Disclaimer – I do not own anything you recognise.
X
When Harry awoke the next morning, Tom was gone, but a letter rested on his bedside table with the words 'Draco Malfoy' written on it in Tom's elegant handwriting. Harry presumed he was to give it to the Slytherin student.
Harry got ready slowly, not sure how he was feeling about returning to Hogwarts. He found that, for once, he was dreading leaving his parents, not sure what could happen to them while he was away. He wondered how the war would affect Hogwarts, if it would at all.
He trusted that Dumbledore would keep Voldemort and his Death Eaters out of Hogwarts, but as he thought of the elderly headmaster, Tom's final words last night came back to him; Draco was going to murder Dumbledore, and he had to help.
He had promised Tom he would help Draco, and, in Harry's mind, either Dumbledore or Malfoy was going to be killed, and Dumbledore had lived a long time while Draco still had so much ahead of him. He would of course, prefer if they could both somehow stay alive, but Harry didn't see that happening.
X
The Potter family made it to Platform 9 ¾ with not too long to go before eleven o'clock. Surprisingly the platform was still bustling with people; apparently most parents had decided Hogwarts was more likely to be safer than their own homes. Harry found it kind of sad that everything in their lives seemed to revolve around Voldemort nowadays.
Lily was alternating between Harry and Heather; hugging them and fussing over their hair and outfits, much to her children's displeasure. Heather seemed to constantly be checking that her friends weren't around, unable to bear the thought of being embarrassed in front of them.
"Hello, Harry," a gentle voice said from behind them, and Harry span around to smile at Luna. Her hair had grown even longer over the holidays, and she had a large number of bracelets on both her wrists. He reckoned she had collected them while travelling with her father in the summer. The man was standing next to Luna, dressed in an eccentric outfit with clashing colours. Harry noticed a necklace dangling from the man's neck; it was a triangle with a circle inside, and a straight line running down the middle. Luna's father didn't say anything; he simply nodded in greeting, which suited Harry just fine.
"You must be Harry's parents; it's nice to meet you, I'm Luna," Luna said, moving over to shake hands with Lily and James. "Would you like a copy of The Quibbler?"
Lily nodded and accepted a copy of the magazine, flicking through it with what Harry knew was false interest. Luna and her father didn't make any acknowledgment that they recognised it as pretence, although there was a chance they were used to it.
"What are these?" Lily asked, pulling out a pair of pink and silver glasses from the magazine. They had five whisker type shapes coming off the side, and one of the lenses was a brighter shade of pink, while the other was blue.
"They're Spectrespecs," Luna's dad spoke up for the first time. "They enable the wearer to see Wrackspurts; they're little invisible creatures which can create a fuzzy effect on the brain. The platform will be swarming with them; they love teenage minds you see. I'm Xenophilius by the way."
Lily raised her eyebrow and forced out a laugh before introducing herself. She then handed the glasses to Harry and turned away to focus on Heather. His mother had never been one for fantasy 'nonsense', as she called it. She had point blank refused to allow Harry to take Divination.
James stepped forwards to shake hands with Xenophilius, and then he began to make polite conversation with the odd man. Harry thought it would be good for his dad to make some new friends, although it would obviously never live up to what he had before.
To shake those thoughts from his mind, he slipped the Spectrespecs on. The world immediately took on a pink and blue colour, and a pattern was just visible before his eyes. It reminded him of a Kaleidoscope; he had had one as a child and it was always his favourite toy. As he looked around, he was slightly surprised to see little specs flying around some people's heads.
He rather liked the way the world looked with Spectrespecs on. Heather apparently didn't like the look of Harry and Luna wearing the glasses however, and she hugged James and Lily goodbye before running off, muttering something about her having a freak of a brother.
Harry couldn't find it in him to care, and he pushed the Spectrespecs to the top of his head as he said goodbye to his parents, and walked with Luna to find a compartment on the Hogwarts Express.
They managed to find themselves an empty one, and they settled in as the train began to pick up speed.
"How have you been doing after Sirius passing?" Luna asked, looking at Harry sympathetically. "I know you don't want to talk about him, but I'd just like to know if you're okay."
"I'm okay now-sort of. I don't like to think about it too much," Harry answered, and Luna nodded, taking hold of his hand and running her thumb soothingly over the back of it.
"You seem happy though; I don't get the feeling you're waiting for your friend to return anymore," the Ravenclaw said with a knowing smile, and though Harry didn't know too much about Legilimency, he thought Luna would make a fine Legilimens.
"Yeah, he came back," Harry replied with a grin. He felt a blush creeping onto his cheeks, so he dropped the Spectrespecs back over his eyes and looked as the countryside rushed past with a new look.
For the first couple of hours, Harry asked Luna about the travelling she had been doing over the summer. Her and her father had gone to Sweden to search for a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but unfortunately hadn't been able to find any, though they had seen many other creatures.
A knock on their compartment window made Luna stop mid-sentence, and they looked up to see Ginny Weasley smiling at them. She opened the door and stepped inside, a roll of parchment in her hands.
"Cool glasses," she said as greeting. "Mind if I try them on?"
Harry tossed her the Spectrespecs and Ginny looked genuinely amazed as she peeked through them before throwing them back to Harry, along with the parchment.
He tugged off the velvet ribbon and unravelled the scroll.
'Harry Potter,
I would be delighted if you could join me for some lunch in Compartment C.
Sincerely, Professor Horace Slughorn.'
"Who's Slughorn?" Harry questioned, looking at both girls for an answer.
"New teacher; guessing Defence Against the Dark Arts. Neville said Dumbledore was very keen on getting him to come to Hogwarts," Ginny answered, a crooked smile crossing her face. "I guess that means if we don't like him it won't matter; he'll be gone in a year." Ginny was of course, referring to the fact they had never had a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor last more than a year. There was a rumour the job was literally cursed.
"Are you going, Ginny?" Harry asked, and the redhead nodded.
"I hexed Zacharias Smith and Slughorn saw. I was expecting a detention but he told me to meet him for lunch as soon as I'd given you your invitation."
"Oh, I don't think I'll go. Thank him for me though," Harry muttered, sliding the glasses back down and staring determinedly out the window.
He barely had time to move his head when Luna stood up and pulled Harry from his seat.
"You should go, Harry. I'll be okay on my own; you must be important to get an invitation," the blonde said, practically pushing Harry out of the compartment and into a grinning Ginny.
Harry sighed and begrudgingly followed the younger Gryffindor down the train.
Compartment C was near the front end of the train, by the Prefect Carriages. There weren't too many people in there; an old man Harry guessed was Horace Slughorn, his sister Heather, Neville Longbottom, a Slytherin in his year named Blaise Zabini, a seventh year Ravenclaw Harry vaguely recalled as being Marcus Belby, and a seventh year Gryffindor named Cormac McLaggen.
Professor Slughorn, a slightly overweight balding man, beamed as Harry and Ginny walked through the door and he shook Harry's hand enthusiastically.
"Hello m'boy! You must be Harry?" the older man said as greeting, and Harry just nodded, moving to take a seat in-between Ginny and Heather.
Slughorn went about each of the members of the group to interview them briefly. It turned out most of them were connected in some way to somebody famous or important. McLaggen so far seemed to be the Professor's favourite, but Harry had a feeling the man was saving Neville until last, and he seemed to skip over Ginny completely.
"And now, Harry and Heather Potter," Horace announced, turning his attention on the siblings. "I can see some of your mother in both of you, but you, Harry, I knew who you were the second I saw you; you have your mother's eyes you see, a beautiful shade of green recognisable anywhere."
Harry looked away awkwardly as Heather stared at him with a jealous expression. Harry hadn't heard his mother mention Slughorn before, but he had learnt the man had taught at Hogwarts before, so it was likely she was in the club he formed during his first teaching post.
"Lily was immensely talented; I suspect she's passed something down to you two. How is she doing lately? Last year I spoke to her and she told me she was working part time at St Mungo's and part time at a muggle hospital as well," Horace continued, and Harry noticed the way he said 'muggle' wasn't entirely natural.
"She's at St Mungo's full time now," Heather answered, batting her eyelashes at the Professor. "They've had an increase in casualties lately and they insisted she worked more hours. I'm planning on becoming a Healer when I'm older too."
Professor Slughorn just smiled and nodded, turning his focus entirely on Harry. "How about you, m'boy? Are you planning on following in your mother's footsteps or do you have other plans in mind?"
"Err, I'm not sure yet," he answered quietly, "I like Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, so I want to see if I can combine them somehow. I did want to be a Curse-Breaker but I'm not taking N.E.W.T Potions," he finished with a shrug; truthfully, at the moment all that appealed was living in a war-free zone with Tom-perhaps in a villa in the South of France. He laughed to himself as he imagined the younger Dark Lord retiring to live a life in the sun.
Slughorn laughed along with him heartily, though Harry had no idea why. "Why ever aren't you taking Potions?" the professor asked, suddenly more serious.
"Oh, I only got an E; we needed an O to take it at a higher level," Harry replied, not bothered in the slightest that he'd miss out on seeing Snape.
"Well I suppose I can tell you-you'll be finding out in a few hours anyway, but I'm teaching Potions this year!" Horace announced with a big smile, the reaction from the students not nearly as happy. "I'm perfectly happy to accept you into my class with an Exceeds Expectations. I'll hope to you see you there; you as well Mr. Longbottom…"
Horace began trailing off to talk to Neville, talking over the many stories Neville had to tell. The Boy Who Lived turned bright red as he spoke, and Heather seemed to be staring daggers at Harry rather than listening.
Slughorn took a fair amount of time talking to Neville, and when he finally finished the sun was starting to set, and Harry hadn't even managed to give Draco Malfoy his letter yet. It was still tucked into his pocket, so as Blaise stood and left the compartment without saying goodbye, only nodding his head towards Slughorn, Harry excused himself afterwards, figuring it would be easier to get to Draco using Zabini.
He tapped on Luna's compartment as he walked by; she was sat by herself, contently reading The Quibbler. He used his fingers to indicate for her to follow him, and as she stood he began trailing Blaise again.
Luna caught up to him, humming a tune. She seemed to know what Harry was doing without him telling her.
As Zabini turned to open a compartment door at the bottom of the train, Harry ran to catch him before he could go in, though combined with the speed of the train he ended up colliding with the boy. Blaise glared at him and Harry laughed nervously; Zabini was thin but also incredibly tall and his height was all he needed to be intimidating.
"Sorry," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I need to give Draco Malfoy a letter."
He could feel the other Slytherin students watching their interaction, so Harry waved the letter about to try and prove himself. Zabini eyed the parchment wearily for a second before he nodded and gestured for Harry and Luna to go inside.
"Oh no, Lovegood, it looks like some made up creature has flown into your hair and made it into a nest," Pansy Parkinson said nastily, her sniggering stopping when Luna smiled and shook her head.
"Only Capilmons attack people's hair, but they don't make nests. Avisals do make nests, though I don't imagine they would live in someone's hair; they prefer to live away from humans on the mountain tops you see," the Ravenclaw stated. Crabbe and Goyle looked completely lost.
"Potter says he has a letter for you, Malfoy," Zabini told the blond, and Draco looked at Harry sneering.
Harry waved the letter in front of his face, and Malfoy seemed to instantly freeze. He looked in horror from the letter to Harry; the others were watching him with intrigue.
"Get out," he all but whispered, still staring transfixed at the writing.
"You heard him, freaks, leave," Pansy cried, standing and waving her arms wildly.
"Not Potter," Draco hissed. "The rest of you, get out. I need to talk to Potter in private."
Pansy looked scandalised as she followed Luna out of the compartment alongside a smirking Blaise. Crabbe and Goyle seemed happy to leave once they had filled their pockets with snacks.
Draco pulled the blinds down on the compartment door forcibly and waved his wand, muttering a silencing charm.
"Where did you get this?" he asked darkly, eyeing Harry with suspicion.
"I got given it," Harry told Draco truthfully. The young Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "Read it before you ask me anything else."
Draco scowled but obeyed, his reaction going from angered to almost relieved as he read through Tom's words.
"So, tell me, Potter; why does a boy from a disgustingly Light family get into business with the son of the Dark Lord?" Malfoy asked finally.
Harry guessed that Voldemort had told his followers Tom was his son for some reason; probably to ensure they believed Tom wouldn't be as powerful, and so they would put all their devotion into Voldemort rather than his younger, saner self.
"He's the person who's always been there for me; I wanted to help him," Harry answered, trying to bat away the nagging thought that Luna may not have been there for him in second year, but she had been every year since, and it was his fault she wasn't there in the first place.
Draco raised an eyebrow. "And to help him you offered to act as an assistant to me?"
"I didn't offer," Harry interjected.
"So you decided to help with the idea to steal my glory?" Draco muttered angrily, and Harry rolled his eyes.
"I don't want to kill Dumbledore at all you prat," Harry said, dropping his voice low; he noticed Draco pale as the boy realised there was no doubt Harry was telling the truth. "But you must know what will happen to you if you fail; I can't let that happen."
"So you-you really are a Death Eater then?" Draco stuttered, and seeing the normally perfectly poised aristocrat come undone slightly seemed like a sign of what was to come.
"I'm not a Death Eater; I don't want to torture and kill people, and I don't hate Muggles and Muggleborns; I just want to help break down Neville Longbottom."
"Longbottom? I thought you were the best of friends; why do you want him to lose?" Draco asked, looking genuinely curious.
"He ruined my life; he stole friends from me as well as making me the outcast of Gryffindor, and then he cowered as my boyfriend died. He couldn't stop Bellatrix Lestrange from killing my Godfather, which has resulted in my unofficial Godfather running away with the werewolves, turned my father into an alcoholic and ripped my family apart," Harry hissed, anger bubbling inside him.
"Longbottom's good at ruining other people's families," Malfoy said almost gently. "It's thanks to him my father is in Azkaban and my mother has been forced to try and uphold our family name, even when she's falling apart. That is why Dumbledore has to die; it's the only way I can help my family become what it was. I know I can do it and I don't need your help."
Harry smiled slightly; Draco had almost succeeded at being sympathetic, if only his brattish attitude hadn't been woven in.
"I'll tell you what we'll do," Draco continued. "Seeing as you don't want to get your hands dirty, we'll make a plan. You never come to me; I'll always come to you if I need something, even if it's something small like covering for me. I'll get us partnered up in Ancient Runes so we can discuss my progress once a week without arousing suspicion. Riddle is demanding that I bring you with me to our meetings, so every Saturday you'll come to the dungeons to meet me. He also said if you ever want to see him at any time then you come to me to get access, but I'd rather you didn't bother me unless it's absolutely necessary."
Harry nodded; that situation suited him fine, only he'd visit Malfoy as much as he wanted to in order to see Tom.
"You can go now," Malfoy said as a way to tell Harry to leave. The Gryffindor rolled his eyes again and yanked the door open, where Luna was stood amongst the Slytherins, chatting happily to the group who seemed to be trying to drown her out unsuccessfully.
Luna smiled when she saw him and immediately shut up and began her walk back up the train. Blaise inclined his head at Harry when he walked by, almost like he had passed a Slytherin rite of passage.
X
They had arrived at Hogwarts not much later. Harry and Luna ended up in a carriage with Ginny, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. They rode to the castle in relative silence; Luna showed Harry her favourite pages in The Quibbler while Ginny and Dean seemed to be trying to make out as much as they could without Ron around to interfere. Harry didn't bother to try and make Seamus feel included; he had never done it for him.
Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil joined the group as they walked to the Great Hall. Harry and Luna were walking at the back, not joining in the conversation, but Harry could still hear everything that was being said.
"So Ginny, any news on Ron and Hermione Granger?" Lavender asked, looking at Parvati. Both girls broke into giggles.
"News?" Ginny questioned with amusement evident in her voice.
"You know…are they dating?" Lavender expanded, and when Ginny said they weren't, the other two girls proceeded to giggle even more. It didn't take an idiot to work out that Lavender fancied Ron, he just wondered if it would break up the trio if Lavender and Ron were to get together. Harry knew that Hermione was into Ron, but not enough to act on it, but if Ron was taken, Harry expected to see a jealous side of Hermione.
After the Sorting Feast had finished and they had returned to the Gryffindor dorms, Harry took Lavender to one side and told her he thought Ron had been looking at her all night.
X
Hooray; I actually managed to update in a decent time frame. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm sorry it was so short and mostly filler, although at least it ended with a bit of sneaky, Slytherin-esque Harry. Tom will be back in the next (longer) chapter, and to make up for the lack of Tom, there will be some TomxHarry fluff, because really, Harry's knowledge about Dumbledore hasn't sunken in yet, and that won't be easy.
I've always thought being a Curse-Breaker would be amazing, so that's the career I've decided to make Harry strive for, especially as I've never heard of Harry doing that before. I can just imagine him in an Indiana Jones type hat, but unfortunately this story is going to focus on Harry's sixth and seventh year, so there will be no Idiana!Harry scenes.
Oh, and the side pairing has been finalised as Draco/Luna and Ginny/Blaise :D
Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers.