Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

Previous Chapters:

(Big announcement, the next chapter after this one will be completely original, it has been so fun to write so far.)

Chapter Eleven: The Sorting Hat’s New Song

Harry still wasn’t sure if Theodore was telling the truth about being able to see the horses, and he did not want to tell the others that he and Luna were having the same hallucination, if that was what it was, so he said nothing about the horses as he sat down inside the carriage and slammed the door behind him. Nevertheless, he could not help watching the silhouettes of the horses moving beyond the window.

‘So you all saw Professor Grubbly-Plank woman?’ asked Allison. ‘Do you think something happened to Hagrid? Maybe Fudge forcing him to be fired like he did to Mr Lupin?’

‘I wouldn’t mind if he wasn’t in charge of Care of Magical Creatures,’ said Luna. ‘He isn’t a very good teacher, is he?’

‘Yes, he is!’ said Harry, Tracey, and Theodore angrily.

Harry glared at Allison; she looked around then quietly said, ‘Oh...right...great teacher.’

‘Well, we think he’s a bit of a joke in Ravenclaw,’ said Luna, unfazed.

‘That’s surprising then,’ said Tracey, ‘because Hagrid knows everything about every single magical creature in the world, I thought Ravenclaw appreciated knowledge.’

Luna did not seem perturbed by Tracey’s; on the contrary, she simply watched her for a while as though she were a mildly interesting television program.

Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Harry leaned forward to try and see whether there were any lights on in Hagrid’s cabin by the Forbidden Forest, but the grounds were in complete darkness. Hogwarts Castle, however, loomed ever closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet-black against the dark sky, here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them.

The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors and Harry got out of the carriage first. He turned again to look for lit windows down by the forest, but there was definitely no sign of life within Hagrid’s cabin. Unwillingly, because he had half hoped they would have vanished, he turned his eyes instead upon the strange, skeletal creatures standing quietly in the chill night air, their blank white eyes gleaming.

Harry had once before had the experience of seeing something that others could not, but that had been a reflection in a mirror, something much more insubstantial than a hundred very solid-looking beasts strong enough to pull a fleet of carriages. If Luna and Theodore were to be believed, the beasts had always been there but invisible; why, then, could Harry suddenly see them, and why could Allison and Tracey not?

'Harry, are you feeling alright?' asked Tracey looking at him with concern. 'The feast will be starting soon.'

'Oh...yeah,' said Harry quickly, and they joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps into the castle.

The entrance hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the Great Hall and the start-of-term feast.

The four long House tables in the Great Hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which was just like the sky they could glimpse through the high windows. Candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghosts who were dotted about the Hall and the faces of the students talking eagerly to one an- other, exchanging summer news, shouting greetings at friends from other Houses, eyeing one another’s new haircuts and robes. Again Harry noticed people putting their heads together to whisper as he passed; he gritted his teeth and tried to act as though he neither noticed nor cared.

Luna drifted away from them at the Ravenclaw table. The moment they reached the Slytherin table, whispers burst out through out the entire hall. Harry tried to ignore them by trying to find those he recognized in the crowd of people. Ron, the twins, Ginny, Neville, Collin, and another friend of Harry's named Hermione Granger were all sitting at the Gryffindor table not far away from Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost, Susan Bones was sitting with her girlfriend Lily Moon at the Hufflepuff table, Canini and her three best friends also sat that table, then as Harry and his friends sat down they were joined by Terence and his friend Adrian Pucey. Further up their table Harry could also see Draco Malfoy, Daphne Greengrass, and Millicent Bulstrode talking quietly, and at the very top of the table was Pansy and her goons. Someone Harry could not see however was Hagrid.

He had been looking over the students’ heads to the staff table that ran along the top wall of the Hall.

‘He’s not there.’

Theodore, Allison, and Tracey scanned the staff table too, though there was no real need; Hagrid’s size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.

‘Maybe he really is sick,’ said Tracey, now sounding a bit worried.

‘He probably isn’t,’ said Harry firmly.

‘We’ve been so worried about Sirius, Remus, and Tonks we never even thought about other Order members like Hagrid,’ Theodore whispered.

‘I’m sure we would have heard something if Death Eaters got him,’ said Harry in a false confidence.

‘But if he’s ok, than where is he?’ asked Allison.

There was a pause, then Harry said very quietly, so that Adrian and Peregrine could not hear, ‘Maybe he’s not back yet. You know—from his mission—the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore.’

‘Sure...okay, that’s probably right,’ said Tracey, sounding reassured, but Theodore bit his lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some conclusive explanation of Hagrid’s absence.

‘There’s someone other than Professor Grubbly-Plank,’ observed Theodore, pointing toward the middle of the staff table.

Harry’s eyes followed to the center of the table. They lit first upon Professor Dumbledore, sitting in his high-backed golden chair at the center of the long staff table, wearing deep-purple robes scattered with silvery stars and a matching hat. Dumbledore’s head was inclined toward the woman sitting next to him, who was talking into his ear. She looked, Harry thought, like somebody’s maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. Then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and he saw, with a shock of recognition, a pallid, toadlike face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.

‘It’s that Umbridge woman!’

‘Who?’ said Theodore.

‘She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!’

‘My father has mentioned her a few times before,’ said Allison. ‘He thinks she’s cruel but agrees with her political views.’

‘Well my mom says she is one of the most stuck up Pure-blood supremacists there are, my mom is constantly disgusted by the legislations she tries to introduce,’ said Tracey.

'Why is someone who works for Fudge here then?' asked Theodore.

'Dunno...'

Theodore scanned the staff table, clearly trying to figure something out in his head.

'Oh no,' he muttered, 'no no no no no...'

Harry did not understand what he was talking about but did not ask; his attention had just been caught by Professor Grubbly-Plank who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrid’s. That meant that the first years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle, and sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors from the entrance hall opened. A long line of scared-looking first years entered, led by Professor McGonagall, who was carrying a stool on which sat an ancient wizard’s hat, heavily patched and darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim.

The buzz of talk in the Great Hall faded away. The first years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor McGonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back.

The first years’ faces glowed palely in the candlelight. A small boy right in the middle of the row looked as though he was trembling. Harry recalled, fleetingly, how terrified he had felt when he had stood there, waiting for the unknown test that would determine to which House he belonged.

The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the rip near the hat’s brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song:

'In times of old when I was new

And Hogwarts barely started

The founders of our noble school

Thought never to be parted:

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning,

To make the world’s best magic school

And pass along their learning.

“Together we will build and teach!”

The four good friends decided

And never did they dream that they

Might someday be divided,

For were there such friends anywhere

As Slytherin and Gryffndor?

Unless it was the second pair

Of Huffepuff and Ravenclaw?

So how could it have gone so wrong?

How could such friendships fail?

Why, I was there and so can tell

The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin, “We’ll teach just those

Whose ancestry is purest.”

Said Ravenclaw, “We’ll teach those whose

Intelligence is surest.”

Said Gryffindor, “We’ll teach all those

With brave deeds to their name,”

Said Hufflepujf, “I’ll teach the lot,

And treat them just the same.”

These differences caused little strife

When first they came to light,

For each of the four founders had

A House in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,

For instance, Slytherin

Took only pure-blood wizards

Of great cunning, just like him,

And only those of sharpest mind

Were taught by Ravenclaw

While the bravest and the boldest

Went to daring Gryffindor.

Good Hufflepujf she took the rest,

And taught them all she knew,

Thus the Houses and their founders

Retained friendships firm and true.

So Hogwarts worked in harmony

For several happy years,

But then discord crept among us

Feeding on our faults and fears.

The Houses that, like pillars four,

Had once held up our school,

Now turned upon each other and,

Divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school

Must meet an early end,

What with dueling and with fighting

And the clash of friend on friend

And at last there came a morning

When old Slytherin departed

And though the fighting then died out

He left us quite downhearted.

And never since the founders four

Were whittled down to three

Have the Houses been united

As they once were meant to be.

And now the Sorting Hat is here

And you all know the score:

I sort you into Houses

Because that is what I’m for,

But this year I’ll go further,

Listen closely to my song:

Though condemned I am to split you

Still I worry that it’s wrong,

Though I must fulfill my duty

And must quarter every year

Still I wonder whether sorting

May not bring the end I fear.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,

The warning history shows,

For our Hogwarts is in danger

From external, deadly foes

And we must unite inside her

Or we’ll crumble from within.

I have told you, I have warned you. . . .

Let the Sorting now begin.'

The hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time in Harry’s memory, with muttering and whispers. All across the Great Hall students were exchanging remarks with their neighbors and Harry, clapping along with everyone else, knew exactly what they were talking about.

'That was...defiantly different than most years,' said Allison, looking a little confused.

'That defiantly wasn't the song it song for my first year,' said Harry.

The Sorting Hat usually confined itself to describing the different qualities looked for by each of the four Hogwarts Houses and its own role in sorting them; Harry could not remember it ever trying to give the school advice before.

'Do you think it has ever sung anything like this before?' said Theodore, sounding slightly anxious.

'I believe it has,' said a ghost that had been passing by. Duncan Ashe was a Slytherin ghost who normally spent his time pulling pranks in the highest parts of the castle, but also would appear when there were large gatherings of Slytherins. 'My older brother had been attending this school in the late sixties when the Dark Lord rose to power, he had written telling me about the song that was sung. Other ghosts have mentioned it sung another warning song in the thirties when Grindelwald was—'

But Professor McGonagall, who was waiting to read out the list of first years’ names, was giving the whispering students the sort of look that scorches. Duncan flew to the ceiling to get a better view, after a moment the muttering in the hall came to an abrupt end. With a last frowning look that swept the four House tables, Professor McGonagall lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and called out the first name.

‘Abercrombie, Euan.’

The terrified-looking boy Harry had noticed earlier stumbled forward and put the hat on his head; it was only prevented from falling right down to his shoulders by his very prominent ears. The hat considered for a moment, then the rip near the brim opened again and shouted,

‘GRYFFINDOR!’

The Gryffindor House roared with applause, welcoming their first new member. Harry and the Slytherin house matched this enthusiasm when Dedworth, Simon became the first to join them. Harry then fell into a sort of rhythm as long line of first years were slowly sorted, clapping whenever he heard the hat say Slytherin.

He registered Padgett, Penelope becoming a Slytherin, Reynolds, Maisy a Ravenclaw, and the very final name was Zeller, Rose who was sorted into Hufflepuff followed by Professor McGonagall picking up the hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet.

Harry was somehow soothed to see Dumbledore standing before them all, whatever his recent bitter feelings toward his headmaster. Between the absence of Hagrid, the presence of those dragonish horses, and the presence of Umbridge he had felt that his return to Hogwarts, so long anticipated, was full of unexpected surprises like jarring notes in a familiar song. But this, at least, was how it was supposed to be: their headmaster rising to greet them all before the start-of-term feast.

‘To our newcomers,’ said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, ‘welcome! To our old hands—welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!’

There was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of the way of his plate—for food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables, bread, sauces, and flagons of pumpkin juice.

‘This is great!’ said Allison, with a kind of groan of longing, and she seized the nearest bowl of mashed potatoes and began piling them onto her plate. Soon Duncan Ashe came down from where he had been watching.

‘Duncan?’ asked Theodore, ‘Why would the Sorting Hat sing a warning instead of a welcome song?’

‘I haven’t been a Hogwarts ghost as long as some here, but from what I’m told in times of hardship or darkness the hat will often tell the students to stay strong and work together as a school instead of individual houses.’

‘It’s just a hat though,’ said Tracey, ‘how could it know that the school might be in danger.’

‘Not sure,’ said Duncan. ‘It’s kept in Dumbledore’s office though so that might be a factor.’

'And it wants all the Houses to be friends?' said Harry, looking over all the students who had been whispering behind his back since he got on the train, including his fellow Slytherins. 'Fat chance.'

‘As hard as it may seem, cooperation is better than discord. I didn’t quite learn that in life, so try to figure that out while you still have yours,’ and with that Duncan flew away, leaving the group in silence.

Wanting to break the silence, Harry started up a new conversation. ‘So how were your summers, Allison and Terence?’

‘Well I spent most of my summer trying to come up with new strategies for this years Quidditch season, as well as making plans for this year’s tryouts which I’ll be hosting tomorrow,’ explained Terence. ‘Oh, and I also came up with a training regiment to get us back in shape as it’s been over a year since we’ve played as a team.’

‘I forgot Lucian graduated, we’ll need a new Beater,’ said Allison.

‘Along with a new Chaser and Keeper.’

‘Well, my summer was mostly uneventful, I mostly spent it looking after my mother,’ said Allison.

‘She’s still not doing well?’ Harry asked very sympathetically, Allison’s mom had been sick with an unknown illness for over a year now. ‘Do they at least know what’s wrong?’

‘No, but they plan on doing another round of tests at St Mungo's Hospital in December so hopefully they'll figure out what's wrong then.‘ To Harry’s surprise Allison then cracked a smile. ‘I did have some fun with her though, last week she was strong enough to travel so we went somewhere with no muggles and I spent the day showing her my broom skills and she really seemed to enjoy watching.’

‘That’s good to hear,’ said Harry, ‘did you get to show your father too?’

Her face became more stoic once more, ‘No, he was busy.’

Harry spent the rest of his time eating his way steadily through his steak-and-kidney pie, then a large plateful of his favorite treacle tart.

When all the students had finished eating and the noise level in the hall was starting to creep upward again, Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking ceased immediately as all turned to face the headmaster. Harry was feeling pleasantly drowsy now. His four-poster bed was waiting somewhere below, wonderfully warm and soft...

‘Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices,’ said Dumbledore. ‘First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students—and a few of our older students ought to know by now too.’ (Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Theodore exchanged smirks.)

‘Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr Filch’s office door. We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.’

There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause during which Harry, Theodore, Allison, and Tracey exchanged slightly panicked looks; Dumbledore had not said for how long Grubbly-Plank would be teaching.

Dumbledore continued, ‘Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place—‘

He broke off, looking inquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge said, ‘Hem, hem,’ and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.

Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat back down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk. Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. Professor Sprout’s eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair, and Professor McGonagall’s mouth was as thin as Harry had ever seen it. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts.

‘Thank you, Headmaster,’ Professor Umbridge simpered, ‘for those kind words of welcome.’

Her voice was high-pitched, breathy, and little-girlish and again, Harry felt a powerful rush of dislike that he could not explain to himself; all he knew was that he loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan. She gave another little throat-clearing cough (‘Hem, hem’) and continued:

‘Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!’ She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. ‘And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!’

Harry glanced around. None of the faces he could see looked happy; on the contrary, they all looked rather taken aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.

‘I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I’m sure we’ll be very good friends!’

Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.

‘Does this woman even know we’re mostly teenagers?’ Harry overheard Daphne Greengrass whisper to Millicent Bulstrode.

Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again (‘Hem, hem’), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them.

‘The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the Wizarding community must be passed down through the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching.’

Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of whom bowed back. Professor McGonagall’s dark eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawklike, and Harry distinctly saw her exchange a significant glance with Professor Sprout as Umbridge gave another little ‘Hem, hem’ and went on with her speech.

‘Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress’s sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation...’

Harry found his attentiveness ebbing, as though his brain was slipping in and out of tune. The quiet that always filled the Hall when Dumbledore was speaking was breaking up as students put their heads together, whispering and giggling. Over at the Ravenclaw table, Cho Chang was chatting animatedly with her friends. A few seats along from Cho, Luna Lovegood had got out The Quibbler again. Meanwhile at the Hufflepuff table, Ernie Macmillan was one of the few still staring at Professor Umbridge, but he was glassy-eyed and Harry was sure he was only pretending to listen in an attempt to live up to the new prefect’s badge gleaming on his chest.

Professor Umbridge did not seem to notice the restlessness of her audience. Harry had the impression that a full-scale riot could have broken out under her nose and she would have plowed on with her speech. The teachers, however, were still listening very attentively, and Theodore seemed to be drinking in every word Umbridge spoke, though judging by his expression, they were not at all to his taste.

‘...because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgment. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited.’

She sat down. Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, though Harry noticed that several of them brought their hands together only once or twice before stopping. A few students joined in, but most had been taken unawares by the end of the speech, not having listened to more than a few words of it, and before they could start applauding properly, Dumbledore had stood up again.

‘Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating,’ he said, bowing to her. ‘Now—as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held...’

'Well my fears just came true,' said Theodore in a low voice.

'What?' asked Harry, 'that we're going to have another bad DADA's teacher, I'm almost used to that at this point.'

'No,' said Theodore. 'Did you even listen to her speech, she was talking about changing and removing practices of Hogwarts. I think Fudge sent her to take as much control of the school as possible.'

There was a great clattering and banging all around them; Dumbledore had obviously just dismissed the school, because everyone was standing up ready to leave the Hall.

A group of new students walked shyly up the gap between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables, all of them trying hard not to lead the group. Harry often felt like his Sorting wasn’t that long ago, but looking at these first years he realized how far he had come since then.

He grinned at the new first years as they passed by him. The first Slytherin that had been sorted, Simon Dedworth, looked terrified, but Harry gave him a friendly wave and that seemed to boost his confidence and he walked with the rest of his group.

After the first years had left Harry and the gang started making there way out, though Theodore stayed behind to chat with Colin a bit longer. As Harry headed for the door to the entrance hall he had to do everything he could to ignore more whispering, staring, and pointing as he passed. He kept his eyes fixed ahead as he wove his way through the crowd in the entrance hall, then he hurried down the stone staircase, took a couple of concealed short-cuts, and had soon left most of the crowds behind.

He had been stupid not to expect this, he thought angrily, as he walked through much emptier downstairs corridors. Of course everyone was staring at him: He had emerged from the Triwizard maze two months ago clutching the dead body of a fellow student and claiming to have seen Lord Voldemort return to power. There had not been time last term to explain himself before everyone went home, even if he had felt up to giving the whole school a detailed account of the terrible events in that graveyard.

He and the others had reached the end of the corridor to the Slytherin common room and had come to a halt in front of the enchanted wall before he realized that he did not know the new password.

‘Er...’ he said glumly, looking at the others, ‘do any of you know the password?’

Allison stepped forward, ‘I asked Daphne who asked Draco, the password is skotádi.’

Once the word left her lips they were able to go through the wall as though it weren’t even there.

The Slytherin common room was filled with more chatter than normal, though that chatter turned to whispers once Harry entered. The a long, low underground room with round greenish lamps hanging on chains and an elaborately carved mantelpiece had a cracking fire within it. Both in front of the fireplace and throughout the room were carved stone chairs for them to sit in, and in the back there were two archways with stairs going up towards the dormitories, and two doors which lead to the boys and girls bathrooms.

After a long day and a filling meal Harry found himself exhausted and was not in much of a mood for talking at the moment so he wished Terence, Allison, and Tracey goodnight and went up to his dormitory.

Blaise Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle, along with Draco Malfoy had reached the dormitory first and were setting up their personal belongings. Although Harry didn’t really get along with anyone from his dormitory besides Theodore, they had all long since come to a silent agreement that they don’t normally talk to each other once they’re at the dormitory. This silent agreement clearly had been broken.

‘Well if it isn’t the boy who lived, or was it the boy who lied?’ taunted Blaise.

‘I don’t really care,’ Harry lied while setting his own stuff up around his bed. ‘I just wanted to go to school like the rest of you.’

‘I don’t know, my mother is an actress, so I think I know a drama queen when I see one, ‘continued Blaise. ‘Your talk that You Know Who is back is just meant to stir up drama and make you look good. It backfired though, the only people who believe you is our senile Headmaster who isn’t even a Wizengamot or apart of the International Confederation of Wizards anymore.’

Harry was to tired for this, ‘Ask Crabbe and Goyle if Voldemort is back, their fathers witnessed his return first hand.’

This made the two goons angry, they got to their feet, fists clenched.

‘That’s enough!’ said Draco from his bed. ‘It’s been a long day, and I can’t sleep if you’re at each other’s throats.’

‘You aren’t the boss of us Malfoy,’ hissed Zabini.

‘I’m Prefect now, so actually I am. Quiet down or you’ll be getting detention before classes even start.’

Blaise looked for a few seconds as though detention would be a reasonable price to pay to say what was going through his mind; but with a noise of contempt he turned on his heel, vaulted into bed, and pulled the hangings shut with such violence that they were ripped from the bed and fell in a dusty pile to the floor. Draco cocked an eyebrow at Crabbe and Goyle and they quickly followed in Blaise’s footsteps.

Harry finished setting up, then got ready for bed. That confrontation was worrisome, usually any confrontations between Blaise’s gang and Harry were outside their shared living space, but if that was no longer the case than even going to bed at night wasn’t risk free.

He felt shaken by the argument with Seamus, whom he had always liked very much.

The day itself hadn’t been that great. How many more people were going to suggest that he was lying or unhinged?

Had Dumbledore suffered like this all summer, as first the Wizengamot, then the International Confederation of Wizards had thrown him from their ranks? Was it anger at Harry, perhaps, that had stopped Dumbledore getting in touch with him for months? The two of them were in this together, after all; Dumbledore had believed Harry, announced his version of events to the whole school and then to the wider Wizarding community.

Anyone who thought Harry was a liar had to think that Dumbledore was too or else that Dumbledore had been hoodwinked...

They’ll know we’re right in the end, thought Harry miserably, as Theodore got into bed and extinguished the last candle in the dormitory. But he wondered how many more confrontations he would have to endure before that time came.