CHAPTER 4: THE MAN IN THE CLOAK

EXT. DRIVING TO WILLOW'S WELL - MORNING (SEPT. 1ST, 2018)

This was to be Lily's and Hugo's first trip to Diagon Alley and to Hogwarts, but it was to be the second time for Albus and the third time for James and Rose. Diagon Alley was a busy, narrow and hidden away cobbled street in London that was lined with a wide assortment of shops, restaurants and street vendors that were there specifically for wizards and witches. Diagon Alley was connected to a maze of narrow cobbled side streets which would often lead to further shops and establishments and even to places where dark wizards and witches would normally only go to. It was a place well known to the Wizarding world and was a place where wizards and witches of all ages and all kinds would go to get many of the supplies they needed for work or for school.

EXT. WILLOW'S WELL TO TOWN CENTER - MORNING (SEPT. 1ST, 2018)

After a 15 minute drive into Willow's Well, Ron drove the SUV into an empty parking lot which was located not too far from the only library in Willow's Well. From there, they all walked down the street towards Willow Well's town center, which was brimming with the activity of the colorful street vendors which lied within it. There was a wide assortment of wizards, witches and trusted Muggles there. Many that were seen there were wearing the signature attire of long, flowing robes whereas only some of them were wearing tall and pointed hats.

Soon, Albus caught the sight of a tall, blank slab of rock which stood up on its end at the very heart of the town center, seemingly unnoticed among the bustling crowds that moved around it. Albus and the others quickly gathered around it in anticipation. This was the Willow's Well entrance to Diagon Alley. Soon, Harry took out his wand and then tapped the front of the slab with it three times.

EXT. TO INT. DIAGON ALLEY TO THREE LION'S HEADS PUB AND INN- MORNING (SEPT. 1ST, 2018)

Albus watched as an entrance began to form on the face of the slab. In an instant, the slab opened up, revealing Diagon Alley in all its glory, lined with elegant lamp posts. Unaware that Willowbree had jumped out of the SUV and had followed them all the way to the town center, Albus and the others walked through the entrance in the slab and into Diagon Alley. Willowbree watched from a safe distance for a moment, making sure that Albus and the others were through before following along after them herself. The entrance closed quickly behind Willowbree. Unsurprising to those who came there, Diagon Alley was so usually crowded and brimming with activity, which made it all the more easy for Willowbree to walk down the sidewalk and disappear into the fray unnoticed.

As the children looked on in awe at everything that was happening around them, Willowbree slipped into the doorway of The Three Lion's Heads Pub. The seedy English pub sat not far from the entrance to Nightshear Alley, a cobbled side street that was lined with lamp posts and where some of the most well-known magical herb shops were located. These herbal shops were decorated with their own wares in some way, either displaying them out on shelves or in display cases inside the shops, displaying them outside on long strings which were hung out in front of the shops or were hung outside on displays, though it was usually all of the above. Inside the pub, Willowbree walked quietly past the tables and along the cold stone floor, walking past a large, lit corner fireplace and looking around her at everyone and everything. In the far corner of the pub, Willowbree jumped up onto a table and meowed, looking at what appeared to be a hooded male figure, his face unseen under the hood of a long, flowing black cloak.

The hooded man was sitting alone at the table, with the people looking on around him as if they were in some way frightened of the man. Soon, a pale hand covered up by a black fingerless glove slowly came out from underneath the cloak, a hand which held a black and sinister looking wand. Willowbree continued to stare at the hooded figure, who gave a single nod towards her as if he knew why she was there.

EXT. DIAGON ALLEY, OUTSIDE THE PUB - MORNING (SEPT. 1ST, 2018)

Outside in Diagon Alley, Albus, Lily and Hugo were looking through the large glass window of a pet shop at some of the creatures that were being displayed on pedestals and in cages, while Harry and the other adults were checking out some things at one of the nearby street vendors. Albus's brother James and his cousin Rose were busy shopping for supplies elsewhere further down the street. Lily looked in through the large glass window of the pet shop that she, Albus and Hugo were looking into and saw a dark gray owl that was spotted with white and sitting inside of a glittering sliver cage.

"Let's get that one," said Lily as she pointed to the owl, "He would be the perfect mail owl for us to have at Hogwarts."

"We agree!" said Albus and Hugo together, and nodded their heads in agreement. Lily walked into the pet shop to fetch the bird. Lily soon came out again and held the cage with the owl inside it up in front of her, "I think I will name him Featherbeak."

"Featherbeak?" spat Hugo disagreeably, "What a silly name for an owl!"

"It is not your owl!" spat Lily back at Hugo as she brought the cage down again. "I bought him and therefore it is my choice as to what I should be naming him!"

"What do you think, Albus?" asked Hugo, looking over at Albus, hoping that Albus would think the same way as he did about the name that Lily had chosen for the owl.

"I think it's great," said Albus with a grin, "It's very self-explanatory."

With that, Hugo scoffed disagreeably and they continued walking down the street towards Ollivander's, unaware that the hooded man that Willowbree had approached in the pub earlier had walked out of the pub and was now standing out in front of it, staring over at Albus and the others as they left. At Ollivander's, Lily and Hugo bought a wand and then they next moved onto a street vendor that was selling small cauldrons.

After two last stops at a magical herb store and a book shop to gather up a few herbs and books that Lily and Hugo needed for school, Lily, Albus and Hugo double backed and went back towards the Willow's Well entrance to Diagon Alley. As they were heading back to where their parents were waiting for them, Albus stopped and looked through the window of a candy store, peering at all the delicious looking treats that were being displayed inside.

Suddenly, his eyes saw the reflection of a hooded figure in the window slowly creeping up behind him. Albus turned around and looked up at who was standing behind him. It was the hooded man from the pub, with his face still hidden in the darkness of the hood that was over his head.

"Um, hello?" said Albus apprehensively, "Did you...want something?"

At that moment, Albus could see arms rustling from underneath the front of the hooded man's cloak. The hooded man pulled back the front of his cloak, revealing black cloths and long sleeves underneath. The cuffs on the hooded man's sleeves were in such a way to where they were completely covering up his wrists and were drawn halfway up his hands. The hooded man also appeared to be wearing black fingerless gloves and a blue iridescent scarf underneath his cloak. The scarf was long and looked like something that was more suited for someone who was of House Ravenclaw then for the person who was wearing it now. The long sleeves of the hooded man were flanked by a line of round buttons that went down the sides of the sleeves and stuck out prominently.

Albus was still unsure about the hooded man intentions as a soft and silkily voice whispered out from under the hood, "Do you have it?"

Albus glared at the hooded man as though he did not know what the hooded man was talking about.

"Do I have what, sir?" asked Albus.

The hooded man paused for a moment and looked away briefly before looking back at Albus and speaking again, "Remarkably like your father, young Potter," said the hooded man coolly and sarcastically, "And I would have thought that the son of the great Harry Potter wouldn't be as much of a dunderhead as his blessed father once was."

"Excuse me?" scoffed Albus, suddenly becoming mildly defensive towards the hooded man, "My father is not a dunderhead. He is a great and powerful wizard!"

The hooded man scoffed.

"Just who do you think you are?" spat Albus.

The hooded man snapped once more, "The book, boy!"

"What book?" Albus snapped back, becoming more irritated with the hooded man by the minute.

"The book that Treevole was supposed to have given you, idiot boy!" spat the hooded man once more, "Do you have it?"

Albus paused in surprise for a moment. How did this man know about Treevole and what was this book that Treevole was supposed to have given him? More importantly, how did the hooded man even know that he was Harry Potter's son?

Albus spoke once more, "I didn't get a book from Treevole, was I supposed to?"

There was a brief pause and then from under the hood, the hooded man spoke coolly, "Listen to me, Potter. That book is very important to someone and even though it is merely a copy of the original book, it is still a dangerous book to possess. Its only supposed to be given to you because its owner believes that you can learn much from it without messing things up," said the hooded man as he leaned in, getting close to Albus's face with the man's face still hidden in the shadows of his black hood. This made Albus feel more and more uncomfortable.

The hooded man continued, "If you really aren't the dunderhead that your father was, you will obey the rules that the book has laid out for you once you have received it. Its owner trusts that you will use the book responsibly while you have it in your possession. Since your father has already dabbled into it without its owner's consent, its owner has decided to let you use the book while you reside at school. Do not disappoint him!"

And with that, the hooded man turned and disappeared back into the crowd as quickly as he appeared from it, with his long, flowing black cloak blowing back behind him. This left Albus confused as to who the hooded man was. But all that Albus knew that that moment was that he didn't like the way the hooded man had spoken to him or how he had spoken about his father. Albus knew that if he ever saw the hooded man again, it would be too soon. Soon, Albus heard his father calling for him and quickly ran off towards his father's voice. After leaving Diagon Alley and getting back to the parking lot with their supplies, Albus and the others were surprised to discover Willowbree curled up on the hood of the SUV, looking at Albus with a glittering stare.

"Hold on," said Hugo, "How did Willowbree get out of the SUV? I didn't see her get out."

"It appears that she had sneaked out without us noticing. She must have followed Albus out of the SUV after we left." said Lily as she and Hugo opened up the back door of the SUV and began putting their new supplies and Lily's new pet Featherbeak inside it.

Lily then crawled into the back seat and closed the door behind her. Concernedly, Albus picked Willowbree up off the hood of the SUV and began looking her over to make sure that she did not get into anything while she was outside of the SUV.

"She seems like she is alright," said Albus as Willowbree meowed softly, purring quietly, "But how did she get out in the first place?"

"I don't know and I don't care," said Hugo, quickly jumping into the back of the SUV, "Come on, Albus. Bring Willowbree and let's get going. The Hogwarts Express is waiting!"

Albus quickly carried Willowbree to the back of the SUV, putting her into the back seat before he got into the back seat and closed the door behind him. With their parents already inside the SUV, they continued onward down the street towards King's Cross Station. They were unaware that a stream of black smoke had flown up from the ground and was hovering high in the sky behind them, manifesting itself into the shape of a dark streaming cloud before it quickly darting after the SUV.

EXT. A NARROW COBBLED PATH, COKEWORTH, NORTHERN ENGLAND – EVENING (AUG. 23RD, 1958)

Along a narrow cobbled path along the banks of the Cokewell River, Tobias and Eileen walked arm to arm alone together, having just left the reception hall to have a quiet time alone near the river's edge. But Tobias had more than just a quiet time with Eileen on his mind. It was something that Tobias had had on his mind ever since the reception, but couldn't get himself to ask Eileen about it until now.

"I want to know something Eileen," said Tobias suddenly as he and Eileen walked arm to arm down the narrow cobbled path. "What was that scandal that my father was yelling about at the reception hall earlier?"

"It's a rather warm night tonight isn't it, Tobias?" said Eileen, who was trying to change the subject as though she was trying to avoid answering Tobias's question. "Soon, it's going to be too cold for us to have these pleasant night walks together."

"Eileen please! Tell me! I know you know something about it!" Tobias insisted. At that moment, Eileen sighed and stopped, turning to look up at Tobias sadly.

"Yes, I do know about it. In fact, I know a great deal about it," said Eileen softly, "But I fear that you might not like it."

"It's alright. Just tell me, I want to know." said Tobias insistently.

"Alright, have you ever heard of Scead Potter or the Potter family?" asked Eileen. Tobias shook his head as Eileen continued, "Well, you do recall that Serinus Snape was married to a cousin, Evelina Snape?"

Tobias nodded his head as Eileen continued once more, "Well, it seems that Serinus Snape came home one evening and found his wife having an affair with Scead Potter. He was a wizard, just like Evelina and Serinus were. Anyway, Scead had known Evelina ever since they went to school together and had been visiting her at night when Serinus was away. Evelina loved Serinus but she also loved Scead, which made it quite hard for her to choose who she really loved and wanted to be with.

"Anyway, when Serinus found out, he was so angry and crushed, that he stormed out of the house that he shared with Evelina and never returned, taking with him a few magical items that he didn't want Evelina to keep, for fear that she might use them on him. One of these magical items was particularly powerful and Serinus wanted to make certain that Evelina would never find it and use it on him, so he took it someplace secret for safekeeping. He then divorced Evelina and later re-married to a Muggle, thus creating the Muggle Snape family line that we are now a part of. Serinus and Evelina however, were members of the wizard Snape family."

"Wait, the original Snape family was the wizard Snape family?" said Tobias, "My father never told me about them!"

"Indeed, but they don't exist anymore," said Eileen, "Though I gathered that your father hasn't told you about them since your family are so much against wizards."

"Wizards," muttered Tobias contemptuously, narrowing his eyes and scowling, "What makes them so much better than we are? Always waving those silly wands around and making out like their better than us Muggles! As far as I'm concerned, I don't want to have anything to do with wizards and magic of any sort!"

Suddenly, Tobias heard his brother Edward calling for him from atop the embankment that lied out in front of Tobias and Eileen, "Come on you two! You need to get to the train and head off to your honeymoon! It's getting late!"

"Come on Eileen, we need to hurry!" said Tobias excitedly as he broke away from Eileen and began storming up the embankment towards Edward and his sisters. At that moment, a look of sadness fell upon Eileen's face as she walked slowly and calmly towards the embankment. What she heard from Tobias's lips was what she had feared the most. Tobias, like all the others of the Muggle Snape family, greatly despised wizards and anything that involved magic and the Wizarding world. This of course, made Eileen ever more determined not to tell Tobias the secret about her that she now had bottled up deeply inside. She would not tell Tobias that she was a witch for a long time, if she would ever tell him at all.

INT. THE GREAT HALL – MORNING (MAY. 26TH, 2007)

Nearly nine years after the death of Severus Snape, much had changed within the school faculty and within Hogwarts Castle itself. There was a new group of young wizards and witches waiting to be taught all they needed to know about magic, as well as a new school faculty:

Professor Vadamus Titch, the new headmaster of Hogwarts, who replaced McGonagall after her retirement as Head Mistress;

Professor Christine Margarine née McGonagall the new head of Gryffindor House and Minerva's younger sister;

Professor Neffaria Whippoorwill, who just graduated from Hogwarts and was now the youngest Head of House Hufflepuff in the history of Hogwarts;

Professor Gregus Groset, the new Head of House Slytherin and the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, who was also Edward Groset's son;

Professor Reginald Dresdale, the new Head of House Ravenclaw and the new Potions teacher;

Professor Morphos Moody, the grandson of Alistor Moody and the new Astronomy teacher;

Of course, there were three familiar faces still present at Hogwarts:

Professor Rubeus Hagrid, who was still the gamekeeper at Hogwarts and was once again the Care of Magical Creatures teacher;

Professor Neville Longbottom, the Herbology Teacher;

And Professor Sybill Trelawney, who was still the Divinations teacher.

In truth, Hagrid, Neville and Trelawney were the last three original faculty members from Harry Potter's time, and were in many ways legends among the school staff and the students at Hogwarts School. As it had always been,there was much mystery and enchantment within the walls of Hogwarts Castle. So many tales of legendary wizards and witches who had fought bravely in the Battle Of Hogwarts nine years ago, including stories of the great Harry Potter and his friends, Hermione and Ron.

It was this generation of new and budding wizards and witches that had long since grown up listening to the stories that their parents would tell about those legendary wizards and witches, those of both of the living world and of those who have passed on. But for a boy by the name of Joseph Bobscandel, the younger son of Trevor Bobscandel and Morgana Bobscandel née Tavarti, there was only one mystery of Hogwarts that sparked his interest, the mystery of Severus Snape's death.

In the Great Hall, all the Hogwarts students were busy eating breakfast, while some were reading the latest edition of the Daily Prophet. But for a certain group of students at the Ravenclaw table, breakfast was the last thing on their minds.

"Will you look at that?" A boy by the name of Tristan said coolly, scowling, looking up and over the shoulder of Joseph Bobscandel at a portrait on the wall behind him. Joseph looked behind him at the portrait Tristan was looking at. It was yet another portrait of Severus Snape, only this one was a special portrait used when the Great Hall was being used, allowing Severus to visit the Great Hall and keep an eye on the students.

Throughout the castle, there were several empty portraits set aside for Severus, including the one in the Great Hall, which allowed Severus to wander freely throughout the castle without having to share space in the portraits of others, and for good reason. As he was in life, Severus Snape continued to be the bitter and sarcastic loner everyone remembered him as in death. Snape never much liked sharing space in the portraits of others unless absolutely necessary. Of course, it was clear to Joseph as to what was stirring Tristan's attention, and it wasn't Severus, who was sitting in an armchair and looking out over the Great Hall, brooding.

"It's a woman in Professor Snape's portrait! Since when is there a woman sharing Snape's portrait? No woman in her right mind would have anything to do with bitter, brooding, sneering Professor Severus Snape. Of course, Snape wouldn't have anything to do with women period." said Tristan, who was watching the woman, Verena, in Severus's portrait closely. "And look at her stomach! She's huge!"

"She's pregnant!" said the voice of a young girl sitting next to Tristan, with her face buried in a book titled Willowyne's Book of Rare and Extinct Magical Plants And Potions before snapping the book shut and sitting it down on the table, revealing the face of a light skinned young girl.

"I know that, Daniela," barked Tristan, looking over at her. "But why is she pregnant? I thought those who died pregnant before giving birth would not be pregnant in the portraits and would instead be holding the child that wasn't born in life."

Inside the portrait, Verena was leaning over Severus from behind the armchair that Severus was sitting in, with her hands on the handles of the armchair. She would look over and occasionally look out into the Great Hall at everyone, but then quickly go back to looking down and talking to Snape again.

"Funny thing about that, Tristan," said Joseph suddenly, who kept looking over his shoulder at the portrait of Snape and Verena. "Those who were not born in life will always grow up in death, up to a point of course. That is just how it is in the portraits."

"But you can't be in the portraits and pregnant...can you?" asked Daniela, "I've never seen a pregnant woman in the portraits before! At least, not in an enchanted portrait, it's completely mental. Who is she anyway?"

"You mean you don't know?" said Tristan, looking over at Daniela. Daniela shook her head.

"Her name is Verena Witchazel," said Joseph, who kept looking at the portrait and watching Snape and Verena talking to one another. "She was a student at Hogwarts around the same time as Professor Snape was. I remember my dad telling me stories about her, but he never told me that she died or how she died."

At one point, they watched Severus point over towards the end of the staff table as he talked to Verena; as though he was telling her that he once sat there, a place that was now being occupied by the new Head of Slytherin House, Professor Gregus Groset.

"When did she die?" asked Tristan curiously.

"I don't know," replied Joseph, "But she must have though, otherwise she wouldn't be in the portrait with Professor Snape...and pregnant."

"We can't seem to get past that one can we? I can see why we can't." said Daniela, who kept watching Professor Snape and Verena talk to one another and interact.

At one point, they saw Verena whispering sweet somethings into Snape's ear, which caused him to look at her and give a fleeting smile of affection before getting a fleeting smile of affection from Verena in return. It was obvious to Tristan, Joseph and Daniela that Verena and Professor Snape were more than just friends. It was also obvious that the only people paying attention to Verena and Snape in the portrait and noticing this were Tristan, Joseph and Daniela.

"Phbt! Disgusting." said Tristan, scrunching his nose in disgust.

Joseph on the other hand was biting his tongue and grinning from ear to ear, while Daniela shook her head and covered her eyes. Undeterred by the noise and garbling voices in the Dinning Portrait above, Verena continued to stay next to Snape, though Joseph and his friends could not understand why she kept doing so. Even though this new generation of wizards and witches didn't know Professor Snape personally, they still knew enough about him to realize that Snape would never allow anyone, particularly a woman, to get that close to him. Of course, anyone who could manage to invade Snape's personal space and then get away with it would always get bonus points in Joseph's book.

"She's got to be a nutter," said Tristan, "Otherwise, she wouldn't be that close to Snape or even be in his portrait for that matter."

"I can see why she is getting along so well with Snape." said Joseph, "From what I've heard, they are both Occlumens and they both had less then admirable childhoods. Furthermore, they both lost their families by some horrific means. From what I found out from my dad, Verena lost her family to the hydra Sulphilim..."

"Sulphilim?" hissed Daniela, "That hideous, fowl beast?"

"Yeah that beast," said Joseph.

"I've heard stories about Sulphilim," said Tristan, leaning in slightly. "I heard that she was a real nasty. A really large and ugly hydra with claw marks down her back. Sulphilim was the torment of many a wizard village back in my Father's time at Hogwarts. I know that I wouldn't want to meet Sulphilim in a dark corridor any day or any night for that matter."

"You're never going to though," said Joseph.

"How so?" asked Daniela.

"Because Verena killed her." replied Joseph, looking back at Tristan and Daniela again, who was quickly met by stunned glares and silence.

On the wall above Severus Snape's portrait, there was an extremely long portrait, known as the Dinning Portrait, which wrapped completely around the Great Hall, a single long portrait mounted on all four walls. It had an extremely long table, where all those who existed within the portraits would come to sit, dine and talk with each other and could look out over the Great Hall at the students and those of the living world. This was a special day at Hogwarts, as it was a day set aside to honor those headmasters of Hogwarts who had passed on. As such, Severus was sharing the wall with portraits of other past headmasters, with a portrait of Albus Dumbledore hung closest to the staff table.

"Tell me something, Joseph," said Tristan, "Why does Severus Snape always have to wear that grim face all the time? Doesn't he ever smile?"

"Are you kidding me? Snape almost never smiles, and when he does, it's always so...wickedly." said Daniela, "Professor Snape is a cold, lonely and miserable creature who never knew the meaning of happiness or love. Furthermore, he's a Death Eater who once worked for You-Know-Who. As far as I'm concerned, he is a man that's to be best avoided if you know what's good for you!"

"I wouldn't know about that, Daniela," said Joseph, "But if you knew him better and about more of his past like I do, you wouldn't be saying that. He's an Occlumens, Daniela. They don't express their feelings in the same way that most others do. When they express any strong feelings at all, they are not about to show them for all the world to see. But just because he doesn't usually show his feelings, doesn't mean they aren't there...remember that."

"Well, if he does have any real feelings behind that bitter, brooding face of his, I'd like to see them," said Tristan, "I'm even beginning to doubt if he's even..."

"If he's even what, Tristan?" asked Daniela.

Wanting not to be overheard, Tristan leaned in further and whispered, "...human..."

Joseph and Daniela looked at one another puzzlingly, unsure of what to say next. After a moment, another voice rang out over the Great Hall from the staff table.

"Silence! Silence everyone! I have something that I wish to say!"

Soon, everyone in the Great Hall and those in the portraits had their attention fixed on a tall older gentleman with a long beard and long hair, who stood up from the staff table and called out over the Great Hall. He was wearing long and flowing iridescent purple robes and wearing a tall, pointed iridescent purple hat. This was Professor Vadamus Titch, the new headmaster of Hogwarts.

Vadamus Titch was once a teacher of The Dragons Gail Wizarding School of Magic, which was a much smaller Wizarding School that was located somewhere in Yorkshire. The main specialties of that school were to teach young wizards and witches metal-charming, herbology and potion making, as well as teach them in the art of breeding, keeping and taming dragons. It was a school dedicated to those wizards and witches that were destined to become dragon riders or metal charmers as a lifelong occupation.

Titch was half the age that Dumbledore was, just as his beard and hair were half as long. Like Dumbledore, Professor Vadamus Titch always had an aura of calmness and composure around him, rarely displaying intense emotions of anger or fear unless need be. Also like Dumbledore, Titch was tall and thin, with long fingers and fair skin. Along with a benign nature, he was neither proud nor vain. But unlike Dumbledore, Titch's hair had once been black, only now his hair and beard were gray like Dumbledore's, but tinged with black streaks. Titch, unlike Dumbledore, was happily married and with children of his own. Titch also didn't wear spectacles and had dark hazel-green eyes, also unlike Dumbledore. Titch had a pair of ponytails woven in his beard, elaborately decorated with beads made of bone, tiny feathers and bits of wood and tiny gemstones. He also had a pair of woven ponytails embedded in his hair, one for each side framing his face, which were decorated in the same manner as the ponytails in his beard were.

Unlike Dumbledore's wand, which was made of Elder and with a Threstral Hair core, Titch's wand was made of Vine and with a Dragon Heartstring core. Titch's wand was decorated with an elaborate vine pattern, which ran up the entire length of his wand, ending just below its tip. Despite his youth when compared to Dumbledore however, Titch was still the wisest wizard present in the room, apart from Snape and Dumbledore himself.

"As some of you may already realize, we are now nearing the end of another school year here at Hogwarts. It should be noted to those of you who are graduating this year that this is now your final year at this most esteemed and prestigious school. But as you move on and find your place in the Wizarding world, you must always find time in the coming years to look back and remember what you have left behind. This year, the bonds that you have made throughout these past seven years will be more important than ever. Hopefully in the coming years that are laid out ahead of you, you will continue to hold and maintain the bonds that you have forged between your friends and family and continue on in this life together to become important and respectable members of wizard society..."

"Listening to him talk, you'd think that it was his last year at Hogwarts," whispered Tristan with a giggle, leaning in towards Joseph briefly and then leaning back. "I wonder who are new headmaster is."

"Phbt! Enough out of you Tristan," whispered Joseph as he continued to watch Titch make his speech.

"I think it's a wonderful and quite stirring speech, Tristan. That will be quite enough out of you!" Daniela scoffed as she narrowed her eyes at Tristan and Tristan scoffed back, grinning mischievously.

Titch continued, "Now, I want you all to be ready for the coming graduation ceremony which will occur at the end of this month. Invite whatever friends, family and pets you wish to witness your graduation and remember that your presence here at Hogwarts will always be greatly missed, even after everything else has been lost and forgotten in the pages of time...thank you."

And with that, Titch sat down as a roar of cheers, whistles and clapping rose up from the student tables. Even Severus and Verena looked on and clapped as Titch was patted on the back by Hagrid and another teacher who was sitting next to him at the staff table. After breakfast, everyone continued onto their classes and to the rest of the day.

CONTINUED...CHAPTER 5...