Band of Gypsies

Chapter Fourteen

The first news of Voldemort's movements came very soon. After having killed Harry he had wasted no time; his path was clear. What he was doing was not generally well known on the streets. The Ministry, fearful of all-out panic, was once again engineering the news.

Instead, Harry read the news in the rocks that had carefully been placed at the entrance to Hogwarts. In the early morning hours, just before daybreak , he had slipped through the Slytherin Common room and out the door, barefooted. It felt good to be out of his rooms.

He had asked Dumbledore to put him in Malfoy's dorm. Not surprisingly, when he arrived at the dungeon Common Room, Malfoy was waiting and led him into their room. A four-poster bed sat next to Malfoy's. Harry's belongings had already been unpacked. He examined the non-descript items. There was nothing personal in the items laying on his bed, nothing that would give him away.

Now, Harry crept down the drive in his bare feet. The stones were gathered to the side of the road. Harry studied them, kicked them apart and returned to the castle. Voldemort was going to attempt to infiltrate Hogwarts. Harry felt very pleased with the message. So you're going to try stealth this time instead of an all-out frontal attack. Build yourself up again, is that it? Harry was thinking furiously and not aware when the dark tall figure emerged from the shadows.

"Mr. Pane, I presume?" Snape stood before him.

"Yes, Professor," Harry stopped in his tracks.

"Since you are new to Hogwarts, let me explain clearly to you. No one is to be out on the grounds or wandering the halls at night." Snape said. The look in his eyes was steely.

"But, Professor," Harry began to protest half-heartedly. It's hardly night, Harry thought.

"Since you do not know the rules and you are in my House, Mr. Pane, I will not take points from you. Be warned! This will not happen again." Snape's stare was drilling a hole in him.

"Yes, Professor," Harry said, dropping his head just enough so that he appeared to be chagrined.

"Be on your way, Mr. Pane," Snape said and then, brushed past him, bumping his shoulder.

Harry stood staring after him. He almost allowed himself to smile. Snape had left his hair short and it was clean!

The first day of classes was Harry's nightmare come true. He ate his breakfast slowly while he read the list: Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Astronomy, Potions, Magical Creatures, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Wonder whose teaching that? Harry hadn't noticed any new teachers at the table last night. But then he hadn't noticed much of anything except a lot of people crying and weeping. The thought made his stomach roll. He laid aside his breakfast and concentrated on the list.

The only benefit he could see was that as a Slytherin student he no longer had to take History of Magic or Divination. Other choices were now open to him; Arithmancy.

No, I can't take that, he told himself. He thought he might look different on the outside but he hadn't got any smarter on the inside.. And besides that, he knew he couldn't be in the same class with Hermione. She was too clever a witch. He knew he needed to keep his distance from her.

Harry reviewed the list. Slytherin shared two classes with Gryffindor. Defense Against the Dark arts and Transfiguration. He hoped that by staying at the back of the class and not being too obvious, he would not give Ron or Hermione any hint as to his identity. It was at that moment, he looked up to see the two enter the Hall, followed by a gloomy-faced Neville.

He couldn't help himself, he had to stare. They all looked terrible. Harry was glad to see that the entire Gryffindor table, and others, from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw stepped over to pat them on the back or console them. Ginny Weasley, entered and joined them. She too, looked tired and sad.

A thumb poked him in the ribs, "Sick bunch, them!" Malfoy chuckled, noticing where Harry was looking. "Lost their Golden Boy."

Harry dropped his gaze.

"Ready for class?" Malfoy pulled a plate of eggs towards him and heaped some on his plate. Malfoy was more than willingly let Harry assume authority. It was Harry's only consolation as he listened to the gossip around him. The gossip about him.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the others were not the only ones who looked terrible. Harry slowed and fell behind Malfoy to walk by himself. He entered Professor McGonagall's class. For the first time in his memory he looked at a woman who was very old. Not even being attacked by Umbridge's goons or put in St. Mungo's Hospital had affected her as much as the news of his death. Harry once again felt overwhelmed by the grief he saw around him.

"You are all in this Advanced Transfiguration Class, which tells me that you have performed well enough in your OWLS to warrant your placement here.. Be forewarned that you will find our studies to be much more difficult than you have experienced before," McGonagall said.

Harry sat at the back of the room, in the shadows. He had a perfect view of Hermione and Ron who sat together near the front. He noticed that Ron had clasped Hermione's hand in his own and sat holding it under the table. Good, they need each other now, he thought. More than ever. Harry discovered this made him feel slightly relieved.

Hagrid's Magical Creatures class was even harder. Harry's class was joined by many of the Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's. It was not an advanced class and so had many 5^th year student's in it. What made it difficult was seeing Hagrid. Harry knew his disguise was good because Hagrid did not recognize him. It hurt almost more then he could stand when Hagrid glanced at him, gave him a small, polite smile and went on to teach class.

Harry nearly burst out laughing when he saw the subject of their first class. Hagrid led them around the end of the paddocks, his pumpkin patches and down a ravine bordering the Forbidden Forest. In the shadows of the ravine, was a large cave. Trees and vines obscured the view. Harry trailed behind the others, remaining as inconspicuous as possible.

It wasn't until he saw the earth move that he realized Hagrid was introducing the class to his half-brother, a full giant, sixteen feet tall; a giant named Grawp.

Grawp's back was to the class. Smoke curled up in front of him. Hagrid stopped them some twenty feet away. "All righ' there, Grawp?" Hagrid called up to him. "Had a good nap, eh? Good boy, good boy. Brought some friends ter see ya, Grawpy." Several girl's screamed, one fainted straight away when the giant turned and stood up.

"It's alright, Grawpy," Hagrid said looking nervous. "Jus' friends, jus' company that's all."

"'agrid." the giant's voice was like boulders rolling and crashing together. Grawp bent at the waist to look at the little crowd, which sent at least three other students running back down the trail.

Harry watched with amusement. It appeared that Hagrid had made a lot of progress with Grawp over the summer. The giant was no longer bashing Hagrid's face in or tearing up trees.

"There's a GOOD BOY." Hagrid was backing the student's back down the trail as Grawp took a step towards them. ""'agrid," Grawp touched Hagrid with a finger, "Grawp, hungry."

"Alright there, Grawpy." Hagrid nodded vigorously, "I'll be fetchin' you your breakfast 'ere in a minute."

"Grawpy, hungry now." Grawp stood to his full sixteen feet. The small boulder of a head revealed a scowling face.

Hagrid was backing up faster, and speaking softly, "It's alright. Goin' to get it now."

Harry was watching a disaster about to take place. Unobtrusively, he slipped his wand from his robe and waved it. Suddenly, the giant was sitting back on his heels and then slowly lowering himself to the ground. He was fast asleep before his head hit the ground.

"Well, well!" Hagrid looked relieved. "I can see yer tired and need a nap. I'll bring yer breakfas' in a minute."

The class went back up to Hagrid's hut, where they spent the remainder of class listening to Hagrid talk about giants.

Harry was the first to leave and return to the castle. Lunch was taken alone at the end of the Slytherin table. Harry had made it clear to Malfoy that he was not to be disturbed unless he wanted company.

After lunch, Harry made his way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He was drawing stares from a number of students. He did his best to wear a mean scowl and to adopt a tough attitude. Those who approached, quickly stepped away.

Harry entered the classroom behind everyone else, just as he had done earlier in the day. He heard the moans and gasps before he even looked up. Snape stood at the head of the classroom his arms crossed over his black robes. Once again, Harry noticed how different the man looked without the greasy hair. Still, he wore the typical ugly expression on his face.

"How pleased I am to see you all here," he began, and then dropped his arms stiffly to his side and glared even more. "This is a class. You will show your respect by arriving on time and prepared to work. That means silence!" The room quieted immediately.

"Very good," he said, the voice was slightly softer than Harry had ever heard before. He and a dozen others looked up. "This is an advanced Dark Arts class. Which means that you will be trained with very particular skills.." His dark eyes slowly searched the room until they landed on Harry. " I will be teaching the class until Professor Dumbledore has found a replacement. This should be very soon." Harry studied the eyes. Is he pleased? he wondered.

Snape walked down the row of desks, taping each with a long finger. "You should know that you are now of an age that should there be a need, you would all be recruited to fight in a battle against the Dark Lord." Several people drew gasping breaths and looked at each other with frightened eyes.

"It is for that reason that we will work very hard to prepare you," he said smoothly. He slowed down at Harry's desk and then turned and went back without missing a beat.

"If this is not a serious enough task for you, and I find anyone dawdling at their work OR TREATING IT LIGHTLY, you will find yourself EXPELLED from this class. If you feel that you absolutely cannot face the possibilities then you are released from this class. Please, LEAVE NOW!"

Everyone sat frozen in place. Harry glanced over and saw Malfoy. He looked absolutely enthralled.

"It's my understanding that some of you have already learned, in another forum," he cleared his throat, "how to do the PATRONUS Charm. That will be helpful, since the Dementors have left Azkaban prison." Harry noted with pride several of the members of his late D.A. group glance at one another. "It will up to the rest of you to catch up."

Snape stopped in front of Ron and Hermione. "We will also be learning how to do the UNFORGIVEABLE CURSES." The whole class let out a collective gasp. Snape watched them. "It's my understanding that Professor Moody has already demonstrated the effect to you." Snape ignored Hermione's hand. "It will be my job to show you how to perform them," Snape said. He turned his back and walked to his desk and then stopped once again to look directly at Hermione, his eyebrow raised. "Yes, Miss. Granger? You had a question?"

Harry once again found himself wanting to grin for the second time in the day. It was clear that Snape had caught Hermione off guard. She stammered, "I...I thought they were illegal, Professor."

"That hardly matters now, does it Miss. Granger?" Snape shook his head as if frustrated at addressing a bunch of dunderheads. "I think you all fail to realize, the Dementors are out of Azkaban and more than likely joining with the Dark Lord, WHO is alive and well and out there in the world. If you do not fully UNDERSTAND... then perhaps we should start with a history of DARK magic." Snape picked up a book from his desk and waved his wand over it. Copies appeared on each desk and in front of each student.

Harry knew why Dumbledore had chosen Snape for the job. Who knew more about the Dark Arts?

He also found that Snape had not changed his style when it came to giving homework. By the end of class, Harry felt sorry for anyone who had not been in his D.A. group.