Chapter 38
For Hermione, Harry, and Luna the summer come to an end much too soon. Not only had they enjoyed each day at with the twins and Veronica; but none of them had made even the slightest bit of progress in using wand-less magic. Harry even tried applying his skills over controlling his form, and abilities of speaking with snakes to this as well, but it still did not work out right he had hoped. Though Harry was sure he had made his wand move at least once in trying to summon, though even then he had no proof.
They soon piled into Veronica's car and were off to King's Cross Station. After arriving Veronica led them with the twins onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Veronica helped them get a compartment to themselves before she said goodbye leaving with the twins. The ride back to school was rather dull and uneventful. Then again without Draco Malfoy or others actually looking to cause trouble that was not really surprising.
Finally arriving at Hogwarts they disembarked from the train and got into the couches before soon reaching Hogwarts itself. Like each time before now the first sight of the school was truly something to behold. With the night sky filled with stars, the moon full in the sky giving the castle just enough light to be seen, while its many windows were let the soft light from torches and candles out.
"It feels good to be home," Harry said.
"Well this is not your real home," Luna pointed out.
"Second closest," Harry said.
"My house is first then," Hermione said giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
"Yep," Harry said as they moved into the castle itself.
Moving along the entrance with the increasingly large group of students they made their way into the Great Hall itself. People they could see a great many people talking as they waited for the newest set of first year students to arrive, everyone catching up, and if Harry was not mistaken he was seeing chatting between different houses than ever before. Harry pointed this out to Hermione and Luna who grinned slightly.
"It seems just removing Draco, Snape and their followers has already started to show a major improvement," Hermione said her ears moving about while her tail lazily moved about.
"Sometimes that is all that is needed, remove the bad and the good will come forth," Luna said grinning, "So care if I sit with you tonight?"
"Not tonight," Harry said, getting a pout out of Luna.
"Why not?" Luna asked.
"Because tonight is the night we see everyone being sorted into their new house, so it is best to show house unity." Harry explained.
"Fine, but I get to feed you catnip if you don't let me sit with you tomorrow morning," Luna said grinning.
"Fine," Harry said with a small smirk.
Luna, Harry and Hermione each gave the other a hug before they sat down at their respective house tables. Hermione looked up at the Teachers table and noticed the teachers were showing up now, with only a few chairs empty.
"So do you think we will have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year?" Hermione asked.
"I doubt it, Professor Lupin even though his… condition was revealed is in the first testing phases of the spell Lockhart found, if it is completely successful I doubt he would ever leave. If anything I am wondering who our potion teacher will be," Harry said.
"True I doubt Dumbledore will be covering the spot again," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"That and I am counting more chairs than normal," Harry said, as he looked up at the Teachers table.
"Weird," Hermione said as she counted out the chairs.
Normally at the teachers table sat the Headmaster, the Heads of Houses, as well as two other chairs, one for Hagrid and the other for the current Dark Art teacher, but this time there were three extra. Two of them were at the end of the table, and the other was closer to where Professor McGonagall normally sat. But before they could think on this too much Dumbledore stood and asked for quiet. Moments later Professor McGonagall came into the Great Hall with the new first years following not too far behind.
Harry grinned as he looked though the group wondering who would go where, not that he would bet any money on sorting outside a few well known families. Soon the Sorting Hat was brought out and it broke into song. Harry listened noticing that the song was very different from the last two times he had been here. He heard Ron who was sitting near his brothers, commented that the Hat probably used much of its spare time thinking up new songs for the next years, which to Harry actually made some good sense.
At this point the sorting began. Some of the kids took a while others were sorted in only a few seconds, reminding Harry much of Ron, and Draco who only took a few seconds. As Harry watched he could not help but wonder what would happen if he had been placed in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor. Only a few people knew that it had almost happened, but they never seemed to care too much, after all he had ended up in Gryffindor so why worry about the 'what if'.
Harry's smile slowly turned to small frown for a few moments as he looked at Hermione, and realized many things would be different. He probably would not likely be as close to Hermione or Luna, or even maybe even friend with them. That is not to say he would hate them and take on the mean outlook of the old Slytherin house, but it would definitely change things.
Hermione noticed Harry change of attitude as heard him draw in a deep breath as if attempting to calm himself down. Hermione turned away from the sorting students to Harry, and noticed a rather far off look in his eyes. Hermione touched his hand lightly causing Harry to jerk a little bit as if surprise. Looking at Hermione, Harry said her considered look, but he gave her a small smile of reassurance, before whispering it was nothing to worry about. Hermione expected this, at least for now as she turned back to the sorting.
Harry shook his head, as he looked at Hermione again. It did not matter what would have changed if he had been stuck in with Slytherin, what mattered was where he was in life now, and honestly he was not going to change that for anything. Harry smiled as he watched the rest of the students get sorted without a worry passing through his mind. Finally with the last student sorted to Slytherin, with polite clapping from the houses, Dumbledore stood up and spoke his voice filling the Great Hall.
"Today begins the new year of school, and as such I would like to welcome each and every one of you to Hogwarts, and those that are returning welcome back. We have a few announcement I must go over, but I will not keep you long from the great feast that will soon be before us," Dumbledore said, letting his words sink in.
"Now as many of you know or might have heard in the news our own Professor Lupin is a known werewolf. But he is the first among a select few testing out a new spell that will be removing the werewolf curse forever. As such I would like to say good luck, and thank you for keeping me from having to search for a new Defense Against the Darks Arts teacher," Dumbledore said, which got some laughs and clapping as a response.
"But sadly I still had to find a new teacher, but at least for a good reason. As such I would like to welcome Alastor Moody to Hogwarts as our new Potions teacher, he will only be around for a year till I can find a more permit teacher. I would also like to welcome Veronica, she and her two kids Aelita and Aelira will be joining us this year with a new class," Dumbledore said as Veronica walked out to the Teachers table and gave a small bow.
The students began talking at once about this wondering what Veronica would be teaching, but they fell silent as Dumbledore continued, "This new class is not a requirement as the skills you will be learning are not needed for the world outside Hogwarts, but are none the less very useful. This skill is wand-less magic. Now I will not lie and say it will be easy, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Miss Lovegood have each been working on this skill for over a month and have shown very little progress."
Harry could feel more than a few set of eyes glance at him, and he was sure Hermione and Luna felt them as well as Dumbledore continued on, "As such this class with be sign up only. There will be a sign up sheet in your Common Room on the Notice Board. Classes will be on Saturday right after lunch. If you have any question please ask Veronica or one of your teachers."
Dumbledore smiled a little bit as he looked out over the Great Hall, "Now to the last two announcements. First as you all now the Forbidden Forest is as always forbidden, as all our older students should know. And finally the last Announcement is this year we will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament."
The Hall burst into talk almost at once at the sound of this small announcement and took a little longer than normal before Dumbledore could speak again, "To those that know of it, it is a contest between Hogwarts and two other major school, but was cancelled a long time ago after the death toll grew too great. But the Department of Game, and International Relation has set about trying to get this event going again. More information shall be given by Ludo Bagman, and Barty Crouch this October when the other schools arrive."
Dumbledore let this sink in before he spoke again but this time he had a stern and serious tone of voice, "But I will warn you, to those that plan to try and enter this event it is not for the faint of heart. You will be risking everything in the events, but in return will come great fame and rewards for winning. So till then I will ask you to think on what I have said, in the meantime dig in as Dinner is served."
"So she did decide to come," Harry said serving up some fish for himself and Hermione.
"Yep, and brought us along for the ride," Aelita said siding into a seat across from Harry and Hermione.
"I see, where is your sister?" Hermione asked, before she began eating the fish that Harry had served her.
"Sitting over with Luna," Aelita said, as she served herself up some food.
"Good," Harry said smiling.
"A little mean you sent to have her sit by herself," Aelita said.
"We chose this just for tonight to show House Unity," Harry said, "But tomorrow we will let her sit with us."
"I see," Aelita said.
"So what do you think of the coming Triwizard Tournament," Hermione asked.
"I think it is a bad idea personally," Aelita said.
"Oh and why is that?" Harry asked.
"A Tournament where death is a big risk, I don't know you tell me," Aelita said.
"Okay you have a point. But as it is I am not planning on signing up, I got enough idiots after my head already I don't need to go looking for death when he is already coming after me," Harry said.
"So in short the Tournament will be bring you in as a contestant anyway," Hermione said jokingly.
"It would not surprise me," Harry said, rolling his eyes at this.
"Well we have a month or so to find out," Aelita said.
Harry nodded, as they switched to talking about other less important things as they ate. Soon the feast drew towards its close, and after getting the password from Professor McGonagall they walked with Luna to her dorm before bidding her good night. They then worked their way up to the Gryffindor tower, before saying their own good nights, and heading to their own beds. If there was one thing they were happy about it was being back at Hogwarts again.