The train ride to school was so boring and long that Sammy complained that her shoes were going out of style. We did finally make it to Hogsmeade Station, though, smartened up in our black school robes, and in my case, purple hightops. We rode the carriages, as usual, and nothing seemed different until we got off at the gates. There were four Aurors there, and they were searching everyone with long rods similar to the ones I had seen two goblins holding outside Gringotts. I cringed; Probity Probes.
Everyone formed four queues, and then the tedious searching process began. Sammy turned to me nervously and said, “Do you think they're searching the first years as well?”
I knew immediately she was thinking of Tyler, and how easily he got scared. I thought of him too, and how he'd nearly cried, despite a valiant effort, when we passed Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Would they really search the harmless little eleven-year-olds? I doubted it, but I could only provide Sammy with a shrug. She turned back around, brooding.
The search took a long time, but we finally made it into the Great Hall. The Sorting Ceremony had started when I realized something very bad: Harry and Sev were both absent, and I was sure it wasn't a coincidence. I calmed myself with the thought that because Harry was my brother, Sev would not haul off and kill him. He would have me to answer to if that happened.
Still, when the first years entered and Tyler waved at Sammy and me, I barely managed to smile and wave back. I didn't hear the Hat's song either. All through the Sorting, I was distracted. I was busy thinking of the awful spiders living in the Forbidden Forest, and how perhaps in the dark Harry and Sev had gotten lost, and- Sammy elbowed me.
“Tyler's up!” she said in an excited whisper. Sure enough, the little boy had walked tremblingly up to the stool and placed the Sorting Hat on his head. After a brief pause, the Hat shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!” Tyler took off the Hat, looking half sick and half relieved as he took a place next to a dark boy with curly hair. He waved again, and this time my smile was a bit more genuine.
The ceremony ended, the Feast had begun, and still there was no sign of my brother or guardian. I was distracted as I ate, and I glanced frantically at Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville Longbottom, who were all talking anxiously to one another and looking up at the large doors at the end of the hall. Well, the latter three were; Ron did glance occasionally at the door, but he spent most of his time stuffing his face. I couldn't help but think, Boys, as I watched in disgust.
“Rosie? Earth to Rose! Have you heard anything I've said?” Sammy was waving her hands in front of my face.
I stared at her blankly. “Erm...”
“I was just saying that I think Seamus is really cute, and I was asking your opinion,” said Sammy, exasperated.
I studied Seamus Finnegan. Same sand colored hair, blue eyes, and freckles. I didn't see him as cute. I shrugged. "He looks the same." Sammy rolled her eyes and went back to her chicken. Speaking of boy crazy, I turned and saw Lavender Brown, staring raptly Ron. Her expression was sickening. How could she stare at somebody with such grotesque eating habits?
I glanced habitually at the door again, and then did a double-take. Sev was at the door, looking grimly pleased as he went to his seat. Professor Snape, I mentally corrected. I couldn't slip up during school and call him by his first name. Also standing in the door was Harry, and his face was covered in blood.
“Oh my goodness!” I said, grabbing Sammy's arm. “Sam, look at Harry!”
She looked up too, and gasped. So did about twenty other people. Harry walked by as if nothing had happened. He grew absorbed in conversation with Hermione and Ron, and I heard Hermione say, “Tergeo!” So, she had taken care of that.
After dessert, Professor Dumbledore stood to welcome us. As he spoke his greeting, he spread his arms, and everyone gasped again, including me. I hadn't remembered his hand looking all black and withered like that, though now I thought of it, he must have kept his hands in his pockets to keep from alarming me. The speech then continued as usual: Quidditch tryouts will be held within the month, don't go into the Forbidden Forest, Filch adding to the already incomprehensibly long list of banned items, and then:
“Professor Slughorn is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions Master.” *
Sammy and I looked at each other in disbelief. I stared at the fat, bald man whose waistcoat buttons looked as if they were about to burst apart. This was impossible! My glance fell on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had their heads together in hushed conversation once again. Potions? I thought. And then, dawning comprehension. This must mean that Sev-
“Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.” *
I heard Harry shout at this, as I had expected. I had to stifle a grin. Good old Sev had wanted that job a long time. I flashed him a quick smile before exchanging another dark look with Sammy. She looked worried. “I'll never pass now,” she muttered. “I'll flunk out. Bye-bye Auror dreams.” She waved at her figurative future as if it had floated invisibly through the ceiling.
I listened to the rest of Dumbledore's speech, all about how we should band together in this dark time, and so on. I had gotten enough of this from Sev in the past that I could have recited it for everyone. I was relieved when Dumbledore dismissed us to our beds. Sammy and I took a couple shortcuts and then hurried up to the tower.
“What do you think about all this? Snape and that Slughorn and all?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe Snape isn't a nice teacher-”
“That's an understatement,” Sammy muttered.
“-but he's wanted that job for years, and must know a lot about it. It's been awhile since we had a competent teacher.”
“True.” But Sammy still looked unconvinced. Oh well. I wasn't about to convert her into a Snape-fan. Sev had earned her dislike, and the dislike of lots of other Gryffindors. I couldn't change what Sev brought upon himself.
We went through the portrait hole and up to bed quickly. I smiled at the familiarity of the dorm: five four-poster beds, each adorned with fuzzy red blankets, a few Gryffindor banners, and the sight of four other familiar girls who had been my classmates for the past five years. I unpacked, sticking my picture of Sev in my pillowcase, and taping another one of Sammy and me to my headboard, along with the Weird Sisters poster and the Holly Head Harpies banner (I had decided to take them with me last minute- how could I leave them behind?). Hermione tacked up the usual calender and set an alarm clock- she'd had quite a time explaining that first year, and Lavender, daft girl, still didn't fully grasp the concept. Then again, neither did Sammy.
I pulled on my pajamas and lay back, not bothering to draw the curtains; I never did. As I listened to my friends unpacking, I was lulled to sleep.
~ * ~
The next day, Professor McGonagall handed out schedules. Sammy and I had all the same subjects, minus Ancient Runes. Sammy headed for break, and I went to Ancient Runes unaccompanied. When I arrived in Professor Babbling's classroom, I was surprised at how few students had decided not to continue with Runes. Hermione and I sat next to each other, the only Gryffindors present. Four Ravenclaws had made it (no surprise there), though I didn't see any of my Hufflepuff classmates. I did, however, recognize a shy Slytherin girl called Valentine Scattergood, sitting by herself next to a window.
We left Ancient Runes an hour later with massive headaches, equal only to the pile of homework that had been dumped on us. Hermione was in particular dismay about the amount, and set off in search of Harry and Ron. I found myself walking with Valentine to the year's first D.A.D.A. lesson. I had never let myself be caught within hailing distance of a Slytherin before, and now that we were walking silently, side by side, I noticed that she was very pretty. She had wavy black hair that was kept out of her face by a headband, pale white skin, and sad looking blue eyes. Valentine didn't talk much unless asked a direct question and she had never been part of Malfoy and Pansy's group. She didn't act like an ordinary Slytherin.
I felt obligated to make a bit of conversation, so I plunged in, a little nervously. “Do you like Runes, Valentine?” I asked, fumbling for common ground.
She nodded. “It's alright.”
“What about all that homework we got? Babbling must be crazy! It's only our first day back.”
“N.E.W.T. Level is supposed to be much harder.”
“I suppose. I just thought we would be easing into it, you know?”
“Not really.”
At that point in the conversation, we had reached Sev- no, Professor Snape's classroom. I was relieved to see Sammy waving wildly at me as if she were performing an interpretive dance. “Hi Sammy,” I said, rushing over to her.
“What's all that?” she asked, gesturing to the stack of books I was holding.
“Homework,” I said darkly. Sammy cringed. Before we could say much more, Professor Snape opened the door and let us inside.
As we entered, I couldn't help but gasp. I had seen this same classroom occupied by five other very different teachers, but this year's décor was so grotesque that I felt a bit sick. The room was dimly lit by candles, and the pictures on the walls made me shudder, showing people writhing in pain, or else badly maimed. Sammy and I took seats towards the middle of the room, not wanting to sit close to the pictures or at the front of the room, where the Slytherins had congregated.
All in all, it was one of the worst Defense lessons I had had. Nonverbal spells were difficult to begin with. Most of the kids cheated, whispering the incantations. Hermione managed to cast her Shield Charm in total silence after about fifteen minutes, though Professor Snape neither noticed nor cared. I also noticed that Valentine sent Pansy into giggle fits with her silent Tickling Charm after half an hour of trying. Meanwhile, I stood waiting for Sammy to attack. Had we been with any other teacher, this would have been amusing; Sammy squints when she concentrates, and right now, her eyes were nearly closed.
The shout of “Protego!” pulled me out of my thoughts. Harry and Sev had their wands pointed at each other. Of course, I think Sev did set himself up for Harry's rather amusing cheek, but I felt a twinge of guilt as I stifled a giggle. Classes with Sev were always hard, because my loyalty was torn between my friends and the man who raised me. But, on the way out of class, Sammy and I both gave Harry a high five. I just hoped that Sev didn't see.
Slughorn's lessons were also interesting. He had a more cheerful air about him them Sev, though he tended to the dramatic. He sort of reminded me of how I pictured a doting grandfather would be. Despite his strange quirks and pompous manner, I liked him. What gave me the most suspicion was Harry's sudden talent at Potions. He'd always been a competent potioneer, but never the best in the class, not by a long shot. This seemed to annoy Hermione, but I knew she was just mad that he was beating her in something, which made her a little hypocritical, if you asked me.
~ * ~
So the weeks turned into months. Quidditch tryouts had been held a while previously. Nauseating Cormac McClaggen hadn't made the team, thank Godric. Stan Shunpike was arrested for suspected Death Eater activity, much to Harry's and my disgust. Even Sammy was upset; Stan frequented the Leaky Cauldron, and they had been friends, for lack of a better word. Other than that, classes continued as normal. Nothing remotely out of the ordinary happened until the first Hogsmeade weekend.
It was only mid-October, but the wind and cold made being outside unbearable. Sammy and I ducked into the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer and then went to a robe shop to fill Sammy's obsession with clothing. After leaving, Sammy laden with bags and I myself even carrying one (she rubbed off on me sometimes), we decided to get an early start back to Hogwarts, considering the bitter wind which would make the trek back arduous. We could see two older girls in the distance, and within shouting distance were Harry, Ron, and Hermione, “The Golden Trio,” as Sammy had dubbed them.
We hadn't walked for long when the strangest thing happened: one of the girls in the distance dropped a package and shot right up into the air. She hovered, ten feet off the ground, screaming and floating as though suspended in water. Her companion also screamed and appeared to be crying. Harry, Ron, and Hermione raced after them, shouting for Hagrid, who was also nearby. Sammy and I watched open-mouthed as they pulled the floating girl to the ground. She screamed and moaned and writhed, but Hagrid picked her up and carried her off, and the other four students trailed after him.
Sammy and I looked at each other. Sammy groaned. “What?” I asked.
“Do you think we'll ever have a quiet year at Hogwarts?” she asked.
I couldn't help laughing.
The Other Potter by georgeisholey
Chapter Notes: Thanks so much for all those nice reviews I got! Sorry if this chapter is a little boring... It gets better! Yes, the chapter title is from A Very Potter Musical, and yes, I am a nerd. :) I don't own Harry Potter, but in a perfect world...
Chapter Endnotes: *From the American Version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, pg 166
The next chapter should be here soon! Please review!