Harry was already on his third plate of food by the time the Sorting ended. Many people in ended up in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Only three people ended up in Slytherin, but Harry could tell they didn't seem bad. Harry looked at the Staff Table, and waved at Sirius when everybody had to leave to their common rooms. Sirius waved back to his godson, and Harry walked up to the Gryffindor Common Room on the Seventh Floor with his two friends, while escorting the First Years there. "That was an excellent feast." Ron stated as he patted his stomach in content. "You think every feast we have at is a great one." Hermione told him. Ron replied by saying "I can't help it if I think they are all great. The food here is amazing." "That it is." Harry agreed.
The trip to the Fat Lady's Portrait was the same as it always was, but when they got their Ron and Harry didn't know the password. "Do either of you know what the password is?" Harry asked them. "Honestly Harry," Hermione said "You're a Prefect. We were told in advance." Harry shrugged his shoulders, and nonchalantly replied "I forgot. Anyways, I didn't ask to be Prefect, I was chosen for it. I honestly thought it would've been Ron. I've caused way too much trouble." Hermione laughed at Harry, and quickly agreed "That you have. You've almost gotten us into trouble how many times?" Harry acted like he was deep in thought, and said in a fake innocent voice "I don't know. I've actually lost count."
The three friends laughed with each other, as Hermione told the Fat Lady the password, and the three friends escorted the First Years into the Common Room. Harry could hear them all gasp at the wonder of the Gryffindor Common Room, and it reminded Harry of how taken aback he was when he first stepped in the Common Room four years ago. "Listen up everyone. The Boys' Dormitories are one the left, the girls is on the right. I suggest you get to sleep early as there are classes tomorrow. Other than that have fun here at Hogwarts, but don't break any of the rules." Harry told the First Years. He, Hermione, and Ron sat on their favorite seats by the fire. "Well we might as well cherish this peace while it lasts, because what Sirius told me, it seems that our O.W.L.s we have to take this year, we will be extremely busy. And since none of us are taking Divination anymore, we might be able to get at least six or seven O.W.L.s."
Hermione nodded her head in agreement, and said "You can bet we're going to be doing advanced things in all of our lessons, but Harry you're going to have more to do than all of us since you have Occlumency lessons and Prefect Duties." Harry completely forgotten about his Occlumency lessons, and resolved to see Dumbledore about it after lessons tomorrow. He looked at the schedule on the notice board, and noticed they had History of Magic first thing tomorrow morning. "I heard they found a new History of Magic teacher." Ron said when Harry told them. Hermione then asked them "What do you think he or she is like?" Harry shrugged his shoulders, and replied "I don't know, but hopefully we actually learn something from them, as this is our O.W.L. year, and we need as many O.W.L..s as we can possibly get. Especially if we want to be Aurors."
Hermione looked at him and Ron, then said "I don't really want to be an Auror. I want to work with both Wizards and Muggles. Maybe I'll be a Muggle Liaison for the Ministry of Magic, while you two can be Dark Wizard catchers for the Ministry of Magic." Harry then said "Before I become an Auror though, I want to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts here at Hogwarts. I've always wanted to teach my favorite subject here, and I've just started thinking about it while I was teaching you two what Sirius taught me." Ron looked at Harry, then said "I can't be a teacher. I wouldn't have the patience for it. I'd love being a Dark Wizard catcher. The job's always fun, exciting, and it always varies from who you're trying to catch." "That it is." Harry quickly agreed with Ron. They stayed up until ten-thirty talking about their lives after Hogwarts, then went to bed to be ready for History of Magic tomorrow. Harry once again was having the same nightmare with him walking down a dark corridor with a door at the end of it. "Yes, I'm almost there. Just a little bit closer." he could feel himself say. As soon as he got close to the door, he woke up drenched in sweat, and Ron was standing over him in broad daylight.
"Are you okay mate? I thought you were having a fit or something, so I tried to wake you up. Besides, it's time to go to breakfast, then History of Magic." Ron told him. Harry nodded then went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and change into his school robes. He then went to the Great Hall with Hermione and Ron to get breakfast, but he couldn't eat much because of the nightmare. "What is it that Voldemort wants so badly, and why is it hidden behind a door?" Harry thought to himself, while absentmindedly playing with his eggs. "Harry? HARRY?!" Hermione yelled trying to get his attention. Harry looked up at her, and asked her "What is it Hermione?" Hermione asked him "Are you okay? You seem rather...distracted." He knew he was going to regret it, but he told them about the nightmares he was having rather frequently.
"Harry, you need to go see Professor Dumbledore." Hermione told him crossly. "You don't think I know that Hermione?" Harry asked her. For some reason, he's been feeling really angry ever since he stepped back into Hogwarts. The only reason he could think of was that Voldemort was angry at the time. He stopped eating completely, while waiting for his friends to finish. Another ten minutes later, and the trio was headed off to History of Magic on the first floor. Harry and Ron were in for a surprise when they saw their new History of Magic teacher. She was extremely beautiful, and had white gold hair like Fleur's. "I swear she must be part-Veela." Ron said in a sort of captivated voice. "She must be." Harry agreed quickly. He then shook his head, and asked himself "What am I doing? I have a girlfriend already. I can't be falling under a part-Veela's spell." Hermione was looking at Ron, while contemplating slapping him upside his head, but the arrival of the other students drew him out of his stupor.
It got him out of his stupor, but every other male student who entered the classroom had their mouths open at the sight of the new teacher. "Welcome to History of Magic class. My name is Professor Iliana, and this year for your O.W.L.s, you'll be learning about Giant Wars. Any questions?" she asked the whole class. Several of the students hands went up, and she picked Seamus. "Yes, Mr?" she asked. Seamus said "Finnegan. Seamus Finnegan. I was wondering if you'd go out with me?" Professor Iliana grinned at the question, and Harry noticed she had one of the most beautiful smiles he had ever seen, but he distracted himself by thinking of his girlfriend. "That would be highly inappropriate, Mr. Finnegan. The same goes for all of you other boys that have your hand up." she told them in the most kindest way possible. With a grumble, all of the boys who rose their hands, slowly lowered them dejectedly. Harry rose his hand, and Professor Iliana asked "Yes, Mr. Potter?" Harry asked her "Will we be reviewing things we've learned in this class from our previous years?" Professor Iliana answered "Yes we will. Why do you ask?" Harry answered honestly "I asked because most of us, besides my friend Hermione here, always fell asleep when Professor Binns taught us. I was just wondering if you were going to reteach it or give us a brief summary of the events we learned in our previous years."
Professor Iliana admired the honesty that the young man was showing, and told him "I'll be giving you brief summaries of those events, when we're not learning about Giant Wars. Any other questions?" Harry shook his head no, and Professor Iliana proceeded to teach them about the many Giant Wars. For the first time since he came to Hogwarts, everyone stayed awake in History of Magic for a full class period. As they left the room to head to the dungeons for Potions, Harry told them "I just learned way more then I did with Professor Binns, but it's going to take a while to get used to her part-Veela charm." Hermione nodded her head, and added "It'll take awhile for all of the boys to get used to that charm. Now, what do you think Snape is going to teach us?" Ron mumbled so only Harry could hear him "That greasy git is probably going to try to poison us again." Harry snickered into his hand, as they entered the Potions classroom with their classmates.
Hermione and Ron sat next to each other, and since they were sharing a class with the Slytherins, Harry sat next to his girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass. He looked into her sapphire eyes, then pecked her cheek. "I missed you, love." Harry told her. "And I you." Daphne replied as she pecked him on his cheek back. "Settle down class." came the cold, familiar voice of their Potions professor, Severus Snape. "This year will challenge you to see if you remember anything that I've taught your puny minds. It will not be easy to pass my O.W.L, and know this I only accept N.E.W.T students who get an 'Outstanding' on their Potions O.W.L." He looked directly at Harry, then said "Which I don't expect more than half of this class to get an 'Outstanding'. Most of you will probably get an 'Acceptable', but if that happens then kiss your dreams of being an Auror goodbye." Now Snape's gaze moved from Harry to Ron to Neville, and Neville looked like he was about to faint. Everyone knew that Neville was afraid of Snape, because of their Boggart lesson in their third year.
Snape pointed his wand at the blackboard, and instructions appeared on the board. "On the blackboard, if you can read, then you'll know that you'll be brewing a Draught of Peace. You have until the end of the lesson. Begin." he told the class. He then went to his desk, and began to grade papers. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Daphne all sat at the same table, and began brewing their potions. By the end of the lesson, Hermione and Daphne's Draught of Peace were the perfect white. Harry's was a bit gray, and Ron's was purple, but Neville was worst off because his potion was red. He was nervous because Snape kept looking up at him from his desk, and he forgot about the potion. At the end of the lesson, Professor Snape told the class "Sample a vial of your potion, and write your name on the vial. You will then turn it in to me. Potter, when everyone leaves, I need a private word with you." Harry looked at Snape in disbelief, while pouring his vial into three vials, since Snape loved breaking the vials he handed in.
He turned in his potion along with everyone else, and stayed behind to talk to Snape. "I'm guessing you're wondering why I would want to speak with you privately?" Snape asked him. Harry replied "That guess would be correct, sir. Why do you want to talk with me? If you don't mind me asking." Snape then told Harry "It's about your Occlumency lessons. Dumbledore asked me and your godfather, Sirius Black to give you Occlumency Lessons during the summer. He wanted me to ask you who you would want to take it with, even though I already know the answer." Harry then said "I'll take it with Sirius." Snape smirked then told Harry "I shall inform the Headmaster of your decision. You may leave now." Harry didn't even think twice, as he left the Potions classroom. He rushed to the Study of Ancient Runes classroom on the Sixth Floor, and barely made it with one minute to spare. He was clutching his side, as he was struggling to get oxygen back into his system. Daphne had to pat and rub his back to get him to breath properly.
By the time their professor walked into the classroom, Harry was perfectly fine. "Hello class, my name is Professor Bathsheda Babbling, but you can call me Professor Babbling. This is your most important year in your Hogwarts, as you begin to discover what you want to be after Hogwarts. I'll help you as much as I can to help you get an 'Outstanding' on your Ancient Runes O.W.L, but I'll expect equal effort from all of you. Do you understand?" The whole class nodded their heads, while Professor Babbling continued her lesson. "Oy Harry." Angelina whispered to him. Harry whispered back "What is it Angelina?" Angelina told him "Quidditch Tryouts are next Friday, make sure you're there so I can choose people who work well with the whole team." Harry nodded and went back to listening to the lesson. It wasn't as enjoyable as History of Magic was, but it was still a learning experience.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Daphne walked to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom after the Study of Ancient Runes lesson, but they were stopped by Malfoy and his goonies. "Professor Black's not here to save you now, Potter." he told Harry. Harry then told the blonde-haired ferret "He was actually protecting you, you little ferret. Now get out of my way, so I can go to class." Draco was seething with anger tried to pull out his wand, but Harry was faster than him. "Petrificus Totalus." he casted, and Draco's arms snapped to his side while his legs snapped together. He then pointed his wand at Crabbe and Goyle, then told them "This is a warning for all three of you. Leave me and my friends alone." Crabbe tried to rush Harry, but Hermione hit him with a Stunner. Goyle left since he was by himself. "Let's get to class, shall we?" Harry asked his friends with a smile on his face.