CHAPTER 5: Treachery on the Train

As the four Gryffindors returned to the compartment Snuffles leapt up from his licorice wand and sniffed Harry frantically. After a few moments, he sneezed, deeming Harry acceptable and returned to his red sticky treat.

"Oi! Where've you bin Ginny?" Ron demanded with a frown.

"She was at the party with us," Hermione remarked. "It's strange though. Slughorn seemed like he was only interested in the rich and famous. And no offence but your family is neither."

"Ughhh," Ginny whined as she flopped into the bench. "Theodore Nott was being a prat, so I bat bogey hexed him."

"Poor Nott," Seamus commented with a snicker.

"Not likely." Ron gripped. "Then what happened?"

"Slughorn happened to be passing by." Ginny remarked "I thought I'd be a goner for sure. We hadn't even left the station yet mind you. I didn't want to start Hogwarts with detention. Mum would have a Feild day!"

"The twins would probably give you a medal," Harry remarked with a snicker.

"Shut up." Ginny gripped giving the boy a shove with her foot. "Anyway, I stood there waiting for him to go off when the barmy old fart started laughing."

"Laughing?" Dean demanded insidiously

"Yeah." Ginny said "then he started going on about how that was the strongest bat bogey hex he'd ever seen, and then he invited me to lunch in the dining car. Should rename it to Slug whatever's private car mind you. The whole thing was covered in velvet and silk and silver plating. Real posh." She finished as she grabbed a chocolate frog.

"Mind the dog," Seamus remarked. Ginny nodded and opened the frog box then quickly tipped it directly into her mouth. She gagged then shuddered.

"That was unpleasant." She admitted.

"Well, what do expect!" Ron cried "You put a live frog in your mouth for Merlin's sake." Then he leaned over and flicked her in the head.

"Ow!" She cried. That somehow descended into a compartment wide wrapper fight. After a while, and after Hermione made them clean up their mess, Neville stretched out.

"Oh by the way Dean, you need to change your scale."

"Which one?"

"The Lockhart to Lupin scale."

"Why?" Seamus asked in confusion "you think Umbridge should be on it?"

"No. Slug needs to be on the bottom," Neville said plainly. Dean's face slipped into pure horror and Harry waved his hand rapidly.

"No no no." He insisted "Slughorn 's not THAT bad. I'd say he's just above Lockhart. I've seen him perform actual magic. He is not totally incompetent."

"Oh good. If I ever have to sit through another Lockhart defence class I think I'll die." Dean said flatly

"Why? Cause he's so drop-dead gorgeous?" Seamus argued. Dean shoved the Irish teen onto the floor in disgust, where Snuffles was waiting to bowl him over before sitting on his chest. Seamus tried in vain to shove the massive hound off.

"Harry! Harry call 'im off! He's crushing my spleen!"

"Geroff," Harry said with a snicker. Snuffles complied by flopping forward so that he was drooped over the teen instead and therefore distributing the weight more evenly. Seamus sucked in a breath of relief and the compartment spent a good while laughing at his expense.

Harry led the way out of the compartment.

"Hurry up yeah." Ron griped to Ginny and Hermione "Don't spend all the time like you did last Christmas."

"Shut up!" Ginny complained as she shoved past her brother.

"Oh no!" Neville suddenly cried. "I completely forgot! Sorry guys, I need to go find Hannah!" then he rushed away.

"What was that about?" Harry asked. Dean shrugged while Seamus blew aloud bubble with his Droobles. Harry dismissed it then looked down the hall. Instantly he straightened up. Draco Malfoy was moving rapidly towards the baggage cars. Harry's eyes narrowed before he shoved Snuffles' lead into Ron's hand. "Hold on to him for a bit yeah? I gotta go to the loo."

"Sure mate, but hurry up yeah? We're almost at Hogwarts." Ron reminded him. Harry nodded before he quickly rushed to follow Malfoy into the baggage car. He quickly ducked into the bathroom, waiting a few moments to make it seem like he really had gone. As he poked his head back out and glanced towards the compartment he smiled, seeing that Seamus, Dean, Ron and Snuffles had gone back in. He then turned and opened the door to the baggage car. It was dimly lit, with one bare bulb every few feet. It was also eerily quiet. Harry tried to keep his steps quiet as possible as he snuck through the stacks of trunks, trying to find Malfoy. Suddenly his foot caught on one and he yelped, splaying out clumsily. He cursed under his breath. There was no way Malfoy hadn't heard him. He stood still, waiting for the boy to jump out and attack him. But the blond never emerged. Harry blinked. Maybe he'd left while Harry had been hiding in the loo. He huffed at the lost opportunity and turned back towards the door to the rest of the train. Then he heard a shuffling. He froze and turned back around. The room was still empty. Probably just a cat.

"Stupefy!"

Harry groaned and opened his eyes. Draco was staring down at him with an evil sneer. Harry groaned then tried to get up but found that he couldn't move at all.

"Not so fun, is it Potter?" Draco snarled. "Still. It pales to what my father is going through. Only your precious uncle could tell you what that's like. Oh, wait. I forgot. your uncle beat you like a house-elf. I would have liked to meet him. I'd shake his fucking filthy hand." the blond stood again, still staring down at Harry with cold eyes. Then he stomped on Harry's face. Harry flinched internally as he heard the crunch rattle in his skull. The warm feeling of blood dribbled down his cheeks. The spell was the only thing that stopped him from shuddering as the sticky feeling brought back the sick feeling of Voldemort's possession attempt. "Stay out of my way this year Potter, or I'll break more than your nose." Draco threatened darkly. "Until then, enjoy your ride back to London." then he was gone. Harry continued to stare up at the dusty ceiling feeling stupid. He should have known. Heck. Draco could have seen him in the hall and planned this whole thing. He'd fallen for a bloody trap. Sirius would probably be giving him quite a dressing down that's for sure. He was sure how long he'd been out for. He couldn't tell if the train was still moving or not. He groaned internally. Sirius was probably rushing all over the place trying to find him. Aunt petunia would be furious. She'd probably try to get Draco expelled. Suddenly he heard the door slide open.

"My you have gotten yourself into a pickle." a familiar airy voice called out with a chuckle. "Finite." harry groaned as his body suddenly unstiffened. He groaned as he clambered up to his elbows.

"Luna?" he asked. Indeed the blond Ravenclaw was looking down at him. She was already dressed in her robes and was returning her wand to her bun.

"Hello, Harry. How ever did you end up in here, and with all that blood on your face?"

"Long story," Harry muttered as he clambered to his feet, then he frowned. "Hang on… how did you know I was here?" he asked. Luna gave him a smile before he took his hand.

"Stay away from the dragon this year Harry." she said airily "he is wounded. Wounded beasts do terrible things." then she patted his hand, let go, and walked away. Harry blinked at her in confusion. Suddenly he felt the train shift under his feet and yelped. He rushed to the nearest door and jumped off just the train began moving in earnest. Luna was waiting on the platform with a chuckle. "You cut that a bit close Harry."

"Yeah." Harry agreed.

"The last carriage left a few minutes ago I'm afraid. But the walk is very nice, especially if you have a good walking companion." Luna offered with a smile. Harry nodded.

"Right. Thanks by the way. I think I forgot to say that on the train."

"You did." Luna confirmed "Your welcome. Though we should probably do something about your nose. It's bleeding quite a bit." Harry swore as the throbbing of his nose suddenly hit him like a truck. Evidently, adrenaline had made him totally forget. "I can fix it if you like." she offered as she pulled her wand from her bun once again. Harry blinked.

"Er… have you ever fixed a nose before?"

"No. But plenty of fingers and toes," she explained. "Episky." Harry cried out as his nose had another loud crack. But thankfully the throbbing had dulled to a low pulse instead of a raging ache. "Here," she said as she handed Harry a handkerchief.

"Thanks," Harry said as he held it to his nose. He felt it dampen with blood immediately and winced "er… sorry about your hanky."

"Keep it. Call it a gift." she insisted with a smile. Harry smiled before he continued their march up to the castle. He had loads to tell Sirius. Once the man was done chewing him out of course.

A/N: Hello!

So about a few days ago...

And bear with me cause this is a whole thing.

There WAS supposed to be an update on Tuesday because I was feeling ill, so I called in sick and then spent the rest of the day lying in bed writing intermixed with naps.

Mow I wanted to reward you guys for me finally finishing a chapter that had been acting like a pain for the last few months.

But unbeknownst to me, I had made a mistake with chapter numbering in the doc, and accidentally posted chapter 6 instead of chapter 5.

As for why I didn't fix my mistake, well as I said I was feeling pretty gross and I was just really really tired and didn't feel like editing and formatting a whole other chapter that night.

So it's been a couple of days and well, I'm still not better.

Turns out, I might have the plague! :D

So that's...

Great...

Regardless I come to you from my sickbed, with the right chapter this time.

Nothing with stay my artistic drive!

(except writer's block :| )

Rori Potter: I'll update again soon ;)

Guest: Susan is having a rough time of it. But she'll be okay. As for Madame Bones...

Well, that's best left for another time.

I'll see you all later.

Don't forget to keep on reading!

-TTC