Harry looked at his course choices and hummed, "I think I'm skipping Divination,"

Severus nodded, "A brilliant choice. That class is poppycock!" He looked at the boy as they ride the underground train toward King's Cross Station, "You have everything you need?"

Harry patted Jhormungard around his neck and Valkyrie sleeping in her cage by his knee and looked at him, "I hate seeing you in disguise. That look doesn't suite you at all," He glared at Severus get up of cropped light brown hair, dark blue eyes behind thick rimmed glasses and what Harry dubbed the 'fatherly get-up' which consisted of earthy knitted sweaters and well-worn button up matched with equally well-worn brown slacks and sandals with socks. Severus rolled his eyes, "Precisely why I chose it,"

Harry tilted his head, "You remind me of an actor though,"

Severus scowled before looking at the boy's out of place gloves and cuffs. He then looked at the boy over, taking note that he seemed to have had a growth spurt during the summer, standing up he would be quite tall for his age. He also kept his hair longer, refusing to cut it during the summer, simply trimming them himself and kept them mostly in tight braid that went down his back in a single white rope. He still appeared like a girl and most seemed to be charmed by his look although they instinctually stayed away. Severus can't blame them; even with Harry's warmest smile he still emitted the chill that surrounds the Dementors.

They finally reached their destination and Harry waved at the Grangers and Draco grinned at him before scowling, "When did you get so tall?"

Harry smirked back, "When did your voice box get so deep?"

Draco blushed, "Shut up," He landed a half-hearted punch on the boy's shoulder. He greeted the elder Grangers before accepting Hermione's enthusiastic hug. They then marched into Hogwarts Express's Platform 9 ¾.

Hermione looked around, "Where did that guy who came with you go?"

Harry shrugged, "He got other business,"

She wondered, "He's not your dad, is he?"

Harry snorted, "What? No, just a family friend," He turned to Draco, "So Severus told me about that haunting at the Dursley,"

Draco shivered, "From the signs, Hermione and me figured that it was a Slender Folk,"

Harry sputtered and stopped, making them stop and looked at him as he gawked, "Slender Folk?"

Hermione nodded, "They often came up on this cult site on the net called CreepyPasta," She then proceeded to explain to him all about CreepyPasta.

Harry kept his thought to himself although he wondered if Slendy knew about the fan site dedicated to him and his kind. From what Harry knew of fans from tabloid magazines, fan girls were the scariest lot and he bet his bag of Galleons that even the Two Brothers won't come near them even with a whole continent sat between them.

They were joined by Neville and Ron and curious enough his sister Ginny and her friend Luna. They sat sharing stories after their sleepover at Hermione's, although Harry kept his as boring and uninteresting as possible, before Draco had to leave. They watched him leave the compartment with a heavy heart although he kept a smile on his face. As the usual goodbyes and encouraging words to Draco, they sat back to contemplate on the former wizard while the train gained speed toward Hogwarts.

Hermione sighed, "He really mellowed out from First Year, didn't he?"

Ron shrugged, sympathizing with his former friend-enemy, "Anyone would after what he had to go through. I mean, he was practically a prince among the pureblood elites and now he's…worse off than a Squib…"

Neville nodded before asking, "Wondered how he keep away the Ministry from wiping off his memories of the Wizarding World?"

Harry supplied him with answer, "He's too young and besides, it's not like he gave up the Wizarding World not to mention he still have relatives on this side,"

"Oh,"

Luna took out a queer magazine called the Quibbler that quickly caught Harry's attention, "What's that?"

Ron huffed, "Her Dad's independent magazine. They are mostly nonsense though,"

Luna looked at him with her dreamy eyes, "Newt Scamander just haven't found them yet,"

Harry looked at the cover, "So it's a creature related book then? I wonder if they have anything on fae,"

Neville gulped, "Talk about creatures, have anyone wondered the sanity of our Care of Magical Creature's professor?"

Ron paled, "It almost bit my hand off!"

Neville nodded, "I thought for sure I'll be eaten,"

Hermione huffed, "Draco and me had to struggle to get a muzzle from Dad's belt around that. He said something about how the Muggles have more logic and sense that wizards and witches," She giggled, "It was so odd to hear him said that. I mean, honestly, whose great idea was it to give books teeth?"

Ginny added her thoughts, "Luckily our books aren't as crazy the Third Year's," She grinned, "You should have seen Ron's face when we went to get the book at the bookstore! He won't go anywhere near the cage!"

Ron shuddered before looking at Harry, "How come I never see you around Diagon Alley?"

Harry shrugged, "I ordered everything new by mail. All else were hand-me-downs from the professors,"

Ron groaned, "Ugh, I thought Hermione's the teacher's pet, not you!" He then looked at them, "So…what's your course choice? I'm going to take Divination. I heard it's a relaxing class,"

Harry and Hermione groaned and they shared a look before shaking their heads. Hermione huffed, "I'm going to try and if I don't like it, I'm pulling myself out,"

Harry leaned back, "I'm not even going to do that. After all, divination is a gift that cannot be learned. I mean, even Muggles can do tarot divination if they learned the hands," He snickered, "Imagine that, Ron the Prophet!" He teased the red head, "So I guess we will be hearing from him a lot this year, huh? Going to take your crystal ball everywhere?"

The compartment shook with laughter at Ron's expense before the train suddenly shuddered to a halt. They looked outside, the sky having pouring rainwater since they took off from London and Ron looked as his breath appeared in white fogs before him, "What? Why is it suddenly so cold?"

Harry looked at his cuffs and frowned as they started to show signs of perspiration and the glass of water that Neville hold started to freeze over. The train shuddered once more and the group panicked, Neville gasping, "Something just get on!"

Ron looked outside, "How? We are in the middle of a bridge!" At that moment the lights flickered off and they gasped in unison. Outside, Harry listened as the students panicked. He shushed his friends, "Quiet…I think there's Dementors on board,"

Ron squeaked, "What? Why? Is there a criminal on board or something?"

Hermione shivered, "I don't like this…it feels like the whole world is dark…"

Harry frowned, "No…if there's a criminal on board, they won't sent Dementors. No…I think this is a wild hive passing through," He stood up, "I'm going to look outside,"

Luna grabbed his hand, "I think I saw a teacher next compartment. Maybe he's the new Defence professor,"

Harry looked at her and nodded, "Okay, I'll look him up,"

Ron pulled at his coat, "Harry, are you mad?! There's Dementors out there!"

Harry pulled his coat away from Ron, "I'll be fine. Just stay put in here," With that he left and closed the compartment door behind him. Once he was sure that they won't leave, he cast a quick sticking charm on the door just to be extra sure. He then looked at the compartment next door and found a blanket left on the chair and the occupant missing. Realising that the professor must have moved, he started to follow the chill and noticed a Dementor at the end of the train, floating eerily.

Harry asked, "What is going on?"

The Dementor turned and looked at him, its head tilting to the side as it wondered if the mortal child had just spoken to it in its tongue, "What are you?"

"They call me Little One," Harry settled on his Dementor's given name, "Why are you here? There is no criminal in here," He tossed that in just to be sure that they weren't new recruits for Azkaban.

The Dementor seemed to bristle, "I am no wizard's pet!" With that thrown, confirming Harry's suspicion, it threw itself toward Harry who get ready to blow freezing air toward the Dementor in warning when a strong Patronus charged past him and straight toward the insulted Dementor. It chased the Dementor away and Harry watched as the silvery wolf turned to him before charging past him once more just as someone screamed the name Neville and Luna behind him. Harry turned to find another Dementor that just crept up behind him and had opened the door to his friend's compartment.

Harry cursed in Dementor, knowing that they would have gone after those with true horror in their past because the genuine emotion were much more delectable than one induced by their presence. The silvery wolf snapped at the determined Dementor. Harry wondered when was the last time they had a decent meal just as an adult wizard appeared, adding more strength to his spell and almost blinding him as it chased off the last Dementor off the train.

Harry blinked and then rushed to his friends, quickly kneeling down beside them and pulling out a thick bar of Cadbury from his pocket, "Put this in their mouth," He ordered them as he stayed away, sitting just outside the door and watched as a dozen Dementors left the train with several Patronus nipping at their inexistent heels.

The wizard came back and seemed relieved to find them alright and noticed how they had placed a small piece of chocolate to warm their friends back up. His golden-brown eyes caught Harry's freezing green and stared, his eyes confused. Harry wondered if the man knew him as he then shake his head and started to order the Prefects and several seniors behind him to spread out and hand out chocolates, handing small fist of Galleons to the shaken cart lady.