A/N: I want to thank everyone that left a review. I say it once again, it is a Harry/Hermione story. It will just take some time.
I wrote Hagrid's talk normally, I hope you don't mind.
I disclaim everything besides the plot.
Chapter 5: Traitor?
Next day, Harry, Hermione and Ron woke up early to show Nathan around the school. The latter woke up even earlier than them. Even thought Ron grumbled for the first half hours, he too agreed that it was a good idea to show Nathan around. Hogwarts was not only huge, but also a really complicated building so it was easy to get lost at the beginning, which they knew from experience. There were hundreds of different stairs and they changed whenever they wanted. Fortunately, Harry's Marauders map helped them immensely with their task. After only a few hours they nearly showed the whole school to the new boy and he learned everything what he needed to know. Nathan learned fast but still when they finally got to breakfast he had a headache from all this information.
"Guys, not that I don't appreciate your help but, did I really have to see everything at the first day" asked Nathan, rubbing his head.
"What happened? Where were you" asked Neville curiously.
"We showed Nathan around the castle" answered Harry.
"The whole castle?" asked Dean surprised.
"We thought that it wouldn't do any good to wait" said Ron while filling his plate to its limit. It was his last words for awhile, because everyone knew that Ron was offline to everyone until the end of the breakfast.
"What is the first lesson of the day" asked Harry.
"Double potions" said Hermione.
"Than we have free period" said Harry grinning. "Snape only takes students with an Outstanding to his potion class"
"I hate to burst your bubble but I have bad news. Professor McGonagall said yesterday. Snape decided to accept everyone with Exceed Expectations"
"You are kidding right? Why would he do that" groaned Harry.
"I thing he kind of had to" said Hermione. "McGonagall said that only one student got what he wanted and unfortunately, it wasn't Malfoy. I doubt Snape wanted to have lessons with only me as his student"
Harry groaned. It was actually good news. That just meant his Auror dreams where not crushed yet. But still, the idea of 1 more year with Snape made him shudder.
"I don't have a book or material for that matter" said Harry.
"Professor McGonagall said that she will arrange it for everyone" said Hermione, crushing Harry's last hope.
"After potions, we have double charms" continued Hermione. "Then Transfigurations and Defense against the Dark Arts"
Everyone on the Gryffindor table felt suddenly excited. They all wanted to have lessons with Dumbledore as soon as possible. But even this couldn't relieve Harry, while they walked to the dungeons.
"Is Snape really that bad" asked Nathan to Hermione.
"Well, he is definitely not the fairest person of the school" said Hermione. "Not only he is strict but he mostly protects the Slytherins. Unfortunately, we always had potions alongside Slytherin till now"
"Which doesn't seem to have changed this year" said Ron unhappily. They saw the green trimmed robes in front of the potions class.
"Hey Scar head" called Malfoy with a stupid grin. "How does it feel to have no single real pureblood in your pathetic group. After one mudblood and one blood traitor, you got yourself another Blood Traitor who is also an orphan just like you"
Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy laughed loudly, as if the blond boy said something clever.
"What about you Malfoy" said Harry, without showing his irritation. "Don't push it. No matter how many idiots you have in your gang, you still can't hide your own stupidness"
Gryffindors laughed while Malfoy gave him a sharp look. But before he could answer Snape opened his classroom.
"Get in" said the greasy haired potion master. Malfoy gave Harry another hard look and entered the classroom.
"Good one" whispered Hermione to Harry.
"But how does this Malfoy know that I am a pureblood. He doesn't even know my full name" said Nathan, who didn't say anything for a while. He had an idea, but before he could tell it to the others, Snape told them to be quiet.
"I didn't expect this many students to get an E in my class" said Snape, but he didn't look impressed or happy for that matter. "You may have got your OWLs but if you don't work hard enough then I will gladly throw the Dunderheads of my NEWTs class"
He directly looked at Harry and then at Ron after this statement with an evil grin.
"Today, you will make The Draught of Living Death potion. I warn you, it is not a potion you can make while your minds are at food. The instructions (He waved his wand) are at the table. You have 2 hours. Start now"
Nathan hurried and took everything he needs from the cupboard. When he came back, he saw that Hermione already started hers. His father teached him a lot about potions but he never made a potion this complicated.
At the end of the class, Nathan was sweating but his potion was still a darker blue than it should have been, but it was still blue. Hermione looked up from her perfect light blue potion and gave him a reassuring smile. When Snape finally started walking around the tables, only Hermione's potion was as it should have been. As the Professor walked around the Gryffindors, he made a comment to each of them, none was really nice.
"Awful" he said to Seamus Finnigan's black potion.
"It will work if you want to kill someone with it Mr. Thomas" he said, looking at Dean's grey potion.
"Totally wrong" he said to Lavender.
"Are you sure you know what clockwise means Miss. Patil" he said to Parvati.
"You first have to learn how to handle a knife Weasley" he said, looking at Ron's blood red potion. Ron's face turned to same color as his potion but Snape ignored him. He looked at Harry's cauldron and his eyes suddenly filled with hate that surprised Nathan, even thought he already noticed that the Potion Master didn't like Harry much.
"What is this Potter" asked Snape. All Slytherin's watched them like hungry wolfs.
"The Draught of Living Death" said Harry, even thought he knew that his potion was wrong.
"Are you sure?" asked Snape.
"Yes" said Harry persistently.
"Okay. Then drink it" said Snape. "If it is really correct, then it will only make you sleep and I can wake you up with an Antidote"
Harry was about to say that he will do it no matter what might happen afterwards but Hermione whispered from behind him:
"Don't do it Harry. The Draught of Living Death turns into a horrible poison if it isn't made correctly"
Harry grimaced.
"I can't do it sir" he said to Snape.
"Yes you can't which makes this potion nothing more than garbage" said Snape, and with a wave of his wand, he made his potion disappear. While Harry was barely holding back his anger, Snape came to Hermione and Nathan's table. He gave a short look to Hermione's potion but didn't say anything and directly went to Nathan.
"It looks like being teached by a great wizard like Albus Dumbledore is not enough to be a good wizard" said Snape.
Nathan got angry and wanted to object. He knew his potion was not correct but it was still not bad. But before he could give him an answer, Hermione kicked him under the table.
"Everyone who still has a potion, bring it to the table before leaving" said Snape, looking at Harry who was looking at his empty cauldron and Neville, who lost his potion alongside his cauldron. "And because none of you could make the potion correctly, I want you to write an essay about how it is made and with possible alternatives. At least 2 parchment long. I don't accept excuses. Class dismissed"
"Why did you stop me" asked Nathan angrily as soon as they left the classroom.
"Because you won't gain anything by opposing him in his own classroom" Hermione answered, matching his anger. "Harry is the living proof for this"
"My situation is a little different" said Harry distressed. He also was angry but he was more used to this than Nathan. "Snape always hated me"
"And what about his ignorance towards you, even thought you made the potion correctly" complained Nathan.
"Forget it. Even thought he talks like this, he always gave everyone what they deserved out of the classroom. Well, except Harry" said Hermione and gave him an apologizing look. Harry just shrugged.
"We have half hours free before charms. Let's visit Hagrid"
The boys happily accepted this distraction. Nathan maintained his bad mood all the way to Hagrid's house. They heard the half giants voice from inside.
"Who is it?"
"It is us Hagrid" said Harry.
"I should have known" said Hagrid. Then the door opened and a smiling Hagrid came to view.
"Come in" he said. "I see you already met Nathan"
"How do you…" started Ron.
"The order" answered Nathan simply.
"How is your first day at school" asked Hagrid to him.
The kids told him about their first potion lesson. Hagrid laughed.
"I wonder if there will ever be anyone from Gryffindor who doesn't complain about Professor Snape"
"I wonder why" said Nathan.
"Don't worry about him" said Hagrid firmly. "He may be strict but he is one of the best for this job"
Harry, Ron and Nathan wanted to object but Hermione, who knew that Hagrid hated talking bad about the teachers quickly changed the subject.
"How was your holiday Hagrid" she asked.
"I can't complain. I had a few missions for the order. But don't ask anything, it is a secret. How was yours?"
"Ours was perfect" said Ron sarcastically. "If you exclude the attack on Harry and Hermione. Oh, and the Death Eaters that attacked the Burrow, who nearly killed all of us"
"WHAT" roared Hagrid. Hermione elbowed the redhead on his ribs and Harry gave him a sharp look. They had to explain everything to Nathan before and then to the Gryffindors, now for the third time that day they told Hagrid all about the past summer.
"Didn't you know" asked Nathan.
"No, I didn't. I didn't hear anything while I was at mission. Damn these Death Eaters" he said with a sudden anger.
"I think we should go now" said Hermione. "Or we'll be late for charms"
They quickly said goodbye to their friend and left. They really were late for the class but the real reason why Hermione wanted to leave as soon as possible was her stopping Hagrid from asking questions. She really didn't want to answer anyone for now.
At the end of the lesson, both Harry and Ron were down faced. Only Nathan and Hermione managed to use Invisibility Charm and make their books invisible and Flitchwick wanted the others to practice the charm and write a 2 parchment long essay about what they did wrong.
"We already have too much homework. This is not fair" complained Ron, after the dinner. "We finally finished our OWLs but they still make us work like house elves. I hope McGonagall won't give us any homework"
But Ron's hopes crushed when after the lesson, McGonagall gave them the longest homework ever. After they left the classroom, Ron started saying all kind of rude words about the Transfiguration teacher but no one answered.
"We have Defense against the Dark Arts now" said Hermione, stopping Ron's endless complaining.
"Do you think Dumbledore will really come himself" asked Neville, who came with them to the classroom.
"I hope he will" said Dean.
"Yes, because if he doesn't then Snape will" said Harry.
"And we are with Slytherins again" growled Nathan. But Slytherins obviously thought that they already caused enough problems to them for today, because they were only looking at the door excitedly, just like the Gryffindors. Fortunately, it was Dumbledore that entered the classroom.
"Good morning" said Dumbledore happily. Everyone went silent. They all wanted to start as soon as possible.
"You can put your books away" said Dumbledore smiling. "You will only need your wands today"
The class murmured again and obeyed happily. Even thought they expected him to say something like this, you never could be sure if it came to the ancient Headmaster.
"You all know that I was actually a Transfiguration Professor. So I hope you will go easy on me if I make any mistakes" said Dumbledore with twinkle in his eyes. "But with Voldemort's return, there is no way we could delay this lesson"
"Today, I will teach you nonverbal spells. I know you all want me to teach you something new and I will. But you have to learn nonverbal spells before that. First, can any of you tell me the advantages of nonverbal spells, as opposed to verbal ones"
Hermione's hand shot up and Nathan followed her example.
"Yes Miss. Granger" said Dumbledore.
"The opposing witch or wizard can't know what to expect until we finish the spell. This gives the nonverbal spell user an important advantage"
"Perfect. 10 points to Gryffindor" said Dumbledore. Hermione blushed slightly. "Just like Miss Granger said, the nonverbal spell user has always an advantage over the opponent"
"But if we don't say the incantation, doesn't it make the spell weaker Professor?" asked Seamus.
"No" said Dumbledore. "The words doesn't make the spells stronger, it is just gossip. It just makes easier to concentrate at the spell. Now if you don't have any other questions, we can start"
"The most important thing in nonverbal spell casting is concentration. Not at the words, but at the spell itself. If you can concentrate on what you want your magic to do, then you won't need to say anything. Now I want you all to pair up with a fellow student so we can begin"
With a wave of his wand, he made the tables disappear. It took 2 minutes for everyone to get a partner. Harry paired up with Ron while Hermione paired up with Nathan.
"I want you to use disarming charm so no one gets hurt by accident. Does everyone know how to use that spell? Good. Then start and don't forget, concentrate at your intention, not at the incantation"
Everyone eagerly started but they soon noticed that it was much harder than they expected. For 10 minutes, no one managed to do anything. Then people started to cheat by whispering the incantation. Nathan wasn't doing anything and only watched Hermione. His father already teached him nonverbal spells so he just waited.
15 minutes after they started practicing Hermione managed to disarm Nathan without even moving her lips.
"Good work Miss Granger" said Dumbledore. He looked mildly surprised. "20 points to Gryffindor. Did you already practice this?"
Hermione shook her head negatively. Dumbledore smiled.
"You learned it pretty fast. In fact, I think this was faster than anyone I saw before. Including myself"
Nathan looked her with awe while she blushed furiously. He knew that Hermione was talented but this was unexpected. It took him hours of hard work to finally learn this. Hell, his father even said that he learned pretty fast.
1 hour later, no one else managed to do it. Dumbledore said that it was really hard and success on first day was really rare. After telling them to practice a little, he dismissed the class. When everyone started to leave the class room, Hermione approached Dumbledore. Her friends followed her example.
"Professor?" said an unsure Hermione. Dumbledore looked up with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Yes, Miss Granger"
"You said in St. Mungo that you would tell us a few things when we get back to school" said Hermione, trying not to sound accusing. Now Harry too listened carefully, while the other two looked confused.
"Yes, I remember saying that" said Dumbledore. "But now I have to apologize and say that it is still a bit early to tell it. I hope you can forgive me. I can assure you that I will tell you when the time comes"
"Yes Professor" said Hermione, who looked disappointed.
"But I have to tell you something else" continued the headmaster. "From now on, I want you to practice in your free time. It will help if you know how to fight and if you learn as many spells as possible. I think Nathan can help you for awhile"
"Why" asked Harry.
"Harry, I know I didn't tell you everything but I am sure you all know that you are in danger" answered Dumbledore. Harry felt himself blushing. "You have to learn how to defend yourselves"
The all nodded. Dumbledore smiled again.
"One last thing. Do any of you get the Daily Prophet?"
"I do" said Hermione. "Why do you ask sir?"
"I think you should look at the newspaper tomorrow. You will surely like what you'll see"
"What is it" asked Ron with hope in his voice.
"I don't want to ruin the surprise" said Dumbledore and walked to the door. "You will learn tomorrow"
"What the hell was that" said Harry after he left. The others shrugged.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
That night, Hogwarts was silent as it always was. All students were in bed, just like the most of the staff. Few of them who were still awake were in their rooms.
In the darkness of the night, someone slowly left the castle. He had a Disillusionment Charm on himself, too strong for anyone of his age. He left the castle without anyone seeing him and approached another figure, a woman. Both of them started walking quickly and when they were far enough, the woman took the first figures hand and apparated.
Seconds later, they appeared in front of a man with red, hateful eyes, hundreds of miles away of the ancient castle. The first figure had lost the Disillusionment Charm now.
"Yes" said the Dark Lord looking at the boy.
"Dumbledore told us to look at the Prophet tomorrow" said to boy with a monotone voice. "He is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts himself. Today, he teached nonverbal spell casting"
"And what about them?" asked Voldemort.
"They didn't notice anything" answered the other boy.
"Do they trust you" asked Voldemort.
"Yes" said the boy emotionlessly.
"Very well" said the most feared Dark Lord and looked at the woman. "Bellatrix! Take the boy back to Hogwarts. He will be more useful than I thought"
"Yes my Lord" said Bellatrix, barely suppressing her excitement and apparated again. Voldemort had an evil smile on his face. His plans were working and that stupid senile fool wouldn't be able to stop him this time.
XxXxXxXxXx
This was chapter 5. I know that nothing much happened in this chapter but still I hope you will like it. Main characters are still Harry and Hermione, they will get more important soon, I just had to introduce the new character.
What do you think about Nathan? He is not overpowered don't worry.
Please leave a review if you read this, I really need some encouragement.
Thank you for reading.