Authors Note: Rotten Writer double timing it here with another update for you wonderful peoples. Inspiration and life both managed to cooperate and I got this chapter hammered out in record time. Looking forward to jumping into the nitty gritty, so to speak, of starting off our second year at Hogwarts. It's gonna be a fun, if bumpy ride, unless I miss my guess.

Disclaimer: We all know the deal by now I think, right? I don't own any of this except for the original parts of the storyline. Characters and setting all belong to people far wealthier than I.

Here we go with Soul Scars Chapter 19

Soul Scars Part Two

Darkness Within

By,

Rtnwriter

On the morning of September First, 1992, Harry Potter woke at five o'clock with a pained groan as consciousness returned to him and he looked blearily around his room for a few moments as he worked to get his bearings. Painfully, he pulled himself out of bed and toward his bathroom where he knew a scalding hot shower awaited him. He cursed the name of Auror Cadet Tonks with every breath as he shuffled his way across the room, pleased that Amelia had decided today would be a day free from his ongoing physical training.

"You'll get used to it in a couple weeks," Harry mocked in a high pitched tone. "Couple weeks my left foot. I'd get used to it if she didn't just keep making it harder every day," he groaned as he turned on the shower and shed his sleep clothes, a pair of dark grey sweat pants and a soft, long sleeved shirt.

The shower did wonders for his sore, aching muscles, and served to wake him more fully from his slumber. Cleaning himself quickly, and with a growing sense of excitement, he dried off, dressed, and went about packing the last of his belongings that hadn't already been stored in his school trunk before he made his way downstairs for a cup of coffee and some breakfast.

As he sat alone at the table, enjoying a classic English breakfast and nursing a cup of strong coffee, Harry thought over the last summer with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it had been a wonderful, amazing summer, easily the best that he could ever remember. Spending time with his friends just playing together and hanging out had to have been the most normal he'd ever felt in his life. Even over the last month where his mornings were filled with torturous exercises. In the afternoons he'd often gone over to Neville's home and spent time with his friend. One notable afternoon the Weasley twins had invited him by and Harry and the girls had all Floo'd over to the Burrow and spent a lazy afternoon playing in the backyard and Harry even got in some flying in the meadow where the Weasleys usually played small Quidditch matches.

The twins had rounded off that evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks that bounced and shot through the backyard and into the trees beyond. Harry had been impressed by the volume Missus Weasley reached when she yelled at the two of them for that stunt.

But now, on the first of September, Harry found himself less than thrilled to be heading off to school. He frowned as he considered it. He was looking forward to school, honestly, the chance to learn more magic and see his friends with greater regularity. But the little house elf's warning still rang in his ears. Amelia had looked into the matter the best she could but hadn't been able to find out anything about Dobby or which family he was bound to. It had been quite aggravating for her.

Which brought his thoughts around to the kind but firm red haired witch. Amelia had gone to great lengths to make sure he felt welcome after her formal offer to be his full time guardian. The room that he'd been given was now truly his room. He'd failed to do much with it before, worried that he might be moving to stay with a different family. But the day she'd offered and he'd accepted, he started decorating the room to his tastes with Binky's help. The house elf had been a godsend, helping Harry patiently to change the color of the walls to a nice, light green with a cream colored carpet. He'd placed some posters and decorations on the walls and more of his belongings found themselves spread across the room. Books, bits of parchment, and several quills littered the small desk that sat against one wall. More books filled a set of shelves that Amelia had bought for him and his wardrobe had expanded considerably and filled the closet. Several framed photos, taken over the course of the summer, sat on the low table in front of the fire and in general, the room looked less like a room belonging to a temporary guest, and more like a room that someone actually lived in.

As the minutes ticked away the rest of the house came alive with Susan and Amelia joining him at the kitchen table. They exchanged greetings and served themselves some food, eating and talking quietly. There was a somewhat somber feel to the air of the house. Summer was officially over and Harry knew that Amelia would feel the emptiness of the house keenly while he and Susan were at school but they'd both promised to write to her often and with Hedwig and Archimedes both willing and able, they would never lack for an owl willing to carry a letter.

By the time ten o'clock rolled around they were packed and waiting by the Floo. Susan stepped through, heading to the Leaky Cauldron with her trunk shrunken and tucked safely into a pocket while Amelia side-along Apparated Harry to the dingy pub. They waved to the barman, Tom, and made their way outside where Amelia flagged down a cab and they jumped in to make the short journey to Kings Cross. They had decided ahead of time to meet Hermione and her parents on the muggle side of the barrier instead of Flooing or Apparating there so they could all enter the platform together. Daphne was going to take the Floo onto the platform and meet them on the muggle side as well.

As soon as they exited the cab, Susan and Harry each grabbed a trolley and, with a quick look around to ensure no one was watching, Amelia enlarged their trunks. Pushing their way through the crowd they quickly found Hermione and Daphne standing with Dan and Emma by the barrier separating platforms nine and ten.

"Did anyone have any trouble getting here?" Amelia asked as she shook hands with Dan and Emma and greeted Daphne with a quick hug.

"A little trouble parking, but nothing we couldn't handle," Dan told her, a broad smile firmly in place on his face.

Amelia glanced up at a nearby clock, the time showing ten-thirty and gestured toward the barrier. "Well, we'd better get a move on so these kids can get themselves situated. Harry? Why don't you head on through first and we'll follow along behind you?"

Harry nodded and took hold of his trolley's handles before he began pushing it toward the barrier, speeding up to a quick jog as he approached the seemingly solid wall that separated the two platforms. A moment later, with a loud crash he ran into the wall tumbling the cart and himself to the floor. Hedwig shrieked loudly as her cage tumbled from the top of his trunk and Harry groaned as his ribs rammed into the handle.

"Harry! Are you okay?" Amelia asked as she rushed over and helped him to his feet.

He groaned again and straightened up slowly as Susan collected Hedwig's cage and did her best to soothe the irate owl.

"What happened?" Hermione asked and Harry shrugged.

"I don't know. The barrier wouldn't let me through." He walked over and placed his hand on the wall and it was as solid as any other wall.

Amelia stepped up beside him and placed her hand on the very solid barrier, her eyebrows shooting up toward her hairline in her surprise. A moment later she pulled back and gave Harry a questioning look.

"Well, this isn't the end of the world, really. We can get through here without too much trouble…" she trailed off as she looked around at the group. Four kids and two adults aside from herself and she being the only one able to Apparate did make it a little harder. She could probably take the kids two at a time or maybe…

Amelia tapped her Auror badge with her wand after first throwing up a quick notice-me-not and a muggle repelling ward, making sure to exclude the Granger parents so that they wouldn't be affected.

"Auror Cadet Tonks and Senior Auror Shacklebolt," she said. "I need you both to meet me by the barrier in Kings Cross on the double. Not an emergency but time is somewhat of the essence. I have already placed privacy wards around the area so you are safe to Apparate directly in."

A few moments later there was a quiet pop when Kingsley appeared out of thin air accompanied by a loud crack that split the air around them as Tonks appeared and Amelia frowned at her. "I know you're better at Apparating quietly than that," she admonished the young woman who gave her a lopsided smile and a shrug.

"Sorry, Boss. I was trying to rush. Wotcher Harry," she added the last, turning and ruffling Harry's hair, a habit she'd gotten into over the last several weeks spent training him in the mornings. "What kind of trouble have you gotten us into today? This going to be another rescue mission?"

"This isn't my fault," he protested, his face reddening slightly as the girls snickered behind their hands at him. "The barrier won't let us through onto the platform." He waved toward the barrier blocking their way with a scowl, as if his heated gaze alone could force the solid wall back into intangibility.

"Huh," Tonks said, blinking in surprise. "Well, that's certainly a new one, never heard of that happening before."

"Quite right, and since we've…" Amelia glanced at the clock again, "less than half an hour before the train leaves I'd like you two to help side-along Apparating everyone onto the platform. I'll contact Magical Maintenance and get someone out here to redirect people and see if they can't fix whatever went wrong with the barrier."

After a few minutes spent organizing everyone, Kingsley took both of Hermione's parents with him, disappearing with a louder crack than when he'd arrived. Tonks took hold of Susan and Daphne while Amelia held her arms out to Harry and Hermione. Once they'd grabbed hold Harry felt that strange sensation of being squeezed through a rubber tube and suddenly he was staring at the scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express. He staggered for a moment, still unused to Apparation and he didn't think he would ever get used to it, it was just such an unpleasant sensation.

"All right," Amelia said, gathering everyone's attention. "Thank you, Tonks, Shack, I appreciate the assistance. There were just too many for me to take myself. When you get back to the office please send a memo to Magical Maintenance for me. I think I'd rather stay here on the other side for a while to make sure others don't run into too much trouble… actually… Tonks you stay with me, I might need your help Apparating any muggleborn students over, they won't have any other means to get through until the barrier is fixed.

"That was really weird," Harry muttered, staring back at the barrier that led out to Kings Cross while the adults were busy discussing their plan of attack.

"No time to worry about it right now," Amelia told him. "We'll be looking into it but you kids need to get on the train." She gave him a quick hug then turned and pulled the girls each into a hug as they all said their goodbyes and the children promised to write as often as they could before they got onto the train, dragging their trunks behind them.

They found their compartment at the very back of the train, unoccupied, and quickly stowed their trunks in the overhead before collapsing onto the seats.

"Well, that was a really strange start to the year," Harry noted as he looked at the girls in the compartment with him. Daphne quirked a small smirk while Susan snorted and Hermione just stared at him incredulously.

"Here's hoping that the rest of the year is quieter," Susan said and Harry groaned and sunk low on his seat near the window just as the train started moving.

"You do realize you just jinxed us, right?" he asked and then laughed when Susan stuck her tongue out at him.

Within minutes the door opened and Neville, Tracey, and Hannah joined them in the compartment. The remainder of the trip was spent talking quietly, playing games, and reading in Harry and Hermione's case as the train steadily chugged its way along the tracks towards Hogwarts.

In the back of his mind, Dobby's warning still rang loudly to Harry as he struggled to focus on the book he held balanced on his knees.

Dark times were coming to Hogwarts. Danger and trouble in the halls of the old school. Harry dearly hoped that the little elf was wrong, but as they moved closer and closer to their destination, he had a heavy feeling in his gut that this was going to be a dangerous year at school.

#####

They didn't have much trouble for the remainder of their journey to school, a few friends stopped by and chatted during the trip and once Malfoy swung by but aside from glaring through the window into their compartment for a few moments he did nothing else and went on his way with his usual book ends in tow, following along like faithful puppies.

"I wonder what's up with Malfoy," Harry muttered, not for the first time as they were exiting the train at Hogsmeade station.

"Yes, Harry," Daphne said in a slightly exasperated tone. "So you've said, several times, and we don't disagree with you but unless there's something you know that we don't then there's nothing we can do about it so you might as well just let it drop, for now."

Harry cringed slightly from the ascorbic tone in her voice, realizing he'd been getting on her nerves with his comments.

"Sorry," he muttered. "It's just weird not having him act like a total git, I'm really not sure what to…."

Daphne and the rest of their friends kept walking for a few steps until they realized that Harry had stopped walking and talking both and they'd left him behind.

"What are those?" he blurted out, staring wide eyed at the scene before him.

Hemione, Susan, and Daphne followed his gaze, each frowning in confusion.

"It's the horseless carriages that will take us up to the castle," Daphne said. "Only the first years take the boats."

"Horseless?" Harry blinked and tore his eyes away from the creature to focus on Daphne. "What do you mean horseless? Something is pulling those carriages."

"Well, magic powers them I would expect," Hermione spoke up thoughtfully. "But there's nothing there pulling them, Harry. Just a carriage."

"There's something there," Harry insisted. "It kind of looks like a horse, but sort of skeletal looking with wings." He stepped closer to the creature, studying it carefully.

"Harry, there's nothing there," Susan said quietly.

"You really can't see it?" Harry asked as he stepped up and carefully lifted his hand, letting the creature sniff his palm before he started petting the side of its head and neck. It was warm under his fingers and he noticed a mouthful of sharp teeth but didn't feel in any way afraid of the creature.

To Hermione, Daphne, and Susan, it looked as if Harry was stroking thin air when he turned and held a hand out to Hermione.

"Come here," he said, holding one hand out to her and when she approached he took her hand and lifted it, placing her palm against the animals neck and her eyes widened as she slowly stroked the creatures skin.

"There really is something there," she breathed to Daphne and Susan, a sense of wonder in her voice. "Why can't we see them?" she asked.

"Because they're Thestrals."

As one, the five of them turned to stare at a little blond girl that was standing nearby looking at them with her head cocked slightly to one side, her large silvery blue eyes seeming to gleam in the wan moonlight.

"Only someone who has seen death with their own eyes can see them," she added as she stepped up on Harry's opposite side and started scratching the Thestral under the chin with one hand. By the way her eyes were focused, Harry knew she could see the creature.

"What do you mean, 'seen death'?" he asked.

"Well… if you've seen a person die with your own eyes, not seeing a body after the fact, but actually witnessing the moment of their death, then you can see the Thestrals. Because of that a lot of people think that they're some kind of bad omen or dark creature." She cocked her head to the side again, regarding Harry carefully.

"It's really too bad," she added. "Thestrals are such interesting creatures but one little thing and people get the wrong opinion about them. Just like you, Harry Potter."

Harry blinked and eyed the little girl. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, everyone seems to have expectations of you. How you'll behave, how you'll act, what you should do or shouldn't do all because of the legends and stories surrounding the Boy-Who-Lived. But none of that's real is it? Like Thestrals, people make assumptions about them based on one little piece of information without bothering to learn anything more about them. And people already have an image of who the Boy-Who-Lived is, even when they haven't yet met Harry Potter. So, you and the Thestrals are really rather a lot alike. At least… I think so."

Harry considered that, still idly stroking the Thestrals neck, and could see some of the logic in what she was talking about.

"Hey," he said, suddenly remembering her from Diagon Alley. "What's your name? You never told us when we were at Flourish and Blotts."

"I'm Luna Lovegood, most people call me Looney."

"Well we would never call you Looney, right?" he asked looking around at his friend and bond mates to see them all nodding in agreement. "But Luna, why are you here? Shouldn't you be with the other first years on the boats?"

She shrugged one thin shoulder. "They left without me," she stated in a calm tone of voice, as if being forgotten and left behind was a normal every day occurrence. "I was going to walk up to the castle but I saw you all here with the Thestrals and decided to stop and talk."

"Would you like to ride with us?" Hermione asked after a quick glance around showed they were standing by the last of the carriages, the rest apparently having left while they'd been distracted. "It might be a tight squeeze but I'm sure we can all manage to fit."

Luna cocked her head the opposite way and stared at Hermione for several long moments. "I'd like that," she finally said. "Sharing a carriage… it'll be almost like having friends, right?"

Harry fought the urge to frown and instead forced a wide grin onto his face. "Not like having friends but actually having friends, I would think. I can't speak for everyone else but I would be happy to be your friend, Luna."

Luna didn't say anything else but it was easy to tell the simple statement meant a great deal to her.

Five minutes later Harry realized that Hermione had, once again, been correct. It was a squeeze getting everyone into the carriage meant to seat four, but they managed when Harry decided to sit with his back against the wall of the carriage opposite the door with his legs stretched out in front of him between the two bench seats. On his left, Daphne sat with Neville and Luna while Hermione and Susan sat on the seat on his right.

"Comfortable down there?" Hermione asked, smirking slightly at Harry where he rested against the wall.

"Not bad at all really," he said. "At least I can stretch out a bit here."

The ride from the train station up to the castle wasn't a particularly long one, ten to fifteen minutes at most, and much of the time was filled by Luna telling them about some of the trips she and her father had gone on over the years, in particular their hunt for the ever elusive Crumple Horned Snorcack. Harry didn't really know what to think of the strange, sometimes spacey seeming girl, but he liked her. She was odd and quirky and she really didn't seem to give a damn who thought so.

By the time they got out of the carriage they were officially running a few minutes behind schedule and the group moved quickly at a fast walk into the castle through the wide open front doors.

"If you head that way," Harry said with a hand on Luna's shoulder as he pointed with his free hand down a hall to their left, "and go through the fifth door on your right, follow that hallway to the end and take a right and you'll come out where the rest of the first years should be waiting to get sorted, okay?"

Luna nodded and suddenly threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. Before he had a chance to react she had pulled away and backed up several steps.

"Thank you, very much, Harry Potter," she said. "I do hope we'll still be friends even if I end up in a different house than you." She turned and started humming a song to herself as she skipped her way down the hall and out of sight.

"Seriously… very strange girl," he said, staring after her before glancing at Susan, "but I think I like her, too. She's definitely got an interesting way of viewing the world, doesn't she?"

The group of five made their way into the Great Hall and found seats at the Gryffindor table just as the small side door opened and Professor McGonagall led the new first years into the Hall. Harry was easily able to identify Luna's bright blond hair amongst the rest of the new students and watched carefully as the sorting commenced. He would later not be able to say what song it was the hat sang that year, only that it wasn't the same as the year before. Part way through the singing there was a loud crashing sound outside and Professor Snape rose and left the staff table, his robes billowing behind him as he exited the Hall.

"What's that about?" Susan muttered from his left and Harry shrugged as McGonagall started reading off the students names and one by one they came up to be sorted into their House. When Luna was called up he watched her carefully as the hat took several long minutes to decide before it suddenly called out, "Ravenclaw!" in a voice that could be heard across the entire large room.

Harry clapped as loud as any of the Ravenclaw students, flashing Luna a bright smile when she glanced in his direction on her way to sit with her house mates.

"Well," Dumbledore said, standing from his large golden throne after the last of the students had been sorted and had moved to join their House table. "To our new students, welcome, and to our returning students, welcome back for another year at Hogwarts. We do have a few announcements to get through before the end of the evening but I shall save those for after our sumptuous feast. So, for now, tuck in."

He clapped his hands and the tables were suddenly filled with platter after platter of delicious smelling food.

Conversation flowed organically about the tables, nearby students getting drawn into one discussion or another before shifting their attention to someone else. Harry said little but calmly ate his fill as his sharp eyes observed the people around him and his ears strained to take in the various discussions.

To his great dismay, more than one group of students had brought up his sudden lack of glasses and some of the comments from the females within hearing distance had his ears burning and his face flushed as he kept his head down and focused on his food.

As the deserts replaced dinner on the table Harry chanced a look up and down the length of the room. He noticed most of the Weasleys rather quickly but frowned a moment later. Something felt off.

Mentally he counted, Percy, Fred, George, their little sister whose name I still haven't gotten… where's Ron?

"Where's Ron?" he muttered aloud a moment later and his friends followed his gaze noticing the missing redhead amongst their number.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley is missing too," Susan pointed out.

"You didn't hear?" Lavender Brown asked from her seat across from the four bond mates and down a few. "That loud crash we heard earlier? Apparently Ron and Justin flew Ron's Dad's car here from Kings Cross and crashed it into the old Whomping Willow out on the grounds. That's why Professor Snape left earlier."

Harry blinked. "We haven't even finished the feast," he pointed out. "How do you find out these things?"

Lavender simply gave him a smug smirk and shook her head. "I have my ways, Lord Potter," she told him and he winced.

"So you read that article in the Prophet, huh?"

"Everyone has," Parvati said from beside Lavender. "Aside from Ron crashing the car and you not wearing your glasses anymore that's all anyone is talking about."

"Yeah, half the school noticed how much you grew last year and a lot of the upper year girls were talking about how cute you were getting. Ditching the glasses just catapulted you up the ranks of eligible bachelors at school and adding a lordship on top of it…" Lavender trailed off meaningfully and Harry could tell that his face had turned beet red as he spluttered and stammered, trying to come up with something, anything, to say in response to that particular statement.

Thankfully, he was granted a reprieve when the deserts suddenly vanished, leaving the plates sparklingly clean once again and Dumbledore stood, waving for quiet from the assembled students.

"Another year at Hogwarts is upon us," the old wizard declared in a grand tone of voice. "And with it another year to fill our heads with new knowledge and new experiences. The beginning of term announcements are relatively simple. First I would like to welcome and introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Professor Lockhart, who has graciously agreed to fill the post for us."

He paused a moment for the expected applause, an applause that was much more fervent on the part of the female portion of the school's population than it was on the part of the males. Of those that he could see Harry noted only his three girls and perhaps one or two others at the Gryffindor table that didn't suddenly get a glazed look in their eyes as they stared at the handsome Professor. He simply snorted but clapped politely for a moment before dropping his hands back into his lap as he waited for Dumbledore to continue.

"Yes, yes, thank you very much," the Headmaster called as the applause went into its third minute. "Please, there are more announcements that we need to get to before we can all seek our beds for the evening."

The clapping finally died down and Dumbledore cleared his throat before he continued. "As usual, Mister Filch has asked me to remind students that there is to be no use of magic in the halls either between classes or otherwise and that the list of banned items, which I believe to be somewhere in the range of four-hundred and thirty-two can be found posted on the door to the Caretakers office, should you wish to peruse it."

Harry heard a snort of laughter and glanced down the length of the table to see Fred and George grinning gleefully at each other. A shudder ran through him and he turned back to look at his friends.

"Am I the only one feeling a sense of dread because of them?" he asked, jerking his head in the twin's direction.

As they shook their heads mutely he heaved out a relived sigh.

"Oh, good," he said. "I was worried that I might be getting paranoid for a moment."

"Well," Dumbledore continued. "With that out of the way I think we can safely bid you all a pleasant evening. Prefects, do please ensure the new students find their way to their dorms and we shall see you all tomorrow morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed and eager to fill your minds. Off you trot."

#####

Harry woke the next morning before the sun had even begun to hint that it might soon be peeking over the distant mountains and rolled out of his bed. Dressing quickly in the darkened dorm room with the sound of Ron's snores shaking the rafters, he crept from the room with his trainers firmly tied and made his way downstairs to the empty common room. Exiting through the portrait hole it didn't take him long to find himself in the empty seventh floor corridor standing across from the painting of Barnabus the Barmy, still attempting to teach several trolls to dance ballet.

He ignored the painting and walked back and forth three times in front of the empty stretch of wall, thinking, I need a place to workout and train, over and over. On his third pass, the door sprang into existence and he pulled it open, quickly stepping inside and letting the door swing shut behind him with a quiet click.

He carefully inspected the room for several moments before nodding his head in satisfaction. One half of the large space was dominated by a firing range with several different types of targets available for spell practice as well as a long dueling platform.

The other half of the room held some basic exercise equipment and a large circular running track with a sign that read, 'Each lap equals one quarter of a mile.'

After some stretches to loosen his cold muscles, Harry started jogging on the track. A small smile curved his lips as he remembered how shocked Tonks had been by his running the first day she'd come by to work with him on his physical training. He really hadn't felt like explaining the years of practice he'd gotten, running from Dudley to her and had simply shrugged it off.

He ran eight laps of the track that morning and was pleased to find that he was sweating and out of breath but not feeling as if he wanted to keel over and die. After his run, he ran through a few sets of pull-ups, push-ups, and sit-ups all the while keeping Tonks' advice firmly in mind.

'You're young,' her voice rang in his head. 'You have just mostly recovered from years of malnourishment, so I've been told. You don't need to push yourself too far or too fast. Push, yes. But know your limits.'

By the time he finished three full sets of each exercise, an hour had passed by and he turned and grabbed the bottle of water that he'd brought with him, taking several slow sips before doing some cool down stretches.

'Stretching is important, kid. Stretching before working out loosens your muscles so you have less of a chance of straining something. Stretching afterwards helps keep your body from tightening up and helps to lessen the amount of pain that you'll be in later.'

"Tonks would be proud of me," he muttered with a smile after finishing his stretches. "I actually listened to her lessons."

Harry spent another hour practicing spell work at the firing range. Accuracy, speed, and he even spent part of the hour working on a new spell, Bombarda. By the time two hours was up he felt loose and limber, his muscles were warm from the exertion and he felt a sense of accomplishment for what he'd done, all without anyone pushing him or dragging him out of bed by his foot.

He hurried his way back to the tower and quickly showered, coming out dressed in his school uniform just as the other boys in his dorm began to stir.

"Morning, Harry," Neville said with a yawn as he spotted Harry heading for his bed.

"Morning Neville."

"Think you could wait for me?" Neville asked. "I'll walk down to breakfast with you and the girls."

Harry nodded, already looking forward to breakfast. He grabbed his book bag and slung it over his shoulder after shrugging into his robes. "See you downstairs," he called back over his shoulder as he left the dorm and made his way back downstairs and to what he thought of as his armchair near the fire.

He pulled one of Lockhart's defense texts from his bag for a moment and considered it before making a disgusted face and shoved it back into his bag, instead pulling out the defense book Hermione had given him for Christmas the year before.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was fully engrossed in his book, already adding to his mental list of spells that he wanted to learn, when he was brought back to reality by the feeling of a small hand on his shoulder. He very nearly flinched away from the light contact but his nose caught the scent of pine and strawberries and a smiled without looking up from his book.

"Good morning, Daphne," he said and she chuckled quietly as she moved around his chair to take a seat on the little sofa.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked.

He finally looked up from his book and focused on her, a smile on his face as he said, "trade secret," and gave her a wink.

She frowned at him in mock annoyance. "You know, one of these days I'm going to figure out how you do that."

He nodded, still smiling. "True," he admitted. "But not today." He closed his book after placing a piece of parchment between the pages to mark his place and the two chatted quietly for a few minutes until Susan, Hermione, and Neville came down the stairs from the dorms at almost the exact same time.

Daphne and Harry stood and met the others at the bottom of the stairs before they all headed out of the tower and made their way down to the Great Hall, eagerly looking forward to their first day of classes.

#####

On the first day of the new school year, Albus Dumbledore woke without his usual sensation of joy over the beginning of classes. Despite the many things he had been in his life, student, warrior, leader, politician, at heart he would always be an educator. Nothing filled him with joy quite like teaching did, and presiding over the school that he himself had attended as a boy had always been his greatest honor.

But this year, his joy fell under a dark shadow. The night before was when it all began. Hogwarts wards had warned him. Something dark had entered the school with the arriving students. Something familiar that he couldn't quite place and, not for the first time, he cursed the wards general lack of specificity. They told him of the dark and malevolent presence, but could not tell him who, what, or where.

Sitting at the staff table early in the morning as the first early risers began to slowly trickle in for breakfast, he quietly observed them, hoping to catch some glimpse, some hint of who the culprit might be.

He was to be disappointed. By the end of the meal there had been nothing that caught his attention. He cursed mentally, paying absolutely no attention to the morning conversation amongst the rest of the staff as he considered the future that lay ahead of him.

His summer had been less than relaxing. Amelia Bones had made certain of that after the debacle surrounding the Stone last year. There had been several investigations in regards to his choice to use the school as a place to attempt to capture dark wizards unknown, since the Minister had flat out refused to even entertain the possibility that Lord Voldemort might not be as dead as most people believed.

Lucius Malfoy had only been too pleased to push for Dumbledore's immediate dismissal as Headmaster and it had only been by virtue of calling in several favors owed to him by numerous individuals that he had been able to keep his position, but just barely. He worried what this new presence meant for the school and what might befall the students should he be forced out.

As breakfast ended, and the students began to make their way to class, he headed up to his office and started working his way through the ever present pile of parchment work that came along with the running of a school, one part of his mind still worrying over the problem but with no solution in sight.

#####

"…you might… provoke them!" Harry mocked, imitating Lockhart from their first Defense class that day. "Seriously is he deranged?" he asked his friends and his bond mates.

They were all in the Room of Requirement, configured into a comfortable study space, before dinner. Some of them were relaxing while others had already begun their homework.

Neville, Tracey, Hannah, and Blaise had a mixture of expressions on their faces. The two boys looked as disgusted as Harry was while the girls appeared incensed by the insults Harry was directing at their new favorite teacher.

"Just because he doesn't teach his class the way you think he should doesn't make him deranged, Potter," Tracey snapped, waspishly.

"Right," Hannah chimed in. "I'm sure it was all deliberate. A test or something to see how the class would handle the situation."

"Hannah, you weren't there," Susan tried in a much calmer tone of voice. "The man is very clearly incompetent."

Hannah glared at her friend. "Just because you've already got your dream doesn't mean to have to ruin things for the rest of us," she snapped and the four bond mates plus Neville all froze, their eyes darting toward Blaise, who seemed rather bemused by the sudden attention directed his way.

"Hannah," Susan started slowly, "I really don't know what you're implying, but maybe we should discuss it later?"

Hannah flushed, realizing quickly how close she had just come to blurting out the secret of the bond, and nodded sharply as the group fell into an uneasy silence.

They remained that way for several tense minutes before Harry finally broke the silence. "They should be serving dinner soon," he said after a quick glance at a clock that had appeared on one wall. "Why don't we pack up and head down?"

Grateful for the excuse, the group hastened to agree and packed up their work before they all trooped out of the room and into the hallway, the door vanishing behind them after it swung quietly closed.

Blaise strode ahead of the rest of them, still unwilling to be seen with them outside of class or the library, leaving them to enter the Great Hall some distance behind him.

"I'm so sorry about that," Hannah hissed in Susan's ear as the made their way toward the Hufflepuff table. They had decided to start alternating which table they took their meals at between Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, since they had friends from every house in their group, if they included Luna. Despite having two Slytherins in the group, however, no one suggested eating some of their meals at the Slytherin table.

"It's fine," Susan muttered back to her friend. "Just please, be more careful." She didn't need to explain that, even without Blaise not being 'in' on the secret, Harry was probably far from ready to contemplate where the bond might eventually lead their relationship. Privately, Susan felt that she wasn't ready to contemplate it, and she'd known for a long time the possible outcome of being bonded to another.

Hannah nodded but said nothing else as they sat at the table and began piling food onto their plates. The group of seven students received a few strange looks from some of the 'Puffs, but nobody said anything against their presence.

Half way through the meal, however, their casual discussion was interrupted by a question.

"Hey, Harry?"

Harry looked up from his plate to find Cedric Diggory looking at him from across the table and to his right, sitting on Hannah's left side.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I don't mean to pry, and if it's none of my business just tell me, but I was curious. Is the reason you guys always sit that way related to your sorting last year?"

Harry blinked and glanced to the girls on either side of him for a moment before turning his attention back to the fifth year.

"I'm not really sure I understand the question," Harry said, after noting the same confusion that he felt on his girls faces and filtering through their bond. "What do you mean?"

Cedric shifted in his place on the bench and leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table in front of him. "Well," he said. "The four of you nearly always sit the same way with Granger on your right side, Bones on your left, and Greengrass on her left.

"When you four where sorted Granger and Bones were sitting to your right and left and with Greengrass at your back, you could argue that she was sitting on Bones' left side. I was just curious if that was why you still sit that way."

While Harry blinked again, startled to think that anyone would wonder about something so unimportant he noticed a number of nearby students paying very close attention to the discussion. A moment later he found his own attention being drawn to Daphne when she started to laugh quietly.

"I'm sorry, Mister Diggory," she said. "I don't mean to laugh, but really the reason why we tend to arrange ourselves this way is much simpler than you think, and, I do not believe that it is at all related to our sorting, even though we don't really know why exactly the hat arranged us the way it did."

Cedric arched a brow at her. "Please," he said, "it's Cedric and would you be willing to enlighten me?"

"It really is very simple, Cedric," she said with a small nod in his direction as she lifted her left hand and brandished the fork she was holding. "We tend to arrange ourselves the way we do because I am left handed."

Cedric considered that for a moment before he started laughing. "You're right," he finally said after a few minutes spent laughing at his own mistake, "that is a much simpler explanation."

#####

In the very early morning hours, a single candle burned, illuminating the surface of an old desk free of clutter or decoration save for a bottle of ink and a quill pen. A pair of hands set a simple black book down on the desk before opening it to a blank, lined page.

One hand lifted the quill and dipped it into the ink before setting the tip to the page.

Today was the first day of class. Some of my classes are interesting, but I'm not sure I like it here.

The ink gleamed wetly on the page by the light of the candle for several long moments before it faded away, leaving a blank page behind.

Seconds later, new words appeared on the page, written in a different, but elegant, hand.

Tell me all about it. I'm here for you.

The words slowly faded and the hand put quill to page once again as it began to write.

Thank you, so much. Sometimes, I feel like you're my only real friend, Tom…

Long into the night a figure sat hunched over the book, the silence broken only by the steady scratching of the quill across the page.

Elsewhere in the castle, an old wizard's sleep was fitful and restless as the castle's wards tried to tell him that the dark object he'd sensed was growing in strength.

Authors Note 2.0: I honestly have no clue if Daphne is supposed to be right or left handed in cannon. It just worked so perfectly with the way things have happened that I decided to run with it.

That is all.

Rtnwriter