AN – This story takes place during Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts. So, you should think of Harry as the gang as fifth years. I started writing this story before the fifth book came out, so that's the context that I'm writing in. Remember, they are fifth years. Not sixth, not fourth, but fifth. Thank you, and enjoy your reading.
Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express
~*~*~
…The Star will shine,
and Darkness shall be torn asunder.
Faerie shall be cleansed,
and all shall be anew,
and the slate will be wiped clean.
Ashes to ashes,
dust to dust.
All shall be anew,
and the slate will be wiped clean…
~*~*~
The whistle of the Hogwarts Express sounded throughout the crowded Platform 9 ¾. Young wizards and witches pushed their way through the to the entrances of the train cars, lugging around large trunks of school supplies. A brown haired boy of eleven years hurried along in his pitch-black robes. A middle-aged woman hurried along behind him.
"Slow down, Colin," she called, "we're barely late."
"Well, barely is still too much for me," the boy said, turning around. He waited for his guardian to catch up. She held a brass cage in her hand with an owl perched inside it. The owl hooted at the sight of the luggage being loaded into the hold. "Don't worry, Goldfoot old friend. You're sitting with me." He took the brass cage in his hands and stepped up to the door.
"Be careful, Colin," the woman said. She planted a kiss on his forehead. He squinted as she did so.
"Rosie," he moaned, rubbing his forehead with his palm. "I will be."
"Write everyday."
"I will. Good-bye."
"See you next summer," Rosie said as the train began to pull out. Colin nodded and waved to her from the door's window as the crimson train pulled out of the station. Colin backed up from the door, with the brass cage under his arm, and tried to find a seat in one of the compartments.
There wasn't one empty compartment in the entire train. Every time Colin came to a door, he would peer through the window and see that a group was already inside it.
"This is hopeless!" Colin finally said, as he came to the end of the train. "I'll just pick one then!" He walked up to one of the compartments, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
A boy with flaming red hair slid the door open. He looked to be about five years older than Colin. His face was filled with freckles. When he saw Colin, he let out a sigh, "Aww, not the snack cart."
"Unless you find three-day-old graham crackers appetizing, I'd say you're right," Colin said back with a smile. "Nope, no snack cart, just Colin O'Beary."
"Be nice Ron," a voice quipped from inside the compartment. Colin looked past the boy to see a girl with a bush of auburn hair and a fairly well-formed face. Her forehead was wrinkled with annoyance. "Please excuse our friend here. He's a little immature."
"That being an understatement, of course," another voice said. Colin looked again to see another boy sitting. He had a messy head of black hair and wore a pair of perfectly round glasses. "Don't just stand in the doorway, then. I think Ron might get mad if you keep him from seeing the cart." The boy motioned for Colin to sit. Colin took a seat next to the girl. Ron continued to stand in the doorway, peering down the aisle.
"Sit down Ron!" another girl said. Her hair was the same flaming red, and her cheeks were filled with tiny freckles. "Really, you're an embarrassment."
"Oh, excuse us. Here you are sitting with us and you don't even know our names. I'm Hermione Granger," the girl said. "That's Ron Weasly over there, and his sister Ginny Weasly next to him" she pointed to the two with red hair, "and that's Harry Potter," she concluded.
Colin raised one eyebrow at the boy. "I've seen quite a few 'Harry Potters' in my lifetime. Let's see your proof."
"Not much," the boy said back. "Just the scar." He lifted his bangs to reveal a lighting-bolt scar. "And if that's not enough, I can conjure my birth certificate for you."
Colin nodded. "I'll take your word for it. It's just that the last Harry Potter I saw was blond, about half your height, and spoke in German." The three laughed.
"Well, we've go the real McCoy here," Ron said, patting Harry on the back.
"You're a first-year right?" Hermione asked. Colin nodded in response. "That's what I thought. If you want, I can help you with any of your classes."
"That's Hermione for you. Always the book worm," Ginny observed.
"Thanks," Colin said back. "I'm sure I could use the help."
The snack cart came by soon thereafter, and Ron bought as much as he cold with whatever money he had in his pockets. He munched happily in one corner of the cabin while the other four talked.
"I wonder who'll be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year?" Hermione inquired.
"Good question. Let's just hope that whoever they are, they have a good insurance plan and strong nerves," Harry said. Everyone laughed. Colin had a questioning look.
"Oh, it's not that we're being mean," Ginny said. "It's just that no DADA has ever lasted more than one year at Hogwarts as long as any of us have been there."
"Ish shom short of cush er shumtin," Ron managed to spit out through a mouthful of Pumpkin Pasties. He swallowed hard and said, "They've all either died or been dismissed." As he finished his sentence, the door of the compartment slid open.
"Speaking of curses, here's the biggest one on the campus," Ginny said under her breath.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry said to the figure in the doorway. His sliver hair was slicked back more than Colin believed possible. He was flanked by two boys who seemed so large, it was a mystery to Colin as to how they fit inside the train at all.
"It's a free country, Potter," Malfoy sneered back. "I can do as I please."
"Actually, that would the U.S, Malfoy," Hermione said back, coolly. "If you're going to us clichés, at least use the ones appropriate to this country." She let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Hold your tongue, Mudblood," Malfoy snapped.
"Leave before I rearrange your face," Harry said, and with a quick flick of the wrist, the door slid shut, and locked. Ron gave Harry a high-five.
"Draco Malfoy," Hermione began, after a bit of gloating on Harry's part, "you'd best stay clear of him."
"He's a bad seed," Ginny said, shaking her head.
"You say that about everybody," Ron said patting his sister on the head.
"Well it's true!" Ginny said, shooing his hand away. Everyone laughed.
The rest of the train ride past in an instant. In what felt like no time at all, the train was already pulling up at the station. The conductor called to make sure everyone was ready. Colin had changed out of his street clothes and into his generic school robes. He straightened his tie with the Hogwarts crest on it as he stepped down from the train car.
Colin followed the flow of students towards one end of the platform, when he noticed that Harry and the others were heading off in a different direction.
"Where are you guys going?" Colin asked. "Aren't you coming this way?"
"Sorry, Colin, but we go up this way," Harry said.
"Privilege for everyone above first year," Ron said. "Sorry kid."
"You'd better hurry up, Hagrid'll leave without you," Ginny said, shooing him away.
Colin waved good-bye and followed the stream of first years towards the lake. As he was walking, above all of the chatter from the other first years, he heard a loud voice calling.
"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!"
