I'M BAAAAACK! You missed me, right?! I hope ...

I'm SOOOO sorry for not being here for the past three years, & there are no reasons or excuses that would be enough! All I can offer is this new chapter & a plan for finishing this & other stories! I'm planning on posting new chapters every Monday & working on the new chapters on Wednesdays, Fridays, & Saturdays! With any luck, I should be done with this soon!

Thanks so very much for your continued loyalty & patience! Hopefully this will make up for my absence!

As always, read, enjoy, & review!

-Owlix

Chapter Forty-Two: Back to Hogwarts

Overnight, Harry discussed with Ron, Hermione, & me what was actually happening. I made sure to talk about my own worries that, if Voldemort found out that there was a connection between him & Harry, he'd use it to spy on Hogwarts, the Order, & us.

"Us?!" Ron gasped. "What's so special about us?!"

"We're close to him," I said solemnly, pointing at a white-faced Harry. "If Voldemort wants to get closer to Harry or hurt him more than usual, he can easily do so through learning about us & finding out ways to hurt us. It's the downside of caring about people, unfortunately."

Needless to say, we needed a happier change of topic, so I told them about my idea to have Sirius consult with the D.A. & clue everyone in about the truth about what happened to Sirius.

"It's such a terrible risk!" Hermione gasped. "If someone tells -"

"No one's talked about the D.A. yet, have they?" I threw back at her. "Maybe we write another contract for them to sign. Anyone who doesn't sign has to leave the room while we tell the rest about Sirius. Anyone who talks will not only get a worse jinx than one on the first paper, but all of us will completely write them off. We won't talk to them, we won't work with them, we won't even look at them. That good enough for you?"

I saw Harry nodding quietly next to me, but Ron & Hermione looked pretty shocked.

"Bloody hell …" Ron whispered as he stared at me.

"Don't you think that's … a bit harsh?" Hermione asked me uncertainly.

"This is war," I said sternly. "Do you think we win by playing nice?"

None of us slept well that night.

The next day, we all went down to breakfast to find the adults having an intense conversation in murmurs & whispers that were snuffed out as soon as we walked in. Sirius came over to Harry & pulled him aside to have another whispered conversation while the rest of us hurried through a breakfast prepared by a tense Mrs. Weasley.

After breakfast, we wrapped ourselves up in coats & scarves before lining up to say our goodbyes to the gathered adults. Mrs. Weasley gave me a tight hug & begged me to be careful, while Mr. Weasley shook my hand & thanked me for the fidget toys I'd given him. Uncle Sirius, who'd finished talking to Harry, wrapped me in a huge hug.

"I've talked to them about your new side project," I whispered excitedly. "The other two are nervous, but Harry's all for it!"

Uncle Sirius only responded by holding me tighter & kissing my hair.

Before I could say anything more, a grey-haired woman wearing a tweed cloak ushered me outside with the others. When I gave her an odd look, she smirked & winked; in that moment, her hair flashed pink & I realized that it was a heavily-disguised Tonks leading us to the ever-shabby but warm-hearted Lupin. He smiled at us all before throwing out his right arm.

With a loud BANG, a luridly purple triple-decker bus appeared at the curb in front of us. A thin, pimply college-age guy in a purple uniform jumped out & started talking like Dick van Dyke in "Mary Poppins".

"Alrigh', 'Arry - "

"If you shout his name, I will curse you into oblivion!" Tonks muttered menacingly, her hair flashing Gryffindor red for a moment to emphasize the danger. To his credit, the guy turned milk-white & nodded before hurrying to get our luggage onboard.

"I've always wanted to go on this thing!" Ron said excitedly.

"What is this thing?!" I asked in concern.

"It's the Knight Bus," Harry said seriously. "You'll get tossed all over before we get to Hogwarts."

"Great …" I groaned before following him, Ron, Hermione, & Tonks to the very top deck. Two seats were in the very back & three were in the very front. Harry & I went to the back while the others stayed up front. I could see people staring at Harry as we went past; I bared my teeth at them & leaned forward to bite the air in front of them, & they immediately turned to face the front.

After coughing up 11 Sickles each for our trip, we sat down on the two mismatched chairs available. Harry's was a leather recliner that might protect him a little if he toppled over. Mine was a cushy armchair that didn't support my head at all, almost guaranteeing a concussion before getting to Hogwarts.

With another BANG, we were flung backwards as the Knight Bus leapt forward. As I knew would happen, I banged my head as my chair fell over. I groaned loudly as I tried to get back up.

"Why don't they screw these damn chairs into the floor & put in seatbelts?!" I grumbled. "In America, this death trap would be sued for medical expenses a hundred times a day!"

"Wha's this, then?" the guy in the purple uniform asked. "Death trap?! The Knight Bus is perfec'ly safe, it is!"

"Bullshit!" I growled through gritted teeth after I was knocked over yet again & hit my head on the floor.

"Reggie, it's fine!" Harry said before to the guy & saying, "Sorry Stan, she gets grumpy in the morning. You know Americans …"

"Oh aye," "Stan" said before winking at Harry & tapping the side of his nose. "I know all about' Big Bruvah!" He then scraped an elaborate bow in my direction before sauntering off to the front, leaving me to give the visibly nervous Harry an ominous glare.

"Grumpy in the morning?" I asked. "Is that really the best you could do?"

Harry paused & then nodded.

"Yeah, under the circumstances."

I glared at him for another moment before smirking & saying, "You're lucky I like you."

Harry's eyes lit up for a moment. "You … You do?"

"Oh yeah!" I said brightly. "Your payback won't be so bad in your case. Someone like Malfoy … not so much!"

Harry turned pale again before giving me a shaky smirk.

We spent the remainder of the ride trying to not get killed by chairs that were getting chucked over. At one point I refused to get back up again, so Harry made the recliner a bit bigger & then dragged me into it to sit by him. A few older passengers looked slightly scandalized, but I ignored them to enjoy being curled up beside the young man that was slowly taking over every piece of my heart.

With a final BANG, we finally ended up at someplace familiar: the village of Hogsmeade. Harry & I scrambled up & grabbed our luggage before desperately scrambling off of the Knight Bus.

"I'm not ever getting on this thing again!" I snarled as I stood outside, punctuating my dislike for it with a firm kick to one of the wheels.

"You & me both, mate," Ron groaned, his face a definitively greenish gray.

"You'll be safe once you're in the grounds," Tonks said in a very prim accent as she glanced up at the nosy passengers, who had their noses flat against the windows. "Have a good term, okay?"

"Thanks, Aunt Prudence," I said, speaking a bit louder than I should have to make sure the passengers heard us. I stepped forward with a mischievous smirk to give her a hug.

"'Aunt Prudence'?!" she whispered in my ear.

"First name off the top of my head!" I whispered back.

"Now, I don't want to hear about you making any more trouble!" "Aunt Prudence" said as we backed away.

"Of course, Aunt Prudence!" I said with a grin that made Lupin stumble slightly. "You know me! I'm all about tea parties & needlepoint!"

"Oh, you cheeky imp!" she snarked, pinching my cheek for good measure before ushering me over to Lupin, who gave me a weak grin.

"If I didn't know better," he muttered quietly.

"You'd think I was Uncle Paddy's kid," I said softly with a nod. "He's better than any father I've ever had before, so I'll take that as a compliment!"

Lupin chuckled & ruffled my hair before shaking my hand.

"If you could do me a favor?" he asked.

"What?" I responded, leaning closer as he did.

"Make sure Harry does well with his Occlumency lessons," he whispered. "I know he doesn't like Snape, but Snape's a superb Occlumens & we all want Harry to protect himself!"

"Oh, definitely!" I said firmly. "Just don't expect me to be easy on Snape if he just uses the classes as private abuse sessions. I know you wanna give him the benefit of the doubt, but he is an absolutely nasty son of a - "

"Ready to get back?" Hermione asked primly, her trunk being dragged behind her.

"Yeah," I said quickly. "I'll be right there!"

"I'll keep an eye on them both," I whispered to Lupin, squeezing his hand firmly to show him that I meant it. "I'll make sure Harry's safe, promise!"

"I trust you," Lupin said, squeezing my hand back.

"Thanks, Uncle Moony! See you later!" I chirped, heading back quickly as Lupin's eyes started getting brighter than normal.

When we got up to the castle, we ran into different members of the D.A., who wanted to know when the next meeting would be. Harry unfortunately had to explain that it wouldn't be tonight or tomorrow since he had Remedial Potions to take care of. When the others started to complain, I quickly smoothed things over.

"Snape's got a lot on his plate," I said smartly, "& he's not gonna give extra lessons to someone who isn't worth his time. Besides, going up against Old Voldy's gonna take more than a few spells!"

Hermione smiled at me from Harry's other side when I said this, knowing that if the rest of the D.A. thought it was extra training against Voldemort, they'd be less likely to bother Harry about it.

Our smiles fell when Cho came up to our group, smiling shyly at Harry.

"We'll be in the library, Harry," Hermione said firmly, grabbing Ron & me by the elbow & dragging us off towards the marble staircase.

Halfway up, we were stopped by a smooth drawl.

"Well, look what the cat has dragged in!"

I turned & grinned to see Theo leaning against a nearby alcove & smirking at us. I turned to Hermione, who grinned back at me & nodded at Theo before continuing to drag a very confused Ron off to the library. I walked out of the throng & over to Theo, who greeted me with a gentle kiss on the hand that sported his ring.

"How was yer Christmas?" he asked, his smirk widening at the blush on my cheeks.

"Pretty quiet," I said, "apart from what I wrote you about."

"Oh yes," Theo drawled, remembering the various exploits I'd told him about. I'd been purposely vague about who my uncle & father were, but I was able to tell him a lot about their stories & he was surprisingly sympathetic towards my father's predicament.

"Have ye heard anything from the Healer?" he asked.

"Not yet," I replied with a small sigh. "He said that we probably won't hear from him until Valentine's Day."

"Speaking of that auspicious day," Theo drawled before pulling me further into the alcove, "how do we want to celebrate?"

"Hmm … that depends," I replied quietly, "on how public you want the celebration to be."

"True," Theo said. "I'm not the kind to parade my lady in front of all of Hogsmeade, but I do want people to see us …"

"Maybe we can meet here when everyone's heading down to Hogsmeade & then go to the Hogwarts kitchens instead!"

"That could work," Theo mused. "Tracey will likely want to work on homework for a good portion of the day …"

"She can come down later & take my place when I head back to Gryffindor Tower!" I grinned.

"I rather like that idea!" Theo said, fully smiling now. "Let me figure out some minor details & get back to ye later!"

"Sounds like a plan!" I said before quickly kissing his cheek & following Hermione to the library.