Chapter 7: Arrivals
The journey to King's Cross was uneventful. They flooed to Diagon Alley, then left through the Leaky Cauldron and hailed two cabs for the couple of miles to King's Cross. The cabbie gave them a funny look, but London cabbies have certainly seen it all, so a family carrying a large amount of luggage and an owl in a cage seemed nearly mundane.
Mr. Weasley who was in a cab with Harry, Ron and Ginny looked nervous and fingered his wand more than usual on their cab ride. Harry sort of knew why after overhearing his conversation the night before, but he wasn't about to admit to eavesdropping.
When they got to King's Cross there were other wizarding families getting out of cabs on the taxi rank at the station. They met back up with Mrs. Weasley, the twins and Percy and they went through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4.
Harry loved the sight of the Hogwarts Express. He was enjoying taking in the sights and sounds of the bustle and hubbub when Dudley elbowed him in the ribs and nodded to Harry's left. At the far end of the platform stood Delores Umbridge. She had a look of disdain for all the students who were getting into the carriage she was standing by, her toad-like features obvious even at this distance. She looked over across the whole platform and her gaze rested on Harry and Dudley. Mr. Weasley noticed the silent exchange and nudged the boys onto the nearest carriage, whispering softly so only the two of them could hear.
"Whatever you do, do not cross Madam Umbridge."
"We found that out already," said Dudley, "But it's not like we're going to be anywhere near her at Hogwarts," he added.
Mr. Weasley looked solemnly at them, "Then I'm afraid I have some bad news," he said, lifting their trunks onto the train, "She's the new DADA professor."
Harry blinked. Dudley's jaw dropped. "But..." "Wha...?" said both boys.
"Please," said Arthur, "She's not a nice person. She holds grudges and is definitely vindictive. For your own sakes, keep your heads down. And please, please be careful," he caught Harry's eye especially saying that last bit. Harry knew what he was referring to, but Mr. Weasley didn't know he knew.
"We will," Harry replied, "And thank you for having us stay for the week."
"You're welcome, boys." Mr. And Mrs. Weasley then said goodbye to their own children as the train pulled out of the station.
They found an empty compartment and made themselves comfortable for the journey. It was an unremarkable journey - the food trolley came round at one, and there was an unsurprising visit by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry found it rather strange. Malfoy clearly wanted nothing to do with Hermione and the Weasleys, and even less to do with Dudley, but Harry recognised that Draco was acting with some semblance of house togetherness as he greeted Harry civilly before moving on to the next compartment.
The train started to slow down in the blackness of the countryside. The lamps had flickered on an hour or so ago and the rain had been buffeting against the window for most of the journey north. It wasn't a pleasant place to breakdown, thought Harry, as they weren't at Hogsmeade yet. The train stopped and in the blackness and after the lamps had flickered out all they could hear were exclamations of surprise from the other compartments and the sound of people tripping over one another.
Just as Hermione made the decision to find out what was going on a figure appeared at the doorway of their compartment. The last thing Harry felt was intense cold before he passed out to the sounds of screaming.
Harry woke up to the sight of Dudley shaking his shoulders. "Harry! Harry!"
Harry felt sick, and he was in a cold sweat. "Who screamed?" he asked.
"No-one screamed," replied Ron, looking around nervously.
The train was moving and the lamps were lit. The door slid open again and everyone looked towards the door with a certain level of fear.
Umbridge entered.
"Hem, hem, Mr. Potter, I see you're being the centre of attention yet again." Dudley scowled at the woman, who seemed impervious to his glare.
"Who are you, ma'am?" asked Hermione politely.
"I am Professor Umbridge, DADA teacher at Hogwarts for the next year, Miss...?" replied Umbridge.
"Hermione Granger, Professor," replied Hermione politely.
Umbridge ignored her reply, "Get up, Potter! You have ten minutes to get changed into your robes, all of you, move!" she swept out of the compartment before anyone could say anything else.
"Bitch," said Dudley, venomously. Harry nodded, but had to stop after he felt dizzy.
"Mate, you look like you need Madam Pomfrey," said Ron, concerned.
"It's fine," said Harry as the twins helped him up and he sat back down on one of the seats, "Give me a minute. Are you sure there wasn't any screaming?"
The rest of them looked concerned. "No, there wasn't screaming," confirmed George.
Neville came in just then, already in his robes, "Did you get a Dementor?" he asked, his eyes wide?
"A what?" asked Hermione.
"The Dementors guard Azkaban," said Neville, "I heard a prefect telling some fifth years. Er, Harry, you don't look so good."
Harry now knew what was so bad about the Azkaban guards at any rate, and it didn't make him feel any better now that he knew what made him faint. He felt embarrassed. No-one else had fainted. At least Draco hadn't seen.
Harry was pale as they stepped off the train at Hogsmeade. Harry and Dudley looked around for Umbridge so that they could avoid her as they got into the carriages to take them to the castle. Dudley grabbed Harry's trunk as well as his own, as Harry still looked pale bordering on ghostly, and his hands hadn't quite stopped shaking yet. Fred threw his scarf around Harry's shoulders for some extra warmth, and although it made a bit of a difference, Harry still felt like death warmed up.
The Dementors at the gates to the castle made Harry feel even worse and he had to clench his stomach muscles to not throw up as well as concentrate on not passing out again. What was wrong with him?!
As they made their way towards the Great Hall Professor McGonagall intercepted them.
"Miss Granger, a word please. Good evening to the rest of you." Her gaze swept across the Gryffindors and Harry, and it stopped on Harry.
"Mr. Potter, you look terrible. Are you well?"
"Erm..." said Harry, not really wanting to elaborate about fainting on the train.
Hermione saved him the trouble of explaining at least, although he didn't exactly appreciate her telling his erstwhile head of house.
"The Dementors came onto the train. One came into our compartment. Harry collapsed," said the girl succinctly.
"Mr. Potter, you will be going to the hospital wing, come along. Miss Granger, come along too, I can talk to you on the way there." McGonagall waved her wand and a house-elf appeared. "Mika, please inform Professor Snape that Mr. Potter is in the infirmary."
"Please, no!" said Harry desperately, really not wishing Professor Snape involved too.
"This is not a discussion, Mr. Potter. Come along."
As they made their way to the infirmary Professor McGonagall summoned some chocolate from Merlin knows where and handed it to Harry. "Eat, Mr. Potter."
She then spoke softly to Hermione, not so quietly as Harry couldn't hear, but more, Harry thought, in a way that wouldn't upset his friend. "Miss. Granger, without giving too much reason, the idea you requested during the holidays regarding your studies is not possible."
Hermione's face fell, "Oh, but professor!" she exclaimed.
"It was not deemed suitable, especially given that certain areas of the ministry were under scrutiny. The agreement would have been bending a number of rules, and at this juncture, it was deemed inadvisable. By some, frivolous even," replied McGonagall, "I'm sorry, Miss Granger, I know you are disappointed. Come talk to me about your options before breakfast tomorrow."
Harry listened to the conversation with confusion. Even though he felt really awful, and it was taking effort and concentration to get up to the infirmary, he still didn't feel anyone had mentioned any actual words in the previous conversation. What on earth were they talking about?
When they got to the infirmary McGonagall turned to Hermione, "Go to the feast , Miss Granger. Mr. Potter may or may not be along, that depends on Madam Pomfrey."
Hermione left them and went to the feast.
"Is the chocolate helping, Mr. Potter?" she asked. Harry thought about how he felt for a moment. Surprisingly he did feel better. He nodded.
Madam Pomfrey bustled in from her office when she heard the doors open.
"Minerva, just once, one year, I would like to get to the end of 1st September without one student appearing in here. Just once! And Mr. Potter, no less! Perhaps I should name a bed after you, hmmm?" she asked, settling her eyes on Harry. "What was it this time?"
"The Dementors were on the train, Poppy and Mr. Potter had an adverse reaction."
"Well I see you've administered the cure already. I'll make him a hot chocolate and keep an eye on him for twenty minutes or so, but he'll be fine. No need for him to miss the whole feast," said Poppy.
It was at that moment that Professor Snape burst into the room with a face like thunder. "Dementors on the train! Really! I told Albus, but would he listen? He said they'd stay where they were told! Ha!" Harry's head of house snarled. Snape looked at Madam Pomfrey.
"Chocolate?" he asked sharply.
"Of course, Severus," she said, slightly affronted. "Minerva gave him the chocolate and the elves are making an extra thick hot chocolate as we speak."
Snape inclined his head. "My apologies, Poppy."
"None taken, Severus. I know you're protective of your house."
Harry watched this exchange in silence. He was waiting for Professor Snape to round on him, but he didn't. However Harry did notice a slight gleam in Minerva's eye as she next spoke.
"Severus, I believe Delores was the first person to encounter Mr. Potter after the incident. Now, what was it Miss Granger said she'd said? Ah, yes, Delores said Mr. Potter should stop being the centre of attention and should get changed into his robes before leaving their compartment." Severus' face darkened further.
"Mr. Potter, did Professor Umbridge give you any chocolate?" he asked, addressing Harry for the first time.
"No, sir," replied Harry.
"And you're sure he'll be fine?" Severus enquired of Madam Pomfrey.
"Quite sure, Severus," she replied.
"Then if you'll excuse me..." said Professor Snape as he stalked out of the infirmary.
"That was positively cruel, Minerva," said Madam Pomfrey with a smile.
"I didn't appreciate her opening remark about animagi this morning when she first dropped off her things," replied McGonagall. "I must be going, Poppy. Hagrid said he'd hold the first years in the entrance until I returned, but I don't want them to wait too long. Welcome back, Mr. Potter."
After Harry had eaten the chocolate and drank the hot chocolate as quickly as he could without getting told to not choke by Pomfrey, and without scalding the roof of his mouth, he slipped back into the great hall just as the last three first years were being sorted. He slid unobtrusively onto the Slytherin bench, although when he looked across to the head table, Snape briefly glanced his way before continuing to glare at Umbridge.
Dumbledore stood up to make his customary speech. He welcomed the students, informed them about the Dementors and then introduced Hagrid and Umbridge as Care of Magical Creatures and DADA professors respectively. He also said that Hogwarts would be introducing the concept of a teaching assistant to help with marking and covering teacher absence due to illness etc, and that his name was Remus Lupin and he'd be introduced to the students later in the week due to him having prior commitments that he couldn't postpone. Dumbledore was about to move on to addressing the issue of lack of food on the tables with a wave of his wand when Professor Umbridge stood up.
"Hem, hem." The student body and a few staff looked shocked that she'd stood up. There were a few titters around the room, which were quickly quelled by a number of dark looks from the head table.
"Professor Umbridge," said Dumbeldore, "Welcome to Hogwarts. It is natural that you want to introduce yourself to the students, and I'm sure they're eager to learn all about you. However, what with the delayed train journey and the late arrival of the students, I'm sure they're all rather hungry. Perhaps it would be better received if you spoke to your students in their first lesson?"
Umbridge looked like she'd been slapped in the face. It seemed no-one had said no to her in a long time. Harry clearly saw Snape, McGonagall and Flitwick smirk briefly and wondered what she'd done to earn Flitwick's ire.
With a wave of his arm, food appeared to take the centre of attention away from the top table where there was a very obvious glaring match going on, as Umbridge sat back down in her seat, chagrined.
Harry caught up with Theo during the feast, and even managed to have a brief conversation with Draco. After the feast Snape indicated Gemma Farley, senior girls prefect in Slytherin and Marcus for the boys, lead the students to the common room. The last thing Harry saw was Snape advancing on Umbridge as Harry left the great hall. You had to appreciate how Snape defended his Slytherins, thought Harry with a smile.
They'd been in the common room ten minutes before their head of house arrived to give his introductory welcome to Slytherin speech. He looked a little less murderous than he had when he approached Umbridge, but it was clear he was still annoyed, enough that the new first years looked terrified when Snape appeared through the portrait hole.
Snape introduced himself and the prefects, and gave his welcome speech. He calmed down while he was addressing the students and Harry could tell by the end of it that he was making a concerted effort to make the new students feel like they belonged in his house and that they were welcome at Hogwarts. He informed them of curfew and reiterated the headmaster's message about the Dementors. Harry briefly wondered what would be worse - being caught out after curfew by a Dementor or being rescued from said Dementor by Snape and having to face him afterwards. Given Harry's reaction to Dementors, to be even considering that comparison showed just how clear Snape's message about staying in the common room after hours was.
Snape asked to see a number of students tomorrow before breakfast regarding their subject choices this year. Harry was glad his name wasn't called because the way Snape was talking implied that the professor was not happy over some people's choices. After that, Snape swept out of the common room.
"Hey, Pansy," called Theo, "What options did you pick? He called your name out, and he's clearly not a happy camper about it."
"Divination and Arithmancy," replied Pansy with a grin.
"Are you insane?" asked Draco, joining the conversation, "You know what he thinks of the idiot 'seer'."
"I just wanted one easier option, he can't be that much of a workaholic, can he?" said Pansy.
No-one said anything - they all thought the same thing - their head of house had opinions about what constituted a 'proper subject' and Divination wasn't it.
Harry enjoyed his first night back at Hogwarts. He hadn't liked last year's, he'd been too nervous about being in Slytherin and what Dudley was going to do, but this year, he genuinely enjoyed sharing a bit of time with the likes of Nott and Draco. Even Zabini was okay, when you worked him out. Crabbe and Goyle were never going to be conversationalists though.
As you'd expect, the conversation centred around the new professor.
"My father says she's ministry through and through," said Malfoy, with the air of someone imparting lesser known knowledge. "He said he'd heard that she'd been given the role after some argument Fudge had with Dumbledore. Seems there were no other candidates."
"Is she going to be any good?" asked Theo.
"How can she be worse than Lockhart or Quirrell?" countered Draco, "And she's a Slytherin," he added, as if this made all the difference. Harry was surprised by how many of the others nodded as if that made perfect sense.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry, curiously "Does her house affiliation make that much of a difference?"
"It does if we want any points this year, yes," said Draco as if it was patently obvious, "I see you still think that the world's fair. Bit too much Gryffindor - that's your trouble. I'll put it simply - do you remember last year when you got a load of points early on and we commented on it? Well, did you notice that drop off towards the end of the year?"
"Er, yeah, but I thought that was just because I wasn't exactly doing much that earned me points," said Harry.
"Did your summer report card say you got better grades than you did in first year?" Draco continued.
"Yeah, but that's not difficult, and I did homework with Hermione in the library and then with my study group afterwards last year."
"But by the end of the year, although you were performing the best you could, you didn't get as many points, right?"
"Um..." said Harry, frowning. He hadn't really thought about it, but now that Draco was hitting him round the head with the idea, he was finding it hard to shake.
"Look," said Zabini, "Just accept that you became a Slytherin in the teachers' eyes. The new teacher is Slytherin. I'm sure Snape will butter her up a bit and explain how it works and we'll get a generous amount of points in her lessons."
Harry could see the logic, and could see that with anyone else from the ministry who was Slytherin, that logic might hold water, but he'd met Umbridge, and he'd seen the look on his head of house's face as they'd left the great hall that evening. There was going to be no love lost there.
Harry couldn't explain to them about summer and Umbridge. He was really embarrassed about the whole affair, and on top of that genuinely terrified of what Snape would do if he found out Harry had told anyone about any of it. But he could at least sow a few seeds of doubt.
"Just for argument's sake, what if she's not?" said Harry, "What if she's rigid and by the book. What if the minister chose her because she's anti all of us?"
"Then we wait until the first DADA lesson, and scope out the lay of the land like any sensible Slytherin," said Draco pointedly.
Their conversation drifted to what people had done with their summer holidays after that. His dorm mates were surprised to hear that Harry had buried the hatchet with his cousin and Harry had had a pleasant summer. That was the story Harry told, and that was what he was sticking to. No mention of Vernon and no mention of Umbridge. He'd said he'd gone to the Weasley's which got a few looks that could have turned into comments if there wasn't Snape's rule about Slytherin's sticking together, but otherwise, they'd all had a pleasant conversation before they turned the lights out and went to sleep.
Severus Snape was angry, and it was only the first evening back. How dare she?! To endanger a student's health by ignoring him? It was unconscionable. He'd made his position clear after the feast. Whether she was a Slytherin or not, whether she worked for the ministry or not, whether she was in Fudge's back pocket or not (Snape had yet to decide whether that was true), he'd explained to her, in what had been mostly polite terms, that he was unhappy about the care she'd provided for a student in his house.
The thing that made him angry was that he'd had to rein himself in. He would have loved to have really chewed her out on the matter, but there'd been this last vestige of logic that told him that it would be better to be seen to not be against her. He knew that Minerva had had a run-in with her that morning. He didn't know the details, but he knew the aftermath of a cat-fight when he saw one, and the friction between Minerva and Umbridge had been nearly tangible. He'd yet to find out what Filius' issue was with her, but Severus hadn't missed his smirk at dinner when she'd not been able to address the school.
So he'd had to explain, regrettably gently, that she was now a professor and in loco parentis, and had a duty of care to the students, all students, irrespective of house or whether they were The-Boy-Who-Lived. She'd simpered at him, not really understanding her mistake, and Snape had ground his teeth together in frustration. She hadn't even known when he'd asked if she knew that the cure for exposure to Dementors was chocolate. What sort of DADA professor was she going to make?
As Snape poured himself a nightcap, he prayed to any gods listening that none of his Slytherins ventured out after curfew tonight, especially outside, as it was full moon, else Merlin help them when he got hold of them.