AR (AlaskaRae3): Say it.
CD (Crimson Dragongem) : No.
AR: Say it.
CD: No.
AR: Come on, you have to.
CD: NO!
AR: -sigh- ok… SAY IT OR I BASH YOUR HEAD IN WITH A MARSHMALLOW!
CD: … fine… -sniffles- I… Don't… Own… MUSHROOMS! -sobs and runs off-
AR: -glares- that's not it! -runs after CD- GET BACK HERE, YOU! -runs off-
Harry: CD owns nothing…
Neville: And for that we are truly thankful -twitch-
Ginny: HARRY! -runs towards Harry-
Harry: ACK! GOTTA GO! -vanishes-
Ginny: -pouts- he ran away from me! -sniffles and vanishes-
Neville: O.O;; -vanishes-

Chapter 6

The silence was deafening. Every set of eyes in the great hall were opened wide in shock, a stunned look on their faces, (except for Harry, Uncle Padfoot, Ron, and Neville – who had expected it).

'Mom and dad are going to flip', Harry thought to himself, staring down at his plate. He really wondered what their reactions would be, but he wouldn't want to be there when it happened. They would probably blame him, of course, seeing as he usually got the blame if anything went wrong.

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat, having finally collected himself.

"Mr. Potter, would you please go to your table." He said, gesturing for the boy in question to get going. Silas nodded mutely, and headed down to the Slytherin table. He was clearly just as shocked as everyone else, and had no idea how to handle the situation.

The other Slytherins moved over as the young hero (or so they thought) approached. Most of the senior students were clearly displeased, and a few of them had clear bafflement on their faces. Harry could honestly say that he was glad Silas was in Slytherin - It let the rest of the world show that their 'hero' wasn't as great as they thought her was.

Once Silas was seated, Dumbledore spoke again.

"And now, without further ado, we may start our feast." He said, eyes seemingly void of the usual twinkle. "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" He said cheerfully and sat back down. The room suddenly became a din of chatting, gossiping, and general noise, but the bright, welcoming feeling from before seemed to have totally vanished.

"Is he – a bit mad?" Asked the uncertain voice of Hermione, from across the table.

"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes."

Hermione made an indignant sound. "Well I already knew he was a genius!" She huffed, and started filling her plate. She didn't seem to realize that the food had just appeared out of nowhere. If she did notice, it clearly didn't faze her at all.

Harry, on the other hand, was staring down at the wide array of food, hungrily. It wasn't often that he was allowed to partake in any of the family dinner parties or banquets, but when he did, it was always amazing. The foods here were above and beyond any of those that Lily had ever cooked (she had refused to let Milly do any of the cooking, saying that she wanted to at least keep SOME of her muggle background).

Lily and James had never actually starved Harry, but they had let him fend for himself once her hit the age of four. Even then it was difficult, and he never got to eat anything miraculous. So now he was going to make the most of it. He took a little bit of everything, and began to eat. It was delicious.

All of a sudden, a white head popped through the table. "Hello there!" It exclaimed jovially.

"Hello, Sir Nicholas. Good to see you again." Greeted Percy, nodding to the ghost. The ghost merely sighed and floated over a few feet to talk to one of the older students.

"Who was that?" Harry asked, curious.

Ron looked over at Harry and shrugged. "I heard that he's a ghost called 'Nearly Headless Nick'. Not really sure though." He stated, although it was kind of muffled because his mouth was full

"Don't speak with your mouth full!" Hermione snapped, before turning to the ghost again. "Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"

The ghost looked irritated. "Like this" He said. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces (although Neville looked a bit green); Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back on to his neck, coughed and said, "So – New Gryffindors! I hope you're going to win the house championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have got the house cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's become almost unbearable – he's the Slytherin ghost."

Harry looked over at the Slytherin table, and saw a horrible ghost that seemed to have been stained with silver blood, with blank staring eyes, and a gaunt face. He was sitting beside Silas, who didn't seem very keen with the seating arrangements.

"How did he get covered in blood?" Asked one of the other first years, and Harry remembered that his name was Seamus.

"I've never asked," Said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.

Suddenly there was a yelp, and a bunch of high pitched squeaks. Harry blinked. Ron was holding the chinchilla by the tail, and was dangling it in front of his face. He was muttering to himself angrily.

"What happened?" Neville asked, and Ron scowled.

"The stupid thing ate my chicken!" He snarled, shaking the chinchilla. Neville was confused.

"Aren't chinchillas supposed to be herbivores?" He queried.

"They're supposed to be." He muttered, "But this one's weird. He's not even mine!"

Harry sighed, feeling a bit sorry for the little rodent. The subject turned onto a much less interesting subject and he focused on eating the dinner he had in front of him.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates leaving them as sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. There were more than Harry could count, and he could just imagine what his sweet-toothed brother was doing at the moment. He probably was sitting there, bug-eyed and staring, unable to choose which one to pig out on first. Harry had to laugh at the thought.

As Harry started on his first pudding, the talk turned to families.

"I'm half and half," Seamus informed them. "Me dad's a muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch until after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

The others laughed.

"What about you, Neville?" Ron questioned, curious.

"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," Said Neville, "but my family mostly thought I'd end up a squib. My great uncle Algie kept trying to force the magic out of me by scaring me - he even pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned. But nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came 'round for tea and he decided that he needed to light a cigar. He tried to use his wand, but he missed and started a fire. It ended up burning down a good portion of the house, and I was stuck in the burning section, upstairs. I ended up blowing the fire out, somehow. They were so happy – not only could I use magic, but I was alive too. Gran was so pleased, she bought me an owl."

Harry blinked. It was quite a story. It reminded him of his first time using magic.

Across the table, Hermione was in deep discussion with Percy about lessons. She seemed quite fascinated about everything to do with magic, and was speaking quite quickly. Harry quickly tuned out of their conversation because he was beginning to feel a bit dizzy.

Harry was beginning to feel a bit sleepy, and it was clear that Neville and Ron were also getting drowsy. He looked up at the high table again. Uncle Padfoot was playing with some small, strange looking contraption. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. The man in the purple turban was talking to Snape.

It happened very again. The man in the turban turned, staring straight into Harry's eyes - and a sharp, hot pain shot through Harry's eyes. It blinded him, like before, but this time it lasted longer. A few moments passed, and then his vision cleared, and the pain vanished.

"Are you alright?" Asked Neville clearly concerned.

"Yeah, it's nothing." He muttered, rubbing his eyes. Neville didn't look convinced, but let it go.

"Who's that teacher talking to professor Snape?" He asked Percy.

"Snape? You know him?" Percy asked in surprise.

Harry shrugged. "Know? Yes. Like? Not really…"

Ron and Neville laughed, but Hermione instantly started scolding him.

"You shouldn't talk that way about teachers!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Anyways, who's the guy with the turban?"

"That's Professor Quirrell. He's the defense against the dark arts teacher. Everyone knows that Snape wants the job, though. He knows a lot about the dark arts."

Harry nodded and watched the two teachers, but neither of them looked his way again.

At last, the desserts were cleared from the table, and Dumbledore stood once again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem – just a few more words before we go off to bed. I have a few start of term announcements to give you.

"First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that too."

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling again, and it was almost as if Silas had been forgotten – at least for the moment. His eyes flashed over to the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you that no magic should be used in the halls or between classes.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"We have one more teacher to welcome to the staff, and that is Professor Black. He will be teaching the senior students a new class on animagus transformation, as well as a dueling class for the other years. I hope you make him feel welcome." Sirius stood up and waved.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.

There was a sudden, uncomfortable silence.

"He's not serious?" He muttered to Ron.

"Must be," Percy told him from across the table, "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere – the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think that he might have told us prefects at least."

"And now, it's off to bed with the lot of you!" Dumbledore said, smiling cheerily. "Please follow your prefects to your common room. Mr. Potter, please stay behind."

Harry turned and saw that the headmaster was talking in hushed tones to Silas. He rolled his eyes. He was probably going to be getting special accommodations because he didn't want to be in the Slytherin dorms, and because he felt that he was above sharing bedrooms with other people.

The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like marshmallows, and he moved along sluggishly. He hardly noticed as they passed through the great number of hallways. He was just beginning to wonder how much farther they had to go, when they came to a stop in front of a large painting of a lady. She was quite fat, and was wearing a pink silk dress.

"Password?" She asked.

"Caput Draconis," Said Percy. The lady nodded, and the portrait swung out, revealing a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through – and found themselves in a cozy room, decorated in reds and golds. On one side was a crackling fire, which cast a warm glow around the room. There were comfortable looking armchairs littered all about the room.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase – they were in one of the towers – they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.

"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Fuzz brain! My face is not your bed!"

Harry was going to ask something, but fell asleep before he could finish the thought. It was the start of an interesting year….

A/N: Thank you, once again, for all of your wonderful reviews. I was busy all week, and that's why it took so long to get this chapter written. It's not even a long chapter, either! -cries- oh well. Anyways, I'm still looking for a name for the chinchilla. I can't very well call it fuzz butt, fuzz brain, etc. It needs a name. And there, I finally told you what Sirius is teaching, happy? (stares pointedly at A). Well, please review!

- Crimson Dragongem