A moment later he called out "Stop!" a little too loudly for his liking, but thankfully the general noise in the hall drowned it out for most people.
"What's the matter?" asked Geoffrey.
"Nobody touch the treacle tart," said Harry "I don't know what's in it, but it can't be anything good. Everything else is fine."
"Isn't that, like, your absolute favourite dessert?" asked Katie.
Harry gave her a pointed look, to which her eyes widened and she let out a soft "Oh" of comprehension.
Harry took one on the red napkins off of the table and collected a piece of treacle tart in it.
He then conjured up a small paper bag and charmed it to be unbreakable and impervious to liquids before slipping the napkin covered slice of tart inside and sealing it shut. He then slipped it into a pocket on the inside of his robes.
He looked around him and gave a nervous looking Katie a wink before helping himself to a bowl of chocolate ice cream.
Before long the feast was over, and Dumbledore was standing up once again in order to make his start of term speech.
"Now that we are all fed and watered, I would like to just take a few moments to go through the usual start of term notices before we all head off to our beds for the night. First years please note that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to all students, and some of our older students could do with remembering that too.
"As usual Mr Filch the Caretaker has asked me to remind you all that magic is not permitted to be used in the school corridors. There is also a list of items that are banned from the castle, and the full list can be found fixed to the door of Mr Filch's office, which is located just off of the Entrance Hall.
"And finally we have two changes in staffing this year. The lovely, pink haired young woman sitting between Professor Snape and Professor Trelawney is Professor Tonks. She has just recently completed her training to become an Auror and has kindly consented to assist us here at Hogwarts by taking on the challenging position of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Good luck, Professor."
Tonks stood, gave a polite bow and then sat back down.
The students applauded her quite loudly, with many of the older boys being the most vocal. Fred and George Weasley in particular made a spectacle of themselves by wolf-whistling loudly and unabashedly.
Harry had to agree that she was rather easy on the eyes, especially when compared to most of the other female members of staff. But he had to remember that she was one of Dumbledore's followers, so he would really need to watch himself around her.
Once the noise died down, Professor Dumbledore continued "And the woman in the pink cardigan sitting between Professor McGonagall and Professor Sinistra is Professor Umbridge, who has agreed to take leave from her job in the Minister's office at the Ministry of Magic in order to teach History of Magic after Professor Binns decided that it was time for him to pass on."
The applause that followed was not as loud as the one that Tonks received, but it was certainly louder than Harry had expected. It seemed that a few people were looking forward to seeing what History of Magic lessons would be like when they were not taught by a ghost with a monotone voice.
Dumbledore continued "Try-outs for the house Quidditch teams will take place on-"
"Hem, hem."
Dumbledore broke off and turned towards Professor Umbridge. Given that she was so short it was not immediately clear that she had gotten to her feet, but as she began to walk out from behind the staff table, it became apparent that she was intending to make a speech.
'Not now!' thought Harry 'Wait for Dumbledore to finish first. Interrupting him only gives everyone a bad impression.'
As she walked along the front of the head table, Professor Umbridge began her speech "Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. I must confess that it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts again, and seeing so many bright and happy faces looking up at me. I'm sure that we are all going to be very good friends."
Harry cringed. She was patronising them. That was just about the worst thing she could be doing.
Already she had lost the attention of about as fifth of the students, and Harry found his own attentiveness ebbing away.
Professor Umbridge went on to talk a great deal about the importance of education, of passing skills and traditions down through to the next generation. Then something warning against progress just for the sake of progress, followed by something like "preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and pruning practices that ought to be prohibited."
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