Life at headquarters was fun. Harry was surrounded by friends and he enjoyed their company. He could even do his homework in peace since he was not back at the Dursleys. Pretty quickly the last day of summer came. Mrs Weasley had gone to Diagon Alley to pick up everything they all needed for the new term. On the last night of the holidays she had made a splendid dinner and sent all the children to bed early. September 1st came at last and with it the usual panic. They were all late for some reason or another. Harry told Hedwig to fly to Hogwarts the day before to allow her to stretch her wings a bit more. Osborn had came by a few times during the holidays to talk to Harry. So far Harry thought it had helped. He was telling her about his life and she allowed him to vent a little. He still had not told her about the night at the Dursleys. He didn't know why but he couldn't talk about that yet. But all in all he was grateful he could talk to her with no filter and know he wouldn't be judged.
The small party arrived at Plateform 9 and ¾ almost too late. Harry quickly hugged Mrs Weasley and said goodbye to everyone before taking a seat in one of the compartment on the Hogwarts Express.
The compartment door shut as Neville took the last seat.
"Hello Neville" Hermione started. "You had a good summer ?"
"Yeah great thanks Hermione what about you ?"
"Great too."
They all sat in a comfortable silence. Harry was watching landscapes go by, the busy city of London and then the countryside. While at headquarters they could not afford to leave the house. Sirius was still a wanted criminal and the Ministry was less than happy about Harry. They would have taken every opportunity to lock him up and send him so St Mungo's claiming insanity. To be fair, Harry started to think he was loosing it. He had dreadful nightmares about Voldemort, he couldn't remember the last time he had a good night's sleep. He looked forward to seeing Hogwarts again. He missed Hagrid and the castle itself. He was coming home.
"You'll have to ask Harry." Harry heard Hermione say. "Harry ?"
"Huh?" He said, he had been lost in his thoughts and had not listened.
"Neville was just asking after the new Defense teacher. I told him you've been seeing her for Defense lessons during the summer"
The concept of Defense lessons was an invention of Remus. Harry had told him he did not want his friends to know he was seeing Osborn to come to terms with what had transpired at the Dursleys. So as far as they knew, Osborn was teaching him additional Defense.
"Oh yeah. Well she seems decent enough. But I've only seen her on one on one practice, so I don't know how she would behave in class. She's better than Lockhart though."
In fact, Harry did not know that for certain. Osborn had never shown her her magic. He knew she had just qualified as an Healer, but he had no idea if she was any good at Defense. He just had to see how she handled the fifth year class.
"I reckon she's gonna be fine. I mean, anyone's better than Lockhart. She seems strict though."Ron said.
A few hours later they were all seated in the Great Hall, waiting for the first years to arrive. Professor McGonagall arrived with the frightened young first years and put down the Sorting Hat who started singing about unity between houses.
"It's because You-Know-Who's back." Hermione whispered.
When the Hat finished his song, the first years where sorted and Dumbledore got up.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I only wish to say a few words before we all start eating. I would like to introduced you to the two new teachers. First, let's all give a warm welcome to Professor Osborn who has kindly agreed to become our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
Osborn got up and bowed before seating back at her seat. She was once again wearing black robes that almost matched Snape's but her bright red hair was loose on her neck. Dumbledore called for silence in the Great Hall and went on.
"I would also like to introduce Professor Umbridge who has been given to us by the Ministry. She will teach a new mandatory subject "Philosophy of the Wizarding World". Welcome Professor."
The Great Hall gave once again a warm applause to Umbridge who got up. She cleared her throat.
"Huh huh"
The Great Hall fell silent instantly. Disbelieving. Nobody had ever dared speak during the Headmaster's welcoming feast. Umbridge started talking in a would be sweet voice which Harry found irritating at once. She was wearing bright pink robes and she strongly reminded Harry of an overgrown toad.
"Good evening children. As the Headmaster kindly introduced me I thought to myself that I would explain to you what that new subject will be treating. I understand that the views of the Wizarding World, as taught in this school are sadly one sided. The Minister thinks it is in the best interest of the future Wizards and Witches of this school to be allowed to listen to another side of things. That is why, I am taking over the post of teacher of Philosophy of the Wizarding World to allow you all to listen to the Ministry's point of view on certain matters and to discuss with you all recent events. The Ministry wishes to see young wizards and witches capable of differencing facts from fiction."
She added that last sentence by gazing straight into Harry's eyes. She took her place back at the staff table under a stunned audience.
Dumbledore quickly announced the beginning of the feast and the golden plates were quickly full of delicious food. Hermione was still staring disbelievingly at the staff table.
" 's wrong Herm' ne" asked Ron with a full mouth.
" That horrible woman. They are trying to get people to the Ministry's side about You-Know-Who. This new subject is only propaganda. You have to be careful Harry. She doesn't look like someone you can cross. I beg of you, be careful with her." Hermione pleaded as she grabbed Harry's arm.
"Yes! Hermione let go of my arm! I told you I'll behave!"
She let go of his arm and began eating. Harry was thinking hard. If Umbridge was there to do what Hermione said, he had to watch what he was doing carefully. He couldn't risk being discredited by her. He couldn't risk her knowing about his meetings with Osborn or his accident during the summer.
The next day, their first lesson was Potion. Snape obviously did not have a great summer as he was as nasty as ever. Then again, Harry had never seen Snape happy in any way. So his usual git was to be expected and even reassuring. Harry tried to concentrate on the Potion. Copying Hermione and strangely, Snape left him alone during the all lesson. This in itself was strange. His favorite pass time was to bully Harry in any way that he could. He only nodded at him when he came to take a look at his cauldron. Harry was unsure about how he felt about Snape's behaviour. On the one hand it meant that he could work in peace and produce something better than usual. On the other hand, it creeped him out. At the end of the class however, it looked like Harry had spoken too early.
He was about to leave when Snape barked: "Potter. A word"
He stayed behind, Ron and Hermione were waiting for him outside the donjon.
"Yes sir ?" He asked
"Not your usual abysmal work today Potter. I'm surprise. Have you suddenly grown a brain during the summer ?"He sneered.
Harry knew better than to answer his provocations. Osborn had told him that the best way for him to control his temper was to not let anyone, "particularly Snape" she had added with a knowing smile, get the better of him.
At Harry's lack of answer, Snape just snorted.
"I see Professor Osborn gave you a few tips Potter. I wanted to warn you about Umbridge. I know you wish to continue your lessons with Professor Osborn but I would advise you to be very careful about what you say or how you look after your lessons. Umbridge is a crafty bitch and you should watch yourself. Now. Out with you." Snape dismissed him with his hand.
Harry was dumbstruck. Not only did Snape had not been a complete jerk with him. He had actually given him advice. He looked forward to his next lesson with Osborn to ask her about his interaction with Snape.
"What was that about?" Ron asked
"He asked me if I had grown a brain during the summer, because my work had not been as bad as usual." Harry deliberately left out the part about Osborn.
"That greasy git" Ron muttered under his breath
They all started to walk towards the Defense classroom. They were all excited to see how the new teacher was.
A group of students was packed in front of the Defense classroom. They were whispering curiously. Neville was standing out of the pack and rushed to greet Ron, Hermione and Harry.
"Something's wrong. There's nobody in there and the room is completely dark and dusty and destroyed." Neville was shaking slightly.
Harry and his two friends got up to the classroom door to see what Neville was talking about. It was very dark indeed. The once tidy classroom was completely upside down. Tables were knocked over, there were burn stains on some of them. The room gave a sense of unease and smelled like fresh fire.
"It must be a test. I guess Osborn wanted to make a powerful first impression." Harry said holding his wand in front of him and entering. He was careful to watch his surronding and was strongly reminded of the maze during the Third Task. His classmates quickly followed him in, all brandishing their wands. Suddnely a flash of red light shot out of one of the corners, it blasted apart a table.
"Take cover!" Harry yelled to his classmates. They all hid behind what they could find, tables or even paintings that had been on the wall. They were all silent, waiting for something to happen. Seamus dared get out of his hiding and someone on the other side of the room yelled "Expelliarmus" The wand shot out of Seamus' hand and the same voice said "You're dead Finnegan. Please leave the room." Seamus grinned, picked up his wand and went to wait in the corridor. All the students got the game now. They all tried to disarm the dark figure who seemed to be walking very fast. The figure successfully disarmed every opponent it could find. Soon, the hallway was full of grinning students who were playing dead. Hermione tried to snuck up on the figure only to be stricken by the figure seconds before she could do anything. Ron, trying to protect her was disarmed with ease. It soon only left Harry to fight alone against the figure. He dodged the first few attempts the figure shot at him and got ready to launch a spell when the figure disappeared only to reappear just behind him and before Harry could avoid the spell, his wand shot out of his hand and the dark figure lowered his hood to reveal Osborn. She was smirking and raised her wand. With a swish of her wand the table magically came back in place, the windows opened and the pictures were back on the wall.
"Dead students come back and get settled. Wands on the table" Osborn winked at Harry and he smiled back at her. He took his place next to Ron and Hermione.
Osborn cleared her throat to call for silence and the classroom was calm in a instant.
"Well, I have to admit I had been expecting something worse. Finnegan what was your mistake?" She asked Seamus.
"I guess I did not look before getting up" He said shrugging, clearly embarrassed to have been the first dead.
"Right you are. I had a clear shot before you even knew what was coming."Osborn said. "You all need to be careful. The enemy will not wait for you to notice him before striking. He will take every advantage he can to disarm you, or worse." Osborn moved towards Hermione "Miss Granger what was your mistake? You snuck up on me and I almost did not notice you. So how come I did ?"
Hermione was red in the face. She hated when teachers told her she made mistakes.
"I was not silent enough. I tripped on a bit of glass and that made you notice me."
"Right again. And Mr Weasley, your attempt to salvage your friends was admirable, however it was a bit blunt." Ron stayed silent, blushing furiously.
"Now Mr Potter, what was your mistake?" Osborn said, rounding up on Harry.
"You moved too quickly." Harry replied
Osborn raised an eyebrow "Too quickly you said? No Potter, I marly took advantage of the darkness. I was wearing black and therefore it was easy for me to move unnoticed."
She got back to her desk. "What we did here was a way for me to assess your behavior in case of a surprise attack, you all did more or less well. Do not feel bad if you were killed today, that's why you're here. You need to learn to defend yourself. That's why I'm here. The Headmaster has asked me to focus on defense this year, given the circumstances."
"What circumstances ?" Seamus asked " Do you mean the rumor that You-Know-Who's back ? It's only a rumor."
Osborn looked at him intently.
"Only a rumor Mr Finnegan ? You do not believe that Voldermort's back ?" Whispers filled the room at the use of the name.
"The prophet says Dumbledore's senile and that Harry is less than reliable." Seamus said.
Harry's blood ran hot and before he knew it he was on his feet and shouting at Seamus.
"What do you mean less than reliable ? You were not there to see Cedric die were you ?" Seamus looked unimpressed by Harry's sudden outburst.
"I don't think we have enough evidence that's all." Seamus said shrugging.
Harry was ready to lauch himself at Seamus to strangle him but something was restraining him.
"Watch that temper Mr Potter." Osborn said. She was pointing her wand at him to restrain him. "I won't have you hurt your classmates because they do not share your point of view. Detention tonight for trying to attack a fellow student. Now kindly return to your seat."
Harry sat back down, his insides were boiling. His fists were so tightly clench that he could feel his nails piercing his skin.
"Mr Finnegan. I believe that Voldemort's back. Oh don't be afraid of a name!" She said as the class once again reacted to her use of the name. "You do realize that the Daily Prophet is closely linked to the Ministry I'm sure. It would be in the best interest of the Ministry to reassure the population that nothing is going on, given how badly it went last time. The Ministry is trying to avoid mass panic among the population. However, not wanting to cause a panic is one thing, blindly dismissing something this big is another. I am not here to convice you that Voldemort's back or not. I am here to train you in case he does come back publicly. Which he will eventually. I'm sure you would rather be able to defend yourself in case of an attack than simply sitting and letting someone curse you. I have nothing else to say on the matter. Please restrain yourself of any comments on this subject again." Osborn said finally, leaving the classroom even more silent than it had been previously. She then went on to explain the use of the shielding charm and assigned them a two feet essay on the various way this charm could be used and to give a list of spells where the shielding charm was not effective.
Harry had calmed down now and actually found the lesson interesting. He could not shake the feeling of betrayal he felt each time he thought about Seamus. He had seen what the Daily Prophet was saying about him but he had not realized that so many people actually believed in what was written. He was ready to leave when Osborn called him back.
"Potter. You are to come to my office at 7 pm for your detention. You can leave now." She gave him a note indicating the detention and Harry left.
He had disappointed her. He knew it. It had been the first thing she had said to him. She had worn him not to let his temper get the better of him. And at the first chance he had almost choked one of his friends. He had to apologize to Seamus first.
Harry found him in the Great Hall, he was eating with Dean and Neville.
"Hey, Seamus I just wanted to say.." He began.
"Stay away from me Potter. You're dangerous." Seamus growled. "Don't make me punch you"
Harry sighed and backed away. He went to sit with Ron and Hermione and ate in complete silence. They probably did not know what to say to him, Harry knew he had frightened them too.