"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"
"I'll be quite glad if he has," said Luna. "He isn't a very good teacher, is he?"
"Yes. he is!" said Harry, Ron, and Ginny angrily.
Harry's eyes turned to Estella and Hermione.
"What? I already know that he is!" said Estella.
Hermione cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm...yes...he's very good."
"Well, we think he's a bit of a joke in Ravenclaw," said Luna unfazed.
"You've got a rubbish sense of humor then," Ron snapped.
Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she simply watched him for a while as though he were a mildly interesting television program.
The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the front doors. The entrance hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the Great Hall and the start-of-term feast.
The four long House tables in the Great Hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which was just like the sky. Candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghost who were dotted about the Hall and the faces of the students talking eagerly to one another, exchanging summer news, shouting greetings at friends from other Houses, eyeing one another's new haircuts and robes.
Luna drifted away from them at the Ravenclaw table. The moment they reached Gryffindor's, Ginny was hailed by some fellow fourth years and left to sit with them; Harry, Ron, Hermione, Estella, and Neville found seats together about halfway down the table.
"He's not here."
They'd all scanned the staff table, though there was no real need Hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.
"He can't have left," said Ron, sounding slightly anxious.
"Dumbledore hasn't mentioned any teacher's retiring or quitting," said Estella.
"But where is he, then?"
There was a pause, then Harry said very quietly, so that no one near them could overhear, "Maybe he's not back yet. You know-from the mission-the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."
"Yeah...yeah, that'll be it," said Ron, sounding reassured.
"Who's that?" asked Hermione sharply, pointing toward the middle of the staff table.
Estella's eyes followed hers. She looked like somebody's maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. Then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet, and she saw a pallid, toad-like face with prominent, pouchy eyes.
"It's that Umbridge woman!"
"Who?" asked Hermione.
"She was at my hearing; she works for Fudge!"
"Nice cardigan," said Ron, smirking.
Estella laughed. She looked like the human embodiment of Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.
"What on earth is she doing here, then?" muttered Estella.
"Dunno..."
"Ew, she must be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor," said Estella.
YOU ARE READING
Future Nostalgia / Harry Potter Fanfic
Hayran Kurgu"He'd do it again if it meant she got the chance to live." "He looked at her, actually looked at her, and wondered how anyone who saw her, didn't fall in love with her." "A trade was to be made." "Friendship was going to be the only way to get throu...
