After they got back, Mrs. Weasley started preparing them lunch while everybody was busy putting their things away. Harry and Ron went up to Ron's room and Harry said "I have a surprise for you."
Ron looked at him eagerly, "Yeah, I remember you writing me that you did."
"Before I give it to you I want you to understand that you are my best friend and I want you to have it. And this is all of your birthday and Christmas presents for the next ten years."
"What are you talking about?"
Harry pulled out a long thin package, and handed it to Ron, who was sitting on the bed, and waited for him to open it.
Ron ripped of the paper in less than a second and didn't move for what seemed like hours. He stared at the magnificent Firebolt, and without speaking, he sat transfixed on it, caressing it lovingly. Harry recognized the look on his friend's face, since it was basically the same reaction that he had when it was presented to him.
Harry grinned and asked, "do you like it?"
Snapping out of his stupor he said, "I can't take this. Won't you need it?"
"No. Sirius got me a new broom. I want you to have it."
"I still can't take it," Ron said without ever taking his eyes off of it.
"Yes, you can."
"This is too much. I can never pay you back."
"Do you want to bet?"
Ron, finally taking his eyes off the broom again looked at him, watching Harry's wicked smile.
"What?"
"The look on Malfoy's face when he sees that you have something better than he does will be more than payment for it. Besides, Sirius gave me this broom and I am pretty sure he would agree with me that you should have it."
"Ok, deal, but make it twenty years then." Ron burst out with the same broad grin. Then, as if it just occurred to him he said, "wicked, but, if this is my broom now, where's yours?"
Harry took out his Spitfire and Ron dropped his Firebolt in shock.
"Whoa. I read about those. They're really rare. They are supposed to have only made five of them," Ron said as he picked it up. "Sirius gave this to you?"
Before Harry could answer they heard Mrs. Weasley call them down to lunch. They went downstairs and saw Ginny and Hermione setting the table. They all sat down and enjoyed their meal.
Ron challenged the twins to a Quidditch match, Fred and George looked at each other and finally Fred said, "Ok, Ron and I against George and Harry."
Ron said, "No. Harry and I against the two of you."
They looked at each other and, grinning broadly, quickly agreed.
Ron and Harry ran upstairs, and grabbed their brooms. They proceeded to cream the twins, flying around them effortlessly.
After they landed they stared at Harry with his Spitfire and Ron with his Firebolt, Harry told them the story of how they got them and the twins couldn't stop grinning.
Ron looked confused, "what?"
"With this, we have just got the house cup in the bag."
Harry and Ron started to grin broadly too.
Harry was having such a good time that, naturally, it was over before he knew it.
The night before they were to leave Mrs. Weasley prepared a scrumptious feast. Mr. Weasley came in and sat down at the table. He wasn't his normally cheerful self.
"Difficult times at the ministry now, with you-know-who being back."
Harry asked, "are you making any progress Mr. Weasley?"
"Yes, Harry, but there is still so much to be done."
Percy came strolling in, appearing considerably chipper than his father.
"Hello everybody. Busy time down in the ministry, They are really starting to rely heavily upon me now down at the office," he said pompously.
Fred said, quite seriously, "really, excellent."
George than added, "yeah, I'll bet they even know your name by now, Weatherby."
Almost everyone was trying their best to stifle their laughter, but Percy pretended he didn't hear this. Percy's old boss, Mr. Crouch insisted upon calling him Weatherby.
After finishing dinner they sat and talked for a little while until they all stumbled up to bed.
It was the morning now and Mrs. Weasley came around waking everyone up. She helped as everybody was busy bustling about looking for their things.
A couple of ministry cars pulled up and they pilled into them. Harry, Ron and Hermione took one, while Mrs. Weasley went with the twins and Ginny in the other.
At Kings Cross station their drivers grabbed some trolleys and put the trunks and cages onto them. By this time entering Platform 9 ¾ wasn't a big deal, with the obvious exception of the time that a house elf named Dobby sealed the gate to try to prevent Harry from attending Hogwarts in his second year.
After they got onto the platform they boarded the Hogwarts Express and moved backward until they found an empty compartment, and put there trunks along with Hedwig, Pig and Crookshanks in it.
They went to platform to say goodbye to Mrs. Weasley. She wished them all a good semester and told the twins to behave. She said that while she would love for all of them to come for the Christmas holidays, they were probably going to want to stay.
Before they had a chance to find out what she was talking about the train started to move.
"What are you talking about," Fred yelled. Mrs. Weasley just smiled and waved goodbye without answering.
The three of them proceeded to their compartment. Ron than looked at them uncomfortably.
Hermione looked at him and asked, "what's up, Ron?"
"I told you both that I have news, but I wasn't sure," Ron said, his words trailing off,
Harry said, "go on Ron. What is it?"
Before he could say anything though, Fred and George came bustling into their compartment.
Fred sat down next to Rom and said, "have you told them yet?"
Ron turned red and looked down at the floor.
"Told us what Ron," Harry asked.
"What's going on," Hermione asked.
Ron took a deep breath and said slowly, "ok. I wasn't sure if they asked you, but," his sentence trailed off ending with something they couldn't hear.
"Sorry. What did who ask you," Harry asked.
Ron looked even redder, if that was possible. The twins obviously thought that this whole sight was quite funny. Nobody spoke for a couple of minutes before Fred finally said, "Ron is now one of them."
"One of whom," Hermione asked.
George, holding his left arm over his forehead, said with a mock look of anguish, "I didn't think we would be so unlucky as to get another one in the family."
"Another what," Harry and Hermione shouted at the same time, both sounding exasperated.
Fred and George looked at Ron as he slowly, without taking his gaze of the floor, showed them something. It was small, but they knew instantly what it was. A prefects badge.
Harry and Hermione beamed at each other after seeing it. Fred and George apparently weren't expecting that reaction.
"That's wonderful news, Ron," Hermione said.
Harry said, "yeah, that's great."
Ron, who was still looked rather sullen about the whole thing though, asked, "what's so great about it?"
At that moment, Harry and Hermione reached into their pockets and pulled out their own badges. After raising it to show the three of them, Ron cheered up considerably. Fred and George, however, looked as if they couldn't have possibly heard worse news.
"Not you guys, too," George moaned.
Fred, meanwhile, was just shaking his head muttering, "I can't believe it" over and over again.
The twins got up and, after giving them another disappointed look left the compartment, leaving the three of them with mystified looks on their faces.
As they were moving closer to the Hogsmeade train station several of their friends stopped by. First Neville dropped in. It seemed that Malfoy was bullying him around again. It appeared as if Malfoy had been practicing curses on Neville again. They tried to encourage Neville to stand up for himself but the only person that Neville was more powerless against was their potions master, Professor Severus Snape.
Hermione, looking at what wad done to Neville simply raised her wand, and as she usual managed to undo the damage that Malfoy caused. Neville, whom everyone knows has had a crush on Hermione ever since first year, thanked her, and left the compartment.
Dean and Seamus came in. After they started talking Quidditch, Hermione, who had no real interest, and realizing they were going to be at it for a while, broke out her Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five, and buried her head in it.
Later into the trip Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil stopped by. Ron looked at Lavender the way Ginny usually looks at Harry. Harry thought this was very amusing, but tried not to show this. Unsure of whether he was succeeding or not, he thought it best to make sure he didn't look at Ron.
Since Harry was acting oddly Ron must have taken it to mean that he might of still had feelings for his first date, Parvati, because he was giving Harry a sideways grin. Last year at the ball held at Hogwarts, all the champions had to come accompanied with an escort. Harry and Ron went with the Patil sisters. Harry went with Parvati, a fellow Gryffindor, and Ron with her twin sister Padma, of Ravenclaw.
Pretty soon they were alone, Hermione still reading, while Harry and Ron where playing a game of exploding snap. There was a knock of their door and someone came in. It was Ravenclaw Cho Chang.
Harry had a crush on Cho, who is the Ravenclaw's seeker, since he first met her in their match in his third year. Last year, however, when he finally built up enough resolve to ask her to the dance, but was turned down. By the time he finally got up the nerve, she had already agreed to go with Cedric.
Cho, who already had on her robes said, "you three should really be up front with the rest of the prefects." That is when Harry noticed that Cho had a prefect's pin on her own robes.
Hermione, who was looking at Cho with something that looked remarkably like contempt said, "were fine where we are, thank you. Besides, were nearly there."
"As you wish," Cho said, and without taking her eyes of Harry gave him a gave him a smile that made his stomach melt, waved goodbye and left them alone in their compartment
Harry and Ron were now looking at Hermione, who still looked unnerved after Cho left. After a moment she said, "I think that we should put on our robes now. We really are nearly there. They put them on, and true to her word, moments latter they pulled into the station.
As they exited the train, the first thing they saw was the great form of the gamekeeper Hagrid waving a lantern over the crowd of stunned first years.
They rushed over to his side. "Hello Hagrid."
"Hello there Harry, Ron and Hermione," Hagrid said. He was beaming at them now. "I am so proud of the three of you. They couldn't have picked three better prefects." He was now wiping his eyes with his giant hands.
Harry figured that as one of the teachers he must have known somehow, because they still hadn't put their pins on their robes.
"I'll see you latter, ok," Hagrid said. After they nodded, he started waving his lantern as usual shouting, "first years this way. Don't be nervous. First years come this way."
As they were walking toward the carriages, they saw Hagrid lead a large group of very scared looking first years toward the boats in the lake. Harry, Ron and Hermione were joined by Neville in one of the horseless carriages and after a few minutes their ride was over and they poured into the castle.
As they entered the Great Hall, Harry sat between Ron and Hermione. As soon as they sat down they looked up toward the staff table.
Harry saw several of the teachers from last year. He saw Professors Flitwick, the charms teacher, Sprout, the Herbology teacher, Vector, the astronomy teacher, and Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher and Madam Pomfrey, the overprotective school nurse. As Harry looked at the end of a table he saw Professor Snape and as he saw him giving a very nasty look , he suddenly started feeling very ill.
Hagrid was still leading in the first years, and Professor Dumbledore hadn't appeared yet. Professor McGonagall was preparing for the upcoming sorting ceremony. Every year all of the first years enter the great hall and have the sorting hat placed on their heads. The hat, which is almost as old as the school itself, considered each of the students and based upon the characteristics the school founder sought in their student, he placed them in the appropriate house.
Harry will never forget his own sorting ceremony. The hat, which takes varying amounts of time to sort the different students, took an exceptionally long time to sort him. When he had the hat on, he was listening to the hat think aloud as it was placing him. He kept thinking "not Slytherin," and while the sorting hat was telling him that he would do well there, he was relieved when the hat placed him in Gryffindor.
Aside from the fact that he heard that Slytherin had produced more dark witches and wizards than any other house, there was another reason that he didn't want to be placed there. Malfoy, who Harry didn't like from the beginning, was placed there.
In Harry's second year, when people were speculating that he might be the heir of Slytherin, he had an opportunity to place the sorting hat on again, To his dismay the hat did not relent, stating that he still would have done well in Slytherin.
Later in that year, while battling the memory of Voldemort, Slytherin's true heir, he was able to pull out Godric Gryffindor's sword from the sorting hat though. This made him feel a little better about things, but despite this and Professor Dumbledore's reassurances, he still had his doubts,
Harry was so preoccupied with these thoughts that by the time he came around, he noticed that Dumbledore was now in his seat. Hagrid was also back in his seat at the head table, and a large group of scared looking first years were now facing them, wondering what was going to happen next.
When Harry was starting to look up toward the front there were a pair of excited voices behind him. "Hello Harry," Colin and Dennis Creevey said in unison. Colin was a small fourth year who idolized Harry since he arrived at Hogwarts. Dennis is his younger, even smaller brother, who joined Hogwarts last year.
"Hello Colin, Dennis," Harry said. But the hat started to move, so the Creeveys took their seats.
Due to unusual circumstances, last year was the first sorting ceremony Harry had seen since his own. Everyone was silent, keeping their eyes glued to the old battered looking sorting hat sitting on a three legged stool up front, waiting for what was going to happen next. All of a sudden, the hat started to move, and the tear that ran along its brim started to move and it burst in song.
Welcome here young thirsty minds,
where I will place you with those of your kind.
From days long ago, to days yet to come,
I will search tirelessly to place you where you belong.
Whether you belong here or if you belong there,
I'll place you based on what is in under your hair.
If you are brave and bold,
than perhaps Gryffindor is where you belong,
or maybe you belong with the loyal and true,
Hufflepuff is where the ones that are right for you ,
or perhaps if you are of a wise mind,
Ravenclaw will be where you find your own kind,
but perhaps if winning by any means is your ends,
perhaps Slytherin is where you will fit in.
But fear not, for I have never failed
in placing those where they will succeed.
The entire hall exploded with applause. Several people in the hall shouted, "brilliant." The sorting hat took a deep bow and returned to his limp position on the table.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward and pulled out a large role of parchment. "As I call your name, you will step forward, place the hat on your head and take your seats."
"Adams, John," was the first one called. The sorting hat was placed on his head and after a moment the hat shouted "Gryffindor."
"Atkinson, Sylvia," was called next. She was a pretty girl with a nasty sneer on her face, like that of Mrs. Malfoy. She was placed in Slytherin. Harry wondered if she knew that she was entering a house that produces more dark wizards than any other.
As the sorting ceremony was proceeding, the ghosts started to enter through the castle walls. Most of the first years were taken aback by this but the upper class student took it all in their stride.
The Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick came to the Gryffindor table, looking around saying hello to the various students. When he approached Harry said, "hello Sir Nicholas. How are you?"
Sir Nicholas was beaming at them saying, "Harry, Ron and Hermione. Good to see you all again. I hope this class is up to snuff. We are going to need all the help we can get if we are going to win us another House Cup."
Students at Hogwarts receive points for their accomplishments, while they lose point for any rule breaking. At the end of the year, they tally all of the points and award the house cup to the winner. The first three years Harry spent at Hogwarts, the Gryffindors have earned the house cup. Last year they never awarded the cup in respect for the loss of Cedric.
By this time a name caught their attention. "Delacour, Gabrielle"
They all turned around and saw her for the first time. Gabrielle's sister was the Beauxbatons champion last year in the Tri Wizard tournament, Fleur Delacour. She walked over to the sorting hat, smiling at Harry on her way.
In the second task of the tournament last year, they took the person who was closest to the champion and put them in the bottom of the lake. The champions were given a clue stating that if you don't bring them back in an hour they won't ever come back.
Even though he was the first to reach the people down at the bottom of the lake, he wanted to make sure that they were all recovered. When Fleur didn't appear he took Gabrielle as well as Ron.
Harry felt that he was such an idiot for believing that Dumbledore would ever let anybody get hurt like that. Apparently, nobody else took it that seriously.
She sat down on the stool, and when the hat was placed upon her head, the brim fell down, covering her eyes. It took a long time to make a decision. They could tell that she was shaking. Harry wondered if the voice in her head was speaking English or French.
After a minute that hat finally burst out, "Hufflepuff."
They watched as she glided over to sit next to Justin Finch-Fletchley. They started chatting again as Professor McGonagall continued through the list. After a while she called someone that Harry thought looked familiar.
"Striker, Matt."
Harry looked carefully, thinking that he recognized him from somewhere, but after a few seconds he thought it was probably just his imagination. He continued to pay attention though as Matt was placed in Gryffindor. He watched as he walked all the way over and sat across from him.
Matt sat down and said, "hi everyone. My name is Matt."
Hermione was the first to greet him. "Nice to meet you Matt, my name is Hermione, and this is Harry and Ron," she said waving at the two of them.
"Nice to meet you all."
Harry finally found his voice, "where are you from Matt."
"Kansas."
Ron looked confused, "Kansas?"
"Yes, Kansas. In America. You have heard of it, right?"
Hermione had to stifle a laugh, but Ron didn't seem pleased at all. "So why are you coming all the way here."
"We got the letter, my parents and I, and we heard that this was supposed to be a pretty good school, so we decided that I should come."
When they heard "Wilson, Candice," they knew they were close to the end of the ceremony, which was a good thing since they were hungry now.
The ceremony finally ended when "Zackery, James became a Gryffindor."
Professor Dumbledore stood up and the hall fell silent. "I would like to indulge you with a few start-of-term notices if I may. Our new defense against the dark arts teacher has been unavoidably detained, but should be with us tomorrow morning."
"I would like to remind you that the dark forest is out of bounds to all students. Also all third year students and latter who have received permission from their parent or guardian may attend visits to the nearby town of Hogsmeade during the term."
"I also am very pleased to announce something very exciting will be taking place this term at Hogwarts. After the success we had with the tri-wizard tournament, we are bringing back something that has not been done in almost three centuries. Instead of having the Quidditch tournament as we usually do, we will be doing something very different," but before he could finish his thought, Fred and George shot up.
Together they shouted, "you can't get rid of Quidditch again."
Dumbledore chuckled, "no, we are going to indeed have Quidditch this year, but it will be different."
They both sat down, a little red, but listening intently.
"Now that I have your attention again, instead of having house teams, we will have one school team. This team will participate in an eight-team single elimination tournament. Schools from all over Europe will be participating. The matches will be scheduled at the different schools."
"We will have try outs the morning of Halloween day, before the Halloween ball. There will be a starter and a reserve for each position. Anybody interested in trying for the team either tell your house advisor, or Madam Hooch. The schedule should be prepared by the time the team is announced."
At those words, the school was abuzz with excitement. Dumbledore waited patiently for the hall to quiet down. When it finally did, he said, "now let the feast begin."
The golden plates in front of them filled up with all sorts of delicious things. They all helped themselves to everything they could reach.
As they were eating dinner Ron looked over at Harry and said, "what do you think," as if they were continuing a conversation just interrupted.
"About what?" Harry asked with a mouthful of pie.
"The team. You should be the seeker," Ron said mater-of-factly. "I mean with Cedric gone, and Malfoy being … well, Malfoy."
Harry gave him a grave look, "yeah, but Cho is pretty good."
Hermione turned and looked at him and said, "you are ten times the player she will ever be."
Harry didn't necessarily agree, but appreciated their support all the same.
Ron continued, "what about the beaters."
"Fred and George, no doubt about it," Harry said.
Ron looked over at his brothers and said, "agreed."
Fred than leaned over and said, "what are you doing?"
Ron said, "same thing you are. Trying to figure out who will make the team."
George, who came over said, "what about you Ron."
"What about me?"
"Are you going to try out," Fred asked.
"Me," Ron asked. "I'm not sure."
"Why not," George said. "With Wood gone we could use a keeper, and you aren't that bad."
Ron didn't say anything, but Harry knew exactly what he was thinking of, the entire Gryffindor team representing the school at the tournament. Harry was thinking the same thing.
After the last of the dessert cleared their plates, Dumbledore stood up again. "Now that you have all been fed and watered it is time to go to bed. Prefects, please lead your houses up to dormitories please."
Hermione got up and told Harry and Ron, "Come on." She called out to the confused looking students around them, "Gryffindor first years, follow me. Come along."
Harry had forgotten again that they were prefects. He followed her, not really knowing what to do. Ron followed suit, apparently not having anymore of any idea than Harry did. When they had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione told everyone the password was "golden snitch." As she said this, the fat lady nodded and swung open allowing the Gryffindors to scramble through the portrait hole.
Hermione continued, "this is the house common room. You will spend most of your free time in here. The boys dormitory is up the stairs and to your right, while the girls is up and to your left. I suggest you all go up to bed; you are going to have a busy day tomorrow. You will find all of your things have already been brought up for you."
Hermione had said it as if she had been doing this for years. Harry figured that all of this was probably written down somewhere, but didn't really want to ask. Ron, meanwhile, looked at Hermione bewildered, but impressed. "How did you know the password?"
Hermione just looked frustrated and said, "honestly, you two don't read at all, do you?"
Ron asked, "what are you talking about?"
Hermione just said, "look at your prefects letter," and she went up to her dormitory.
When Harry and Ron got up to their dormitory, Ron opened his trunk, got out his letter and read out in shock, "and the password for your common room will be 'golden snitch.' So that's how she knew."
Harry, tired and contempt, quickly changed and fell off to sleep right away.