Professor McGonagall entered the room and cleared her throat to get their attention. "First off I would like to welcome you as our newest group of prefects. You were all selected because we feel you can bring something to help current and future students here at Hogwarts.
"As a prefect, you are not only responsible for your own house, but can, and must take care of problems anywhere in the school that you can deal with. You can penalize a student house point, but I seriously remind you not to abuse this.
"If you cannot handle something it is your responsibility to bring it to the attention of a professor, either for guidance, or for assistance as they see fit. We have a long and proud tradition of choosing prefects that have had long and successful careers afterward. Now some of you probably are wondering why you were chosen to be a prefect, am I correct."
Several of the people in the room nodded their head, including Harry and Ron. McGonagall continued, "we used several criteria to determine who to make a prefect. First, we look at grades. We do not require you to always receive top marks, but they must be at least respectable. Second, we look at the way you interact with your classmates. Lastly, we have looked at how you have affected your houses. We looked at how many points you have gained and lost for your house. When we take all that in account, we have chosen you as the newest group.
"That pretty much covers your duties and responsibilities. As a prefect, you may find yourself dealing with an unexpected situation. We trust that you will be able to use your best judgment, and think what would be the responsible thing that should be done.
"Now before I let you go, I want to briefly discuss some of your privileges. First, you will be able to roam the corridors after hours without permission, since you are responsible for your fellow student behavior we trust you will not abuse this. Second, you all have your own bathroom. It is on the third floor, and the password changes only once a year. This year it is sandbox. Before we finish this seminar are there any questions."
Either nobody had any questions, or they were afraid to ask, so she let them go and they headed up to the Gryffindor common room. They were tired and when the entered they saw that the common room was completely empty, so they bid each other good night and Hermione left Harry and Ron as she went up to girls' dormitory. When Harry and Ron got upstairs, their three roommates were all asleep. they quickly changed and went right to sleep.
The next morning at breakfast, as they were serving themselves plates of ham and eggs, they looked at their schedule. They were going to open the day with Herbology, with the Hufflepuffs. A few minutes latter, the hall was filled with owls, each delivering a letter or package to its owner.
Neville usually forgot several things, and as usual, his grandmother would send them to him later on. Ron received some mail from his parents, and Hermione received her copy of the Dailey Prophet. When she got it she opened it and after reading for a few seconds she started shaking the paper frantically, shoving it excitedly into a somewhat bewildered Harry's hands.
Harry looked at the front page and saw a picture of Sirius, with the headline, "Sirius Black Innocent." Harry read the article below it excitedly.
The Daily Prophet has learned that convicted murderer Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges after a stunning revelation.
It has been learned that Black, whom the ministry was still searching for, had turned up unexpectedly up front of their offices with Peter Pettigrew. With this evidence of his innocence the ministry immediately dropped its conviction of Black.
"We are all terribly embarrassed about this while unpleasant incident. We, of course, apologized, but under the circumstances, with all the dark activities at the time and with you-know-who about, you can understand how this happened," said Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.
Black was believed to have been responsible for murdering Peter Pettigrew, a wizard, in front of a large group of Muggles. Having been convicted without the benefit of a trial, Black had since escaped.
Ever since escaping from Azkaban, the wizard's prison, a prison that had been believed to be inescapable, he has been traveling in an effort to prove his innocence. In an odd twist of fate, after being taken into custody, Pettigrew also escaped under mysterious circumstances.
Black was believed to have been working for he-who-must-not-be-named. When he had escaped two years ago, many had suspected that he would seek revenge on Harry Potter, the one who had defeated the dark lord.
Black, who oddly enough, has now taken the position of defense against the dark arts teacher at Hogwarts, was unavailable for comment.
With a broad smile, Harry handed the paper to Ron, who quickly read it also, After he was finished, he handed back the paper to Hermione, as Harry was asking her if he could have it when she was done with it.
After breakfast, they headed down to the greenhouses, where they found Professor Sprout waiting in front. Sprout directed them all to greenhouse five. They had just gotten use to greenhouse three and now they were moving again.
"Welcome, fifth years to greenhouse five. We will be going over plants that portray more animal characteristics. Now, there are several different kinds of plants that process these traits. She went over plants that can talk, plant that can walk, even plants that can play games.
"We have already dealt with a plant that has these attributes, can anyone tell me which one it was," Sprout asked the class.
Hermione shot her hand up.
"Yes, Miss Granger."
"The mandrake roots."
"Very good, 10 points for Gryffindor. In your second year we all dealt with mandrakes. They possess many of the attributes that are similar to people. They can talk and walk and even develop relationships. They are extremely valuable in potion making, and helped bring back those students that were petrified that year."
Sprout was talking about the time the heir of Slytherin, Voldemort, had opened the chamber of secrets and attacked several students and the caretaker's cat Mrs. Norris with a basilisk. It petrified several students, including Hermione, and after the mandrake draft was prepared, they were all restored.
"Today we will be dealing with the parrot plant. Can anyone tell me about the plant?"
A few people raised their hands, but Hermione was stretching hers high into the air.
"Yes, Miss Granger."
"The parrot plant, also known as the pantragonus plant, was originally discovered in Argentina. It mimics a person once it has become accustomed to hearing their voice."
"Excellent, and 10 more points. Now I want you each to grab one and see if you can get it to recognize your voice," Sprout said.
The class all went up and grabbed the oddly shaped, multicolored plant. Harry had to admit that he felt pretty silly talking to a plant like this. He looked around and saw that the rest of the class seemed to look just as awkward, which helped a little.
After spending the remainder of the class saying everything and anything that could come to mind, the best any of them could do was to get it to look in their general direction.
Afterward they had care of magical creatures, and while they were looking forward to seeing Hagrid again, they were less than thrilled at what he probably had in store for them. Another reason they didn't enjoy this class as much as they normally would have is because they share it with the Slytherins.
They got there as quickly as they could, because they wanted see Hagrid before class arrived, and also because they didn't really want to talk Draco and his gang.
They were relieved to see that they were the first at arrive to Hagrid's hut by the forbidden forest. He was waiting in front with his faithful boarhound, Fang.
"Hello, you three," Hagrid said as they approached.
"Hello, Hagrid," they replied in unison.
"I know you are all busy, with school starting and all, but when you get a chance, stop on by for some tea."
As they promised Hagrid that, they would visit him when they had a chance, the rest of the class started to shuffle in. They were looking less than thrilled, and Harry really couldn't blame them. Hagrid would never intentionally allow the students to be presented with anything dangerous. The problem though, is that Hagrid didn't seem to have any concept of what danger was, or at the very least, it was no where near what most people would consider acceptable.
In the four years Harry has spent at Hogwarts he has discovered that Hagrid has befriended a giant spider named Aragog, wrestled with trolls in the forest, bought a three headed dog from someone in a bar, traded with a stranger for a dragons egg, and created an illegal creature called a Blast-Ended-Skrewt. The only good thing Harry could think of the Skrewt was, at least they were managing to kill themselves off, thus eliminating the problem.
"Gather around all. Don't be shy," Hagrid said, motioning them toward the pumpkin patch behind his house. "I know what you are all thinking."
Meanwhile Harry was wondering if Hagrid had any idea what the class was thinking, because when it came to creatures he had an enormous blind spot.
"I bet your thinking, how are we going to beat last year's class. Well don't worry. I have just the thing," Hagrid said proudly.
Everyone went from not knowing whether to be afraid, to knowing to be very afraid.
"Look over to the largest shed over there. We have a rare treat for you," Hagrid said.
The class walked tentatively toward to the shed. When they got there, they were surprised to see some of the most beautiful creatures they ever saw in Hagrid's class. They have the body of a lion the wings of a giant eagle and the face of a human. There were about 20 of them, and while they looked very powerful, they didn't look intimidating.
"Come on everyone. Step up and take a close look," Hagrid said.
The class, while they looked with interest at them, nevertheless kept their distance. Harry decided to help out Hagrid again and stepped up. He thought that judging by the size of them, if this didn't go well, he wouldn't last long enough to feel anything.
As he approached the closest one, it lowered its head, and Harry, using Crookshanks as an example, started scratching under her ear. When he did this the cat fell on to her back and started to purr. With this the rest of the student ran on to the field and started to follow suit. When he was close up he saw that the things that were sprouting from its back were wings. Did these things actually fly?
"Thanks a lot Harry. Beauties aren't they," Hagrid said beaming down at him. He looked around at the class and continued, "they are called Lammasus. Lammasus are said to be noble creatures that look after those that are good. They prey on those creatures that are evil. They are strong creatures they can easily take down larger creatures with its lions claws.
"As you can all see they have wings on their back, and they can fly like birds.. Like cats they are fast, they can see at night and have outstanding hearing. However, they actually learn to fly before they can walk. While they can run at around 50 miles-an-hour and they can fly faster than that, although nobody is certain of how fast they can fly.
"If you want you can even go on a ride on one of them," Hagrid said.
Harry remembered his first trip on Buckbeak. It was not very comfortable, but he did it for Hagrid. Looking around he saw nobody else was going to step up, so he did.
"Very good Harry," Hagrid said. "Now, grab it by the small of the backs, and when it unfurls it's wings you can mount it behind it's front legs."
Harry did this, and after he got on the cat looked around at him. When Harry nodded, he turned back and started to jog. After he built up some speed, he spread his wings and took off gently. This was much better than Buckbeak, although not as good as his Spitfire was. He was flying around the class, gaining speed. The faster they went the more it became difficult to keep his balance. After a few minutes he figured out how to direct the creature he was on. After a little bit more, he steered it back to land beside the group. The rest of the class followed suit, each taking their turn.
Hagrid pulled Harry aside from the rest of the class and said, "do you like the gift I sent you?"
"I love it, but it must have cost you a small fortune. I can't possibly accept it," Harry said.
Hagrid patted Harry on his back, almost causing him to fall over, and said, "nonsense Harry, Olympe, and I want you to have it."
"How is Madam Maxime doing," Harry asked.
"Wonderful," Hagrid said.
"I bet you hope we play a match over there," Harry said, looking at Hagrid's expression.
Hagrid, as if snapping back to the present said, "speaking of the matches, have you begun practicing yet?"
"No, not yet. We have our first practice tomorrow."
"Very good. With only one team the tryouts will be intense, so I want you to be careful. Ok?"
"Ok," Harry said as the rest of the class started to land. Harry was happy to see that Malfoy was grabbing his cat around the neck and was looking a little green.
After the bell rang, the class went to their common room to clean up before they went down to lunch. When they were almost at the great hall Harry heard Sirius call him, Harry told Ron and Hermione that he will meet them at the Gryffindor table. They said ok, and walked in with the rest of the class.
"Harry, I want a word with you," Sirius said as he approached,
"I also need to talk to you," Harry said.
"In that case, we should have some privacy" Sirius said. and led him toward his office. When they got there he motioned Harry toward a seat next to his desk and sat down opposite hum. "You first then."
Harry told him everything that happened since his last letter, even mentioning what was going on with Hermione. Sirius just sat there, looking intently, waiting making sure that Harry had actually finished before he spoke.
Sirius took a deep breath said, "interesting, very interesting. You said you saw a group of Death Eaters around Voldemort, What were they doing?"
"They were just standing there as Voldemort berated them."
"Berated them? What for?"
"For letting me escape. He also ripped into Wormtail for, what did he say, for his carelessness."
"Good, very good. That is when he said that he had an assignment for them, Did he say anything about it."
"No, only that it was important, especially for Wormtail."
"Interesting, very interesting." Sirius repeated. "I also want you to know that I am very proud of you for giving the Firebolt to Ron like that."
"I thought that you would see it my way, Ron really deserves it."
"I completely agree, and I am very proud that you did it on your own, however, about Hermione. You are having these dreams about her and the two of you flew together during the holiday, and you heard her speak to her mother about you?"
"Well, yes, but we are just friends."
Sirius considered him for a few seconds before saying, "are you sure?"
"What do you mean?"
"All I am saying is that if you are sure, well, you have to take other people's feelings into consideration, I am not telling you what to do, because let's face it I don't exactly have the best track record in this area, but all I am saying is that if you are absolutely certain you shouldn't lead her on."
"I don't even know for sure if she feels anything for me." Harry, wanting to get off the subject, quickly asked, "Did you want to see me for something?"
"Oh, yes. I have something for you. Your mother presented this to your father when he became Quidditch captain," Sirius said as he gave him a beautiful burgundy and gold watch, It had a moving picture of the Gryffindor lion on it's face. "I hope it gives you luck for the try outs."
"My father was Quidditch captain?"
"Yes he was, even though he took the title reluctantly."
Harry hasn't had a watch since his was destroyed in the second task of last years tournament. He put it on and it felt almost as nice as it looked. The two of them went down to the great hall. When he reached the door Ron and Hermione were just exiting.
"Sorry about that, but there were a few thing we needed to talk about alone. I hope you understand."
They both nodded, and Hermione gave him something wrapped in some napkins and said, "I realized you probably were too busy to eat anything so I made this for you."
It was a sandwich, and Harry thanked her and ate it on their way to transfiguration class. As they grabbed the table in the back of the class, Ron noticed something.
Ron asked Harry, "what's that on your wrist?"
Harry picked up his arm to show the two of them and said, "Sirius gave it to me, It belonged to my father. My mother had given it to him when he became Quidditch captain."
Hermione the started, "your dad was head boy and," but before she could finish her thought Ron interrupted her.
"Bloody hell, Quidditch captain too." Ron seemed to be more impressed by this than the fact he was head boy.
Hermione seemed to disagree, but before they could get into a discussion over the merits on whether was more impressive, Professor McGonagall got their attention.
"Before we begin class today I have an announcement to make. First, the Quidditch tryouts will be held in the stadium on the morning of Halloween, and we will announce the members of the team as well as the schedule that night, anybody who is interested in trying out should tell me at the end of class today.
"Second, after the Halloween feast there will be the first of our two balls this year. The ball will be open to any student in their fourth year or above. All members of the school Quidditch team must come escorted, so if you believe that you might be on the team, I would prepare as soon as possible.
"Now, up to this point on class we have been turning living creatures into inanimate objects. Today we will learn how to turn inanimate objects into living creatures. We will start by turning these feather dusters into birds."
By the end of the class Hermione was the only person to manage to turn hers into a proper bird. Harry had managed to turn his into a bird but it was still inanimate, Ron somehow got his feather duster to fly and Seamus had set two of them on fire by the end of the class.
At the end of the lesson, Harry and Ron went up to Professor McGonagall along with several other students to tell her that they were going to try out for the team. Afterward they went up to their dormitory and put their things away. Ron turned to Harry and asked, "who are you going ask to go to the ball with you?"
"I haven't the slightest idea. How about you?"
"Me? I am not even sure that I am going to make the team. I mean the house team is one thing, but against the whole school, that's quite another."
"You heard what McGonagall said. If you think you might make the team you should be prepared, besides I think you have a really good shot at it."