Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 5: The Order on the Express

Harry did not see much of Hermione, Malfoy, Vincent or Gregory the last few days of August before they were all scheduled to go to the station December first. He and Hermione met at Ms. Figg's house so Harry could mix the potion. It was quite amusing as they had each decided to test the potion by turning into each other. It had worked perfectly so for that hour they had a lot of fun confusing and annoying Malfoy (who was also aware that they had finished the potion) with random banter. After that Hermione bottled the potion in a large flask she had brought from home and then they spent the entire rest of the afternoon goofing off.

Harry had very carefully packed the potion in his trunk wrapping it in a large shirt with holes in it that was useless as anything but a rag. After putting that in the back corner of his truck and making sure it wouldn't move around by piling heavy books around and on top of it (Hermione had assured him that it wouldn't break unless it was hit against something rather hard and had suggested that he do just this as the flask getting crushed was unlikely).

Harry hadn't wanted to give Snape ANY reason to go back on his word and so he had done all his summer work and gone over it twice making sure that he got it done completely and thoroughly on his own. In the spare time he had finished his other homework as well (although it was not nearly as neat and complete as his Potions work, something that to his knowledge had never been true before).

Harry was determined to get the highest NEWT possible in potions just to prove to Snape that he could do it. It was a matter of pride now. Harry knew that regardless of the circumstances that Snape had gone out on a limb for him and despite his dislike for the man he was not going to make that a mistake. He wouldn't ruin Snape's day by doing mediocre his class and being a git to him like he had been in the past. He would ruin it by succeeding and giving that bastard no reason to be a git to him. Harry could think of no better punishment for Snape then a succeeding Harry Potter in one of his hardest classes for two whole years. It was perfect and it didn't require anything of Harry other than what he should have been doing in that class all along anyway.

So now quite a bit happier with himself and life in general then he had felt all summer, and funnily enough with Snape to thank for that. Harry was incredibly excited to go to Hogwarts for his first NEWT year. He was up before anyone else in the house without being woken up by something (another thing he couldn't remember ever being) and was ready to go quite quickly. He had even taken a very long and refreshing shower where he got himself as clean as he possibly could and cleaned Hedwig's cage (something that had grown incredibly rank over the summer). So when the Weasley twins finally arrived to pick him up, he was completely ready to go and in fact had been waiting not so patiently for over two hours.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked in mock anger when the two redheads appeared in his room both of them wearing pajamas. "You are after all," he looked at his bedside clock. "22 seconds late!" He smirked.

Fred and George smiled at him with amused expressions.

"Well, Fred here thought we'd make an entrance… Didn't work too well did it?" George said as he stepped up towards Harry smiling. Harry noticed that George had a more innocent smile then Fred did. Fred's looked more mischievous like a conniving two year old. George's smile looked a lot more like a small boy simply happy with life. (A/N: It's thanks to the Harry Potter Lexicon that I was able to really see this slight difference between them to put it into writing).

"No not particularly. But that's ok, I'm sure you'll do better next time." Harry's voice held a sarcastic tone. He was glad that the twins had not in fact left the school completely even if they were only there now to protect him. He didn't really realize until then just how much less fun Gryffindor tower would be without them.

"Ok well then. You know the drill with the portkey so I don't need to explain that. So here it is." George absentmindedly sat next to Harry on his bed while Fred spoke. "The three of us go to the station using the portkey you still have."

"The Santa hat is still a portkey?" Harry was surprised.

"Now it is again, Dumbledore himself made it. Apparently it had a contingent effect to re-enchant itself to send people to platform nine and three quarters. Don't ask me how it works." George seemed truly perplexed as he said this. Fred looked less perplexed and more intrigued.

"Well as I was saying." Fred continued, apparently he was happy to have the floor at the moment. "After we port there, George will accompany you on the train."

Harry blinked, "You sure made a big deal of just saying that." he mused.

"Fred's like that you know, making big deals out of everything." George smiled as he ragged on his twin.

"I noticed." Harry said, again noticing their slight personality differences that seemed more glaringly apparent then they ever really did before. George was certainly the more down to earth of the two, Fred the more eccentric, although they both seemed to have a certain dramatic flair about them.

"I DO NOT!" Fred said comically as he, obviously purposely, tripped and fell over in mock surprise.

"Point taken," Harry responded pointedly, "and proven," he continued amused at Fred's antics.

"You know I would rather watch this but the train leaves the station soon. So unless you want to walk to Hogwarts from here I recommend we leave soon." George sounded odd saying this, too Hermione like. Then again, Hermione was sounding very much more Wesley twin like so he supposed it made sense.

"Ok, let's go then." Fred transfigured his pajamas into robes as he said this and George followed suit as Fred reached for the Santa hat on Harry's bedside table. The three of them gathered Harry's stuff together between them then took the sides of the hat. Fred tried to shove it on Harry's head, but Harry was faster and managed to shove the hat down on Fred's head instead. He knew George had to have helped him do this as he knew there was no way he could have overpowered Fred on his own. His lips curled into a smile as he felt the familiar pulling sensation on his naval.

It was odd appearing directly on the wizard platform. Every other year Harry had entered through the wall in the station. Except of course his second year where Dobby had sealed the platform and he and Ron had taken Arthur's enchanted car and had that unfortunate run in with that Womping willow. Of course had they not taken the car they would have been eaten by a family of giant spiders. Getting a lecture from Ms. McGonagall and Snape was much preferable to that, even if they had missed Ginny's sorting.

The platform itself, much like Diagon Alley looked a lot more hustled. There were a lot more people then he remembered seeing before. Parents hugged and said goodbye to their children nervously and members of the Order of the Phoenix were guarding the platform. He saw at least four members as they had taken a defensive posture around the point he Fred and George had appeared in. Immediately to his left was the slightly old looking clothed Remus Lupin although he wore a sash covering the lower part of his face, leaving only his eyes and now shorter hair visible. Harry recognized his eyes immediately, that and he had winked at Harry as soon as he had looked in his direction. Harry was sure that the sash was because Remus was a werewolf and the Order didn't want a massive panic from everyone their first day back. On his right was Mad Eye Moody who Harry knew could see him at any particular moment do to his magical eye. Which at first had freaked him out and now he simply found quite nauseating. He looked mostly the same scars and everything. Looking back to his left he saw Bill Weasley again who smiled and waved his wandless hand at him then returned to his original alert state. To his right flank was Kingsley Shacklebolt, a tall dark skinned wizard who Harry had met only a few times, but who he knew was a very good Auror and one of the best people for keeping him and everyone else safe. Harry was a bit disappointed at not seeing Nymphadora Tonks there, as she had been the more amusing of his advance guard from last year. He still wished he was a metamorphmagus so he could hide his scar. I wonder what her assignment is? He asked himself, knowing full well that she would be here at his side chattering with him if she didn't have one.

Kingsley spoke first, "I take it there was no trouble than?" He said looking towards Harry, Fred and George. Kingsley had always had a deep calming voice despite his serious demeanor.

"Nope, the Dursleys didn't even make a peep." George responded.

"And we were so looking forward to shocking the bajeezes out of them too!" Fred complained as he removed the Santa hat from his eyes. Remus, Harry and Bill laughed while George smiled and shrugged unimpressively. Harry could tell that despite George's nonchalant demeanor he had hoped that would happen as well.

Kingsley just raised an eyebrow and smirked. Everyone in the Order had to know of Fred and George's antics. They were legendary at school.

"You remembered to keep your wands out of your pants pockets and to bring your own snacks right?" Mad Eye hadn't turned at all and was still covering the platform with his wand, although Harry was sure that his magical eye was looking in their direction.

"I doubt that the staff on the express would try and poison the students, especially with us on board." Remus said calmly.

"Well, with polyjuice potions and stuff one can never be too careful. We must remember…CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody had always been a bit on the more paranoid side. And a bit senile as well, but no one could deny his skill as an Auror and Harry thought that after him being tricked by Voldemort the previous two years, he pushed back a slight surge of feeling at that thought, that paranoia was not beyond reason.

"Well, I'll meet you guys at school." Fred said as he bowed and shoved the Santa hat on Harry's head. "One more thing, Dumbledore said that this hat is a special portkey he made just for you Harry, if you shove it down over your eyes and then think of either the Leaky Cauldron or your dorm at Hogwarts it will take you there. He wanted to be sure you could escape if the school was attacked." At that he stepped back and disapparated with a small pop.

"You're all going on the train to guard me?" Harry asked slightly mortified. "You already have a personal guardian for me. I'm not just some helpless kid I can take care of myself you know!" He felt anger rising in him as he said this and immediately suppressed it. Anger led to memories and memories led to guilt and that was the last thing Harry needed right now.

Remus Lupin laughed again before saying. "We know that, but were not just there to protect you. We are going on the express just in case anything happens at all. With you there and the shear number of students in general Dumbledore didn't want to take any chances. The last thing we need would be for a flock of dementors to attack the train in our absence. We'd end up at school with a bunch of mindless corpses then what would the instructors do."

Harry shivered at the memory of the dementor. "I see your point sorry, lost a hold of myself there." He apologized meekly.

"That's ok Harry, we still love you!" George's light hearted tone calmed him a bit.

"Of course with what you have been through you would want to feel in control." Kingsley's voice was still calm and this was the only reason Harry hadn't severely blushed at this statement. "But you have to remember that regardless of the past things can still happen and that you have to put your trust in people besides yourself especially if you want to be an Auror. Aurors need to be able to work alone but also to have complete trust in another in order to survive." Kingsley smiled as he said this.

"Well, don't blindly trust though Potter. After all there is always Imperius to deal with." Mad Eye put in again. "Just remember: Constant Vigilance! And you will always go far." He turned and smiled at Harry too, but his magical eye was looking the other direction still keeping guard over the area. Harry had forgotten how disconcerting that eye looked like that. A white sphere encased in Moody's eye socket.

"Hey it's nearly eleven now we should probably head towards the train now. Wouldn't want to hold everyone up now would we?" Bill stepped up from his position around Harry and prodded him and George towards the train. Remus and Moody took Harry and George's frontal flanks while Bill stood directly behind them and Kingsley was wandering around them looking alert.

Harry noticed that this little defensive posture around him got a lot less notice then he would have thought. He also noticed that plenty of the students that remained on the platform were acting just as defensive. Of course, most of the students were already on the train, and Harry knew he would feel a lot safer once he was in a car with his friends.

Remus and Kingsley helped carry Harry's things onto the train. After they were safely on the train the four members bid the two farewell and headed off in different directions. Remus and Kingsley went towards the front of the train and Moody and Bill towards the back.

Harry was about to give up the search for a car he felt comfortable sitting in when he heard Neville's familiar voice say, "Hey Harry, why don't you sit here with us?"

Neville, Seamus, and Dean were sitting in an otherwise empty section. Neville who seemed to be the same rotund boy he had always been, just bigger now was pruning his mimbulus mimbletonia carefully while Seamus and Dean played exploding snap. Dean didn't really seem any different to Harry but then again his main feature had always been being tall, and as he was sitting down it wasn't exactly obvious how much he had grown. Seamus seemed to have changed the most growing from an average boy to a strong riveting youth with a build not unlike the Weasley twins. Although his face, other than the stubs of facial hair looked basically the same as it always had. Harry pulled his trunk in and stored it away then sat down earning not more then happy nods from his dorm mates. George, on the other hand got a surprised look from all of them, obviously remembering the twins' great escape from the school the previous year.

"What are you doing here?" A shocked Seamus' voice said although he was smiling.

"Yeah, I thought you had enough of school." Dean looked more intrigued.

"Well, actually I am here to be Harry here's personal bodyguard." George said nonchalantly. "Me and Fred will be staying in your and taking classes with your year."

"Cool." The three boys chorused at once. Harry realized that he had missed his dorm mates a lot, especially Seamus whom he had not really gotten along with for most of last year.

"Hey so what NEWTs are you guys taking?" Harry wanted to know who would be in his classes that he knew.

"Well I'm taking defense against the dark arts. I mean how could I not after being in the DA?" Dean sounded excited. "I am also taking charms and transfiguration, you know the normal stuff. And this new class called invocation that sounds interesting. Last comes care of magical creatures, despite Hagrid's choices I rather liked that class."

"Cool! Looks like we have a pretty similar schedule," Harry was happy he wasn't going to have all his NEWTs without at least a few familiar faces. "I have charms transfiguration, care of magical creatures, defense against the dark arts, herbology, and potions."

Seamus gasped at this and Dean did a double take, "Did you say potions?" Dean's voice rang out.

"Yep, Harry here is a regular mixing genius." George said sarcasm all over his tone. "Besides, how would the year be without constant complaining about Snape?"

"Funny." Harry said in a drawl but obviously amused tone.

"Harry! You're in NEWTs Potions too?" Harry did a double take along with everyone at the table at Neville's comment.

"You're in potions too?" Harry couldn't keep the utter shock out of his voice. He had been hoping another Gryffindor besides Hermione would be on the class with him but he had never expected it would be Neville. "But that requires an outstanding OWL?" Harry was sure Neville hadn't made that. Neville didn't seem as nervous as he was in Snape's class but he was far from calm.

"Yeah I know. I got an A on my potions OWL. But I expressed interest in being a Healer to my grandmother stupidly. She said that one stingy teacher should not be able to hold a child back from their dream so she went straight to the headmaster and got Snape overruled. So now I HAVE to take it because she went out of her way despite not being asked too and Snape has been forced to make an exception so I can't not do it. And I have no idea how I am going to pass it." Neville looked quite down. "But it IS required to be a healer and I want to be able to help people."

"Don't worry." Harry said. "You aren't the only one here who got into NEWTs potions on a technicality. I didn't get an outstanding on my potions OWL either. And Hermione is also in the class so we should be able to pull through. What are your other NEWTs classes by the way?"

"Charms and transfiguration and of course healing, herbology and after the DA defense against the dark arts, I took classes I thought would be all around useful besides the ones particularly required of a healer."

"It looks like most of us are in the same classes." Seamus stated. "I have charms, transfiguration, defense against the dark arts," at this he blushed a little, Seamus had only been to one of the DA meetings last year do to he and Harry's untimely disagreement and so was behind the rest of the people in the car on that subject, "invocation and psionics."

Everyone looked at him at that, "Psionics?" Harry asked.

"Yeah the magic of the mind. Apparently it is a new class being offered at Hogwarts this year for the first time in over a hundred years. At least that's what the class description said. It sounded interesting so I figured 'why not?' after all it can't really hurt to have knowledge of that could it?"

Harry thought about his schedule again. "I imagine a lot of people are in Charms. It seems like a very useful NEWT probably required for a lot of jobs."

"I also noticed that professor Flitwick didn't seem to have any real requirements for it either, Just that you passed your Charms OWL with an A and got at least and A on both the Practical and theoretical examinations." Dean said. "Most of the other classes required at least an E to get into. Thank goodness I managed to snake an E on most of my important OWLs. It took a lot of studying and quite a bit of effort but it was worth it."

"Yeah me too," Seamus started, "I wonder how many people are going to be in transfiguration? I imagine quite a few. It seems quite useful too and very well suited to just the wizarding world in general."

"Yeah I agree." Harry continued, "It seems likely that there will be less people in the transfiguration NEWT than the charms NEWT but I imagine that's just do to the requirements being steeper."

"I cannot believe that I got the scores I did on my OWLs." Neville chimed in. "I actually managed to get an E on my transfiguration OWL, and actually passing potions? I was incredibly shocked. I was sure I wouldn't qualify for any NEWTs at all and here I am qualified for a decent number." Despite his self chiding Neville looked genuinely surprised in an accomplished sort of way. Harry didn't think Neville needed to feel proud about anything. He had seen him use a wand perfectly well when he wasn't thinking about it. It was only when he was trying to do things for others that he really choked although he could work on his aim. He commonly missed with curses in the DA something many an innocent bystander could attest to.

"We knew you could do it." George said. "After all we saw you at the DA and you were great. Surprised the lot of us I'd say."

"Definitely, I always knew you lacked self esteem but when you got over that you were a lot more able then many others." Dean smiled in Neville's direction.

"You don't need to do this you know. I know my destructive accidents are legendary." Neville looked down at his feet heart fallen.

"Don't do this to yourself mate. It's just not right." Seamus put his hand on Neville's shoulder.

At that point Ron and Hermione entered the car. "What'd we miss?" Ron stated looking at his dorm mates.

"We're trying to cheer up Neville. He seems to think that he doesn't deserve his OWL scores or something." George stated with a smirk. "Rubbish if you ask me, I mean how can you not deserve them? You were the one to take the test so you got the scores. It's that simple."

"Thanks." Neville looked up and smiled again. Harry was glad, Neville was always too down on himself.

"Oh Ron, we were just discussing what NEWTs we would be taking." Dean looked at Hermione. "Sorry Hermione but I assume your taking basically every one in the book so I'll expect to see you in all my classes anyway."

Hermione scowled at that remark and then stomped out of the car claming she had prefect duties. Everyone in the car let out a guilty but relieved laugh. It was very clear that Hermione had greatly wanted to describe all her schedule's nuances in great detail. While interesting Harry supposed he didn't want the entire rest of the train trip to be an explanation for why she took each NEWT when he thought it was just as likely that she simply took every NEWT she could fit into her schedule without resorting to time travel as she had learned that lesson her third year.

"I'm taking charms, care of magical creatures, transfiguration, defense against the dark arts and herbology." Ron said in answer to Dean's question ignoring Hermione's outburst. He and Harry both knew that she would be over this in a week at the most and that they would all be back to their merry selves after their schedules had normalized.

"Looks like were all in charms, transfiguration and defense against the dark arts." Harry said happily.

"Yeah and it looked like none of us have any classes without at least one other of us." Seamus stated. "Well except for my psionics class of course although I bet Hermione is in it too so no loss of Gryffindor there."

"Harry what NEWTs are you taking?" Ron asked.

"Charms, care of magical creatures, transfiguration, herbology, defense against the dark arts and potions."

"That's bloody brilliant." Ron said excitedly, "You're in every one of my classes." Then recognition hit his face and yet another double take was done. "You're taking potions! With Snape!?" He asked rather loudly with a very shocked tone and expression.

"Yes actually. I still plan on being an Auror." Ron's head sank at this. Apparently Ron hadn't expected Harry to continue that route without him.

"Don't think this is a bad thing Ronnikens." George started, Ron blushing at the use of his childhood nickname in front of his dorm mates. "Just go with the flow. I know I for one would feel a lot safer with Harry as an Auror protecting me from dark wizards and you at his side protecting us from those nasty giants and dragons."

Ron, still blushing, smiled at this and seemed to perk up quite a bit. "Well at least I don't have to be in that git's class anymore. You sure you're up for that?" Ron stated half seriously.

"Yeah lucky." Neville chimed in earning the room yet another double take.

"You're taking potions?" Ron looked totally shocked.

"Yeah, I was just as shocked as you are, believe me. But at least you don't have to deal with Snape anymore. He still gives me the creeps." Neville shuddered. Harry remembered that Snape was truly Neville's greatest fear greater than even other death eaters or Voldemort himself. They had learned that their third year when they were fighting the Boggart. It was the funniest thing in the world. Snape in an old ladies dress? Harry thought, priceless, truly priceless. His smile widened at the fond memory.

Suddenly the rest of the car's smiles disappeared. Harry had to look to see what had caused this. Malfoy was walking passed. Harry hadn't noticed. After the summer Malfoy's existence wasn't a notable threat anymore. Harry noticed that while he glanced in the room and scowled that that was the end of it.

A bunch of surprised or angry comments followed in his wake.

"He didn't call me weasel?" "Bloody I thought he was going to come in here." "That git I otta…" At this point Harry tuned them out quite tired of his friends worn out responses to the Slytherin.

"Harry, he didn't even call you scar head what was that about?" Seamus' voice brought him back to reality where everyone was now staring at him.

"Yeah and you didn't even seem to notice him approach. Nor even respond to him in any way what was that about." Ron seemed more angry at Harry's lack of a response to Malfoy than he seemed annoyed at Malfoy making an appearance. Malfoy's scowl was old and expected. Harry ignoring it was not and he was not looking forward to explaining that not only had Malfoy lived nearby him all summer but that he had spent most of his time in the boy's presence. George who was well aware of this fact remained silent.

"Just spaced I guess." Harry tried to shrug it off but they weren't buying it. Damnit! He thought.

"Well actually I really don't care about Malfoy anymore to tell you the truth." Harry said as deadpan as he could make it. This brought even more looks of shock from everyone.

"But… but… What about all the other times before!" Ron stuttered, he didn't even seem angry anymore just in total shock.

"I have had a change of heart. Frankly it's just not worth caring." This was true, although he was not about to give up exactly why without Hermione here to back him up. She could stop Ron from doing something both he and Harry would regret. Harry had not forgotten that Ron was more than a foot taller than him.

"But it's Malfoy!" Dean stood up and Harry saw that he and Ron were now almost identical in height. Great, just great.

"Yeah so what? People have hated me and most of them had a change of heart." He looked at Seamus apologetically before continuing. "Some of you are in this room right now."

Both Ron and Dean looked at him with pure anger now. Harry felt nothing but slight agitation. Then the door opened and Hermione walked in. "What are you doing?" She said in her admonishing prefect tone.

"Harry just said that he has stopped hating Malfoy!" Ron said it as if it was the worst thing in the universe.

"Ok… And your point is?" She said skeptically. "So have I." Ron looked at both of them like they had just told him they bought him a blast ended skrewt.

"But…" He said.

Hermione looked at Harry and then something dawned on her. "Oh. Honestly Harry do I have to always be the bearer of odd news. Long story short Malfoy Vincent…oh right Crabbe and Gregory…well Goyle were sent to live near Harry so that they could be protected from the death eaters. I was hanging out with Harry at the time often and they were there and it was still better at Ms. Figg's house with them there then at Harry's uncle's house. We learned to tolerate Malfoy eventually because it just wasn't worth the effort it took to hate him. That and neither Vincent Crabbe, nor Gregory Goyle is that bad really once you get to know them."

Harry deadpanned "Yeah, Malfoy's the real problem but his bark is much worse then his bite without his father to back him up. I doubt he would bother attacking us at this point. He'd be too embarrassed."

Dean seemed placated by this but Ron still stood there, he looked hurt more so than angry. "Why didn't you tell me?" He said obviously feeling quite left out.

"I was afraid you'd react just the way you did." Harry said guiltily. "That and I was still a bit miffed about the fight we had last year." He added yet more guiltily.

"Ron, this is pointless you know that you and Harry are going to make up so why not just do it now and get it over with as save us all a lot of hardship." Seamus stated. "I do not want to be privy to another one of your squabbles that keeps us up all night."

Ron looked at Harry who said, "I really am sorry mate. I was tired and apathetic and I just didn't have the energy to deal with it at the time. I retrospect it probably would have been better but I wasn't exactly thinking straight."

"Yeah I'm sorry too it's just weird to not have you two fighting that's all." Ron sat down and crossed his arms. "Don't think I'll stop disliking him this easily though. He's still Malfoy. The bloody git."

Harry was trying to think of some way to steer the conversation away from Draco Malfoy when Remus Lupin, as if reading his mind, decided to check on them at that exact moment.

As soon as he stuck his head in Seamus, Dean and Neville perked up and said. "Professor Lupin!?"

Harry, Ron, George and Hermione having a more personal connection to the man and knowing him intimately since their third year simply smiled and said, "Hi Remus."

Seamus continued talking excitedly, "Does this mean we're actually going to have a competent defense against the dark arts teacher this year?"

Remus laughed, Harry knew he was quite aware of their other defense against the dark arts teachers both before and after his year. "Well, yes you do as I happen to know the person. But no it is not me. However I will be around the school grounds playing lapdog though so I'll be available if you need pointers."

"Lapdog?" George raised an eyebrow and a smirk at the older man.

"Well…" Lupin started but Harry interrupted him.

"Can you tell us who it will be?" Harry asked curious as too who Dumbledore had convinced to take the accursed job.

"Nope promised I wouldn't didn't want anything like two years ago happening to this one." Harry thought of Moody and got the point immediately.

"Drat!" Seamus looked like he had just been turned down for a date and Harry could not help but snicker. George turned towards Seamus and raised his eyebrow more and continued to smirk.

"Oh well, but if Professor Lupin thinks he's good then the new professor has to be at least better then Umbridge." Dean's comment caused everyone in the car to scowl.

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this but I was incredibly happy when those Centaurs carried that woman off. However horrible she was to you at school you don't know the half of what she did to me with her damn proposed laws about half breeds." This comment got stares from Seamus and Neville. "Oops, probably shouldn't have said that part. Oh well, no point in hiding it now. I am a werewolf if you didn't already know that."

Harry, Ron, George, and Hermione already knew that of course. Dean seemed non plussed Neville looked surprised but quickly normalized. Seamus looked shocked and started stammering. "I th… th… thought that was a rumor?"

"Nope, true as can be." Remus said. "Don't worry though I will be very well insulated from the student body on days of the full moon. You have no real reason to fear me. Professor Dumbledore has made sure of that." With that he left the six students to their own devices again.

"I still can't believe that we had a werewolf for a teacher and no one told me." Seamus stated partially annoyed and partially excited.

"Well me and Ron didn't know until the end of the year anyway." Harry said, memory's of that night with Peter and Sirius flooded his brain for slightly too long. He hesitated as he felt anger start to bubble up in him. Shoving it down took all his control but he did it and then the memory of that night fell into the ether that was his mind.

No one seemed to notice this as Dean spoke. "I don't see why you guys didn't figure it out it was pretty obvious after Snape did that whole spiel about Werewolves on the night of the full moon that Lupin was away. But I really don't see the point in worrying about that. As long as he's controlled during the full moon which was obviously done he's not any more of a danger to any of us then any other wizard would be."

Neville spoke up next, "Besides this is professor Lupin were talking about he was only the best defense against the dark arts teacher we had."

And the only one who hadn't tried to kill me. Harry thought.

"Is anyone else hungry?" Ron's question generated growls from all 7 stomachs in the room.

"Dreadfully so," Hermione said, "I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast this morning because of all the extra stuff I had to do. I have been running on Caffeine all morning."

Harry was about to offer to buy food for everyone from the approaching trolley when seemingly out of nowhere as if he had been listening into the conversation. Moody appeared in the doorway with a large box of muggle crackers.

"Hungry eh? Well now you'll shouldn't be eat'n stuff off of the trolley here. Never know who might be getting it." With that he opened a package of the crackers and took a corner off of every one in the stack as he passed them to Harry one by one eating it, Harry assumed to show them that they were safe, before continuing. "Oh and you might want to consider a hip flask. Safer then drinking from anything others have touched. Harry here should definitely consider it. But until then you want a sip?" Moody maneuvered the flask towards Harry.

"Thanks Professor but I'll pass." Harry declined.

"Ok but be careful and remember CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Before handing the entire large box of crackers to Harry and leaving the area.

"Bit of a nutter that one is." Ron said taking a cracker from Harry and eating it.

"Nothing a few flasks of fire whisky can't fix." George joked. "Besides one does have to admit the guy does look out for us. Wow these crackers aren't half bad I wonder where he got them?" George stated as he started munching on them greedily.

Harry of course had eaten them before as they were the only snack Dudley and thus Harry had been allowed to have, when he was allowed any snack at all. Dean and Hermione likely knew what they were too being from Muggle households. Seamus seemed more interested in Remus still then worrying about the crackers although he did start nibbling on a few of them. Neville just tried them like he was just trying something new he didn't know he'd like and Ron started scarfing them like George.

They spent a long time just chatting amongst themselves until Hermione and Ron realized that they had to go to another prefects meeting and quickly left. Harry decided that now would be as good a time as any to change into his school robes since Hermione wasn't here and everyone else was or would be a housemate. The others besides George who was already wearing robes took their cue from Harry and there was much shuffling around as the 4 of them tried to get dressed in the small compartment. After that was done Harry spent time admiring the stars that had just started coming out as they entered the last bit before the station in Hogsmeade.

As the train neared the station there was a bit more shuffling around in the halls and random people, quite a few of them from the DA started waving and saying 'hi' as they walked passed.

"Hmm…glad you guys aren't prefects aren't ya?" George stated with a smile. "They probably have Ron and Hermione swamped with work trying to protect the castle and such. It'll be a wonder if Hermione gets any sleep at all this year what with her commonly high class load and all." George then turned towards everyone else in the room. "Can't have too many things to worry about, after all were only human. Well at least I think we are. I never really checked." Harry smirked at his slightly amusing comments realizing again that Fred and George were in fact very different from each other but also still quite similar.

It was then that the Hogsmeade station came into view and the lot of them started getting together the things they needed like their wands.

Hagrid was calling the first years to the boats at the edge of the large lake by the castle as usual and people were gathering around the thestral drawn carriages that take the older students to the school.

Harry had been scared of the strange skeletal winged horses when he first saw them at the beginning of the previous year. But now they seemed a lot less scary after having ridden them to the Department of Mysteries. A bit of anger filled him but he didn't even have to quash it this time because one of the thestrals looked at him and screeched in what Harry thought was approval. You must be the thestral I rode last year. Harry thought as he walked up to it and petted its head. "Sorry I don't have any snacks for you this time." He said to it in a semi soothing tone. The thestral looked at him with what Harry could only describe as begging despite their skeletal appearance and screechy noises.

Some of the other students were staring at him but he didn't care. Neville soon walked up to him and the thestral looked at him with the same look. Neville looked kind of surprised and when he didn't have anything either the thestral lived simply with Harry scratching its ear.

"Its odd but I was never really scared of them, a bit odded out but not really scared." Neville said. "Of course I have been able to see them since my first year here so seeing them was always normal."

"Well I can't say I wasn't scared of them when I could first see them last year but now after that whole thing with the department of mysteries last year I have grown to respect them a lot more. They were there for me when quite a few others were not." Harry felt himself tear at the thought of his godfather's death. For some reason he wasn't angry at the moment just sad. Neville put his hand on Harry's shoulder, he understood he had lost parents too. Perhaps worse than Harry's parents and godfather being dead, Neville's parents were in a long term ward at Saint Mungo's Wizard hospital after a group of death eaters had driven them insane. He felt the anger come Can't let it win if I let it win then I let them win. With that angry outburst he quashed what was left of his anger and looked at Neville who was smiling a consoling smile.

"Hey why the long faces you guys shouldn't be down like that after all you're among friends and classmates and the like." George put one arm over each boy's shoulder, something that looked to Harry to be quite awkward as Neville was at least half a head taller then him. "By the way I was always wondered what do thestrals actually look like?" He asked. "I want to know but I don't particularly want to be able to see them." He continued.

"Right you don't," Harry said glad to be on a different although not unrelated topic. "Well they look rather like skeletal horses with bat wings." Harry said as he tried to think of a way to describe the strange creatures.

"Yeah I can't really think of any better way to describe them either." Neville chimed in, "Their cries sound really screechy and are slightly irritating but they are nice enough wouldn't really recommend riding them though."

"Yeah, pretty bumpy," Harry remembered how it had felt to ride the thestrals and the hippogriff. No doubt about it, he preferred his firebolt any day. Then he remembered that he had never gotten his firebolt back from the dungeons the previous year and his heart sunk. Damn, well hopefully it's still there although I doubt it with my luck Malfoy has it now or something.

"Would you be Harry Potter?" A distinctly American accented voice snapped him out of his reverie. "I was told to look for a dark haired, green eyed boy with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead named Harry Potter." The voice continued.

Harry looked at George who looked alert and ready to draw a wand yet intrigued. Neville looked surprised. No help there, they seem just as unsure as I feel. He self consciously covered pushed his hair down over his forehead before turning towards the direction the voice had come from.

Harry saw a thin boy about his height and about his age maybe slightly younger with grey eyes, light skin and strawberry blond hair that was almost red. He was wearing Hogwarts student's robes and had a wand stuck in his right ear much the same way Luna stored hers when she wasn't using it and a metal muggle ballpoint pen stuck in his left. He looked rather lost. "I'm sorry I have no idea who I am looking for, I must have gotten it wrong ah well sorry." The boy looked down dejectedly and started to turn away. This surprised Harry, he would have thought that any wizard even an American one would have known what he looked like by now, after all he was 'the boy who lived.' The fact that he didn't seem to know much about Harry made him instantly like the boy.

"No you were right I am Harry Potter."

The boy turned towards him and looked at him questioningly. "I certainly hope so I have been given strange looks since I got on the train and started looking for you." the boy said. "You wouldn't be pulling my leg now would you?" He looked like he was expecting that so Harry decided it was best to just tell him the truth.

"Nope I am Harry Potter lightning scar and all." With that he lifted up his bangs and showed the boy the scar. His eyes widened.

"Oh my, but that is quite exact. I was imagining something a bit less…picture perfect I guess." He stared at Harry's scar like it was the oddest thing in the universe. But there was something totally different about how he stared at it that made Harry incredibly happy rather than uncomfortable like he usually was. He seemed obsessed with how odd the scar was and not the person who had it.

"Who might you be?" George said, clearly more agitated at the boy's odd actions.

"Oh, yeah, sorry I get lost some times. I'm Wesley, Wesley Tinderspoon." And with that he extended his left hand towards them. George took it grudgingly then Neville who had been just staring intrigued the entire time, and finally Harry himself. Wesley then smiled slightly and said, "Nice to meet you."

His face got a morbidly intrigued look on it as he again stared at Harry's forehead. "How did you get that scar anyway? It seems a bit too perfect to be something accidental…"