"She's right, Ron, I've still got Potions, too," he said gloomily. Ron and Hermione both stared at him. 
                              
"You got an O in Potions?" she asked, incredibly.
                              
"Well, don't sound too surprised," Harry said, resentfully. 
                              
"Oh, no! Sorry, Harry! You did very well, I just didn't expect it," Hermione said, apologetically. Ron, however, said nothing. He was slightly in shock. 
                              
"It was a really hard exam Ron. Very few people get into Snape's class," Hermione said.
                              
"Yeah, I guess," he said, gloomily. 
                              
"But look we get to see Hagrid first, right after breakfast. Besides consider yourself lucky, you don't have to see Snape," Harry said, and then realizing he was stuck with Snape. 
                              
"Let's go we can talk to Hagrid before class starts, and ask him if he knows who's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione said, lifting up her bag. 
                              
Harry and Ron followed her out. Neither of them had mentioned his leg. He was relieved that they got the impression that he did not want to talk about it. They walked out of the entrance hall and out on to the grounds toward Hagrid's hut. He was outside in his garden, no doubt getting ready for Halloween. 
                              
"Hi, Hagrid!" they said as one.
                              
"Hallo! Couldn' wait ter tell yeh," he said excitedly and motioned them to follow him. 
                              
He walked behind the hut and revealed Buckbeak, who was untied and very happy.
                              
"Yah, 'em Ministry folks finally figure'd tha' Malfoy paid off tha' committee an' agreed tha' it was a mis'ap 'n justice an' all. An' pardoned 'im! I brought 'im back 'ere since, well... how yeh doin' Harry, an'..." Hagrid stopped.
                              
Hagrid finally noticed Harry's black eye.
                              
"Whasmatter wit ya? Where'd yeh git tha' black eye from? 'em Dursleys! Next time I see 'em..." Hagrid roared.
                              
"No Hagrid... Dudley and I got into a fight, that's it," Harry said, quickly.
                              
"Well, still I should give 'em a talkin' ter, still owe 'em from yer secon' year. An' blimey, Harry yeh look thin'er," Hagrid said.
                              
"A diet, don't worry I'm fine," Harry said, simply.
                              
"Well, ok," Hagrid said, absentmindedly.
                              
"What did you do this summer?" Hermione asked, desiring to change the subject.
                              
"Nothin' much, nothin' that yeh'd should be concerned wit," he said.
                              
"What about..." Hermione looked around. "...Grawp?"
                              
"O', he's doin' a lot bet'er, doesn' hit me no more, he's learnin' English pretty good," Hagrid said, but their classmates started crossing the lawn toward them, which ended their discussion. 
                              
Amazing almost everyone got an O.W.L.'s in Care of Magical Creatures, so they could continue it. Only Crabbe and Goyle did not, and Harry was surprised they even could come back. 
                              
Malfoy was shocked to see Buckbeak and went red when Hagrid told the class what happened. All the Gryffindors looked at Malfoy with ever-increasing dislike, even some of the Slytherins were not talking to him. Pansy Parkinson was completely avoiding him and even talking to Gryffindors rather than talking to him. Apparently, not all Slytherins were Death Eaters supporters, and similarly did not like the state of his shabby robes.
                              
Thankfully, they did not have any new animals. Hagrid went over the O.W.L.'s exam they took and reviewed some other materials that were not on the O.W.L.'s. Although it was a lovely lesson, meaning that no one got sting, burned, stabbed, slashed or bit during class, Hagrid promised them many interesting animals that they were going to study, including dragons. When Hagrid mentioned dragons, every single student looked completely terrified at the thought of dragons and Hagrid together. 
                              
Hagrid had tried to raise a dragon in their first year and as a result Ron got a poisonous bite, it almost cost Gryffindor the House Cup, and Hermione, Harry, Neville and Malfoy all got detention. Two years ago, Harry and the other Triwizard champions had to face dragons in their first tasks, and all of them were almost killed. Dragons were quite dangerous, which Hagrid would never admit.
                              
As they made their way back up to the castle, Ron was going over what he would do if Hagrid brought another dragon. 
                              
"... I've seen enough dragons to last me a lifetime! If he brings a dragon... I don't even care if he gets thrown in Azkaban, for bringing one..." Ron said, seriously disgruntled. "Dragons! What on earth was Charlie thinking?" 
                              
Ron's older brother Charlie was in Romania studying dragons. Harry and Hermione smiled, both of them shared Ron's feelings, but it was a form of entertainment to let him rant. They were through the doors, when Hermione remembered something.
                              
"Oh! We forgot to ask Hagrid about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Buckbeak just distracted me so much, that I forgot," she said.
                              
"Well, it's not as though we don't have the class right now that we won't find out," Harry said slightly irritated. 
                              
"Well, true," Hermione surrendered.
                              
"Hey, it could be Lupin!" said Ron hopefully.
                              
"I doubt it, most people still hold on to that pureblood nonsense. They are just paranoid. They aren't always a wolf," Hermione said, clearly showing her views on the subject. 
                              
"To right you are," Harry said and they walked up stairs and to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. 
                              
They walked in and looked around. Everybody was required to take this class, especially since Voldemort was alive and killing again. The need for protection was even greater. They took their seats toward the front, because they wanted to know who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was. Four of the five previous professors were, for the most part, Dark. Each by the end of the year had tried to hurt or kill Harry. It was actually amusing to Harry. He wondered if it would be five out of six. 
                              
Around the room, people were talking about who it could be. An Auror? Some kind Dark Arts expert? However, the one person that they should have thought about did not come up. He entered the door and they heard the ever-familiar voice, which silenced the class in an instant.
                              
"Settle down," he said needlessly as he walked into the room. 
                              
It seemed Harry had been wrong about Ron's schedule. He came to a halt right in front of Harry. He was smiling and his lip was curling as he stared down at him.
                              
"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts," he sneered, looking Harry dead in the eyes.
                              
After fifteen years of waiting, Snape had finally gotten his wish.