Slowly, the castle came into view. Images came flooding into Harry's brain.

Tonks, walking him back to Hogwarts after finding him on the train with a broken nose.

Dumbledore, flying with him up to the Astronomy tower.

With Ron, in second year, when they crashed into the whomping willow.

And, now, his final year. One more year, and then who knows what. Harry had no idea what he was going to do after this.

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They sat down in the Great Hall, Harry next to Neville, and Ron and Hermione across from them. Ginny was on Harry's other side. They were still friends, after all.

The sorting began. Harry remembered his sorting; he had almost been put in Slytherin. He watched as child after child got sorted. When the sorting ended, Professor McGonagall stood up. She was the new headmaster.

"Welcome back students. And first years, welcome to Hogwarts. I know your all excited to be back, but please keep in mind that certain areas of the school are still under construction. They are temporarily blocked of for your safety until further notice. Before the feast begins, I would like to ask all eighth years to stay back after dinner. Now, you all must be famished, so, let the feast begin."

Food appeared, lining the four tables. Harry hardly noticed, not that he was hungry anyway. After Hermione had filled her plate, she began piling foods onto Harry's plate.

"Hermione, I'm not hungry."

"Nonsense Harry. You have to eat."

Harry stared down at the now full plate of food. He felt sick just looking at it all. Harry shook his head, and pushed his plate slightly forward.

Across the hall, Draco was sitting with the other Slytherin eighth years. There were only four who actually came. Pansy, Blaise, himself, and a guy named Theodore Nott. He was quite nice, actually. The other three engaged in conversation, but Draco was watching Potter. He wasn't eating. Draco frowned.

Pansy noticed Draco staring, and followed his gaze. She smirked when she saw he was watching Potter. Draco had liked Potter since third year. She still remembered the day he burst into the common room, freaking out about having feelings for Potter.

"Draco, I know Potter looks great and all, but maybe instead of him, you could eat your dinner," she smirked, feeling satisfied when he turned red and grabbed the green apple off his plate.

"Shut up Pansy," he muttered before taking a bite of the apple.

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After dinner, the eighth years stayed back, as told. Professor McGonagall stood yet again, addressing the students.

"Due to these unusual circumstances, we have had to make a few adjustments. The eighth years will have their own dorm, and take classes together. However, you are still in your separate houses, so house points can still be taken and given. If you would follow me, I can show you to your dorm, and we'll go from there."

They followed McGonagall through the castle to their new dorm. They stopped when they got to a portrait of a wizard with long, chocolate brown hair. The man had an even longer beard, braided all the way down to his waist. The headmaster said the password, and the portrait door opened. The students filed into the room, looking around as they did.

The common room had three long desks spread out along the back wall. There was a fireplace, with two sofas facing it at a slight angle. One wall was entirely made of books, seeing as the wall itself was a bookshelf. Everything was neutral colors, nothing bright like their previous common rooms. There were two hallways, one leading to the boy's dormitories, the other to the girl's.

"Alright, these will be your roommates for the year. Potter and Longbottom," Neville and Harry high-fived at this, causing McGonagall to glare at them before continuing. "Malfoy and Nott, Zabini and Weasley, Thomas and Finnigan..." she proceeded to read off the names until finished for everyone.

"...and finally," she called, "Parkinson and Granger." Hermione's mouth dropped. She looked over at Pansy, who looked just as shocked. This year was certainly going to be interesting.

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