1st September, Part 1

Friday, 1st September, 9:00 a.m

20 days, 1 hour after the start of Harry's trial Manchester Magical Academy

Harry appeared in the Portkey Room of the school's Administration Building. Harry had portkeyed here from Grimmauld Place. A second later, Hermione portkeyed into the Portkey Room, from her parents' house in Crawley.

Waiting for Harry and Hermione was Deputy Headmaster Meadows. After greetings, he led the couple to a big classroom in a different building. The classroom had several blackboards in front, a huge teacher's desk, and amphitheatre seating.

Harry was startled to realise that the lighting for the classroom was fluorescent tubes, not torches.

Meadows said, "This morning you will be given placement-exams in all required subjects, both magical and nonmagical. You will be given a combination of spoken questions to answer orally, problems that require you to work at the blackboard, and tasks to perform at the big desk here. The questions, problems and tasks come in sets of five. When you fail four of the five, the placement-exam stops for that subject and the professor decides your level. Any questions so far?"

Hermione asked, "Will we be tested on elective subjects—French, Latin, Music, Arithmancy?"

"French and Music—no, you won't be tested. When you sign up for an elective class, you always start at first level, rather than be tested. Latin is required here through second level, so you'll be tested on that. Arithmancy you'll be tested on, Hermione, since you've taken it before. Any other questions?"

Both teens shook their heads.

Meadows said, "Now, I'm going to move you to the opposite ends of the front row. A Silencing Charm and a Blur Wall Charm will ensure that neither of you can see or hear what the other one says, writes on the blackboard or does at his or her end of the professor's desk.

As one more way to prevent cheating, you two never will be tested on the same subject at the same time."

Harry said, "You don't need to worry about cheating. Hermione never copies off someone's parchment; instead, everyone else tries to copy off of hers. And if the Boy Who Lived were caught cheating on a test, news about this would be on Page 1 of the next day's Prophet."

Meadows said, "That's nice to know, that neither of you will cheat. Still, we'll keep things as originally announced."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and shrugged.

A door at the right front side of the classroom, and a door at the left front side, opened at the same time. Two men stepped into the amphitheatre classroom. One was carrying three books; the other was carrying a wooden box that had about the same dimensions as a shoebox.

Meadows introduced the students to the two men, and vice versa; then Meadows said, "Harry, your first placement-exam will be in Maths, whilst Hermione, your first placement-exam will be in Ancient Runes."

Harry grinned at his examiner. "If you're testing me for how much Maths I know, let's just save time and you mark me down as a first-level."

****

Two hours later: 11:00 a.m Near the Hogwarts Express

The train had just started rolling. Parvati Patil, who had been standing in one place on Platform 9¾ and looking about, now ran across the train platform and jumped onto the rear platform of the slowly departing Hogwarts Express. Parvati was joined there by Daphne Greengrass, who likewise had been standing on Platform 9¾ and had been looking for someone till the train had begun to move.

Parvati said to Greengrass, "Sorry, if you're looking for someone, it looks like he or she missed the train." Then noticing Greengrass's green Prefect badge, Parvati asked, "Or were you on the platform to help out lost firsties?"

Greengrass eyed Parvati's own red Prefect badge and asked, "Is that why you were there till just now, to help firsties? Come on, we need to get to the Prefects meeting, which is all the way in the front of the train." Daphne began to stride forwards through the rear carriage's passageway.

Parvati thought, To get info, sometimes you have to give info. Aloud, Parvati said, "No, I wasn't only helping firsties. I was looking for Hermione Granger, to ask her why she gave up her Gryffindor girl Prefect badge. But it looks like she and Harry boarded the train under his Invisibility Cloak."

Greengrass nodded. "That would explain why I didn't see Potter."

Parvati blinked. "Why do you want to speak with Harry?"

Parvati did not expect Greengrass to answer; and indeed, there was a long delay before Greengrass did answer: "A fortnight ago, I tried to set up a betrothal contract between Potter and me, with me to become Lady Malfoy."

The black-haired Slytherin grinned at Parvati's shocked look.

Greengrass continued, "Eventually this led to Potter having dinner with my family. During which, he declined a betrothal with me, since I know you're wondering about that. Anyway, at that dinner, Potter said, quote, 'Come 1st September, what the people in Slytherin think about me won't matter—but you'll need to wait till 1st September to find out what I mean by this.' This morning I was going to ask him what he meant, but since I haven't seen him, I can't ask."

After a long hike, Parvati and Greengrass stepped into the Head Boy's/Head Girl's compartment, which had been expansion-charmed so that it could now hold twenty-six people. Parvati smiled at her blue-badged twin sister and at Neville, her fellow fifth-year Gryffindor Prefect. Then Parvati said to the older Gryffindor Prefects, "I bet you're surprised to see me here!"

"Where are Potter and Granger?" asked Eunice, the Gryffindor seventh-year girl Prefect.

Now Parvati was not stupid; in truth, she was every bit as smart as her studious sister. But people tended to forget this, because Parvati was much more sociable than her sister. Anyway, now smart Parvati analysed the clues and replied, "I'm almost sure Potter and Granger aren't on the train. And if they're not on the train, I'm sure they won't be at Hogwarts when we get there."

Greengrass nodded. "I think she's right, though I can't begin to guess why Potter and Granger would skive off the Welcoming Feast."

****

Meanwhile, at the front desk of the Daily Prophet

Endora the receptionist was bored, and suspected that this would be another boring day.

Pop. A house-elf appeared by the receptionist's desk. He wasn't wearing a tea towel, but he was wearing mismatched socks. He handed Endora a folded-over parchment with a green wax seal. Something about this particular shade of green looked familiar to the receptionist.

The house-elf said, "This is for the Big Bossy, Barny-Busy Cufflinks," referring to Barnabas Cuffe, the newspaper's editor-in-chief. "The Great Harry Potter Sir and his Miss Grangy writed it." Then the house-elf popped away.

With every fibre of her being, Endora wanted to open the parchment and to read it. Instead, Endora walked through the building, politely knocked on Cuffe's door, and waited to be

called in. Once she was ordered to enter, Endora said, "The world's strangest house-elf gave this to me," as she handed the wax-sealed parchment to Cuffe.

Endora had just walked out of Cuffe's office and had just shut his office door when she heard Cuffe exclaim loudly, "Bugger-all!"

****

Meanwhile, in the Ministry of Magic

Last night in Azkaban, all eight convicted Death Eaters had been Kissed when someone had used the Snakestone to open all their prison doors. However, all the evidence suggested that the Snakestone had been neither stolen nor copied. Meanwhile, there was simply no way that an outsider could have sneaked into the prison and could have committed the murders, because Azkaban's fierce wards would not have let this happen. This left only one possible explanation for how the murders had happened: this was an inside job. Yet the warden, the two Aurors who had been on patrol at the time, and the rest of Azkaban's Aurors, who supposedly all had been asleep at the time, all passed Veritaserum questioning.

The DMLE had no guess how to explain the eight murders, Rufus Scrimgeour told Amelia this morning.

Amelia said nothing, but she had figured out "whodunit."

Who was the one person in magical Britain who did not need the Snakestone to speak Parseltongue words to a prison door? Harry Potter.

How could Harry Potter get from Grimmauld Place into Azkaban, go up to the twelfth floor of the maximum-security wing, commit the murders, then leave, all without disturbing the wards? Answer: With the help of a house-elf. Which was the reason why the Azkaban wards blocked all house-elves—

—except for one. A fortnight ago, Amelia herself, as Acting Minister for Magic, had given Harry Potter's house-elf permission to enter the prison. Had Amelia ever revoked this permission? She realised she had not.

Amelia's first, knee-jerk reaction to realising that Harry Potter had killed the eight imprisoned Death Eaters was to order the boy brought in for questioning. But every scenario that she could imagine that followed from this order, except for one scenario that was "Chudley Cannons win the League" unlikely, would lead to Harry Potter being killed within days.

So Amelia decided to say nothing and, unless she was forced to act, do nothing. If the DMLE decided on their own to arrest Harry Potter, and if Chief Warlock Greengrass put Harry Potter on trial, and if the Wizengamot convicted him of eight murders, then Amelia would pardon him, saying, "These human monsters should have been executed, but the Wizengamot in 1981 was too timid to do so. Harry Potter did what the Wizengamot refused to do."

But otherwise? Harry Potter had had too many unhappy hours in his life, and Amelia would not add to them—even if this meant that Harry Potter would get away with eight counts of premeditated murder.

****

An hour later, aboard the Hogwarts Express

Parvati went through the entire train, carriage by carriage, compartment by compartment, looking for Harry and Hermione. So far, she had not found them. But in one compartment, Parvati found Daphne Greengrass standing in the doorway, talking to three firsties: a wizard- raised boy and girl, and a Muggle-born boy.

Greengrass said to Parvati, with a look of panic that was not quite hidden, "He asked me if Hogwarts has computers." Parvati mentally finished Greengrass's sentence: And I've no idea what computers are.

Parvati did not know much about how to operate a computer, and Parvati knew nothing about how to make a computer do its tricks. But Parvati at least had seen computers, in her father's office in Mumbai. Now Parvati said confidently to the Muggle-born firstie, "Hogwarts has no computers."

Then Parvati had a thought, If I were talking to Hermione the firstie, what would she want to be told? Aloud, Parvati said to the Muggle-born boy, "May I suggest something? Beginning tomorrow, find an older student who's a Muggle-born like you. He or she will be able to answer many questions that those of us who grew up in the magical world can't answer. I suggest"—Parvati almost said Hermione Granger, but said instead, "Dean Thomas, a fifth- year Gryffindor, or Justin Finch-Fletchley, fifth-year Hufflepuff."

The Muggle-born boy asked Greengrass, "What about Muggle-borns in Slytherin?"

"Hoo boy," Greengrass said to Parvati. To the boy, Greengrass said, "Slytherin has no Muggle-borns in it, because of," she paused, "reasons."

Parvati said, "Let's be brutally honest here. Some of the kids in Slytherin are true wankers when they're near younger Muggle-borns. But Daphne Greengrass here is one of the good Slytherins."

Greengrass looked at Parvati in surprise.

****

Parvati did not find Harry or Hermione on the train. Parvati did, however, find Ron Weasley.

Before Parvati could escape, she had to listen to Ron rant about how Potter had not invited Ron to go with them to Malfoy Manor, to attack You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters, because "Potter wanted to hog the glory." Then Ron ranted about Harry "publicly humiliating me" by what he said at the press conference, the next day.

Parvati asked innocently, "What did Harry say at his press conference that publicly humiliated you?"

"He was saying why he killed You-Know-Who, blah-blah, 'to protect four pureblooded Hogwarts friends of ours—none of whom is Ron Weasley.' "

"Oh," said Parvati, whilst she thought, I bet there's a juicy story why Harry said this.

Finally, there was Ron's biggest complaint: "Potter got betrothed to Granger, when he knew I fancied her."

Parvati rolled her eyes. "Ron, Harry fancied Hermione much more than you did, and she

fancied him—even Filch's cat had that figured out by the end of second year."

Ron said to Parvati, "When you find those two on the train, you tell Potter that he'd better be ready with a right good apology, if he hopes I'll take him back."

Parvati rolled her eyes again, as she shut the door to Ron's compartment.

****

Meanwhile, at MMA

At noon, Deputy Headmaster Meadows paused the testing, and led Harry and Hermione towards the student dining room.

During the walk, Hermione said to Meadows, "Your Muggle courses—" "Nonmagical courses, Hermione," Meadows corrected.

"Your nonmagical courses are all accredited, I presume?" Meadows nodded. "How can nonmagical courses be accredited at Manchester Magical Academy, without violating the Statute of Secrecy?"

Meadows answered, "Anything relating to our nonmagical courses is done in the name of 'Manchester Mentality Academy.' It was Her Majesty the Queen who suggested this name."

"Another question, if you please," Hermione said. Not waiting for Meadows's permission, she said, "How do you find your Mug—your first-generation students? You never contacted me when I was a kid, and I would've chosen here in an instant, if I'd known I'd a choice between here and Hogwarts."

Meadows replied, "I shan't tell you our system—what you don't know, Death Eaters can't pull from your mind. But our system works for only a third of first-gen students."

Hermione winced.

Meadows continued, "Each year, fifteen or sixteen first-gens become eligible to start school, either here or at Hogwarts, but we find only five or six. Hogwarts finds all sixteen, because they've Rowena Ravenclaw's Book of Names, but Hogwarts never tells the kids they visit,

that British first-gens have a choice of school. But let me brag here: Since we opened our doors in 1962, every first-gen who's known at age eleven that they had a choice between MMA and Hogwarts, has chosen us over Hogwarts."

Hermione nodded. "MMA is this big secret that Muggle-borns at Hogwarts never hear about. Hogwarts never mentions MMA, the Prophet never mentions MMA, and when I've talked to other Muggle-borns at Hogwarts, nobody has mentioned MMA. I myself never heard of MMA till Harry mentioned it, the day we killed Voldemort."

Harry shrugged. "If you write to the WEA and ask them, 'Are there other magical schools in Britain besides Hogwarts?', the WEA will send you about a foot of parchment that tells you about MMA. But first you must ask, and Muggle-borns at Hogwarts don't know to ask."

Hermione had been biting her lip—meaning, she was in thought. Now she said, "You want to find all the first-gens? Go to the Ministry's Hall of Records, where they have a list of all magical births in Britain. Copy all the names born between 1st September and 1st September of whatever year. Cross off the names of babies whose surnames mean they come from magical families. The sixteen or so names that are left are your first-gen children born that year. For each name, use the Point-Me spell and Apparation, over and over, to find out exactly where the child lives. When the kid is ten years old or when the kid first does accidental magic, whichever comes second, visit the kid and his family, and tell them about MMA."

Meadows looked at Hermione in surprise. "That actually would work. Thank you for the suggestion."

Harry laughed. "This is Hermione you're talking to. Her brain works like a hundred- thousand-quid sports car."

Hermione gave Harry a beaming smile.

****

By now, the three had walked into the dining room. The dining room, instead of being a huge room with four 150-foot-long tables and eight 150-foot-long benches in it, was much smaller. The tables in the dining room were round, and were sized to seat four people.

Lighting here in the dining room was again by fluorescent tubes, instead of by floating candles like at Hogwarts.

Meadows gestured, Pick a table. Harry and Hermione picked a random table and sat down. As soon as they both were seated, plates, cups, flatware and platters and bowls of food appeared on the table.

Meadows said, "Testing will resume at one o'clock. If you get lost trying to find Classroom D14, call for Ditty, and he'll lead you there. Enjoy your meal."

In the dining room were thirty or forty students. Harry and Hermione were stared-at by everyone, but nobody walked over and spoke to them. One girl looked a bit familiar to Harry,

but he could not dredge up a name with the face. Harry overheard two girls talking—

"Those two look way too old to be Elevens. You think they're transfers?"

"I know they're transfers. She's the Girl Who Beheaded—dammit, the Prophet never says how to pronounce her name—and I'm sure the boy is Harry Potter."

"Impossible. Doesn't Harry Potter come from an old, old magical family? Norwood never lets kids like that come here."

"I can't explain it, beyond that he's wearing jeans like us, instead of dressing like"—the girl who was speaking put her nose in the air, and her voice turned posh—"a wizard." Then the girl lowered her voice: "Besides, haven't you noticed those dreamy eyes of his? Eyes as green as a traffic light? If he isn't Harry Potter, I'm a purple pony."

****

2½ hours later: 2:34 p.m In MMA

Harry finished his placement-exams, ten minutes before Hermione did. Harry's last exam was Herbology; Hermione's last exam was Computer Literacy.

When the teenagers' examinations ended, Deputy Headmaster Meadows walked into the amphitheatre classroom. He handed Harry and Hermione each a vial. "This is a half-dose of Pepper-Up Potion. You probably want to go home and go straight to bed, now that you've sat all your placement exams, right?"

Both teens nodded.

"Unfortunately, we need you alert enough to discuss your scores, and to go to Gandalf's Great Reads today to buy your schoolbooks."

"Oh yes, we need schoolbooks, without further delay!" said Hermione. She held out her hand for the potion-vial.

Harry drank down his own half-dose of potion, but without Hermione's eagerness. Mainly because Harry knew than discussing his placement-exam results would be unpleasant.

Sure enough, Harry rated first-level—meaning, completely ignorant—in all his nonmagical subjects, including Latin, and in Ancient Runes. Harry scored third-level in History of Magic and fourth-level in Potions. However, in Herbology, Transfiguration and Charms, he scored fifth-level (equal to Hogwarts fifth year), and in DADA Harry scored high seventh-level!

Hermione scored third-level in her nonmagical subjects (including Latin), third-level in Ancient Runes, fourth-level in Potions, and sixth-level in Arithmancy, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and DADA.

Needless to say, Hermione's half-dose of Pepper-Up Potion became completely unneeded when she and Harry entered Gandalf's Great Reads, a bookshop that Hermione never had been in before.

****

About 4½ hours later, in Hogsmeade

Just before Parvati climbed into a carriage to ride to Hogwarts Castle, she tapped Daphne Greengrass on the shoulder. "You didn't see either of them on the train, correct?" Parvati did not need to spell out who either of them referred to.

"That's right," Greengrass replied. She turned her head to look at the castle. "Dumbledore will lose the plot when he finds out they've bye-byed, just you watch."

****

Minutes later, in the Great Hall

Albus Dumbledore was not a happy headmaster.

He had become accustomed, in years past, to both Hogwarts professors and Hogwarts students treating him as the second Merlin. But that was not the case this year. Harry had killed Severus, and the replacement Potions professor, Andromeda Black Tonks, treated Albus with barely hidden scorn. The DADA "professor" this year was Senior Auror Nigel Grenwick, whom Amelia had loaned to the school rather than Albus hiring him; and Nigel always looked at Albus as if the Senior Auror were only seconds away from slapping magic- suppressing handcuffs on Albus. Both Amelia and Nigel had made it clear to Albus that if the Senior Auror caught students committing severe bullying, arrests would follow, and the headmaster had no authority to interfere. Amongst the returning professors, Minerva's deference to Albus of many years prior was now a fading memory.

Speaking of Minerva, this particular 1st September, Minerva was flitting hither and yon about the Great Hall like (you should pardon the expression) a white bumblebee. She was talking to the new professors Tonks and Grenwick, Minerva spoke words with Poppy, and Minerva congratulated Padma, Blaise, and Daphne on their new Prefect badges when they walked in.

Of course Minerva rushed to the arriving Gryffindors when they walked in. Albus saw Minerva wagging her finger at the twins; but Minerva was smiling the Minerva-version of a smile as she did so.

****

As soon as Ron Weasley walked into the Great Hall and saw Professor McGonagall talking to his older twin brothers, he strode straight up to her. Interrupting the conversation, Ron asked loudly (because Ron had no concept of quietly), "Professor! Why did you make the Squib the boy Prefect, and not me?"

A twin said, "Ickle Ronnikins, you really—"

"—don't want our esteemed Head of House—" "—answering that question—"

In unison, the twins said, "—in public."

Ron yelled, "Don't tell me what I want! I deserve to be Prefect, all things considered." Professor McGonagall said coldly, "Mr Ronald Weasley, you wish to know why you're not

the boy Prefect? Your marks in your classes are a disgrace to your House, your total lack of table manners disgusts your tablemates, and your unquestioning dislike of everyone in Slytherin would lead to open war between Slytherin House and Gryffindor House, were you a Prefect. Mr Longbottom, on the other hand, scores high marks, and when dealing with other students, he's calm and thoughtful, whilst you are neither."

Ron looked round then. Standing close by were Lavender Brown and her close friend, Prefect Parvati Patil. Both witches were looking at Ron scornfully. Ron realised that by the end of breakfast tomorrow, the entire castle would know what McGonagall had said about him.

****

Albus overheard a fourth-year Gryffindor boy, Lyndon, ask Minerva, "Do you know where Harry and Hermione are?"

The question surprised Albus. Albus was surprised again when his quick look towards the Gryffindor table showed no sign of Harry or of Miss Granger.

Albus heard Minerva answer, "They're unharmed, so you needn't worry."

Albus took a more in-depth look at the Gryffindor table. He saw no sign of Harry or Miss Granger; and the fifth-year Gryffindors all were engaged in an intense conversation of some sort. Parvati Patil seemed to be leading the discussion.

Minutes later, when Minerva walked by the High Table on the way to Albus's office, to fetch the stool and the Sorting Hat, Albus called her over. Albus said gravely, "I am concerned that Harry and Miss Granger missed the train."

Minerva said to him, "No, Albus, Mr Potter and Miss Granger didn't miss the train. I'll fill you in during dinner."

Hearing this, Albus was annoyed, but he was not worried. He figured that what Minerva eventually would tell him would be They aren't here tonight for (reason), but they'll be in the castle tomorrow.

In the time that Albus had been sitting on his golden throne, roughly a half-hour, Minerva had not sat in her own chair for even a second. Needless to say, Minerva did not sit at the High Table whilst she Sorted the first-year students.

****

James Lazenby, the Muggle-born firstie whom Daphne and Parvati both had talked to on the train, was Sorted into Gryffindor.

****

Only after the Sorting was completed, and the stool and the Sorting Hat were put away in Dumbledore's office, did Minerva take her seat at the High Table. Alas, by then, Albus was giving his speech to the new and returning students.

It was only after food had appeared on all the tables that Albus and Minerva could have any sort of discussion.

Albus leant over and asked Minerva, "So where are Harry and Miss Granger?"

Minerva did not answer Albus's question directly. Instead she stood up, cast the Sonorus Charm on her voice, and said, "Some of you have noticed that Mr Potter and Miss Granger aren't here at the Welcoming Feast, and you've asked me what has happened to them. Mr Potter and Miss Granger both have transferred to Manchester Magical Academy. Quietus."