Disclaimer - It's not mine. Never was. The only characters I own are the ones that our dear J.K. Rowling has not yet created.

A/N - Special thanks to the following people.

Princess-Danae - Congratulations on finally getting out of HHS. I didn't get to talk to you graduation night, but I was there, rooting you on

Lothliana - The memories in the sphere will be shown, but not very soon.

Nimrodel Telcontar - Memories will be show. And of course Remus is ok. I wouldn't hurt our wonderful werewolf beyond repair.

Forever-a-Wanderer - Thanks for the review, and I will go back and correct that more than ambiguous statement. Thanks for pointing it out.

Camilinha - The discussions between the four will come soon. As for when they will kiss…..it's a ways off. Take care, and I'll talk to you on the IM later.

This chapter is dedicated to Princess-Danae, a good friend and faithful ally of mine who has finally graduated from that hell-hole of a torture center we collectively call high school. This one's for you, Nae-nae. Love you lots, girl!


Wolf's Bane II: Return to Hogwarts

Chapter 12

Compounded Problems


The few weeks after Harry's birthday party passed rather quickly for the occupants of Haven's Hallow. The summer homework that had been assigned by their teachers was quickly completed with the help of various adults that came and went from the house. This left time for more leisure activities. And the one that took up the most of Harry's time was the Emotemorie sphere that Dr. Lee had given him for his birthday. She had shown him how to activate the memories within the small crystal, and even how to select which ones he wanted to see.

He'd spent hours and hours the few days after his birthday watching the memories over and over again, and seeing how his parents had interacted with each other during and after their times at Hogwarts. Harry had quickly come to realize that his mother was a powerful witch with a short temper, and a sense of justice that was infallible. And he'd finally seen exactly why everyone had said he was so much like his father. James Potter was like an older copy of himself, and it made Harry feel much better when he finally had proof that his parents had loved each other dearly during their marriage, despite what he had originally thought after seeing Snape's memory in his Pensive.

When Hermione and Ron had finally managed to drag Harry away from the memory sphere for a little while, Harry had walked away with a sense of understanding as to why his mum and dad had done what they done in order to protect him from Voldemort's reign. He'd even let Hermione and Ron see a number of the memories.

Their O.W.L. scores also arrived not long after the beginning of August, right at the same time their booklists from Hogwarts arrived. Harry managed to get by with the majority of his testing. Even receiving an 'E' for his Potions O.W.L. He had remembered what McGonagall had said about becoming an Auror after Hogwarts, and the extensive training he would need before considering that career. Thankfully, it seemed like his grades were up to scratch so far, and the thought of becoming an Auror was suddenly not as outlandish as he had originally thought.

Hermione had been ecstatic to find that she had received top marks in all of her tests, and even Ron was surprised to see that he'd done better than expected. This alone had sent Mrs. Weasley into a fit of giggles, causing Ron to turn as red as his hair. Of course, when the shiny silver Prefect badge came in the post along with the O.W.L. scores it only made Mrs. Weasley's tittering worse. Both Hermione and Ron had been named as Prefects again this year, but it didn't bother Harry so much now. He had even received a letter from McGonagall saying that the ban Umbridge had implemented to keep him away from Quidditch was overturned.

The booklists had been slightly altered this year. Dr. Lee and Mrs. Weasley had went to Diagon Alley to get the books and other supplies since it was still deemed to risky to have Harry and the others spotted in public. The two women had left together one morning to get the needed supplies, and Ron and bet Harry that one of them would be coming back more than just a little peeved at the other before long. But surprisingly enough, they had both come back later that evening, not a hex mark on either of them.

The two women had been forcibly cordial to each other ever since Mrs. Weasley had found out that Dr. Lee was passing along Order information to Harry and blown up at the younger woman. Mrs. Weasley had raged and raged for nearly a half hour, saying that Harry was not a member of the Order, and did not need to know what was going on.

Dr. Lee had simply waited until she was done pitching a fit before calmly turning around and shutting the door in Molly Weasley's face.Shehad also quickly pointed out that it was her house, and she would do as she damned well pleased. Dr. Lee also calmly pointed out that it was because they were hiding information from Harry before that Sirius was not dead. And that Harry had faced Voldemort more times than all of them combined, and had come out alive every time, despite the fact that he was only sixteen years old.

Molly had tried to pull Ron and Ginny out of Haven's Hallow the day after that particular fight, saying that they didn't need to know what was going on because they were too young. But, as Harry had promised, he had not told any of them what he had discussed with Dr. Lee and Remus, so Ron and Ginny knew absolutely nothing. They thought their mom had went completely starkers when she told them to pack their things up.

Dr. Lee had even stepped in and offered Vertiserum to Mrs. Weasley in defense of Harry. Ron and Ginny had taken the truth serum voluntarily, and when they had confessed to knowing nothing about Order business, Molly had given up. Needless to say, the two youngest Weasley's had remained with Harry and Hermione in Haven's Hallow.

After that, Molly Weasley seemed to have given up trying to undermine Dr. Lee, which left the Order meetings much less tense and strained. Of course, Harry knew that it would only be a matter of time before Mrs. Weasley's overprotective instincts kicked in again, and had another row with Dr. Lee. He just hoped they could hold off until it was time for term to start. Then Dr. Lee would be at Hogwarts, and Mrs. Weasley would be back at her own home.

Luckily enough, it seemed like Mrs. Weasley had once again started to avoid being at Haven's Hallow unless it was necessary, or if she was checking in on the them. Harry also noticed that Dr. Lee had taken to spending large amounts of time in her laboratory that was in the basement of the large house. When he asked what she was doing, she had told him research, but nothing else.

And since Potions was one of Harry's least favorite subjects, he didn't push the subject.

He did know that Dr. Lee and Remus had taken off about halfway through August, and not come back for a couple of days. The two adults had seemed more engaged to each other than ever, and Harry was beginning to wonder what exactly was going on between the two of them.

Apparently, Snape and Mr. Tartavu had noticed it as well, and neither seemed to be all too happy with it. Ms. Meadows had had to forcibly calm down Mr. Tartavu a few times over the past weeks, but Harry never knew why the young man was so upset or mad. And Snape, well, he just continued on being like he normally was. But he didn't get into anymore altercations with Dr. Lee or any of the newer members of the Order.

Things were as calm as they possibly could be. Harry continued on with his Occulemency lessons with Dr. Lee every few days, building his defenses slowly, but correctly this time. His depression over losing Sirius had lifted, if only a little. He still missed his godfather, but the memories of his parents and Sirius from the Emotemorie sphere helped to ease the pain of their absence.

All things considered, it was rather pleasant. And when Harry turned down the blanket and crawled into his bed the night before they were to leave for King's Cross, he fervently prayed that the peacefulness would follow him to Hogwarts.


"Ms. Weasley! Ms. Granger! Get those boys up and get down to breakfast, will you?" Dr. Lee called up the staircase. "We leave for King's Cross in an hour!" The good doctor heard a vague sound of affirmation float down the banister, right along with a yelp that she quickly recognized as Ron's surprised voice berating his sister.

"Ginny!"

"Don't start, brother dear. Time to get up."

"What're you doing in here? This is mine and Harry's room!"

"Trying to get you awake and to breakfast? Now get up or I'll go get another glass of water!"

"Get out!"

Dr. Lee smiled at the exchange between the siblings, her mind briefly going to the attempts to wake Sabine up in the mornings, and how Ailric usually accomplished that task with a couple glasses of cold water.

"And tell Mr. Weasley that if he does not get down here, there will be no food left!" she called out once again. That threat apparently did the trick, as all sounds of bickering between the two siblings vanished at the same time she heard a vague thump of feet hitting the floor. A few moments later, Hermione and Ginny descended the stairs with a still yawning Ron and Harry behind them. The four teenagers took a seat at the breakfast table and quickly piled their breakfast onto their plates.

"We're leaving in an hour for King's Cross." Dr. Lee said as she walked around the table and took a seat next to Remus. "I hope you all packed last night."

"We did." Ginny reassured her.

"How are we getting there?" Hermione asked.

"We're taking the Knight Bus." Remus answered. "It's the safest way, and quickest."

"Danae and Tonks should be arriving with Moody and Shacklebolt shortly to come with us. Your mother and father will be with us as well." she said, nodding to Ginny and Ron.

A few moments later, a popping and cackling sound was heard, and Remus and Dr. Lee rose from the table, heading quickly for the living room.

"Wonder what that was?" Harry asked no one in particular.

"Message from the headmaster." Ms. Meadows said, coming into the kitchen. "Nothing to worry about, Harry." When Remus and Dr. Lee entered back into the kitchen a few minutes later, along with a few other members of the Order, breakfast continued on. After they were done eating, Tonks sent them to get their trunks from upstairs.

They left Haven's Hallow and walked past the barrier shields that kept the house concealed from Muggles and most magic folk alike. Remus stuck his wand out and a loud banging sound was heard as the large, purple triple-decker bus appeared from out of nowhere.

When the bus stopped in front of them, Harry immediately recognized the young man standing in the doorway as Stan Shunpike. After the customary greeting, and Remus exchanging a few hushed words with Stan and the driver, Ernie, they were on their way. Harry took a seat and waited for them to get to London, watching as the lines and lines of trees and moors turned into houses and lamp posts.


Once the Knight Bus dropped them off at King's Cross, it was only a few short minutes before they slipped through the magical barrier between platforms 9 and 10, finding themselves standing on platform 9 ¾.

"We're here a bit early, so you should be able to find good seats." Dr. Lee said to the four of them. "Go on and put your trunks on the train, then you can come back out and say your goodbyes."

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione complied quickly, bringing their belongings to the scarlet steam engine and finding a place to put them while Dr. Lee and a few other Order members dispersed into the crowds.

"Is everyone in place?" Remus asked, coming up to stand by her side and watch the four teenagers disappear into the train.

"Dumbledore sent word for Shacklebolt, Tonks, and Moody to be on the lookout." she answered. "Hestia Jones and Emmaline Vance are in the crowd, along with the rest of the Order, keeping lookout. And the kids and I are going to be riding the train with the rest of the students in case something happens to go wrong." she answered, giving him a rundown of what Dumbledore had told her earlier that morning.

"And Snape?"

"Called away." she grimaced, knowing Remus would understand what she meant.

"Death Eaters?"

"Unfortunately." she murmured, absently rubbing her hand along her waist where her own mark was still tingling slightly.

"Alright?" Remus asked, the concern evident in his tone.

"Fine." she said, waving it off. "Nothing to worry about, Remus." The werewolf looked a bit unsure, but let the subject drop.

"I'm going to wait by the entrance from King's Cross." he said after a moment. "Best to keep all bases covered." Sable nodded and watched as he walked towards the pillar where the students and parents were starting to come out of more quickly.

The Order had received word from Snape that there could possibly be an attack on the train at some point before it got to Hogwarts, and the information that she and Remus had gathered on their own small missions during the weeks before had backed that rumor.

The Ministry had lost all control of the dementors some days ago, leaving Azkaban prison unguarded save for a few nerve-wrecked Aurors who were spread too thin as it was. As far as she knew, the dementors were gathering somewhere in Dublin, near one of Lucius Malfoy's many holdings. Luckily, none of the Death Eaters that had been caught in the Department of Mysteries had escaped.

She and Remus had spent three days doing more recon work for Dumbledore around Malfoy's manor in Dublin, and found that the remaining followers of Voldemort were planning on breaking their comrades out of Azkaban sometime soon. Unfortunately, no date had been set as far as they knew. And she had used her position on the International Confederation of Wizards to push a bit of legislation calling for more guards to be placed in Azkaban. Luckily, the newest Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, believed what Dumbledore had said, and quickly instituted more Aurors at the prison.

Their work had been helpful enough for Dumbledore to formulate some sort of plan should anything happen. And the wizened headmaster had admitted to having another mole in the middle of Voldemort's ranks, but had refused to comment on who it was. Sable had even broken down and asked Snape who the other informant was supposed to be, but he had claimed that he didn't know.

'Let me slip the greasy git some truth serum, and we'll see if he doesn't spill his dirty little secret.' she thought sourly.

Her interaction with the Hogwarts Potions Master had been few and far between, which didn't hurt her feelings any. She had forced herself to keep from hexing the bat into the next dimension enough times, and now she just simply ignored him as best she could. Snape had seemed colder than normal to her, though, especially after she and Remus had returned from the recon work. But, as normal, he just glared and sneered, so she ignored him.

'Stupid little prick needs to get the stick unstuck from his ass and deflate that ego of his a bit before he suffocates somebody with it.' she though angrily as she milled through the growing crowd of people.

Of course, her friendship with Remus was quickly going back to that of what it had been when they were students at Hogwarts. They could pick at each other, and play around. And her long dormant feelings for the werewolf were starting to resurface again, despite her best attempt to keep them buried. Her children had noticed the change in her demeanor, and she was still getting teased by Ailric about Remus. Sabine had remained silent about her opinion, but the younger woman's sly smile had been enough of a give-away for Sable to realize that her daughter did not mind her mother's new friend. Gabe seemed a little put out, and that was the only problem.

Sable knew that Ailric had talked to his father, and she had no doubt in her mind that Sabine had already cornered Remus and laid down the laws concerning her; but Gabe's reservations about Remus had her worried. Of course, when Remus had told her that Gabe had spoken with him concerning his intentions towards their mother, Sable had breathed a small sigh of relief.

'I just wish the greasy bat would talk to Gabe!' she thought as she milled around in the crowd. 'Even if the stupid bastard doesn't want to talk to me, the least he could do would be attempt to talk to Gabe. Those two have more in common than he may realize.'

By now, he platform was filled to the brim with students and their parents by now, and Sable was beginning to think that the train to Hogwarts would get off without any problems. But when the screechingof half a dozen teenage girl's screams came from one of the train's compartments, things went downhill in a hurry.

With reflexes honed in years of Auror training, coupled with her own unnatural composition, Sable sprinted over in time to see five or six young girls fleeing from the car, each one paler than a ghost and in tears. More shrills of fear suddenly filled the air, and Sable could see that more and more of the students were scrambling out of the cars and back onto the platform.

She turned back to look for the other Order members, but found them already coming towards the train, wands drawn and battle ready expressions on their faces. She rushed into the compartment, wand drawn, searching for the reason behind the student's hysterical racket.

She was halfway down the car when she saw a sight that made her blood curdle. A young boy, more than likely a first year, was lying down in the corner of the compartment curled into a fetal position, and sobbing his eyes out. Standing in front of him was a large, snarling dog. Moving on instinct, Sable shot a hex at the dog, only to have it turn around and face her, snarling and growling.

"Get out!" she called to the boy, who seemed to be rooted where he was, unwilling to move. But her attention was quickly brought back to the dog in front of her when she heard a sound that was reminiscent of a cracking whip.

Then, before her eyes, she could see Sabine lying on the floor of the car, bloody and beaten, crying out for some invisible attacker to leave her alone.

Sable shook her head, blinking to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Another crack was heard, and she felt her stomach churn at the sight of Ailric on the ground where Sabine had been, blood gushing from his mouth. Another crack, and she could see Gabe lying there, his eyes opened in an expression of utter fear, dead.

'A boggart.' she realized. 'It's just a boggart. It's not real.' Sable stilled herself as the sounds of utter chaos crescendoed outside the compartment, more screams could be heard, right along with the adults cries of jinxes and hexes. Another crack was heard, and Sable looked back to the boggart, seeing that it had taken on Remus' form. The boggart Remus had his wand pointed at her, and was mouthing some sort of spell that she could not understand.

She raised her own wand to the spectre of Remus and called out the spell to stop the boggart.

"Riddikulus!" she cried, watching as the boggart form of her friend suddenly started spitting up slugs. She used another quick spell, and opened the overhead compartment above the seats, sending the boggart flying into it. With a quick flick of her wrist, the door was shut and locked, and she was at the little boy's side.

"Hey there." she said. "Alright?" The boy looked up at her with wide brown eyes and then looked around the room, apparently still searching for the creature that had cornered him.

"Where…where'd it go?" he asked, looking from one side of the compartment to the other. "The…the dog?"

"He's gone." she said brusquely, pulling him up none to gently. "But I need you to stay right here, okay?"

"Is there more out there?" he asked. Sable just shook her head and headed towards the entrance of the door, leaving the little boy to hide in one of the compartments of the car.

As soon as she stepped back out onto the platform, Sable found herself face to face with three or four dozen students that were huddled next to the train, cringing and crying out.

"Get into this car!" she ordered them. They moved blindly, not questioning her orders, and disappeared from sight. She spotted Remus and Tonks battling with half a dozen or more boggarts not too far away. And she saw a number of Order members, as well as her own children, step out of the cars and motion for the students to get in.

"Someone's put boggarts in the cars." Gabe hissed to her when he passed. "But that's not the biggest of our worries."

"What's going on?" she demanded, only to feel a piercing cold flood her body. She spun around, seeing a number of black hooded figures gliding from different points along the platform.

"Dementors." Gabe said angrily.

"Get the students in the cars!" she called out, running madly to the closest dementor that was about to start sucking off a group of students. "Get them in and don't let them out!" Her son moved without question, moved towards a group of older students who were running towards him.

Sable's mind swam as she saw the chaos around her. Dementors were attacking all over the place. The boggarts were still changing and scaring the adults and students alike. She headed over to where Tonks and Remus were still fighting with the boggarts, and with a wave of her wand, and an incantation, the boggarts were gone in whisps of smoke.

"Mikayla?" Tonks asked, catching her breath.

"Get the students onto the train." she said ordered. "The boggarts have been taken care of." Tonks paid her no heed, and immediately went to work, sending out a silvery-white patronus in the shape of a monkey towards a dementor that was hovering over a group of people.

"Who could have done this?" Remus asked as they both ran towards where Arthur and Bill Weasley were holding back the dementors with their own spells. "Why didn't we hear about this?"

"I'll give you three guesses," Sable grit out. "And the first two don't count. Although I bet it has something to do with that greasy bastard Snape!"


Harry was not sure exactly what to do when he felt the familiar pulling cold of the dementors, but he knew that they all were in big trouble when he caught a glimpse of black cloaks swarming above them.

He heard Dr. Lee and Remus yell out to get the students onto the train, and he moved to push, pull, and shove the people in his way towards the scarlet engine.

All around him, there were sparks flying from hexes and jinxes. He saw one patronus after another circling around students in order to drive the dementors off. He finally caught sight of Hermione shielding three different dementors off of a few of their classmates while Ron practically threw them into a half empty train car.

The silvery otter that danced in front of Hermione kept the soul-sucking creatures at bay and away from the defenseless Hogwarts students. Another silver creature streaked by him, and Harry barely noticed that it was a miniature version of some sort of dragon before Ms. Meadows commanded it to head towards a grouping of black cloaked dementors hanging around the outside of the platform.

Harry pulled his own wand, casting the patronus charm and sending the silvery stag towards a dementor that was floating towards Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan.

"Get onto the train!" Harry yelled when the boys noticed what he had just done. Seamus immediately took off for the train, but Dean shook his head and headed straight towards a pillar that was nearby. Harry took off after him, ordering the silvery stag to clear the way of any oncoming attackers.

"What are you doing?" Harry demanded when he caught up with Dean.

"Ginny!" the boy said, pointing to where Ginny and Luna Lovegood were cowering beside Neville Longbottom behind one of the pillars. "They've cornered her and Neville!"

Harry looked over, and felt his blood boil when he saw the dementor take a swipe at Ginny, who was the nearest. The red-headed girl was shivering and holding onto Luna, who looked even paler than normal. With a quick flick of his wand, the stag bounded over, Dean and Harry right behind it.

The dementor was rammed right in it's back by the misty patronus, and immediately took to the air in an attempt to get away from it's attacker. Harry instinctively reached out and pulled Ginny towards him, checking for any damages.

"Alright?" he asked quickly, helping her to her feet while Luna and Neville were checked over by Dean.

"Cold..." Ginny muttered, shivering uncontrollably.

"It's okay, now." Harry said, quickly handing her over to Dean. "I'll clear you a path, just them to the train!" Dean nodded and waited until Harry's patronus had cleared a straight shot to the train before literally dragging the other three students along with him.

Harry felt a hand grip his shoulder and he spun around to find a very distraught looking Michael Corner bent over, trying to catch his breath.

"What.."

"It's Cho." he wheezed. "Caught….students…" Harry looked back where he had assumed the Ravenclaw boy had come from, and sure enough, saw that Cho was barely holding control over the silver swan patronus that she had conjured.

"Get to the train." Harry muttered. "I'll get her." But before either boy could move six inches, another patronus attacked the dementor that was trying to make Cho it's next meal.

"Potter! Get to the train!" came Dr. Lee's voice from the other side. "I'll get your friend!" Harry nodded dumbly and watched as the large silver wolf under Dr. Lee's command snarled and growled at the dementor until it flew off, mixing in with the large number of its kind that were swarming above their heads.

"Who is that?" Michael asked, looking at Dr. Lee.

"That's…" Harry began, only to hear the woman's voice yell at him again.

"Do I need to spell it out, Potter! Get a move on!" she called. "Ron and Hermione need some help calming down your classmates! And Ginny's going spastic!" That was all Harry needed to hear. He latched onto Michael's robes and bodily dragged him through the thinning crowd towards the train, pushing his way through the horde of adults remaining on the platform and into the nearest car. He let go of Michael, who turned to help Dr. Lee pull Cho into the car, and then headed back to where he and the others had stored their belongings.


It took another couple of minutes before all the dementors and boggarts that had invaded the platform were cleared out. Tonks, Moody, Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, and Arthur Weasley quickly spread out along the platform, checking for any signs of more interlopers, while Remus and Danae helped her check over the security parameters around the platform. After a quick, inconspicuous meeting between the Order members that were present, Sable and her age-enhanced children boarded the train.

Remus had been given the task of getting in touch with Dumbledore and explaining what had happened. Since Danae was a higher level Unspeakable at the Ministry, she immediately took off to go see if she could find out what had happened. Many of the parents who had been there during the attack were reluctant to let their children go, and many of them pulled their sons and daughters off of the train and left the platform, despite the Order member's pleas to let them go. Remus and the others knew that the students would be safe once they were Hogwarts bound, but there were those who refused to let their children out of their sight after such an attack.

It was near noon by the time they were pulling out of Platform 9 ¾, and Sable immediately set off to check up on each and every one of the students on board. She commandeered the trolley lady's cart of chocolate goodies, and told Gabe and Sabine to hand them out as they went along since the chocolate would help calm down the ones who had been attacked by the dementors.

Ailric had taken a position up in the front of the train with the conductor to watch for anymore trouble that may have shown it's head during their trip, and Sable grabbed a handful of Chocolate Frogs before heading to where she had seen Harry and his friends go.

Fortunately for her, she seemed to have found their compartment right about the time Draco Malfoy and his goons had. She could see that Malfoy was standing in the doorway of the train while the two larger boys stood behind him in the hallway, and she could also see the dark head of Blaise Zabini coming down the opposite way, a grim look on his face.

Ron's raised voice came from inside the compartment, right along with a comment from Hermione that she never thought the girl would say.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." she said, tapping the biggest boy's shoulder, and quickly defusing the situation when Malfoy turned around to see who had interrupted his tormenting of the Gryffindors. "Is there a problem, Mr. Malfoy?"

The blonde quickly lost the sneer, replacing it with the best look of utter innocence he could muster…which was not convincing to say the least.

"Dr. Lee." he said, apparently surprised to see her standing there since the professors usually did not ride the train to Hogwarts.

"Is everything alright? I was checking the compartments to make sure that you and your classmates were unharmed." she said calmly. "No one here was hurt?"

"No ma'am." Blaise spoke up. "We're all fine."

"Glad to hear it." she said, pulling out a half dozen Chocolate Frogs and handing them to the dark haired boy with a small smile. "Now, why don't you four go find yourselves a compartment? I know you want to visit with your friends, but I ask you to remain in your cars for a few more minutes until we check everyone over. And eat those frogs. It will help."

"Of course, professor." Draco said, the forced politeness more than obvious in his voice. He motioned for the two big goons behind him to follow, and the four Slytherins stalked back down the hallway, disappearing into a compartment a ways down.

Sable stepped into the compartment, finding Ron and Hermione, along with Luna, Neville, Harry and Ginny.

"Alright?" she asked, taking a quick look over them, only to see that Ginny was pale and still shaking violently. Sable pulled out some more chocolate and quickly passed it out amongst them, then motioned for Luna to move aside so that she could check Ginny over.

"Ms. Weasley?"

"Yes, professor?" she answered, her teeth chattering and clicking together as she pulled what looked to be a set of robes tighter around her.

"Eat this. You'll feel better." Ginny took the piece of chocolate and popped it into her mouth. A few tense moments later, the shivers stopped and she began to slowly regain some color in her face. "That's a bit better, now isn't it?"

"Yes." Ginny answered, leaning back onto the seat and closing her eyes. "Thank you, professor."

"Professor?" Neville asked, looking up at her with wide eyes. "Are you our new Defense teacher?"

"Indeed, I am." Sable said, smiling at the boy kindly. "I'm Mikayla Lee. And you are?"

"Neville Longbottom." the chubby boy answered. "And this is Luna Lovegood."

"Pleasure to meet you both." Sable answered, nodding in the Ravenclaw's direction. "Was anyone else hurt?"

"We're fine." Ron answered. The red head had apparently already got into his own personal stash of chocolate from his trunk if the mounds of candy wrappers at his feet were any indication.

"Is everyone else alright?" Hermione asked.

"We're checking the rest of the compartments as we speak." Dr. Lee said. "I know as Prefects, you and Ron normally meet in the first car, but not now. The Prefects are to stay in their compartments until we reach Hogwarts." Hermione nodded and sat back, still unsettled by what had happened on the platform. "And Harry?"

"Yes?"

"In light of what has happened, I want you to set up your first D.A. meeting for Wednesday evening after class." she said solemnly. "After what I just saw, there are a number of things I want to check concerning the students. Can you do that?"

"I'll get on it when we get to school." Harry said, nodding.

"Do you have anymore chocolate?" came Luna's dreamy voice. "I don't feel so well."

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Lovegood. I gave Ms. Weasley the last I had." Sable said. "Do the rest of you have any?"

"I do." Harry said, reaching under his seat to pull his trunk out. He lifted the lid and pulled another dozen chocolate frogs out before handing Luna three of them. Sable was about to leave the compartment when she noticed something odd about a small package in Harry's trunk. She walked over and peered down, causing Harry to frown slightly.

"Something wrong?" he asked when she reached down to pick up a shirt that had something wrapped up in it.

"What is this, Harry?" she asked, wanting permission before she unwrapped it.

"The mirror." he said quietly. Sable unwrapped the shirt and held the small pane of glass in her hands.

It was pulsing.

"It's…glowing." Hermione said, looking over Dr. Lee's shoulder. "Is it supposed to do that?"

Sable wrapped her hand around the glass, feeling the pulsing of magic radiating off of it in waves. She had never known of a two-way mirror to act like this before, and it had her curious. A few moments later the pulsing faded, and she wrapped it back up in his shirt.

"Harry, has it ever done that before?" she asked. He took the wrapped mirror and placed it in his trunk, then shut it and pushed it under the seat.

"It's been doing that a lot lately." Harry said. "Ever since you fixed it for me."

"When was the first time it started glowing?" she asked.

"The night that Remus came back." Harry said, being purposely vague because of Neville and Luna's presence. "When he was sick. And when Ginny had that bad dream."

"Any other time?"

"A few days after my birthday." he answered, shrugging. "It's been happening now and then. What's it mean, professor?"

"Well, Mr. Potter, I'm not exactly sure." she admitted. "But if it happens again, come and find me. Something's off with that mirror. It's not supposed to do that." Harry simply nodded, and Sable turned back towards the entrance. "Get some rest, you six. I have a feeling things are about to get a bit…awry."


'Awry doesn't even begin to describe this.' Harry thought as they walked in and took their places at Gryffindor House table for the start of term feast. The attack on Platform 9 ¾ was the topic of conversation, as was expected. But the strained tenseness that pervaded the air of the Great Hall had not only the students, but the teachers on edge as well.

However, some of the older Slytherin students, namely Draco Malfoy and his cronies, seemed completely nonplussed about the whole ordeal. Sniggers arose every now and then, and Harry could have sworn he heard Malfoy's condescending laugh emanate from deep within the viper pit more than once.

When McGonagall entered with the gaggle of timid first years to begin the sorting, most of the noise settled down. Harry noticed that there seemed to be even fewer first years than normal this year, and he mentioned it to Ron.

"Dad told us that there were a bunch of parents who have put off sending their kids to school because of You-Know-Who coming back." the red head whispered.

"But they don't understand that Hogwarts is safer than any other place." Hermione pointed out, shrugging. The rest of their conversation was halted when the last new student was sorted, and Dumbledore rose to welcome them back.

Harry noticed that the wizened old wizard seemed to have aged greatly over the course of the summer. The lines on his face was more pronounced. And the customary twinkle that adorned his blue eyes behind the half moon spectacles was absent. He seemed to be hunched over as he stood. It was almost like his age was slowly catching up with him.

"Welcome back, students." Dumbledore addressed cheerfully. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Now, before we dig into this wonderful feast, there are a few things I need to pass on to you. Firstly, I would like to introduce to you, a number of new additions to our staff this year. As it seems that we have lately been keeping our dear Madame Pomfrey busier than usual, Ms. Sabine Meadows will be assisting our dear school nurse in the infirmary." Harry looked towards the end of the table where the school nurse was sitting. Madame Pomfrey motioned for Ms. Meadows to stand. And the auburn haired woman did so, with a little flush on her cheeks. She nodded in response to the polite applause, and then sat back down.

"Mr. Gabe Tartavu will be handling the Care of Magical Creatures class for an indefinite period of time until our own Hagrid returns from some personal business." Dumbledore said, nodding to where Gabe was sitting. The young wizard stood and nodded, then returned to his seat.

"And Mr. Ailric Robbins will be positioned as an assistant to our own Professor Flitwick, and will be serving this year as an internship in order to receive his teaching license." Dumbledore said. The blonde headed young man stood, grinned, and waved at the sea of students before sitting back down next to professor Flitwick.

"And the coveted position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor will be filled by none other than Dr. Mikayla Lee, Auror and Potions Mistress." Dumbledore concluded. Harry saw Dr. Lee stand up and smile at the students, then sit back down. Harry couldn't tell if anyone else noticed, but Dr. Lee seemed a bit more on edge that he'd seen her all day. Dumbledore continued on, saying something about the Forbidden Forest, but Harry wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Instead, he was looking at Snape, who seemed even more furious than normal.

"…and without further ado, let's eat!" Dumbledore exclaimed, raising his hands to summon the mounds and mounds of food onto the four House tables.


After dinner was over with, and she saw the Heads and Prefects lead their housemates out of the Great Hall, Sable bade her new colleagues goodnight and slipped down the eerily familiar passages of Hogwarts school until she found the Defense Against the Dark Arts corridor.

It was still the same as she remembered. Suit after suit of antiquated armor lined the wide hallway, with rich tapestries hanging behind them. Torches were interspaced between, just a little higher than the head of the armor, giving off a soft light. She walked down the corridor, passing a few broom closets, and coming to stop in front of one particular set of armor, halfway down the hall. Her hand reached out to touch the cool, metallic surface. She remembered quite vividly the last time she had stood in the very same place.

It had been that day of what would have been her graduation from Hogwarts. She'd slipped into the castle with Dumbledore's help, and set up the spells and other things that had caused Remus to see her fake ghost when he'd entered in later that evening.

"It's still there, you know." came a kindly voice that startled Sable out of her revere. She spun around, only to see Dumbledore a few feet from her, his hands clasped behind his back thoughtfully.

"Dumbledore, sir."

"Your old dormitory. It is still there." he said, nodding at the armor that served as the doorway. "Although I dare say their was a bit of dust on everything. I think the house elves did a satisfactory job of cleaning it up, though."

"Has anyone else used this room since I left?" she asked.

"No. When Mr. Lupin left that evening, it has been sealed off ever since."

"I though as much." she said. There was a few pregnant moments of silence before Dumbledore spoke again. And Sable quickly wished that the Headmaster could not so easily read emotions when his words clicked in her mind.

"Do not doubt him, my dear."

"It's not him I'm doubting right now, Headmaster." she answered stiffly.

"Yourself, then?"

"All the time, Albus. All the time." she answered with a sigh.

"It is the past, Ms. Robbins. You can not change what has been, only what will be."

"Is that your philosophical way of telling me to get my act together and quit acting like a scared little girl?" she asked demurely.

"However you may interpret it, my child."

"Is the password the same?" she finally asked.

"Yes." the man beside her answered. "I will leave you to your devices, professor. As I am sure you have some things to get ready for your classes in the morning. Good evening."

"Good night, Albus." she said, watching until the wizard disappeared around the corner at the end of the hallway. Sable took a deep breath and turned back to the suit of armor that guarded the entrance to her old dormitory.

"Ranula." she muttered. The metal armor creaked loudly, then slowly slid away from the wall. Sable squeezed behind it, pulling the thick red and green tapestry away from the wall to show a doorway that had been cut into the stone wall. She whispered a spell to unlock the door, and stepped into the small passageway that led to her old lab.

When she stepped into her old rooms, she was shocked to find that everything was indeed right where she had left it. Cauldrons were still sitting on tables, and the cabinets where she had kept her ingredients were still locked up tight. The set of knives she had left sitting on a table were still on the cutting board, and her racks of bottles and flasks were filed along the shelves.

It was as though she had not been gone for nearly two decades.

She stepped through the door opposite the entrance and found a very familiar four posted bed, right along with an armoire, a desk and a few more inconspicuous pieces of furniture that she did not remember being there when she had left.

'Probably the work of the house elves.' she thought, her eyes scanning the entire room. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the large portrait of the witch Agrippa that hung above the head of the bed. She knew it was the entrance to a passageway that branched off into each of the four House Common Rooms and the kitchens, and wondered if Harry and his friends had managed to find it yet.

Remus had told her that Harry somehow managed to get his hands on the Marauder's Map before or during his third year. And Sable had no doubt that the map, along with James' invisibility cloak, had pulled the younger Potter out of the Tower after hours.

She looked over at a small clock that was hanging on the wall as it struck nine times. Sable just smiled simply and folded her hands over her chest, looking around one more time. Albus had been correct about getting some more work done before classes in the morning. And she knew standing around in her old dormitory was not going to get any of it done.

She left the hidden rooms, and walked back out into the Defense Against the Dark Arts hallway, then made her way to the teacher's quarters in the western section of the castle, knowing that the next day was probably going to be one of the most interesting, if not frustrating, days of her life.


A/N - Hey everyone. What's going on? Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Now that they're finally back at Hogwarts, things will be going rather quickly. So, hang on to your hats!

Until next time,

A.A.