2020 A/N 1: Okay, people have reviewed informing me that Hogwarts doesn't start on Sep 2nd. I chose this date for my own personal reasons, I used the date to work out several other things and was the same date I used when writing the previous three years. If you don't like it, then that's your problem not mine.
20204 A/N: So, I've gone back and changed my start date for consistency across all my stories – Hogwarts Train leave Platform 9 ¾ on September 1st in all my Harry Potter stories for my own personal timeline reason.
Chapter 44: Year Four: Back to Hogwarts
Finally, September 1st was upon them, and it was time to get the train to Hogwarts.
Other than her meetings, Aileen had spent as much of her time with Sirius as she could before she would have to return to Hogwarts. They ran together every morning, and Sirius had also taken on a basic physical conditioning work out while Aileen did her own training. Then they would have breakfast together before journeying into the Lord's office where they went through the Potter and Black documents together. During this time Sirius taught her a lot about the Old Traditions and his family history – things that couldn't be learnt about in books.
After a couple of hours Sirius would grow annoyed with the office work and they would go out into London for Lunch and to see the sights. They visited Buckingham Palace, the Themes, Houses of Parliament, the Big Wheel and various other places in London and the surrounding area. These trips out with Sirius were the only time, and the first time, that Aileen got the chance o play tourist, as when they were on Holiday in Spain they confined themselves to the beach house in it's privet beach instead of going out into public. It was nice to be out and about with Sirius, especially when she discovered that he was a fountain of knowledge on historic buildings in the mundane world and their comparative history in the wizarding world.
All of this meant that she was feeling a little reluctant to leave Sirius on the morning of the first. She already had her trunk packed, and she had triple checked that her communication journal was inside it because she didn't want to be out of contact with Sirius.
They'd eaten breakfast and were now sat nursing cups of tea and coffee (depending on preference), drawing out the amount of time they spent together before she had to leave for school.
"Here," Sirius handed her a wrapped parcel.
"What is it?" Aileen asked, picking up the parcel but not opening it.
"It's an heirloom. Your grandfather got your father one, and another to gift to a friend he considered worthy. This is your father's copy; I still have my own." Sirius answered.
Curious about what it could be Aileen opened the package only to find a mirror. It was beautiful hand-crafted silver, with stags (the symbol of House Potter) etched around the outside. Sirius pulled out his own mirror, which was identical except for the etches around the outside which were black roses and ravens (the symbol of house Black). Aileen assumed they customised the second mirror after gifting it.
"Your grandfather had them custom designed using our House Crests. Like your journals they're linked. Except these allow us to actually talk with one another, face to face. You just have to say my name." Sirius explained.
"Sirius," Aileen stated holding the mirror up. The mirror went foggy while Sirius's mirror vibrated and started flashing.
"Present." Sirius responded. Immediately Aileen's mirror went clear so she could see Sirius in it. Through Sirius' mirror she could see herself.
"To accept the call, you say 'Present'. To disconnect you say mischief managed." As Sirius explained his mirror turned off, and so did Aileen's.
"This is amazing, thank you," Aileen wrapped the mirror back up and then delicately placed it within her trunk which had been resting by her feet.
"Your journals are great, but I would prefer to talk to you face to face." Sirius admitted.
"I'll call you as often as I can." Aileen promised. "Even if it's just to say hi."
"Good, now come on. I've got to get you to the station before you're late."
Aileen grabbed her trunk with one hand and then grabbed Sirius with her other. They had decided to Apparate to the station because as much as she hated the feeling it was faster than walking to the station (they only lived half an hour away) and they didn't want to be carrying the trunk that far in the rain. Sirius had a Floo, but he'd locked it down so they could only floo to other Black properties and the atrium of the ministry of magic (with a password to leave and enter for the public floo).
When they arrived at the platform it was to discover that a lot of families had already arrived despite the fact that they had another thirty minutes until the train departed. Sirius helped Aileen load up her trunk in one of the carriages before they returned to the platform to wait for the Weasleys' who were notorious for only just making it on time for the train. Aileen had heard some people call it the Weasley Run when discussing being late for the train.
"Be careful this year." Sirius said. "Three attempts on your life in three years is enough for me."
"I'll try. Did you ever figure out what the Ministry was planning?" Aileen asked curiously. They had both heard rumours of the 'event' that was taking up a lot of the ministries time and resources during their visits there to deal with business. But they hadn't managed to hear any details because people had the tendency of fulling quite when they spotted Aileen.
"Just that they're bringing something back which had been stopped for centuries. And it has something to do with Hogwarts." Sirius frowned.
He didn't have a lot of contacts in the departments involved since his contacts were from the Hit Wizards, Aurors and law departments. Although he could have asked Arthur who always heard more than he should due to his friendly relations with so many people. However, the man had been working very hard since the Quidditch World cup since he had been miss-quoted by the paper and he needed to help the wizarding public and stop them from alerting the muggles.
"Well hopefully it has nothing to do with me. I would like a quite year where I can just focus on my studies." Aileen admitted. She had gone an entire summer without being attacked by any Creatures from Mythology, and now she would like a school year where she didn't have to fight for her life.
"And maybe get more than three hours of sleep each night." Sirius prompted. He had picked up on the fact that she was awake extremely early, and went to bed late, quite early on during the summer since she was generally in the library when he would wake from a nightmare. He hadn't really picked up on it during the summer before because he had been recovering and so spent a lot of time sleeping or not mentally aware of his surroundings.
"I doubt I can actually change that." Aileen admitted. "My body is so used to it."
"Just don't create a timetable which will lead to you having to only sleep three hours." Sirius requested.
"I do my best." Aileen agreed.
"Aileen!" Two stereo'd voiced alerted the pair to the fact that the Weasley's had arrived at the platform moments before Aileen was caught in a hug by Fred and then George.
"Good, you made it." Mrs Weasley greeted them with a bright smile. "It's good to see you dear."
"Hello Mrs Weasley. How have you been?" Aileen greeted politely. Mrs Weasley was the only member of the family she hadn't met over the summer.
"Very well dear. It's been nice having a full house again," Mrs Weasley admitted.
Before the conversation could be continued the whistle blew.
"Oh, dear. On the train, all of you." Mrs Weasley turned to her children who started loading their trunks into the train.
"Thanks for having me to stay, Mrs Weasley," Hermione said politely as she climbed on board. Aileen climbed in after her and closed the door.
"Oh, it was my pleasure, dear." Mrs Weasley waved her thanks away. "I'd invite you and Aileen for Christmas, but… well I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with… one thing and another."
Aileen and Sirius exchanged a look at that. It seemed that Mrs Weasley knew what was happening. Sirius nodded his understanding and smiled mischievously as a signal that he would find out what was happening. Aileen wanted to spend Christmas with Sirius – her first Christmas with family – so she hopped that she would be able to go home for the holiday.
"Mum!" Ron complained. "What d'you three know that we don't!" From the look he gave his older brother's Aileen figured that Bill and Charlie knew as well. Since Bill was working on the wards, he had to be alerted to anything that could cause an impact on them such as the increased in magical cores. And if Charlie was involved, as he implied during the tournament, Bill definitely needed to know if magical creatures such as dragons needed to cross the wards.
"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Mrs. Weasley, smiling. "It's going to be very exciting - mind you, I'm very glad they've changed the rules -"
"What rules?" said Ron, Fred, and George together.
"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you... Now, behave, won't you? Won't you, Fred? And you, George?"
The pistons hissed loudly, and the train began to move.
"Bye Sirius. I'll contact you tonight." Aileen promised.
"Be safe. Have fun." Sirius responded.
Once the platform was out of sight Aileen turned to the Weasleys and Hermione. "I've saved a compartment for us. Fred, George, Ginny would you like to join us?"
"We're going to go find Lee." Fred decided after a look with George and then a quick glance to Ron.
"We might see you later though." George agreed before they disappeared off down the corridor.
"I'll join you for the start of the journey before I go and find my friends." Ginny decided.
"Alright, follow me." Aileen led them down the carriage and into the compartment that she had placed her trunk in.
The moment they were in the compartment Ron opened his trunk and pulled out a set of maroon robes to throw over his owl's cage. Pig, Aileen thought it had been called, was an extremely excitable and energetic owl which didn't stop hooting and flying around his cage.
"What are those?" Aileen asked staring at the robes. They were bulky, very maroon and seemed to have a fur collar.
"Dress Robes. Mum got them for me 'cause the Hogwarts letter said we needed them." Ron said grumpily.
"Um… don't be offended but I'll buy you a new pair in Hogsmeade. Those will make you look like a laughingstock." Aileen said as delicately as possible. As a set of dress robes those things were insulting.
Ron looked conflicted at her offer before he shot the robes a dirty look. "That would be brilliant, thanks." Aileen was relieved that he accepted her generosity in this case instead of considering it pity. She knew Ron could be very jealous of her family's wealth, but she was hoping to get him slowly desensitised to it with spontaneous and small gifts like the new dress robes. It had been Sirius who had picked up on Ron's uncomfortable looks at the obvious signs of wealth at her birthday party and so made the suggestion – it was the same way he handled Remus' uncomfortable awareness of his own lack of wealth and built up the other man's tolerance to the point where he only provided a token protest at Sirius' generosity.
"Do you know what's happening at Hogwarts, Aileen? 'Cause Bagman tried telling us during the world cup, but my own mother won't say?" Ron asked, still grumpy.
"No, but-" Aileen started to say but was interrupted by Hermione.
"Shh!" she whispered harshly before pointing at the door which they left slightly ajar. Through the crack they could hear a familiar drawl drifting across the corridor.
"...Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defence rubbish we do..."
Hermione got up, tiptoed to the compartment door, and slid it shut, blocking out Malfoy's voice.
"So, he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he?" she said angrily. "I wish he had gone, then we wouldn't have to put up with him."
"If his father wanted to send him to Durmstrang, why does he sit on the board of governors? Don't all board members have to send their children to Hogwarts?" Aileen asked curious. She was sure that she had read that somewhere – likely in Hogwarts, A History.
"Only if you sit on a hereditary seat. There are three Governor Seats which are open to those in high social standing, and they don't have to send their children to Hogwarts. Although it is expected." Ginny was the one to answer. "Actually, I think the Blacks and Potters have a family seat."
"We do. Sirius will be taking his up during the first meeting of term on the 5th and will also be sitting proxy for me since the head of the board is currently sitting proxy for our seats at the minute." Aileen explained. They had found the paperwork among the large stake that Gringotts had given them. Aileen wanted Remus to sit her proxy due his experience as a professor and a tutor, but they settled on Sirius sitting for her instead like he would be doing for the Wizagnmont.
"Isn't Malfoy Sr. the head of the board?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"Yes. He got the Black seat through his wife. If Sirius hadn't named me his heir Draco would have been set to inherit but no one knew since the previous Lord kept it quiet. With the death of Lord Arcturus Black everyone's been acting under the assumption Malfoy had that authority. And through the Black's he was able to claim the Potter seats because they were linked through me being named heir." Aileen explained.
"But if no one knew that you were the Black heir…" Ron trailed off confused.
"Malfoy knew. He was illegally sitting in the seat. Since, as Ginny just said, his seat isn't hereditary Sirius will likely be able to toss him from the board for good for his actions, opening up the seat for someone else to sit in. I'll have to let him know, we'd just been planning on discrediting him and having him step down in favour of a proxy. We'll likely be looking to get someone from the Department of Education on the board because at the minute they don't have a representative." When they had discovered that they had been equally confused and furious.
"Can we talk about something else?" Ron requested when he saw that both Ginny and Hermione were prepared to continue the conversation.
"Okay, did you finish your homework?" Ginny asked smugly.
"Um, course I did." Ron muttered, his ears turning red with his lie.
"Ron," Hermione sighed tiredly.
"I've done everything except potions. Which I started." Ron defended himself. "And I've still got three days."
"Unless we have potions on a Friday this year," Aileen was swift to point out.
Ron was saved from Hermione's rant about responsibilities by the door opening and Seamus, Dean and Neville turning up. Dean and Seamus had been to the World Cup and so a conversation started about the game – especially since Seamus was still wearing his Ireland Rosette. Aileen and Neville broke off into their own separate conversation about how Neville's greenhouse was going since his gran had let him get five new plants for each O that he had achieved the previous year (and he had managed to get an O in three subjects: Herbology, History and much to his surprise Potions).
Hermione grew tired of the endless Quidditch talk and was uninterested in the Herbology talk, pulled out her copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, in order to start learning the Summoning Charm. Ginny stayed for thirty minutes, talking Quidditch, before she left to go and sit with the friends she had made in her own year.
Ron was just showing the boys his figure of Krum and explaining how they had seen him up close because they were in the top box, when Draco arrived.
"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley." He said degradingly. As always, his thuggish cronies were following along behind, and it seemed that they had grown at least a foot over the summer. Aileen guessed that Malfoy had been listening at the door, waiting for the perfect opportunity to step into their conversation with an insult.
"I don't remember asking you to join us, Mr Malfoy, Mr Goyle and Mr Crabbe" Aileen said calmly, making the three of them twitch slightly. They hated it when she addressed them as such because they were trying to provoke a confrontation while she was always unfailing polite – even when insulting them.
Malfoy decided to ignore Aileen and continued trying to antagonise Ron who, he had discovered, was the easiest Gryffindor to provoke. "So… going to enter, Weasley? Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name? There's money involved as well; you know...you'd be able to afford some decent robes if you won..."Malfoy motioned to the dress robes which were still covering Pig's cage causing Ron to flush in embarrassment.
"What are you talking about?" snapped Ron.
"Are you going to enter?" Malfoy repeated. "I suppose you will, Potter? You never miss a chance to show off, do you?"
"Why would I want to enter, Malfoy? I have more fame that I will ever need or want. I dislike the spotlight and would be grateful if people were focused on someone else this year. And why would I want the prize money? My family is worth a fortune in business assets alone. Nor does Ron need to enter. He and his family are perfectly happy with what they have and would rather work hard and honourably for their money then enter some fleecy tournament just so that their name can be remembered." Aileen had calmly stood up by this point and ignoring the confused looks on her friend's faces she made a shoo'ing motion with her hands as though Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were animals. "Now please leave. Go on, out."
Malfoy backed out of the compartment and Aileen closed the door in his face before returning to her seat.
"What the hell was that about?" Ron blurted.
"I have absolutely no idea." Aileen said cheerfully.
Aileen's friends stared at her in shock for a moment before they all broke into laughter. The way she had acted gave the impression that she was perfectly well informed about what was happening and could not give a rat's ass about it. This made Malfoy look foolish since he seemed so stuck up when he spoke about whatever was happening. As though just him knowing about it made him superior to them. However, Aileen's words made him seem inferior.
"Come on Dean, we'd best head back to our compartment." Seamus said standing now that their conversation about Quidditch had been interrupted.
"We'll see you at the school." Dean said in parting.
For the rest of the train journey Aileen played card games with Ron and Neville while Hermione continue reading her book. The closer to the school they got, the darker it became until finally, as they pulled into the station, they could hear the clashing of thunder and the rain pelting the ground and roof of the train.
When they stepped out of the train there was a flash of lightning followed immediately by the clap of thunder which meant that the storm was directly overhead. Aileen suppressed her instinctive reaction to flinch from the lightning because, as a child of the Sea, she had a natural wariness towards lightning which had become more like fear after she had nearly been struck the year before. The rain was coming down so thick that they could barely see a foot in front of their faces, and everyone was bent double, shoulders up in an attempt to shield themselves from the ice-cold buckets.
"Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the lake in this weather," said Hermione fervently, shivering as they finally climbed into the back of one of the Threstial drawn carriages. Since their carriage had four people (Neville, Hermione, Ron and Aileen), the door snapped shut and they set of towards the school. Since the rain was so bad, they weren't going to hang around and wait for more people to join them.
When the carriage came to a stop they jumped down to the sodden ground and dashed up the flight of stone steps and through the great oak front doors. The people who had been in the carriages in front of them were doing the same thing, no one was waiting around or looking up into the rain.
"Blimey," said Ron, shaking his head and sending water everywhere, "if that keeps up the lake's going to overflow. I'm soak - ARRGH!"
A large, red, water-filled balloon had dropped from out of the ceiling onto Ron's head and exploded. Drenched and sputtering, Ron staggered sideways into Aileen, just as a second water bomb dropped - narrowly missing Hermione, it burst at Aileen's feet, sending a wave of cold water over her sneakers into her socks. People all around them shrieked and started pushing one another in their efforts to get out of the line of fire. Aileen looked up and saw, floating twenty feet above them, Peeves the Poltergeist, his face contorted with concentration as he took aim again.
"PEEVES!" yelled an angry voice. "Peeves, come down here at ONCE!"
Professor McGonagall had come dashing out of the Great Hall; she skidded on the wet floor and grabbed Hermione around the neck to stop herself from falling.
"Ouch - sorry, Miss Granger -"
"That's all right, Professor!" Hermione gasped, massaging her throat.
"Peeves, get down here NOW!" barked Professor McGonagall, straightening her pointed hat and glaring upward through her square-rimmed spectacles.
"Not doing nothing!" cackled Peeves, lobbing a water bomb at several fifth-year girls, who screamed and dived into the Great Hall. "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts! Wheeeeeeeeee!" And he aimed another bomb at a group of second years who had just arrived.
"I shall call the headmaster!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "I'm warning you, Peeves -"
Peeves stuck out his tongue, threw the last of his water bombs into the air, and zoomed off up the marble staircase, cackling insanely.
"Well, move along, then!" said Professor McGonagall sharply to the bedraggled crowd. "Into the Great Hall, come on!"
Aileen rolled her eyes at the absurdity of magicals and drew her wand. The other students had begun slipping and sliding their way into the hall, but she took the safe approach. She dried a five-metre radius around herself before taking a couple of steps and drying another five metres. She repeated this until she reached the Great Hall and was able to walk without the chance of fulling on the wet flagstone.
The Great Hall was decorated like it always was for the start of term feast with the light candles, golden plates and goblets and the house flags hanging from the ceiling. The house tables were already packed with chattering students, the majority of which were still dripping from the rain, but they didn't seem to mind due to the warmth of the room.
The four of them took their customary seat by Sir Nicolas next to the open spot that the first years would claim once they had been sorted. This was their normal seat for the first week, but after that they would move to the middle of the table.
"Good evening," Sir Nicolas greeted them with a beaming smile.
"Good evening," Aileen replied before drawing her wand and beginning the process of dispelling the water from her body and then evaporating it. Once she was dry, she turned her wand on Hermione, then Ron before finally drying Neville. When she had discovered her ability to manipulate water without magic, she had looked into the elemental spells so that she could learn the same skills with her magic just in case. During this process she had discovered that it was easier for her to cast water spells compared to spells which dealt with earth or fire.
Looking around the hall Aileen noticed that the seventh and sixth years had also dried themselves but no one else knew the spells. With a sigh she got up and began drying everyone at the Gryffindor table, one by one.
It took Aileen nearly ten minutes to dry all of the Gryffindor table since no one got up to help her. From the corner of her eye Aileen noticed that four students from the Hufflepuff table and six students from the Ravenclaw table (most likely the prefects) had gotten up and were drying the other students. At the Slytherin table the older students had broken off and sat with the younger students and where evidently teaching them the spells to dry themselves and Aileen noticed that they also showed them the spell to repel water.
Eventually, everyone was finally dry, and Aileen returned to her friends who were talking quietly among themselves about what could be happing that year and who would be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher (they had yet to have one that lasted more than a year).
Aileen had just taken her seat when a highly excited, breathless voice called down the table.
"Hiya, Aileen!"
It was Colin Creevey, a third year to whom Aileen was something of a hero.
"Hi, Colin," said Aileen slightly tired. It had drained her magic to cast so many drying spells as she had just done.
"Aileen, guess what? Guess what, Aileen? My brother's starting! My brother Dennis!"
"That's great," Aileen allowed a genuine smile to grace her face at Colin's excitement.
"He's really excited!" said Colin, practically bouncing up and down in his seat. "I just hope he's in Gryffindor! Keep your fingers crossed, eh, Aileen?"
Aileen nodded her consent before turning to look at the head table. There seemed to be rather more empty seats there than usual. Hagrid, of course, was still fighting his way across the lake with the first years; Professor McGonagall was presumably supervising the drying of the rest of the entrance hall floor, but there was another empty chair too.
"Where's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Hermione, who was also looking up at the teachers.
"I imagine he has been delayed. After all, this weather is not conductive for travelling in a timely manner unless he's using the floo." Aileen replied calmly. If the individual was using a portkey or apparating, they would have walk to and from the edge of the wards of the respective residences since you couldn't Apparate or portkey through Hogwarts wards (or at least, you couldn't portkey without permission from the headmaster) and most residences had the same restriction. "Or he could have been called away for one reason or another."
"Oh, hurry up," Ron moaned, beside Aileen, "I could eat a hippogriff."
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than the doors of the Great Hall opened, and silence fell. Professor McGonagall was leading a long line of first years up to the top of the Hall. Aileen winced slightly when she first set eyes on the first years. They appeared to have swum across the lake rather than sailed. All of them were shivering with a combination of cold and nerves as they filed along the staff table and came to a halt in a line facing the rest of the school - all of them except the smallest of the lot, a boy with mousy hair, who was wrapped in what Aileen recognized as Hagrid's moleskin overcoat. He was smiling brightly, almost painfully.
When the first years had all lined up before the three-legged stall, the smallest boy looked around the hall until he found Colin. He gave the boy a double thumps-up and mouthed, "I fell in the lake!".
"Your brother?" Aileen asked Colin who nodded proudly.
Once the hat had finished its song McGonagall began calling the names of the first years. Dennis Creevey was the third student to be sorted and the first one to be sorted into Gryffindor.
Hagrid clapped along with the Gryffindors as Dennis Creevey, beaming widely, took off the hat, placed it back on the stool, and hurried over to join his brother.
"Colin, I fell in!" he said shrilly, throwing himself into an empty seat. "It was brilliant! And something in the water grabbed me and pushed me back in the boat!"
"Cool!" said Colin, just as excitedly. "It was probably the giant squid, Dennis!"
"Wow!" said Dennis, as though nobody in their wildest dreams could hope for more than being thrown into a storm-tossed, fathoms-deep lake, and pushed out of it again by a giant sea monster.
Aileen drew her wand and dried the poor boy of. He was shivering from head to toe but seemed far too excited to notice this fact.
The Sorting continued; boys and girls with varying degrees of fright on their faces moving one by one to the three-legged stool, the line dwindling slowly as Professor McGonagall passed the L's. As they came to sit at the Gryffindor table Aileen would dry them and Aileen noticed that the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw prefects were drying their first years. The Slytherins, instead of teaching the first years, had the second years dry them to prove that they could cast the charm.
"Oh, hurry up," Ron moaned, massaging his stomach.
"You had plenty at lunch Ron, you can wait until the sorting is over." Aileen frowned at Ron. She had never known someone to eat as much as Ron did, not even Dudley. At least Ron didn't eat as many sugary things as her cousin used too.
Kevin Whitby was the last student to be sorted (Hufflepuff) and Ron seized his knife and fork with the expectation of food appearing on the table.
Dumbledore climbed to his feet and greeted the hall with his welcoming smile, his arms opened wide in his traditional welcoming fashion – like he was hugging the entire hall.
"I have only two words to say to you," he told them, his deep voice echoing around the Hall. "Tuck in."
"Hear, hear!" said Ron loudly as the empty dishes filled magically before their eyes.
Sir Nicolas watched mournfully as Aileen, Ron, and Hermione loaded their own plates. Ron went with his normal two meats, broccoli, carrot, runner beans, mash and gravy special/celebration day and Sunday meal. Hermione was a little more conservative with chicken, boiled potatoes, carrots, cabbage, broccoli and peas. Her roast dinner was in a smaller portion size compared to Ron's despite both of them having a relatively similar dinner; with Hermione's portion size being more acceptable.
Since Aileen hadn't had to deal with any kind of starvation for a year, she had been able to get her portion size up to just below what would be considered normal for someone her age, although she still struggled to eat anything full of grease, fat or sugar. Because of this she went for the salmon roasted on a bed of vegetable.
"Aaah, 'at's be'er," said Ron, with his mouth full of mashed potato causing Aileen to glare at him. She thought she had finally got him out of the habit of talking with his mouth full, it seemed he had forgotten over the summer, and she would have to remind him.
"You're lucky there's a feast at all tonight, you know," said Sir Nicolas. "There was trouble in the kitchens earlier."
"Why? What happened?" Aileen asked once she had swallowed her mouthful of food.
"Peeves, of course," said Sir Nicolas shaking his head, which wobbled dangerously. He pulled his ruff a little higher up on his neck. "The usual argument, you know. He wanted to attend the feast - well, it's quite out of the question, you know what he's like, utterly uncivilized, can't see a plate of food without throwing it. We held a ghost's council - the Fat Friar was all for giving him the chance - but most wisely, in my opinion, the Bloody Baron put his foot down."
"Yeah, we thought Peeves seemed hacked off about something," said Ron darkly. "So, what did he do in the kitchens?"
"Oh, the usual," said Sir Nicolas, shrugging. "Wreaked havoc and mayhem. Pots and pans everywhere. Place swimming in soup. Terrified the house-elves out of their wits -"
Clang.
Hermione had knocked over her golden goblet. Pumpkin juice spread steadily over the tablecloth, staining several feet of white linen orange, but Hermione paid no attention. Aileen quickly drew her wand and lifted the liquid and banished it before it could travel off the side of the table.
"There are house-elves here?" she said, staring, horror-struck, at Sir Nicolas. "Here at Hogwarts?"
"Hermione," Aileen cut Sir Nicolas off before he could dig a hole. "Hogwarts is a sanctuary for House-Elves. For centuries they have been coming here looking for work when they have been thrown out by their Masters. To work at Hogwarts is considered a great honour by the House-Elf community because they get continuous work, and they are appreciated for their efforts – even if most of the student body does not know about them. The fact that the students and staff enjoy their food and that they are happy is enough for them. Do not go on a campaign for House-Elf rights when you do not understand them. Especially when the only examples of House-Elves you have seen, or heard about, so far are from the likes of Malfoy and Crouch."
Hermione spluttered for a moment. Obviously shocked by Aileen's words before she looked down at her hardly touched plate of food, then put her knife and fork down upon it and pushed it away from her.
"Oh c'mon, 'Er-my-knee," said Ron, accidentally spraying Aileen with bits of Yorkshire pudding. "You won't get them sick leave by starving yourself!"
"Slave labor," said Hermione, breathing hard through her nose. "That's what made this dinner. Slave labor."
Aileen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, praying for patients. She would simply deal with Hermione by publishing her book on House-Elves earlier then she had imagined and shoving it down the girl's throat. The only way to get her point across would be through a book. She hadn't wanted to publish it yet because she wanted to spend more time looking into the house-elf community. But she could finish the write up of what she already had, and then look into making a second book once her research was finished.
Hermione refused to eat another bite, and she stubbornly refused to even consider an alternative opinion on the House-Elves than the one she had settled on. She considered the house-elves slaves, nothing more, and she wouldn't condone Slave Labour. But she was looking at it as though they were humans, and they weren't. They were sentient beings, yes, but they weren't humans, and were therefore governed by different rules.
The rain was still drumming heavily against the high, dark glass. Another clap of thunder shook the windows, and the stormy ceiling flashed, illuminating the golden plates as the remains of the first course vanished and were replaced, instantly, with puddings.
"Treacle tart, Hermione!" said Ron, deliberately wafting its smell toward her. "Spotted dick, look! Chocolate gateau!"
But Hermione gave him a look so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall that he gave up.
When the puddings too had been demolished, and the last crumbs had faded off the plates, leaving them sparkling clean, Dumbledore got to his feet again. The buzz of chatter filling the Hall ceased almost at once, so that only the howling wind and pounding rain could be heard.
"Now that we are all fed and watered," Dumbledore began smiling around the room, causing Hermione to 'Hmph' with her arms crossed, "I have a few announcements to make."
"Firstly, I would like to award Aileen Potter ten points for the innovative thought of drying her fellow house mates. I would also like to award 5 points each to the Hufflepuff sixth- and seven-year prefects, and 5 points each to all the Ravenclaw and Slytherin prefects, for helping your fellow house mates. And another 10 house points each to the Slytherin second years for demonstrating the use of a new spell while helping their new house mates."
This first announcement caused cheering from all the houses, particularly the Slytherin house who were now starting the year ahead of the others. The Gryffindor's were glad that Aileen had been awarded house points but were annoyed that they were now behind Hufflepuff by ten points, and far below Slytherins who had 170points.
"Second the bullying policy that was introduced last year has remained in place, so I would advise against testing us. I'm sure professor Snape will soon have cauldrons that need scrubbing, or Madame Pomfrey has bedpans that need cleaning. Further to this, Mr. Filch our dedicated caretaker, has asked me to inform you all that the list of forbidden items has once more grown. I believe it now has four hundred and thirty-seven items, including screaming yo-yos and fanged Frisbees. If anyone wishes to view the full list it can be found in Mr Filch's office."
The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched. The items on Filtchs list weren't officially banned because Dumbledore hadn't added them to his rule book, but he enjoyed humouring the man and it cut down on the number of incidents with these toys if the children were wary of drawing Filch's attention to them.
"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.
This year Hogwarts will be host to several visitors. The most common sight will be a group of curse breakers who will be working with myself in order to assess the wards so that they may be strengthened and the years of supercilious wards that my predecessors have added, such as the three anti-Apparation wards, may be removed to make the power distribution more efficient. I kindly ask that if you see any of these men wondering the school you do not disturb them. I will introduce you to them when they arrive in two weeks to begin work.
This project has become possible due to additional funds that the school is receiving from a new charity, as I'm sure that some of you saw in the newspapers. This new funding has also allowed us to buy new brooms for learning to fly on, plus professional grade Quidditch brooms for each of the teams in order to place them on an even level."
This announcement got a resounding cheer from all the Quidditch nuts and flyers in the school since those who liked flying, but didn't have their own broom, was allowed to use the school brooms.
"I will allow Madam Hooch, our flying instructor to explain the rules of these new brooms." Dumbledore retook his seat while madam Hooch climbed to her feet.
"The 30 new brooms that the first years can fly on will be kept in a secure cupboard in my office outside of lessons. If anyone wishes to fly outside of those times, they must come to me and ask permission to fly one of the brooms and I will sign you one out. If a broom is returned damaged, then you will be held liable for either fixing or replacing it. As for the Quidditch teams, your brooms will be kept in the individual locker rooms. You are not allowed to fly your personal brooms during any Quidditch game. Additionally, you will also be held liable for damage done to the brooms outside of normal Quidditch wear and tear. And trust me, I know the differences. You will also have to maintain your own team brooms." With that Madam Hooch retook her seat and Dumbledore stood.
"We have also used the funding made available to us in order to increase the stock in the greenhouse so expect to be seeing more plants. And to refurbish the potions classroom, which professor Snape will explain to you in his class."
"And a less cheerful note, it is my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch cup will be suspended for the year."
Aileen raised an eyebrow at that while there were shouts of dismay and anger from across the room. Especially considering what he had just announced in regard to the brooms.
"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy - but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts -"
But at that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open. Aileen twitched and her hand latched on her wand. However, she had enough self-restraint to not draw it (it was a close thing).
A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swivelled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark grey hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers' table.
A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. Hermione gasped.
The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any Aileen had ever seen (well on a human anyway). It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening: one of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye - and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was whiteness.
The stranger reached Dumbledore. He stretched out a hand that was as badly scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, muttering words Aileen couldn't hear. He seemed to be making some inquiry of the stranger, who shook his head unsmilingly and replied in an undertone. Dumbledore nodded and gestured the man to the empty seat on his right-hand side.
The stranger sat down, shook his mane of dark grey hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages toward him, raised it to what was left of his nose, and sniffed it. He then took a small knife out of his pocket, speared a sausage on the end of it, and began to eat. His normal eye was fixed upon the sausages, but the blue eye was still darting restlessly around in its socket, taking in the Hall and the students.
"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."
It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of the staff or students chapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid, who both put their hands together and applauded, but the sound echoed dismally into the silence, and they stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody's bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him.
"What happened to him?" Hermione whispered. "What happened to his face?"
"Dunno," Ron whispered back, watching Moody with fascination.
Moody seemed totally indifferent to his less-than-warm welcome. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached again into his traveling cloak, pulled out a hip flask, and took a long draught from it. As he lifted his arm to drink, his cloak was pulled a few inches from the ground, and Aileen saw, below the table, several inches of carved wooden leg, ending in a clawed foot.
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"You're JOKING!" said Fred loudly.
The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.
"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar."
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.
Dumbledore then went on to explain how the tri-wizard tournament was first developed in order to show case the three largest schools in Europe in a friendly competition. The schools were Hogwarts, of England, Beauxbatons of France, and Durmstrang of Belgium. Each school had a representative who would be faced with three challenges that would test their magical skill, power and intelligence. Every five years the tournament would be hosted at a different school. However, due to the death toll the tournament was cancelled seven hundred years after it was established.
"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.
The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."
"I'm going for it!" Fred hissed down the table, his face lit with enthusiasm at the prospect of such glory and riches.
"Fred, the Tri-wizard tournament is notorious for being dangerous. I'm not doubting your skill as a wizard, but I think it would be best if you did not enter. Besides, I image that the preparations for the tasks would take a lot of your time." Aileen said, frowning in worry. She did not want to see her friend hurt simply because he wanted to enter a stupid tournament for money. Fred looked thoughtful for a moment before he sighed.
"We'll look into it, and if I think I could handle it, I'm going to enter." Fred decided.
Fred was not the only person who seemed to be visualizing himself as the Hogwarts champion. At every House table, Aileen could see people either gazing raptly at Dumbledore, or else whispering fervently to their neighbours. But then Dumbledore spoke again, and the Hall quieted once more.
"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he said, "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years or older - will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This -" Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, for several people had made noises of outrage at these words, and the Weasley twins were suddenly looking despondent - "is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion." His light blue eyes twinkled as they flickered over Fred's and George's mutinous faces. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under the age of seventeen.
And now I have taken up enough of your time, and it is late. It's time for all of you to head off to bed. Bedtime! Chop, chop!" Dumbledore dismissed the Great Hall which immediately descended into loud chatter about the tournament.
Aileen stayed out of the conversation on the way to the dorms, electing to lead the first years instead, since they didn't really care about the tournament because it didn't affect them. They were far more interested in the castle and their lessons.
Edited: 11/01/2024