Chapter 5
He awoke slowly and leisurely the next morning, basking in the comfort of being back where he felt he truly belonged. He climbed out of bed and began and began to get ready to go down to breakfast.
"So," said Ron from behind him, startling Harry.
"Oh, g'morning."
"So, I can't wait to see Hagrid," continued Ron, getting out of bed, too. "Something's changed about him...I couldn't really see in the dark."
"I noticed it, too. So how come he's back and Snape's not?"
"They've got a different job, I guess. But it's kinda scaring me. I mean, I REALLY hate to admit it, but... I hope Snape's okay, ya know?"
"Yeah. I guess I wouldn't wish Voldemort's wrath on anyone."
"Even Snape? It's that bad?" joked Ron. They had reached the Fat Lady's portrait/ door ut of the commons, and headed down the breakfast. "I wonder if she's gonna sit with us today?" said Ron quietly.
"What? Who?" said Harry distractedly.
"Calli."
"Oh...her... what was with Hermione yesterday? I mean, all I did was steal Calli's glasses. You don't think she's mad at me... do you?"
"No, it wasn't you. I didn't get that either." They had reached the Great Hall, which was fairly empty, and walked over to the Gryffindor table. There they found Hermione, looking extremely tired, shoveling in food. "Oh, great," said Ron, sitting down next to her. "Spew again?" Hermione laughed. "No, just have to read up on one little thing. Neither of you happen to have your Medolcris and Other Rare Magical Conditions book with you, do you?
"Sorry-" Ron began, but Harry pulled his out of his bag and handed it to Hermione.
"Thanks," she said.
"Wait!" exclaimed Harry suddenly, and tried to snatch it back. "If you're just gonna use it to, you know.... secretively read all during breakfast-"
"No, no," said Hermione, pulling it back, "Just this once."
"Only-" said Ron, catching Harry's eye, "if you promise to tell us what you're up to."
"Oh, come on, you guys," laughed Hermione, "You'll find out, I promise."
"Yeah, yeah, that's what you always say."
"I'm not even sure about it yet, so what's the point of telling you something that's not even true?"
"Then what's the point of keeping it a secret?" retorted Ron. Hermione ignored him and opened up the book to the table of contents and scanned it.
"Harry! Look, you're in here!" Hermione said, beginning to smile mischievously. "Parseltounge- A dangerous gift, page 351." She flipped pages and read the beginning of the section out loud. "The bearers of the gift of Parseltounge are..." she glanced at Harry, "...dangerous but very cute. They seem to like beautiful red-haired, green-eyed girls, and seem to be in the habit of getting into trouble and breaking rules..."
"Hey, Hermione!" laughed Harry.
"She's coming!" hissed Ron as Callista walked into the entrance hall with what seemed to be a little clan of sidekicks, like Parvati, Lavender, and some girls not even from Gryffindor. And of course there were the boys- every one googly-eyed and curious. "Popular already, huh, Hermione?"
"Yeah, you should have seen in our room last night- no one could stop talking about her, and it wasn't until she actually started a conversation that anyone but me would talk to her. It was so annoying." Callista spotted Hermione, Ron, and Harry, and hurried over, waving good-bye to her little entourage, and followed by a lot of stares in her direction, especially from the Slytherin table where Malfoy was practically cracking his sour face with his dumb smile. Harry nudged Ron and pointed in Malfoy's direction. The two of them sniggered.
"What's so funny?" asked Calli, reaching their table and sitting down next to Harry.
"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. The pale, blond-haired idiot on the train. He's staring at you like...like a puppy dog!" Ron explained. The four of them sniggered again and joked about Malfoy for a while, referring to Calli as "behold, the famous puppy-dog charmer!" Suddenly, Ron did a little jump in his seat. "OWLS are this year! Agh! The teachers are gonna pile on the homework!!!"
"Well, duh! I'm surprised you just remembered that! If I wasn't at Victor's, I would've been studying all summer!" Hermione exclaimed.
"What are-" began Calli, but Harry explained.
"Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Big exams toward the end of this year. Our teachers 'prepare' us with tons of homework."
"Joy. That should be fun," commented Calli sarcastically.
"Oh, yeah," agreed Ron. Just then, Pansy Parkinson and some other Slytherin girls started waving to Callista.
"Oh, you're actually getting along with Pansy?" said Hermione.
"Yep, they're not too bad. Why not make a lot of new friends, huh? I'd like to be on good terms with everyone."
"That's always good," agreed Harry.
"He, of course," said Ron, gesturing to Harry, "doesn't know much about that." Harry swatted Ron playfully.
"Besides, they put my sis in Slytherin too. Who knows why. Hey, you guys don't mind if-" Callista pointed her thumb behind her at the Slytherins who were now calling her over.
"Oh, no, go ahead," said Hermione through a mouthful of cereal.
"Thanks," said Calli, waving, "See ya guys 1st period!" She went over and sat with Pansy for a while.
"Looks like she's made a lot of friends, huh?"
"Yeah, I'm happy for her!" agreed Hermione, with what Harry thought might be the slightest hint of jealousy.
"She's a really cool girl," sighed Ron dreamily, accidentally draping his sleeve through his porridge. Hermione rolled her eyes, handed Ron a napkin, and pulled out her schedule.
"Wadda we have first period?" asked Ron, looking over her shoulder.
"Um, Transfiguration with McGonagall, of course. Next, Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, like usual. Next I have Arithmancy while you two weirdoes still insist on taking your favorite, Divination," (At this, Harry and Ron both groaned) "Then after lunch is Care Of Magical Creatures," All three of them now groaned at this.
"We better have something better than the skrewts this year, not even kidding," said Ron.
"I think we all agree on that one, Ron," said Harry.
"Yeah," continued Hermione, "Well after this we have... what the heck?"
"What?" said Harry and Ron in unison, and both tried to grab the schedule from Hermione. She snatched it back.
"It says.... T.B.A. To Be Announced, in other words."
"Weird," commented Harry, and he and Ron both pulled their own schedules from their bags. "Mine says that too," said Harry.
"Mine too," noticed Ron. "Hm, I wonder what that's supposed to mean."
"Guess it will be announced at lunch," said Hermione. "Next is History of Magic, with Professor Binns, no surprise there, and then my personal favorite, Potions with my favorite people the Slytherins, and Mrs. Everett. And last: Defense Against the Dark Arts. With Professor Marchbanks! She looks cool." They all started for the Gryffindor Tower to get their books, Hermione and Ron chatting with Callista, who had joined them because she was leaving the hall at the same time, and Harry deep in thought. He noticed that Callista kept glancing at him, and it made him wonder. What was she really doing here? They had never had an exchange student before, and wasn't it kinda weird that her father had been offered a job here too? And what was her father's job? He stopped these thoughts, realizing he was being ridiculous, and instead set his brain on how he recognized, if even just faintly, Ms. Marchbanks's face if he had never met her before and there was no picture included with the article? They finally reached the tower, gathered their books, and started toward the common room to leave, when Professor McGonagall entered and stood with her back to the door, blocking their exit.
"Everyone, please," she spoke loudly, "Remain in this room for a moment. All Gryffindors here, please! We need to have a little meeting." Then to the three of them, "Weasley, Potter, you two run up to all the boys' dorms and get them all down here. Hermione, same with the girls'."
Once everyone had gathered in the room, the Professor began.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a few announcements before you head out this morning. First of all, I'd like to give a warm welcome to all our new first year students here, and also Callista Alexander, the new 5th-year student from America. I expect all of you to welcome them as well, and show them to their classes and all. Next, I hope you all will respect and welcome the new teachers this year, Professor Everett, Professor Snape's temporary replacement, and Professor Marchbanks, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Hey, you guys!" whispered Harry, suddenly remembering. "I know where I knew her from! She was the first one to sight Voldemort!"
Ron flinched at the name, but muttered, "After you, that is."
"Right!" The three of them exchanged glances.
"Weasley and Potter, I would thank you to SHUT YOUR MOUTHS!!" snapped Professor McGonagall. They both muttered apologies, and she went on. "And now, on a more serious note, I want you all to recognize that we are going to have, well, tighter security on the school this year, as Dumbledore mentioned at the feast last night. This means that the Prefects and other appointed aids will escort you all from class to class. This is for safety reasons, as there are rumors going around...well, I'm sure you've all heard them. Anyway, this also means that the schedules you received for today will be fixed schedules: they will be the same everyday. At least for the first quarter. I'm sorry if this is not what you expected-" she said in response to a few groans, "-but believe me, please, it's necessary. Now, you may have realized that on your schedules, there is a period that is marked To Be Announced. This means that, well, some of the staff in our school feel it necessary to incorporate some different themes into our school this year. So today for those of you with TBA written on your schedules, you will meet in the _____________ which has been turned into a gymnasium- type thing with Madame Hooch teaching you PE For those of you who aren't familiar with muggle phrases, this means Physical Education. You will be learning different sports in this class every Monday. Tomorrow shall be different, and it will be announced at breakfast. Any questions?" There were none. The room seemed in shock of the new system. "Then I shall be announce who will be escorting you to your classes. 1st years, you shall go with Ms. Berton..." and she announced every grade's escort. The 5th years were to go with her for now, as they had Transfiguration first anyway. They started off, feeling very strange as they ran into other groups of people walking through the hall as well with an escort. It reminded Harry of his 3rd year, when the security had been tighter because of Sirius Black. Now it was Voldemort they were dealing with, and even though it had always been rumored that Voldemort would stay away from Hogwarts because of Dumbledore, Harry knew that the security would be tightest around Harry himself, and he didn't like the prospect very much, though he appreciated it more than he had two years ago.
