~Back to Hogwarts~
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.
A/N: We left off hearing about Voldemort fighting with a large black dog (Sirius, maybe?). In this chapter, they arrive at Hogwarts and meet the new DADA teacher (guess who?).
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Hermione and Ron stared at Harry for a moment, peculiar expressions on their faces. Hermione seemed to regain her calm composure first.
"We don't know that You-Know-Who has got Snuffles," she said evenly. "It says right there that they just disappeared…he might have escaped."
"Blimey, it might not even be Sirius," Ron interjected. "We don't know for sure that he was anywhere near Africa. It could be any dog."
Harry did not seem convinced. He gave Ron a look of disbelief, his green eyes flashing.
"And you haven't had any dreams, have you?" Hermione asked. "Don't you always dream when You-Know-Who attacks someone?"
Ron smiled at this, relieved. "Yeah, you would've dreamt it!"
"No, I didn't dream about Bertha Jorkins," Harry mused. "We have to help Sirius!" he yelled suddenly, unable to stand still any longer. His face had gone red and he was pacing the floor of Ron's room recklessly. "No wonder I haven't heard from him. We've got to do something!"
"Harry, be reasonable. What can we do?" Hermione asked, carefully keeping her voice even. "We have no clue where he might be, or even if it's true. The Ministry's involved. They'll make sure Sirius is safe and…" She was cut off by a snort from Ron.
"Hermione, the Ministry is after Sirius, remember? And they don't know he's an Animagi anyway, so they won't know it's him," he said crossly. "Maybe my dad's heard something," he finished worriedly.
"Do you think he'd tell us?" Hermione questioned, dropping to sit on Ron's bed. "If he does know anything, it'll probably be secret Ministry business."
The three continued to talk about the article, trying to figure out the best way to learn what they could and reassuring Harry that his godfather was safe. The discussion didn't end until Mrs. Weasley finally called them down for dinner.
Dinner passed pleasantly, with the nine of them crowded around the small table. Harry and Hermione offered to help Mrs. Weasley clear the plates when they had finished, but she would hear nothing of it.
"I just got an owl from Bill," Molly Weasley said as she placed an exquisite chocolate pudding on the table. "He's such a good boy – been writing me every week this summer. He knows how I worry so." Mrs. Weasley sniffed as she spooned a very large helping of pudding onto Harry's plate.
"How is Bill?" Harry asked politely.
"He's as well as anyone can be nowadays," Mrs. Weasley answered, her eyes full of worry. "Very sweet of you to ask, Harry. You've always been such a sweet boy – polite, too. Just like Bill…"
Harry flushed at the praise, keeping his eyes focused on his plate. Mrs. Weasley continued, speaking to no one in particular. "I do enjoy having a full house. Time just flies by, though; another week and you'll all be back at Hogwarts," she sniffed.
"I'll still be here, Mum," Percy said, looking affronted.
"Yes, yes, of course dear," his mother said, patting his hand reassuringly. "But you're away at the Ministry so much lately. I worry."
"Mum, you know I can't help that," Percy said. "The Ministry needs everyone it can get…"
"Yeah, Percy's job is very important," Fred whispered sarcastically to George. Unfortunately, the whisper wasn't quiet enough, as even Harry heard it rather clearly from the other side of the table.
"You should look up to your brother," Mrs. Weasley said, her voice rising. "I notice he didn't have any problems picking up Harry at his uncle's, did he?"
"Everything went fine, dear," Mr. Weasley interrupted. "I even saw a man delivering the post. Remarkable that they do it themselves, isn't it? How do they find everyone? Can you send messages over long distances? It must take a very long time…"
"Not now, dear," Mrs. Weasley said wearily. "I noticed none of my children got any packages from Hogwarts this year," she added, glaring at Ron.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, confused at his mother's look.
"I only mean that there will be no Weasley prefects again this year. Oh, we did get a package today with a beautiful new prefect's badge, only it wasn't for any of my children," Mrs. Weasley said casually, beaming at Hermione.
Ron's head immediately snapped to his side, and he glared down at Hermione, who was slinking down into her seat.
"Hermione?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.
"I did get a letter today," she said slowly as her cheeks turned pink.
"Congrat…" Harry began, but his best friend cut him off.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ron demanded of Hermione, his eyes boring into hers.
"I was going to…later," she said.
Percy rose from his chair and crossed over to offer his congratulations. Ron rolled his eyes and Harry snickered as they watched him very formally shake her hand, saying, "Welcome to a very prestigious group of wizards, if I do say so myself. I'm sure you'll live up to the great responsibilities the position holds."
"Yeah," Ron cut in, "make sure the first years don't have too much fun. After all, it would be a pity if the library doesn't get enough use." Hermione turned red at this.
"Well, I certainly hope you'll be putting the library to good use," she sniffed. "The O.W.L.s are this year, you know. I've already begun studying."
"Hermione! The O.W.L.s aren't 'til June! That's ages away," Ron looked exasperated, but his mother shot him a stern look.
"You'd do well to get a leg up on your studies," Mrs. Weasley huffed. "I don't want a repeat of the twins' performance." She then glared at Fred and George, who suddenly wore identical wounded looks on their faces. Mrs. Weasley ignored these and continued, "What with you taking your O.W.L.s and these two taking their N.E.W.T.s, you'd think you'd all be paying a bit more attention to your spell books and not setting off explosions or flying around the backyard!"
"See what you started Hermione," Ron glared at her. "Just because you can't get enough studying doesn't mean you have to ruin it for the rest of us!" Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but luckily for Ron, dinner was cut short as one of the twins' inventions blew up overhead, sending plaster falling onto the table.
"Can't have one quiet night with my family, can I?" Mrs. Weasley yelled. "If I find you've ruined the rug, I'll…"
Ron motioned to Harry and Hermione, and the three fifth year students took the opportunity to sneak back upstairs amid the confusion, leaving behind a very angry Mrs. Weasley waving her wand threateningly at the twins.
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A week later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione settled onto the Hogwarts Express for the ride to their school. They had found an empty compartment in the back, and were just about to continue their conversation about Sirius when the compartment door swung open. Ginny walked in looking extremely embarrassed, followed by an even more embarrassed looking Neville. Neville Longbottom, a forgetful, though pleasant, boy in Harry's class, looked happy nonetheless, and beamed even more as he saw the three.
"Hi everyone! How was your summer?" he began eagerly. "I can't wait to get back to Herbology. I've been reading the new book and there're a lot of interesting plants we're going to study!"
Ginny ignored him and sat across the aisle from Harry. She was about to put her cloak on the seat beside her, but Neville sat down before she could. Ginny's face turned even redder if that was possible. Harry noticed Neville smiling at Ginny, and whispering something in her ear. Ginny mumbled a reply looking down at her hands; Harry couldn't hear what either said. For some reason, this bothered him. He wasn't sure why, but he suddenly felt very irritable.
Before long, Harry had a very apparent reason to be irritable. The compartment door opened again and in walked a tall blonde boy with a pointed face, followed by two large dim-looking thugs.
"Well, well, well, it looks like Potty, Weasel, and Mudblood managed to survive the summer. I was rather hoping you bumped into your old friend again."
Ron jumped out of his seat, but was pulled back as Hermione grabbed his robes. "You shut up Malfoy, or I'll…" he started.
"You'll what?" Malfoy sneered at Ron, dismissing him and turning to Harry, "I warned you to get on the winning side years ago, Potter, but now it's too late. Aw, look, the Squib has got himself a girlfriend too!" Draco was looking over at Ginny, who while still blushing furiously, now looked angry. "Potter, where's your girlfriend? Even the Weasel and Granger found each other, it seems. I guess fame isn't everything."
Hermione, who had been sitting rather close to Ron, shifted away from the tall redhead and kept her eyes down. Ron was reaching for his wand, but Harry beat him to it.
"Pollolingus!" he shouted, as a yellow beam shot from his wand and hit the pale boy at the door, whose face betrayed his fear.
Nothing seemed to have happened. Draco, realizing this, smirked and began to say, "Cluck...cluck, cluck, cluck!" Every time he opened his mouth, the only sound that came out was the clucking of a chicken. Malfoy's hands shot to his face, and he kept his mouth covered as if horrified of letting any sound escape. Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's thugs, seemed frightened and unsure without their leader's instructions, and ran out of the car, followed by a clucking Draco. Everyone began rolling with laughter at the sight (or sound) of this.
The Gryffindors were still laughing when the compartment door opened again, this time revealing the two identical faces of Fred and George Weasley.
"All right, who do we have to thank for a memory which I will treasure forever?" George asked. "I always thought that pointy nose of Malfoy's was slightly beaky! I think I've even got an idea for a new gag!" Fred and George were constantly coming up with tricks and pranks for the joke shop they hoped to open after leaving Hogwarts. They were now rubbing their hands together with the manic look in their eyes they normally got when thinking up a new product.
"It was Harry," Ginny said, her face still red in anger. "Malfoy was being his usual charming self and Harry defended us."
"Well, then Harry, we promise to name our next joke after you," Fred said, grinning from ear to ear, "and it'll be a beaut!"
Fred moved to sit in an empty chair, but Ginny immediately jumped up and offered her seat.
"You can sit here if you like," she said rapidly. Fred was about to decline, but Ginny had already gotten up and moved up to the front of the car, near George. "I, uh, needed George's help with something," she stammered, as she saw Neville's confused look. Harry watched all of this with interest, wondering what exactly was going on with Ginny and Neville. He made a mental note to ask Neville about it later.
The rest of the train ride passed pleasantly, and before they knew it, they had arrived at Hogwarts and zoomed through the Sorting ceremony. All the new Gryffindors were gaping at Harry in awe, especially after the latest rumors about the Triwizard Tournament. Harry spent a lot of time examining his gold plate. He was grateful when, after what seemed like a very long time, the plates filled with food magically and they were digging into a scrumptious feast. Just as the last of the pumpkin juice and pudding disappeared from the plates and mugs, leaving them as sparkling clean as when they began, Albus Dumbledore rose to speak. The Headmaster's long white beard glowed in the light of the stars from the enchanted ceiling as he stood silently until the chatter died away.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore began. "As the returning students have already heard, at the end of the last term, we lost one of our own at the hands of Voldemort. Yes, he has returned once again to our midst. You will all be pleased to know, though, that we have not heard of any harm done by him over the summer," at this Harry let himself get slightly hopeful, "and while the Ministry of Magic has chosen not to make any official announcements, rest assured there are many brave wizards and witches working day and night to ensure Voldemort does not regain the power he once held. That being said, we have strengthened the charms protecting Hogwarts. The trips to Hogsmeade will now be restricted to fourth years and above, and there will be chaperones. Inside the school, the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum will be expanded to better help you all protect yourselves. I have the pleasure of announcing the appointment of two new teachers this year. First, Mundungus Fletcher will be acting as a substitute Potions Master, while our own Severus Snape is working on a special project for me. Second, Arabella Figg will be your new Defense Against Dark Arts professor. Welcome them to our school, and have a safe and prosperous year!"
As he spoke, the two new professors walked up next to Dumbledore from the side room. Harry had never seen the man before, but the woman looked oddly familiar. She was short, with large green robes and a tall pointed hat with flowers on top. As he stared at her, she caught his eye and gave an odd smile. Suddenly, Harry knew where he had seen that round face before. He turned to Ron and whispered, "That's my old babysitter, Mrs. Figg!"
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