A/N Just when I think Winter time is finally starting to come to my part of the world, we get another burst of heat. All I want is a nice cool Easter season this year so I can knock some of my uni assignments out of the way without melting. Cool Saf equals happy Saf. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the "surprise" in this chapter, though some of you might guess what it is straight away.
Question of the chapter; How sentient do you think Hogwarts ( As in, the castle itself) is? I'm running on the theory that, like the Sorting hat, she ( I always imagine the castle is a she for some reason, like a mother looking after her children, the students) has a conscience, and somewhat has the ability to control her surroundings, to a degree. But that without the presence of the Hogwarts royalty, she can be controlled, like the Sorting Hat, by Dumbledore.
Chapter 11- All aboard.
Harry never understood why the Weasley household was always manic on the 1st of September every year. They had weeks to prepare, it wasn't like the semester just popped up randomly. The Potter's and Granger's in stark contrast were incredibly prepared. All of the trunks and cages were taken down to the Floo Room the night before. All that was left was to have a hearty breakfast, pick up the trunks and get on the train.
Harry and Hermione's extended trunks had been filled with everything that could possibly need. Hermione had taken the time to set up a small library in her's, with magical copies of rare books she had found in the Potter library, including old copies of Hogwarts: A History. She hoped that if she showed the copies to enough of the teachers, that they may begin to question the changes that Dumbledore had made to the historic text. They also packed more than they could ever really need of essentials like parchment, quills, and ink since they wouldn't be able to go to Hogsmeade until third year. Finally, Harry had packed the new Nimbus 2000 that he had Neville buy for him. While first years weren't allowed their own broom, he wanted to have it just in case of an emergency. Hermione had had fun trying her hand at enchanting the broom with various protection spells, ensuring that someone wouldn't be able to jinx the broom. Harry had offered to get a Nimbus 2000 for Hermione as well, but she refused. Instead, she had packed the Cleansweep 6 that she had found in excellent condition in the Manor Quidditch shed. She preferred the way that it handled since she didn't need the speed of the Nimbus 2000.
The House Elves were tearful as they laid out breakfast that morning. They were sad that their young Master and Mistress would be leaving their care. They were glad that Dan and Jean would be staying at the Manor though, as it gave them living people to dote on. Orthello was proud of the young ones, and how determined they were. And so, as a treat, Harry and Hermione's favourite breakfast was prepared. Fresh, crispy Belgium waffles with bacon and Canadian maple syrup. Dan had once had the dish in America and introduced it to the pair a few weeks ago. They loved the combination of sweet and savory, and the fact that it was a filling breakfast that would get them through until lunch on the train.
Harry and Hermione were excited. They had found a note from Gabriel this morning, and it was exceedingly more cryptic than usual. It simply stated, 'There will be a surprise on the train for you. Be kind'. This was unusual from the archangel; usually, he just came out and said things as unconvoluted as possible, with no regard to the possible reactions. After years of half-truths from Dumbledore, Harry found it refreshing. He wondered what this mysterious surprise could be…
The pair had decided to meet Neville on the platform at 10 am, an hour before the train would depart. It gave them plenty of time to settle into a compartment of their own and get to know people all over again. Another thing that would be unlike previous years would be how they were getting to the train; by Floo. Initially, this had confused Harry when his parents mentioned it. The Weasleys had never used the Floo to get to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, instead always driving there like Muggles. But the more Harry thought about it, the more he realised how ludicrous this was. He had never seen any other Pure Blood, and even Half-Blood student arrive this way. No, only Muggle-Born students used this entrance, as it was the only entrance available to them. The Weasley's had used it initially as a way to establish contact with Harry, whom they knew from Dumbledore had no way of knowing how to get onto the platform. They continued using this method over the years to come as a way to keep up the farce so that Harry would never question it.
And so, at ten minutes to ten, the whole family gathered in the Floo room to send off the preteens. Harry and Hermione were both dressed in simple, yet well-made robes. It never ceased to amaze Harry how different he looked without his glasses, and was glad that he wouldn't need them ever again. Hermione had tamed both her and Harry's hair, and with a final adjustment of their robes announced that they looked like a classy young witch and wizard from a well-off family, but not flaunting their wealth by any means. It made them look extremely approachable to everyone.
"Ready kids?" Dan asked the pair. The first time he had to say goodbye to Hermione on the muggle side of the barrier, he was a little tearful. This time was no different, standing in front of the Floo. While he would have loved to see the train and help the kids get settled in, Muggles, even the parents of students, weren't allowed on the platform, despite having the ability to be lead through by a magical. At nods from Harry and Hermione, he and Jean wrapped them both in an embrace. "Send us an owl if you can't get enough privacy to use the communication mirrors to let us know how you've settled in," Jean said, wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye.
After they were let go, Harry and Hermione gathered up their trunks and put an irritated Hedwig and a playful Crookshanks into their carriers. Hedwig hated to be caged but calmed down when Harry promised to let her out and give her some treats once they were on the train. Hermione had been glad to see that the two familiars got along very well, just as they had in their original timeline.
Harry gathered a handful of Floo powder as they stood in the fireplace. With a call of "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters," and a flare of green fire, they were off. While Harry still hated the sensation of traveling by Floo, he was no longer an embarrassment at the other end. Augusta had spent days ensuring that Harry could confidently walk out the other end, and not land on his face like he used to. Once they were certain that they had reached the right fireplace, the pair stepped out onto a relatively quiet platform. There were only a few students milling about, and groups of parents gathered in groups catching up with one another. Hermione spotted Neville right away, standing nearby talking to two familiar girls.
"Harry, Hermione!" Neville called out when he saw them, in case they hadn't seen him. When they joined him, Neville formally introduced them to two of his childhood friends. "Harry, Hermione. This is Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones. Girls, this is Hermione Granger and my godbrother, Harry Potter."
Susan and Hannah were unsurprised by Harry. Augusta was great friends with Madam Bones and Lady Abbott, and while she hadn't told them many details, she had told them how Harry had managed to reconnect with her and Neville. But nothing about the time travel, which all of them had decided was best to never tell anyone that didn't absolutely need to know. And certainly, nothing had been said about the Lordships and the return of the Hogwarts Royalty.
After meeting the girls, Harry, Hermione and Neville headed towards the train, determined to try and get a compartment to themselves so that they could talk freely during the train trip. Unsurprisingly, since they were so early, they found various empty compartments. Settling into one, Neville told them that Draco Malfoy and his thugs, Vincent Crabbe Jr and Gregory Goyle Jr were already on the platform, and were acting strangely. Draco had apparently been yelling at Crab and Goyle, telling them to stop following him like lost puppies. Harry and Hermione were surprised. Hermione didn't remember there being any conflict between the trio in the original timeline. So what had changed now?
Shortly after they had closed the door to their compartment, there came a small knock. Harry turned and looked, and saw the striking blond hair of Draco Malfoy. Confused, Harry pulled the door open. "Yes?," He asked, trying to sound calm as he met his schoolyard nemesis for the first time in this timeline. " Can I help you?"
Draco spoke softly, something Harry had never heard in the original timeline. "Potter. Please be kind. Can we talk?" Draco nodded inwards to the compartment, indicating that he wanted to talk to all of them. Confused as to how Draco was so certain of who he was, Harry let the boy into the compartment, closing the door behind them.
Draco took out his wand, causing the other three in the compartment to jump towards their own. He put his hands up, indicating that he meant no harm, before casting a Muffliato charm - a spell that he shouldn't even know, let alone be able to perform. This enough peeked interests in the small room.
"It's good to see you alive Potter," Draco said genuinely, causing three sets of eyebrows to raise very high in disbelief. Draco chuckled, "Probably not the surprise you were hoping for right? Bloody archangel thought it would be a nice little prank to keep you all in the dark."
"Gabriel?", Harry asked, feeling a headache coming on. "How… Malfoy, did you die?" Draco nodded. "So why did you get sent back?" Harry was very curious. They had hoped to try and reform Draco from the ground up before he became involved with the Death Eaters. But now it might be too late.
"Well Potter, Snape wasn't the only agent of the light in the ranks of the Death Eaters. If you could even call me an agent." Draco began, scratching his left forearm as though remembering the pain the dark mark had caused. "I never wanted to join 'The Noble Cause', as my father called it. But I, like many before me, was forced into it. It was either that or be killed. When my assignment was to kill Dumbledore, I told Snape about it. He was my Godfather, and I had hoped that he would help me botch it and maybe help me escape. It took awhile, but after he had been forced to make the Unbreakable Vow to my mother, he told me that he was a double agent. And that the Dark Lord believed that he was a triple agent. When Snape killed Dumbledore under Dumbledore's own orders, he expertly modified the memories of Bellatrix and the other Death Eater's so that they would believe that I had done it, to save me from punishment. That summer was fucking miserable. The Dark Lord decided that he was going to live in my families manor and direct the so-called war effort from there. Can you imagine living in the same house as evil incarnate? Initially, I wasn't supposed to return to school last year, but Snape made up some excuse about using me to keep an eye on the students from the inside. Bloody glad that he did too, I couldn't stand living around so much death much longer. Professor Burbage was killed right in front of me, and none of us were allowed to leave until that ruddy snake had swallowed every last bit of her. So back at Hogwarts, I'm Snape's inside man. Except I was there to protect the students. I would help keep the Carrow's away from as many students as I could, directing some of the lost cases's to the Room of Requirement, where I knew Longbottom had set up a refuge."
Neville nodded and told Harry and Hermione that students had sometimes turned up at random times, telling him that a shadowy figure had told them where to go. Neville was never certain of who it was, but he had suspected that it might have been Draco. Neville himself had seen the shadowy figure a few times, and vaguely recognised Draco's voice.
"I did everything that I could without getting myself killed," Draco said sadly. "I just hoped that I was making a difference, atoning for my past childish actions. The only person that knew was Snape. He never even told Dumbledore's painting, he didn't trust the old man for some reason. Yule time came around and none of the students were allowed to go home for the holidays. Snape used that as an excuse to keep me at the school, as the students had attempted a rebellion. Again, I did what I could. Months of the same went by, until the Easter holidays. The students at Hogwarts had been beaten so much, both physically and mentally. They had lost their will to fight back. And with that, Snape couldn't find a reason to keep me at the school for the holiday. I guess it was fortunate that he couldn't in a way. Otherwise, there would have been deaths in the manor that day when you all turned up."
Harry and Hermione were speechless. It seemed that the cruel boy that they knew had disappeared, replaced with someone that was deeply regretful for their actions. Hermione had found an interesting feature of their Hogwarts Crown's over the holidays; the Crown would tell them if they were being lied to or deceived. The Crown had first made this feature known when James had started to over embellish an old story of his youth, and lied about how close he had come to catching a snitch in a Quidditch game. Turns out he wasn't close at all, as he was distracted by the sight of someone flirting with Lily in the stands. So they knew that Draco had to be telling the truth about everything that he had said. Hermione frowned though. She couldn't tell how Draco could have saved them. It had been Dobby and Aberforth, or so she thought. When she voiced this, Draco rapidly hushed her before she could say the elves name.
"Sorry, just… Don't say his name. Even mentioning his name is enough to get him to show up. It will be worse now that I freed him this morning," Draco said, smirking at the looks of surprise on the faces of his companions. " I took a page out of your book Potter. Hid a sock in something that I knew father would pass to him. Took him an hour to realise what had happened, but from what I know, father has no idea yet, and it would be pretty damn hard to link it back to me. But with what happened in the past, Aberforth couldn't have sent him. Because an elf not bonded to the family can't apparate into a house as warded as mine without being invited. And I'm the one that called for… fuck nearly said it. For the elf to free you all."
Hermione's mouth dropped. How had she not realised this sooner? She had spent days examining the wards on Potter Manor, and had found that same feature. It was a common feature in all magical households, as it stopped an elf being used to steal from another family. For some reason, that same protection was never placed on Privet Drive. And Dobby had been able to take them to Shell Cottage because Ron was related to the owners.
Neville, curious about how Draco had died, asked the boy what had happened to him, and why he had been sent back. Draco explained how after Voldemort had bought Harry's body up the castle, his parents whisked him away in the chaos that erupted after Hagrid accidentally dropped Harry's body. His parents were broken at that point, the true horrors of their actions finally starting to sink in. Lucius had wanted to try and escape to America and seek refuge from MACUSA. Everything seemed to be going well until their boat hit the British border. Suddenly, they were forcefully portkeyed to Voldemort's location. It was a safety that Voldemort built into the Dark Mark, ensuring that none of his followers could escape him. Voldemort was furious, and tortured them for hours, blaming them for the death of Bellatrix. And then he offered Lucius a deal. If he killed his wife and son, then Voldemort would forgive him. And so, Draco died by the hand of his own father, but not before he watched his mother being killed without hesitation.
After he died, he found himself in the same situation that the others had. Faced with the archangel Gabriel, Draco learned that by a stroke of luck, he had been linked to Harry in the most unusual way. A life debt. By calling Dobby, Draco had saved the lives of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. While it wasn't considered to be a huge deal in modern magical society, the old magics still recognised the deed as something that needed to be repaid. Despite Harry saving Draco from burning to death in the Room of Requirement, the bond lingered because of Hermione. And so, Draco was given a choice. At the time of his death, the timeline hadn't collapsed, and so he could either go back and help to change history, or he could move on. Draco chose to stay. Gabriel didn't tell him much more, saying that it was up to Harry to fill Draco in. The archangel explained that he didn't have anything against Draco, quite the opposite. He just didn't feel that is was his place to tell Draco Harry's life story. All he told Draco was to not trust what he had heard from anyone else, and to only trust Harry, Hermione, and later on Neville.
By the time Draco had finished telling his story, the platform and train had started to get busier. Realising that the train was filling up, Draco asked his stunned companions if he would be able to travel with them. After a second, Harry nodded. Draco gave a small smile, before walking out to grab his things from a nearby compartment. As he closed the door behind him, the remaining residents all let out a deep breath.
"Fuck me," Harry murmured. "I wasn't expecting that at all."
Neville and Hermione nodded in agreement, just as shocked as Harry.
"Do we trust him?" Hermione asked, already knowing the answer. Gabriel wouldn't have let Draco come back if he couldn't be trusted. And so far, Gabriel hadn't led them astray. Harry and Neville nodded. Hermione pondering, airing her thoughts out loud. "How much do we tell him?"
"Everything," Harry said almost immediately. "It's all or nothing. We can't risk telling him only bit's and pieces in case he changes something that shouldn't be changed, just because he thought he was doing the right thing. I think it would destroy him to screw something for the future up. So everything. The events of the original timeline, Dumbledore's meddlings, the Crowns, the Soul Bond. Even our own individual stories, to see if there's any insight he can gain from it all. It's an eight-hour train trip, so it's not like we don't have the time. We just need to keep an eye out for other students that might come knocking during the trip."
Hermione and Neville agreed, and Hermione began pulling out her action plan from a small satchel she had brought with her. Shortly after, Draco returned with his things, including a familiar that Harry had never seen before. It was a small white ferret, and it seemed to be very attached to Draco. Draco saw the curious looks at the animal, and gave a chuckle, explaining how he had felt a bond to the ironic ferret. In the original timeline, his father had not allowed him to get the creature. So this time he took his mother with him instead. Narcissa had loved the little white ball of fur and had actually insisted that Draco get her. Draco put the carrier next to the carrier of Crookshanks, where the two furballs became fast friends. The ferret's name was Odessa, a name that Draco had felt was perfect, since the ferret was full of vengeance and wrath when her fur was messed up.
Before Draco could sit down next to Neville, Harry stood up and stood in front of the pale boy, holding his hand out. "Might as well make a fresh start yeah?" Harry said, smiling. "Hi, I'm Harry, nice to meet you."
Draco smiled back, grasping Harry's hand. "Hi Harry, I'm Draco. It's a pleasure to meet you and your friends." Once the shake was over, both boys settling into seats opposite each other.
The fifteen-minute warning bell sounded, and none of the members of the compartment were surprised to see that the Weasley's still hadn't arrived. From Harry's memory, they would arrive in about five minutes.
Draco was curious at the animosity he felt at the mention of the Weasley's, particularly Ron. Hermione told him all about the love potions and loyalty charms, about how they had constantly been drugged by the family and lied to. They knew that Molly, Ron, and Ginny were involved, but were uncertain about the rest of the family. But for now, it was best to be cautious. Draco was furious when he heard. While he didn't yet know about all of the other Lordships, he knew that Harry was the Heir to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter. He told them how the actions of the Weasleys were highly illegal, as they were tantamount to line theft, one of the most heinous crimes that could be committed against the last heir of a family.
Just as Draco finished talking, there was the ring of the final warning bell. Five minutes before departure. All of the remaining students on the platform began to pile onto the train, and there was still no sign of the Weasleys. Harry nearly laughed, "I think the Weasley's are still on the Muggle side of the platform trying to find me. How funny would it be if they ended up missing the train? I wonder how they would explain it to Dumbledore? I mean, I can always just say that I got to the platform early and that Hagrid told me how to get to the magical side. But for an all magical family with access to the Floo to be late? I'd imagine that must be rather shameful."
Harry let an irritated Hedwig out of her cage, giving her a few treats before opening the window. He told her to keep close to the train in case he needed her for something. Neville announced that he hadn't bought the toad Trevor this time around, opting for a small tawny owl that he named Artemis. Somehow, Hedwig rapidly found Artemis, and the two perched next to each other on a signpost, waiting for the train to depart.
Just then, with two minutes left until the train pulled out, the Weasley's suddenly appeared, the twins yelling at their mother for nearly making them late. Ron seemed to be looking all around the platform like he was looking out for Harry. Percy was running to the front end of the train, not wanting to be late for his first Prefect meeting. The last of their trunks only just made it on the train before the train began pulling out of the station. It seemed that Ginny was crying, but not for her brothers. She was wailing loudly that she didn't get to see Harry.
"What a nutcase," Hermione muttered under her breath. "Right Harry, can I change the colour of your hair for the train trip? So that Ron doesn't try to come barging in to 'make friends' with you?"
Harry nearly agreed, before he had an idea. "Nah, there's already four of us in the compartment, and if we put Crookshanks and Odessa on the seats as well there won't be any room for him to try to sit down. And if we just keep talking, it would be rather rude of him to just barge in uninvited. So either he does and makes himself look like an idiot, or he doesn't and we don't have to deal with him."
Draco gave a cruel smile, "I'm impressed Harry. That's a very Slytherin plan."
Harry said with as straight as a face as he could, "Well I'd hope so. I am your lord and prince." Harry felt a level of satisfaction at the look of utter confusion on the pale boy's face. "You see Draco, one of the things that we learned fairly early on after being sent back is that Neville, Hermione and I are the heirs of a few houses. And I have to say, it's quite an impressive list."
It was Draco's turn to be shocked as he was told about all of the uncovered lordships and the return of the Hogwarts royalty. While they didn't show him the crowns yet, as other students could see into the compartment, they did give him a flash of their lordship rings before hiding them away again. Harry explained to Draco the situation with Sirius, and how Draco could help to get him out of Azkaban. Draco was more than happy to do so, and would send his father a letter in the morning complaining about how he wanted to have his other lordship ring, starting the chain of events.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry saw Ron walked past their compartment after briefly looking in. It was obvious that the redhead hadn't recognised Harry from the description he probably had. Ron would have been looking for a scraggly boy with messy hair, second-hand clothing, glasses and his old trademark scar. Whereas now, Harry had none of those things, and his robes hid how malnourished he still was. He had a feeling that Ron would broaden his search after the first sweep of the train though, questioning any younger student with black hair. Harry was unconcerned though; let the idiot come.
The food trolley came around, and the children all stocked up on their favourite bits and pieces; treacle tart for Harry, sugar quills for Hermione, chocolate frogs for Neville and caramel dragon claws for Draco. They also bought some of the more filling and less sweet pumpkin pasties to share around. Ice cold pumpkin juice poured freely in the compartment, ensuring they didn't hurt their throats from the amount of talking they would be doing throughout the trip.
Hermione was about to start telling Draco all about the Horcruxes when Ron made his second round, rudely bursting into the compartment just as they predicted. "Has anyone seen Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out rudely. "I was supposed to meet him on the platform."
"No, I can't say I have seen him on the train," Harry responded coolly. And to a degree, it was true. Harry hadn't seen himself on the train yet, because he was yet to look at his own reflection. "Now could you please leave? We were having a lovely conversation before you rudely burst in, uninvited might I add."
Ron's ears turned a bright pink, before he turned and walked out of the compartment without so much as an apology. The stupid git hadn't even bothered to look up at the initials on their trunks, where he would clearly see Harry's and then put two and two together. Hermione doubted it though; the only real smarts Ron had was chess.
They all had a feeling that Ron might attempt a third and hopefully final pass, so they kept the conversation light, talking about their holidays. Harry told Draco about how they found his manor, and the portraits of his parents. Neville and Hermione had taken to flying wonderfully this time, and both had come to enjoy playing Quidditch on the Manor's pitch. Draco was interested in the four of them flying together, and having a seeker's match against Harry. They were talking about all of the downsides of the Nimbus 2001 that Draco had discovered when Ron made his third pass, accompanied by a pompous Percy.
Percy knocked on the door, before opening it himself. "I'm looking for Harry Potter, Hogwarts business. Have you seen him?" Percy asked in his commanding prefect tone. His eyes scanned the compartment, landing on Harry's trunk above the seat. Without saying anything, his eyes traveled back to Harry with an expectant look.
Harry spoke up, eager to get back to his previous conversation. " That would be me," Harry said, using a confident tone and stance that seemed to throw Percy off. "What sort of Hogwarts business do you need to discuss with me of all people? I haven't even seen the school yet."
It was obvious that Percy didn't like his authority being questioned by a first year. "You were supposed to meet with me and my family on the Muggle side of the platform before the train departed. Because of your inability to follow an instruction, my siblings and I nearly missed the train."
Liar, the Crown of Hogwarts chirped in his mind. Harry feigned surprise. "Really? Well, that's odd. Mr. Hagrid never mentioned anything about meeting anyone. I got to the station at 10 am to be early, but couldn't work out how to get onto the platform. It seems to be another thing that Mr. Hagrid forgot to tell me. Thankfully I met the lovely Miss Granger here who comes from a muggle family. She saw my owl and trunk and asked if I was traveling to a 'Special School for Gifted Children'. Thankfully I recognised her discreet way of talking about Hogwarts. A Professor McGonagall had told her how to get through the barrier, so we went through together. Wonderful bit of magic isn't it?" Harry could see Percy turning a light shade of red when he realised that Harry wasn't going to apologize for making them nearly miss the train.
Percy pulled Ron forward, almost pushing the boy into the compartment. "This is my brother Ron. He is to be your companion for the rest of the trip," And without another word, Percy marched away.
Ron stood awkwardly in the door of the compartment, looking for room to sit. But there was none. Hermione smiled, but not kindly. She was looking forward to antagonising the boy. "You have some dirt on your nose, did you know?" She said in an almost sickly sweet voice. "Right there," Indicating with her finger where the patch of dirt was. Ron's ears went red while he rubbed at the spot, only succeeding in smudging the patch even more.
Neville could see that a game was starting, and used a line that he had heard Draco use in the past. "Red hair, hand-me-down clothes. You must be a Weasley." While it didn't have the same tone of despise that Draco had used those many years ago, it was in a sense worse. Because Neville looked and sounded bored, like there were so many better things he could be doing with his time.
Draco simply chose to ignore the boy, looking towards Hermione and asking her if he could have one of her sugar quills. Draco's smirked when he heard the huff of annoyance from Ron.
Finally, Harry looked at the boy and almost laughed at the look of hope on the boy's face. "Sorry, what was your name again? Well, I guess it doesn't really matter anyway. Seems your brother didn't realise that there isn't any room in this compartment for you."
This seemed to be a breaking point for Ron. "Doesn't matter, you're coming to sit with me Harry," Ron almost yelled, moving towards Harry and grabbing the raven-haired boys arm. Harry immediately pulled his arm back, stood up and looked Ron right in the eyes.
"Don't you ever touch me again," Harry seethed, his eyes flashing a deadly green. "I don't know who you are, but I'm not going anywhere with you. If you have an issue with that, I suggest that you go and get the Professor onboard to sort it out. And I doubt that they will do anything. Now leave."
Ron had gone from red to white as soon as Harry had started talking. Without another word. Ron turned and quickly left the compartment. Harry let out a sigh of relief and closed the compartment door. "Well, I think that went as well as we all thought it would"
"How many similar incidents do you think we will have to endure over the years before Ron and Ginny finally back off?" Hermione mused, already knowing the answer. The pair and their mother would never stop, not while Dumbledore was still encouraging them.
The rest of the train trip was relatively peaceful. It took a while and many questions, but they finally told everything that had happened to them, and everything that they had learned to Draco, who was stunned. By the end of schooling in the original timeline, Draco had started to realise that Harry's living conditions with the muggles can't have been as good as some believed. After a summer of abuse himself, Draco had started to see the same signs in Harry at the beginning of sixth year. Regardless, he was horrified to hear the extent of the abuse.
"Harry, if you don't mind me asking… how did you not accidentally kill the bastards?" Draco asked. He had heard cases before of magical children killing abusive caretakers with accidental magic before. The magical core would simply explode in an effort to protect its physical body, eliminating a deadly threat. Hermione had theorised that it can something to do with Harry's suppressed core. If his core had tried to defend itself while still bound, it could have killed Harry himself.
The sky was starting to get dark, and one by one the companions left to change into their Hogwarts robes. Draco was trying to work out where he might get sorted this time around, though he suspected that it would still be Slytherin. He didn't mind though- it would give the group a set of eyes in the troublesome house. And it wouldn't be hard to justify his friendship to the Gryffindors to other Slytherins- they would respect that Draco was making connections with 'The Boy Who Lived', and would see it as a political move.
Finally, the train began to slow down, and the twinkling lights of Hogsmeade station began to come into view. The group, which had started to feel drowsy from the lull and movement of the train, was re-energised at the thought of the sorting feast and seeing the magnificent castle once again. Hedwig and Artemis returned to the compartment, begrudgingly allowing Harry and Neville to cage them. Odessa and Crookshanks had fallen asleep, and didn't stir as they were returned to their cages. Gathering their belongings, they exited the compartment. The train corridor was starting to thrum with activity, and they were glad they started making their way to the exit when they did.
Harry almost immediately saw the large presence of Hagrid waiting on the platform. The friendly giant saw Harry and gave a wave, before calling out for all the first years to gather around him. Dropping their belongings at the pickup point, the group approached Hagrid, excited to ride in the boats again.
"How are ye, Harry?" Hagrid asked with a smile. Gabriel's memory tampering had worked perfectly it seemed, as Hagrid even remembered Harry's new appearance and lack of glasses.
"Starving," Harry replied, just as his stomach grumbled. Everyone agreed; While the pumpkin pasties had helped to tide them over, they were in need of a proper meal.
"In for a treat ye's are. Hogwarts feasts are always the best. Lots of food and mead for the staff." Hagrid had said with a grin. Harry remembered how jubious Hagrid had been during his first sorting all those years ago. The mead had obviously played a part in the festivities for the half-giant.
Once the platform began to clear a bit, Hagrid ensured that he had all of his first years gathered before leading them down to the boats. Harry could hear Ron somewhere behind them saying loudly that he was going to be in a boat with the Harry Potter. At hearing this, the group bunched together a little bit more, determined to keep Ron out of their boat. Clambering into the first empty boat they could find, they settled in, waiting for the next outburst from Ron. They saw the redhead begin to run to their boat, before Hagrid yelled out at him. "Oi! Four first years to a boat. No more. Don't want ye's falling out the sides." Ron gave a scowl, before stomping off to another boat. It looked like Seamus Finnigan and Blaise Zabini were going to be stuck with his incessant whining.
"Right. All settled?" Hagrid bellowed. When he saw that everyone was seated, he pointed his umbrella towards the castle before shouting, "Forward!" The boats smoothly left the dock, gliding across the crystal-like lake.
After a minute of gliding through the dark, seeing nothing but each other's faces in the soft glow of the boat lantern, Hagrid yelled out that they would be getting their first look of the castle in a moment. It didn't matter how many times Harry saw the castle, it would always take his breath away. But this time was different, more euphoric. At his very first glimpse, a warm sensation enveloped him, akin to a hug. Then, he heard a faint voice in his head.
"Welcome home my children."