Disclaimer: Most of the characters mentioned in the following story are borrowed from JK Rowling and are not of my own imagination. Any characters in this story that are not mentioned in any of the Harry Potter books are my own.

A/N: Wow, my jaw hit the ground when I saw how many reviews I have receieved and how many people have added me to their favourite authors/author alerts lists. I've been writing every spare minute I have lately, but you may be forced to choose between short chapters but frequent updates or long chapters and err… not so frequent updates, as school started again today so my time has been slightly lessened.

steele-2006-294: I would love to read what you have written so far. I think my email addy is on my profile (I will go check now to make sure).

teddy673: the apparation test will be slotted in there somewhere over the next few chapters hopefully.

chapaneseboi21: yes, the horcruxes/horcrux's thing had me clueless for quite some time. I finally decided to just take a chance and put it as horcrux's. Thanks for pointing it out. (Spelling has never been my strength!)

To all my other lovely reviewers and readers: Thank you! You've made my day.

Chapter 8

Harry groaned as Mrs Weasley shook him awake.

"Time to get up, dear," she told him. "We can't afford for you to miss the train."

She left the room to wake Ron, leaving Harry rubbing his eyes sleepily. He was just about to slip back to sleep when a soft kiss woke him. He opened his eyes to see a rather blurry looking Ginny above him. He smiled and reached for his glasses, Ginny suddenly becoming clearer as he put them on.

"Morning sleepyhead," she said loudly, already on her way out of the room. Harry smiled again.

The house was just as chaotic as it was every year on the morning they returned to Hogwarts. Before he knew it they were loading their trunks into the car the Ministry had sent for Harry's protection. As they waved goodbye to Fleur and Bill, Mrs Weasley, who was checking her watch every two minutes almost pushed them into the car frantically. Harry found himself squashed in the backseat of one car between Ron and Ginny. Hermione was in the front seat in deep conversation with the driver. Mrs Weasley was on her other side.

The drive to the train station was quite uneventful. When they arrived Harry and Ron were halfway through a game of exploding snap. As the car pulled up there was a huge bang and a small cloud of smoke. Ginny opened the door on her side of the car, coughing as she got out. When the smoke cleared, Harry laughed seeing the look on Ron's face. Ron scowled even more (if it was possible) when he touched his eyebrows with his hands. They were black.

"Why's it always my eyebrows?" he muttered angrily. Harry laughed and slid out of the car, looking around for Ginny. He found her helping to unload the trunks, along with the driver and Hermione. Mrs Weasley was fussing over Ron's eyebrows and trying to turn them back the right colour.

When the trunks were unloaded, they boarded the train to look for a compartment to put their trunks in. Ron and Hermione (as Head Boy and Head Girl) had to join the prefects in the prefect's apartment, so Harry and Ginny sought out their usual carriage with Neville and Luna in it. They greeted them quickly and rushed back out to say goodbye to Mrs Weasley, meeting Ron and Hermione on the way.

They each hugged Mrs Weasley in turn, who was looking quite worried.

"Don't do anything dangerous this year," she told them sternly. "No sneaking off to save the world without telling Professor McGonagall first so we can send the aurors instead."

Ron laughed. "And let us pass up the chance to risk our own necks? I don't think so, Mum."

Mrs Weasley did not return his sarcasm with a smile; instead she seemed to look quite mad at the suggestion. "Ronald Weasley!" she said very loudly, receiving stares from the people nearby. "You'll do no such thing!"

"I didn't mean it," he muttered. The train gave a whistle behind them and Mrs Weasley hugged them all again quickly.

"Go on," she said urgently, "and don't get yourselves into trouble this year."

"At least Snape won't be there anymore," Harry said to Ginny as they made their way back to their apartment, almost tripping over a group of third year girls giggling in the hallway as Harry passed. He rolled his eyes and looked at Ginny, surprised to see an amused look on her face. He raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. He slid open the carriage door and plonked himself down on a seat opposite Neville and Luna, Ginny sitting next to him. He looked out the window at the countryside rolling by as Ginny made conversation with the others. A question from Neville jolted him out of his reverie.

"So Harry, how were your holidays?"

Harry thought a moment before answering. "Not too bad. Got a place of my own."

"Wow," Neville replied. "Where?"

"Godric's Hollow. Right across from where my parent's used to live," he said quietly. He leaned forward so the rest could hear him properly. "Listen… I would appreciate it if you don't tell anyone else. It's not exactly the kind of information I want commonly known, considering the circumstances." The other three nodded in agreement.

At that moment the carriage door slid open, making all occupants look up. Ron and Hermione were in the doorway.

"We got out of doing patrol duty," Hermione explained.

"We saw those two idiots Goyle and Crabbe on our way here," Ron added. "They look pretty lost without Malfoy here."

Harry smirked. "I'm surprised they weren't expelled after what they did last year."

Hermione looked unsure and shot a glance at Ron. "Well… actually Harry, I heard they couldn't prove them guilty so they couldn't expel them. It doesn't matter that we know what they did, there's no evidence to prove they were helping Malfoy besides our word."

"Veritaserum?" Harry asked hopefully.

Hermione shook her head. "They can't use veritaserum on students. Not the teachers anyway. Of course there will be an enquiry by the Ministry for Magic, but until then they can't be expelled."

"But Umbridge-"

"Wasn't actually allowed to put veritaserum in your tea," Hermione cut in. "She is Umbridge though, what else did you expect?"

Harry sat back in his seat, defeated. "We're still going to have to be very careful this year then. Anything Crabbe or Goyle find out could be passed to Malfoy and then to Voldemort."

"We're always careful, Harry," came Hermione's reply.

Their conversation was interrupted by the lunch cart. As the others were buying their food, Harry turned to Ginny.

"Gin… you have to be even more careful this year then usual. Try not to go anywhere by yourself." Ginny nodded, knowing the danger she was in. Harry bought some lunch and there was silence in the carriage as they ate.

A/N: Yes, as you can probably tell, the Head Boy and Girl thing was a last minute addition (knew I forgot something before!). Next chapter will be up soon.