DISCLAIMER: I own nothing – it all belongs to JK Rowling.
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Fighting his way up the train to the prefect's compartment, Harry noticed he was getting much more attention than usual. People were calling out to him from the various compartments, waving and smiling – and he didn't even know half of them.
"What's going on?" he asked Hermione.
"Well, apart from the usual 'Boy Who Lived' stuff, you're now considered to be the conquering hero," she said composedly. "You know – fighting off Voldemort, sticking with your story last year when everyone said you were a nutter – that sort of thing."
Harry groaned inwardly. "That's all I need," he said, annoyed.
Arriving at the Prefect's compartment, Harry was delighted to spot Katie Bell, who was proudly wearing her Head Girl's badge. "Katie – congratulations!" he said, giving her a hug. "I didn't know! Who's Head Boy?"
"Eddie Carmichael, from Ravenclaw," she whispered, with a slight grimace. "Bit of an idiot, but I guess I'll have to be nice to him from now on."
Parvati Patil was also there, as the other sixth year Gryffindor prefect appointed along with Harry. She smiled at him, and batted her eyelashes a bit. "How lovely, Harry!" she gushed. "We'll be spending much more time together this year now, won't we?"
Startled, Harry blinked at her, and then looked around at a snigger from Ginny. "Told you," she whispered, giggling. "Half of the girls on the train have been talking about how they'd like to nail your pelt to their wall."
"Oh, nice choice of words," said Harry bitterly. "I'm still convinced you're talking rubbish, anyway. Who's the other Gryffindor fifth year prefect?"
"That's me," said a familiar voice behind him.
"Congratulations, Colin!" said Harry, genuinely pleased and shaking his hand. Whilst the Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis, had irritated Harry at times with their open hero-worship, they were basically good chaps and he had come to like them very much over the years.
Harry and Ron made their way to the toilets to change into their robes before the Prefect's meeting. Proudly pinning his Quidditch Captain and Prefect's badges onto his lapel, Harry reflected on how differently this year was panning out to be already, in comparison to his nightmarish fifth year.
"How about we head off to find Neville and Luna once the meeting is over?" he said to Ron.
"Excellent idea," said Ron, struggling with his new robes. "Maybe we'll meet the food cart on the way."
On their return, they found Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle blocking the passageway.
"It's Potty and the Weasel," drawled Malfoy, who looked paler and more sinister than ever. "Where's your little guard of honour, then?"
"Don't need one, Malfoy," said Ron immediately, relishing the prospect of a fight. "We'd be happy to give you gits a run for your money on our own. Want to try?" He brandished his wand.
"You've got a very short memory, Malfoy," added Harry. "Remember the end of last term? And I'd also think you'd be lying low a bit – after all, Daddy's been a naughty boy, hasn't he?"
With a snarl, Malfoy drew his own wand. "I told you, Potter, I'll have you," he said softly. "Just you wait until my dad gets out … I'll have you."
"Why, hello Draco," said a voice from behind them sweetly. "Looking for another dose of flying bogies? Carry right on and I'll be happy to give one to you."
Ginny, her flaming hair down and spread across her black robes, was standing there, fiddling with her wand. Malfoy glared at her, and then pushed past her with Crabbe and Goyle in hot pursuit. Slamming into one of the Prefect's compartments, they saw him slump into a corner seat and stare furiously out of the window.
"You know, I think he's scared of you, Ginny," said Harry, laughing.
After the Prefect's meeting, which basically consisted of Katie and Eddie nervously handing out duty rosters and congratulating the new prefects, Harry and Ron headed off down the train to find Neville. About a third of the way down, they found him in a compartment with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, and an animated discussion of the Quidditch Leagues ensued.
Settling down for a game of chess with Ron, they were disturbed by the arrival of Hermione and Ginny, with Luna Lovegood in tow.
"Guess what!" said Hermione excitedly. "Luna's been transferred to Gryffindor!"
"Really? I had no idea that you could do that," said Harry, amazed. "I thought that once the hat put you in your house - that was where you stayed for the next seven years!"
"Well, the hat did think about putting me in Gryffindor at my Sorting, but it decided on Ravenclaw at the last minute," said Luna, settling down with a copy of the Quibbler dreamily. "Oh look, Daddy's article on our sighting of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack is on the front page. Must read it …"
Ginny rolled her eyes at Ron, who was snorting into a cauldron cake. Harry suddenly spotted Seamus and Dean watching Ginny with much interest as she tossed her hair back and settled down on the seat next to him.
"I hear I've been your 'mystery lover'," smirked Dean, eyeing Ginny appreciatively. Ron looked up, shocked.
"What? You mean that wasn't for real?" he spluttered.
"Nope, but I'd be willing to give it a bash if Ginny is," said Dean lecherously. "Your sister's turned into a real babe, Ron!"
Harry felt a hot surge of jealousy. Hey! Where did that come from? he thought, as Ginny laughed and blushed. It used to be me who made her blush…
Ron glared at Dean. "You'd have to be a brave man to get past six brothers," he spat. "Try anything funny, Thomas, and I'll break off your leg and beat you to death with the soggy end."
"Psst, Harry," said Hermione, nudging him from the other side. He looked up to see Cho Chang walk past, arm-in-arm with Michael Corner. She gave him a small wave, and then hurried past.
"Pulling any heart strings?" whispered Hermione.
"Zero. Absolutely nothing," Harry said truthfully. "She's still a pretty girl, but I don't feel that way about her at all any more."
The train ride continued uneventfully, and as night fell they drew close to Hogwarts. Leaving their friends to go back to the Prefect's compartment and collect their luggage, Harry noticed plenty of female heads turning their way as they headed up the train.
"My, my, we are popular this year," Hermione remarked. "D'you think it's because you're a prefect now, or the Quidditch captain thingy?"
"Don't you start," growled Harry. "I've had enough of that nonsense from Ginny."
On their arrival at the Hogwarts platform, Harry waved a hasty hello at Hagrid, who was happily bellowing: "Firs' years! Firs' years over 'ere!" It seemed like an eternity ago that it was his first day at Hogwarts, and it was hard to believe he had ever been as small as the first year students clustering nervously around Hagrid.
Helping to usher the other students towards the waiting carriages was, Harry decided, a bit like herding cats. Just as you got them all heading in one direction, a few would escape out of the sides and head back to the train to collect something they'd forgotten.
Even though he knew they were there, it was still a bit of a shock to see the eerie, skeletal Thestrals standing passively in front of the carriages. Only people who had witnessed death could see them, and they had helped Harry and his friends to get to the Ministry of Magic at the end of last term. A little nervously, Harry went up to the closest one and patted it, smiling secretly to himself. It must look really weird to those who couldn't see it – like he was patting thin air.
Squashing himself into a carriage, he found himself forced to sit in the only spare seat between Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, both of whom immediately started trying to outdo each other in their attempts to get the most of his attention.
"So, Harry, I hear we'll be in lots of classes together this year," gushed Lavender, throwing herself unnecessarily hard at his shoulder when the carriage bumped through a pothole. "There's so much homework to do with NEWT subjects, maybe we can study together?"
Harry fought down the urge to fling himself screaming from the carriage. He looked up in despair, only to meet a laughing pair of brown eyes on the other side of the carriage.
"Told you so," Ginny mouthed at him. Harry rolled his eyes and buried his head in his hands. What on earth was going on with these crazy girls? he wondered. Lavender had never so much as said four words to him before, apart from in DA classes.
He left the carriage at speed when it came to a stop at the front steps of the school, muttering something incoherent about having to catch up with Ron. However, his dash up the front steps was cut short by Professor McGonagall.
"Easy, Potter, we don't want you in the hospital wing on your first night back," she said shortly. "Madame Pomfrey's considering giving you a frequent visitor card as it is."
Harry grinned shamefacedly. "Sorry, Professor," he said.
"Before you go in to the Great Hall, there's someone here to talk to you," she said. "He's waiting in that classroom over there." She indicated a small, seldom used room just to the right of the marble staircase.
Curious, Harry trotted over to the room, hissing at Ron to keep him a place at the table as he went past.
Opening the door, he was startled to find Remus Lupin sitting on the desk, looking as pale and wan as usual.
"Hello, Harry," he said wearily. "I see you got here OK."
"Remus! I didn't expect to see you so soon," said Harry, going over to shake his hand.
"Yeah, well, I've got a few things to tell you," he said.
"Firstly, your first lessons in Occlumency start on Friday night. We can use this classroom, so I'll meet you here at 8pm sharpish. Secondly," Lupin's eyes gleamed, "Dumbledore has agreed to allow you to learn Legilimency, so we'll start that at the same time."
"Yes!" Harry exclaimed, smacking his fist into his other hand.
"Don't get too excited – it can take a long time, and might never happen if you don't have the aptitude for it," warned Lupin. "We'll take it one step at a time and see how it goes."
"OK, OK," grumbled Harry. "And the other stuff we talked about?"
"The Order thanks you for your gift of 12 Grimmauld Place for headquarters, and the funds from your inheritance from Sirius, and accepts them with gratitude," Lupin said. "However, Dumbledore would like you to wait a little longer before becoming a member of the Order."
"Why?" said Harry, instantly annoyed. "I don't …" Lupin held up his hand.
"All in good time, Harry," he said. "There's no doubting the fact that you will become a member eventually. Dumbledore just feels that you have plenty to be working on this year, and if you're planning to be an Auror you'll have to do really well in your studies. He believes that it's the best course of action at the moment – he really has faith in you, you know? He thinks you'll make an outstanding Auror."
Looking at Harry's un-mollified expression, he added: "And this time, we will keep you updated on what's happening – promise. Just bear with us for the moment."
"OK, but I don't like it," said Harry.
Lupin grinned at him. "Thought you wouldn't," he said. "I also hear you have to almost totally reform your Quidditch team this year – that should keep you busy for a bit. See you here on Friday – don't be late."
Bidding him farewell, Harry bolted out of the classroom and slunk into the Great Hall. Unfortunately, he'd already missed the Sorting Hat's song, and they were already halfway through the Sorting. He slipped into the place between Hermione and Ron.
Glancing up at the table, he spotted a new face. A middle-aged witch with long, graying dark hair was sitting next to Proffessor Snape. She looked oddly familiar …
Dumbledore rose at the end of the sorting, once "Young, Andrew" had been sent on his way to the Hufflepuff table.
"As you all know, I believe there is a time for speechmaking, and this is not it!" he said, twinkling down on the students arrayed below him. "I have only one announcement, and that is to introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher – Miss Nymphadora Tonks!"
And with that, the familiar woman sitting to his left stood – and in the blink of an eye, became a smiling young woman with short, bright pink hair. Applause and gasps rang out through the Great Hall.
"Did you know?" said Ron, clapping enthusiastically.
"Nope," said Harry, grinning from ear to ear. "But I do think our Defence Against the Dark Arts classes are going to get a lot more interesting from now on!"