Disclaimer: I do not own either Harry Potter or Hetalia. They belong to their respectful owners.

Harry was sitting together with Ron, Hermione and Neville at the Gryffindor table when the new professor walked in. Ginny had gone off to sit with some of her fellow fourth-years, so that left them with Nearly Headless Nick. The odd thing was, that the Frenchman wasn't the only new face at the teacher's table. Beside Dumbledore, sat a peculiar pink woman. And Harry recognised her.

"That's that Umbridge woman," he said, when he finally pinpointed where he had seen her before. "She was at my hearing in the ministry."

"What do you reckon' she's doing here?" Ron asked, looking at the woman. "I mean, if she was at your hearing, she must work for the ministry."

"I don't know," Harry answered back. "Maybe she's here to say something?"

"I don't think so," said Hermione. "If that was the case, she wouldn't be sitting besides Dumbledore. She must be a teacher."

"A teacher?" Ron asked, "But I thought that the French bloke was going to teach us in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

'That French bloke', had reached the teacher's table and sat between Professor Flitwick and a woman Hermione informed who was Professor Babbling, the Ancient Runes teacher. As Harry watched, he took professor Babbling's hand and gave it a kiss, like in the old movies. The longer they talked, the more red Professor Babbling's face turned.

"Is he flirting with Professor Babbling?" Harry suddenly asked. Apparently, it had been a tad big louder than expected and George didn't miss it.

"He certainly is, the 'hot' new professor," George said to Harry a little further down the table.

"He certainly is what?" Fred asked.

"The New Professor all the girls looked at," replied George, while discreetly pointing at him. "He is certainly flirting with Professor Babbling. And she likes it!"

"You know what I see in the future, brother?" Fred commented. "A lot of broken hearts."

Harry had heard Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil's whispers as the Professor had walked through the hall. So Ginny wasn't wrong in the assumption that he would have a couple adorers.

"I believe so," Harry said to them.

Just then, the doors opened and McGonagall walked in with the new first-years. It was only the second time Harry had observed a sorting, if you count out his own. The first-years looked both amazed and terrified, looking all around, at the ceiling, the other students, the teachers (there was a boy looking back at the doors too) and at the Sorting Hat McGonagall had placed on the chair.

This year, the song was different than normal, and you could hear murmurs arise after it had finished. Harry though, had an idea about why it did that. It knew that Voldemort was back. It had warned them about it.

The sorting started with a boy, Abercrombie Euan, with some very prominent ears. On the way up, Harry saw as he looked at the New Professor (Harry remembered he was called Francis, but couldn't remember the surname) had smiled. They seemed to know each other, because the Professor gave him a slight wave. Euan was put in Gryffindor, and Harry clapped with the rest of the table, greeting Euan to the house.

The last girl, Zeller Rose, went to Hufflepuff, and the sorting was over for the year. Dumbledore welcomed them, and the feast began, much to Ron's delight.

As they ate, they talked with Nick about the warning the hat had delivered, the new professors and, most importantly to Harry, that Hagrid wasn't there. After the woman calling out for the first years, he had hoped that Hagrid might be at the Great Hall already. But at his place were the woman, and there were no sign of Hagrid anywhere.

After the dinner, Dumbledore got up to welcome them again and warning about the Forbidden Forest.

"This year we have the great number of three changes to the staff. We are pleased to welcome Professor Grubbly-Plank who will take over the Care of Magical Creatures lessons -" they all clapped at the new professor "- and we are delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, who will be taking the Defense Against the Dark Arts class." They clapped again while the Pink Professor smiled at them.

"Then I would like to inform that Professor Binns have taken a year off, so we are pleased to have Professor Bonnefoy here, all the way from Beauxdatons Academy, to teach History of Magic."

This got the biggest applause, mostly due to the fact that they shouldn't have Binns for a whole year and the New Professor looked anything but boring. When he was mentioned, he stood up and made an extravagant bow to the student body (Harry thought he saw him wink at some of the Ravenclaw girls), before he sat down again.

It took longer to get them to quiet down before Dumbledore once again began to talk. In the midst of his sentence about the Quidditch tryouts, he was interrupted by Professor Umbridge and a little 'hem-hem'.

Harry could already, wholeheartedly, say that he didn't like that woman, but after Hermione had translated what actually was said in the speech, he was even more certain. They wanted to change Hogwarts, just because they couldn't see that Voldemort was back.

On the way out of the Great Hall, Harry looked back at the teacher's table. Some of them had already left, but there were some talking quietly with each other. He could see McGonagall and Flitwick throwing glances at Umbridge while speaking. At least the other professors seemed to think the same as them. That Umbridge-woman wouldn't be good for the school.

…

Merde.

France found himself in a dilemma of all sorts. He had agreed to go to the school and make sure that the Ministry didn't do too much, and here the Ministry Lady was actually saying that they want to change Hogwarts. The speech she had given was, apart from being exceedingly long and boring, illuminative in a way. The way that made France sure, that they had to tell someone about their involvement.

So here France was, trying to decide if he should enlighten the Headmaster or write to England first.

The matter wasn't that pressing yet, so it could probably wait until he got word back from main control, but France wasn't known as the most patient type. And besides, England might not agree with him. It was better to ask for forgiveness than permission (or in this case, better to ask for forgiveness than to come to a 'mutual understanding').

"Monsieur Dumbledore," France started, as the students were on their way out the hall. "Do you think you 'ave time to speak for a moment?"

Dumbledore looked questionably at him, his eyes twinkling with mild curiosity.

"Of course, what is the matter?"

"Not 'ere," France said. "Somewhere where no one can listen."

Dumbledore nodded at him.

"Minerva, would you excuse me, Francis here was just asking how to get to his living-quarters, so I thought I might show him the way."

Minerva looked like she was about to say something, but decided against it and gave a nod. With that, Dumbledore and France began their way around the castle. It was an enormous place, with corridors abruptly ending, new ones appearing and staircases changing positions. France tried to keep track of the way, which was easier said than done.

…

They ended outside a door marked '4 F'. It was a simple wooden door leading into a simple wooden room. The room was obviously a classroom, with tables lined up to look at a blackboard and the smell of old paper (parchment was what they called it, wizards were so old school). From what France could gather, this was most likely going to be his classroom for the duration of the year. One side of the room were filled with books about Magical History and on the other side, the windows showed the view over the grounds of the school. Apart from the whole place being dark and boring, France could manage with it. It just needed some light and colour and then he would be good to go.

But it wasn't for the classroom that he stood there with the Headmaster. It was for something more confidential.

"So Francis," Dumbledore started, "I must say I am curious about what you want to talk with me about."

France didn't quite know how to break the bomb. Should he just flat out tell him, or should he sugar-coat it? There were always the (bigger) possibility that he might not believe him, and instead of listening throwing him to the mental department of, what was it, St. Mungo's.

"You see, Monsieur," France began, "I may not 'ave been entirely truthful about my background."

"Yes, I know that."

France would say it again: Sneaky old man.

"I had my assumption about the two of you when we met. There hasn't been an Arthur Kirkland at Hogwarts for the past 100 years."

Yes, the background was always the hardest thing to get set. It is true that both England and France had attended their schools, France had even taught at his, but that was many, many years ago. You couldn't fake your way into a school with books where every student ever attended.

"I am 'ere because my…" France paused for a fraction of a second, "friend was nervous. He knows zat Voldemort is back, but he cannot do anything himself. I volunteered to go in his place; I hope you can forgive me."

Dumbledore took his time to answer, thinking about what France had said.

"How does this 'friend' of yours know that Voldemort is back?"

France decided to drop the bomb. "Because he is Great Britain."

…

France had to say, that the old man took it better than many of his bosses combined. When he had to break the news to his new bosses, it usually took them a week and countless of proof to convince them that France indeed was true and didn't needed to be put in a mental institute.

Dumbledore however, was open to the idea for the get-go. His way of mind was, 'Even though I haven't seen it, it doesn't mean that it's not true', which France thought was a very smart way of life. Normally people in this time had to have prove of everything. Back in the days, people were a lot more opened minded, believing in the magical. Now even the magical often needed proof.

"And you are France then, I presume?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Oui," answered France, "What gave me away?" he winked at Dumbledore, who seemed unfazed. "I am 'ere on behalf of Angleterre. He is so nervous about the rise of Voldemort, so I could not turn him down! Not when he finally asked for help."

France then continued, turning more and more dramatic and emotional. "In ze past out relationship 'ave been... Complicated. We 'ave had a lot of wars. So when he came to ask moi; moi, if I would do him a favour! Oh, I was enchanté (delighted). Not to mention, zat Angleterre have not had zat much contact with his magical community since before the first war. I, on the other hand, is very involved with my community."

France continued talking a bit about him and his magical community and his involvement, and was careful to mention that he actually had taught at Beauxdatons (even though that had been around 150 years ago, but he didn't say that).

"I see," Dumbledore said, sitting down at one of the chairs in the room. It was like the times were you wrote the longest text in the history of texting, and the only answer you get 'okay'. France felt the same now. The expression on the Headmaster's face was unreadable, so France had no idea what the man was thinking.

"Do you, by any chance, have something to verify your story?"

It was a perfectly innocent question, and France had expected it at some point, but it surprised him anyhow. Did he have something to prove he was France? When he proved it to the new ministers, he had lots of pictures and books to tell his story (closely guarded secret of course). Here, it was just him and an old wizard…

Wait, old wizard.

"You do not happen to 'ave a pensive around 'ere, no?"

He had, but that had to be after the teachers meeting. France hadn't known that there was a teachers meeting on the first day, but he had been told surprisingly little about the whole ordeal, so it didn't take him by surprise.