Chapter 21 – The New Beginning

A series of very surreal dreams was brought to a sudden end as Harry heard a soft, dreamy voice in his ear.

"Rise and shine."

More than a little disorientated, he gradually pulled his eyes open and brought them into focus. Ginny was kneeling on the bed in front of him, wearing what he recognised as one of his t-shirts and a sunny smile on her face. He decided that the best idea would be to stay absolutely still until his head fell into place.

"Hi," he began, letting the sight of her work its magic on the ache behind his eyes, "What…err…what happened?"

She beamed at him, then leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

"It was wonderful, Harry!" she said in a far-away voice, "Better than I ever imagined it. I'm just so glad that I'm now a woman…"

It only took a couple of seconds for this to have its desired effect, and Harry was now gaping at her in shock. This would be difficult.

"Ginny, I…I'm…" he stumbled awkwardly.

But Ginny was unable to conceal her glee any longer, and descended into a fit of giggles.

"Oh Harry!" she said, he whole body shaking with laughter, "Relax, nothing happened! Oh my…the look on your face! That was priceless!"

No matter how cruel this was, Harry was quick to see the funny side. He sat up in bed and gave her a warm hug. It was then that he heard a voice that made his blood freeze.

"Harry, are you up yet?" called Ron from across the room, "I thought I heard your voice."

"Oh, this is just perfect!" Harry whispered, "How did I forget that this might be a little difficult in the morning?"

"Don't worry, I'll deal with him," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek, "You just clear your head."

She pulled on her robes and discreetly lifted one of the bed curtains.

"Sorry if I woke you up, mate," continued Ron, "You must've been pretty tired yesterday. First sleeping on the train, then dozing off in front of the fire…Oh by the way, those new twins were hassling me about wanting to meet you, just thought I'd warn you now."

Ginny peeked around the corner of the bedpost to see her brother putting his socks on.

"It's funny," he went on, with a puzzled expression, "I could've sworn I heard someone else…GINNY!"

A few heads were turning to see what was going on, and Ginny could see that this situation needed diffusing quickly, but she couldn't help being annoyed at his reaction.

"Um, Ron, do you think you could possibly shout a bit louder?" she sighed, "I think there may be a centaur on the other side of the forest who didn't quite hear you."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU…!"

"Don't even get that paranoid little mind of yours started on this, because there is nothing to tell, and even if there was, it would be no business of yours!" she snapped, "In fact, being that you're a prefect, the worst thing you could do is caution me for being in the boys' dormitory!"

Harry was pulling all the bed curtains open as Ron searched for a reply.

"Well…well, what were you doing in here?" he demanded, attempting to maintain a position of authority.

"We were just talking, Ron!" she replied, wondering if her brother was ever going to grow up, "It does happen, you know. Harry's your best friend, and I thought that maybe you'd be pleased that we were together. Everyone's happy for you and Hermione!"

As all stares turned to Ron, Harry was wishing that he could inconspicuously sink through a hole in the floor. What followed was what Ginny could only describe as a turning point in her brother's life.

"You're right, I'm sorry," said Ron, unable to meet her eye, "I'm happy for the two of you, really I am."

He turned to Seamus, the Creavey brothers, and Neville, who had been observing with great interest.

"Alright, show's over, don't go spreading this about," he muttered.

"Thank you," said Ginny quietly.

After drinking as much water as he could possibly hold down, and procuring a simple headache remedy from Madam Pomfrey, Harry headed slowly along to Professor McGonagall's office. He was all on edge with anticipation, and was hoping that the firewhiskey had not continued to cloud his mind.

"Memor vinco" he said, and the Gargoyle statue moved aside to reveal the spiralling staircase.

He had barely raised his hand to knock, when he heard a familiar gruff voice from within the study.

"Come in, Potter."

He pushed the door open and walked in to find Professor McGonagall and Mad-Eye Moody sitting on either side of the desk. Moody had evidently seen Harry through the door with his magical eye.

"Ah, Harry," said McGonagall, rising to her feet, "You know Professor Moody, of course. He will be conducting your Advanced Defence lessons."

Mad-Eye approached Harry with a very sympathetic air.

"Can't have been an easy summer for you, Potter, not after what happened to Percy Weasley. What I'm here to do is to teach you what you'll need to know, and between the three of us, that includes quite a few things that neither the school governors nor the Ministry would be too happy about, so best keep this quiet."

Harry nodded and turned to the Headmistress.

"Who's my other new teacher, Professor?"

She coughed distractedly and addressed the question.

"He sent word to say that he had been delayed, but we should be expecting him any minute now."

And sure enough, after a few moments of silence, there came the sound of footsteps outside and a knock at the door. McGonagall hastened to answer it.

"Ah, greetings Professor!" she said, and beckoned him into the room.

All Harry could do was stare in utter shock and disbelief. He recognised immediately the man who had just arrived. He took a step backwards, dumbfounded, and felt almost faint. What he was struggling to understand was how this man was even at Hogwarts, never mind how he could possibly be his new teacher. He blinked a few times to make sure that he wasn't experiencing some kind of hallucination, but the scene remained the same. This had to be some kind of twisted joke, he decided. Looking a little uncomfortable, perhaps wondering indeed what Harry could be thinking of the situation, the Headmistress spoke again.

"Potter, allow me to introduce your new Occlumency teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. I believe you two have met before…"