Shadows

by

RunningInCircles

Summary: Voldemort's back, there's an eccentric new DADA teacher and some very interesting returns. Post OotP.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I do own what you don't recognize.

Chapter 1

The First Arrivals

The train arrived at the station, and the weary riders filed off into boats or seemingly horseless carriages. Greetings were called to those missed on the train, and to Hagrid, who was preparing to take the first years up to the castle to be sorted. There was a sense of calm and normalcy that belittled the dangers that summer had very clearly shown. Still, despite the calm, there did seem to be less students than normal piling into the carriages with friends or looking last minute for lost pets and belongings. Three of these students were unusually quiet as they climbed into their ride, one looking sadly at the clearly visible thestrals, as the two friends looked worriedly at him.

"Come on, Harry, get in," Ron said finally, when it seemed the other boy was just going to stand there.

"I'm coming," Harry said after a moment, climbing in beside them.

The semi-filled carriages made their winding way up the road, through Hogwarts's gates and up to the giant front doors. The carriages stopped, and the older students again filed out and swarmed through the doors, chatting happily and looking around for other friends to share quick summer stories with before the Sorting.

"Harry-" Hermione started.

"I don't want to talk about, Hermione, okay?" Harry said before she could finish. She sighed, and Ron looked uneasy again.

"All right," she said reluctantly as they went into the Great Hall for the Sorting and the Welcoming Feast. They took their seats and looked up at the Head Table as the Sorting Hat began to sing, searching out new faces or changes. Hermione was surprised when they found neither, the boys merely groaning upon seeing Snape again.

"I wonder who the new Defense teacher is," Hermione whispered. Two shrugs were the only answer she got as Anderson, Amelia was called up and sorted into Hufflepuff. A surprisingly short time later, Zyth, Yvonne was sorted into Ravenclaw and the much smaller class of first years were seated at their respected House tables.

"There's a lot less first years this year," Ron commented as they waited impatiently for Dumbledore to start his speech so they could eat.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

"I'm glad to see so many eager faces to learn," Dumbledore said cheerfully, standing up, "I have several announcements for you all, but this is the time for eating, not speeching. Tuck in!" With those words, and a very happy grin from Ron, food appeared and the feast began. Ron dug in immediately, invoking a sigh from Hermione before she too began to eat. Harry only picked at the food in front of him, however. Hermione noticed quickly.

"You need to eat something. We know those muggles don't feed you very well," she lectured.

"I'm fine, Hermione, I'm just not very hungry right now." He was less than convincing.

"You barely ate anything on the train, you've to go be hungry by now," she said, putting more food on his plate and watching carefully to make sure he ate it. Deciding it much easier not to argue, he only sighed before starting in. A short time later, after Harry had eaten enough to keep Hermione from nagging him any more, the feast ended and Dumbledore stood up again.

"Now, I'll try to make this as brief as possible so you don't fall asleep on your plates on me," he smiled, "Now, as you might have all ready noticed, our new Defense teacher has not arrived yet., but I assure you she is on her way and will be with us soon. The Forbidden Forest is, as always, forbidden, as hopefully all of your older students will remember. Mr. Filch would also like me to remind you that should you wish to see the list of forbidden items, which has reached an impressive 1,082, is posted on his office door. Lastly, I must ask everyone to stay on your guard this year. With the attacks this summer, it is hopefully apparent that we can never be too careful, though I assure you we are doing all we can to insure your safety. That said, prefects, you may lead the first years to their dorms, and may we all see you bright and early for classes tomorrow."

Taking their cue, Ron and Hermione began to help the fifth and seventh year prefects round up the tired, slightly overwhelmed younger students, and directed them to the currently sealed portrait hole.

"Please be sure to remember the password, and make sure you don't let students from other houses know it. It will change periodically, but the changes will be listed on the bulletin board," Hermione said, ushering them in after giving the Fat Lady the password, currently Fiddlesticks. "Boys dorms are this way, up and down, girls the opposite. It will say First Years on the door," she finished. Slowly, the common room emptied as the stuffed, weary Gryffindors made their way to their belongs along side the soft feather beds, and soon the only ones left were Harry, Ron and Hermione. They looked at each other in silence for a moment, before Hermione reminded them they should go to bed.

"We want to be awake for Potions," she said.

"Of course. We can't miss that," Ron muttered. Harry didn't comment either way, too tired to care.

"Goodnight," she said, giving Ron a Look as she headed up the stairs.

"Night," they replied in unison, going up themselves. After preparing for bed, noting their dorm mates were already out, Ron glanced over at Harry.

"Well… night," he said slowly, getting into bed, but not closing the curtains.

"Night," Harry said absently, laying down too. Ron fell asleep quickly, judging by his snores, but Harry continued to stare at the ceiling. Once he was sure Ron was fast asleep, he crawled down to the end of his bed and looking in his trunk for the Marauder's Map.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered, tapping it with his wand. Instantly, inked lines weaved out across the old parchment, creating the familiar map of Hogwarts. He looked around to see who was still awake. Dumbledore was sitting in his office, as was Snape down in the dungeons. Filch was roaming on the second floor, while Mrs. Norris was stalking around the Great Hall. Suddenly, he spotted an unexpected name heading towards Snape's office.

"What's Professor Lupin doing here?" he wondered softly out loud, then dug in his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak. He silently left the tower and slipped off to the dungeons. He reached the dungeons quickly, and caught Remus before he went in.

"Professor? What are you doing here? Are you-" he started, pulling off the cloak.

Remus didn't seem surprised to see him, "No, I'm not going to be teaching you this year," he answered before Harry could finish, "I'm here to get a batch of Wolfsbane Potion from Professor Snape."

"Oh," Harry replied slowly, slightly disappointed.

"I know who is going to be teaching you though, and I think you'll really like her," Remus said, "How have you been doing?"

"All right, I suppose," Harry replied softly. Remus put a hand on his shoulder.

"If you need to talk, I'll be in Hogsmeade most of the year."

"Thanks," Harry said, but a new voice prevented him from saying anymore.

"Moony!" the excited voice cried.

"Oh dear," the werewolf muttered before being rammed into. Harry blinked a couple times as the short twenty year old with pink hair and purple eyes continued to hug his ex-professor.

"Nice to see you too, Shadow," he got out. Bouncing slightly, she turned to see Harry.

"Hi!" she grinned.

"Er… hi?" he said, unsure of what to make of her.

"You're scaring your future student," Remus said dryly.

"Aw, I haven't even done anything yet!" she grinned again.

"I'm Harry Potter," he said slowly, waiting for her reaction. It wasn't the one he expected.

"I know," she said simply, "You got Lil's eyes and James's hair. Poor thing."

"You knew my parents?" he asked, confused. She started to answer when another voice came from behind them.

"What exactly is going on?" Snape asked, surveying the scene.

"Ah, Severus, I was just about to-" Remus stopped as Shadow gave Harry a huge grin and jumped at him.

"SEVIE-POO!" she cried, glomping him.

"Get off me!" he scowled.

"Aww, didn't you miss me?!" she cried. He scowled again. Harry tucked the cloak and map behind his back, and tried not to laugh. He was wondering how she knew his parents when she seemed so young.

"No," he growled. Intervening quickly, Remus asked whether or not the Wolfsbane Potion was done. "Yes," Snape replied grudgingly, giving him a vial of the horrid tasting potion. Remus nodded his thanks and steered Harry and Shadow off down the hallway before the question of why Harry was there came up.

"Well, I'd best go tell Dumbledore I'm here," she said, before turning into a spotted brown owl and flying off.

"She always did prefer flying to walking," he muttered, watching her soar out of sight.

"Is she an animagus?" Harry asked as they left the dungeons. Her changing into an owl didn't look the same as it had when Sirius has switched forms.

"In a matter of speaking," he replied evasively. Harry still looked confused, but Remus didn't offer any further explanation, merely saying it was up to her to explain. "You should head to bed before Filch or Mrs. Norris finds you," he said. Harry nodded and pulled his cloak around him, leaving only his head still visible.

"Why will you be in Hogsmeade?" he asked.

"Order business," he replied, "I'm sure you'll see a lot of us in and out this year." Harry only nodded again and made his way to bed. He had much more to think about now. He fell asleep quickly this time, but morning came too soon, for suddenly Ron was shaking him.

"Harry, come on, we're going to be late!" Harry groaned, but rolled out of bed just the same and stumbled around, getting dressed. Soon they were headed downstairs to meet up with the impatiently waiting Hermione.

"What took you?" she asked, standing up.

"Harry wouldn't wake up," Ron replied. Harry's defense was cut off by a wide yawn, invoking a sheepish look.

"Did you get any sleep?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Yeah," Harry replied, attempting to sound defensive, but failing miserably.

"Dreams or wandering?" she asked.

"Wandering," he sighed.

"Without us?!" Ron cried. Hermione gave him a withering look, accompanied by a sigh. "What?"

"Never mind," she sighed, going in to breakfast.

"I met the new Defense teacher last night," he said suddenly. They both stopped and looked at him.

"You did?" Hermione said, raising an eyebrow.

"What's he like?" Ron asked at the same time.

"She," Harry corrected absently, looking at the head table, "And she's a little…eccentric."

"Trelawny eccentric or Dumbledore eccentric?" Ron asked as they sat down.

"Uh, both, actually," Harry said, and explained what had happened. Both looked at him with wide eyes, though each for different reasons.

"She hugged Snape?!" Ron cried, eyes huge at the very thought of anyone willingly getting that close to the greasy Potions Master.

"She turned into an owl? But… she can't be an animagus… well, not a registered one anyway," Hermione muttered, thinking rapidly.

"That doesn't mean much," Harry said, "There used to be three other unregistered animagus running around Hogwarts, remember?" There was silence for a moment, as this was the first time he'd even indirectly mentioned Sirius since they'd seen him last. Hermione was still caught up in her musing however, and Ron elected not to say anything.

"Yes, but…" she didn't bother finishing her sentence, but trailed off into puzzled silence as she thought it over. The two looked at each other and shrugged, neither really wanting to listen to the long, probably complicated, explanation that would follow her latest theory. Ron filled his plate high as McGonagall swept down the table, handing out schedules, then went and sat back at the head table. Ron groaned, looking at his, but before Harry could ask what, the door opened again, and Shadow ran in, robes askew and hair mussed up, before skidding to a stop in front of Dumbledore.

"Sorry…I'm late…" she wheezed, trying to catch her breath, "Overslept." She sank into her chair and adjusted her robes better. Professor Snape sneered at her from down the table, while McGonagall only sighed a bit. After a few minutes, Dumbledore stood up.

"As you can see, our new Defense teacher has finally arrived, I hope you all treat her with the respect she deserves," he said, then turned an looked at her, "If you'd like to introduce yourself."

She swallowed the piece of pancake quickly and stood up and said, "Just call me Shadow." Then she sat back down again, amid the murmurs concerning her strange entrance, appearance, and introduction, not to mention her name. She either didn't notice or didn't care, however, just finished eating.

"Well, if she's late, she can't be that bad then," Ron said admiringly. Hermione didn't look quite as convinced.

"She can't be any worse than Umbridge," Harry said, "Or Lockhart…"

"Or anyone but Lupin," Ron finished.

"I suppose," she said slowly after a moment, "And don't eat so fast, Ron, you'll choke." Ron grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. Harry found it a much better idea to not asked exactly what he had said. Breakfast continued normally, or as normally as it ever did in the castle, until there was only five minutes to go. Shadow appeared to realize this as she glanced at her watch and jumped up with a yelp.

"I need to finish getting ready!" she cried, sprinting out of the room. Several teachers shook their heads, though whether in annoyance or memories, no one could tell. Odd looks from students trailed out behind her. Hermione looked at her schedule.

"I guess we'll be the first to see how she is then. Potions and Defense were switched around this year." Harry and Ron looked at each other, both wondering how it would go. They picked up their bags and filed out.