Chapter nine: express route to chaos

It was something of a relief to be heading for school. It was definitely a relief to be out from under the eyes of his multitude of parents. In the wake of the attack on Diagon Alley, Professor Dumbledore had pressured the Ministry into issuing a blanket pardon for all the children who had been present and performed magic. Harry and Ron had even been commended for their actions, and the Daily Prophet was once again printing wildly inaccurate stories about him. At least this time they were favourable.

As if that wasn't enough, his mum and dad had taken to watching him like a hawk and it was rare he went anywhere without supervision. Evidently they felt they needed to keep a close eye on him in case he felt the need to go out and duel with a Death Eater or something. Remus and Sirius watched him when his parents weren't around, but they were trying to make sure that all the sudden parental authority wasn't squashing all his sense of prank and humour. That was tiring too, because not only was he learning a lot of spells his teachers wouldn't approve of, he was having to put up with two adults as old as his parents trying to get him to act as if he was eleven again - without the weight of the world, or the Philosophers Stone on his shoulders.

Molly was there whenever he seemed to lose, or was about to lose, his temper, which made his summer one long and arduous course of self-control. Arthur kept popping up at odd intervals with questions about Muggle artefacts and whatnot, and even Ginny seemed to have fallen under some strange spell as she kept popping up too and trying to engage him in strange conversations. He could talk magic with her, spells and defence and so on, but he had no idea what was the latest fashion craze among their peers and could care less either. He certainly didn't share her taste in music.

The only one that wasn't insane was Ron. He was his usual cheerful, irreverent self, someone to bum around and talk the usual sort of rubbish with. He continued to wake Harry from his nightmares, and Harry could not sleep without knowing that Ron was close by, to the point that they didn't even bother with the pretence of separate beds and crammed into Ron's together of a night. As Ron pointed out, it saved commuting, and Harry usually woke at Ron's first shake or call of his name. Ron called it teddy bear duty, but didn't seem to mind, and Harry enjoyed having someone to hold and hold him in return. Both had woken sporting morning erections, a fact that had been ignored so far. Harry had the sense that they were on the brink of something and could only hope that whatever it was would not change their friendship.

The Hogwarts Express was a comforting point of familiarity and Harry ended up sharing a carriage with a couple of Muggle born first years. They had no idea of his fame or deeds, and therefore the trip was surprisingly peaceful in that they didn't ask about his scar or past battles with Voldemort. They did pepper him with a thousand and one questions about Hogwarts and he answered what he could without giving away the best surprises - half the fun was discovering the schools secrets for yourself. He did reassure them about a few of the more alarming aspects of learning magic, and demonstrated a few first year spells for them on request. He got a very reproachful look for not warning them about Hagrid as they disembarked but he just grinned and winked, moving to a carriage and waiting for his friends to catch up. As sixth year prefects Ron and Hermione both had been on constant patrol duty, and Ginny had spent a lot of time with the other fifth year prefects learning the duties of her new position.

It wasn't until Hermione sat next to him at dinner and asked how his summer was that he realised she hadn't heard about his parents - and it wasn't until Ron's head snapped up with an implicit warning in his eyes that he realised he couldn't tell her. It was too great a risk to the Orders plans to speak about his mum and dad in public, and he couldn't discuss the time he spent with Remus and Sirius either.

"Um, Hermione, I had one of those summers I'm not allowed to talk about," Harry said very quietly, "Not even with you."

She looked offended and turned her shoulder to him at once, pinning her gaze on Ron, who was sitting opposite them and staring at the Sorting Hat with a fixed kind of attention. When she realised that Ron wasn't going to tell her anything either she sniffed in disapproval and managed to turn her shoulder to him as well. Ginny had contrived to sit next to Harry, and she leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"You can't not tell her, Harry," she scolded in an undertone, "She's your friend."

"Butt out, Ginny," Ron ordered from across the table, and Ginny looked at Harry for protection. When he fiddled with his goblet in an absentminded way she huffed as well and swapped seats with Colin Creevey. Harry was sure this was Ginny's idea of punishment as Colin immediately started bending his ear about the summer holidays and how he had a little sister starting this year and wasn't Harry glad to be back at school and so on until Harry wanted to smack him. It was an impulse that Harry would regret as the doors to the Great Hall blew open and instead of the first years that everyone was expecting, a group of Death Eaters poured in and started hexing people left right and centre. Harry wasn't quick enough to throw a shield up and Colin went down hard, even as the teachers leapt up to defend their students.

"Give us Potter!" a voice shouted over the hexing, "Give us Potter and we'll leave!"

Harry and Ron were already returning fire, and he grunted in satisfaction as the shield nearest him cracked, sending three Death Eaters to the floor, stunned and petrified. The other students in the hall were either adding their efforts to the protection of their housemates or were leaving as fast as they could through trapdoors that had suddenly appeared near the teachers' tables. Harry grabbed hold of Ginny and shoved her at Colin.

"Get him out," he ordered, ignoring the glare she gave him for his highhanded manner in favour of stepping forward to direct the next person to hand to do the same thing. This had the added bonus of getting him closer to the Death Eaters, which meant he could turn himself in if it looked like they were going to be overrun. Ron was matching him step for step, which Harry was worried about, and Hermione was suddenly near the redhead on the other side of the table, copying Harry's directions. He didn't have to look back to see that the teachers were rapidly advancing along the house tables, and that more than one person had caught onto the idea of dragging the injured under the house tables and up to the trapdoors. The space between the tables was becoming congested with low obstacles - people mainly - and Harry climbed up onto the table as he neared the end in order to have a little more space.

McGonagall arrived in a flurry of mashed potatoes and stinging hexes and Harry made room for her. It had been Snape's turn to bring the first years to the Great Hall and Harry was really hoping he hadn't had to choose between the Death Eaters and the defenceless children. The spy was valuable, but the children were more important to Harry's way of thinking.

Ron grunted as a slashing hex got through his shield and opened a long wound in his arm, and Harry leapt down to his side and flung an arm around him, holding him upright and shielding them both from the barrage that was sent their way. To his right a couple of seventh years went down hard and were pulled under the house tables by some third years who had evidently stationed themselves there for just that purpose. The Headmaster took their place, sending spell after spell at their attackers.

"Get out Ron," Harry panted, "Go!"

"Not without you," Ron stubbornly switched his wand to his left hand and resumed casting - a feat in itself as they'd never practiced casting left handed before and the wand movements would be subtly different. Harry switched his grip so that Ron was standing on his own, but Harry's left hand was clamped above his elbow in a grip so tight that it was slowing the blood flow to the lower limb and thus slowing the bleeding as well.

There was a bright flash and Fawkes appeared, hovering in front of them. As one, Harry Ron and McGonagall grabbed the Phoenix's tail feathers and were transported in a rush of heat and wind to behind the Death Eaters. They had not been expecting attack from the rear and in a matter of minutes they were stunned and petrified. Ron sagged into Harry's side in exhaustion while Harry kept his wand ready. The redhead took a moment to mutter the bandage charm over his slashed arm, which let Harry release his grip and once more wrap an arm around Ron's waist.

The teachers were swarming into the foyer now and Harry lowered his wand cautiously, backing them against the nearest wall for protection and panting for breath.

"Hospital wing Weasley," McGonagall looked over from where she was supervising the last Death Eater, "Take him up Potter, and then come straight back."

"The first years," Ron protested but Harry didn't give him a choice about it, almost lifting Ron off his feet and starting forward at a good pace.

"We'll get it sorted," Harry knew that Ron had a 'big brother complex' when it come to the youngest students in the school. Hermione had never understood that, and had objected more than once to the gruffly casual manner he took with the schools youngest students. That had surprised Harry - he'd have thought that she'd recognise Ron's manner from the way Bill and Charlie treated the younger Weasley's when they were home, "Trust me."

"With my life," Ron replied and let himself be led away, unaware of the silly grin on his best friends face.

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