Chapter 4

            "First years 'ere!" Harry heard Hagrid yelling. Ron and Harry darted towards their good friend, pushing through the masses of students, following the sound of his voice, for it was too dark out to see properly.

            "Harry! Ron!" Hagrid boomed, and hugged both of them close, almost suffocating them. "Good, ter see ya! You've grown! You'll be as tall as me soon!" which was certainly not true, as Hagrid was at least twice the size of the tallest muggle they knew. Hagrid squeezed Harry again, harder than ever before, whispering, "And you're alive! You're okay!"

            "Of course I am, Hagrid," Harry assured him, and stood, back, noticing that there was something very different about Hagrid, though he couldn't really tell in the dark. Harry didn't have time to study him, though, for just then Hermione ran through the crowd, dragging Callista to introduce her to Hagrid as well.

            "Hagrid, this is a new exchange student at our school from the US! Her name's Callista Alexander. Calli, this is Rubeus Hagrid." Hagrid smiled, then his eyes widened with astonishment.

            "You are-" he said, "You are....Alexander..." He seemed to be trying to remember something from long ago. "Alexander...Ale-"

            "Nice to meet you, Hagrid," said Callista uncomfortably. He snapped out of his phase.

            "Oh, yeah, you too, of course!" And he grinned and patted her on her back so hard she practically flew into Harry. "Sorry," he muttered. Harry laughed.

            "Let's go get a carriage!" he suggested. "See ya, Hagrid."  They all moved toward the line of carriages that seemed to be held up by invisible horses of some kind.

            "Cool!" Harry heard Callista whisper as they climbed into one and took off slowly toward the castle.

            "It's kinda weird in here without hearing rain beating on the roof," laughed Ron.

            "Yeah," agreed Hermione, "For once it's actually be fairly nice whether, if not a bit dark, for crossing the lake in all those little boats."

            "I wonder where Marie is," Callista said, gazing out the window.

            "Probably making some new friends," comforted Hermione.

            "Hope they're not Slytherin friends," put in Ron.

            "Slytherin? Is that some English adjective or something?" The others laughed, and they chatted a while about the different Hogwarts houses, then felt the carriage stop in front of the towering castle. They got out and followed the quickly gathering group of people to get inside, with Calli ooh-ing and ah-ing over every little detail of the castle, even Peeves, who flew by yelling, "Got your konk!" and grabbed her nose.

            She loved the ceiling of the great hall, and even Ron, Hermione, and Harry, who were quite used to it, stood in awe and wonder of the cast sky and twinkling stars. They all sat down at their table, except for Callista who dashed off to find Professor McGonagall (The only staff member of Hogwarts she had met before her arrival at the school) to ask if she, too would be participating in the sorting of the houses.

            "Boy, is she something!" sighed Ron happily.

            "Certainly," said Hermione. Harry's curiosity overcame him.

            "Hey, Hermione, what was with that...what happened on the train? Are you feeling okay? I mean-"

            "Oh, um, of course, I'll...uh...tell you later," she stammered, waving to Callista who came rushing back to their table beaming.

            "She says I can be part of Griff-e-dont, because I've made new friends in that house, and she thinks I seem like that kind of a girl! Yay!"

            "Gryffindor," Hermione corrected, "and congratulations! That's great!"

            "Yeah, I know....hey, I wonder where Marie is gonna be- she's a second year, so I don't think she'll be sorted, either. Maybe she can be in Gryffindor..." And she left to see where her sister was. The others turned their attention towards Dumbledore, the wonderful school headmaster. Instantly, Harry noticed that he looked very stressed and somehow more tired than he had ever on the first day of school before. But he looked excited!

            "Welcome, welcome, boys and girls, wizards and witches! Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts!" There was wild applause. "A lot of things are going to be changing this year. But don't worry," he said hurriedly to the frowning faces looking up at him, "Good changes." He smiled. "First, I wanted to let you all know that the security on the school will be...er...a bit tighter this year. For safety reasons." And he put a huge smile on his face and continued, "I am very proud to announce the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher! Everyone... Professor Henrietta Marchbanks!" Harry glanced, through the great applause, toward the staff table for the first time that night, where she had stood up to be introduced. Professor Marchbanks was certainly unlike any D.A.T.D.A. teacher that Harry had ever met. First of all, she was female. She was certainly not shy-looking like Quirrel had been. Although she was good-looking, as Lockhart had been, she did not look the arrogant-type. She seemed very friendly, like Lupin, though not wearing ragged robes, and Harry doubted very much that she was a were-wolf. And she was incomparably more welcoming-looking then than Moody had been. She was young, Harry would guess in her mid-twenties, and attractive, with chin-length blond hair and a slender figure. She had big, vivid blue eyes, so that Harry could see them all the way from the Gryffindor table. Harry suddenly had a very strange sensation that he knew her from somewhere...her name...and even the way she looked seemed somewhat familiar. He ignored the thoughts and continued clapping and cheering with everyone else. Now that Harry saw the staff-table, he also noticed that Professor Marchbanks wasn't the only change to it. Harry noticed that in Professor Snape's place, there was a big, fat, mean looking woman. Dumbledore now brought this up. "I also have the pleasure of introducing Mrs. Everett, the temporary Potions Master, as our dear Professor Snape ins away on business." Harry, Hermione, and Ron exchanged glances. They knew that Snape was off, doing something for Dumbledore that involved the Dark Lord...oh, well, Harry thought guiltily, at least he should be happy for the new potions teacher, at least for a while, that was... though she looked almost as grumpy as Snape. Harry sat, lost in thought, and hardly noticed the little 1st years line up and be sorted. However, he did notice that there were more kids sorted into Slytherin than any other house.

            "Evil," muttered Ron into Harry's ear. "What's this world coming to?" But Harry barely heard. He was studying the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, puzzling over where he had seen her face before.

            It worried him all evening during the feast until he went upstairs for bed. Then he realized that she was in the article about Voldemort...she was the one who had sighted Him, the one who the innkeeper had told him about...

            Satisfied, he crawled into bed and picked up a book. Half-hour later his light was off and his mind drifting. Then, just as he began to drift into a deep sleep (to Neville's familiar and somehow comforting snores), he realized that there had been no picture included with the article about Henrietta Marchbanks.