The day before they were going to leave for Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, Ginny and George were playing Quidditch in the orchard. Harry watched as a silver shape sped up from the house and into the middle of the pitch. Harry flew down beside it as it began to speak with Mrs. Weasley's voice.
"Come back to the house now. We have visitors." They all dismounted and ran back to the house, racing each other as they did so. Harry tripped at the last minute, relinquishing his victory to Ginny. Harry dragged himself through the back door to find a young Teddy Lupin being passed around between everyone. Harry, who hadn't seen Teddy since his birthday, ran over to hug him and Ginny. He put his arm round her and ruffled his godson's hair. Teddy grinned and gurgled at him.
"He's missed his godfather," said Andromeda Tonks from behind the door. Harry left his two favourite people in the world and went to hug her.
"Hello, Mrs. Tonks. What's the special occasion?"
"I wanted to give you this on your birthday, but I didn't think it was the time. Open it at Hogwarts. It might help you with your lessons." She handed him a very familiar and very tattered briefcase. Harry could still just make out the letters R.J. Lupin on the side. "He would have wanted you to have it."
Harry was woken abruptly by a firm but gentle shaking by the shoulder. Blearily, he opened his eyes and couldn't see much more than before. Gradually, he found the fuzzy shape of Mrs. Weasley, barely distinguishable from the surrounding gloom.
"Quick, get up," insisted Mrs. Weasley. "Maybe you can help me wake Ron." Harry turned over in his camp bed and reached up, quickly jabbing a finger just below his best friend's ribcage. There was a sudden bellow of pain and rage as Ron sat bolt upright. "Ah, good. He's up," said Mrs. Weasley, who left the room to cook breakfast, which turned out to be huge, even by Ron's standards. Evidently Mrs. Weasley had hoped this would stop them all from leaving her for another year as Mr. Weasley popped his head through the kitchen door to get them to hurry up.
Harry and Ginny pushed their trolleys through the barrier at King's Cross together, followed by the others, and were almost immediately joined by a beaming blonde girl. As they wended their way through the gatherings of parents and children they were joined by a tall, round-faced boy, a bushy-haired girl and a gaggle of younger children all discussing the group of seventh years in front of them. As though they had planned this over the summer, they turned as one, waved at their parents, then turned back and boarded the train. The younger students stared at the spot they had entered the train from with awe.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna looked up as a group of people filed into the prefects' compartment, each holding up a shining gold galleon. Almost everyone from the original Dumbledore's Army, plus a few new faces, sat around the edge of the compartment, looking expectantly at Harry. He paired them up at random and announced that the Army would continue this next year. While the original Army practiced their duelling, Harry got to know last year's additions to the cause.
"This is not a group of pranksters or troublemakers," he told them. "This has always been a group dedicated to the safety and wellbeing of everyone. Umbridge refused to teach us how to defend ourselves three years ago, so we had to learn for ourselves. I trust you're all here for the right reason, and so would like to officially welcome you all to Dumbledore's Army." Harry withdrew the original DA list and added their names to it. As he added the last name, there was a quiet knock at the door. A pale, blond head poked around the door, looking nervous.
"Could I join you?" he asked.
"You're not welcome here, Malfoy!" called Zacharias Smith from the back of the room, raising his wand. A couple of people around him hesitantly followed suit, as did the younger additions, thinking it was the right thing to do.
"Protego!" muttered Harry. As the jet of light from Zacharias' wand bounced off the invisible shield, Harry stood up and strode over to his old nemesis. "Draco Malfoy is many things: the son of a Death Eater; an accomplice to the Dark Arts; a Slytherin. However," he continued, raising his voice as Zacharias had begun to speak again. Malfoy looked up with surprise. "He is first and foremost a student of Hogwarts, and as such will always be welcome here. I believe him to be a good person now that he isn't being forced to do lord Voldemort's bidding. After all, his mother saved my life, and he's got a lot of her in him."
Though a few people looked as though they needed a bit more convincing, a round of applause emanated from Luna and Harry guided Draco over towards his other new recruits. Draco mumbled a quick 'thank you' to Harry as his name was added to the list.
Over the next ten minutes, Harry determined which spells the newer faces could perform out of all those he had taught in his fifth year. Of course, Draco was an excellent, though now shy and modest, duellist, but a couple of others had also mastered most of the spells. As he finally came to the patronus charm, there was a sharp tapping on the window. He quickly let in the eagle owl who was being buffeted around by the train's slipstream and detached the letter from its leg. It flew away and Harry read the letter. He grinned, and slipped it into his pocket.
The long red train ground to a halt outside Hogsmeade station. Harry could hear Hagrid calling the first years at the other end of the platform in his usual booming voice. He headed for the carriages which would take them up to the school. Beside the usual line of thestral-drawn carriages was a slightly larger chestnut brown one. Argus Filch, the school's squib caretaker, held up a yellowing sign beside it, inscribed with the letters 'DADA'. This was to make sure that as few people as possible would know about Harry and the others teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, but it was a largely pointless operation as reporters had dedicated whole sections of the newspapers to this fact. Still, as Harry and the associate professors boarded the magically enlarged carriage, Filch climbed into the driver's seat on top and it began to rumble along the track towards the castle.
The brown carriage reached the front doors of Hogwarts before any of the other carriages due to the second thestral pulling it. Professor McGonagall strode down the steps to meet them and escorted them into the Great Hall.
"Miss Lovegood... I'm sorry. Professor Lovegood, you may sit at the Gryffindor table if you wish. Let houses be no boundary. Professor Potter, your seat is between Professor Hagrid's and my own." She indicated the chair at the staff table between the two largest chairs and led Harry back out into the Entrance Hall. "This window looks across the lake. You might wish to use it to watch for Hagrid." as the first black carriage came to a halt outside the front doors, Professor McGonagall left him by the window and returned to the Great Hall.
Three thundering knocks echoed around the Entrance Hall. Harry pulled open the great oak doors to reveal Hagrid standing in front of a large crowd of first years.
"Hello Hagrid," grinned Harry. "Professor McGonagall said she wanted to talk to you before the sorting began."
"Right you are, Harry," said Hagrid, beaming back at him. Harry led the first years into the Entrance Hall, but not into the usual cramped antechamber. The first years stared in wonder at the size of the room they were in and some looked at the doors opposite those they had just come through, listening to the hum of voices beyond it.
"There are more of you this year than in normal years," began Harry, "due to the number of muggle-borns who were unable to attend last year. I'd first like to apologise for that. Next, I'd like to welcome you to Hogwarts. You will be sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor; Hufflepuff; Ravenclaw; and Slytherin." At the mention of each house, he gestured to the relevant animal on the school crest. "If you perform an achievement worthy of note, your house will be awarded points. Rulebreaking loses you points, even resulting in a negative total." He grimaced at the thought of his sixth year and continued.
"Each house is a noble house, worthy of respect. Some of you may have heard some bad things about Slytherin." He could easily tell who they were. "However, I respect Slytherin as much as any other house. I'm going to tell you something few people know. The truth is that I, myself, was almost sorted into Slytherin. Now, I'm sure they're all waiting for us in there. I certainly know someone who'll be groaning until he gets his food. Look out for the tall, ginger Gryffindor."
Harry led his small crowd into the Great Hall and between the house tables to the very front. Everyone went silent as they made their way up to a battered hat on a stool. Harry left the first years staring at the hat and took his place at the staff table while Professor Flitwick directed the sorting ceremony. Hagrid turned to Harry as the sorting hat began to sing.
"Hello there, 'Professor'," he said, his black eyes crinkling with happiness. Professor McGonagall silenced him with a stern look. It was a very strange experience, looking over the four house tables instead of sitting down there. The staff table was raised above the others, and as such more people were looking at Harry rather than the first years being sorted. The first Slytherin to be sorted scuttled off to his table amongst a frosty round of applause. Harry clapped harder than anyone else, earning himself some strange looks. This continued throughout the whole sorting, by the end of which most people were taking Harry's lead and clapping the Slytherins as much as those sorted into the other three houses. Professor McGonagall stood up as Professor Flitwick took the sorting hat away into the antechamber.
"Welcome, everybody, to another year at Hogwarts. I have a few notices before we can begin the feast, so you'll have to wait a few minutes more, Mr. Weasley. The Forbidden Forest is still forbidden, hence the name. A few of our older students would do well to be reminded of that fact. Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has expanded the list of forbidden items to include a few of the more recent Weasley items. There is to be no duelling in the corridors and students are to be in bed by nine. And now, we have some new additions to the staff as always this year. Our new Muggle Studies teacher is Professor Bell..." She indicated the smiling woman to her left, who waved. "...and Defence Against the Dark Arts will be taught by Professor Potter and Professors Weasley, Weasley, Granger, Lovegood and Longbottom." There was a thunderous round of applause, in which Harry turned bright pink. "And with that, I think Professor Weasley is about to die of hunger, so it's time to begin the feast. Tuck in!"