The rest of August was filled with a second lively celebration for Ginny's fourteenth birthday, a dozen more pranks, and countless hours of exploring. Much to Hermione's delight, her parents managed to stop by London on their way home from Edinburgh, and the three Grangers, four Potter-Blacks, and Ginny – who Hermione had insisted be invited – all went to dinner in Muggle London. It wasn't quite the same as the home-cooked meal they usually shared on the last day of August, but the atmosphere was cheerful as the eight diners exchanged stories of their summer adventures. The trio also replied to Peter's letter with the requested wand information and told him everything they'd learned from the Order – admittedly, what they knew wasn't much, but they figured even a little bit of news was better than no news at all.

Harry thought he had seen crazy starts to September, but the previous years were nothing compared to the scene inside Grimmauld Place on the morning of the first. Just as they had when they'd first arrived, nobody bothered to keep Mrs. Black's portrait quiet – what with seven teenagers frantically racing all over in an attempt to round up the rest of their scattered possessions, the noise level in the house was unbelievable. Hedwig, Berenice, and Crookshanks added their displeased hoots and meows to the racket, and Mrs. Weasley shouted at Fred and George for a good ten minutes when Fred's trunk, which hadn't been properly locked, tipped and spilled its contents all over the floor.

"Do you all have your brooms this time?" Sirius yelled over the chaos.

"Did you remember your new books?" Lily asked.

"Don't forget that laundry got done last night!"

"We'd better hurry up or we'll be late!"

The rapid questions continued, the teenagers doing their best to answer while avoiding each other on the stairs.

"Probably a good thing Sasha isn't here," Harry thought with a chuckle as he swerved to stay out of Ron's way. Sasha, his mum's cat, had been tripped over by various people more times than he could count in situations like these. Harry himself had accidentally terrorized the poor cat on more than one occasion as a child, and as Sasha was getting on in years, Harry was glad that she could, for once, spend the first of September in peace.

As they didn't really have a viable alternative, they would all be Apparating to Kings Cross. However, Grimmauld Place was charmed so that nobody could Apparate or Disapparate directly inside the house, and they had to be cautious while Apparating outside so as not to be noticed by the Muggle neighbors. To prevent this, they left in small groups – Fred and George, who were of age, went on their own, followed by Mrs. Weasley with Ginny and Ron, Sirius with Harry and Draco, and Lily with Hermione. Tonks and Hestia Jones were the Order members assigned to accompany them, bringing the group to a round dozen.

Despite the crowded platform, they managed to get everyone's luggage onto the train without too much trouble, and before they knew it, it was eleven o'clock and the Express was pulling out. The seven teenagers waved goodbye from the carriage door, remaining where they were until they could no longer see the platform before finally picking up their trunks and heading off to find compartments. Fred and George found their best friend Lee Jordan almost immediately, but the others trudged on with little success. Finally, they found a compartment that was empty save for a lone girl sitting by the window. Dark blonde hair fell nearly to her waist, and large blue eyes peeked up over the edge of the magazine she was reading. She wasn't yet wearing her school robes, but unlike the jeans and t-shirts favored by most Hogwarts students, she wore a pair of loose, flowing tan pants and a long blue tunic, a pair of simple sandals on her feet. The ensemble resembled that worn by the inhabitants of the hot desert climes of the Middle East, and the delicate silver embroidery around the tunic's edge reminded Hermione of the sari that her roommate Parvati owned.

"Oh, hello," the girl said brightly when she heard the door open. "Plenty of room, if you like."

"Thanks, Luna," Ginny replied, apparently recognizing the girl. Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Ron followed her into the compartment, and they hauled their trunks into the luggage racks before falling into the empty seats.

"Everyone, this is Luna Lovegood," Ginny said once they were all seated. "She's a Ravenclaw in my year." Luna studied them all carefully. Up close, they could see that she wore a long necklace of what looked like butterbeer caps, and orange objects that somewhat resembled radishes hung from her ears.

"You're Harry Potter," she said suddenly, somehow suggesting that this was fascinating information though her tone was one she might've used to comment on the weather. "And you're Draco Black. I'm afraid I don't know who you two are, though," she added, turning to Ron and Hermione.

"I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione said.

"Oh yes, of course." Luna smiled and nodded as if she'd known it all along.

"Erm…huh?" Ron managed. He looked extremely confused.

"Wrackspurts getting to you?" Luna asked, smiling serenely once more. She gazed intently at Ron for a long moment before nodding knowledgeably. "There are a few of them in here, you know." Without another word, Luna picked up her magazine and flipped it over, humming to herself as she read upside-down. Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Ron all looked quizzically at Ginny, who shrugged.

"Marches to the beat of her own drum," she offered by way of explanation. Her tone wasn't malicious, just matter-of-fact. "Very smart, though – she picks up on a lot of things that most people don't, I've noticed."

"Oh," Hermione said suddenly as she checked her watch. "Dragon, we'd better go – our meeting's in fifteen minutes."

"Meeting?" Harry asked.

"Prefects' meeting," Hermione explained. "Hopefully it won't take long." She and Draco hurried from the compartment, and the three remaining Gryffindors immediately struck up a conversation about the Quidditch match they'd heard on the wireless the night before. The discussion only made Harry that much more excited to return to Hogwarts, as he'd missed flying so much it was almost painful – the inter-house competition had been canceled the previous year due to the Triwizard Tournament, and there hadn't been enough space to fly at Grimmauld Place. He was more than ready to start training again.

Roughly half an hour later, Hermione and Draco returned, Draco immediately reaching for a chocolate frog from the pile of sweets his friends had bought off the trolley.

"How'd it go?" Harry asked.

"It wasn't terrible, I guess – the Head Boy is a little long-winded though," Draco replied once he'd swallowed his treat. "The Head Girl kept shooting him looks whenever he started talking too much."

"And who are the other prefects? The ones in our year, I mean."

"Well, the other Gryffindor prefect is Neville," Hermione said with a smile.

"Neville? Wow, that's great!" Harry replied. Truth be told, even if he really was in line for next year's Quidditch captaincy, he had been a little jealous of Draco and Hermione…but upon hearing that Neville had been chosen, that feeling disappeared instantly. On top of being an amazingly loyal friend, Neville worked harder than anyone Harry knew but hardly ever got any recognition – if anyone deserved the badge, it was him.

"Neville?" Ron repeated, looking shocked. "But Neville's marks are abysmal!"

"Excuse me," Hermione said coldly, "but Dumbledore takes far more than just marks into consideration. Neville is a lovely person and more than qualified to be a prefect. And just because he has so much trouble with Potions doesn't mean his marks are 'abysmal' – he's top of our year in Herbology, and I happen to know for a fact that his Charms scores are higher than yours." She checked her watch and stood. "If you'll excuse me, I have patrols in five minutes."

"Nice going, Ron," Ginny said sarcastically once Hermione was gone. "Do you always have to be such a thoughtless prat?"

"Shut up, Gin," Ron retorted.

"So you never said who the other prefects are," Harry interrupted, hoping to stop an argument from brewing – when they got going, the Weasleys' tempers were as fierce as their hair was red.

"Well, there's a boy and girl from each house," Draco said. "Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan are the Hufflepuff prefects, and it's Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw."

"Ernie Macmillan, really?" Harry asked, making a face. Ernie had – quite dramatically – accused him of setting a monster on his classmates back in second year, and he was more than a bit pompous. "And who's Anthony Goldstein?"

"What d'you mean, who's Anthony Goldstein?" Draco replied, looking very confused. "He's in our…oh, wait…you're not in my Herbology class. Never mind. But surely you know him – tall, sandy-haired bloke, took Mandy Brocklehurst to the Yule Ball?"

"Erm…no," Harry confessed. "We don't have any classes with the Ravenclaws."

"None at all?" Draco's eyes widened. "Wait…now that I think about it, Slytherins never have class with Hufflepuff – I just know most of them from our electives."

"I wonder why they do that?" Ginny mused. "In our year, it's Gryffindor who doesn't have classes with Hufflepuff. Seems a bit…difficult to promote inter-house unity if you don't even know a quarter of your classmates, doesn't it?"

"You never said who the other Slytherin prefect is," Luna cut in. The other four jumped, unaware that the blonde girl had even been listening. Draco's expression darkened noticeably at the Ravenclaw's question.

"Pansy Parkinson," he said shortly.

"Oh," Luna said. "That's too bad. She's not very nice, is she?"

"Understatement of the year, Luna," Draco said dryly, though Luna had already returned to her magazine. "Pansy doesn't know the meaning of the word. She definitely doesn't seem like prefect material, either – I thought for sure it'd be Tracey, or maybe Daphne Greengrass."

"I'm sure Dumbledore has his reasons," Ginny said, though she sounded doubtful. Draco snorted.

"While I don't doubt it, I think this falls under the category of 'completely barmy decisions that only might make sense if explained later'," he said. "The head students did say they might mix up the houses for patrols though, so there's that at least."

The rest of the journey passed smoothly, the scenery outside growing steadily wilder as the train moved northward. Hermione returned while Draco temporarily left for his own patrols, and many familiar faces stopped by to say hello, Neville, Blaise, and Tracey among them. Neville flushed bright pink when they offered their congratulations on his prefect selection, but he grinned and involuntarily raised a hand towards the little silver badge, the natural movement suggesting that he'd already done it more than once. When the voice of the conductor announced their impending arrival at Hogsmeade Station, they took it in shifts to change into their Hogwarts robes.

"Why is it always raining when we get to Hogwarts?" Ginny remarked as she fastened her cloak. Thick drops were cascading down the windows, and they could hear it pounding the roof – this was the second year in a row they'd arrived in the midst of a torrential downpour.

"Dunno," Ron replied grumpily, "but the Sorting had better not take long – I'm starving. And would you two stop doing that?" he added, glaring at Draco and Hermione. "It's annoying." Without another word, Ron swung his own cloak around his shoulders and left the compartment in a huff.

"What did we do?" Hermione asked, sounding a little hurt.

"No idea," Draco said honestly, staring at the compartment door, his fingers brushing against Hermione's. Harry was used to their little exchanges and caught it, and he suddenly suspected that the same action, or something similar, had caused Ron's outburst. Ever since they'd arrived at Grimmauld Place, the redhead had commented unfavorably whenever anything of the sort happened – which was odd, because though they'd relaxed a bit, Draco and Hermione were incredibly private with their affections and hardly ever did anything more than briefly touch if they weren't alone. Considering that they were now in fifth year and had seen plenty of classmates doing far worse in the halls at Hogwarts, Ron's complaining was both unwarranted and downright ridiculous. Determined not to let Ron's sour mood affect his own, Harry merely shrugged and said that it probably wasn't anything worth worrying about. All conversation stopped then as they exited the warmth of the train and stepped onto the platform, hurrying through the heavy rain towards the carriages as quickly as they could. By the time they reached the castle, they were soaked to the bone and more than ready for a hot meal. Hopefully, their headmaster would take pity on them and keep his pre-feast remarks short.

It seemed Dumbledore did have a feel for his students' needs, as he bade them tuck in almost immediately after the Sorting ended. The food seemed even more delicious as usual, and everyone took the opportunity to catch up with friends and classmates. Harry had a hard time hiding his enthusiasm when Angelina Johnson, who was sitting nearby, told him of her status as the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain, and that she planned to hold trials the following Friday.

"Make sure you're there," she said. "We need a new Keeper now that Wood's gone, and I want to see how the candidates fit with the whole team."

"Wouldn't miss it for anything," Harry promised.

As the last of the desserts vanished, Dumbledore rose to give his announcements.

"Good evening, everyone, and welcome back! To those of you joining us for the first time – welcome. A reminder to all that the Forbidden Forest is, as its name suggests, forbidden to all students, as is Hogsmeade to all below third year. Fanged Frisbees have been added to the list of items banned in the castle – for the full list, please see Mr. Filch. Anyone interested in trying for their house Quidditch team should see Madam Hooch or their house captain for the trials schedule. And finally, I ask you to please welcome your new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, Professor Umbridge."

There was a smattering of polite applause as Professor Umbridge stood. Or at least, it looked like she'd stood – it was hard to tell, as she seemed to be very short indeed. She wore a thick pink cardigan over her robes, and a frilly little bow of the same color was perched on top of her short gray curls. Her face twisted into a simpering smile as she spoke.

"Hem, hem. Good evening," she said, her high-pitched, girly voice not matching her toad-like appearance at all. "I am very pleased for the chance to educate so many fine young minds – I do believe we will have a pleasant year together. Now, I would like to say a few words…"

'A few words' turned into a full-blown speech – Harry managed to catch a few words but otherwise found his mind wandering very quickly. Term hadn't even started yet, and this woman was already proving herself to be as fascinating as one of Binns' lectures – that is, not at all. Professor Umbridge droned on and on, either unaware of or ignoring the fact that almost nobody was paying her any attention, and the students barely contained a collective sigh of relief when she finally finished.

"Well, that was interesting," Hermione commented as they all stood to leave. "First years, follow me please!"

"I don't know that 'interesting' is the right word, Maya," Harry replied. Hermione smiled a little and shook her head.

"You didn't really listen to what she was saying, did you?" she said knowingly. Harry grinned.

"Not really."

"Well, I think I need to fill you in on this one, because she said some very important things – or rather, it's what she didn't say that was important."

"Which was…?" Hermione turned and looked at her friend as they reached the top of the marble staircase. Her jaw was set and her lips were pressed together in a thin line.

"The Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts," she said gravely.

A/N: And fifth year has begun...Umbridge. Yikes.

We're supposed to have negative temperatures here tomorrow morning before you even factor in the wind chill, & the rest of the day doesn't look much better - I'm seriously considering hibernating instead of going to work.

Thank you for the new follows/faves/reviews, & for reading! Hope you're liking it so far.

JKR owns all things Potter, I just play. Please review, & enjoy! :)