Harry gazed up at the castle through the carriage window. It no longer looked like the safe haven Harry so graciously accepted as a temporary home. Dark clouds had circled around it, reaching to the topmost tower. Harry saw clusters of shapes that looked vaguely like people walking in front of the castle walls. The sinister setting of the previous year's tragic events had not left.

"It seems they're sending all of the Ambassadors of Foreign countries back to England." Hermione's cheerful voice popped out of no where.

"Well of course. If the Minister believes Prof. Dumbledore and Harry, then we have a real crisis on our hands," Ron flared, "I thought you were a smart girl not a dunderhead."

"I'm not a dunderhead. I'm only trying to get a grasp on what this will mean for the wizarding community. Shock and disorder will rule the streets if the Ministry doesn't act appropriately."

"Go and tell Fudge that Hermione. Go enlighten him with that brilliant and easy plan on how to keep the wizarding community in peace. Really I think they should elect you into the Committee of the Smart but Incredibly Impossible Ideas!"

Hermione buried herself back into the Daily Prophet. The three of them sat in silence until the carriage lurched forward, causing Hermione to sprawl on the ground.

Harry helped her up onto her feet, barely hearing the words, "Damn incompetent carriages."

They walked up to the castle with the rest of the other students. Most of them, Harry saw, were leaning into one another trying to gather what heat they could from the knifing winds. The wizards and witches at the front of the castle seemed totally indifferent towards the cold wind. They seemed to be getting all the heat from the arguments they were having with each other. They had enough heat in their arguments to fuel all of the fires in Hogwarts for at least a week.

They were almost to the door. Harry looked up and saw a figure that looked very much like Prof. McGonagalls stature. Totally stiff. As soon as most of the students were close enough to the door, she began to call out instructions,

"There will be no Start of the Term Banquet this year." She held up a hand against the protesting sighs. "They are having a conference in the Great Hall. The Sorting will take place in a separate room. You all will have your meals in your individual Common Rooms. The first years will join you shortly." Prof. McGonagall heaved a loud sigh. "Please go on your way." She stepped away from the door and continued on her way down the hall.

"My goodness she looks beat."

"I'll bet it's going horribly in there. The Ministry has a hard time agreeing on one thing."

"Yeah I'm sure Voldemort is going to be one tough cookie." Harry watched Ron wince at the sound of Voldemort. Hermione just stared.

"Tough cookie?" she asked blankly

Harry shrugged, "Trying to keep the conversation light." Ha started to climb into the portrait on the wall. Behind him he heard Hermione distinctly mutter, "Uh huh."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

The next morning was considerably warmer than the day before. Their breakfast was eaten hurriedly; they were told that their Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner's were going to be considered "Breaks" for the Ministry.

Their first class was Herbology and Prof.Sprout was in formidable mood. Her Monkey Narrow plants had a very thick crust of frost on them. It restricted the plants to staying in one place and they weren't very used to just one movement. A few of them, after the frost was chipped off, took the advantage of picking people up and tossing them around the classroom. Ron and Dean ended up outside by the end of the class. Charms was an extremely uncomfortable. Prof. Flitwick had conjured his own little rain cloud. He tested each student by watching if they could move an umbrella across the room to keep them dry, after he had moved the rain cloud towards them.

What surprised most students was; not a single teacher was in the great hall at lunch. The only adult was Filch, who was keeping all the students in check.

"What an exhausting day." Seamus Finnigan moaned aloud. "Everything we did today dealt with the cold. Don't we have enough of it outside?'

"I swear all you guys do is complain. What happened over Summer Holiday that turned you all so pessimistic?"

Ron's mouth twisted in fury. He opened it to say something to Hermione when the doors banged open. Harry jumped out of his seat. He quickly turned around to stare at the noise.

A very angry woman stalked into the room.

"Minister, you pulled me, as ambassador to the American Ministry, away from my duties that I owe to our Ministry and the American Ministry, to tell me that Voldemort is not coming back! You called every one of the Ambassadors to help you defeat him and now he is not back? You tell us that you were mistaken and that Dumbledore has not a clue what he is talking about. You have the audacity."

Harry's eyes shifted toward Minister Fudge, who stood there with his mouth flapping wide open, like a fish.

"We were taking the situation very seriously Barb, please understand that the Ministry does make mistakes." He stopped, allowing the words to sink into her head. Seeing no response he continued, "Aren't you all the more happier He isn't coming back?"

"Don't you mean that Dumbledore makes mistakes," She spat at him venomously, "For wasn't it Dumbledore who came to you with this idea?"

"No, I mean the Ministry."

The woman stepped closer to the Minister, "Minister Fudge, I am very much older than you are. I know I have more wisdom than you do. Take this into consideration, Voldemort will come back. We will never vanquish evil from this world, especially not an evil as powerful as Voldemort once was. I assure you that if you do not take the necessary precautions, Dumbledore will not do anything to you, but I can assure I hold enough power to."

She let the Minister stand there. Harry noticed the power lock she held over him. She didn't seem to Harry all that intimidating. She was probably shorter than he by at least an inch. She had pure white hair rolled up into two buns on the back of her head, She wore a long green dress and over the top of that she wore a purple robe.

"Aha, Barb, there you are."

The woman along with Harry and most of the other students in the Hall whipped around to find Prof.Dumbledore standing there, Prof. McGonagall right behind him.

"Oh, yes Albus, I was discussing with Minister Fudge how ridiculous it was for him to bring all the Ambassadors back to help him defeat Voldemort, when in reality he doesn't think he is back."

"Yes that does seem very trifling, but come let us not discuss this in front of the students." He gestured toward a door leading out.

"Yes," Barb mused; following Dumbledore's outreached hand, "We wouldn't want Harry Potter to think we thought of him as a liar."

Harry felt himself go pink.

"Well," Ron started behind him, "I hope that was pessimistic enough for you Hermione."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

"DADA is next chums."

"Wow I wonder who our new teacher will be?"

"I hope it's a girl."

"Get serious Ron, we've never had a female DADA teacher."

"Don't jinx us Hermione."

Harry had to agree with Ron. They never had had a female DADA teacher and it would be a nice change as long as her lessons were as interesting as Prof. Lupin's and the fake Prof. Moody's.

Ron crossed his fingers as they got to the classroom.

"Open it Hermione, I can't bear the suspense."

Hermione rolled her eyes at his behavior and opened the door. Harry stood next to her waiting for a response.

"It's a girl."

"Yes!" Harry surprised himself at his outburst. He was sure he surprised other people too. Lavender and Pavarati were staring at him as though he belonged in a loony bin.

He followed Hermione inside; it looked the same old Defense Against Dark Arts classroom, without a personal touch from the teacher, who was sitting at the desk with her head down.

"Er…hello there." Said Harry in a cautious voice. The head popped up.

"Hi. Welcome to my less than charming classroom."

Even Hermione's mouth widened, before quickly shutting it. This teacher had the funkiest hair Harry had ever seen, Black with a series of jagged layers lining up and down the front and back of her head. Her eyes were puppy dog brown, and they had certain warmth emitting from them.

"I guess you can call me Prof. Lancaster," She said smiling around the room after the rest of the students were seated, "I'm not a real professor, I actually work for the Ministry. I'm doing this as a favor to Prof. Dumbledore. I don't know where you guys left off last year, so any suggestions to where we should start will be greatly accepted."

"We were working on the Unforgivable Curses ma'am."

Prof. Lancaster glanced down at a sheet of paper sitting on the desk.

"Hermione Granger is it?"

"Uh yeah."

"I really don't like talking about the curses. Certain memories flood back to me, so if you all don't mind we'll start anew. What about… dragons?"

Harry gave a little smile; he had enough experience with dragons, thank you very much.

"I have connections in the Ministry, we could probably go see some."

A chorus of 'wows' and 'cool' arose from the classroom.

Prof. Lancaster actually looked relived,

"Really? Wow I actually made some kids happy."

After the excitement died down she began to call out roll. She made comments about everyone's name and joking with him or her. Harry noticed the gleam in Seamus's eye when she talked about the World Cup and the defeat of Bulgaria. But Harry felt the moment of truth as she got closer to his name. He wondered how she would take it, calm and cool or totally oblivious. He certainly didn't expect her to start tearing up and sniffling.

"Wow, I can't believe I have you in this class. Oh lords you look just like James, the bloody git, but you have Lil's eyes. Gosh, best of both genes."

She continued down the list, no longer as cheerful as she was. Obviously Harry being in the same class with her meant a lot. It didn't mean anything to him though.

"Um, we won't be doing anything very much today, so I'll just tell you guys about myself and you can ask me any questions you want when I'm through. I'm in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. It may not seem very fun to all of you, but seriously, if you got into half as much fights and troubles as I have been in, it's worth it all. I live with my best friend and her grandmother. Both work for the Ministry as ambassadors. One for America and the other one is in Italy. I'm sorry to say I do have a slight temper. I was the girl getting into all the fights when I was at Hogwarts. And I really am not to keen on the Dark Arts because I prefer Astronomy. And my favorite color is green." She paused. Half of the class had their hands up. She nodded towards Ron first.

"Do you know my dad?"

"Uh, I believe it would be Arthur Weasly?"

"Do you like soccer?"

She regarded Dean carefully, "Muggle sport?" She shrugged, "Eh, muggles come up with some pretty interesting things to keep themselves amused."

"Have they resolved the Voldemort problem?"

Harry watched as the professor winced slightly, "Um no, they are still arguing over where to put valuable antiques if Voldemort is back to strength. Among other things the impossibility of Voldemort actually being back."

"What valuables?" Asked Hermione, leaning in closer. Harry knew that glint in her eye, she wanted to find out what these Valuables could do.

"Valuables, that if Voldemort gets his hands on, could mean the destruction of the human world. Things that would enable him to suck the powers right out of a wizard and gain all of his knowledge and strength. Causing him to become more powerful than ever before."

A fresh wave of terror washed over Harry. He had never even heard of such magical items being in existence. It was a terrible thought. Now that Voldemort was back his Death Eaters could thwart the Ministry and retrieve such items. Only if they knew where they were of course. Ah, but the Malfoys. The tiny voice in his head dragging up things Harry had forgotten. Lucious Malfoy did indeed work for the ministry and could easily find something valuable to his master.

The loud bell rang across the classroom. The students started immediately to put their parchment and quills back into their bags.

"Wow, she is a queer sort."

"Aren't they all Ron. I think she may have known my parents."

"She probably knows Sirius too!" Ron exclaimed suddenly. "Oh wow Harry, write him and ask him about her."

"You probably shouldn't bother him Harry, he is probably extremely busy."

"Yeah," said Harry reluctantly, "He probably doesn't even know her." He added with contempt

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

She dashed down the halls in a wild frenzy. She felt as if her heart would never stop hammering away. She knew she had to write to her. The coincidence he would end up in her class was unbelievable. She hadn't thought of him in fourteen years. Not that she didn't want to, but because if she did the heartbreaking tears would swell inside of her once more.

The small room that Dumbledore had assigned to her was cozy. Nothing that she was used to, but enough for the necessities. She pulled out the parchment and began to write the letter in her signature green ink. She would have to come to Hogwarts after she read this letter. If the Minister wouldn't allow it, Ariel would tell Barb and she would get him to allow her arrival. There was no way she could live here on her own with nothing but her own sanity to dwell on.

End J