Chapter 5: Secret Admirer

The ride to the train station in ministry cars was an awkward affair. Ron and Hermione were completely silent whilst Harry was stuck with Sturgis Podmore sitting next to him who wouldn't stop smiling at all three of them.

Harry had managed to convince Sirius to stay back at the house by promising to use the mirror he gifted Harry that allowed them to communicate every night. Thankfully the ride was quick and they all exited at Kings Cross and went to platform 9¾ post haste with Moody running point. Entering the magical platform Harry said goodbye to Mrs Weasley and shook Moody's hand. Their training sessions had formed a bond between the two of mutual respect.

"Goodbye Mad-eye, try not to get nabbed by any long dead death eaters this year okay?" Harry said with an easy smile.

"Aye lad, as long as you keep yourself far from me, I'm sure I'll be as safe as possible"

"Now that hurts Mad eye, right here" Harry said pointing towards his chest jokingly.

"Alright piss off you, or I'll remind you what happens to overconfident brats"

Laughing, Harry just held out his arm and Moody grabbed his elbow where they held it there for a second before releasing each other. Moody and Harry had developed a mutual respect towards each other that Harry deeply appreciated. Harry turned around to get on the train and find an empty compartment. Entering the train that was now full of kids trying to find their friends Harry resigned himself to sharing a compartment. Harry went nearly the full length of the train before finding a compartment with a pale blonde girl reading a paper upside down. Figuring at the very least it would be an interesting ride, Harry knocked on the compartment door and spoke.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit with you?"

The girl looked at him serenely before shaking her head indicating she didn't mind. Entering the compartment, Harry hefted his trunk on the storage space above his seat before taking his seat and looking at the girl who was looking at him through purple sparkly glasses.

"Um so I'm Harry Potter nice to meet you, what's your name?" He said awkwardly as she got uncomfortably close with those damned glasses.

"You have significantly less Wrackspurts infesting your brain since last year. My name is Luna Lovegood, nice to meet you too" she said all this with an airy smile.

"Well Luna I have no idea what Wrackspurts are but by your tone I should hope that it's a good thing that they are gone" he said bemusedly.

"Oh yes, they can be quite harmful in large infestations, they make your brain go all fuzzy." She said quite seriously.

"Hmm the more you know" he muttered

Done with interaction Luna went back to reading her upside-down magazine. He didn't dare comment on it.

Well under way in their trip to Hogwarts, Luna still hadn't said a word to him. However, just as he was about to strike up a conversation again, Harry caught the distinct shimmer of illusionary magic at the compartment door. At first, he considered it might be a guard but dismissed that quickly, Moody, Sirius and Remus would've told him. 'I need to take this away from Luna, can't have her in the crossfire'

"Luna I'm just going to head to the bathroom, you might want to take this opportunity to change into your robes" he said as casually as he could.

"Okay Harry, beware the snakes in the grass" she replied like she was commenting on the weather.

'What the fuck? Does she know? It doesn't matter, gotta move. Now.'

Exiting the compartment Harry made an effort to look suspicious and worth following, always glancing around, walking quickly and keeping his hand near his wand.

'They've taken the bait, now to set the trap' he thought.

Entering the last car Harry cast an illusion of himself walking forward towards the back of the cart and hid himself in a little alcove. When the disillusioned person walked past him, he walked up behind them and stabbed his wand into their back and spoke quietly but harshly.

"Who the fuck are you and why are you following me?"

Receiving no immediate response, he pressed harder with his wand eliciting a quiet expletive before the charm was dropped and the person turned around. Harry was surprised to not recognise the person who stood before him. What he first noticed was her eyes, they bore into him so intently that he was taken aback long enough for her to get the first word in.

"Alright Potter, you got me what are you going to do now?" She said challengingly.

Gathering himself he replied "I would ask the name of my secret admirer, then we're going to have a lovely little chat about why you were stalking me"

"It was hardly stalking, I followed you for 3 minutes tops"

"And how long were you watching me before that?"

"Irrelevant" she replied as if this whole interaction was boring her.

"Harry?"

Turning around Harry saw Hermione standing there nervously biting her lip but continued speaking anyway. "Harry I'd like to talk to you if that's okay? She asked

"Hermione I would love to chat but I'm kind of in the middle of something here" he said turning back to the mystery girl who had… vanished

'Fuck'

"Harry there's no one else here but us" Hermione said looking worried

Looking around he didn't notice any obvious illusionary magic which is kind of the point of it but still he felt confident in being able to identify reality. "Unfortunately, you are correct Hermione, now what do you want to say?" He said annoyed that he let the mystery woman slip away.

"Harry, I want to apologise for keeping you in the dark about the order stuff, I chose my faith in leadership over my faith in our friendship and I'll never make that mistake again" she said sadly but determined.

"Hermione, if you can forgive me for all the times I've put you in danger, I can forgive you for this. You were a pawn in his grand plan and I don't blame you for that," Harry replied bitterly. Dumbledore was becoming more nuisance than benefactor.

"Oh Harry!" she cried before leaping at him crushing him with a hug. She sped off saying something about a prefect meeting leaving Harry alone to contemplate his secret admirer.

'Great Merlin he's good. That disillusionment charm was perfect, how did he see past it? And was that an illusion? Potter seems to have some neat tricks up his sleeve so at the very least this is going to be fun.' Daphne thought after managing to slip away from Harry. 'As soon as I'm at Hogwarts I need to send a letter to father.' Daphne smiled grimly, after all who doesn't like a good challenge.

"And I'm sure we're going to be the very best of friends" the disgustingly pink Professor Umbridge, new Defence Against the Dark arts teacher, said sweetly.

"Not bloody likely" replied the twins in unison

The rest of the speech Harry drowned out, scouring the great hall for the woman he saw on the train. His shadow was blonde with a hastily tied bun, wore black jeans and shirt with a leather jacket on top making him believe she was a muggle raised half blood or muggle born - which eliminated Slytherin House. He would recognise her eyes anywhere though, steely grey daggers that could pierce your soul.

Deciding to give it up for now Harry finished his dinner and headed off to bed. He had an early start and if he wanted to be at peak performance, he needed his rest.