35 Chapter-35: Beginning of Snake Year

The green fields outside the window of Hogwarts Express were flying by with huge speed. Ronan, with Blaise and the girls, were discussing the holiday.

"It is the most amazing firework show that I have ever seen," Daphne said, she was describing Bastille Day.

"I will ask my parents whether we could next year," Pancy said.

"I might have been good, but it was nothing compared to the Bhutan," Blaise said. He went to the place this summer with his mother. "Imagine the serene landscape all around you, and seeing the oldest artifacts of the wizarding place in the same place. The landscape was so beautiful that my mother said that she would consider making a holiday house there,"

It was then the door of the compartment slid open, Ronan turned his head to see Draco and his goons standing there. "Where were you three?" Ronan asked.

They came in sat down, and then Draco venomously spoke, "We were looking at Neville and his goons. I wanted to teach that blood traitor a lesson,"

Ronan then asked, "Why? What did they do?"

"You didnt hear it?" Blaise asked, "It was all over the news."

Ronan looked clueless. So Daphne filled him in, "Well Arthur Weasley attacked Lucious Malfoy in the Diagon Alley. As Neville Longbottom was there with Arthur at the time, the Daily Prophet covered it in the evening news. People were outraged, as they saw it as an attack on Neville"

Ronan looked confused, "They did?" He then stared at Draco for an answer, "I thought your family was influential enough that you could have averted that."

With an angry face, "Well we are. It is due to my father's influence that we avoided the news being repeated over and over again by the prophet. But the damage was already done."

Pancy then asked, "By the way, what was Neville doing with Arthur in the first place? Doesn't he have a security escort wherever he goes?"

"Potter told me that he would be spending this summer in Weasley's house. I think Neville might have also visited those lots," Ronan said.

A mocking smile appeared on Draco's face, "What do you mean by house? Wealey's lives in such a place that calling it a house would be an insult to the house." It was then Ronan noticed Hermione Granger going past their compartment in a hurry.

While Draco continued, "…My father told me that those blood traitor's living conditions. They can't even afford a good cauldron, yet they saw it fit to give birth to seven kids…" It is then Ronan noticed Hermione walking past their compartment, in her tow were the Weasley twins. And he for some reason, they seemed worried.

'Did something happen?' Ronan thought.

"Excuse me, guy, I need to go and powder my nose," Ronan said and then left the compartment. Following the direction where he saw Hermione heading, he followed her back to the train. He finally found her in the most last compartment. She was sitting with Weasley's twin and a little red headed first-year.

Courtesly he knocked on the compartment and then slid open the door.

"You are not welcome here," one of the twins snapped, "GET OUT!" the other one yelled back.

He ignored both of them and turned to Hermione, "What is happening? Where are Longbottom, Potter, and Ron?"

"What is it to you?" the little ginger girl said venously.

"Guys!" Hermione said, "Ronan is a friend." They all looked at her confused, but they didnt try to provoke him.

"Care to explain what is happening?" Ronan asked.

"Ron, Harry, and Neville are missing. They are not on the train." Hermione said.

"They are not?" Ronan said, "Did they come to the station?"

Hermione nodded, "They came with them," She gestured towards the redheads, "Now they are not in the train. Did something happen to them? I have heard that there had been many assassination attempts on Neville's life. Do you think that something might have happened to them?"

"Woah woah woah… Slow down. I bet those guys were goofing around and probably couldn't enter the station. And you know how it is, at 11 o'clock the gates of the station close. Maybe they were left on the station…"

The Weasleys didnt speak to him when he was there, only sat there with hostility in their eyes. After Ronan had reaffirmed Hermione, he started heading back to his compartment…

From what he was able to recall, the fourth part is where Voldemort rises back from his grave.

'The Hogwarts battle and Tommy's death happen after Voldemort comes back alive. Dumbledore's death also happens after Voldemort comes back alive. This meant, there were three possibilities before. The first one being, that this year the school would be attacked by the big snake, the second one would be that this year they would be attacked by a black soul-sucking monster called Dementors, or the last but not least, this year they would be taught by the pink fat woman.' Ronan thought.

All the possibilities were terrifying in their own way, but he was prepared against anything that destiny might throw his way…

***

That night before as the sorting was happening, Ronan and his friends were chatting at the table, paying little to no attention to what was happening. Ronan had noticed that the main trio of Gryffindors boys were absent from the table. He was confused as to where they were when Blaise passed him that evening paper.

"Look at this mate," Blaise said, "Some idiot wizard or witch made a flying car."

Ronan took the paper and glanced at the description. It was the cover story of the evening paper that day, apparently seven muggles have till now reported that they had seen a Ford Angelina flying in the air. And seeing the picture of the car rising up in the air, refreshed Ronan's memory. He suddenly remembered that there was one film where a flying car was involved. And all of it started making sense, he realized why Neville, Harry, and Ron were missing.

After the sorting, Dumbledore took the stage and made the usual announcement about the Black Forest and a few others. And in the end, he introduced them to the new addition to the teaching staff, a blond man with a punchable face.

"… With that let me introduce the new Defense Against the Dark Art teacher," Dumbledore said and then turned around a the blond man stood up, "Gilderoy Lockheart," It was then Ronan noticed that Professor Snape was missing from the feat as well.

There was a huge round of applause from all the tables, especially older girls of the school were very excited with the announcement. Seeing the enthusiasm of the school, Gilderoy made his way to the podium, and Dumbledore stepped to let him say a few words.

To hear Gilderoy, the whole school became silent. "It seems I have a lot of fans of my work in this school," People started shouting and cheering on, "My dear students.. I Gilderoy Lockheart, winner of the Order of Merlin, third class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award.. I assure you that this year, I will make sure to transform you all into wizards and witches who will be able to handle anything that the world throws at them." There was even a larger cheering sound, while Ronan stood there with a frown.

'Yup.. This guy is it. I am in the year with the snake. This is a fake teacher and an idiot.' Ronan thought.

By the time feast was over, and everyone started heading towards their respective dorms, when a certain rumor started spreading through the school. Apparently, Neville Longbottom came to school in a flying car and crashed into the Whomping Willow.

Draco and his friends, who had no intention of sleeping early, discussed the rumors.

"I say that it is just a rumor," Blaise said, "I mean come one… flying car? I hate those blood traitors from the bottom of my heart. But those guys are not idiots,"

Daphne nodded, "I agree… not being the idiot part. They are idiots. But we are forgetting something very crucial. I am talking about laws over here,"

Ronan then chimed in as well, "Daphne is correct. If they used the car, not only they flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Magic.. They also dirgardeed Internation statute of Wizarding Secrecy. If the rumor is true then they both would be expelled for sure."

A smile bloomed on Draco's face as he heard that, "I would love to see that happen… Them being expelled I mean."

By the next morning, everyone got the news. The rumor was in fact true, Neville and his friends did arrive in a flying car. The most interesting thing was they were not expelled or charged for breaking the law. Instead, they were just given detention for the rest of the year.

"This is just unfair!" Draco said while gnashing his teeth that morning as he chewed his toast.

"Yeah, this is just unfair!" Pancy said, "My parents grounded me for a week when I used magic without their permission. I didnt even perform something severe, it was just a hair straightening charm for Draco's party."

Ronan was then confused, "Wait a second.." He said, "You performed magic? How? Like how come you weren't charged?"

Daphne then spoke, "She won't be. She lives with her parents. The underage magic restriction charm only works when magic is performed in the vicinity of the student. The ministry knows the kind of magic that was being performed, but they dont know who performed it. As Pancy lives with her mother and father, the ministry won't know who performed the magic so they dont act on it."

That was his theory as well, so he dove a little deeper, "But the brochures that we get at every end of year. They say all kind of magic is strictly prohibited. And it is addressed to everyone."

"That is all for muggle-born mate," Blaise said, "If they perform magic then it could be dangerous. For people like us, it won't matter if we perform magic in our houses… But nowadays some pure blood have started making their kids follow the rules so that to teach them the old lesson, Magic is not the solution for everything. But that still does not change the fact that we could perform magic"

Daphne then abruptly spoke, "Also, do not let anyone know that you use magic outside of the school. Because if ministry caught you using magic, they will charge you,"

It was then post started arriving, and Ronan got busy with his thoughts. He only got out of his stupor, when he saw a commotion. Apparently, Ronald Weasley had received a howler…