CHAPTER 19: Good News

The next morning, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were walking to class. Madeline didn't accompany them; Harry was beginning to like her less and less. Harry spotted Malfoy sitting on a bench alone, openly weeping.

"Look!" Harry hissed. Hermione and Ron gasped. Hermione bit her lip and looked at Ron and Harry, searching their eyes for answers. At long last, she nodded to herself, cleared her throat, and walked confidently to the bench where Malfoy sat. "D-Draco?" she asked softly, tapping Malfoy on the shoulder.

"What." Malfoy answered bitterly, raising his head and sniffling.

"Erm… I'm – that is to say, I – well, I…" Hermione looked back at Harry desperately. "I'm very sorry about what happened to your parents."

"Good."

Hermione was taken aback. That was not the response she had expected. Gathering composure, she licked her lips, trying to smile, and said, "I beg your pardon?"

"I said: Good. You should be sorry. Very sorry." Malfoy's nostrils flared with anger. "It's your fault they're dead. If you… If you hadn't killed…" He broke into tears again.

Hermione's jaw dropped. She shook her head in disbelief. "Do you mean to say, Draco, that if Harry, Neville, and I hadn't killed You-Know-Who… your parents would still be alive?!"

Malfoy glared at her. No reply was necessary.

"You know what, Malfoy?" Hermione nearly shouted. "I think that is dreadfully selfish of you! V-V" She couldn't say the word 'Voldemort', though she was trying, "Voldemort was a very bad wizard! He ruined so many people's lives! And do you know what else?" Her voice shook with increasing anger, and Harry saw her ears turn pink. "Your parents helped! They helped kill people! Harry, Neville, and I have seriously damaged the Dark Arts single-handedly and, well, if that involves the demise of two people who killed so many, so be it. I don't know how your parents died, but honestly, Malfoy, I'm – I'm – I'm happy your parents are dead!" She stomped and pivoted on one foot. Her lip was trembling with fury.

"Hermione!" Ron sounded impressed and shocked.

"Let's go." Hermione said, not stopping to look at the boys as she continued to class. "We're late." With one last look at Malfoy, Harry followed.

In Professor Flitwick's Charms class, Harry and Ron were working together, practicing the Vernacularus spell on one another, which forced the person on whom the spell was cast to blabber unintelligible sounds and words.

"Yornolopur resrtover Quipploi Nunakhan rewpew runmui welsday." Said Harry.

Ron cackled. "Beg for mercy, then, Harry." He laughed.

"Cuvporu yink reqq vouc kitinmic xizing ping." Harry couldn't help smiling.

"All right, then." Ron performed the countercurse just as the doors to the classroom burst open.

Tiny Professor Flitwick nearly toppled over off of his stack of books he was standing on.

It was Professor McGonagall. "Professor Flitwick!" she screamed. "It's Severus! He's – He's disappeared!"

"What?!" the class erupted in confused whispers.

"What is the meaning of this, Minerva?" there was a sense of urgency in Professor Flitwick's voice.

"Well… you know about his… past…" Professor McGonagall didn't bother to keep her voice down.

Professor Flitwick nodded. "The others… has he gone the same way as them?"

"No. We don't know if he's… dead, like the others. He just… evaporated. His Potions class, second-year Ravenclaws, said he was in the middle of a sentence when he just… disappeared. Vanished into thin air."

"Maybe he apparated." Ron suggested.

"You can't apparate on Hogwart's grounds, Ron! I've only told you a hundred times!" Hermione said loudly. She, too, seemed confused and frightened.

"We don't know where he's gone," Professor McGonagall continued, "But, Professor Flitwick… if he's…" her eyes welled up with tears. "I'm going to Albus."

Professor Flitwick nodded grimly. After McGonagall left, he didn't bother to bring the class back to order.

"Snape's gone?" Harry said disbelievingly. "It's – It's a dream come true."

"Harry!" Hermione reprimanded disapprovingly.

"You have to admit… things have been going very well for me." Harry was right. There had been articles upon articles in the Daily Prophet, they'd each received a personal letter from the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and everyone had been surrounding Harry, Hermione, and Neville in the halls, congratulating and thanking them. It seemed as though the entire wizarding community knew, and they were all very happy. It soon occurred to Harry that most wizards and witches were unaware that Voldemort was rising to power again, but even so, they were all joyous.

Everyone, that is, but some of the Slytherins…

The Gryffindors didn't have Potions until the day after Snape disappeared, but for once, Harry couldn't wait. Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked into Potions cautiously. They were a few minutes late, as Ron had spilled ink all over himself in the hallway as he attempted to finish at the last minute a Potions essay. As they entered the dungeon, the general atmosphere was completely different. At the desk was a young, sophisticated-looking witch.

"Oh, hello!" She greeted them, peering over the rim of her glasses, which sat low on her nose.

"Hello…" Harry said quietly. They appeared to be the last ones in class, but this substitute professor didn't seem to mind.

"Take your seats, please." She said pleasantly, not a drop of anger in her voice. She wore a kind smile. The teacher had curly blonde hair, which was pulled up into a high ponytail. Her bright blue eyes and perfect complexion revealed her youth. "I'm Professor Emma Garney." She said to the class. Professor Garney pointed her wand at the blackboard. A bit of chalk flew up and wrote in curly, loopy letters:

Welcome to Potions class. I am your substitute teacher, Professor Garney.

She sighed, turned back to the class, and smiled. "I notice you're all seated in alphabetical order." Snape had rearranged the seats a week earlier, at Dumbledore's prodding to encourage interaction between the two houses. "I don't think you can all work very well if you don't like who you're working with, eh?" The students grinned among each other, smiling across the dungeon at friends. "So, these desks can hold three each, why don't you all rearrange yourselves, then?" Slowly, the students rose and got into groups of three. Naturally, Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat side-by-side.

"Maybe we should break into two groups of two, so Madeline can be with Ron," Hermione suggested when they'd settled in their seats.

Ron went pink. "That's not necessary." He mumbled. Seeing Harry and Hermione's confused expressions, he squeaked, "She – er – sacked me." A very disappointed look crossed his face and he went even pinker.

"Oh, Ron!" Hermione breathed. "I'm so sorry! But – why? She seemed to like you so much!"

"Yeah!" Harry added angrily, "But I knew there was something curious about her. The past few weeks, she's been acting quite strangely."

"She, erm, said she didn't want to be seen with me anymore." He imitated Madeline's silky voice, " 'I cannot be seen wees a pair-son 'oo consorts wees zos 'oo keel uzzairs.' "

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. "She should be happy You-Know-Who is dead!"

Up front, Professor Garney cleared her throat. Silence fell at once. "I shall now take attendance, so I would greatly appreciate it if you would all stay quiet. Thank you." She extracted a parchment and quill from a bag and dipped the quill in ink. As she moved down the list, Harry noticed that Professor Garney had something nice to say to almost everyone. "Lavender Brown… I've heard from Professor Trelawny that you are quite the Divination student!" and "What a wonderful name, Mr. Finnigan. Is Seamus Irish, then?" when Professor Garney reached Hermione's name, she paused and looked directly at Hermione. "Quite the role model, Miss Granger. As I've heard, an excellent student in every class, and after performing such a good deed. We are all much indebted." Hermione beamed.

"Mr. Neville Longbottom… ah, another example of an excellent wizard. It'll be a real honour, Mr. Longbottom." Harry saw Neville go quite pink indeed.

"Mr. Draco Malfoy… hello." Garney sounded stiff. She cleared her throat, checked Malfoy present, and moved on down the list. Malfoy looked as though someone had just slapped him in the face. Being Snape's favourite student, he was receiving a real shock being quite obviously one of Garney's least favourite students.

"I like her… she hates Malfoy…" Ron whispered.

"Miss Parvati Patil? Oh, I had the pleasure of teaching your twin sister, Padma, yesterday. Ravenclaw, correct? Nice girl, very nice indeed."

Harry knew he was next. "Mr. Harry Potter…" Garney froze. Her lips quivered, and a frightened look crossed her face. "Knew I'd have you at some point, but I – I never expected I'd see you again…" Again? Garney removed her glasses and bit her lip, as if contemplating whether or not to say something more to Harry. "Do… do you remember me, Harry?" Harry was confused.

"No… sorry." He tried to say, but all that came out was a whisper.

"I wouldn't expect so." Garney said quickly. "After all, you were only a year old the last time I saw you. Went to your first birthday party, and your parents' wedding, though I don't remember that too well. My parents were friends with your parents. I regret to say, they too were killed by Lord Voldemort. But that doesn't matter anymore, eh? Because he's dead now. Thanks in large part to you." She checked Harry as present and continued down the list.

The entire class stared at Harry, who turned red and slumped down in his seat. He honestly didn't remember Emma Garney at all…

"Ron Weasley! Oh, hello! Do you know, you're the third Weasley today!" Garney grinned.

Ron tried to laugh. "Yes… and you'll be having my sister as well. Later today."

"Your mother is well?"

Ron nodded, though he looked perplexed as to how Garney knew his mother.

"Good. And your father? I suspect the Ministry is quite happy right now, eh?"

Ron nodded again.

Garney finished up attendance and replaced her glasses. She looked up at the class once more. "I shall tell you a bit about myself. I will be your teacher until Professor Snape returns. I graduated from Hogwart's eight years ago. I played for the Gryffindor Quidditch team; I was a Chaser. I was head girl and a prefect…"

"Sounds an awful lot like Percy," Ron hissed.

"And my favourite subject was Flying. I also enjoyed Transfiguration. I'm a registered Animagus,"

"I knew I'd seen her name somewhere," Hermione whispered. Their third year, Hermione had examined a list of registered Animagi for a large incident involving Sirius Black.

Harry saw Lavender Brown raise her hand. "Please, Ma'am, what animal can you change into?"

"A bird," Garney smiled, "Specifically, an owl."

Everyone smiled at one another.

"As of yesterday, I lived in London, but I was raised in Godric's Hollow."

Harry froze. That was the village where his parents had lived.

"Well, that's about it, so let's get to lessons, eh? Professor Snape has left in his lesson plan that today we are to do a memory Potion, but since I don't expect… anyway, I think today we'll do a Potion that makes food taste a bit better, so…" she took out some broccoli. "We'll do the Chocolate Potion."

Everyone grinned. "She's the best teacher ever!" Ron exclaimed. Harry had to agree. The Chocolate Potion turned anything soaked into it to chocolate. Soon, the broccoli had become a solid piece of milk chocolate (shaped like a broccoli spear, of course.)

"Now, to make your chocolate include almonds, add some of the Oil in the bottles. Right. That'll be extra credit on the test."

Almonds for extra credit? Harry and everyone else left Potions for the first time feeling extremely cheerful.

"Let's go visit Hagrid!" said Ron, stuffing more Chocolate Brussels Sprouts into his mouth.

"Sounds very good," Hermione tried to say, though it sounded more like "Souds airy ood," because she was eating cauliflower made from white chocolate.

Harry decided to bring Hagrid some of his Chocolate Potion, so he put a cork stopper in a vial containing the slimy liquid.

"Hullo, Harry, Hermione, Ron!" Hagrid greeted them merrily. "Got an hour off righ' now, eh?"

Hermione nodded. "We've only just had Potions! It was wonderful!"

They told Hagrid the story about the new Potions teacher.

"I met 'er las' nigh'. She was at dinner, din' ya notice her?"

Harry shook his head.

"Hagrid, have you heard about the Death Eaters? They're all dead!"

"Yeah, I've 'eard. Not too surprised, though, mus' admit. Knew they'd 'ave an end sometime. So proud of you two, I am." Hagrid turned to Hermione and Harry. Ron nodded.

"Me, too."

After awhile, the three children thanked Hagrid for the tea he'd made. They headed back to school for lunch.

At lunch, the owl post came again. Harry, Hermione, and Neville had received fan mail again.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "You remember, I sent an owl to my parents the other day, with a copy of the Daily Prophet and telling them what happened? Well, look here, they wrote back!"

Harry took the letter Hermione was holding. The script was neat and straight.

Dear Hermione,

Hello, darling. We miss you terribly. We're glad to hear that that evil wizard is dead, but did you really have to kill him? Honestly, Hermione, you know violence is not allowed in our house. Although, you're not at our house, are you?

We're very proud of the article in the newspaper.

We certainly hope you're planning on coming home for the Christmas holidays, do tell us when they are so we can pick you up at King's Cross, eh? Why don't you find out if your friends Harry and Ron would like to stay the holidays? They're welcome here. Anyway, we've bought you the most spectacular Christmas gift, and we've got one for Ron and Harry, too.

Send us your reply quickly, dear. Miss you lots!

Love Always,

Mum and Dad.

"Oh, Harry, Ron, what do you think then?" Hermione said at last.

"I'd be very pleased to come!" Harry grinned.

"I would also! Sounds simply wonderful."

Harry smiled. Such Good news had come recently: Snape was gone, the new professor was wonderful, Malfoy's parents were… well, dead, and he would be staying for Christmas at Hermione's! Could things get any better? Harry would soon find out the truth.