Hello!!! i just wanted to say that i love your story. 😍
i started reading in the summer but my favorite list died and i lost it. 😒 so until a week ago Ive been searching for it on google and i found it 😱
yay!!! 💃
Fun illy( bad spelling) enough i only missed like 4 updates 😕
I think the suspense of waiting will kill me!!
It makes me feel sorry for those who have been here from the beginning
Originally posted by Shade Matrix
Hello!!! i just wanted to say that i love your story. 😍i started reading in the summer but my favorite list died and i lost it. 😒 so until a week ago Ive been searching for it on google and i found it 😱
yay!!! 💃Fun illy( bad spelling) enough i only missed like 4 updates 😕
I think the suspense of waiting will kill me!!
It makes me feel sorry for those who have been here from the beginning
at least someone has sympathy for us.... 🙁
Originally posted by H. S. 6
[...]* * * * *
“The Hogwarts Express has never stopped because of bad weather before,” Hermione said pointedly, echoing Seamus’s own thoughts.
Harry sat back down. After several seconds, Ron said darkly, “Reckon they’re lying?” His features took on a grim quality, resembling the look Mrs. Weasley had worn when she had suggested Hogwarts wouldn’t stay open for long.
Harry shrugged, but Hermione, ever vigilant, asked, “But what would be the point? Why would they?”
Ron thought for a moment but didn’t say anything. He knew he’d been defeated.
The train remained stationary for some time. It was nearly an hour before the Express started up again with a lurch, having undergone nothing out of the ordinary, so far as the trio could tell. Harry was reminded all the while of his third year at Hogwarts, and his first experience with Dementors on this very train.
The rest of the ride to the school was rather uneventful, although, oddly enough, the snack trolley didn’t pass by the compartments again. When they arrived, the rain had stopped, but a thick layer of cloud remained hanging above Hogwarts. The castle loomed off in the distance, familiar and yet somehow coldly different. The only illumination coming from the castle, Harry noted, was from the Great Hall.
Awaiting the seventh years were the Thestral-drawn carriages and several Order members. Perhaps a year ago Harry would have felt a slight pang of grief at the sight of the silky black horse-creatures because of what they represented, but now he hardly paid them any notice.
“Moody, Tonks, and Lupin,” remarked Hermione in a hushed voice as they stepped into one of the carriages. Once inside, Ron was about to shut the door when a familiar face got in the way, one hand holding it open.
“Hiya, guys,” said Neville Longbottom, clambering into the small compartment. “Glad to see you all could make it,” he said, smiling. “And hey, you haven’t seen Luna, by any chance?” Neville peered through the carriage window into the darkness, but could barely make out figures in the black.
Harry and Hermione greeted Neville in turn as the Thestrals began to trudge up the muddy path to the castle. Ron chuckled. “Nope. Haven’t seen Luna. Miss her, do you?” he teased.
“Ah, well. Just wanted to say hello to her,” changing the subject, he went on, “So what do you suppose we’ve been called up a day early for?”
Harry shrugged, suspecting for some reason this inquiry was directed at him. “Ron’s dad says it’s for some kind of moral support.”
“Makes sense, when you think about it,” suggested Hermione. “They’ll want us seventh years to be looking out for the younger students. After all, after… well, after last year, nobody knows how safe the castle is,” she finished weakly.
“Hogwarts is just as safe as anywhere else these days,” added Ron, a hint of biting tone in his voice.
Neville nodded in agreement. “S’what my grandmum says as well.”
By that time, the carriage had ceased moving, and Harry could see the inside of the warmly lit Great Hall past the giant wooden doors, which had been swung wide open. The seventh years that had boarded the first of the carriages were already filing into the castle in several lines.
As they approached the open doors, Harry saw Filch, accompanied by two wizards whom Harry suspected were from the Ministry. Each was inspecting the students with Secrecy Sensors. Ron noticed Filch brandishing the long, thin instrument and steered clear to the opposite side. Harry followed, joining in the line with the others.
Moody and Lupin stood at either sides of the entrance, wands drawn, but resting at their sides. Lupin was standing to the side closest to their line, and as such, noticed them first. He smiled at the trio and Neville as they stepped inside the Hall. Harry wondered fleetingly whether he was still associating with other werewolves in order to gain their trust of the Order.
When all the seventh years had taken their seats, Harry looked around for some familiar faces. He spotted Dean and Seamus further down the table, and then Luna, who appeared even more distant than usual. As he was looking about the gathered seventh years, he noticed how empty the Great Hall looked. There was a definite air of despondency about, and for the first time in Harry’s years at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was not standing at his golden podium, preparing for his start-of-year speech. Even Hagrid looked rather down in his seat among the staff, and to his right, the giant figure of his half-brother Grawp stood in the corner, wearing an enormous trench coat that Harry suspected was probably twice the size of Hagrid’s.
“No Malfoy,” said Harry, but he wasn’t smiling. Thinking of Draco meant thinking of that night, and…
“Look! Tonks is sitting with the professors,” observed Hermione, nodding her head towards the long black table that stretched horizontally from one wall of the Hall to the other. Harry swiveled in his spot to get a better view. He could see the short, round Potions master sitting next to the young Nymphadora Tonks. Both were chatting animatedly with each other (Slughorn was managing to talk between long gulps from an abnormally large goblet).
“S’pose she’s the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?” asked Ron.
Hermione nodded. “They’ll need one anyway. And with Lupin guarding the school…” she trailed off mysteriously, smiling.
“Shh…” someone said from behind Harry. McGonagall was preparing to speak. Originally sitting behind the pulpit, she now stood and moved towards it. Without talking, the room quieted until there was only a thick silence.
She cleared her throat, and then began, “As you all know, the magical community—and more specifically, Hogwarts—faces dark times sure to come. At the end of last year, our headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was murdered by the band of dark wizards known to the public as Death Eaters. Hogwarts was infiltrated, attacked, and we suffered a terrible loss because of it.”
“I don’t doubt many of your parents and guardians were hesitant in sending you to the school this year, and understandably so. However, additional measures have been taken in the interest of the safety of our students. I hope you will all feel comfortable during your stay this year. I assure you, you will be as safe here as you would be anywhere else.”
She cleared her throat. Harry shifted in his seat. Glancing at his fellow classmates, he realized everyone in the Hall was paying rapt attention to their new Headmistress. Her words rang true.
“As you can imagine, our number of students this year will presumably be less than normal,” she paused a moment. Someone coughed in the silence. “And that is why I urge all of you, as the senior students of the school, to set an example for those younger than yourselves. In these troubled times, unity between Houses is essential. If we are expected to survive—if we are expected to fight back—we must remain as one. For this reason, the staff has come to the conclusion that it is best if there is no Head Boy or Head Girl; you all will be expected to act as ‘Heads’ for the year, and for your younger classmates. On a side-note, the students who were appointed as prefects last year will act again as prefects this year. Your Heads of Houses will supply you with your badges.”
She stopped talking, and a hushed murmur spread throughout the Hall. Harry stole a look at his friends—Ron wore an expression of thoughtful curiosity. Hermione, on the other hand, was deep in thought. Her face was an unmoving grimace. Her brow was furrowed, eyes set, mouth frowning. Harry recognized that look; she was seriously mulling over Professor McGonagall’s words and wouldn’t stop analyzing them until she came to a conclusion that she deemed acceptable.
He was broken out of his short reverie when the Headmistress spoke up again. “The Ministry of Magic has come to the decision that seventh-year students should be required to take an additional Defense Against the Dark Arts class. This class will teach you the basics of what to do when faced with a combat situation, and it is to be instructed by the new addition to our staff, Professor Tonks. She will also be acting as the standard Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.”
Tonks stood, smiling, and bowed slightly. The students applauded, but it was a tame cheer, more because of manners than anything. After all, Harry reflected, to many of them, Tonks was just another teacher for another year. He wondered briefly if most of them even knew she was in the Order.
“One last point of interest: the Ministry, along with our staff, has agreed that it would be best not to conduct Quidditch matches this year.”
The students remained quiet; this wasn’t a surprise. McGonagall waited a moment, and then smiled weakly, attempting to appear cheerful after the rather grim speech she had just given. “Now that all is in order, I ask everyone,” she waved her arm in a sweeping motion, and there was a clattering of dishes as the golden plates before the students filled with an assortment of foods of all kinds, “tuck in!”
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Kind of raw, but I'm lazy tonight and I didn't feel like going through it carefully like I usually do.