-Chapter Six-

Eupheus Willow

"But where did you come from?" asked Harry in bewilderment. He was still recovering from his near-fall.

The Stranger turned around, still beaming. "The Ministry! We received word of the attack and just got here. Your friends said you'd run this way so I came to get you. What were you chasing?" he asked, suddenly serious. He looked at Harry intently with his large, piercing eyes.

"Er… A Death Eater." said Harry, caught off guard by the Stranger's abrupt change in mood.

"Really? Why was it here?" asked the stranger.

"There was three of them." said Harry, recovering quickly. "They were after the pyramid!"

"Pyramid?"

"Something that Malfoy had in his compartment."

"Can you prove this?"

"No…. they took it with them!" said Harry in frustration.

The Stranger continued to stare at Harry. "And why do you think they attacked?"

The question caught Harry off guard. He had been thinking the same thing and could only come to the conclusion that he himself had been why they'd attacked. Voldemort could be getting paranoid after the loss of the prophecy. Perhaps he was having his Death Eaters kill him in order to avoid a repeat of last time.

The Stranger's eyes bored into Harry's and the forest around them seemed to shimmer. Then, just as quickly, it stopped. The Stranger abruptly turned away and resumed walking, hands in his pockets (1). The forest returned to normal. "Come on, they're waiting for us." Harry followed behind him, wondering what had just happened.

The place was crawling with Aurors when Harry and the Stranger arrived back at the Express. Harry recognised several people standing guard along the tracks and up above more were patrolling on their broomsticks. As Harry and the Stranger drew closer an Auror exited the train and walked towards them. Harry's stomach lurched slightly as he recognised Amos Diggory.

"Ah, you found Potter. Good work, Willow."

"Thanks" grinned the stranger.

"Willow?" asked Harry, confused.

"Sorry, yes! Eupheus Willow, nice to meet you!" said Willow, offering Harry his hand.

"That's enough." said Amos curtly. "Go and look out for the carriages from Hogsmeade." Willow nodded and walked away. Amos signalled for Harry to follow him and walked towards the train. Harry walked in silence, trying to ink of something to say. Amos looked terrible. His hair had thinned quite a bit since the Triwizard Tournament and there was vacant, perpetually sad look in his eyes. "So… how are things?" asked Harry eventually.

Amos spoke without looking at him. "The other students are on board." He said. "Wait here with them and transport is on it's way." He showed Harry to a door on the nearest carriage. Harry climbed up and opened the door. He turned to thank Amos only to find he had already left. Harry shrugged and entered the carriage.

After that there was a lot of waiting before the Thestrals arrived with the Hogsmeade Carriages that usually took them from Hogsmeade up to Hogwarts. They travelled swiftly, not stopping for anything. The Aurors were taking no chances, one sitting in each of the Hogsmeade carriages with the students. Several others flew alongside the line of carriages on their broomsticks, alert for any further attacks. Fortunately the journey was made without incident, and they arrived at Hogwarts safely. Nobody was surprised to see more Aurors on guard outside the main doors, and soon everybody was sitting at the House Tables.

Harry looked up at the Staff Table and was somehow relived by the sight of Dumbledore watching over everything with a concerned look on his face. It felt good knowing he was watching over them. The rest of the Teachers were observing everything with concerned looks on their faces. Everyone was talking about the attack, and Harry heard many wild theories on why they had been attacked and the amount of people who glanced at him had increased considerably. Dumbledore rose to his feet and coughing politely. The Hall instantly went quiet.

"Good evening!" cried Dumbledore. "I am pleased you arrived here safely! But enough time for talk later. For now, eat!"

Instantly the plates began to fill up with food - in some cases a little too quickly, as the Hufflepuff table discovered when the tremendous pile of roast potatoes toppled over.

Everyone tucked in ravenously, yet people still discussed the attack. A few places down Harry could hear Colin and Dennis Creevey brothers discussing how the Death Eaters could have been after the train itself to us base.

Harry turned to look at the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy talking to Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and several other Slytherins. He had a smug look on his face and most of the Slytherins were hanging off his every word, some open mouthed. Harry turned back to Ron and Hermione. "Look at Malfoy. He was definitely behind that attack."

"Are you serious?" said Ron incredulously, dropping his voice to a whisper as some people turned to look at him."So he's not only working with the Death Eaters but is in charge?"

"Of course not!" Harry replied."I think that pyramid was a beacon… something that drew the Death Eaters to the train. They knew that it was there, and took it with them deliberately so that Malfoy couldn't be connected to them!" Ron and Hermione's responses were cut short by Dumbledore rising to his feet and coughing politely. The Hall instantly went quiet.

"Greetings to you all. To the returning students: Welcome back. To all first years: I am sorry your first year got off to such a rough start.

"The terrible attack that occurred on the Hogwarts Express is but one of many incidents to have occurred since Lord Voldemort returned. Because of this, charms and jinxes have been used to increase security, and the fortifications have been strengthened. We live in very dark times so I implore you - if you see anything suspicious, do not hesitate to tell one of the teachers. Do NOT -" and here Harry could have sworn that Dumbledore's eyes flickered in his direction just for a second, but it's rude to swear. "- investigate the matter yourself. Additional security is also being supplied from the Ministry of Magic. They will be keeping a close eye both on here and at Hogsmeade. Please listen to them and do whatever they say."

Dumbledore paused for a moment to allow what he had said to sink in. "Now, on the matter of the O.W.L.s..."

The Hall, although silent, somehow managed to get quieter.

"You shall receive the results tomorrow at breakfast. Classes will be assigned to you afterwards.

"Now, onto other matters. Mr. Filch has asked me once again to remind you all that using spells in the corridors is strictly forbidden, as are any item purchase from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Quidditch try outs will be-" he broke off suddenly as the doors to the Great Hall opened slowly and Eupheus Willow quietly slipped in, closing the door behind him as slowly and quietly as possible. Then, aware that every eye on the room was on him, grinned broadly and made his way to the Staff table as quickly as he could.

The hall was dead silent. Even Dumbledore seemed to be at a loss for words, but he quickly composed himself. "Ah, yes. May I please introduce you to Professor Eupheus Willow, our new Defence Against The Dark Arts Teacher." He clapped enthusiastically at first but when no one else joined in he quickly stopped. Willow found his seat and sat down to next to Professor Snape who, Harry was not surprised to see, looked extremely angry. It was common knowledge that Snape had always want the Defence Against The Dark Arts position. Eupheus sat in his chair and leaned back casually grabbing a plate of roast dinner in front of him and eating quietly.

"Well… that'll be all." said Dumbledore, regaining his composure. "Off to bed now, sweet dreams!"

There was a huge rush as everyone got up and left the hall at once. Harry, Ron and Hermione tried to stick together but found themselves being jostled about. Harry stumbled slightly as someone tripped him and suddenly found himself face to face with a sneering Malfoy. "Better watch where you step Potter, could turn nasty!" he hissed, before swaggering off in the direction of the Slytherin common room, followed by a chuckling Crabbe and Goyle.

"He's definitely up to something." said Harry determinedly later on. The three of them were all sitting around the fireplace in the empty Gryffindor Common Room. Everyone else had long since gone to bed but neither Harry, Ron or Hermione were feeling tire after that day's events. "We've got to find out what it is."

Hermione shook her head. "Harry, please! The whole idea is just preposterous! You're starting to see spies everywhere."

"But what about the pyramid? It was definitely connected to the Death Eaters attacking the train." Harry pointed out.

"What do you mean?" asked Ron, confused.

"I've been thinking about it. I think that pyramid must have been signalling them. Perhaps there's a jinx or some other spell that makes the Hogwarts Express impossible to find while it is on the move. The pyramid must have been a beacon of sorts!" he said with a sudden flash of inspiration.

"A what?" asked Ron.

"A beacon. A sort of muggle electronic object, it broadcasts a signal. I've seen it in films." Ron looked at him, completely confused (2). Harry turned to Hermione for help. "Hermione, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

Hermione turned away from the window, where she'd been watching a small swarm of Duskflies (3) flying lazily above the lake. "No, muggle objects wouldn't work. The spell and jinxes used to keep Hogwarts hidden. It was probably just something that Malfoy owns."

"Then why did they take it with them?" Harry practically shouted.

There was a long silence. both Hermione and Ron seemed to be thinking the same thing, both looking anywhere away from at Harry and trying to muster the courage to speak. Eventually Hermione got the strength to look at Harry.

"Harry… are you sure it was the pyramid they took?"

"Yeah…" said Ron. "It was pretty mad. It could have been moved somewhere in all of the confusion."

Harry looked at them both incredulously. "Well… I didn't actually see if the Death Eater had the pyramid." he admitted finally. "But I'm sure it drew them there and they took as they left to cover their tracks!"

"But what were they after?" asked Ron.

Harry sighed. He'd been hoping to avoid this. "Me. They were after me."

And he told them what Dumbledore had told at him at the end of last year. About the Prophecy made about Harry that had lead to Voldemort trying to murder him, killing Harry's parents in the progress. He'd been afraid to tell anyone about it, but now he had no choice. He had to make Ron and Hermione understand.

Ron and Hermione both stared at him, with identical shocked looks on their faces. It would have been funny in any other situation. "Does anyone else know?" asked Herminoe eventually.

"No, Just you, me and Dumbledore…" said Harry, trailing off as a nasty thought occurred to him.

"Harry?"

"I think Willow, that new teacher, used occlumency on me!" He told them what had happened in the forest.

"Are you sure? Why would he do that?" asked Ron.

"I don't know, There's something funny about him. I don't trust him."

"Hermione's right." said Ron, shaking his head. "You're starting to see spies everywhere."

"But do you see what I mean?" asked Harry, still determined to persuade Ron and Hermione. "If Voldemort and Death Eaters are after me, who else would be so eager to have a part in it? Malfoy! He wants to get me back for what happened to his father!" he said eagerly, warming to the subject. "They must have given him the pyramid to sneak onto the Hogwarts Express, then they took it with them in order to avoid Malfoy being found out. Why? They're going to try again!" He looked at Ron and Hermione hopefully.

Hermione got to her feet. "I'm sorry Harry, but I still find it hard to believe." She yawned and stretched. "I'm going to bed. We have more important things to worry about for now anyway."

"Like what?"

"Like our O.W.L. results!" snapped Hermione, walking away abruptly and disappearing up the staircase that lead to the girls rooms.

"Oh yeah," said Ron hoarsely, turning a sickly shade of green. "Forgot about that."

Appendix

(1) Unlike bridal gowns, wizard robes come with pockets.

(2) There are no cinemas in the Wizarding World and the concept of films is not understood by most Wizards. Some have discovered films while visiting various Muggle locations and have become taken with the idea. Several have been to cinemas, but most are quickly thrown out due to their odd behavior. One memorable incident involved a small group of Wizards going to see Star Wars, only to believe they were being fired at for real and fought back with their wands.

(3) Small flies that come out during the evening. Have a very prominent white glow on their bodies, and have been known to try and imitate the moon in the sky to confuse observers