--------Platform 9 ¾---------
Harry Potter sat with his trunk and Owl, Hedwig, waiting for his friends and the Hogwarts Express in a very sombre mood. Despite his initial jubilation hearing that Hogwarts would be operating for his final year, the lack of Dumbledore made it seem a bit worthless.
"I miss him, Hedwig, I really miss him" Harry spoke softly to the owl.
Hedwig gave a low, mournful hoot. Indeed even this humble train platform seemed duller than last time Harry saw it. The other students who were milling around even seemed to have lost colour in their skin and their eyes. The weather wasn't much better either, being overcast and threatening rain. Harry looked up and saw some of the first years chatting animatedly.
"Let's hope nothing happens to make them afraid of Hogwarts, eh Hedwig?" again Harry asked his owl.
Then something else caught Harry's eye: some of the Slytherin students. They looked as miserable as the rest of them, even more so then he. Despite all his misgivings of certain students of the house, Harry was reasonably sure that the majority of them were decent people. Sadly, a few had cast them all in a light of suspicion and hatred. It had taken all of a few seconds for the news of Snape and other Slytherin students being involved in Dumbledore's murder to travel around the rest of the student body.
"I get the feeling that rivalry will become war if we're not careful" a slightly airy voice made Harry look up.
"Oh, Luna, how are you?" Harry was glad to see a familiar face.
"I've been feeling sad, but, father and I went looking for some Blibbering Humdinger in Africa, we came close" Luna said, absently playing with her necklace of butterbeer corks.
"Seen any of the others around?" Harry asked, seeing the subject of last year was still a little raw.
"I saw Neville speaking with a 6th year Hufflepuff; he seemed rather taken with her" Luna said.
"Well, perhaps a nicer event to start the year" Harry said, hoping to add some levity to the morning.
Luna's response was drowned out by the explosive entrance of Ron, who was hooning down the platform on his trolley, with what appeared to be a propulsion flame shooting from his rear end. Ron was screaming bloody murder until his trolley hit a pillar and the flame disappeared and he fell flat on his back.
"Oh, that did not go well for Ron" he muttered in his prone state, looking up to see Harry and Luna.
"Ron, is this something you should be warning us about or have you been eating vindaloo again?" Harry asked.
"Fred and George's new invention, they asked me to test it. You'd think I'd learn" he chuckled.
"How are you pants?" Harry asked, holding his hand out to help Ron up.
"Not sure" Ron groaned as he got up.
"How about your bum, Ronald, does it hurt?" Luna asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Oddly enough, uh, no" Ron was nervous about the look Luna was giving him.
"Is Hermione here?" Ron turned to Harry, who was retrieving a cloak for Ron to borrow.
"I haven't seen her, but that doesn't mean she's not here" Harry answered, handing Ron a full length coat.
"Oh, okay" Ron was downcast at the news.
The three sat down across their trunks and just talked about their summers. Ron spent his thinking and helping George and Fred try out their joke products, some were more fun than others. Luna simply reiterated what she'd said to Harry, elaborating a little for Ron's benefit. Harry simply said that the Dursely's were glad to be rid of him again for another year.
"Since you turned seventeen, now you can use magic outside of school, did you do anything to the Muggles?" Ron asked with a wry grin on his face.
"Nah, I just made my room huge. Turned my old bed into a king size, just had some fun" Harry said.
"Hmm, I was half expecting you to leave them in full body binds. Are you going to move into Grimmauld Place after this year?" Ron remembered that Harry could now leave if so chose.
"If I'm still alive after this year is out, yes, I will" he said softly.
"No need for such morbid thoughts" another female voice caught Harry's attention.
Harry looked up only to be greeted with a quick kiss on his nose. It was Ginny; she may have arrived later than Ron for fear of being associated with him due to his, spectacular entrance. Harry smiled a little and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.
"Ah, young love" Ron teased.
Harry rolled his eyes, which nearly bugged out of his head when Ginny plopped down in his lap. Ron kept giggling at them, they ignored them and Lune simple read the Quibbler, upside down as per usual. The train had nearly pulled into the station when Hermione finally showed up, panting pushing a trolley with her trunk and Crookshanks on it, the part Kneazle looking a little perturbed.
"Hermione, this tardiness is very unusual, it must have been important" Ron was on fire, a witty comment for everything.
"This from the man who entered thanks to 'Liar Liar Pants on Fire – Truth Detector' propulsion" Ginny pointed out.
"Touché" Ron got back in his metaphorical box.
With a great hissing of steam and squealing of brakes, the giant red Hogwarts Express train pulled into the station and the students began milling onto the train, packing their trunks and securing their pets for travel. Neville, true to form, lost Trevor his unassuming but ugly toad. A squeal from a compartment of young girls quickly revealed the toad's location.
"Think the Slytherin will give us any grief on this run?" Ron asked.
"No, given their chief instigator of trouble and, somewhat biased head of house are gone, I imagine they will be keeping a very low profile" Hermione watched Harry out of the corner of her eye.
At the alluding of Severus Snape, Harry gripped the arms rest tightly, his knuckles going white. Ginny looked at Hermione and they wondered if this would explosive Harry 2.0 this year. The trip was spent mainly in silence. Unbeknownst to any student on that train, five men were patrolling the carriages. Irons and his men had boarded the train at Hogsmeade, made a cursory check for any kind of trap or hidden Portkeys. Satisfied they'd found nothing, the train had left and they'd changed into their invisibility uniforms.
Made of a more breathable fibre than standard invisibility cloak, the uniform covered, everything, a special piece of light bending glass made up an acceptable visor. Silencing Charms were cast on their thick boots.
"X-Ray 1, I've located Harry Potter and nothing else to report" Eamon said via his comm. link.
"Good, make sure it stays that way" Irons hoped at the very least the train ride to Hogwarts would be trouble free.
"Roger, Uniform 1 out" his corporal's curt reply cut his thought train off.
Up on the roof of the train, Jackson was strapped into a kneeling position, a large green rifle with scope in his hands. Nothing untoward was getting near this train without him knowing about it. So far it had been the most boring journey he'd ever had in his entire life. Still, a bored soldier is better than a dead one.
Finally, there's Hogsmeade Station Jackson thought and got on his radio.
"X-Ray 1, we're approaching Hogsmeade Station. ETA is about three minutes" Jackson said.
"Received Uniform 3, we'll be ready" Irons then switched to an all units broadcast/
"All units, rendezvous with Uniform 3, Hogsmeade arrival imminent" he ordered.
"Received" his men replied.
Making their way to the closest exit, the SAS troops all clung to the ladders at the coach's joiners. As soon as the train stopped, they scrambled up and ran towards Jackson, able to see him due to a filter in the glass, not unlike Moody's magical eye.
"Okay, now we head to the Shrieking Shack, and we'll be on Hogwarts grounds, lets go" Irons said.
Once the students had dispersed away from the station; the troops Apperated to the Shrieking Shack.
--------Hogwarts-----
Harry and the others travelled again in silence, it only occasionally broke when one of the carriages bumped and made Ron, who was now the tallest of them, hit his head on the roof. For someone so sheltered from Muggles, he knew an amazing amount of their profanity.
"Okay, here we are" Ron said, jumping out of the carriage almost before it had stopped.
He offered his hand to Hermione to help her out. Ginny smirked and Harry giggled, Ron was never very subtle with his flirting. Luna looked at Ron as if she were analysing him, and took the hand he proffered to her, although this time it was a courteous gesture. Harry like wise helped Ginny off the carriage, although he simply lifted her by the hips and set her on the ground.
"Not exactly a very gentlemanly way to help me down" she said with a grin.
"No, but the expression on your face was worth it" he sniggered and got their trunks down.
"You're a very bad boy, Harry, I'll have to punish you for it" she said a salacious smirk on her face as she turned and walked off.
"Is that a promise?" he called after her.
Hedwig seemed to shudder, indicating the owl was wiser than most. There was a better mood now they were back here, despite everything that had happened there, Hogwarts was still a warm and inviting place and inspired a feeling of safety in its students.
"Come on, we'll miss the sorting ceremony if we don't hurry up" Ron called to his friends as the straggled behind.
They broke into a quicker jog and soon found themselves at the gates and entered. The Great Hall was as they remember it, bright and full of tables. Bidding Luna a farewell as she went to join the other Ravenclaw students, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione took a seat, Ginny at her year table. Harry looked up on the teachers table and saw Professor McGonagall in the headmaster's seat. Casting a Sonorus spell, McGonagall got up and began speaking.
"Attention students, before the sorting ceremony begins I have some news for you. Professor Horace Slughorn will be staying on as Potions Master and also as of now is head of Slytherin House" pausing for her words to sink in, she looked directly at Harry.
"Further more, the new professor of Defence against the Dark Arts will be, Remus Lupin, who as also accepted my offer to become Head of Gryffindor House" this news brought about a roaring round of applause as Remus arrived, a smile on his face.
"This is bloody brilliant, Lupin got reinstated and became head of house, how cool is that" Ron was as enthusiastic as anyone.
"Good thing too, we'll be getting some quality instruction again" Hermione agreed.
"And our new Transfiguration teacher is, Delores Umbridge" she said that with very ill-disguised disgust.
An equally disgusted murmur overtook the students as the fat woman again invaded their beloved school. Harry's eyes darkened noticeably, as did Hermione's and Ron's. In fact the vast majority of the students, even a good portion of Slytherin made non-verbal disgust apparent. It didn't seem to dampen the woman's egotistical smirk.
"That being said, let us begin the sorting" McGonagall said, reversing the Sonorus spell.
The hat was brought forward and the Prefects, which Included Hermione and Neville, assisted the first years in getting to their assigned houses. Everyone noticed mixed emotions on students faces when a new Slytherin housemate was announced. It didn't take too long to get through the sorting, the feast appeared.
"I've lost my appetite" Harry scowled at his food, imagining it was Umbridge.
"I haven't" Ron said and began tucking in.
Harry eventually managed to force down a few slices of lamb and some potato. Soon after, Harry and the other 7th years retired to their dorms. All while under the watchful eyes of the SAS. When the students were all in their dorms and common rooms, each man went on his patrol. Irons had Jackson in the highest tower in the castle, his trusty cannon at hand while he and the other three patrolled the four major areas that surrounded the student dorms.
"Uniform 3, this is X-Ray 1, do you see anything?" Irons asked his sniper.
"Nothing sir, request permission to retire for the night. Uniform 1 and 2 set up half a dozed different alarm charms of the silent nature. Everything is covered" Jackson said, stifling a yawn.
"Granted, head back to base. Uniform 1, Uniform 2 and Uniform 4, pack it in too. I'll join you in a few minutes" Irons signed off.
Sighing he hefted his rifle and slung it around his shoulder and walked towards McGonagall's office, leaving a surveillance charm in effect in the common room that would alert him if anyone other than Filch entered the room. He came across the gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office and spoke the password, although he had to remove his balaclava.
"Phoenix Feathers" had anyone approached that moment; they'd have seen a severed head floating in mid air.
The gargoyle moved aside accommodatingly and Irons walked inside. McGonagall and Lupin were waiting for him. After exchanging some basic how's your father, Irons gave them a run down on what he'd seen today.
"Aside from a few plots to murder this Professor Umbridge, nothing really. What's her story anyway, the students looked like they'd sooner be taught by a vampire?" he asked.
"Professor Umbridge, if you could call her a professor, was stationed here two years ago in Lupin's position, her teaching was poor and she was spreading the seed of discontent among the staff and students, turning this place into a virtually ministry run school" she explained.
"How so?" Irons was curious: if there was to be a power monger in the staff, he wanted to know.
"She was appointed High Inquisitor, a ridiculous title, and began issuing edicts banning staff and students from nearly any activity without her personal permission. And she tried to have myself, Dumbledore, Hagrid and Sybil Trelawny sacked" Minerva explained it further.
"Hmmm, I think we better watch her. I don't want some ministry power monkey throwing a wrench in my works here" Irons stated.
"Nor do we" Lupin said in agreement.
"Okay, I will take one more look around the castle's major areas and then retire, there are surveillance charms in each common room and at every dorm entrance, if anyone goes near those places, we will know" he assured them and left the room.
"Do you think this will help keep the castle safe?" Lupin asked.
"I hope so, and besides, there is a small comfort in knowing that if Umbridge places herself out of line, there is someone here who can keep her in her place" McGonagall smirked a very smug smirk.
"Point taken, I'll see you in the morning" Lupin said, leaving the office also.
Minerva McGonagall waited till she was sure of her solitude, then she opened the draw and retrieved two items: a picture of Dumbledore and a bottle of Firewhiskey, then she fished a glass out of the drawer. Uncorking the Firewhiskey she poured a standard dram and corked and returned the bottle to the drawer. She rose her glass to the picture, which smiled and rose a glass back.
"One down, two hundred odd more to go" she said and chuckled.
Gritting her teeth, Minerva put the glass back in the drawer with the bottle, but the picture remained on the desk. It was the only real picture she had of the old bugger and damned if she was going to keep it hidden. Smiling a little, she got up.
"Whoa, been a while since I downed a dram of that stuff. And I never found out where you got it from either" she giggled at the picture before finally leaving the office.
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