CHAPTER 2
The Unexpected Problem
Harry, Ron, Hermione sat in the same compartment in the Hogwarts express. Harry was having the same feeling he had when he was going to Hogwarts for the first time. But this time, he wasn't going to be disappointed.
He thought of Sirius. His presence would have made his day. Except for the fact that Sirius was absent among them, Harry had a rather cheerful journey. He played miniature Quidditch with Ron, bought candies, chocolate frogs, every flavor beans, and had an in depth discussion of Quidditch strategies with Ron (Ron had been the keeper for the Gryffindor team since his fifth year at Hogwarts). Even his arch enemy, Draco Malfoy seemed to think better than picking a fight with Harry, which was something he never did during the previous years.
Harry was relieved to go back to the castle. Rain was pouring thickly outside and all the students were eagerly waiting for the sorting to finish. They were starving.
The great hall looked magnificent as it ever was. Thousands of candles were floating above them in mid-air. Ghosts were patrolling in and out of the walls giving the walls a crystallized flickering appearance. Suits of armors, unusually gleaming, were laughing at the terrified first years. Portraits (with moving pictures) seemed to have undergone a special cleaning over the summer. They were sparkling clean. The ceiling resembled the sky outside and the thunders outside occasionally filled the hall with a bright and dazzling light.
Harry looked at the staff table. He noticed that one of the chairs was empty.
"Who is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" asked Harry turning towards Ron and Hermione.
"Looks like they didn't find one," replied Ron.
"But, they are supposed to find some one, right?" said Hermione with a tensed expression on her face. "I mean, it's an extremely important subject."
"Hermione, it makes sense," said Ron. "Since Voldemort is dead, we don't need Defense Against the Dark Arts anymore."
"Ron!" interjected Hermione. "What are you talking about? You never know. Besides, there are death eaters all over the place. Not all of them are caught, are they?"
Ron rolled his eyes and turned his attention towards the empty plates, anticipating them to be filled.
Harry turned towards Snape, his least favorite teacher at Hogwarts. This time, Snape didn't have the usual dung-under-the-nose expression on his face. He seemed to be looking forward to something. When he turned towards Harry, his eyes narrowed with an evil grin and Harry was confirmed that Snape still had his share of vengeance stored for him.
But I don't have to be concerned with what he is thinking. After all, I dropped out of Potions last year and he can't do a thing to me. Evil git.
After the sorting hat had been taken away, Dumbledore stood up and loudly cleared his throat. The whole hall went silent.
"Good evening students, teachers and ghosts. Hope you all had a brilliant summer. I had a rather fascinating one myself!
"First things first. As you all know, last year, our student Harry Potter risked his own life to relieve the wizarding world of Lord Voldemort, and eventually succeeded in his endeavor. I would like to take this opportunity to announce that Harry potter has been nominated to receive the Order of Merlin."
This was too much for Harry to take in. As soon as Dumbledore finished, the whole hall, except the Slytherin table, exploded with applause. Hundreds of eyes turned towards Harry and he felt awkward at being the center of attention. He briefly looked up and spotted Cho in the crowd with a look of admiration on her face. Didn't he dream of this before?
"Of course, Harry won't receive the Order until he is officially out of Hogwarts," continued Dumbledore when the applause died away, "but I deeply congratulate him for his achievement.
"Now coming back to the same old matters, the list of formidable acts in the vicinity of campus is posted on the door of Mr. Filch's office. The forbidden forest is out of bounds to all the students. Lastly, let me introduce to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Snape."
Harry's Jaw dropped.
It was the Slytherin table's turn to fill the hall with cheerful ovation.
"What the-"
All of his excitement was wiped out by Dumbledore's last words. He absolutely wasn't anticipating Snape for a teacher in his last year. Defense Against the Dark Arts was his favorite of all the subjects, and Snape was going to seize the chance to make it his worst. He looked around at his table and realized that he wasn't the only one who had the expression of having eaten freshly squeezed Bobotuber puss on his face.
"From this year on," continued Dumbledore swiftly as if not aware of the furious looks he was receiving from the students, "Professor Snape will be teaching both Potions and Defense Against The Dark Arts. Now it's time for dinner. Enjoy your selves." He finished and took his seat.
"Enjoy ourselves?" muttered Ron furiously. "With Snape? I think Dumbledore had gone insane!"
"I was already expecting this," said Hermione superiorly. "The main reason Snape wasn't allowed to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts was because of Voldemort, considering, he was death eater for half his life. Since Voldemort is no more, Dumbledore need not fear him rejoining the Death eaters."
"You don't understand Hermione. He made us buy the unforgivable curses book. Didn't want to let go of them, did he? Now he is going to have real fun time experimenting them on us. Lucky Harry is resistant to that curse," said Ron with a loathsome tone.
Hermione opened her mouth as if to argue, but thought better than to defend Snape right under Ron's nose.
"Just let go of the topic Ron. We have the whole year to discuss this," said Harry grimly.
"Don't worry Harry. You know most of the stuff anyway. That's enough to start on your Auror training after school. Besides, I have never seen anyone produce a perfect Patronus like you do and no one can take it away from you," said Hermione soothingly.
This didn't cheer Harry up. He looked at his plate to find it already filled with food. He was no longer interested in what was being served. He just had some mashed potatoes, Roasted chicken, and a small jug of Pumpkin Juice and waited for the plates to clear. He wanted to be alone and think of possible ways to avoid Snape from ruining his last year at Hogwarts.
After the plates turned back to their original sparkling state, Harry Ron and Hermione left to Gryffindor tower together. They kept quiet all the way, walking absentmindedly and didn't even realize they were in front of the fat lady, the keeper of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
"Password?" demanded the fat lady.
"Oh shoot! We don't know the password!" said Ron.
"What are we going to do now?" said Harry trying to sound normal.
His question was instantly answered by Neville Longbottom, a round faced and forgetful 7th year. He was running towards them shouting out the password.
"MERLIN'S BEARD! MERLIN'S BEARD!" repeated Neville approaching them. "I just asked the Prefect downstairs".
"I am certainly not deaf!" said the fat lady disapprovingly as she swung forward to let them in.
"Thanks Neville," said Hermione after entering the common room.
"Don't mention it," said Neville earnestly.
Harry and Ron looked at each other. Neville was looking at Hermione with a dazed expression on his face. He seemed to be trying to look diligent, which made Harry suspect something was up.
"Er, I will go to bed then," said Hermione. She mumbled quick goodbye to the three boys and left to the girls' dormitory.
Harry looked at Neville. He was still staring behind Hermione and was brought back to senses by Harry's voice.
"Neville, are you okay?" asked Harry, trying to sound concerned. He was having a hard time suppressing his grin.
"What Harry? Oh. Ya. I am perfectly fine. I am really tired. I will go to Hermione now. Oh no! I meant to my bed."
Neville looked furious at himself. Without looking at Harry and Ron, he left upstairs to the boys' dormitory.
"Do you think he loves Hermione?" asked Ron after Neville left.
"Isn't it obvious? I reckon what Hermione thinks." said Harry.
"Didn't I get a memo or something?" said Ron impatiently. "Every body seemed to be in love except me. I wonder why!"
"You can sit here and wonder about it leisurely. I am going to bed now," said Harry and strode off leaving an extremely confused Ron behind.
Harry couldn't get sleep that night. He had a lot of thoughts in his mind. The letter. Cho. Snape.
What am I doing? I am not supposed to be thinking about anything right now. After all Snape can do nothing worse than he already did to me so far and regarding the letter, whoever the girl is, she said she would show up. Damn it. Forget about it.
The absence of Neville's usual snores told Harry that he wasn't the only one who wasn't asleep.
******
Harry was woken up by Ron in the morning. They both dressed and hurried to the great hall for breakfast.
Hermione was already sitting at the table pouring over a book with a jug of Pumpkin juice in one hand and toast in the other.
"Good morning!" she greeted them as they sat on the other side of the table.
"What are you reading Hermione?" said Ron curiously. "Classes haven't even started yet!"
"It's the analysis of the unforgivable curses book. Thought I would be well prepared if Snape puts the curse on me," said Hermione and returned back to reading the book.
Just when Harry was buttering his toast, he heard the familiar flapping of hundreds of wings.
Owl post
Harry found himself hoping for another letter from his unknown lover. Sure enough, a barn owl landed in front of him right in his pumpkin juice and sprayed him and Ron all over.
Harry took the letter from the owl and it took off in the direction of the owlery.
His heart leapt with excitement. Ignoring the furious propositions of Ron that school owls must be trained to land properly, he opened the letter with his fingers trembling slightly.
Harry read the letter. Ron peered at it over his shoulders, while Hermione continued reading her book, looking unconcerned.
Dear Harry,
How are you doing? I was really happy for your nomination for the
Order of Merlin. I am proud of you Harry and only waiting to
express it to you the 'right way'. Let me tell you. The day is not
too far.
I regret Snape being our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Trust me Harry, it isn't as bad as it sounds. Just try to stay
composed and everything will be all right.
And one more thing. Those glasses need some repairing. I am sure
you know the appropriate spell.
I love you Harry. Bye and take care.
Yours lovingly
Your me
After reading the letter, Harry immediately reached for his wand in his pocket and mended his glasses. He looked cheerful than usual.
"You know, may be Snape being the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher isn't that bad after all," he said turning behind to face Ron. "I already know how to block curses and Snape is going to have a hard time trying to make me hop around the class!"
"You weren't so confident when I told you the same thing yesterday," said Hermione teasingly, putting the book away in her bag. "But when the girl says it, it all makes much more sense, doesn't it?"
"This is different Herm- wait a minute. How do you know the girl said the same thing?" asked Harry with skepticism in his voice.
"It wouldn't take a genius to figure that out," replied Hermione returning to her toast. "You were suddenly comfortable with Snape teaching us."
"You know what Harry?" said Ron suddenly as if he had made a very special discovery. "I think I have some clues as to who this girl could be!"
"WHO?" said Harry and Hermione at once.
Ron looked pleased at their enthusiasm. "Well, the girl obviously hates Snape as much as we do. So she can't be a Slytherin."
Harry was amazed at Ron's presence of mind and was greatly relieved. He was dreading the fact that there was a great chance the girl could be either Millicent Bullstrode or Pansy Parkinson.
"And the way she knew your glasses was askew, she must be someone who you talked to or who looked at you closely yesterday."
Harry was reminded of Cho's dark eyes looking at him with full of admiration in them.
"Ron!" interrupted Hermione. "Apart from us, no other girl talked to Harry yesterday and let me remind you how the entire student population turned towards Harry after Dumbledore's announcement. But I must say that the girl, not being a Slytherin, must be a great relief to Harry. He can now happily rule out Millicent Bullstrode and Pansy Parkinson from the list of suspects, right Harry?"
Harry looked at Hermione, astonished at how she could read his thoughts. Hermione possessed a gift of ingenuity he always admired.
Ron was about to say something, but stopped when Professor McGonagall approached him and gave him his schedule.
"Double Defense Against the Dark Arts today!" he groaned, looking over at his schedule.
"And double divination. What a Monday!" said Harry gloomily.
"Why don't you take my advice and drop Divination?" said Hermione looking annoyed. "Honestly, I don't think you learned any thing from it so far!"
"And on what basis do you say that?" shot Ron.
"Well, if you really did learn something, you could have predicted who Harry's girl was by now!"
Harry dropped his toast. Harry's girl?
"Er, who says I can't predict? Give me some time," said Ron and closed his eyes as if thinking very hard. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I know who she is!" said Ron after a minute, grinning broadly.
"Who is it then?" asked Hermione trying to suppress a laugh.
Harry knew better than to pay attention to the conversation. He just sat there finishing his toast.
"It's YOU!" said Ron loudly.
The smile on Hermione's lips faded instantly. She looked at Ron as if he had just said an extremely nasty word.
"SHUT UP RON! THINK A LITTLE BEFORE YOU SAY SOMETHING-"
"Hermione, I was just-"
"JOKING? IS THAT WHAT YOU WERE ABOUT TO SAY? LET ME TELL YOU. IT WASN'T AS AMUSING AS YOU THINK IT WAS!"
With that, she threw an extremely vicious look at Ron and with out meeting Harry's eyes, seized her bag and left the hall.
It took a moment for Harry to digest what had just happened. He hadn't expected Ron to say that, and most of all, didn't expect Hermione to react that way.
"Harry-" Ron began, with a guilty expression. "You know I was-"
"I know you were just joking," said Harry, trying to ignore Seamus and Dean's queries as to why Hermione fumed all of a sudden.
They didn't talk anymore for the rest of the breakfast. They went back to the Gryffindor tower, took their 'Analysis of the Unforgivable curses' text book and left for Snape's class.
Harry felt odd not to attend Snape's class in a dungeon. He wasn't sure if the experiences were going to get better or worst.
"Mr. Potter and his sidekick Weasley arrived at last!" said Snape when they entered the class. Harry was confirmed that Snape didn't change a bit.
"Five points each from Gryffindor for being late. Now go and take your seats before I take another five each," said Snape removing his greasy hair off his eyes.
Harry couldn't believe it. Snape took off ten points off Gryffindor the very first day. He was tempted to hurl his textbook at Snape's unusually big nose and enjoy it bleed. However, he thought better of it and quietly took his seat at the back of the class room.
"Miserable old nut!" muttered Ron as he took his seat beside Harry. "One day, I might put a dung bomb in his chair. I can't wait to see his behind swell like salami!"
Harry suppressed a laugh. He spotted Hermione at the front, rapt with attention as usual. Some thing about her behavior told Harry that she was trying to avoid him and Ron.
Ron seemed to have noticed this. He immediately took out a piece of parchment and scribbled something and gave it to Harry.
Before he even read the first word, Snape strode over to them and snatched the parchment. He loudly cleared his throat and read it to the rest of the class.
"Leave her Harry. Let her be miserable!" read Snape.
Harry saw Ron go red in the face. He was worried if this would worsen Hermione and Ron's friendship. But Hermione seemed to be suddenly interested in the black board. She wasn't taking her eyes off it.
"Let's see," said Snape in ecstasy, which Harry thought made him look twice as ugly than he already was. "Twenty points off Gryffindor," he spat at them.
"I prefer you two sitting at the front," said Snape much to the annoyance of Hermione and conjured two chairs right in front of her.
"That's better. Go and take your seat."
Harry got up and walked across the classroom, hot in his face. He wished Ron would do something nasty to Snape at the moment. He would be more than glad to give him a hand.
However, Ron came and took his seat with his face resembling his hair.
Snape took his seat at the front of the classroom and looked around the class before continuing.
"As I was saying before, the main tool for blocking any curse is your own will power. Of course, it would be incredibly foolish of me to expect anything like that from you bunch, but I will do my job. Who wants to volunteer?"
It was a common knowledge that Snape normally picked students who didn't raise their hands immediately at something. Every one in the class raised their hands except.
"Miss Granger"
Ron! What an incredibly stupid thing you did! Now, I can't even face Harry.
"MISS GRANGER"
Hermione was shoved back to reality. It was the first time she trailed off without paying attention to the class. She looked furious with herself.
"Y-Yes, Professor Snape."
"I would like you to come forward and demonstrate your ability to block the Cruciatus curse."
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" fumed Ron suddenly. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN TEACH US HOW TO BLOCK IT AND YOU EXPECT US TO DO IT?"
Harry noticed his nostrils were on fire. He knew Ron had crossed his limits.
"I WON'T STAND BEING TALKED TO LIKE THAT WEASLEY!" said Snape pointing his wand at Ron. "FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR AND YOU ARE THE NEXT ONE TO DEMONSTRATE. TAKE YOUR SEAT. NOW!!!"
Ron sat back in his seat and slammed his text book against the bench. Harry decided what he was going to do. If Snape made Hermione do anything inappropriate, he would petrify him right there.
"Miss Granger, are you ready?"
"Yes Professor," said Hermione.
Snape pointed his wand at Hermione's forehead and muttered, "Crucio"
Harry could see the relaxed feeling in Hermione's face. He reached for his wand in his pocket.
"Jump on the table! NOW!" said Snape demandingly.
This is it. The moment Hermione jumps, he will regret the day he was born.
Hermione's expression changed from relaxed to serious. Harry took out his wand and was ready for what was coming.
"JUMP ON THE TABLE NOW, MISS GRANGER!"
Hermione however remained somber. She was unyielding and looked as if she didn't even hear Snape the second time.
Harry was astonished. He looked at Ron. Even he was holding out his wand, ready to use it. They both exchanged meaningful glances and put their wands down.
Hermione slowly opened her eyes. She didn't remotely look dazed and confused as one was expected to be after being inflicted upon by the Cruciatus curse.
"Are you done with me Professor Snape?" she asked as if Snape had just made her do a favor for him.
"D-Didn't you feel anything Miss Granger?" asked Snape, hardly audible.
"I didn't feel a thing Professor. Besides, it felt good. Can I take my seat now?" said Hermione, thoroughly enjoying the ugly expression of Snape's face.
"Class dismissed. You all can leave," said Snape in a distressed tone.
Harry and Ron couldn't believe what just happened. Hermione blocked an unforgivable curse from Snape without a trace of difficulty and he dismissed the class without even testing Ron as he said he would.
"I don't understand why Hermione is behaving like this," said Ron on their way to the great hall for lunch. "Did I do something that terrible for it to be a reason why she doesn't talk to me?"
"Hermione has changed a lot over the summer," said Harry. He stopped and turning towards Ron. "I wonder what she was thinking about while Snape put the curse on her."
"It doesn't really matter what she was thinking about. The point is, she blocked the curse-"
"No Ron. You don't understand. It does matter. She was affected by something so deep that it could dominate the feeling of the curse. I think what you said made her feel very bad. May be she is worried I would think you were right."
"May be," said Ron with a worried expression on his face. "I will apologize to her."
"You should!" said Harry grimly. Both of them went and sat at the Gryffindor table, looking for a sign of bushy hair among the students.
"Where is She?" said Ron looking flustered. "She didn't even have her breakfast properly!"
"May be she is in the library. It's typical of her to go there whenever she is depressed."
They had their lunch rather quickly and headed back to the Gryffindor tower. Harry hoped Hermione was in the common room, studying. He could personally tell her he would never think she was the one who sent the love letters.
When they crawled through the portrait hole into the common room, there was no sign of Hermione there. Harry was disappointed. He and Ron went upstairs to their dormitory to fetch their 'Unfogging the future' text books, when Harry was hit right in the eye by something sharp.
"IT WORKED! IT WORKED!" Harry heard Seamus bawl with excitement.
"What was that about?" shot Harry at Seamus angrily. He was frantically rubbing his eye.
"Sorry mate," apologized Seamus. "Dean was teaching me how to make paper airplanes!"
"And why exactly do you want to make-" Ron picked up a paper airplane and enthusiastically examined it. "WOW"
"These are the Muggle broom sticks!" said Ron, in a frenzied voice. "Dad told me about them once. How do they work Seamus?"
"Just blow air in this hole and press it here with your two index fingers and fling it upwards into the air," said Seamus animatedly.
Ron tried it and his airplane soared all the way across the room and lodged itself on the window sill.
"This is so cool. Muggles have to be very clever to create stuff like this. What do you think Harry?" said Ron, now trying to blow air into the second airplane.
"I wouldn't fancy being hit in the eye by something that cool. Why are you wasting your time doing these anyways?" asked Harry with a red eye.
Seamus held his hands to his ears as if Harry had severely offended him with his words, "Wasting my time Harry? Do you know that these paper airplanes are normally used as love messengers in the Muggle world?"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry picking up his book from his bed.
"What I mean is," said Seamus with an evil grin on his face, "we are going to use these airplanes to tease the girls with out getting ourselves caught. We have great plans with them. Do you want to join us Harry?"
"No thanks," said Harry and dragged Ron behind him to their divination class.
Divination was painful as usual. Trelawney decided they were ready for numerology and made them do numerous calculations to predict their date of death from their date of birth.
When Harry was trying to figure out if he was supposed to die crashing against the Whomping Willow or by a mere heart-attack, Professor Trelawney came over to him and said in her usual misty voice, "Something troubling you Mr. Potter? The baleful influence of Saturn on you still didn't flicker, I presume."
"Er, it did actually. I am supposed to be dying at the age of 91," said Harry trying not to lose track.
"91? I wonder if you should flip it over to make it a 19 dear, as I see it," said Professor Trelawney anticipating to see Harry agreeing with her.
"No," said Harry, confident. "I am sure it's 91."
"Very well, I would suggest you double check your work," said Professor Trelawney in a dissatisfied tone. "Come to me after class. I would like to review it for you."
This was the last thing Harry ever wanted to do. Sure Trelawney was going to find some thing or the other to change it from a 91 to 19.
"Hey Harry," said Ron, "I am supposed to be dying in the hands of a troll. No, wait.Oh no, a giant spider"
Professor Trelawney went over to Ron, "Did you find anything so far Mr. Weasley?"
"Umm.Yeah, I am supposed to be dying in a fight with a giant spider," said Ron looking over at his parchment.
"Oh dear! At what age are you supposed to be indulging in that unfateful fight of yours?" asked Trelawney, thoroughly pleased.
"At the age of 20" he made up.
"That's much more likely to happen. I am impressed by your bold confession Mr. Weasley. You receive full marks for the day," said Trelawney spiritedly and strode off to question Parvati Patil.
"I don't understand this," said Harry at the end of the class to Ron. "I had to bite my head off to come up with an answer and she doesn't believe me. You just made up something and she gives you full marks. What kind of nonsense is this?"
"Just tell her you redid your calculations and you are supposed to be dying at the age of 19," said Ron, now accompanying Harry to Professor Trelawney. "She will be more than happy to accept that."
Harry reached Professor Trelawney. She was sitting in her armchair with her eyes closed.
"Professor, I did my calculations. As you said, I am supposed to be dying at the age of 19."
Professor Trelawney didn't open her eyes or move a muscle. Harry wanted to seize the chance and leave the place before she did open her eyes and asked him to show her his work. He turned back and was about to leave, when she suddenly spoke.
"THE UNKNOWN ADHERENT IS ABOUT TO COME OUT AS A BOLT FROM THE BLUE AND THE REVELATION WILL MUCH MORE OF A TWINGE THAN RELIEF FOR THE BOY WHO KILLED THE DARK LORD"
Harry turned back and stared at Professor Trelawney, lost for words. He recognized the trance-like state she was in. She was all rigid and her eyes were rolled into her head. It's the only time her predictions were true, and Harry panicked. She might say who the girl was and it would cause him pain. He looked at Ron, who was staring at her as if she had suddenly transformed into a zombie.
"Let's go Harry!" nudged Ron. "We don't want to see her like this!"
"But-But Ron, she is-"
"Let's not talk about it here, okay!"
"THE GIRL NAMED-"
"COME ON HARRY!!!"
Harry was steered away from the room by Ron before Trelawney let out the name. He made sure they were out of earshot before he turned to Ron to speak. "What did you do that for? If we stayed there, she could have told us who the girl was!"
"I just couldn't see you like that." Ron tried to explain. "You were all pale and white and I think we heard enough to worry us for now."
"But, did you hear what she just said? Why would it be painful to know who loves me? I know for certain she is right, though."
"I know. That's the reason I got you off from that place. You would be better off not knowing it rather than knowing it and later regretting you ever knew it."
Harry decided that whatever Ron did was for his own good. He didn't complain. Yet, he was furious with Ron for preventing him from knowing what he was dying to know from the moment he had gotten the letter.
Harry finally made up his mind. Whoever the girl was, he loved her. He didn't care who she was. Her letters expressed sincere love for him and he would gladly love her back. The girl made him feel something he never felt before. He could feel the girl's agony and all he ever wanted to do was embrace her and let her know that he loved her.
Harry felt better. It wasn't going to be painful like Professor Trelawney had predicted.
It just can't be!
-TBC-
The Unexpected Problem
Harry, Ron, Hermione sat in the same compartment in the Hogwarts express. Harry was having the same feeling he had when he was going to Hogwarts for the first time. But this time, he wasn't going to be disappointed.
He thought of Sirius. His presence would have made his day. Except for the fact that Sirius was absent among them, Harry had a rather cheerful journey. He played miniature Quidditch with Ron, bought candies, chocolate frogs, every flavor beans, and had an in depth discussion of Quidditch strategies with Ron (Ron had been the keeper for the Gryffindor team since his fifth year at Hogwarts). Even his arch enemy, Draco Malfoy seemed to think better than picking a fight with Harry, which was something he never did during the previous years.
Harry was relieved to go back to the castle. Rain was pouring thickly outside and all the students were eagerly waiting for the sorting to finish. They were starving.
The great hall looked magnificent as it ever was. Thousands of candles were floating above them in mid-air. Ghosts were patrolling in and out of the walls giving the walls a crystallized flickering appearance. Suits of armors, unusually gleaming, were laughing at the terrified first years. Portraits (with moving pictures) seemed to have undergone a special cleaning over the summer. They were sparkling clean. The ceiling resembled the sky outside and the thunders outside occasionally filled the hall with a bright and dazzling light.
Harry looked at the staff table. He noticed that one of the chairs was empty.
"Who is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" asked Harry turning towards Ron and Hermione.
"Looks like they didn't find one," replied Ron.
"But, they are supposed to find some one, right?" said Hermione with a tensed expression on her face. "I mean, it's an extremely important subject."
"Hermione, it makes sense," said Ron. "Since Voldemort is dead, we don't need Defense Against the Dark Arts anymore."
"Ron!" interjected Hermione. "What are you talking about? You never know. Besides, there are death eaters all over the place. Not all of them are caught, are they?"
Ron rolled his eyes and turned his attention towards the empty plates, anticipating them to be filled.
Harry turned towards Snape, his least favorite teacher at Hogwarts. This time, Snape didn't have the usual dung-under-the-nose expression on his face. He seemed to be looking forward to something. When he turned towards Harry, his eyes narrowed with an evil grin and Harry was confirmed that Snape still had his share of vengeance stored for him.
But I don't have to be concerned with what he is thinking. After all, I dropped out of Potions last year and he can't do a thing to me. Evil git.
After the sorting hat had been taken away, Dumbledore stood up and loudly cleared his throat. The whole hall went silent.
"Good evening students, teachers and ghosts. Hope you all had a brilliant summer. I had a rather fascinating one myself!
"First things first. As you all know, last year, our student Harry Potter risked his own life to relieve the wizarding world of Lord Voldemort, and eventually succeeded in his endeavor. I would like to take this opportunity to announce that Harry potter has been nominated to receive the Order of Merlin."
This was too much for Harry to take in. As soon as Dumbledore finished, the whole hall, except the Slytherin table, exploded with applause. Hundreds of eyes turned towards Harry and he felt awkward at being the center of attention. He briefly looked up and spotted Cho in the crowd with a look of admiration on her face. Didn't he dream of this before?
"Of course, Harry won't receive the Order until he is officially out of Hogwarts," continued Dumbledore when the applause died away, "but I deeply congratulate him for his achievement.
"Now coming back to the same old matters, the list of formidable acts in the vicinity of campus is posted on the door of Mr. Filch's office. The forbidden forest is out of bounds to all the students. Lastly, let me introduce to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Snape."
Harry's Jaw dropped.
It was the Slytherin table's turn to fill the hall with cheerful ovation.
"What the-"
All of his excitement was wiped out by Dumbledore's last words. He absolutely wasn't anticipating Snape for a teacher in his last year. Defense Against the Dark Arts was his favorite of all the subjects, and Snape was going to seize the chance to make it his worst. He looked around at his table and realized that he wasn't the only one who had the expression of having eaten freshly squeezed Bobotuber puss on his face.
"From this year on," continued Dumbledore swiftly as if not aware of the furious looks he was receiving from the students, "Professor Snape will be teaching both Potions and Defense Against The Dark Arts. Now it's time for dinner. Enjoy your selves." He finished and took his seat.
"Enjoy ourselves?" muttered Ron furiously. "With Snape? I think Dumbledore had gone insane!"
"I was already expecting this," said Hermione superiorly. "The main reason Snape wasn't allowed to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts was because of Voldemort, considering, he was death eater for half his life. Since Voldemort is no more, Dumbledore need not fear him rejoining the Death eaters."
"You don't understand Hermione. He made us buy the unforgivable curses book. Didn't want to let go of them, did he? Now he is going to have real fun time experimenting them on us. Lucky Harry is resistant to that curse," said Ron with a loathsome tone.
Hermione opened her mouth as if to argue, but thought better than to defend Snape right under Ron's nose.
"Just let go of the topic Ron. We have the whole year to discuss this," said Harry grimly.
"Don't worry Harry. You know most of the stuff anyway. That's enough to start on your Auror training after school. Besides, I have never seen anyone produce a perfect Patronus like you do and no one can take it away from you," said Hermione soothingly.
This didn't cheer Harry up. He looked at his plate to find it already filled with food. He was no longer interested in what was being served. He just had some mashed potatoes, Roasted chicken, and a small jug of Pumpkin Juice and waited for the plates to clear. He wanted to be alone and think of possible ways to avoid Snape from ruining his last year at Hogwarts.
After the plates turned back to their original sparkling state, Harry Ron and Hermione left to Gryffindor tower together. They kept quiet all the way, walking absentmindedly and didn't even realize they were in front of the fat lady, the keeper of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
"Password?" demanded the fat lady.
"Oh shoot! We don't know the password!" said Ron.
"What are we going to do now?" said Harry trying to sound normal.
His question was instantly answered by Neville Longbottom, a round faced and forgetful 7th year. He was running towards them shouting out the password.
"MERLIN'S BEARD! MERLIN'S BEARD!" repeated Neville approaching them. "I just asked the Prefect downstairs".
"I am certainly not deaf!" said the fat lady disapprovingly as she swung forward to let them in.
"Thanks Neville," said Hermione after entering the common room.
"Don't mention it," said Neville earnestly.
Harry and Ron looked at each other. Neville was looking at Hermione with a dazed expression on his face. He seemed to be trying to look diligent, which made Harry suspect something was up.
"Er, I will go to bed then," said Hermione. She mumbled quick goodbye to the three boys and left to the girls' dormitory.
Harry looked at Neville. He was still staring behind Hermione and was brought back to senses by Harry's voice.
"Neville, are you okay?" asked Harry, trying to sound concerned. He was having a hard time suppressing his grin.
"What Harry? Oh. Ya. I am perfectly fine. I am really tired. I will go to Hermione now. Oh no! I meant to my bed."
Neville looked furious at himself. Without looking at Harry and Ron, he left upstairs to the boys' dormitory.
"Do you think he loves Hermione?" asked Ron after Neville left.
"Isn't it obvious? I reckon what Hermione thinks." said Harry.
"Didn't I get a memo or something?" said Ron impatiently. "Every body seemed to be in love except me. I wonder why!"
"You can sit here and wonder about it leisurely. I am going to bed now," said Harry and strode off leaving an extremely confused Ron behind.
Harry couldn't get sleep that night. He had a lot of thoughts in his mind. The letter. Cho. Snape.
What am I doing? I am not supposed to be thinking about anything right now. After all Snape can do nothing worse than he already did to me so far and regarding the letter, whoever the girl is, she said she would show up. Damn it. Forget about it.
The absence of Neville's usual snores told Harry that he wasn't the only one who wasn't asleep.
******
Harry was woken up by Ron in the morning. They both dressed and hurried to the great hall for breakfast.
Hermione was already sitting at the table pouring over a book with a jug of Pumpkin juice in one hand and toast in the other.
"Good morning!" she greeted them as they sat on the other side of the table.
"What are you reading Hermione?" said Ron curiously. "Classes haven't even started yet!"
"It's the analysis of the unforgivable curses book. Thought I would be well prepared if Snape puts the curse on me," said Hermione and returned back to reading the book.
Just when Harry was buttering his toast, he heard the familiar flapping of hundreds of wings.
Owl post
Harry found himself hoping for another letter from his unknown lover. Sure enough, a barn owl landed in front of him right in his pumpkin juice and sprayed him and Ron all over.
Harry took the letter from the owl and it took off in the direction of the owlery.
His heart leapt with excitement. Ignoring the furious propositions of Ron that school owls must be trained to land properly, he opened the letter with his fingers trembling slightly.
Harry read the letter. Ron peered at it over his shoulders, while Hermione continued reading her book, looking unconcerned.
Dear Harry,
How are you doing? I was really happy for your nomination for the
Order of Merlin. I am proud of you Harry and only waiting to
express it to you the 'right way'. Let me tell you. The day is not
too far.
I regret Snape being our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Trust me Harry, it isn't as bad as it sounds. Just try to stay
composed and everything will be all right.
And one more thing. Those glasses need some repairing. I am sure
you know the appropriate spell.
I love you Harry. Bye and take care.
Yours lovingly
Your me
After reading the letter, Harry immediately reached for his wand in his pocket and mended his glasses. He looked cheerful than usual.
"You know, may be Snape being the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher isn't that bad after all," he said turning behind to face Ron. "I already know how to block curses and Snape is going to have a hard time trying to make me hop around the class!"
"You weren't so confident when I told you the same thing yesterday," said Hermione teasingly, putting the book away in her bag. "But when the girl says it, it all makes much more sense, doesn't it?"
"This is different Herm- wait a minute. How do you know the girl said the same thing?" asked Harry with skepticism in his voice.
"It wouldn't take a genius to figure that out," replied Hermione returning to her toast. "You were suddenly comfortable with Snape teaching us."
"You know what Harry?" said Ron suddenly as if he had made a very special discovery. "I think I have some clues as to who this girl could be!"
"WHO?" said Harry and Hermione at once.
Ron looked pleased at their enthusiasm. "Well, the girl obviously hates Snape as much as we do. So she can't be a Slytherin."
Harry was amazed at Ron's presence of mind and was greatly relieved. He was dreading the fact that there was a great chance the girl could be either Millicent Bullstrode or Pansy Parkinson.
"And the way she knew your glasses was askew, she must be someone who you talked to or who looked at you closely yesterday."
Harry was reminded of Cho's dark eyes looking at him with full of admiration in them.
"Ron!" interrupted Hermione. "Apart from us, no other girl talked to Harry yesterday and let me remind you how the entire student population turned towards Harry after Dumbledore's announcement. But I must say that the girl, not being a Slytherin, must be a great relief to Harry. He can now happily rule out Millicent Bullstrode and Pansy Parkinson from the list of suspects, right Harry?"
Harry looked at Hermione, astonished at how she could read his thoughts. Hermione possessed a gift of ingenuity he always admired.
Ron was about to say something, but stopped when Professor McGonagall approached him and gave him his schedule.
"Double Defense Against the Dark Arts today!" he groaned, looking over at his schedule.
"And double divination. What a Monday!" said Harry gloomily.
"Why don't you take my advice and drop Divination?" said Hermione looking annoyed. "Honestly, I don't think you learned any thing from it so far!"
"And on what basis do you say that?" shot Ron.
"Well, if you really did learn something, you could have predicted who Harry's girl was by now!"
Harry dropped his toast. Harry's girl?
"Er, who says I can't predict? Give me some time," said Ron and closed his eyes as if thinking very hard. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I know who she is!" said Ron after a minute, grinning broadly.
"Who is it then?" asked Hermione trying to suppress a laugh.
Harry knew better than to pay attention to the conversation. He just sat there finishing his toast.
"It's YOU!" said Ron loudly.
The smile on Hermione's lips faded instantly. She looked at Ron as if he had just said an extremely nasty word.
"SHUT UP RON! THINK A LITTLE BEFORE YOU SAY SOMETHING-"
"Hermione, I was just-"
"JOKING? IS THAT WHAT YOU WERE ABOUT TO SAY? LET ME TELL YOU. IT WASN'T AS AMUSING AS YOU THINK IT WAS!"
With that, she threw an extremely vicious look at Ron and with out meeting Harry's eyes, seized her bag and left the hall.
It took a moment for Harry to digest what had just happened. He hadn't expected Ron to say that, and most of all, didn't expect Hermione to react that way.
"Harry-" Ron began, with a guilty expression. "You know I was-"
"I know you were just joking," said Harry, trying to ignore Seamus and Dean's queries as to why Hermione fumed all of a sudden.
They didn't talk anymore for the rest of the breakfast. They went back to the Gryffindor tower, took their 'Analysis of the Unforgivable curses' text book and left for Snape's class.
Harry felt odd not to attend Snape's class in a dungeon. He wasn't sure if the experiences were going to get better or worst.
"Mr. Potter and his sidekick Weasley arrived at last!" said Snape when they entered the class. Harry was confirmed that Snape didn't change a bit.
"Five points each from Gryffindor for being late. Now go and take your seats before I take another five each," said Snape removing his greasy hair off his eyes.
Harry couldn't believe it. Snape took off ten points off Gryffindor the very first day. He was tempted to hurl his textbook at Snape's unusually big nose and enjoy it bleed. However, he thought better of it and quietly took his seat at the back of the class room.
"Miserable old nut!" muttered Ron as he took his seat beside Harry. "One day, I might put a dung bomb in his chair. I can't wait to see his behind swell like salami!"
Harry suppressed a laugh. He spotted Hermione at the front, rapt with attention as usual. Some thing about her behavior told Harry that she was trying to avoid him and Ron.
Ron seemed to have noticed this. He immediately took out a piece of parchment and scribbled something and gave it to Harry.
Before he even read the first word, Snape strode over to them and snatched the parchment. He loudly cleared his throat and read it to the rest of the class.
"Leave her Harry. Let her be miserable!" read Snape.
Harry saw Ron go red in the face. He was worried if this would worsen Hermione and Ron's friendship. But Hermione seemed to be suddenly interested in the black board. She wasn't taking her eyes off it.
"Let's see," said Snape in ecstasy, which Harry thought made him look twice as ugly than he already was. "Twenty points off Gryffindor," he spat at them.
"I prefer you two sitting at the front," said Snape much to the annoyance of Hermione and conjured two chairs right in front of her.
"That's better. Go and take your seat."
Harry got up and walked across the classroom, hot in his face. He wished Ron would do something nasty to Snape at the moment. He would be more than glad to give him a hand.
However, Ron came and took his seat with his face resembling his hair.
Snape took his seat at the front of the classroom and looked around the class before continuing.
"As I was saying before, the main tool for blocking any curse is your own will power. Of course, it would be incredibly foolish of me to expect anything like that from you bunch, but I will do my job. Who wants to volunteer?"
It was a common knowledge that Snape normally picked students who didn't raise their hands immediately at something. Every one in the class raised their hands except.
"Miss Granger"
Ron! What an incredibly stupid thing you did! Now, I can't even face Harry.
"MISS GRANGER"
Hermione was shoved back to reality. It was the first time she trailed off without paying attention to the class. She looked furious with herself.
"Y-Yes, Professor Snape."
"I would like you to come forward and demonstrate your ability to block the Cruciatus curse."
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" fumed Ron suddenly. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN TEACH US HOW TO BLOCK IT AND YOU EXPECT US TO DO IT?"
Harry noticed his nostrils were on fire. He knew Ron had crossed his limits.
"I WON'T STAND BEING TALKED TO LIKE THAT WEASLEY!" said Snape pointing his wand at Ron. "FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR AND YOU ARE THE NEXT ONE TO DEMONSTRATE. TAKE YOUR SEAT. NOW!!!"
Ron sat back in his seat and slammed his text book against the bench. Harry decided what he was going to do. If Snape made Hermione do anything inappropriate, he would petrify him right there.
"Miss Granger, are you ready?"
"Yes Professor," said Hermione.
Snape pointed his wand at Hermione's forehead and muttered, "Crucio"
Harry could see the relaxed feeling in Hermione's face. He reached for his wand in his pocket.
"Jump on the table! NOW!" said Snape demandingly.
This is it. The moment Hermione jumps, he will regret the day he was born.
Hermione's expression changed from relaxed to serious. Harry took out his wand and was ready for what was coming.
"JUMP ON THE TABLE NOW, MISS GRANGER!"
Hermione however remained somber. She was unyielding and looked as if she didn't even hear Snape the second time.
Harry was astonished. He looked at Ron. Even he was holding out his wand, ready to use it. They both exchanged meaningful glances and put their wands down.
Hermione slowly opened her eyes. She didn't remotely look dazed and confused as one was expected to be after being inflicted upon by the Cruciatus curse.
"Are you done with me Professor Snape?" she asked as if Snape had just made her do a favor for him.
"D-Didn't you feel anything Miss Granger?" asked Snape, hardly audible.
"I didn't feel a thing Professor. Besides, it felt good. Can I take my seat now?" said Hermione, thoroughly enjoying the ugly expression of Snape's face.
"Class dismissed. You all can leave," said Snape in a distressed tone.
Harry and Ron couldn't believe what just happened. Hermione blocked an unforgivable curse from Snape without a trace of difficulty and he dismissed the class without even testing Ron as he said he would.
"I don't understand why Hermione is behaving like this," said Ron on their way to the great hall for lunch. "Did I do something that terrible for it to be a reason why she doesn't talk to me?"
"Hermione has changed a lot over the summer," said Harry. He stopped and turning towards Ron. "I wonder what she was thinking about while Snape put the curse on her."
"It doesn't really matter what she was thinking about. The point is, she blocked the curse-"
"No Ron. You don't understand. It does matter. She was affected by something so deep that it could dominate the feeling of the curse. I think what you said made her feel very bad. May be she is worried I would think you were right."
"May be," said Ron with a worried expression on his face. "I will apologize to her."
"You should!" said Harry grimly. Both of them went and sat at the Gryffindor table, looking for a sign of bushy hair among the students.
"Where is She?" said Ron looking flustered. "She didn't even have her breakfast properly!"
"May be she is in the library. It's typical of her to go there whenever she is depressed."
They had their lunch rather quickly and headed back to the Gryffindor tower. Harry hoped Hermione was in the common room, studying. He could personally tell her he would never think she was the one who sent the love letters.
When they crawled through the portrait hole into the common room, there was no sign of Hermione there. Harry was disappointed. He and Ron went upstairs to their dormitory to fetch their 'Unfogging the future' text books, when Harry was hit right in the eye by something sharp.
"IT WORKED! IT WORKED!" Harry heard Seamus bawl with excitement.
"What was that about?" shot Harry at Seamus angrily. He was frantically rubbing his eye.
"Sorry mate," apologized Seamus. "Dean was teaching me how to make paper airplanes!"
"And why exactly do you want to make-" Ron picked up a paper airplane and enthusiastically examined it. "WOW"
"These are the Muggle broom sticks!" said Ron, in a frenzied voice. "Dad told me about them once. How do they work Seamus?"
"Just blow air in this hole and press it here with your two index fingers and fling it upwards into the air," said Seamus animatedly.
Ron tried it and his airplane soared all the way across the room and lodged itself on the window sill.
"This is so cool. Muggles have to be very clever to create stuff like this. What do you think Harry?" said Ron, now trying to blow air into the second airplane.
"I wouldn't fancy being hit in the eye by something that cool. Why are you wasting your time doing these anyways?" asked Harry with a red eye.
Seamus held his hands to his ears as if Harry had severely offended him with his words, "Wasting my time Harry? Do you know that these paper airplanes are normally used as love messengers in the Muggle world?"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry picking up his book from his bed.
"What I mean is," said Seamus with an evil grin on his face, "we are going to use these airplanes to tease the girls with out getting ourselves caught. We have great plans with them. Do you want to join us Harry?"
"No thanks," said Harry and dragged Ron behind him to their divination class.
Divination was painful as usual. Trelawney decided they were ready for numerology and made them do numerous calculations to predict their date of death from their date of birth.
When Harry was trying to figure out if he was supposed to die crashing against the Whomping Willow or by a mere heart-attack, Professor Trelawney came over to him and said in her usual misty voice, "Something troubling you Mr. Potter? The baleful influence of Saturn on you still didn't flicker, I presume."
"Er, it did actually. I am supposed to be dying at the age of 91," said Harry trying not to lose track.
"91? I wonder if you should flip it over to make it a 19 dear, as I see it," said Professor Trelawney anticipating to see Harry agreeing with her.
"No," said Harry, confident. "I am sure it's 91."
"Very well, I would suggest you double check your work," said Professor Trelawney in a dissatisfied tone. "Come to me after class. I would like to review it for you."
This was the last thing Harry ever wanted to do. Sure Trelawney was going to find some thing or the other to change it from a 91 to 19.
"Hey Harry," said Ron, "I am supposed to be dying in the hands of a troll. No, wait.Oh no, a giant spider"
Professor Trelawney went over to Ron, "Did you find anything so far Mr. Weasley?"
"Umm.Yeah, I am supposed to be dying in a fight with a giant spider," said Ron looking over at his parchment.
"Oh dear! At what age are you supposed to be indulging in that unfateful fight of yours?" asked Trelawney, thoroughly pleased.
"At the age of 20" he made up.
"That's much more likely to happen. I am impressed by your bold confession Mr. Weasley. You receive full marks for the day," said Trelawney spiritedly and strode off to question Parvati Patil.
"I don't understand this," said Harry at the end of the class to Ron. "I had to bite my head off to come up with an answer and she doesn't believe me. You just made up something and she gives you full marks. What kind of nonsense is this?"
"Just tell her you redid your calculations and you are supposed to be dying at the age of 19," said Ron, now accompanying Harry to Professor Trelawney. "She will be more than happy to accept that."
Harry reached Professor Trelawney. She was sitting in her armchair with her eyes closed.
"Professor, I did my calculations. As you said, I am supposed to be dying at the age of 19."
Professor Trelawney didn't open her eyes or move a muscle. Harry wanted to seize the chance and leave the place before she did open her eyes and asked him to show her his work. He turned back and was about to leave, when she suddenly spoke.
"THE UNKNOWN ADHERENT IS ABOUT TO COME OUT AS A BOLT FROM THE BLUE AND THE REVELATION WILL MUCH MORE OF A TWINGE THAN RELIEF FOR THE BOY WHO KILLED THE DARK LORD"
Harry turned back and stared at Professor Trelawney, lost for words. He recognized the trance-like state she was in. She was all rigid and her eyes were rolled into her head. It's the only time her predictions were true, and Harry panicked. She might say who the girl was and it would cause him pain. He looked at Ron, who was staring at her as if she had suddenly transformed into a zombie.
"Let's go Harry!" nudged Ron. "We don't want to see her like this!"
"But-But Ron, she is-"
"Let's not talk about it here, okay!"
"THE GIRL NAMED-"
"COME ON HARRY!!!"
Harry was steered away from the room by Ron before Trelawney let out the name. He made sure they were out of earshot before he turned to Ron to speak. "What did you do that for? If we stayed there, she could have told us who the girl was!"
"I just couldn't see you like that." Ron tried to explain. "You were all pale and white and I think we heard enough to worry us for now."
"But, did you hear what she just said? Why would it be painful to know who loves me? I know for certain she is right, though."
"I know. That's the reason I got you off from that place. You would be better off not knowing it rather than knowing it and later regretting you ever knew it."
Harry decided that whatever Ron did was for his own good. He didn't complain. Yet, he was furious with Ron for preventing him from knowing what he was dying to know from the moment he had gotten the letter.
Harry finally made up his mind. Whoever the girl was, he loved her. He didn't care who she was. Her letters expressed sincere love for him and he would gladly love her back. The girl made him feel something he never felt before. He could feel the girl's agony and all he ever wanted to do was embrace her and let her know that he loved her.
Harry felt better. It wasn't going to be painful like Professor Trelawney had predicted.
It just can't be!
-TBC-