Chapter 3
"He's amazing, standing on his broom? I don't think anyone's done that before, and certainly not flying at that speed." Sirius murmured to the other three with him at the table set up in one of the lounges near the window. He'd been up all night working, and his palms still hurt, almost none of the Order members had gotten more then a few hours of sleep, but he envied them that.
"He's been practicing standing on his broom all summer at his aunt's. The backyard's got a high wall around it, I'm not sure how he got them to allow it. Actually I don't think they even knew he was doing it." Arabella Figg said over her coffee, after years watching Harry while at the Dursley's she was back in the magical world.
"He should be on a stunt team if he wants to do stuff like that trick, not a quidditch team, I hope someone tells him that, little show-off." Severus Snape growled, earning very angry glares from Remus and Arabella. Arabella looked to be considering slapping him, he carefully leaned away a little. The last had been muttered, but loudly enough to hear. Sirius, glancing at Snape's mind and finding envy, chose to ignore him, the only sign he gave that he'd heard at all was a slight frown.
"The English team needs reserves and players, including a Seeker. They're recruiter and captain are touring the wizarding schools, watching matches and getting information on likely students. They'll be here for a few matches sometime during the year or next if all goes well." Dumbledore said as he sat down in the remaining chair.
"That dive out the window looked familiar, did you give him that idea Sirius?" Remus asked, checking his watch as more Order members started coming in.
"I? No, I don't stand on my broom, mind you I do dive out windows on it headfirst, but no I didn't suggest it. It looked like Lilly's style of dive. Should we call him in yet?" Sirius asked, he took a quick mental count of the Order members awake. "Never mind, we'll wait half an hour for breakfast."
"But Voldemort won't wait, has Harry had anymore dreams do you think? Poor boy, I hope he's getting enough sleep." Arabella murmured softly, and gasped as Harry did a stunning maneuver on his broom that most couldn't do sitting never mind standing.
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After breakfast Harry gave Sirius the dream recorder and he left with some others to view it, Harry wrote to Ron and Hermione, telling them about the trial. He then spent most of the day in the common room practicing magic. Dumbledore had told him that since he was at Hogwarts he would be allowed to use magic, Harry was overjoyed and immediately went to work. By bedtime he was exhausted but had mastered a score of new spells, and had finally finished learning to do all the 1-4 year spells wandlessly.
Harry spent the next few days doing loads of magic, flying, and of course, practicing his other fighting skills, he'd added dueling to the list, despite the fact he didn't have a real opponent. He'd created a faceless figure, and given it the same ability he had, he then fought this, as he improved so did it. Other then that there wasn't much to do, Harry memorized every secret passage and room in the school and, one day when it was raining and he was extremely bored, made his own room. In here he could practice in peace after the students arrived, to get in he closed the drapes around his bed, murmured the password, lay down with his feet near his pillow and rolled into the wall, and through it onto a couch in the secret room. He'd also become friends with the house elves and started inventing jokes like the twins did, he'd decided to become a prankster, though it was originally Ron's idea. Harry justified it as his father's prankster genes in him. Through numerous letters to his friends and meeting them one day in Diagon Alley to get supplies, they came to an agreement to be 'minor pranksters' until the twins graduated. Harry didn't see much of the Order, there were always a few of them around, mostly resting or having meetings in the third floor corridor. Sirius was very busy, since he was the Phoenix and he would be teaching he had a lot to do, Harry mostly only saw him at mealtimes. Remus was around a lot more and asked Harry for help in planning their first few lessons on Basilisks. He and Harry went on a two day hunt for a Basilisk for the class to study. Harry then used his Parseltounge abilities to make the Basilisk, a very friendly female who's territory included Hogwarts, power to kill with her eyes to become ineffectual against students and all who were not death eaters. But even with things like this, annoying Filch, and exploring the restricted section of the library with the cloak, Harry was glad when September 1st rolled around.
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Harry left early and went down to the dining hall to wait for the students, as prefects he Ron and Hermione had agreed to sit in the middle of the table, much closer to the front then the back, Alicia would manage the students in the back half of the table, which were normally first and second years. Eventually he heard the sound of voices and students streamed in, Harry stood up and looked around in the crowd, searching for Ron and Hermione. Finally he spotted them, and didn't like what he saw. They were standing near the doorway, having a glaring match with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. After a while though they walked off, Harry waved frantically for a moment until Ron spotted him and waved back. They hurried over and took the chairs on either side of him.
"Harry! How's it been? Pretty lonely I'd guess. Didja hear? In the prophet? Eight more muggles killed yesterday, poor things, damn those nasty, disgusting, foul, cowardly, death eaters! Dad and Percy have been running themselves to the ground at the Ministry. Malfoy looked like he was trying to glare a hole through Ron. Harry decided to calm Ron down by answering his first question.
"Not to bad, boring yes, but not too lonely, the Order members were always about. I've spent a lot of time studying. Not your kind." He added to Hermione, "I've been practicing magic, done all of our potions and spells ahead of time too. I've been flying around a lot, and learning my way around all the hidden passageways and stuff." Hermione said something, but stopped mid sentence as Dumbledore called for silence and the first years were led in.
(AN: For lack of poetic skills I am NOT writing a Sorting Hat Song)
Harry and Ron were to busy discussing who the new Gryffindor quidditch team captain might be to take much notice of the sorting. Harry only saw that there were 7 new boys and 5 girls, Gryffindor had gotten more then any other house, Slytherin only got 6 new students. Then the hall quieted, except for rumbling stomachs, and the Headmaster rose to speak.
"New students, teachers, and returning students and teachers, welcome to a new school year. Hopefully your heads are nice and empty and ready to be filled with magic again. Now I would like to introduce our not-so-new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Remus Lupin! Hagrid is doing work for the Ministry involving the giants. " Here he had to stop because of deafening applause, even the students who had never been in Lupin's classes clapped as the older students explained. Snape was looking especially sour, his face turned almost purple and he looked ready to have a fit at what Dumbledore said next. "Next we have our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Sirius Black, Leader of the Order of the Phoenix and part-time Commander of the First Rank Auror Elite!" There was a silence, then applause and cheers and roars that shook the building, Sirius and Lupin both stood and bowed. The hall gradually silenced as Dumbledore raised a hand for quiet. "Now the Forbidden Forest is, of course, Forbidden to all students, though the name should be warning enough, Professor Lupin is teaching a few lessons on Basilisks, during that time the Basilisk used will be residing in the Forest. I assure you it has promised not to injure or eat any students. Secondly the Order of the Phoenix has been reinstated, undoubtedly you've all already heard that. Hogwarts is the base for the Order, as a result they will be around school a lot, please don't cause them any trouble, one reason they are here is your safety. They will be living in the thirdfloor corridor, same one that was out of bounds four years ago. Next, we have some transfer students this year from various schools around the world. They will be sorted like the first years." He beckoned to the doorway, a score of students walked in, Harry recognized two as Durmstrang students who had been there the year before to compete in the Tournament. They were sorted out, Gryffindor got the most again, in fifth year four, seventh year two, second year six, fourth year one, third year two, no new sixth years. Harry got the four new fifth years attention and waved them to the empty seats near him Ron and Hermione. "Now, since you are all positively starving I expect, lets eat!"
"Hey, I'm Ron, this is Hermione and that's Harry. Who are you?" Ron asked as he heaped his plate, the one new boy examined his goblet.
"I'm Sam, this is real gold! Wow! Wait a sec, Harry? The Harry Potter? Awesome!" Harry groaned softly so no one would hear.
"Yeah I suppose that'd be me, at least the last time I checked that was my name. What school are you from?" The new boy glanced quickly at Harry's scar, clearly visible as Harry had given up on bangs to hide it.
"I'm from the Salem Wizards Academy, it's an all boys school, the Salem Witches Academy is just a mile away, can't understand why the two schools aren't one. Any teachers I should be aware of?" Harry and Ron exchanged looks. The three new girls stopped their chat with Hermione to listen.
"Well there's the Potions teacher, Severus Snape, he's just plain nasty. He's the slime ball next to Prof. Lupin, who doesn't look to happy about it. Best watch out for him, he hates Gryffindors, and most students who aren't in Slytherins for that matter. Though I get the impression he doesn't like them much either, he's horribly biased. Prof. Trelany teaches Divination, she's an over grown insect I tell you, her class room is stifling and it reeks of perfume, she makes a hobby of predicting my death on a daily basis since third year, even if I'm not in her class that day." Harry said, he stopped and let Ron continue.
"Prof. Binns is a ghost, fell asleep one evening in front of the fire, got up in the morning to go teach and left his body behind, he can put you to sleep in minutes, as a result History sucks. All the others are okay, just don't make Prof. McGonagal, the head of Gryffindor House, mad, she's got a temper. And don't cross Filch, the caretaker, or his blasted cat Miss Noris. Oh, and watch out for Peeves, the Poltergeist, he's awful. Besides that, and moving staircases you don't have much to worry about." Ron finished just as the desert appeared.
The girls introduced themselves as Morgan, Tanya, and Ira, they were all relatively friendly and Ira turned out to be a Keeper and Morgan a Chaser, the talk immediately turned to quidditch.
After the tables had cleared Dumbledore stood again.
"Now a more grave and unsettling matter. As Voldemort has indeed returned to power students are not allowed outside the building after four p.m. alone and all students must be inside by five. Hogsmead weekends will continue. We are offering a new course this year, or rather two half year courses. The first in dueling and the second in healing, any student who wishes to sign up or hear more should come to the dining hall this Friday after the meal, the classes will be on Friday evenings for one hour. Please report all sightings of strangers on the grounds and/or hooded figures you may see, we can't have to many eyes watching. Off to bed now, and do watch out, there's a new trick step in one of the staircases."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione trudged up the stairs, followed by Sam and the three girls, stopping to laugh and help Tanya out of the trick stair as she, and about half a hundred others, fell in.
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The next day at breakfast Professor McGonagal came along handing out schedules. Harry glanced at his and choked on his cereal, Ron had to pound him on the back.
"You okay Harry? What's wrong?" Harry pointed to the schedules, Ron looked at his and moaned. "NO! Divination first thing, with the Slytherins! Then History with Ravenclaw, and Transfiguration with Hufflepuff. Oh well, tomorrow looks better, Potions first thing, with Slytherin? Maybe not, ah, Defense, well that's good. The owls came soaring in with the Prophet, Ron read the front page, his eyes wide with horror, Harry took his own from Hedwig and glanced at the front page.
Death Eaters attack muggles, fifteen dead, three death eaters captured.
The article went on describing it, apparently the Order of the Phoenix had made its first appearance, saving another thirty or so muggles and a few wizards and witches. But they had gotten the news of the attack to late to save everyone.
In Divination they were working on dreams, to Harry's horror they were learning to interpret dreams. Halfway through the class Trelany called Harry up near the end.
"My dear the Headmaster has informed me that because you are in a way a seer you should only attempt to interpret dreams that have nothing to do with the fight against he-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." She had predicted his death twice in class, and as he left Harry and Ron were planning when to dung bomb her. She'd told Ron that because of his dreams he would break a arm the next day while in Potions. In fact she saw nothing but bad things in anyone's dreams, though she wasn't very specific for most.
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The next day Harry and Ron hurried down to the dinging hall, they were a little late.
"Have you got it Harry?" Ron asked breathlessly as they sat down.
"Got what? What's going on?" Hermione asked, for once looking up from a book.
"Nothing, come on Ron, let's start." Harry answered, he handed Ron a bunch of Wet-Start-No Heat- Filibuster Fireworks. Ron banished them to the other end of the hall and Harry pulled out his wand.
Ron set off the fireworks, Harry used the invisibility spell, as everyone gasped at the fireworks Harry hurried up to the staff table. He quickly dumped a small container of sleeping-loud snoring, potion into Professor Snape's drink and hurried back to the table as another bunch of fireworks went off.
"We did it! Ha ha! No Potions for us today!" Ron said as they started out of the hall, Hermione just shook her head in confusion. A few minuets later the announcement came that morning Potions class was canceled because the Prof. was under the influence of a six hour sleep potion. There was much rejoicing from all students, soon the word got out it was Harry and Ron who had done it, they were the new school heroes. Even Hermione was pleased to not have Potions that day, and congratulated them on success.
After lunch was defense, Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the rest outside the room and eagerly took three front-row seats. Sirius was writing something at his desk, as the class watched he folded it up and handed it to the huge glowing Phoenix beside him and it flew off in a shower of sparks.
"Welcome everyone, I've been reviewing what you've learned so far, and your're a bit behind. No fault of yours. First year, your teacher sold his soul to Voldemort, you didn't learn much. I won't even mention what a waste of time second year was. From then on you've been doing very well, good good, now Dumbledore asked me to start with a review of the Unforgivables, since your teacher last year wasn't the really Alastor Moody. You all know about this right?" Heads nodded around the room, it had been in the papers for a month.
"Right, first then, the Killing Curse. You had pretty basic learning here, so I'll just add a bit. The curse, contrary to popular belief, can be blocked. The only problem is no one knows how, supposedly Merlin himself, who invented many of the spells we use, also invented a wandless way of blocking this curse. However the knowledge hasn't been passed on, there's a research team of aurors currently at work on the problem. Now I'm going to give you each a mouse to attempt the curse on. I'd like you to attempt the killing curse on this mouse. There is something about this curse, the amount of power needed, and the evilness that goes with it that makes it nearly impossible. And if you do manage it, unlikely, the backlash should stop you from ever trying it again. The backlash of killing a mouse isn't to bad, but imagine it a hundred times over. Many die the first time they kill someone with the curse, unfortunately Voldemort didn't."
Harry glanced at his white mouse, and imagined it as Peter.
"Avada Kedavra", a small green light hit the mouse, it dropped over dead. An awful feeling of guilt and horror washed over Harry, he winced and ignored it as best he could. Soon everyone was finished, only four of them had managed the curse at all.
"As you can feel it's pretty awful. Now we'll be moving on to the Cruciatus Curse. This curse can be blocked with the advanced shield spell, and the curse disintegration spell. Once on you the only way to break it is sheer willpower, and few have enough for that.
Now the advanced shield spell, the incantation is Shieldahi. It was invented by Merlin during a duel with an evil witch, well, a witch that wanted to kill Merlin and get his powers. I'll be calling each of you up here to attempt it." Sirius began calling names, Harry relaxed in his chair, he knew this spell very well and wasn't worried. Ron managed it, but the spell Sirius shot at him managed to break through and Ron turned into a frog until Sirius untransfigured him. Hermione didn't manage more then a faint glow to everyone's surprise.
"Harry Potter." Harry stood and moved up, wondering why Sirius was bothering with him. Sirius shot the spell, even before his wand finished the motion Harry had the shield in place. The spell hit the shield and vanished, Sirius tried again, again it vanished. "Well done, that's a perfect shield spell, now do you think you could make the spell come back at me?" Harry nodded, Sirius shot the spell, Harry glared at it and it reversed direction as soon as it touched the shield, but it came back much larger and twice as powerful. Sirius stared at the spell as it came towards him, and it stopped in mid air, and then vanished. "Well done Harry, ten points to Gryffindor.
They left Defense happily. Sirius was a good teacher, to practice he had shot spells at them at various points throughout the class at random people without warning. They had learned the curse disintegration spell, 'Rahav', and had practiced throwing off the Imperius Curse. Harry had managed to turn his curse around on Sirius who had just managed to block it, earning another five points for Gryffindor.
The week went by quickly, Defense was everyone's favorite class above Care of Magical Creatures. Most of the class was terrified of the Basilisk, but Harry had gone over and rubbed it lightly on the nose. It rubbed him back, and nearly knocked him over, at which most of the class gasped and shied away nervously. Harry just laughed it off and scratched the giant snake's eye ridges just the way it liked it.
"Good Gods Harry! This is like what you fought in the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione whispered as the Basilisk opened its mouth so Lupin could show them its teeth. Because Harry was needed as an interpreter he was called out of class a few times to help Lupin. Once when Malfoy kicked the Basilisk as it flicked its tongue at him. The Basilisk had been asking to be allowed to throw Malfoy into the lake with a flick of its tail but Harry had persuaded it not to. Once again people were giving Harry odd looks in hallways, but this time of respect and awe, not fear.
News came in a day later, as the owls swooped in Hedwig dropped the daily prophet on Harry's head.
Order of the Phoenix Stops Death Eater Attack!!!
Yesterday, in a small town just outside of London Deatheaters raised the dark mark. Instantly it seemed a groups of wizards and witches appeared, the confrontation was quick and violent. In five minutes time ten deatheaters down and forty dementors dead. The deatheaters have been tried, questioned, and sentenced to life in the Auror prison as Azkaban is no longer functioning.
"It was amazing, the death eaters came pouring down the main street, at the other end appeared another group that attacked immediately. They were awesome! The fought like one creature, I've never seen nothing like it! Not one of them was injured in any way. Then He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named appeared. Everyone feared the worst, then there was this screech, rather like a war cry, and a huge phoenix made of glittery flames soared down with a man on its back. The man reached out and the street gave way under the Dark lord. The stones and pavement suddenly appeared above him and every nearly crushed him. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named apparrated out just as the man sent a huge ball of fire at him. Afterward the Phoenix's rider waved his hand, the people on the street began this short chant, and all damage righted itself." Says a local, as we look at the street, we can see nothing different from what it was before the attack. This group of people, revealed to be the Order of the Phoenix have saved the town and many lives, their leader, Sirius Black otherwise known as the Phoenix, even sent Voldemort running. What does the Ministry say? Well the Minister of Magic gives the Order his sincere thanks and hopes they will continue to help provide protection for the wizarding community.
Harry grinned and looked at the teachers table, noticing that Sirius was absent, Remus was grinning as he read the paper, and, to Harry's surprise, even Snape was smiling a little.
"He's amazing, standing on his broom? I don't think anyone's done that before, and certainly not flying at that speed." Sirius murmured to the other three with him at the table set up in one of the lounges near the window. He'd been up all night working, and his palms still hurt, almost none of the Order members had gotten more then a few hours of sleep, but he envied them that.
"He's been practicing standing on his broom all summer at his aunt's. The backyard's got a high wall around it, I'm not sure how he got them to allow it. Actually I don't think they even knew he was doing it." Arabella Figg said over her coffee, after years watching Harry while at the Dursley's she was back in the magical world.
"He should be on a stunt team if he wants to do stuff like that trick, not a quidditch team, I hope someone tells him that, little show-off." Severus Snape growled, earning very angry glares from Remus and Arabella. Arabella looked to be considering slapping him, he carefully leaned away a little. The last had been muttered, but loudly enough to hear. Sirius, glancing at Snape's mind and finding envy, chose to ignore him, the only sign he gave that he'd heard at all was a slight frown.
"The English team needs reserves and players, including a Seeker. They're recruiter and captain are touring the wizarding schools, watching matches and getting information on likely students. They'll be here for a few matches sometime during the year or next if all goes well." Dumbledore said as he sat down in the remaining chair.
"That dive out the window looked familiar, did you give him that idea Sirius?" Remus asked, checking his watch as more Order members started coming in.
"I? No, I don't stand on my broom, mind you I do dive out windows on it headfirst, but no I didn't suggest it. It looked like Lilly's style of dive. Should we call him in yet?" Sirius asked, he took a quick mental count of the Order members awake. "Never mind, we'll wait half an hour for breakfast."
"But Voldemort won't wait, has Harry had anymore dreams do you think? Poor boy, I hope he's getting enough sleep." Arabella murmured softly, and gasped as Harry did a stunning maneuver on his broom that most couldn't do sitting never mind standing.
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After breakfast Harry gave Sirius the dream recorder and he left with some others to view it, Harry wrote to Ron and Hermione, telling them about the trial. He then spent most of the day in the common room practicing magic. Dumbledore had told him that since he was at Hogwarts he would be allowed to use magic, Harry was overjoyed and immediately went to work. By bedtime he was exhausted but had mastered a score of new spells, and had finally finished learning to do all the 1-4 year spells wandlessly.
Harry spent the next few days doing loads of magic, flying, and of course, practicing his other fighting skills, he'd added dueling to the list, despite the fact he didn't have a real opponent. He'd created a faceless figure, and given it the same ability he had, he then fought this, as he improved so did it. Other then that there wasn't much to do, Harry memorized every secret passage and room in the school and, one day when it was raining and he was extremely bored, made his own room. In here he could practice in peace after the students arrived, to get in he closed the drapes around his bed, murmured the password, lay down with his feet near his pillow and rolled into the wall, and through it onto a couch in the secret room. He'd also become friends with the house elves and started inventing jokes like the twins did, he'd decided to become a prankster, though it was originally Ron's idea. Harry justified it as his father's prankster genes in him. Through numerous letters to his friends and meeting them one day in Diagon Alley to get supplies, they came to an agreement to be 'minor pranksters' until the twins graduated. Harry didn't see much of the Order, there were always a few of them around, mostly resting or having meetings in the third floor corridor. Sirius was very busy, since he was the Phoenix and he would be teaching he had a lot to do, Harry mostly only saw him at mealtimes. Remus was around a lot more and asked Harry for help in planning their first few lessons on Basilisks. He and Harry went on a two day hunt for a Basilisk for the class to study. Harry then used his Parseltounge abilities to make the Basilisk, a very friendly female who's territory included Hogwarts, power to kill with her eyes to become ineffectual against students and all who were not death eaters. But even with things like this, annoying Filch, and exploring the restricted section of the library with the cloak, Harry was glad when September 1st rolled around.
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Harry left early and went down to the dining hall to wait for the students, as prefects he Ron and Hermione had agreed to sit in the middle of the table, much closer to the front then the back, Alicia would manage the students in the back half of the table, which were normally first and second years. Eventually he heard the sound of voices and students streamed in, Harry stood up and looked around in the crowd, searching for Ron and Hermione. Finally he spotted them, and didn't like what he saw. They were standing near the doorway, having a glaring match with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. After a while though they walked off, Harry waved frantically for a moment until Ron spotted him and waved back. They hurried over and took the chairs on either side of him.
"Harry! How's it been? Pretty lonely I'd guess. Didja hear? In the prophet? Eight more muggles killed yesterday, poor things, damn those nasty, disgusting, foul, cowardly, death eaters! Dad and Percy have been running themselves to the ground at the Ministry. Malfoy looked like he was trying to glare a hole through Ron. Harry decided to calm Ron down by answering his first question.
"Not to bad, boring yes, but not too lonely, the Order members were always about. I've spent a lot of time studying. Not your kind." He added to Hermione, "I've been practicing magic, done all of our potions and spells ahead of time too. I've been flying around a lot, and learning my way around all the hidden passageways and stuff." Hermione said something, but stopped mid sentence as Dumbledore called for silence and the first years were led in.
(AN: For lack of poetic skills I am NOT writing a Sorting Hat Song)
Harry and Ron were to busy discussing who the new Gryffindor quidditch team captain might be to take much notice of the sorting. Harry only saw that there were 7 new boys and 5 girls, Gryffindor had gotten more then any other house, Slytherin only got 6 new students. Then the hall quieted, except for rumbling stomachs, and the Headmaster rose to speak.
"New students, teachers, and returning students and teachers, welcome to a new school year. Hopefully your heads are nice and empty and ready to be filled with magic again. Now I would like to introduce our not-so-new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Remus Lupin! Hagrid is doing work for the Ministry involving the giants. " Here he had to stop because of deafening applause, even the students who had never been in Lupin's classes clapped as the older students explained. Snape was looking especially sour, his face turned almost purple and he looked ready to have a fit at what Dumbledore said next. "Next we have our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Sirius Black, Leader of the Order of the Phoenix and part-time Commander of the First Rank Auror Elite!" There was a silence, then applause and cheers and roars that shook the building, Sirius and Lupin both stood and bowed. The hall gradually silenced as Dumbledore raised a hand for quiet. "Now the Forbidden Forest is, of course, Forbidden to all students, though the name should be warning enough, Professor Lupin is teaching a few lessons on Basilisks, during that time the Basilisk used will be residing in the Forest. I assure you it has promised not to injure or eat any students. Secondly the Order of the Phoenix has been reinstated, undoubtedly you've all already heard that. Hogwarts is the base for the Order, as a result they will be around school a lot, please don't cause them any trouble, one reason they are here is your safety. They will be living in the thirdfloor corridor, same one that was out of bounds four years ago. Next, we have some transfer students this year from various schools around the world. They will be sorted like the first years." He beckoned to the doorway, a score of students walked in, Harry recognized two as Durmstrang students who had been there the year before to compete in the Tournament. They were sorted out, Gryffindor got the most again, in fifth year four, seventh year two, second year six, fourth year one, third year two, no new sixth years. Harry got the four new fifth years attention and waved them to the empty seats near him Ron and Hermione. "Now, since you are all positively starving I expect, lets eat!"
"Hey, I'm Ron, this is Hermione and that's Harry. Who are you?" Ron asked as he heaped his plate, the one new boy examined his goblet.
"I'm Sam, this is real gold! Wow! Wait a sec, Harry? The Harry Potter? Awesome!" Harry groaned softly so no one would hear.
"Yeah I suppose that'd be me, at least the last time I checked that was my name. What school are you from?" The new boy glanced quickly at Harry's scar, clearly visible as Harry had given up on bangs to hide it.
"I'm from the Salem Wizards Academy, it's an all boys school, the Salem Witches Academy is just a mile away, can't understand why the two schools aren't one. Any teachers I should be aware of?" Harry and Ron exchanged looks. The three new girls stopped their chat with Hermione to listen.
"Well there's the Potions teacher, Severus Snape, he's just plain nasty. He's the slime ball next to Prof. Lupin, who doesn't look to happy about it. Best watch out for him, he hates Gryffindors, and most students who aren't in Slytherins for that matter. Though I get the impression he doesn't like them much either, he's horribly biased. Prof. Trelany teaches Divination, she's an over grown insect I tell you, her class room is stifling and it reeks of perfume, she makes a hobby of predicting my death on a daily basis since third year, even if I'm not in her class that day." Harry said, he stopped and let Ron continue.
"Prof. Binns is a ghost, fell asleep one evening in front of the fire, got up in the morning to go teach and left his body behind, he can put you to sleep in minutes, as a result History sucks. All the others are okay, just don't make Prof. McGonagal, the head of Gryffindor House, mad, she's got a temper. And don't cross Filch, the caretaker, or his blasted cat Miss Noris. Oh, and watch out for Peeves, the Poltergeist, he's awful. Besides that, and moving staircases you don't have much to worry about." Ron finished just as the desert appeared.
The girls introduced themselves as Morgan, Tanya, and Ira, they were all relatively friendly and Ira turned out to be a Keeper and Morgan a Chaser, the talk immediately turned to quidditch.
After the tables had cleared Dumbledore stood again.
"Now a more grave and unsettling matter. As Voldemort has indeed returned to power students are not allowed outside the building after four p.m. alone and all students must be inside by five. Hogsmead weekends will continue. We are offering a new course this year, or rather two half year courses. The first in dueling and the second in healing, any student who wishes to sign up or hear more should come to the dining hall this Friday after the meal, the classes will be on Friday evenings for one hour. Please report all sightings of strangers on the grounds and/or hooded figures you may see, we can't have to many eyes watching. Off to bed now, and do watch out, there's a new trick step in one of the staircases."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione trudged up the stairs, followed by Sam and the three girls, stopping to laugh and help Tanya out of the trick stair as she, and about half a hundred others, fell in.
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The next day at breakfast Professor McGonagal came along handing out schedules. Harry glanced at his and choked on his cereal, Ron had to pound him on the back.
"You okay Harry? What's wrong?" Harry pointed to the schedules, Ron looked at his and moaned. "NO! Divination first thing, with the Slytherins! Then History with Ravenclaw, and Transfiguration with Hufflepuff. Oh well, tomorrow looks better, Potions first thing, with Slytherin? Maybe not, ah, Defense, well that's good. The owls came soaring in with the Prophet, Ron read the front page, his eyes wide with horror, Harry took his own from Hedwig and glanced at the front page.
Death Eaters attack muggles, fifteen dead, three death eaters captured.
The article went on describing it, apparently the Order of the Phoenix had made its first appearance, saving another thirty or so muggles and a few wizards and witches. But they had gotten the news of the attack to late to save everyone.
In Divination they were working on dreams, to Harry's horror they were learning to interpret dreams. Halfway through the class Trelany called Harry up near the end.
"My dear the Headmaster has informed me that because you are in a way a seer you should only attempt to interpret dreams that have nothing to do with the fight against he-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." She had predicted his death twice in class, and as he left Harry and Ron were planning when to dung bomb her. She'd told Ron that because of his dreams he would break a arm the next day while in Potions. In fact she saw nothing but bad things in anyone's dreams, though she wasn't very specific for most.
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The next day Harry and Ron hurried down to the dinging hall, they were a little late.
"Have you got it Harry?" Ron asked breathlessly as they sat down.
"Got what? What's going on?" Hermione asked, for once looking up from a book.
"Nothing, come on Ron, let's start." Harry answered, he handed Ron a bunch of Wet-Start-No Heat- Filibuster Fireworks. Ron banished them to the other end of the hall and Harry pulled out his wand.
Ron set off the fireworks, Harry used the invisibility spell, as everyone gasped at the fireworks Harry hurried up to the staff table. He quickly dumped a small container of sleeping-loud snoring, potion into Professor Snape's drink and hurried back to the table as another bunch of fireworks went off.
"We did it! Ha ha! No Potions for us today!" Ron said as they started out of the hall, Hermione just shook her head in confusion. A few minuets later the announcement came that morning Potions class was canceled because the Prof. was under the influence of a six hour sleep potion. There was much rejoicing from all students, soon the word got out it was Harry and Ron who had done it, they were the new school heroes. Even Hermione was pleased to not have Potions that day, and congratulated them on success.
After lunch was defense, Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the rest outside the room and eagerly took three front-row seats. Sirius was writing something at his desk, as the class watched he folded it up and handed it to the huge glowing Phoenix beside him and it flew off in a shower of sparks.
"Welcome everyone, I've been reviewing what you've learned so far, and your're a bit behind. No fault of yours. First year, your teacher sold his soul to Voldemort, you didn't learn much. I won't even mention what a waste of time second year was. From then on you've been doing very well, good good, now Dumbledore asked me to start with a review of the Unforgivables, since your teacher last year wasn't the really Alastor Moody. You all know about this right?" Heads nodded around the room, it had been in the papers for a month.
"Right, first then, the Killing Curse. You had pretty basic learning here, so I'll just add a bit. The curse, contrary to popular belief, can be blocked. The only problem is no one knows how, supposedly Merlin himself, who invented many of the spells we use, also invented a wandless way of blocking this curse. However the knowledge hasn't been passed on, there's a research team of aurors currently at work on the problem. Now I'm going to give you each a mouse to attempt the curse on. I'd like you to attempt the killing curse on this mouse. There is something about this curse, the amount of power needed, and the evilness that goes with it that makes it nearly impossible. And if you do manage it, unlikely, the backlash should stop you from ever trying it again. The backlash of killing a mouse isn't to bad, but imagine it a hundred times over. Many die the first time they kill someone with the curse, unfortunately Voldemort didn't."
Harry glanced at his white mouse, and imagined it as Peter.
"Avada Kedavra", a small green light hit the mouse, it dropped over dead. An awful feeling of guilt and horror washed over Harry, he winced and ignored it as best he could. Soon everyone was finished, only four of them had managed the curse at all.
"As you can feel it's pretty awful. Now we'll be moving on to the Cruciatus Curse. This curse can be blocked with the advanced shield spell, and the curse disintegration spell. Once on you the only way to break it is sheer willpower, and few have enough for that.
Now the advanced shield spell, the incantation is Shieldahi. It was invented by Merlin during a duel with an evil witch, well, a witch that wanted to kill Merlin and get his powers. I'll be calling each of you up here to attempt it." Sirius began calling names, Harry relaxed in his chair, he knew this spell very well and wasn't worried. Ron managed it, but the spell Sirius shot at him managed to break through and Ron turned into a frog until Sirius untransfigured him. Hermione didn't manage more then a faint glow to everyone's surprise.
"Harry Potter." Harry stood and moved up, wondering why Sirius was bothering with him. Sirius shot the spell, even before his wand finished the motion Harry had the shield in place. The spell hit the shield and vanished, Sirius tried again, again it vanished. "Well done, that's a perfect shield spell, now do you think you could make the spell come back at me?" Harry nodded, Sirius shot the spell, Harry glared at it and it reversed direction as soon as it touched the shield, but it came back much larger and twice as powerful. Sirius stared at the spell as it came towards him, and it stopped in mid air, and then vanished. "Well done Harry, ten points to Gryffindor.
They left Defense happily. Sirius was a good teacher, to practice he had shot spells at them at various points throughout the class at random people without warning. They had learned the curse disintegration spell, 'Rahav', and had practiced throwing off the Imperius Curse. Harry had managed to turn his curse around on Sirius who had just managed to block it, earning another five points for Gryffindor.
The week went by quickly, Defense was everyone's favorite class above Care of Magical Creatures. Most of the class was terrified of the Basilisk, but Harry had gone over and rubbed it lightly on the nose. It rubbed him back, and nearly knocked him over, at which most of the class gasped and shied away nervously. Harry just laughed it off and scratched the giant snake's eye ridges just the way it liked it.
"Good Gods Harry! This is like what you fought in the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione whispered as the Basilisk opened its mouth so Lupin could show them its teeth. Because Harry was needed as an interpreter he was called out of class a few times to help Lupin. Once when Malfoy kicked the Basilisk as it flicked its tongue at him. The Basilisk had been asking to be allowed to throw Malfoy into the lake with a flick of its tail but Harry had persuaded it not to. Once again people were giving Harry odd looks in hallways, but this time of respect and awe, not fear.
News came in a day later, as the owls swooped in Hedwig dropped the daily prophet on Harry's head.
Order of the Phoenix Stops Death Eater Attack!!!
Yesterday, in a small town just outside of London Deatheaters raised the dark mark. Instantly it seemed a groups of wizards and witches appeared, the confrontation was quick and violent. In five minutes time ten deatheaters down and forty dementors dead. The deatheaters have been tried, questioned, and sentenced to life in the Auror prison as Azkaban is no longer functioning.
"It was amazing, the death eaters came pouring down the main street, at the other end appeared another group that attacked immediately. They were awesome! The fought like one creature, I've never seen nothing like it! Not one of them was injured in any way. Then He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named appeared. Everyone feared the worst, then there was this screech, rather like a war cry, and a huge phoenix made of glittery flames soared down with a man on its back. The man reached out and the street gave way under the Dark lord. The stones and pavement suddenly appeared above him and every nearly crushed him. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named apparrated out just as the man sent a huge ball of fire at him. Afterward the Phoenix's rider waved his hand, the people on the street began this short chant, and all damage righted itself." Says a local, as we look at the street, we can see nothing different from what it was before the attack. This group of people, revealed to be the Order of the Phoenix have saved the town and many lives, their leader, Sirius Black otherwise known as the Phoenix, even sent Voldemort running. What does the Ministry say? Well the Minister of Magic gives the Order his sincere thanks and hopes they will continue to help provide protection for the wizarding community.
Harry grinned and looked at the teachers table, noticing that Sirius was absent, Remus was grinning as he read the paper, and, to Harry's surprise, even Snape was smiling a little.