Four Years Later
Part VIII: A New Generation

Ginny made plans to come visit Harry once a week, Saturday evenings when she would have dinner with Harry and Bill, and then She and Harry would retire to his quarters.

She saw him off, surprised that he opted to take the train in. "I'd like to imitate my favorite DADA professor's entrance," He commented with a smile. "After all, that had to be my best year."

"Stop explaining, and go or you'll miss the train," she said, giving a reluctant shove. She aparated back to their home, preparing to spend a lonely week.

Harry set himself down in a completely empty compartment. He never thought he'd find an empty compartment, but then again, he had never gotten to the train this early. He put his suitcase above his seat, and rested himself down, relaxing, and entering a meditative state he'd learned in China at a Xiao Lin temple.

Zane Cobalt poked his head in. a teacher on the train? So strange, but then again, this teacher was wearing Muggle clothes, so he was even stranger than he thought. Zane had never seen a teacher wearing muggle clothes. They all wore wizarding robes, which Zane had to admit he was quite fond of himself.

"This one's the only one that will have room for Rachel and Lo-Ith too," Zane said to his friend Shelly, who was right behind him. "And I doubt he'll mind us joining him."

Zane and Shelly worked to heave their trunks onto the rack. "I can't wait," Shelly whispered. "This year is going to be so great."

"I know," Zane said, giving his trunk a pat. "I'm going to do what ever it takes to get that chaser spot."

"ZANE!" screamed a girl's voice. "SHELLY!"

Zane shoved his head outside, "In here you prats!" he griped at them.

Two more girls walked in, giggling madly. "Sorry," said the taller brunette. her name was Rachel Stonewater.

"You are such an idiot Rache," Lo-Ith, the shorter blonde, said with a light laugh.

"Shh," Shelly said gently, her flaming red hair rippling as she jerked her head, indicating Potter.

"Who's he?" asked Rachel, putting her face mere inches from Potter's.

"Rache," Lo-Ith scolded her friend, pulling her back by her robes.

"Finally find something that will date you Stonewater?" came a cold voice from the door.

all four students turned to see two others in the doorway. there, standing in the doorway, were Betelgeuse and Bellatrix Avery, two pure bloods that were absolutely the most conceited students at the school. Betelgeuse had actually gotten into a fist fight last year with Zane because of the way he'd been talking about Shelly.

Zane took a step toward Betelgeuse, but stopped when Shelly said his name tersely. he looked at her and yielded.

"Back away Idiot twins," Rachel growled.

"Half-breed," sneered Bellatrix. "What is that pile of Muggle trash there?"

"Isn't it obvious" Zane sniped. "He's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

"He can't be," Bellatrix countered, her twin brother seething to much to form a reply. "He looks like some filthy muggle."

"Looks can be deceiving," said a new voice. All six students looked to see Potter looking at them with a mischievous smile. "For instance; it looks to me like the two of you came here looking to harass. Now I know two upstanding students of the most honorable house of Slytherin couldn't possibly be trying to pick a fight."

"Of course not professor..." Bellatrix said through clenched teeth. "We will be moving on now."

"Ta," he said in a jovial tone.

"Thanks Professor..." Shelly said, extending her hand.

"Potter, Professor Harry Potter," He answered shaking her hand.

there on the spot, Shelly, Rachel, and Lo-Ith dropped their jaws. Zane looked at each of his friends. "Who is he?" he asked curiously.

"He's the Chosen One..." Rachel whispered.

"The Boy Who Lived..." Said Lo-Ith in astonishment.

"My cousin's bestfriend..." Shelly said.

Potter looked at Shelly. Noticing her hair. "Are you a Weasly of some sort.

"Yeah, Ron was my older cousin..., my parents told me a lot about him, that he was friends with you, that he was brave, and that he was helping people... as far as I know, I'm the first Weasly in several generations to get sorted into Ravenclaw."

Potter gave her a pat on the head. With a lurch the train left the station, and they were off. "So, second years?" Potter asked them.

"Yup, we're hoping to make the house teams this year," Zane said. "I got a new broom just for this."

"What models?" Potter asked.

"I have a Viper 1280," Rachel bragged.

"Nimbus 2022," Lo-Ith said, behind the times, but proud of her broom.

"Zane and I both have Cleansweep 56's," Shelly admitted. Shelly and Zane both had a lot of second hand stuff, something that Shelly was embarrassed about. Zane wasn't embarrassed about second hand stuff; he'd lived with it all his life. His parents always told him that it's smarter to buy second-hand, he had learned to shrug off that kind of commentary.

"I'm going to see if I can get Prof. Flitwick and Madame Hooch to help me improve it," Zane said proudly. "I looked it up, and you can modify a broom to work and respond better, but you have to use a specific set of charms and stuff. I don't know how to do them, but I'm hoping the professors will show me."

"Seeker?" he asked Zane.

"No," Zane said. "Too slow of a position for me, I want to be a chaser."

"Hey!" Rachel said punching Zane's arm. "Both me and Lo-Ith are going out for Gryffindor Seeker. Shelly's going out for Ravenclaw keeper."

"Why are all these positions open?" Potter asked.

"The Tournament," Rachel said excitedly. "Where have you been?"

"The Triwizard tournament," Lo-Ith explained. "Its being held at some French school, they're taking all the seventh, sixth, and older fifth years. That opened up a lot of spots on the house teams, especially since a lot won't be returning next year."

"Well Good luck," Potter said to them. "For good luck, in fact, I'll buy lunch."

Shelly and Zane looked at each other with expressions of relief; neither of them had much money on them.