-Chapter Four-

On The Right Track?

Lord Voldemort's return meant that everyone who worked at the Ministry Of Magic had to work around the clock in their efforts to track down Voldemort and stop him before he got too powerful again. Because of this Arthur Weasley spent most days either at work or away on some errand, and Harry was unable to get a word with him until towards the end of the summer.

Mr. Weasley was just as incredulous as Ron and Hermione had been after Harry had asked for a quiet moment alone. "Draco Malfoy, a Death Eater?"

"I know it's hard to believe," said Harry. "but I'm sure of it. There was something… off about the man. He gave some kind of object to Malfoy."

"What did it look like?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't see, it was only for an instant. But he definitely gave him something!"

Arthur looked like he wanted to believe Harry, but eventually he shook his head. "I'm sorry, Harry. The Ministry gets several hundred leads and hints every day. What you've said to me isn't enough to give priority to."

"But what about the Death Eater?" asked Harry. "They could have a new way of concealing themselves!"

"There's no proof that the man you saw was a Death Eater." Arthur pointed out. "But if we find any evidence of this I'll give it some consideration."

"Can't you do anything at all?"

"We'll look into it Harry, that's all I can promise."

The remaining days of the summer were spent enjoying what was left of their free time. Hermione had suggested they check over the books not their book list, hoping that the books they had to buy would provide some hints as to whether they had passed their O.W.L.S. or not, but it seemed that the three of them had all had to buy the same books.

No further news was forthcoming on the mystery of the O.W.L.s, nor on the whereabouts of the Ministry Owls, the Daily Prophet instead arriving by being launched from an unknown location by Medalyn Catapult (1) to everyone's homes. That day's paper brought the unpleasant news that the Knight Bus had gone missing, along with its crew.

"Blimey, it's all happening now isn't it!" said Ron, trying to make light of the situation, but everyone knew how serious it was getting.

It was amazing how much things could change. On some days Harry would find the house to be bright and cheerful with everyone talking and laughing together, and others it would be silent and morose as further news on Death Eater attacks arrived. Mrs. Weasley in particular would frequently be found gazing into space, undoubtedly thinking of all her family members being so far apart for a change.

Harry himself was growing both excited and concerned with returning to Hogwarts - he'd finally be able to speak to Dumbledore and find out what was going on. He was becoming more convinced that Dumbledore was working on some top secret plan, one that would defeat Lord Voldemort once and for all.

He would keep an eye on Malfoy as well. He was up to something, Harry was sure of it.

All too soon the day to return to Hogwarts came. Special Ministry-appointed cars arrived early in the morning to take them to King's Cross. Everyone's luggage was packed away and they made a swift journey to the station. The luggage was loaded onto trolleys and everyone was ready.

"Right, we'll go in pairs." said Mr. Weasley. "Ginny, you go first with Hermione."

The two of them headed through with Lupin, who'd accompanied them that day.

"Harry, you come with me. Molly, you come through with Ron after us."

Harry and Arthur lined up and moved forwards casually. Within seconds they were on Platform 9 3/4, looking at the scarlet Hogwarts Express before them. Harry turned quickly to Mr. Weasley."Did you have any luck with…?"

"No." said Mr. Weasley quickly, glancing around. "We went to the Malfoys house to have a look and nothing was found. After Lucuis Malfoy's arrest the Ministry had the house raided and confiscated most of the goods anyway. It'd be very difficult to hide anything there. Perhaps you were mistaken on what you saw?" Before Harry could say nothing else he looked back over his shoulder. "Ah, here's Ron."

They all made their way through the crowd of people to get to the train, until they finally found a vacant door they could board on. Harry noticed that there seemed to be a few Aurors on the edge of the crowd, keeping a careful eye on everything.

"Now, you four have a nice term. You're coming back to us for Christmas so we'll see you all then." beamed Mrs. Weasley. The train whistle sounded loudly.

They quickly made their goodbyes and hastily boarded the train just before it left, waving out of the windows at the receding platform. Soon enough they were well underway. "Well, shall, we find somewhere to sit?" asked Harry.

"Erm… we have to go to the Prefect's compartment." said Ron. "You know, gotta keep an eye on things for a bit.|"

"Oh, Okay. See you later."

Ron and Hermione left, leaving Harry alone. He sighed and decided to find a compartment before they all became full.

Everyone openly stared at Harry as he walked through the carriages (except for Cho Chang, who hastily grabbed a magazine and began to practise the art of reading upside down.), and he could hear the whispering to each other in his wake. Harry had always had to put up with this but after the events of the previous school year it had intensified significantly. He said hello to a few people he recognised before something ahead of him caught his attention. Malfoy was walking down the corridor, accompanied, as always, by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Shouldn't Malfoy be with the other prefects? Malfoy came to a compartment and the three of them strolled inside, closing the door behind them.

Harry thought hard. Knowing Malfoy, he wouldn't be able to resist hinting about whatever he was up to to his fellow Slytherins. If Harry could somehow get inside the compartment… With a vague plan of using his invisibility oak to get inside in mind Harry began to walk towards the compartment, only to be interrupted by a voice behind him. "Harry! Harry!" Harry turned around and there, leaning out of one of the compartments he'd just passed, was Neville Longbottom. Neville was a fellow Gryffindor who had initially not handled learning magic very well, but had improved significantly over the previous year, helped in part by Harry's DA meetings. Neville beamed at Harry. "Come in here, plenty of room!"

Cursing his bad luck, Harry followed him in and was greeted by Luna Lovegood and Dean Thomas, who was sitting with his arm around Ginny, a sight that annoyed Harry for some reason. Nevertheless, he greeted each of them warmly. "Hello Luna, how's The Quibbler coming along?"

"Very good," said Luna dreamily. "Everyone seems to want a copy these days, Dad's thrilled. Personally I think everyone just wants to find out how to spot a Higher Jakslip (2)."

The slightly uncomfortable silence that followed was broken by Harry asking how everyone's summer had gone.

"Pretty good," said Dean. "bit annoyed about not getting my O.W.L.s though."

"Yeah!" interrupted Neville. "What's going to happen with that?"

"I heard they're being given out when we arrive." said Luna.

Harry's heart skipped a beat. He'd been secretly relieved that he hadn't had to worry about his O.W.L. results, but now here they were coming up at the rate of… well, however fast the train was travelling. Neville and Dean had both started staring nervously into space, obviously thinking the same thing. Ginny grinned broadly at the looks on their faces while Luna pulled out a copy of The Quibbler and started reading.

"Heard anything about the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher?" asked Ginny eventually.

"Gran was saying it might be another Ministry employee." said Neville, coming back to Earth.

"What?" said Harry incredulously. "Haven't they learnt after Umbridge?"

"Probably not got a choice, no one wants to do it," pointed out Ginny. "And it might be better this year since they're not pretending Voldemort hasn't returned."

She had a point, but still… Harry didn't think he'd be able to really trust the Ministry fully again after their attempts to squash the truth last year…

A huge jolt interrupted their discussion. They heard the screech of brakes, the confused voices in adjacent compartments. Harry looked out of the window into the gathering darkness.

The train was stopping.

"What's going on?" asked Dean. "We can't be at Hogwarts already!"

They got up and went out into the corridor, getting their wands out as they did so. The corridor was full of people, all trying to look out of the windows and see what was happening. Harry could make out quick snatches of conversation, "…Is it the Dementors? …there's a problem with the line… …driver's having a look…". Harry was just pushing through the crowd to try and get to to the window when his eyes were drawn to Draco Malfoy, who was leaning in the doorway of his compartment, smiling smugly. Crabbe, Goyle and a few other Slytherins were pushing through the crowd roughly to get to the window and Malfoy followed them at a leisurely pace.

His compartment was empty…

"I'll be right back." Said Harry. And began to push through the crowd, leaving Neville and the others behind. He got to Malfoy's compartment quickly and, checking to make sure the Slytherins were still distracted, slipped in through the door.

He looked around the room quickly. He knew what he was doing was extremely foolish and that if he was caught he could be in serious trouble, but he couldn't resist a golden opportunity like this. He went through all of the bags until he found one with Malfoys name on and opened it. Inside where his robes and books. Harry began to rummage through the the things and almost immediately his hand came into contact with a strange object. He slowly pulled it out.

It was a small metal pyramid, with several lights of different colours all over it. On top of it a large, yellow light was flashing on and off at a steady pace. Was this the object that the man had given Malfoy in Diagon Alley? A chill went through Harry. There was something funny about the object… something unnatural.

The screams from the corridor jolted Harry out of his thoughts and he spun round to face the door. People were running past it in a panic What was happening. Harry hastily shoved the pyramid back into Malfoy's trunk and hastily went out into the corridor.

It was pandemonium. People were rushing down from the front of the train in utter terror, pushing everyone along with them. Harry tried to grab people as they passed to find out what was happening but they quickly shook him off. "What is it? What's happening?" he shouted as loudly as he could, but could not make himself heard. He tried to step out into the corridor but was immediately caught up in the flow and lost his balance, tumbling to the floor. behind him he could hear the sound of the glass door that separated the carriages being opened, and the panic of the crowd increased. Harry desperately tried to get to his feet again, keeping a firm grip on his wand, but overtime he tried to rise he was pushed down again by the rushing crowd. Finally, the crowd dispersed enough to get back on his feet, and he turned around to see what was causing the panic.

There, at the end of the corridor, was a Death Eater.

Appendix

(1) The Medalyn Catapult is a back-up should something happen to the owls, never used before. It functions simply by placing the magazine or newspaper you wish to send and selecting the location by writing it on the catapult with a special kind of ink and quill, whereupon it will launch the paper to the intended location. This is not a perfect method and several people have been hit by flying magazines (as have some unfortunate birds) and, on occasion, not gotten the paper they wanted. One infamous incident had one unlucky customer receive all of his papers as well as all of the papers intend for everyone else in the neighbourhood as well.

(2) A strange, ghost-like entity that resembles a formless blob and eats mostly thistles. Found in the Scottish Highlands, allegedly