Chapter 10

"Hello, dears!" yelled Mrs. Weasley from the foyer.

Harry and the others followed her into the kitchen to collect their school supplies. It took a while to separate all the books, potions, and extra things from each other.

Soon enough, Harry had sorted through all the items and found his own. Mrs. Weasley also gave him a fair amount of spending money to last him throughout his sixth year, and pocketed it quickly after seeing the insignificant amount given to Ron and Ginny.

He and Ron carried their stuff up to their rooms to put into their trunks. Harry glanced at his books, and the one on top happened to be called Defending Your Life: The Finest Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes to Use Against the Dark Arts. Harry took a quick look over the contents, and was surprised to see that it had many of the curses he had taught the D.A. last year.

"Hey Ron, did you look at your Defense book yet?" said Harry.

"No...why? Blimey! Would you look at that! I think we might actually have a good teacher this year!" said Ron.

"Yeah, well, maybe Fudge has finally wised up about Voldemort," said Harry grimly.

"I doubt it. Stupid git. I bet you anything that Dumbledore had something to do with it. Dad told me Fudge has been depending a lot on Dumbledore lately. Now that he's back being Chief of Wizengamot and everything else he's involved in, I'm sure some Ministry workers are back on his side."

"Shows how capable Fudge is, doesn't it?" said Harry, his dislike for the man never really diminishing after his argument with him after the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

They would've kept talking, but Mrs. Weasley was calling them down to the kitchen for dinner.

"Where's the twins, mum?" asked Ron, entering the kitchen. Harry followed close behind.

"Oh, they stayed to help their friend Lee with a few things down at their shop," answered Mrs. Weasley, sounding a little impatient.

Harry figured that she still didn't approve of Fred and George running their own joke shop. He hoped that no one had bothered to tell her that it was he, Harry, who gave them the money to start it in the first place.

The last few weeks flew by very quickly, as Harry knew too well that they would. Anytime your having fun, the time goes on fast-forward. Before he knew it, it was the last night he would be spending at old Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

Mrs. Weasley cooked up a magnificent feast for them all that night. Lupin was also back at the house again. Since there was so much food to go around, even Tonks, Mad-Eye, Bill, Charlie, and Mr. Weasley joined them. The twins even made a poster saying, "Good Luck at Hogwarts!" and when Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking, either of the twins would change it to say, "Make Malfoy Pay!" and showed a miniature Malfoy as a slug, with red and splotchy pimples everywhere.

Hermione, of course, made her usual tutting sound. It was used only too often when she disapproved of something. But everyone else laughed at the sight of it, including Mad-Eye, whose magical eye was rolling about in its socket with every chuckle he made.

"I wish I could've claimed the stunt my imposter did on Lucius' son. Turning him into a ferret and all. It would've been very enjoyable," he said, and everyone around him laughed. Mad-Eye was lucky enough that Mrs. Weasley was too busy talking with Mr. Weasley to notice his remark.

The feast was delicious. Harry had a little bit of everything. There was steak, which was tender and cooked to perfection. And potatoes of every kind, including scalloped, boiled, mashed, and spiced; all of them were covered in butter. There was also chicken, both crispy and rotisserie style. Honey ham, which had a slight sweet taste to it from the honey coating. There was also boat full of rich gravy for toppings. For dessert, there was homemade strawberry ice cream, Yorkshire pudding, and chocolate éclairs.

After Harry had finished, he was about ready to explode from the many extra helpings he'd taken. He just couldn't resist. Neither could anyone else. Luckily, there was nothing left to eat, because the table of them had cleaned every bowl, plate, and pan filled with food. Even the boats of gravy were nothing more than empty china with a drop or two of gravy at the bottoms.

After watching Tonks helping Mrs. Weasley, which was very entertaining because no matter how much she helped she always knocked something over, they all waddled slowly into the sitting room, where they each collapsed upon a sofa.

Soon after, the Weasleys (excluding Mrs. Weasley), Harry, Hermione, Remus and Tonks had a game of Exploding Snap. Mad-Eye sat and talked with Mrs. Weasley, presumably about tomorrow's plans. After about their sixth game, Mrs. Weasley had let out a yip when she checked her watch.

"Children! Go to bed! It's past mid-night, and tomorrow we are to be at the station early. Go, now! I don't care George, just go!" She cried, ignoring everyone's protests.

Harry and the others slumped off towards their rooms. Harry was actually glad that Mrs. Weasley has ushered them off to bed. He was really tired from all that food, and if he had played another game of Exploding Snap, he was sure he'd fall asleep and knock over the cards himself.

Neither Harry nor Ron said a word once in their room. Both just dropped onto their beds, without even changing. As soon as Ron hit the pillow, his breathing became heavy and turned into soft, raspy snores. Harry sat and thought about Hogwarts and drifted off to a highly rare, calm sleep.

It felt as though Harry had just fallen asleep when he was being wakened by Mrs. Weasley's yelling.

"Children! Get up! It's nine in the morning! We have to be at the station by ten thirty! GET MOVING!" she shrieked.

"Merlin, she sounds quite cheerful, d—d—doesn't she?" said a very groggy Ron, unable to hold back his yawn.

Harry leaped out of bed and hurried around the room and Accio-ing everyone that was scattered in his room. He threw it all into his trunk. He put on his trainers and headed downstairs with his trunk, and Hedwig, who was back in her newly clean cage. Ron was following close behind, Pig hooting cheerfully in his cage.

"Just drop them at the bottom of the steps! You two need to eat before you go!" said Mrs. Weasley, sounding extremely rushed. She set down some toast, marmalade, and pumpkin juice for them. Ginny and Hermione were already down there, and each was spreading marmalade on their toast slices. Fred and George even came down, because they wanted to go with them to see them off to the train. All of them ate in sleepy silence as they consumed their toast and drank their juice.

Within minutes, Mr. Weasley, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and the eldest Weasley boys were there. They had gotten cars from the Ministry again. Harry suspected that Dumbledore had probably ordered Fudge to let Mr. Weasley take them. Harry smiled when he imagined Fudge's harassed look upon his face. They were all carefully taken outside. Harry was the first to get to the car. Tonks was in front of him and Mad-Eye at his side. His magical eye was swiveling around in every direction, checking for the slightest suspicions.

There were two Ministry cars. Harry assumed that they'd be enchanted; because there was no way they would all fit in two muggle cars. Tonks, Harry, Mad-Eye, Charlie, Lupin and Ron in one car, and the others were in the second car.

There was a lot of traffic on the roads, causing them to be a part of morning rush hour. They seemed to move barely inches every few minutes or so. Mad-Eye seemed to be going mad from all the careless drivers. His eye was again rolling aimlessly in his head from his anger. Harry grinned. Mad-Eye somehow reminded him of Uncle Vernon from all his shouting, but he wasn't nearly as puce as Uncle Vernon would get. But he did turn a shade that would even have made Uncle Vernon proud.

Ron, Harry, and Charlie, who were in the back seat, spent their time discussing Quidditch teams and this year's house team.

"C'mon, Charlie, you know this is their year! The Chudley Canons are gonna make a comeback, and you'll be sorry once they beat the Tornadoes!" argued Ron, who was still very loyal to his extremely dreadful Quidditch team.

"Ron, I'm telling you, after last year, the Tornadoes have shown real potential. They're bound to make it to play-offs! The Canons will be lucky if they win one game!" retorted Charlie.

Harry sat and watched as their argument went on for the rest of their trip. It was 10:50 once they reached King's Cross. They all ran pell-mell towards platforms nine and ten, and didn't stop till they reached the barrier. All of them went in pairs, running headlong towards the wall. Once all were inside Platform nine and three-quarters, the train had smoke billowing from the front of it.

Harry was amazed at how many Aurors were there. They were all very alert, and their eyes darted throughout the station quickly. Harry even spotted Kingsley Shacklebolt, but remembered from last years' trip to the Ministry to make no notice of him. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried them over to the train.

"Goodbye, dears! Have wonderful year!" cried Mrs. Weasley. She was hurriedly kissing them all on the cheeks and she said her goodbyes.

"Don't cause too much trouble," said George with a wink, as he gave Ginny a one-armed hug.

"Yeah, but don't be afraid to cause a little excitement. Things are bound to get a little boring this year," added Fred.

"I'm sorry to cut this farewell short, but it's 10:58! Get on, all of you!" yelled Tonks, grabbing some trunks and carrying them on board.

Once on the train, Tonks and Lupin dropped their things onto the floor.

"Okay, all of you, no discussing things anywhere someone can hear you, even if it's just some nobody. And no sending owls. We're not taking any chances; owls aren't a reliable enough way to send post. Just go to Dumbledore if you need to send us anything important," said Lupin, sounding very rushed.

"Yeah, what he said," remarked Tonks, breaking into a smirk.

Just as they were heading towards a compartment of their own, and Ron and Hermione towards their Prefect meeting, Lupin held Harry back.

"Harry, once you're at school, please watch out for yourself. You know, and I know that Draco Malfoy is going to be spying for his father, so watch out. And, you remember when Sirius gave you that mirror last year? Yes, I know about it," he said when he saw Harry's look of surprise. "I've found the other, so we'll be able to talk, whenever you feel the need to do so. Just say my name, and we'll be able to communicate. Just make sure we're out of earshot."

Harry nodded. The train blew the whistle, warning that the train was about to leave any second. Lupin dashed to the train's entrance door but stopped, his hand on the knob, and turned.

"Oh, and Harry, have wonderful year. I hope to see you soon!" replied Lupin with a wink, and slammed the door behind him.

Just as the door had snapped shut, the train had jerked forward, launching Harry to the carpeted ground. He pushed himself up using the only remaining bag in the corridor for leverage. Just as he looked up, he was staring right into the eyes of Cho Chang.

"Oh...hi," said Harry, without a trace of a smile, or any emotion for that matter. He glared back at her blankly.

"Er...hi, Harry," she said, blushing furiously. Cho's hair was as sleek, smooth, and shiny as ever. It was the same length and the same black shade of color. She looked very tan from summer break, looking as though she spent the entire time baking in the sun.

They looked at each other for a moment, then Cho blurted out, "I'm sorry about your godfather."

Harry stared at her with widened eyes. He was very shocked that she knew about Sirius' death. He gave her a questioning look and then finally muttered out, "How do you know about that?"

"Well, actually, I heard it from your friends, Ron and Hermione," she said, saying Hermione's name with the smallest note of jealousy. "We had a really short meeting just now and they told me to leave you alone and not to bother you. And they said you had enough to be dealing with, with your godfather's death and all. But they wouldn't tell me who or anything."

"Oh...uh...yeah...thanks," said Harry, his voice just short of a whisper.

"Well, I guess I'll be going. I'm really sorry about your godfather, you know," she repeated. Cho was now walking down the opposite end of the corridor, and then disappeared inside a compartment.

Harry stared down the hall for a couple moments, just shocked that he actually had a civilized conversation with his old crush Cho.

"Harry?" asked a voice from down the hall.

Harry turned around to see Ron's head sticking out the cubicle his friends were all in. Harry headed toward the door dragging his bag behind him. He stowed it up into the storage area and sat down in the seat nearest to the window.

"Where were you? I figured you'd be back before us," asked Hermione.

"Oh, I...er" Harry wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to announce his meeting with Cho to Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville.

"Were you talking with Cho, mate? I saw her walking down the other end of the train before I called your name," said Ron, his voice full of amusement and detest at the same time.

"Well, if you must know, yeah," he said, and with Ron's question, reminded him of why Cho was talking to him in the first place. "For some reason, she seemed to know about Sirius. You two wouldn't know anything about it, would you?" asked Harry, glaring at them both.

Ron pointed towards Hermione.

"Well, Harry, we knew she was still upset about you, and we didn't want her torturing you with annoying huffs to you in the hall and petty rumors," said Hermione slowly, seeming to weigh every word before speaking them.

"What'd she say anyway?" asked Ron, stopping Harry from snapping back at her.

"Well, she just said she was sorry about my godfather, that's all," he said, still glaring slightly at them both.

"Oh, okay, well then, there's no more need to discuss it. We don't need to waste our time back to Hogwarts talking about Cho Chang," said Hermione, a hint of distaste in her voice.

They spent their time discussing what they'd be doing during their next year at Hogwarts, and soon, Harry, Ron and Ginny were discussing their house team plans. After a while, Hermione yanked out a book from her bag and slouched back into her chair as she opened the book to page one. Neville, not too Quidditch savvy, decided to care for his 2 foot long Mimbulus Mimbletonia plant. It seemed to act more like a small animal than just an ordinary old plant. It crooned when it was stroked, and when Neville fed it small worms and slugs, it chewed them visibly with its sharp tiny teeth.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" asked the plump witch, interrupting Ron's idea for a diversionary tactic.

After buying sweets, they all settled back down into their seats again.

Ron ripped open his chocolate frog and stuffed the croaking reptile into his mouth.

"All right! I finally got Uric the Oddball!" yelled Ron, his voice very muffled over his half-chewed chocolate frog.

Hermione stared at him with a harassed look upon her face. But she turned to look out the window when a flash of lightning lit up the orange and pink dusk sky.

"I hope it's not too bad, I'd like to get to the carriages in one piece," she said.

"Don't worry Granger, I'm sure Scarface and Weasel will look out for you," drawled a cold voice from the entrance to the corridor.

Draco Malfoy, sandwiched between Crabbe and Goyle, glared back at them all. Harry hadn't noticed their entrance, since he was still staring out the window, looking at the stormy sky. But he was now staring at Malfoy with the utmost loathing. The lightning was giving Malfoy a very menacing look upon his face.

"Malfoy, why don't you leave, before we're kind enough to make you all the handsome slugs you were at the end of last year," said Harry coolly.

"We'll get you back for that Potter. Thanks for reminding me to do so. We'll be watching you, so you best watch your step, Potter," threatened Malfoy, an evil smirk spreading across his pointed face.

And as if rehearsed, at the last sentence, Crabbe and Goyle stretched out their hairy gorilla arms and made fists with them.

"Oooh, I'm scared now, Malfoy. I guess with your scumbag father out of prison again, you're just some big tough guy now?"

Malfoy smirked at Harry. "Oh, think you're funny do you? You just wait, Potter, you'll be sorry you ever sent my dad to prison, even if he already escaped the Ministry's clutches with ease."

"Big deal, you really think he did that? He just followed the orders of his and your boss. No great task if you ask me. Even your....lets say, brainless scum of a father, could've managed it," replied Harry, with a look of satisfaction upon his face.

Malfoy's sneer slid from his face and now had a look of pure hatred upon it. "You best watch your mouth Potter, of else you'll be on the receiving end of Unforgivables this time."

How Malfoy knew about Harry trying to cast the Cruaciatus Curse upon Bellatrix Lestrange was beyond him, but he didn't let it show in his face.

"Oh, I'm scared now. Are you sure that these two stupid gits are capable of something like that, Malfoy?" asked Harry, feeling so much triumph just from Malfoy's face that he was smirking broadly.

"Insult all you want, but if you remember, it IS thanks to us that your poor old godfather of yours is gone forever and ever! Does poor wittle Harry miss his stupid dead godfather?" said Malfoy in a dangerous whisper. He had adapted a baby voice so similar to Bellatrix's it was uncanny.

And before Malfoy could insult Sirius any further, Harry had his wand out, including Ron and Ginny. Hermione and Neville were trying to persuade the other two to sit back down. No one dared argue with Harry. It happened in mere seconds. Before Malfoy could even reach for his wand, Harry struck. He hit him with a jinx so intense and powerful that Malfoy had flown back into the hall and slammed into the corridor door across from Harry's. The glass where Malfoy hit shattered all over him and the floor and Malfoy slid down slowly and unconsciously towards the ground. A trickle of blood ran from underneath his white-blonde hair. Crabbe and Goyle stared fearfully into Harry's eyes, which were now blazing with anger and hate so extreme and strong that his green eyes seemed to flicker. As if snapped back to life, the two thugs ran over to their ringleader to carry him back to their corridor. Harry twirled back around to face the others. They were all looking at him with such amazement and shock that it looked as though they had just spotted Voldemort in person.

Harry, his breath ragged, slid the door shut and slammed himself into his seat by the window, and the others, as though forced to do everything he did, followed the suit. Ron was the first to break the uneasy and angered silence.

"Wow. That was some hex of yours" said Ron, his voice full of admiration.

"Yeah, Harry, you should teach us that in the DA this year!" said Neville with an uneasy laugh.

"Harry, that was" was all Ginny could get out, she obviously couldn't think what she thought about that.

Harry just stared at them all for a couple moments. He was still breathing heavily, as though he just finished a mile.

"Er...thanks," he said, reddening in the face slightly.

Hermione stared unblinkingly at him from her seat. She seemed to be the only one to see that curse for what it was. Even Harry didn't quite understand why his spell had worked so well.

"What jinx was that, anyways? I didn't hear what curse you said," asked Ron, still sounding in awe over what happened to Malfoy.

Harry knew it was a simple curse, but before he could explain it, or even how to explain it, Hermione answered Ron's question.

"It was a simple Impediment jinx," she whispered.

"No way, Hermione! It must be something from one of those books he got from Lupin or something a while back. There's no way the Impediment jinx does THAT much damage!" cried Ron.

"Oh, it's possible. You just need to be powerful enough to conjure it like that....very powerful. And you have to mean itâ€really, really mean harm on it's victim," said Hermione, still staring at Harry.

Harry was starting to feel uncomfortable now. He didn't like being talked about like that, let alone right in front of him.

"Hermione, you really think it was just an Impediment curse? You're wrong!" said Ron, clearly thinking that he was right for once.

"No, Ron, it was the Impediment curse. That was the first thing that came to mind. Actually, it was that pimple curse, but I guess I really wanted to HURT him" said Harry, speaking at last. Everyone turned in his direction to see what he had to say.

"Oh, well, blimey, Harry! That was some curse of yours!"

"Thanks....I..er....I guess I really did mean it. I mean, he asked for it!" stuttered Harry.

"You're right Harry! The nerve of him insulting Sirius like that, right in front of you!" said Ron, making a fist and punching it into his other hand.

"But, why was he starting to speak in that baby voice? What was the point of that, anyways?" asked Ginny, clearly confused.

There was some thoughtful silence among the rest, although Harry knew the answer almost immediately. He never told them that she'd spoken like that to him or casted Crucio upon her.

"You know after Sirius....er...well, after that happened, I chased after Bellatrix myself. Remember, Neville? Well, once we were up in the Atrium, she started taunting me about how I felt about Sirius and his fall through the veil thing. Well, she started using that voice for it, the one Malfoy was using just now. After, the same thing happened and I got this—er—anger towards her. I casted the Cruaciatus Curse upon her. But it didn't do more than cause her a little pain and make her scream once. He probably heard about it from her, I'm guessing."

"Harry...I don't—why didn't you tell us or—you cast an Unforgivable?" stuttered Hermione, sounding as though she needed to get it all out quickly.

"Well, Hermione, she deserved it didn't she? Taunting Harry like that! And then Malfoy doing the same! The nerve of that slimeball! I wish you wouldn't have of held me and Ginny back, we could've done some more damage!" yelled Ron, now throwing reproachful glances towards Hermione and Neville.

"But that's the last thing we need right now! We can't just go off injuring one of Voldemort's right-hand men's sons! That is not going to help us in the least!" shrieked Hermione.

"But Hermione, he had no right to say anything like that. He came up to us, we didn't go looking for him! It's his own damn fault, if you ask me!" cried Ginny, sounding nothing short of pure hatred.

They took a moment to stare at Ginny's use of words. She seemed more upset than she had let on earlier.

"Well, it's done and over with now. We might as well get back to our Pumpkin Pasties, then," added Harry, trying to get things back to normal.

"But, Harry, it's NOT done and over with. What do you think Malfoy's going to do once he gets back up to the school? He's going to go straight to Snape and report you! And you know what else, he's going to send word back to home too, to try to cause you more trouble at the Ministry! When has he ever taken anything you've done to him lightly? And especially on the way to Hogwarts. He's not going to go letting this stay unnoticed, you know!" said Hermione, her voice becoming overpowered with worry and anguish.

"You know what, Hermione? The thing is, I don't care. Malfoy can do what he wants. I don't take back what I did. I did it for a reason, and he asked for it, so he got it. He deserved what he got," said Harry calmly.

Hermione made a few huffing noises and looked as if she was ready to fight back, but one look from Ron, Ginny, and Neville hushed her immediately.

"You don't think he deserved what he got then? Do you? You think he can just go off insulting Sirius like that?" said Harry, his anger started to bubble to the surface again.

"No! Harry, I didn't mean it like that! I just meant.....well, I was just looking at the consequences, that's all. I'm just not so sure that this is just going to smooth over quickly, that's all," pleaded Hermione, desperate to not get into a conflict with Harry.

From everything that happened on the train, no one took notice of the fact they were almost at Hogwarts. Soon, there was an announcement made from the conductor that they would be arriving in five minutes time.

Without another word for the remainder of time till they arrived at Hogwarts, the five dressed in silence. Only when the train came to a complete halt did Ron finally break the quiet between the five. Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder as they were stepping down off the train and into Hogsmeade Station.

"Welcome home, mate," said Ron, and then he clapped Harry on the shoulder as they were stepping down off the train and into Hogsmeade Station towards Hogwarts.