The Weight of the World

Chapter 7 - The New Teacher

Harry made his way into the great hall to see Dobby sitting across from Hermione and Ron. They were listening to Dobby talk about some clothes he had made for Dumbledore, when they saw Harry. Dobby stood up quickly and ran over to Harry grabbing him around the waist.

"Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Dobby has missed you he has!"

"Thanks Dobby, I missed you too," Harry said smiling down at him then up at Hermione and Ron who were both smiling.

Dobby began to sob at the though of himself actually being missed by someone and began to wale when Harry picked him up by his apron.

"Dobby, it's okay really. It hasn't been more than a few weeks since you saw me anyway."

Dobby let out another loud sob. "He remembers! He remembers when he saw Dobby last. You truly are a great friend to all Harry Potter. Now tell Dobby what you want for dinner and Dobby will get it immediately."

"Well Dobby I am really not too sure, I haven't though about it," Harry said truthfully.

"Then Dobby will bring Harry Potter everything and let him choose!" Dobby disappeared with a pop and was gone.

"Dobby really likes you Harry," Ron said grinning. "I'm beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea to give him that sweater for Christmas. He'll be pining after me before too long."

"He's already pining after you Ron," Hermione added.

"True," Ron said.

"I think it's adorable. He is so happy being free and having friends," Hermione went on. "I just hope that the others down there will follow suit. Hopefully Winky is feeling better," She said before eating another spoonful of pudding.

Just as Hermione finished, the area of the table that Harry had sat down in front of, was covered with about 20 dishes, not one of them had a dish that Harry didn't like. Harry began to eat when Hermione broke the silence again.

"So what did you find out from the hat?" she asked.

"More that I wanted to I think," Harry said.

Ron smiled when he said that, but then saw that he was serious and looked at Hermione and they both stopped eating.

"Is it bad Harry?" Hermione asked. But before he could answer she put her head down on the table by her plate and said. "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be? Why would anything good happen to him? How many bad things can happen to one person in a lifetime?" She started to slowly cry with her head still down on the table.

Harry and Ron were both stunned at her outburst and just stared at her.

"Hermione, it's okay. It's really not that bad I guess. I found out that Professor Dumbledore and I are related," he said.

She looked up at him and wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"What did you say?" she whimpered.

"I said that I found out that Professor Dumbledore is my great great uncle," Harry said coolly.

"The Sorting Hat told you that?" Hermione asked.

"No, Professor Dumbledore told me," Harry replied.

"Harry, that's amazing! Why aren't you excited? You don't seem excited?" Hermione said sounding as though she was about to start crying again.

"It's just really complicated. Will you guys please not hate me if I don't want to talk about it right now?" Harry said with a pleading look in his eyes.

"No problem man. That's wicked though Harry. Dumbledore is your uncle! See, you have family besides the Dursley's after all," Ron said smiling.

Hermione continued eating silently but didn't look at Harry or Ron. No one spoke for at least a few minutes until the doors to the Great Hall opened up and two women came into the hall. The first woman was very pretty. She had light brown hair and was probably in her upper thirties, they all figured her to be a new teacher. The other woman that was behind her came through the door and they could see that she wasn't a woman, but a younger girl that looked to be around their age probably fifteen or sixteen and she was even prettier than the older woman with the same light brown hair, and deep blue eyes.

"Hello," The older woman said. "Are we that late, or are we all that are here right now?"

Hermione spoke up. "Well, we are the only three students staying here this summer. Dumbledore is in his office I believe and I am not really sure where the others are. Everyone usually eats dinner earlier around here, but we came in a bit late."

The woman came closer to the table and the younger girl followed her.

"My name is Rolanda Livingston. I will be the new potions teacher here. This is Meagan my daughter. She will be a fifth year student."

Ron and Harry looked at one another quickly. Both of them were obviously wondering why Snape wasn't teaching potions.

"Nice to meet you Professor, hello Meagan, we are all fifth years as well. My name is Hermione Granger," She said and shook both of their hands.

"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," Ron immediately shook Meagan's hand. Harry could see that Ron was very excited to meet her. He couldn't blame her. She was very pretty and when she smiled at Ron, his ears turn red almost immediately.

Harry stood up and shook the new professor's hand.

"I'm Harry Potter. Nice to meet you both." He would have shook Meagan's hand as well, but Ron still had a hold of it.

"Did you say your name was Harry Potter?" Professor Livingston asked.

"Yes, nice to meet you," Harry said still smiling.

"Amazing," the professor added. "I knew your mother. You have her eyes. She was a good friend of mine. The last time I saw her was a month before she had you. I was pregnant with Meagan at the time so it was hard for us to get out and see one another. Then she and James went into hiding not long after that and Meagan and her father and I moved to the United States and have lived there for the past 13 years. Shawn, my husband, passed away last year and Meagan and I decided to come back here. Your mother and I went to school here together. Both of us in Gryffindor. I have some good memories of this place and of her."

"I am sorry to hear about your husband. I recognize you from a picture I have from my parents wedding day. You were one of her bridesmaids," Harry said grinning.

"I was younger then. I am surprised you recognized me," she said. "Meagan, why don't you get some food? I am going to find Dumbledore and tell him that we've arrived safely. I'll be back down in a minute to join you," she said as she walked out of the Hall.

"Come sit over here Meagan, there is more food left in these serving dishes. Obviously because they are away from Ron," Hermione said smiling at him.

"Thank you. It looks so good. I am starving. There wasn't anything good on the train to Hogsmeade," Meagan said smiling.

"So Meagan, you're from the States eh?" Ron asked.

Meagan nodded. "I was born in London, but we moved when I was almost two. This is my first time over here since. I've heard mom and dad talk about it so many times. It's so beautiful," she said.

"Ron let her eat for Merlin's sake," Hermione said.

"Sorry 'bout that," Ron said smiling.

"No it's fine. So you three can do magic as well? I assume everyone here can?" she asked.

"Yes, we are all witches and wizards here. Except for Filtch, the caretaker, but he doesn't really count. He is mean enough to seem like he has magic in him." Hermione said.

"We don't have magical schools in America. Mom and Dad just taught me from home. She would order me books from the bookstore in Diagon Alley. So this will be my first time to do magic in front of people. I am kind of nervous. I am afraid I might be a bit behind everyone else," she said.

"You'll be fine I'm sure," Ron said quickly. "You didn't stumble through the door or knock over your plate when you sat down, so your already loads ahead of Neville," Ron said.

Harry nearly spat tea everywhere when Ron said that. He wiped off his mouth and then made himself stop laughing.

"That's hilarious Ron, but he's not kidding Meagan. Neville is pretty bad. Sometimes he doesn't even know which end of his wand is up. You'll be fine. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll be way ahead of a lot of people," Harry said.

"I hope so," she said as she took a bite of dinner roll. "I seriously don't want to make a fool out of myself."

"So what made you guys want to move back here?" Harry asked her.

"My dad passed away last year and most of my mom's and dad's family are around here so she really needed to come back. Professor Dumbledore came to the funeral and then offered mom a job here. At first she wasn't sure about it but then when she found out the old potions master was going to be too busy doing outside work, she told Dumbledore she would fill it" she said.

"I'm sorry about your dad," Harry said.

"That's okay Harry. Mom has told me all about you. I know you lost both of your parents. I can't imagine what that must be like. Mom still gets upset when she talks about your mom. They were really good friends. At least I still have my mom," she said.

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Hermione broke the silence again.

"Do you know what house you'll be in yet?" she said.

"I am supposed to go see Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat," She said. Is it true there is a hat that is alive that tells you what house your in?" she asked.

"Yes, it's true," Ron said.

"I thought my mom was trying to trick me," she said smiling.

"Hopefully you'll be in Gryffindor," Hermione said.

"Yeah that would be cool," Ron said and was given a mean look from Hermione right after he said it.

"It will put it Gryffindor if you want it to," Harry said softly.

"What Harry? No one gets to pick what house they want to be in," Hermione said.

"Sure they do," Harry said a bit louder. "I asked it to put me in Gryffindor my first year and it did. Plus I just talked with the hat a few minutes ago and it told me that everyone picks for themselves, he said that he just sees where they truly want to be."

"Is that true Harry? Ron asked.

Harry just nodded at him. Ron shrugged his shoulders at Meagan and Hermione. Meagan's mom came back into the room with Dumbledore behind her.

"Ahh, I see we have already acquainted ourselves with one another. Hello Meagan, I am Professor Dumbledore," he said.

"Hello Professor, nice to meet you. Mom has told me so much about you," she said.

"Hopefully only good things," He smiled. "Meagan if you have finished eating you can come with me I'll get you sorted into your house. Then you can join your mother and get unpacked," He said. "Harry and Ron, won't you be as kind as to help her with her things. I am sure she will be interested in seeing how well you can use the magic you have learned here. Hermione, you can some with us and escort her to her things when we are done."

Meagan looked at Ron and Harry and said "Nice to have met you all," then she followed Professor Dumbledore to his office. Ron and Harry helped Professor Livingston move some of her things to Snape's old dungeon office, and the rest they took to a wing of the castle they had never been to before.

"This is where the teacher's living quarters are. I used to come here with Lilly and spy on Professor Markemer. We had such a crush on him our first two years," she said grinning to herself.

Harry couldn't help but smile. This was the first friend of his mother's he had ever met. And he couldn't wait to hear more. She saw the smile on his face and knew what he was thinking.

"There are many more stories where that came from Harry. Although some of them I can't tell you since I'll be one of your teachers and some I swore to Lilly I would never tell," she said.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and grinned. After they had finished helping her with her things they decided to head back to Gryffindor tower. When they walked inside the common room, Meagan and Hermione were already there sitting on one of the couches and laughing.

"I guess we don't have to wonder what house she's in anymore," Ron said with a huge smile.

"You were right Harry," Meagan said. "When Dumbledore put it on my head the Hat said that I had the brains for Ravenclaw, and the courage for Gryffindor, so I just concentrated that I wanted to be in Gryffindor and he said, 'right you are' and put me there. Dumbledore seemed very pleased."

"We're glad to have you," Harry said.

"Harry, come up to the dorm room for a second, I have something to give you from Fred and George," Ron said pulling at his arm.

"Better be careful Harry. If its candy, don't eat it," Hermione said.

Harry and Ron made their way up the stairs to their dormitory when they heard Hermione telling Meagan about Fred and George and all of the things they did around there. When they got into their dorm room and closed the door behind them, Ron immediately turned around to Harry.

"Is she not the hottest girl you have ever seen in your life?" he said.

"She is very pretty Ron, yes," Harry said.

"She's more than just pretty Harry, she's perfect. Look at her mom! She's beautiful too and she's old!"

Harry just smiled. "Is that why you pulled me up here? To tell me that Ron?"

"Yeah! Oh, well no. Fred and George did want me to give you a letter. They told me that they hexed it, and that if anyone but you opened it, it would explode. Don't know how they managed that though really,"

Ron dug through his trunk and pulled out the letter. It was on nice green parchment with a wax stamp that had three overlapping letter 'Ws' on it. Harry stared at it for a second then figured out it must stand for 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes', the joke shop that the twins were starting. Harry had given them the money that was given to him at the end of the Tri- Wizard Tournament last year. Harry looked at Ron for a second then told him to stand back while he opened the letter.

When he opened it, the letter grabbed hold of both of his hands and started raising him up in the air. He struggled to get his hands free but the letter had a tight grip that he couldn't get out of. In a matter of seconds he was all the way up to the ceiling hanging from his hands by the letter.

"Get me down Ron!' Harry said.

"What do I do, I can't reach you Harry?" Ron said climbing up on one of the four-posters trying to grab one of Harry's legs.

Ron made one final leap, but missed and landed stomach first on the dorm room floor knocking the wind out of him. The letter slowly began to let Harry down, and before he knew it, he was back on the floor and the letter released its grip, and opened for him to read it.

"You okay Ron?" Harry asked.

Ron just nodded and was gasping for air.

Harry sat down on his bed and opened up the letter.

Harry,

Hope the Levitating Locking Letter didn't take you too high in the air. Just wanted to send it to show you one of the many things your investment has gone into buying. Right now we have over forty different products that we are wholesaling to joke shops in Hogsmeade and Diagon alley. We have orders beginning to come in from all over now and business is really moving. We have hired a few people to help out while we're away at school, so we are busy getting them all lined out before we come back. Tell Ron and Hermione hello. Thanks again Harry.

George Weasley Fred Weasley

Just when he had finished reading it, Ron had just made his way back to knees but was still struggling for air.

"What..... was.... That.... thing?" Ron said.

"New invention from your brothers. They seem to be doing well with their joke ideas," Harry said handing the letter to Ron.

Ron read it carefully then stopped and looked up at Harry. "What do they mean by your investment?" he asked.

"Oh. I have them my winnings from the Tri-Wizard tournament from last year. When Bagman ripped them off of their savings, I made them take it to start the joke shop," Harry said.

"That was really nice of you Harry. It sounds like they'll be able to pay you back in no time. They seem to be making pretty good money now. They bought me two nice dress robes and some new school robes for my birthday this year. At first I waited for the robes to catch fire or something crazy like that, but then when I looked at them closely, they were just regular robes. Hey that reminds me! You think we'll have a formal dance this year?"

"I don't know Ron, maybe, why?' Harry asked.

"I wonder if Meagan would go with me? Maybe I should ask her before school is back in. Head off the competition so to speak," he said smiling.

"What about Hermione?" Harry asked. "I thought you would ask her for sure."

"Hermione is great Harry, but look at Meagan she's beautiful! I wonder if they have Veela in America?"

Harry just shook his head and smiled. "Let's go back down there. They are probably wondering what happened to us."