Dumbledore rose, and the Great Hall went instantly quiet.
He didn't open with a joke this time. His brilliant blue eyes, reflecting the churning storm clouds overhead, looked unusually deep.
"Welcome back to Hogwarts."
His voice wasn't loud. It carried anyway.
"And welcome to our new members."
A small nod toward the first-years, and then his tone shifted. His expression turned serious in a way none of them had quite seen before.
"Some events this summer, I believe, have reached the ears of everyone in this room."
Every breath in the hall seemed to stop.
"They have reminded us," Dumbledore said slowly, "in the most unwelcome way possible, that darkness has never truly gone away. It is merely lying dormant. Waiting. We must stand together, remain vigilant, and become stronger."
His gaze swept the four house tables with a weight that felt almost physical.
Almost instinctively, as if pulled by some invisible current, every eye drifted to the far end of the Slytherin table.
Crabbe and Goyle were hunched in their seats.
They were heavier than last term, but the extra weight had a puffy, unhealthy quality to it , the kind that came from eating without thinking, living without moving. Both had their heads down, doing their best to disappear into their robes, clumsily sawing at the steaks on their plates.
Their fathers had been identified as rioters during the World Cup disturbance. They were serving their sentences in Azkaban now, in cells that didn't get warm.
That news had spread the entire length of the Hogwarts Express like a plague.
From the Gryffindor table, several undisguised, hostile stares cut across the room like arrows.
The Ravenclaw students were murmuring to one another, analyzing every small movement with the detached curiosity of someone dissecting a magical creature.
Most of the Hufflepuff students had looked away. They despised what the fathers had done , but they also felt it wasn't right to pin that onto the children. Even if the two of them had never exactly been model students.
Draco Malfoy sat not far from them.
His back was perfectly straight. His blond hair caught the candlelight with a cold, hard gleam.
But without seeming to think about it, he shifted his body an inch away from Crabbe and Goyle.
It was a clear, deliberate severance, laced with contempt.
As if their misfortune were some contagious disease he didn't want to catch.
Douglas took all of it in.
He noticed Severus Snape's lips pressing into a thinner, sharper line. The knuckles around his goblet had gone white.
Dumbledore seemed to have expected this. He let the silence breathe for a moment, giving everyone time to settle, then raised his voice.
"To meet whatever challenges may come, Hogwarts will undergo a series of reforms. The most significant of these is the formal establishment and operation of the Academic Affairs Office."
He turned and gestured with one hand.
Sirius Black stood up.
He was wearing a well-cut black robe. His famously unruly hair had been tamed , somewhat. Still wild, but less chaotic, carrying just a hint of gravity it hadn't had before.
He walked to the front and let his gaze travel over the whole hall with an expression that was difficult to name , part mischievous triumph, part genuine weight of responsibility.
"Good evening, you lot."
He grinned, flashing a mouthful of white teeth.
Professor McGonagall coughed sharply beside him.
"Right, right. Good evening, students."
Sirius cleared his throat.
"As the Headmaster said — the Academic Affairs Office is officially open!"
"I suspect some of you were hoping for a change of management over the summer. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. I am still the Director. Sirius Black. You may call me Director Black."
A wave of suppressed laughter rolled through the older students , everyone wanting to smile, no one quite daring to.
"Our job, put simply, is to make sure you study hard and improve every day while you're at Hogwarts. It is also to make sure that anyone who has no intention of studying hard receives the kind of individual attention they deserve."
He glanced meaningfully at the Gryffindor table. At the Weasley twins specifically.
Fred and George wiped their grins off immediately and sat up straight.
Sirius wasn't just their Academic Affairs Director anymore. He was also the sales manager for their product line. He had authority over their studies and a grip on their economic lifeline.
They had to behave.
"This year, the Academic Affairs Office will take full control of discipline, extracurricular activities, and portions of examination administration. Speaking of examinations..."
Sirius drew a roll of parchment from his robes.
"Those of you who had a bit too much fun this summer — your good days are over. The B-Paper exams begin tomorrow and run for one week. The Academic Affairs Office will be overseeing all of it."
A chorus of groans filled the hall.
"The invigilators will include myself, our four Academic Affairs staff members, and..." Sirius paused, milking it, "our newly appointed Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Office — Professor Alastor Moody."
The words had barely left his mouth when the great doors slammed open.
A man stood framed in the doorway, the howling wind at his back making his silhouette look impossibly solitary.
He came in on a staff, dragging one leg behind him, THUMP, THUMP, every hollow footstep landing like a hammer on something inside people's chests.
A bolt of lightning split the enchanted ceiling at exactly the right moment, throwing his face into sharp, pale relief.
It was a face that looked like rotten wood attacked by an axe. Skin mapped over with scars in every direction. A nose with a significant chunk missing.
But the eyes were what stopped the room.
One was small and dark, like a beetle's.
The other was enormous , disproportionately, almost grotesquely large , vivid electric blue, round as a saucer, spinning in its socket completely independent of the other, sweeping across every corner of the hall in restless, searching arcs.
The corner of Douglas's mouth lifted slightly. A greeting.
He was here.
The Death Eater wearing Moody's face. The time bomb Dumbledore had planted and placed right alongside him.
Though it wasn't certain yet whether this was all playing out exactly as it had in the original history.
The man hobbled to the staff table. Dumbledore indicated the empty seat beside Sirius. He dropped into it, pulled a battered hip flask from his cloak, unscrewed the cap, took a long pull , and said nothing, utterly indifferent to the silence pressing in around him from every direction.
Sirius seemed perfectly pleased with this entrance. Now this was how the Academic Affairs Office was supposed to arrive. Commanding the room before saying a single word.
He rolled on.
"During the exam period, students who aren't sitting tests won't be sitting idle. Professor Lupin will lead physical training for the first-years."
Remus Lupin rose and smiled warmly at the students.
"All other years will assemble at the Quidditch pitch each morning. The Academic Affairs Office has arranged a full week of lectures for you."
Another wave of cheering swept through the hall. Going up against Aurors last term had been one of the best things to happen to them , they'd been talking about it all summer.
"The lecture series will cover: Law and Order at the Ministry of Magic, presented by officials from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Coexistence with Muggle Society, delivered by specialists from the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. And naturally, senior Aurors from the Auror Headquarters will walk you through practical combat safety protocols..."
With every item on the list, the students' smiles got a little wider.
➤ Next: The Academic Affairs Office's Iron-Fisted Rule, Filch Ecstatic: My Era Has Come!
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