DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER

A/N: Well this time it really isn't my fault for not putting this online sooner my oh so 'brilliant' beta was a little slow this time, but anyway enjoy :P

B/N : Sooooo. Errrrr yeah. I may have had this for like ... 4 months now... er *ahem* Sorry?

Chapter 8 – The Return: Part 2

For a moment the compartment was silent, Ron and Hermione looked both bewildered and annoyed at the forceful tone of the strange, unknown man.

"I have to go after him." Harry said suddenly.

"Harry, what are you talking about?" Ron said moving in front of the door "You could get killed, you heard him, he wasn't playing around. We should just stay here until he sorts this out."

It was not the fact that Ron was actually thinking logically and Hermione was nodding in agreement, but they were actually refusing to help someone who might be in danger, they had all been in dangerous situations before and never had they left someone who might be in danger before.

"Well," Harry said forcing his tone to be calm "I will just go and help the man, who could be sacrificing his life right now for us, while you stay here in the safe compartment."

He pushed past Ron and opened the compartment door but paused before walking through, "I never thought I would see the day you two were afraid to help anyone." he slammed the door startling the two inside who were still staring at his back.

He crept silently down the corridor; a few faces peered through the glass, pressed so close condensation blocked their view. Harry waved them back inside and surprisingly they listened, ducking their heads back out of sight.

Another two carriages passed until he found the man.

He was crouched, his back to Harry, a pair of legs was lying on the floor to one side of him, but he couldn't see the face of whoever it was.

Approaching quietly trying not to make too much noise, the man's back stiffened and he stilled, hand moving instinctively to a pocket in his robes, where he was very slowly drawing his wand from.

Realising the problem Harry stopped wary of being cursed.

"Professor don't worry it's just me... Harry Potter."

"Harry, please leave, this isn't the place for you." He sighed lowering his wand and removing his coat and covering the sickly white body.

"Who is that, and who are you?" he asked

"Professor Remus Lupin and I don't know who the girl is." came the quiet response.

"Let me see," Lupin's head shot up and he immediately began to shake his head " Hey, it will cause a lot less uproar if we don't have to count every student trying to figure out which one is missing." Harry reasoned taking a step forward.

"Harry, I can't even explain to you how terrible it is to see one of your friends or even someone you know lying dead before your eyes, it just isn't something I want you to have to experience." There was a certain protectiveness present in Lupin's eye that Harry hadn't seen before, something which went deeper than a teacher.

'Ok note to self, look up the name Lupin.' he thought pushing it away for the moment and focusing on the matter at hand.

"You don't know me, I just want to help a family, they will want to know what happened to their child and there is no sense in worrying the whole wizarding community as to whose child it is, how would you feel if that was you?"

Lupin was defeated, he shuffled around to the other side of the body, ducking down so he was knelt next to its head then motioned for Harry to do the same.

Crouching down slowly Harry steadied himself in front of the frayed,ragged coat, presumably Lupin's, he nodded to Lupin who gripped the coat and slowly folded it back to her neck.

Harry took a deep and shaky breath releasing it to stare at her face.

"Her name is Lavender, Lavender Brown." he said looking away from her whiteface feeling sick, at the frozen look of horror forever suspended on her face. "She was a third year."

"Thank you Harry, that was a brave thing for you to do," Lupin nodded to him "Why don't you go back to the compartment I'm sure your friends will be worried, the train will be setting of soon I will make sure of it." Indicating the door he then placed the coat gently back over the still Lavenders face.

"Yes professor." he said getting up and walking towards the door, he stopped with his hand placed on the handle, "Do you know what happened, who did it?" he asked not turning around.

"Yes Harry I believe I do." was the only reply.

Nodding he twisted the handle exiting the room, he suddenly felt calmer, as if that room alone was filled with the chill of death and leaving was stepping back into the realm of the living.

Shaking himself free of the images dancing in front of his eyes, Harry walked down the corridor in a zombie like state, not really bothering to see where his feet were leading him; he pushed open the door closest to him and slumped down on the seat closest to the door.

Closing his suddenly tired eyes, he resting his head on the wall behind him in an all too familiar thinking position, memories and ideas whirled around in his head creating an almost visible spider web of linking patterns as he tried to puzzle his way through what was going on.

Groaning in frustration he opened his eyes taking in the room, blinking in surprise before grinning at the irony of the situation.

"Hey guys what a coincidence." He laughed ignorant to the sudden mood change as he looked upon his two new friends.

"What are you talking about Harry?" Neville asked looking up from his Herbology book which was resting on his lap, kept there by the hand placed underneath and fingers gripping the top.

"I wanted to talk to you guys and I just chose this compartment at random and well, here you are." he finished spreading his arms towards them before resting back in his seat with a warm smile plastered across his face.

"Harry, where is Natalia, I would like to see her." Luna said staring at the covered part of Harry's arm.

He grinned as he felt the serpent uncurling from his arm and coiling up on the seat next to him.

The three sat talking and getting to know each other for a while.

As they were laughing the train gave a startling jerk, signalling they were moving on again.

"It seems we are moving again." commented Luna, head turned to the outside watching as the scenery around them changed quickly as the train sped up.

"I wonder why we stopped in the first place." Pondered Neville out loud unaware of Harry's growing discomfort, "Must have been something pretty important to stop the Hogwarts express. Nothing has ever stopped it that I've ever heard of."

They both froze turning to look at Harry who was turning a red colour.

"It seems that Harry has some knowledge of what has transpired." Luna said cocking her head lightly to the left letting her hair fall over her face.

"When the train stopped, I exited the compartment." he admitted figuring he had no reason not to tell them what happened "I saw a man there he was dressed in black with a silver mask, it was a strange shape like nothing I have ever seen before and I knew he shouldn't be on the train, well I suppose that anyone would know that. Then the man that was in our compartment left saying he had to check something out, apparently he is a new professor at school for Defence Against the Dark Arts. I went after him, he was in one of the empty carriages, you know the ones they use for storing the food and stuff like that. He was leaning over a body, it was Lavender Brown. I think that man who was on the train killed her but I don't understand why, she doesn't seem like the type of person that would do anything to someone to warrant them killing her."

"She wasn't the target, she was a random choice; the first unfortunate person to wander into the carriage, a case of wrong place, wrong time." Luna explained.

"How do you know?" Neville asked

"I just do." was the only reply that he got.

The rest of the journey was spent coming up with theories as to who this person was and why he would kill an innocent girl.

When the announcement came that they would be arriving soon, Harry realised that his luggage wasn't in this compartment.

"Hey guys I'm going to have to go now because I left my stuff in the other compartment. Hey Neville save me a seat at the feast will you. Can one of you look after Nat for me and I'll get her back at the feast, thanks." They nodded their goodbyes and he left.

Heading back to his original compartment, he opened the door and walked inside hoping his friends wouldn't comment on his disappearing act.

"Harry, where have you been?" Hermione immediately asked

No such luck then.

"Just leave it for now ok, I have to get changed." he grabbed his robes from the trunk and left, closing the door slightly harder than necessary.

After getting changed he returned to the carriage ignoring his friends and getting ready to depart the train.

As soon as the train slowed to a stop he hopped out, looking around trying to find Neville and Luna. They were stood talking by one of the coaches, smiling he made his way over.

Looking around as he wandered over to them he felt a chill, an unconscious shiver that made its way down his spine. His felt unhappiness and fear he couldn't explain it because there was nothing to be scared of. Shaking off the feeling he continued to make his way over.

"Hey it looks like I won't be needing you to save me a seat after all." he said in a joking manner towards Neville who turned around slightly startled from not noticing his friend's presence.

"Hey Harry, I thought that you were going to come in with Ron and Hermione?" he asked looking around for them seeing if they were following Harry somewhere.

"I was going to but for some reason I just couldn't stand to be there, I tell you it's like I can't go anywhere without being grilled about it." He muttered hopping into the carriage in front of them.

Neville and Luna looked at each other before shrugging and climbing in after him.

In the short trip up to the castle nobody spoke, as the carriage rattled around and Harry looked at the floor thinking, he was calmer now and couldn't understand why he had got so annoyed at Ron and Hermione, they really hadn't done much but ask what was going on with him.

'God, they must be so annoyed at me, I should really apologise'

Climbing the stone steps to the Great door which was granting entrance to all its students felt strange. It was so much different actually entering the castle on time and not in the boats as a first year, or late as he had the previous year when he had missed the train and consequently missed entering with everyone else.

Now it was so different, everyone was rushing up the stairs practically tripping over themselves as they laughed and chatted with each other. Most of them were completely unaware of the horror that had occurred on the train. Apart from a few students; the Patil twins were walking slowly through the crowds clinging to each other eyes darting around, red rims circling them.

Their eyes flitted around the room catching his; he sent them a sad smile for their lost friend. Tears filled the corners of their eyes as they put their eyes to the floor and continued clinging onto each other.

Turning back to the conversation with the others they soon found themselves entering the warmly familiar Great Hall.

Saying goodbye to Luna, who glided rather reluctantly over to the Ravenclaw table, they spotted Ginny sitting in the middle of the Gryffindor table talking to professor McGonagall, who had yet to take her seat at the teachers table running along the front of the hall raised on a slight platform.

"Shall we go and sit with Ginny?" Harry asked Neville over his shoulder.

"Yes of course, but why is professor McGonagall over there with her?"

"Dunno," Harry shrugged, beginning to walk over "She was meant to be staying with her, I guess that they became close over the summer or something. Two months is a long time to stay somewhere." he finished.

"Suppose." Neville said but he still looked a bit disbelieving

"Hello, professor, Ginny." they said raising their hands in sign of greeting.

"Oh hello Mr Potter, Mr Longbottom, nice to see you looking well after your holiday, I trust you enjoyed your summers." said McGonagall looking unusually calm and happy for herself.

The two students looked uncomfortable at the question, but answered it anyway.

"Yes professor, we both had a good summer." answered Harry for them avoiding looking at her.

"Right," she said raising her eyebrows "Well I will talk to you after the feast Ginny". She patted the girl's shoulder, who smiled back at her.

Waiting until the older women had walked away she turned back to the others.

"Alright guys what happened on the train, the teachers got some kind of message and then they all left but McGonagall, what's going on?" Ginny said leaning forward to the two who had sat down on the opposite side to her.

After explaining the situation to her, she slumped in her seat.

"Well she may have been really boy crazy, but she didn't deserve to die." she said then sighed "This isn't going to be helped by the dementors having free reign to search the castle, when everyone finds out about this the dementors are going to be even more powerful."

Harry interrupted her before she could go on. "Sorry Gin, but what are dementors?"

"Oh, right sorry, they are the guards of Azkaban, you know the wizard prison, they are here looking Sirius Black since he escaped from there." She explained "They are the reason you had that cold feeling when you came in, it probably wasn't that strong since they weren't close but when they get close enough it makes you relive your worst memories. Trust me there are some things that you don't want to relive"

Glancing over their shoulders she suddenly became very quiet, and emotion that had been on her face before was now replaced by no expression at all, it was a very strange look for the young girl.

"Ginny… Ginny what's the matter" Neville asked, waving his hand in front of her expressionless, unmoving face.

"Harry," an angry voice said from behind them "What are you doing with this traitor, don't you see what she is, and she is working for You-Know-Who's forces trying to bring him back!" Ron said from behind them, scowling at his former sister.

Harry sighed 'This is ridiculous, why is Ron acting like this? He would never lose faith in his family before what's the difference this time?'

"Right look just give me a minute, I will come and sit with you soon, just go and sit down." The two glared at Ginny but then nodded to Harry and sat further down the table.

"Look just go Harry I don't want to make you choose between your friends, you don't even know me that well, just go." she said, glaring at Harry now.

"Hey, don't give me that look. You know as well as I do that I don't think what they did and what they are doing is right but I want to give Ron and Hermione another chance; they have been my friends for so long they deserve that. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to be friends with you two. If they want to be my friends then they are just going to have to accept that until they come out of this stupid idea that you are in some way evil. Just give me some time, I'll meet the two of you after the feast ok" After his little speech the other two nodded, Ginny muttering a little 'fine'

Standing up, he walked over to Ron and Hermione, who were sitting close together whispering and glancing very unsubtly towards Ginny and Neville who were sat talking, plonking himself down into the seat opposite the two they sat up immediately.

"Ah Harry, I see that your back from that thing over there." he was smirking at what he thought was clever word play.

"Look Ron, you can think what you want to think for now but I believe in Ginny and to be honest if you want to be my friend then you don't talk about this around me." he said simply.

"What the hell are you talking about Harry? You heard what Dumbledore said, he didn't want us to get mixed up with Ginny because she is EVIL."

"I have to agree with Ron Harry, the Weasely's are the lightest family left and they decided that she didn't belong in their family, I have to follow their decision."

Harry was slack jawed, he couldn't believe this, these were the people that he had been close enough to call his family and this is how they treat their own family.

"You want to think that fine, you can find me when you have changed your mind and decided that I was right, but until then, just don't talk to me." he spat at them, getting out of his seat leaving them behind and returning to the others still fuming.

"I just can't believe this! You think you know people." he practically yelled.

Before they could respond McGonagall opened the doors and brought in the new first years that all looked remarkably scared and astounded as they trailed inside after the scary women.

"Hey do you think we looked that scared when we walked inside?" Neville asked only to get looks saying 'are you kidding me' back at him "What?" he asked in response to their looks.

They just laughed shaking their heads and went back to watching the Sorting.

In the end Gryffindor got eleven new students, all of which were now sat at the closest end to the teachers talking among themselves as some of the older students began to introduce themselves.

After singing the school song, in which the twins sang their now traditional funeral March version, Dumbledore stepped up to the front standing behind his podium.

"Welcome new students to Hogwarts, and welcome back to the older students, now the usual rules apply to this year, the forbidden forest is out of bounds to all students, this does mean the older ones as well," looking pointedly at the Twins who as usual just grinned back at him "Now this year as I'm sure all of you know the criminal Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban, around the school there are Dementors the guards of Azkaban, they will not come near you they are simply here for your protection."

There was murmuring around the room at this new information "Also I am afraid that on the train we had a tragedy among our students. Lavender Brown, fell in one of the carriages and hit her head, because she was on her own, there was no one there to help her and she died. This is a huge tragedy for all of the students and her family, if any of you wish to attend a funeral or memorial service for her please contact me or professor McGonagall and you will be granted leave for this. Have a good year." he said stepping down from the podium, a sad look on his old face.

The students around the hall had different reactions, some were just surprised, some were upset because of her death, but the few around the room that were secretly smiling were the ones that were singled out by harry as he surveyed the different reactions to their fellow students death.

"I can't believe that Dumbledore lied, there was no way that she fell and hit her head she was in the middle of the room, and there was no blood anywhere, but what motive would he have to lie?" Harry said to the others, Ginny looked over at Dumbledore and glared at the older man, holding nothing back as he caught her eye.

"He's protecting himself, if the parents find out that he let a murder happen on the train they would pull their children out of school leaving the school with no choice but to close down." Ginny said taking her eyes from the headmaster over to her friends.

"I think she might be right." Neville commented eating the food in front of him "But what can we do about it, I mean he is the headmaster nobody would believe us if we told anyone."

Harry looked back at the table of professors "I think I might know someone that would." he said pointing out Lupin to the other two.

"We'll talk to him next week; we need time to think this over." Neville said Ginny nodding with him.

"Right, we'll tell Luna as well, she will be a really good help." Ginny told them.

"Next week it is then." They all agreed, eating their dinner looking suspiciously at their amazing headmaster.