History of magic was always a boring class. Recently, however, it had
become more boring than ever. The entire class was under a no-magic
punishment because someone lit filibuster's no heat, wet start fireworks
and threw them half-hazardly around the room. There was to be a three foot
test sometime that week, which would count for a quarter of their grades.
As a result, Harry and Ron where very bored.
Hermione, of course was taking volumes of notes and encouraging Harry and Ron to do the same. So far they had both gone as far as to take out parchment and ink.but that was about it. They where sitting, sucking on sugar quills, imagining different ways to put Malfoy to a slow death.
"You two haven't taken a single note this entire lesson!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Don't you two care that this test counts as a quarter of our grades?!"
"Why should we have to take notes as you've got the entire transcript of the lecture?" inquired Ron. He had to duck to avoid being smacked for his remark.
"You know very well that I would never let you use my notes, if you fail, it's your own fault!"
Harry could sense a fight brewing, so he was very grateful when the bell rang and they could go to lunch. In the Great Hall, they sat down to eat with Fred, George, Ginny, Lee Jordan, Dean Thomas, and to Harry's dismay, Colin Creevy and his brother Dennis. They soon became engrossed in discussion about Quidditch; the boys did, that is. Hermione and Ginny found other, more interesting topics to discuss, like how evil Snape was, how ugly Mrs. Noris was, and what new monster Hagrid would have in Care of Magical Creatures.
After lunch, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, and their classmates all enjoyed a cozy potions session in the dungeons with their favorite professor. Snape was feeling particularly vindictive, and he took it out on the Gryffindors as usual. This time, he realized that most of his precious Slytherins where screwing up, so he decided that when all the potions where brewed, the Slytherins would test the Gryffindor potions, and the Gryffindors would test the Slytherin ones.
The Slytherins, thinking that they would have to test their own potions, stalled for time, and there wasn't time to test any of the potions before the bell rang.
"Boy, we really dodged a bullet on that one, eh?" asked Ron, as he tried to put his things away while he dashed out of the classroom. If Harry, Ron, or Hermione where left in the classroom a moment after the bell rang, Snape was likely to poison them with a botched potion.
Later on, in the Gryffindor Common room, Ron and Hermione where playing a game of Wizard chess, when an owl came tapping on the window. It was small enough to fit in one's hand, and looked like.
"Pig!" Ron shouted, looking up from the game. "He's got a letter; I wonder who it's from." Ron and Hermione, now joined by Harry, went to the window to retrieve the letter. "Harry, it's from Si-Snuffles!" Ron excitedly whispered.
Harry looked somewhat taken aback. "Well, I didn't send him anything, I hope he's okay," he said as he opened the letter.
Dear Harry (and Ron and Hermione),
Don't be worried, I'm okay. I have bad news, though. It looks like word has gotten around of Voldemort's return. His old supporters have come flocking. He's gotten the Dementors on his side and he's also broken all the death eaters out of Azkaban. The ministry has heard, but Fudge still refuses to believe that he's returned. He won't let the officials that know tell anyone, as not to spread panic. I've written to Dumbledore to let him know everything I do. Quite a few ministry officials are spies for Voldemort; they're alerting him of all that goes on inside the ministry. You must be careful! Even at the height of power before, Voldemort didn't try to break into Hogwarts, but there's no telling what he might do now. Harry, DO NOT LEAVE THE CASTLE AFTER DARK FOR ANY REASON! DON'T GO ANYWHERE ALONE. ANYWHERE! You can't take any chances! I heard that you snuck into Hogsmeade under James' cloak in your third year, and even though I was not trying to kill you, THAT COULD HAVE BEEN VERY DANGEROUS! Don't you dare try anything like that this year. Enjoy all your classes with Snape.
Sirius
I hate to tell you this, Harry, but all those around you are in danger too. Something bad could happen to anyone at Hogwarts, but you and those close to you are the most likely targets. Be extra careful this year no matter what, and do try to stay out of trouble.
Remus Lupin
"Well," said Harry, in a sort of dazed shock, "that was cheerful."
Ron looked kind of whitish-green, "Dad works at the ministry, I've got to write to him to tell him what's going on." He reached for a piece of parchment from the table where Harry had been doing homework and began to write.
Hermione simply looked stunned. The idea of Hogwarts not being safe was new to her. She had never before considered herself a target.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The common room emptied slowly that night, slower than usual it seemed.
Hermione was frantically looking through all sorts of magical self-
defense books she had checked out of the library for spells and
enchantments to protect herself, Ron, and Harry. Harry and Ron tried to
do work, but found they couldn't concentrate, so they gave up to play
chess. Ron was in such a state of shock and fear that it took him an
entire fifteen minutes to beat Harry.
Fred and George had set off a new trick they had invented. It was sort
of a cross between dung bombs and Filibuster fireworks, so it exploded
and then settled on everything making it stink horribly. Professor
McGonagall heard the noise in the common room and took Fred and George to
be punished.
Eventually Hermione found, copied down, and memorized all the spells
she thought might be useful, and Ron and Harry got tired of playing
chess. They where all pretty tired in general, and decided it was time to
turn in.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
George and Fred followed Professor McGonagall to her office silently,
mimicking the reactions of their fellow Gryffindors all the way. "Now, I
want you both to just sit and"- but she was cut off by a loud crash
somewhere down the corridor. "Excuse me for a minute, boys, I'll be right
back. I do hope Peeves hasn't ruined anything too valuable." They waited
until they could hear her footsteps fade before they started talking.
"I wonder what Peeves did this time," Fred said.
"Yeah, but whatever it was, it got McGonagall off our backs, and when
she comes back, she'll be so mad at Peeves that she won't care what we
did." added George, grinning. They both laughed. After they had been
waiting for about fifteen minutes, they began to wonder if Professor
McGonagall had forgotten them.
"She wouldn't forget she left us here, would she?" asked George.
"I dunno, she seems kinda distracted lately. All the teachers do, come
to think of it. Hmm."
They amused themselves by looking through McGonagall's desk drawers,
but they didn't find anything of interest. Then, around 1:00, they
decided to go back to their dorm and deal with their punishment in the
morning. On the way back to the common room, they saw a limp figure in
the dark ahead of them.
"Hey, what do you think that is?" asked Fred.
"It looks like a person, maybe a girl," George replied.
Then they saw the flaming red hair on the figure's head. They started
running down the corridor.
"Fred, it's Ginny!" George exclaimed as they rushed to her.
She was unconscious, and her robes where torn. She looked like she had
been attacked and beaten.
Hermione, of course was taking volumes of notes and encouraging Harry and Ron to do the same. So far they had both gone as far as to take out parchment and ink.but that was about it. They where sitting, sucking on sugar quills, imagining different ways to put Malfoy to a slow death.
"You two haven't taken a single note this entire lesson!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Don't you two care that this test counts as a quarter of our grades?!"
"Why should we have to take notes as you've got the entire transcript of the lecture?" inquired Ron. He had to duck to avoid being smacked for his remark.
"You know very well that I would never let you use my notes, if you fail, it's your own fault!"
Harry could sense a fight brewing, so he was very grateful when the bell rang and they could go to lunch. In the Great Hall, they sat down to eat with Fred, George, Ginny, Lee Jordan, Dean Thomas, and to Harry's dismay, Colin Creevy and his brother Dennis. They soon became engrossed in discussion about Quidditch; the boys did, that is. Hermione and Ginny found other, more interesting topics to discuss, like how evil Snape was, how ugly Mrs. Noris was, and what new monster Hagrid would have in Care of Magical Creatures.
After lunch, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, and their classmates all enjoyed a cozy potions session in the dungeons with their favorite professor. Snape was feeling particularly vindictive, and he took it out on the Gryffindors as usual. This time, he realized that most of his precious Slytherins where screwing up, so he decided that when all the potions where brewed, the Slytherins would test the Gryffindor potions, and the Gryffindors would test the Slytherin ones.
The Slytherins, thinking that they would have to test their own potions, stalled for time, and there wasn't time to test any of the potions before the bell rang.
"Boy, we really dodged a bullet on that one, eh?" asked Ron, as he tried to put his things away while he dashed out of the classroom. If Harry, Ron, or Hermione where left in the classroom a moment after the bell rang, Snape was likely to poison them with a botched potion.
Later on, in the Gryffindor Common room, Ron and Hermione where playing a game of Wizard chess, when an owl came tapping on the window. It was small enough to fit in one's hand, and looked like.
"Pig!" Ron shouted, looking up from the game. "He's got a letter; I wonder who it's from." Ron and Hermione, now joined by Harry, went to the window to retrieve the letter. "Harry, it's from Si-Snuffles!" Ron excitedly whispered.
Harry looked somewhat taken aback. "Well, I didn't send him anything, I hope he's okay," he said as he opened the letter.
Dear Harry (and Ron and Hermione),
Don't be worried, I'm okay. I have bad news, though. It looks like word has gotten around of Voldemort's return. His old supporters have come flocking. He's gotten the Dementors on his side and he's also broken all the death eaters out of Azkaban. The ministry has heard, but Fudge still refuses to believe that he's returned. He won't let the officials that know tell anyone, as not to spread panic. I've written to Dumbledore to let him know everything I do. Quite a few ministry officials are spies for Voldemort; they're alerting him of all that goes on inside the ministry. You must be careful! Even at the height of power before, Voldemort didn't try to break into Hogwarts, but there's no telling what he might do now. Harry, DO NOT LEAVE THE CASTLE AFTER DARK FOR ANY REASON! DON'T GO ANYWHERE ALONE. ANYWHERE! You can't take any chances! I heard that you snuck into Hogsmeade under James' cloak in your third year, and even though I was not trying to kill you, THAT COULD HAVE BEEN VERY DANGEROUS! Don't you dare try anything like that this year. Enjoy all your classes with Snape.
Sirius
I hate to tell you this, Harry, but all those around you are in danger too. Something bad could happen to anyone at Hogwarts, but you and those close to you are the most likely targets. Be extra careful this year no matter what, and do try to stay out of trouble.
Remus Lupin
"Well," said Harry, in a sort of dazed shock, "that was cheerful."
Ron looked kind of whitish-green, "Dad works at the ministry, I've got to write to him to tell him what's going on." He reached for a piece of parchment from the table where Harry had been doing homework and began to write.
Hermione simply looked stunned. The idea of Hogwarts not being safe was new to her. She had never before considered herself a target.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The common room emptied slowly that night, slower than usual it seemed.
Hermione was frantically looking through all sorts of magical self-
defense books she had checked out of the library for spells and
enchantments to protect herself, Ron, and Harry. Harry and Ron tried to
do work, but found they couldn't concentrate, so they gave up to play
chess. Ron was in such a state of shock and fear that it took him an
entire fifteen minutes to beat Harry.
Fred and George had set off a new trick they had invented. It was sort
of a cross between dung bombs and Filibuster fireworks, so it exploded
and then settled on everything making it stink horribly. Professor
McGonagall heard the noise in the common room and took Fred and George to
be punished.
Eventually Hermione found, copied down, and memorized all the spells
she thought might be useful, and Ron and Harry got tired of playing
chess. They where all pretty tired in general, and decided it was time to
turn in.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
George and Fred followed Professor McGonagall to her office silently,
mimicking the reactions of their fellow Gryffindors all the way. "Now, I
want you both to just sit and"- but she was cut off by a loud crash
somewhere down the corridor. "Excuse me for a minute, boys, I'll be right
back. I do hope Peeves hasn't ruined anything too valuable." They waited
until they could hear her footsteps fade before they started talking.
"I wonder what Peeves did this time," Fred said.
"Yeah, but whatever it was, it got McGonagall off our backs, and when
she comes back, she'll be so mad at Peeves that she won't care what we
did." added George, grinning. They both laughed. After they had been
waiting for about fifteen minutes, they began to wonder if Professor
McGonagall had forgotten them.
"She wouldn't forget she left us here, would she?" asked George.
"I dunno, she seems kinda distracted lately. All the teachers do, come
to think of it. Hmm."
They amused themselves by looking through McGonagall's desk drawers,
but they didn't find anything of interest. Then, around 1:00, they
decided to go back to their dorm and deal with their punishment in the
morning. On the way back to the common room, they saw a limp figure in
the dark ahead of them.
"Hey, what do you think that is?" asked Fred.
"It looks like a person, maybe a girl," George replied.
Then they saw the flaming red hair on the figure's head. They started
running down the corridor.
"Fred, it's Ginny!" George exclaimed as they rushed to her.
She was unconscious, and her robes where torn. She looked like she had
been attacked and beaten.