016HL
Chapter Sixteen

Back To Hogwarts At Last

"WAKE UP EVERYONE!" Mrs. Weasley's voice shrilled through the residence. Harry leaped to his feet in near shock and started panting weakly.

"Bloody Hell! isn't there an easier way to get us up?" Harry complained to himself. Ron rolled out of his bed and crashed onto the floor. With a yawn, he threw his blankets back onto his bed and headed straight for his dresser.

"Mum always shouts to get us up when we have to," Ron explained, pulling out an orange shirt, "She threatens to pour water in our faces once, but it didn't even effect George so she stopped."

"HURRY UP!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. She scurried up the stairs and appeared to be knocking on Fred and George's bedroom door, "IF YOU DON'T GET UP, I'LL MAKE YOU GET UP!"

Harry didn't know what Mrs. Weasley was capable of doing, but he decided that he'd better get up now or face the consequences. He took out one of Dudley's old sweaters and a pair of baggy blue jeans, "I really need to buy some new clothes," he said to himself, rolling up his sleeves.

Mrs Weasley scooted them down into the living room, "I didn't have any time to make you breakfast but here's some money. Buy something from the train," she grabbed a flower pot quickly off the shelf, and offered it to Harry.

Harry's stomach tightened as he saw the quite familiar Floo Powder sparkling up at him innocently, "Oh, great," he thought to himself, taking a small handful.

A small fire was crackling in the Weasley's kitchen. Throwing the Floo Powder into the flames, he paused and turned back, "What do I say to get to King's Cross?"
"It's just King's Cross," Fred said, dragging his trunk into the kitchen.
Harry took a deep breath and stepped inside, "King's Cross Station!" The same stomach-turning feeling filled him. The green flames surrounded him. He closed his eyes and tucked his elbows in. With a thud he landed in a fire place, soot covered his face and although he couldn't see it, Harry felt it in his hair.

"Hallo," a familiar female voice said, and a rather dark skinned hand reached forward to help him up.

"Victoria, right?" Harry asked as she helped him to his feet.

"Yes, that, is, my name," she answered slowly, "I, was, waiting, for you,"

"Why?" Harry asked, releasing her grip.

"Because, I found, something, that I, think, belongs, to you," Victoria answered grabbing Harry's wrist. He tried to pull it free, but to his astonishment, she was extremely strong. She dragged him out onto the platform where the Muggle trains were coming in. There were six trunks leaning up against the wall, one in particular, with a shaggy black dog on it.

"Snuffles," Harry said looking closer, and true enough, Snuffles, his 'trusted dog' was sitting on top of his trunk barking once in awhile. Victoria let Snuffles go and he ran forward to Harry.

"I missed you," Harry said, patting the dogs head.

"So, the tags, were right, then," Victoria said, handing him a maroon collar. Harry looked at it strangely and read;

:Snuffles:
The Highlands
Mr. Harry Potter

"York must have gotten him this," Harry thought to himself. Snuffles put his paw over his nose, which Harry guessed meant that he was embarrassed.

"Can, you show, me how, to get, on, Platform, nine and, three, quarters?" Victoria asked, putting her hand on his shoulders.

Harry didn't like how open she was, but agreed to help her anyway.

"Hey, Harry!" he heard a familiar yell. Ron came running forward, and stopped instantly when he saw Victoria smile at him. He walked closer towards Harry and nudged him slightly, "... And who is this, my friend?"

"Victoria," Harry answered, "She found Snuffles sitting on my trunk and wanted to give him to me."

Ron crossed his arms over his chest and sighed.

"You have a girlfriend and you didn't even tell me?" Ron whispered into his ear. He was joking, but Harry blushed immediately, punching Ron in the shoulder. Victoria giggled and sat down on top of what must have been her own trunk.

"We, should, get going," Victoria said, standing up again, "How do, you get to, the train?"

"Just follow us casually," Ron said, walking over to his own trunk. Pig's cage was sitting on top of it, but Pig wasn't merrily hooting inside, "Now where did that fuzz-ball go?"

Harry looked up at the clock, and noted that there was only 15 minutes until they'd have to get onto the train. "Come on we'd better hurry."

Snuffles ran quickly through the barrier, holding Hedwig's cage in his mouth. Victoria gasped when he disappeared through the barrier, then she tried it herself.
Making sure no Muggles were watching, she lifted her trunk easily and walked through the barrier. Harry and Ron grabbed a trolley. Fred and George caught up with them and they put all four trunks onto it.

"Goodbye, dears, stay out of trouble you two! Goodbye Ron, goodbye Harry. Have a nice year," Mrs. Weasley said, waving quickly.

Not to attract to much attention, Ron volunteered to push the trolley threw the portal. Once he disappeared it was easy to get Fred, George, and Harry through quickly without being noticed.

The Hogwarts express was waiting for them. Several people were waving from the windows to their parents. A brushy haired girl ran forward and quickly assisted them in getting their trunks on to the train.

"How has your summer been?" Hermione asked, as they headed for the back of the train.

"Not too bad," Ron responded, "Why did you come to the Highlands?"
Ron already knew the answer to this question, but wanted to see if Hermione would tell them the truth or not. She flushed slightly and opened the last carriage she found.

"This one looks empty," she said looking inside. But she was wrong; Draco Malfoy, arch-villain and enemy to Mud-bloods, Muggleborns, and all persons by the name of Harry Potter, sat there quietly with his head down.

"Oh great, it's him," Ron said, gesturing towards Draco.

Malfoy looked up, but didn't glare or scoff at them. His eyes were sad for an instant, but they turned cold seeing Hermione standing in the door.

"I'll leave. You can sit here," he said slowly getting up. Hermione jumped back and let him pass. Draco kept his head down, and Harry noticed a large red slash on the back of his neck. He wanted to ask Malfoy something about it, but he didn't bother.

"Well at least we got this carriage," Ron said, walking in.

"Do you think he's OK?" Hermione asked, still glancing down the hallway.

"Why do you care?" Ron asked, lifting his trunk and putting it above his seat.

"I dunno... just a feeling, I suppose," she responded. She started to lift her trunk, and with Ron's help it was safely tucked away. Harry could barely lift his trunk on his own but refused their help. Snuffles trotted in shortly after, still holding Hedwig's cage, but this time with the shrieking Pig inside of it.

"Thanks, Snuffles," Ron said, taking the tiny bird from the cage, "Stupid traitor," he hissed at the him.
Pig didn't seem to be growing as fast as Hedwig did. He remained irresistibly cute to any girl who happened to walk by. He hooted around the cabin happily and landed on Hermione's shoulder.

The train hadn't even started to move, when there were several screams coming from the hallway. Ron peered out, and gasped weakly, "There's a fight!" he explained, "I can see Malfoy and that... that Victoria girl... I think the rest are Slytherins, too."

Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet and looked down the hallway. True enough, Victoria was there, and it looked like she was protecting Draco from the other Slytherins.

Speaking fluently in German, she shouted commands to her wand, while warding off several seventh year Slytherin boys, who seemed to be trying to get whom she protected. Her magic seemed more powerful then a normal soon-to-be-fifth-year-students should be. The Slytherins had never experienced such spells in their lives. As some were thrown into walls, others shrunk to a mini size. One seventh year grabbed Victoria's wand out of her hand, and threw it down the hallway.

This didn't stop her. Someone grabbed her wrists, and tried to yank her away from Draco. She lifted her foot quickly, and kicked the seventh year in the stomach.

"You will leave him alone now," she said firmly. Her english seemed to have improved, but her temper was still flaring. She raised her fist to strike again, when they slowly backed away.

"We'll get you someday, Draco. You can't have your little girlfriend protect you everyday," they laughed, turned and left, one still holding his stomach which hurt more when he joined in their humor.

"Are, you, OK?" Victoria asked, turning to Draco. He didn't seem frightened of her, although his hand shivered as he pressed it against the wall and stood up.

"Thank you," he said slowly. He started to walk away, when she grabbed his hand.

"Something happened to you," she said slowly, taking his other hand, "Please come with me." She led Draco away by the hand, and they entered the carriage next to Harry's.

"Well, that was weird," Hermione said, sitting back down. The train started moving and they soon burst into discussion.

"Why was she being so nice to Malfoy?" Harry asked, thinking over the situation again.

"Maybe she didn't know how much of a lying prejudiced arseole he is," Hermione said, petting Pig in her hand.

"But... why would the other Slytherins be after him in the first place?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Who knows?" Ron said, swiping Pig from Hermione, "You're still a traitor!" and he locked Pig in his cage. Snuffles let out a dog-like sigh and looked up at them.

"What are you doing here, Snuffles?" Harry asked, as it became clear to him that Sirius could be in potential danger sitting there on the floor of the train.
Sirius decided it was easier to explain as a human, so he transformed quickly. Harry, Hermione, and Ron gasped as they gawked at Sirius. He no longer had the shaggy black hair they were used to. It was dark blond, and his eyes were light brown. Even his appearance seemed to be slightly altered, you could barely the Sirius was Sirius.

"You're now looking at your knew Defense Against Dark Arts teacher," Sirius explained, taking a bow. Everyone clapped and then started laughing.

"Are you really going to teach us?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Sirius answered, "But I can't choose favorites, Harry. I have to be equal to everyone." Sirius sat down next to Hermione and sighed weakly.

The lunch cart came by, and Sirius decided that it was his time to buy everyone their lunch. They happily dined on chocolate frogs, Botts Every Flavor of Beans, and a rather new treat, 'Coots', which were designed to be extremely powerful little sweets, that changed the colour of your skin.

There was a knock on their cabin door. Ginny walked in rather flustered, "You could have waited for me," she gasped, leaning against the door.

"Sorry, sis," Ron said, throwing a Coot in his mouth. His skin turned magenta red. Ginny looked at him strangely, but didn't say anything.

"I heard that there was a fight. Are you all OK?" Ginny asked, looking particularly at Harry.

"We're all fine, it was a bunch of Slytherins," Hermione answered, scooting over so Ginny could sit next to her. There was a loud crash in the cabin next to theirs, but it didn't sound like another fight.

Everyone had grown slightly uncomfortable as the crashes continued, but once several moans echoed into their cabin, they all looked quite repulsed, "Honesty," Hermione said crossing her arms. There was an awkward moment of silence, then they all started laughing.

"We'd better get our robes on," Ron said standing up to get his trunk open. Ginny disappeared down the hallway to find her trunk, whilst everyone else slipped on their robes over their clothing.

When the train pulled to a stop, people happily darted off, and headed to the horse-less carriages that awaited them. Hagrid was standing on the platform a high lantern held above his head.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!," Hagrid shouted, "Hullo Harry." He said, waving to him as Harry got off the train. Jumping into a horse- less carriage with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, they started off.

The strong smell of hay filled their noses. Ginny coughed weakly, and wiped her nose, "My allergies are acting up," she explained, sneezing again. Hermione opened her backpack and took out a bottle of eye drops and a medicine holder.

"Here, put one drop in each eye, and swallow two of these," she said, handing them to Ginny. Ginny and Ron both looked fascinated by these contraptions Hermione had given her.

"What am I supposed to do?" Ginny asked, turning the little bottle upside down. Hermione grabbed it swiftly and told Ginny to lean her head back. Despite the small space she was in, Hermione succeeded in applying the eye drops and with a glass of water Ginny swallowed the pills.

"You should feel fine in a few minutes," Hermione explained, closing her backpack again.

"Thank you," Ginny said happily. Her eyes no longer appeared to be bothering her. Ginny rocked slightly back and forth, put her hand on her forehead and nearly instantly fell asleep leaning against her brother, "What did you give her," Ron asked, sitting her back up.

"It's just some Muggle medicine," Hermione said, taking out the bottle, "Take one every six hours for instant allergy relief. I guess since she's a full blood witch, the medicine must take effect much more quickly. It says that one side effects is drowsiness.

When they pulled up to the Hogwarts castle, Ron and Harry carried Ginny out of the carriage, while Hermione shut the door and followed them.
"How are we going to get her into the great hall?" Harry asked, dropping her feet onto the ground.

"I dunno... she'd probably just want us to take her up to the common room," Ron said, slowly lowering her head to the ground. The thought about the situation quickly, when they heard footsteps running towards them.

"My God! What happened, to that, girl?" Victoria asked. She was in a light yellow sun dress which stood up quiet dramatically around the many robes of black.
"She's just fallen asleep," Hermione said, blocking Ginny from her view. Victoria stopped and looked at her strangely.

"Did she, take any, medicine?" Victoria asked pushing Hermione aside. Hermione scowled, but before she could do anything to her, Ron grabbed Hermione by the shoulders and stopped her.

"Yeah, just some allergy medicine," Harry said, = answering her question.

"She is, full blood, witch, no?" Victoria asked, kneeling on the ground. Harry nodded a yes. Victoria lifted the sleeping Ginny off the ground and turned her sideways.

"Stand back, please," she said, gesturing for them to move and give Ginny some air. Victoria blocked Ginny's nose with her her fingers, easily lifted her to her feet and tapped her on the base of her neck with times with her wand. Ginny's eyes opened instantly and she jumped seeing Victoria looked at her.

"What? um... where... I?" Ginny said looking around, "Did I fall asleep?"

"When you, took, that medicine, it reacted, with your, magical, blood." Victoria explained. She ran off without another word, although Hermione was glaring after her the whole way.

"Come on, the feast will be starting soon," Ron said ,trying to change the subject. Ginny dragged Hermione up the stairs, while Harry and Ron slowly followed. It was a relief that, finally, he'd be back at his real home.



(a/n: Sometimes you just gotta be nice to Draco; Even though I know most of you probably hate him, I kinda feel sorry for him............... I know I know beat me up later k. -E.B.)