Chapter 2:
Hogwarts hadn't changed at all since the summer holidays started, except for the faces. Dean Thomas had grown taller and had lost the little boy face he had last year. Neville had gotten taller as well, but still had the same chubby face. Lavender and Parvati still looked the same, but had matured over summer. It still had it's welcoming, mysterious manner. In the dark, it's windows looked like fireflies against a night sky. As they got off the train, the familiar sound of Hagrid's booming voice rang in their ears. Christine, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione all got into one of the carriages and arrived shortly at the castle.
"Glad to be back Harry?" asked Hermione as she watched Harry stare out the window.
"Yeah," he replied unenthusiastically, and he returned to gazing at the castle. Christine knew why he was like this and that he must be hurting pretty bad if even Hogwarts couldn't cheer him up.
They entered the Great Hall, took their seats, and waited for Professor McGonagall to let the first years into the Hall. The friends patiently waited for the Sorting Ceremony to finish, but Ron's stomach kept making loud rumbling noises, making the rest of them all the more hungry. Finally, thefood appeared on the tables, and everyone was stuffing their faces with the delicious food. They used the dinner to catch upwith their friends and talk about the summer holidays. Christine and Harry discovered that Lavender and Parvati had gone to Rome for three weeks with Lavender's family, and that Neville had spent the summer looking for his toad, again. As the feast came to an end,Dumbledore finished with his usual beginning of the year speech and sent the students back to their houses. Christine and Hermione were talking by the fire in the Gryffindor common room when Harry, Ron, Ginny and Dean came through the door.
"Hey guys," Christine greeted them as they came to join them by the fire.
"Well, are you ready to face Snape tomorrow. Or even better we have Potions with Slytherin tomorrow too," Dean said, trying to start the conversation.
"You're kidding right?" replied Christine hoping with all her heart that Dean had been mistaken or joking.
"Nope, I just saw the schedule for this week. We start out every day this week in class with them," when Dean said this, his four friends cringed with dread.
"Looking forward to Quidditch, Harry?" Ginny inquired, trying to get him involved with the conversation. But Harry just nodded and went back to staring at the fire in his favorite chair. Christine, who was sitting across from him, noticed that he wouldn't blink when he looked into the fire. As the rest of the group began to talk on another topic, Christine walked over to talk to Harry.
"Harry, are you alright? Ever since we got here you've seemed, well, distant," she said in a whisper. At first he didn't respond, but as she looked away and walked behind his chair, he muttered a reply.
"I can't...never mind you wouldn't understand," Harry went back to staring into the fire. She looked back at him, and walked up to her room.
As the first lessons began to approach, the seasons started change. Soon, Hogwarts was covered in a powdery white blanket of snow. The dungeons felt like a freezer and especially in the early morning. However, the cold hadn't just seeped through into the dungeons, it had also seeped through into Snape. If at all possible, he seemed to be even angrier than when Harry had looked into the Pensieve that contained his thoughts. That day, he assigned Christine and Hermione extra homework for answering almost every question on the summer homework assignment right. His reasoning was, "Nobody could possibly have all the answers to the homework this thoroughly answered unless they plagiarized the assignment." But when Malfoy turned his homework in and admitted that he "took some of the answers from the book," whcih was not true since he even copieda name from the book, butSnape stillgave him full credit for it.
In everything that had happened in the last weeks of last year, everyone forgot about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It only dawned on Christine that there would be a new teacher at Hogwarts when she heard his voice in the classroom.
"Hello class. I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Twopenny. I wish if someone could tell me where you left off at the end of last year?" said the professor at the beginning of class. He was a tall man who had light brown hair and blue eyes. But somehow, he looked familiar, not only to Christine, but Ron, Harry, and Hermione as well.
Hermione leaned in to talk to Christine while Professor Twopenny was still trying to figure out where he should start.
"Psst...Psst, Christine! Doesn't he look like someone we know?"
"Ya, but who?" interrupted Harry, who noticed that he was now partnering people together for the demonstration.
"Mr...Potter, is it? You and Miss...Granger will be partners for this experiment as will Mr. Weasley and Miss Davet will be partners as well," he continued not looking down to his list but as if he knew them. The four of them didn't say anything to him about this during class, but waited until they got back to the common room after lessons and dinner.
"I've seen him before somewhere. I know I have. But where?" Harry asked as he paced the floor of the common room in front of the fire.
"He seems to know us," piped in Christine from behind the book she was reading, "because when he was pairing us, he didn't even look down at his list to learn our names, Ron."
"Maybe he knows our parents," Ron answered trying to figure out the riddle.
"And how would that be? My parents are muggles. The only people he might know from my family would be Carreen and Rhett," replied Christine, "And Carreen has been in Paris, Rhett in Boston."
"Maybe he talked to McGonagall –" Hermione was cut off in mid sentence by Harry.
"And that's another thing, I don't remember seeing him at the feast yesterday."
"Well then Ron, I think we should send a letter to your dad about it. But we have to be careful with what we say," suggested Hermione as she watched Hedwig fly through the window.
"Whatever we decide to do, we have to keep it secret," Christine reminded them. They talked on into the night about what they could do, and when they couldn't decide on anything, they went to bed.
Two weeks had passed since the night of the new teacher discussion. Nobody had made any progress as to who he was, but they all liked him. He was a very good teacher and reminded Christine of Lupin. One day, Hermione and Christine went to talk to give him a note from Professor McGonagall, but he was not in his office. However, while they were there, Christine noticed that his trunk had the initials K.S. on it.
"Hermione, take a look at this," she gestured while still examining the trunk. Hermione walked over and looked up at the initials.
"What do you think it means?" Christine continued, she and Hermione were now walking out of the office, they had spotted Professor Twopenny at the Quidditch pitch through the window.
"I think it means we need to talk to everyone else, now," Hermione replied with a sense of urgency in her voice.
They found the professor, gave him the note, and waited for Harry and Ron, who were practicing.
"Hey guys what's up?" Ron asked walking up to the girls.
"We need to write a letter to your dad right away Ron, Professor Twopenny's trunk has the initials K.S. on it. What could that stand for?" Christine said in a hurried whisper.
"Maybe it's not his trunk, maybe it's his uncle's trunk or something," Ron answered.
"No that's not it," Harry said, his eyes glazed over, "he knows us 'cause he's in the Order!"
"That's it! It's..." Christine looked around to make sure nobody could hear them and when she thought the cost was clear she whispered, "Kingsley Shackelbolt!"
hey guys! hope you like this chapter, sry it took so long to get up but now im only doin it cuz my cousin is the only one who wants me to! no one else reviewed! please r&r and let me kno if u find any errors in ne thing!