Just Plain Harry

Chapter 8 The First Days Back

As they stepped off the Hogwarts Express, Harry looked around for Hagrid, the Hogwarts' groundskeeper, their Care of Magical Creatures professor, and one of Harry's best friends. Harry couldn't see him anywhere, and Hagrid was hard to hide, since he was about twelve feet tall. Usually, he escorted the first years across the lake in boats to the castle. Harry craned his neck, trying to see where he might be.

"First years! First years over here," he heard, but it wasn't Hagrid's voice. Instead, Fleur Delacour stood in Hagrid's usual place, motioning for the first years to gather around her.

"Hi, 'Arry!" she said, waving at him. "I'm just filling in, don't worry! 'Agrid's fine."

That made Harry feel much better, but when he looked at his friends, his heart sank a little again. Ron stared at Fleur as though he had never seen her before and couldn't wait to see her again, and Hermione looked close to tears. Harry was about to say something - really, Ron was being utterly ridiculous - but Ginny beat him to it. She reached up and whapped Ron on the back of his head.

"Snap out of it, you idiot!" she said.

Ron glared at her, but before he could retaliate, a drawling voice said, "Listen to her, Weasley, it sounds like she got all the brains in the family."

Draco Malfoy stood there, flanked by his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, as usual, his habitual sneer on his face. He slowly looked Ginny up and down.

"All the beauty, too, but then, that's not saying much. Are they finally allowing you into their little charmed circle, Weasel-girl?"
Harry and Ron almost launched themselves at him, but Hermione managed to hold them both back. Ginny, though, stalked out in front of them and deliberately turned her back on Malfoy.

"If you two idiots would just ignore him, he'd probably go away and pick on somebody else. He just wants attention - well, don't give it to him."

"Don't count on it," Malfoy said. He grabbed hold of Ginny's upper arms and turned her around to face him. "How dare you turn your back on me? You face me when I'm talking to you!"

At this, Harry and Ron both increased their efforts to get at him, and, while Hermione was able to hold Harry back, Ron slipped out of her grasp. He threw himself at Ginny and Malfoy, but before he reached them Ginny stopped him in his tracks with one of the most intense glares Harry had ever seen.
"Ron, I can handle this, believe me," she said firmly, before turning back to Malfoy. "I'm not one of your tagalongs, Draco, so I don't have to do what you say. Now, take your hands off me!"

Harry had never seen Ginny look like that before - she looked like she was about to curse Malfoy, then and there, even without her wand. Malfoy must have thought so, too, because he actually let go, turned around, and stalked away. Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles a bit, but Ginny just glared at them, and they slunk along after Malfoy.

"Come on, you guys, let's find a carriage so we can get to the feast," Ginny said, seemingly oblivious to the stares she was getting from all of the students gathered round. She walked over to one and climbed in; Harry, Ron, and Hermione following her in a daze.

"What's he doing here still?" Ron said.

"Probably spying for his dad," Hermione said.

Harry agreed with her, but there didn't seem to be much else to say. The carriage ride was quiet, which unfortunately gave Harry too much time to think. He had been dreading the Sorting Feast all summer; memories of last year's Leaving Feast and the speech Dumbledore had given then filling his mind. Remember Cedric Diggory. So even after he sat down at the Gryffindor table, he didn't say anything. Ron and Hermione were arguing again, but Harry didn't even pay enough attention to know what it was about this time.

Even the Sorting Hat's song couldn't distract him, because he noticed that when it mentioned Hufflepuffs being "steadfast, loyal, and true," all the Hufflepuffs looked woebegone, obviously thinking of Cedric. Harry bowed his head, too, feeling horrible. Ginny must have noticed, because she turned her head and gave him a sympathetic smile, which surprised him so much that he was able to regain his equilibrium. Harry found the sorting pretty boring this year, because none of his friends had any siblings in first year, so he didn't know any of them.

Until Professor McGonagall got to LONG, WILLIAM, anyway. He was Ginny's Muggle friend's brother. The Sorting Hat shouted out RAVENCLAW!, whereupon William gave Ginny such a look of disappointment that the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione laughed so loudly that they almost drowned out the Ravenclaw table's cheers. Ron and Hermione stopped arguing long enough to tease Ginny, and Fred called out, "Be nice to him, Gin!"

Ginny just smiled and said that of course she would. Harry managed not to look at her, but he couldn't help but wonder if she was thinking that he hadn't been nice to her in the same situation. Thinking of Ginny made him think of Cho Chang, and he looked over to the Ravenclaw table to see her. He prepared himself for the sinking feeling in his stomach, the tingling in his arms and legs, but none of that happened. He stared at her, trying to figure out what was going on. She looked rather forlorn - nothing like she had looked at the Leaving Feast last year, of course, but still not happy. She was just as pretty as ever, though, and this was the girl, after all, that Harry had been dreaming about all summer. But try as he might to recapture that feeling, it was gone. How strange, he thought.

"You all right, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," he said. He was, he just couldn't believe it.

Just then, the sorting ended, and Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet to give his usual speech. This was what Harry had really been dreading, but as he watched the Headmaster, whose eyes seemed to be looking straight at him from across the room, he realized that he had underestimated him. Dumbledore merely welcomed everyone back, reiterated that everyone was always welcome at Hogwarts, and introduced the new teachers. Fleur was there - Dumbledore said that she was Acting Care of Magical Creatures teacher - and so was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Harry gave a huge gasp when he saw her - it was Mrs. Figg, the Dursleys' neighbour, who looked after him whenever the Dursleys went away. He didn't get a chance to talk to her, though, because she left before the feast was over.

Everyone was so tired from the emotionally draining day that they stumbled up to Gryffindor Tower and said good night. Harry heard Ron's snores two seconds after they had both climbed into their beds, and even he didn't stay awake as long as usual.

The next morning, Harry looked around for Mrs. Figg again, but she wasn't at the head table. Fleur was, and she waved at Harry. To distract Ron, Harry told him, Hermione, and Ginny about Mrs. Figg. They all looked at their schedules to see when they would be having Defense Against the Dark Arts. None of them had it until the next day, but they all noticed a note written on the bottom of their schedules.

"Please see me in the Transfiguration classroom tonight at 8:00." It was signed by Professor McGonagall, and after they read each one, it disappeared. They all looked at each other, then tried to unobtrusively watch the rest of the students to see who else got notes. They couldn't figure it out, though, so they all headed off to class still wondering who would be their fellow students.

The first day back passed uneventfully, and 8:00 found them in the Transfiguration classroom. Professor Dumbledore was there, along with Professor McGonagall and Mad-Eye Moody. Fred and George were already seated, but there was no one else in the room.

"Ah," Dumbledore said as they entered. "Come in, come in. We just have to wait for two more...yes, here they are."

Two more students entered the room, both of them completely unknown to Harry. One was a tiny, delicate girl wearing a Ravenclaw prefect badge, and the other a large, solid-looking Hufflepuff who looked like Harry should recognize him, but he didn't.

"I think introductions might be in order," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling at them all. "Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Brenna O'Keefe, and Theodore Black," he said, pointing to each of them in turn.

All the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione turned to stare at Theodore Black. That's why he looks familiar, Harry thought. He must be related to Sirius.

Theodore grinned at them all. "Yeah, I'm Sirius' cousin," he said. "I haven't seen him since I was four, though. I do just remember him - and I'm so glad he's innocent."

"Excuse me?" Brenna said. "Did you just say that Sirius Black is innocent? How is that possible?"

"Well," Dumbledore said. "I hadn't meant to get into this just yet, Miss O'Keefe, but yes, Sirius Black is innocent of conspiring with Lord Voldemort and killing thirteen people with a single curse. Those acts were actually committed by Peter Pettigrew, better known as Wormtail, who is even now supporting Voldemort once again. I am aware that this might be hard for you to believe at first, but I assure you that it is true."

"Oh, no, professor," Brenna said, her cheeks turning pink. "Of course, if you say so, then I believe you."

Dumbledore just smiled down at her before turning to Mad-Eye Moody.

"Alastor?"

"Yeah," Moody said. He had been leaning against Professor McGonagall's desk, but now he stood up straight. "There's one thing you should know straight away - some of you already do, but some of you don't. I am not the Professor Moody who taught you all last year." He went on to explain how he was stunned and locked up in his own trunk for ten months, while a Death Eater impersonated him, solely to get to Harry Potter.

"There's two things to learn from this," Moody said, glaring down at them. "The first is that even the best of us make mistakes, and the second is that only one thing will save you - CONSTANT, NEVER-CEASING VIGILANCE!"

Harry couldn't help it - he gave a huge, perfectly audible gasp and stared up at Moody. Hearing those words from the real Moody brought back so many memories he really didn't want to think about, that he almost felt his eyes watering. The words affected Ron differently, though - he gave a snorting laugh that he tried unsuccessfully to turn into a cough. Fred, George, and Theo joined in, and even Brenna looked like she was trying not to giggle. Hermione and Ginny both gasped in shock and glared at them until they stopped. Moody, though, just calmly watched.

"Right," he said once they all calmed down again. "Now that you've gotten that out of your systems, we can go on. You're here because we've determined that either you are in such danger from Voldemort that you must be better prepared to protect yourselves, or you can help our side once you have been properly trained. Or both." He smiled down at them, and Harry thought that this Moody's smile was no more comforting than the fake Moody's, which wasn't too surprising.

"These classes will be difficult, especially with all of your regular schoolwork," Dumbledore said. "You will be learning things that most wizards don't learn until they have chosen their professions and start apprenticing. They will also be dangerous. But we feel - and your parents agree with us - that it will be better to have you prepared than to have you face Voldemort unready."

"You need to stop flinching every time someone mentions Voldemort, Mr. Weasley," Moody said, both of his eyes fixed on Ron. "You will be learning to fight him, and the first thing you'l need to do is to fight the fear he instills in everyone."

Harry turned to look at Hermione, and saw her grinning at Ron. Ron grinned back, and Harry stifled a groan. He had a feeling their bet wouldn't be settled too easily.

He was right. When they left the room, carrying their revised, and much fuller, schedules, Ron was still grinning at Hermione.

"So, looking forward to going to the ball with me?" he asked her.

"What do you mean? Professor Moody did say that we should say Voldemort's name," Hermione said.

"Yeah, but it wasn't the first thing he said, now was it?" Ron said. "The first thing he said was CONSTANT VIGILANCE - Harry was right."

"Well, then, maybe you should go to the ball with Harry!" Hermione said before sprinting up the hall. Ginny followed her, after a seething glance at Ron.

Ron turned to Harry. "What was that all about?" he said. But Harry wasn't about to get into the middle of this one, so he just shrugged, and they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.