They travelled to Kings Cross on the Weasley’s carpet. There was just
about enough room: Mrs. Weasley and Ginny at the front; Harry, Ron and Hermione
in the middle and Fred and George at the back. All six of the trunks were stowed
somewhere under neat the carpet (Harry hadn’t a clue where because when the
carpet was laid down over the six trunks there seemed to be nothing under neat
it but the grass. And then, of course there were the pets. Because the carpet
was so fast the owls would not be able to fly alongside it and keep up so they
had to be kept in their cages which they hated and Crookshanks definitely did
not like heights so Hermione had to sacrifice her arms to scratches while she
tried to hold him away from the edge. Mr. Weasley didn’t go with them, as he
was very busy (and also due to the lack of space).
Within five minutes of flying they came to land in a deserted car park
outside Kings Cross station. They hauled their trunks (which magically
reappeared when the carpet was lifted up) into the station and onto a baggage
trolley. People stared at them as Crookshanks still tried to claw his way out of
Hermoine’s arms, still seemingly to be upset about the carpet ride he had just
been on. They pushed their trolleys straight at the ticket barrier between
platforms nine and ten and soon found themselves facing the scarlet steam engine
that was the Hogwarts Express on Platform nine and three quarters. They loaded
their trunks onto the train and hugged Mrs. Weasley good-bye. When the train
whistle blew they boarded the train and set out to find empty compartments. They
finally found one near the back of the train and sat down. As the train started
to leave the station they waved a final good-bye to Mrs. Weasley before she
Disapparated.
The first half of the train ride was pretty eventless. At midday the food
trolley came around and they bought food of all kinds: Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin
Pasties, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans; Now Wizard Hat Shaped, Cauldron
Cakes, Pepper Imps and Chocoballs.
Suddenly, at about 3 o’clock while the three of them had been talking
about the quidditch tournament that would be taking place this year, Harry felt
a strong pain in his head. He hadn’t felt it all summer. He clasped his hands
over his scar.
‘What’s the matter?’ Hermione
asked sounding terribly worried. ‘Is it your scar. Harry, you’ve got to go
straight to Dumbledore as soon as this train stops.’ And, as if hearing
Hermione, the train started to slow down.
‘We can’t be there yet can we?’ said Harry with a lot of effort as
the pain was still shooting through his head. ‘I mean, it’s not even dark
yet.’
‘Maybe the castle moved,’ said Ron. ‘Maybe they wanted a change of
scenery.
‘I doubt it,’ said Hermione as though such a prospect was absolutely
ridiculous. Harry knew however, that, in the world of magic, anything was
possible.
The three of them were looking out
of the window when someone entered the compartment. The three of them turned
around to see a very worried and ghostly white Prof. McGonagall looking back at
them.
‘Come on now, Mr. Potter, Mr.
Weasley, Ms. Granger, everyone’s got to leave the train.’ Harry had only
once seen her look so bad and that was after she had heard that Lord Voldemort
had returned.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Harry
as they followed her out of the compartment and down the corridor of the train
to the nearest door. His scar wasn’t hurting as badly anymore. As they jumped
down from the train they saw immediately what the matter was. The group of
students staring in the same direction as Harry, Ron and Hermione, grew steadily
bigger as more people alighted from the train.
Less then a mile away, in the
direction the train was travelling, they could see something green up in the sky
but they could clearly see what it was. It was the Dark Mark. Some of the
students screamed; others were too frightened to do anything.
‘Prefects, please come over to
me,’ Prof. McGonagall called out over to me. Harry realising he wasn’t
wearing his badge, quickly took it out of his pocket and stuck it onto his
robes, which he had changed into on the train. Hermione was already wearing
hers.
‘See you later,’ Ron said to
the pair before leaving to talk to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. Harry and
Hermione went over to join the other six prefects who had already congregated
around Prof. McGonagall.
‘Oh no!’
said Hermione. ‘Look at our “fellow” prefect.’ Harry’s heart sank. It
was Draco Malfoy. The other prefects were Pansy Parkinson, Justin Finch-Fletchy,
Susan Bonnes, Paul Hill (a sixth year Ravenclaw) and Amanda Nimbleson (also a
sixth year Ravenclaw).
‘As you can see,’ said Prof. McGonagall, ‘our way has
been hampered. Portkeys have been organised for all of the students. Your job is
to make sure that all students from your house get a portkey to Hogwarts. There
are to be ten students to a portkey You are to get the last portkey out of here
when everyone else has gone. I will deal with the first years. I must stress
that you keep everyone calm. The portkeys are to be found over by the
track at the end of the train. You can tell them that their trunks will be
brought to Hogwarts later. Is everyone clear on that? Good.’
Hermione was first to leave the
group. She went straight over to the group of students and shouted over them.
‘Can all Gryffindors please
follow me,’ she called out over the crowd. Heads turned towards her.
‘Gryffindors this way please.’ And with that she turned and headed towards
the back of the train with Harry and a large group of Gryffindors following. Ron
caught up with Harry and Hermione.
‘What’s going on?’ he asked
‘We have to get portkeys to
Hogwarts,’ said Harry. ‘McGonagall doesn’t want us to go by the Mark.’
And so they started to hand out
potkeys to their fellow Gryffindors and ten would be taken away to Hogwarts at a
time. After nearly an hour and a half all of the students had been taken to
Hogwarts apart from the prefects and Ron who had stayed to help.
‘Well, Potter,’ drawled
Malfoy’s voice from behind Harry. ‘Worried that Lord Voldemort is going to
try and get you again?’
‘Your dad conjured that, did
he,’ Ron asked pointing to the Dark Mark which still hovered high in the sky.
‘So what if he did, you penniless
redhead?’ said Malfoy casually.
‘Come along now, Mr. Malfoy,’
said Prof. McGonagall as she walked towards the group. ‘No time for this
pointless chitchat. We need to get a portkey to Hogwarts now.’
And so the ten of them held onto a
tyre. Harry felt a jerk behind his navel as the portkey lifted them up off the
ground and took them away to Hogwarts.
They landed on the front lawn of
Hogwarts and could see all of the other boots, tyres, plastic bags and other
bits of rubbish that were portkeys. With a wave of her wand, Prof. McGonagall
made them all disappear. They then headed inside, across the Entrance Hall
towards the Great Hall. Before they entered Prof. McGonagall turned to them and
said.
‘Thank you all for your help,’
she said with a smile Harry rarely saw. She then turned and entered the Great
Hall with the seven of them following her. Hermione, Ron and Harry say down near
the top of the Gryffindor table where Fred, George, Seamus and Dean sat.
The sorting ceremony had already
started. The first years were gathered in front of the teachers’ table and one
by one Prof.. McGonagall would call out a name and that person would sit on the
stool in front of the teachers, put on the sorting hat and find out which house
they were to be in for the rest of their Hogwarts days. Aoife was the tenth
person to be sorted.
‘Granger, Aoife,’ called out
Prof. McGonagall. Aoife cautiously sat down on the stool and let the large
sorting hat fall down over her eyes.
‘I do hope she gets put in
Gryffindor,’ said Hermione. ‘She’ll be so disappointed if she isn’t.’
After a few moments the hat called
out ‘GRYFFINDOR’. Aoife came running over to the Gryffindor table and Harry,
Hermione and Ron greeted her and cheered with the rest of the table.
The sorting ceremony continued and
Harry and Ron longed for their dinner until they heard one of the last names
being called out.
‘Malfoy, Cetus.’
‘That can’t possibly be
Draco’s brother, can it?’ Harry asked, but his question was soon answered
when he saw Cetus. He looked just like Malfoy, from the blonde hair to the
expression he wore on his face.
‘No surprise as to where he will
be going,’ said Ron.
‘I wouldn’t be to sure,’
Aoife popped up who was now sitting beside them. ‘Look at the twins in your
year. They’re identical and they’re in two different houses.’
‘Speaking of them,’ said
Hermione. ‘Where is Parvati?’ But Harry had no time to answer; he was too
shocked, for the hat had just called out ‘HUFFLEPUFF’. There was a feeble
clap from the Hufflepuff table. They were obviously just as shocked as Harry.
‘See,’ said Aoife. Harry, Ron
and Hermione were all shocked. They had presumed that any Malfoy would have to
go into Slytherin.
Harry took a quick glance along the
Ravenclaw table hoping to catch a glance of Cho Chang, a very pretty girl who
was their seeker.
‘Where’s Cho?’ Harry shot out
without thinking.
‘Who?’ said Ron
‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Harry.
Once the sorting ceremony had
finished Prof. Dumbledore stood up from his seat at the top of the Great Hall
where the teachers sat. Everyone in the hall fell silent. He cleared his throat.
‘Welcome,’ he said, ‘to
another school year at Hogwarts. As always the Forest is out of bounds and no
one may leave the grounds unless there had been a special Hogsmeade visit
organised. As usual classes will start tomorrow…’
Suddenly Harry yelled in horror and
fell backwards off of his seat. He had just been looking along the teachers’
table.
‘Strange as it may seem, Mr.
Potter,’ said Prof. Dumbledore with his eyes twinkling, ‘classes will start
tomorrow as usual.’ A few people around the hall gave a little snort of
laughter. Prof. Dumbledore continued his speech.
Harry heard Malfoy across the Hall
say to his friends ‘Probably just realised they’ve got a Muggle-lover
running this school!’ Nearly the whole table erupted into laughter. Harry was
sure Dumbledore had heard Malfoy, but he continued on with his speech.
‘What is it,’ Ron asked in a
whisper as Harry got up again. ‘Is it your scar again?’
‘If it is your scar,’ said Hermione, ‘you should go and
tell Dumbledore immediately – who cares if he’s giving a speech.’
‘Its not my scar,’ said Harry.
‘You see that person sitting beside McGonagall? That’s the Mrs. Figg I was
always telling you about. The one who used to mind me when the Dursleys went
away. The one with all the cats. I didn’t know she was a witch..’
‘Well that’s a sign of a good
witch, isn’t it?’ said Hermione. ‘Not letting anyone know you are one.’
‘What’s she doing here?’
Harry asked.
‘Maybe she’s the new Defence
Against The Dark Arts teacher,’ said Ron. ‘Hey! Where’s Snape?’
Ron was right. Snape was not
anywhere on the teachers table. In fact where he usually sat was a wizard Harry
had only once seen before at the Quidditch World Cup.
‘And now,’ said Prof.
Dumbledore who had continued to speak while the three of them had been talking,
‘I am pleased to introduce three new teachers. Prof. Figg who will be teaching
Defence Against the Dark Arts, Prof. Fletcher who will be teaching Potions and
Prof. Grubbly-Plank who will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures.’
The whole hall applauded the new
teachers except Harry who was still in shock after seeing Mrs. Figg up there.
‘Where’s Hagrid,’ asked
Hermione. ‘He wasn’t arrested for those Bomb-Tail Shrew things was he?’
‘Blast-Ended-Skrewts - I hope
not,’ said Ron.
‘And now,’ Dumbledore
continued, ‘fill your stomachs with as much delicious food as possible!’ As
he said the last word, food of all types appeared in front of Harry on the
table. Harry, Ron and Hermione helped themselves to spare ribs, chicken legs,
steak, stews, lamb, mashed potatoes, chips, salads of all colours and anything
Harry could have dreamed of. Once the plates in front of all the students were
cleaned of food, the food in the middle of the tables cleared and the desserts
followed: ice-cream of every flavour imaginable, apple pies, rice pudding, pecan
pies and loads more delicious dishes. Once the plates had been cleared once more
and the last drops of pumpkin juice had been drunk from the goblets Prof.
Dumbledore stood up once more.
‘And finally,’ Dumbledore said,
the twinkle in his eye having gone now, ‘I have some very grave news to tell
you all. Lord Voldemort has killed three of our finest pupils over the summer.
They were Cho Chang of Ravenclaw,’ people were speechless, Harry was stunned,
‘Padma Patil also of Ravenclaw,’ more stunned silence, ‘and her twin
sister Parvati Patil of Gryffindor. I was deeply shaken when I heard the news,
but I do hope this evil act will not hinder our school year.’ Harry couldn’t
believe it. He felt something heavy hit the bottom of his stomach and his throat
went dry. ‘Now, I believe, that all students should go up to their common
rooms and go to bed. There is an early start In the morning. Could the prefects
please lead the first years from their own house to their common room and show
them where they will be sleeping.’
Harry, Ron
and Hermione slowly got up along with the rest of the Gryffindors. Harry could
see Malfoy laughing with Crabbe and Goyle and felt a surge of anger run through
him but it was soon replaced with grief once more.
‘First years this way please,’
Hermione called in a horse voice over the crowd of people streaming out the
doors. The first years followed Harry, Hermione and Ron out of the Great Hall,
up the marble staircase, through secret passageways behind tapestries and
finally came out at the Fat Lady who guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor
common room.
‘Hanging Gnomes,’ said
Hermione. ‘Prof. McGonagall told me earlier.’
They climbed inside (Harry and Ron
had to help many of the first years who were too short to climb in) and Hermione
told them where they would be sleeping. The three of them then went on up to
their own dormitories. As Harry opened the door to his and Ron’s he saw the
five four-poster beds and their trunks, which had already been brought up.
Harry found it very hard to sleep
that night after the news he had heard. He couldn’t help think about Cho and
Parvati and how much he hated Lord Voldemort right at that moment.