Chapter 7: Classes Without Hermione

At breakfast the next morning, there was still no sign of Hermione. They all wolfed down their food, talking little. Devin was sitting with his brother at the Slytherin table, which was usually frowned upon, but not against the school rules. Dumbledore was absent from the staff table. Across from Harry sat Amber, the new American girl. She really was pretty, and had an innocent little smile on her face. Thinking of Annette and his previous relationship with Cho Chang, Harry wondered if he was destined to like all the girls he couldn't have. He mustered up his courage to talk to her.

"Hey, I'm Harry."

She looked somehow relieved that someone was talking to her. Harry expected her and Umiko to have become good friends, both being new to the school, but they were sitting apart from one another.

"I'm Amber. Nice to meet you."

What should I say next? Harry asked himself.

"Uh… so where do you come from?"

"My parents were part of the Salem Witches Guild in Massachusetts. How about you?"

"I'm Harry Potter."

"Yeah, you said before. But where are you from?"

Had she not heard of him? Maybe he was only famous here in England.

"I'm from around here. I'm an orphan, and send the summer with my aunt and uncle, who are muggles."

"Oh, cool. It's so different here."

"How so?"

"Well, everything is so… I don't know… grand here. The school is so big. Salem is the largest witching town in all of America, but even at the Academy, there were only a quarter of the students here. All the grades were taught at once."

"Most muggle schools are much bigger than this…"

"Yeah, but there are many more muggles than witches and wizards."

"So, what did you study in Salem?"

"Probably all the things you studied here, except we didn't have any elective courses back there."

"What electives did you choose here?"

"Care of Magical Creatures sounded cool, and I'm also going into Muggle Studies. Salem is a very closed community of witches and wizards."

"Cool. So, uh, how was your first night here?"

"Everyone was talking about our prefect, Hermione. She's missing. Pravati Patil took over showing us all around. I heard some yelling from your room, did something happen?"

"Err, kind of. Don't worry about it."

"You weren't fighting, were you?"

"No."

"So, what did you do this summer?"

"I stayed over at Ron's. You?"

"I visited my cousins in Vermont."

"Was that fun?"

"Kind of. They're really into American Quidditch."

"Is American Quidditch different from regular Quidditch?"

"American Quidditch is played with wands. Chasers can use only spells to call or shoot the ball around, and beaters can use stunners and such. Also, there's no seeker or snitch. The game ends at a certain time. It's also much faster, and it's more like a duel."

"It sounds like lots of fun. So, are you going to come out for the Quidditch tryouts here?"

"I wouldn't miss them for the world," she said, grinning.

Just then, the mail arrived. Owls swooped all over. Harry looked up to see Hedwig diving down towards him. Harry took two rolls of parchment off her leg and gave her some eggs.

"Is that your owl?" asked Amber.

"Yeah, do you have a pet?"

"I have a Pegasus."

"What? Aren't they like, gigantic?"

"No, they're tiny little winged horses. In America, we use them as well as owls to deliver mail."

"Ah. Cool."

Harry slid open the first parchment and began to read.

Hey Harry,

Annette and Sarah talked a lot about you. Apparently, you did really well on the train. Benny and Zack got in big trouble with the ministry, so now we're running from both sides. Sarah's looking good, Kevin sends his greetings, and I'm just trying my best… I wouldn't write, except for Annette. She's been talking about you a lot. She doesn't want to write you, so I've done it for her. She wants to meet you. I'll send you further details later.

Amy and the rest of the Forgotten

"Who's that from?" asked Ron, leaning over.

"Remember Annette and Sarah? It's from some of their friends."

"Oh, cool. How about that one?"

Harry and Ron – Tea at four?

Cheers, Hagrid.

"It's from Hagrid. Want to go down there at four?"

"Sure!"

"Can I come too?" asked Ginny.

"Sure, no problem."

Just then, McGonagall came by, passing out their schedules. Harry unfolded his, and looked at it.

"What do you have?" asked Ron.

"Today we have double Transfiguration in the morning. Later, we have Potions with the Slytherins and then Dark Arts. I wonder if Artemis will be a good teacher."

"I hope so. He looks kind of weird."

"Yeah, but so does Moody."

"No, this guy looks weirder than Moody. Why doesn't he show his face? And why do his eyes shine like that?"

"I have no idea. We'll find out today."

"Let's go."

"Yeah. See you later, Amber."

They plodded away towards Professor McGonagall's first class in Summoning. Summoning was actually the transfiguration of air. One of the greatest masters of Summoning was none other than Dumbledore himself. They were starting out simple; they needed to create a mothball. Harry didn't realize how much he and Ron had depended on Hermione to teach them their subjects. Harry's mothball was a actually a moss ball, and Ron's wand went out of control, repeatedly creating mothballs until there was a pile nearly three feet high on his desk and Professor McGonagall had to stop it. Neville instead created a moth, which McGonagall applauded him for, as they usually didn't learn creature summoning until seventh year, though Harry thought it was sort of the opposite effect of what they were trying to do. Devin Malfoy's was perfect, though it gave off a horrible stench. Lavender Brown's was about two feet across, and Pravati Patil accidentally changed professor McGonagall's coffee cup into one instead of thin air. Harry looked over at amber's and was glad to see that she wasn't perfect. Her mothball was as bouncy as a tennis ball.

As the lesson ended, Harry remembered a question that he had had on his mind for a while. He raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"Professor, do you know anything about something called a Drakhen?"

"Certainly. Drakhens are buildings inside small wooden boxes. They work sort of like portkeys. Any witches or wizards that are touching the Drakhen when someone opens the lock on it are sucked into the building."

"Do they all have to be wood, or could one be silver?"

"There is a tale that Salazar Slytherin's son, Damascus, created a silver Drakhen, however, as soon as he made it, the key was lost."

"Does this legend mention what building is in it?"

"No, I don't believe it does."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, gathering up his stuff.

"So, Perfect Potter, what was that about?" drawled Devin as they left.

"None of your business," said Harry hotly.

Amber walked up.

"Harry, he's just asking a question. You don't need to snap at him."

Devin grinned at Amber. Harry frowned, but forced himself to answer.

"I came across the word in a book I was reading and I wanted to know what it meant."

Amber and Devin walked away, and Harry and Ron went in the other direction.

"It's not that bad, man," said Ron, seeing the look on Harry's face.

"You don't understand."

"Yeah, she's cute, but so what?"

"I guess so. But I'm still angry about it."

They eat lunch at the opposite end of the table from Amber who was in deep conversation with Devin Malfoy (who was sitting with his fellow Gryffindors today) and talked about Quidditch. Then they were off to potions with Snape. The lesson was as bad as ever, with both Malfoys making snide remarks to Harry, and Snape turning a blind eye to it all. Neville's stomach relief potion exploded all over the room, causing more than enough chaos, and Professor Snape docked 5 points from Gryffindor, losing them the five points Devin had earned in Transfiguration. Devin didn't seem to mind at all.

After potions was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Artemis was nowhere to be found. The walls were bare except for a pentagram painted in fire on the end wall and a shelf of potions. One was clogging up the room with thick, white smoke and another was a brain suspended in a green liquid, something Harry would expect in Snape's office. On his desk was a red sextant that looked somehow alive and was breathing. Just as the last few students sat down, Professor Artemis entered, and the talking ceased. He was wearing the same black cowl as before, and his eyes were just as scary. Over the black robe, he now had hung a shamanic necklace of bones, beads and other seemingly useless charms. He didn't really walk as much as he shuffled, as if he was rather weak.

"Welcome," he said simply. His voice was a cross between a croak and a rasp.

All the students took out their copies of Seeing is Not Always Believing.

"Please open to page 22 and read," he said, skipping roll call entirely.

Harry opened the book up. On each page were very strange drawings and diagrams. The book was written in Latin, with an English translation of each page attached to the bottom. Page 12 let out a gaseous cloud of blue smoke when he got there and Page 17 curled itself up and refused to be read. Harry flipped to 22 and began to read.

Vampires

Vampires were first seen in the early 1600s when Count Ogrim was bitten by a bat. Vampires have appeared randomly throughout northern Europe since then. Contrary to legend, Vampires are not dead, but completely separate creatures from humans. There are only male vampires who must breed with female humans to continue the bloodline. Vampires feed by sucking the blood out of the neck of a victim. This usually does not kill the victim, as under a quart of blood is removed. When terribly hungry, vampires have been known, however, to suck victims dry. Dead victims do not change into new vampires. Vampires have an aversion to daylight, as sunlight takes away all their powers, but they can live through sunlight. Garlic can be used as a weapon, but only if they ingest it, in which case their powers will be rendered useless for up to forty-eight hours. Vampires have two major powers: the ability to change between their normal, humanoid form and that of a bat and the ability to freeze anyone who they touch. You should not resist a vampire that wishes to feed on you as long as he promises not to kill you. If you must fight a fully-functional vampire, keep your distance. Once a vampire is down, you must banish him with the spell of banishment or he will rise again.

"So," Artemis croaked when the last of them finished up. "What do you think about Vampires?"

"Sir, are you one?" asked Devin Malfoy. Only Amber laughed.

"No, I'm not. But I've met one. I didn't follow the book's advice, I ran from it as quickly as I could."

Judging by the shuffling walk that Artemis had used earlier, Harry doubted that that was very fast.

"So," continued Artemis, "Let's learn the banishment spell. It takes some time, so the vampire must be out cold and requires three people and a wooden stake. When all three are present, the other two must empower the first caster. After that it's a simple spell of 'DISAMINUS VAMPYRICA'.

"Get into groups of three and take a dummy and a stake from over there to practice with. Take turns at being the primary caster."

"Wow, he's a really cool teacher," said Ron, pairing up with Harry and Neville, the later of whom seemed scared half to death.

"Sort of. But that eye thing is creeping me out."

"Yeah, me too," said Neville. "And why doesn't he show his face?"

"I don't know, but he's better than Umbrige. He's hardcore."

They all took a dummy and practiced. It took a while to get it right, but when they did, a beam of blue light shot out of the wand and twisted its way down the stake, and spread throughout the dummy. On Neville's first try, he burned up the stick, but even he was able to get it at some point. He was doing much better this year than at previous years, and he looked a bit better. Harry wondered if Neville's parents might be getting better. Harry glanced behind him, and saw Pravati, Lavender and Umiko working together, and behind them, Malfoy, Seamus, and (to Harry's horror) Amber.

After class, they walked out to Hagrid's cabin, where a class of Ravenclaws was breaking up, with open mouths and whispering excitedly.

"That first lesson was awesome!" said Luna as she passed Harry.

"Okay, now I can't wait for tomorrow," said Ron.

Ron and Harry met Ginny by Hagrid's cottage and they went in. Hagrid looked better than the last year, and his dog, Fang was excitedly jumping up and down trying to reach a deer that hung from the ceiling.

"How you bin, Harry?" asked Hagrid as they went in.

"Pretty well. How about you? Is Gawp still here?"

"Olympe's taking care o' 'im. He's talkin' righ' now."

"Oh, wow. So, what did you do this summer?"

"I spent most of my time with the ministry. And Dumbledore, he's not doing too well."

"Yeah, what happened to him?"

"I don' know. E's bin gettin' weaker all summer. And he's bin standin' by as Lucius Malfoy has ruined the ministry."

"What's he been doing?"

"Oh, little things. He's bin tellin' Fudge to stop alliances and what not. Politics."

He was being vague, just like Mr. Weasley. What exactly was Lucius up to?

"Have you had any word from Hermione?"

"Not fer a month or so. I heard she's not here."

"Yeah, she's late. I don't know what's up with her."

They continued to talk for about an hour and then walked back to the castle as it was getting dark. They learned one important thing: people were covering up exactly what Lucius was doing. The Prophet had no mention of him. Something was going on, and no one was willing to tell Harry. He wondered, too, about the Drakhen. Could his Drakhen be the silver Drakhen in the legend? If so, where could he get the silver key? Could the Forgotten know anything about it? They certainly reacted strangely when he brought it up. Also, there was the note from Amy and the way Amber and the new Malfoy seemed to be good friends so soon. Amber seemed really nice in the morning over breakfast, but somehow, she had changed. Just as they were walking back, he ran into Amber and Devin standing in the hall, talking.

"Oh, look, it's Potter flanked by two Weasleys."

Draco strode up behind them with Crabbe and Goyle, grinning.

"It's five against three now."

"I'm staying out of this!" said Amber.

"So," Draco said, "are you going to call a teacher? I'd say call your mommy, but, Potter, your mommy's dead."

There was a piercing silence.

"You're going to pay for that one," Harry said in a low voice. He reached for his wand.

"Really?" Draco said. "SLISICUS!"

A blue blade shot from Draco's wand. Ginny and Ron pushed Harry down. The blade shot over their heads and hit Amber. Amber screamed, and worms erupted from her ears.

"IDIOT! WHY'D YOU HAVE TO DO THAT!?" she yelled.

"I'm sorry, I-" began Draco.

It was the first time Harry had seen Malfoy apologize to a Gryffindor.

"IT'S HARRY'S FAULT! HARRY, STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU CREEP!"

And she ran up the stairs and away. The Malfoys, Crabbe, and Goyle chortled.

"Why'd you push me down?" demanded Harry as they walked away.

"Because we didn't want you fighting in corridors," said Ginny.

"Damn it, Draco insulted my family!"

"Yes, and you had every right to fight him, but not then and there," said Ron.

Fuming, Harry climbed the stairs in silence until they reached the picture hole. They said the password and climbed in. Harry could hear Amber crying from her dormitory. Angry at himself for causing even more pain, he stomped away up the stairs. He didn't hear Ron's footsteps behind him.

"Harry," said Ron seriously from below.

"What now?"

"I think you should come look at this…"

Harry walked over to one of the squashy chairs that Ron was pointing at. Asleep in the chair was Hermione, her hair matted with blood.