Hello Reader's and welcome to another chapter of The Breaker's Apprentice. At the time I am writing this I currently have 4 reviews, 16 Favs, and 17 Follows. Wow, I was not expecting so much so quickly. I'll be addressing reviews at the end of this chapter. Anyways, here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.
I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Sadly.
Chapter 3: Back to Hogwarts
During the last few days at the Burrow, there was a visible tension between Harry and Hermione. While Ron had been able to talk Hermione into not storming out of the place, she was still furious with Harry over sending some of his blood to Sirius, even though she didn't say anything. When the other members of the Burrow tried to talk to one of them and ask what the problem was, Harry said that they had gotten into an argument over his schoolwork, while Hermione simply turned her nose up and started to read a book.
The tension between the two of them was bad enough that they had even gone as far as skipping breakfast to not be in each other's presence. This continued even to September 1st, the day where they would all be heading back to Hogwarts. With the thought of seeing Sirius again firmly in his mind, Harry had packed his things the night before and was eagerly waiting in Ron's room for someone to come and get him so they could leave.
~I hope that Sirius is doing better then the last time I saw him,~ Harry thought as he waited. ~Though, if he is in contact with Dumbledore like his letter implied, then he probably is doing better. I have so many questions to ask him, like if he could use my blood because we are related. Where he is living now that he is back in England. And where he was staying before he came back.~ Drawing himself out of his thoughts, he looked around cautiously for a minute before bringing his wand out of his pocket.
Ever since Sirius had informed him that he could get away with magic, Harry had been doing various little things when he could get away with it to make the days easier. From casting simple charms to dry himself off after he finished bathing, to carefully packing his trunk with it when everyone else was asleep. While he felt a thrill whenever he had used his magic, even for the simple things, he hadn't gotten anything like how he felt when he first used the magic to draw out his blood. Though he was curious as to why he felt that way, he pushed it off for something he could ask Sirius later.
With nobody in the room to see him, and boredom starting to take him over as he waited for someone to come and get him, Harry began to cast a few simple spells for his own amusement. What started with some basic color change charms on the orange room, turned to Harry thinking back over all the spells he knew to redecorate the room. By the time he had finished, the room was now a mixture of bright green and yellow colors. The legs of the bedside tables and the beds had been switched, making the tables low to the ground with the bed's higher up. The pillows had been transfigured into turtles, with the beds being frozen solid.
Smiling at his work, having relieved some of his stress while doing so, Harry was ready to start making things back to normal when the door to the room suddenly opened.
"Hey there Harry it's time to," were the first words out of one of the twins, Fred's mouth before he paused to look around the changed room. A smile was slowly be growing on his face as he looked around, and finally, his eyes rested on Harry, who was frozen with surprise, his wand still out. "Well, it seems like George and I weren't the only ones to figure out the secret to using magic over summer. I have to admit, this is a rather impressive prank for having so little time."
"Hang on a second," Harry said, finally out of his shocked state. "You two knew we could use magic as well?"
"Of course we did," Fred said with a smirk. "How do you think we managed to make those Fake Wands, or the Ton-Tongue Toffee? While we had to use potions on some of it, we also had to use transfiguration to make the stuff, and charms to bind it all together. Of course, it was a process getting it all done. We're just glad that mum took the constant explosions coming from our room to just be us messing around and not us doing magic."
"Oh," Harry said meekly. "I guess that makes sense. I can't believe that none of us thought that you were using magic in there." He then looked around the room again, and sighed. "Um, do you think that you could undo this all for me? You are a sixth year and better at magic, so you could do it quicker."
"Hmm I don't know," Fred would say with a smirk. "I'm tempted to leave it this way so we can hear about Ronnie's reaction when he sees his room like this. But, if I did that then George and I would probably get into some big trouble." Fred then appeared to go into thought, trying to decide if the trouble was worth the reaction. After a minute of silence, he would bring his wand out and give it a wave, causing everything in the room to revert to normal. "It's such a shame that the prank can't stay. We'll just have to get Ron at school, with your help of course. You seem to be a natural when it comes to pranking Harry."
"Right, you won't say anything about this right?"
"Well, I do plan on telling George, he'll get a kick out of it. And we might tell Lee as well. But don't worry, we won't tell Ronnikins. Last thing we need is him doing magic next summer, and saying that we told him he could. Now come on, there are some cars from the Ministry outside waiting to take us to the station."
"Your Dad managed to get some cars again this year?"
"Maybe," Fred said with a shrug. "George and I think that Crouch is trying to make it up to you for accusing you of casting the Dark Mark after the World Cup. Can't be on your bad-side now can he?" With that said, Fred would chuckle one last time before leaving Harry alone in the room. Sighing with relief that he wasn't going to get in trouble because someone had caught him and opened their mouth, his thoughts flicked to Hermione, he grabbed his trunk and went downstairs.
When he arrived, he was somewhat surprised to see that Mr. Weasley was not there, though it was cleared up when Ron told him that he was called in to get someone out of trouble. Without Mr. Weasley, Charlie, Bill, or Percy seeing them off to the station, the fact that there were two Ministry cars seemed redundant to them all. However, in the end Mrs. Weasley decided that it would be for the best if they didn't appear rude and took both of the cars.
Though Mrs. Weasley tried to get Harry and Hermione in the same car so they could, Harry managed to talk her out of it, stating that they would have the whole ride to Hogwarts to make up. In the end, they decided to simply split up with boys in one car, and the girls in the other. While Ginny seemed disappointed with the seating arrangement, Mrs. Weasley wasn't deterred and soon enough they were all heading to King's Cross.
A short trip in the Ministry car later, during which Fred and George discussed something in hushed tones that Harry and Ron couldn't hear. They finally arrived at King's Cross Station. They all rushed through the pouring rain, getting soaked as they made sure to cover their pets from the rain, with Fred strangely determined to keep his trunk dry. Placing their trunks and pets on trolleys, they began to make their way as a group through King's Cross. While everyone else was attempting to dry themselves off, Harry's eyes flickered all over the station, trying to find any evidence of Sirius.
By the time they reached the gateway to Platform 9 and ¾, Harry was visibly dejected as he was unable to find Sirius anywhere.
"Alright, now how about we have Harry, Hermione, and Ron go through first," Mrs. Weasley's voice said, cutting through Harry's thoughts. The three of them then leaned against the barrier, looking as inconspicuous as possible, with Hermione talking to Ron to add to the effect. When the cost was clear, the three of them and their trolleys fell through the barrier, arriving at the other side with a slight stumble. As the three of them regained their balance and were about to make their way through the crowd and to the train, a cold, silky voice cut through the noise.
"Mr. Potter, as prompt as usual." The trio turned quickly, and found themselves standing face to face with none other then their Potion's Professor, Severus Snape. "Come now Mr. Potter, there are things that I must, discuss with you."
"But Professor, why are you here," Hermione would ask, visibly nervous. "Surely whatever Harry did wrong could be discussed at school. I mean, there isn't much time left before the train leaves and."
"And discussing this is just lessening that time," Snape said, cutting in on Hermione's spiel. "Rest assured, Mr. Potter will be on the train in time. Now, come along and do not waste anymore time then you already have." With that said, Snape turned around and began to walk away, his cloak billowing behind him. Harry gave Ron and Hermione one last look before shrugging, following after Snape. They walked for a short amount of time, heading towards the front of the train, before Snape ducked into a decent sized room off to the side. "This should be good enough, the last portkey leading here arrived almost an hour ago," he said when Harry entered the room.
Seeing Harry about to speak, Snape raised a single finger before reaching into his cloak, bringing out what appeared to be a chessboard, and a vial of potion. Bringing out his wand, Snape taped a few places on the chessboard, causing the underside to light up as the runes activated the wards imbued in it. Snape would then drain the vial of potion, vanish it, and turn to Harry. A minute passed, with Harry staring at Snape with curiosity and nervousness before Snape's features started to melt and reshape. Where once stood Severus Snape, now stood Sirius Black.
"Hey there Pup, surprised at my disguise," he asked a shocked Harry with a grin on his face. "Let me tell you, it wasn't easy getting Dumbledore to give me one of Snape's hairs for my disguise. I had to swear not to do anything overly embarrassing, which is a shame as I had the perfect thing in mind that would have made it hard for any of his students to not look at him without laughing." As Sirius began to laugh at his thoughts of what he would have done, Harry finally broke through his stupor and rushed to Sirius, giving him a hug, which he gladly returned.
"Sirius, it's so good to see you," he said with a smile. "I can't believe how well you acted like Snape. I was sure that I had gotten a detention, or failed my final exams and he was here to make a huge scene out of it just to get back at me for letting you go free." Taking a minute to enjoy the hug from his godfather, he would eventually back away some, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I'm so glad you are here, I have so many questions for you."
Before Harry could start though, Sirius laid a hand on his godson's shoulder, and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you do Harry, and I'd love to answer them all right now. But, you got here pretty late, so we don't have as much time as I wished we did." Seeing Harry's dejected look brought a frown to his face, before he suddenly brightened up and reached into his robes. "Listen, while we may not have a lot of time, I did bring something that could help us keep in touch." He then brought out an ornate mirror, and handed it to Harry. Seeing his confusion, Sirius spoke up. "This is part of a pair of mirrors, I have the other one. If you ever want to talk to me, about anything, just say my name in the mirror, and touch this rune here, on the handle. My face will appear in it, and we can have a conversation." Sirius then showed Harry the rune he had to touch.
"Sirius where did you get this?"
"Oh this? Your father and I used them all the time back when we were in school. They were great for making big pranks work, or for keeping in touch when we were thrown in separate detentions."
"Wow, that's really cool. I promise that I'll keep it safe, and I'll call you the first chance I get."
"I know you will Harry. Now, it's almost time for the train to leave. And trust me, this will be an exciting year at Hogwarts, you definitely don't want to miss this train."
"You know what's happening to, can you tell me Sirius? When we met Bagman at the World Cup, he hinted at something to, but he was stopped before he told us."
"Sorry Pup, but I can't," Sirius said with a sigh. "And you need to get going now. I promise that you will enjoy this year. And I promise that I will have the mirror on me at all times, so I'll be ready to talk whenever you want." Giving Harry one last hug and a smile, he would wave goodbye before Apparating away, making sure to take the chessboard with him. Harry stood there for a minute, somewhat disappointed at how little time he had spent with Sirius before he heard a loud whistle.
Realizing that the Express was leaving, Harry quickly stuffed the mirror into his jacket, which had thankfully dried out by now, and made his way out of the room. Seeing the doors all over the express begin to close, Harry quickly dragged his trunk and Hedwig's cage to the closest of the doors, and started to stuff them inside. He just got Hedwig's cage onto the train, when it began to move. Jumping onto the train, he quickly caught his balance and got out of the way, just as the door closed. Letting out a sigh of relief that he made it, Harry opened Hedwig's cage, letting her fly to his shoulder. When she landed on it, she would cuff him over the head with a wing.
"I'm sorry for shaking your cage so much girl, I had to rush to get you on the train," he would try to explain. Hedwig gave him what amounted to a glare from an owl before giving a hoot and settling herself on his shoulder. Relived that he didn't have to deal with an angry owl, Harry grabbed her cage and started to drag his trunk down the train, looking for the compartment that held Ron and Hermione.
After a good couple minutes of looking in the compartments, which he got glared at a couple of times for when it appeared to be just a couple in one, he finally found the two of them towards the back of the train, their compartment right next to Malfoy's. After making sure that Malfoy didn't see him, he slid into Ron and Hermione's compartment, halting whatever conversation they had been having quickly.
"It's about bloody time you showed up," Ron said, breaking the tension. "What did that greasy git want from you anyways?" Harry paused for a minute, not sure what to say. He knew that if he told them that it was actually Sirius, that Hermione would likely dig into him again. Hoisting his trunk up so it could sit above them, he began to think of a convincing lie.
"He, um, pretty much said that he knew I helped Sirius escape last year," Harry lied. "He said that I better not cross him again or he'd drop some kind of potion in my pumpkin juice and make me tell the truth." Harry then glanced to Ron and Hermione, hoping that they bought his lie. While Ron looked convinced, and was currently cursing under his breath, Hermione didn't look so.
"I highly doubt he would even consider doing that," she would say in a lecturing voice. "He is a teacher, and if something like that were to happen, he would end up in a lot of trouble. He wouldn't risk his career for something so childish. Not to mention that Dumbledore would likely be furious with him if he did. So that is obviously not what he wanted. Why won't you tell the truth Harry?"
"I am telling the truth, that is what he said," he replied hotly, doing his best to look furious. "Why would I lie to you two about something like that?"
"I believe you mate," Ron replied, clapping Harry on the shoulder. "Everyone knows he has it out for you. And you saw how furious he was last year when Sirius got away again. I wouldn't put it past him to do something like that. And he'd probably get away with it to just because he was a Slytherin, bunch of slimy snakes they are." With Ron finished with his light rant, Hermione looked ready to retort, but simply huffed and brought out one of her books and began to read.
The rain became heavier and heavier as the train moved farther north. The sky was so dark and the windows so steamy that the lanterns were lit by midday. The lunch trolley came rattling along the corridor, and Harry bought a large stack of Cauldron Cakes for them to share.
Several of their friends looked in on them as the afternoon progressed, including Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom, a round-faced, extremely forgetful boy who had been brought up by his formidable witch of a grandmother. Seamus was still wearing his Ireland rosette. Some of its magic seemed to be wearing off now; it was still squeaking "Troy - Mullet - Moran!" but in a very feeble and exhausted sort of way.
Neville listened jealously to the others' conversation as they relived the Cup match.
"Gran didn't want to go," he said miserably. "Wouldn't buy tickets. It sounded amazing though."
"It was," said Ron. "Look at this, Neville. . .
He rummaged in his trunk up in the luggage rack and pulled out the miniature figure of Viktor Krum.
"Oh wow," said Neville enviously as Ron tipped Krum onto his pudgy hand.
"We saw him right up close, as well," said Ron. "We were in the Top Box -"
"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley."
Draco Malfoy had appeared in the doorway. Behind him stood Crabbe and Goyle, his enormous, thuggish cronies, both of whom appeared to have grown at least a foot during the summer. Evidently they had overheard the conversation through the compartment door, which Dean and Seamus had left ajar.
"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy," said Harry coolly.
"Weasley. . . what is that?" said Malfoy, pointing at Pigwidgeon's cage. A sleeve of Ron's dress robes was dangling from it, swaying with the motion of the train, the moldy lace cuff very obvious.
Ron made to stuff the robes out of sight, but Malfoy was too quick for him; he seized the sleeve and pulled.
"Look at this!" said Malfoy in ecstasy, holding up Ron's robes and showing Crabbe and Goyle, "Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean - they were very fashionable in about eighteen ninety. . .
"Eat dung, Malfoy!" said Ron, the same color as the dress robes as he snatched them back out of Malfoy's grip. Malfoy howled with derisive laughter; Crabbe and Goyle guffawed stupidly.
"So. . . going to enter, Weasley? Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name? There's money involved as well, you know. . . you'd be able to afford some decent robes if you won. . . ."
"Maybe he will enter," Harry spoke up, causing everyone else in the compartment to go silent. "I'm thinking of entering myself actually, I think it might be kind of fun." Harry then gave Malfoy a smirk. "We all know that even if you enter, you won't get in through. After all, your daddy can't buy you into it." While Ron, Hermione, and Neville were staring at Harry in a mixture of shock and confusion, Malfoy stood there, gapping like a fish. He quickly recovered though and gave Harry his best sneer.
"Well then, I suppose we will see then won't we Potter?" With that said, Malfoy left the compartment, his goons following him out. Letting out a sigh of relief, Harry got up and closed the compartment. Seeing that Ron was turning red, clearly ready to explode about what he said, Harry held up a hand and took a seat.
"I don't know what is actually going on, I just wanted to shut Malfoy up," he said calmly. "I think it worked out pretty well didn't it?" On hearing those words, Ron quickly calmed down and got a smile on his face.
"What do you think is actually going on this year that is such a big secret," he let out after cooling down. "I mean, mum said something when the train began to leave, but we couldn't get anything out of her. It's got to do something with the rules though, she did say that they were changing some." Harry, Neville, and Ron then began to discuss what could be happening, with only the occasional input from Hermione who was clearly still frustrated with Harry.
Time passed and they all changed into their school robes, and they soon arrived at the pitch-dark Hogsemede station. As the train doors opened, there was a rumble of thunder overhead. Hermione bundled up Crookshanks in her cloak and Ron left his dress robes over Pigwidgeon as they left the train, heads bent and eyes narrowed against the downpour. The rain was now coming down so thick and fast that it was as though buckets of ice-cold water were being emptied repeatedly over their heads. Hedwig seemed to decide that she didn't want to get soaked, and went back into her cage, giving Harry an affectionate nip as he left.
"Hi, Hagrid!" Harry yelled, seeing a gigantic silhouette at the far end of the platform.
"All righ', Harry?" Hagrid bellowed back, waving. "See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!"
"Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the lake in this weather," said Hermione fervently, shivering as they inched slowly along the dark platform with the rest of the crowd. A hundred horseless carriages stood waiting for them outside the station. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville climbed gratefully into one of them, the door shut with a snap, and a few moments later, with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track toward Hogwarts Castle.
Well, that's it for this chapter. I was originally planning on making it a bit longer, but I think that this was a good enough ending point. All things in Italics are taken from the Goblet of Fire.
Now, onto Reviewer response.
Guest- Thank you for the review.
emprissris- Thank you for the advice. I didn't realize that I was doing that, but I am now working on changing it. Hopefully you can see it in this chapter.
autumngold- Harry will get to spend some more time with Sirius, eventually. I am planning for this to go on for a while so that is definitely in the cards. But, until then, he now has the mirror to keep in contact.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and survived the end of the world. As you all know, Christmas is coming soon. And all I want from my readers is some reviews. If I get some, you might all get a little gift. See ya next time.
