Sunken in thoughts, Harry lay on the creaky bed. It was nearly evening, and he was mulling over some conversations he had had. The one with Sirius was the most prominent on his mind, as it had been painful to act normal around the man, while knowing they were in fact enemies now, and that that would never be able to change. As his godfather had hugged him and babbled to him with excitement, Harry had constantly seen the betrayed, disbelieving expression he had worn when Harry had tried to explain why he had gone to Voldemort.

He sat up, got off the bed and walked to the small desk in the room, where an open book lay. It was spelled so that no-one else but him could read it, so it wasn't a problem to just let it lay there. He was rather grateful to Hermione that she had taught him that spell to make it seem that it was just a blank book, because if he would stuff it away constantly, he was sure that Ron would get suspicious. The idea had entered his mind on the first evening he had been here. He'd asked Marvolo once about why he had kept a diary, and he thought the answer: "Because it keeps my memories clear" something to think about, if not a bit funny because of the resemblance of what Dumbledore had said about his Pensieve the previous school year. He took a quill and dipped it in the ink before placing it on the paper.

August 31st
Tomorrow I'll finally go back to school. While it has been great to see my friends again, I am constantly and painfully reminded that I am, in fact, betraying them every moment I even do so much as think about the plans that the Dark has for this world, and how the world would be better off with it. Of course, I know that half of the people here have no idea what the Dark really wants, because they just swallow everything that Dumbledore tells them, but still. I know that Moody for example, would never agree with my changing sides. I hope my guilt will ease when I am at Hogwarts. Granted, Ron and Hermione and a lot of Gryffindors will be there, but at least I won't have the Order to worry about. I've wished a lot of times that Marvolo wouldn't have restored my feeling of guilt after that Cruciatus curse.

So, I packed today. I was slightly miffed when finding out that they wouldn't let me go to Diagon alley by myself, but I also understand why. They can't risk another 'kidnapping'… Sigh, why did I ever come up with that story anyway? But at least now they won't question me when I'll spend some time with Draco. Ron isn't happy about me and Draco being on a friendly basis now. -Neither am I, but it wouldn't be beneficial if they knew that.- I just hope that Malfoy will be mature about this and keep himself to the truce. Thank Merlin though that our ceasefire only includes not actively trying to ruin each other's lives at school. Epicaricacy is absolutely fine, as well as using each other, something I plan to fully exploit.

Harry heard someone come up the stairs and stared at the door, listening intently, but relaxed when hearing it was Molly, shouting something at Ginny.

I wonder what coming year has in store for me. If everything goes according to plan, the Dark may well have the world coming summer, if not sooner. Hmm, why do I get the sudden urge to write 'All hail Lord Voldemort' here? Meh, I bet the bastard would like that… Note to self: do not ever let Marvolo read this diary.


He was both incredulously bored and anxious at the same time. Ron and Hermione had a meeting with the Prefects. He was glad that Dumbledore hadn't given him that position. While it may have come in handy because he would have more access to the castle at night, it would have been another responsibility to bear, and he had enough of those right now. On the other hand was Harry glad that Malfoy had been promoted to Prefect as well as Ron and Hermione. Malfoy and he could now probably meet during his shifts, and he knew that at least Ron wouldn't care whether or not he sneaked through the castle at night. He couldn't wait till he got to Hogwarts. Last days had seemed like an eternity. How he had ever survived without Marvolo was beyond him… Oh wait, the man was out to kill him back then. Well, damn. Harry was pondering on the thought of what would have happened if he had accepted Marvolo's invitation to the Dark side in his first year when the door slid open.

"Hey Harry." A floaty voice said.

"Luna, good to see you! Have you had a nice holiday?"

"Yeah. Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

"Sure, no problem. What have you done this summer?"

"Dad and I went away on safari… We tried to track down some croaking Tyra's, but instead found the horn of a crumple-horned snorkack! Dad was really happy and published an article about them. You want to see?"

She held out a magazine and Harry took it with interest. "Oh Luna… about this, I wanted to show you something…" he smiled, and opened his trunk, searching for the notes he had hidden under his clothes. He figured that it was now or never. At school, his other friends would constantly be around and would probably ask nosy questions. The only one who really liked Luna besides him were Ginny , Neville and Ron, the latter only because he thought her hilarious most of the time. He'd met the girl in the forest when taking a walk last year. He had been trying to find a solution for the screeching egg during the Triwizard tournament, and while he hadn't found one, he had found a friend. "Here you go. It's from a… friend of mine. He researched a lot of creatures and I noticed that there are some on it you often talk about. I don't know if you have use for it?"

She took it and her eyes grew wide, which made her look even more comical than normally, but at the same time, the glint in her eyes showed that she was more clear than ever. "This is invaluable! I know of no-one who ever did research on this so thoroughly, with the exception of my papa. Imagine, some people don't even think these animals exist!" In fact, Harry could imagine that very well, but he decided it would be rude to point that out. "Would your friend mind if I showed these to my dad?"

Harry hesitated on that. Now he thought of it, he had never even asked permission to show them to Luna, let alone someone else. "I'd have to ask him." He answered with uncertainty. He was a bit uncomfortable about it all. After all, even if his lover ever wanted to publish this, it was highly unlikely that he would want to have it printed in the Quibbler of all magazines. It didn't have a good reputation and most people wouldn't take the article serious. On the other hand, if it came out that it was research of the Dark Lord, it would raise the popularity of the magazine immensely. "I promise. I'll ask him as soon as possible." He said, a bit more confident now. It couldn't hurt to try, after all. "Luna… would you please keep this silent? And if someone finds it, will you not tell me where you got it? There are a lot of people who will question the contents and well, they'll want to know where exactly I got it. I'd rather not say. Not now, not yet. "

"Sure." She said, "No problem." And she went on reading Marvolo's research. Harry blinked, surprised and pleased by her reaction. He'd already thought that she wouldn't be suspicious about it, but he hadn't believed that she would accept his explanation that easily.

When the door opened again and Hermione and Ron stumbled in, laughing, Luna sneakily put the parchment in between the pages of her Quibbler, and gave Harry a conspiratorial smile.

"Hey mate!" Ron grinned. "Listen, I've got to tell you something funny. You know Malfoy and Parkinson became the Slytherin Prefects right?"

"Yes, and?" he asked, interested.

"Well, Parkinson didn't stop going on and on about how it was fate that she and 'Drakey'-" Harry couldn't contain a snort at the nickname "Yeah, exactly. Anyway, she said this was a 'sign that they were meant to be together'. Guess what Malfoy did?"

"Snogged her to shut her up?" Harry said with amusement.

"Nope, snogged someone else to shut her up." Harry leaned forward. Draco had a lover? This was interesting information. "Yeah, so Parkinson burst out crying and ran off."

"Did she now? I was under the impression that she would hex the 'bitch who dared to harass her Drakey'"

"Well yeah, but I think she was more devastated about the fact that he kissed a guy than that he kissed someone at all." Hermione said a tad too cheerful.

Harry merely nodded thoughtfully. He'd kind of expected Malfoy to be gay, honestly. The way he was obsessed with clothes and his hair… He mulled over that… was he himself that obsessed with such things? He didn't think so. He knew Marvolo was though, even if he didn't often show it. He thought it funny, really, how long the man stood in front of his wardrobe, wondering what to wear. Honestly, there wasn't that much difference between 'blue that is almost black' and 'green that is almost black', was there?

"Who?"

"Blaise Zabini." Hermione said, giggling. "He didn't seem to mind…" she added with a smirk, and Harry raised an eyebrow at her. He hadn't expected her to be all fangirlish about two guys snogging. It looked like there was more to Hermione than the shy, studious girl he knew. Or… actually she had shown that last year, with her revenge on Ron with Krum… He was almost sure that Ron was still trying to deny that they'd ever kissed.

"Ew, Hermione, you're acting like it's normal." Ron snorted

"Why wouldn't it be?" Harry said with surprise.

"Uhm, they're guys?" Ron said, as if that explained everything.

"So?"

"So, something is obviously wrong with them!"

"Ron, one-tenth of the human population is gay." Hermione stated matter of factly.

Ron snorted at that. "Yeah, right. So if you'd take the five guys and five girls of our year in Gryffindor, there should be someone who's gay?"

Hermione frowned thoughtfully at that, while Harry smirked. "There is, actually."

"Who?" they both asked, Ron with a disgusted undertone.

"Me." He said airily. "So, Luna, do you have another one of those Quibblers?"

While Hermione said something to him along the lines of 'Really? I didn´t know that,' and Luna reached out to hand him a magazine, Ron created a deafening silence all on his own.

"Nice joke mate." He finally grinned, though his smile vanished when Harry stared coolly at him and raised an eyebrow. "S… since when?"

"Since birth I think."

"No, I mean, since when do you know?"

"Around last year…"

"B… but… Cho! What about Cho? You liked her, right? I mean, soft boobs and all that!"

"Really Ron? That's what you come up with?" Hermione said with disapproval, and a slight scrunching of her nose. "Please tell me that's not all you see in girls…"

Ron didn't react in favor of staring challenging at Harry, who returned it with a flat gaze. "Yes, I liked Cho, no, I'm not going to deny it, but I wasn't attracted to her physically. It was just… you know, everyone expecting me to hook up with some nice girl. She could be quite humorous, and I liked that in her. But other than that… no. I never longed to hold or kiss her or anything."

"Oh." Ron said, slightly disconcerted, and he sat down. "So you like men?"

"Yes."

"Do you… do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes. And no, I will not give you more information than that."

"What?" Hermione said. "Why not?"

"Just because. And don't ask, or I'll obliviate you." He warned.

Truly, he had expected that question, and had decided that it would be better to tell them now. It would certainly make it easier to meet secretly with Marvolo, Eyolf or Draco if he had an actual reason to sneak away. Plus, he didn't want to lie to them. Marvolo might have rubbed off on him with that, fierce opponent of untruth as he was. Hermione huffed and Harry suddenly saw the image of Hedwig in his mind, who always ruffled her feathers when she was irritated with him or felt offended in some way.

Ron tried to turn the conversation into a less awkward one and asked Luna: "Anything good in there?" while pointing at the Quibbler.

"Of course not." Hermione said scathingly. "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

"Excuse me." Luna said coldly and a lot less dreamy than she usually was, glaring at Hermione from over her magazine. "My father's the editor."

"I… oh. Well… it got some interesting… I mean it's quite…" she trailed off, looking embarrassed. Luna huffed and went on reading, disappearing behind it.

Harry looked up as the compartment door slid open for a third time and had a hard time hiding a smirk. He hadn't really expected Malfoy to search him out now, but apparently, some things would never change.

"Potter… losers…" he said haughtily, nodding first to Harry and then the rest.

"Bigger loser…" Hermione said with a bored, superior voice, and both Harry and Ron bit their lips to not burst out sniggering when seeing the look on Malfoy's face.

Harry could see that Malfoy was trying very hard not to cross a line and break their truce right now. "I wanted to inform you, Potter, that should you ever come to your senses, I am willing to give you another chance to stick with the people who really matter instead of those fools."

"Why would he, Malfoy?" Hermione said.

"Quiet mudblood, or is he incapable of thinking for himself?"

"What brought this up?" Harry answered softly, his eyes narrowing at the hidden insult.

"For some reason, father likes you, and with the return of the Dark Lord and father's treachery, I'd better be friendly to you too. Don't get me wrong, I don't like you in any way, and personally, I would rather follow the Dark, but I'll stick with my family in this."

"So you do have a heart." Ron snorted. "How's your boyfriend anyway?" he said maliciously.

"He's fine Weasel. Why the sudden interest for my love life? I didn't think you'd be interested in me…"

Ron choked on a chocolate frog and glared at Malfoy. "As if!" he said with disgust, and Malfoy turned away.

"I didn't even know you had one. I heard it was quite a shock for Pansy." Harry smirked.

"She had it coming." Malfoy shrugged. "I told her 'no' for years. She just didn't want to believe that any guy would ever refuse her. Blaise and I got together last year and we decided that it was serious enough now to show… How is your boyfriend?" he said, a sly smile on his lips. Harry reddened and shot him a dirty look. "What? You didn't tell them…?"

"I did, actually." He snapped, and Malfoy looked up in surprise.

"So they know—" he broke off abruptly when seeing a very icy, dangerous glare.

Good. He should learn that he cannot mess with me any longer.

"Of course, it's none of my business…" Malfoy muttered and he glanced at the pile of chocolate frogs, snatched one of the pile with a haughty 'dare to say anything' glance at Ron, unwrapped it and calmly ate the chocolate.

Then he spluttered and his eyes grew wide. For a moment, Harry didn't know what had caused him such distress and Hermione tried to calm Malfoy down –by slapping him in the face and shouting that he should get a grip on himself.- Only then was the source of his panic revealed. Horrified, Ron took the card that went with the frog.

"They added a new category…" he said with a fearful voice, and Harry took the offered card, shocked when staring into Marvolo's eyes.

"Category, Dark Wizards. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, most fearsome Dark Lord known in history… It doesn't say anything else. Where do you reckon they got his picture?" he asked.

"Maybe the previous war? I didn't know he looked like… like this though." Hermione said.

"It probably was during the first war… And yes, he does look like this. Hasn't changed a bit actually." He said, having a hard time to keep the dreamy smile from his face while he turned the card in his hands as Marvolo looked at him arrogantly.

"You would know." Ron muttered, eyeing the picture with wariness.

"You want it?" Harry said without thinking, offering it to Ron.

"I don't want a monster in my collection!" Ron scoffed.

Harry had to restrain himself from jumping into defense-mode. Instead he pocketed the card. At least he had something to remember his lover by whenever Marvolo wasn't at Hogwarts.

"So, Potter, you still haven't said anything about my offer…"

Harry thought about it. Seriously, he didn't want to, especially because Malfoy insulted his friends. On the other hand, he had priorities, and Malfoy was a useful asset. To reject him now would be a blow to the both of them. On the other hand, he hated Malfoy, and absolutely didn't want his friends to get the illusion that they were thrown away for Malfoy of all people. Then, he smiled.

"I owe it to your father that I'm at least civil to you, and if I can help him by befriending you, then I'll do it. He saved my life. I will not, though, replace my friends by you. If you ever need something though, feel free to ask."

Malfoy bit his lip, and then smirked, holding out his hand. "Deal Potter."

"Harry." He corrected. It would be easier to accept each other if they would be on first name bases.

"Draco then." Malfoy agreed, and they shook hands.

"Bloody hell Harry, what has gotten into you?" Ron asked when Draco was gone. Harry just shrugged and hid a secret smile. This would be interesting.


At last, the train began to slow down and they gathered their luggage. Ron and Hermione went off, absorbed by the crowd, seeing as they were supposed to supervise all this. Harry and Luna walked to the carriages. Surprised, Harry looked up when hearing a brisk female voice:

"First-years line up here! All first-years to me!"

Harry looked up and saw professor Grubby-Plank with a swinging lantern coming their way, the professor who had taken over a few Care of Magical Creatures lessons for a while during the previous year. -And Harry didn't want to talk bad about Hagrid, but really, it had been the best lessons they had received on the subject. With Hagrid, it was mostly Defense against Magical Creatures, what with all the dangerous animals Hagrid tried to introduce.-

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry mumbled to himself, but no-one answered. Luna was walking away already and Harry had to hurry to catch up with her as she walked to the place where the stagecoaches were. When they arrived, Harry did a double-take. The coaches were no longer horseless. Instead, dragon-like horses with a skin that glowed magnificently in the scarce light were waiting patiently in front of them. He got closer and stopped in front of one of them, hesitantly reaching out his hand to touch the flank of the horse. The animal moved a bit and shook his mane, and Harry's eyes trailed over the large, leathery wings. It looked like their skin was stretched straight over the bones, because the ribs and spinal cord were prominent. Harry's breath caught when the animal turned its dragonish head and stared at him with a milky white eye, that, even though it was pupil-less, seemed to bore straight into his soul.

"Beautiful…" he whispered affectionately, stroking the snout, and got an approving huff.

At that moment, Luna went up to him.

"What do you reckon it is?" Harry asked. If anyone would know, it would be her.

"A Thestral. They've pulled the carriages for as long as I can remember. Normally, they live in the forest."

"How come I've never seen them?" Harry frowned. An Animal like this would surely have captured his attention, like now.

"You can only see them once you've seen death."

"Cedric…" Harry mumbled to himself. "Wait a minute, how come I never saw them before then? I've seen my mother die! I can still remember it every time a Dementor come near…

Luna shrugged. "At that moment, you were too small to understand that she was dying. Magic works strange in such ways."

"Oh. I see…."

"Shall we get in? The others are already waiting."

Harry looked up and saw that Ron and Hermione had returned and were bickering.

Oh joy, I hope they won't act like last year.

After a rather uneventful drive to the castle, the carriages came to a halt in front of the stone steps leading up to the large, oak front doors. He glanced over his shoulders and narrowed his eyes against the dark to see if he saw any sign of life in Hagrid's hut, but the windows were black as the night, and no smoke drifted from the chimney. He got out of the stagecoach and stroked the Thestral once more before catching up with his friends.

As they walked to the Great Hall, he saw people throwing suspicious glances at him and heard them whispering his name. He wondered what that was all about and glared at the other students, but it only made the whispers more prominent. He glanced up to the starless ceiling that reflected the sky outside. Again, he heard and saw others whispering and pointing at him and he acted as if he neither noticed nor cared.

"He's not here." Ron said next to him, and for a moment, Harry didn't know who he was talking about, until his gaze drifted to the head table.

"Oh. Hagrid… No, I wonder where he is."

"Maybe he's not back yet. Y'know, from his mission…"

"What mission?" Harry asked sharply.

"Oh, you don't know of course… We forgot to tell you, I'm sorry." Hermione said. "I'll explain later… Who's that?"

Harry followed her look and saw a tiny woman in pink, with a face like a toad. "No idea. Somehow, I get the feeling that I'm not going to like her very much."

"Shh… the sorting is about to begin!" Hermione said with excitement, and Harry saw the small, frightened first years shuffling inside. One boy in the middle looked as if he could faint any moment now.

The sorting hat opened his mouth and sang a whole different song than last years. He still described the houses and the origin of Hogwarts, but Harry could hear the message underneath it all clearly. A warning that, should they not stick together, they would all fall apart. And somehow, Harry didn't think he was talking about the return of the Dark Lord. Just as he thought of the man, he felt a strange feeling, like a sneeze that didn't want to get out yet. It was a most uncomfortable, nagging feeling, and he anxiously looked around to see where it came from. He didn't notice red, gleaming eyes that stared at him out of the darkness in the top of the great Hall. He did notice someone else in the shadows, and gave Eyolf a slight nod. He couldn't see the man's reaction, for his grey hood had been pulled over his face, and he stood half-hidden behind a pillar.

Harry directed his attention to the sorting, clapping whenever someone walked to the Gryffindor table. After it was done and Dumbledore had given a very short welcome while having his piercing stare directed at Harry for a few seconds, the food appeared, and Ron managed to piss Headless Nick off with a not-so-subtle-remark about him not being able to have noble blood because he was a ghost, and therefore had no blood. Harry rolled his eyes at the so typically Ron statement.

When he was stuffed full with his favorite dessert –treacle tart-, Dumbledore stood once more.

"Now we've had that wonderful meal, I believe it is time for introductions… Firstly, I want to welcome Mr Senka. Mr Filch… retired this year. I hope you will all try your best to not give him any trouble. Which mostly means staying out of trouble yourself…" he smiled at his own joke and the Weasley twins were suddenly very busy looking elsewhere. "There is a list of Forbidden objects on the message board and the Forbidden Forest is Forbidden. Just a reminder for both the first years and some of the older students who have the tendency to forget that… every year." This time, it were Harry, Ron and Hermione who smirked at each other. "Secondly, we've had two changes in the staff. We are very pleased to welcome back professor Grubby-Plank, who will teach Care of Magical Creatures as long as professor Hagrid is absent. Then, we are also delighted to welcome professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Then, try-outs for the new Quidditch teams will be-"

He was interrupted by the Umbridge woman, who got to her feet. –something she could better not have done. She was even smaller like this.- "Hem Hem…" she coughed, clearing her throat, and whispers broke loose. It was absolutely unheard of to interrupt Dumbledore during his speech. The headmaster just blinked surprised, but sat down after that, looking as if he was hugely interested in what she had to say. Normally, Harry would have tuned out such a speech, but somehow, Dumbledore's behavior made him want to hear what she had to say. When she began to speak, the same wave of unexplainable disgust went through him as when he had just seen her. "Thank you for your kind words of welcome. It is lovely to be back at Hogwarts again, I must say… And to see such happy little faces smiling up to me…"

Harry didn't look around, but he was sure the only faces that would be staring at her after that statement were gobsmacked ones, taken aback that they were spoken to like four-year olds. She rambled on about wanting to be good friends with everyone and such nonsense. –some students grinned at each other at that and made scoffing comments. Then, her tone changed so much that it sent shivers up to Harry's spine. She held a rather lengthy speech, which would have sounded like utter crap to Harry, had he not spent so much time in Marvolo's company.

"That explained a lot…" Harry softly said, and Hermione looked at him with surprise, while Ron gave him a dull look.

"It was certainly illuminating…" Hermione agreed.

"You mean you liked it? That was about the dullest speech I ever heard, and I grew up with Percy!" Ron said.

'I said illuminating, not enjoyable!"Hermione remarked.

"What's the difference?" Ron said, genuinely looking surprised.

"Did you ever even look at the cover of a dictionary?" Hermione huffed. "Harry, what is your opinion on this?"

"The Ministry is going to interfere at Hogwarts. Drastic changes, if I heard it right."

"Indeed. I wonder what sort of Defense lessons those are going to be."

"I don't think we only have to worry about the Defense lessons..." Hermione said with worry in her eyes, and Harry found himself agreeing.

At least I don't have a madman out for my life anymore. That should ease things up a bit... I can't wait to see Marvolo again.

In the rafters of the hall, the red eyes disappeared with a swish of a cloak.


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xx GeMerope