Harry Potter and the Scroll of Merlin
Chapter 6: Some Bad News
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Everyone stared at Dumbledore, many fearing different things. Fred and George seemed to be mumbling some prayer that quidditch wasn't cancelled again.

One girl whispered, "Maybe it's only a class canceled, I hope it's only that...."

She was partially right. Dumbledore announced, "As I informed you last year, Voldemort..." at this, a few of the first years gasped. "Yes, Voldemort has been returned to full power. It is with my greatest sadness to report that our Arithmancy teacher was attacked, and is in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He will not be returning this year. It is my belief that Death Eaters attacked him, but the Ministry of Magic will not confirm, nor deny this when I point it out. I therefore ask you to be very careful this year, and those students that attend Hogsmeade will be permitted to only certain areas where there is at least five witches or wizards around you."

With this, there was a groan from some students, but Hermione looked sadly at Dumbledore. "Poor Professor Vector...."

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron were debating if their first Divination class of the year would include a prediction of death for Harry. They both agreed that she would definitely get around to it by the second class if not the first.

"Hey, Hermione..." Rachel started. She didn't know what to think about You-know-who. "Is You-know-who really back to full power. Our school didn't hear that much about it...."

"I'll tell you about it later tonight, when were in our dormitories...." Whispered Hermione. She didn't want to remind Harry about the Triwizard tournament and what happened if she could avoid it. She also didn't know how much to tell. Rachel was nice and all, but should she trust her enough to tell the whole story? Maybe I'll give her a little test before I tell her the whole story, she thought. They noticed that Dumbledore had still been talking, and Hermione looked up in time to hear, "The good news is that this year, Quidditch will be back on." At these words, a few of the people at each table cheered, and clapped their hands.

"Hey Harry," Ron whispered, "you're gunna have to have tryouts, and you'll need a new captain, right?" Suddenly food appeared on the tables, and their conversation was lost. Rachel had played a little Quidditch before she went to school, but there were no teams where she went. She decided that if they had open tryouts, she would go. It was worth a shot, and she would get to ride on a broomstick again!

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The mention of Professor Vector being attacked suddenly jolted Harry back to last years tournament. The fun train ride had allowed him to forget it for a few hours. He glanced sadly around as he piled some of the delicious food, not really caring what he took.

After they had finished their food, Dumbledore announced that it was time for bed, and Hermione stood up. Ron and Harry turned to look at her, and she smiled, telling them that she had been made a Prefect. As she walked away Ron whispered, "Told you she would be one!"

Rachel stood up before realizing that she had no idea where they were suppose to go. "Hey, Ron?" she said. "Do you think you could show me where our dormitory is?"

"Sure," and they made their way up several flights of stairs, through some odd trap doors, and after about 3 or 4 minutes, came to the Fat Lady's painting. "Periwinkle" Ron told the painting, and the frame opened to reveal a large comfy looking room, with many soft arm chairs and poufs.

"Thanks cried Rachel, as she went up to where the other girls were headed. "Now I'll have to wait for Hermione before I can figure out what Dumbledore was talking about...." She muttered to herself. About five minutes later Hermione walked in. After a few minutes, Hermione remembered that she was going to talk to Rachel, and explained about the Triwizard tournament, and how Harry and Cedric had won. Then she faltered, wondering what to say. She decided on most of the truth, saying how Cedric had died, and Harry had found Voldemort, and that somehow Voldemort had been revived to full power. She didn't mention the part about Harry being used to return him, so that Rachel would know a little more than the rest of the school....

"Wow, that's awful..." said Rachel, as Hermione finished the story. "So You-know-who is back, and this Cedric Diggory died.... That's horrible...."

"I know..." said Hermione, as they got ready for bed, and slowly fell asleep.
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Well, that's all for now. Forgot the disclaimer, so here it is: These are mostly not my characters, places, etc. They are Warner Bro's, and especially J.K. Rowlings! She's the brains of this whole thing, but sadly, I've only been able to come up with stupid fanfics, so this worked out pretty well! =) Next chapters going to have some more quidditch info, and you'll hear about Hagrid's trip.... But you might be able to guess that it's going to be hard to keep too many secrets from Rachel!