Disclaimer: - I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers; everything else is purely my imagination-running wild…..
"Hi, guys."
To say that the commotion caused at platform 9¾'s was pleasant would be an understatement. The furore caused just by the Weasley family would have put 'the Battle of the Somme' to shame, raised voices, hugs, tears, shouts, accusations, recriminations, all flew within the first few moments of Harry arriving and saying 'Hi,'
Molly Weasley and family each hugged, shouted and spoke as one at Harry. For the first few moments Harry didn't know whether to run and hide or just stand there and listen, however that was nothing compared to what happened next as the Auror's arrived and proceeded to try to remove Harry from the platform. This was only compounded by Dumbledore and his Order showing up and trying to get Harry to go with them.
All in all, it would have been better not to show up at the station.
As it turned out, Harry only had a few moments in which to say 'Hi' to the Weasley family before being dragged off with the Aurors to the Ministry of Magic, closely followed by Dumbledore and Moody.
This didn't exactly sit well with Harry at the time, as conscious of the fact that he had been secluded for the last two months with only his owl Hedwig for company and his little jaunts into the wizarding world, either to get food and supplies from Diagon Alley or his integration of deatheaters, he put up a bit of a fight to ensure his own safety.
Although raising a shield charm, wasn't probably the best thing that he could have done, his instincts had taken over with so many people trying to get to him.
"Oops…….sorry about that," Harry had said as he surveyed the floored Aurors lying on the ground, as his shield charmed had been a little bit over powered and had caused them to be knocked backwards on to the floor of the station. The Weasley's, being nearer to the wall had been pushed back against the brickwork instead of falling over, although they did look surprised at being moved in such a fashion.
Dumbledore and Moody, had each thrown up their own shields, which countered Harry's, therefore they were two of the only people standing at that moment, within a ten foot radius, who were either not supported by a brick wall or who were lying on the ground.
Harry pleased at seeing his friends had forgotten that he was wanted for questioning about the deatheater attacks at the end of the school year, when he had first attended Gringotts bank. He knew that he would be questioned about his involvement but expected it to be once he had got to Hogwarts, not on the station platform.
Finally realising what was going on, Harry kept his shield I place and looked at the Aurors.
"What do you think you are doing?" He nearly spat at the Aurors, "Why did you grab me?"
The Aurors by this time had managed to get to their feet, a few had drawn their wands and were point them at Harry.
"You are wanted for questioning about your involvement in the deatheater attacks at the beginning of July, outside Gringotts Bank", the Auror said, surveying the area conscious that this action had attracted quite a crowd of people, all looking at what was going on.
"And your reason for just grabbing me by my cloak was?" Harry said, looking straight into the Aurors eyes. He would not back down, "Isn't that assault? Why could you not have attracted my attention by calling my name?"
The Auror looked everywhere by at Harry, it seemed that although he was a student of Hogwarts, everyone may have forgotten that he was also a legal adult, after having been emancipated by Sirius.
"Now Harry, you know that you should be doing magic outside of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said in his best grandfather voice, looking directly at Harry.
Harry had forgotten that Dumbledore was there and pushed down his anger at the man. He would let his Slytherin side come to the front when dealing with Dumbledore and his Order. He didn't want to become a puppet of the 'old man' and knew that this way would be better for him and all concerned, he would soon get his revenge for the 'blocks on his mind' and other things soon enough.
"Professor, I came to the station and was grabbed by these men, who did not say who they were," Harry said, as he looked at the Headmaster, "they could have been anyone and I believe after my last altercation, which lead me to being accused of underage wizardry that I could use self defence." Harry continued, "I only raised a shield and I did not attack anyone, if anything I was assaulted by these men. I still haven't seen anything that says they are Aurors."
"Constant Vigilance Potter………good move" Moody said quietly, although his voice did carry to members of the Weasley family and others of the Order. Although this did not being a smile to Dumbledore's lips.
The Auror not being used to not getting his way with the normal wizarding population made his presence known.
"I have a letter here by the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, requesting that you come to her office at the first opportunity", he said passing the letter towards Harry.
Harry lowered his shield to take the letter from the Auror only to hear Dumbledore say "Harry I would advise that you take that"
However at that precise moment Harry's hand had come into contact with the letter and he felt that familiar tug at the back of his navel. 'The bloody letter was a portkey'
Before he felt the tug of the portkey he could see the faces of Ron, Heroine and Ginny looking at him as he disappeared.
Rushing through space Harry suddenly felt very exposed, he still had his wand out and his adrenaline was now at an all time high.
Landing in an unfamiliar setting, he fell to the floor and immediately cast his strongest stunner that he could perform. It was one of his stunners that didn't require a direction, this was one that caused a three hundred and sixty degree stun, anything within a ten foot radius would be stunned unless they already had their shield in place.
The amount of magic that left him, caused him to stumble slightly as he dived towards to the nearest object that he could find, which happened to be a desk.
Looking around Harry found himself in rather plush office, waiting room chairs with unconscious witches and wizards lying in them, the secretary slumped over at her desk.
'Oh shit' was the only thing going through his head at this point at he noticed the name plate on one of the doors, leading off from this waiting area. 'Amelia Bones – Head of Magical Law Enforcement'
'Oh shit, Oh shit, Oh shit', this mantra continued as Harry surveyed the area in which he was currently standing.
The door to the office opened and Harry quickly turned to see who was coming through the doorway, his wand pointing straight at the person.
Amelia Bones, heard a disruption in the waiting area outside her office and went to investigate. She was not prepared for the sight that greeted her, witches and wizards lying slumped in chairs, her secretary lying slumped over her desk. She surveyed the scene in front of her and immediately recognised Harry potter standing in front of her with his wand drawn.
"What is the meaning of this?" she shouted, looking directly at Harry.
"Erm…. Sorry about that" Harry stammered.
"What do you think that you are doing?" she continued, her voice raising by the second.
It was only the distraction of Aurors coming through the outer doorway that Harry lowered his wand.
"Madam Bones," someone shouted, "Are you alright?" the shout taken up by other Aurors coming through the doorway, their wands drawn, as if expecting a fight.
"I'm sorry about that, someone gave me a portkey and the only other time that happened was when I went to see Voldemort at the end of the final task of the Tri-wizard tournament" Harry said, looking at Madam Bones, "I thought it best to stun first and then ask questions later"
"Mr. Potter please put your wand away and come with me," Amelia said as she notice that her Aurors were gradually settling down and enervating the witches and wizards lying on the chairs.
Harry quickly placed his wand back in his wand holster, up his sleeve and walked causelessly into her office, noticing that two of the Aurors that were at the station accompanied him
"Please take a seat Mr. Potter," Amelia said as they entered her office, "It is regarding the attack at the beginning of July outside Gringotts Bank".
The interview, continued for the next half hour, that was until there was a disturbance in the outer office.
"What is going on out there?" Madam Bones said looking at the two Aurors sitting just to the left of Harry.
One of the Aurors made his way towards the door, when it was opened by the secretary.
"Sorry to disturb you but Albus Dumbledore is asking to see you?"
"He will have to wait," Madam Bones replied curtly, "I will only be another couple of minutes"
During the interview, Harry had explained why he was at Gringotts and why he had acted in the way that he had. Although not fully convinced by his actions the DMLE had nothing to go on and Amelia did not feel that it would in the best interests to prosecute Harry, as the deatheaters were clearly marked and Harry had stopped numerous deaths in attacking them, he had only hospitalised the deatheaters not killed them.
As Harry left Madam Bones's office, he could see that Dumbledore was waiting for him in the waiting room. Instead of sitting he was pacing the room, Moody beside him.
"Harry are you okay?" Dumbledore said as soon as Harry entered the waiting room, "We were quite concerned for you after you left the station, it was only when the Aurors explained where the portkey would take you that we felt it would be okay"
Harry mumbled, "So concerned that it took you over half an hour to get here", although this statement did not reach the headmasters ears.
"Well, we can now make our way to Hogwarts and discuss a few things," Dumbledore continued, "The train had to leave on time, although your friends were quite concerned for you"
"How are we going to get there, I don't feel like taking another portkey, can we floo to your office. Professor?". Harry smiled, although he felt like ripping the headmaster to pieces at the moment that would have to wait, there would be plenty of other opportunities to extract revenge.
"Certainly, Harry, lets go to the floo's downstairs in the atrium" Dumbledore smiled.
As they moved through the outer office, Harry could hear Moody talking to Amelia Bones.
Once Harry and Dumbledore reached the atrium, Harry was directed towards the floo powder, taking a handful he threw it into the fire place, saying Hogwarts, headmasters office.
Once Harry arrived in the Headmasters office, after picking himself up off the floor, he could clearly see from the windows that the Hogwarts Express had not yet arrived and wondered how long it would be, before it did.
The floo roared into life again as Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace. He watched as Dumbledore made his way around the large oak desk and sat down.
"Harry, I am glad to see that you are alright," Dumbledore smiled continuing, "Please take a seat – lemon drop?"
"No thanks Professor" Harry replied taking a seat adjactent to the desk.
"I wonder Harry, could you explain where you were this summer, you know the trouble that we had looking for you?"
"Professor, I am sorry to interrupt, however where I was, is my concern. As you can tell I was well protected and even you couldn't find me, although what you were doing looking for me is still a mystery." Harry smiled, 'Play the Slytherin card Harry,
Do let them know', were the thoughts that were running through his mind.
He had decided to keep Dumbledore in the dark, not go for an all out confrontation with the 'old man', the sorting hat wanted to put him into Slytherin, then that was what he would be. Although if you were a true Slytherin would you be placed in the very house that portrayed cunning, deviousness, ambition or would you pick your own house and let everyone think that you were not cunning and ambitious.
"Harry, you must know that Voldemort will come after you. You need to be protected" Dumbledore continued, "After what happened in the Department of Mysteries……." He left the remainder of the sentence unfinished.
"Professor, I am well aware of what happened," Harry did not want to remember the Department of Mysteries for obvious reasons, "As I am sure you can understand, I was placed back with my 'so called' relatives and then I decided to go to Gringotts to see about getting some money." Harry smiled, "You can guess what the Goblins informed me of."
Harry could see Dumbledore frown at the mention of Gringotts, perhaps he knew where this was going.
"Well they informed me of Sirius's will and my inheritance from him. They also mentioned the Potter vaults, did you know about them Professor?" Harry asked, not really looking for an answer"
"I also discovered that Sirius arranged for me to become an emancipated minor, in effect making me an adult in the wizarding world." Harry looked directly at the Headmaster, he could see the concern in his eyes, he may have lost his chance with Harry.
"I assure you Professor I was pleasantly surprised to find this out, when we had our discussion in your office after the altercation at the Department of Mysteries. I thought that there would be no more secrets, I discovered that I was wrong."
"Harry, you must understand that I never had any intention to hurt or mislead you," Dumbledore said, "it just didn't seem the right time" he concluded.
"Headmaster, after our discussion I can't understand why you did not tell me everything," Seeing that this conversation was going nowhere Harry decided to change the flow and ask some other questions.
"Professor, can you let mw know what my OWL results were, I haven't had a chance to see them as yet and I don't know what subjects I will be taking this coming year" Harry said, changing the topic. He could feel the slight probing of the headmaster against his mental shield, but decided not to act. 'Keep thinking Slytherin'
"Yes,……now where did I put them" Dumbledore was slightly confused, he still didn't know where Harry had spent the summer and even though he tried to see into Harry's mind he couldn't pierce his mental shields. 'Where had the boy learnt Occulumency?' was running through his mind. Dumbledore rummaged through his drawers finally locating Harry's results.
"Here you are Harry, you seem to have done very well" he said as he handed Harry his OWL results.
Harry accepted the parchment and looked at his results.
Defense Against the Dark Arts – 'O'
Charms – 'O'
Transfiguration – 'O'
Potions – 'O'
Herbology – 'E'
Care of Magical Creatures – 'E'
History of Magic – 'P'
Astronomy – 'P'
Outstanding – 'O'
Exceeds Expectations – 'E'
Poor – 'P'
He was broken out of his observation of his results by Professor Dumbledore, "Are you pleased with your results Harry?" Dumbledore asked him.
"Yes…..yes, very pleased" Harry replied, "When do I have to make my course decisions for this year, Professor?"
"You have until the end of the sorting feast," Dumbledore replied, smiling he continued, "Which shouldn't be much longer as I believe that the Hogwarts Express is now approaching the station at Hogsmeade"
Deciding that he would be getting no more answers out of Harry he quickly informed him that he could wait in the great hall until the other students arrived.
Platform 9¾is….earlier.
To say there was panic at the station after the abrupt removal of Harry Potter was like saying that there was a slight tremor when Mount St. Helens blew her top. Suffice to say that there was pandemonium at platform 9¾'s.
Molly Weasley, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all shouted when Harry took the letter from the Auror and disappeared. Professor Dumbledore and Moody were astounded that the letter had been a portkey and as soon as Harry had disappeared Moody shot two binding hexes at the Aurors present, disabling them where they stood.
"What is the meaning of this?" roared Professor Dumbledore at the Auror who had passed Harry the letter. You could tell that he was angry as his aura was plain to see to all present.
"Where is Harry Potter gone?" he finished, glaring at the Auror.
The Auror in question, was a sorry sight. He had once been a student of Hogwarts and could tell when the headmaster was angry, although he had never seen him this angry, or for that fact ever angry.
"Pro….Professor, it was a letter from Amelia Bones," he croaked, "As soon as Harry touched the letter it would take him straight to the outer office of the DMLE" he finally finished.
"And your reason for this on a platform full of students, couldn't this have waited until Mr. Potter reached Hogwarts?"
"No Professor, Madam Bones said as soon as he was found then he was to be brought in".
During this confrontation, the remaining students tried to enter the train and look out of the windows. They were un-used to seeing their headmaster angry, this was not a side of him anyone had ever seen.
"Albus," whispered Moody, "If he has gone to the DMLE then he will be seen by Amelia, I know that she is okay and she is also a member of the Order"
Dumbledore listened to Moody and was aware that he had let his temper get the better of him.
"You are right, Moody", we must see that the children are on the train safely, then we can go to the DMLE and retrieve Harry"
"Albus, where have they taken Harry?" Molly Weasley asked, looking around at her family, noticing the concerned looks on their faces.
"Molly, all is well. It appears that Amelia Bones wanted to discuss certain things with Harry before his arrival at Hogwarts" Albus informed her.
"Now I wonder if you wouldn't mind helping get the children on to the train so that it can depart on time, Molly" Albus asked her.
"Of course……of course, Albus"
Molly Weasley proceed to Shepard her children on to the train amoung the confused students,
"I sure that Harry will see you all at Hogwarts" she said to the three of them, "and I want to hear from you when he does arrive" looking directly at Ron.
"Okay mum, I let you know" replied Ron
"I'll let you know Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione, sure that Ron would forget the moment that food was present.
"Thank you dear." Molly replied looking at Hermione, "Quickly go and find a compartment before they are all taken," she said turning to Ginny.
"Right mum" Ginny said, raising her eyes skywards. It was not as if it was the first time that they had all travelled on the Hogwarts Express before.
Once they found an empty compartment, they all sat down. Ron, Ginny and Hermione were soon found by Neville and Luna who entered their compartment.
"Did you see that?" Neville said sitting down, talking to no one in particular
"See what Neville?" Ron asked.
"Harry being taken away by those Aurors", Neville replied
"Neville, we were right there when it happened" said Ginny.
"Oh?, Why did they do that then?" he asked, not sure of the events prior to entering the station.
"They wanted to ask him some question surrounding the attack on Diagon Alley at the start of the summer holidays"
"Oh. Right then."
The rest of the train journey to Hogwarts was only spoilt, when Draco Malfoy entered the compartment, followed by his two goons, insinuating about the whereabouts of Harry, but as usual this was ignored by most everyone present, apart from Ron who wanted to attack him for just being on the train. Malfoy satisfied that he had made his one enjoyable stop left to find his own compartment, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle.
The conversation within the compartment consisted of the brief altercation on the platform and the whereabouts of one Harry Potter, this all said and done, the rest of the journey was extremely quiet. Hermione spent her time reading her books, Ginny and Luna were reading various articles from the Prophet and the Quibbler respectively and Ron and Neville playing chess. Although it looked like it was the first time that Neville had played chess, by the rate in which he lost games to Ron.
The train was drawing closer to the castle when they finally decided to get into their robes. Ron was anxious to get to the feast, the only food that he had eaten being the sandwiches made by his mum and the few sweets that they managed to get from the trolley as it past by their compartment.
As they got off the train and walked towards the carriages, Ginny asked the first question concerning Harry.
"Do you think Harry will be at the feast?" she asked no-one in particular.
"Of course, the Aurors couldn't have held him for long, he would have flooed to Hogwarts or Professor Dumbledore would have made a portkey," replied Hermione, "of course he will be there." Although she was only confident in sounding for the sake of Ginny and not one hundred percent that Harry would be there.
"Well, it won't long before we find out," said Ron, "If he isn't then we can save him a seat and wait for him"
Hogwarts Great Hall
Harry had taken his shrunken things to the Gryffindor dormitory and left his trunk by his bed, making sure that it was properly warded. He didn't want anyone looking through it because of the amount of Dark Arts materials and books that he had put in it. The wards wouldn't do anything dangerous, they would alert Harry to the fact that someone would be trying to get into it.
He had managed to find some charms that would hide the books and potions that he had stored in his trunk, however confident he was in his warding he was not certain that Moody wouldn't be able to see through them.
The only other charm that he had put on it was the finger tip removal charm, this would remove the finger tips of the intruder trying to get into his trunk, although not lethal, it would make the finger tips of the person trying to get into his trunk fall off and drop onto the floor. They would be able to take them to Madam Pomfrey to get them re-attached but it would be inconvenient trying to pick up your own finger tips.
It was at this time that he heard a tapping at the window to his dorm, turning around and looking at the window he could see a snowy white owl sitting on the window ledge.
'Oh god, she's going to kill me' he thought, as he made his way the window, throwing it open to allow Hedwig to fly in.
"Sorry Hedwig, I forgot to leave the window open" he said looking at his owl.
Hedwig, was not in the mood for his forgetfulness and immediately flew at him, cuffing him around the head before landing on the end of his bed. If looks could have killed, Harry would be lying in a puddle of his own blood about now.
"Hedwig, look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to forget," Harry said walking slowly towards her, "I get you some food from the feast and will bring it to you later – okay?"
Hedwig was not amused, after all of the time that she had spent with her master at Black Cottage she thought that he would have looked out for her. She flew up and landed on his shoulder and nipped him hard on his ear lobe.
"Ouch!...Hedwig sorry," Harry cried, "what is it with you and my ear lobes, they must be bruised enough by now"
Hedwig glared, 'they would be hanging off if I had my way' was the look that she conveyed.
"Thanks Hedwig, I'll need to get to the great hall if I want to set up the little surprise for any marked deatheaters. Not the sort of thing I was expecting to be allowed into the great hall before everyone else on the first day but hey!" Harry said to Hedwig as he walked through the common room towards the entrance.
"I come and bring you some food after I attend the feast along with everyone else. It should be interesting to say the least, okay girl?" he said, whilst he was walking towards the great hall.
Harry entered the great hall and made sure that no one was present, he cast a few charms at the entrance way in order to make sure that he would be alerted in anyone came near the doorway. He didn't want to be interrupted for about five minutes whilst putting this spell down.
Thinking about it, he cast a notice-me-not charm at the doorway, hoping that anyone coming towards the door would find something else that they needed to do and leave.
Carefully drawing a few markers around the entranceway he muttered a spell, he then cast a two spells at all of the seats and benches in the hall. This would have a three-fold function. The first would detect the dark mark on the person and mark the person for the second and third spells, only when they sat down would the delayed spell vanish the clothes on the parts of the bodies where the dark mark was placed, but any glamour's used to cover the dark marks would also be revealed and removed.
He had purposely made it a delayed spell because as much as he wanted to remove the students who were already marked, he didn't really want to disrupt the first part of the speeches nor the sorting of the new students.
Finally happy that his spells would work correctly he went back to the entranceway and removed the notice-me-not charm from the doorway. He wasn't certain that anyone had come near the doorway, but it didn't hurt to be pro-active.
Taking a seat at the Gryffindor table he waited for the arrival of the students.
Let me know what you think...Sheeps