Chương 47: The Great Hall

The carriage ride towards the castle was without much affair. Considering the love that dangerous events had for me, I was honestly expecting something to go terribly wrong before I reached the castle. This was due to the fact that I had avoided both Dobby and the magic car ride to Hogwarts. It was as if I was expecting fate to place a hurdle in my journey because I had the wilfulness of removing the ones that it had set.

As we finally took our places in the great hall, Hermione left her friends and sat beside me.

The hall was full of excited students returning and reuniting with their friends. I could make out a curious head in the sea of green, trying very hard to not make it obvious that she was trying to take a peek at me from the other side of the hall. I knew that it will bother Daphne that I did not speak with her on the train ride, but considering all that was at stake and our agreement, I chose to ignore her for now. I will make up for it to her some other time.

Another one making a ruckus in the sea of green was none other than Draco Malfoy. The news about the new Black heir had no doubt reached the ears of every important wizarding family. This will sure to be the top most topic for discussion among the Slytherin's. Barring Sirius, the entirety of Black family had always been in Slytherin. The Heir was definitely an underage wizard considering the willingness that the Greengrass had shown in the betrothal of their eldest daughter.

This all pointed out to the fact that one of the students currently inside the castle was the Black heir. Draco on the other hand had proclaimed himself the heir since the day he arrived at Hogwarts. He had also spoken without constraint towards Daphne on how they were in a betrothal by a magical contract and therefore she was to always listen to his commands. Now that everyone knew the real heir was among them, they were sure to not let Draco live it down.

I was just imagining how absurd the situation will be when it is revealed that this year there is not one but two heirs residing in the castle. Technically Riddle was somewhere between alive and dead, but he was the heir of Slytherin.

A somewhat similar scenario was played on our own house table. Ron and his gang were loudly discussing the reveal of the Black heir, no doubt to anger and humiliate Malfoy and Slytherins. Unlike Slytherin, the topic of discussion among our house was how badly must the heir feel about Slytherin that he had decided to hide his identity and how unsafe he must feel. This surely got reactions from the other side.

Apart from this I could see the familiar face of Lockhart on the teacher's table. He himself was looking smug while talking with the rest of the faculty. Professor McGonigal was putting on her fake smile and nodding slightly. Professor Snape was sitting with his original expression of disinterest and irritation. Hagrid also had made himself home at the corner of the teacher's table. Dumble's could be seen speaking merrily with madam Pomphrey.

As if on cue, he glanced in my direction, raised the cup in his hand and gave a nod to me as if welcoming me back. It did send chills down my spine when I thought about how well concealed this man was in his ways.

After a brief moment professor McGonigal rose from her seat and excited the great hall via the teacher's exit. Five minutes later we heard the grand door of the hall open and in came the fresh students. They, like many others before them had a look of awe and curiosity about all that the castle had to offer. They were trying to glance towards the senior students hoping to find a familiar face, or pointing towards Hagrid while exclaiming on how the school allowed giants onto the campus. Some were guessing loudly on the age-old question of how they will be sorted into the houses and whether they will successfully pass the test.

In the long line of new students, I was able to make out two faces. One of them was within my expectations and the other had totally slipped my mind. Ginny was looking towards us and waving, while her brothers did the same showing her their support. The new face that I recognized of was Luna.

Luna Lovegood.

One of the, if not the purest hearted wizard I had the pleasure of knowing in my life. The only regret I had was that it was not till our fifth year that we became friends with her. The only other person that was so pure was Hagrid.

Luna was a bit different than the rest, but she was honest, trusting, fierce and loyal to a fault to her friends and family. I remembered clearly how, even after being apprehended by the death eaters she did not disclose any information that she had on us. The target was me, but the victim was her. Her father too eventually lost his life in the crossfire, but she never once did blame me or Hermione or Ron. She fought with us right to the end, all with a smile on her face.

This was another life that I wished to better the second time around.

After suddenly seeing her, I added one more task for the upcoming year within my mental notes.

I do not know how, but just like how Dumble's was able to look towards me at the time when I was just thinking about him, Luna too looked towards me and gave me a smile and a nod. After the brief shock I too responded with a smile and a nod. Hermione who was sitting beside was puzzled and asked if I knew the girl. When I replied that I did not, she questioned me about the smile and nod that was exchanged between us. I just told her that it was instinctive and maybe we could be friends with her.

She looked oddly towards me, then decided to drop the matter for now.

The students were then asked to place the sorting hat on their heads to complete their placement and begin the feast. After a long thirty minutes the ceremony ended and the cap began its ceremonial song to welcome the new students and warn the older ones.

After the song Dumble's said his usual greetings to the new students along with the reciting of rules and request from Filch. Then the feast began.

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This year Harry will showcase one of his talents. Comment and decide on which do you wish to see.

1] Parselmagic

2] Light spells mastery

3] Alchemy