Chapter 3- Spys in our Midst
Everyone had arrived at Hogsmeade station by seven and was greeted by Professor Flitwick who stood at the end of the platform waiting for them next to a large rack of brooms that look like it held enough brooms for every prefect in the school and then some.
"Hello students and Minister Weasley we're sorry we had to call all of you back to school so early but it was necessary to ensure the safety of the rest of the students" shouted the professor's magically magnified voice "Now if each of you will approach the cart and pick up a new Razorwind2003 racing broom. You will learn more about why you are being given them when we get to the school but until then please follow me" said Professor Flitwick mounting a small broom that had been floating next to him
Harry stood staring in aww at the new broom he now held in his hands and at the brooms that the other people around him were holding each seemed to be custom made for its owner. It wasn't until Dudley had tapped him on the shoulder that he realized that everyone had already mounted their brooms and began to follow the professor to Hogwarts "Are you coming or do I have to leave without you?" he asked before he took off to follow everyone else
"Yea, I'm coming" answered Harry trying to catch up to Dudley who surprisingly was really good at flying considering this was the first time he has ever been on a broom. When they were about five minutes away from landing in front of the gate leading to the school grounds Professor Flitwick landed and wait for everyone else to do the same
"I'm afraid we have to walk from here because of a anti-flying charm that has been put on the walls surrounding the school grounds to prevent anyone from flying to Hogwarts" explained Professor Flitwick before opening the gates and escorting everyone into the Great Hall where the four house tables had been replaced by a large round table with the Hogwarts seal in the center of it "Now if everyone will have a seat the headmistress will arrive soon to speak with you."
Several minutes later Headmistress McGonagall walked into the Great Hall followed by Professor Snape and Remus Lupin "I would like to thank everyone for giving up the last month of summer vacation and tell you I wouldn't have done it unless it was absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of the staff and students" said McGonagall while looking around the table at everyone present "now before I go into any detail about what safety measures I have planned to use during this school year I have decided that it's necessary and Minister Weasley agrees with me to make sure that none of you are Death Eaters by having each one of you drink Veritaserum and to make sure that all of you tell the truth. The ones who are not a Death Eater will be aloud to stay but the ones who are a Death Eater will immediately be taken into custody by Aurors for crimes committed against the wizarding world."
All of the students look at each other everyone was noticeably nervous "Now who wants to go first" asked Professor Snape who looked ready to expel the first person who showed the slightest signs of being a Death Eater
"I think we will start with Slytherin house then Gryffindor followed by Ravenclaw and finally Hufflepuff" said Professor McGonagall as she walked around to her seat at the table and sat between the Gryffindor and Slytherin prefects and pulled two bottles of crystal clear liquid that Harry instantly recognized as the Veritaserum "now if everyone will everyone will take some Veritaserum and pass it to the person next to you" she said passing one bottle to the Slytherin prefects and one bottle to the Gryffindor prefects.
Harry took a drink of the potion and suddenly felt like all his cares and worriess were swept away and were replaced by a feeling of pure joy that he had never felt in his entire life. It seem to Harry like he had taken the Veritaserum hours ago but in reality it turned out to be only a few minutes and as he came to his senses he noticed that several of the Slytherin prefects and a few of the Hufflepuff prefects were gone "Well now that we have rooted out any spies that were trying to hide among us I think it's time that we explain why we called all of you back so early" said Remus as he came back into the Great Hall and took his seat at the table waiting for the Headmistress to begin the meeting.
"As I'm sure you are all aware Dumbledore and Voldemort have been attacking wizarding schools throughout the world and while their motives still aren't quite clear we thought it crucial to call all prefects back to school early to hopefully prepare you for what will probably be the most difficult school year this school has seen in many years" explained McGonagall looking more tense than anyone had ever seen before "To accomplish this we have equipped you with top of the line racing brooms that were specially made for each person here also they have been enchanted so that only the person who owns the broom can ride it. They will be used to patrol the Quidditch field during games unless you are participating in the game then you must use your own broom."
"And now for the bad news" said Remus Lupin "I have decided to come back to Hogwarts to be your defense against the dark arts teacher and until the start of term I have been asked to teach this years prefects wandless magic in order to prepare you for the threat of attack this school could be facing. Everyone here will also be taught to apparate by Sirius Black who's name has recently been cleared by the ministry. Every prefect will be required to be able to apparate properly by the beginning of term in order to provide immediate assistance in case any problems do arise at any time during the coming year"
"Excuse me professor but how are we going to apparate on school grounds I read there is a charm put on Hogwarts that prevented anyone from apparating into or around the school" asked Hermione looking more than a little concerned about how she was going to master wandless magic and apparating in one month.
"That's really quite simple Hermione. The teachers and staff here have the ability to apparate on school grounds because when they are hired by the headmaster or headmistress the charm that prevents them from apparating doesn't work on them unless the are fired or decide to quit teaching here so as long as you are wearing your prefect badge you will be able to apparate" explained Professor Lupin before turning to the rest of the table and asking "Are there anymore questions any of you have that I could try to answer for you"
"Yes, I have one more question" said Hermione "the teachers can apparate on school grounds but how does that help us I mean non of us work or teach here"
Professor Lupin looked at Hermione not knowing how he should answer her question until Headmistress McGonagall spoke up "I'm not sure if your aware Miss Granger but Hogwarts prefects are school staff and are not affected by the charm"
"Well that should take care of any announcements I had to give you" announced Professor Lupin before sitting down in his seat
"I have a few announcements of my own before I dismiss everyone first after meeting with top officials in the Ministry they have decided to allow me to grant you permission to use the three unforgivable curses on any and all Death Eaters if in your opinion the lives of other students are at risk. Also all Hogsmeade trips have been canceled effective now for all students that are not currently attending their seventh year here and finally it has been decided that just having a password protecting the entrance to each house dormitory isn't enough so we have used a powerful anti-intruder spell so that if anyone that is not a member of that house or a member of the staff that tries to enter without being willingly invited will instantly transported to my office to explain their actions"
A number of groans could be heard coming from many of the fifth and sixth year prefects whose moods instantly changes the moment they heard that they wouldn't be allowed to go to Hogsmeade this year
"Now I know that many of you are not happy with this decision but It was necessary to secure the safety of the students and until I am convinced that it is safe no one other than seventh years will not be permitted to attend" said Professor McGonagall her voice suddenly becoming stern "Well I think that we have discussed everything we needed to tonight if everyone will go up to your common rooms you will find dinner waiting for you"
Harry met Dudley, Hermione and Ron outside the portrait of the fat lady apparently in the rush to get the prefects back to Hogwarts that the teachers hadn't bothered to tell the prefects living in each house the new password to get into the common room it wasn't until about ten minutes later when Sirius came walking down the corridor that that everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"what are a bunch of fine Gryffindors doing out here when they should be having dinner in their common room" asked Sirius confused as to why they were standing out in the corridor
"well professor it seems that in the rush to get back to Hogwarts none of us bothered to find out what the new password is to get into the common room so we're stuck out here" replied Hermione
" there is a very good reason for that you know" said Sirius a slight grin starting to spread across his thin lips.
"Not to be rude or anything but can you hurry up and explain so we can go in and eat I getting hungry" said Ron
"ok, long story short I decided to make this your first lesson on how to apparate all you have to do is get from this side of the portrait hole to the other side without opening it" replied Sirius still grinning
Sirius was just about to begin to explain how to apparate when the portrate of the fat lady asked "are you sure you just wouldn't rather set a new password instead letting their dinner get cold because you decided to turn this into a lesson"
Everyone was staring angrily at Sirius for keeping them from their dinner and the Harry and Ron looked at Hermione wondering why she didn't know that a new password had to set since she was considered to be a know it all by everyone at school.
"Well since you've told everyone about that lie I guess I'll wait until tomorrow to start your lessons. In the meantime what would you like your password to be" replied Sirius looking slightly at not having to do any work his first official day as a free man and his first day as a teacher.
The Gryffindor prefects talked for five minutes about what their password should be before they decided on the password Dracus after a powerful spell that Harry had created during summer vacation that summons a large phoenix fire dragon than has all of the normal features of a dragon but is made completely out of fire and is twice as powerful as a normal dragon
"everyone inside that food isn't going to eat itself" said Ron as he pushed his way in to the common room to be the first to get something to eat
The rest of the night was uneventful. Harry and his friends had dinner and stayed up and talked about everything they had done while during summer vacation until about one in the morning when they said goodnight and went up to bed.
