Course Selection

"Welcome to our new students." Dumbledore rose to his feet.

He spread his arms in a welcoming gesture, a radiant smile blooming across his face.

"Welcome to our old friends! Now, tuck in and enjoy!"

Delicious dishes descended from above, and the empty plates on the long tables magically filled with food.

They feasted on the delectable meal. Before long, the remaining food on the golden platters vanished, only to be replaced in an instant by desserts such as fruit pies, chocolate cakes, and orange pudding.

"Severus, I didn't see Avery." With his mouth full, Aber spoke indistinctly. "Why didn't he come to the start-of-term feast?"

At the other end of the long table, Mulciber, Regulus, and Crouch Jr. sat together, talking in low voices.

Snape could roughly guess why Avery was absent—and he himself was the cause.

He could only give Aber a vague reply. "I don't know either, but it is rather strange."

At last, the desserts too were cleared away, and the plates and goblets became spotless and gleaming once more.

At that moment, Dumbledore stood up again.

The noise in the Great Hall gradually died down.

"Please be quiet for a moment." Dumbledore looked at them all with a smile. "I must trouble you to listen to an old man's ramblings.

"I must remind everyone that students are not permitted to enter the Forbidden Forest beside the grounds. In addition, only students in their third year or above may visit Hogsmeade on weekends.

"More importantly, I am delighted to welcome Professor Wilhelmina Gradelan to our ranks this term. She will be teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."

Professor Grubbly-Plank?

Snape could not help looking up toward the staff table—

An elderly witch seated beside Dumbledore rose to her feet. Her chin was very prominent, and her gray-white hair was trimmed with meticulous precision.

Snape remembered that, in the original story, Professor Grubbly-Plank had replaced Hagrid as the substitute teacher for Care of Magical Creatures.

He had never expected her to teach them Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. Could she be Dumbledore's emergency replacement?

"Furthermore, I think most people in this hall know that a war is being fought outside Hogwarts.

"Voldemort and his followers are still stirring up trouble and harming the innocent."

Waves of fearful breathing rippled through the Great Hall.

Dumbledore waited a few seconds, then continued:

"The current situation is extremely dangerous. Please place the utmost importance on your personal safety and remain vigilant at all times.

"If you discover anything unusual or suspicious, report it to the school staff immediately.

"Well, it is getting late. Return to your dormitories. Rest well and prepare for tomorrow's classes."

The sounds of tables and chairs knocking together and scraping harshly filled the hall.

Everyone rose and left the Great Hall, heading for their dormitories.

In the familiar dormitory beneath the lake, Snape still did not see Avery.

His was the only bed without a trunk beside it.

Inside his open wardrobe, apart from a few old textbooks left over from the end of last term, there was nothing else.

Before falling asleep, Snape wondered whether Avery had dropped out because of this.

Would he join the Death Eaters ahead of time? And would that have any effect on the future?

At breakfast the next day, the ceiling of the Great Hall was a clear, brilliant blue, with wisps of pure white cloud drifting across it.

Today was the day for selecting classes.

After breakfast, they remained in their seats and waited.

"Let me see which classes you picked." Aber took Snape's application form.

"I need to make sure my choices mostly match yours. Otherwise, being the only Slytherin freak in the whole class would hardly be a pleasant experience."

He made several changes to his own application form, a smile appearing on his face. "Good thing I have you this year."

"Pah!" Snape could not help spitting at him.

Confirming sixth-year schedules was more complicated than before.

The heads of each House first had to ensure that every student's O.W.L. scores met the standard before allowing them to continue with the corresponding N.E.W.T.-level classes.

Before long, Professor Horace Slughorn waddled over from the staff table, his large belly leading the way.

"Hmm, Outstanding in Potions on your O.W.L.s." Slughorn lowered his head to compare Snape's application with his O.W.L. results. "You may continue taking my advanced class.

"As for the others, let me see... Outstanding in Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Acceptable in Care of Magical Creatures.

"Very good, Snape. Perhaps you want to become an Auror or a healer?"

"I haven't decided yet, sir. But I believe these subjects—Potions in particular—are precise sciences and marvelous arts worth becoming fascinated by and continuing to study."

Slughorn gave Snape a somewhat surprised look. He reached up to stroke his walrus-like silver-white beard, as though considering something.

"All right, next—" He handed the schedule back to Snape.

A few minutes later, Aber's schedule was arranged as well. In addition to the six subjects Snape was taking, he had also chosen Muggle Studies.

"We don't have class now." Aber looked at the schedule and said to Snape, "Our first class isn't until ten. I'm planning to go back to the common room for a while. What about you?"

"You go back yourself. I want to wander around alone. See you in the classroom later."

Throughout the summer, Snape had been thinking about something very important, and he could hardly wait to see it.

He climbed the stairs to the Seventh Floor of the castle, passed through the corridor, and stopped before a huge tapestry.

The tapestry depicted Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach Trolls to dance ballet.

Noticing Snape's arrival, the Troll stopped beating up the ballet instructor and turned to stare at him.

Snape quickly ran to both ends of the corridor to check whether anyone else was nearby.

Once he had confirmed that no one would see him, he walked from the window at one end of the blank wall toward the man-high vase at the other.

"I need a place to hide things... I need a place to hide things..."

After repeating it three times, a smooth door appeared in the blank wall.

Snape looked left and right for one final check, then cautiously grasped the brass handle and pulled the door open.

He quickly slipped sideways into the Room of Requirement and shut the door.

The birdsong from the castle vanished at once, leaving utter silence all around.

The place resembled a vast, shadowy cathedral, its towering walls formed from objects hidden away by generations of Hogwarts students.

Besides broken furniture piled all the way to the ceiling and Enchanted objects that had nearly lost their magic, there were dusty, filthy bottles containing Potions that had solidified long ago.

Old hats, cloaks, countless books, and rusted swords were all piled here carelessly.