Blaise worked his way toward the black carriages. He found an empty one and waited beside the Thestral that pulled it. He gave the nightmarish beast a pat and wondered if Draco could see them now too. Crabbe and Goyle hung back a little further from the invisible animals and watched for the girls.

Pansy skirted past Keket, sneering at her in an almost friendly way, as she walked towards the carriages, looking for Blaise or Tracey--she didn't know why he hung out with her to begin with, since Pansy found her barely tolerable (which meant she would only hex her with a cause to do so), but it wasn't something she wanted to dwell on. She finally spotted him and walked over.

"Blaise, don't pet the invisible animals. It makes you look ridiculous," she said, standing next to him and scanning the crowd.

"You wouldn't say that if you could see them," Blaise said, but he dropped his hand. "Are we waiting for anyone besides Tracey?"

Pansy glanced in what she hoped was the general direction of the thestral. "No, it would probably still look ridiculous. And I don't think we're waiting for anyone else, unless you want Ms. Goblin to ride with us," she motioned to Keket, who was still walking through the crowd.

Blaise looked in Keket's direction and made a face. "I think not."

Pansy snickered. "Thought as much. As...crudely amusing as she may be, she's worse than the halfbloods." She tipped her head as Keket snarled at some first-years. "I hope she hexes them and gets in trouble for it--again."

Keket walked through the crowd of first years and gritted her teeth as she came near Parkinson and Zabini. She had talked Potions with Parkinson before, but couldn't stand Zabini. She brushed her hair out of her face once more and made sure it was tucked behind her ears so the points showed. She knew she was ostracizing herself even more but couldn't really make herself care. She fixed a sneer on her face as she got closer.

"Why's it walking towards us?" Blaise said contemptuously.

"This carriage is full," Crabbe said more directly to Keket.

* * * * * * *

Demelza was thrilled when the train finally came to a stop on Hogsmeade station. She stretched her legs (which had fallen asleep over the long ride) and reached up for her trunk.

She waited with Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione for the carraiges to come.

Ginny sighed, looking up at the carriages a little wistfully and wondering what the new year would hold for her, for Harry, for Ron and Hermione, for Draco... there was so much going on in her mind at the moment, and she was eager for some sort of distraction. "What're you looking forward to about the year, Demelza?" She asked, albeit a little distractedly.

"Oh, nothing much in particular." Said Demelza, "Just being back. And Quidditch."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ginny replied, nodding, "I'm definitely looking forward to Quidditch. Not so much being back."

"Why aren't you happy to be going back?"

"Oh, well," Ginny started, thinking of a reason.  "I'll just miss my family. It'll be weird not knowing how they're doing while we're all away at school."

"Yeah, it is," Demelza agreed, "But it's also nice not having to be cooped up with your whole family every second."

"Well, you do have a point there. I didn't spend the whole time with my family, or anything. And then I had my friends there, and I had some time to myself," Ginny shrugged, "It'll be sort of nice being back, though."

Harry look at Ginny with more curiosity than ever. Draco himself had denied the affair with her, but he wanted straight answers. So, ignoring the fact that Demelza was there he asked: “Ginny, are you sure that you love me? If not, don’t be afraid to say it."

Ginny gave Harry a really strange look and sort of shifted away from him. "Well, I mean, we're not together anymore. It just.... It just seems a little weird to be saying that sort of thing when we're trying to get past it and get on with our lives." Ginny hoped that Harry assumed her awkwardness was the typical sort that one always felt around exboyfriends shortly after breaking up with them, but the question had caught her off guard, and she wasn't sure.

Harry thought that Ginny made more sense than ever, and if she wanted to be left alone, so be it. "Just friends, then?"

Ginny didn't like the way that sounded, even though that's what she'd thought that she wanted. However, she nodded her head vaguely, saying, "Well... at the moment, that's probably for the best, isn't it? I mean, we broke up for a reason, didn't we? If we just acted like we'd never broken up... we'd still be in the same sort of danger." And I have a boyfriend, Ginny thought to herself.

"You’re right as always, Ginny."

Ginny smiled, but was oddly tempted to bury her face in her hands and not say a word until breakfast. She refrained, however, recrossed her legs and said, "Well, I'm not always right, but far more often than Ron."

Harry thought to himself, Well, that of course...

* * * * * * *

Peeves continued to curse and throw chalk at random portraits and statues, to the cry to their inhabitants.

He had been ordered by the Bloody Baron to meet him in the Slytherin's common room.  Peeves had to go there, he could not disreguard the Baron's command. Something grim was coming.

"Little Buggers," muttered Peeves as he threw the last of his chalk at a picture of a woman cooking.

* * * * * * *

Tonks wasn't alone in the Great Hall, but she sure felt like it. Her hands were shaking, and she wasn't sure, but she might have been sweating a bit. None of the students had entered, but they most definitely were on their way.

This was it. She was most definitely a teacher now. Not only that, but she was the Head of Gryffindor House. McGonagall had given her the task the day before of giving the arriving speech to all of the students, as she had to go off on Order work suddenly, and had left the task of sorting the first years to Flitwick, seeing as he was now second in command at Hogwarts so to speak.

Tonks looked down the table for the millionth time to look at all of the faces there. It was true that only a few teachers had left since the end of the last term, but the people that did leave, made the place seem weirder. Even if she didn't know the ones who left all that well. Hooch had left a few weeks ago, and Cho Chang had taken her place as the flying teacher. Tonks was grateful that they were able to find a replacement so fast. From Cho's reputation, she should be a great teacher. Slughorn was still there, she really didn't like him all that much. She had spent most of the previous day when she arrived avoiding him, so she wouldn't have to listen to his boring stories.

Finally all the non-first year students entered the Hall and sat down. Flitwick then lead the small group of First Years into the Hall and began to sort them. She looked at how small they seemed. It was hard to believe that she was once there too.

Dora watched the last of the students walk to their repective table (Hufflepuff), and everyone settled in and looked up at the Staff table waiting for someone to say something. Tonks felt a small kick to her shins as Poppy kicked her to signal that she should give the signal to begin the feast. Tonks scrambled to stand up and smiled awkwardly.

"Weclome everyone to another year at Hogwarts!" she tried to sound cheerful. "Before we get to business, I think we have a matter of filling ourselves to the brim!" She waved her hands as a signal for the food to appear on the golden platters.

Once the food had been cleaned from the tables Tonks stood up and took a deep breath and began to speak.

"As I said before welcome back to another year at Hogwarts! And for you new students, welcome to your first year at Hogwarts!" she smiled and looked around the room. "I know many of you must be wondering why the Headmistress isn't here tonight delivering the Welcome speech, but she got called away last night for buiness and she deligated the task to me. I think I should begin by introducing myself, and the new staff members. I am Professor Tonks. I will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Head of Gryffindor House. Down there is Professor Chang, she will be the new flying teacher." Tonks allowed Cho to present herself to the students. Now it was time to deal with the heavy stuff. Tonks took another deep breath, wishing she wasn't the one who had to do this.

"I know many of you are still saddened by the loss of Albus Dumbledore, but he would not want us to forget what he had taught us while he was here. We should not dwell too far into the past and forget to live, but also we need to use the past as a teaching tool for what lies ahead of us."  She paused again hoping that made some kind of sense.

"So, with that in mind there have been a few changes to the rules and the like for this year. Also please keep in mind that some of these rules were strongly encouraged by the Bord of Governers. Students strongly discourgaged from wandering around the grounds alone and without permission. Also the Forrest, like always is off limits to anyone. Please follow your cerfew, if you get caught out past cerfew you will get penilized. Going off grounds into Hogsmeade is forbidden as well..." Tonks looked at the faces and saw a wide range of emotion. Hopfully the next news would bring smiles to their faces.

"...Except on certain days in which fourth years and above will be allowed to vist the village on one afternoon." she listend the the confused, and excited mumblings thoughout the crowd. "We did raise the year up by one year, because we figured it was for the best. Also thoes eligible will be HEAVELY SUPERVISED to keep you safe. And with that said, I believe it is time to head on to your common rooms for a good nights sleep. If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to your Head of House. Sweet Dreams everyone." Tonks smiled and sat back down in her seat letting out a long breath. Poppy patted her back and smiled at her, telling her she did a good job.

Blaise did not say too much during the feast. He was busy absorbing the familiarity of the place. There was a warmth to it, even with so many students missing. He applauded with the others over the reinstatement of Hogsmeade weekends.

"Chang's back?" he murmured, when Tonks had finished. "They don't usually hire them right out of school. Must be getting desperate."

Promise had set herself reluctantly at the Gryffindor table simply because, but she'd forgotten most of her displeasure when the food appeared for she had something else to think about then. Charm had also gotten into a much better mood; in fact she was positively gleeful what with all the chicken present. Many of her favorite foods were around and anyone who knew her knew that the way to make Charm smile even in the foulest moods was to use food that she liked.

Upon dismissal Promise stood and looked at her watch then at the door. She had to go feed Eclipse. Thankfully she'd told McGonagall about her special project and was able to be out for purposes of feeding Eclipse. Winged horses were very finicky eaters and had strange quirks about it. Eclipse had to be fed at very specific times.

She decided she had time to go up to the common room with the rest of Gryffindor and change her clothes. She wasn't about to feed in her Hogwarts robes. As much as she didn't like them she wasn't too keen on the idea of smelling like manure in the morning.

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