Here we go with chapter eleven, and Harry is finally on his way back to Hogwarts!
Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor
Chapter 11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express - Part 1
It was very noisy on the platform. Dozens of Hogwarts students were milling about, greeting friends and excitedly discussing what prospects the coming school year would hold as their anxious parents attempted to check and double check with their children that they had packed everything that they would need at the castle. Voices shouted, people laughed and various owls hooted and cats mewed. In just five minutes time, the Hogwarts Express would be departing, beginning on its long trip north from Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station in London to Hogsmeade Station, somewhere up in Scotland.
A second year girl ran along one of the carriages, screaming out excitedly to one of her friends, and in doing so she also woke up one of the occupants of one of the compartments she passed.
Harry blinked a couple of times before sending a glare towards the door of the compartment. This was pointless of course as the girl who woke him was now three doors down.
Harry was currently seated in a compartment with Susan and Hannah. The three had arrived two streets over from the station with Sarah twenty minutes ago. For security reasons Harry had entered the station, and Platform 9 ¾ two minutes after Sarah, Susan and Hannah. He was once again disguised, but this time through the use of Polyjuice potion. The extra precaution of his arriving separately was used in case the platform was being watched. On his own, Harry could simply blend in with the crowd and likely draw absolutely no attention to himself. However had he entered with the others, any half observant watcher would note an unknown travelling with the small group.
The precaution was proved to have been necessary when Harry spotted Alastor Moody lurking on Platform 9 ¾, no doubt keeping a close watch on the barrier for Harry's arrival.
With his disguise in place Harry was able to walk straight across the platform and get onto the train without Moody noticing.
Once he was on the train, Susan had voiced the opinion that her Aunt would be most interested in the fact that it was Moody who had been on the platform on Dumbledore's orders.
Harry had taken a seat and closed his eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night as he had spent most of it going over his plans in his head. Even though there had been much preparation during the previous month for coming events, today was the day where all those plans kicked into gear. Thankfully the meeting with the journalist from the Daily Prophet at the Ministry that morning had gone off without a hitch, with Harry giving a prepared statement, followed by one of two follow up questions that had not been too hard to answer.
The really difficult tasks, however, were still lying ahead of him. The prefects meeting would be first, and was not entirely sure whether he was looking forward to it or not. He had been informed that Draco Malfoy was one of the new Slytherin prefects, and Harry could hardly wait to see the look on the ferret's face when he realised that Harry ranked above him. However it would also be a moment of reckoning, the moment that his new position would be revealed to everyone. And that was when the real pressure would begin.
He would have to make a lasting impression on the prefects, and a fair few of them were older than him, making that task harder. He would lay out the new rules for them, and leave it up to them how they responded. If he ended up having to take one of their badges in order to get his point across then so be it. If he had to make an example of one prefect to ensure that the rest fully understood the situation, then Harry had no qualms about doing so.
"Feeling sleepy?" asked Susan.
"No," Harry replied "Just practicing my occlumency."
"Sure you were," replied Hannah with a smirk.
Harry's occlumency had taken a definite upturn in the time since the Horcrux had been removed from his body. Just the night before Cyrus Greengrass had announced that Harry's shields were now strong enough to keep out gentle legillimency probes, the kind Harry was slowly becoming certain that Dumbledore used on him on a regular basis.
Sarah had mentioned that she was surprised at how quickly Harry had mastered the basics of occlumency, but Cyrus suggested that Harry's magic probably already had a grasp of the basics, even if he himself did not know it. Harry had managed to prevent Voldemort's soul fragment from taking over his mind for nearly fourteen years, after all. And most of that had occurred before Harry was even aware of his magic. Harry had asked and Cyrus confirmed that this was likely why Harry had been able to throw off the imperius curse on several occasions in the past. Harry's magic knew how to shield his mind, even without his knowledge of it happening. Now he just had to take all of that magic that once kept the soul fragment blocked off and train it to protect his entire mind even more strongly than before.
Aside from learning occlumency, Sarah had insisted that Harry learn several important spells as well. Madam Bones secured a temporary permission form from Mafalda Hopkirke that allowed Harry to practice these spells only. They were revealing spells, designed to detect potions and poisons in his food and drink, as well as any compulsion charms or similar enchantments on objects. With the potions that had earlier been found in his system almost certainly having come from Severus Snape, or someone else in the Dumbledore-Worshippers (D-W) Club, the learning of these spells were deemed to be just as necessary for Harry to learn as occlumency was.
"They're here." Susan announced.
Harry leaned back in his seat. His disguise was still in place, but he did not want to be seen looking just in case.
"Who, exactly?" he asked.
"The Weasley family" replied Susan "Well, most of them anyway. Ron, Ginny, the twins, both parents and the older brother who turned up to watch the third task of the Tri-Wizard tournament."
"Anyone else?" asked Harry.
"Looks like our defence professor from third year is with them as well," said Hannah "Lupin."
Harry nodded to her before Susan added "Our defence professor for the coming year is out there as well. And Kingsley Shacklebolt."
"Who?"
"He's an Auror," said Susan "Supposed to be one of the best. I wonder what Auntie will make of that?"
"There's a big black dog too," said Hannah "Oh, and there's Granger. She's got your owl with her, Harry. In a cage."
Harry's eyes darkened. So Sirius could not be bothered to make contact with him all summer, and yet here he was now, hoping to ambush him with the rest of the D-W Club on the platform. And Hermione was with them all as well, having kept his beloved Hedwig a prisoner all summer.
"They're all making their way over to Moody." observed Hannah "Must be wanting to know if he's seen you."
"Looks like your two old friends both made prefect this year." said Susan.
Hannah turned to Harry and commented "I do so hope that you won't go giving them special treatment now, Harry."
He snorted derisively and replied "Not likely. But I won't be biased against them either. All prefects get the same chances. Three strikes and they're out."
Susan nudged her friend and said "Hear that Hannah? Three strikes only, so don't you go embarrassing Hufflepuff house, alright?"
In reply the new Hufflepuff prefect stuck out her tongue at her best friend.
Harry rolled his eyes at their antics and commented "I very much doubt that many will push me that far. A couple might get to two strikes, but three will be rare. Hopefully."
"So who do we think will be first to go?" asked Susan.
"Malfoy or Weasley, most likely." replied Harry "Depends who abuses their position the most as to who gets stripped of their post first. And it depends on other students reporting misdemeanours by prefects. I expect that Malfoy might be able to bully others into keeping quiet, but I expect that the Gryffindors might be more willing to complain about Weasley."
"What about Granger?" asked Hannah.
"I may end up having to give her at least one strike before the message sinks in as she can be quite stubborn at times," said Harry "But she is also sensible enough that a strike will make her realise the reality of the situation."
"Do you think that she'll ever come around to your way of thinking?" said Susan.
"Maybe," said Harry "I don't know if she will ever see Dumbledore from my point of view, but hopefully she will realise that what I am trying to do is the right thing."
"You think she could still be useful to you?" said Susan.
"She is intelligent," said Harry "And intelligence is a valuable asset, especially in the face of the relative stupidity of your average witch or wizard. She could be useful, but only after she has learned the hard way what blind obedience to Dumbledore will get you."
Neither Susan nor Hannah complained when he made a dig at wizarding intellect. Both knew all too well that many of their fellow magic wielders did not have an ounce of logic in their heads, instead relying far too much on magic to provide a solution for every problem that came their way. The Potter, Bones and Abbott families were amongst the few who were still able to utilise logic as it was in their best interests to do so. Their businesses dealt with muggles on a frequent basis, after all.
Suddenly the train's whistle sounded loudly, alerting everyone that the Hogwarts Express was about to leave the station. Outside the last few stragglers, including the four Weasley children and Hermione all darted towards the train.
A few moments later the train set off, blowing out another long note, this one of farewell. All along the train students were leaning out of windows to shout and wave final goodbyes to their families. Harry saw Sarah standing in the crowed, waving to both Hannah and Susan. Then she glanced towards him and winked. Harry smiled back, and remembered how, just before leaving Bones Manor for the train station Sarah had given him a kiss on the forehead and pulled him into a hug. It was the kind of thing he used to imagine his own mother giving him when he was younger – comforting and reassuring without being smothering, like Mrs Weasley's hugs tended to be.
The train pulled out of the station and slowly the building disappeared from sight. Unseen by muggles, the train made its way out of the city of London unimpeded and was soon trundling past countryside.
"Your hair is turning from brown to black." observed Susan.
Harry nodded and stood up. He felt his features morph and change back to those that belonged to him, as opposed to those of the random muggle boy whose hair had gone into the Polyjuice potion.
"Right," said Hannah "Prefects' meeting then?"
Harry nodded and joined the blond Hufflepuff in exiting the compartment.
"Good luck!" Susan called after them.
Harry gave her a brief thumbs up before disappearing down the corridor.
"Any idea who the other Hufflepuff prefect is?" asked Harry as they made their way down the corridor.
"No idea," replied Hannah "It's probably Ernie, but he was holidaying in France for most of the summer, so I haven't been able to contact him to ask."
The prefects' compartment was located right near the front of the train, so they had to pass by quite a few other cabins to get there.
"How the hell do you stand it?" hissed Hannah as they passed through a fifth carriage.
"Stand what?" asked Harry.
"All the staring." said Hannah "I've only been walking next to you for about a minute and it's already driving me up the wall."
Harry looked around to see several faces gawking at him through the glass panel in the nearest door.
"You learn to ignore it," replied Harry "Trust me, if I didn't, I'd have snapped a long time ago."
They finally arrived at the prefects' cabin. Looking through the glass in the door they could see that Head Boy Roger Davies, a Ravenclaw, and Head Girl Patricia Stimpson, a Hufflepuff, had already begun to hold court.
"Patricia Stimpson for Head Girl," observed Harry "Really?"
"Yeah, why?" asked Hannah "What's wrong with her?"
"Well, nothing really," said Harry "But didn't she have some kind of nervous breakdown during her fifth year because of the pressure of the O.W.L. exams?"
"She had a few panic attacks, nothing more." replied Hannah "And so what if she did?"
"Well what are the teachers playing at putting her in the role of Head Girl when past events show that she doesn't handle stress too well? Don't forget she'll be taking her N.E.W.T. exams this year, and they're much worse than O.W.L's."
"Maybe the stress won't get to her this time if she's already used to it," suggested Hannah "Come on. It's time for your grand entrance."
"Right," said Harry "Well, here goes nothing."
He reached for the handle on the compartment door and pulled it back.
The people in the room all went silent as every eye turned towards the door. Harry glanced around at the prefects for his year group and saw that both Ron and Hermione were already seated. Draco Malfoy was there too, sitting next to Pansy Parkinson. Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein were the prefects for Ravenclaw house and Ernie Macmillan was there representing Hufflepuff.
Hannah made her way across the compartment and sat herself down in the empty seat next to Ernie, which was obviously reserved for her given the badger emblem stitched into the back. The sixth year prefects were Geoffrey Hooper and Bianca Dunstan for Gryffindor, Eddie Carmichael and Cho Chang for Ravenclaw, Eric Summerby and Heidi Macavoy for Hufflepuff and Adrian Pucey and Rosalie Pritchard for Slytherin. As for the seventh years, Gryffindor was represented by Kenneth Towler and Emma Puckle, Ravenclaw by Marian Green, Hufflepuff by Maxwell Parkin and Slytherin by Ross Harper and Sophia Baddock.
With this year's Head Boy and Girl being appointed from Prefect positions, there was a grand total of twenty four people.
Draco Malfoy was the first to speak up. In his characteristic drawl he said "Potter? What on earth do you think you're doing here? I know you can barely function without your pet mudblood by your side, but surely you can last an hour on your own?"
Harry smirked and commented "That's a bit rich coming from you, Draco. Tell me, where are those strapping young book ends that you never seem to go anywhere without?"
Malfoy's face turned red very quickly, but before he could offer up a retort, Roger Davies spoke up "While I do not condone the language he used, Malfoy does have a point, Potter. This is a prefects' meeting and any student who is not a prefect is not allowed in."
"Yeah, Potter." said Pansy "Shove off."
"Actually, I am allowed to enter this meeting." replied Harry "It is a part of my new duties, you see?"
"What new duties?" asked Cho.
Harry undid the zip on the jacket he was wearing and reached for the inside pocket. He pulled out a small roll of parchment, which he unfurled. He then cleared his throat and began to read aloud.
"Educational Decree Number 25
Harry James Potter is hereby assigned to the post of Student Advisor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Student Advisor is charged with listening to the problems and complaints of their fellow students, and acting as they see fit, resolving what they can whilst reporting anything that they cannot deal with themselves. This includes dealing with any complaints against both staff and prefects. The Student Advisor will have the authority to question the decisions of the prefects, as well as reprimand them. The Student Advisor will also attend staff meetings in order to act as the voice of the students. The Student Advisor will regularly liaise with the prefects, including attending their meetings, in order to ensure that they are up to the task of operating in the best interests of not only their fellow students but also the school as a whole.
Signed,
Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic.
Griselda Edwina Marchbanks, Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority.
With a grin on his face, Harry looked up from the parchment and began to roll it back up as he took in the looks on the faces of those gathered.
Most looked either confused or surprised at this revelation. Others, most notably Ron and Draco looked to be about ready to explode with anger. Hannah was grinning amusedly at the array of reactions. Hermione however looked introspective.
"So there you have it." said Harry, tucking the roll of parchment away "You all have a job to do, and it is my job to make sure that you are doing it."
"Why would the Ministry do this?" asked Bianca Dunstan "Do they not trust us to do our jobs?"
"I'm not going to lie to you," said Harry "There have been a few issues with the choice of prefects in the past. Cases of prefects abusing their positions have been reported but never acted upon. As the staff of Hogwarts have made it repeatedly clear that they cannot be bothered to address these issues, the Ministry has seen fit to ask me to step in as an independent body. Someone to help things run more smoothly, you see? If a student has some kind of problem with a prefect, they can come to me rather than a Professor and we can work towards sorting out the situation. Similarly, if any of you are ever faced with a difficult problem, you are more than welcome to come to me and seek my help."
"So you're here to help us as well as control us should any of us go mad with power?" asked Anthony.
"In a nutshell." replied Harry "It is my hope that we can all work together to help Hogwarts to function better than ever before."
"And what do you get out of this, Potter?" asked Pansy "The title of prefect means something once we get out of school. Does yours?"
"It most certainly will," answered Harry "I am doing this at the Ministry's request, after all."
"Any rules?" asked Roger.
"Just a couple," said Harry "From now on there is a "three strikes and you're out" system in place for all prefects. For the first strike you serve two nights detention. For the second you lose privileges. For the third, you lose your badge. Understand?"
Everyone nodded, though some did not seem happy about it.
"The punishments may seem harsh," said Harry "But as prefects you are supposed to lead by example, and therefore must be held to a higher standard than most. Trust me when I say that I do have the authorisation to do this. I do not wish anyone in here to get three strikes, but if you do I will not be lenient on any of you. If any of you are caught bullying, and I promise you that I will find out if you do, you will be in for a world of pain. Is that understood?"
Getting another round of nods from everyone, Harry turned back to the Head Boy and Girl. "Roger, Patricia, I believe that the two of you had the floor?"
Hannah turned to the girl next to her and hissed "Budge up, Pad."
Padma Patil shifted a little to her right as Hannah moved to her left. The blond Hufflepuff then patted the space between herself and the Ravenclaw prefect and Harry moved to sit down.
It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but neither girl was particularly feeling like complaining.
"A guy could get used to being in positions such as this one." commented Harry as he pulled out a muggle note-pad and a self-inking quill. Hannah nudged him with her elbow.
Roger shook his head and carried on with the meeting. Harry was pleased to see that the majority of the prefects saw what he was doing and took it on board. Even Pansy Parkinson had the good sense to take out a bit of parchment and a quill in order to jot down a couple of notes.
Ron on the other hand seemed to be perfectly content to let Hermione take all the notes whilst he busied himself with gazing vacantly out of the window. Draco chose to spend the rest of the meeting glaring in Harry's direction rather than pay attention to what was being said.
Harry made sure to jot that down in the margin.
Harry was just making to follow Padma out of the compartment when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Hermione was trying to gain his attention. Not feeling up to dealing with her just yet, he ignored her. Thankfully he was separated from her by Bianca, Marian, Heidi, Geoffrey and Eric so he could convincingly pretend that he hadn't spotted her.
What he really wanted was to confront her outright, and demand that she return Hedwig to him, but now was not the time to do such things. Instead he followed Padma out of the room, having agreed to assist the Ravenclaw prefects as they took the first patrol. Actually he was going to be assisting each house in turn; the Ravenclaws were just up first.
Surprisingly quickly he found himself along in a corridor with only Cho Chang for company.
Given that Harry was the last person to see her late boyfriend Cedric Diggory alive, this had the possibility of getting very awkward very quickly.
His own personal crush on the girl certainly would not help matters.
"So, did you have a good summer, Harry?" she asked.
Harry gave a shrug in response before saying "It was alright, I suppose. Learned a couple of things, but that's about it."
"Hannah have anything to do with it?"
"Why do you ask?"
"You just seemed very comfortable sitting next to her in the prefects' meeting. I've never noticed you having much to do with her before now."
"Well, I got to know her a bit better over the summer months I suppose." replied Harry "Turns out her mother was friends with mine when they were at school together. I got in contact with her in the hopes of finding out more about what my parents were like."
"But that's not all that happened to you, is it?" Cho asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that the Daily Prophet was saying some strange things during the first month or so and then went quiet. I mean that my father was approached several times by different individuals who seemed to be trying to locate your whereabouts. And I mean that you've turned up on the Hogwarts Express with a position of authority under your belt that had to come from somewhere."
"That, Cho, is a very long story filled with lies, ignorance, betrayals and yet more lies that I am only just beginning to understand myself."
"So what's the short version?"
"The short version is that the world is about to change and many are going to fall. I hope to be one of the few left standing."
Cho nodded thoughtfully and bit her lip before leaning in close and whispering into his ear "Well in that case, if there is anything that I can help you with, anything that you need… anything at all," she added breathily "you just let me know how I can help."
She pulled back from him, making sure to brush her lips against his cheek as she did so.
Harry felt his face heating up as she winked at him and then turned and walked away.
"Holy crap!" he screamed in his mind.
He stood there, struck dumb for a few long moments, long after Cho had disappeared from sight. Finally, vowing no never ever wash his cheek again Harry turned around to walk away, only to nearly walk straight into Hannah, who was just standing there with a grin on her face that could rival any ever produced by Peeves the Poltergeist of Hogwarts Castle.
Forcing his voice to work, Harry asked "How long have you been standing there."
"Long enough." she replied.
"And how much did you hear?"
"Who says I heard anything?" she asked, making sure to finish in the same breathy tone as Cho.
Harry tried for several moments to come up with a retort, but after opening and closing his mouth a couple of times like a gaping fish, he settled for spinning on his heel and walking off down the corridor, muttering something along the lines of "Bloody women!"
Fully satisfied with her work, Hannah turned around as well and went off in search of Susan in order to share this newest piece of juicy news.
Harry passed into the next carriage and was interrupted in his non-verbal grumblings about the evils of the fairer sex when he found his way blocked.
It was Ron.
"You just had to do it, didn't you Potter?" the red head shouted at him "You couldn't let me have a bit of glory for once could you? I make prefect and you have to go and do… this!"
Harry had hoped to put this confrontation off for a little while, but it seemed that the jealous prat was going to force the issue.
"For your information, Weasley, until I entered the prefects' compartment earlier, I didn't have the faintest clue that you had been made a prefect. So it you want to blame anyone, then I suggest that you blame yourself, as it is you who was the one who saw fit to not inform me of your little bit of news."
Harry had gone straight for the jugular, and the look on Ron's face told Harry that he had hit the mark.
"I couldn't," replied Ron, his tone completely different now "Dumbledore said-"
"Then clearly your problem is with Dumbledore." interrupted Harry "Either way, don't go blaming me for not knowing the small details of your life during my forced exclusion."
"Harry please," said Hermione, causing Harry to realise for the first time that she was there as well "Neither of us liked not being able to write to you all summer, but Professor Dumbledore-"
"Let's get one thing absolutely clear here, shall we?" said Harry "From now on, neither of you is my friend, if you ever were."
Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Harry held up a hand to silence her before continuing "We will continue to interact with each other in the manner of prefects and student advisor, but beyond that there is nothing between us. Understood?"
"But-" began Hermione, only for him to interrupt her again.
"I said is that understood?"
Tears filled her eyes. Obviously too choked up to offer up a verbal reply she settled for giving an nod of her head in confirmation that she understood.
"Good," said Harry "Now then, I believe that you have been keeping a good friend of mine prisoner for most of the summer. I'd like to have her back."
Hermione nodded again and turned towards the open compartment door to her left. Harry followed her in and saw her make her way over to the cage that contained Hedwig. The Snowy Owl barked happily at seeing him.
Hermione opened the cage door, allowing Harry to see for the first time that her hands were badly scratched. Apparently Hedwig had been quite vicious in letting her anger be known.
The Snowy Owl hopped out of the cage, beat her wings and flapped over to Harry, making sure to bat Hermione around the side of her face along the way.
With Hedwig now resting on his arm, Harry turned and left the compartment without another word to Hermione. He brushed by Ron as he left the compartment and was just making his way towards the next carriage when Hermione found her voice again.
"Where were you all summer?"
Harry paused for a moment, and then, without turning around to look at her, he replied "That is none of your concern."
He left.
Behind him Hermione slumped back against the wall of the cabin. Ron nudged her to move inside. The other occupants of the compartment, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom watched as Hermione moved into the compartment and sat down on one of the seats. She tucked her knees up under her chin and buried her face in her arms.
A/N: Wow that was a pain to write! Hopefully it all makes sense and there are no gaping holes. If there are, let me know so I can fix them.
Oh, and for anyone wondering, only the prefects of Harry's year are canon. The rest are random, as apparantly the kids who became prefects between Percy's year and Harry's weren't important. Some of their names, like Patricia Stimpson and Kenneth Towler are canon, but others like Bianca Dunstan and Emma Puckle are made up.
Five house points to the first person to point out the significance of Emma Puckle's name!
Also the thing about Patricia Stimpson breaking down during her O.W.L's is cannon as well!
