Chapter Five-Troubling Arrival
When Harry awoke the next morning a lump was on the bottom of his bed. Sitting up, he saw it was tiny, and silver. Harry rubbed his eyes and once his glasses were on, he looked more closely at it. The Hogwarts crest gleamed in the sunlight. Harry carefully unwrapped it. A tiny silver badge fell into his hand and to Harry's delight, it had 'P' for prefect on it. Harry was overwhelmed. He was a prefect. He had seen the prefect bathroom and, in his opinion, it was worth being a prefect just to use it. As Harry examined it, the badge changed colour. The warmth of his hand sent it red, then green, then purple. Astounded by his luck, Harry put the badge safely in his trunk, so that he wouldn't forget it. Thinking that he should do the same for his books, Harry tipped the contents of his bag onto his bed. Piling his books neatly into his trunk he saw the present that Hermione brought him back from Canada. Now seemed as good a time as any, so he took it off his bed, and undid the string tying the paper on. A model of an old wizard slid out from the wrappings. Wondering what it could be Harry turned it over. Nothing happened, so Harry decided to wait to ask Hermione what it was. Once everything from his bag was safely in the trunk, Harry went down for breakfast.
Vernon and Petunia were having a heated argument. Deciding that he could listen in on them Harry hid out of sight, around the corner.
"One hundred and fifty pounds" Vernon was yelling, "and he put it on again and more". Harry heard his uncle slam his fist down on the table before saying,
"Is that at all possible Petunia?"
"I reckon Harry did it" Petunia wailed, "It's his idea of a joke"
"He can't use his .....powers though can he" uncle Vernon said with more bangs of his fist.
"It didn't stop him before, did it" Petunia said, "remember Marge?"
Harry thought it best to leave them to it, so he dragged himself upstairs again. Harry's breakfast consisted mostly of the sweets he had bought in Diagon Alley. The assortment of chocolate frogs, every flavour beans, and rainbow cookies, was partially filling, but Harry's stomach was still rumbling away. It was difficult to engage himself with things to do, because he was sick of doing it so many times. So, daring to risk it, he went downstairs. It wasn't a happy sight. Dudley was sitting, crying because his mother wouldn't give him any more food, Vernon was reading the newspaper, and Petunia was watering the house plants. They completely ignored him as he took some toast off the work surface and ate it slowly. In fact they ignored him at lunch and dinner, and when he announced he was going to bed they only glared at him. In a way, this was worse than a punishment.
The Dursley's continued to ignore him for the rest of his holidays. On the morning of September the first, Harry awoke especially early. After making sure that everything was packed, he went down for breakfast. The family was sitting around the kitchen table as Harry entered. They knew very well that Harry needed to go to school today, but were they willing to take him there. That was what made Harry ask,
"You are going to take me to school aren't you?"
Uncle Vernon scoffed and looked up from his paper.
"If I must" he said with a deep sigh, "But I warn you, if anything happens then I won't on future occasions". Harry was relieved. He had worried that the Dursley's might have decided to disown him as well as ignore him. Once his trunks were safely down stairs, Harry decided it was time to go. He and uncle Vernon walked slowly to the car. Dudley had made it very clear that he wouldn't to London for a while, and aunt Petunia wouldn't go near Harry, so it was just him and his uncle. In a way, this was better. For one thing he didn't have to sit next to Dudley so he had the whole of the back seat for himself, and also the car was quiet so he could think clearly. The journey wasn't anywhere near as interesting as Harry knew the Hogwarts express would be. He amused himself by staring out of the window, knowing that soon he wouldn't see the Dudley's for nearly a year. The thought cheered Harry up considerably.
The station towered over them as they walked slowly with Harry's trunk and crate towards it. Vernon didn't even say good bye as he stalked off into the crowd once Harry had a trolley. Harry walked on alone towards platforms nine and ten, wishing that the things he was carrying were lighter. The ticket barrier was there as usual and as Harry couldn't see anyone around, he strode up to it with confidence. The task was straight forwards enough, so he wasn't surprised when he had walked straight through the barrier to see the enormous scarlet steam engine ahead. Lots of bustling families were talking hurriedly, and as Harry walked through the sea of people, they turned to face him, some bowing, some pointing and some even shouting at the top of their lungs
"It's Harry Potter!"
Harry found this very disturbing, so he was relieved when he saw the Weasley's smiling at him from a door of the train. He approached them as quickly as he could, so as to be out the limelight. They helped him pull his trunks onto the train, before asking him how he was. Harry said he was fine, and was now feeling happier than he had for weeks.
"Do take care won't you" Mrs. Weasly said to all her children and Harry.
"Of course we will mum" Fred and George sniffed together, "we're nearly eighteen, we can take of ourselves".
"I know dear's, but, all the same-"
"We know mum" spluttered Ron.
"How are you Harry dear?" Mrs Weasley asked him, "we're ever so sorry about our colds but I didn't want to risk it".
"That's OK" Harry said as they boarded the train "I understand".
"It wouldn't have made any difference" said Ron through a cough, "We're still ill"
Hermione ran up to them at that point with a tissue in her hand, explaining that the medicine didn't work.
"I tried everything, even muggle cures, nothing worked" she said desperation in her voice. They opened the window, so that they could talk to Mrs Weasly. She was nearly in tears, and kept telling herself to get a grip. Ginny did all she could to cheer her up, but nothing seemed to work. Getting out of the train to give her one, last hug, seemed to do the trick. Back in their seats they talked happily and waved goodbye as the train left the station. Now that the train was moving, the prospect of seeing the school again was creeping up on Harry. His insides were turning to jelly at the thought of being where he wanted to be most.
They settled into conversation.
"You'll never guess what" Harry said. They all looked at him. "Dudley got wedged between the ticket barriers at Liverpool street.
The whole carriage shook with laughter.
"Are you serious?" asked Fred
"Surely that's not possible" Hermione exclaimed
"It was on the muggle news" Harry assured her.
It was a while before the novelty wore off, but soon they were chatting amongst themselves.
"Did you like the presents?" Hermione asked Ron and Harry.
"Yeah," said Harry "only, what is it?"
Hermione laughed. "It's a helper" she said smiling at them. "You use it to help you answer questions you don't understand or don't know the answer to. Of course you can't use it in tests, but it will help in revision."
"Trust Hermione to think of tests already" Ron whispered to Harry, but Harry thought it was a good idea.
"Are you guys prefects?" Harry asked curiously. Hermione and Ron both smiled, and to Harry's relief said
"Yes"
"It's great isn't it" Hermione said beaming at him, she reached into her bag and pulled out her badge. Ron and Harry followed suit.
"We have to go to the prefect lounge or something" Hermione said wiping her nose with her handkerchief.
"Hermione, you don't know anything do you" Ron said. Hermione looked slightly hurt. "I mean" said Ron quickly "that we don't need to go to the prefect lounge." It was evident that both Harry and Hermione had no idea what he was talking about, so he explained.
"They say that to take the pressure off, so you don't panic and spoil the test. Believe me, I saw Bill, Charlie and Percy do them so I should know."
"Well done" said a drawling voice from behind them. Draco Malfoy stood flanked by Crabbe and Goyle in the compartment doorway. Harry was furious.
"Of course we all know that you're to thick to work that out yourself Malfoy" he said matter of factly, "it's obvious that you got your poor excuse for a father to tell you" he finished. Malfoy's face contorted into a foul grimace.
"At least my father wasn't stupid enough to get himself killed" he said his cold voice rising as he spoke.
"No" said Harry, "your father just joined them instead". At this point Harry was standing feet from Malfoy, not caring about anything but hurting Malfoy as much as he could. Malfoy, however was smirking.
"Yes, he clever enough to know what's right" he said, "your father didn't know what was good for him, and look what happened." Both Crabbe and Goyle laughed at this. "Oh dear" Malfoy said sarcastically, "little Potter misses daddy, well you'll be with him soon Potter, don't worry about that". And with that he left, Crabbe and Goyle at close quarters.
"You should have ignored him" Fred said, "he's not worth it". Hermione and Ron however were silent. The last time Hermione was this angry, she had hit Malfoy square in the face. However mad she was this time, she not resulted in this, instead she was rubbing her knuckles under the table.
"I wish he'd gone too" she said after an awkward silence. Both Ron and Harry, who was now back in his seat, agreed. After changing into their Hogwarts uniform, they settled back into conversation, mostly about being prefects and the following year. The witch pushing the trolley containing sweets, food, and drink, came happily into the compartment, the trolley tinkling.
"Would you like anything dears?" she asked. Harry bought everyone drinks and sweets for the rest of the journey, and settled down with his own chocolate frogs and every flavour beans. He opened the packet of beans, and looked apprehensively at them. After offering them around, he picked up a brown one and nibbled the end. He was pleasantly surprised when he found it was chocolate. After telling Ron this, he was amazed to find out that chocolate ones were really rare.
"You're really lucky" he said, "I hunted for one of those for ages, but all I got were black pudding, lasagne, and frog spawn" he looked slightly off-put by Harry's luck, until he picked up one himself.
"Wow" he exclaimed.
Everyone looked around at him.
"What?" Harry asked looking uncertainly at him.
"Another chocolate one" Ron said looking strangely as if he was going to cry.
"Lucky?" Hermione asked.
"I'd say" Ron replied, "the only other person who has had more than one chocolate one in a pack is Dumbledore".
"How do you know that?" Hermione asked, looking astounded. After all, it was usually her who came up with such facts.
"Percy gave me a book called 'Hogwarts Headmasters, and their hobbies and interests'" said Ron.
Fred and George looked horrified.
"You actually read it" George said, mouth open.
"How did you survive the boredom" Fred said as if it was a miracle.
Hermione didn't assume this opinion.
"Was it good?" she asked curiously.
"I only flicked through it" at this Fred and George relaxed a bit. "But I did read the bits on Dumbledore. I found out that he is a sucker for muggle sweets and that he used to belong to the Dark force defence league." This reminded Harry very much of Gilderoy Lockhart. Lockhart, their second defence against dark arts teacher, was always reminding them that he was "order of Merlin third class, honorary member of the dark force defence league and five times winner of witch weekly's most charming smile award." But thankfully, Lockhart had not been able to teach the following year, due to him wiping his own memory.
It surprised Harry that Ron had read something other than 'Flying with the Canons', and in a strange way, he felt that Hermione's efforts had been rubbed off on him. He felt, somehow, he would be spending a lot of time in the library that year.
The train was still winding round the fields, the sun was still high in the sky, but it seemed to take much longer than usual. Harry was starting to wonder if they would run out of things to say and end the journey in silence. Fred, George and Ginny, were having a detailed discussion about practical jokes. It seemed very complex to make joke wands to Harry, and he was intrigued to know how the twins found out about them in the first place, so he asked them. The reply was far from what he had expected. Fred looked at George who nodded, and said:
"Well really .....it was .....Percy". George grinned.
"Yep" he said, "he told us off for being such practical jokers".
"And then" Fred continued, "he said the next thing we'd be doing is making wands turn to chickens, we couldn't have done it without him". Ginny laughed.
"You owe him something" she said, "for the idea".
"You're right Ginny, maybe we should give him some Ton-tongue toffees, to show our appreciation".
Time went quicker after this, and soon the sun was setting on the horizon. Hermione, who was checking her watch, was startled when the compartment door, slid open, and Jenny entered. Harry felt himself go red, and tried to hide his burning face in his hands. Jenny approached where they were, and said:
"Harry?" Harry turned to see that she was blushing slightly too.
"Yeah" he said,
"Angelina told me to tell you, that all Gryfindor quidditch players need to meet on the quidditch pitch on saturday, at ten fifteen".
"Ok" Harry said.
"Bye then" she called.
But Hermione stopped her.
"Why don't you stay here?" she asked. Jenny hesitated, but was persuaded by Hermione and Ginny to sit down opposite Harry. Ron offered her some of Harry's sweets (Harry didn't mind), and asked her if she saw the world cup. Her Ron and Hermione talked about quidditch, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and the band 'wailing warlocks'. Harry, who had no idea who the captain of the English quidditch team was, let alone who the wailing warlocks were, just sat, listening contentedly to the murmur of voices, and occasional laughter. When, at last, the engine came to a stand still, Harry was wishing he could stay there forever. But, instead, they wrapped their robes around them tightly, and set off onto Hogsmeade station platform.
It was cold outside, making it seem like mid winter, rather than early autumn, and as they made the trek to their carriages, Harry felt like he had just been soaked in ice cold water, and thrown into a blizzard. The first years were lined up in front of the lake, and Harry, who was expecting to see Hargrid, looked around. There was no sign of him, and he was being pushed towards a fifth year carriage, by the bustling crowd. After being pushed up the steps and into one, Harry looked around him. Ron and Hermione were talking in whispers, and kept looking in his direction. This made Harry feel uneasy, so he looked out of the window. The first years must have departed already, because the little boats which were there a short while before had gone. Harry heard a clunk of someone entering the carriage. He turned and came face to face with Jenny.
"All the other coaches are full" she said, and sat down in the only remaining seat, next to Harry. There was a jolt, and the carriage started to move. Harry was glad that he wasn't out in the storm, like the first years, he remembered when Colin Crevey's brother Dennis had fallen in. He shivered.
"Are you all right?" Jenny asked.
"Just cold" Harry replied but talking to Jenny seemed to warm him up a bit.
The ride was far from enjoyable, Hermione kept complaining that her feet were cold, and Ron kept sniffing. Harry and Jenny sat silently side by side, watching the clouds darken out of the window. The dark out-line of the castle slowly crept into view, and the trees of the Forbidden Forest loomed over them. Harry's stomach, though full of sweets, was rumbling at the thought of the welcoming feast in the great hall, full of wonderful decorations, and enough food to fill and army of hundreds of thousands. Harry would ask Hermione if she was going to eat anything because of the amount of food the castles many houselves would have had to make, but she was still talking to Ron.
This was very unnerving, and as the coaches came to a stand still, he felt the hairs on his neck, stand on end.
They trudged up to the dark castle, shivering with the cold. By now, Harry was used to seeing the castle looking uninhabited, and rundown, but he also knew that a few weeks from now it would be lively once more. He looked around the grounds as they made their way towards the large, oak doors, and to his surprise, saw no sign of Hagrid. The grounds did not smell of freshly mown grass, and the earthy patches around his wooden cabin, were not full of baby pumpkins, growing for halloween. He noticed also that, from the back of Ron's head, his ears were getting much pinker.
The entrance hall echoed with the sound of their voices and as they reached the door leading into the great hall, they felt a rush of warmth. The doors flung open, to reveal the best sight that Harry had seen in what seemed like ages.
The golden glow from the candles, lit up their faces, there were gasps, and Dumbledore appeared, beckoning them in. There was a rush to get into the hall, and the students poured in through the doorway, it was a matter of seconds before everyone was in there seats chatting merrily. Dumbledore walked over to the teachers table, and stood talking to professor McGonagall with a grin on his face.
Harry was sat, with Ron and Hermione on one side him and Fred and George on the other. Ron and Hermione, it seemed, were talking to him at last.
"This is great" Ron said over the chattering crowd.
"Yeah" replied Harry, who was still wondering why they hadn't been talking to him. Colin Creevy was at the far end of the table and looked completely out of sorts.
"Reminds me of Percy" said Ron, looking at him sympathetically.
"What?" asked Harry, who wasn't truly paying attention.
"Colin looks just like Percy has over the summer" Ron repeated. "Totally bonkers, eyes wide, staring, you know, that kind of thing" he continued, pointing at Colin.
There was a loud bang from overhead, and broomsticks soared down from the ceiling. On them were witches and wizards, of all shapes and sizes. It was too distant to make out any faces, but for some, strange reason, Harry recognised something about one of them. When they had all landed, it became clear, that they hadn't been posted at the school for long. They circled the hall, before landing at the teachers table, and each, in turn, shook Dumbledore's hand. Dumbledore cleared his throat, and began.
"Lady's and Gentlemen" he said and silence filled the hall. "It gives me pleasure to announce the arrival of some new members of staff". There was a burst of applause, and the new teachers bowed. "As with all teachers, it is advised that you treat them with the kindness and respect that they deserve, that you behave well in their lessons, and that you learn many things from them." He muttered something to one of them and said, "I suppose I need to introduce you to them". And with that the teacher that he had just spoken to, came forwards. Harry notice that his hair was in spikes, and that he was wearing robes that had a linear gradient of red at the bottom to blue at the top, with silver stars, that sparkled in the candle light. Then Harry recognised him he was the man that they had met in gringotts bank.
"Hello," he said, in the same kind voice, that Harry noticed before. "Well, I'm Professor Kinderly and I'll be taking your defence against dark arts lessons from now on" there was a round of applause, that he had obviously not expected.
Everyone was overjoyed by the thought that someone sensible, and maybe even nice was taking defence against dark arts lessons. Harry thought of Professor Lupin and sighed. He noticed that the slytherins were not clapping.
"Thank-you" he continued, "now, as you all know, last years, dark arts teacher, was, lets say, untrustworthy. But I am determined that you will be able to defend yourselves considerably better, by the end of this year". He stepped back, through more applause and sat down at the teachers table alongside professor McGonagall.
A witch stepped forwards at that point, and said,
"Good evening" she was quite young, and had long, dark hair that nearly touched the floor. She wore robes of midnight blue, which had a strange silver light coming from them.
"I hope that you are all well" she continued, (both Ron and Hermione sneezed). "From looking around, I can see that you look like a fairly decent lot of people". Harry looked over at Malfoy, who was talking to Crabbe and Goyle in whispers and then looked at Ron, who looked back and raised his eyebrows. "So I'm sure that we will get on".
"My name is professor Honeydew, and I am here, to teach you a very important subject. That's right, it is my job to teach potions."
Harry looked at Ron, who looked like he was going to cry, his mouth was wide and, from what Harry could tell, was the happiest in his life.
After Professor Jupitus had said he was an astrology teacher, Mrs Finofsky said she was teaching ancient runes, Ms Petrus said she teaches muggle studies, and Mr Geovouser explained that he would be taking a revision class for years five and seven and they had all taken seats, there was an outbreak of talking.
"Where's Hagrid, then" said Hermione, "If Mr Hounson is taking over as Game Keeper".
"I don't know" said Harry. He was still thinking about Professor Lupin.
"He did say something about an important job, he had to do over the holidays, maybe he's still doing that".
The hall fell silent once more. Out of a door to the side of the hall, a long line of first years, looking shaken, walked silently into the hall. Professor McGonagall stood up, and went over to the shivering first years holding the limp shape of the sorting hat in her hands. Once placed on the stool at one end of the hall, the hat looking totally unimpressive, suddenly jumped into life. The rip in its brim opened, and it sang:
I am a regal mastery,
Although I may not look it.
I've been here for all history,
But many wont concede it.
Within me is enchantment,
so amazing I acclaim it.
And although it can be seen,
I rarely choose to show it.
So if you will perceive me,
for what I really am.
You try me on,
For then you'll see,
How magic I can really be.
I show many people
Where they shall be placed
So put me on over you head,
Although not in haste.
Will you be placed in Gryfindor,
Where the brave have been before.
Or will it be sly Slytherin,
Which I will now place you in.
Fair Hufflepuff is good and just,
In there is those whom you can trust
Wise Ravenclaw house those who,
Are clever and witty and tell the truth.
So try me on and wait until
You find out what fits your bill
And there you'll go,
Just like that
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat.
There was a burst of appreciation, and applause and the hat lay still once again. Then, professor McGonagall said,
"Abbot, Lucy"
A small brown haired girl walked forwards, took the hat, and sat on the stool, hat on her head. A few seconds later the hat shouted,
"GRYFFINDOR" and the Gryffindor table, including Harry, cheered. The girl came over, and sat down looking around apprehensively. Fred started talking to her, saying that she was in by far the best house and that their team would win quidditch for sure.
"Afly Peter" professor McGonagall called, and a smaller still boy with red hair and glasses, put the hat on, which cried out,
"HUFFLEPUFF"
After the last person (Woods Chloe) had become a gryfindor, and had sat down, golden plates appeared in front of them, and filled with every kind of food Harry could think of. This was only the third time that he had had a welcoming feast, and it was just as he had remembered it to be.
"This is our last welcoming feast", sniffed George
"The last time we'll see the sorting" said Fred
Ron, who was tucking into a baked potato, snorted.
"Don't be too sad," he said, "You won't be missing much, only lovely food, wonderful conversations-".
Fred and George's sobs loudened.
"That was mean Ron" said Hermione.
"I know," said Ron. "That's why I said it."
He looked as if he was going to say something else, but stopped. His face contorted, his eyes shut tight.
"Ron, are you all right?" Hermione asked a slight sound of panic in her voice. Ron, took a deep breath in.
"Is he having a fit" Parviti asked from next to her, with a tone of deep excitement. Jenny came rushing over, tapped Ron on the back, with her wand, and before Hermione could stop her shouted, "baneio inspirerus expirus summarili".
There was a jolt of her wand upwards, she breathed out, so did Ron, she breathed in, so did Ron, Ron rose up, his arms limp, Professor McGonagall, Professor Kinderly, and Professor Dumbledore, came rushing onto the scene, "FINITE" Jenny yelled at the top of her lungs, "FINITE" yelled Ron, and he spiralled down into his seat, looking shaken but unharmed.
Then, the most horrifying thing happened, Ron sneezed, spraying the entire hall, and Jenny, soared upwards, her head back, and limbs lying limply, and uselessly at her side.
It took the whole army of teachers wands raised to bring her down and she was transported immediately to the hospital wing.
"What happened?" Harry asked Hermione, they were still in the great hall.
"I think it was Nauseamus" she replied, voice trembling. "She was very brave to do that".
"What is nauseamus?" Harry asked looking concerned.
"When a wizard is really ill," she began.
"Like Ron?" interrupted Harry.
"Yes, like Ron. They can sometimes go into a state of shock, which leaves them fighting for breath" she stopped sighed and continued. "There are two possibilities when this happens, one is to let them get on with it, it may pass, and may not-"
"The other?" said Harry.
"To cast the nauseamus spell." She said, "come on, i'll explain on the way". They moved out of the hall, and along the corridor leading to the hospital wing.
"The nauseamus spell is very complicated, and highly admirable. It involves combining yourself, with the one being treated, but sometimes it can go wrong, and reverse the illness, and sometimes even kill." She looked away. Harry noticed a moist patch appear under her eyes when she turned back.
"Jenny's not, dead is she?" Harry said, a lump in his throat rising uncomfortably.
"Lets hope not," Hermione said, "lets hope not."
When Harry awoke the next morning a lump was on the bottom of his bed. Sitting up, he saw it was tiny, and silver. Harry rubbed his eyes and once his glasses were on, he looked more closely at it. The Hogwarts crest gleamed in the sunlight. Harry carefully unwrapped it. A tiny silver badge fell into his hand and to Harry's delight, it had 'P' for prefect on it. Harry was overwhelmed. He was a prefect. He had seen the prefect bathroom and, in his opinion, it was worth being a prefect just to use it. As Harry examined it, the badge changed colour. The warmth of his hand sent it red, then green, then purple. Astounded by his luck, Harry put the badge safely in his trunk, so that he wouldn't forget it. Thinking that he should do the same for his books, Harry tipped the contents of his bag onto his bed. Piling his books neatly into his trunk he saw the present that Hermione brought him back from Canada. Now seemed as good a time as any, so he took it off his bed, and undid the string tying the paper on. A model of an old wizard slid out from the wrappings. Wondering what it could be Harry turned it over. Nothing happened, so Harry decided to wait to ask Hermione what it was. Once everything from his bag was safely in the trunk, Harry went down for breakfast.
Vernon and Petunia were having a heated argument. Deciding that he could listen in on them Harry hid out of sight, around the corner.
"One hundred and fifty pounds" Vernon was yelling, "and he put it on again and more". Harry heard his uncle slam his fist down on the table before saying,
"Is that at all possible Petunia?"
"I reckon Harry did it" Petunia wailed, "It's his idea of a joke"
"He can't use his .....powers though can he" uncle Vernon said with more bangs of his fist.
"It didn't stop him before, did it" Petunia said, "remember Marge?"
Harry thought it best to leave them to it, so he dragged himself upstairs again. Harry's breakfast consisted mostly of the sweets he had bought in Diagon Alley. The assortment of chocolate frogs, every flavour beans, and rainbow cookies, was partially filling, but Harry's stomach was still rumbling away. It was difficult to engage himself with things to do, because he was sick of doing it so many times. So, daring to risk it, he went downstairs. It wasn't a happy sight. Dudley was sitting, crying because his mother wouldn't give him any more food, Vernon was reading the newspaper, and Petunia was watering the house plants. They completely ignored him as he took some toast off the work surface and ate it slowly. In fact they ignored him at lunch and dinner, and when he announced he was going to bed they only glared at him. In a way, this was worse than a punishment.
The Dursley's continued to ignore him for the rest of his holidays. On the morning of September the first, Harry awoke especially early. After making sure that everything was packed, he went down for breakfast. The family was sitting around the kitchen table as Harry entered. They knew very well that Harry needed to go to school today, but were they willing to take him there. That was what made Harry ask,
"You are going to take me to school aren't you?"
Uncle Vernon scoffed and looked up from his paper.
"If I must" he said with a deep sigh, "But I warn you, if anything happens then I won't on future occasions". Harry was relieved. He had worried that the Dursley's might have decided to disown him as well as ignore him. Once his trunks were safely down stairs, Harry decided it was time to go. He and uncle Vernon walked slowly to the car. Dudley had made it very clear that he wouldn't to London for a while, and aunt Petunia wouldn't go near Harry, so it was just him and his uncle. In a way, this was better. For one thing he didn't have to sit next to Dudley so he had the whole of the back seat for himself, and also the car was quiet so he could think clearly. The journey wasn't anywhere near as interesting as Harry knew the Hogwarts express would be. He amused himself by staring out of the window, knowing that soon he wouldn't see the Dudley's for nearly a year. The thought cheered Harry up considerably.
The station towered over them as they walked slowly with Harry's trunk and crate towards it. Vernon didn't even say good bye as he stalked off into the crowd once Harry had a trolley. Harry walked on alone towards platforms nine and ten, wishing that the things he was carrying were lighter. The ticket barrier was there as usual and as Harry couldn't see anyone around, he strode up to it with confidence. The task was straight forwards enough, so he wasn't surprised when he had walked straight through the barrier to see the enormous scarlet steam engine ahead. Lots of bustling families were talking hurriedly, and as Harry walked through the sea of people, they turned to face him, some bowing, some pointing and some even shouting at the top of their lungs
"It's Harry Potter!"
Harry found this very disturbing, so he was relieved when he saw the Weasley's smiling at him from a door of the train. He approached them as quickly as he could, so as to be out the limelight. They helped him pull his trunks onto the train, before asking him how he was. Harry said he was fine, and was now feeling happier than he had for weeks.
"Do take care won't you" Mrs. Weasly said to all her children and Harry.
"Of course we will mum" Fred and George sniffed together, "we're nearly eighteen, we can take of ourselves".
"I know dear's, but, all the same-"
"We know mum" spluttered Ron.
"How are you Harry dear?" Mrs Weasley asked him, "we're ever so sorry about our colds but I didn't want to risk it".
"That's OK" Harry said as they boarded the train "I understand".
"It wouldn't have made any difference" said Ron through a cough, "We're still ill"
Hermione ran up to them at that point with a tissue in her hand, explaining that the medicine didn't work.
"I tried everything, even muggle cures, nothing worked" she said desperation in her voice. They opened the window, so that they could talk to Mrs Weasly. She was nearly in tears, and kept telling herself to get a grip. Ginny did all she could to cheer her up, but nothing seemed to work. Getting out of the train to give her one, last hug, seemed to do the trick. Back in their seats they talked happily and waved goodbye as the train left the station. Now that the train was moving, the prospect of seeing the school again was creeping up on Harry. His insides were turning to jelly at the thought of being where he wanted to be most.
They settled into conversation.
"You'll never guess what" Harry said. They all looked at him. "Dudley got wedged between the ticket barriers at Liverpool street.
The whole carriage shook with laughter.
"Are you serious?" asked Fred
"Surely that's not possible" Hermione exclaimed
"It was on the muggle news" Harry assured her.
It was a while before the novelty wore off, but soon they were chatting amongst themselves.
"Did you like the presents?" Hermione asked Ron and Harry.
"Yeah," said Harry "only, what is it?"
Hermione laughed. "It's a helper" she said smiling at them. "You use it to help you answer questions you don't understand or don't know the answer to. Of course you can't use it in tests, but it will help in revision."
"Trust Hermione to think of tests already" Ron whispered to Harry, but Harry thought it was a good idea.
"Are you guys prefects?" Harry asked curiously. Hermione and Ron both smiled, and to Harry's relief said
"Yes"
"It's great isn't it" Hermione said beaming at him, she reached into her bag and pulled out her badge. Ron and Harry followed suit.
"We have to go to the prefect lounge or something" Hermione said wiping her nose with her handkerchief.
"Hermione, you don't know anything do you" Ron said. Hermione looked slightly hurt. "I mean" said Ron quickly "that we don't need to go to the prefect lounge." It was evident that both Harry and Hermione had no idea what he was talking about, so he explained.
"They say that to take the pressure off, so you don't panic and spoil the test. Believe me, I saw Bill, Charlie and Percy do them so I should know."
"Well done" said a drawling voice from behind them. Draco Malfoy stood flanked by Crabbe and Goyle in the compartment doorway. Harry was furious.
"Of course we all know that you're to thick to work that out yourself Malfoy" he said matter of factly, "it's obvious that you got your poor excuse for a father to tell you" he finished. Malfoy's face contorted into a foul grimace.
"At least my father wasn't stupid enough to get himself killed" he said his cold voice rising as he spoke.
"No" said Harry, "your father just joined them instead". At this point Harry was standing feet from Malfoy, not caring about anything but hurting Malfoy as much as he could. Malfoy, however was smirking.
"Yes, he clever enough to know what's right" he said, "your father didn't know what was good for him, and look what happened." Both Crabbe and Goyle laughed at this. "Oh dear" Malfoy said sarcastically, "little Potter misses daddy, well you'll be with him soon Potter, don't worry about that". And with that he left, Crabbe and Goyle at close quarters.
"You should have ignored him" Fred said, "he's not worth it". Hermione and Ron however were silent. The last time Hermione was this angry, she had hit Malfoy square in the face. However mad she was this time, she not resulted in this, instead she was rubbing her knuckles under the table.
"I wish he'd gone too" she said after an awkward silence. Both Ron and Harry, who was now back in his seat, agreed. After changing into their Hogwarts uniform, they settled back into conversation, mostly about being prefects and the following year. The witch pushing the trolley containing sweets, food, and drink, came happily into the compartment, the trolley tinkling.
"Would you like anything dears?" she asked. Harry bought everyone drinks and sweets for the rest of the journey, and settled down with his own chocolate frogs and every flavour beans. He opened the packet of beans, and looked apprehensively at them. After offering them around, he picked up a brown one and nibbled the end. He was pleasantly surprised when he found it was chocolate. After telling Ron this, he was amazed to find out that chocolate ones were really rare.
"You're really lucky" he said, "I hunted for one of those for ages, but all I got were black pudding, lasagne, and frog spawn" he looked slightly off-put by Harry's luck, until he picked up one himself.
"Wow" he exclaimed.
Everyone looked around at him.
"What?" Harry asked looking uncertainly at him.
"Another chocolate one" Ron said looking strangely as if he was going to cry.
"Lucky?" Hermione asked.
"I'd say" Ron replied, "the only other person who has had more than one chocolate one in a pack is Dumbledore".
"How do you know that?" Hermione asked, looking astounded. After all, it was usually her who came up with such facts.
"Percy gave me a book called 'Hogwarts Headmasters, and their hobbies and interests'" said Ron.
Fred and George looked horrified.
"You actually read it" George said, mouth open.
"How did you survive the boredom" Fred said as if it was a miracle.
Hermione didn't assume this opinion.
"Was it good?" she asked curiously.
"I only flicked through it" at this Fred and George relaxed a bit. "But I did read the bits on Dumbledore. I found out that he is a sucker for muggle sweets and that he used to belong to the Dark force defence league." This reminded Harry very much of Gilderoy Lockhart. Lockhart, their second defence against dark arts teacher, was always reminding them that he was "order of Merlin third class, honorary member of the dark force defence league and five times winner of witch weekly's most charming smile award." But thankfully, Lockhart had not been able to teach the following year, due to him wiping his own memory.
It surprised Harry that Ron had read something other than 'Flying with the Canons', and in a strange way, he felt that Hermione's efforts had been rubbed off on him. He felt, somehow, he would be spending a lot of time in the library that year.
The train was still winding round the fields, the sun was still high in the sky, but it seemed to take much longer than usual. Harry was starting to wonder if they would run out of things to say and end the journey in silence. Fred, George and Ginny, were having a detailed discussion about practical jokes. It seemed very complex to make joke wands to Harry, and he was intrigued to know how the twins found out about them in the first place, so he asked them. The reply was far from what he had expected. Fred looked at George who nodded, and said:
"Well really .....it was .....Percy". George grinned.
"Yep" he said, "he told us off for being such practical jokers".
"And then" Fred continued, "he said the next thing we'd be doing is making wands turn to chickens, we couldn't have done it without him". Ginny laughed.
"You owe him something" she said, "for the idea".
"You're right Ginny, maybe we should give him some Ton-tongue toffees, to show our appreciation".
Time went quicker after this, and soon the sun was setting on the horizon. Hermione, who was checking her watch, was startled when the compartment door, slid open, and Jenny entered. Harry felt himself go red, and tried to hide his burning face in his hands. Jenny approached where they were, and said:
"Harry?" Harry turned to see that she was blushing slightly too.
"Yeah" he said,
"Angelina told me to tell you, that all Gryfindor quidditch players need to meet on the quidditch pitch on saturday, at ten fifteen".
"Ok" Harry said.
"Bye then" she called.
But Hermione stopped her.
"Why don't you stay here?" she asked. Jenny hesitated, but was persuaded by Hermione and Ginny to sit down opposite Harry. Ron offered her some of Harry's sweets (Harry didn't mind), and asked her if she saw the world cup. Her Ron and Hermione talked about quidditch, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, and the band 'wailing warlocks'. Harry, who had no idea who the captain of the English quidditch team was, let alone who the wailing warlocks were, just sat, listening contentedly to the murmur of voices, and occasional laughter. When, at last, the engine came to a stand still, Harry was wishing he could stay there forever. But, instead, they wrapped their robes around them tightly, and set off onto Hogsmeade station platform.
It was cold outside, making it seem like mid winter, rather than early autumn, and as they made the trek to their carriages, Harry felt like he had just been soaked in ice cold water, and thrown into a blizzard. The first years were lined up in front of the lake, and Harry, who was expecting to see Hargrid, looked around. There was no sign of him, and he was being pushed towards a fifth year carriage, by the bustling crowd. After being pushed up the steps and into one, Harry looked around him. Ron and Hermione were talking in whispers, and kept looking in his direction. This made Harry feel uneasy, so he looked out of the window. The first years must have departed already, because the little boats which were there a short while before had gone. Harry heard a clunk of someone entering the carriage. He turned and came face to face with Jenny.
"All the other coaches are full" she said, and sat down in the only remaining seat, next to Harry. There was a jolt, and the carriage started to move. Harry was glad that he wasn't out in the storm, like the first years, he remembered when Colin Crevey's brother Dennis had fallen in. He shivered.
"Are you all right?" Jenny asked.
"Just cold" Harry replied but talking to Jenny seemed to warm him up a bit.
The ride was far from enjoyable, Hermione kept complaining that her feet were cold, and Ron kept sniffing. Harry and Jenny sat silently side by side, watching the clouds darken out of the window. The dark out-line of the castle slowly crept into view, and the trees of the Forbidden Forest loomed over them. Harry's stomach, though full of sweets, was rumbling at the thought of the welcoming feast in the great hall, full of wonderful decorations, and enough food to fill and army of hundreds of thousands. Harry would ask Hermione if she was going to eat anything because of the amount of food the castles many houselves would have had to make, but she was still talking to Ron.
This was very unnerving, and as the coaches came to a stand still, he felt the hairs on his neck, stand on end.
They trudged up to the dark castle, shivering with the cold. By now, Harry was used to seeing the castle looking uninhabited, and rundown, but he also knew that a few weeks from now it would be lively once more. He looked around the grounds as they made their way towards the large, oak doors, and to his surprise, saw no sign of Hagrid. The grounds did not smell of freshly mown grass, and the earthy patches around his wooden cabin, were not full of baby pumpkins, growing for halloween. He noticed also that, from the back of Ron's head, his ears were getting much pinker.
The entrance hall echoed with the sound of their voices and as they reached the door leading into the great hall, they felt a rush of warmth. The doors flung open, to reveal the best sight that Harry had seen in what seemed like ages.
The golden glow from the candles, lit up their faces, there were gasps, and Dumbledore appeared, beckoning them in. There was a rush to get into the hall, and the students poured in through the doorway, it was a matter of seconds before everyone was in there seats chatting merrily. Dumbledore walked over to the teachers table, and stood talking to professor McGonagall with a grin on his face.
Harry was sat, with Ron and Hermione on one side him and Fred and George on the other. Ron and Hermione, it seemed, were talking to him at last.
"This is great" Ron said over the chattering crowd.
"Yeah" replied Harry, who was still wondering why they hadn't been talking to him. Colin Creevy was at the far end of the table and looked completely out of sorts.
"Reminds me of Percy" said Ron, looking at him sympathetically.
"What?" asked Harry, who wasn't truly paying attention.
"Colin looks just like Percy has over the summer" Ron repeated. "Totally bonkers, eyes wide, staring, you know, that kind of thing" he continued, pointing at Colin.
There was a loud bang from overhead, and broomsticks soared down from the ceiling. On them were witches and wizards, of all shapes and sizes. It was too distant to make out any faces, but for some, strange reason, Harry recognised something about one of them. When they had all landed, it became clear, that they hadn't been posted at the school for long. They circled the hall, before landing at the teachers table, and each, in turn, shook Dumbledore's hand. Dumbledore cleared his throat, and began.
"Lady's and Gentlemen" he said and silence filled the hall. "It gives me pleasure to announce the arrival of some new members of staff". There was a burst of applause, and the new teachers bowed. "As with all teachers, it is advised that you treat them with the kindness and respect that they deserve, that you behave well in their lessons, and that you learn many things from them." He muttered something to one of them and said, "I suppose I need to introduce you to them". And with that the teacher that he had just spoken to, came forwards. Harry notice that his hair was in spikes, and that he was wearing robes that had a linear gradient of red at the bottom to blue at the top, with silver stars, that sparkled in the candle light. Then Harry recognised him he was the man that they had met in gringotts bank.
"Hello," he said, in the same kind voice, that Harry noticed before. "Well, I'm Professor Kinderly and I'll be taking your defence against dark arts lessons from now on" there was a round of applause, that he had obviously not expected.
Everyone was overjoyed by the thought that someone sensible, and maybe even nice was taking defence against dark arts lessons. Harry thought of Professor Lupin and sighed. He noticed that the slytherins were not clapping.
"Thank-you" he continued, "now, as you all know, last years, dark arts teacher, was, lets say, untrustworthy. But I am determined that you will be able to defend yourselves considerably better, by the end of this year". He stepped back, through more applause and sat down at the teachers table alongside professor McGonagall.
A witch stepped forwards at that point, and said,
"Good evening" she was quite young, and had long, dark hair that nearly touched the floor. She wore robes of midnight blue, which had a strange silver light coming from them.
"I hope that you are all well" she continued, (both Ron and Hermione sneezed). "From looking around, I can see that you look like a fairly decent lot of people". Harry looked over at Malfoy, who was talking to Crabbe and Goyle in whispers and then looked at Ron, who looked back and raised his eyebrows. "So I'm sure that we will get on".
"My name is professor Honeydew, and I am here, to teach you a very important subject. That's right, it is my job to teach potions."
Harry looked at Ron, who looked like he was going to cry, his mouth was wide and, from what Harry could tell, was the happiest in his life.
After Professor Jupitus had said he was an astrology teacher, Mrs Finofsky said she was teaching ancient runes, Ms Petrus said she teaches muggle studies, and Mr Geovouser explained that he would be taking a revision class for years five and seven and they had all taken seats, there was an outbreak of talking.
"Where's Hagrid, then" said Hermione, "If Mr Hounson is taking over as Game Keeper".
"I don't know" said Harry. He was still thinking about Professor Lupin.
"He did say something about an important job, he had to do over the holidays, maybe he's still doing that".
The hall fell silent once more. Out of a door to the side of the hall, a long line of first years, looking shaken, walked silently into the hall. Professor McGonagall stood up, and went over to the shivering first years holding the limp shape of the sorting hat in her hands. Once placed on the stool at one end of the hall, the hat looking totally unimpressive, suddenly jumped into life. The rip in its brim opened, and it sang:
I am a regal mastery,
Although I may not look it.
I've been here for all history,
But many wont concede it.
Within me is enchantment,
so amazing I acclaim it.
And although it can be seen,
I rarely choose to show it.
So if you will perceive me,
for what I really am.
You try me on,
For then you'll see,
How magic I can really be.
I show many people
Where they shall be placed
So put me on over you head,
Although not in haste.
Will you be placed in Gryfindor,
Where the brave have been before.
Or will it be sly Slytherin,
Which I will now place you in.
Fair Hufflepuff is good and just,
In there is those whom you can trust
Wise Ravenclaw house those who,
Are clever and witty and tell the truth.
So try me on and wait until
You find out what fits your bill
And there you'll go,
Just like that
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat.
There was a burst of appreciation, and applause and the hat lay still once again. Then, professor McGonagall said,
"Abbot, Lucy"
A small brown haired girl walked forwards, took the hat, and sat on the stool, hat on her head. A few seconds later the hat shouted,
"GRYFFINDOR" and the Gryffindor table, including Harry, cheered. The girl came over, and sat down looking around apprehensively. Fred started talking to her, saying that she was in by far the best house and that their team would win quidditch for sure.
"Afly Peter" professor McGonagall called, and a smaller still boy with red hair and glasses, put the hat on, which cried out,
"HUFFLEPUFF"
After the last person (Woods Chloe) had become a gryfindor, and had sat down, golden plates appeared in front of them, and filled with every kind of food Harry could think of. This was only the third time that he had had a welcoming feast, and it was just as he had remembered it to be.
"This is our last welcoming feast", sniffed George
"The last time we'll see the sorting" said Fred
Ron, who was tucking into a baked potato, snorted.
"Don't be too sad," he said, "You won't be missing much, only lovely food, wonderful conversations-".
Fred and George's sobs loudened.
"That was mean Ron" said Hermione.
"I know," said Ron. "That's why I said it."
He looked as if he was going to say something else, but stopped. His face contorted, his eyes shut tight.
"Ron, are you all right?" Hermione asked a slight sound of panic in her voice. Ron, took a deep breath in.
"Is he having a fit" Parviti asked from next to her, with a tone of deep excitement. Jenny came rushing over, tapped Ron on the back, with her wand, and before Hermione could stop her shouted, "baneio inspirerus expirus summarili".
There was a jolt of her wand upwards, she breathed out, so did Ron, she breathed in, so did Ron, Ron rose up, his arms limp, Professor McGonagall, Professor Kinderly, and Professor Dumbledore, came rushing onto the scene, "FINITE" Jenny yelled at the top of her lungs, "FINITE" yelled Ron, and he spiralled down into his seat, looking shaken but unharmed.
Then, the most horrifying thing happened, Ron sneezed, spraying the entire hall, and Jenny, soared upwards, her head back, and limbs lying limply, and uselessly at her side.
It took the whole army of teachers wands raised to bring her down and she was transported immediately to the hospital wing.
"What happened?" Harry asked Hermione, they were still in the great hall.
"I think it was Nauseamus" she replied, voice trembling. "She was very brave to do that".
"What is nauseamus?" Harry asked looking concerned.
"When a wizard is really ill," she began.
"Like Ron?" interrupted Harry.
"Yes, like Ron. They can sometimes go into a state of shock, which leaves them fighting for breath" she stopped sighed and continued. "There are two possibilities when this happens, one is to let them get on with it, it may pass, and may not-"
"The other?" said Harry.
"To cast the nauseamus spell." She said, "come on, i'll explain on the way". They moved out of the hall, and along the corridor leading to the hospital wing.
"The nauseamus spell is very complicated, and highly admirable. It involves combining yourself, with the one being treated, but sometimes it can go wrong, and reverse the illness, and sometimes even kill." She looked away. Harry noticed a moist patch appear under her eyes when she turned back.
"Jenny's not, dead is she?" Harry said, a lump in his throat rising uncomfortably.
"Lets hope not," Hermione said, "lets hope not."
