The two of them made there way over to him.

"Hi Adam." Said Harry as he bounced on his feet. A habit he had managed to pick up from Tonks. Adam looked up from his magazine.

"Hi guys. What's up?"

"Not much, we just thought we would see how you were doing. Wondered if perhaps you had some advice on how to do a good job being a prefect?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, much about how to do a good job. You guys will know more than me. I wasn't a prefect before. In fact I'm new to the school."

"That will explain why I haven't seen you around before now." Ron exclaimed.

"Well you see I used to go to Mirrari Academy of Magical Arts, it is a school in Australia. I only transferred over here during the summer. My parents wanted me to stay over there. Mirrari starts at a later age you see, so it's very rare for people to transfer to Hogwarts, or if they do they end up in a year of two below their age. I was head of my class so I just managed to make it in. I spent a good part of the summer swatting, so I hope I won't be in the bottom of the class, but you never know. I think professor Dumbledore might have just made me head boy so that I would get to know people better. Does that sound like the sort of thing he would do?"

"Yeah, that could well be it." Harry said. It was a known fact that on occasion even Dumbledore slippers had an ulterior motive. "Why did you transfer though?"

"Well I am originally from England, which is why my accent isn't that strong. My parents are Herbologists and they were assigned to a big project in Australia, so we moved when I was eight. They finished their work though in April, so I decided that after I finished my school year there I would come over here, otherwise I have to stay at school over the holidays."

"Are they any good at Quidditch over there?" asked Ron enthusiastically. "Yeah I guess. I mean they are about the same as over here really. One of my friends was a seeker for his schoolhouse. He was pretty good, could probably go pro in a couple of years."

"Better than Harry?" Adam glanced at Harry and replied in a way that suggested he was choosing his words carefully.

"I don't know. I haven't seen you play yet. Are you on the school team?"

"Yeah I have been since first year. If you are in to Quidditch we should have some spots open for Chasers. You should try out."

"Yeah I might do that." Adam replied with a smile. With the conversation at a suitable end, they excused themselves.

A couple of hours later, half way through a game of exploding snap, McGonagall walked into the room. She made her way over to the notice board where she pinned up a notice, before exiting. Harry turned his attention back to the game when the pile of cards in front of him exploded. He cradled his burnt hand as he turned to Ron.

"Do you think it's about tryouts?" He asked as they went to see what had been posted up. There was an important looking piece of parchment pinned to the middle. Harry's eyes scrolled down and as he got to the bottom he cursed. It read:

All 6th and 7th year students are expected to go on school day trips as part of the N.E.W.T course. It is therefore essential that we have a consent form from your legal guardians. Failure to produce a consent form to Professor M. McGonagall by the 31st of September will result in the student being unable to attend the school trip, and will therefore affect the student grade. It is essential that the student fill in a form in order to get a good grade. There will be trouble for any students who let me down!

Professor M. McGonagall

"Oh bugger." Harry thought to himself. This was certainly not good news. Since Sirius' accident last year, Harry's legal guardians were once again The Dursley's. This meant that he would have to write to them asking for them to sign it. He couldn't imagine how they would agree. If they knew that his grades would suffer thanks to them, then they would probably do everything within their power not to sign it.

"That's a pity about the School trips. I won't be able to get the Dursley's to sign it. Maybe Dumbledore could sign it for me, he knows I won't be able to go otherwise." He said to Ron glumly. Ron looked to him with a vacant expression.

"Oh what? Yeah the school trip. No it's just that I was expecting there to be a Quidditch sign up sheet. It would be nice to see who signs up because I don't want a bunch of duffers flying with us." Ron said with disinterest in the school trips. Harry looked and saw indeed there were no other sheets.

"Well Ron it is only the first day. It will probably be a couple more days before McGonagall remembers we are three chasers short." Ron considered what he had said.

"Yeah you're probably right mate. Still, dinner must be ready about now. Shall we head down?"

They made their way down the corridors towards the Great Hall. As they walked in they noted that it was already full of people. The enchanted ceiling showed a clear starry night, a black blanket scattered with dots of yellow. Harry sat down at the table at the end nearest the teachers. Ron sat next to him while Hermione sat opposite.

"Who do you think the new teachers will be?" Ron asked curiously. Harry looked to the teacher's table which was more full than normal, due to the addition of Remus, Tonks, Moody and Kingsley. Harry then looked next to the empty seat next to them. The defence against the dark arts teacher obviously hadn't arrived yet. He sat and waited patiently.

Dumbledore was dressed in a flowing robe of shimmering purple. He was engaged in a discussion with a very animated Hagrid, who was sitting to his right.

Harry directed his attention back to the rest of the hall. The last few remaining students crept into the hall. Now it seemed all the students were here, all of them except Cho that is.

"It seems weird sitting here doesn't it, without the sorting of the first years and everything. Still I'm not complaining. It means we get to eat sooner." Said Ron, who was staring down anxiously at his golden plate, willing his dinner to appear.

Harry glanced towards the door to see someone walking through it. They were tall and they walked with grace. They moved along swiftly as their silvery hair flowed out behind them. Everyone's head turned to face them, or at least every boy's head. Harry found himself watching her moving. She seemed to radiate an aura of superiority. She was headed straight towards the teacher's table. Harry looked to Dumbledore, who had now finished talking to Hagrid, and was waiting patiently for the woman to make her way to the table. Harry heard hushed whispers as she walked past people. The woman finally reached the end of the hall, where she made her way round to the back of the teacher's table on the raised up platform.

She sat down in the vacant seat and grinned a beautiful smile of pearly white teeth. Harry could hear what the teachers were saying as he strained his ears. Dumbledore looked to her and said. "Good to see you Professor Delacour."

They exchanged brief words which Harry didn't manage to catch. Dumbledore then rose from his seat in order to address the students. The hall fell into silence as he stood, dressed in his flowing purple cloak and pointed hat. He stared down upon them.

"Welcome everybody, to a new year at Hogwarts. I know I said that yesterday, but I haven't learnt a new speech yet, so I shall try my best to make this up as I go along.

"Anyway, It is good to see you all made your way here. I hope you all enjoyed your day off today. Lessons however, shall return as normal tomorrow so don't stay up too late. Now down to the more boring bits. As usual the forest is out of bounds to all students. Mr. Filch has reminded me to tell you that the list of items banned from school has been altered to include every single product available from Weasley-Wizard Wheezes." Ron laughed about this before the sudden realisation that he had a bag containing dozens of illegal school items. "Now I'm sure some of you are interested to know who the new Defence against Dark arts teacher is. Or perhaps I should say Teachers."

"I would like to present to you the four new Defence against Dark arts teachers." He smiled as Remus and the others stood up. The great hall broke into applause, as there was a chorus of whispers,

"Four?!" he heard many people saying, and from the Gryffindor table Harry heard lots of people saying things along the lines of

"Wow Professor Lupin is back." Harry looked up at the teacher table to see Remus smiling at him, unable to control his big grin. Harry smiled back. In all his years at Hogwarts Remus had been his favourite teacher. Moody was also good although I little bit too enthusiastic at times, Tonks… well he would have to wait and see. As for Kingsley, he was certain that the man would be quite capable, if a little boring. Ron was clapping enthusiastically, whilst Hermione was beaming.

"Professor Shacklebolt, Lupin, Moody and Tonks." Dumbledore spoke loudly over the students. The applause increased once more and then eventually died away. Dumbledore cleared his throat as he continued. "And now I would like to introduce to you, Professor Delacour, our new Divination's teacher. Unfortunately after certain incidents last year, Professor Trelawney decided not to return into teaching, so professor Delacour will be filling her position. The hall cheered, Ron turned to Harry looking slightly glum.

"I should have chosen divinations after all. That's typical as soon as we drop a subject a decent teacher comes along." By decent he meant decent looking.

Once the cheers had died down again, Dumbledore continued to speak.

"Now I have some important news that will be very bad for some of you, whilst others will find it very good. Either way you should find it exciting. I'm afraid top tell you that this year, there shall be no school Quidditch matches." As Dumbledore said this there was a few seconds of silence before the hall broke into madness. Several members of the schools Quidditch teams jumped to there feet and started yelling profanity, which wasn't heard over the angry roar coming from the rest of the students.

"The nerve of it!" Ron yelled while waving his hand threateningly. It took several minutes before the hall had finally yelled them selves out. At one point he thought they might storm the top table and demand blood.

"As I was saying before some of you chose to voice your concerns in such a unique way, there will be no school Quidditch matches. That does not however, mean that Quidditch will be off. Not for some of you anyway. For this year, we have decided to participate in an interschool Quidditch tournament instead. We will be competing throughout the year, against three other schools. Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and Mirrari. As most of you know from the Tri- Wizard tournament two years ago, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons are schools in France and Bulgaria. Mirrari Academy of Magical Arts is another wizarding school, located in Australia."

Harry's mind flashed back to what Adam had said.

"Adam came from that school didn't he?" He asked. Ron nodded as Hermione, in a know it all voice began.

"Oh yes. Mirrari Academy is another wizarding school. It was founded in the early twelfth century by Madam…" Harry cut her off in mid-sentence.

"That's nice. You should stop talking. I don't think Dumbledore has finished speaking yet." He quickly turned his attention back to the announcements before Hermione could punch him. The few people who were talking stopped.

"Now although this will be exciting, there will be some bad news. As you can imagine, we will only be having one team. In order to make it fair, we shall be holding tryouts of for everyone from all houses, to see which players will best represent us." Harry smiled to himself. Without being modest he would have to say he was the best seeker in the school, and he had the best broom as well. "The other bad news is that only one of the matches shall be here at Hogwarts. Each school will be playing a match against each different school. This means we shall be taking part in three of the six matches. The winning school after the final match this May; will receive a large trophy, which I believe would make a nice addition to our cabinet.

"The first match will take place on the fifth of November, At Beauxbatons."

Dumbledore smiled at them all. "I know that it may be dull with only one Quidditch match, scheduled to take place here, but that is why Professor Flitwick has been working tirelessly over the summer to come up with some magic that will allow you all to watch the matches right here in the great hall." Hermione suddenly seemed a lot more interested in Dumbledore's words as he mentioned this.

"The matches will be projected onto the rear wall as it happens in another school. It won't be quite as good as the real thing but we trust it will work well." Harry looked at the wall suddenly expecting to see people flying round. Instead it continued being boring. "Tryouts for the interschool Quidditch team will be held on Saturday the twelfth, in just under two week's time." For a full list of details please look at your house notice boards within the next few days. I think that is all for now except to say, dig in." He said as the dishes in front of them that magically filled with food.

Harry looked to Ron who was eyeing the feast with amazement. He was apparently having a difficult time deciding what he should eat first. Harry decided to help him out by choosing for him. He reached out and grabbed some steamed noodles, and put them down on Ron's plate.

"Would ickle Ronnie like some help with his food?" He asked in a teasing voice. Ron gave him a friendly thump on his arm.

"Watch it mate, you sound like Fred or George."

Harry helped himself to a few things on the table. Hermione picked up some tuna pasta bake, and some sort of vegetables.

"Ron you really will get fat if you always eat things like that." Said Hermione with disapproval as she gestured to the small mountain of food that seemed to have apparated onto his plate. Ron looked as if he thought she was completely insane.

"What do you expect me to have? Some funny green plants?" He asked while shaking his fork at her. Unfortunately his fork had been in a mid journey raid from the chicken on his plate and as a result he ended up flicking gravy all over her face. She glared angrily at him, as she wiped her face clean. "What?" He said thickly through a mouthful of chicken. "It's only gravy!"

"So Ron, I guess we know why there wasn't a tryout sheet on the notice board now don't we?" Said Harry as he tried to draw the attention away from Ron's lack of good table manners.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ron said with apprehension in his voice. There was a few seconds as he berated if he should confess what was on his mind. "I'm just not sure if I will be able to get onto the school team. I will be up against three other keepers, not to mention I don't know how good the others might be, who haven't played before."

Harry tried to comfort him.

"Don't worry Ron, You're a great keeper, and beside, I don't hear any other teams singing songs about how great their keeper is!" Ron gave a brief laugh, though it didn't seem to entirely dispel his doubt.

"Yeah I guess your right." They continued eating and making friendly discussion. As they finished their food the plates in front of them cleared away and were replaced with various puddings. Harry took some Bananas and custard and Hermione took some crème brulee. Ron? Well, he had everything.

When they finally finished, Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet. "I'm sure you have all eaten well. I haven't much to say, but for the first year's benefit, breakfast is available from six o'clock, although I rarely find anyone wants to be up so early. Your timetables will be given out then. I think that is all so I shall now bid you all, goodnight." The students all got up sadly as the last day before lessons began drew to an end. Harry quickly walked over to the teacher's table. He wanted some quick words with Remus and the others before the end of tonight. They seemed to be staying behind as if they had been expecting him to speak to them anyway.

"Hey how come you guys never told me that you were the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers?" Harry asked, surprised that he hadn't been told.

"Well Harry it seemed a bit silly of us to spend the year here at school and be doing nothing but guarding you." Explained Moody.

"So Dumbledore offered us all jobs as Dark Arts teachers." Added Tonks, while rolling up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts is a very important subject during such dark times Harry." Continued Moody. Kingsley stood there in silence. Remus stood looking at Harry nervously as if he was going to ask Harry something.

"We didn't tell you we were teachers because we thought it would be a nice surprise." Said Tonks.

"And it is nice to be able to get paid work for once." Said Remus happily.

"Is that all you wanted to discuss with us Harry?" Asked Moody as he cocked an eyebrow. "Um yeah I think that is all," said Harry. He, Hermione and Ron started to leave when Remus called him

"Harry. I was wondering if… No, never mind. I will speak about it some other time." Harry nodded, and bid them all good night.

They made their way up to the Gryffindor tower. As they walked in Harry found himself being haled by Dean, Seamus, Parvati and Lavender.

"Yeah?" he said as he sat down next to them.

"Well Harry we were thinking. Since you're a prefect you probably know loads of cool stuff don't you?" Harry didn't know what they were getting at.

"What do you mean?" He asked confused. Parvati and Lavender gave each other sly looks before Parvati said.

"Well Harry we were wondering what special events and things have been planned for this year. Are there any?" Harry was about to tell them about the ball that was arranged for this year when Hermione walked up behind him.

"You will have to try harder than that you two." She looked at Harry who was confused. "Prefects aren't allowed to tell students about events that are planned or passwords." She explained sternly. Harry nodded.

"I wasn't going to tell them." He lied.

"That's ok. You didn't know." Hermione said before walking off.

Harry looked back to the four.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you anything." He said with a shrug before going back to join Ron. They played a game of wizard chess that lasted just over an hour. As the game of chess went on, the common room gradually emptied. By the time they finished there were just a few seventh years and Harry, Hermione and Ron. Hermione got up and yawned. "I think I will go to bed now." She said whilst stretching out. She ruffled Harry's hair as she walked up stairs. Ron stared at him, with a look that is normally reserved for when you're curiously questioning someone's hygiene, without them knowing it.

"Hey Harry have you noticed Hermione has been acting a little bit weird lately?" said Ron once she was out of earshot. Harry's thought about What Ron meant. Well there was the kiss earlier. Although it was as friends, she hadn't done that before. Not on the lips.

"No I can't think of anything strange about her." Said Harry as he couldn't think of anything else.

"Are you sure?" questioned Ron. "She seems sort of more touchy. Like messing up your hair. It's just mean. You spend ages doing your hair and she just comes along and messes it up. I don't know what her problem is!"

"Yeah I know, it's a pain." Said Harry while rolling his eyes. He didn't have the energy to explain it to Ron. "Who knows? She is a girl; I don't think we are meant to understand them. Are we?" Harry said unsurely. Ron displayed a panic stricken look.

"I sure as hell hope not. I don't have a bloody clue."

Harry laughed, as they made their way up the staircase. The others in the dormitory were apparently asleep already. Harry went into the bathroom and washed. He splashed some cold water over his face and rubbed his eyes. He walked out of the bathroom allowing Ron to get ready for bed. Harry changed into his pyjamas and climbed into bed. He started drifting into sleep, ignoring the loud snoring that was coming from the other side of the room.