A/N: I hope you like this one. I work hard on all my stories. Before you continue, guess who the new DADA teacher is. Remember from the first chapter, Sirius knew who it was. Read and review!!
It was September first, and Harry awoke quite early to get ready for school. He packed up his trunk, his homework being practicaly perfect thanks to Hermione, and went downstairs. The Grangers were sitting down at the kitchen table, Mrs. Granger was dishing out pancakes and fruit onto plates, a pitcher of syrup in the center. Harry took a seat and began to eat as he talked to a slightly hyper active Hermione. She was really excited to get back to school, well not really excited, but excited enough to make Harry laugh histericaly into his orange juice. After breakfast he and Hermione brought down their trunks and put them into the mini van. They also brought down Hedwig's cadge, which housed a very disgruntaled owl, and Crookshanks in his wicker basket. Mr. Granger was going to drive them to the station, Mrs. Granger had to go to the office, so they pilled into the van and drove to Kings Cross Station. The ride was mostly silent, but every now and then he and Hermione would strike up a conversation about being Prefects or what was coming this year.
A half hour later, they arrived at the station and they pilled their things onto the trollys. After saying good-bye to Mr. Granger, and thanking him for a wonderful summer, they walked to the barrier. It took longer than anticipated to get through the barrier. Many muggles were there, walking infront of the barrier or bumping into them. Once they reached Platform 9 3/4, they stoad their things on the train and went outside to wait for Ron. It didn't take long for them to find him, not to mention the rest of the family. There was Fred and George, twins and famous for their tricks, Ginny, the youngest Weasley and the only girl in the family. Then there was Ron, their best friend standing at six foot with auburn hair and a light dusting of freckles. They waved to him and he walked over, Ginny tagging along behind him.
"Hey guys! How was your summer?" asked Ron as they met up.
"It was great." Said Harry, looking at a smiling Hermione.
"What about yours?" asked Hermione, looking up at Ron who towered over her.
"The wedding was great! Charlies wife, Shelly, is really nice and the food was great!" said Ron as they walked toward the train. "The only bad thing was Percy." He added, talking about his older brother.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Harry, entering the train.
"He kept talking about how horrible it was about Crouch. It was like he was the bloody mesiah! If I hear him talk about him one more time I will kill something." Said Ron, anger and anoyance in his voice.
"Don't mind him. He just dosen't want to go back to school." Said Ginny, who was not as quiet as she was last year.
"Who does?" cried Ron, throughing his hands up in the air.
"I do for that matter!" said Hermione, frowning at him as they walked to the far end of the train.
"Woah. What happened to your hair? It's so...straight." Said Ron, finaly noticing how Hermione's looks had changed.
"Thank you captin obvious!" cried Hermione, who was a little irritated. "Now lets please go and find a compartment." She added, opening up the door to their usual compartment.
When she opened the door, Harry noticed that there was a woman already in it. The others seemed to notice too because they all stopped and stood in the doorway. The woman was sitting by the window reading a small muggle paperback novel. She was tall by the looks of it with long black hair and creamy white skin. She looked up at them, finaly noticing their precence, with large dark eyes. She smiled at them and took her feet off the seat across from her. There was something familiar about her, like he had seen her before, and a likeness to someone that Harry just couldn't place. She put the book down and looked at each of them curiously. Like she was trying to place them.
"I'm sorry. We didn't know anyone was in the compartment." Said Ginny, moving to the front of the group so she didn't have to yell.
"Oh that's alright. I could use the company." Said the woman, patting the seat next to her.
Uncertantly they walked into the compartment, Ron shutting the door behind them. Ginny sat down next to the woman, and Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down across from them, looking at eachother. It seemed that the other two were having the same thoughts as Harry. He could still not place her. She had this familiarity, like he had talked to her or known her before, but he didn't recognize her face. It was strange.
"You must be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Said Ginny, trying to make small talk with this woman.
"Yes. My names Arabella Black, or Professor Black to you." She said, smiling at them all. Her name hit Harry like a bolt of lightning. Arabella was the name of his old nanny that he used to stay with before Hogwarts, and Black, as common a name as it is, was the last name of Sirius. Who was she?
"How did you come uppon the job?" asked Hermione, who recoverd from the shock of the name first.
"My friend recommended me. He used to teach at Hogwarts and when he heard that they were looking for a new DADA professor, well, he thought I should do it. I was the only applicant." Said Arabella, smirking slightly.
"Who was your friend? Maybe he taught us." Said Harry, wanting to know as much about her as he could.
"My friend, his names Remus Lupin. I've known him for ages." Said Arabella.
"You're friends with Lupin?" asked Ron, his mouth hanging open slightly.
"Yes. I've known him since we were eleven. We're very good friends." Said Arabella, smiling even wider.
"Wow." Said Harry, not knowing what else to say.
"It's not that amazing." Said Arabella. "Now, If you don't have any more questions, then I will continue my reading." She added, opening her book back up.
The rest of the ride went by smoothly. Malfoy didn't even come to bother them today, a real abnormality. Soon the train hissed to a stop and, along with Arabella, they got out and got into the horseless carriges that would take you up to the castle. Since there was no other way for her to get to the castle, Arabella rode with them. Even though it was a little cramped. Once they got up to the castle, Harry, Ron, Hermione ad Ginny went to the Gryffindor table to wait for the sorting. Arabella went up to the staff table, and to his great displeasure, clapped Snape on the back while smiling broadly. She sat down, and kept looking over at him, a mistivus glint in her eyes. Soon the sorting commenced, and everything went quite smoothly. Gryffindor gained a few new students, and to Harry's preference, not another Creevey. Two were quite enough. Just before the feast was to begin, Dumbledore stood up to address the students and staff.
"Welcome back to Hogwarts! I hope that this year will be full of great new experiences for all, both staff and students. I have a few annoncements to start with. First, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor with us, Professor Black." Started Dumbledore, motioning for Arabella to stand.
As she did, the hall began to whisper, most not forgetting the name of Sirius Black. The teachers also started to whisper, or grumble as it were. Snape looked especialy displeased, and McGonagall sported a frown that could rival that of Filch. Arabella herself did nothing but smile, she seemed pleased with the whispering that was going around. This was a strange woman.
"Second, the Forest is once again forbbiden. I warn any student that crossing it will mean extreame danger and should not be entered under ANY cercumstances. Lastly, because of the incodent last year I am afraid that any Quidditch practicing will be canceled until further notice. Let the feast begin!" Said Dumbledore, the food apearing on the golden plates.
This was horrible! No Quidditch again! Last year it had been canceled because of the Triwizard Tournament, but this year Harry had hoped that it would be back on again. This was probably the worst news he could ever receive. Today at least. After the grumbling and groaning died down, everyone dug in and ate 'till their hearts content. Soon the plates were clear and everyone got up to leave, eccept Harry and Hermione. They were to follow Dumbledore to his office to talk to him. Once everyone was gone, the old wizard got up and led the way out of the Great Hall. It took some convincing on his part to get out of there. It seemed not all the professors agreed on his decision to have Arabella on staff. Soon they reached the stone gargoyle and Dumbledore said the password. He then led the way up to his office.
"Sit, sit." He said as he sat behind his desk. They sat down and looked at their headmaster, slightly confused. "I want to talk to both of you about your dreams. You said something very strange in it. You said that she had a red orb in her hand. Could you describe it?" said Dumbledore, leaning on his elbows.
"Well," said Harry. "It glowed red, and got brighter as her anger increased. At the end of the dream, the orb got so bright that it blinded us, and screaming came from it." He described, trying to remember it.
Dumbledore picked up a book and opened it, turning the pages magicly until he found what he was looking for. "It says here that after she married Salazar, around the middle of their marrige, she created an orb, and in it she placed all of the fear, despair and sadness of the world into it. When she uses the orb, it could whipe out whole cities, even whole countries. One of the reasons why Camolot dosen't exist today is because of that. She distroyed it after Merlin died. After along while, she became so infused with anger and hatred that she distroyed herself, but not after distroying many villages and kingdoms in the process." Said Dumbledore, showing them the book.
"But professor, what has that got to do with us? Why are we getting dreams of her when she poses no threat?" asked Hermione, placing the book back on the desk.
"It seems that she, like Slytherin, hates halfbloods and muggleborns, and has found a way to communicate with people from beyond death; mainy you two and Voldemort. Personaly I think that she wants what he wants, and will do anything to get it to pass." Said Dumbledore, his voice slightly grave.
"Oh, well that makes sense." Said Hermione, her voice small and worrisome.
"What can we do about it?" asked Harry, anything that had to do with Voldemort was not good. It was never good.
"All you can do now, is waite for the next dream. I would like it if you would record them. It will help you understand them better." Said Dumbledore, handing them both plain muggle books. They were black felt with a small felt clasp and each page was blank white paper.
"Thank you professor." Said Harry, getting up from the chair.
"Good night you two." He said, smiling at them as he put the book away.
Harry and Hermione walked out of the office and into the semi-busey hall. The only people walking around were teachers and prefects. They walked threw the halls, not really going anywhere. They didn't talk for a while, but were really close together as they walked. Harry hated having dreams like these. They were always filled with despair and sorror. He knew how Hermione felt. Afraid of having another one of those dreams, filled with screaming and pain. Afraid that one day those screams might come from someone she cared about. Out of an act of pure comfert, Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently kissed her temple. She leaned her head against his chest and sighed deeply. Dear god...
"I don't want to have another dream like that. I don't want to feel cold, like death is breathing down my nealk." She said, shaking her head and letting a small sniffle escape.
"It's ok 'Mione. We'll go through it together. It's gonna be ok." Whispered Harry, rubbing his hand up and down her arm soothingly.
"Thank you Harry. What would I do without you?" asked Hermione, looking up at him with watery brown eyes.
"Let's hope we don't have to find out..." he whispered, leading her up a stairwell.
It seemed to take forever to get to the portrat hole. Once they got there, they took a minute to compose themselves, whipe the tears away and to take a few good deep breaths. Once they were back to their old selves, they climbed through the hole and into a nearly empty common room. The only ones there were Ron, Ginny, Seamus and Lavender. Harry and Hermione walked over to them and took a seat on the sofa and watched as Ron beat Ginny at chess. Soon the others left, and it was only the trio left in the common room to talk.
"So, what did Dumbledore want?" asked Ron, leaving the chessboard on the table.
"Just wanted to talk. Nothing special." Said Harry, not wanting to worry Ron with this.
"Ok. But if it's something serious, then you better tell me. Ok?" said Ron, looking at both of them sternly.
"We will. Don't worry." Said Hermione, glancing at Harry from the corner of her eye.
They talked a little bit longer, about their summer and Charlie's wedding, and then they got up to go to bed. They said good night, but Harry stayed behind. Once Ron was upstairs, Harry turned to Hermione and hugged her gently.
"'Night Harry." She whispered, hugging him back.
"Good night. Sweet dreams." He whispered back, smiling as he said it.
"I hope. We'll get through this, right?" she said, pulling away.
"We always do." He said, smiling at her.
Harry watched as she walked up the girl's dormatory stairs before turning around to go up the boy's stairs. He changed into his pyjamas, placing the book on his bedside table and climbed into bed. Harry hoped that neither he nor Hermione would have any dreams for a while. It would sort of ruin the good mood that they were all in. He just wanted one peaceful year. Just one single peaceful year where nothing went wrong...it could happen.
*
Harry awoke to a happy, comferting feeling in him. He didn't have any bad dreams that night, and was glad about that. He got up, changed into some robes and walked down into the common room, where Ron and Hermione were already waiting. Together they walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry noticed that the teachers were still sort of sore about Arabella being there. She must not have been well liked when she was at school.
Just as breakfast was about to end the timetables were passed out. The first thing that morning was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Harry was anxious to see how good a teacher she was. So far the best had been Lupin, and if they were friends, then she might be just as good. After breakfast, he, Ron and Hermione walked to the DADA room, to find that students were already filing in. Sadly they had this class with the Slytherins, but as they walked in, they found that Arabella wasn't there yet. They took their seats behind the first row and waited for Arabella to show up.
"I wonder how good a professor she'll be." Whispered Hermione, looking back and forth at them.
"I don't know. She might be good. Just as long as she's not Lockheart." Said Harry, speaking about their second year professor.
"Yeah. No more pixies. No more pixies." Chanted Ron, his fingures crossed.
"He wasn't that bad." Said Hermione defensivly, until Harry and Ron looked at her. "Ok he was." She said, leaning back in her chair.
Just then the door flew open and Arabella walked in, a rather large book in her hand. She placed the book on the desk and turned to them, her dark eyes twinkling. She smiled at the class and Harry notcied that her breathing was heavy like she had run a long distance. Arabella clasped her hands together and gazed around the room, finaly catching her breath and speaking to them.
"Well, I hope that this year goes quite well and that you get as much as possible out of this course. It has come to my attention that last year you studied the unforgitable curses. We will be doing a little bit on this subject, but not much." Said Arabella, moving to the blackboard. "We will also be covering the following creatures: The Kelpi, the Re'em, and the Spinx. Since these creatures are so dangerous, I will be using a Bogart so that you can learn how to defend against them." Arabella wrote this down on the blackboard as she said it.
The rest of the class went by quite well. Slytherin house got twenty points taken off, for they didn't seem to like Arabella any more than the professors did. Both Pansy and Malfoy had been stupid enough to whisper something, which Arabella heard. They all thought, and the rest of the Slytherins agreed, that Arabella was uncwolified, stuck up and an anoyance to the school. Of course, you would think that Arabella would be furious, but that was not her reaction. She was...smiling. What she said was even more of a surprise, but Harry seemed to enjoy Malfoy's reaction.
"Well, I certanatly think that I'm a little bit uncwolified, I can be stuck up and I am a rather large anoyance. Thank you for reminding my Draco." She had said, smiling at him. "Oh, and twenty points from Slytherin for insulting a professor." She had added while walking away from him.
Malfoy looked like someone had slapped him in the face. Pansy was glairing at Arabella, her cold steely eyes burning with rage. Malfoy didn't say anything for a few minutes, and he was still shocked at her words when he recovered. After class, when everyone was walking out and talking about what a good class that had been, Malfoy was walking very fast to his next class, his head low and he was mumbling to himself. Not a single professor at Hogwarts would have taken the insults he had thrown at Arabella like the way she had. Any other professor would have yelled at him, sent him to the headmaster's office, or anything than agree with him. Not even Professor Trelweny, who was as crazy as a loon, would have agreed and then calmly deducted points from his house. If they could, they probably would have strangled him then and there, instead of walking away and getting back to the rest of the class. She was a strange one.
"Wow! Could you believe her? She didn't even raise her voice!" said Ron, in complete aw at what Arabella had said to Malfoy. "She's even more restrained than you 'Mione!"
"You're right. If it were me, I would have slapped him. I don't know how she could have handled it so cooly." Said Hermione, wondering how Arabella could have been so calm to someone like Malfoy.
"It was quite a show. I'll say this, she is a good teacher." Said Harry, happy that Malfoy was still in utter shock.
They continued through the day without anything else big happening. By the end of the day, everyone was talking about Arabella and what had happened in Harry's class. That wasn't the only class where she left her mark. In practicaly each class she taught today something had happened. Each person who had come out had a good, or sometimes bad, impression of Arabella, but it was mostly good. Right after lunch, Fred and George had had Arabella's class. They had it with the Ravenclaws, and some rather snooty ones decided that Arabella was wrong about a few things, but instead of pointing it out nicely, they made her look like an idiot. Now a normal professor would have yelled at them and deducted many, many points, but not Arabella. Instead, she took in the criticism and made some very witty comments that left the girls stunned and re-thinking their plan of action. Both Fred and George loved the class, and could not stop talking about it for the rest of the day. Luckily Lee Jorden was there to listen. The teachers, with the ecception of Dumbledore, were still pretty pissed off that Arabella was teaching at Hogwarts, but when the news of this day's action's got to their ears, well they were impressed. Even Snape had to admit that she was good, as he would have lost his temper in seconds. Their dispositions didn't change as drasticly as some would have wanted, but they were now atleast speaking to Arabella and not grumbling at her. It was more of an angerd silence. Arabella however was as happy and energetic as ever.
*
Classes went by normaly, the Gryffindors had homework piled on them, but it was the third week into school when the news Harry had been hoping for had come. Right after afternoon classes everyone was crowded around a notice and Ron, who was still the tallest, read over peoples heads. Quidditch was officialy back on and the new Gryffindor captin had been posted right under the notice. This year's captin, or rather captins, were Fred and George Weasly, who were Beaters for the Gryffindor team. They were extreamly good and had gotten Harry out of a few scrapes, like in his second year when the Bludgers were fixed to come straight at him no matter who they were aimed at. Those two were a perfect choice for captin, and as long as they stayed out of detention, the team would be better than ever. There was also another notice, there were to be tryouts for a new keeper for Oliver Wood, who had also been captin, had graduated the previous year. This was great news for some people, as an open spot on any Quidditch team was a great opportunity. Both Ron and Ginny wanted to try out for the team, seeing as they were both members of a very Quidditch orriented family. Harry thought it would be nice to have one of them on the team, it would make the practices less rigorous with one of them there.
"So when are the try-outs?" asked Hermione as she looked over a book and wrote notes on a piece of parchment.
"Friday. I'm glad that Quidditch is back on. It will keep my mind off everything that's happening." Said Harry, picking a book up off a pile that had collected on the table.
"I know what you mean. It's hard to concentrate on everyday life when there is so much going on." Said Hermione, turning a few pages of the book. "What do you think will happen this year? I mean, concerning the dreams." She asked.
"I really don't know. Anything could happen I guess, but if we have any more dreams than something...interesting is bound to happen this year." Said Harry, closing the book and pushing it away from him.
Hermione did the same thing, closing the small black book and putting her quill down. Her hair was in a rather messey ponytail and she looked extreamly tired. They both had been working on information about Morgan and the history of Slytherin, per Dumbledore's request. They had found mountains of books on Slytherin, but only two on Morgan. It seemed that while her story was one to be told, she was not well liked enough to be put into a book. They had been working in the Library since before dinner and still had many books to look through. Harry was not one of the Library's favorite customers, but it seemed he would be spending a lot of his time in here. So far neither of them had had a single dream since the summer holidays, but they were still warry, as the next one could catch them off guard and be extreamly grusom. Hermione was being very strong about this, which was her usual nature. Although she was being her normal self, even if she wasn't spending every waking moment in the Library, Harry thought that she might lose that cool and controlled nature and brake down. Harry would never doubt her strength, but grusom dreams weren't exactly her field. He just hoped that she could handle them when they came.
"Do you want to quit for the day? I mean, we've been working non-stop and I would like to get some rest." She said, small whisps of brown hair falling around her face.
"Do you even have to ask," He said, getting up and streching before following her out of the Library. They both made sure that their books were with them as losing them would not be a good thing to do.
They walked to the common room, seeing that everyone was still present finishing homework, talking or playing games. The pair walked over to the sofa and sat down, watching lazily as Ron creamed Ginny in a game of wizard's chess. After all, Ron was Gryffindor's Chess Champion so to speak. It took two games of Exploding Snap, three more games of chess and a very interesting conversation between Ron and Hermione concerning muggle and wizarding rock bands for Harry to finaly get up and walk sluggishly to his room. This day had just seemed to drag on, and he hoped that he would have a peaceful night. He changed into his nightclothes and pulled the curtain around his four-poster bed, sighing as he rested his head on the down pillow. He slowly slipped into a dream-free sleep, ntohing disturbing him until the next day where Quidditch try-out's awaited.
A/N: I know, this took along time, but so far I'm trying to finish my MWPP fic and get a D/Hr fic up. I won't go too much into Quidditch, but I may discribe a game or two. Thank you to all who have reviewed!
It was September first, and Harry awoke quite early to get ready for school. He packed up his trunk, his homework being practicaly perfect thanks to Hermione, and went downstairs. The Grangers were sitting down at the kitchen table, Mrs. Granger was dishing out pancakes and fruit onto plates, a pitcher of syrup in the center. Harry took a seat and began to eat as he talked to a slightly hyper active Hermione. She was really excited to get back to school, well not really excited, but excited enough to make Harry laugh histericaly into his orange juice. After breakfast he and Hermione brought down their trunks and put them into the mini van. They also brought down Hedwig's cadge, which housed a very disgruntaled owl, and Crookshanks in his wicker basket. Mr. Granger was going to drive them to the station, Mrs. Granger had to go to the office, so they pilled into the van and drove to Kings Cross Station. The ride was mostly silent, but every now and then he and Hermione would strike up a conversation about being Prefects or what was coming this year.
A half hour later, they arrived at the station and they pilled their things onto the trollys. After saying good-bye to Mr. Granger, and thanking him for a wonderful summer, they walked to the barrier. It took longer than anticipated to get through the barrier. Many muggles were there, walking infront of the barrier or bumping into them. Once they reached Platform 9 3/4, they stoad their things on the train and went outside to wait for Ron. It didn't take long for them to find him, not to mention the rest of the family. There was Fred and George, twins and famous for their tricks, Ginny, the youngest Weasley and the only girl in the family. Then there was Ron, their best friend standing at six foot with auburn hair and a light dusting of freckles. They waved to him and he walked over, Ginny tagging along behind him.
"Hey guys! How was your summer?" asked Ron as they met up.
"It was great." Said Harry, looking at a smiling Hermione.
"What about yours?" asked Hermione, looking up at Ron who towered over her.
"The wedding was great! Charlies wife, Shelly, is really nice and the food was great!" said Ron as they walked toward the train. "The only bad thing was Percy." He added, talking about his older brother.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Harry, entering the train.
"He kept talking about how horrible it was about Crouch. It was like he was the bloody mesiah! If I hear him talk about him one more time I will kill something." Said Ron, anger and anoyance in his voice.
"Don't mind him. He just dosen't want to go back to school." Said Ginny, who was not as quiet as she was last year.
"Who does?" cried Ron, throughing his hands up in the air.
"I do for that matter!" said Hermione, frowning at him as they walked to the far end of the train.
"Woah. What happened to your hair? It's so...straight." Said Ron, finaly noticing how Hermione's looks had changed.
"Thank you captin obvious!" cried Hermione, who was a little irritated. "Now lets please go and find a compartment." She added, opening up the door to their usual compartment.
When she opened the door, Harry noticed that there was a woman already in it. The others seemed to notice too because they all stopped and stood in the doorway. The woman was sitting by the window reading a small muggle paperback novel. She was tall by the looks of it with long black hair and creamy white skin. She looked up at them, finaly noticing their precence, with large dark eyes. She smiled at them and took her feet off the seat across from her. There was something familiar about her, like he had seen her before, and a likeness to someone that Harry just couldn't place. She put the book down and looked at each of them curiously. Like she was trying to place them.
"I'm sorry. We didn't know anyone was in the compartment." Said Ginny, moving to the front of the group so she didn't have to yell.
"Oh that's alright. I could use the company." Said the woman, patting the seat next to her.
Uncertantly they walked into the compartment, Ron shutting the door behind them. Ginny sat down next to the woman, and Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down across from them, looking at eachother. It seemed that the other two were having the same thoughts as Harry. He could still not place her. She had this familiarity, like he had talked to her or known her before, but he didn't recognize her face. It was strange.
"You must be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Said Ginny, trying to make small talk with this woman.
"Yes. My names Arabella Black, or Professor Black to you." She said, smiling at them all. Her name hit Harry like a bolt of lightning. Arabella was the name of his old nanny that he used to stay with before Hogwarts, and Black, as common a name as it is, was the last name of Sirius. Who was she?
"How did you come uppon the job?" asked Hermione, who recoverd from the shock of the name first.
"My friend recommended me. He used to teach at Hogwarts and when he heard that they were looking for a new DADA professor, well, he thought I should do it. I was the only applicant." Said Arabella, smirking slightly.
"Who was your friend? Maybe he taught us." Said Harry, wanting to know as much about her as he could.
"My friend, his names Remus Lupin. I've known him for ages." Said Arabella.
"You're friends with Lupin?" asked Ron, his mouth hanging open slightly.
"Yes. I've known him since we were eleven. We're very good friends." Said Arabella, smiling even wider.
"Wow." Said Harry, not knowing what else to say.
"It's not that amazing." Said Arabella. "Now, If you don't have any more questions, then I will continue my reading." She added, opening her book back up.
The rest of the ride went by smoothly. Malfoy didn't even come to bother them today, a real abnormality. Soon the train hissed to a stop and, along with Arabella, they got out and got into the horseless carriges that would take you up to the castle. Since there was no other way for her to get to the castle, Arabella rode with them. Even though it was a little cramped. Once they got up to the castle, Harry, Ron, Hermione ad Ginny went to the Gryffindor table to wait for the sorting. Arabella went up to the staff table, and to his great displeasure, clapped Snape on the back while smiling broadly. She sat down, and kept looking over at him, a mistivus glint in her eyes. Soon the sorting commenced, and everything went quite smoothly. Gryffindor gained a few new students, and to Harry's preference, not another Creevey. Two were quite enough. Just before the feast was to begin, Dumbledore stood up to address the students and staff.
"Welcome back to Hogwarts! I hope that this year will be full of great new experiences for all, both staff and students. I have a few annoncements to start with. First, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor with us, Professor Black." Started Dumbledore, motioning for Arabella to stand.
As she did, the hall began to whisper, most not forgetting the name of Sirius Black. The teachers also started to whisper, or grumble as it were. Snape looked especialy displeased, and McGonagall sported a frown that could rival that of Filch. Arabella herself did nothing but smile, she seemed pleased with the whispering that was going around. This was a strange woman.
"Second, the Forest is once again forbbiden. I warn any student that crossing it will mean extreame danger and should not be entered under ANY cercumstances. Lastly, because of the incodent last year I am afraid that any Quidditch practicing will be canceled until further notice. Let the feast begin!" Said Dumbledore, the food apearing on the golden plates.
This was horrible! No Quidditch again! Last year it had been canceled because of the Triwizard Tournament, but this year Harry had hoped that it would be back on again. This was probably the worst news he could ever receive. Today at least. After the grumbling and groaning died down, everyone dug in and ate 'till their hearts content. Soon the plates were clear and everyone got up to leave, eccept Harry and Hermione. They were to follow Dumbledore to his office to talk to him. Once everyone was gone, the old wizard got up and led the way out of the Great Hall. It took some convincing on his part to get out of there. It seemed not all the professors agreed on his decision to have Arabella on staff. Soon they reached the stone gargoyle and Dumbledore said the password. He then led the way up to his office.
"Sit, sit." He said as he sat behind his desk. They sat down and looked at their headmaster, slightly confused. "I want to talk to both of you about your dreams. You said something very strange in it. You said that she had a red orb in her hand. Could you describe it?" said Dumbledore, leaning on his elbows.
"Well," said Harry. "It glowed red, and got brighter as her anger increased. At the end of the dream, the orb got so bright that it blinded us, and screaming came from it." He described, trying to remember it.
Dumbledore picked up a book and opened it, turning the pages magicly until he found what he was looking for. "It says here that after she married Salazar, around the middle of their marrige, she created an orb, and in it she placed all of the fear, despair and sadness of the world into it. When she uses the orb, it could whipe out whole cities, even whole countries. One of the reasons why Camolot dosen't exist today is because of that. She distroyed it after Merlin died. After along while, she became so infused with anger and hatred that she distroyed herself, but not after distroying many villages and kingdoms in the process." Said Dumbledore, showing them the book.
"But professor, what has that got to do with us? Why are we getting dreams of her when she poses no threat?" asked Hermione, placing the book back on the desk.
"It seems that she, like Slytherin, hates halfbloods and muggleborns, and has found a way to communicate with people from beyond death; mainy you two and Voldemort. Personaly I think that she wants what he wants, and will do anything to get it to pass." Said Dumbledore, his voice slightly grave.
"Oh, well that makes sense." Said Hermione, her voice small and worrisome.
"What can we do about it?" asked Harry, anything that had to do with Voldemort was not good. It was never good.
"All you can do now, is waite for the next dream. I would like it if you would record them. It will help you understand them better." Said Dumbledore, handing them both plain muggle books. They were black felt with a small felt clasp and each page was blank white paper.
"Thank you professor." Said Harry, getting up from the chair.
"Good night you two." He said, smiling at them as he put the book away.
Harry and Hermione walked out of the office and into the semi-busey hall. The only people walking around were teachers and prefects. They walked threw the halls, not really going anywhere. They didn't talk for a while, but were really close together as they walked. Harry hated having dreams like these. They were always filled with despair and sorror. He knew how Hermione felt. Afraid of having another one of those dreams, filled with screaming and pain. Afraid that one day those screams might come from someone she cared about. Out of an act of pure comfert, Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently kissed her temple. She leaned her head against his chest and sighed deeply. Dear god...
"I don't want to have another dream like that. I don't want to feel cold, like death is breathing down my nealk." She said, shaking her head and letting a small sniffle escape.
"It's ok 'Mione. We'll go through it together. It's gonna be ok." Whispered Harry, rubbing his hand up and down her arm soothingly.
"Thank you Harry. What would I do without you?" asked Hermione, looking up at him with watery brown eyes.
"Let's hope we don't have to find out..." he whispered, leading her up a stairwell.
It seemed to take forever to get to the portrat hole. Once they got there, they took a minute to compose themselves, whipe the tears away and to take a few good deep breaths. Once they were back to their old selves, they climbed through the hole and into a nearly empty common room. The only ones there were Ron, Ginny, Seamus and Lavender. Harry and Hermione walked over to them and took a seat on the sofa and watched as Ron beat Ginny at chess. Soon the others left, and it was only the trio left in the common room to talk.
"So, what did Dumbledore want?" asked Ron, leaving the chessboard on the table.
"Just wanted to talk. Nothing special." Said Harry, not wanting to worry Ron with this.
"Ok. But if it's something serious, then you better tell me. Ok?" said Ron, looking at both of them sternly.
"We will. Don't worry." Said Hermione, glancing at Harry from the corner of her eye.
They talked a little bit longer, about their summer and Charlie's wedding, and then they got up to go to bed. They said good night, but Harry stayed behind. Once Ron was upstairs, Harry turned to Hermione and hugged her gently.
"'Night Harry." She whispered, hugging him back.
"Good night. Sweet dreams." He whispered back, smiling as he said it.
"I hope. We'll get through this, right?" she said, pulling away.
"We always do." He said, smiling at her.
Harry watched as she walked up the girl's dormatory stairs before turning around to go up the boy's stairs. He changed into his pyjamas, placing the book on his bedside table and climbed into bed. Harry hoped that neither he nor Hermione would have any dreams for a while. It would sort of ruin the good mood that they were all in. He just wanted one peaceful year. Just one single peaceful year where nothing went wrong...it could happen.
*
Harry awoke to a happy, comferting feeling in him. He didn't have any bad dreams that night, and was glad about that. He got up, changed into some robes and walked down into the common room, where Ron and Hermione were already waiting. Together they walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry noticed that the teachers were still sort of sore about Arabella being there. She must not have been well liked when she was at school.
Just as breakfast was about to end the timetables were passed out. The first thing that morning was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Harry was anxious to see how good a teacher she was. So far the best had been Lupin, and if they were friends, then she might be just as good. After breakfast, he, Ron and Hermione walked to the DADA room, to find that students were already filing in. Sadly they had this class with the Slytherins, but as they walked in, they found that Arabella wasn't there yet. They took their seats behind the first row and waited for Arabella to show up.
"I wonder how good a professor she'll be." Whispered Hermione, looking back and forth at them.
"I don't know. She might be good. Just as long as she's not Lockheart." Said Harry, speaking about their second year professor.
"Yeah. No more pixies. No more pixies." Chanted Ron, his fingures crossed.
"He wasn't that bad." Said Hermione defensivly, until Harry and Ron looked at her. "Ok he was." She said, leaning back in her chair.
Just then the door flew open and Arabella walked in, a rather large book in her hand. She placed the book on the desk and turned to them, her dark eyes twinkling. She smiled at the class and Harry notcied that her breathing was heavy like she had run a long distance. Arabella clasped her hands together and gazed around the room, finaly catching her breath and speaking to them.
"Well, I hope that this year goes quite well and that you get as much as possible out of this course. It has come to my attention that last year you studied the unforgitable curses. We will be doing a little bit on this subject, but not much." Said Arabella, moving to the blackboard. "We will also be covering the following creatures: The Kelpi, the Re'em, and the Spinx. Since these creatures are so dangerous, I will be using a Bogart so that you can learn how to defend against them." Arabella wrote this down on the blackboard as she said it.
The rest of the class went by quite well. Slytherin house got twenty points taken off, for they didn't seem to like Arabella any more than the professors did. Both Pansy and Malfoy had been stupid enough to whisper something, which Arabella heard. They all thought, and the rest of the Slytherins agreed, that Arabella was uncwolified, stuck up and an anoyance to the school. Of course, you would think that Arabella would be furious, but that was not her reaction. She was...smiling. What she said was even more of a surprise, but Harry seemed to enjoy Malfoy's reaction.
"Well, I certanatly think that I'm a little bit uncwolified, I can be stuck up and I am a rather large anoyance. Thank you for reminding my Draco." She had said, smiling at him. "Oh, and twenty points from Slytherin for insulting a professor." She had added while walking away from him.
Malfoy looked like someone had slapped him in the face. Pansy was glairing at Arabella, her cold steely eyes burning with rage. Malfoy didn't say anything for a few minutes, and he was still shocked at her words when he recovered. After class, when everyone was walking out and talking about what a good class that had been, Malfoy was walking very fast to his next class, his head low and he was mumbling to himself. Not a single professor at Hogwarts would have taken the insults he had thrown at Arabella like the way she had. Any other professor would have yelled at him, sent him to the headmaster's office, or anything than agree with him. Not even Professor Trelweny, who was as crazy as a loon, would have agreed and then calmly deducted points from his house. If they could, they probably would have strangled him then and there, instead of walking away and getting back to the rest of the class. She was a strange one.
"Wow! Could you believe her? She didn't even raise her voice!" said Ron, in complete aw at what Arabella had said to Malfoy. "She's even more restrained than you 'Mione!"
"You're right. If it were me, I would have slapped him. I don't know how she could have handled it so cooly." Said Hermione, wondering how Arabella could have been so calm to someone like Malfoy.
"It was quite a show. I'll say this, she is a good teacher." Said Harry, happy that Malfoy was still in utter shock.
They continued through the day without anything else big happening. By the end of the day, everyone was talking about Arabella and what had happened in Harry's class. That wasn't the only class where she left her mark. In practicaly each class she taught today something had happened. Each person who had come out had a good, or sometimes bad, impression of Arabella, but it was mostly good. Right after lunch, Fred and George had had Arabella's class. They had it with the Ravenclaws, and some rather snooty ones decided that Arabella was wrong about a few things, but instead of pointing it out nicely, they made her look like an idiot. Now a normal professor would have yelled at them and deducted many, many points, but not Arabella. Instead, she took in the criticism and made some very witty comments that left the girls stunned and re-thinking their plan of action. Both Fred and George loved the class, and could not stop talking about it for the rest of the day. Luckily Lee Jorden was there to listen. The teachers, with the ecception of Dumbledore, were still pretty pissed off that Arabella was teaching at Hogwarts, but when the news of this day's action's got to their ears, well they were impressed. Even Snape had to admit that she was good, as he would have lost his temper in seconds. Their dispositions didn't change as drasticly as some would have wanted, but they were now atleast speaking to Arabella and not grumbling at her. It was more of an angerd silence. Arabella however was as happy and energetic as ever.
*
Classes went by normaly, the Gryffindors had homework piled on them, but it was the third week into school when the news Harry had been hoping for had come. Right after afternoon classes everyone was crowded around a notice and Ron, who was still the tallest, read over peoples heads. Quidditch was officialy back on and the new Gryffindor captin had been posted right under the notice. This year's captin, or rather captins, were Fred and George Weasly, who were Beaters for the Gryffindor team. They were extreamly good and had gotten Harry out of a few scrapes, like in his second year when the Bludgers were fixed to come straight at him no matter who they were aimed at. Those two were a perfect choice for captin, and as long as they stayed out of detention, the team would be better than ever. There was also another notice, there were to be tryouts for a new keeper for Oliver Wood, who had also been captin, had graduated the previous year. This was great news for some people, as an open spot on any Quidditch team was a great opportunity. Both Ron and Ginny wanted to try out for the team, seeing as they were both members of a very Quidditch orriented family. Harry thought it would be nice to have one of them on the team, it would make the practices less rigorous with one of them there.
"So when are the try-outs?" asked Hermione as she looked over a book and wrote notes on a piece of parchment.
"Friday. I'm glad that Quidditch is back on. It will keep my mind off everything that's happening." Said Harry, picking a book up off a pile that had collected on the table.
"I know what you mean. It's hard to concentrate on everyday life when there is so much going on." Said Hermione, turning a few pages of the book. "What do you think will happen this year? I mean, concerning the dreams." She asked.
"I really don't know. Anything could happen I guess, but if we have any more dreams than something...interesting is bound to happen this year." Said Harry, closing the book and pushing it away from him.
Hermione did the same thing, closing the small black book and putting her quill down. Her hair was in a rather messey ponytail and she looked extreamly tired. They both had been working on information about Morgan and the history of Slytherin, per Dumbledore's request. They had found mountains of books on Slytherin, but only two on Morgan. It seemed that while her story was one to be told, she was not well liked enough to be put into a book. They had been working in the Library since before dinner and still had many books to look through. Harry was not one of the Library's favorite customers, but it seemed he would be spending a lot of his time in here. So far neither of them had had a single dream since the summer holidays, but they were still warry, as the next one could catch them off guard and be extreamly grusom. Hermione was being very strong about this, which was her usual nature. Although she was being her normal self, even if she wasn't spending every waking moment in the Library, Harry thought that she might lose that cool and controlled nature and brake down. Harry would never doubt her strength, but grusom dreams weren't exactly her field. He just hoped that she could handle them when they came.
"Do you want to quit for the day? I mean, we've been working non-stop and I would like to get some rest." She said, small whisps of brown hair falling around her face.
"Do you even have to ask," He said, getting up and streching before following her out of the Library. They both made sure that their books were with them as losing them would not be a good thing to do.
They walked to the common room, seeing that everyone was still present finishing homework, talking or playing games. The pair walked over to the sofa and sat down, watching lazily as Ron creamed Ginny in a game of wizard's chess. After all, Ron was Gryffindor's Chess Champion so to speak. It took two games of Exploding Snap, three more games of chess and a very interesting conversation between Ron and Hermione concerning muggle and wizarding rock bands for Harry to finaly get up and walk sluggishly to his room. This day had just seemed to drag on, and he hoped that he would have a peaceful night. He changed into his nightclothes and pulled the curtain around his four-poster bed, sighing as he rested his head on the down pillow. He slowly slipped into a dream-free sleep, ntohing disturbing him until the next day where Quidditch try-out's awaited.
A/N: I know, this took along time, but so far I'm trying to finish my MWPP fic and get a D/Hr fic up. I won't go too much into Quidditch, but I may discribe a game or two. Thank you to all who have reviewed!