An hour later, they finally arrived at Hogwarts. Harry heard the familiar voice of Hagrid, calling all of the frightened first year students forward. When Hagrid spotted Harry walking over with the other sixth year students to the carriages, he yelled out, "Hiya Harry." Harry merely nodded which caused Hagrid to frown. Harry walked over to the carriages. He spotted the threstals. He walked over to one and patted it on the head. All around him, people were staring, and wondering why he was patting thin air.

Harry found a carriage that he thought was empty. However, he thought wrong. "You've really got to be joking," he said. Out of all the people in Hogwarts, Harry was stuck sitting with Luna Lovegood and Sam. There was an awkward silence in the carriage. Sam kept giving Harry dirty looks and visa versa.

"So," Luna said to make conversation in her dreamy tone. "Have you ever noticed that there is no meat and fat on a threstal."

"Err... no... I guess I haven't," he said glaring and Sam. He looked at Luna and said, "So I see that you have abandoned those reddish earrings."

"Well, actually, they are in my trunk as we speak," she said happily.

"Right," Harry said. Then the silence came back again.

It was a great relief to them when they finally arrived at the castle. As usual, Professor McGonagal was waiting for them at the front of the stairs.

"Welcome back sixth years. Now will everyone please hurry, the first years have already arrived," she said in her usual stern voice. "Oh and Ms. Snape, will you please join them?" she said.

"Yes Professor," and with that Sam left with her cloak flurrying around her. This gave her the effect of her father.

"Hey Neville, I bet you 10 Galleons that she makes it into Slytherin," Harry said loudly. Ron turned and glared at him. Sam however, paid no attention though she heard him loud enough.

"Please tell me that their not fighting again?" asked Parvati Patel to Lavender Brown. Harry smirked at Parvati and she turned around and blushed. She turned to Lavender and they both started to giggle and whisper amongst themselves. Ron gave Harry another evil glare. This time Hermione saw and gave Ron a hard nudge in the ribs.

"Ron, leave Harry alone," she whispered.

They quickly entered the Great Hall. Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table. Instead of sitting with Ron and Hermione, he sat with Neville and Seamus. During a brief glaring match between Harry and Ron, the sorting had begun.

Harry ignored most of the ceremony. When Professor McGonagal announced the name of Mark Evans, Harry did a double take.

"What!?" Harry had yelled out. Neville looked at him strangely.

"What's wrong Harry?" Neville asked.

"That's Mark Evans," he said with a look of shock on his face.

"So? Whose he?" Seamus asked.

"That's the kid that I went to Azkaban for." They both stared at him petrified. "No, I didn't beat him," Harry said laughing at the expression of Neville and Seamus' faces. "I tried to protect him from my cousin."

They nodded their heads in unison. Once Mark was settled in Gryffindor, Harry had motioned for him to sit with them.

"Hey Harry," Mark said very loudly. Everyone in the whole hall stopped what they were doing and stared at him. "I didn't know you came here. I thought you went to Saint Brutus' Secure Center for the Incurably Criminal Boys?"

"Uh, no. That was just a lie that my uncle and aunt spread throughout the neighborhood," Harry said.

Malfoy, hearing everything that was going on, yelled across the Hall. "St. Brutus'? Maybe that's were you really belong, eh Potter?"

"Yeah, well I know a few places where you belong Malfoy. But unfortunately, it is unsuitable for me to say at the moment," he yelled across the hall. He put a false smile on. "It involves a-,"

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy! Twenty points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin," Professor McGonagal yelled. There were groans from both housed, due to the fact that they weren't even settled in yet.

After a long sorting, they finally arrived at Samantha Snape. Everyone was eager to know which house Professor Snape's daughter was going to end up in. There was a silence as the Sorting Hat yelled out, "SLYTHERIN."

The whole Slytherin table went crazy and started cheering. Malfoy glared at Harry with a wicked sort of triumph. Harry leaned over towards Neville.

"So, I expect I won five Galleons," he said smiling.

As usual, Dumbledore gave a magnificent speech on welcoming everyone back. Dumbledore gave the cue and the feast began. Soon, the Hall went from quiet to noisy. However, when the feast began, Professor Snape motioned for his daughter to come and sit with him. She went and as soon as she was close enough, he hugged her. It looked to Harry that Snape was proud that his daughter had made it into Slytherin. Everyone at the staff table congratulated them. For the first time, it looked to Harry that Snape was actually happy. As the meal proceeded however, every so often Sam and Harry would glare at each other. When the feast was over, Dumbledore ordered the Prefects to take their houses to their dormitories. Ron and Hermione stood up and called the rest of the Gryffindor table to follow them to their tower.

"Harry," Dumbledore called after him before he left the Hall. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked him though those half moon glasses.

"Sure," he said in a low voice. "What do you want Professor?" he asked after Dumbledore had pulled him aside.

"Harry, I saw you... Better yet, I saw what you did on the train coming here," he said calmly.

"Yeah, so what are you going to do? Expel me?" he said coldly.

"No," Dumbledore said happily. "I wanted to ask if you would like to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"What do you mean?" he asked shocked.

"I've seen how well you conjure defense spells. Remember Harry, you were chosen for the Triwizard Tournament," said Dumbledore. His eyes were glimmering behind those glasses like they usually did when he was happy. "And don't forget about how you taught the D.A last year."

"Are you mental?" he said. "First off, I was guaranteed a spot due to that bloody Death Eater and as for the D.A, there's a big difference there."

"How so?" Dumbledore asked as he popped a lemon drop in his mouth.

"Well I liked most of the people. You'll be lucky if I don't hex Malfoy," Harry said in a ranting tone. "Then there's-"

"Mr. Potter," Dumbledore interrupted. "We do not have a Defense teacher. Originally, I was going to teach but I saw on the train. I will not lie to you Harry-"

"It's a little too late for that," Harry mumbled and received a glare from McGonagall.

"I am old and you know my biggest mistake. I underestimate the youth, but you know what to expect," he said as he lowered his half moon spectacles in seriousness. "Back on the train you taught everyone a lesson by example. You didn't take it easy on them. You got in contact with what a Death Eater would.

"You know more about what this war is about than probably anyone here. Most importantly, you know Voldemort better than anyone. All of these things can make you a good teacher," he paused to take a breath. "Tell me Harry, will you let these kids come into war unprepared?"

Harry sighed and ran his hands over his hair. He felt older than he ever had before. "I'll take Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh years. I won't teach anyone younger how to fight a war and that's all I know," he declared.

"Very well, Harry. Go up to sleep," Dumbledore said tiredly.

Harry walked to Gryffindor Tower. When he arrived at the picture of the Fat Lady, he realized that he didn't know the password.

"Great," he said angrily.

"Password?" she said in her usual tone.

"Are you going to let me in?" he asked coldly.

"No password, no entry young man," she snapped in an aristocratic tone.

"Let me in before I take a leaf out of Sirius Black's book," he growled threateningly.

"I said no!" she yelled. Just then Hermione showed up.

"Harry, what's going on?" she asked seriously. "Look Harry, I understand that your angry, but do you have to take it out on the paintings too?"

"Well, she started it," he said defensively. She looked at him strangely.

"Dominus," she said. The portrait swung open. They went inside. "What took you so long coming up here?" she asked as they entered the Common Room.

"It's a surprise," he told her glumly.

"Alright then. I'm going upstairs. Goodnight Harry and try not to get into any fights," she said and retreated up to her dormitory.

Harry, however, stayed downstairs thinking. He did that a lot lately since his sleep was usually filled with nightmares. Death and destruction. No Harry would rather sit and think. Still, thinking was just as hard. No matter where he turned, there was war. He decided that life wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

He stared into the fire as it started to go out. The fire molded into Sirius's face. "Sirius," he mumbled as he fell asleep on the couch. They were dueling again, Sirius and Bellatrix. The curse missed Sirius but the next one didn't. He fell behind the veil. "NO!!!! SIRIUS, NO!!!!"