Chapter 4 The Feast

The next day passed by fairly quickly, and before he knew it, Harry was getting ready for the feast.

Harry headed down to the Great Hall, as all the students would all soon be arriving. Harry so desperately want to see his friends more than ever. It had been a while since he had written with them; this was because of all the extraordinary things that have been happening lately.

As Harry was walking down one of the halls, he ran into his godfather Sirius and Remus.

"Hello Harry, heading down for the feast?" Sirius queried.

"As a matter of fact, I was. I can't wait for the others to get here. It's been a long time since we've been in contact with one another," replied Harry. Together they all made their way to the Great Hall for the start of term feast.

As they entered the Entrance Hall, they heard excited voices coming from outside. Suddenly the front doors burst wide open and all of the students appeared. Harry, Sirius, and Remus ran in to the Great Hall as to escape the large crowd. Also to conceal the fact that Sirius would be teaching there, until Professor Dumbledore announced it at the beginning of the feast.

Harry sat patiently at the Gryffindor table waiting for his friends and the rest of the school to arrive. Finally he spotted his two friends, Hermione and Ron.

"Harry! Why haven't you been in contact with us lately? We've been so worried about you!" Hermione practically yelled, but you could tell that there was a hint of happiness that he was all right, in her voice.

"Yeah, we thought that something happened to you. Like You-Know-Who got you or something! My mum was going crazy." Ron concluded.

"Thanks for worrying about me guy's, but honestly I'm fine. Meet me in the common room tonight at around 11:00pm and I'll tell you what happened in full detail." Harry said to them, who both nodded, showing that they understood them.

They were about to continue their conversation when Professor Dumbledore stood up, ready to begin his "Start-of-Term" speech. The Great Hall suddenly went very quiet.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. This year we have a few changes that will be taking place. Everyone's eyes were all now fixed deeply on Dumbledore listening with rapt attention. Dumbledore carried on though as if there had been nothing wrong.

"First of all, every student is now expected to attend a dueling class which will be taut by Professor Lupin." There were deafening cheers coming form the students in the Great Hall at the point in time. Professor Lupin stood up and gave a small wave of thanks and a smile.

"Next, we have our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. This subject will be taut by none other than Professor Sirius Black. All eyes turned and rested on Sirius who looked nervous and therefore fixed his gaze upon Harry, Ron and Hermione, who all smiled at him pleasantly and made him relax a bit.

"Now, I must warn you though not to test his patience. There are only three people beside myself who know how to help control his raging temper. You'll find out who they are in a few minutes." Dumbledore said with the usual twinkle in his eyes.

"Another thing that you should consider is not to harm or threaten his godson. Don't even pretend to, for what the consequences may be, I do not know. That will be in the hands of Sirius." Professor Dumbledore stated.

"O.K. Now may I ask Sirius' three friends and godson to come up here please? Yes, that includes the one that is sitting at the Staff table." Concluded Professor Dumbledore.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Remus all looked at each other and the up at Dumbledore who nodded. Professor Lupin stood up and Harry and his friends made their way up to the staff table. This earned them shocked looks from all the students and even some or rather most of the teachers present in the Great Hall.

"Hey Sirius, Remus, how have you guys been lately?" Hermione asked.

"Haven't heard from you lately. Harry, how come you never told us that Sirius and Remus were here with you?" Ron questioned.

"Oh, Ron, guess what? Sirius and Remus are here with me." Harry said, trying very hard to hold back his laughter.

"Good one Harry." Dumbledore whispered, so that only they could hear.

"Do you think that we should tell everyone that you're Sirius's godson Harry?" Hermione asked.

Before he could answer, Professor Dumbledore stepped in and stated, "Would it be possible Sirius, to have your godson step forward?"

"I'm sure that could be arranged," he said, casting a meaningful look over at Harry who took a deep breath and slowly stepped forward. The people in the Great Hall seemed to be holding their breath at this point. Everyone gasped and stared, some people even had their mouths hanging wide open.

Deciding to break up the tense atmosphere, Harry slipped his wand behind his back without anyone noticing, and muttered something. Suddenly there came a loud noise from up a the Staff table. Everyone turned to see Snape with pink hair and a hallo above his head, robes that flashed red with the Gryffindor lion in the front. When he tried to speak all that came out was a girl's voice that was singing. Then when he opened his mouth for a third time, what came out surprised everyone.

"Gryffindor's, I am sorry for all the bad things that I did to you and therefore award each of you 100 points each. Actually, 100 points each for every bad thing that I ever did to you. Same goes to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The opposite goes to the Slytherins." When Snape finished his voice was back to normal. He was looking at all the students that were all staring at him.

"What just happened?" he asked. Professor McGonagal, who was more than pleased to respond, as Gryffindor was her house, told Snape what he had said. By the time she was finished, he looked murderous. "When I find out who did all of this, that person will have detention with me until the end of their school life!!" Snape thundered and then stormed out.

That night Harry told Ron and Hermione about his summer and why he hasn't been in contact with them lately. At the end they nodded in agreement and headed up to their separate dormitories. Until the next day when classes would begin again...