Chapter 66: Harry Potter - part 4

As Harry Potter embarked the Hogwarts Express to start a new year of studies, his mind flew back to the last three weeks of the summer. With Ron still in Egypt and having written to him that he would come back only at the end of the month, it was just Hermione and him. Oh, he was not complaining at all. In some sort he preferred that it was just the two of them, especially when Hermione started to be more touchy with him. He still had, somehow, to control his hormones, but he liked it. It was during these last three weeks that they saw the continuation of his non-magical studies in the science subjects. Hermione and him had bought books and guides to auto-study since they would be 'stuck' for a little more than nine months on the highlands of Scotland.

The train journey was a tranquil one. The trio, together with Neville Longbottom, Ginevra Weasley and her friend, Luna Lovegood, spent most of the trip talking about their summer break. Neville had tended to a new greenhouse that they had bought. Ginny and Ron had traveled to Egypt. Luna Lovegood had traveled with her father to Greenland to search for some strange magical animal, and they had, indeed, managed to find it this time due to following Lord Ravenclaw's tip and published their findings in their family magazine/newspaper.

Arriving on the Hogsmeade Station, before they could embark in the school's carriages, the group watched as Luna approached the front of it and started to pet something invisible. When asked what she was doing, the little blonde told them that she was petting the Thestral. Ron had said that there was nothing there, but Neville said that he could see them too. Harry, letting some of his Gryffindor's courage embolden him, approached Luna and tried to pet the invisible animal too. He was really surprised when he felt the leathery texture under his hand. Harry then called for Hermione to come and try, and she did. Hermione got to Harry's side, approached her hand near his and touched the creature, feeling the leather texture under her hand too.

The group was lost in petting the invisible creature when a prefect called for them to get into the carriage because they were blocking the other carriages from departing. The group quickly obeyed and embarked. Inside the carriage, Luna told them what Thestrals were and why they couldn't see them. She said that she could see them, and Neville said that he could too. Harry didn't know how to feel about his new friends. The rest of the trip to the school was spent in silence.

Entering the Great Hall, the first thing that Harry and his friends noticed was the number of people sitting on the elevated platform. The configuration of the staff table had to be rearranged and a lot more places had to be added to it. The group separated, with Luna going to sit at her house's table and the other going to sit at Gryffindor's table. The Great Hall filled with students and when everyone was ready, the sorting started after the Sorting Hat had sung his song. With the sorting done and Gryffindor having gained another Creevey, Harry saw Lord Ravenclaw get up from his seat on Ravenclaw's table and walk to the elevated platform. The man was imposing as ever, passing to all who lay their eyes on him the feelings of noblesse and pure strength. The Great Hall went quiet quickly.

Lord Ravenclaw pointed out that Hogwarts had a lot of new Professors but that he would not introduce everyone or we would spend the entire night here in the Great Hall. He then announced the new Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, and her Deputy, Fillius Flitwick. Lord Ravenclaw then passed the word to the new Headmistress, who didn't waste any time and after welcoming them back to the school, commanded the feast to start.

Harry noticed that the feast had a lot of new plates. Some of them were new to him and he decided to do a taste test. And he had to admit, the house-elves of Hogwarts know how to cook, because the new dishes were amazing. The lasagna bolognese was superb and Ron couldn't stop himself from eating more and more of it. After everyone was full, the Headmistress stood again and started to talk. She announced the normal rules and commented about how the wards would enforce that some of the rules would be followed. The Headmistress then made an announcement that shocked the entire Great Hall.

"And now about Quidditch. The normal season was disbanded."

She said. But before some of the more 'fanatical' Quidditch fans would voice their discontent, she continued.

"And Hogwarts will now have two seasons of Quidditch in each school year. The first one will be called Autumn Cup, and different from the normal season, the four houses oficial teams will NOT be playing in this cup and ANY student can assemble their own team."

The Headmistress announce, dropping a bomb on the houses' tables. But, like what happened before, she didn't give time for the yelling to start, and continued her announcement in a louder voice to force the students to stay quiet.

"That means that the students can recruit the members of the four houses' teams to their own teams. The limit number for teams in the Autumn Cup is sixteen and the cup will be played in a single elimination format, where the loser team is out. The matches will have a time limit of three hours each, and if in this time limit is reached without any team having captured the snitch, the match will end and the winner will be the team with more points. If you want to register your team, have all seven members present and talk to Professor Horus or Professor Hooch inside our gym. The matches will start in October and the finals will be held in the first weekend of December. Lord Ravenclaw had managed to get a prize for the winners of the cup. The winning team will get three VIP tickets each for the final of the next Quidditch World Cup that will be held in England during the next summer. The second and third places will be getting tickets too, but one each and not in the VIP tickets ones."

The Headmistress said, much to the happiness of the students.

"Now about the second cup. It will be named the Spring Cup. And it will be just like our original House Quidditch Cup. This cup will be only for the official teams of each House. The format will be just like the old one, a points based competition where everyone plays against everyone, but we will be having a time limit of four hours to each match with the same rules of the team with more points being the winner if the time limit is reached. Recruitment will be open and made by the Houses' teams in January, and the matches will be starting in February with the final match being held in the last weekend of May. A new rule was implemented too where the limit of members for the Quidditch house team was upped to ten, where seven are the regular players and three will be the reserves."

The Headmistress said and the students went up into cheers. The Headmistress waited until the students calmed down to continue.

"In addition, the school will be open on match days for the parents of the students playing to visit and watch their children play. The rule books for both the Autumn and Spring Cup will be available for the captains to retrieve with Professors Horus and Hooch. Now, I think that this will be all for the night. Keep an eye out for the bulletin boards inside your Common Rooms and in the Great Hall entrance, because any extra information will be posted there if not announced during a feast. Again, welcome back and have a good night."

Headmistress McGonagall finished and the prefects called for the first year students to gather and follow them to the Common Room. Inside of it, he and his housemates met their new Head of House, Professor Laura Holmes. Because Professor McGonagall had accepted the Headmistress' Office, she had to step down from the Head of House position, letting Professor Holmes fill it in. His impression of the woman was already good if the few students that were having NEWT level History of Magic with her last year were to be believed.

Through the next week, Harry met his new Professors and all of them were new ones. By what he managed to gather, all of the old Professors, with the exception of the Divination one, are now teaching the NEWT years. Professor Snape had even managed to change his course subject and was now teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts for the NEWT years, and, if the Captain Wood words could be taken in consideration, he is an amazing DADA Professor. Harry's surprise came when he saw who was teaching his Care Of Magical Creatures class. Professor Hagrid was waiting for his students at the entrance of the castle. But then, who would in their sane minds assign a course book that could bite its reader?

The class started very well. Professor Hagrid had brought them to the edge of the Forbidden Forest where a family of Nifflers resided and was explaining the characteristics of the little creatures when Draco Malfoy made a snide comment about his expectations not having been met for the quality of education in the school. Harry was going to rebuke the blonde ponce and defend his friend, Professor Hagrid, when a voice coming from the back of the class cut him and addressed the offender.

"And, please, tell us, Mr. Malfoy, what were your expectations for the class? Let us hear it."

It was Lord Ravenclaw. Harry had heard some students saying that Lord Ravenclaw was present during their classes, but he was not expecting him to be in his first class of Care Of Magical Creatures. Harry saw Draco Malfoy blanch at the question. The class stood in silence with Lord Ravenclaw waiting for the blonde ponce to answer his question. The boy stood there, in silence, being the center of the attention of the class. It took a while, but he did answer Lord Ravenclaw's question.

"The Professor has no education. He was expelled from school before even attending his OWLs."

Draco Malfoy said slowly at the beginning. But as he continued talking, his 'voice' came back to him. Lord Ravenclaw shook his head at Draco Malfoy's claim.

"Professor Hagrid, indeed, was expelled from school before attending his OWLs."

Lord Ravenclaw replied, just for a smirk to appear in the boy's face.

"But, he did complete his OWL and NEWT for this subject. In fact, his grades for both the exams were the highest ones registered since Newt Scamander. He got an 'O' with distinction in his OWL and NEWT for Care Of Magical Creatures. I received a letter of recommendation from Madam Marchbanks just after Professor Hagrid had done his OWL in the Ministry. But, as I had put up specific requisites for the new professors, Professor Hagrid had to do his NEWT too before being hired as a Professor, which was not a problem for him."

Lord Ravenclaw added, erasing the smirk from the blonde ponce's face.

"But if you feel that it is still not enough for you, you can walk away from the class and look for another channel to complete your education in the subject. But you will be happy to know that Professor Grubbly-Plank, the one who is teaching the NEWT classes, has completed her Mastery, so if you chose to continue your education in this subject after your OWL and she is still teaching here at Hogwarts, you will have classes with her. Now, I ask you to make your decision and do not undermine the other students' class."

Lord Ravenclaw said, finishing addressing Draco Malfoy, who was beet red at the moment, but managed to murmur something that sounded like a 'that's good for me'. The class continued without more interruption this time. At the end of it, it was a very good class in Harry's opinion. What Harry didn't know was that Lord Ravenclaw and Professor Grubbly-Plank did help Professor Hagrid in the planning of his classes. The giant man wanted to show Hippogriffs for the third year's first class, but it was then pointed to him that not everyone had his strength, size, or thick skin, so Hippogriffs would be a dangerous first contact to third year students. It would be okay for fifth years, but not for third years who had mostly never had contact with magical creatures aside from the common cat that was part kneazle.

Weeks passed and Harry continued to keep up to his studies. Hermione and him were often seen reading the non-magical school material and doing the proposed exercises. It was in one of these sessions that he was accosted by Captain Oliver Wood. He was there to invite him to play as Seeker for the team that he was putting together for the Autumn Cup. Harry accepted and asked who was on the team already. Captain Wood said that he was the Keeper, the Weasley twins were the Beaters, two fourth year Hufflepuffs were the chasers and now they were missing just one more chaser. Harry Asked about the girls from the House team and Captain Wood let out a scowl and said that they had decided to put together their own team for the Autumn Cup, an only witches' team, just like the Holyhead Harpies. Having discussed the finer detail with Captain Wood, Harry went back to his studies.

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a/n: This chapter came sooner than the expected. But that's ok. Happy New Year again, ppl!