AN: According to Harry Potter Wiki, September 1st was a Sunday, however, according to the 1995 calendar, September 1st was a Friday. As Hogwarts always starts on September 1st, I'm assuming that the classes that were scheduled for the day after the Hogwarts Express were actually scheduled for Monday, as there are no classes on weekends. If anyone can find a source for me that says that the Hogwarts Express traveled on the 3rd that year, so that students will arrive on Sunday instead, please let me know, and I will change this chapter. The book explicitly states that term starts 1 September, and that the day after the feast was Monday, but I refuse to lie about the actual calendar.
On Thursday, 31 August, Ari finally received his booklist. He was surprised and disappointed to see a prefect badge enclosed. Ari didn't know how he could ride the Hogwarts Express and do his prefect duties if he had to be home for Shabbos. He flood Professor Flitwick who informed Dumbledore, and Ari was given a portkey for shortly before Shabbos starts. He also couldn't believe he was given one day's notice to buy two books, but in the magical world, going to and from stores didn't take long, so he got his books on time.
On 1 September, Ari grudgingly made his way to the prefects' carriage. He knew he would have to receive instructions from the head boy and girl and that he would have to patrol the corridors occasionally.
Ari sat down next to Ernie, relieved there was at least one boy he knew who was prefect. Padma looked at him when she came to the carriage before sitting next to Hannah. The prefects' meeting took close to an hour. While all the other prefects bought food off the trolley, Ari unpacked his own food as usual. The prefects were introduced to each other before hearing about their responsibilities. Ari recognized a Slytherin prefect as the one who said he doesn't associate with Ari's kind back in first year. They were told that they have to patrol the corridors occasionally and that they should give detention to kids who misbehave. They were also told to supervise the station when they arrive at Hogsmeade. They were also told they have to show the first years how to get to the common room.
"I'll be leaving before that," Ari told the head boy and girl.
"Right," the head boy said. "You have to go home for your Sabbath. Professor McGonagall told us."
"And Hogwarts allows that?" Draco asked incredulously. "I don't know what this school is coming to, letting students go home for muggle reasons."
"What does muggle have to do with anything?" Ari asked.
"Aren't you a muggle born?" Draco challenged.
"Actually, I'm not," Ari told him. "My family could trace themselves back to the days of King Saul thousands of years ago."
"So how come I never heard of any magical Goldsteins?" Draco wanted to know.
"Who did Newt Scamander marry?" Ari asked.
"How am I supposed to know that? He's not related to me," Draco said.
"He married my cousin, Tina Goldstein," Ari said cheerfully.
Draco didn't say anything else about Ari's family.
Ari joined Michael and Terry after the prefect meeting. They both made fun of him for being prefect and asked what he's doing about Shabbos. Ari showed them the portkey and said he will be going home without having to leave the train.
That night, Ari's grandmother asked about prefect responsibilities. She was disappointed that they weren't going to be taking a stronger role in defending the school, but Ari reminded her that professors were there for a reason. Oma admitted that after the holocaust, there are very few not Jewish people who she trusts. After all, many people who seemed to be friendly with Jews before the war had no trouble turning in their former friends to the Nazis once the holocaust started.
Ari wondered if he missed anything interesting during the feast. He also wondered what the new defense teacher was like. Mostly, he wondered how many people believed that the dark wizard was back, and if anyone had any plans on fighting.
When classes began on Monday, many teachers found it necessary to remind them about the OWLs they were taking at the end of the year. Ari was eager to find out how the new defense professor was and he was greatly disappointed.
Umbridge treated them as if they were five-years-old. Ari refused to say "Good morning Professor Umbridge" with his class. He didn't like being told what to do. When asked if everyone has their book, Ari once again refused to join in the chorus.
After reading the chapter that was assigned, Terry raised his hand and waited to get called on.
"Did you have a question about the chapter?" Umbridge asked.
"I finished the chapter," Terry said, "but I was wondering if we'll be learning to use defensive spells."
"You're not going to be attacked during class," Umbridge told him.
Padma raised her hand.
"Aren't we going to have to perform some spells on our OWLs?" she asked. "As you mentioned earlier, our previous teachers did not do a good job teaching us what we need to know. If we want to pass, we will have to learn five years of defensive spells this year."
"As long as you study the theory hard enough, there is no reason you should not be able to perform the spells during the exam," Umbridge said.
Ari raised his hand.
"How come it doesn't work that way for Charms and Transfiguration?" he asked. "I always know the theory well, but I have never mastered a spell on the first try."
"You probably don't know the theory as well as you think," Umbridge insisted.
"So the first time we will do the spells is on the exam?" Padma asked.
"As long as you study the theory, you should be fine," Umbridge repeated.
Ari raised his hand again.
"We only have three more years to learn whatever magic we will know for the rest of our lives," Ari said. "What if there's another war? If we don't learn defensive spells now, when will we?"
"Are you expecting a war?" Umbridge asked suspiciously.
"My grandparents and great grandparents weren't expecting a war," Ari reasoned, "and they found themselves in the middle of one. Even if there is no war for 100 years, I'm expecting to live a long life. In a hundred years, I should have children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren who I will need to protect. If I don't learn how now, when will I?"
"We have a ministry who is perfectly capable of protecting everyone," Umbridge reassured him.
"While that may be the case now," Ari said, "the people working for the ministry won't live forever. At some point, we will need to replace them. If we don't learn how to defend people, how can we possibly expect to be a ministry that protects magical Britain?"
"Those working for the ministry receive additional training when they start their jobs," Umbridge told him.
"But for those of us who don't plan on working for the ministry, these three years are the only years we have to learn," Ari tried again. "While I'm sure the ministry did great things, people can't be in more than one place at once. The ministry couldn't protect everyone in the last war. We were lucky that Potter somehow defeated you-know-who. The ministry couldn't protect the deaths of his parents and others who died in that war."
"We're not expecting another war," Umbridge said again.
"I'm expecting to live long," Ari responded.
"What job do you expect to have when you graduate?" Umbridge tried another approach.
"I would like to be a rugby player," Ari said.
"What's that?" Umbridge asked sweetly.
"Rugby is the best sport ever!" Ari told her enthusiastically. "It's a muggle sport-"
"Let's not waste class time discussing muggle sports," Umbridge told him. "If you expect to work in the muggle world, you have nobody but yourself to blame if you're not protected."
Ari rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. He wasn't too impressed with his new teacher.