Chapter 6: Hogwarts Ahoy!

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley rushed into King's Cross Station trailing bags, pets and broomsticks. They burst through the barrier into platform nine and three-quarters without a hitch, and with only a few minutes to spare Harry, Ron, and Ginny said a hasty Goodbye and jumped onto the Hogwarts Express. Ron went off to the prefect's car and Harry and Ginny located a compartment with Neville and Luna Lovegood who had become good friends after the incident at the end of last year. Hermione was still nowhere to be found, she hadn't turned up all summer.

"What's up?" said Harry to no one in particular, collapsing ungraciously on a seat opposite Luna.

"Gran gave me a new plant!" said Neville happily. "It's called a dragonfly bud, because dragonflies come out of ever pod! And I got two OWLs!"

"Good job."

Just then the train moved out, and Harry and Ginny turned to wave goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"How about you, Luna?"

"Well, Dad's paper is going well. They're expanding."

"That's–" began Harry.

"GET OFF!" screamed Ginny, fighting with a mad blob of green.

"Yeah, it's mating season for tree frogs. Trevor's been very aggressive lately."

Just then, the compartment door opened. Harry turned to look, but the shadows predicted the worst. Standing there was Malfoy, looking as slick as ever framed by his mates, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Hi," Malfoy said with a smile. "You must be the famous Harry Potter. Yes, what a pretty little scar you have there."

            Harry didn't understand. What was wrong with Malfoy?

"You know me, Malfoy."

"I do? I don't think we've met before. You probably know my brother's friends, Vince and Greg."

"Your brother…?"

"I'm Devin Malfoy, Draco's twin brother," Malfoy said, extending a hand. "And I'm sure we'll get off to a great start."

They stared at one another. It was bad enough having one Malfoy at Hogwarts, but two of them would be a nightmare. And, since when did Hogwarts accept new students in the sixth year?

"Wow, Draco was right about the trash you hang out with. A half-blood squib, a loser and a Weasley… need I say more?"

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled approvingly.

"You'd better watch your tongue, Devin Malfoy. It's four against three here and I believe your brother's little friends can't really cast magic that well."

"Really? And that squib there can? And, trust me; I learned a few things at my old school that they don't teach you here at Hogwarts. You are the ones who'd better watch your tongue around me. And for your information, Crabbe and Goyle have been trained in all sorts of useful hexes including the Unforgivable Curses."

Chortling, the new Malfoy and his friends left, shutting the compartment door behind them.

"Now there are two of them," Neville said miserably. "And that one's just as arrogant as Draco."

"Tell me about it. This year's off to a bad start."

They sat in silence for a few more moments, then the compartment door opened and Ron walked in.

"Guess what? There's a new Malfoy."

"I know. Guess what else? Hermione's gone."

"What do you mean, gone? Like she's not coming?"

"Nobody knows. She hasn't contacted anyone in the last month or so. Dumbledore wants to get a search party out for her, but the ministry is loath to send fully-trained wizards after a child at a time like this."

"Then what's going to happen to her?"

"I don't know. I'll send Pig out looking for her as soon as we get to school," said Ron, settling into a chair.

"How'd Malfoy's brother end up coming?"

"Hogwarts is accepting new students in the sixth year. I don't know why, but I assume we'll find out at the welcome feast."

Just then, the witch with the food trolley came by and they became busy swapping sweets and chocolate frog cards, and Luna became interested in reading the new issue of the Quibbler.

They reached Hogsmeade Station without a hitch and rode the carts up to school. Looking around, Harry saw a number of new faces, mostly foreign, gathered together in small clusters. Malfoy's brother was entertaining a number of Slytherins by using impressive-looking spells that Harry had never seen before. Devin certainly looked talented, but, on closer inspection, all of the spells he was using were for attack.

They arrived in the Great Hall and sat at the long house tables. Looking up at the staff table, Harry raised his glass of pumpkin juice to Hagrid who smiled. Looking around the table, he saw that Dumbledore was definitely growing weaker. His face looked pale and wan, and he seemed to be sitting still to conserve his strength. Harry wondered if he was just ill, but magic could cure most illnesses, and he couldn't imagine a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore coming down with a bad case of the flu. All the teachers Harry had known from previous years were returning, including Snape who was looking as sour as ever (apparently he didn't get the Dark Arts job) and there was one new teacher, whose face was hidden under a dark cowl. He looked more like a practitioner of the Dark Arts than a defender.

Harry glanced around for the new students, but they had traveled with Hagrid across the lake with the first years. Once everyone was seated, Professor McGonagall stood up and tapped her glass. She proceeded to help Dumbledore stand up, who walked unsteadily foreword to begin the commencement speech.

"Ah, a new year! Seeing all these bright faces brings energy back to this sick, old man! Well, without further ado, let us begin the sorting."

McGonagall brought out a stool with the sorting hat on it. Two groups of students followed it in – the first years, who now looked very small to Harry, and the new sixth years. The school awaited the sorting hat, which took a deep breath of air and erupted in song.

Long ago, when times were troubled

Great wizards came and created me

And then one great wizard bubbled,

"In four houses students should be"

Great Gryffindor was fierce and bold

And rode upon the lion

Wearing their red and gold

Gryffindors are never cryin'

Smooth Slytherin was smart and wily

Ambitious to the last

Today, Slytherins are proud and guiley

And won't settle for less than bast

Keen Ravenclaw was quick and clever

She always knew what was what

Ravenclaws fail at no endeavor

And are never stuck in a rut

Kind Hufflepuff was good and loyal

With her friends she loved the most

Hufflepuffs get through any toil

And get what they are owe'st

Now today, I split you up

Into the four great houses

After this, you may sup

And eat your meals like mouses

"To encourage positive relations with other countries," continued Dumbledore as the song ended, "we have decided to accept transfer students. Only three wizarding schools, Daumstrung, Beauxbatons and our own Hogwarts are licensed to teach beyond the OWL level to the NEWT level. Thus, students from other schools will, starting this year, begin to join us in their sixth year. Please give these students a warm welcome and make them feel at home here at their new school. Let us first begin by sorting the new first-years.

Harry watched as the new first-years got up to be sorted. The new Gryffindors didn't seem like a bad bunch of kids to live with. After all the first-years had joined their respective houses, the sixth-years got up. They were mostly foreign, and looked as scared as the first-years about arriving at a new school. They stared around at the faces of the present Hogwarts students, and most of the Hogwarts students stared back. There were lots of Asians and Americans, as most Europeans went to either Daumstrung or Beauxbatons for their NEWT training.

Harry scanned the new students. Sure enough, Malfoy's brother was up there with a confident little smile. Next to him was a tall, cute American girl with an innocent face and long, brown hair. She was chatting with two Korean girls with short hair who both wore blue and red sashes. Behind them, a Nigerian boy and a Turkish boy were seeing how high they could toss their wands up to the starry ceiling. When they noticed everyone watching, they hastily stopped.

"Aotai, Chinua" called Professor McGonagall.

The Nigerian boy stepped foreword and put the hat on his head.

There was a short pause before the hat yelled, "RAVENCLAW!"

"Choi, Gin-Yin"

One Korean girl stepped foreword and became a new Slytherin. The hat sorted out the kids into the three other houses, but no new Gryffindors had come up. Finally, it was Malfoy's turn.

"Malfoy, Devin"

Everyone expected it to be like Draco Malfoy's sorting – as soon as the hat had touched Draco's head, it screamed Slytherin. However, when Devin put it on, there was a pause. A number of the Slytherins looked quite expectant. Then, when the sorting hat chose Devin's house, for the first time Harry had ever heard, its voice was shaky.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a gasp from the Gryffindors. Only a few Gryffindors clapped. The Slytherins looked as happy as ever, applauding loudly. Devin walked proudly over to the Gryffindor table and plopped down across from Harry.

"You asked the hat for this house, didn't you?" said Ron.

"As a matter of fact I did, mudblood lover."

Hearing this, the few Gryffindors who were politely clapping stopped abruptly.

"Why?"

"Because Draco thought it would be fun to give Potter a little friend. Just to make sure he and his riffraff friends don't put a toe out of line."

Harry gritted his teeth, and put a hand out to stop Ron, who was quite red in the face. Ginny, too, was looking on the verge of attacking.

"Thompson, Amber" said McGonagall, snapping Harry away from the mental battle that was raging between the Weasleys and Devin.

The pretty American girl stepped up and gave a smile to the rest of the room. It looked like she was putting every ounce of effort into looking calm, but it wasn't working. She looked scared out of her mind. Harry gave her a thumbs-up as she sat down and jammed the sorting hat on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

She took off the hat and hurried to the Gryffindor table where she sat next to Ginny among much clapping, and a couple of cat-calls from some of the older boys. Two more new students were sorted out, including Umiko Yomagi, a Japanese girl, who became a new Gryffindor. Once all the sorting was complete, McGonagall took the stool away and Hagrid helped Dumbledore to his feet. He was weaker than Harry had thought and gave a short cough before starting the speech.

"As we welcome new students, we also must say goodbye to some students. Many students have left after OWL level and won't be returning."

"Hermione wouldn't have left and missed her last two years, would she?" whispered Ron, leaning across the table.

"No way! She said in all her letters that she'd be here."

"Do you think that something happened to her?"

"I don't know. Maybe her parents couldn't pay her tuition," Harry said, thinking of the Forgotten.

"No, her parents are pretty well-to-do muggle dentists; I think she'll probably come in a couple of days late."

Harry sighed and leaned back. Something was wrong; it wasn't like Hermione to miss the beginning of school. Still, he'd have time to reflect on that later, Dumbledore was speaking again.

"We'd also like to welcome a new teacher to our staff, Professor Artemis."

The new teacher stood up, but did not remove his cowl or speak. The little of his face that was not covered in shadow looked more scarred than Moody's, and his eyes seemed to glow an ethereal white. There was some scattered applause before he sat back down.

"New students should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all. Mr. Filch would like me to remind you that magic is not allowed in the corridors between classes. Quidditch tryouts will be held in the next week. Thank you."

Dumbledore collapsed back down in a fit of coughing.

"Hey, what are we going to do about Quidditch?" asked Harry. "We're out five players, including a captain."

"Well, you've got to be the captain! You're the best player Hogwarts has had since Charlie!"

"I wouldn't go that far…"

"But it's true," protested Ginny. "Every time I see you out there you're doing tricks no one else could pull off."

"Oh," drawled the new Malfoy, "Draco told me about this. Perfect Potter."

"Shut up," said Ron angrily.

"I can deal with my own fights," Harry hissed to him quickly. Turning to Malfoy, Harry said, "Do you think you're better?"

"Well, we'll find out at Quidditch tryouts, won't we?"

"Well, if I'm captain, I choose weather or not you get in."

"I might prove an asset to your team. I was the best chaser at my old school up north."

"Yeah," sneered Ron, "but you're a traitor. You'd work against us in the match against Slytherin."

"Probably. But what does it matter to you, Weasley?"

"It matters because I'm the Keeper for Gryffindor!"

"And the captain," said Harry. "I think you'd be better suited to it than I would, Ron. You know so much about professional Quidditch, and I just want to play."

"What? No! I'm not a leader like you, Harry! Harry, remember last year, when you trained the whole DA?"

"Ron, you're better suited for the job than I could ever be."

"Fine, we'll both do it."

"What?"

"We're the two remaining players from before. Let's both be captain."

"Alright, I'm up for that."

They smiled as everyone in the Great Hall stood up and began to leave. Ron went ahead to lead the new Gryffindors up to the tower. They climbed through the staircases that moved, jumped over the disappearing stairs and watched the characters in the pictures move around. Harry smiled as they reached the hole guarded by the portrait of the Fat Lady. They were home at last.

"Password?" said the Fat Lady.

"Pixius Pixipestrum!" said Ron loudly, so all the new students could hear.

The portrait swung foreword and the entered into the common room, lit by a cozy fire with squashy chairs and left for their dormitories, Ron reluctantly leading Devin Malfoy into the familiar circular room with four-poster beds.

"You can use Dean's old bed," Ron said, motioning unnecessarily to the bed that was covered with Devin's belongings.

"Just like your father, Weasley, covering up your incompetence with useless little speeches and demonstrations of power."

There was silence. Harry, Ron and Neville all stared at him while Seamus tried to make himself look as miniscule as possible unpacking his bags.

"Guys, don't," said Neville. "We have more class than a Malfoy."

"Oh, the squib talks!" Malfoy said with a sneer. "Be careful, Longbottom, that you don't go like your parents."

Now it was Harry and Ron's turn to hold Neville back.

"Be careful, now," said Malfoy. "You don't want to be expelled on your first day back."

Seamus turned and said, "You know, he does have a point. Please don't fight all night, I want to get some rest."

They all turned away, angrily. Harry threw himself into bed, and slowly heard Seamus, Neville, and Ron drift off to sleep with not-so-gentle snores. Harry tossed and turned in bed. He thought of Annette and Amber, of the Forgotten and of Sirrus, of his mother and the Drakhen. Harry's life was more complicated than ever. Just as he was falling asleep, he heard someone crying. Hazily, Harry looked over at Devin Malfoy, whose face was lined with tears. Then, Harry fell asleep.