An: so here it is after the long wait, sorry it took so long.
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September first found them all scrambling to pack in their annual frantic rush to reach King's Cross on time. Thankfully they were spared a repeat of last year's incident now that Fred and George were no longer attending Hogwarts and thus didn't feel the need to send their school trunks hurtling into unfortunate siblings and passersby.
Further uncomplicating things was the fact that the twins and Carmilla were currently absent and unable to see them of as they were in Assyria of all places for 'business reasons'.
Instead they were escorted by Ministry Aurors after gathering at Grimmauld place via Floo. A now noticeably paler Laura accompanied them.
Thankfully they managed to arrive without incident with a record full twenty minutes to spare.
After saying their goodbyes they split up, Ron and Hermione leaving to go to the prefects' carriage while Harry found a carriage.
Luckily he ran into Neville and Luna in the corridor talking with a couple of other fellow D.A. conspirators just as the stares started to become too much.
People stared shamelessly as he approached. They even pressed their faces against the windows of their compartments to get a look at him.
He'd been expecting but not quite prepared for the upswing in the amount of gaping and gawping he would have to endure this term after the events of the summer following the D.A.s' and his own narrow escapes from the castle that had followed the now legendary flight of the Weasley twins in the wake of Dumbledore's own fabled escape from Ministry Aurors and Umbridge herself along with the now deceased ex-Minister.
Sighing in relief he finally made his way through the throng of people cramming the hallway to greet Neville and the others.
"Hello, Harry."
"Luna, hi, how are you?"
"Very well, thank you," he had to steel himself not to blush as she smiled up at him.
Glancing down he noticed the magazine she was clutching to her chest proudly pronounced in large letters that there was a pair of free Spectrespecs inside.
"Quibbler still going strong, then?" asked Harry, who felt a certain fondness for the magazine, given all the support it had given him and the D.A. helping to spread word of what was happening to the outside. By the time of the D.A.s' 'departure' even Malfoy had been helping to smuggle the publication news, he still had the scars to prove it.
"Oh yes, circulation's well up," said Luna happily, and Harry was torn from his thoughts of Malfoy and the strange relationship they now shared; not quite enemies but not quite friends.
He found himself smiling unwittingly at the happiness she exuded.
"Err... let's find seats shall we," said Harry, and the three of them set off along the train through hordes of silently staring students. At last they found an empty compartment, and Harry hurried inside gratefully.
They spent the rest of the ride talking and catching up until they'd all three been pulled away from a four way game of Exploding Snap with Ron, to attend an impromptu lunch with Slughorn where found himself sitting across from a sickly looking Draco.
Squashed next to an uncomfortably close Luna, looking at him Harry couldn't help but think he looked ill.
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Come October Harry had his first 'lesson' with Dumbledore. It was in fact in actuality to be a meeting with an Austrian Unspeakable on loan from Northern America, LaFontaine, a friend of Laura's Carmilla had sent in her stead.
A plan for the removal of his Horcrux had at last been finalized.
Harry was a little unnerved by her eagerness to experiment and fondness for invasive procedures and needles.
In the end the procedure was relatively painless and he spent most of it unconscious or so dosed up on potions that he might have well have been unconscious.
Luckily the 'lesson' had been scheduled for a Friday so no one could question his failure to attend the next day's lessons.
When he finally recovered from the ordeal enough to sit up in bed he felt cleaner somehow like a weight he'd never noticed had suddenly been lifted from him.
Sitting in bed in the hospital wing madam Pomfrey having long walked off after prodding him with a half dozen different sharp wand movements and feeding him a strange blue potion at the Unspeakable's request, he took in the Owl sitting patiently on his bedside table.
Harry, thought you might want to know.
That was what the note said. No postscript, no other note, just that single sentence.
Flipping it over he noticed that it was from Laura.
Curiously he grabbed the paper that had accompanied the note; it was in some foreign language that might have been French but had English translations underneath.
There right under - Are Moon Toads real? pg 4, was: Wanted British fugitive Fenrir Greyback bounty cashed pg 5
The next day at breakfast there was an outbreak of gasps at the delivery of copies the morning edition of the Daily Prophet arrived with the rest of the morning's mail, headline screaming of Greyback's capture.
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An: Luna got invited along to Slughorn's lunch due to her connection to the Quibbler, along with being a known member or 'suspected' member of the D.A. who are a pretty infamous student movement. Again sorry for the long over due update, I was a little stumped for ideas of where to go with this.