Harry Potter sat in his compartment on the Hogwarts Express, his face resting upon the window as he watched the countryside race away past him. He was 16 years old, and about to begin his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but his mind could not have been further away if he had tried.

His mind was still in London, replaying the events at the Ministry just as he did every day that summer. He had been vindicated, the entire wizarding world finally knew the truth, Lord Voldemort had returned, but it had come at a cost. He had lost his godfather.

He closed his eyes, and he could still see the moment Bellatrix's curse hit him and then watch as Sirius fell back into the Veil.

Harry clenched his fist tightly as anger welled up inside of him once more. Sirius's death had been his fault, he had led his friends to London because of Voldemort's trick and because of him, the only family he had left was gone.

What made matters worse were Dumbledore's actions. Harry had done everything Dumbledore wanted, he had taken Occulmency with Snape even though he had hated it. Every lesson had been like torture, leaving him in agony and feeling as if he was even more vulnerable than before. Where had following Dumbledore's plans got him?

It had led to his Godfather's death. Sirius was the last piece of family he had left in the world, and he was dead.

What made Harry's frustrations even worse, was the complete lack of action in the months following.

Now that the truth was out, the Death Eaters should have been hunted. Bellatrix should be hunted. The full might of the ministry and the Order should have been used to catch them and bring them to justice. Harry knew that if they acted early and made moves quickly before Voldemort could strengthen then they would be able to stop him. However, as of yet, Sirius's death had not been avenged. Every morning he scanned the Daily Prophet, hoping that he would read the news that Bellatrix Lestrange had been apprehended, but to no avail. That day still had not come.

When he had asked Dumbledore what the Order had been doing, the only response the old wizard gave him was that he would tell him 'when the time is right'. Harry hated sitting around all summer doing nothing. He wanted to be out there, he wanted to fight. Hadn't he already proven himself at the ministry? Sirius had died, but they had fought against the Death Eaters and lived to tell the tale.

The feeling of rage had been simmering below the surface ever since Sirius fell through the veil. He had chased after Bellatrix, through the halls of the ministry. Hounded on by the voices from the veil, he had finally caught her in the atrium, and then he had unleashed a barrage of curses upon her.

'You have to mean it' the voices from the Veil had told him, and he had.

"Harry?" a concerned voice called, drawing from his thoughts and back to the present. He turned his head away from the window and towards the rest of the compartment. Hermione was looking at him, concern etched across her face. "Ron was talking to you."

His green eyes flicked across the compartment towards his best friend who also wore that same look.

"You alright, mate?" he asked with a nervous chuckle and Harry gave a quick nod.

"Yeah, I was just thinking, that's all." Harry answered and Ron and Hermione both shared a quick look. They sat next to each other with Crookshanks settled on Hermione's lap. Luna sat next to Harry and he could tell there was more meaning behind their looks than they were letting on.

"It's about the ministry, isn't it?" Hermione said after a moment, but Harry didn't answer, instead choosing to look out the window again. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hermione whispering something to Ron, but he paid no real notice.

Over the summer, Harry realised that they had grown closer together. Truthfully, Harry had a feeling that they would reach a point where a relationship blossomed between them. It seemed that fighting for their lives at the ministry was enough to push them together. He was happy for them, but sometimes it made him realise how alone he was at times.

"Look Harry, we know you're hurting but we want to help you get through it." Ron insisted and Hermione nodded in agreement. They presented a united front, sat close together with Hermione leaning slightly on Ron. "But you have to tell us, you have to talk to us."

Harry sighed deeply as he turned back toward his friends.

"What happened that night at the Ministry affected all of us, Harry. But you're the only one who hasn't opened up about it," Hermione said gently.

"Oh really? What about Neville or Ginny or Luna? How do you know how they're handling it?" Harry fired back. Luna was in the compartment with them, but she was too engrossed in her reading to notice.

"We've spoken to them, " Hermione said quickly. "They haven't shut themselves away all summer."

"Go easy on her. We're only trying to help." Ron insisted as he jumped to her defence. and Harry just sighed again. He knew he had shut himself away over the summer, but that was because he wasn't sure what they would think of him if they knew the truth.

What would they think if they knew he had used the Cruiciatus on Bellatrix Lestrange? What would they think if they knew how much he enjoyed it?

The feeling of power, the raw energy flowing through him as he watched Bellatrix scream and writhe in pain was exhilarating. The voices had rejoiced at the sight, their song drumming loudly in his ears, seemingly in perfect harmony with Bellatrix's screams. Harry knew something permanent had changed in him that night.

"The Veil," Harry said after a few moments as he turned towards them once again. "What do you think about it?"

"What do you mean?" Ron quickly answered and Harry shrugged before continuing.

"What is it?" he asked as he flicked his eyes between them. "Why is it there, why didn't Sirius come out the other side? What about the voices?"

Once again, they shared a look between them before Hermione answered.

"The Department of Mystery is kind of a…mystery?" Ron said with another nervous chuckle, "Even Dad doesn't know what they do down there. All he says is that they do experiments."

"What about the voices? I heard them and so did Luna," Harry insisted, and Ron faltered.

"Perhaps, it's like the threstrals." Hermione wondered. "Only you and Luna could see them, but only because you saw someone die."

The compartment fell quiet after her words and Harry supposed that she was true, as she so often was.

"But why was it there? What does it do?" Harry asked again. This time it was Luna who answered.

"Daddy says that the Veil is part of a Ministry conspiracy," Luna said as she finally piped up. Everyone quickly looked across at her and waited for her to elaborate.

"Er… a conspiracy, Luna?" Hermione asked.

"Yes." She insisted as she put down her magazine. "Daddy says that the Veil was there before the Ministry, and they use it to communicate with the dead and learn secrets of years gone by."

"Right, moving on," Hermione said after a few moments. "Perhaps it was built on some sort of ancient burial site? I know in the muggle world, ancient civilisations believed in the hallowed properties of burial grounds."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ron said immediately.

Except it didn't make sense, it didn't explain why he could still hear the voices.

"Why would the Ministry build its headquarters on top of a burial site?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, Harry." She said after a moment. "There's a lot of history about the Ministry of Magic that we don't know about. They keep those secrets closely guarded."

"Daddy says that on Halloween the voices become louder because that's when the land of the living and the dead are closest." Luna chimed in and once again the compartment fell silent.

"What did your father think of what happened at the ministry?" Harry asked Luna after a moment, and she paused before answering

"Oh, he was very proud, and he said mother would be too." She said with a sweet smile, "You were proven right, and you exposed Cornelius Fudge and the Ministry's corruption."

"And you got Lucius Malfoy sent to Azkaban!" Ron added, trying to lift his spirits. For a moment, it worked but then Harry turned his thoughts to Draco.

"Now Draco has taken his place." He said with a pointed look at both of them and this time the look between them couldn't have been more obvious.

"Look, Harry–" Hermione began but he quickly interrupted her.

"Yeah, I get it, you don't believe me." He said in a flat tone. He was certain that he was right about Malfoy being a Death Eater. With Lucius locked away, Voldemort would need to replace him, and what better way to ensure his loyalty than to bind his son to him? "Whatever. I told Mr Weasley about it, and he said he'll let the rest of the Order know."

Truthfully, Harry was not sure how much help the Order would be. Dumbledore said they had abandoned Number 12 Grimmauld Place, but no one had bothered to tell him what the Order did the rest of the year. All he knew was that they were working to defeat Voldemort, but they never told him how. He would need to ask Dumbledore the next time he saw him.

He knew that last summer they were guarding him, but Harry didn't want to be protected anymore. 'I won't let that happen again' he thought. If a Death Eater wanted to take a run at him, let them come. Better yet, let it be Bellatrix Lestrange he thought as his wand hand tightened into a fist.

There was a knock on their compartment door and a familiar face poked inside.

"Hey, guys." Neville said as he slipped inside, and they all greeted him in return. Neville looked different, Harry noticed. He stood taller and straighter, and it looked like he filled out his sweater very nicely."Er, I have a note here from Professor Slughorn. It's for you, Harry."

Harry took the sealed piece of parchment and opened it before quickly reading it aloud.

"It's an invitation to lunch," Harry said after a few moments and Neville nodded.

"I got one too," Neville answered quickly and Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione.

"Well, you better go, it would be rude to turn down a teacher's invitation," she said bracingly and Harry nodded.

"What do you think it's about?" Neville asked and Harry shrugged as he rose to his feet. He had an idea of what Slughorn would want.

"Come on, Neville," he said as he tucked his invisibility cloak into his pocket and slipped out into the hallway.

The hallway of the Hogwarts Express was largely empty save for a few students. They all seemed to stare at Harry like he was some sort of attraction at the zoo. Not like that was anything new. He had been gawked at that way since his very first year. Except now, there seemed to be a hint of fear in their eyes. Within minutes, news of his appearance had spread like wildfire throughout the train, and every student from 1st to 7th year seemed to press their nose up against the glass to look at him.

"I should've put my cloak on," Harry muttered darkly as they stepped past a group of googly-eyed 3rd years.

"Ignore them, Harry," Neville said as he stuck close behind him. "It's about what happened at the ministry."

Of course, Harry knew that. He was even more of a celebrity now than he was before. He was used to the attention; he had achieved an almost mythical status the day Voldemort tried to kill him as a babe. That didn't mean he enjoyed it, particularly like this.

"Piss off." Harry muttered as he slapped his fist on the glass compartment of a compartment, causing the inhabitants to recoil in shock.

"Look, it's Harry Potter!" one voice squeaked

"It's the Chosen One!"

Harry groaned as more and more people entered the hallway, practically blocking their path. To make matters worse, Slughorn's compartment was at the other end of the train.

After 5 minutes of painfully slow progress, Harry had enough,

"Get back in your compartments or I'll hex the lot of you!" Harry bellowed at a particularly giggly group of first-year girls. They all shrieked and giggled as they hurried back into their compartment and that paved the way for them to finally reach their destination.

He pulled open the compartment door and was hit with a pleasant aroma. Slughorn had seemingly brought his own lunch. A mix of freshly baked rolls and spreads was set out neatly along the large table. Harry could see what looked like a roasted duck as the centrepiece. The compartment was lit by candles and Harry quickly realised that Slughorn had somehow enchanted the compartment to make it larger than a normal one.

"Harry, my boy!" Slughorn shouted as he rose to his feet. He was dressed in a dark bottle green suit that didn't quite hide his protruding belly. He had combed over his wispy silver hair and his gooseberry eyes sparkled brightly as he smiled in greeting. "And you must be Mr Longbottom."

Slughorn shook their hands vigorously before putting an arm around Harry's shoulder.

"Welcome to my little club, Harry! I've got some students from all across the school, but I'm sure you know who they are." Slughorn announced as he introduced them all. Truthfully Harry did not know them all, so Slughorn's introduction was not entirely useless to him. As Harry expected, nearly everyone here was well connected to someone influential or famous.

He had just finished introducing the last person when he turned to a Slytherin girl.

"This, of course, is Daphne Greengrass, niece of famed potion brewer and healer Isabella Greengrass. Tell me, Daphne, do you see much of her?"

Harry turned his head towards her. They were in the same year, but they had never spoken to one another. She had sleek, shoulder-length blonde hair that almost looked platinum in the light. Her round eyes were a pale blue. She was still dressed in her muggle clothes, a white cotton shirt with the top button undone to show off a sparkling golden necklace. She glanced over at him, something flickered behind her eyes before she turned to Slughorn. Daphne ran a dainty finger through the fringe of her hair before answering.

"Not as much as I did before." She replied after a moment, her voice soft and then her face turned into a slight frown. "We used to go over once a fortnight but has been busy at the hospital more and more. As you can imagine with all that's going on."

Daphne's voice had changed at the end of the sentence, growing cold and hard. Harry was not sure if he had imagined it, but she seemed unhappyseemed, unhappy. Were her family Death Eaters like the Malfoys? The more he thought about it, the more he realised how little he knew about her or her family.

"A shame. I remember teaching her, she was one of my finest students." Slughorn said as he reminisced. "Well, it makes sense of course. You don't get a ward at St Mungo's named after you without hard work!"

Daphne gave a small polite smile before turning to look out of the window once more.

"And of course, the man who needs no introduction. Harry Potter!" Slughorn boomed as he clapped him on the back once more. "Where to start with you, eh?"

He gave him a wide smile, almost as if he was willing Harry to volunteer some information, but Harry was not interested in being paraded for his entertainment.

"Let's start with last summer, shall we? I've known the prophet to be rather generous with the truth, but even you can't deny that you were heavily involved!"

Harry's mind went back to the Ministry and the Veil. The magical veil that shimmered like a sheet in the air. He closed his eyes for a moment, he could still hear the voices calling to him.

When he opened them, he saw that the whole compartment was looking at him, even Daphne had a curious look on her face.

"Yeah, we were at the Ministry." He stated slowly as he turned back to Slughorn who was still beaming at him.

"Oh ho!" Slughorn shouted. "And I read something else, something about a prophecy?"

'Neither can live whilst the other survives.' were the words that he remembered the most. They would both continue to hunt until the other was dead. Harry had thought about it a few times over the summer, and he had come to realise it was a truly daunting task. Voldemort could be anywhere, and Harry had no idea how he would even find him.

"I was with him." Neville said after a moment, "None of us heard a prophecy."

"Yeah, the prophet got that part wrong, professorwrong professor," Harry said in agreement. He had told Ron and Hermione about the prophecy, but no one else. He did not imagine it would be best to let everyone know he had that information.

"Ah, you were also there, Longbottom?" Slughorn said in appreciation, and he seemed to size Neville up again. "Well, well. Perhaps there is more to this tale than I first imagined!"

Neville blushed heavily at that and Harry smiled. He had gone up in his estimation that day, all of his friends had. They had shown tremendous bravery and courage to come with him and stand up to the death eaters.

Slughorn then gestured for them to all sit down. Harry quickly sat next to Neville and as far away from the Slytherins as he could as he settled into the Slughorns feast. The afternoon was whittled away by Slughorn telling story of old members of the slug club. Former students who ascended to fame in various prestigious positions.

There was Melinda Bobbin, a 4th year Hufflepuff girl whose family owned a chain of aprocathecies. Cormac McLaggen a Grfyindor 7th year whose claim to fame was his uncle. Who apparently was good friends with the new minister for magic. On and on Slughorn went as he entertained his dinner guests. Truthfully, Harry zoned out after the 3rd story about some wizard he had never heard of.

"Would you look at that! It's nearly dark out!" Slughorn exclaimed as he pointed out the window. "You all need to head back to your compartments!" He clapped his hands together vigorously as he moved towards the door.

"Don't forget to drop in, anytime you like!" he said as he gestured them all out of the door. Harry was the last one out. Neville had since ambled off the corridor ahead of him, but Harry was struck with a moment of information.

He quickly donned his invisibility cloak and headed in the opposite direction after the retreating Slytherins. Daphne and Blasé walked in silence and this interested Harry. Blase was another Slytherin 6th year. He was tall, with a dark complexion and a slender build.

During the meal, they had barely spoken a word to one another. He had noticed that Daphne seemed to be somewhat of an outsider in the Slytherin year group.

He wondered what had happened inside the Slytherin common room to cause this rift? Or maybe he was imagining things. He used the noise of the train to follow them towards their compartment, Blaise slipped in first, but Malfoy was waiting outside for Daphne.

"Where are you going, Greengrass?" Malfoy called out as he stood blocking the hallway. He had brushed his hair back and had the top bottom of his shirt undone. He had one hand in his pocket as he attempted to look cool. Frankly, Harry thought he looked ridiculous.

"Back to my compartment Malfoy." She answered as she tried to step around him. Malfoy continued to block her and Harry waited a few meters back. Then he stepped closer and Harry quickly jumped forward to listen in.

"You know, we could help each other," Draco said with a smirk on his face. The blonde-haired boy seemed to be even more full of himself than normal as he stepped closer to Daphne. "I've always liked you, Greengrass. A powerful and beautiful witch like yourself should see the benefits of having someone like me to vouch for her and her family."

Harry watched as Daphne raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"And why would we need your help?" she asked, her voice cold.

"My family has friends, powerful friends. My father has contacts in the ministry that I'm sure your father would find useful."

"Your father?" Daphne scoffed. "Your father is in Azkaban because he was outsmarted by a bunch of school children!"

"Watch your tone." Malfoy snapped as his face flushed and Daphne laughed in his face. Malfoy looked both ways as if he was afraid of this embarrassing detail being overhead. "My father is awaiting trial, after which his name will be cleared."

"Your father has been exposed for what he is." Daphne sneered. "We don't need help from the likes of you,"

Malfoy paused for a moment as he sized her up. All of his charm had gone and now his face contorted in rage.

"You'll regret not taking my offer, Greengrass. Things are going to change this year at Hogwarts and you'll want to be on the right side."

"I wouldn't wait on it," Daphne said as she looked to move past him, but Malfoy blocked her once more.

"The Dark Lords know about your little sister's secret." He let the words hang in the air between them. Harry watched as Daphne faltered as she tried to back away from Draco. But before she could put space between them, Draco smirked and said, "It would be a shame if Astoria couldn't receive the help she desperately needs," Malfoy's eyes shone with malice as he headed back into the compartment.

"How do you -" Daphne began, but it was too late. Malfoy had already strutted back into his compartment, slamming the door behind him.

Daphne turned to watch him as he went, with a pained look on her face.

The train buckled and bounced on the track and Harry quickly reached out to grab the wall to steady himself. Daphne quickly whipped her neck around, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she scanned the hallway.

Harry waited with bated breath, as she seemingly stared straight at him, not daring to move. Her blue eyes were flicking right over the spot where he was standing, but after what seemed like an eternity, they moved away. Daphne moved slowly onwards, before sliding off into a different compartment.

Harry released his breath before turning in the opposite direction, there was clearly something going on between Daphne and Draco, and he was determined to find out what it was.