Chapter 6: Changes
" You don't have to feel guilty about the accident," Ron said on the way to Hogwarts. They were taking a special ministry bus with a lot of security just in case. "It's a good thing that it wasn't any worse," said Prof. Dumbledore. He joined them that morning after getting the letter from Liana. "What are you taking about?" said Harry. "We all can tell you feel responsible for the accident, but it wasn't your fault. We're your friends and we chose to be your friends including me," said Liana, "Prof. Dumbledore assigned me to you, but it was my choice if I wanted to do this or not."
"I'm sure Fred will wake up soon and he will be just fine," said Prof. Dumbledore, "This is partly my fault, I should have seen something like this coming," he said in guilty voice. "Professor, no one could have known this was going to happen," said Hermione, "You can't start blaming yourself, too."
"I just can't wait to get to the school," said Ginny, "at least over there, you-know-who wouldn't attack Harry. I don't think he wants to make his appearance just yet and he wouldn't attack Harry in a building full of students and teachers."
"Harry don't worry," said Prof. Dumbledore, "All the students and faculty are and will be safe throughout the year. Lord Voldemort will not get past Hogsmeade without being spotted. I assure you that no one will blame you for anything that might happen this year."
Harry knew all that Prof. Dumbledore said was true, but how could he face his fellow students? They all probably knew about the accident and would treat him like they did during his second year. He didn't want that again, but at least he knew he had some friends that wouldn't turn on him. Still, the thought of endangering the student body lingered in his mind.
As they neared the school, it started to rain. The school looked eerie to Harry and that scared him because he always thought of Hogwarts as his home, but it scared him a little now. Would he be safe in school or was it some kind of false security that caused him to be scared? He didn't know, but he knew he was tired and wanted to get something to eat then sleep. By the time they got there dinner had just started and they all went to dinner together. They were met with a sudden hush inside and when they sat down, people started whispering amongst each other except for those sitting near them.
"What happened to you all?" asked Neville with Dean, Seamus, and Lee listening in. "We got into a car accident on the way to the train. Some muggle hit us." Said Harry. "Who is that?" Lee asked Hermione and pointed to Liana. "This is Liana," said Hermione, "She's an exchange student who was staying with me this summer. Professor Dumbledore asked my parents if they could pick her up while we were in America. She's in our house, too"
"Oh, so you were riding with them when it happened?" asked Seamus, "wait, where's Fred?"
"Fred got hit pretty badly in the accident and is in a coma," said Ron. "Oh no," said Lee putting a hand on Ron's shoulder, "I'm so sorry, I hope he will wake up soon."
When they finished eating and were getting up, Ginny looked up at the teacher's table and noticed something different. "Hey wait a minute," she said, "Professor Snape isn't here and there are two new teachers at the table."
"Oh we forgot to tell you," said Dean, "Prof. Snape won't be here this year."
"Yes!" Cried Ron causing people to turn around and stare, "Sorry"
"And the Potions teacher is Prof. Galder and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is Prof. Matthews from America. He's also an Auror, but not as good as Moody, but Moody won't take the job again. Hey, did you know that Fleur Delacour is here? She's an intern in the school."
"Oh yeah, she told me about that before we left school," said Harry finishing off the rest of his pork pie, "I'm full, you all ready to go?"
"Yeah, I'm ready, what's the password?" asked Ron. "Mortoking" said Neville, "hey! I remembered!"
When they finally got to the Gryffindor Tower, Prof. McGonagall met them. "Prof. Dumbledore already told me about Fred. Here is your homework assignments you missed yesterday," handing them each a list, "I expect that homework to be turned in on time. You only missed one day." She finished and walked away, but stopped and put a hand on Ron's shoulder and gave him a smile showing she was sorry for giving Ron the homework even though Fred was still in the hospital. "Well, I'm off to bed," said Harry when they went into the common room. "I'll come up in a while," said Ron.
As Harry went into the 5th year boy's room, he felt at home and went to his bed. He fell on the bed tired, but not sleepy just thought to himself that he was very lucky to be here. He felt more relaxed now that they were in the castle and safe for now. He hoped that the accident was the last thing that would happen and that he wouldn't get anyone else in trouble or hurt.
The next morning, as they all went downstairs to the Great Hall, they were greeted by 3 familiar, yet unwanted people. Malfoy was waiting for them at the door w/ Crabbe and Goyle. "So, you escaped the crash," called Malfoy while they still were far off, "Well, I guess the Dark Lord should have done it himself instead of sending some lesser Death Eater to do—whose that?" he said pointing to Liana. "Bug off Malfoy, and take your stooges with you," said Ron as they passed them by going into the Hall. "So that's Malfoy, huh," said Liana with a slight smile on her face. "Hope we start our classes with Potions," said Ron as they sat down at the Gryffindor table, "This is the first time I'm actually looking forward to Potions now that Snape's gone."
"Here's your schedules," said George as he passed them their schedules. "Are you ok, George?" Angelina asked as she helped herself to some toast. "I'm fine," said George gloomily, "I just need something to keep me busy." Suddenly, the ceiling went dark as the owls came in to deliver mail. "I hope we get some news on Fred," said Harry as Hedwig came and settled down by Harry's plate. He received a letter from Sirius and was about to open it when something big and feather hit him hard on the back of his head. "Errol!" cried Ron, "It's a letter from mom!" he said after untied the letter from Errol's leg. With his deed done, Errol gave a weak hoot and was assisted by Hedwig and another owl that came from Neville's grandmother to the Owlery. "Read yours out loud first," Hermione said to Ron.
Dear Ron, George, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and Liana,
I hope you all have been able to catch up with all your work that you missed and I hope you are all comfortable. Fred is still in a coma, but they think he will wake up in a few days because he responded to my talking to him a few hours after you left. They said that now that they know he can hear me, they might be able to make a potion that will wake him up, but it takes a while to make. Don't worry about me or dad or Fred because we are all fine and soon Fred will be up there to join you all. Good luck and love from home.
Molly Weasley
"That's great!" said Hermione, "At least now there's a bigger chance that he will wake up."
"Maybe we should wait 'til after lessons are over and we're in the common room to open Sirius' letter" said Liana, "We wouldn't want a panic that Sirius is corresponding with a student."
"What have we got today?" said Hermione. "DADA; Care of Magical Creatures; lunch; Transfigurations; for you all Divinations; for me Arithmancy."
"Yes, we get to start with a new teacher, when do we get Potions?" said Ron. "We start that on Friday," said Harry taking the list from Hermione. "We should get going before we're late," said Liana.
As they got to the class room, they met up with Malfoy. "Who are you?" he said boldly. "I'm Liana the exchange student from the states," said Liana trying to be nice to the rude Malfoy. "Well I should tell you," he said a lot nicer to her and even smiled, "You shouldn't hang out with Potter just because he's famous and Weasley and Granger are just a bunch of losers you shouldn't even bother with. Specially Granger stupid mudblood," he said lowering his voice for the last sentence.
"Well I think I'm a good judge of character and don't need your advice, thank you anyway." She said trying to sound polite, but was failing. "Oh by the way, just because she's muggle born doesn't mean she lesser than you and neither is Ron. Putting people in a caste system is so last century. You should open your mind to newer ideas and stop living in the past." She said with a smile and walked away and entered the DADA room.
"What was all that about?" said Hermione as Liana went and sat beside her. "I just put Malfoy in place. I can't believe he has the atrocity to call you a mudblood in my face. If I wasn't smarter and more mature than him, I would have showed him that I'm an Enchantress, that would have shown him."
"Huh?" said Harry behind Liana. "A while ago, and some people still think so, Enchantresses were thought of as higher people than others in the wizarding world. If we were in the 18th century, I would get a lot extra attention and would be treated as a queen or something." Said Liana.
"There's the new professor," said Harry. Prof. Matthews looked quite young and looked about 25 years old. He was also quite handsome with Dark brown hair; brown eyes; and looked athletic. Harry noticed a lot of the girls were staring at him and smiling dreamily. Even Hermione, Harry noticed, was goggling at him. "What are they all looking at?" said Ron, " Reminds me of how they all acted with Lockhart. Oh no, hope he's not like him."
"Good morning class," said Prof. Matthews, "I think we should review what we talked about yesterday for those of us who were absent yesterday." He said with a smile nodding towards Harry and company. "Yesterday, we talked about what we will cover this year. First, we will cover dangerous creatures to continue Prof. Lupin's lessons. Then we will cover curses and counter curses. After holiday break, we will cover Dark Wizard Detectors and how to use them. The lastly during the last quarter of the school year, we will review everything you learned so that you will be ready for the exam."
" I would like you all to take this test to see where exactly you all are," he said and started passing out tests. "This will not be graded, but if you do well in it, it will be used as extra credit."
The test was long and were nothing like Lockhart's quiz, but they were able to finish it 10 minutes before the bell. "You all can have free time now, but please keep it down," said Prof. Matthews. "I like him," said Hermione with Liana nodding her head in agreement. "He's a lot better than Lockhart," said Ron behind Hermione as they made their way toward Hagrid's cabin.
