Disclaimer: These people don't belong to me...wish they did, but I can't write as well with them as Joanne K. Rowling does. I just own this little scene:

Harry sat down, wishing there was another compartment open. He didn't want to think about the first time he had seen a dementor.

"Hi Harry!" said a new voice entering the compartment. Luna Lovegood had just entered--with a voice far from her normal, serene one--and she looked very happy to see Harry.

"I've been checking all the compartments to find the four of you. I understand if you don't want me to sit with you, but I just wanted to say hi," she said hesitantly.

Hermione spoke up before anyone else, and--to Harry's surprise--said, "Sit down, Luna."

"How are you all?" Luna asked, her eyes wide.

"Er--good Luna..." Ginny said, eyeing her ankle and obviously NOT fine.

"What happened?" Luna questioned, noticing Ginny's ankle. "I thought you got that foot fixed after June..."

"Of course I got it fixed," Ginny said, waving away Luna's thought quickly. "It's only my idiot brothers. They hit me with Harry's trunk on accident..."

"Well that's a nice start to the school year, isn't it? Straight to the hospital wing?" Harry said sarcastically.

"Oh yes, brilliant, really!" Ginny replied, grinning.

The train sped them forward, and they continued talking about several things, keen to stay away from the topic of The Department of Mysteries. Rain began to fall, making it impossible to see anything smaller than a castle through the windows.

"So anyway, weren't you going to try for the team this year Ginny?" Harry was asking.

"I was thinking of being a chaser, yes. What do you think?"

"I think it's a brilliant--"

But Harry was cut off by someone slamming the door open. Ernie, the Hufflepuff boy, had just run into the compartment looking like death on its feet.

"You--prefects--haven't--been--minding--the--corridors!" He said, pointing accusingly at Hermione and Ron. Harry glanced at the two of them laughingly as he saw Hermione looked horrified and--to Harry's amusement--Ron looked very pleased.

"Well, what do you expect?" Ron smiled at Ernie, before allowing a fuming Hermione to drag him out of the compartment.

"WHAT were you thinking? You remembered and didn't remind me--?!" she was heard yelling along the corridors. Harry took a look out the door to see other heads popping out of the compartments as well to see what the couple was up to. He went back into the compartment, a smile on his face.

Ginny was smiling as well, but Luna had gotten out the latest edition of The Quibbler and was reading.

"So, Harry...think we could have a decent Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher this year? Or will we have to continue the D.A.?" Ginny asked.

"I was hoping on continuing Dumbledore's Army anyway, but yeah, I want a good teacher this year. Another Umbridge'll be the death of me," Harry said, glancing at his right hand, which still bore scars. They were constant reminders of his fifth year detentions with Delores Umbridge.

The train continued to travel between the hills of England until it became dark and the train began to slow. Harry glanced out the window for a first glimpse of Hogwarts. The castle was towering over them, even from the great distance away at Hogsmeade.

When the train finally stopped, Harry grabbed Hedwig's cage and made for the exit. Ginny followed closely behind, limping.

"Do you need help--?" Harry called over his shoulder. But before he could finish his sentence, Ginny shouted over the rain.

"No, Harry, I have it!"

The rain was cold and coming down very hard. The two of them got a carraige with Luna and sat silently, waiting to arive at the school.

Running up the steps (Ginny limping behind), Harry opened the heavy doors for Ginny and they entered the Great Hall as soon as the doors were unlocked. They met up with Ron and Hermione, and together they sat down.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure. Look," Ginny replied. Then, she pointed to the head table. Harry's eyes followed her hand, and he noticed there was a person he had never seen there before. He was tall and thin, with light brown hair that hung slightly over his electric blue eyes. He was sitting, looking at the rainy ceiling with mild interest.

"Who is that?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea. I've never seen him before..." Ron answered, looking at the table as well.

"He's a member of the Wizengamot," Hermione said.

"How do you know?" Harry asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"Harry, look at his robes," Hermione said.

Then Harry noticed that underneath a large black cloak, the man was wearing plum colored robes with a silver W on the left hand side of the chest. Harry recognized the robes as the ones that were indeed worn by the Wizengamot. He had had a hearing just last summer, so it wasn't exactly hard to forget about them.

"I wonder if he was one of the wizards to vote against me," Harry wondered aloud. Ron and Hermione shifted uneasily at his words, probably thinking the same thing.

Just then, the first years entered looking soaked through. Harry felt sorry for one of the girls who wasn't wearing a cloak. She looked chilled to the bone.

Professor McGonagall made her usual speech before starting to call out names.

First to be called was Sierra Anderson. She was first to become a Hufflepuff, and Harry clapped politely.

Harry was surprised when Sara Bones was next to be called. He recognized the name "Bones" from two places. For one, he had been held on trial by Madam Bones last year for casting the patronus charm. She had been fair in listening to his story, and he had been grateful towards her. Fudge and Umbridge (both present at his hearing) weren't much help at making him look innocent.

He had met a second person with the last name Bones just last year. Susan had been a Hufflepuff who was very interested in defense classes by Harry.

But now, as Harry looked towards the first years, he saw that Sara Bones was the girl he had noticed without a cloak. She was freezing in her robes, and Harry watched as she sat, shivering, on the stool. Professor McGonagall had just placed the hat on the girl's head when it shouted, "Gryffindor!"

Harry caught eyes with Susan at the Hufflepuff table and was surprised to see that she was clapping loudly. Apparently it was a good thing that Sara had made her way into Gryffindor.

After the long sorting, Dumbledore stood and placed is hands on the table, leaning forward slightly.

"A new year begins. With it, I bring you a few things to keep in mind. Firstly, I must remind the students that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to everyone." As he said this, he glanced at Harry. He smiled sheepishly at the headmaster, who smiled back and continued.

"Secondly, now that your heads are empty as ever, we will begin filling them tomorrow. Quidditch try outs will be held during next week."

Dumbledore glanced at the brown haired teacher at the table before speaking again.

"And lastly, I would like to happily announce that Professor Kiron Lysander has offered to take over the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes."

Harry looked at Professor Lysander and noticed that he only now seemed to be taking his eyes off the fantastic ceiling. Now, the brown haired man was glancing around the room. He had just reached the Gryffindor table when he saw Harry. Their gazes met for a few minutes. Harry tried to look back at the teacher, but the shining blue eyes were hard to stare at for long. Harry dropped his gaze and noticed that the food had already been magicked up from the kitchens.

Harry spooned food onto his plate and ate quietly, ignoring all of the people coming up to him until he felt a sharp tap on his shoulder. He turned around reluctantly, but was met with the focused gaze of Susan Bones.

"Will we be continuing the D.A.? Because I told my little sister here all about your classes and she's been dying to meet you ever since. That's why she wanted to be in Gryffindor in the first place."

"Er--yeah, I think we'll be continuing it. Would your sister like to join us?" Harry asked, glancing at the little girl next to Susan.

"Well, she's a bit young for some of the spells you teach us, but it couldn't hurt to have her come, could it?"

"'Spose not," Harry said, grinning at the pair before Susan sat at her own table and Sara joined the other new Gryffidors.

"Wonder what sort of schedule we have for our N.E.W.T. classes..." Ron muttered.

"Oh, well I'm looking forward to everything. We'll finally be learning the magic that will decide what we DO in life," Hermione said, putting her hands together in front of her happily.

They ate the rest of their meals thinking of what classes would be most interesting that year, and Harry hoped with all his heart that Defense Against the Dark Arts would be good. When they had finished eating, the four walked up to Gryffindor tower, Ron muttering the password, and they went to sleep in their respective dormitories.

As Harry lie in bed, he couldn't help but wonder about Professor Lysander and his classes.

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A/N: Okay, so I finally got this up, sorry it took so long. I've written another story too, but it's at work and I have to take it home so I can retype it and post it.

Now, here's the challenge before the next chapter. I'll write an A/N down here on chapter 6 about who gets the answer right if anyone tries this:

CHALLENGE: Send an e-mail or review to me telling what the meanings of the names "Kiron" and "Lysander" are. They have to do with Kiron's character, I'll tell you that. My e-mail is jaime_rucker@hotmail.com. E-mail me if you need a clue.

This story WILL pick up. It's going to be good when I start getting in all the story line, and I've figured some good high/low points for the story. I just have to get it going. Pretty soon something important is going to happen, so keep reading.

Sorry this is a long A/N...I'll try to get the next chapter posted as soon as I get reviews and chapter 6 (and possibly 7) written.

Thanks also for recalling to my currently flustered memory the fact that Susan is indeed in Hufflepuff. It slipped my mind since her character is very Ravenclawish. Plus I've been reading a few too many stories at once and it all gets scrambled :)