SWING SET ° G. WEASLEY

three

Pansy Parkinson had a penchant for worrying too much about Malfoy. Whether it be when he got his arm torn up by the Hippogriff, or now for instance, when he was thirty seconds late to the dining hall for dinner. And to Pansy, this was thirty seconds too late.

"Where on earth is he? What if he's still on the train and it left with him on it? I'm sure that's happened before. We have to tell Dumbledore if that's the case," she frantically said.

Waverly concluded that Pansy's name suited her perfectly. Just then, Waverly saw the familiar head of platinum blonde hair swaggering down the dining hall, looking particularly pleased with himself. Pansy almost jumped out of her seat at the sight of him, and rushed up to meet him.

"Merlin I thought you were going to be sent back to London! What happened?" she asked while stroking his face, relieved.

"Potter got what he deserved. Spying on us in the train like that. Not to worry Pans, he'll be the one sent back to London," said a smirking Draco.

Waverly didn't know if she should be pleased by this or not. Potter never really bothered her, but if he was gone then that was less of a distraction for Ginny. For the sake of their friendship, Waverly told herself.

They were almost done with their feast when none other than Harry Potter entered, covered in blood. Waverly had the feeling this was due to Draco, but said nothing about it. He was looking darkly at Harry, whom he thought was probably halfway to London by now. Dumbledore had gotten up to make his speech about the year and to welcome the new first years. The dining hall died down, and he started speaking.

"The very best of evenings to you!" he said, smiling broadly. Waverly took notice to his hand, which had turned completely black and crippled looking, and gasped. Everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing, as there were whispers dispersed throughout the whole hall.

Nevertheless, he continued on. "Nothing to worry about," he airily said. "Now... to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you..."

"What on earth happened to his hand! It looks as if its died," said Pansy. Indeed it did, in all its shriveled and blackened glory.

"... and Mr Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their heads of houses as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise. We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year, Professor Slughorn" -a plump yet jovial looking man with an odd mustache who was presumably Slughorn stood up, his bald head gleaming in the candlelight- "is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post as Potions Master."

"Potions?" the word echoed throughout the hall, very confused looks spread upon everyone's faces.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking over the position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."