Chapter 3: On With The New
As they walked down the hallways, Harry dared to question Dumbledore about Sirius.
"Professor Dumbledore, if school has only just started a while ago, how did Sirius get here so fast if you owled him?
Dumbledore added and said, "It was on the Hogwarts Express when you were stunned and that was about an hour back. I got an owl from the conductor about the incident and immediately owled Sirius the problem and the possible solution. He got here on Buckbeak about 25 minutes back and you can guess what happened next."
"Oh," was all Harry could think of saying.
When they arrived in the Great Hall, Dumbledore went to where the teachers were and Harry proceeded to the Gryffindor house table. The 1st year sorting had obviously just finished. As he passed the Slytherin table, he saw Malfoy and Goyle shivering and covered in blankets. He got to his table and sat between Ginny and Ron.
Ginny hugged Harry saying, "Oh, you're OK" over and over.
"Ginny, I think Harry knows he's OK," Ron bellowed as he was getting more annoyed by the minute.
"What's wrong, Ron?" Harry asked.
"Oh, it's just that I got 3 detentions for what I did on the train. I'm just glad that Crabbe got 2. Malfoy and Goyle also will get extra homework because Professor McGonagall couldn't believe that I did that for no reason. Snape was begging to differ, but he had to agree. Lucky me, huh?"
Harry nodded and looked toward the teachers. There were the usual ones: Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape, Sprout, Trelawney, and that was it. Wait a minute, Harry thought, where's Hagrid. But as food appeared on the golden plates, Harry forgot all about it.
When the delicious feast was over, the plates cleared and Dumbledore went to the podium. He cleared his throat and stated, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Hopefully, we will have a great year. I figure that you have heard about the secret that we have been keeping. Before we say what it is, we shall introduce to you the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
The doors to the Great Hall opened and out came a sophisticated looking woman, who was sort of skinny, but had straight black hair down to her elbow. She was carrying what looked like a large green suitcase or box with a handle. She walked up to the podium and nodded to the students. "My name is Professor Sieldrus," she said in a kind voice and sat at an empty chair next to Professor Trelawney.
This may have started some chatter, but Dumbledore held his hand up for silence.
"You may think that was a surprise," Dumbledore said, "But our secret will surprise you even more." What could it be, Harry thought, what could be so secretive? He next found out.
"As most of you know, last year we had a Triwizard Tournament. Even though things did turn out badly," he said looking at the flowered shrine of Cedric Diggory over the entrance of the Great Hall, "We will try again with another kind of tournament." The room filled up with surprise. Another tournament, Harry thought, has Dumbledore gone mad or has he thought everything through? "Now, I know what you are thinking," Dumbledore called out, "this will not be safe and someone will get hurt. I have already covered that. Meet the people who are in charge of keeping the tournament safe: Ruebus Hagrid, your Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and Remus J. Lupin," When Harry saw them both he could have jumped for joy. He waved at them and they waved back. Lupin winked at Harry and then started to talk to Hagrid. "Now, to make it even more safe, we will be having the houses compete against each other in our first Pennsboro Tournament," Dumbledore said with a grin.
At that, the whole room burst into clapping and chatter. Everyone was so excited that the houses were competing. Dumbledore held up his hand for silence again and continued.
"One issue that we have to leave up to you is if you want the tournament. Another way of saying it is do you want the Pennsboro Tournament or Quidditch? And we will not settle this here. We will have a voting box outside of the Great Hall during breakfast, lunch, and dinner times for all this week. What you will choose is the tournament, quidditch, or both.
On a better note, the prize will be a trophy, 250 points for your house, and 50 galleons to everyone that participates in that house. This is contributed by the Ministry of Magic because of their recent winnings of money. That will be all."
The Great Hall grew louder and louder until Dumbledore ordered the prefects to take the students to their common rooms. The prefects showed everyone towards the entrance and out to their houses.
As Harry left the room, a note dropped out of his pocket. He picked up the note, opened it, and read:
Harry,
Please do let Sirius watch over you. I would like it so very much for you to be safe.
- Dumbledore
Harry agreed in his head and stashed the note in his pocket. Suddenly, someone grabbed his shoulder from behind. Harry's eyes opened wide as he turned around. There in front of him was Professor Snape.
"Ten Points from Gryffindor for loitering, Potter," Snape said, "And if you don't move now it will be 15."
Harry rushed off toward the entrance of the Great Hall. As he was about to argue, he stopped dead in his tracks. His heart almost stopped, as well. Snape was smiling at one of the teachers.
Harry had seen Snape smile before, but not like he was now. Harry had done this smile many times before and there was only one person he did it to. He first had done it on the Quidditch field when he saw the new Ravenclaw seeker. This was none other than Cho Chang.
Harry shook off that moment in time and went off to his common room. Could it be that Snape actually liked one of the teachers? He knew he couldn't tell Ron and Hermione because even in a big school like Hogwarts, news travels fast. He remembered a piece of news from his third year got out real fast. It had been a boggart turning into Snape and then wearing a red dress with a green stuffed vulture hat. Neville was almost strangled by Snape. If Snape found out Harry had seen him, Snape would do worst than killing Harry. There would be total chaos!
Harry caught up to everyone at the Gryffindor Common Room portrait hole, and walked in. He looked around the area twice before he spotted Ron and Hermione. They were sitting on a sofa, obviously, waiting for Harry to come in. As they saw him they started to ask where he had gone. He stopped them and hushed his voice as he told them what happened in the hospital wing. Hermione was the first to speak up when he was finished.
"What about that dream?" she asked in her questionable voice, "Do you think it means something? Maybe something will happen to you here. Have you told Dumbledore about it?"
"It could be something," Harry said, "but let's not worry Dumbledore about this now. I don't want to be in a locked box all year if I am just having bad dreams."
They talked about Sirius, the dream, the Pennsboro Tournament, and lots of other things until it was late into the night. They said their good-nights and went off to their beds. The room where Harry and Ron had slept last year now had a sign on the door that said "Fifth Years". They walked in and went to their four-poster beds. Their things were already there. As Harry dosed off, he could see the form of Nearly-Headless Nick checking that everyone was asleep.
* * * * * *
As Harry awoke the next morning, he felt better than the day before. He got up, put on some clothes, got out of his four-poster, and went down to the main room. By the wall were Ron, Seamus, and a lot of other Gryffindors. They were all arguing over something Harry couldn't hear. Harry walked over and made his way to what they were talking about. There were two posters. One was of classes, which no one but Harry seemed to notice. The other was of the Pennsboro Tournament. As Harry read what it said, he could hear bits of the arguing.
"Quidditch is much better than a tournament!"
"No way. The tournament will help us get more points."
"Yeah, right. We could probably get double the points in quidditch."
"There's no possible way for that."
"Now I see why you want the tournament so much. Because you can't fly a broom."
"Can I get through, please?" asked Neville squeakily as he tried to get through the crowd. He could have said it louder, but he didn't want to get the people even madder.
After a while, people settled down and went to breakfast. When Harry got there with Hermione, almost no one was talking at the Gryffindor table. They sat by Ron who said hi and went back to eating his eggs. Ron had still been undecided. When breakfast was over, some people had cast their ballots, but most just went to their classes. Harry, Hermione, and Ron still weren't sure.
Their first class was Herbology with Ravenclaws. They scraped off the scabs of a yellow plant called a peterva, which was hard because they were always squirming around like a worm. Then came Divination, which Harry slept through. Professor Trelawney did keep saying that Harry would die that day if he didn't pay attention, but Harry had heard a lot more sayings that he would die that were more original. Next came a class that Harry was actually looking forward to: Defense Against the Dark Arts with the new Professor Sieldrus.
Everyone walked in and took their seats. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat in one row near the middle. As they waited for Professor Sieldrus, most of them were saying things about having a female teacher for once (which Hermione and the other girls stopped). When she walked in, the whole room went quiet. She went up to her desk and put down the same suitcase she had before.
She turned to the class and stated clearly, "Hello, class and welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am Professor Sieldrus, as you already know.
"We will be starting the term with curses. I have heard that you have been taught the unforgivable curses. Today, we will work on a curse that hasn't been used very recently. This curse is the Cladus curse. Can anyone tell me what the Cladus curse is?"
No one raised their hand at first. Then Neville tried. "Is it the curse of possessing something with something else?" he asked.
"No, that would be the Clomus curse. But 5 house points anyway because we are studying that tomorrow," Sieldrus said. Finally, Hermione raised her hand.
"The curse of possessing someone with yourself, right?" Hermione stated.
"Right, Ms. Granger. The Cladus curse is used to possess someone with yourself. 15 house points." Another person raised her hand. It was Lavender Brown.
"Is there a counter-curse to this?" Lavender asked.
"Yes, but only powerful wizards can withstand the power of it. The reason for this is that the counter-curse, the Suddean curse, takes up too much power. If a student, like yourself, tried the Suddean curse, you would lose all of your power and have to be in the hospital wing for about 2 months," Sieldrus said, "Now, everyone, take out some parchment and your quill and get ready to take some notes."
The class obeyed and took countless notes on the Cladus curse. When Professor Sieldrus was finished, most of the class had from about half a piece of parchment to a full piece of parchment of notes. Hermione got another 20 house points for using 2 pieces of parchment.
"Before you go," Sieldrus said loudly to get the class's attention, "You have homework due tomorrow. I want to have 3 of the people who used the Cladus curse with who they did it to, where, and why. Well, if there are no questions, class dismissed."
With that, the students moaned their way out of the door. As Harry, Ron, and Hermione started to exit the class, Sieldrus stopped Harry.
"Mr. Potter, I would like to speak to you," she said ushering Harry to the front desk. Harry told Hermione and Ron to go on without him and went over to Sieldrus.
Sieldrus started, "I have heard of your experiences with past Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. I really hope I don't fit that description this year. I hope we can be friends at least." She held out her hand ready to shake. Harry hesitated, thought about it, and shook hands with her. What could be wrong about her, he thought. He then said good-bye and rushed off to the North Dungeon for Potions. When he got there, Snape was about to start the lesson. Snape made a thin smile as he noticed Harry come in.
"So, you thought you could try to show off your popularity by being late to my class, Potter. 10 points from Gryffindor." Snape said and pointed him to his seat. Harry started to his seat, but noticed something. He hadn't gotten his Potions book when he had left the common room. Harry raised his hand and Snape's smile curled even more.
"Yes, Potter?" he asked.
"I…um…forgot my book. Can I…um…go get it?" Harry tried to say so Snape would not comment.
"Oh, so you left your book," Snape said snobbishly, "Isn't that convenient, heh, Potter? 5 points from Gryffindor and 5 more from Gryffindor every minute you are out starting…NOW!"
Harry rushed out of the room and down the halls until he had gotten to the portrait of the fat lady. She seemed as bored as ever.
"Password?" she asked looking down at him.
"Laffle Chags," he said and the entrance swung open.
He went up the stairs of the boys' dormitories and entered the 5th years room as quickly as he could. Something he didn't expect was in the room, Fred and George Weasley. They seemed to be looking for something at Ron's bed. Harry caught his breath and went over to his bed. As he opened his luggage and searched for his Potions book, Fred and George turned to him.
"Hi, Harry," they said in unison.
"Hi," Harry said and stopped searching; "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"
"Oh, Ron said that he had something of ours. We came here to see if it was true. Since nothing is here, we have a surprise for Ron," Fred said as he held up a bag of Dungbombs and lowered them to Ron's bed.
"Aren't you supposed to be in classes?" Harry asked as he returned to looking for his Potions book.
"Well, we had to say we were going to the bathroom," George replied.
"Hey, George, why don't you go get the secret we told Harry about?" Fred asked.
"I don't know," Harry stated, "I don't have that much time."
"Don't worry," George said with a smirk, "It will only take a second." At that he left the room and returned with a relatively large box.
"Are you ready?" George asked.
"As ready as ever," Harry answered and the twins opened the box.