Chapter 5- The Field Trip

The picture on the card was different than ay other Harry had ever seen. Instead of just being a flat moving image, this one appeared almost three dimensional. Behind the horrible, cloaked figure, there was a sparkling black background that just added to the mysticness and amazement of the card.

"How could they even think of putting HIM in the game?" asked Harry, shocked.

"Well, he is a very important historical figure…" said Hermione.

"Yeah, and he's really rare too!" drooled Ron. "Look at that! A four-star rarity! I only thought it went up to three!"

"It doesn't matter," said Harry, turning the card around and glaring at the horrific image of Voldemort, stroking his chin, and giving an occasional laugh. "They still shouldn't put him in the game."

"Oh come on Harry," laughed Ron. "Look at his power! It's through the roof! You could probably win most games with just that one card!"

"I suppose so," said Harry, tucking the Voldemort card away along with the rest of his small collection. He also put his unopened card packs in his bag too, he didn't really feel like opening any more today.

"Well, if you don't want him, I'll gladly take him!" offered Ron.

"No way," laughed Harry, feeling better.

The rest of the rather short trip was pleasant, talking about their summer vacations, and of course, making comments on Hermione's bracelet. It was like nothing Harry had ever seen before.

Before long, however, the train ride came to an end and the three of them got off just in time to see their teacher and friend, Hagrid. He was at least twice as tall as any man, and five times as wide… he almost took up as much space as all of the new first year students he was leading up to the castle.

"Hullo!" he called to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Good ter see ya, but I can' talk now. Gotta lead these newbies up to th' castle. I'll see ya later!" He, along with a few new first years, and five other students that did not look anything like first years, but rather sixth or seventh years, made their way to the boats they would take to cross the lake and to the massive citadel.

"See you later Hagrid!" yelled the three of them, making their way to the much more luxurious carriages that quickly took them to the front gate of Hogwarts which they quickly burst through, eager to start the new year… and to eat at the start of school feast!

Harry, Ron, and Hermione speedily found some seats at the Gryffindor table and waited anxiously as the rest of the Gryffindors filed in. The table looked especially empty, now that all the seventh years from last year were gone… then a thought suddenly came to Harry. He nudged Ron in the side.

"Hey Ron!" he whispered loudly. "We're going to have to hold tryouts again! We need five new people for the Gryffindor Quidditch team! Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina, and Katie all graduated last year." Ron's eyes widened.

"Oh man," he gasped. "I totally forgot about that."

"Oh well, it shouldn't be that difficult," said Harry. Then, remembering that at the end of last year, a group of last years' new Gryffindors promised that they would make the team, Harry began to think that maybe it wouldn't be as easy as he initially speculated.

"Come on Harry," interjected Hermione, "put on your Prefect Badge! You need to show all of the new first years where they can go if they're lost or having trouble." She quickly reached into her pocket, and pinned on her shiny badge, wearing it proudly.

"Ugh… the last thing I want is for more first years to be crawling all over me," groaned Harry, taking out his grimy badge and trying to clean it up a bit.

"You should really take your Prefect responsibilities more seriously," said Hermione severely. "I noticed that last year you never took any house points away from

anyone, nor did you ever read the Prefect Guidebook, which I'm sure you must have lost by now or something."

"Fine fine fine, " said Harry, pinning his slightly cleaner badge on, "I'll try to do a better job this year Miss. Hermione." Harry tried to look as cute as he could, pretending to be a little preschooler. Ron laughed, but Hermione merely turned away.

"Shh!" she said. "The Sorting is starting!"

And so it was. The doors to the Great Hall burst open and the first years who had crossed the lake with Hagrid now walked up to the front of the room in a single straight line, led by Professor McGonagall. Once again, Harry saw that five of the new students did not look like first years at all, they looked more along the lines of Harry's age.

"What's up with them?" asked Ron.

"Maybe they're more exchange students from other schools, like Tci was last year," suggested Hermione. Harry hadn't thought of that, and she was probably right; they were just new students from Durmstrang.

"Well, whoever they are, they are definitely cool," said Ron, eyeing them and smiling.

"What makes you say that?" asked Harry.

"Just look at their pockets!" pointed Ron. Harry looked over, and almost laughed at the sight. The pockets of the five new students were literally overflowing with Wizard Duel cards. Every now and then, one fell on the floor, and the student who dropped it just magically brought it back up, proving that they were definitely not newcomers to the world of magic, they had had some training.

Finally, the line stopped, and professor McGonagall stepped up to the head of the room with a big sheet of parchment that had all the names of the new students on it. She also took the large, black, pointed hat off of her head, and placed it on a stool that was next to her. Harry realized that this was no ordinary hat, that was the Sorting Hat. It suddenly shot up into the air a few feet, a small hole appearing for its mouth, and started singing:

"You should listen to what I have to say,

It's different every year on this same day.

You see, I am the Sorting Hat;

And I will tell you where you should be at.

If Gryffindor is what I bark out loud,

Then you possess a soul that is brave and proud!

If Ravenclaw is what come out of my mouth,

Then you are the wisest in your house.

If Hufflepuff is what I say,

Then you are loyal, behind your friends is where you stay.

If Slytherin is what I hiss,

Then you are cunning, you know when something is amiss.

But, who cares? Just try me on!

I'll tell you where you belong…."

Everyone clapped respectfully and the hat fell back down to its seat, with a slightly smug look on its face, or at least Harry thought that's what its expression was; it's very hard to tell with hats.

"Trenholm Archibald," said Professor McGonagall. A quite tall boy walked up to the hat, not looking nervous at all, and threw it right on his head.

"Gryffindor!" yelled the hat, causing the Gryffindor table to clap and cheer as he walked over and sat down. The first sorting was over.

"Ai Gomon!" continued Professor McGonagall, causing one of the bigger new students, his pockets bulging with cards, to walk up to the hat and place it on his head. Almost immediately, the hat yelled out his house name.

"Slytherin!"

The whole of Slytherin table applauded for their bigger new student, and Malfoy and Tci even stood up for him, welcoming him in to their clan. Harry noticed, that for the first time, Malfoy didn't have his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, sitting next to him. In fact, they were all the way down at the other end of the table, looking hopelessly lost.

"Oh well, I guess Malfoy has gotten better friends now," thought Harry to himself, returning his attention to the Sorting.

Ten minutes later, Brad Cooper, Susej Tsirch, Stephen Early, and Kevin Williams were the latest Ravenclaws, Megan, Kyle, and Lydia Yasigian were the newest Hufflepuffs, and three more of the older new students (Faire Morter, Avait Malmin, and Fonce Kuroi) went to Slytherin in addition to Rusty Johnson. Gryffindor had only gotten one other besides Trenholm so far: Chad Horahoe.

"Aku Tenshi!" yelled Professor McGonagall, looking rather happy that he was the last person on the list. He was a very tall and skinny boy, with a rather pale appearance. In fact, he reminded Harry of himself a little.

Aku walked up to the Sorting Hat with a grin on his face. He slowly sat down, causing his cape to go up in the air for a second, then come back down like a bat flapping its wings. He placed the hat upon his head, and after a few seconds….

"Gryffindor!" it yelled out.

The Gryffindor table erupted into applause. They had gotten one of the older new students! Aku walked over to their table, and chose a seat right next to Harry.

"Hey there, Aku!" said Harry, trying to be friendly.

"Please, call me Ak," he said with a wave of his hand, and a grin of his perfect and shining teeth. There was something warm and inviting about him that Harry really liked.

"Alright then… Ak," said Harry, "I see you like the Wizard Duel card game."

"Oh yes," beamed Ak. "In fact, at Durmstrang, we, that is Faire, Avait, Fonce, Ai and me, started a Wizard Duel Club. We're thinking of starting one here too!"

"Whoa! That'd be awesome!" said Ron excitedly.

"Oh, Ak, this is Ron, my friend," introduced Harry.

"Nice to meet you," said Ak.

"Likewise," said Ron, looking more at Ak's cards than his face.

Suddenly, their conversation was cut off by Dumbledore standing up to make the usual annual announcements, like he did every year at this time. He took a last swig of his drink, brushed off his beard, and began speaking.

"Hello students!" he boomed, his voice magically magnified. "I am happy to announce, thought I am sure may of you are not, that we are starting a new term here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, under me, Minister Dumbledore."

There was a bit of polite applause. Harry remembered that last year, the previous Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, stepped down for covering up Voldemort's attacks due to being blackmailed. Dumbledore had been elected in his place.

"Now, for announcements," he continued. "First and foremost, to all you new students, the Forbidden Forest is. That is, it is forbidden to go in, no matter what, under every and all circumstances. Also, I am extending curfew by three hours, because I'm just a nice guy like that, and the Village of Hogsmeade is forbidden to all first and second year students.

"Next, I would like to welcome five more transfer students from Durmstrang. They were all going to be sixth years at their old school, and will remain in that grade despite their late arrival at our school. I do hope that all sixth years will give them as warm a welcome as I would like."

"Also, while we're working on new welcomes, I would like to introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell!"

"He doesn't mean…" started Ron.

"What happened to…" asked Hermione.

Harry looked up and saw the new Professor Quirrell that Mrs. Figg had told him about. In fact, even though they were identical twins, this Quirrell looked nothing like his brother. He had a big moustache and beard, and most obvious of all, did not have a massive turban either. He stood up, gave a small wave and smile, then sat down.

"Lastly, to try and cut this little speech of mine to as little time as possible, I have one final and major announcement. After the Christmas Holidays, and at the beginning of January, most of the school, that is, the second years and up, will go on a field trip to one of the Egyptian pyramids, the Geb Pyramid. I hope that it shall be a most wonderful and educational experience."

The Hall suddenly filled with chatter and excitement. They would be going on a magical field trip! The first one that this set of students would have ever experienced! However, amongst the excited talk, Ron's comment was heard by Harry.

"Field trip?" he swallowed. "They don't mean the one that my sister never returned from… could they?" Harry didn't know what to say. Could it possibly be to the same place?

"I… don't know," said Harry quietly.

"The field trip," continued Dumbledore, trying to keep his voice heard over the cloud of chatter that was going on, "will be paid for by the school, so none of you have to worry about giving us any money to go. With that in mind, I hope you all will sign up for it, and come. We would like everyone, who is allowed, to go with us, and we have taken many precautions this time to ensure everybody's safety.. Now, please, finish your meals and end this beginning day."

Dumbledore sat down, but nobody really noticed any difference. They were all still talking about the field trip.

"Wow! I've never been to Egypt before!"

"I wonder if there'll be any mummies."

"I didn't know Professor Quirrell had a brother…." Were just a few things that Harry picked up.

"Why is everyone so excited about a field trip?" asked Ak. "At Durmstrang, we had them all the time! We went to Transylvania, Rome, Hungary, India, China, Japan, and more! All in the same year!"

"Well this is the first one we'll have ever been to," explained Harry.

"Hmm, I see. Well, it should be good," he shrugged. "We never did go to Egypt before. Maybe it will be interesting."

"Come on Harry!" said Hermione, pulling on his shirt. "You have to go show the new students where their dormitories are."

"Yeah, yeah," sighed Harry, leaving the Great Hall with a giant mass of students following behind him. He ran ahead of them all, wanting to be able to show the new kids where to go before they got lost.

"Follow me," Harry said to them as they ran to keep up with his quick pace. They soon reached the Gryffindor room entrance that was vigilantly guarded by the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" she demanded.

"Pookong," said Harry, causing her to swing open and reveal to them the room. Over the summer, he along with the rest of the prefects had received letters telling them the passwords for the entire year. Harry led the two new first years to their room, relieved that there were only two of them this year. They both quickly settled into their new room, much more easily than the previous year's had, and Harry shut the door.

"Hello Harry," said Ak, who appeared behind him just as he closed the door.

"Ah!" gasped Harry. "You- you scared me there Ak."

"Sorry," he said. "But… where do I sleep?" Harry stroked his chin for a second. He Didn't know where Ak should go. With him and the rest of the sixth years, or with the new first years?

"Well," guessed Harry, "I suppose you can come with us. Follow me." Harry lead him to their dormitory, opened the door, and was surprised to see that there was an extra bed in the room, just for Ak. Evidently, this was where he was supposed to be.

"Hey Harry!" called Ron, whom Harry wasn't surprised to see was already involved in a Wizard Duel card game match against Dean and Seamus. "You want to play? How about you Ak?"

"Oh no, I can't," said Harry, remembering the note Dumbledore had sent to him, saying that he had something for him. "I have to go see Dumbledore… I'll be back soon."

"Don't worry Harry," said Ak. "Give me your deck and I'll play for you."

"But, you have so many cards," said Harry. "Why do you need my deck?"

"I… I don't want to reveal what my cards are until the club starts," said Ak.

"Fine," sighed Harry, reaching into the bag in the front of his bed that had been bought up earlier for his deck of cards. He found it quickly, and threw it to Ak, running out of the room as fast as he could, not wanting to be late.

Harry shot out of the room, trying to make up for the time he lost showing the new students around. He quickly made it out of the common room, and down to the Great Hall. From there, it was only a little ways to Dumbledore's office, and Harry got there quickly.

"Monkey cakes," gasped Harry, out of breath. The gargoyle in front of his office moved aside and Harry walked through the door and up the stairs.

"I'm sorry I'm late," said Harry, reaching the office, "but you see I-" He suddenly stopped. Dumbledore wasn't in the room. "Hmm, I guess I didn't have to go that fast after all."

Harry looked around. Even though he had been to Dumbledore's office on many occasions, for every imaginable type of situation, even to steal a phoenix, Harry still liked to see what was in the office. There was always something new! Just then, Harry felt the same, hot sensation on his ring finger that he had felt on the train. His ring turned blue this time, and he felt as though he were being drawn towards Dumbledore's desk.

Harry let his ring drag him, as if it were a powerful magnet. His hand was out in front of him, and it led him right towards the bottom right drawer of the desk. The ring was burning hotter now, and Harry had to resist the urge to pull it off. Harry slowly opened the drawer, wondering what he would find. The second he opened it a crack, a blue light shone right through. Harry pulled it open even more, and an explosion of blue light came out. He looked in for the source and it was… a watch.

But it wasn't just any watch… it was the most beautiful watch Harry had ever seen in his life. It was made out of a light blue crystal all over, and the face was some sort of rainbow colored glass that was constantly swirling and changing…. Harry just had to pick it up and put it on!

He reached inside the drawer, and grabbed the watch, pulling it out. He looked at for only a second, for an instant later, a giant holographic map suddenly appeared before him, and it took him by such surprise, he dropped the watch. The map was being projected right onto the air… from Harry's ring! It was a map of the world… but with no border lines at all, just geographic features. Harry scanned it over and noticed something… there were four dots on the map: a blue one, a red one, a yellow one, and a green one. The blue, green, and yellow dots were both over England…but Harry couldn't see exactly where. The red one was somewhere in… Africa.

Suddenly, Harry heard someone coming up the creaky stairs… Dumbledore! Harry quickly threw the watch back into the drawer and shut it just as fast. Just when it was out of sight, the holographic map disappeared and Harry jumped up, trying to look as though nothing out of the normal had just happened. Not even a second later, Dumbledore walked in the office.

"Hello Harry," he said, walking in. "So sorry I'm late, just had to go over a few things with Professor Quirrell."

"Oh… no problem," gasped Harry, trying to put on a smile.

"Are you alright? You look as though you've been working rather hard. Not that I have any objections to that, but it's not as if you should have much to do, considering school hasn't even started yet."

"Oh no, I'm fine."

"Alright then," said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "Anyway, down to business. I have another item here that was left to you."

"From my father?" asked Harry. Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, not this. This item is from your godfather."

"Sirius?"

"Yes, he is giving it to you to keep the Ministry of Magic from finding," explained Dumbledore, opening one of his other drawers, reaching inside, and taking out a small package. He walked over to Harry and handed it to him. Harry took it, and opened it up. Inside, there was a ring… not at all like his skull one, but a clear ring that had a face carved on the translucent Stone: half human on one side, half lion on the other.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"It is an Animagus Invisibility Ring," said Dumbledore, sitting down in the chair before his desk. "It acts just like your Invisibility Cloak. Only now, whenever you transform, you will become invisible if you want to. A very handy thing to have…. Though I see that you already have a ring…."

With that, he jumped up and walked slowly in front of Harry. He bent over slightly, and gazed at the skull ring, as if he was entranced by it somehow.

"Oh yeah…" said Harry quietly, putting his new ring on his middle finger. He could barely even see it was there, it was so clear. Dumbledore, however, seemed more interested in Harry's skull ring than his new one. It was odd… very odd in fact. Dumbledore was just standing there, looming over Harry and gazing at his ring, wide-eyed and practically drooling.

"Uh… I have to go now," said Harry awkwardly. Dumbledore immediately shook his head and blinked his eyes a few times, leaving his catatonic state.

"Oh- oh yes!" he said, sitting back down, but not taking his eyes off of Harry. "Go along now, I'm sure you have more important things to do than talk to an old geezer like me."

Harry smiled at Dumbledore and walked out of the room, wondering what had made him act that way. All the way back to his common room, he went over in his mind what could have happened in Dumbledore's office with the blue watch… what was with the map and everything? He almost walked right into the portrait of the Fat Lady, not thinking. He gave her the password, and had to work his way through a cloud of students, who Harry supposed was just gathered there to talk excitedly and anxiously about the upcoming year. When he saw what the real cause was, though, he felt a little disgusted.

"Now what cards would you like?" asked Aylar behind a table that was covered several inches high in sickles and knuts. "Any card you want, I can give it to you."

"I'd like a Merlin," squeaked the kid, who looked like he was a third year.

"Coming right up!" smirked Aylar, waving his wand and causing the card to appear out of thin air, right onto the surface of the table. "That will be… seven sickles please." The kid quickly reached into his pocket and threw the money out on the table, walking away in a blissful state. "Next!"

"Aylar!" yelled Harry. "What are you doing?"

"Oh hello Harry," smiled Aylar as his next customer approached. "Just giving these kids a few cards that they have trouble getting their hands on if they only buy packs."

"But Aylar… that's counterfeiting!"

"I guess so… but who can tell the difference?" he shrugged, creating four phoenixes for his customer. Harry grabbed one from the air, and took a spare card out from his pocket, to compare them. After a quick glance, Harry saw a big difference.

"Sorry Aylar," grinned Harry, showing him the two cards side by side. "But, in the bottom left hand corner of the real card, there's a 'T'. On yours, there's an 'A'."

Aylar snatched the cards out of his hand, and looked them over quickly, his eyes darting from side to side.

"I guess the first letter of the name of the person that made the card is put there," said Aylar quietly, not wanting that little thing to get out.

"But look!" exclaimed Aylar's customer who was waiting for the phoenix that Harry took, and had overheard them. He took out a werewolf card from his pocket.

"Yeah… so?"

"This one's got a 'V' in the corner," he said. Then, taking out another card. "And this one's got an 'A' too!" Aylar folded his arms and put a smug look on his face.

"So, three different people make the cards, and one of their name's starts with 'A', same as mine. There's no way anyone will be able to tell the difference! Next!" Aylar gave his previous customer his phoenix, and a new student came up.

"Four Sorceror's Stones," he demanded, causing Harry to sigh and walk up to his dormitory. How could Aylar do something like that? Counterfeiting cards just to make a little money. Harry opened the door to his room, and saw the three boys, Seamus, Dean, and Ak, playing Wizard Duel on the floor. Harry groaned at the sight of more cards.

"Yes! I win again!" yelled Ak, throwing his hands into the air.

"That's the sixth time in a row!" sighed Seamus, Dean, and Ron together.

"Hey Harry!" said Ak, turning around. "Your deck's not bad!"

"Thanks, but isn't that enough for tonight?" suggested Harry.

"Nah," the four of them said together.

"But we could use another player…" said Dean.

"You're right. Hey Neville!" called Seamus. Neville was back in a corner of the room, reading a book. Seamus held up his deck for him to see. "You play?"

Neville looked up, and Harry scanned him over. He appeared completely different from last year. If Harry didn't know Neville was his name, he would have thought they were two totally different people. Now, instead of being slightly on the large side, Neville looked stronger than the four of them put together. His hair was different too… extremely pointy. He looked more like a character from an anime cartoon than a human.

"No," he said with a tone of superiority in his voice. "I have… things to do."

Harry frowned at him and winced an eye. He knew that Neville was probably studying the latest Dark Curses. Ever since halfway through the last year, Neville had been a Death Eater, and his new look was probably a gift from Voldemort.

"Fine," said Seamus, shrugging and returning to the game.

They played another round, and Ak won, of course. Ron, Seamus and Dean decided that they'd been slaughtered enough for one day, and all of them chose to stop for the night, and go to bed.

Harry laid there, still slightly awake, with ideas buzzing in his head.

"Could this field trip be the same field trip that Jamie got lost on…? What was the deal with the map thing in Dumbledore's office…? What was Dobby trying to warn me about…?" After a while, however, Harry finally drifted off into a deep sleep.

"Harry…" came a voice, as if from far away.

"Mmmm…" he groaned back.

"Harry Potter…" it came again, louder.

"Yeah, what?" asked Harry groggily, opening his eyes. He was very surprised to see that he was not in bed, but rather standing up in the middle of the Gryffindor Common room. His glasses weren't on, so he couldn't see a thing, but luckily he felt them in his hand. Harry quickly put them on.

"Harry Potter," hissed the voice again. This time, it was much closer, and sounded almost inhuman. Suddenly, Harry could make out where the voice was coming from, and even worse, whose it was. Right before him, in the middle of the common room, was Voldemort himself.