Enjoy reading this while I'm on my way down to Chicago to take an exam before returning to school for more exams!
After the Quidditch World Cup, the rest of the summer went by quickly. Harry barely had time to appreciate the end of the summer before he was standing with the Davis family on Platform 9 ¾, waiting to board the Hogwarts Express.
"Be safe this year," Catherine Davis said, making sure that their robes were clean of dust and dirt. They had changed soon after arriving on the platform. "Don't do anything foolish and be on your best behavior when the students from the other schools arrive. You need to set an example for Hogwarts."
"Yes mother," Tracey sighed.
"And remember that you're coming home after the Yule Ball for Christmas and New Year's celebrations. Harry, you're still planning on coming?"
Harry nodded quietly.
"Don't get into trouble," Zach warned. Tracey rolled her eyes.
"You don't need to worry about me," she said. "And you only need to worry about Harry during Quidditch games."
"Well, there's no Quidditch this year because of the Triwizard Tournament," Zach Davis said. "So I guess we don't need to worry." He and his wife traded amused looks. Tracey's eyes widened at the admission but before she could ask questions, the whistle blew, signaling for students to get on the train. She groaned but followed Harry onto the train into a free compartment.
"It's not fair," she said. "Why's Quidditch being cancelled?"
"Because the professors don't want to worry about Quidditch on top of dealing with extra students and making sure no one gets injured during the tournament," Harry offered. "And do you really think that regular Hogwarts Quidditch matches could stand up to the final of the Quidditch World Cup?"
Tracey sighed. "That was a really good game," she admitted. "Even you enjoyed it."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Could have dealt without the part that happened later that night."
Tracey grimaced. That had been bad.
They were joined by their yearmates after the train had started moving. Most of them had been at the Quidditch World Cup, which made up the majority of their conversation. When they had found out that Tracey and Harry had been in the top box, Harry was bombarded with questions about the experience. However, Harry noticed that while his yearmates were glad to talk about the Quidditch match itself, they took care to avoid mentioning what happened after.
He assumed that it was because it could lead to difficult topics. Sirius had said that most of the Death Eaters were made up of Slytherins. Any one of his yearmates could have had parents that had taken part in the attack. It was best not to mention it so they didn't have to admit if their families had taken part in the attack.
The fourth years had become accustomed to the length of the train ride over the years. It seemed like only a short while before they had arrived and were making their way toward Hogwarts.
Harry was glad to see the castle and he couldn't wait until he was in his four-poster bed, warm from the fires and full from the welcoming feast.
He just had to get through the rain first.
The Slytherins hurried through the rain, not wanting to wait around and find their other housemates like other houses were doing. They already knew that they would see the other Slytherins at their table during the welcoming feast.
Harry had learned drying and warming charms soon after first year. It was necessary in a place like Hogwarts, where rain was just as common as sunshine and where the castle was cold and drafty outside of the common room and dorms.
The Slytherin grinned as he sat down at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall as he heard screams from the hallway. Not waiting around had given the Slytherins time to sit down and avoid Peeves, who was planning something big, like he always did right before the welcoming feast.
"Any idea of who will be our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year?" Tracey asked as they sat down. They hadn't heard anything and the books on their supply list had just been standardized fourth year books for the subject.
"Hopefully someone decent," Blaise Zabini muttered. "Someone actually qualified to teach and not someone that the headmaster pulled out of thin air at last minute."
"I doubt that happened," Harry commented with a sigh. He looked around and couldn't spot anyone new so he could only assume that the new professor hadn't arrived quite yet. "Maybe all of the classes are cancelled for the year due to the Tri-Wizard Tournament. They already cancelled Quidditch, so why not cancel classes as well?"
His comments were met with snorts of amusement from his yearmates.
"Keep dreaming, Potter," Draco Malfoy said. "I highly doubt that they cancel every single class just for a tournament that's made up of three tasks that take place months apart. Besides, I thought you would be heartbroken if classes were cancelled."
"I may enjoy my classes but even I look forward to them being cancelled. It gets a bit dull seeing the same professors day after day."
"Then I imagine you'll be over the moon when the students from the other schools arrive," Draco said with a small sneer. Harry shrugged.
"Not as much as some of the older students," he said. "We all know why they're excited for the other students to come."
"Foreign girls and guys," the rest of the group chorused. On the train ride over, they had heard the fifth and sixth years chattering about the tournament and that was what most of their conversation had been centered around.
Once all of the students were seated, the first years quickly filed in. Harry was sure that they were rushing the process because the first years were drenched from crossing the lake and it wouldn't do to have all the first years in the Hospital Wing with colds before classes had even started. The Slytherins ensured that their first year house members were dry before they had even sat down and Harry hoped that the other houses were doing the same. However, a glance toward the Gryffindor table showed that their first years were still soaking wet.
"You'd think that they'd at least be able to take care of their own," Draco sniffed. "With all their preaching about loyalty. I can't imagine anything worse than sitting throughout a meal in wet clothes."
"There's worse things," Harry replied. "At least the food is warm."
Tracey gave him a curious look but Harry just shook his head. He didn't think much about his time with the Dursleys anymore but he still had dark thoughts about his childhood on occasion.
The welcoming feast was just as grand as it always had been. Harry knew that he would sleep well that night, with food filling his stomach and warm covers. The rain always made him sleepy and he knew that down in the dungeons, he wouldn't hear most of the storm. The only sign of the storm raging on that would be spotted down in the Slytherin common room would be the waves and dark waters of the Black Lake swirling outside of their common room windows.
Harry had planned to tune out the traditional welcome back speech, having heard it before and doubting that any new information would be given. He already knew about the Tri-Wizard Tournament and knew that he wouldn't be eligible to compete.
However, it was hard to tune out the welcome speech when it was interrupted just as it barely started.
Harry stared at the man. He hadn't often seen someone so wild looking and he regularly visited Hagrid. However, Hagrid's bushy hair and tall stature made him look harmless compared to this man.
Harry wondered how it was even possible to get some of those scars, knowing what magic was capable of. The missing leg made sense, since Harry didn't know of any spells that would replace a missing limb. However, how did one lose that leg to begin with, as well as an eye and part of a nose? And did he purposely choose to keep those scars or had healing magic just stopped working on his face after a few years? Harry had heard rumors that the more someone was magically healed, the slower and less effective healing magic became.
"Oh, bloody hell," Draco muttered under his breath, causing Harry to glance at him in surprise. "Father's going to be furious once he hears about this."
"Do you know who that is?" Harry asked. Draco gave a curt nod.
"That's Mad-Eye Moody. He's an ex-Auror. He used to give Father a lot of grief back when he was employed by the Ministry."
"What's an Auror doing here?" Harry wanted to know. Tracey elbowed him at that moment and tossed her head in Dumbledore's direction. The two men were talking and it looked like Dumbledore was about to make an announcement.
"Bloody hell," Draco muttered again when the headmaster announced that the Auror was to become their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
"Just think of it this way," Blaise Zabini said. "At least we'll know that he knows what he's doing. He won't be a fake like Lockhart was."
"There's just the fact that he's supposed to be barking mad," Pansy muttered from beside him.
"Well, it's going to be an interesting year then," Harry said. His yearmates snorted, knowing that what he said was a major understatement. With the Tri-Wizard Tournament and a supposedly mad ex-Auror teaching them Defense Against the Dark Arts, it would definitely be an interesting year.
As the feast ended, the fourth year Slytherins ended up in a debate about which of their Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers would be considered the most dangerous. Pansy and Draco were firmly convinced it had been Professor Lupin, the werewolf. Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott believed that it would be Professor Moody, since he had actually fought Dark wizards for most of his life. Tracey was arguing for Professor Quirrell because of the tiny fact that he had carried You-Know-Who on the back of his head most of the year. Harry was fighting for Lockhart and wouldn't be convinced otherwise. Yes, the other three were dangerous in a physical sense but Lockhart had the danger of stupidity on his side. To make matters worse, he had tried to make his students just as daft as he had been.
"He knew that he was teaching us lies," Harry said. "He knew that if we ever came across the creatures that he was teaching us about that we wouldn't be prepared to deal with them properly. If he had stuck around, how many people would have died because of his misinformation?"
"Well thought out, boy," a low voice growled. Harry stiffened, along with the rest of his yearmates. He turned to face the newly named Professor Moody. Clearly the man hadn't stuck around after the feast like the rest of the professors. Moody's eyes flicked up towards Harry's forward. "Potter, is it?"
Harry nodded silently.
"It's nice to meet you, sir," he said politely before walking away. Being in Moody's presence made his skin prickle with awareness and slight distaste. He could understand why others thought that the man was mad. There was a gleam in his eye and a slight twist to his face that made Harry easily believe in the few rumors that he heard. He didn't think that he would look forward to his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes this year.
They were nearly at the Slytherin common room when Harry decided to go someplace else.
"I'll be back before curfew," he told Tracey and the others before continuing down the hallway. He strode through the dungeons with a determined pace, only stopping when he arrived at his destination. With no hesitation, Harry knocked on the door and waited for it to open, holding his hands behind his back. When the door swung open, Harry allowed a small smile to creep onto his face.
"Good evening, Professor," he said quietly. "Can we talk?"
Severus Snape nodded and stepped aside, letting the teen into his office. "What about?"
"I figured that I should inform you before schedules were handed out that I decided to not drop Divination," Harry said. He hadn't had a chance to inform his Head of House of his decision before now.
"And what made that decision for you?" Professor Snape asked, beginning to look through the papers on his desk for Harry's timetable. Harry resisted the urge to shrug his shoulders.
"The thought of dropping the class made me feel like a quitter," he explained. "And quitting isn't in my nature."
"That's a very Gryffindor-like phrase," Severus remarked dryly. A faint spot of red appeared on Harry's cheeks.
"I know," he said. "But it's true. I'll do my best in the class, even though I think it's pointless. I just won't love it."
"You're aware that you won't be able to quit the class until after your O.W.L. results are in?" The Head of Slytherin asked. Harry nodded.
"It's only two more years," he said. "And I'm very accustomed to putting up with things I don't particularly enjoy. I just don't want to be seen as a coward."
Severus sighed but nodded. He made a mark on Harry's timetable, making a note of the times and location of the Divination classes for fourth years.
"Was there any other reason you stopped by?" he asked.
Harry hesitated. Did he want to voice his concerns?
At his hesitation, Severus Snape looked up with narrowed eyes.
"What do you think of Professor Moody, sir?" Harry asked, a bit nervously. He wanted an adult's opinion on the man. Just because Moody seemed a bit off to him didn't mean that he was a bad person.
Professor Snape stared at Harry for a moment before answering.
"I know that he's here as a favor for Professor Dumbledore," he said. "And he has the potential to be a decent teacher. However, I've seen his lesson plans and I question his judgment for some of the lessons he has planned. He holds very high expectations for others and I doubt that many of your classmates will live up to those expectations."
"What sort of expectations, sir?" Harry questioned.
"He plans on introducing to students under fifth year topics that are normally kept within N.E.W.T. level classes," Severus explained. "And not all of those topics are Ministry approved. However, Professor Dumbledore trusts that he knows what he's doing and believes that he's introducing such lessons earlier because of the Dark Mark that appeared during the Quidditch World Cup."
Snape looked at his son for a moment before speaking again.
"Harry, if he ever introduces a lesson or tries to make you do something in class that you're uncomfortable with, feel free to leave. I'll ensure that you won't get into much trouble for doing so."
Harry nodded, feeling relieved. He didn't plan on leaving in the middle of any lessons but it was nice to know that he could.
"Does that go for everyone, sir, or just for me?"
"Everyone," Professor Snape said. "It's not talked about very much here in Hogwarts but all students have the ability and choice to walk out of lessons that they feel uncomfortable with or believe that it goes against their morals. Professors just don't inform the students of that right very often to prevent students from walking out when they don't feel like participating or if they feel like they can't perform the required magic."
That made sense to the Slytherin fourth-year.
"Thank you, sir," he said before leaving the office.
Knowing of his right to leave, Harry felt more comfortable with the idea of Moody teaching him than he had moments before. He knew that Professor Snape wouldn't allow any harm to come to him.
The next day, classes began. Harry really hoped that he wouldn't regret his decision to keep Divination among his schedule of classes, especially since he had it on the first day.
"You're keeping Divination?" Tracey asked when she spotted his timetable. Harry shrugged.
"It's easy enough," he said. "And I would probably have had to replace it with another class. Do you know how behind I would be if I started taking a fourth year class without the foundation that third years get?"
Tracey stared at her foster brother with a smirk on her lips.
"You really sounded like a Ravenclaw right then," she said. Harry groaned.
"Just because I'm in Slytherin doesn't mean that I have to fit all of the house stereotypes," he reminded her. "What do you think of our schedule?"
"I'm wondering what kind of creatures the Gryffindors are going to set against us in Care of Magical Creatures," Tracey remarked in a deadpan voice. Harry smirked.
"Let's hope that it doesn't turn into another hippogriff situation," he replied. "I'm not sure if Draco could handle it."
The blond boy was passing them in the corridor and overheard Harry. He scowled at the dark-haired boy but couldn't say anything with students from other houses about.
Harry was thankful in the fact that he knew what to expect from his classes this year. It was doubtful that any of his professors had changed their teaching style over the summer. The only things he couldn't prepare for were the creatures Hagrid would introduce to them that day for their first Care of Magical Creatures class of the year and what Professor Moody had planned for the year.
However, after seeing the creatures Hagrid wanted them to work with, Harry began to doubt that he would live through the class.
Harry should have known something was up when he saw the horrified looks on the Gryffindors' faces and the shrieks coming from the girls. Gryffindors were supposed to be known for their bravery but even they looked hesitant to approach the creature of the day.
"Is it too late to drop classes?" Millicent Bulstrode asked as she spotted a Blast-Ended Skrewt. A lot of Slytherins were looking like they were considering dropping the class as well.
"The drop period ended as soon as the first class began," Harry remarked. "We're stuck in the class until after O.W.L.s are finished."
"If we even survive that long," Theodore Nott commented dryly, grimacing as a small explosion set one of the boxes on fire.
It didn't make Harry feel better when he learned that Hagrid had never dealt with the creatures before. If the professor didn't know what was going on, how were students supposed to learn anything? By the end of classes, Harry had made plans to go down to Hagrid's hut at the end of the day and try and convince him that Blast-Ended Skrewts would not be a good project for the term. It would be better for N.E.W.T. level students, not fourth years. They should be sticking with something easier, like Nifflers.
Compared to their Care of Magical Creatures class, the rest of the day passed in a boring manner. Harry had hoped that meant that the rest of the year would go just as smoothly.
If it hadn't been for Draco Malfoy, it probably would have.
Sneak Peek for next time:
He was already on Moody's bad side. He figured leaving would only make the tension between them worse.
Reviews are always greatly appreciated!
