Chapter Seventy-Three: Changes
The next morning started off hectic, with Fred and George bewitching their trunks to fly down the stairs, which smashed into Ginny and knocked her down two flights of stairs and into the hall.
Mrs. Weasley took some issue with this and shouted at them at the top of her lungs, which woke up the portrait of Sirius's mother, who also began to shout. Daphne kept her voice down, though she did have a few choice words for Fred and George for getting Ginny hurt, even though Mrs. Weasley had patched her up in no time.
"You okay?" Daphne asked Ginny when she got downstairs.
Ginny nodded. "Yep. This isn't the first time they've tried to kill me," she said cheerfully. "I've probably got more to fear from them than from Voldemort, really…"
She and Daphne shared a grin and waited for the others to come downstairs as well, after which they stood around waiting for their guards to arrive. Harry was incredulous about this.
"I thought Voldemort was supposed to be lying low, or are you telling me he's going to jump out from behind a dustbin to try and do me in?" he asked.
"Oh, I hope he tries," Sirius said with a wink. "Then at least we'll get some action. The way it's looking now it's just going to be a very boring walk."
"We're walking to the station?" Daphne asked.
"It's not like Arthur can borrow cars from the Ministry anymore and you lot can't Apparate. Well, Fred and George can, but Molly doesn't want them to…" he amended with a roll of his eyes.
"Serves them right for trying to do me in," Ginny said, still grinning.
"Okay, all of you!" Mrs. Weasley yelled over the shrieking of Mrs. Black's portrait. "We're moving in groups! Harry, Daphne, Ginny, you're with me and Tonks and Sirius. Leave your luggage here, Alastor will take care of it. Ron, Hermione, you're with Arthur. Fred, George, with Remus. Now come on, we're running late!"
Daphne followed Mrs. Weasley outside with Harry and Ginny, while Sirius went out behind them.
"Tonks is waiting for us at the corner, there," Mrs. Weasley said.
Daphne looked and saw an old woman there, who greeted them when they got close.
"Wotcher, Harry, Ginny, Daphne," she said with a wink. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?" she added, checking her watch.
"I know, I know," Mrs. Weasley said. "But Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis…"
They set off, unusually quiet for their doing. Harry and Ginny were talking about Quidditch — Ginny was going to try and get on the team — while Daphne looked around for any signs of trouble, which were, of course, nowhere to be seen.
Voldemort and his Death Eaters had no idea where the headquarters were, and the Ministry wasn't likely to try and stop them from getting back to school. At school, though, would be another matter entirely. What kind of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would they get? And who would be taking over Care of Magical Creatures from Hagrid? Would it be Professor Grubbly-Plank again?
The trip to the station was uneventful, and soon they'd crossed the barrier to get onto the platform, where they waited for the others to catch up with them.
Mrs. Weasley and their other guards still looked tense, even though they'd made it to the platform without trouble, and Daphne couldn't help but feel worried as well.
She liked going back to school — and she had a lot to talk about with Tracey and her other S.I.N. friends — but there was a sense of foreboding that she'd never felt before.
Moody instructed them to be careful what they put in writing, but then the whistle blew and everyone had to hurry to get aboard the train in time.
"Well," Fred said, clapping his hands together, "can't stand around chatting all day, we've got business to discuss with Lee. See you later." He and George disappeared down the corridor to the right.
"Shall we go and find a compartment, then?" Harry asked the others.
Ron and Hermione exchanged looks. "Ron and I have to go to the Prefect carriage first," Hermione said. "But we can probably join you afterward."
"Oh, right," Harry said. "Well, we'll save you seats, then."
"You'd better," Ron said. "I don't want to have to act like I'm Percy all journey long…"
He and Hermione set off toward the front of the train, while Daphne, Harry, and Ginny started making their way to the back. Many compartments were already full, and Daphne saw people pointing and muttering whenever they noticed Harry moving past.
Harry, evidently, noticed as well. "Don't they have anything else to look at?" he grumbled.
"Well, you are interesting," Ginny said with a grin and a wink at Daphne.
"She's right about that, you know…" Daphne said, grinning as well.
In spite of himself, Harry grinned too.
In the very last carriage they ran into Neville. "Hi guys," he said. "Everywhere's full…I can't find a seat…"
"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked, peering into the compartment behind him. "There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here…"
"Loony?" Daphne asked.
Ginny grinned guiltily. "Luna. She's…a bit odd, but she's alright, really."
She slid open the compartment door and pulled her trunk inside it, followed by the others. "Hi Luna," she said. "Is it okay if we take these seats?"
The girl in the compartment looked up, and Daphne vaguely recalled seeing her before, when she and Tracey had stopped another Slytherin — Bole or Derrick? — from bullying her.
Luna nodded once, looking at them from over the top of her magazine, which she appeared to be reading upside down. Daphne, Harry, and Neville stuffed their own luggage into the racks and sat down, while Luna kept staring at them, mostly at Harry, who looked very unnerved by this.
Daphne and Ginny exchanged a look and chuckled at Harry's discomfort.
"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," Luna said dreamily, without taking her eyes off Harry. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," she added.
"I know I am," Harry said. "And you're Daphne Greengrass," Luna said, finally tearing her eyes away from Harry.
"Er, yeah," Daphne said awkwardly.
"I don't know who you are," Luna said, looking at Neville now.
"I'm nobody," Neville said hurriedly.
"No you're not," Ginny said sharply. "Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood. She's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is humanity's greatest treasure," Luna said in a singsong voice.
Daphne recognized it as Ravenclaw's motto. After that, Luna raised her magazine back in front of her face and resumed reading it. Daphne wasn't sure why, but she felt a bit awkward sitting there. Maybe it was because she couldn't really talk freely now that someone she didn't know was present.
So, in lieu of doing anything else, she let Nyx out of her basket and began petting her absently, while Neville told Harry about his birthday present, a weird small plant that looked quite diseased. Then, Harry made the mistake of asking if it did anything.
"Loads of stuff!" Neville said proudly. "It's got an amazing defensive mechanism…hold Trevor for me…"
He gave Trevor to Harry. Nyx took one look at Neville, rummaging through his bag, and hid beneath the bench, as if she'd understood the words 'defensive mechanism' and wanted no part of it. If Daphne had been any smaller, she'd have done the same.
As it was, she simply leaned back in her seat, but it soon turned out that wasn't enough. Neville poked the plant with a quill, and it responded by squirting horribly foul liquid from every pulsating boil on it, splashing the windows, ceiling, and Luna's magazine.
Daphne and Ginny managed to throw their arms up in time to protect their faces, but Harry, holding Trevor, wasn't so lucky, and got his face drenched.
If Daphne wasn't so afraid she'd start puking from the smell, she'd have laughed.
"S-sorry," Neville gasped. He too had been drenched by the liquid. How he managed not to puke was beyond Daphne's comprehension.
"I haven't tried that before…Didn't realize it would be quite so…Don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous…"
"Bloody hell, Neville, warn us next time," Ginny choked. She pulled out her wand and waved it around. "Scourgify!"
The Stinksap vanished without a trace.
"Good thing I'm used to Fred and George…" she muttered.
"Sorry," Neville muttered again.
"Don't worry about it," Harry said flatly.
Daphne could imagine that being drenched in Stinksap wasn't exactly what Harry had hoped for on his first day of school. Nyx, who'd remained safe under the bench, cautiously stuck her head out and sniffed the still rancid air. Harry quickly opened the window to let the worst of it out.
Fortunately, Neville decided that he wouldn't show off any more features of his plant and he'd stashed it away again, so by the time Hermione and Ron joined them around an hour later, the compartment smelled normal again. Luna hadn't said anything to them anymore, not even when the food trolley had come by.
"I'm starving," Ron said, stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig in the luggage rack.
Crookshanks joined Nyx under the bench, from which she'd refused to move since the Stinksap incident.
Ron sat down next to Harry and closed his eyes. Hermione didn't look much more cheerful.
"Guess who the Slytherin Prefects are?" Ron said, still with his eyes closed.
"Malfoy and Pansy, probably," Daphne said.
"'Course," Ron said bitterly.
Daphne exchanged a look with Harry and both of them sighed.
"Well, that'll be one detention after another for me, this year," Daphne said darkly. "Unless Pansy can convince Malfoy to stop being a git…"
"Who're the others?" Harry asked.
"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott for Hufflepuff and Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," Hermione answered.
"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," Ron said. "And we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something…"
"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" Hermione said sharply.
"Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," Ron said sarcastically.
"So you're going to descend to his level?"
"No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine."
"For heaven's sake, Ron–"
"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," Ron said happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and put on a look of pained concentration, miming writing in midair. "I…must…not…look…like…a…baboon's…backside…"
Everyone chuckled at that, but Luna went completely hysterical, causing everyone else to give each other bemused glances.
"That was funny!" Luna shouted, continuing to laugh.
"Are you taking the mickey?" Ron asked, frowning at her, but Luna was too busy choking on her laughter to reply.
"Okay…" Daphne said with a shake of her head. She leaned over to Ginny and whispered, "I see why they call her Loony…"
"She's…unique," Ginny confirmed. "But she's nice."
Daphne didn't doubt that, but she could understand why Luna might have people who were…less-than-impressed with her. Not that being odd warranted being bullied, of course, but Daphne had to admit that even this short exposure to Luna made her a bit uncomfortable, though she realized it was a bit unfair of her to judge her just by that.
Harry, meanwhile, was browsing through the magazine Luna had been reading, which she'd dropped in her laughing fit. It was funny to see his expression going from intrigued, to confused, to completely bewildered, but before Daphne could say anything about it, the compartment door opened and Malfoy stepped in.
Harry looked at him and aggressively said, "What?"
"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," Malfoy drawled. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a Prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."
"Yeah," Harry said, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."
Everyone laughed. Malfoy, however, had turned his attention to Daphne.
"Well, Greengrass, looks like the old fool isn't as fond of you as you thought," he said smugly.
Daphne shrugged. "Perhaps he was hoping the badge might fill the void in your heart, since you don't have any friends," she said.
Again, her friends laughed. Malfoy, though, didn't seem disturbed at all.
"Mock me while you can, Greengrass…things are going to be different this year. Just wait…"
With a last smirk, he turned around and walked away, followed by Crabbe and Goyle.
"That didn't sound ominous at all," Daphne said, exchanging a worried look with her friends.
With Neville and Luna present, though, they couldn't discuss anything, and the compartment fell silent again.
When they approached the station, Hermione said, "Ron and I are supposed to supervise everyone getting their stuff and getting off the train okay…could you take our luggage outside as well?"
"Yeah, alright," Harry said.
It was a bit difficult to drag along so many trunks, but fortunately Luna was willing to help carry some things as well, and with some difficulty they managed to get out onto the platform.
Daphne looked around for Hagrid — even if he wouldn't be teaching, he should still be the gamekeeper — but instead, it was Professor Grubbly-Plank calling the first-years over.
Feeling conflicted, they began to shuffle toward the carriages that were waiting for them, pulling their cloaks over their heads to shield them from the rain.
Harry stopped briefly when they approached, looking in surprise at the carriages. "What the…what are those things?" he asked, indicating the space between the coaches.
Daphne was confused for a moment, but then she realized what Harry meant.
"Thestrals, I presume," she said. "I forgot you weren't there in second year. They've always pulled the carriages, but you can only see them if you've seen death and truly understood it. You saw Cedric die, and the holidays probably allowed it to sink in enough that you can see them now…"
"So…you still can't see them?" Harry asked.
Daphne shook her head. "Nope. Neville can, though."
"I can see them too," Luna said. "Don't worry, you're perfectly sane."
Harry didn't look too reassured, but was distracted by the arrival of Ron and Hermione. They boarded the coach and set off to the castle.
"Did you see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" Ginny asked. "What's she doing here? I mean…Hagrid should still be…here, right?"
"She's a better teacher than Hagrid, though, isn't she?" Luna said.
"No she isn't!" Daphne, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione said as one, though Hermione was a bit more hesitant.
"Well, in Ravenclaw we think he's just making it up as he goes along. Professor Grubbly-Plank's lessons are much more structured."
"Hagrid's lesson on Kneazles helped us clear the name of a man who'd been falsely imprisoned for twelve years," Daphne said.
"Do you mean Stubby Boardman?" Luna asked.
Daphne blinked. "Who?"
Harry quickly shook his head. "Never mind," he said. "And yes, we mean Sirius," he added to Luna.
Luna didn't seem to mind Harry's annoyance, instead looking at him with a look of mild curiosity.
The rest of the trip to the castle was silent, and the feeling of dread Daphne felt was growing by the second. Malfoy had seemed too smug on the train, even for his doing. What would be waiting for them this year?
The coaches reached the stone steps, and everyone filed into the castle and into the Great Hall. Daphne gave Harry a quick kiss before making her way over to the Slytherin table and sitting down next to Tracey Davis, who looked a bit apprehensive.
"There's a weird vibe in the air," she said.
Daphne nodded. "I know. It's making my skin crawl."
"So, how was your summer? I heard Potter was tried by the full Wizengamot for using underage magic, but I don't know the details," Tracey said.
"We were attacked by Dementors," Daphne said.
It was a testament to how often she ended up in weird situations that Tracey hardly even blinked at this. "So Potter had a good reason for using magic then…Fudge really wants him out of the way, doesn't he, if he's setting the full Wizengamot on him…"
Daphne nodded. "He does. Did you see anyone else yet? Any people believing the Prophet?"
Tracey scoffed. "Please. Who in Slytherin has ever believed the Prophet? They're trying way too hard to discredit Dumbledore and Potter. If anything, it's proven to many of us that they're telling the truth."
Daphne breathed a sigh of relief. "Good…hopefully we'll be able to get some of them on our side, then. The Ministry's exerting a lot of pressure on Hogwarts this year, but I'm not sure what they're going to do yet," she said.
"Inside sources?" Tracey asked with an amused look.
"Yeah, you could say that… At the very least, I know the Ministry has forced Hagrid to resign and prevented Dumbledore from hiring Sirius Black as our Defense teacher, because both have them have been in Azkaban in recent memory."
"Wizards really play fast and loose with laws, don't they?" Tracey asked with a shake of her head. "And I thought Muggles were bad… They usually hide their corruption a bit better, at least."
Daphne nodded slowly, looking over at the staff table, trying to see if she could spot their new teacher. What she saw, though, chilled her to the core.
"No way," she said.
Tracey followed her look. "What?"
"That toad over there next to Dumbledore…that's Umbridge. She's Fudge's Undersecretary and she was at Harry's hearing…surely she can't be our new teacher…"
At that moment, McGonagall entered the Hall with the first-years and the Sorting Hat, and Daphne listened to its song, which was more dire than usual and spoke about uniting the Houses.
"What do you think I've been trying to do for four years…" Daphne muttered under her breath, and Tracey chuckled.
She watched the Sorting with passing interest, and during dinner she kept her eyes on the staff table. Umbridge seemed wholly unconcerned by the glances the other teachers were giving her.
Then, Dumbledore rose for his usual announcements, and Daphne sat up straighter to listen. It began casual, as it always did, but the moment he introduced Umbridge as the new teacher, she got up and interrupted his next announcement by clearing her throat with an annoying, "Hem, hem."
Dumbledore looked momentarily taken aback, but then sat down politely and looked at Umbridge with the greatest interest. The other teachers, though, glowered at her openly.
"Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome," Umbridge said in a sickeningly sweet simper.
Daphne shuddered.
"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"
Daphne felt a strong urge to draw her wand and begin firing curses, and she could see that many others in the Hall shared her sentiment.
"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends," Umbridge went on, not caring about the mutinous looks on everyone's faces.
She cleared her throat once again ("Hem, hem") and then continued talking in a far more businesslike tone.
"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down through the generations lest we lost them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."
Umbridge bowed briefly to her fellow teachers, who continued to glower, then gave another little "Hem, hem" and continued her speech.
"Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay.
"Then again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation, is necessary to ensure that we continue to travel on the proper path, and that we do not stumble along the way.
"For indeed, even a seemingly smooth road may hide treacherous holes, and we all carry the responsibility to fix these holes for future generations, even as we come across them. It will be challenging, because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgement.
"Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."
She sat down and Daphne exchanged a look with Tracey while Dumbledore continued his announcements.
"None of that sounded good," Daphne said darkly.
"What d'you think the Ministry's planning?" Tracey asked, looking just as worried.
"I don't know, but we need to get everyone together as quickly as possible. I think we'll have a lot of work to do this year…"
Bit of an ironic title given how close this chapter is to the book, but whatever. At this point, it should be par for the course, really.
