Hogwarts Card Drawer

So they trudged forward on this deserted dark path along the tracks that the carriage had just made.

Harry looked under the cloak to see Tonks standing by the gate. Last year she was so inquiring (sometimes to the point of being a little annoying), so laughing, so funny.

But now she is much older, and looks more serious and determined. Is this all because of what's going on in the Ministry of Magic? Harry thought uncomfortably that Hermione had asked him to say something reassuring to Tonks about Sirius, that it hadn't been her fault at all, but he couldn't.

He didn't blame her for Sirius' death at all; she wasn't any more wrong than anyone else (not even Harry himself), but he just wanted to avoid talking about Sirius as much as possible.

Harry had always traveled this distance in a carriage before, so Harry never realized how far it was from Hogsmeade Station to Hogwarts.

Harry was relieved when he finally saw the tall pillars flanking the school gate (each with a winged boar on top). He was cold and hungry, eager only to leave this new, gloomy Tonks behind. But when Harry reached out to push the door, he found that the door had been locked with a chain.

"Alahoo!" Harry said confidently, pointing his wand at the padlock, but nothing happened.

"That doesn't work on these," Chronos said. "Dumbledore must have enchanted them himself."

Harry looked around.

"I can go over the wall," he offered.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to turn it over," Kronos said weakly. "They've all been charmed against invasion. The security of the school has increased a hundredfold this summer."

"Well then," Harry began to feel a little annoyed at Tonks, who couldn't help him, "I guess I'll just have to sleep here until tomorrow morning."

"Someone will come and get us," Chronos said. "Look."

A lantern appeared in the far corner of the castle, moving up and down. Harry was so pleased that he felt he could stand even a clichéd beating from Filch for his procrastination, or a growling threat to improve his punctuality with a thumbtack.

It wasn't until the yellow light was only ten feet away from the two of them, and he had removed his invisibility cloak and reappeared, that Harry noticed the glinting aquiline nose and the long, greasy black hair. Severus Snape, a wave of pure disgust rushed to his forehead.

"Yes, yes, yes," Snape said with a sneer, taking out his wand and tapping on the padlock, the chain slid down like a snake, and the door creaked open. "Glad to see you here, Potter, but it's clear you feel that wearing school robes would detract from your looks."

"Chronos wasn't in time for the back-to-term feast, like Potter here, so I took it for him. By the way," Snape stepped aside to let Harry in, "my new guardian to you God is interested."

Snape slammed the door shut in Chronos's face, and with another wave of his wand, the chains slid back into their original positions.

"I think your old one was better," Snape said with unmistakable malice in his voice. "The new ones look useless."

Snape didn't speak for about a minute. Harry felt waves of hatred welling up in him, so intense that Snape didn't feel them burning him, which seemed strange.

Harry hated Snape from the first time he met him, but Snape's attitude towards Sirius was such that Harry could never forgive him. Regardless of what Dumbledore said, Harry still thought about it all summer and came to the conclusion that when Snape said that other members of the Order of the Phoenix were fighting Voldemort,

This dastardly comment that Sirius was safe in hiding was a big factor in Sirius' storming into the Ministry of Magic on the day of his death.

Harry held on to this view, because it made him feel better that he could blame Snape for his fault, and also because he knew that if anyone wasn't sorry for Sirius' death, it was the right guy next to him. A man who strides in the dark.

"I think fifty points should be deducted from Gryffindor for being late," Snape said. "And, let me see, you deserve another twenty points off for your Muggle attire. You know, I don't believe any house has a negative mark this early in the term - we haven't even started eating yet. Pudding. You may set another record, Potter."

The rage and hatred in Harry's heart seemed to be burning hot, but he would rather freeze in the train back to London than tell Snape why he was late.

"I guess you might want to go in, don't you?" Snape went on. “Without flying cars, you think breaking into an auditorium in the middle of a party should be a hit.”

Harry remained silent, even though his lungs were about to explode. He knew that Snape's purpose in picking him up was to prod and torture him for a few minutes without being heard.

They reached the castle steps at last, and when the oaken doors were swung open to reveal the hall with its myriad banners, there was a burst of chatter and laughter and the clang of cups and plates from the open doors of the Great Hall.

Harry wondered if he could slip on the Invisibility Cloak so he could sneak up to his seat at the Gryffindor table (which was farthest from the foyer, troublesomely) without being noticed.

But Snape, as if reading his mind, said, "No cloaks. You can have everyone see you walk in, and I'm sure that's the way you want it."

Harry immediately strode straight towards the open door: he would do anything to get rid of Snape.

There were four long house tables in the great hall, and a staff table at the far end of the house, and the ceiling was decorated, as before, with suspended candles, making the tableware below sparkle.

But to Harry it was a blur of light, because he was walking so fast that people hadn't really started to notice him when they passed the Hufflepuff table, and when they started to get up and try to When he glanced at him, he found Ron and Hermione, so he walked quickly along the bench towards them, and squeezed his way between them to sit down.

As for Chronos, he followed Professor Snape and walked towards the staff table, but this time Professor Snape was no longer on the right side of Chronos, but was replaced by Chrono With Horace, his godfather, it seems that Professor Snape has finally got his dream job.