Again to Hogwarts

~*~

In the Summers house, an owl came and dropped the Hogwarts letters off. Draco, Dawn, Harry, and Ali ran to the kitchen quickly when Tara called them for their letters. They picked each of them up and opened them. They only had three more days until they were getting on the Hogwarts Express train to Hogwarts.

Draco's eyes bulged out of his head when he looked at his letter. "Are you okay?" Dawn asked him.

"Yea" he said.

"What is it?" Ali asked him. He picked something up from the letter and showed it to them. It was the Head Boy's badge.

"Oh my gosh" Dawn said. "Congratulations!"

"Congratulations, Malfoy" Harry said, grinning.

"Go you" Ali said.

"Thanks" he said to them all. The rest of them ripped their letters open and read quickly and then deposited them to the bedrooms they were staying in. Ali stayed in Dawn's and Draco and Harry shared the one Buffy used.

"Are you guys ready?" Tara called up as the doorbell rung.

"Hold on" the girls said as they fixed their trunks a little more. The boys dragged their school trunks down the stairs and set them on the living room floor. Willow came rushing into the house with a few bags in her hands. Tara went to help her.

"Thanks" she said. "I thought everyone might get hungry on the plane, so I picked some stuff up." Tara looked inside and there were all kinds of things, chips, drinks, cookies, small cakes, crackers, pudding cups.

"Okay. Everyone's almost ready, I think" Tara said.

"Okay" Willow brought the paper bags into the living room as Angel grabbed them from her hands. "Thank you" she said.

"No problem."

"Girls, are you ready?" Willow yelled. Dawn and Ali came rushing down the stairs with their trunks bobbing after them. Tara and Willow put shrinking charms on all six trunks as they slipped them into their own pockets. Harry only had to carry Hedwig.

"Where's everyone else?" Dawn asked.

"They left a couple of days ago to prepare for lessons and stuff. We just do our lessons here, but the others have to get an idea of what to do" Willow explained.

"Oh."

Tara led the way out the door as Willow, Draco, Ali, Harry, and Dawn followed into the car. The four students had to sit in the back of the car, but it wasn't that cramped. They were all pretty small.

~*~

The plane ride was boring. They finally got to King's Cross Station and passed through Platforms 9 and 10 to get to nine and three-quarters. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were waiting with Mrs. Weasley, Fred, and George.

"There you kids are. You have about fifteen minutes so go and put your stuff on the train and then we'll talk." Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Ali, Dawn, Tara, Willow, and Draco selected a compartment and put their trunks in the storage area.

Mrs. Weasley hugged every one of them that just arrived and Fred and George, the Weasley twins, were waiting to hug the girls. George hated Malfoy. He always had for putting his baby sister and friend in a dangerous situation that involved them being possessed by Voldemort. Fred didn't like it, but Malfoy had changed, so he was nice to him.

He gritted his teeth and couldn't hold it anymore. He lunged almost grabbing him, but Ali jumped in and grabbed him. "George Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "Stop that, this instant!" She turned to Draco. "I'm sorry, Draco, dear."

"It's okay" he said. George glared at Draco with the harshest glare and Draco just stared right back at him.

The train whistled trying to get the rest of the people on the platform onto the train. "Draco, you go in first" Ali said. He hopped in first followed by the rest (after Mrs. Weasley hugged them again). Ali let George go and hugged them all again.

"Keep in touch" Fred said to her.

"I'll owl you when I get there" she said and got onto the train, making her way back to the last compartment where the others were. Some people who knew here waved and she waved back as they struck up a small conversation. She finally got back to their compartment.

"Thanks for back there" Draco said on the spot.

"No problem" she replied. She sat next to Hermione and looked at the others. "So, who's trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team?"

"Who's captain?" Hermione asked.

"Considering there's only one person left on the team left, me."

"I am" Dawn said. "I'm trying for Chaser."

"I'm going for chaser too" Harry and Ginny said together. She nodded in excitement.

"I want to go out for beater" Ron said.

"Cool" she said.

~*~

Darkness fell in the sky and they assumed they were almost there. They stopped at Hogsmeade Station and everyone unloaded. They heard a familiar voice.

"Firs' years. Firs' years, over here. Come with me, firs' years" It was Hagrid. They waved and set off to the carriages that took them to the castle. Hermione, Ali, Draco, and Ron got a carriage while Harry, Ginny, Willow, and Tara shared one.

They ventured towards the school in silence. The only lights were on at Hogsmeade, the stars and moon, and some lamps lit here and there. The rest was total darkness. After stepping off the horseless carriages, they walked in the familiar school and went to the Gryffindor table. Draco broke off at the Slytherin table and met a couple of his friends who didn't exactly hate him for hanging out with Gryffindors.

New faces were up at the staff table as they sat down. Dumbledore had already explained to Connor that he could attempt to do magic, but he didn't have to. He did get a wand though. He could only manage some spells, others he couldn't. Dumbledore also explained how he had to be sorted with the rest of the first years to find a house that he would stay in.

The sorting hat was brought out by Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, Head of Gryffindor house, and Transfiguration teacher. One-by-one she called out names of the students and they separated into their houses. Connor was put into Gryffindor. There was an open spot beside Harry and he took the seat, scowling.

"Hi, I'm Harry."

"Connor."

"This is Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Ali, and Dawn" he said.

"Hey" he said to the others. They smiled and said "Hey" back to him.

Dumbledore stood up before the students and they calmed down and turned their attention towards him. "You see some new faces here, I assume?" he glanced around the Great Hall and then at the new teachers at the staff table.

"We're doing things a little different here now. There will be two parts of Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. Magic and hand-to-hand, muggle fighting skills. Professors Giles and Spike will be magic and Professors Finn and Osbourne will be teaching hand-to-hand as they've had experience on the Hellmouth, as Giles and Spike also have."

He noticed the student's looks of concern flooding their faces. "Nothing to worry about, they won't hurt you. We are going to restart the Dueling club. It is pretty much extra training for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professors Angel, Wyndham-Pryce and Faith, one of the current Slayers, will be teaching hand-to-hand and Professors Snape and Black will be teaching the magic part" he stopped for another breath.

"As always, you are not allowed to go into the Forbidden Forest as it is forbidden but a few people in this room are allowed to for certain purposes. He looked at the staff table at the new teachers and then looked in Ali's direction. Ah, another announcement. The Head Boy and Girl."

"I wonder who they are, I didn't get Head Girl" Hermione whispered to Ron. He just shrugged his shoulders.

"Draco Malfoy and Ali Potter. All prefects need to see them after dinner. Let's eat" he said and sat down. Food appeared on the table and everyone began eating.

"Congratulations, Ali" Hermione said. The others expressed their congrats too. Soon, people began to leave, but the eight prefects and Head Boy and Girl. They told them rules and procedures plus what to look for and stuff. Everyone started walking out the door.

"Potter?" someone called from behind her.

She turned around to see McGonagall walking towards her. "Oh, hi, Professor" she said.

"Quidditch tryouts will be Tuesday at seven o'clock. Post a note in the common room bulletin board saying we need a Keeper, three Chasers, and two Beaters. Such a pity everyone quit last year. I will be there and we will decide who is on the team, captain" she said with a small grin. "Too bad we can't have Oliver for Captain and the Weasley twins for Beaters" Ali smiled at her and then walked back to the common room and into her dormitory room.

A few minutes later she ran down the stairs and put a piece of parchment onto the board. Several people crowded around it. It read 'Gryffindor Quidditch team in need for a Keeper, three Chasers, and two Beaters. Tryouts will be on Tuesday, September 3 and you will find out Wednesday morning if you made the team or not. Contact Professor McGonagall or Ali Potter for any questions.'

People were talking loudly and saying how much they couldn't wait until tryouts began.