Author's note: This is chapter 3 in the story. Please review. Sorry to all those who already read this story and thought it was too long. I messed up and put all that I have typed so far onto the web page. I am trying to put the chapters one by one on the page so bear with me! Please review.
CHAPTER THREE
BACK IN THE CASTLE
"What?" Ron and Harry asked together. Neville only nodded meekly.
"Oh, no!" Ron said, exasperated. "Now we have two classes with him!" he hit his head in frustration. "Arg!"
"Ron! Gosh! You know that he hates me more!" Harry reported.
Ron seemed to calm down. "Yeah, anyone would figure that out easily enough."
Hermione had gone ahead. Now she doubled back to find the two boys. "What are you two doing? Hurry up!"
"Hermione," Ron groaned, "guess who the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher is this year?"
Hermione thought for awhile, then shrugged. "I dunno...who?"
"Snape," Ron spat harshly.
"Oh, really? That's not good...how'd you find out?"
"Neville," Harry said calmly.
"Well, you know...maybe Malfoy was trying to scare him." Hermione said in a way that clearly stated, he's lying.
"Maybe! But possibly not!" Ron said bitterly.
"Gosh, Ron!" Hermione looked at him with confused eyes. "Don't be so sour. It could be worse you know?"
"Like how?" Ron yelled.
Harry bit his lip and left Ron to be in his bad mood. He heard Hermione stutter, trying to find something worse than having Snape for two classes.
Harry looked fondly at the tall trees and the small stream. He had never been in this part of Hogwarts before. And mentioning Hogwarts, the view of the magnificent castle suddenly appeared as they got out from under the thicket.
The castle was huge! It had many towering walls and doors at the bottom of them. Harry scanned the school and saw the familiar towers and rooms. The sight still fascinated him, although he had seen it many times.
The stream they were following emptied into the lake, and the sixth years all crossed a large bridge that led them up to the main doors of the school. They all filled in and went to the Great Hall.
Upon entering, the hall, a familiar sight met their eyes. The room was dimly lit by many candles floating over the long tables that had clean plates lying on them. At the far end of the Great Hall, a large banner hung on the wall. It had the signs for each house around a large letter H. The symbols were lion for Gryffindor, badger for Hufflepuff, raven for Ravenclaw, and a snake for Slytherin.
As they all took their seats, Professor McGonagall led the first years onto the stage. The chatter died down as hundreds of eyes turned onto the frightened looks of the 11- year olds. They were in a single filled line and they all turned to face the other students, waiting for how they were going to be sorted.
The professor put the three-legged stool on top of the stage also. Then she took the sorting hat and placed it on top of the stool.
All eyes turned on the stool, and Harry saw the first years' eyes dart around, then focus on the object of everyone's attention. They all watched in apprehension for what must've seemed like hours before a small rip formed on the tip of the hat, and it sang the sorting song.
The faces of the eleven-year olds showed more calmness when the song finished. All they had to do was put it on and the hat would tell them their house.
Professor McGonagall took out a list of the students' name and called the first.
"Anklins, Marie!" her voice rang out into the hushed silence.
A brown haired girl walked out of line and put the hat on. After a few seconds, the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"
As usual, the students cheered, and Marie walked of toward her table. She sat down, looking sheepishly around.
Brinkly, Joseph, a small blond haired boy, and Catalong, April, a skinny, brunet haired girl became Griffindors. They went and sat on the opposite end as Harry and them.
Forelonder, Martin was a Slytherin, and Jenson, Ferry became a Hufflepuff.
Finally, after Zeniski, Vetil became a Griffindor (he sat by Ron), Dumbledore stood up.
"Let's eat," he simply said.
The golden plates magically filled up with food and the students all helped themselves to the feast. The first years' bewilderment changed quickly as they saw the meal.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate and talked, occasionally listening to the others.
"So...Who's Pig delivering the letter to?" Hermione asked Ron.
"Oh," Ron said. "He's sending a letter to one of Dad's old friends. Percy is using his own owl and Errol...Well, you know that Errol is old, and he's just gotten back from a very long trip. He's in no condition to deliver another one."
"Hmm ...I wonder if Crookshanks is getting on all right. I haven't seen him ever since I put him on the train," Hermione said, thinking.
"I'm sure he's alright," Harry assured her.
"Yeah. That cat can take care of itself," Ron added.
Harry turned to look up at the teacher's table. He saw Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick, Trelawney, Sprout, and Snape at the table. Neville must've been right. There was no new teacher there that, so Snape must be teaching Defense Against Dark Arts and Potions.
"Hey, Ron," Harry said, nudging Ron's arm to get his attention.
"What?"
"Er...look at the teacher's table. I think that Snape is teaching both classes."
Ron turned and stared at the table. His eyes narrowed. "Maybe. Hopefully not."
He turned back to Hermione, who was conversing with Parvati. Harry turned his gaze also. He heard one of the first year Gryffindors ask nervously, "Is Professor Dumbledore really the only wizard that You-Know-Who is afraid of?"
"Yeah," a third year replied.
"Good," Harry heard April say from across the table. "We're safe then."
Vetil, the first year that sat by Ron, looked at the three of them. He had large eyes and dark brown hair. He was very small for his age, and resembled Colin Creevy.
The first year curiously asked, "What are your names?"
"Ron."
"Hermione."
"Harry."
Vetil seemed to stare intently with shock at them. "I've heard of you!" he said to Harry in an awed voice. "You survived when Voldemort tried to kill you."
The three of them were very taken aback by the mentioning of the Dark Lord's name. Vetil abruptly said oops in a small voice, as if he had accidentally let a secret slip.
"Hey, Vetil! Remember not to say his name!" Justin yelled from the end of the table.
"I know," Vetil shouted back. He turned to face Ron, Harry, and Hermione again. "I'm muggle born and I have to remember to say You-Know-Who instead of Vol- oops!"
Ron looked at Harry and rolled his eyes. "Better not let the Slytherins hear him say that."
Vetil looked at Ron and asked, "Say what?"
Hermione giggled and Ron sighed.
Vetil blinked a few times and looked strangely from Ron to Harry to Hermione. He asked, "What's so funny?"
Hermione laughed harder and Ron...who had been eating a spoonful of ice-cream (the food had changed to dessert), choked. Hermione hit him on the back, attempting to un-choke him while Vetil continued to stare at them with confusion.
"You people are weird," he said finally.
Hermione stopped laughing and took deep breaths to calm herself as Ron shook his head solemnly.
Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron, then turned to see what the rest of the Griffindors were doing. They were all chatting constantly, like the rest of the students.
Suddenly, Harry's eye caught onto a small girl sitting at the very end of the table, apparently alone. She had long wavy blonde hair and gray \ blue eyes. It seemed that she was staring straight at Harry, and when her vision connected with his, he shivered.
I wonder what her name is. She looks sickly- too pale... Harry thought to himself.
He abruptly shook his head in a subtle way and turned back to see what Ron was doing. But the thought of the first year girl's look was stamped in his mind. She had looked sad... too sad...
* * *
After the feast, when everyone was full and tired, the prefects led the way back up to the Gryffindor tower.
"Dipplewink is the password."
Ron snickered but no one seemed to notice. All were yawning and looking sleepily around at their roommates. No one stayed up when they got into the Gryffindor Common Room. They all hurried up the stairs to their dormitories, and changed into their pajamas.
Harry got into his familiar four-postered bed and saw Ron do the same. He was about to talk to him, but when he started to converse, Ron simply mumbled. Harry decided not to bother him any more than he already was and turned to look up at the canvass of his bed.
Harry's mind once again set on the green gem.
A gem shaped like a skull. What's that mean?
Harry was almost a hundred percent sure that the stone had something to do with Voldemort. Why else would it have an evil presence to it?
* * *
"You're Late,' Hermione scolded as Ron and Harry ran into the Great Hall, out of breath.
"Sorry," Ron gasped. "Woke-up late."
Hermione tutted unapprovingly before handing them each a sheet of paper and saying, "Here are your schedules."
Ron grabbed his anxiously.
"Hmm...We have Transfiguration first. Then...Potions," Ron ended with gritted teeth.
"Arg! Why do we always have Potions with the Slytherins?"
Hermione shrugged and started to eat her breakfast again.
Harry turned and took a glance at the Slytherin table. Draco Malfoy saw him and gave him an extremely dirty look. Harry wasn't taken aback by this, because it was a fact that they loathed each other.
Ron said, "Hey, Harry. We have Herbology after Potions."
Ron's gaze followed Harry's; locking eyesight with Malfoy's sneering stare. Ron grimaced and gave a look of equal hatred back at Draco.
Harry turned away quickly and glanced at his watch. Classes were starting in a few minutes. He tried to eat quickly, but was interrupted swiftly by the arriving of the mail.
From their right, Ron, Hermione, and Harry heard the first year's gasp in surprise. Their shock quickly changed to amazement as they said in awe, "Ooh..."
Ron laughed. He turned to face Hermione and Harry. "Remember our first reaction to the arriving of the mail?"
"Yeah! I almost fell out of my seat!"
The three of them grinned at each other, then burst out into a hysterical fit of laughter. They kept talking about the past, still smiling (on the verge of laughing), as they made their way to the Transfiguration classroom. When they entered, Professor McGonagall gave them a very stern look and Hermione abruptly stopped giggling.
They went to their seats in silence, watching the other students file into the classroom. Harry sat in between Ron and Hermione and all three of them took out their needed materials.
The professor slowly got up from her desk after everyone was seated and quiet. She made her way over to the front of the classroom and scanned the students with narrowed eyes. When she was sure they were all ready and prepared to go, she started to talk.
"This year, you are all going to learn how to transfigure things into animals." She paused. "By the end of this year, hopefully, you will all know how to transfigure yourselves."
An exited whisper swept through the room, but was quickly silenced by one look from the professor.
"Now," Professor McGonagall continued, "take notes."
There was a subtle rush as everyone made sure that they had a quill and a piece of parchment out.
Their assignment was to transfigure a piece of wood into a harmless garden snake. Harry prodded and poked at his slab of wood, managing to change it in a slight way. Green scales appeared on the board and it became flexible.
By the end of class, everyone had made a difference, even Neville. His board had become slender and twisty. Ron's board had thinned out and turned green, but out of the class, only Hermione's slab of wood had fully become a garden snake. She proudly showed it to Professor McGonagall who congratulated her with a smile.
* * *
"That was interesting," Hermione cheerfully said as the three of them made their way down the stairs to the potions classroom.
Ron groaned aloud. "That's 'cause your board actually turned into something!"
Hermione replied with a hurt voice. "Your piece of wood did something also!" she said shrilly.
Ron shrugged.
They became aware of the darkness around them as they walked on in silence. When they got to the classroom, only Seamus was there.
"Where are the rest of them?" Harry asked.
"I dunno. Late probably," Seamus replied, looking baffled.
The trio hesitantly sat down, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. All the Gryffindors came, but the Slytherins didn't show up. Even Snape was absent.
They all sat nervously in their seat like something was wrong. Most of them fidgeted and mumbled occasionally. They all stared at each other in question.
When the bell rang for their next class, everyone swiftly left the room.
"I wonder what happened to all the Slytherins?" Harry questioned.
"Maybe..."Ron whispered excitedly, "they all got kicked out! Now we'll never see Malfoy again!"
Harry highly doubted that this had happened, but Ron's voice rose loudly into the sustained silence.
"And, I won't ever have to see Snape's big, fat, ugly..."
"POTTER! WEASLEY! GRANGER!"
The three of them stopped in their tracks and hesitantly spun around to face a sneering Professor Snape. They recoiled a bit from the professor's evil look.
"Where were you and the rest of the Gryffindors at Potions?" he asked.
We...er..." Ron seemed lost for words.
Hermione came in, talking very quickly. "Proffesor, we went down to the dungeons but you and the rest of the Slytherins wern't there. We waited for the whole period but..."
"Quiet, Granger!" Professor Snape yelled. "The Potions room has moved to the Defense Against Dark Arts room! Why didn't you show up?"
They didn't answer.
"No brains perhaps?" Snape taunted menacingly.
"Professor, we..." Harry started, but he was abruptly cut off.
"Was it your idea Potter? Skipping class means detention."
"But..." they looked in shock at the sneer building up in the Potions mater's face.
Since," he said coldly. "I am feeling nice today... I will merely take 35 points off Gryffindor."
"But!"
"Do not ever skip class again! Do you understand?"
The three of them nodded reluctantly and Snape's smirk grew even wider. "Good. You all have a nice day then," he seemed to enjoy taunting them. The professor took one last glance at them; then he turned and left with a swish of his cloak.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood rooted to the spot, fuming.
"That i-i-idiot didn't even tell us the class moved! We didn't skip!" Ron sputtered angrily.
"Ron, calm down. At least we didn't get detention..." Hermione said soothingly.
But Ron was off again, mimicking Snape with a high squeaky voice. "Since I am feeling niiiice today, I will merely take 35 points off of Gryffindor. And while I am at it, I might as well go and shove my head..."
"RON!" Hermione screeched.
"Arg! It's so unfair! I wish that Snape would die!"
"You don't mean that, Ron." Hermione said sternly.
"Yes I do! And while he's at it, the Slytherins should all die also!"
"Er...Ron?" Harry said.
"They're so..."
"We have to get to Herbology," Harry finished quickly.
Ron spat out another groan of frustration. After he seemed calm enough to walk, the three of them made their way quietly to the greenhouse.
* * *
The gem had been gaining energy. Now it shone brightly with power. Its lights throbbed on the walls of the hole and it knew that the time had come for its resurrection.
A thick fog started to emit from its surface, wrapping the gem in a blanket of color. There was a rumble, and the earth around it fell in. The smoke of color evaporated, and the gem levitated off the ground. It shimmered, and in a bright flash, it was gone.