Back to Hogwarts:

Harry was woken the next morning by Mrs. Weasley. He squinted across the dark room and saw that Hermione and Ron had already been woken and were stumbling around in the dark, still half asleep. He got up out of bed, and turned on the light for them.

"What did you do that for?" asked Ron, trying to get his eyes adjusted to the bright light.

"Because, you have to get up and get downstairs. We are leaving in a half hour." scolded Mrs. Weasley.

"Sorry I asked," Ron mumbled under his breath, as he pulled on a pair of Muggle jeans.

Harry put on his glasses and got dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. He found wizard clothes to be more comfortable, but knew that he had to wear this, at least until he got on the school train. He accompanied Ron downstairs, where he already saw Hermione and Ginny eating a plateful of eggs. He sat down next to Hermione, and said Good morning to the two of them. He dug into his own plate, which was brimming with bacon and eggs.

When he had finished, which was quickly since he was starving, he put his dishes in the sink, where they were automatically cleaned and put away. He went upstairs to get his trunk, and to put Hegwid in his cage, and then dragged them down the steps and outside to the waiting Ministry car,(the Minister was feeling very sympathetic to Harry and gratefully supplied them with a car).

After they had stuffed all of their trunks into the trunk, they ambled into the back seat with Hedwig, Pigwidgeon in their cages, and Crookshanks in a massive wicker basket.

In a couple of minutes, they had arrived at London Train Station. They unloaded all their stuff onto carts,  and headed toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"Alrigtht, you and Ron first," Mrs. Weasley said, nodding at Harry and Ron. They took off at a run towards the barrier with their carts in front of them. Soon they had passed right through the barrier onto a large platform filled with people, and hosting a huge red train.

"Harry, Ron!" They looked over to see Neville and his grandmother, in the vulture-topped hat, running over to them. Soon he joined Ron and Harry, and now, Hermione and Ginny, who had just come through the barrier.

"Hi Neville!" said Hermione, and every body else said hi.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley then came through the barrier. They said hello to Neville's grandmother. 

Neville asked, "So how was your summers?"

"Good," they all replied. "How was yours?" added Harry.

"Good too, I'm going out with Luna." He said turning red.

"Really that's great!' said Ginny politely, making him turn even redder.

Before their conversation could get any deeper, a loud whistle sounded. We better get on the train. They said good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and grabbed their trunks. On their way to get on the train they met up with Luna Lovegood. She gave Neville an awkward hug and said, "Hello Neville, hello everyone."

"Hello Luna," said Neville dreamily, "Did you have fun over the summer with your dad?"

"Yeah. We came really close to catching a Crumple-Horned Snorcack. I saw one." she said proudly.

"Oh," said Neville, obviously not getting the answer he wanted. "Well let's get on board."

The six friends boarded the train, and started down the corridor looking for a place to sit.  In the first compartment they looked in they saw the normal Slytherin gang. Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and her friends, but Malfoy was not there. They continued down the corridor looking for an empty compartment, when they came across a blonde boy alone in the last compartment of the train.

Harry cleared his throat, "Ahem, do you think we could, er, share this compartm-"

The rest of the words got jammed in his throat when he saw who the blond boy was. It was Draco Malfoy.

            "I was just leaving," came his answer. "But since you're here, I think I should have a word with you Potter." As Ron and Hermione, walked up to stand on either side of him, Malfoy added, "Alone."

            "Sure," he said confused, and shut the compartment door on his friends.

            "I just wanted to, er, say, er thanks." Malfoy stuttered. From Harry's bewildered look, Draco knew he needed to continue on and tell him what for. "For, er, getting rid of my dad, er. Well, I er well, I always hated him, and er I think he got what he deserved."

            "Oh," said Harry, taken aback.

            "And I'm sorry, er, for all the mean things I've done to you.  It was only because I had to."

            "Why?" asked Harry. Who was making him do all these mean things?

            "Because my dad told me to. And I have to do what my dad says. And now that he is gone, I hope that you can forgive me. Because I never meant any of it. I don't even believe in Mudbloods and purebloods. That is just what I was told to know and to say. And I hope you, and Hermione and Ron, and Neville, and….Ginny," when he said her name his face turned beet red, "can forgive me"

            "Well I'll definitely tell them that you said sorry." Said Harry, stiffly. He was definitely not trusting Malfoy. Although, he was not with his Slytherin friends, and he was alone, and he showed his vulnerable side to Harry of all people, and that his eyes looked bloodshot, Harry could not bring himself to apologize back to his 5-year tormenter, or to say he forgave him.

            Obviously, expecting some other recognition than 'I'll tell them', Draco turned red in the face and walked out of the compartment awkwardly. When he followed Draco out he saw that Ron and Hermione had left to the prefects cabin, and Ginny, Neville, and Luna had found an mpty compartment right across from the one he had just been in, and had taken theirs, Ron's Hermione's and Harry's things inside.

            "What was that all about?" asked Ginny curiously.

            "Draco…thanked me for getting rid of his dad…and apologized for being so mean to us all these years." Said Harry still a little surprised, suspicious, and confused.

            "He did what?" asked Neville, equally surprised.

            "He asked for our forgiveness."

            "That sounds a little fishy to me," stated Luna.

            "I know but that would explain why he was all alone, without his Slytherin friends.." argued Ginny

            "And why he was crying before we got there." agreed Harry.

            "How do you know he was crying?" asked Neville.

            "His eyes were all bloodshot when he was talking to me."

            "I still don't trust him." said Luna stubbornly.

            "Well he didn't ask for your forgiveness. He asked for mine, Ron's, Hermione's, Neville's, and…Ginny's." Harry remembered Draco's change of color, at saying her name, and now saw the same exact thing in Ginny's. If he didn't know Ginny..or Draco better, for that matter, he would say they were in love.

He looked deep into Ginny's eyes, trying to find out if it was true, but she turned her gaze away, and asked, "Anybody up for a game of Exploding Snaps?"

"Sure," said Neville, and he and Luna nodded. She put down her upside-down copy of the Quibbler, and sat down on the floor of the compartment, with Ginny, Neville, and Harry. After Harry had won three games in a row, and the Malfoy topic, had been all talked out, they heard a knock on the door. And in walks Sarah Maxwell.

"Hi Sarah," said Harry

"Hey Harry," she said, remembering him, but looking around at all the people she didn't recognize.

Harry, noticing her quizzical looks said, "Uh...these are my friends, Neville, Luna and Ginny. Ginny is Ron's sister, you remember Ron?"

"Oh yeah, hi, I'm Sarah, Sarah Maxwell. Are you guys all sixth years too?" she asked.

"I am," came Neville's response.

"We aren't though," said Ginny, "We are in fifth. What house are you in?"

"Ravenclaw," she said, "but my brother is a Hufflepuff, he's a first year. Are you all in Gryffindor?"

"I'm not, but everyone else is. I'm a Ravenclaw, too!" answered Luna, happily.

"Oh it's good to meet someone in my own house," she said, flashing that brilliant smile, that just made Harry melt. "Well do you think that I could join you? I don't really know anybody here."

"Of course," said Harry, enthusiastically, so enthusiastically, that he scared himself. "I've been meaning to ask you, why did you move here?"

She then told to the occupants of the compartment, the story of how she had lived in New York, and gone to Danbury Academy, when she had gotten a letter from Albus Dumbledore, saying that she should move to this school.  The letter said that housing and transportation was provided and that we should come as soon as the family was packed. She told how Florian Fortesque was her uncle and he gave her a summer job there. Then, Harry, Ron, Luna, and Neville told her all about the houses the teachers, the classes, the meals, Hogsmeade, and the Quidditch at Hogwarts. She seemed thoroughly impressed with the curriculum, food, and Quidditch, disgusted at the Slytherins and Snape, and excited about her first visit to Hogsmeade.

Before they knew it, an hour had gone by, and Ron and Hermione had come back. They arrived just as Harry had finished buying a mound of sweets for the group to munch on. They said hello to Sarah and took the Chocolate frogs Harry handed them.

"So, what did Malfoy say to you, he looked really irked at the prefects meeting, and kept staring at us."

Soon, Harry, Luna and Neville had retold the tale adding all the possibilities that they had discussed earlier.

"Hmmm…." said Hermione thoughtfully.

"What?" asked Harry.

"That would explain the row that I saw him having with Pansy Parkinson after the meeting. She looked really made at him." She replied.

"Well whatever it is I think he's on our side now," said Ginny, startling them all, because she had been quiet until then.

They all looked at her, and she turned red again.