Hogwarts: The Hidden Serpent - BOOK 2 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

1: A New Year

It was nearing the end of the holidays and I was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. The last year had been the most exciting of my life, with many new experiences changing my perspective. I could only imagine what I was in for in my second year.

I was going to Diagon Alley to collect all my new school stuff. Last years DADA Teacher was sacked, in a way, so everyone was really excited to see who the new one was. The list of our books included every single Gilderoy Lockhart book you could get so we were all guessing it was a witch. Unfortunately, those books were well out with my budget so I couldn't even buy one of them. Well, that was if I wanted to buy my other school supplies as well. I just hoped whoever the teacher was, they would be sympathetic.

Gilderoy Lockhart had written books on encounters with magical creatures, including werewolves. I was one of the few who had never read his books, and I wouldn't have even thought about it if they weren't on the list.

Remus left me and I stepped into Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop, to find Nico, Harry, Hermione and Ron all inside.

'Gilderoy Lockhart is doing book signings!' Hermione said looking excited as I cut in the queue to get to them.

'Yay...' I said sarcastically and Hermione glared at me, 'I can't even afford those books, Hermione. I'm just here to get the ones for our other classes, so I hope whoever our teacher is doesn't mind me sharing.'

'Oh...' Hermione looked embarrassed.

'Don't worry about it, I'm used to it,' I sighed, 'People think I'm rich because I'm a Black, little do they know I can't get access to that vault. Not unless someone thinks to tell my father that he can give me permission.'

'Hello everyone, it is I, Gilderoy Lockhart...' said Lockhart but I started talking to Nico, so I never heard what he said next.

Harry was pulled to the front and Lockhart announced he was going to be our new DADA Teacher. Nico's mouth was open in horror and Hermione dropped her books on my foot.

'Ow!' I cried as about twenty books hit my foot. Talk about adding insult to injury, every single book was one of Lockhart's.

'Sorry!' Hermione said, picking up the books but still looking at Lockhart dreamily.

I shook my head and instead of waiting for Lockhart, I just bought the books I could and limped out. I was grumbling under my breath, complaining about Hermione and her stupid books. I could have sworn I had broken my toe. Harry and the rest came outside as well and Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin boy who was enemies with all of us, appeared.

'Look, the famous Harry Potter can't even walk into a bookshop without making the front page.' he said looking at Harry with pure loathing.

'Now, now Draco,' said Lucius Malfoy, his father.

He looked at me and glared and I quickly walked out with Nico and we had a laughing fit. Last year, I had punched Draco on the nose and Lucius was absolutely fuming. He still made me uneasy though, and I found it best just to try and ignore it.

'What's so funny?' asked Remus, stepping out of Gringott's Bank with a smaller pouch than usual. The school run had drained our supplies yet again.

'Oh... nothing!' I said, my face falling slightly. Remus was too proud to admit how much we were struggling.

A couple of days later it was time to leave for Hogwarts. I stepped on the train and found Nico. We were chatting when Hermione came bursting in. She looked frantic and I shrunk into the corner of the compartment to avoid her flailing hands.

'Have you seen Ron or Harry!?' she said looking worried, 'The train is about to leave!'

We both shook our heads and peered out the window. Mr and Mrs Weasley were looking around anxiously which confirmed our suspicions. Harry and Ron were missing and were about to miss the train, otherwise known as the only transport to Hogwarts.

At that moment the Hogwarts Express started moving and Hermione started pacing. This was really annoying considering there was absolutely no room in the compartment for pacing so I quickly lost patience.

'They will find a way to get here!' I said, trying to mask my annoyance, 'They always do, so sit down!'

With that Hermione sat down and we had a pretty enjoyable journey. We spoke about everything other than Harry and Ron, and had a Bertie Bott's straight face competition. Hermione didn't partake, but she laughed at us as we tried our hardest to not give away what we were eating. Her laughter was especially loud at my beetroot red face as I ate a chilli bean.

We arrived at Hogwarts and sat down to see the first years getting sorted but there was still no sign of them.

I was looking through one of the windows and I saw them looking in. Snape suddenly appeared behind them and they disappeared. I told Hermione and she was worried they would get expelled. I shared that fear but didn't let on. Snape wasn't just going to let it go, he would make the lives of both of them as miserable as possible.

'Come on! They are not going to expel Harry Potter!' said Nico and Hermione calmed down a bit.

After the feast, everyone had heard what happened. Ron and Harry had flown a car to Hogwarts and it had landed in the Whomping Willow, an old tree that would smash anything that came near enough.

Everyone was waiting in the common room to see if Harry and Ron would arrive and they did, not to anyone's surprise. As Nico had said, they wouldn't just expel Harry Potter. It was a ridiculous suggestion.

After a few hours of waiting up, they arrived and everyone was asking them questions about their adventure. Me, Hermione and Nico went straight up to bed instead though. We couldn't be bothered hearing it. We didn't understand why they didn't just take the train in the first place, we were under the impression it was attention seeking. They had ended last year with a bang so probably felt they had to continue it into this year.

Hermione and I talked for a while but, when the rest of the girls came, we went to sleep. We were in for a busy day with classes starting, so we didn't want to get up too late.