AN: I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry, guys! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEZE forgive me for not updating for, like, ever!!!!!!!! But, ya know, I have been moving, and I just now found the power cord for my comp THREE WEEKS after moving day! I've lost SO much stuff . . . found most of it, but I still have yet to get my room together and you really don't give a hoot, do you? Okay, I'll just get to the chapter . . . if I can remember where I left OFF. . .

And, some of you have been commenting that this is starting to sound too much like the HP books Hogwarts-wise, and I apologize for that, but if you guys wanna know a secret . . . I like the first one better, too! . . . I'm sorry for making it seem so much like Harry and Ron's first day at Hogwarts, especially the train ride, but I liked Harry sharing with Ron so much that I decided to do the same thing here! And, it's hard to make the welcoming feast original, you know, but, I promise, it WILL get original! YOU HAVE MY WORD!

And, as much as I wanted to make Harry the new D.A.D.A. teacher, HE ISN'T! I REPEAT: HARRY POTTER IS NOT THE NEW DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS TEACHER!

Oh, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, so be sure to read this (especially since it's in caps, bold, italics, and underline): PLEEEEEEEEEEEZE READ (and review) MY STORIES ON FICTIONPRESS DOT COM! THEY ARE REALLY GOOD (at least I think so) AND THEY ARE LACKING PROPER RESPONSE BECAUSE FICTIONPRESS PEOPLE ARE MEAN! MY PENNAME IS Escritor, SO Y'ALL HAD BETTER GET TO FICTIONPRESS AND START READING THEM! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (there's a link to one of my stories in my fanfiction bio, so you can just go there if you wanna make it easy.)

Oh, and no shout-outs, since y'all probably don't even remember what you reviewed anyway, but I WILL do another list!

muskaan

rubber-ducky-lauren

XxXbloody nekoXxX

JBanana

blackdragonofdeath13

Cookiegirl90

Queenofwtiches

Krispykreme1416

A Sly Fan

Brilover

thedarkside45

Karana Belle

Celestia Memora

jeffsxtremegirl1987

emikae

Hippie1212

Scorchy-11

Katepotter13

Cherokee Outlaw

Archer of Darkness

Gothhottie

Lynn-Dumbledore

blink gurl017

Jennifer Granger

elena

centaur219

rocket4477

Tapdancing Humbug

leafs-gurl999

Okies! Now, the very, very, VERY long awaited chapter! (By the way, there is a word in here with (x) next to it. Since I can't use asterisks, I used that instead. It indicated that there is a note about that word at the end of the chapter.)

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The next day, Emily awoke to the sun streaming through the dormitory curtains, which she had forgotten to close the night before.

'I swear, those stupid house elves must put sleeping potions in the welcoming feast food. I was so tired last night I didn't even think to close the drapes!' thought Emily, annoyed. She then got up out of bed and noticed she still had yesterday's robes on.

'Ugh! I slept in my clothes!'

She looked at her bedside clock (which, of course, was operated by magic) and saw that it was 7:00 A.M. That left just enough time for her to get ready and be in the Great Hall for breakfast by eight. She noticed that her five other dorm mates were asleep, so she decided not to wake them. Emily studied her four other dorm mates aside from Clarice. From what she could see, one had black hair, another had brunette, the third had dirty blonde, and the last, golden blonde. But that was it. Oh well, she'd see them at breakfast. Emily was interrupted from her thoughts, however, by Clarice stirring and then blearily opening her eyes.

"Good morning, Clarice!" said Emily cheerfully.

"'morning, Em," said Clarice sleepily, sitting up. "Wha' time is it?"

"About five after seven," answered Emily, now getting robes out of her trunk. Clarice just groaned and fell back onto her pillow.

"Aw, c'mon, it's not that bad! Breakfast is at eight, you know. That only gives you about an hour to get ready," said Emily truthfully.

Emily heard Clarice mumble something that sounded strangely like "stupid Hogwarts staff . . ." and then watched Clarice get slowly out of bed while Emily changed into her robes. She had learned from having an older sister to not be modest about changing in front of other girls. As Emily went through her morning routine, the other girls woke up, one by one. No one talked much, except for saying things like, "Hey, can you hand me my brush? It's the red one over there," or "Can someone tell me what time it is?"

All in all, Emily thought she was rather productive that morning. She found herself waiting for Clarice to finish getting ready at 7:50, and then, at 7:55, they both walked down to the Great Hall together, sitting down across from each other at the table while chatting about the different subjects and which ones were their favorites.

"I, personally, am looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Emily fondly. "Do you know what a Patronus is?" asked Emily, spooning some scrambled eggs onto her plate.

"Oh, yeah, it's some sort of silvery something that comes out of your wand to ward off dementors, right? It's supposed to be very advanced magic. Even many qualified wizards can't do it," said Clarice, and she, too, was helping herself to the breakfast dishes.

"Right. Well, my Uncle Harry (well, he's not really my uncle) could do one at the end of his third year here! And my mum learned how in her fifth year. My mum and her friends were very good at D.A.D.A., so naturally, I've got an interest in it!

"I'm leaning more toward Charms. To me it's so cool that you can just wave your wand and then make something levitate or fold itself or whatever you want!" said Clarice.

"Yeah, but my sister taught me a lot of charms when she came home each summer, because my parents bought me a wand as soon as I was old enough to understand what it was. I was about six or seven, I'd say. One of my personal favorites is 'Rictusempra.' It's the tickling charm," said Emily mischievously. Clarice, however, didn't get a chance to respond, because Orlando plopped down next to Emily just then.

"Good morning, ladies," he said in a mock-professional voice. Emily rolled her eyes.

"'Morning, Orlando," she said. Orlando wasted no time in loading his plate with something of everything within his reach.

"Hungry, are you?" asked Emily.

"Hey, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" said Orlando. Professor McGonagall walked over to them just then.

"Ah, Miss Malfoy, Miss Weasley, and Mr. Byres, here are your course schedules," she said, handing them each a piece of parchment with a chart drawn on it. She then walked off to distribute the rest of the Gryffindor schedules.

"Hmmm . . . a typical Monday schedule: D.A.D.A. at 8:45, then History of Magic at 9:15, Double Herbology with the Ravenclaws at 10:15, then lunch at noon, and in the afternoon we have Transfiguration at 12:45 and Double Charms with the Hufflepuffs at 1:45. Not too bad, if you ask me," said Emily.

"Yeah, but look at Tuesday: Transfiguration, then D.A.D.A., then Double Potions with they Slytherins, then Lunch, then, oh, hey! A free hour! Anyway, then, we have double History of Magic with the Ravenclaws. I mean, really! The two worst subjects ever in Hogwarts History, both in double periods, in the same day!" complained Clarice. "I mean, really, aside from the free period . . ."

"And Defense Against the Dark Arts!" interrupted Orlando.

"Right, and D.A.D.A. I suppose, that's a horrible day!" finished Clarice.

"Well, Transfiguration isn't too bad, but my sister says that Professor McGonagall is really strict, so that could weight things down a bit," said Emily.

"Look at this!" complained Orlando. "Three times we have a double class with the Slytherins!"

"And three each with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, too, Orlando, don't have a cow . . ." said Emily.

"Hey, we study Astronomy here? Cool!" said Orlando, changing the subject, scanning Wednesday's schedule. Emily checked her watch (which also operated off of magic, of course) and saw that it was 8:30.

"Hey, guys, we had better head off, we only have fifteen minutes to get back to Gryffindor Tower, grab our school bags, and get to the Defense classroom, and it's on the fourth floor. If we leave now, we can take our time getting there," said Emily, rising and watching her food disappear from her plate.

"But – but I'm not done eating yet!" said Orlando through a mouthful of food.

"Too bad, we come back here for lunch at noon, now chew, swallow, and let's go!" said Emily impatiently.

"She's right, I'm sure the teachers are really tough on the first day . . . it gives a good first impression to be there on time anyway," said Clarice as Orlando swallowed.

"Fine, fine . . ." he grumbled, and he, too, rose, followed by Clarice. They kept close behind Emily as she led they way to their common room.

"Password?" said the Fat Lady.

"Ummmm . . . hey, do you guys remember the password?"

"I think it started with a Z, right?" said Orlando.

Clarice rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.

"It's Zemorphorus(x), you two," she said, and the Fat Lady nodded and swung open.

"Zemorphorus?" repeated Orlando when they entered the common room. "I thought it was something simple, like Zenith or something!" (AN: Is anyone besides me seeing a re-incarnation of Ron, here? LoL.)

Neither Clarice nor Emily answered; they both went up to their dorm room and grabbed their book bags, quickly coming back down. On the way down the staircase, they caught traces of Orlando's muttering:

"Zemorphorus . . . make it so complicated . . . pointless bunch of junk . . ."

Emily and Clarice had to fight back giggles as they crept down the staircase.

"Is yourself a decent enough person to talk with?" said Emily to Orlando, who had his bag over his shoulder.

"I – uh – I don't know what you're talking about!" said Orlando hotly.

"Sure, whatever . . ." said Emily, checking her watch. "Oh goodness! It's 8:40! We only have five minutes to get down four floors! Come on, hurry!" she said, and rushed out of the portrait hole, Clarice and Orlando hot on her heels.

XxXxX

Exactly four and a half minutes later, the three eleven-year-olds came jogging into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, panting.

"We – made – it," panted Emily. The rest of the first year Gryffindors, who were already seated and chatting animatedly, stopped talking and looked at them curiously. Emily and Clarice found an empty table near the front and sat at it, while Orlando took a seat next to a black boy, who was sitting alone in the table behind them. The talking soon began again, and continued on even after the "late bell" rang, for the teacher had not yet shown up. It wasn't until 8:50 that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher finally made an appearance. No one knew who it was, because the supposed "jinx" on the Defense Against the Dark Arts job had never really ended. There was still a new teacher every year.

No one knew what to expect with this brand new teacher, maybe some Average Joe off the street or something, but certainly no one expected this. . .

The door banged open of it's own accord, there was the sound of footfalls, and then, striding into the classroom in Midnight Blue robes, was a tall, brown haired, blue-eyed . . .

. . . witch?

Everyone immediately quieted, except for a few whispers here and there. There hadn't been a female Defense teacher since the 2003 – 2004 school year! And, from what everyone had heard, she hadn't been that nice. (AN: A little serving of Professor Umbridge, anyone?)

"Now, now, you all are acting like you haven't seen a new Defense teacher before! Oh, wait a minute, you just started here! You really haven't!" said the teacher. A few nervous giggles were heard throughout the class, and the teacher joined in.

"As I'm sure none of you know me yet, since I couldn't be at the welcoming feast last night due to certain circumstances, I am Professor Andrea Kordine, and I have been specially trained in the Ministry of Magic in Auror training, just for the mission of getting here to teach you! Now, enough gibbering and onto your first lesson!

Everyone exchanged glances. They could tell already that this would be one interesting teacher . . .

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

AN: YAAAY!!!! I finally got done this chapter! This one actually took me DAYS to type! DAYS! Normally it takes me a few hours, but this actually took DAYS! Ahem . . . sorry . . .

(x) Zemorphorus is pronounced almost exactly as it's spelled: zem-OAR-for-us, okay? Good.