The farewell between Helena and her parents was usually only a little bit teary, mostly on Gwen's part but this time Helena found a few tears escaping her eyes too. She quickly rushed through to Platform 9¾ in case she started completely crying.

She loaded her luggage onto the train then went to find a seat. She entered the compartment where the other sixth-year Slytherins were already sitting. As she walked between the seats, Malfoy shot her a disgusted look but Helena just ignored him. A couple of booths down from Malfoy were a few of her friends from Ravenclaw, including Mason, and Helena sat down with them.

"Hey, Helena," said Holly Hughes. "How was your summer?"

"Nothing special," said Helena. "How was yours?" Holly then proceeded to tell Helena and the others about her family's trip to Spain and after ten minutes of describing only one of the many places they visited, Helena's attention faded. She looked out the window and watched the familiar countryside roll past, occasionally joining in the conversation. When night started to fall, they changed into their robes and talked excitedly about the Start-of-Term feast. In the reflection on the window, Helena could see Pansy Parkinson fawning over Malfoy and her mind wandered to the Dark Mark on her arm. She subconsciously pulled at her jersey sleeve, making sure the mark was covered, thinking about the task Voldemort had given her.

'You are to make sure nothing gets in his way.' She had been repeating these words over and over again in her head for the past few weeks but Helena still had no idea what Voldemort required her to do. How was she supposed to make sure nothing got in his way if she didn't know what Draco was doing?

She was distracted from her thoughts by a ruckus at the compartment door. Zabini had fallen into Goyle's lap and Goyle had angrily flung him off and slammed the door shut. Zabini returned to his seat and Malfoy lay back down across two seats with his head in Pansy's lap.

From where she was sitting, Helena could hear Malfoy complaining about someone called Slughorn. From what she could gather he was a new teacher at Hogwarts; presumably he would be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"…I don't think Slughorn's interested in Death Eaters."

This caught Helena's attention and she strained her ears for Malfoy's response.

"Well, who cares what he's interested in? What is he, when you come down to it? Just some stupid teacher." Malfoy yawned ostentatiously. "I mean, I might not even be at Hogwarts next year, what's it matter if some fat old has-been likes me or not?"

"What do you mean, you might not be at Hogwarts next year?" said Pansy indignantly.

"Well, you never know," said Malfoy. "I might have – er – moved on to bigger and better things."

"Do you mean – Him?"

"Mother wants me to complete my education, but personally, I don't see it as that important these days. I mean, think about it… when the Dark Lord takes over, is he going to care how many O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s anyone's got? Of course he isn't… it'll be all about the kind of service he received, the level of devotion he was shown."

"And you think you'll be able to do something for him?" asked Zabini scathingly. "Sixteen years old and not even fully qualified yet?"

Malfoy's voice dropped so low that Helena almost couldn't hear him.

"I've just said, haven't I? Maybe he doesn't care if I'm qualified. Maybe the job he wants me to do isn't something that you need to be qualified for," said Malfoy.

What job, though Helena, tell them what he wants you to do.

"I can see Hogwarts," said Malfoy, "We'd better get our robes on."

Helena swore under her breath. Keep calm, she told herself, you're smart, you'll figure it out. She turned her attention back to her friends who were getting ready to exit the train once it had halted. She reached into her trunk and pulled out her cloak, fastening it around her neck as the train started to slow. She waited until Crabbe and Goyle had punched their way through the groups of first- and second-years then filed off the train with the others. Helena noticed that Malfoy was lingering behind but she doubted whatever You-Know-You had asked him to do had anything to do with the Hogwarts Express and she followed her friends out onto the platform. They walked over to the carriages and climbed into a free one, letting it take them up to the school. Once they reached the gates, they descended from their carriage and had to endure Filch's jabs with a secrecy sensor to ensure that they weren't bringing any Dark objects into the school. Then they followed the trail of students heading up to the castle and into the Great Hall.

"See you later," said Mason, giving Helena a quick hug before departing to the Ravenclaw table. She looked up and down the Slytherin table for a place to sit and was waved over by Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis.

"Hey," they greeted her as she sat down opposite them.

"What's up with you and Mason King?" asked Daphne.

"We're just friends," said Helena quickly. Daphne raised her eyebrows at her but Helena changed the subject. "How was your summer?" she asked.

Daphne shrugged. "It was pretty good," she replied. "Better than yours, I expect."

"Why do you say that?" asked Helena.

Daphne leaned across the table and said, "You're a Muggle-born. That could've been your last summer ever."

"Right, thanks, Daphne," said Helena sarcastically.

"Sorry," said Daphne, "but it's true."

"I'd rather not think about it," said Helena. Tracey and Daphne exchanged a look as Professor Dumbledore stood and cleared his throat, signalling for everyone to quieten down.

The doors to the Great Hall swung open and Professor McGonagall strode inside, followed by fifty-something little first-years tripping over each other as they looked up at the magical ceiling in awe. They looked nervous and excited at the same time as they huddled at the front of the hall. Professor McGonagall took out a piece of parchment from her robes and, once the hall had quietened down, read the first name on the list.

"Adkins, Terrence." A little boy with dark brown hair stepped up to the stool and Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head. Moments later the Hat called out,

"Slytherin!"

The whole of Slytherin house cheered as he ran over to their table.

Once the rest of the first-years had all been Sorted, Professor McGonagall returned to her seat before the Hat began its speech. It was the usual speech, with the Hat advising everyone to unite in the face of their enemies. Then when the Hat was taken away, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and waved his hands. The feast appeared, accompanied with squeals of delight from the new students and the old.

Helena piled her plate high, even though she knew there was no way she would be able to finish everything. She listened to the chat of the other Slytherins as she ate. Among the older students, they mostly spoke of the strange accidents and deaths that happened over the summer. But they did not appear to share the same fear as everyone else. As most of them were from Pureblood families, they had no reason to worry for their safety, but the way some of them spoke of the disappearances it sounded as though they didn't care about them.

She discretely looked down the table at Malfoy who was miming something about breaking a nose. He was acting more arrogant than ever, no doubt because he was now one of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Near the end of dinner, Helena looked up to see Harry Potter being escorted into the Great Hall by Snape. His face was covered in blood. Helena assumed that's what Malfoy was doing when he stayed on the train.

After desert, Professor Dumbledore stepped up to the podium to begin his speech.

"The very best of evenings to you!" he said, smiling broadly, his arms opened wide as though to embrace the whole room. Whispers swept the room; his right hand was blackened and dead-looking. Dumbledore, interpreting the whispers correctly, merely smiled and shook his purple and gold sleeve over his injury.

"Nothing to worry about," he said airily. "Now… to our new students, welcome; to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you…

…and Mr Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

Those wishing to play for their house Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise.

We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn," Slughorn stood up, his bald head gleaming in the candlelight, his big waistcoated belly casting the table below into shadow, "is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

"Potions?"

"Potions?"

The word echoed all over the hall as people wondered whether they had heard right.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," said Dumbledore, raising his voice so that it carried over all the muttering, "will be taking over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Snape didn't stand but lazily raised a hand in acknowledgement. The whole of Slytherin clapped enthusiastically, except, Helena noticed, for Malfoy.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. The whole hall had erupted in a buzz of conversation at the news that Snape had finally achieved his heart's desire. Seemingly oblivious to the sensational nature of the news he had just imparted, Dumbledore said nothing more about staff appointments, but waited a few seconds to ensure that the silence was absolute before continuing.

"Now, as everybody in this hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength."

The silence seemed to tauten and strain as Dumbledore spoke. Helena saw that Malfoy was not looking at Dumbledore, but making his fork hover in midair with his wand, as though he found the Headmaster's words unworthy of his attention.

"I cannot emphasise strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them – in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and each other's safety."

Dumbledore's blue eyes swept over the students before he smiled once more.

"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say goodnight. Pip pip!"

With the usual deafening scraping noise, the benches were moved back and the hundreds of students began to file out of the Great Hall towards their dormitories.