AN: So, with this chapter the rush to make up for my absence is done, and from now on it should be a chapter every fortnight again. I hope. For a while at last. You know how it is...

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Alexandra bid Harry goodbye in the entrance hall of Travers Manor once again, Wynn on her arm. Harry took the baby from her for a moment for a last cuddling, tickling him to tease out a laugh. „I'll see you at Christmas," he muttered. „By then, you'll be a big boy already, won't you? I bet you'll be able to sit. Maybe even walk, hm?" Harry added, tickling Wynn again.

Alexandra laughed. „Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she said. „Perhaps stand?" She took Wynn back and gave Harry a formal peck on the cheek, and then Alduin took his arm and they Apparated to the station. Harry placed himself in what was, by now, his usual compartment, and returned to the platform. "Be very careful this year," Alduin said to him, in a low voice. "And write to me about anything that seems at all strange to you, however insignificant it might seem. Anything can be a clue."

"And you'll let me know if you discover something?" Harry asked a little anxiously.

"Of course." Alduin paused. "But I don't want to see aht you used this new crisis as an excuse not to study. The workload in your second year will be a little harder..."

Harry grimaced as the conversation proceeded to more conventional warnings and advice. Alduin was just telling him to be diligent about his training with Maurice when they were interrupted by the arrival of Hermione with her parents. "Oh, hello, Harry," she cried as she spotted him. "How was your end of summer? Oh, of course, sorry – mum, dad, this is Harry Potter. Harry, let my indtroduce are my parents."

Harry shook their hands, and Alduin, who'd already seen then when he went to pick Hermione up for his birthday party, nodded politely to them.

"Are you sitting with Harry?" Her father asked her.

Hermione shook her head. "Oh no, his compartment is full with all the Gryffindor first years – well, second years now, I suppose," she explained. "I'll sit with the Ravenclaw girls, but maybe we could get the one next to Harry?"

The boy considered it. "Well, that's normally where the Slytherins sit," he said, "but you can definitely take the one next to that – the Puffs had it last year, and none of us really talk to them that much, so..."

Hermione was agreeable to the idea, and Alduin offered to levitate her trunk there. Just after he returned, Neville and his Gran appeared, and there was soon a lively conversation between the boys, interrupted by greeting more newcomers. Then Alduin announced it was only five minutes until departure and they all piled in and pressed their faces to the window to catch the last glimpses of their families as the train gained speed and left the platform.

When they all set down, a conversation when each tried to tell as much about their summer without being interrupted started. Harry, Neville and Ron had many shared stories, of course, and it turned out Lavender and Parvati spent quite a bit of summer together as well. Harry was questioned about the IQT, and about making an appearance in the papers once again.

It was when the darkness was just beginning to fall when the train made a strange noise, and suddenly stopped.

Harry got up from his seat to look out of the window, where he had to squeeze in between Sophie and Ron, who'd got there first. But there was nothing special to be seen.

"This has never happened before, has it?" Harry asked.

"Not last year," Neville replied, "but well, we don't really know about the others, do we?"

The door to their compartment opened, and Draco stuck his head in. "Anyone knows what's going on?" He asked.

"No idea," Harry replied and went with him to the corridor. Doors to the other compartments were being opened as well, and Hermione was already outside. She opened the door to another compartment and asked something Harry couldn't hear. "Why doesn't anyone explain anything?" Draco asked, frustrated.

Daphne, who got out of the Slytherin compartment as well, rolled her eyes. "We just stopped for a while," she said.

Hermione was returning to her friends, and seeing Harry, she headed to him first. "Horatio says this has never happened before in the last three year. It's really strange, I think I'll go get a prefect."

Before she could do that, however, Percy Weasley appeared on his own. "Everybody stay calm," he said, which only served to make Harry feel more nervous. "I'm sure it's just a momentary problem."

"You're sure?" Draco sneered. "Meaning you don't know, right?"

Harry and Daphne rolled their eyes at him in unison. Before Percy could answer, a voice sounded on the train: "We ask all students to stay in their compartments while we work on the problem. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

"There, you see?" Percy said, rather defensively.

"They didn't really tell us anything," Draco complained.

"Oh, stop whining, Malfoy," Sophie, who emerged from their compartment, muttered. Draco looked completely affronted, but Daphne sniggered.

Hermione disappeared back to her Ravenclaw friends, and the rest stood in the corridor for a while, discussing the unexpected situation. When it was beginning to take too long, however, Harry went to sit back down and stared out of the window, wondering.

After about three-quarters of an hour, the same voice sounded again, stating: "We have been unable to determine the cause of the problem. Please wait in your compartments while alternate transport is being arranged. We apologize for any inconvenience caused."

Everyone started to talk at once and doors started to bang in the corridor, but Harry immediately took out his two-way mirror and called Alduin's name. "Yes, Harry?" Alduin said, appearing soon enough.

"There's a problem with the train," Harry said. "It stopped and we don't know why, and they said they'll have to give us alternate transport."

Alduin frowned. "I don't like this, I don't like this one bit. Where are you?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, do I? Somewhere...there are a lot of hills around, and forests."

"That doesn't really help, Harry." Alduin paused. "Can you get Ernie McMillan?"

"Sure, but...why?"

"Because his family lives not too far away from Hogwarts, so I'm hoping he might have more of an idea than you do."

Harry dutifully went in search of the boy. "Yes," he replied, surprised, to Harry's question. "We've gone through Pitlochry already, and that's the last major town the train goes through before we get to school. Ben Macdui si somewhere in front of us, I think."

"All right," Alduin replied. "I'm going there, and then I'll call again."

His face disappeared from the mirror and Harry returned to his compartment, nervously glancing back at it. How was Alduin going to find them? He didn't have long to wait. "All right, Harry," Alduin said, "now can you take Hedwig and send a message to me?"

Thrilled by this brilliant idea, Harry did so. Draco appeared in their compartment again. "I'm calling Father," he declared, "this is ridiculous."

Harry nodded. "I've already called Alduin," he said. "He's coming."

Draco frowned. "But how will he find us?"

Harry explained the process, and Draco went to repeat it with his father. Harry wasn't worried – if this was part of the plot by Mr. Malfoy, he was hardly going to get involved personally in front of so many witnesses.

"I see Hedwig," Alduin said from the mirror. "You must not be too far."

And, indeed, within fifteen minutes, Alduin was knocking on their compartment window. Harry ran out to let him in, and Alduin nodded in greeting to everyone present. "I Flooed Dumbledore before I Apparated here," he said. "He'll send the teachers for you to side-Apparate you, as soon as he locates you. I promised to help."

"I called Father," Draco said from behind him. "So he can take me and Daphne or something."

Mr. Malfoy did, indeed, arrive, almost at the same time as the Hogwarts teachers, and the students were being transported to Hogwarts gates, the oldest ones going themselves. Alduin bid Harry goodbye once again after it was all done and disappeared, and after Hagrid took the first years to the lake, the rest of them headed up to the castle on foot, discussing the cause of the problem all the way. Harry was deeply uncomfortable. It was not a good sign, in his opinion, that trouble was starting this early.

The problem with the train was the talk of the evening. Not even Percy remembered anything like that, with his six years' experience, and Alduin didn't look like this sort of problem was familiar to him either. "But, I mean," Neville said, "what would be the point? Why would Riddle – or anyone working for him – just stop the train without doing anything to it?"

"Maybe he planned something, but we got away soon enough?" Ron suggested.

"Or maybe he did something," Parvati considered. "I mean, if he just wanted to steal something...he could have done that. Or...are we even sure all students are accounted for?"

That idea disturbed Harry a good deal, but before he could say something, they were interrupted by the new first years entering the Hall.

Harry was shocked. There were twenty students in that group at most, and they looked tiny and insignificant in the big room. He remembered that Alduin told him something about the lull in the war that happened in '79 only being a preclude to it getting worse. Was that, he wondered, why there were so few students? Because the war was so bad, literally no one who knew about it wanted to have children? He supposed there would be a bigger share og Muggle-Borns in that class.

He watched them getting Sorted. The first boy to come to Gryffindor was a small one with a huge grin that seemed about to split his face open. He was just about bouncing on his way to sit down, and immediately started chatting to the nearest person. He was too far away to speak to, so Harry returned his attention to the Sorting. One girl there caught his attention. While most first years looked nervous, like he himself had been, she just stood there and looked at the ceiling, seemingly completely unaware of the thousand people before her.

Another boy was Sorted into Gryffindor and sat down next to the first one, and still this girl stood. Her name – Lovegood, Luna – had to be called twice before she reacted.

She was sent to Ravenclaw, and Harry saw that she was getting strange looks from her own house, too, even as they clapped for her. She looked a little like the people on the telly who were on drugs.

Now that about half of the first years was gone, Harry concentrated on Ginny Weasley. She looked less nervous than most others, and Harry marvelled again at the change that happened to her in one year. "Your sister used to be so shy and quiet," he whispered to Ron, "and look at her now!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Shy and quiet when she visited your Manor, maybe," he said. "She's never been shy and quiet at home. I guess she just got used to the splendour and all."

Harry counted it a win that there was a little less bitterness in Ron's voice than there would have been a year ago. -ginny wasn't the only sibling making progress.

She was sent to Gryffindor without the Hat as much as touching her head, and she grinned brightly and walked right to where Harry and Ron were sitting. "Move over," she said to her brother.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with your classmates?" He muttered even as he did so.

"Yeah, I met them on the train, and...no. Colin – the first one who was sorted – is insufferable. Mike, the other one, is okay I guess, but, well. He's sitting next to Colin."

"You'll be the only girl in your year, won't you?" Harry pointed out.

"Looks like it," she agreed. "You'll just had to contend with my company."

Ron grimaced, and Ginny smacked him.

"Well," Harry said, "you know everyone – you've been to my birthday party – so you should be fine."

Ginny nodded, and turned to talk to Sophie as if to prove her point. Harry concentrated mostly on stuffing himself as he listened to Fred and George retell some of their summer shenanigans, an endeavour in which he did not pause until Dumbledore's speech. Then, however, he was astonished to hear Gilderoy Lockhart himself introduced as their Defense teacher. "That explains the books," Ron sniggered, but to Harry's mind, it made them even more mysterious. What kind of person would make students buy so many of their books?

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In light of the problem with the train, Alduin decided not to hesitate and called on the Shacklebolts the very next day, to talk to Dobby.

The elf was a nervous wreck and had to be prevented from punishing himself several times, making Alduin truly wonder what the Malfoys did to their elves, because this certainly wasn't normal. In the end, however, after some most strenuous work, they got to the important part.

"There is a diary, Mr. Travers, sir," Dobby said. "A diary from...from the man He Who Must Not Be Named was before he became the Dark Lord."

"Riddle's diary?" Alduin asked, worried. "Do you know what is inside?"

Dobby slowly nodded. "Terrible things," he said. "Instructions to unleash a monster on the school."

Alduin frowned. "But why would anyone do that?"

"He said...he said the diary can be very persuasive, and that everyone will obey, in the end."

"He said? Who?"

Dobby showed a certain tendency to punish himself again, so Alduin caught him and asked: "Lucius?"

The elf slowly nodded. Alduin thought about it for a moment. What kind of monster could be unleashed on the school that Riddle would know about? A monster that Lucius believed Draco would be safe from? Of course. "This isn't about the Chamber of Secrets by any chance, is it?"

Dobby nodded once more.

Alduin gave a long exhale. "Well, at least we'd know the historical truth about it," he muttered, then shook himself. "Thank you, Dobby. You have helped me a lot. Is there anything else you want to add?"

"Harry Potter must come back home, sir! He cannot stay at Hogwarts!"

"I promise I'll pull him out as soon as I see any signs that the Chamber has been actually opened." Alduin frowned again. "But you're a Shacklebolt elf now," he added. "You should care at least about Maurice and Kiara as well, you know."

That, of course, meant he had to stop Dobby from punishing himself again. The Shacklebolt elves, he thought, were going to have a hell of a job retraining this one.

He returned home without delay to contemplate the matter, fighting the need to have at least one drink for clarity of thought, and also for calm.

He was furious once again. He had been willing to give Lucius the benefit of the doubt. He knew, of course, that the man used every opportunity to further his own ends and that he didn't shy away from killing in order to do that, as long as he thought he could get away with it...But Alduin had wanted to believe that all the worst atrocities, the torture and the random senseless killings, were only done because Riddle ordered it, and Lucius was not brave enough to refuse. But here, the man had been willing to pursue a course of action that could only be risky to him, purely in order to kill Muggle-Born students. Getting the diary from Riddle, he must have heard his version of the Chamber's purpose from him as well.

Dark magic twisted the soul and warped the mind, he knew. Was that the excuse here, such as it was? Or had Lucius always been a monster, not just without a conscience, as Alduin had known for a long time, but actively malicious? The boy he remembered, the one that took his side when James teased him at garden parties and that was always willing to listen to his complaints about his cousin...

When he told Alexandra, she looked briefly shocked, then thoughtful, and then she said: "Well, at least you finally have the leverage over him you've been waiting for for some time."

"Yes, of course. As soon as I have proof, that is."

Something must have shown in his face, because she rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, of course, it's terrible and horrifying and he's a monster. That goes without saying. But apart from that, he's also been extremely careless and now you have the advantage."

"Not truly careless," Alduin replied after a moment, following her lead and trying to think about the matter rationally. "He simply trusted his own personal elf wouldn't betray him, something most people count on without any reflection..."

"That just goes to show that some crimes are too monstrous even for house-elf loyalty."

Alduin nodded thoughtfully. "We owe Dobby a lot," he said, "but at the same time, it's making me a little uncomfortable. I just have to hope that none of our elves have any kind of loyalty to Lucius..."

Just the thought made him want to have a drink even more, which meant it was probably time to talk to Abdullah again,