After the wedding, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys had only a couple
of days left before they were to catch the Hogwarts Express at Platform
9-3/4. They passed these days much as they had passed the days before
the wedding, except that now Hermione was less interested in reading
about wizarding etiquette, and took up Harry's copy of Quidditch
Through the Ages instead.
We're short a Keeper this year, aren't we?" she asked Harry and Ron
over lunch one day.
"Yeah," Ron answered. "I'm thinking of going out for it myself." A
thought suddenly struck him. "Hermione, you're not considering trying out,
are you?"
Hermione bristled. "No, but if I did, would you be surprised? As far as
you know, I might make a brilliant Keeper."
"Yeah, I suppose so." Ron took a bit of his sandwich. "Ugh, corned beef! Harry, what've you got, egg sald? Trade me." Harry handed Ron his
untouched egg salad sandwich eagerly, and took Ron's corned beef in
return.
"No," Hermione continued, "I expect I'll be too busy this year for
Quidditch."
"Why?" Ron asked. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You're not
getting one of those hourglass things again, are you?"
"Of course not. I told you, I decided I was running myself ragged with
that Time Turner. It's just ... I'll be busy, that's all."
Red-faced, she took up Quidditch Through the Ages again and
pretended to read. Ron gave Harry a quizzical look, but Harry just
shrugged his shoulders.
The morning of September 1 dawned bright and clear. "Perfect day for
a game of Quidditch," Ron sighed as they walked through the barrier to
Platform 9-3/4.
Fred, George, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley came through the barrier behind
Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Now, you boys behave!," Mrs. Weasley told Fred
and George sternly. "I hope you've got pranks out of your system for a
while. You're very lucky no one was hurt in that--incident at the
wedding."
"Oh, Mum." Fred tried not to smile, but couldn't help it. "We told you,
those flames are harmless."
"Just the same!" she exclaimed. Fred and George promised to be good
(though they had their fingers crossed behind their backs, Harry noticed),
and loaded everyone's trunks onto the train. Mrs. Weasley hugged each one
of the children in turn. It seemed to Harry that she held onto them all a
bit longer than usual.
"It's alright, Mum, we'll see you again soon," Fred said in a tone that
was uncharacteristically serious. They all said goodbye to Mrs. Weasley
and boarded the train. She looked as though she were fighting back tears.
"She must really be worried," Ron said, waving out the window to his
mother as the train rolled out of the station.
"Can't blame her, really," said Hermione.
The Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione shared a compartment.. Before long,
Fred and George challenged Ron and Harry to a game of Mummy Gin Rummy.
"Ginny, why don't we go see if we can find the dessert cart?" Hermione
asked pointedly.
"No thanks, I'm not really hungry," Ginny answered, watching the card
game with interest.
Hermione cleared her throat. "Maybe someone else would like
something ..."
"Yeah, I'll take some pumpkin juice!" Fred interjected.
Ginny frowned. "Alright," she sighed as she and Hermione left the
compartment.
"Wonder what that was about?" Ron mused.
"You'd better start wondering about your hand, I'm getting ready to
beat you," George answered.
After a few minutes, Ginny and Hermione returned to the compartment
with bottled pumpkin juice for everyone. They had changed into their
school robes, and a large letter "P" was pinned to Hermione's chest.
"Hermione! You're a prefect?!" Ron exclaimed.
She blushed. "Yes."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Harry asked.
"Well ... I was afraid you wouldn't want to ... you know ... hang around
with a prefect." She quickly took a seat next to Harry.
"Are you joking?" asked George. "This is brilliant! We've got an in
with a prefect!"
Fred nodded. "You can get us out of all kinds of trouble this year!"
They all laughed. "Don't count on it," Hermione answered.
"Don't worry, we'll still let you tag along with us," laughed Ron. "Won't we, Harry? Even if you don't do us any special favors." Hermione
looked relieved, but didn't respond. They all sat in silence for quite a
while, the four boys continuing their game.
"Oh, we almost forgot," Ginny said at length. "We ran into Draco
Malfoy in the corridor." She wrinkled her nose.
"Yeah," Hermione said. "He made it a point to ask us if we had heard
anything about You-Know-Who."
"Yeah!" Ginny responded eagerly. "Said something like, 'No news?'" She perfectly imitated Malfoy's lazy drawl. "'Don't you think that's
odd?'"
Ron snorted. "That slimeball. Bet he knows something, what with
Daddy being a Death Eater and all."
Just then, as if on cue, the compartment door slid open. Malfoy, Crabbe,
and Goyle stood in the doorway.
"Look, it's a weasel convention," Malfoy drawled. Crabbe and Goyle
snickered.
"How was your summer, Malfoy?" George asked. "Have the Dark Lord
over to the mansion for afternoon tea, did you?"
Malfoy chuckled in response. "Think you'll find out something about
him from me? If I did know anything--" Malfoy's eyes flickered toward
the "P" pinned to Hermione's robes. "Well, well. Look at this. They've
gone and made a Mudblood a prefect."
Everyone in the compartment stood up and drew their wands at the
word "Mudblood". Ron, an expression of intense hatred on his face, took a
step toward Malfoy, but he was intercepted by Ginny. She stepped in front
of him and faced Malfoy.
"Don't you ever get tired of being a prejudiced, hateful little worm?"
she spat.
Malfoy laughed. Crabbe and Goyle followed suit, a bit apprehensively. "So, the baby weasel speaks," Malfoy snarled.
"Just beat it, Malfoy," Hermione cautioned. "No matter whether you
think I'm a real witch or not, according to the school I am a real prefect. And I'll report you if you don't move on."
"Oooooh, I'm scared," he responded, but he closed the compartment door
and left, with Crabbe and Goyle in tow.
Ron was fuming. "Sometimes I just want to smash his face in! One of
these days ..."
"Just forget it, Ron," Hermione said as everyone took their seats again. "When are you going to learn? He's just not worth it."
"Nice work, Ginny! You really told him." Fred beamed at Ginny with
approval.
"Yeah," Harry agreed.
Ginny looked down at the floor. "Oh, well, you know ... he just made me
angry, that's all."
They resumed their card game, only this time all six of them played. A
couple of hours later, when the food cart came around, they bought more
pumpkin juice, along with Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor
Beans. Fred and George tried to sell Canary Cremes and Dragon Breath
Drops to the witch pushing the cart, but she wasn't keen to buy candies
from two seventeen-year-old students.
Slowly, the train made its way north. The green meadows and farms
outside the window gave way to dark and wild-looking forests. The boys
left to change into their school robes, and by the time they re-entered the
compartment, the train had pulled into the station at Hogsmeade.
The students all crowded onto the platform, and Harry saw Hagrid
leading the first-years down a path to their traditional boat ride. As he
led the wide-eyed students, Hagrid turned around and waved at Harry, Ron,
and Hermione. They waved back as they climbed into a horse-drawn
carriage with Ginny.
It was a cloudy, starless night, threatening rain. When the students
entered the Great Hall, its ceiling looked as though it were painted with
puffy, dark gray clouds. They all took their places at the Gryffindor table
and waited for the Sorting to begin.
Next to Harry, Ginny gasped. "Look! Look who it is!" She was pointing
at the staff table.
There, talking animatedly to Professor Flitwick, sat Persephone Green.
"What's she doing here?" Ron asked incredulously from Ginny's other
side. "You don't think she's ..."
"She must be!" Hermione exclaimed. She looked across the table at
Harry, Ginny, and Ron. "They didn't tell anyone who the new Defense
Against the Dark Arts teacher was, not even us prefects."
"Excellent!" Fred and George cried in unison.
"First, a friend who's a prefect," Fred said as he clasped Hermione on
the shoulder, "and now, a sister-in-law who's a teacher! This is going to
be our best year yet!"
Persephone caught sight of the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione, and
waved at them. They waved back excitedly.
"Isn't she amazing?" whispered a voice to Harry's right. Harry
hadn't noticed that he had sat down next to Neville Longbottom.
"Hello, Neville," he answered. "You know her?"
"Yeah!" Neville replied breathlessly. "She was--is--friends with my
parents. Comes over to visit my Gran every once in a while." He stared at
Persephone, and she waved at him. As he waved back, his eyes took on a
glazed look. Harry laughed and told an intensely attentive Neville about
the wedding, and his dance with Persephone. Neville gaped in amazement
at Harry's good luck.
Soon Professor McGonagall appeared, leading the first-years to the
head of the Great Hall. The Sorting, and the feast after it, proceeded just
as they had every year since Harry had begun his education at Hogwarts-
though he had missed two Sortings inadvertently. Once everyone had
finished their dessert--pumpkin cheesecake and treacle tarts--Professor
Dumbledore stood up and addressed the crowd.
"Another year begins!" he started. "It is very good to see you all again. I trust that you have emptied your brains properly over the summer, and
are ready to fill them up again over the next three terms.
"As always, I have a few announcements to make. Considering the-
events of last term--" his voice lowered at this mention of the death of
Cedric Diggory at the hands of Voldemort, "--I trust that you will not be
surprised when I tell you that the Forbidden Forest is, as always, off
limits. I'm afraid that, considering the danger abroad, the punishment for
straying into the Forest is going to be even stricter this year. This is for
your own good.
"In a related announcement, after much debate it has been decided that
students in their third year and above shall be permitted to visit
Hogsmeade on designated weekends, accompanied by teachers as usual." As he said this, Professor McGonagall's face tightened.
"And, finally," Dumbledore continued, "we have a new Defense Against
the Dark Arts teacher this year. Please join me in welcoming Professor
Persephone Green." ("Say that three times fast" George whispered to
Fred.) "It will be her very grave responsibility to teach you to defend
yourselves. Considering the raised stakes this year," Dumbledore looked
around pointedly, "I trust that you will all give her your full attention and
respect."
Everyone looked at Professor Green, and she smiled at them all. Ron
reached around Ginny and poked Harry in the side.
"Look at Snape!" he mouthed. Harry looked back up to the staff table. Down the table to Professor Green's right sat Snape. But he looked
different somehow; instead of wearing his usual sour expression, he
seemed to be staring absently at Professor Green. When she turned to look
at him, he looked quickly away.
Harry shot Ron a perplexed look. "What does that mean?" he mouthed. Ron shrugged.
Professor Dumbledore dismissed the students to their respective
houses. Hermione gathered up the Gryffindor first-years and herded them
out of the Hall. As Ron and Harry prepared to walk over to the staff table
and greet Hagrid, someone tapped them from behind.
"Hey, you two," Professor Green's voice came from behind them. They
turned around. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "I've brought
my dog Snuffles with me--" she winked "--would you two like to
come and meet him?"
Harry could barely contain his excitement. He and Ron looked at each
other. "Yeah!" was all they could say in response.
They followed Professor Green to her office. When he entered it, Harry
barely recognized the room. Last year, Professor Moody's Dark magic
detectors had been scattered all around it; the year before, Professor
Lupin had kept Dark creatures in here. Interesting as they were, none of
the previous contents of this room were anywhere near as fascinating as
what Ron and Harry were now busily taking in. Weapons of all kinds were
mounted on the walls--spears, swords, knives, funny-shaped throwing
stars, and a boomerang. In addition, three guitars leaned against the wall
behind the desk.
"Wow!" Ron exclaimed.
"Don't touch anything!" Professor Green warned him. "Just a second." She
opened a door to an adjoining room and signaled to someone inside. A very
large black dog bounded into her office, and promptly transformed into the
exact person Harry had been most anxious to see--his godfather, Sirius
Black.
"Harry," Sirius said as he embraced him. "I'm very glad to see you."
"I didn't know you'd be here!" Harry replied.
"No one did. Dumbledore arranged it. Thought I would be safer here
now--as long as I kept my dog form around people, that is. He figured this
would be the last place the Ministry would expect me to be, now that
they're convinced I've fled the country."
"So you're staying? Here, at Hogwarts?"
"Yeah," Sirius smiled. "Some of the time, anyway. I'm going to be
helping Dumbledore try to figure out what Voldemort's next move is." Ron
grimaced upon hearing the name.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. They all jumped. Sirius
transformed back into a dog instantly. After ensuring that he was safely
disguised, Professor Green opened the door. Dumbledore walked in.
"Ah, I thought I might find you here," he smiled to Ron and Harry. "Persephone, I was going for a walk around the lake, and wondered if I
might take Snuffles with me."
"Of course," she responded.
"Thank you." Dumbledore smiled as Sirius the dog licked Harry's and
Ron's faces, then bounded to his side. "I trust that you won't keep these
boys up too late? They'll have a busy day tomorrow. But I'm sure you
know that better than anyone."
She laughed. "Yes, I'll be sure to get them back to Gryffindor tower at
a reasonable hour." She, Harry, and Ron said goodnight to Sirius and
Dumbledore. Professor Green closed the door.
"So you know he's here," she began, walking over to her desk and taking
a seat behind it, "but no one else besides Hermione is to find out. You
understand how dangerous things could get for him if anyone does. It's
very important that you keep this in the strictest confidence. We're to
mention him in conversation only as my dog Snuffles. Can I trust you to
remember that?"
Harry and Ron nodded. "Of course. But listen--why didn't you tell us
you were teaching here?" Ron asked.
Professor Green smiled. "I was going to mention it, but I'm afraid I
forgot. At the rehearsal dinner, I was too interested in hearing all the
stories of your adventures here--wanted to get a good idea what kind of
mischievous troublemakers I was going to be up against." She smiled. "I
was going to tell you at the wedding, but I guess I forgot, what with your
brothers' little joke and all."
Harry and Ron returned Professor Green's friendly smile. As she spoke,
Ron had been distracted by a luminous golden dagger hanging on the wall
behind her head. She followed his gaze and turned around.
"Ah, yes," she said as she took it down from the wall, "This dagger is
one of my favorites." She looked up from it unexpectedly, with an excited
smile, like a child with a favorite toy. "Check this out."
She picked a piece of parchment up off her desk and held it by a corner
with her left hand. With her other hand, she ran the dagger down the
middle of the parchment. It split instantly and soundlessly, as though it
offered the blade no resistance at all.
"Woah," Harry said quietly. He tried not to imagine what would happen
if the dagger came into contact with a person's skin.
"That's nothing," said Professor Green. "Ron, will you hold up these
two pieces of parchment?" She gave the two parchment halves to Ron. He
held them up next to each other.
She placed the dagger between and below the two pieces, and began to
move it upward. As she did, Harry gasped--the two halves of parchment
mended as the dagger passed between them, like a zipper joining two
pieces of cloth.
Professor Green set the dagger on her desk and took the parchment
from Ron. She grasped either end and pulled it taut so that they could see
that it was mended seamlessly.
"This is a Healing Dagger," she explained. "Very handy for defending
yourself against Dark wizards, if you don't wish to do them any lasting
harm. Just as long as they don't get it away from you ... That's how I got
this." She turned her head to the right and pointed at the long, thin scar
on her neck. "But that's a whole other story. I may tell it to you
sometime. But not tonight. It's late, and about time you two headed up to
bed."
