Dumbledore And The Ageing Potion

The days they spent at Hermione's place was surprisingly filled with as less 'Hermione-Ron' quarrels as possible. The Grangers were very nice people and gave the children a lot of license.

Harry and Hermione spent a lot of time explaining to Ron how many of the muggle things worked and Ron was very pleased at the thought of explaining all that he had learnt to his father.

The last three days sped by and September 1st saw them aboard the Hogwarts Express.

The Weasleys were already in the train and had saved them seats.

"You're late," said Fred as he helped them load their trunks into the compartment.

"We were stuck in a traffic jam," said Ron, hurriedly getting on to the now moving train.

Once inside, they settled down, with Harry and Ginny occupying the two seats by the window. Fred and George had worked hard over the summer and were now exhibiting the fruits of their labour. Harry had seen a few inventions before, but many of them were new to him.

"This," said George, holding a bottle containing light pink liquid, "is no ordinary lotion. You are honoured to be the first ones to get a sample of 'Pimplus'. It will-"

The door banged open and Draco Malfoy with his sidekicks stood at the door. He surveyed the compartment with a contemptuous look and paused as his eyes rested on the bottle in George's hand.

"Well, well, what have we here?" drawled Draco. He made a sudden grab for the bottle. George, taken unawares found the bottle in Malfoy's hands.

"Give it back, Malfoy," he growled.

"A family heirloom, is it?" mocked Draco.

Ron, who was sitting by the door, stood up at that. The motion upset Draco's hands and the contents of the lotion splattered over his face.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Fred, a look of comical dismay on his face. Ginny began to giggle, as Harry, Ron and Hermione stared wide-eyed at Draco. His once clear complexion was now marred by the eruption of acid green boils on various parts of his face.

Crabbe and Goyle looked at Draco for instructions. 'POP' went a boil. Draco's face went purple. Harry thought that purple and green was an interesting combination.

Ron doubled over with laughter. Hermione tried to clamp her mouth shut, making it very obvious that she was much amused. Ginny decided to 'delicately' look away, but the giggles were very audible.

Fred and George congratulated each other. "It worked!" exclaimed George happily.

"What IS this?" Draco demanded between clenched teeth.

"The effect will wear off in an hour. Don't worry," said George in what he considered a soothing voice. Fred turned to Draco. "We felicitate you, Mr.Malfoy for being the first person to sample this potion. In your honour, we hereby rename this potion, 'The Draco potion'"

'POP' went two more boils. Draco threw a smoldering look at the group. He turned on his heel and walked away with as much dignity as he could muster with boils popping on his face.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, with many people looking in, to complement the twins on their potion and their successful trial of it. After lunch, the topic as always came to Quidditch.

"Ginny has been practicing all summer. She wants to try-out for the position of Keeper," said Ron.

'No wonder,' thought Harry, noticing her slim figure. Harry turned to the twins. "So will there be a trial for the Keeper post?"

"Yes. This year Professor McGonagal will be naming our team captain. The team captain will then select a Keeper after a try out," said Fred.

'Looks like it's going to be an interesting year,' thought Harry.

~*~*~*~*~

Once at Hogwarts, Harry noticed that both Dumbledore and Hagrid were absent. He couldn't imagine school beginning without Dumbledore's speech. "Where is Dumbledore?" he whispered.

Before Ron could reply, McGonagall stood up to introduce their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mundungus Fletcher. He was a short, stout man with a jolly round face and hair receding at the temples. He was in fact unremarkable. (Considering their previous DADA teacher had had a badly scarred face, a magical eye and a wooden leg and the one before that had been a werewolf.)

Once the welcoming clap subsided, she placed the Sorting hat on the stool and the hat began to sing -

"Welcome, Welcome First years welcome, Welcome to the seniors too, Within the four walls of Hogwarts, Under the night sky deep blue,

Put me on And let me see, Where placed in Hogwarts You shall be,

With the Gryfindors Of lion heart, Among the Slytherins Of cunning and craft,

With the Hufflepuff Renowned for loyalty, Among the Ravenclaw Who are wise and witty.

None lesser than the great four Put their brains in me, So that sort students after them, I may do you see.

I may be frayed, But am not deranged. For once I put you into groups, It cannot be changed.

Put me on, A judge shall I be, And put you into houses, As in Hogwarts you should be!

Everyone clapped and the sorting began. By the time the list came to 'Z', Harry was yawning and yearning for food. McGonagall's announcement brought him out of his stupor.

"Bertlemon, Sher!" she announced, "for the fifth year."

The auburn-haired boy whom Harry had seen at Diagon Alley walked upto the sorting hat. "That's him! The boy I saw at Diagon Alley," he whispered excitedly to the other two.

"Didn't see him on the Hogwarts Express," said Ron.

The hat screamed, "Gryffindor!"

As the Gryffindors eagerly craned their necks to see the new boy, they saw him following McGonagall out of the Great Hall.