Secrets

Chapter 1 - Back to Blue and Bronze

The door to the train cabin aboard the Hogwarts Express slid open suddenly, startling its occupants. Lisa Turpin and her best friend Kyra Bradley were seated across the cabin from Terry Boot and Noel Goddard. The Ravenclaw students were excitedly swapping tales from summer break and anticipating their sixth year at Hogwarts. All four occupants looked up at the open doorway to find an excited Cho Chang standing before them. Her face was red and animated, and she looked fit to burst at any moment.

"Kyra, Terry - you're never going to guess what happened!" she exclaimed.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Harry Potter saw the light and proposed to you?"

Terry and Noel howled with laughter and Kyra elbowed her friend in the side and tried to curb her own laughter. It was well known that Cho had started dating their fellow Ravenclaw Michael Corner at the end of last term. Harry Potter was a Gryffindor geek and didn't know the first thing about how to treat women. Cho rolled her eyes at Lisa. "I wasn't speaking to you, Turpin," she muttered, but the twinkle in her eyes from whatever had her excited was barely diminished.

Kyra tried, somewhat successfully, to speak around the laughter. "We give up, Cho. What happened?"

Cho's face lit up again and the occupants of the cabin could tell she was barely containing herself. "I got a Firebolt for my birthday!!!" The words came out so fast they almost tripped over one another.

"No way!" Terry exclaimed at the same time Noel shouted, "Wicked!"

"That's awesome!" Kyra and Lisa responded simultaneously.

"Well, I've gotta go tell the rest of the team," Cho said excitedly. "I've been dying to tell all of you for the last week, and I think I'm going to explode if I don't find everyone else in the next five minutes!" She dashed off down the corridor and the door slid shut behind her.

"That is so awesome," Terry commented, his sunburned face almost as animated now as Cho's was. He'd spent the later part of his summer break in Aruba with his family and hadn't applied enough sunscreen to his normally pale skin. "Now she is really going to give those other Seekers a run for their money!"

"Yeah, we are going to kick Quidditch butt this year!" Kyra exclaimed excitedly.

"Too bad our parents are too cheap to buy us Firebolts, huh, Kyra," Terry added wistfully.

"Yeah, no kidding," she replied. "I'd kill for a Firebolt..."

Terry and Kyra were both on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Kyra was a Chaser who rode a Cleansweep 8. Terry's parents had managed to provide him with a Nimbus 2000 last year, but seeing as how the Nimbus 2002 was just unveiled, he still wasn't flying a top of the line broom. Terry was the team's Keeper. As the team's Seeker, Cho now had the best broom on the market, unless those rotten Slytherins got new brooms this year as insurance to keep their pathetic Seeker, Draco Malfoy, on the team.

Noel looked out the window at the landscape rushing by. "Hey, we're almost there. We should probably change into our robes."

"Aww, but I like seeing you guys in jeans," Lisa complained. "You both look so dashing!"

Noel blushed. Terry might have blushed, but no one would have noticed with his sunburned face. He grinned instead. "Why Lisa, now that I know how you feel, I promise to never dress up for you again."

Lisa threw a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans at him, and Kyra chuckled at the insanity of her friends. Boy, how she had missed seeing them everyday during the summer!

Both boys were good looking young men, and the girls had marveled at how grown up they now looked. Terry was fair haired and skinned, or at least he would be fair-skinned again once his burn receded. He'd finally hit his growth spurt the year before and was now about six feet tall with a very athletic build. Noel was a couple of inches shorter than his friend, with dark brown hair and green eyes. He was also a very good Quidditch player and everyone was sure he'd try out for one of the open Beater positions this year.

In return, both young men had commented on how nice the girls looked, especially Lisa, who had filled out in all the right places over the summer. Kyra tried not to be jealous of her friend, but had to admit that it was difficult. Lisa was just beautiful. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and slim, with a smile to die for... And of course, being a Ravenclaw, she had brains to boot, which just made her a force to be reckoned with. Kyra was just as tall, but didn't have quite the body of her friend. Her shoulder length brown hair was pretty, but nothing spectacular. She had managed to finally ditch those ridiculous glasses last year, however, when her parents had surprised her with contacts for Christmas. After ditching the glasses though, she had been told my many people, including Terry, that she had beautiful eyes.

The friends changed into their Hogwarts robes with familiar blue and bronze accents just before the train pulled into Hogsmeade. They disembarked and climbed into the thestral-drawn coaches that would take them to Hogwarts. Excitement was all around - a few students were sad that summer break was over, but most of them were happy to be returning to their home-away-from-home and all of their friends.

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The Great Hall was buzzing with students. The ceiling shone with thousands of stars, making the students feel as though they were dining al fresco. The house banners hung from the rafters above each of the four amazingly long tables that filled the hall. Second- through seventh-year students filed in and took their places at the tables, chattering with one another excitedly and glancing up to the head table expectantly.

Professor Severus Snape, the Potions teacher, sat to one end, glaring dolefully at the returning students. To his right was the empty seat awaiting the Care of Magical Creatures professor who accompanied the first-years across the lake and hadn't come in yet. The Ravenclaws were holding their breath, hoping that Professor Grubbly-Plank would be returning this year. She was such a better teacher than the half-giant, Hagrid, was. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher and head of Ravenclaw sat between Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster. The seat to the left of Professor Dumbledore belonged to Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher. It was vacant, as she was responsible for bringing the first-years up to the Great Hall. To her left were Professors Trelawney and Sprout, who taught Divination and Herbology.

"So who do you think they got to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts this year?" Michael Corner asked.

"You don't think they would have given the job to Snape, do you?" Noel asked worriedly.

"No way. He's too good at Potions. I doubt Dumbledore will ever give him the Dark Arts position," Terry replied.

"Well, I don't see any new teachers up there," Kyra spoke up, scanning the head table.

"That doesn't mean anything," said Luna Lovegood, a fifth-year student. "Not all of the teachers attend the opening feast. Maybe the new teacher is just busy tonight." Luna smiled knowingly, as if she knew something the others didn't.

"Too busy to attend the most important event of the school year?" Lisa asked dubiously.

"Excuse me," Roger Davies, the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and Lisa's ex-boyfriend spoke up, "but this is hardly the most important event of the year. At least for this year," he added, puffing up his chest. "The most important event of this year will be the final banquet, when the Great Hall gets bedecked in the splendor of blue and bronze when Ravenclaw wins the House Cup!"

Lisa glared at Roger. They had been dating last year, but she'd broken up with him over the summer because she was tired of his high-and-mighty attitude. He thought he was all that and a bag of chips, but she'd found out that he really wasn't all that spectacular. He'd also been far more interested in her body than in her brains. Had she been in Slytherin, that fact probably wouldn't have bothered her in the least, but she was a Ravenclaw and prided herself on her intelligence.

"Which will happen because Cho got a Firebolt!" Michael Corner announced proudly in response to Roger's declaration, as if he'd bought her the Firebolt and not her parents.

Cho elbowed him and blushed. "You guys know I can't do it without the rest of you," she said modestly.

"We didn't say you could," Kyra replied tartly, then smiled at her friend. The others laughed.

To the Ravenclaws' dismay, Hagrid entered at that moment and took the seat next to Snape. That meant that the first-years had arrived, so everyone settled in and waited for the Sorting to begin. Each table greeted each of their new housemates with a round of applause as they were sorted. Once all of the new students were sorted, the feast began and everyone ate until they were stuffed.

As students finished eating and began longing for the comfort of their common rooms, Professor Dumbledore stood up to give his annual welcoming speech. The gradually increasing din of conversation ceased immediately, and all eyes turned towards the Headmaster.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, everyone," the ancient looking wizard in the star-covered dark-purple robes greeted them. "And welcome to the first-years."

"And now for the usual start of term notices," the Headmaster began. "First-years are to note that the forest is out of bounds for anyone who does not wish to die a terrible and painful death." The first-year students all looked at each other with looks of horror in their eyes. "Mr. Filch has asked me, for what he tells me is the four hundred and eighty seventh time, to remind you that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are the other things posted on the extensive list by his door."

The Headmaster paused for effect, and then continued. "We also have a few staffing announcements for this year. First off, Professor Trelawney will be resuming her position as teacher of Divination, but will be teaching jointly with Firenze. Second, you will have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Unfortunately he was unable to attend the feast tonight, but Professor Bale will be in attendance for classes tomorrow."

Everyone looked around at one another, wondering who this Professor Bale was. "Next, all Educational Decrees have been revoked." The Headmaster paused and waited for the shouts and cheers to subside.

"And finally," Professor Dumbledore continued, "if anyone experiences anything odd this year, please don't hesitate to speak with me or one of the other professors. Now is not a time for secrets."

And with that said, Professor Dumbledore resumed his seat. Professor McGonagall stood in his place. "You may now retire to your dormitories," she said. "First-years, please follow your Prefects!"

Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein, Prefects for Ravenclaw, gathered the new students around them. The others stood up and made their way to their house dormitories.

~*~