A.N. Sorry for the delay. My old computer died and it took some time to buy a new one and restore everything into working order
15.9.98
Chapter 12 - Back to School
September 15th came just too fast. Harry and Hermione had their trunks packed and ready before joining the Grangers for breakfast. They enjoyed eating together for the last time, at least until the winter vacation. They were already at the door, preparing to leave for the train-station, when the phone rang. Mrs. Granger answered and then called the Potters. "It's for you..."
"Hi! It's Iris..."
"…and Daphne..."
"…and we wish you both a pleasant journey to school..."
"…and a very good year at Hogwarts. We have also talked to the headmistress. We hope she will have a nice surprise for you when come to school."
Hermione wanted to ask about it, but they just chimed "Bye!" together before disconnecting.
They reached platform 9¾ quite early. Harry wasn't surprised at all – he knew Hermione quite well and actually expected this. They settled into one of the front compartments and snuggled into each other while waiting for their friends to join them.
Luna was the first to arrive. She looked at them attentively before noting: "I see that your honeymoon was quite beneficial. You seem to be much more relaxed now."
Neville joined them soon enough, but Ron and Ginny only arrived at the last moment, as usual.
"I hoped Mom would let me drop out of school, now that George needs my help, but she wouldn't even hear of that. As if another year at school would change much…"
Ginny didn't complain at all. She just sat by Neville, holding his hand and looking perfectly content.
They tensed up about two hours later, when the door opened to reveal Draco Malfoy. He looked around before spotting Harry and Hermione. "Potter and Potter – I should have expected this!"
Ron was already grabbing his wand, yet Luna held his hand to restrain him. Draco ignored him. "I want to congratulate you both and wish you happy and long life together."
Both Potters nodded their acceptance, yet Draco had some more to say. "I also want to thank you for saving my life during the last battle, although I didn't deserve it. I know that I tried my best to make you both miserable and I'm sorry for it. Only after the war did I understand how wrong my behavior had been. I can't hope to gain your friendship, but I assure you I'm no longer your enemy and I hope we shall be able to start anew, leaving our past behind."
He extended his hand towards Harry, who shook it, although somewhat reluctantly, and Hermione did the same. They noticed that Goyle was not accompanying Malfoy, but refrained from commenting. Draco seemed to weigh something in his mind, and then shook his head, as if deciding it was not a good idea, before turning to leave. "Enjoy the trip," he said as he was leaving. "See you at Hogwarts!"
"He seemed to be lonely," commented Luna a few minutes later.
"I though he was going to ask to join us," Hermione added.
"Oh, I'm sure he wanted to, only he thought it was inappropriate, considering the past seven years," Luna replied.
"Do you think he meant it?" asked Ginny.
"I'm certain he did," Luna assured her.
Once at Hogsmead they could all see the Therestrals. Ginny looked surprised and Ron couldn't hold his tongue. "Bilmey! I never knew how magnificent these creatures were!"
As they approached Hogwarts they became silent. The castle looked as magnificent as ever, yet each of them remembered the events that took place there less than five months earlier. Their mood changed once again when they passed the gates. The castle and its grounds were decorated now with thousands of blinking colorful lights which gave it a very festive air and removed all gloomy memories, at least for a while.
Mr. Filch was standing near the doors to the great hall, wearing a new set of robes, and directed all eighth year students to a separate table at the back of the hall. The table was large enough to serve forty diners, yet it was less than half full by the time everybody came in. Draco seemed to be the only Slytherin boy who returned while some of their year-mates in the other houses had either fled the country during the previous year or perished. Yet those who arrived couldn't dwell on the past. They were generally happy to meet each other and curious about the coming term.
There were only thirty-one first-years this time due to the war, no doubt, and only five of them were sorted into Slytherin, while Gryffindor got twelve. Harry was almost sure all new Slytherins were muggle-born, as none of the children grown in magical families would want that house at the current time.
The meal was much better than Harry remembered. He was sure that the Elves had put extra efforts to make the students feel welcome. He finished his dinner with a delicious treacle tart, before the remains vanished and the headmistress stood up.
"This day has a very special significance," she said. "It is the first time we open the school after the war that raged within these walls during the previous term. Some of the older students have even played a role in that war, and I'm proud to say that they had shown more maturity than anybody had a right to expect, bringing honor to themselves and to the school. Some, unfortunately, didn't make it. We have now erected a special memorial for them near the lake, alongside the tomb of my mentor and a previous headmaster of this school – Albus Dumbledore."
Even sitting so far from the staff table, Harry noticed the tears in her eyes. She swallowed loudly and continued.
"Since those great and tragic events, we have worked very hard not only to restore the castle to its previous glory, but also to enhance and modernize it, without forgetting our ancient traditions on the way. We now have a fully functional indoor pool for the benefit of the students and the staff. We've also added a new separate building for muggle studies, where the newest muggle instruments can work unhindered by magic. A recreation room was added to each house, where muggle instruments like TV, DVD, music systems and computers were installed and are available for you to enjoy. Even personal MP3 instruments will function in these rooms, although they may not be useful anywhere else in the castle."
This announcement brought a lot of reactions. All muggle-born and muggle-raised students appreciated the news, while most pure-bloods looked quite bewildered. The headmistress seemed to be very proud of these new additions.
"Unfortunately, we have not been able to make cellular telephones work in Hogwarts, yet they don't seem to work even in muggle areas throughout most of this region, so Magic doesn't seem to be the main problem in this case," she added.
"There are probably no antennas within reception range," commented Hermione silently. "This region is so sparsely populated that there's no gain in such investment."
Most younger students were already falling asleep, so the headmistress finished quickly, only mentioning the bare essentials (forbidden forest, Filch) before sending the students to their beds. She asked the eighths year students to wait for her, though.
As soon as the other students left, Mrs. McGonagall approached them. "Hogwarts has made room for you near the astronomy tower. There are four dormitories and two rooms for married couples," she explained as she led them to their new place. "As you are all of age, there is no strict separation between the boys' and the girls' dormitories. You may visit freely, yet any inappropriate behavior will be punished," she added when they arrived.
Harry and Hermione settled into one of the couple rooms. Another couple – Huffelpuffs – settled into the other and the rest found their beds within their assigned dormitories. Hermione enjoyed the idea of christening their new room by a very sensuous session of love making. They were still wondering about the surprise that was mentioned by the twins.
They got their lesson schedule the next morning. There were some new names in the list, yet they didn't really mind, being too busy talking with some classmates whom they had not met since the battle, or even before it.
Their first lesson was transfiguration and they wondered who would teach it, as Professor McGonagall was now too busy in her new role to handle teaching duties as well. Harry and Hermione sat at one of the front tables with Neville and Ron at the adjacent table. They were quite surprised when Draco asked to join them, not having any of his old acquaintances in class.
The professor who entered the class looked very young. She was dressed in dark robes and her hair was hidden by the pointed hat she was wearing, which also shadowed her face, making it hard to identify.
"Good morning, class. I'm Professor Evans and I'm going to teach you some advanced transfiguration this year." Harry was sure he knew the voice but he just couldn't identify it. The professor removed her hat and then gave her hair a shake, letting it fall to her shoulders.
"That's much better now…" she mumbled. Harry gasped and noticed Hermione smirk at him. It was Daphne Evans – his cousin. He lost his concentration for a moment and almost missed her explanations about the transformation they were going to try during that lesson.
Daphne was good, he soon discovered. She explained everything clearly and precisely, demonstrated each and every step and also gave them full background theories before letting them try the transfiguration. Hermione was writing furiously in her notes, yet some of the male students seemed transfixed on the teacher.
Hermione was the first to succeed, as expected, followed by Harry and Draco with Padma being a close third. Neville was also quite quick to master the transfiguration, while Ron was among the last.
"Mr. and Mrs. Potter – I want to talk to you after class," Daphne said at the end of the lesson. They waited patiently for the other students to leave before approaching her desk.
"How do you like this surprise?" she teased them.
"It's quite a nice surprise," Harry answered.
"Don't think I will be soft on you, though. I actually expect you to be the best," she told Harry. She then glanced towards Hermione and added: "Well, maybe second best will do…"
"Is Iris here as well?" Hermione asked.
"I shouldn't tell you, you know…" she teased again, "but… Well, she is the muggle studies professor, though we may exchange places if we get a bit bored…"
"Won't professor McGonagall be angry if you do?" asked Hermione.
"She can't tell us apart yet, so she won't even notice…"
They didn't have muggle studies until the next day and they could be exempt from taking that course, now obligatory, due to their family background, yet both Potters were really interested to see how the subject would be taught, especially since they already knew the teacher.
They also had a new teacher for DADA – a former American auror who answered to the name John Smith. Harry assumed it was a cover name and Hermione agreed. This was just a too common name for a wizard. Draco chose not to sit near any of the "Golden Trio" for that lesson.
Professor Smith wanted to know of each student's experiences during the war, mainly ones concerning the subject matter. Harry and Hermione, having survived being subjected to some of the nastiest curses, got most of his attention, but Ron, Neville and some of the DA members got their fair share of attention too. The lesson finished just before it was Draco's turn to speak. He seemed to be extremely relieved when he noticed that his war experience would not be told yet. He was probably not too happy to tell about being a junior Death-Eater.
Just before leaving class, Professor Smith announced: "Next lesson would be at the pool. You all need to be physically fit to survive dangerous conditions and swimming is one of the best ways to get fit."
"We hadn't been instructed to bring swimming suits. I have none here!" complained Daphne Greengrass – one of the two Slytherin girls present.
"I'm sure nobody will complain if you enter the pool without a swim suit. Actually – that would be the best option even if you have one. And then – you can transfigure some other garments if you want to."
Daphne didn't look too happy with that reply, yet some of the boys smirked. It would be really interesting to see Daphne, as well as the other girls, wearing bikinis – or not.
They were the first to arrive to the muggle studies class. None of them was surprised to find a laptop computer there along with a large-screen TV, a DVD player and a modern stereo system. Another wall held a modern kitchen, including a mixer, a blender, a food processor, a microwave oven, a normal electric oven and a gas stove. It looked like somebody was quite serious at teaching the young magical generation about modern muggle life.
They were checking the DVD collection when a familiar voice asked them: "Do you like the variety?"
They turned around to find Iris smiling at them. She was wearing robes similar to her sister's and her hair was left loose over her shoulders.
"It looks like you've collected some very representative movies, as far as showing current muggle life is considered," Hermione replied. "Do you know how they managed to make these work at Hogwarts?" she asked.
"I don't know all the details. I know that some of these instruments had to be modified in ways similar to military equipment designed to withstand an atomic war. All components are radiation hardened and each electronic board is well shielded. It has not been tested with a class full of magical children, though. Let's hope it will keep working."
Iris proved to be just as good a teacher as her sister. She demonstrated the use of some kitchen utensils and let the pure-blood students try and use them. She finished the lesson by showing a funny clip on the TV, making her students eager for some more muggle information. Some of the boys were not really paying attention, though. They seemed to be drooling over the sexy teacher instead.
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