A/N: Since this is a fanfic about Harry Potter I must make clear that I stand firmly against JK Rowling and her views about trans people, and do not support her or buying anything off of which she profits. I support the trans community and do not stand for bigotry. If you have a problem with that, kindly refrain from continuing to engage with me and my works.


Harry tried to keep his nerves in check, but he was at his wits' end. His own nephew, poisoned by muffins clearly meant for one of his closest friends, or both. The list of suspects who would want to hurt Ron and Hermione was long, but most of the people on it were dead or in Azkaban. The idea that someone might be coming after his family again, after all these years...

"Did you find anything?" Alan asked.

"No," Harry replied, a bit bitterly. He had searched Ron and Hermione's whole house, and found no evidence. He hadn't wanted to bring the rookie along for this mission, especially one so personal, but all his more experienced Aurors were already on cases and he wasn't objective enough to do this alone.

"Have you heard the rumors, sir?" he asked, stepping closer to Harry. "They say that it was a death eater or... the Dark Lord has resurfaced."

Harry was starting to lose his patience with this man; he may have good credentials, but he was stepping on Harry's last nerve and it was only his second day. Of course he had heard those rumors, he was Harry Potter. He had had some of those thoughts himself. But, "I would know if Lord Voldemort was back," he said, and ignored the familiar flinch at the name wizards of his generation and older still had. "Trust me."

"Then who do you think did it?"

"Don't know," said Harry. "Could be a supporter that never got rounded up, or maybe it's got nothing to do with it. Could be one of the Minister's political enemies."

"Hmm, an intriguing possibility," said Alan.

"Intriguing?"

"Well, as an avenue to explore-"

"You're aware a nine-year-old boy, nearly died, right?"

"Yes. Right, I suppose that might have come off a bit wrong."

"Hmm." Harry kept looking around, trying to resist the urge to let out a scream. "Are you still just standing there?"

"Sorry. What do you need from me?"

"Look for evidence. Any clue that could point to who did this."

"Right, of course." He headed out to the front porch, and Harry was left alone.

As he looked around the house, the one he had been to so many times, and pictured Hugo passed out on the floor, he felt an overwhelming sense of despair. He couldn't let anything happen to his family, not again.

He was so lost in thought he almost didn't hear Alan come back. "Mr. Potter! I found something!"

"Show me."

Alan handed him a necklace. "This was on the porch."

Harry took it with a frown. It was a simple necklace, inscribed with two letters-A.E. "Initials, I guess?"

"Do you know anybody with those initials."

"No..." He frowned. "I'll have to look them up. Not bad for your first mission."

Alan smiled.


Meanwhile, over on the Hogwarts Express, Victoire continued her prefect rounds and rolled her eyes when she found James walking back from the toilet. "You! Who all did you tell?"

"Not many people," he said defensively. "Just Mum, Dad, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Al, Lily, Rose, Hugo, all of my friends-"

"James!" She shook her head at him. "Some things are not your business!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have snogged on a train platform for anyone to see!"

He did have a point there, she had to concede. "But why did you have to do it?"

"Because it's bonkers! You and Teddy Lupin!"

She rolled her eyes. "James, if you ever took your head out of...whatever it's in...you might have noticed that Teddy's fancied me since I was in fourth year. What's wrong with us being together?"

"Well, I mean it's weird. I dunno. Just weird."

"And do you think perhaps it was weird for Ron to see his best friend snogging his sister? Love transcends "weird," James. Maybe someday you'll understand."

"Yeah, we'll see about that."

"Whatever. So. Excited for Al to start school with you?"

"I guess. It's fun to tease him about getting put in Slytherin."

"There's nothing wrong with Slytherin house."

"Yeah, but teasing Al is fun."

She rolled her eyes. "I guess I do sometimes like teasing Dom and Louis."

"It's fun being the oldest."

"Sometimes. Until they do something wrong and blame you and you get in trouble."

"Not much of a problem for me, I'm usually the one doing the thing I'm in trouble for."

"Right. How could I forget? The prank master."

"Master, really? I'm touched."

"Uh-huh. Don't forget I'm Head Girl now. Duty-bound to do something if I catch you."

"You won't catch me."

"Someone's confident."

Before James could reply, the train came to a sudden halt. Victoire had to put her hand against a door to keep from falling over. "What was that? Why did we stop?"

James had fallen over, and was getting back up indignantly. "Don't know. Bloody hell!" The lights on the train suddenly all went out. "Well, that can't be good."

"No, definitely not," Victoire agreed. "This train is magic. It would only stop if someone interfered with it."

"You're saying there's a dark wizard on this train?"

"It's certainly possible."

"We've got to go find the others."

Victoire nodded, then realized he wouldn't see that in the dark. "Yeah. I think Dom said she'd be with some friends in a cabin near the front, start there?"

"Sure." They headed towards the front of the train, and Victoire stopped in her tracks when they got near the engine room.

"Someone's here. Lumos!" Using her wandlight, she illuminated a boy who had to be a first year. He had his hand on the door to the engine room and looked nervous. "Hi there. Who are you? What are you doing up here?"

"Oh, I was looking for the loo."

"Doesn't answer her first question," James said. "What's your name?"

The boy sighed. "I don't want to say. People were making fun of me for it."

"We won't make fun of you," said Victoire. "What's your name?"

The boy looked down. "Bradshaw... Riddle."

James leaped forward and pulled out his wand. "Riddle? You're related to Voldemort?"

"James!" Victoire warned. "Calm down."

"Calm down? He's by the engine room, and named Riddle."

"I didn't know Riddle meant anything," the boy said, starting to cry. "I'm new here, my parents aren't magic, I don't know what's going on..." He turned and ran away.

"Great, now you've scared him off," Victoire said.

"The name can't be a coincidence."

"It could! The name Riddle came from Voldemort's Muggle father, and it's not exactly uncommon. And Voldemort murdered his whole family. Even if were somehow related, that wouldn't inherently make him evil, anyway, that isn't how it works. Come on, James. We should find him and apologize."

"We need to find our family. The Riddle kid can wait."

"Fine. But don't go pulling your wand out on anybody else."


"Ew," said Scorpius, spitting out a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean. "Bogey flavored."

"Gross," Rose said. "I don't really get the appeal of those. Dad loves them, though." Suddenly the train jolted to a halt. "What was that?"

"Good question," said Al. "I didn't like that."

"Me neither," said Polly.

The lights went out, and Rose said, "Well, this definitely isn't good."

"Something's definitely wrong," said Albus.

"We should look for the others," Rose said.

"I like that plan," said Polly.

"We should figure out what's going on," said Scorpius, looking out the cabin window. "It's chaos out there. People panicking." He opened the door. "Guess we should join the chaos."

They followed him out into the hallway, which was a densely packed mess.

"Who's powerful enough to do this?" Albus asked.

"Maybe-" Scorpius started, but then stopped himself. "Never mind. Stupid idea. He's dead."

"You're thinking of Voldemort," said Polly.

"Can't be him," said Rose. "Uncle Harry killed him. Right, Al?"

"Far as I know."

"Well, let's figure out what is going on," Albus said.

"I don't know," said Polly. "The adults probably have it handled."

"What adults?" Rose asked. "The trolley witch?"

"In the stories of our parents' time, it was always the kids getting stuff done," said Scorpius. "Maybe it's our turn."

"I don't know..." said Polly. "But I guess whatever you want to do I'm in."

They walked around a bit longer in confusion, until a boy ran by them, crying. Following him, Rose said, "What's wrong."

"They think I stopped the train!" the boy said. "Just because I have the same last name as some dark wizard?"

"What's your last name?" Albus asked.

"Riddle."

"Oh," said Albus, his voice suddenly sounding smaller. "Well. Maybe not the best last name, but that isn't your fault."

"I get it," said Scorpius. "I'm a Malfoy. My dad literally worked for that dark wizard."

"Who accused you?" Polly asked.

"I don't know who it was. But the boy got suspicious because they saw me near the engine room."

"Why were you near the engine room?" Rose asked.

"Got lost. I promise it wasn't me, though."

"I believe you," said Scorpius.

"Did you see anything there?" Polly asked.

The boy nodded. "Some kind of shadowy figure."

"Shadowy figure," said Rose. "Well, guess that settles it. Some kind of dark witch or wizard stopped the train."

"Great," said Albus sarcastically. "Our Hogwarts careers are starting off exactly the way I wanted."