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Chapter Thirteen: Birth of Another School Year

September first of every year tended to be a rather hectic time for every student making his or her return to Hogwarts. No matter how early the returning students of Hogwarts woke up, there seemed to be a shortage of time in which to get everything they needed to pack. Even the most organized student found a little bit of stress in packing for the new year at Hogwarts.

In fact, this phenomenon spared no one, not even a certain person who fought and survived Lord Voldemort on four separate occasions. Yes, it had been a rather hectic morning for one Harry Potter, as half of his notes, books, and other miscellaneous items had been slightly out of place, allowing Harry to scramble, covering every corner, and making sure he had every item. After checking and double checking, Harry breathed a sigh of relief that not one thing seemed to be out of place and at this point in time, he was on the Hogwarts Express.

“Harry, I really think you are slipping,” remarked Hailey as she followed Ginny and Harry down the train. “You’re normally packed hours before the rest of us for any trip but you only managed to finish only just a strained forty five minutes before we were set to leave.”

“So says the girl who caused us to be late by about ten minutes and nearly miss the train,” said Harry in an agitated voice.

“Hey, we did have a full twenty seconds to spare, you know,” said Hailey in a defensive voice.

“Well, thanks to your procrastination skills, we’ll have trouble finding a compartment,” said Harry in a calm voice, but the look on his eyes gave the impression that he felt the matter was settled by what he just said.

“There should be a compartment down this way,” said Ginny, cutting off Hailey before she could even respond. “Did any of you two see Daphne or Theodore on the platform?”

“No, come to think of it, I haven’t heard much from Theodore all summer, only a brief conversation that lasted a couple of minutes, but he had to stop talking because his father had to speak to him,” said Harry. “Although it’s strange that Theodore’s father wants anything to do with him, as he did walk out on his mother and Theodore when he was only seven.”

“Maybe it’s some pureblood purist thing that we aren’t mean to understand,” suggested Ginny.

“Or maybe it’s something more sinister,” said Harry, as Mr. Nott seemed to be the type that would work for Voldemort and while Harry’s memory failed him at the moment, he could have sworn he heard the name Nott connected to the group of Death Eaters who had cried Imperius shortly after the end of Voldemort’s initial reign of terror. As he continued to walk with his sister and girlfriend, Harry wondered if the possibility that Theodore’s father was a Death Eater was something that he should meddle in or not.

“Harry, Hailey, Ginny, over here!” called a voice in the compartment next to the one they were standing. Harry turned around to see Daphne waving them over, with Theodore sitting in the compartment next to her.

Harry slid the door of the compartment open, before stepping inside with Ginny and Hailey following close behind him.

“Hello, Daphne, Theodore,” said Harry as he sat down with Ginny sitting next to Harry and Hailey sitting right on the side of Harry.

“Hermione’s up front with the prefects I suspect,” said Daphne.

“Yep,” said Harry nodding his head.

“I’m surprised that you didn’t get prefect for Slytherin Harry,” said Theodore.

“I kind of am surprised that I didn’t come to think of it, but I’m glad that I didn’t get the prefect,” said Harry. “Of course, I’ve got something better, Quidditch Captain of Slytherin.”

“Congratulations Harry,” said Daphne.

“Yeah, good one Harry, after all, Snape would have been a fool not to pick you,” said Theodore before adding. “Not that I’d say that to his face.”

“I would,” said Hailey with a smirk.

“And hence the reason why you get so many detentions from Snape,” said Harry. “You don’t know when to keep your mouth shut.”

At that moment, the compartment door slid open, revealing the three other members of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, Warrington, Montague, and Bletchley. They were a trio of big hulking gorillas who looked extremely intimidating but did not have much of the way of brains.

“Potter,” said Montague in a sharp voice.

“Montague,” said Harry in a calm voice.

“We heard that you have been made captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team,” said Montague.

“You know, I heard that rumor to come to think of it,” said Harry in a cool voice, as he pulled out his badge and tossed it up into the air a couple of times.

“Well just don’t screw up our good record Potter, as we expect to win,” said Montague.

“What makes you think I’m going to keep you on the team?” asked Harry in a calm voice. “What makes you think you are good enough to stay on my Slytherin Quidditch Team?”

“What are you trying to say Potter?” asked Warrington, cracking his knuckles.

“I’m saying that I’ve seen you play for three years and quite frankly, you can’t cut it for my Quidditch Team,” said Harry. “Of course, you are welcome to try out for the Slytherin House Quidditch Team if you’ve gotten any actual skill besides fouling people right and left.”

“You’re bluffing Potter!” exclaimed Bletchley pulling out his wand in a threatening matter and pointing it towards Harry.

“Is that supposed to intimidate me to keep you on the team, Bletchley?” asked Harry in a calm voice. “As for the whether or not I’m bluffing, you’ll find out if when I hold try outs for your replacements.”

Warrington, Bletchley, and Montague looked at Harry with a slack jawed expression upon their faces.

“Now kindly get out of my compartment,” said Harry in a fake sweet voice.

The three ex-Slytherin Quidditch members looked at Harry if they didn’t want to comply with his request.

“Let me rephrase that, get the hell out of my compartment before I blast you through the door like I did to Draco Malfoy last year,” said Harry in a calm spooky voice that caused the three Seventh Year Slytherins to stagger around, nearly tripping over themselves in an attempt to get away from Harry as soon as possible. They did hear about the story which Harry blasted Malfoy right through the compartment door and they did not want a similar fate to happen to themselves.

“And this is the type of people that would follow the cracked ideals and beliefs of Voldemort,” said Ginny, shaking her head in a disgusted manner.

“Makes my job so much easier,” said Harry. “And believe me; I need all the shortcuts I need with the coming uphill battle with Voldemort.”

Hailey, Daphne, Theodore, Harry, and Ginny talked for quite some time about various topics for quite some time until Hermione joined them, wearing her prefect badge in a way that people knew she was a prefect but yet it wasn’t like she was showing off and bragging about her status about being prefect.

“That meeting was a bit dull but quite informative,” said Hermione in an honest voice as she sat down right next to Hailey. “We are supposed to be on shifts, patrolling the train to make sure no one gets too out of hand during the ride to school. Still, I’m a bit perplexed for the choices for Slytherin prefect. Blaise Zabini got the male prefect spot, which I suppose is okay, as he’s never really taken any sides in the divide in the Slytherin house but the female choice really makes me question Snape’s sanity. I wonder why did he chose Pansy Parkinson to be the female prefect.”

“Parkinson got chose to be prefect over me,” said Daphne in an agitated voice. “I mean, I wouldn’t have been disappointed I didn’t become prefect if Davis or even Bulstrode got the prefect spot, but the fact that she of all people was chosen for prefect.”

“Yes but that’s just the way life happens sometimes,” said Theodore in a calm yet absent minded tone of voice. Theodore still didn’t know how he was going to get out of that situation his father had told him about over the summer, about what his father basically declared he was going to do when he became of age towards the end of his sixth year. His father basically told Theodore that either he would get the dark mark and join Voldemort or would suffer the consequences of disobeying his wishes. Theodore had a sinking feeling he knew what his father meant but he didn’t exactly know who to turn to. The Ministry was corrupt, Dumbledore was worse, and as for Harry, he had enough to worry about with having to be the only hope to inevitably beat Voldemort.

The rest of the on the train to school went on smoothly without any interruptions and in no time, they arrived at Hogwarts for another year. A year that Harry hoped would feature no near death experiences for him.

Then again, Harry felt that he might be hoping for too much for a quiet year.

“I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher is,” said Daphne as she sat down at the Slytherin table, as Hailey and Hermione both headed for the respective Hufflepuff and Gryffindor Tables, as students quickly filed into the Great Hall, chatting and preparing for the sorting.

“Does it really matter anymore?” asked Theodore. “It’s not like there be here next year, while Lupin was good and the fake Moody was a pretty decent, the learning has been for the most part fragmented. Each teacher has their own agenda.”

“True,” said Ginny. “When Lockhart was here, we could have remained the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class the Storied Life and Times of Gilderoy Lockhart class.”

Harry snickered, but his eyes scanned up and down the staff table, looking to see if any new additions were sitting up at the table. Scanning the table, Harry saw the usual teachers sitting, with the exception of McGonagall who was just bring the first years to be sorted. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary at first glance but another look down the table caused Harry to stop short at a somewhat familiar and very unwelcome face.

“Not her,” whispered Harry. “Anyone but her. I’d take Lockhart at his most egotistical over her.”

“Over who?” asked Ginny curiously.

Harry lifted his hand up and pointed to a large toad faced woman sitting at the table right between Snape and Dumbledore.

“Umbridge,” said Harry grimly. “Well, I guess that solves the mystery of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”

“Umbridge?” asked Daphne look over. “The name does some familiar, didn’t she spearhead some anti-Werewolf legislation a while back.”

“Unfortunately,” said Harry bitterly. Just the mere thought of this woman, even through Harry had just met her once for only a minute, had made his skin crawl. As far as Harry was concerned, one brief encounter was more than enough for him as far as Umbridge was concerned. She was a force to be reckoned with in the Ministry and had a pretty high position within the Ministry in the office of Minister Fudge himself. Harry didn’t know how Umbridge managed to get that position.

On second thought, Harry really didn’t want to know how Umbridge managed to get that high level position of Senior-Undersecretary.

“She could make difficulties for me,” muttered Harry underneath his breath. “No doubt she was sent here to keep an eye on me and report what I’m doing to the Ministry.”

“So what are you going to do Harry?” asked Theodore.

“I’ll figure something out,” said Harry coolly. “I’m not going to let that oversized toad get the better of me or Fudge for that matter. I have bigger fish to fry then the Ministry.”

At this point, the Sorting Hat had begun to spout out its yearly song. Harry really didn’t focus on what the hat was saying although he did managed to catch some words about the houses sticking together, which was something that Harry had been saying for years and as far as the majority of the lower years, fourth and below, were concerned, Harry basically accomplished just that.

All of the first years were sorted, with at least a third of the students going in the Slytherin house this year. It seemed as if Slytherin had become a more likeable house since Harry had been sorted four years ago and had nullified some of the more unlikable attributes of the Slytherin house.

The Great Hall went silent as Dumbledore rose to his feet. Harry could help but notice that Dumbledore looked a little worn and extremely old, as if his body was going to drop dead at any second and his wizard’s hat was pulled further over his forehead than normal. Also, one of his fingers was wrapped up and Harry could have sworn he saw black rotting skin peaking from underneath the bandage for a brief second before Dumbledore dropped his hand to his side out of view. Dumbledore gave a strained smile to the students of Hogwarts before opening his mouth to begin his speech.

“Students, welcome to another year at Hogwarts, this year I’m proud to announce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Umbridge,” said Dumbledore although a brief look of detest flashed across Dumbledore’s face before he concealed it. “And furthermore…”

“Hem, Hem,” said a shrill voice that caused Dumbledore to turn around, looking a bit surprised at the fact that he was interrupted. Umbridge gave a sweet, nearly sickening smile to everyone in the Great Hall which caused Harry to have the urge to vomit right then and there. “Thank you Headmaster, for that lovely introduction.”

Umbridge rose to her feet, apparently preparing to make a speech of some sort. Harry wondered if it was too late to grab a time turner and save Gilderoy Lockhart from getting his brain wiped, before bringing him here and having him replace Umbridge.

“I must say it is good to be back at to Hogwarts and to have so many nice, bright young people staring back at me,” said Umbridge. “I hope as this year and beyond goes on, I get to know each and every one of you bright young people and I know that we can be such friends as the year goes on.”

Hailey looked at Umbridge from the Hufflepuff table with a look of disgust on her face and she turned to look at her brother and his friends from the Slytherin Table, to see similar looks of utter revulsion. Harry had a look on his face that suggested he might be on the verge of throwing up.

Nevertheless, Umbridge pressed up with her speech.

“Throughout the entire history of Hogwarts, many teachers have come, many teachers have gone, but they all had their own ideas and thoughts that shaped the magical education for the young people of Hogwarts, whether it was for the better or for worse,” prompted Umbridge. “Many traditions have been proven to be obsolete, while others have proven to withstand the test of time for many years of time. As I come forth this year to contribute to your education, your education will be shaped by the traditions that have been approved by the nucleus of the Magical World and will be the path that you must follow to contribute to your own legacy. As you grow and foster your future, I have the uttermost confidence that by following the right path that has proven to be successful within Magical Britain that I’m to teach you, you will go onto to greatness.”

Umbridge sat back down in her seat, as a sigh of relief filled the Great Hall that while the speech only lasted a couple of minutes, the way Umbridge delivered it made it seem like it lasted for hours, causing much pain for those who listened to it.

“Short, painful but there was some kind of subtle, well subtle by Ministry standards anyway, message that I somehow got out of that,” said Harry gravely.

“Well, do enlighten us Harry, as I kind of tuned out after the first sentence or so,” said Ginny.

“The Ministry is going to try to silence anyone who disagrees with their vision of what the Magical World should be,” whispered Harry, so only Daphne, Theodore, and Ginny could hear him. “This year is not going to be a pleasant one, especially if she’s been sent here to keep tabs on me.”

“Do you think the Ministry suspects that you’re up to something that defies the official word they’ve been peddling about You-Know-Who being back?” asked Daphne in a quiet voice.

“Of course they suspect I’m up to something, we have clashed several times before, and I haven’t exactly been silent about my displeasure with them,” said Harry before shaking his head. “This is going to be a long year, a really long year.”

“I think that’s something you’ll get no argument whatsoever about,” said Ginny as Dumbledore rose to his feet, as it took a moment for the Headmaster to collect his thoughts the impromptu speech Umbridge had given.

“Other announcements must be made but those can be held off until later. As for now, the feast will begin,” said Dumbledore before plates of all different types of food appeared on each of the house tables and with that, the feast began on that note.

Later that night, Dumbledore gazed at the firelight in his office, in thought. The Ministry decided to interfere with his plans after all, but Dumbledore doubted very much that Fudge would be able to get the better of him. In any event, Dumbledore was not taking any chances, even through his primitive form was starting to break down once again and the rituals needed to preserve it would knock Dumbledore out for long enough that it would raise unnecessary questions with Umbridge.

Dumbledore lifted his slightly blackened right hand up, looking it over. The rituals that Dumbledore underwent to preserve his state seemed to be breaking down at a quickly rate. Even regular doses the Elixir of Life from the Philosopher’s Stone could not halt the degeneration process for more than a few days. The Headmaster of Hogwarts decided that his plans to regain his former power needed to be accelerated quickly, before his body broke down to the rate where it became noticeable, unable to be disguised by charm work and that would definitely raise too many questions. As much as he hated to admit it, Dumbledore did not have the power to memory charm every single person in the magical world.

As it turned out, Dumbledore was not the only person awake late at night. Deep within the Forbidden Forest, the centaur known as Bane gazed up at the stars, looking at the cosmic patterns within, giving a hint of what horrors were to befall the human magical race. The hints have been written across the stars for centuries, but in recent years, they have been more prominent. Bane looked over each pattern found within the stars; feeling disturbed about how similar the final section of what the centaurs called “The Doomsday Prophecy” was to his current interpretations from within the stars.

Bane paused before turning to the herd of Centaurs who also looked at the stars with similar slightly disturbed looks on their faces.

“It is as we have feared for some time,” said Bane. “The one time we wished the humans were wrong with their shoddy and rather suspect method of divining the future, is the one time they matched up to the findings within the stars.”

“The darkness returns, formulating plans” muttered another centaur. “The evil not seen since the days of Salazar Slytherin. But their leader, his essence was trapped in the temple, as he was too powerful to have his power diluted like his followers. How could he possibly formulate any plans if his essence was locked away in a temple for these many years?”

“How indeed?” said Bane in a cryptic voice but with the merest flicker of a thoughtful look on his face. “We centaurs have all heard the legend, even through humans at large are ignorant of the story. Their Ministry has destroyed most of the records involving knowledge involving the history behind the great terror a thousand years ago, partially so no one attempts to bring back this evil, but partially because the humans are so sensitive, that many of them cannot begin to imagine an evil as poisonous as Draxxor. When the name is brought up, humans normally attempt to portray him as a simple human dark wizard craving power, but it something quite more sinister. He is the farthest thing from human possible, a demonic entity who feels that absolute power will only be achieved by widespread genocide over all of humanity. While the human dark lords wish to preserve humanity so they can be feared, Draxxor only craves total destruction.”

Bane reared back on two legs, before turning to his fellow centaurs with a look that indicated a lack of expression.

“We centaurs will endure despite the dark days that are to come, we have existed before the birth of humanity and will live on for much time after humanity has been utterly wiped out,” said Bane.

“Surely, the humans should be warned of this threat,” offered Firenze.

“What is to come by the stars must not be altered any more than it already has!” thundered Bane. “If anything, telling the humans the truth about this threat is more likely to put them into a position where they will end up worse off than they have begun, not that it matters if they are cleansed off the face of the Earth or not. Fate has already been altered once but fate will not be altered any more. My word on this is final.”

Bane looked at the centaurs, if daring them to question his authority but none spoke another word so Bane walked off into the shadows of the Forbidden Forest, not given another thought at the plight of the humans in the dark days that are to come.