Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Order Of The Phoenix Bashing [excluding Sirius].

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything you recognise.

Harry Potter-Black, Heir of Slytherin

Chapter 1

New Beginnings

Harry Potter has never been considered socially active, but his Uncle had impressed upon him the clear importance of social networking as soon as he arrived at the Express. He courteously greeted numerous well-bred families in the proper form, as he was taught.

He then proceeded towards the train, wishing above all else that Sirius had been able to see him to the train, but the Lord Black said he had to report for his new job, and couldn't make it. Harry sighed, and climbed up onto the train, his mokeskin-lined horntail leather trunk floating up effortlessly behind him.

After a few minutes of searching, the green-eyed Potter-Black heir found an empty compartment, and opened the door, stowed his trunk, then settled in for the 8 hour train journey ahead.

About 20 minutes later, when he'd just settled into his Cormoran Strike novel, a light rap at the door brought him back into the physical world. He looked up, and caught the eye of a young, brunette witch with wild hair. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and it looked as if she'd been recently crying. He stood up, setting his book aside after slipping a bookmark in, and slid the door across, smiling politely at the witch.

"Pardon me, but may I sit here? The last compartment were rather… rude." She said, hesitatingly, expecting rejection.

"Of course. Please, take a seat." Harry said, inviting her in before closing the door as she passed, returning to his own seat.

"Thank you, …."

"Black. Harrison Potter-Black." He responded, sensing the question in her tone.

"A pleasure. My name is Hermione. Hermione Granger."

"Ah, at last. The muggle-born genius Minerva told Sirius about." He thought to himself.

"Daughter of Drs Granger & Granger, I presume? Your parents are well-renowned in their field."

"How do you know about dentistry?" She inquired, seeming to forget her experience in the other compartment in light of this new, interesting person.

"Dentistry Today. Your father's article on Root Canals was a very interesting take on the classic surgery."

"Yes, I surmised that. But how do you know of it? I was told it wasn't a major field in the magical world."

"Ahh, of course. I live with my godfather and Uncle, the Lord Black, and our House Steward, Mr Lupin. They ensured I was brought up over both sides of the divide, so I found an interest in medicine. Dentistry Today is one of a few medical periodicals I subscribe to."

"But you're only 11, like me! How can you understand all that?"

"Because, Miss Granger, I have been being taught since I was four years old, and I had no intention of wasting time. I even brought my Laptop computer with me, so I can stay up to date with my Muggle lessons."

"How do you even plan on making that work? I read in Hogwarts: A History that the castle fries electronics."

"My mother was a Charms Mistress, she invented a charm which converts Muggle Batteries to run on Magic. If I recast it every winter break, it'll keep working indefinitely."

"Oh, Wow! I didn't even think that was possible!"

"Mhmm. She was a genius. The smartest witch of her generation."

"Incredible. So, you plan on doing your normal lessons alongside your magical ones?"

Harry nods, before showing her a slim journal, bound in brown leather.

"This was her journal. She wrote all her spells in here, and the theories behind them. I hope to finish her last one in my time at Hogwarts. It's a spell to make vehicles with internal combustion engines run on magic alone, and it's very in-depth."

Hermione nods, awestruck, thinking of all the possibilities.

Their trip continued in the same vein for the next hour or so, neither noticing the train departing the station, nor leaving London.

When they were well underway, their discussion of non-magical technology was interrupted by a hissing sound coming from Harry's jacket. Hermione turned to him questioningly, and said:

"Harry, what's that noise?"

"Oh, that'll be Nio. She'll have woken up, finally."

Harry reached into his jacket and withdrew a long black snake, which raised its head and hissed at him again, when, to Hermione's surprise, Harry hissed back, and set the snake on the bench next to him.

"Harry, you can talk to snakes?!"

"Oh, sorry. That was impolite of me. Nio, Hermione. Hermione, this is Nio, my familiar. I can speak to her because I am a parselmouth."

"Isn't that a dark magic talent?"

"Depends on your interpretation of Dark Magic, Hermione. If you use the original definition, which is magic to harm someone, it isn't, no."

"Interesting. So, how did you meet Nio?"

"My uncle bought her for me for my eleventh birthday."

"But snakes aren't on the list of allowed pets at Hogwarts."

"No, Hermione. Not unless you have written permission from a member of the Hogwarts Board of Directors. Like my Uncle, for example."

"So your Uncle gave you permission to have the pet he bought you? That hardly seems fair."

"Fair? No. But it's the way the wizarding world works, I'm sad to say. I'd have to leave Nio home to get depressed and pine otherwise, and I couldn't do that."

"Oh. Then I suppose it makes sense."

Harry nods, and they resume their earlier conversation, Nio occasionally interjecting, with Harry translating her speech for Hermione.

The next break in their discussion of Magical Theory (Which, to be honest, was more Harry teaching Hermione the basics of the subject) was when a blonde boy, who looked about their age, entered the compartment and said:

"They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

To which, Harry stood up, smoothed off his jacket, and responded:

"Heir Malfoy, we've known each other for long enough. Drop the act, I trust this one."

Draco's sneer disappeared, changing for a more friendly smile, and he smiles at them both. He then turns to Hermione, and inclines his head, greeting her by saying:
"Draco Malfoy, Heir Malfoy. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss…"

"Granger. Hermione Granger. Pleased to meet you too, Draco Malfoy."

Harry smiled and invited Draco to sit with them, to which he responded he needed to send Crabbe & Goyle back to their compartment and grab his journal, but he would return shortly. With that, he left, headed to his own compartment.

When Draco returned, he petted Nio fondly, before taking a seat by Hermione, looking to Harry inquisitively.
"It's ok Draco. I trust her with our mission. She won't spill our secrets, will you?" Harry responded to Draco, looking back at Hermione at the end.

"Of course not, Harry. I've just made my first friends and I don't plan on losing them as soon as I find them." She responded, seeming to take affront at the idea.

"See, Draco. Loyal already. She'll make an excellent asset to our team. I'll just need to write our liege for permission to bring her in. So, Hermione, you'll have to trust me until I can divulge the secret to you." Harry looks apologetic, but then follows this statement with the following:
"However, I'll contact him now."

He then stands up, and takes his trunk down, opening it, taking another journal, this one looking almost identical to Draco's. He sits down again, and takes a pen out his pocket, writing out a quick message in it, then closes it and sets it on the table.
"And now, we just wait. This is similar to the idea of a SMS messaging service, Hermione. It allows us all to keep in contact with each other. I'll get you one as soon as possible."

"So that journal is a mobile phone?"

"In essence, yes." Draco joins the conversation, and explains the basic idea to her.
"So, you open it to a blank page, and write the name of the other person to contact at the top. In this case, I'll contact Harry." He writes Harry's full name down on the top of the page. "And now, we write the message." He writes 'Test, Test.' Harry's notebook then flashes green, and he opens it, showing the message to Hermione, which was a clone of the page in Draco's.

"So, who invented this then?" Hermione asked, curious.

"My Uncle and his business partner." Harry responded.
"Their company, 'Marauders, Inc.' is responsible for a lot of modern wizarding technology. My mother also worked for them when she was with us."

With that, Harry's journal flashed blue twice, and he immediately picked it up, reading the message. "Our lord says it's fine, if I trust her she can be brought up to speed."

"Up to speed on what?"

"Our plot to overthrow the corrupt Ministry and remove Dumbledore from his manipulative position."

A/N: After the longest Hiatus ever, I'm back! I've practiced my writing a lot, and have finally decided to start new stories! Hopefully, over the coming months, my updates will settle into a weekly upload schedule. Thanks y'all, be great people!

P.S. Both my old stories have been deleted – they are embarrassingly bad.