(A/N: I'd like to thank my first reviewers Jen KenLee, Hdawne, Hermione Potter1378 and destroyedrt for their nice comments. As usual, I'd like to thank my BETA readers IronChef and SArahLupin for their great support! I hope you'll enjoy next chapters.)
Chapter 4. COMING BACK TO HOGWARTS
...
The lions' den
Is still reality
Coming out is not possible for us
It is a false slogan.
...
"Our Dear Angel" by Lucio Battisti
Finally, Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall at Hogwarts; together with Ron and Hermione, he was ready to listen to Albus Dumbledore's welcome speech.
That morning he and his friends ran to King's Cross station to catch the Hogwarts Express on time. As usual they went there escorted by Lupin, Moody, Tonks and a few other wizards from the Order to avoid any incidents. The trip to Hogwarts had been quiet, and they did not meet Malfoy or his cronies. Harry thought that Malfoy was probably ashamed to show his face, since everybody now knew that his father was a Death Eater, locked way in Azkaban prison.
He was happy to be at school again, and sitting there with everyone chatting and giggling around him, his troubles seemed far away.
When Dumbledore was ready to give his speech, everybody became silent.
"A warm welcome to all our students. As I do every year, I expect that you will follow our school rules and I remind you once more that the the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden. Now, it is my pleasure to welcome back Professor Remus Lupin, who will be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year."
Hearing this, all of the students burst into great applause, since most of them remembered quite well that Professor Lupin was a good teacher.
Harry and Ron were the most surprised of all, to be sure. During their stay at Grimmauld Place, no one mentioned anything about this.
"But why didn't they say anything to us at all?" complained Ron, a little bit upset.
"Maybe Lupin didn't know about it until today," said Harry, trying to find a good explanation, but Hermione remained silent with a large smile on her face.
"No, but... it's not fair Hermione, you knew about this! Didn't you?"
"Yes, I knew! But Professor Lupin made me promise not to say anything to anyone!" admitted Hermione quietly, but Ron was even angrier.
"Are you our best friend or not? Why do you always keep secrets to yourself and don't say a word to us?
Harry raised an eyebrow, fearing that his friends would start to argue as usual, and he suddenly interrupted them before it was too late.
"Now that's enough, please don't argue or I'll start screaming!"
Harry frowned at them both and they immediately stopped arguing, turning their concentration to their plates which, in the meantime, had magically filled with a great quantity of delicious food.
***O***
The week started busy as always. Subjects were much more difficult in the sixth year, especially now that they were
preparing themselves for the seventh year N.E.W.T. examinations.
Harry and Hermione both had the same classes, while Ron, who did not pass his Potions O.W.L., had a different class instead.
The three of them would no longer have classes like Divination, Astronomy or Care of Magical Creatures during their sixth and seventh years. Instead, they had more weekly classes on the most important subjects: Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
After Harry returned to school, he noticed a really good sign: he didn't have those bad nightmares about Sirius's death anymore, but he couldn't understand why. Maybe after his return to Grimmauld Place, he somehow overcame his bad mood, or maybe Dumbledore's positive vibrations were helping him feeling better. Either way, the important thing for him was that now, he was able to sleep the whole night through, and that was giving him the strength he needed to go on.
Harry and Hermione were going to start their first school day with Potions and Professor Snape. After breakfast, they said good-bye to Ron who was attending a different class and went down to the dungeons. Ron would see them in their Transfiguration class, two hours later.
Gathered in front of the dungeon entrance, there were already many Slytherin students (whom Professor Snape had probably helped pass the examinations). In contrast, apart from Harry and Hermione, there were only a few Gryffindors, including Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Seamus Finnigan. To their great surprise, there were also a few students from Hufflepuff, like their friend Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones, and a few others from Ravenclaw Harry did not know.
Harry and Hermione reached their friends, who were chatting quietly. Then Harry glanced quickly at the Slytherin group and noticed that Malfoy was coming closer, followed by Crabbe and Goyle.
"Uh oh, I smell trouble!" commented Seamus. In fact, Malfoy did not waste any time and faced Harry and Hermione with an evil sparkle in his eyes.
"Look at what we have here: Saint Potter and his Mudblood friend! I didn't think Snape would have admitted you two to his advanced Potions class, but I was wrong. How much did you pay him to let you pass your O.W.L.? Or maybe Snape just needed someone to make fun of during the next two years?" He ended the sentence with an evil laugh, imitated by Crabbe and Goyle.
Harry was already losing his temper, when Hermione stopped him, grabbing his arm and whispering to him.
"No, Harry! He just wants to provoke you. Just ignore him!"
Harry remained still, but gave Malfoy an angry look, challenging him.
"What is it, Potter, cat got your tongue? Or maybe your Mudblood friend orders you around like her trusted dog?"
Finally, Harry had had enough, and answered back.
"It's strange Malfoy, I'd have thought that after your father had been sent to Azkaban, you wouldn't have the courage to show your ugly face at Hogwarts again! Well, I was wrong, because you're still here, unfortunately!"
Harry's retort had the effect of a knife blade cutting deeply into Malfoy's pride, who immediately took his wand out of his robes.
Harry was faster and pulled out his wand before Malfoy. Within a second, they were facing each other, wands ready. A worried whispering ran through the students and Hermione put her hands over her mouth, fearing the worst.
"Don't... you... DARE... talk... about... my father... Potter!"
Both stared at each other full of hate, when suddenly the classroom door opened and Professor Snape reached them in a fury.
"What are you doing Potter? Put away that wand immediately! Do you want to get detention on your first day of school?"
Harry lowered his wand and decided not to reply, because he knew perfectly well that it would have been useless with Snape. Malfoy lowered his wand too, and when Snape turned to enter the classroom, he whispered to Harry, "You're gonna pay for this, Potter."
The whole thing ended with Snape taking ten points from Gryffindor.
As usual, Snape did not say anything about Malfoy having his wand out also, but it was obvious that Malfoy was Snape's favorite student.
Harry and Hermione sat together in one of the last desks. Hermione kept commenting on what had just happened and she was mad at Snape for how he had treated Harry. "He took ten points from Gryffindor and this is just the first lesson! It's not fair! I can't even stand to think about it!"
Harry was accustomed to Snape's unfair treatment and did not care about it anymore. The remainder of the lesson went on without any incidents, and Harry tried to keep his eyes down, so as to not provoke his teacher.
For his part, Snape did not take his eyes off Harry, and made it clear to all the students that the final two years of Potions were going to be the hardest, and that they were to give their best effort.
Fortunately, double Potions passed by quickly, and Harry and Hermione met Ron in Professor McGonagall's classroom for double Transfiguration. The three friends sat in desks near the back, and Hermione started to tell Ron about what had just happened.
Like Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall also pointed out that she was going to expect maximum effort from all her students.
When they reached the great Hall for lunch, they were tensed like a violin string.
"And this is just the first day! I can't imagine how the rest of the year will be!"
Ron was really exhausted. Harry and Hermione looked at him with understanding, but the day was not finished yet; they
still had double Charms and one hour of Herbology.
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