So Close

When the train finally arrived, Harry saw a tall figure yelling for the first years. "Hi Hagrid!" Harry called out, still feeling a bit guilty about running out on him at the end of last term.

"'Ello Harry!" Hagrid replied, ushering first year's towards the boats. "Doin' ok?"

"Better, thanks," Harry replied before being pulled to the carriages by Ron. "You think all those adults are guards?" Harry asked looking out the windows.

"Probably," Hermione sadly answered. "I can't believe how much things have changed."

"Yeah, I hope this all ends soon," Ron absent-mindedly said then heard both Hermione and Ginny gasp a little. Ron saw Harry's head hanging down and quickly said, "Sorry mate, I didn't mean anything."

"I know Ron but that's how I feel as well," Harry replied. "As long as I stay locked up in this school or at the Dursleys, this is going to just get worse."

"Harry!" Hermione scolded him. "There's nothing you can do right now. I'm sure Dumbledore will think of something, but until then, you can't worry about it."

"Right," Harry silently thought to himself. He tried to give a smile but could tell that Hermione knew it wasn't genuine.

Harry could tell that other students were talking about him and mumbling when he walked by. Hermione and Ron both noticed this and tried to shield him from it as much as they could. Inwardly, Harry was thankful for having such good friends.

The sorting hat had just finished another hauntingly solemn song about the houses needing to work together or the school would fall. "Like that's going to happen after what they did last year," Ron said, pointing over his shoulder at the Slytherin table.

"Maybe they didn't all go along with it Ron," Hermione argued back. "If things keep getting worse, we will need their help."

"I wouldn't trust Malfoy's help," Harry angrily added.

"No, not him of course," Hermione agreed. "He doesn't seem as popular this year anyway. But maybe some of the others aren't so bad," she offered.

Once the sorting was over, the sound of the tapping glass caused everyone to look as Dumbledore rose to speak. "Welcome back everyone and especially welcome new first years. I am please to see so many of you returning. First, I would like to take a moment for all of us to give thought to those who haven't returned this year. Some by choice, and some at the hands of the evil that has entered our community again." There was total silence for a moment; even most of the Slyterins were respectful. "Now, I hope the official announcement of the return of Lord Voldemort came as no shock to most of you since it was announced here over a year ago. We finally have some assistance from the Ministry and will do our best to prepare you all. Remember what was said when it was first announced; you will soon need to choose between what is right and what is easy. That choice will be something you will live with the rest of your lives." Dumbledore paused to let this sink in. "Now we will again have an instructor that will teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but he is slightly delayed in joining us. He is finalizing things in his current position and will join us tomorrow. As some of you may know, there was a private club formed last year to study Defense in the absence of practical lessons. The founders of this club have agreed to continue this year and I expect to see the same exceptional results as were gained last year. There will be a sign up sheet posted in the hall for any fifth-year and above who would like to join. Attendance will be limited and the founders have the authority to reject anyone they see fit."

"No Slytherin has a chance to get in," Ron said happily.

"Shhh." Hermione angrily hissed.

Dumbledore continued, "Even more so this year, please exercise caution when venturing outside of the castle and remember that the forest is strictly out of bounds. Trips to Hogsmeade will not be announced until the day before to help insure your safety. Now, everyone tuck in." With a wave of his hands, the tables filled with food and everyone filled their plates.

The sound of all the voices and movement of all of his friends really made Harry feel like he had come home. He was very much looking forward to getting to his room and unpacking his trunk. Harry heard the new boy fifth-year prefect announce, "Gryffindor first years follow me."

Turning to Ron, Harry said, "That sounded just like Percy!"

"Yeah, he acts like him too," Ginny added.

"Well, he's just trying to take his responsibilities seriously," Hermione piped in.

"Yeah, we see how well that turned out with Percy," Ron added, drawing a glaring look from Hermione. "At least I don't have to deal with the midgets this year; all I need to do is try to catch Slytherins at stuff."

"Ron! Will you at least try to act like a Prefect?" Hermione asked in exasperation as he got up to follow her.

Ginny and Harry exchanged looks and Harry asked, "How can they argue so much and not kill each other?"

Ginny laughed and said, "Maybe if they'd just admit they like each other they could spend time doing things other than arguing."

Now Harry laughed but did manage to get out, "I think Hermione's too stubborn and Ron, we'll he's too...."

"Chicken!" Ginny finished for him. "I guess we should go up as well."

Just as Harry was going to agree they heard, "Good evening Miss Weasley, Potter."

"Hello Professor," Ginny cheerfully said.

"Miss Weasley, you mentioned that you would rather play chaser this year, do you still feel that way?" McGonagall asked.

"Oh yes. I'd much rather be in that position," Ginny agreed.

"Well then Mr. Potter, your ban is lifted of course and if you'd like your old position back it seems to have just become available," the Professor said with a slight twitch of her lip.

"Sure! As long as Ginny's sure she doesn't want it," Harry said looking at Ginny who nodded.

"Excellent, now I have another matter concerning the team. You Mr. Potter are the senior member of the squad and as such, I'd like to offer the position of captain to you," McGonagall said, now with an obvious smile.

Harry was stunned but Ginny exclaimed, "Congratulations Harry, that's great."

Harry didn't think it was that great. He loved Quidditch no doubt but he really didn't know that much about the strategy. He just flew around and caught the snitch. "Um Professor," Harry said causing the Professor to look at him strangely. "I really think Ron Weasley would be a better captain." Ginny and McGonagall both looked at him like he was crazy. "Ron grew up around Quidditch and knows everything about it. I never heard of it until I came here and really all I do is fly around and chase the snitch. I don't think I could do as good a job as he could."

Ginny just had her mouth open in surprise but McGonagall said, "If you're sure Potter." Harry nodded. "Very well then, Mr. Weasley will be the new captain. I'll leave it to you two to tell him then. Now, onto other matters," she said causing both students to give her their attention again. "The Headmaster and I would like to see you in his office."

Harry's stomach lurched. It was rarely a good thing to be summoned there. He looked at Ginny who seemed concerned and he said, "Try not to tell Ron until I get back, ok?"

"I won't Harry," Ginny promised.

The two walked in silence until McGonagall gave the password to the Gargoyle guarding the office. After ascending the stairs and being let into the Headmaster's office, Harry's feeling of dread worsened when he noticed Professor Snape standing inside as well. "Ah Harry, welcome back," Dumbledore greeted him. Harry could see the portraits eyeing him warily, having witnessed his tantrum at the end of last year. He could have sworn a couple of them shifted and tried to stand behind objects in their pictures. "I imagine you're still wondering about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor?" Dumbledore added, his eyes twinkling behind his reading glasses. Harry nodded and the Headmaster continued, "Well, I'll leave it for a surprise, but I'm quite sure you will be pleased." Harry noticed Snape's mouth curl up even more. "Professor McGonagall of course mentioned your desire to be an Auror, and also shared her intentions to help you succeed." Harry turned to give a smile to the Professor. "However, we noticed you did not sign up for N.E.W.T. level Potions, even after Professor Snape made an exception to his requirement for Outstanding O.W.L. grades. I noticed Mr. Weasley did take advantage of this exception."

Harry didn't really want to say anything for fear he would go off on another tantrum. "Yes sir, that's correct."

"Correct? What exactly does that mean Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked, seeming a bit irritated.

"I really appreciate your offer of help Professor," Harry said looking directly at McGonagall, "but I won't be taking any more Potions classes here."

"And why is that Potter? Think you know enough already?" Snape bitterly asked.

Harry didn't look at the Potions' Master, but instead looked at Dumbledore as he said, "I'm just not going to take anymore."

"I respect your decision Harry but would appreciate knowing the reason why," Dumbledore asked in the voice that made you realize it wasn't a request.

"Um sir, I'd rather not start off the year in detention, so I'm not comfortable saying," Harry sheepishly said.

"I'm sure that anything that is said in this office would be overlooked this one time, am I correct Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course Headmaster I myself am very curious why Mr. Potter would not take advantage of my generosity," Snape coolly said.

Harry was silently trying to pick his words carefully. "Harry?" Dumbledore said, trying to hasten his answer.

Harry sighed deeply and said, "I don't trust him and all he does in class is try to humiliate me. I showed during the O.W.L.s that I can do the work when I'm being treated fairly. He doesn't try to teach me, just like he didn't try to teach me Occlumency."

Harry caught a glimpse of McGonagall's face and saw that she was obviously surprised by this answer. Snape started to say something but Dumbledore raised his hand. "Harry, Potions is very important for your future and I'm sure Professor Snape will treat you the same as he treats every student."

"No sir, I don't believe he will. You have never seen how differently he treats me in class," Harry said, the anger building up now.

"Oh, it couldn't be because you always act like you're so much better than the other students. Like you deserve special treatment," Snape spat.

"No, I don't act like that, my father did! I've seen how horrible he and Sirius were at times but that isn't me. I never knew my father and didn't know he acted like that until last year. You've treated me horribly from the first because of a grudge against my father and his friends," Harry said, getting into the mood of letting his emotions out as he had done in the Burrow. "But my grudge will be against you," Harry continued, now looking directly at the Potion's Master, "because of how you treated me, not because of how someone else treated me. If I live long enough to get out of this school, I will pay you back for every horrible thing you've done to me."

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall exclaimed but Harry didn't even slow down.

"To me you're nothing but a Death Eater and when I become an Auror, you're the first one I'm coming after," Harry said, now feeling as angry as he could ever remember. To his astonishment, Snape was looking at him with a most unusual expression.

"Harry," Dumbledore said in his very stern voice and after a moment, Harry turned to the Headmaster. "As I have told you before, I fully trust Professor Snape and hope you do not mean what you just said."

"I'm sorry Professor, but I don't trust him at all and never will. I also meant every word I said. When I'm away from this school, I'm coming after him unless Voldemort gets me first," Harry said this with such confidence that the Headmaster dropped his head into his hands.

"This is just what Voldemort wants," the Headmaster said softly. "Once we are divided, we will fail."

"Potter, you are...." Snape started to coldly say but was cut off.

"Severus! Not another word," Dumbledore said sounding very irritated. "You may go Harry," Dumbledore added still not in a pleasant voice, but Harry didn't hesitate and turned, quickly leaving the office and returning to Gryffindor tower.

"I don't think you realize the ramifications of this," Dumbledore said, no longer sounding irritated, just tired.

"This will not affect what needs to be done," Snape said.

"It has already affected it Severus. Harry's greatest strength is his compassion and ability to love, and as that is replaced in his heart by hate he will have less hope of succeeding. He has dealt with so much since rejoining our world and yet he only knew compassion but now it is all falling apart. We have brought this on ourselves, and I am to blame as much as anyone."

Harry walked very slowly on his way to the Common Room, feeling guilty with himself for saying those things. His thoughts went back to Professor Snape, and how he had learned the Professor had actually been trying to save him from falling off of his broom in his first year. But then it went to the Professor's actions in the Shrieking Shack and how Snape so wanted Sirius to be thrown back into Azkaban. Then, just last term, Snape had alerted the Order to what Harry had said about Sirius being held captive, but Harry didn't fully believe he had done it as quickly as he could have. He just didn't trust the man. But was not trusting him really enough reason to hate him so? He thought of how Snape goaded Sirius and tried to make him feel worthless, and knew how much that bothered Sirius. This caused the hate to begin to swell as quickly as anything, but then Harry remembered the visions of how his father and Sirius treated Snape in school. All of this was very confusing to him as he walked; almost in a trance back to the Common Room. Even though he truly believed he hated Snape enough to harm him back in Dumbledore's office, Harry couldn't bring himself to that level of loathing now that the moment had passed.

Not realizing where he was, Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by the portrait of the Fat-Lady saying, "Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to give me the password?"

Harry climbed through the portrait hole and was happy to hear the sound of so many voices sounding so cheerful. This was home, and the place he felt safest. Harry saw Ron standing near the back of the room and as he was trying to make his way over, he was stopped by many of the sixth-year students thanking him for leading the D.A. last year since they had done so well on the O.W.L.s in Defense.

Harry had just made it over to his friends when Neville came over, "Hey Harry! How was your summer?"

"Hi Neville. It was ok. Was your Gran upset that your wand broke?" Harry asked.

"Oh no! Dumbledore had sent her an owl telling her what we did and she was really impressed. Said she didn't think I had it in me. We went and got a new wand the next day. You should hear her now. When we go to visit my parents, she just keeps telling them over and over what we did. She says we couldn't do much better than following your lead," Neville said beaming at Harry.

"Yeah right! I mean it was luck that any of us walked out of there," Harry said, not sounding angry or anything.

His friends were staring at him but Neville intently continued, "But this is war Harry! If we just wait around until it's safe to do something, we'll lose. We can't let them win!"

Now they were all looking at Neville with newfound respect. Hermione broke the silence, "You know Neville, you're right. We can't let them win, no matter what." Ron and Ginny quickly agreed and Harry stood there amazed at his friends. They still had a choice in this and here they were; ready to fight after narrowly surviving their last encounter with Death Eaters.

"So Harry," Ron said turning to his favorite subject. "Ginny says McGonagall made you seeker again. Now all we need is two more chasers."

Ginny looked like she would burst and said, "And a captain!"

"Well that'll be Harry. He's the senior member of the team," Ron said sounding confident.

"Well McGonagall did ask me to be captain," Harry said looking at his friend.

"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, no trace of jealousy sounding in his voice.

Hermione was watching Harry intently and said, "But? There's something else, isn't there?"

Ron looked at her strangely, but Harry said, "Hermione! How do you always do that?"

She just beamed a little and Ron said, "What? What else is there? Did they boot Malfoy?"

"I doubt they booted Malfoy," Harry said, the disgust sounding in his voice. "I just told her that I really don't know that much about Quidditch strategy and that she should find someone more qualified."

"You what? Are you mental?" Ron exclaimed. "Being captain would be great; you could come up with new plays and everything. I'll help you, you'd be perfect."

"I'm glad you think it would be so great since you're our new captain," Harry said smiling brightly at his best friend.

"Huh? What? Really?" Ron choked out. Harry and Ginny nodded in reply.

"Congratulations," Hermione said and before she knew what happened, Ron had hugged her tightly and was twirling her around. Harry and Ginny both stared at them wide-eyed, not believing Ron would hug Hermione like that.

Apparently Ron came to his senses and quickly let Hermione go and started stumbling with his words, "Oh, sorry. Didn't realize..." Ron's ears were bright pink and Hermione was quite flushed herself.

"Um...No problem. I know you were just excited," Hermione got out still sounding flustered.

Harry and Ginny were now laughing openly but Ron smiled brightly again and said, "I can't believe I'm going to be Quidditch captain."

"Believe it," Harry happily said. "Oh, and don't go getting all Oliver on us or anything." Harry was able to almost forget the terrible weight on his shoulders as the rest of the evening was spent enjoying being around his friends.

It was after Ron and Hermione's Potion lesson the next day that found them eating lunch. "Snape's acting really strange," Ron said. "He was out of it today."

"Yeah, he did seem a bit preoccupied," Hermione added.

"Probably doesn't know what to do without making me look like a fool," Harry said, taking a bit of his sandwich.

Just then Ginny sat down next to Ron and with a smug look on her face announced, "I know who the new Defense teacher is."

"Who?" Ron demanded.

Ginny slowly took a bite of her food, savoring knowing something the others didn't. "Ginny!" Hermione scolded.

"Oh all right," Ginny said. "It's Kingsley!"

"That's great!" Ron announced.

"That is very good. I mean he's a senior Auror so he should really know a lot," Hermione said happily.

At breakfast the next morning, Harry and Hermione were discussing their first period class, Defense Against the Dark Arts but Ron was busy writing onto sheets of parchment. Hermione seemed very excited as she ate. "I'm really anxious to see how Professor Shacklebolt runs class. We should learn loads."

"It'll be weird calling him that," Harry said between bites of toast.

Harry and Hermione both glanced at Ron who was busy writing onto a piece of parchment, not paying any attention to his friends. "Ron, what are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"Planning for Quidditch! You know, new plays, practice schedules," he said without looking up.

"You should really be focusing on your studies," Hermione said.

"I'm captain Hermione, this is really important," Ron exclaimed. "I'll just copy your notes later."

"Remember you want to be an Auror Ron. Your studies should come first," she replied.

"I know, but I'm almost finished. This is really important," Ron mumbled.

Ginny had just sat down and asked, "Ron, are you going to make Harry and me try out for the team?"

"Um...Not Harry of course, we all know how he plays. Don't know how you'll do at chaser though," he replied still scribbling on the parchment.

Hermione glared at him and Ginny started to say something, but Harry beat her to it, "Ron, you've seen her fly, she's amazing. She shouldn't have to try out." Ginny suddenly felt very proud and Harry gave her a slight smile.

"What?" Ron mumbled. "Fine, Ginny you're a chaser. Now all we need are two more."

The three made it to the Defense class just before Kingsley arrived. Most of the Slytherins were already there and they took seats in the back of the room. "Good morning class," Kingsley cheerfully said. I am Professor Shacklebolt and I will hopefully do a better job than your teacher last year. I have been an Auror for quite some time now and will do my best to prepare you for the current environment." Kingsley surveyed his room. "I know some of you have chosen to attempt to become Aurors after you leave Hogwarts. It will be very difficult but I will try to make sure you know everything you need to before this class is over."

The three friends walked out of class very excited about how much they could learn from this professor. "He was really good," Hermione exclaimed. "Even Malfoy paid attention."

"Yeah, well the same things are important for Death Eaters I guess," Harry said.