IOn Thursday, September 1st, 1994, Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Susan, and Luna were all sitting in the very back compartment of the Hogwarts Express.

They all decided to just wear their Hogwarts robes to start the day so they wouldn't have to mess around with changing later in the day.

Luna had graciously taken care of putting all seven of their trunks in the luggage rack for them and they were awaiting the Hogwarts Express's departure from King's Cross station when they suddenly heard a very distinct barking sound coming from just outside their compartment door.

Harry, realizing what this meant, got up from his seat and opened the compartment door to let in the big black dog that had been waiting outside their compartment door.

Harry sat back down, and the dog licked his arm a few times before transforming into a man.

"SIRIUS!" exclaimed Harry happily as godfather and godson exchanged a hug.

As they hugged, the train pulled out of King's Cross Station and began its northbound journey to Hogwarts.

"So?" Harry asked Sirius slowly, wanting to make sure he understood, "You're coming to Hogwarts with us?"

"Yes," grinned Sirius, giving off a laugh like a bark, "These past few weeks I've found that living alone doesn't agree with me. As you're obviously going to be away at Hogwarts for most of the year, I wrote to Remus and asked him if I could live at Hogwarts and if he could find a job for me at Hogwarts."

"He obviously said yes, " said Harry cheerfully as Sirius took a seat, "What job did Remus offer you?"

"He offered me the post of Astronomy teacher at Hogwarts!" said Sirius glowingly.

"Congratulations, Sirius!" chroused Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Susan, and Luna.

"What happened to Professor Sinistra?" asked Hermione seriously.

"She has been reassigned to the post of Hogwarts Librarian," said Sirius smugly, "Remus has fired Madam Pince."

"Why?" asked Hermione sharply, "I never noticed anything wrong with her job performance."

"I did," said Luna with an unusually rough edge to her voice, "How about the fact that she was always a bitch to the students she served."

"Personality shouldn't be a part of job evaluation!" protested Hemione, "Since Madam Pince was doing a good job at her actual job, she should have kept her post."

"No," said Luna bluntly, "When you have a job where you deal with people, how you treat people IS part of the deal."

"She technically did her job in terms getting books checked out of and back into the library and putting them on the right shelves and so forth, " said Ginny thoughtfully, "But she wasn't willing to be very helpful to students. "

"Technically is the key word, " said Susan matter of factly, "She may have fulfilled her job description, but an ideal Hogwarts Librarian would be more helpful to the students. Last year, when I asked Madam Pince in what section of the library I might find books on hippogriffs, she haughtily told me to find it myself. "

"That's EXACTLY the sort of thing that got Madam Pince fired by Remus, " said Sirius seriously, "Remus is a big believer in the way you treat people being a part of your job performance. He did offer Madam Pince the opportunity to keep her job, but he made it clear that she would have to change her act. When her response made it clear to Remus that she would not change, he fired her."

"As for Professor Sinistra," said Harry thoughtfully, "She's a very quiet lady, but kindly all the same."

"That makes her the PERFECT person for the post of Hogwarts Librarian, " said Sirius briskly, "Libraries need to be quiet places, but her kindness will make her a better librarian that Madam Pince ever was."

"Why would she accept the reassignment though?" wondered Colin.

"According to Remus, Professor Sinistra accepted the offer because she's not as young as she once was and needs more sleep as an older lady, " answered Sirius.

"This change allows her working hours to be during the day and not late at night," understood Dennis.

"Yes," said Sirius matter of factly, "She recently turned seventy and wants to start getting more sleep at more normal times, It's that simple."

"I bet you're excited to take the post of Hogwarts Astronomy Teacher, " Harry told Sirius knowingly.

"OOH!" cooed Sirius contently, "I'm really looking forward to my new job. I love night skies, stars, planets, all of it. Plus, Hogwarts at night is beautiful."

"Astronomy is my favorite subject, " said Luna dreamily, absentmindedly looking up at the ceiling, "The calm, quiet, and beauty of night has such a purity to it."

"I totally agree, " replied Sirius radiantly, giving Luna a warm smile.

Now turning to Ginny, Sirius said kindly, "Ginny, I'm really happy to see you wearing new robes for a change."

Ginny's face lit up like a firework.

"Thanks, Sirius, " said Ginny brightly, "I'm sure I look better in these robes than I did in the shabby old secondhand robes I had to wear the past two years."

"You do, " chroused Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Susan, Luna, and Sirius."

"But I also feel better, " added Ginny, "Not just in terms of feeling more comfortable, but presenting myself in new robes that are truly mine is making me feel better about myself."

"I still love how Ginny was the beneficiary of Ron's punishment, " said Harry with a smirk.

"By the way?" Ginny asked Harry, "It's not a big deal or anything, but did you ever buy me the two replacement candy jars like you said you would?"

"It is a big deal, " insisted Harry, "I promised you that I would buy you two new candy jars and keeping promises is important. I put them in your trunk this morning while you were still asleep."

"Thank you, Harry, " said Ginny gratefully.

Next nanosecond, the compartment door opened and the plump witch with the lunch trolley entered.

"We've introduced a new concept this year and that is share packs, " explained the trolley witch, "Let's call a spade a spade here, people don't sit by themselves on the Hogwarts Express, they sit in groups. In addition to the convenience of buying share packs, selling products in volume allows us to offer better deals. Share packs come for groups of two, three, four, or eight people."

"That sounds great in theory, " said Dennis uncertainly, "But it can easily lead to fights because of arguments over who pays whereas with induvial products evrybody pays for himself or herself."

""The idea is that groups can split the cost between the people in them and with the lower unit cost with bulk, everyone ends up paying less, " reasoned Harry.

"Right you are, Mr. Potter, " smiled the trolley witch, "What would you lot like? You may take a few minutes and a few nanoseconds to think it over."

Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Susan, Luna, and Sirius huddled and discussed the matter, they settled on getting an eight pack of Cauldron Cakes, an eight pack of Licorice Wands, and an eight pack of Budweiser.

Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Susan, Luna, and Sirius all dug their hands into their left hand pockets and pulled out some money.

All of them smiled at realizing it was the lowest price any of them had ever paid the trolley witch.

It was actually Sirius who enjoyed the meal most.

"I haven't had any kind of licorice in ages, " said Sirius as he happily took his first bite of licorice wand, "So many niceties have returned to my life now that I'm a free man again."

"You don't realize what you have until it's taken away, " said Luna quietly.

After lunch, they killed off the rest of the journey playing games like Hangman, Tic Tac Toe, and a variant of Tic Tac Toe called Secret X in which the middle column of the game board was covered up and the object of the game was to make Tic Tac Toe by guessing where the Secret X was, though there was never more than a two thirds chance of winning this game.

When the Hogwarts Express finally reached Hogsmeade station, Harry, Colin, Dennis, Hermione, Ginny, Susan, Luna, and Sirius all looked around and took it in, glad the new semester was starting.

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