The topic of conversation on the train to school was the dark mark that appeared at the World Cup. Not surprisingly, it was also the subject of the Daily Prophet.

Terror at the Quidditch World Cup

By Rita Skeeter

This year, as you all know, the Quidditch World Cup was held in our beautiful country.

But that was the only positive thing this writer could say.

The game was entertaining enough. But the Bulgarian barbarians had chosen a group of Veela as their mascot. Notorious for being related to sirens, they endangered many of the young male spectators. Yours truly feels that this is a serious oversight of safety measures and should be dealt with immediately. But I wish the shortcomings would stop there.

Death Eaters.

The celebrations for the winning Irish team were cut short as a group of Death Eaters (the notorious followers of You Know Who) had decided that today would be a good day to do some re-work. and did so under the watchful eyes of many Ministry officials (including Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, and Barry Crouch, Head of Homeland Security). And so-called well-trained security wizards. To torture a Muggle family now living in Saint Mungo's for memory modification. This concerned witch wonders what security measures have failed.

Dark mark sighted.

To add insult to injury. The Dark Mark has been sighted. Over the camp grounds. Causing fear and anger among the campers. It is rumoured that Harry Potter was present and that Ministry officials had the audacity to attack the poor young wizard. Whose parents were famously murdered by you know who. I feel for the poor boy. In a brief discussion I had with Albert Weasley, head of the misuse of Muggle art, he tried to reassure me that nothing terrible had happened and that there had been no loss of life.

I beg to differ. No, indeed, no lives were lost. But if nothing terrible happened, then the terror wizards must have felt great loss of property and the torture of Muggles. I, for one, won't be sleeping well for many days.

A black and white moving image of the Dark Mark was just below the headline. "Who does she think she is? Miss quoting my father like that. She even misspelled his name. Ginny said, looking angry.

"Don't worry about it, Ginny. No one will blame your father." Avalon said. "This will blow over soon." Luna added. "I heard about that Skeeter woman. She is supposed to be a real gossip columnist who is supposed to be in the gossip column." Lucy said. Ginny smiled a little.

"Father told me about it right away. I can't believe you haven't heard." They heard Malfoy say. "With a father and a brother in the Ministry, you should have heard by now. Heard by now." He added. Malfoy called out, "But maybe your family isn't high enough to be told important things like that." Grinning, Malfoy walked out of the compartment he was in.

Ah, he walked past the girls in the compartment and had a look inside. "Ah, the teacher's little pet. A Weasley. The orphan. And the half-blood traitor." He said grinning. "I guess you don't know either." He said.

"Oh of course we know about the Tournament Malfoy." Lucy said, obviously using her legitimacy. "Yes. Avalon was just telling us what Snape told her when he came to visit over the summer. Sharon said. "What did he say again, Ava? That even if Draco was of age, he wouldn't last a day?" Lucy added. "No he said not a minute. The first challenge would send him screaming to his mummy." Avalon interjected, not knowing what they were talking about. But they had just taken him down a peg when they saw Malfoy's face getting more pink by the second. He sniffed and then left, looking angry.

Harry, Ron and Hermione came into their compartment a little later. "Did we just hear you stand up to Malfoy?" Ron asked looking proud. "My little sister's not afraid of that git," Ginny rolled her eyes. "like the idiot was scary." She said. "So Snape really visited you this summer and told you what Malfoy is talking about?" Ron asked Avalon. "No, we were bluffing," Avalon explained.

"A lost art form." One of the twins said as they walked in. "It's all over the train that you were visited by a teacher." He added. "Well George I think we have a positive influence on these girls." Fred said as he sat down next to Lucy. "Positive? You teach them to skip classes." Ron said annoyed. "We're doing nothing of the sort Ronald." George said, sounding frighteningly like his mother. "But does anyone know what Malfoy was talking about?" Ron asked.

"Parts of it." Lucy said. "I couldn't read it all." she added. "Read?" the twins said in unison. "Yes, read." Lucy said matter-of-factly. "It has to do with some kind of tournament." She explained. "Anything else?" Ron asked eagerly. "No, he hid the rest, I don't know if he did it on purpose or not." She said. "I doubt it was on purpose, he's too stupid for that. "Harry said.

"Change of subject." Fred said. "Any idea who the new teacher will be?" he added. "Why would you care?" Ginny interjected. "Well Ginerva. I want to know first hand if we can mess with this new teacher or if we need to lay low. "Fred said. "Do you actually lay low with some teachers?" Ron asked.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Of course we do." George said, "You don't mess with McGonagall and Snape." Fred added. "Binns doesn't care, he just blabs on." George explained, "Sinistra, you have to make sure you're in a shadowy part." Fred continued. "Sprout really depends on what plants your meeting." George said. "You don't want to get on the bad side of a poisonous tentacle or a Chinese chewing cabbage." Fred filled in. "But if you have a easy day with dittany or fluxweed, you can have a lot of fun," George finished.

"You researched it?" Hermoine sounded impressed. "Well yes and no Granger." George said. "Trail and error really. "Fred added. "But the most fun to mess with is Filtch." George said. "Why is that?" Avalon asked. "He's a squib. All he can do is chase us." George explained. "Doesn't mean all squibs are to be messed with, I hate being on the bad side of your mum." Fred added. "I'm assuming she has a bad side. But you could probably tell us more about that." George filled in.

Avalon shook her head and smiled. "By golly, look at the time!" Fred called out suddenly. "Jeepers, we really should go and see Lee." George finished for his brother and the twins quickly left. "I hate to say it, but they are right, we should change into our robes, we will be arriving soon." Hermloine said. "It was nice to see you again Avalon." She said with a smile before leaving with Harry and Ron.

A short time later the train stopped. Avalon had just put on her robes when the train came to a complete stop. As always, the clear female voice informed them that they were at Hogsmead station and that their luggage was to remain on the train.

As they stepped off the train they looked around the station, there seemed to be more First Years than there had been in a long time. "Firs years over here." They heard the familiar voice of Hagrid calling out to them. As they tried to get out of his way, Avalon's wand case with her trusty wand in it fell between the train and the tracks.

She knelt down and tried to grab it. "OY Be careful, this is dangerous." Hagrid said, pulling her up by the scruff of her neck. "But sir, my wand case fell. It means a lot to me." She explained. "No problem." He said as he grabbed his signature pink umbrella and waved it, a few seconds later the wand case zoomed up to him. "Here you go." He said smiling at her. She smiled back as she took it from him, meeting his eyes.

"Blimey. I see what those Weasleys mean when they say your eyes are like Harry's," he said, "Excuse me, ladies, I have to get the firs years off ter school." He added and left.

They made their way to school, chatting about what Malfoy had been hiding and how excited they were to visit Hogsmead. And which shop they were most excited to visit. Sharon said she was looking forward to going to Honeydukes. She admitted to having a sweet tooth. "I need a new wardrobe." Oona blurted out. "We so need new clothes." She added.

By the time the girls had finished discussing Hogsmead, they were back at school. "You know there's always a visit to Hogsmead on Valentine's Day," Ginny said. "Yes," Sharon replied. "You should ask Harry!" she added, grinning wickedly as she saw Ginny turn scarlet. "Oh shut up," she said turning even more red. They playfully teased each other about who they should ask out on Valentine's Day. "Well, at least we know who's going to ask Malfoy out on Valentine's Day." Emma shouted loudly as they passed Briget Rookwood. Laughing loudly they walked into the Great Hall.

They all sat down at their house tables. The room fell silent as the new first years were ushered in. This year, as they had seen before, more children seemed to be allowed in, there were now about 50 students.

McGonnagall placed the stool on the podium and placed the Sorting Hat on it, the older students awaiting the song the hat would be singing this year. And she enjoyed the nervous looks on the faces of the new first years. "I wonder how many of them have older siblings to make them nervous," Lucy whispered to her friends. The Sorting Hat opened his rip sized mouth and began to sing

Gather round, my fellow witches and wizardsThe time has come for the great sorting ceremonyFour houses, each with their own unique waysBut united we stand, on this magical dayGryffindor, brave and boldRavenclaw, wise and cleverHufflepuff, kind and loyalSlytherin, ambitious and cleverIn this place of wonder, we'll make memoriesWith every lesson and every feastWe'll stand by each other, through thick and thinFor Hogwarts is our home, and friendship our kinSo let the sorting begin, let the magic unfoldFor in this moment, we'll create a bond that'll never grow oldHogwarts, our home, our familyMay our friendship last for eternitThe Great Hall applauded. "Much brighter than last year. His song." Emma said to her friends. "Much better. I hate the dark," said Joshua Sallow. "I guess there's nothing to be afraid of this year." Avalon said as she looked back to the podium where Mcgonnagall was already waiting with the roll of parchment containing the students' names in her hand.

"Abbot Belle," Mcgonnagall called out as her first name. A very nervous blonde girl walked over to the stool and put on her hat, which fell down to her chin. "Huffelpuff," the hat shouted. Before they knew it, each house had 5 new students. "Morganac Brian." McGonnagall shouted. "I thought that family was extinct." Avalon whispered to her friends. "Why?" Emma asked. "I'll tell you later."

Brian Morganac became a Slytherin student. The last student to be sorted was Spelman Sabrina. She became a new Ravenclaw. After that, McGonnagall rolled up her parchment and put away the Sorting Hat. Dumbledore stood up smiling, "I was asked to speak a few words again. But in view of the fact that I am as hungry as you are, I have decided against it. He said as he sat down again.

After the feast, Dumbledore stood up again. Now that we have all been fed, I have a few announcements about the start of term." He said. "Firstly, the Quidditch season will be cancelled this year." An outburst of anger followed. For a minute or so, the Weasley twins even began to chant. down with Dumbledore. But the professor didn't seem to mind. He smiled warmly at them.

"Now that we have all the insults out of our systems, let me explain why. This had to happen. There is a rather exciting event taking place this year and we cannot have Quidditch and the other event at the same time. I am sorry." He said. "I cannot say more about this event at this time. But on the 30th of October I will explain everything." He said. "Do I really need to explain the Forbidden Forest again, or do we now know why it is called Forbidden?" Dumbledore said, sounding very amused. As he looked at the Gryffindor table.

A few seconds later, in the middle of Dumbledore's speech, someone walked in. He looked monstrous, it was a broad looking man with light red hair. His eyes were strange, one was brown. The other was a bright blue and he was swooshing around in a plastic soccet that seemed to be tied around the man's head.A chunk of his nose was missing. His mouth was so full of scars that it was barely recognisable as a mouth. He walked with a limp. And every other step was accompanied by a loud clunk, as if one of his legs was made of iron.He made his way over to the staff table.

"Just in time." Dumbledore said. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts has been filled by Professor Moody." He said. "Now that all is done and dusted. I think it is time for you all to go to bed." Dumbledore said.

They made their way to the Ravenclaw common room the next morning. A new subject had been added to their studies. Care of Magical Creatures. Julie Smith called it Beasts class. They were going to study it with Slytherin. Avalon hated the idea. But there was nothing she could do about it. So that afternoon they went down to Hagrid's hut for their first Care of Magical Creatures class.