The Intelligent Potter

*** Fourth Year Opening Feast

Neither Albus not Arcturus had made it to the opening feast for Harry, Hermione, and Daphne's fourth year at Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, this had become quite a common occurrence and none of them were surprised in the slightest that their Defence Professor and Headmaster had not made it to Hogwarts this time either. As Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall had taken over the place vacated by Dumbledore and stood at his pedestal for the beginning of year announcements.

"Welcome to the newest generation of students of Hogwarts," she announced first, "And greetings once more to our returning students, though I do not think I can call you people 'returning' anymore…" she waited for the polite laughter from her audience, laughter which she did not receive, "Moving on," she continued sourly, "I'm sure you're all all too aware of what's happening, so I won't bother with warning you about The Darkness, and feeding you riddles as Professor Dumbledore is wont to do. Instead, I shall assure you that Hogwarts will do its best to continue functioning as normal. This means you all have classes to attend, and those of you in Fifth and Seventh Year will have to give your OWLs and NEWTs as has been scheduled."

This news warranted more than a few groans from a handful of extremely hopeful students.

"Yes, yes, utterly tragic, I know," McGonagall said sarcastically, "But that is the way it will be. As you know The Headmaster is busy mustering our war effort, therefore as Deputy Headmistress, I shall be temporarily taking over his role while he is officially on a sabbatical from the school," she said, "And to handle matters of our security in this castle, we will have squadrons of peacekeepers at Hogwarts to ensure the safety of our students. As well as this, as Acting Headmistress, I have instated our Defence Substitute teacher, Professor Iliad Greengrass, to be Hogwarts' new Head of Security. In case of an emergency or future changes in the situation regarding your security, such will be intimated to you by Professor Greengrass, and Professor Greengrass alone. Please do not take instructions from any other source, even your fellow students. There is no knowing how wide The Dark Lord's net of misinformation is spread. That is all I have to say for today. Please enjoy your meal and then follow your house prefects up to your common room as usual." and with that, McGonagall clicked her fingers to summon the feast, in quite a different manner to The Headmaster's large grandiose clap which had the same effect.

All in all, the no-nonsense, tight, and efficient methodology of McGonagall was quite apparent, in contrast with the administration and speech of Dumbledore.

"So Iliad is the head of security now." Harry commented to Hermione, whom he was sitting next to at the Gryffindor, while their third friend was at the Slytherin table, with the rest of her house and Tracey Davis, who she had grown more distant from but was still good friends with, nonetheless.

Hermione nodded, biting down on a chicken drumstick she'd picked up, unable to speak as she ate.

Harry looked up at the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall, allowing himself to get lost in the wonder of the magical sky.

"What do you think will happen this year?" Harry asked.

Hermione c.o.c.ked her head to one side, "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," Harry said, "This is our fourth year here. In three years, we've discovered the Quirrelmort plan, fought a basilisk in the chamber of secrets, and had a TriWizard Tournament. What's going to be the big deal this year?"

"Voldemort is free," Hermione told him, "He does not need to get at Hogwarts anymore, he can do as he likes."

"I just can't imagine a normal year at Hogwarts, though…" Harry trailed off, quite possibly trying to imagine a normal year at Hogwarts.

Hermione shot him an incredulous look, "We are in the middle of a war, Harry, things are not normal."

Harry hmmed, non-committedly.

"Besides," Hermione supplied, "We have training with Iliad, Arcturus, Albus, and whichever other benevolent overpowered wizards or witches they manage to get their hands on, you can hardly call that normal, even for the magical world."

"I know," Harry conceded, "but after a few years of it, it's begun to just seem like a part of normal life for me, I'm used to it. Maybe it just feels like I've trained enough, I want to move onto something bigger."

"You're not anywhere close to facing Voldemort," Hermione argued, "you saw him at the attack on the Express, he could take you down in the blink of one of his weird red eyes. "

Harry waved his arms around in the air, "But like, I could do something, I could be helping with defence or-"

"You're fourteen, Harry."

The boy deflated, "I know, but sometimes it feels like I'm a lot older than that. So much responsibility." he trailed off again.

Hermione nodded, "You remember that Dumbledore didn't want this for you, right?"

Harry opened his mouth, as if he had a pre-prepared response, then closed it again.

"Yeah," he said simply, "but I never understood why."

Hermione ruffled his hair with a cheeky grin on her face, "You're still a little kiddo."

"Oy!" Harry protested, non-verbally sending a mild stinging spell at Hermione's hand with a single twitch of his wand.

"Ow!" Hermione squealed.

Victoriously, Harry stuck his own hand into the bushy curls of his friend, trying to mess her hair up more than it already was, to little avail.

Hermione shrugged, and continued munching on her drumstick.

*** End of Chapter