A/N: Thanks to everyone for their comments on the last chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own too much of
anything, and what I do own certainly does not include Harry Potter or
any of his friends.
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Platform 9 ¾ didn't seem any different than it normally did. Harry wasn't sure why he had expected it to be, but there had been some lingering doubt in his mind as to whether anyone would let their children return to school with him now that they had no choice but to believe that Voldemort was back and definitely after one in particular target- namely him.
He and Ron dragged their trunks away from the barrier just as Ginny and Hermione appeared and nearly collided with them. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had accompanied them to London but had not joined them on the Platform, leaving early to "tend to some business." They had wished them well, and Mrs. Weasley had nearly choked all of them separately in hugs so tight it made it difficult to breathe. Her eyes had been welling with tears as she told them good-bye, and Harry could tell that she was more worried than anyone should ever have to be.
"Holy shit." The dry statement had come from Ginny and had caused the other three to look at her curiously. She, however, was looking a little away from them at something, or rather someone, a bit down the Platform. Harry, like Ron and Hermione followed her gaze, and Ron was the next to speak, echoing his sister's sentiment exactly.
"Holy shit."
"What?" Hermione demanded, obviously put off by the use of language from the Weasley siblings and also obviously curious as to what was worth swearing about. Harry, though, was pretty sure he knew, and his suspicion was confirmed when another voice joined the mix, this one loud and demanding.
"Ronald! Virginia!" A woman with short blonde hair was hurrying in their direction, a young girl with hair that happened to be the exact same shade as Ron's and Ginny's following closely behind. The woman stopped just short of them and sent an appraising look across the group, "Well, you've both certainly grown," she said, nodding importantly at Ron and Ginny. "How've you been?"
"Good, thanks," said Ginny with an air of false-sweetness. "And yourself?"
"I can't complain. How is your father doing? I heard about what happened."
Ron and Ginny exchanged slightly annoyed glances before Ginny once again answered. "Oh, he's doing well, actually. Thanks for asking."
"Are your parents here with you?" She craned her neck, but Ginny shook her head.
"No, they just dropped us off."
"They trust you on your own?" She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Well, I suppose you're old enough, but I also heard about your brothers- a joke shop, isn't it? Surely, they aren't that immature, are they?"
"They're very successful," said Ron, speaking up for the first time. "Maybe you didn't hear that bit, though."
The woman looked slightly taken aback at his reply but recovered quickly and said, "Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends? It's terribly impolite not to, you know."
Both of the Weasley siblings appeared to be biting their tongues, and it was no surprise that Ginny finally ended up being the one to speak. "Of course," she said forcefully. "Aunt Marielle, this is Hermione and this is Harry."
"Harry Potter?"
Harry nodded uncomfortably, and Ginny sighed slightly. "Yes," she brushed on. "Harry, Hermione, this is our Aunt Marielle and this is our cousin, Willa." She motioned to the red-headed child who hadn't so much as spoken yet.
"Nice to meet you," said Hermione, always polite. She smiled at them both and addressed Willa. "Are you starting school this year?"
Willa nodded, and Harry noticed that she had a slightly upturned nose. "Yes, it's my first year."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll have loads of fun," Hermione carried on in an obvious attempt to be friendly and ease the obvious tension. "The castle is amazing."
"I'm sure it is," answered Willa simply. "It's over a thousand years old, and according to Hogwarts, A History, it is the oldest wizarding school still standing in its original form. I'm sure there is a ton of information to learn from its original architecture."
Harry glanced at Ron, who was staring at his cousin with a look of slightly sickened disbelief; Ginny looked much the same way. Hermione, though, was beaming and looked as if she'd just found her kindred spirit in the body of an eleven year old girl.
"Well," said Aunt Marielle briskly, "do tell your parents that I wish them well. We better get Willa situated."
Ron and Ginny nodded, but as soon as their aunt and cousin were far enough away, both of their smiles turned to grimaces, and Ron said, "Stupid bitch."
Hermione opened her mouth to scold, but Harry cut her off. "I take it she's not your favorite relative..."
"Understatement of the century," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes.
"Her husband is dad's brother. No one can stand either of them or Willa."
"Oh,
Willa's just a little kid," said Hermione with a frown. It was clear that she couldn't fathom how
anyone who could quote Hogwarts, A History could be all that bad.
"She's a brat," Ron said flatly.
"She's eleven," Hermione said again.
"She's a brat," Ginny concurred with a nod. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not. "I didn't realize she was old enough yet. I was sort of hoping she was still only like seven."
"Me, too," said Ron with a sigh. He shrugged and grabbed the handle of his trunk. "Well, we'd better store this stuff on the train," he said resignedly. The others nodded and followed him onto the bright red Hogwarts' Express. They found a compartment about halfway back that was empty, and they all stored their trunks in it, Ron and Hermione disappearing to the Prefect's compartment.
"Aren't you going to meet Dean?" Harry asked as Ginny shoved a cat treat through the cage at Crookshanks.
She frowned and shook her head. "Nah, I don't really like Seamus, and I'm sure they're sitting together."
"What's wrong with Seamus?" He sat down across from her and followed her lead by feeding treats to Pig and Hedwig, both of whom hooted appreciatively.
Ginny rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Nothing, I guess. He's
just... I don't know, I just don't
prefer him."
Harry
considered this in his head; he knew that most of the girls, with the exception
of maybe Lavender Brown, thought Seamus was a bit overzealous and Hermione had
even once described him as a disgusting pig, but Harry had always been rather
fond of Seamus, excepting, of course, the time during last year when Seamus had
believed he was a nutter.
Harry was just about to take this time alone with Ginny to snag the very edited
version of the story Hermione had undoubtedly told her about why she had
suddenly decided that kissing Ron was a good idea, but the compartment door
slid open, and Neville appeared, looking at them nervously.
"Hi, Neville," Ginny said brightly.
Neville smiled back, still looking slightly apprehensive. "Hi. Can I sit in here?"
Harry
looked at him curiously. "Yeah, of
course. How was your summer?" he asked
as Neville dragged his trunk into the compartment and stored it beside
Ginny's.
"Fine, I guess," said Neville with a shrug. "No different than normal, really."
"That's
good," said Harry as Neville sat across from him and started fiddling with the
cushion of the seat.
"I heard about what happened to Ron and Hermione in Diagon Alley. Are they okay?"
Harry still felt the subject to be a touchy one; he still wasn't completely over the fact that his best friends had been kidnapped in a ploy to get him. However, he forced himself to answer with, "Yeah, they're good."
"They're together," Ginny added slyly, her eyes twinkling just enough to make Harry notice them.
"Together?" Neville wrinkled his forehead slightly. "Together for what? The Prefects' meeting?"
"No!" said Ginny, exasperated. "They're together together. You know..."
Realization dawned on Neville's round face, and his eyes grew wide. "Ohhh..."
He stopped to consider this revelation and then shook his head slowly. "Wow, that's... unexpected..."
Maybe to Neville, but Harry had a sinking suspicion that everyone else would have already realized it long before either Ron or Hermione were ready to admit it. Truthfully, though, they did seem as mismatched as two people could possibly be. Harry was just surprised that they had now lasted almost four weeks without killing each other; he was thankful, on the other hand, that he had not so much as glimpsed them holding hands and extremely thankful that he hadn't seen anything else. Sometimes, in fact, he wondered if they were even really together, but then he would catch a secret glance that wasn't meant for him and things seemed to make sense.
"Hello." A familiar sort of dreamy voice filled Harry's ears just as the train started to move. He looked at the doorway and saw Luna Lovegood standing in the frame and smiling at them all with that odd sort of grin that always seemed to be permanently plastered on her heart-shaped face.
Harry smiled at her, a sense of calming filling him as he caught sight of her. There was no attraction there, as Ron and Hermione had so obviously hinted at, but he felt at ease around her, felt as though she understood something that no one else did. They all greeted her, and she stepped further into the compartment, her trunk dragging behind her.
"I almost missed the train," she told them, without any other sort of small talk. "Daddy was at a conference this morning and nearly didn't finish in time to get me here."
She sat down beside Harry and across from Ginny, who smiled politely and said, "Well, good thing because missing the train would have been awful." She grinned in Harry's direction. "Harry missed it once."
Luna turned her attention to Harry, who was rolling his eyes at the memory. "Yes, I remember, it was my first year. You flew Ronald's car into the Whomping Willow."
"Ron flew it into the tree," he corrected. "And it was his dad's car."
"Your dad," Luna said, looking at Ginny. Ginny nodded, and Luna did the same. "He got fired."
Ginny's cheeks turned red very quickly, and she was apparently trying very hard not to sound vicious. She settled with what Harry considered a very quiet and very controlled, "I know."
Luna, not seeming to notice that Ginny was offended by her statement, carried right on. "My father said it was complete crap. He said Fudge is an idiot and that your dad was one of the few sane people the Ministry had left."
This seemed to soothe Ginny slightly, and she managed a sort of half-smile. "Yeah, I guess he was."
"Your brothers are doing well, though," Luna continued; it was a statement and not a question. "I visited their shop when I went for my supplies. It was very bright."
Mention of the twins' store made Ginny brighten considerably, and she grinned and nodded. "Yeah, it's great."
After about an hour of chit-chat, the witch with the food cart arrived, and Harry bought enough sweets to keep them busy for the rest of the trip. Neville and Ginny dug right in, but Luna didn't take any, stating that her father had packed her a lunch, which apparently contained many of her favorite things, though Harry had never heard of any of it.
When
the Prefects' meeting finally let out, Ron and Hermione appeared and took
seats, both reaching for Chocolate Frogs immediately and both wearing
scowls.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, looking from one to the other.
Ron answered, his voice edged with anger. "Malfoy's just talking shit like usual." The answer was nondescript, but Harry knew exactly what Draco Malfoy would be using as his favorite conversation topic this year. Ron bit the head off of the frog and said, "Like his dad's making their family real proud by being locked up in Azkaban, right?"
"Just ignore him," Harry said. "He only says stuff to get attention." It was Harry's new plan for the year- ignore everyone and everything that annoyed him. He didn't know if it would work, but Hermione seemed to be able to do it quite well, so maybe he could, too.
However, it was Hermione who answered him.
"It's sort of hard to ignore him when he's completely blocking the aisle
and telling everyone with hearing distance about each of the summer's Ministry
employment changes."
"Like everyone doesn't already know," Ron added vengefully. "I just hate him."
"He's very fit, though, isn't he?" It was Luna who had spoken, her voice ringing out into the compartment and cutting into the conversation. She was so completely random that Harry could hardly believe it; what he certainly could not believe, though, was what she had just said.
Apparently, no one else could, either.
"What?!"
The question had come from five voices, all spoken in unison disbelief. Everyone in the compartment was staring at Luna as though she had just grown a second head. She, of course, appeared completely nonplussed.
"Well, he is," she said lightly. "I know he's rotten, but he's quite cute."
No one said a word, apparently still far too stunned to comment.
When she got no response, Luna sighed. "He is." She looked at Hermione for reassurance of her claim, but Hermione just stared back at her with wide eyes and a slightly sickened look on her face and slowly shook her head. When Hermione turned out to be no help, Luna turned to Ginny; Harry expected her to have the same reaction as Hermione, but to his horror, Ginny didn't do anything for a moment and actually seemed to be considering the statement before shrugging one shoulder and tilting her head from side to side.
"Ginny!" Ron looked totally horrified. "You are not serious!"
"Well, honestly, he is sort of cute." Ron looked as if he was trying to decide whether to kill himself or to kill his sister. Luckily, though, she saved herself and said, "But that doesn't disguise the fact that he's a spoiled bastard who ought to be boiled in frog slime."
The rest of the train trip went on with idle talk and a few games of Exploding Snap. No one touched the subject of Draco Malfoy again, and luckily, Malfoy didn't seem to find it necessary to peek in on them and make any snide comments; perhaps he was remembering the last train ride he'd been on when he'd made the mistake of threatening Harry in front of a whole compartment full of D.A. members. Other people stuck their heads in from time to time, though, and before the train had even pulled into Hogwarts, a D.A. meeting had been set up for the following Tuesday; they were going to continue with that no matter what happened.
Several hours later, Harry found himself seated at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, dressed in his school kit and robes. The trip in the carriages hadn't been as big of a shock as it had been the previous year, as he was getting rather used to seeing the Thestrals. Hagrid had greeted him with a friendly slap on the back as usual, but Harry couldn't find it in him to be as enthusiastic as usual to the half-giant. He wasn't rude, but he hadn't been exactly friendly. He somehow didn't think he'd be able to feel completely at ease with any of the Hogwarts' staff now that so many things had changed.
He glanced up at the staff table and saw that there were still several places empty. Professor Dumbledore was already seated, as were most of the other teachers, but beside the obvious absences of Professor McGonagall and Hagrid, who were both dealing with the first years, the seat that Snape normally occupied, along with the seat directly beside it, were empty. Harry glanced down the table a bit and saw that Dean had apparently ditched Seamus long enough to sit beside Ginny during the Sorting Feast. Seamus, on the other hand, was laughing with Lavender and Parvati over something that they all three apparently found hilarious.
When Professor McGonagall led the first years into the Hall, there was still no sign of Snape or of whoever was supposed to be occupying the seat beside him, presumably the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, as there were no unfamiliar faces at the staff table. Harry watched as the first years marched in behind McGonagall, all looking scared to death and incredibly young; he couldn't believe that he and his friends had ever been that small.
The Sorting Hat sang a new song, which, this year, seemed to be quite the same as usual instead of the new moralistic song that the Hat had opted for the year before. McGonagall explained how the Sorting worked, and Harry, along with everyone else, craned their necks a bit to watch as the ceremony began.
"Atherton, Jayne."
A rather plump looking little girl with curly blonde hair stepped forward nervously and took a seat upon the stool, closing her eyes briefly when Professor McGonagall placed the Hat upon her head. A few seconds later, the brim opened up, and the hat said, "RAVENCLAW!"
The Ravenclaw table erupted into applause as Jayne Atherton hopped down from the stool and hurried over to join her new housemates.
"Baxter, Bradley" turned out to be another Ravenclaw, and "Brentley, Danyella" was sorted into Hufflepuff.
The first Gryffindor to be sorted was "Craven, Matthew," a bookish looking boy with glasses too large for his tiny eyes.
"Cutter, Alexander" was the first Slytherin, and "Davidson, Eleanor" became the third Ravenclaw.
The Sorting went on and on, and around the J's, Harry started to feel hungry. One name caught his attention, though, and he looked up when Professor McGonagall called, "Patil, Indira." A little girl that was unmistakably the younger sister of the Patil twins made her way to the stool and climbed onto it, looking quite a bit more confident than a lot of the other first years had. After a brief deliberation, the hat sorted her into, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry saw Padma throw a fake-annoyed glance at Parvati who smirked smugly back at her from across the Great Hall. Indira took a seat beside another first year Gryffindor whose name Harry was pretty sure had been Rachel, and she glanced up the table at Parvati, who winked at her. Being in better viewing range, Harry was initially struck with the thought that Indira could have been a triplet to Parvati and Padma if it weren't for her much smaller body; she looked almost remarkably identical to the twins.
The Sorting continued until there were only two students left. "Weasley, Willa."
Harry watched with curiosity as Willa took her seat upon the stool, the calm and collected air still evident in all parts of her demeanor. The Hat was placed on her head, and after a rather lengthy moment, it opened its brim to yell, "SLYTHERIN!"
Harry looked at once at Ron, whose mouth had fallen open slightly. Ginny turned around in her chair instantly, and the siblings stared at each other in what was obvious quite stunned disbelief. They weren't the only ones who were shocked, though; several people were whispering about this new Weasley that had gone, not to Gryffindor as all the others, but to Slytherin. Harry caught sight of Malfoy and saw that he was staring at the newest addition to his house with obvious disgust and distaste.
When the whispers died down, "Zio, Madea" went to Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall removed the hat from the stool and went to join her fellow teachers at the staff table. Ron, though, was still apparently too stunned with the Sorting of his cousin to notice that two more teachers had just slipped into the Great Hall and were taking the empty seats. One was, unfortunately, Professor Severus Snape, Potions master and Harry's least favorite teacher. The other, though, was the one that really shocked him.
"It's Tonks!" Hermione had blurted it out in an anxious whisper before Harry could even comprehend it. Ron's head jerked around immediately, and he, too, seemed to be totally speechless. Sure enough, Nymphadora Tonks was seating herself between Snape and Professor Flitwick. Ginny apparently caught sight of the newest addition to the staff table, too, and she spun around in her seat to stare at them with widened eyes that spoke her own disbelief.
Professor McGonagall called for attention, and the Hall silenced immediately. She was one of the few teachers who could demand such undivided attention, and the students all quieted for her as Dumbledore stood up to begin his usual start of the year speech.
"Welcome, students, staff, and ghosts to the start of a new school year. First years will note that the Forbidden Forest is off-limits, as should many of the older students. I would like to welcome a new member of our staff, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Tonks."
Harry grinned at Ron and Hermione, who also appeared quite elated with the news. Tonks stood up to wave to the students, all of whom were cheering loudly, apparently thinking that this young woman with bubblegum pink hair could be nothing but a million times better than Professor Umbridge had been the year before.
"I hope you all make her feel welcome in our school, and I trust that her stay will be pleasant. Now, there is only one thing left to do. Tuck in!"
There were more cheers as the tables filled with plates and plates of food, and everyone dug into the Sorting Feast.
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"Can you believe Tonks is the Defense teacher?" These were the first words out of Ron's mouth when he returned to the dormitory after showing the first years where to go. Harry was unpacking his trunk, along with Seamus, Dean, and Neville, and he looked over the edge of his bed when Ron entered.
"I know," he said with a grin. "This is going to be so great!"
"You know her?" Seamus glanced at them from his own pile of clothes, which he was trying to get situated.
"Yeah." Ron opened his trunk and peered inside at the clothes, which he hadn't bothered to fold before packing. "She's awesome."
"Wasn't she at the Department of Mysteries?" Neville spoke quietly, almost as if he were afraid to mention the night back in June. Harry, though, nodded.
"Yeah, she was there."
"She's the Auror that got fired, isn't she?" Seamus said with revelation. He glanced warily at Ron, who, for once,
didn't grow all sullen with the mention of the Ministry dismissals.
"One of them," he answered with a shrug.
"She looks so young, though," Dean said, tossing his stack of books onto the floor between his bed and Neville's.
"She's like twenty-five or something," Ron said, shrugging once again. "She's the youngest Auror on the force right now. Or she was anyway."
"Well, anything's got to be better than Umbitch." Seamus snickered at his clever naming, and soon all the others joined in.
"Oh, Harry," said Dean suddenly. "I've got your Charms' homework." He dug through his stack of parchment and retrieved Harry's assignment and walking over to return it.
"Why do you have his homework?" asked Neville curiously.
"I copied it," said Dean with a shrug. "But he copied his from Hermione, so who cares?"
At Hermione's name, Seamus sat up and climbed onto his knees with a keen little smirk on his face. "Yeah, Ron, speaking of Hermione..."
Ron turned red and immediately put his defenses up. "What about her?"
"Well, Dean just said you were, you know... So?"
"And how does Dean know?" asked Ron, turning his glare in Dean's direction, who did nothing but roll his eyes.
"I guess because maybe Ginny told me."
Apparently the reminder of Ginny and Dean made Ron grimace, and he looked as if he were trying to think of something horrible to say, but Seamus, also apparently reminded, beat him to it.
"Yeah, and speaking of Ginny..." He raised his eyebrows at Dean, who grinned.
"Shut it," Ron said warningly. "That's my little sister."
"Oh, please," said Dean. "She's not so little anymore."
Harry tended to agree, but he didn't dare open his mouth.
"Yeah, you've got a new little sister to take care of now," said Seamus. "Or whatever she is anyway- the Slytherin one."
"She's my cousin," said Ron with a scowl.
"How the hell did she end up in Slytherin?"
Shrugging, Ron started removing his clothes from the trunk and putting them away, wrinkles and all. "Probably because she's a stuck-up little brat."
"She should fit in nicely then," Dean observed.
"Did you see Parvati's little sister?" asked Neville, speaking up for the first time in awhile. "I didn't even know she had a little sister."
"I did," Seamus said, tossing a few spare socks onto his bed to pair up. "Parvati said she's a bit of a tomboy."
"How?" Harry asked in disbelief. "Parvati and Padma are the furthest thing possible from tomboys, and their sister looks just like them."
Seamus shrugged. "I dunno. Parvati said she's always been like that, loves to fight and get dirty and whatnot."
Harry couldn't believe that, nor did it seem could anyone else. Dean wrinkled his face up and said, "Yeah, I can't see it at all."
Seamus just shrugged again, and the conversation turned to something else.
Later that night, as Harry climbed into his four-poster and sunk beneath the blankets, he lay awake and tried to imagine what was waiting for him for this school year. The first time he'd ever fallen asleep in that bed, he'd been eleven years old and totally innocent; that little boy hadn't known anything about the wizarding world or the prejudices and fear that it was capable of. He didn't know that he would be lying there five years later with the weight of the world on his shoulders, didn't know that he would have been faced with even a fraction of the things that had happened to him over the years. But Harry was growing up now, and he was ready to accept that he'd been given a title when he was only fifteen months old and he was ready to face up to whatever came with that title.
He drifted off to sleep somewhere between his thoughts
about what it meant to be The Boy Who Lived and what it would mean in the
future.
The last coherent thought he had before drifting into a dreamless sleep was
that he only hoped he had some sort of future to look forward to.
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A/N: Well, they're back at school now! Originally, I had planned on making Mark Evans into a first year, but I thought that would require too much back-story and just decided against it. Anyway, feedback is always appreciated!
