Ey Hex 6 and Sirius REDRUM, thank you soooooooooo much for reviewing. Sorry this took so long.
Sirius REDRUM, I'll check out your story soon. I've been rather busy with schoolwork recently.
Ok, peeps, here's chapter two! Enjoy!
Chapter Two
I've finally done it…I've returned to this place, this place I've been trying to forget. To this moment, I can't figure out why I'm even here, why I even agreed…
Ah, forget it. I don't want to know. What I DO want to know is how I'm going to face him tomorrow…him and the rest of them…
"Well mate, here we are again."
"Yep, Ron, it's good to be back home."
Harry Potter and his friend Ron Weasley were entering the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They looked around at the familiar tables set for the start-of-term feast. They sat down at the Gryffindor table with Hermione Granger, their other friend.
"Hey, you two," greeted Hermione. Then, looking at them significantly, she added, "How were the hols?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Need you ask? Since when did the Dursleys make summer fun?"
Ron snorted. At this, Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Do I have to lay down everything out for you two? I mean," she said, lowering her voice, "what happened at the Order?"
"Herm, do you have to bring this up now?" Ron asked, glancing at Harry.
"Ron, I just want to know. I did go to Italy this summer, you know that. I just--"
"Want to ruin Harry's first night back?" interrupted Ron, "Well--"
"C'mon you two," said Harry, "must you start the year fighting? Ron, it's okay, she does have the right to know. Even I want to know. Besides, what's happened has happened and there's nothing I can do about it."
Hermione and Ron opened their mouths to speak (at the same time yet again, noted Harry, if they got to talk, they'd start arguing again) when the massive double doors of the Great Hall opened. Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor House was leading the frightened-looking first years in. Harry watched them as they marched up to the front of the older students. In the presence of the whole assembly, they would put on the old Sorting Hat and be sorted into either Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. He remembered how it was like when, five years ago, he'd been just like them, unsure of what was ahead in this new (for him) and somewhat scary world of magic. And, he remembered how he had wished so hard not to be put into Slytherin, the House he knew produced the most Dark Wizards than all the others put together. He smiled a bit when he recalled how he, Ron and Hermione stopped Lord Voldemort, the wizard who had destroyed countless lives, magical and Muggle alike, from regaining power. For the next three years, they would go on delaying Voldemort's rise to power until finally, in their fourth year, he returned to his full strength…
"Harry? You okay?"
"Hmm? Oh, Herm, what is it?"
"Sorting's over…are you sure you're all right?"
Harry shook his head. Had he been thinking that long? "Yeah, I'm okay…"
Ron turned to him holding out a fork. "Baked potatoes, mate?"
Harry turned toward the table and saw the magically filled plates full of food. The rumbling in his stomach helped him shake off his thoughts easily and he joined in the meal.
After a while, he asked, "Did you guys notice who our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is?"
Ron looked over at the teacher's table. "Wellf, 'Arry, derf an empfthy theat…"
A pair of first years saw him and giggled. "Ron," said Hermione, "please swallow before you speak. We're prefects, remember? The phrase 'good example' should ring some bells…"
Ron swallowed loudly and blushed slightly, much to the amusement of the two first years. "Aw, don't remind me, Herm," he said, scowling a bit. Turning to Harry, he said, "Anyway, I did hear Lupin and Snape talk about a new teacher…that they'd have 'some trouble getting her'."
"Her?"
"Yeah, Harry, a woman--" Then, he saw the look on Harry's face. "Oh, I'm sure it's not Umbridge." Ron assured him.
"Of course not! We took care of her last year," said Hermione impatiently, "Well? What happened next?"
Ron grinned a bit. "Well, at that point, they saw me at the doorway."
Hermione's brow furrowed. "Why'd they stop talking? Is this teacher going to be someone we know?"
Ron scooped up some pork pie and stuffed it in his mouth. "Prob'ly."
The three then shifted their attention to their food and digested what they'd just discussed. While Hermione started chatting with Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, who'd just come over beside her, and Ron turned over to Dean Thomas, their classmate, Harry ate silently. Times like these, he wished he had a Pensieve to put his thoughts in. While he couldn't deny that what had happened in their fifth year was still tormenting him, he couldn't stop wondering about the new teacher. Was she going to be as sadistic as Professor Umbridge, whose detentions included inflicting pain on students? Why was Professor Dumbledore going to have problems getting her to teach? These and other thoughts filled his mind as they went through dessert, stood up to go to their dormitory, as Hermione gave the password to get in ("Canis majoris") and as he lay down on his four-poster bed and gave in to sleep.