The New Me

Disclaimer: I don't own it. It all belongs to JK Rowling.

Warnings: Eh...for this chapter? Not that much.

A/N: Hi! Chapter 12 is finally here! I'm not all that happy with it though, but I hope you won't think it sucks too much...
Thank you to all my reviewers, you are absolutely brilliant and I love you all! I can't believe we're up to 181 reviews! It's amazing!
Anyway, here's chapter 12. It has some Draco in it, since I noticed that the last one didn't have any at all...*blushes*
I'll stop talking now. Enjoy - chapter 12!

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Chapter 12

“Professor Snape. How utterly not surprised I am at finding you here. Clearly, it was Dumbledore who attacked me; I was merely protecting myself, it’s not my fault he’s an idiot, now is it?” Harry smirked, mirth alight in his eyes. Snape raised an eyebrow before answering him.

“I suppose so. Still, he is the Headmaster.”

“Your point being? It’s not like his behaviour lately has inspired confidence or respect from anyone.” The Slytherins standing in the crowd started laughing at Harry’s comments, while the other students seemed too shocked to do much but stare at him.

“Hm. Would someone please Enervate the Headmaster? That position seems to be painful, and at his age…” Snape drawled, and two Hufflepuffs scrambled to do his bidding. As Dumbledore came to and slowly stood up Harry and Hermione made their way towards the school, not wanting to have another confrontation with the crazy old man today.

‘Dearest, would you mind making sure that the Headmaster doesn’t find us for now?’ Harry asked the castle as they entered through the doors. He received a warm feeling in return as the castle agreed to do his bidding, sending the Headmaster on a wild goose chase should he enter the castle seeking Harry or Hermione.

‘Thank you, Dearest.’

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Draco was not having a pleasant day.

First he woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning from a nightmare about when his parents had died, and then Dumbledore had announced at breakfast that all the seventh year students had to arrive at the lake at 12 noon to study the mer-people that live in the Black Lake.

Please.

Like they weren’t going to learn about that in the Care of Magical Creatures class, if they had it? He, thank Merlin, didn’t take that ridiculous subject anymore, instead opting to study Magical Serpents, a much more interesting subject. Also, there were only Slytherins in that class, if you didn’t count their resident Boy Wonder that is.

Although, Draco supposed that he would have to start seeing Potter and Granger as Slytherins now, as they had been re-sorted into his House. That didn’t mean he had to like it though.

“Why do you think they were re-sorted in the first place?”

“Who?”

Sending Blaise a glare, Draco sighed before answering his best friend.

“Potter and Granger, of course. I mean, would you have ever thought that they would belong in Slytherin? They were the epitome of Gryffindor, after all. It just seems strange that Slytherin should be their real House. Especially Potter. Don’t you think so?” Blaise sent him a surprised look before answering.

“Well…according to the Sorting Hat, Potter was supposed to be in Slytherin from the very beginning, but he managed to talk the Hat out of placing him there. Which is rather strange, if you ask me. No one has ever been able to do that before. Some people have been borderline between two Houses, but no one has actually managed to decide for themselves which House they should be in. And with Granger, well I don’t know. I mean, she’s always struck me as the sort of person that should have been sorted into Ravenclaw, because of her smarts, you know? Something obviously happened to both of them to change that much. The question is what, though? It would have to be something serious. And why are you so focussed on Potter and Granger by the way?” Blaise was watching him curiously, and Draco found that he didn’t really have an answer to that.

“I don’t really know.” Why was he obsessing so over them? It was a mystery even to him. He just couldn’t get Potter’s expression when he had grabbed him in the common room out of his head. He’d looked…scared.

But that didn’t make any sense at all. Why would Potter be scared of him when he wasn’t scared of Voldemort? And Draco sure as Hell didn’t think Potter had been scared when he killed Draco’s bastard of a Father. No, the damage he had done to Lucius suggested someone severely pissed off, and a bit sadistic, but not someone scared.

“-aco? Draco? Are you listening, man?” Blaise’s voice seemed to penetrate his thoughts, and Draco snapped irritably at his friend.

“What?”

“We have to go now.”

“Go where?” Blaise rolled his eyes at him before answering.

“The lake. Dumbledore’s orders, you remember? All seventh year students have to be at the lake at 12? Ringing any bells so far?”

“Oh. Right. Well, let’s go then. Won’t do to be late, now will it? Merlin, I despise that man, he’s completely insane.”

“I agree with you there. Come on, Pansy said she’d meet us there.”

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The news that the Headmaster of Hogwarts had attacked The Boy-Who-Lived didn’t reach the media until almost a week after the incident had occurred.
It was on Monday morning that the Daily Prophet had the story on their first page.

Headmaster Attacks Boy-Who-Lived!

Almost a week ago, on Sunday the week before last, the Headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore was seen attacking Harry Potter, the famous Boy-Who-Lived-and-Defeater-of-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, with a Stupefy spell.

The event took place when Mr Potter and Miss Hermione Granger returned to the school via portkey from a secret location that they had been visiting for two hours that morning. The pair appeared in front of the entire seventh year class, who were down by the Black Lake learning about the mer-people that reside in the lake.

Apparently an argument broke out between the Headmaster and Mr Potter as to where he and Miss Granger had been. When Mr Potter refused to disclose the information, rather rudely according to several witnesses, he was given detention. Mr Potter then replied that he had no intention what so ever in showing up for said detention, and in fact took his leave with Miss Granger.

That was when the Headmaster shot the Stupefy at him, but Mr Potter – being able to sense the magic – quickly raised a powerful shield, causing the spell to bound back at its caster.
We have not yet learned if this is going to lead to any legal action against the Headmaster, but it is clear to us here at the Daily Prophet that Albus Dumbledore no longer is suited to be Headmaster at the prestigious school. We would see him replaced by his Deputy Headmistress, Professor Minerva McGonagall.
How will this end?
Neither Headmaster Dumbledore nor Harry Potter has been available for an interview.

Written by Verie Nosey

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Professor Millhouse gazed down on her seventh year Magical Serpents class with a feeling of excitement.
After all, it was not every day you had a Parselmouth in your class who could talk to the snakes that they were about to study.

“Alright, settle down. Today I would like us to start off by discussing your homework assignment from last class. Who can mention some of the deadlier non magical serpents that exist in our world?”

Every student raised his or her hand. That was the advantage with seventh years; they all took this class because they were interested in the subject, hence they studied for it.

“Yes, Mr Malfoy?”

“Well, there is the Diamond back rattle snake, that is native to North America. And then there is the Black Mamba, that’s native to Africa, I think.”

“That is correct, Mr Malfoy; 10 points to Slytherin. Anyone else? Mr Potter, perhaps?”

Turning her gaze to their resident Parselmouth, her question seemed to startle him out of deep thought and he looked confused for a moment before controlling his features once more.

“Cobra. Anaconda, Python, Coral Snake, would you like some more or is that enough?”

“That is quite adequate, thank you, Mr Potter. Today we will be studying the different Python snakes. I will bring two different snakes, and your task for this class is to find out the species and their origin. I will be right back.” Walking out to her office, the Professor soon appeared with two different snakes draped on her arms. One of them turned out to be Siraso, and he greeted Harry with enthusiasm.

//Amigo! It isss good to sssee you again. Thisss isss my fellow sssnake Sssaran, sshe isss a Burmessse Python. Sssaran, thisss isss Harry Potter, the Lord of Ssslytherin.//

The Burmese Python quickly bowed to Harry to show her respect.

//Hello Saran. Is the professor treating you alright? Siraso says that she treats him very well compared to the zoo I rescued him from.//

//Yesss, Massster. Ssshe isss good to all the sssnakesss in her possssesssion. We all like her. I am honoured to be in your presssence, Masster. Sssirassso hass ssspoken much about you.//

//I am glad to hear it. I would hate for such beautiful creatures to be treated badly.// Harry stroked Saran’s head with his finger as he said the last with a solemn voice. He was completely oblivious to the fact that the rest of the class was watching him again, and were wondering what he was talking with the snakes about.

“What are they saying, Mr Potter?” The professors voice drew Harry’s attention from the snakes and he scowled at her.

“That is private. We were just…greeting each other. Because I can speak Parseltongue, snakes are usually very interested in speaking to me. And since Siraso introduced me to Saran, it would have been rude not to greet her as well.”

“Yes, of course. Well class, get to the assignment. I want it on my desk before you leave today, and you only have 45 minutes left of the class.” At the professors words, the class scrambled to do as she had asked, and they all gathered around Harry, because that was were the two snakes had situated themselves.

While the rest of his classmates scribbled furiously and discussed among themselves what the snakes could be, Harry spent the rest of the class speaking about anything and everything with Siraso and Saran while writing down everything they told him about themselves.

At the end of the class he had written six pages of information while the rest of his classmates had written maybe two pages. Saying goodbye to his two companions, Harry placed the essay on the professor’s desk and walked to his next class.

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At dinner that night, sitting next to Hermione a bit from the others, Harry was surprised to find a letter being delivered to him. After scanning it for any harmful content such as portkeys or hexes, he opened it and started reading. Seeing Harry’s face turn more and more grim, Hermione took the letter from him when he finished and read it as well.

Dear Lord Potter,

We would like to request the presence of you and Miss Granger tomorrow evening for the sentencing in the trial of Mr Ronald Weasley.
Please use the portkey that you used last time, just tap it and say ‘portus’ before counting down and it should activate.
We will expect you promptly at 7:30PM tomorrow evening.

Best wishes,
Amelia Bones
Head of MLE

“I guess that is it then? It will finally be over?”

“I don’t know, Mione. Only time will tell, I’m afraid. We’ll have to see Snape about going, after dinner would be best I think. He’s already left, so if you’re finished, we should go.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

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After a sleepless night, Harry made his way to Animagus Training with a heavy heart. Nothing seemed to be going right. His plan to get back at the Headmaster had to be put on ice because of the trial with Ron, and he was getting unnerved about the way Draco Malfoy kept looking at him when he thought Harry didn’t notice. He kept glancing at Harry as though he was trying to find out his deepest darkest secrets.

“Welcome class, today we will be trying to determine what animal you will be turning into. Does anybody know how we will accomplish this?” Professor Lupin asked. That’s right, Remus was back at Hogwarts as the Animagus professor.

“That would be through either the Anima Reveale potion or the spell with the same name, professor.” Hermione answered. She seemed to be back to her old self when it came to class. It was probably because they would find out tonight what would happen to Ron.

“Correct, Hermione. Ten points to Slytherin. We will be using the potion, which Professor Snape has graciously prepared for us. In front of you, you all have a small cup. I will walk around the class and pour you a bit of the potion. We will then take the potion separately. That means that I will call your name and only then will you take the potion. We will then observe which animal you will become when you transform.” Professor Lupin quickly walked around the class and poured each cup half full with the potion. It was quickly done, seeing as only seven people had made it into the class.

“Alright, class, are you ready? Good, we will begin with Miss Parkinson, please.”

Pansy looked nervous for a second before downing her potion. She made a face at the bitter taste, before a blue light enclosed her. An image of a falcon appeared in front of her, and it was obvious that this was to be her Animagus form.

“Very good, Miss Parkinson. Please write down your Animagus form on the Ministry papers that you have all been given, when you have found out what your animal is. That would be a Peregrine Falcon for you, Miss Parkinson. Next we have Mr Zabini.”

Blaise swallowed his potion, and soon they could see the image of a golden eagle in front of him.

“Good. Mr Longbottom.”

Neville’s image turned out to be a young lion, to the surprise of almost everyone in the class, including Neville.

“Ah, I thought as much. Miss Patil, if you please.”

Parvati’s image was of a russet cat with yellow eyes.

“Miss Granger.”

Hermione swallowed her potion quickly, trying not to taste it. As her image appeared, several people gasped in surprise and awe. Her image was of a unicorn with a silvery horn and forget-me-not blue eyes.

“I am impressed, Hermione. Very few people manage to turn in to magical creatures. You should be very proud of yourself.” Hermione blushed a bit at the praise.

“Thank you, Professor Lupin.”

“You’re welcome. Mr Malfoy, your turn.”

Draco gulped down his potion, and was not at all surprised when his image showed a miniature Silver Dragon, approximately 4 feet high with blue feathered wings. Draco smirked smugly. He had always known that his animal would be some kind of dragon. It was in his name, after all.

“Well, well, Mr Malfoy. Congratulations. I guess that just leaves you left, Harry.”

Harry picked up his cup gingerly before swallowing the potion.
At first nothing seemed to happen, and Remus frowned a little. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, a brilliant golden light surrounded Harry and an image appeared in front of him. The entire class and Remus gasped in shock.

“Impossible…”

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A/N2: Well, there you have it! Please leave a review and make my day! I hope the chapter wasn't too horrible, I will try and make the next one better, but I seem to have run in to a case of writer's block. Oh, well I'm sure I'll get there in the end.
Oh, and the Anima Reveale potion, I think I've read that in some fanfiction, and I really didn't mean to offend anyone by using it in my story! If you know who it is who came up with it, then please let me know, so that I can ask permission/apologise for using it!
Until next time!
//LoveGD