Harry and his friends were eating breakfast and talking excitedly. This morning at 11:30, they would be getting on the train and heading home.

Hermione could have taken the 11:00 all the way to London, but her parents – as many did – wanted to see the new station and so had driven up to Scotland for a long weekend.

Neville's Grandmother had been reluctant in allowing him to go all of the way to the new station rather than flooing directly home, but a very polite request through Sirius had changed her mind.

Ron and his brothers would also be flooing from Elizabeth. Ron's dad was fascinated by the idea of a muggle-friendly Wizarding area.

Harry was told by Sirius that he would be picked up from Elizabeth as well.

Soon, all of the students were making their way to the station. Instead of the ten to twenty that normally stayed over the holidays, Hogwarts would see – surprisingly – no students over the two week period. Even the four or five that Hogwarts would always see – regardless of outside influences – had found alternate lodging with friends.

The 11:00 train and floo opening had seen only about one in ten students leave the hall. Several Purebloods had no interest in allowing their children access to the muggle-friendly station. As a result, these would floo directly out from the new floo access at Hogsmeade. A few others were going all the way to London and were satisfied in seeing the new station as they passed by.

The vast majority, however, were leaving on the 11:30.

Ron had been sad to find out that there would be no snack cart on this trip. To many who were in higher years, it felt very odd to only be on the train for one and a half hours instead of the six they were used to.

Harry, who was watching out the windows as they traveled, called out, "Here it comes!"

They all looked out and saw the new station. Instead of a platform enclosed within walls all around like at King's Cross, the platform was completely open on the sides. As a result, all of the students could see the parking lot.

The friends all exited together and Harry heard, "There they are!"

They all turned and Arthur and Molly were standing there with Ginny. "Hey, Ginny," Harry said as he watched Mrs. Weasley crush her youngest son in an embrace.

"Hello, Harry," Ginny said shyly.

Harry was confused. He and Ginny had talked a couple of times during the year via owl and he couldn't understand why she was acting so odd. Before they could continue their conversation, Molly took the time to embrace Harry almost as enthusiastically as she had Ron. Ron looked relieved – he felt he was getting too old to be hugged like that in public and Harry distracting her meant that he was saved from too much more public displays of affection.

Ron almost desperately started talking with his father so as to avoid any more of that.

Once Molly was satisfied that Harry was well and, yes, as far as he knew he'd be visiting over Christmas, Molly went back to watching for the rest of her sons and Harry went back to talking to Ginny.

"Looking forward to Christmas?"

At this Ginny broke out of her shell. "Oh, yes! Bill and Charlie are coming to visit! Originally, we were going to have to go visit them but Dad said that now they were coming to visit us."

Harry grinned. "I'm looking forward to meeting them. Ron's told me a few stories."

Ginny smiled at that. "You're staying with Sirius, right?"

"Yeah. And Remus. We're going to visit friends and family. I'm sure we're going to be stopping off at the Burrow."

Ginny was suddenly shy again as she said, "I'll be sure to have a present ready for you."

Harry, who was eleven, was flummoxed by the rapid changes in Ginny. Girls were weird, he decided. "I'm looking forward to it."

Suddenly there was a commotion and the two looked over. Percy and the twins had found the group. Molly repeated her hugs all around and Harry grinned as he said, "Hey, Percy."

Ginny was confused. Why was Harry so friendly with Percy? As a matter of fact, why were the TWINS being so friendly with Percy? It confused her because the twins, in the past, missed no opportunity to make fun of their studious older brother.

Instead, the twins, Ron, and Harry were all being very nice to him and Percy seemed to be much more relaxed as well. She would have to get to the bottom of this.

Sirius was walking with Amelia Bones. Susan had already found them.

Sirius asked, "How many are on duty?"

Amelia replied, "Four. There are two watching the apparition points and floo. The other two are on the platform." She looked around. "I think I like this better than the London station. It's much more open."

Sirius replied, "Yeah. 9 ¾ was always a bit closed in to me. When I got it built, I looked into a few changes. Even the windows are different."

Amelia looked over at what Sirius was looking at. "Those are some big windows."

Sirius grinned. "And they're not even glass. It's some new muggle thing called plasiglass or plaxiglass or something like that. It's a bit sturdier and the unbreakable charms worked really well on them. It was also easily-enough installed that this could all be put up in a matter of weeks." He looked around. "It's amazing how quick this could be made because it was already within the areas charmed to make the Express uninteresting."

Amelia was curious. "Why cover it?"

Sirius replied, "I wanted it to look really Muggle but be comfortable. The windows prevent wind from blowing on the platform when the train is in and selective warming charms heat air which is pushed out of the vents. If any non-magical who didn't know about magic ended up here, they would assume it was a regular station. Besides, it was easier and cheaper than setting up charms like there are in London."

Susan was fascinated by the discussion. She looked around and conceded that without wizards and witches there was nothing which screamed, "MAGIC!" about the new platform or station.

The building in the middle of the platform was brick on three sides and large clear walls facing the platform.

Inside, she could see a large fireplace for a floo and two areas which looked to be apparition points - but only because she knew what those were. To the untrained eye, it looked like an old fireplace and two vestibules.

There were rows and rows of chairs which looked to be connected to each other. On either side of the building were large clear walls which extended fifty feet beyond the building and curved back to the platform on the north and south sides. The train fit just below a ceiling which covered the area and prevented rain and snow from landing on the platform. Looking through the train, there was nothing on the other side, but that was okay because the train blocked most of the winter weather.

Sirius finally saw his godson surrounded by people with red hair. He called out, "Harry!"

Harry turned and saw Sirius and the sudden grin was all James. Sirius almost sighed but kept it to himself. Instead, he waved cheerfully. Harry said something to the Weasleys and rushed over, dragging his trunk.

"Hey, Sirius! I'm ready!" Harry was in good cheer.

"Well, we have to stick around a bit until most of the people have left because … well, I kind of run this place."

Harry was agog. "You run it? Not the Ministry?"

Amelia volunteered. "This is a cooperative effort. Sirius bought the land and built the station. He pays for overtime for a few Aurors and a few others to run it. The Ministry pays the base salary for the Aurors."

Harry looked around. "It's nice."

Hermione had almost immediately said goodbye to her friends and started looking for her parents. It didn't take her long to see them inside the station waving through the windows.

She furiously waved back and rushed to join them. She had a bag which held a couple of books and her shrunken trunk, set to unshrink at her wand-tap. Percy had shown her the charm and helped her with it. (Percy had badgered Sirius for a demonstration of the exact variant before the train ride to Hogwarts.)

Hermione rushed up and threw her arms around her mother first and then her father.

Graham smiled down and said, "Where are your things?"

Hermione smiled. "In my bag. A prefect helped me shrink them like Sirius did before we went."

"Excellent! Now, We're going to stay in Glasgow tonight after a bit of Christmas shopping and then go home tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon, your Headmaster wanted to stop by and talk to us."

Hermione was confused. "Why would Professor Dumbledore need to talk to us?"

Both parents shrugged. "He said it was something for the family and he'd explain when he arrived."

Hermione was very curious, but soon was distracted with the car trip from Elizabeth Station to Glasgow.

Vincent Crabbe was met by his mother when he flooed home. His father had been sent to Azkaban after he and his sister were found to have Cruciatus exposure.

He was of two minds about that. On the one hand, his family was no longer whole. His mother had control of the family businesses and estates until he reached seventeen. On the other hand, he didn't have to worry about his father's tendency to use pain to enforce his instructions or punishments.

When he saw how cheerful his younger sister was, he decided that maybe it was better this way.

Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had both been waiting when Draco flooed into Malfoy Manor. As soon as he had cleaned up any ash (as was proper for any Pureblood – they had standards of course) he bowed to his parents and said, "Hello Father, Mother. I have returned for the Solstice and Yule celebrations."

Lucius nodded in approval even as Narcissa moved to embrace their son. As soon as she let him go Lucius said, "It is good that you are home, my son. We shall have lunch and you can tell me of Hogwarts, your teachers, and your classmates."

Draco nodded. His father always wanted to know everything so that he could properly manage things. Merlin, did Draco have a few things to tell his father.

Sally Anne Perks found her mother and father waiting for her in the parking lot just as the letter from home had said. She was far more content about going home and attending the family Christmas gathering now that she knew that … the Bastard … would no longer be around. He was locked up and would not be getting out until after she was a legal adult and could hex him if he made a bad move.

Her father was still very apologetic about the whole thing. He had blamed himself for not seeing the bad in his own brother. His semi-employed brother volunteering to take Sally Anne for her dance classes and recitals had been thought to be a godsend.

Now that the truth was out, Sally Anne had no more interest in dancing. She wanted to learn to be a mind healer instead and help other children who had suffered as she had. Her parents were very supportive.

She didn't find out that she would never have to actually see the Bastard again until three years later when word filtered through the family grapevine that the other people he was locked up with had taken care of the problem. Bruce Perks would spend the rest of his life in a medical facility.

The Hogwarts staff made their way to the Great Hall. They would be eating and talking about the just-completed term at the same time.

The Headmaster had called for the meal to begin and everyone served themselves before Albus said, "So, how was the first term? Pomona, let us start with you. How did the Hufflepuffs fair?"

Pomona swallowed the bit that she had just taken and said, "There are no real problems at all. The upperclassmen, taking their cue from the introduction, have all taken the younger years under their wing. I think it has produced a far better term than we have had in a while."

Albus nodded even as he drank some pumpkin juice. "Very good. Filius?"

Filius Flitwick was obviously thinking as he slowly chewed his food. Finally he said, "I'd have to say it's an improvement over past years. However, part of that is because a number of long term issues have come to light."

At the rest of the staff looking at him with interest, he sighed. "I have found an unfortunate trend. Over the last several years, it has become somewhat common for older students to bully younger students, especially those that are not 'perfect Ravenclaws.' Because we have had many more house meetings this year, the hidden hazings have become far less hidden. I have had to discipline several students for such behaviour."

Albus looked at his Ravenclaw head of house with some sadness – and a small edge. "Do you need, perhaps, some additional support from myself or any other? I would be willing to aid your efforts to stamp it out if asked."

To the surprise of the rest of the staff, Filius suddenly grinned. "You already have, Albus."

"Oh? How so?"

"When I first began punishing those that were caught, there were a few protests. They claimed it was tradition – although I refuted that as such was not the case when I attended Hogwarts. I offered to allow them to present their protests to you if they were dissatisfied with my adjudication. Your handling of the Gryffindor-Slytherin incident at the beginning of the year, your inspections, and the tale of how you convinced the Board to buy new brooms, have made the protesters much more nervous about going that route."

Albus chuckled grimly. "I am happy that is so." He then looked at Filius and asked, "Have there been repeat offenders?"

"Not as of yet."

With a gleam in his eye (far different than his traditional twinkle) Albus said to Filius, "I would ask that the first repeat offender be brought to me."

Filius had a very similar gleam when he said, "Of course, Headmaster. That sounds an excellent idea."

Albus nodded and then said, "Minerva?"

Even as Severus listened to the conversation, his conclusion that the Headmaster had changed was very much confirmed. This was not the laid-back Albus Dumbledore, friendly and distant. This was the Dumbledore that his former master feared to cross.

Professor McGonagall had a small smile as she spoke to her boss. She was very happy with Albus' new interest in being involved. It had made her job much easier, after all.

"I have had remarkably few incidents this year with the Gryffindors. The Weasley twins have become much more temperate in what they do and the few incidents that have occurred have not risen to the level of being malicious or dangerous. There have been very few incidents this term. It is notable that the first years have had no interhouse conflicts whatsoever. I believe that is a first."

Albus nodded in satisfaction. "I am very glad to hear that. I have noticed that the first year Gryffindors and the first year Slytherins have been remarkably behaved." He nodded at both Heads of House in acknowledgement. "I hope that this will continue. Severus, Minerva, please relay my compliments to each group. Pomona, Filius, you should also relay my compliments as I have had no reports of bad behaviour from either of your house First years either."

Suddenly, before anyone could respond, Albus changed his mind. "Disregard that last. I believe I will take the time to pass on my compliments personally. I shall write letters to each student and their guardians."

The staff was amazed. This was a VERY different Headmaster than they were used to dealing with from past years. Normally, the Headmaster only got involved when things went poorly. None could recall Albus Dumbledore giving positive reinforcement to any student until he had first become involved because of a negative incident.

Albus then asked, "Minerva, is there any other comments regarding the Gryffindors?"

She shook her head and Albus turned to Severus. Before the Headmaster's prompting Snape said, "The Snakes have been behaving well. The incidents that Filius remarked upon and the House meetings have been most educational in their public faces. There have been no academic disasters. I have nothing else to say."

Albus nodded. "Very well." He addressed the other staff. "Are there any issues that anyone wants to bring up to the rest of us?"

Filch had a couple of complaints but it was mostly a matter of form rather than particular students creating trouble. Hagrid had nothing, as did Quirrell and the others.

"Now, as there are remarkably no students staying this year, we shall have our staff party on the 23rd, thus allowing any staff member to spend Christmas with family or friends. I shall, of course, be here every night and most days, as will the staff that lives full time at Hogwarts. Are there any objections?"

There were none given verbally. Quirrell, as directed by his master, would send a letter the next day saying he had been called away for the holidays. He had no need to celebrate with these pathetic fools. He would spend the time trying to break into the wards around what he assumed was the Philosopher's Stone.

"Now, beginning on Boxing day, there will be some inspections of the grounds and castle in an effort to find any cursed items. Should any of you be available to help in this, please let me know. It will take some effort but I want to ensure that the dormitories and classrooms being used, at least, are cleared."

Later that evening, Albus sat thinking about the inspections he needed to get done. He had a sudden thought. "Tippy!"

There was a pop and suddenly there was a house elf in front of him. "Master Headmaster called for Tippy?"

Albus smiled at the small female elf and said, "Yes. I, once again, have need of the help of the house elves."

It was Sunday afternoon and the Grangers had arrived home. It had taken some time to unload the car as they had completed a large amount of shopping in Glasgow. Hermione had succumbed to the need to get to her other books and her trunk was once again full size.

Graham Granger was a bit put out about that but Jane, his wife, had promised to make up for it. She had a very particular smile on her face when she offered.

When Hermione saw that, she cried out, "Ewww! I did NOT need to hear or see that!"

Jane just grinned at her daughter and said, "It's alright, Love. I'm just doing my part to ensure family tranquility."

Hermione looked aghast at her parents – who by this time were both grinning. As soon as the laughing started, she put her nose in the air and "Hmphed" at them and made her way to her room. She really didn't need to know about some things.

She kept to her room for the next two hours, not wanting to take any chances of walking in on her parents doing anything that she didn't need to see. Instead, she read a book she had borrowed to read over the holiday. It had taken some convincing on her part for Madam Pince to allow her to take it home.

She was engrossed in the large tome until she heard her mother call up, "Hermione! The Headmaster is here to talk to us. Please come to the sitting room."