When the times change

The Grand Feast

A/N : You know what? I almost missed to add this one. Look; Harry Potter and it's characters do not belong to me. Oh, Kevin might belong to me as he is one of my creations. I'm not saying it is mine.. So, yeah. I hope you enjoy the story.

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Harry Potter walked in middle of his friends to the Great Hall. To his left was Ronald Weasley :a red-head, pureblood wizard; and to his right was Hermione Granger : an intelligent, muggle-born witch. The three Gryffindors walked to their table and seated themselves ; to start their new year at Hogwarts : their 8th year...

He sat there and spent a few moments to take it all in. Two months back, the castle had been a total wreck. So was his mind.

F L A S H B A C K

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After the Final Battle, Harry was worried to see the castle in a very sorry state. The Gryffindor tower was almost destroyed ; he feared he might not even see the way he used to. But, thanks to the castle itself. The accumulated magic of students and teacher due to hundreds of years of teaching was relieved to be freed off. In other words, it rebuilt itself.

After killing Voldemort, Harry went straight to the Shrieking Shack to take Snape's body. But when he reached there, he was rooted to the spot at the sight before him.

Snape's body looked like as if someone else positioned it. It was much different from how he left it to be. Maybe, Hermione and Ron must've came and tried to do something. There's no way the man could be alive. He saw Snape's life leave through his own eyes.

He briefly considered consulting Madame Pomfrey or anyone at all to help him but decided against it. He wanted to do it all by himself. So that no one would hear his cries. His apologises. How sorry he was and it was his fault that the man died.

And it was that decision that in turn saved Snape's life.

As Harry crouched down to look at the man for the "last time", he was surprised as a flash of pain flashed across Snape's face and took a raspy breath which sounded like a gurgle. Harry didn't waste a second ; he leviated Snape to the Great Hall where the injured were being treated.

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E N D   O F   F L A S H B A C K

Now the man was sitting on the Staff table, talking quietly to Professor- no, Headmistress McGonagall. Hushed whispers of students filled the whole room. The Hall went quiet as the main doors opened to reveal a few terrified first-years along with Hagrid.

Professor Vector brought a stool and placed the Sorting Hat on top of it. One by one, she called the new children, who looked deathly pale. Having nothing better to do, Harry counted the number of students who went to each house. He was very surprised to see that only one of them went to Slytherin.

Probably from one of the forced followers of Voldemort. Harry thought.

As soon as the last child got sorted to Hufflepuff (Johnson, Mary!) , McGonagall stood up and clapped for attention.

"Good evening to one and all. Older students, welcome back. New students, I welcome you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Last year had indeed been a tough time for all of us. But, just like all good thing should come to an end, all bad things too, should end.

Now that the war ended and the castle has rebuilt itself, I saw no reason to not open the school just like every year.

Now, I don't want to make it too long. The Dark Forest is still out of boundaries to all students. Mr. Filch has kindly asked me to inform that all products of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes are banned. You'll get your timetables tomorrow morning during breakfast.

  I know all of you are eager to to eat and sleep, "- she pointedly looked at Ron who turned a lovely shade of pink -" before we begin the Feast, I have one more announcement to make.

This year, I'm pleased to inform you that we have found a (hopefully) permanent Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. Yes, that means Professor Snape will go back to teaching Potions, Mr. Finnigan. And 1 point from Gryffindor for indirectly mocking a teacher.

Students, please welcome Professor Kevin Lockhart, your new DADA teacher. "

Harry gaped.

Lockhart? Surely I must've misheard his name...

As if reading his mind, Hermione piped in.

"I don't think you misheard his name, Harry. But I sincerely hope he's not like the one in our second year.. "

She gave a shudder and looked back at the Staff table. Lockhart rose from his seat and bowed at the students, then sat back. But for the wildest moment, Harry thought the man looked at him. Thinking he was seeing things, Harry proceeded to take a roll from the platter that appeared in front of them not a long time ago.

He laughed and talked with his friends, trying to ignore the hairs standing on the back of his neck. Kevin looked like a nice man; he too was chatting and smiling at his colleagues whenever Harry looked at him. But deep down, for some weird reason, he got a feeling that he didn't like the new professor at all.

So did Severus Snape.

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A/N : Hello dear readers! Do tell me how it is so far! I hope this satisfies ya'll. Right now, I don't know how this will turn out. But if you have any recommendations, feel free to suggest!  'Til the next time we meet, peace!✌🏻

P. S : Reviews are more than welco- NeVerMind!