New Term, New Threat, Old Friends
The train practically flew across the landscape. Now that it had left King's Cross, the camouflage of the steam engine in the front dropped and revealed the modern locomotive. The fake steam stopped and the loud sound was replaced by a faint humming. The friends spent time playing chess and exploding snap. It was only in the early afternoon when Erik's voice rang though the speakers. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I just wanted to notify that we are about two hundred fifty kilometers away from Hogwarts and will arrive in Hogsmeade in about thirty minutes. Please change into your Hogwarts robes and begin to pack up." Hermione and Ginny left to let the boys change. Ginny excused herself to use the bathroom and left. She was in the cabin and about to close the door when a foot stopped it and the door was pulled open again. "Filthy half-breed. I want to go in there. Let me in first." Ginny flashed her teeth and scared Pansy so much the girl dropped on her behind. "Get in line." she growled before shutting the door. After she finished and got out, Pansy rushed past her into the loo. Smiling deviously, Ginny took the knob into her hand and closed her fist. A small grind was heard and she left. Her ears picked up the faint cry for help as she reached her compartment. Hermione had already changed and the boys stood up to leave. Well, all but Harry. Ginny held up her hand to stop them. "No need." Ron blushed. "But, sis!" A fire washed over the youngest Weasley and her clothes were replaced with her robe.
Bellatrix waited for the ambush to begin. Yaxley was in charge of this attack. The Lord had ordered them to attack the train and strike fear into the hearts of the students. "No dead yet. Let them fear me and spread the word. With Fudge, they will still deny me. The children will become paranoid and won't be a threat to my plans. Umbridge did a good job last year. Maybe we should ask her to join us."
The Death Eaters were standing in a U on the tracks. Lucius stood on the side, looking for the smoke from the train. Bellatrix screwed up her eyes. In the distance was a faint glow. It seemed to grow. Then she recognized a train. "The Express is coming!" Yaxley held out his hand to signal the conductor to stop. The train grew in size. A horn was sounded. Yaxley smiled at the attempt. Even if the conductor tried to run him over, the others would use a charm to freeze the steam engine. As the train approached he prepared to apparate. But as he began to turn, something painful slammed into him. He opened his eyes to find himself on the nose of the train. He vaguely saw a freezing charm hit the side of the engine, but it continued. Bellatrix was confused. Just a second before, Yaxley had prepared to apparate and in the next the train had hit him. He had fired a freezing charm, but the train had continued. The red lights in the back grinned at her. She fumed. Jumping into the air, she and her fellow Death Eaters followed. They spotted an engine in the rear and fired at it. But just then the train fired back. Looking left and right, Death Eaters pulled up shields to block the attack. Their Scottish friends were slaughtered as they tried to attack the train. They sped up, but the train was shaking them easily. They could follow it to Hogsmeade, but those who had their children on the train knew that the Task Force Cobra would be there waiting for them.
Hagrid stood at the platform. He was cleaning the platform when a horn sounded. Looking around, he was surprised when the Hogwarts Express arrived. The flame on the engine seemed to glow. Each of the wagons it pulled was colored in the respective colors of the houses it held.
He looked twice and recognized a darker red in the front, where also a black lump hung from the nose. The lump slowly separated and landed on the rails. Hagrid couldn't spare the thing another look as he called the new first years. But just as he left for the boats for the traditional ride over the lake, the train began to roll again and a loud scream of pain filled the platform. Immediately,Hagrid ran into the direction of the scream.
Ginny was bored. She sat in the great hall and was leaning on Harry's shoulder. She could see Snape's slightly upturned smile when Dumbledore spotted them. The first years were later than usual. "How long do they need?" Lee asked. Rather loud. Ginny looked at him. The boy was in the last year. He would have joined the twins, but his mother wanted him to complete his N.E.W.T.s.
Overall, only her closest friends from the Marauders Reloaded were sitting around her. In her head, a new prank formed. "Hurry up! I'm hungry. The few drinks and snacks I had on the train are not enough for a growing girl like me." The others stared at her in shock. Harry giggled at her mind set when he added. "You told me that young fresh blood would be filling." From the Ravenclaw table, a scream rose. Just as scuffles began, the doors were opened. Two lines of soldiers entered, between them the new first years. Erik stepped in front of McGonagall and Dumbledore. "The new first years, Sir. Excuse the delay but we had a personal injury with lethal outcome on the track. It seems like the person tried to stop the train with pure willpower when the train was still on full travel speed. We didn't discover it until the train was starting up again."
Harry and Ginny giggled behind their hands. The formulation was simply hilarious.
Dumbledore began his speech. He mentioned that Umbridge had been arrested for usage of dark artifacts and that Sirius Black would replace her as a DADA professor. Additionally, he warned them about the threat that was looming over the castle which required the soldiers' presence. Erik rolled his eyes at the implication of the threat. The squad was solely around Ginny. He and Catherine would always be with her during classes and in the corridors. McCord would watch her on the grounds from the astrology tower while Morgan would be in the corridor before them and Kelly in the one behind.
That gave most students the warnings they wanted to make a wide berth. Some, like members of The Marauders Reloaded didn't care and interacted with her like always. Even Erik and Catherine were as friendly as ever. Erik might carry his weapon publicly, but usually it hung loose from him.
The first DADA lesson with Sirius was anything but serious. The marauder joked about nearly everything. Upon entering, each student was pranked. Well, everyone but Ginny, who warned Harry herself. Sirius looked at them, but flinched at the murderous stare she gave him. With the looming threat by the Death Eaters it was again time to cover Vampires and Werewolves. Lupin volunteered to tell the students about it. Catherine also told them tales and even Ginny got odd looks when they came to the need for blood. At this point Erik gave Catherine a blood pack which she sipped like a drink, completely indifferent about the other students' stares. In Potions, Snape asked them to brew a strong sleeping potion. A human should drop sleeping instantly. However, a vampire should only feel a little tired. So Catherine and Ginny had to go around in the last minutes and try the potions. While Catherine was as fresh as ever after tasting the Slytherins' potions, Ginny was tired after tasting Neville's and Harry's one. The two boys gave each other a high five in the success.
The second week was the weeks of the tryouts. Harry looked at the crowd in front of him. Of the original crew only he and Ginny remained. Katie was back from her injury and wanted to test herself first. Ron wanted to actually try the tryout after he had been called in as a back up for Oliver and since then never competed against others for the position. He wanted to earn it, not have it given to him. Also, it was to finally shut up McLaggen. Since Ginny made it pretty clear that she was off the market, the boy had gone bugging Hermione who desperately tried to tell him off.
"Good. We need..." No one listened to him. Harry tried several times more, but he failed. ~Help me!~ he thought. ~Need a woman's touch here?~ Ginny took a deep breath. "SHUT UP! STAND AT ATTENTION AND LISTEN TO YOUR CAPTAIN! Otherwise I might treat this as the picknick you make it look like." she licked her lips and flashed her fangs. Instantly, the chatter died down and the people looked at them. "Good." Harry began. "I would have hated to deal with the paper work, should Ginny have to have a snack now." He looked over the group and realized that there were more than people than Gryffindor had. "Anyone not from Gryffindor leave now. Or join Ginny at her picknick." About twenty students, mainly girls, left screaming. "Now, those who don't know how to fly a broom, leave as well." A lot of people left at this point. The only ones left were Ron, Cormac, Seamus, Dean and Neville on the boys' side apart from a few younger students like the Creevy brothers. On the girls' side there was a new girl called Demelza, and Katie. He pointed at the rings. "Anyone trying for the keepers, over there. Chasers meet in the half facing the keepers and the beaters go to the other half."
Cormac and Ron went over to the rings, where McLaggen already bragged about his skills and his new broom, a Nimbus 2014. Ron looked miserable on his older Firebolt he got from Oliver. Harry nodded towards Ginny and she immediately took the chasers away to test the scores. Only Dean, Demelza and Katie remained. "Now for chasers it's important that we can play together." She let the three play against her. It was slightly unfair, due to her heightened reflexes, but as Erik once told her, three weak can beat a strong with the right tactic.
Harry went over to the beaters after he asked Erik for a favor. Neville and Seamus he already knew. He recognized the Creevy brothers. "Good. I will conjure balls and throw them at each of you. Try to hit them." At least half of them failed and the numbers were cut to seven. The next step was to send them into the air. Here he filtered everyone but the two from his year and the Creevys. He even let them play with real bludgers. It would be a tough decision. He told them that the final list would be pinned to the bulletin board in the common room. He mounted his broom and flew back towards the beaters. He already knew that Ginny had finished with the chasers and that her decision was solid. Erik was standing on a black platform Catherine had "conjured". He was shooting footballs at the rings. At this moment McLaggen was playing keeper. "How's going?" So far McLaggen held more shots. However, Ron is better in intercepting them. He doesn't go after every ball. McLaggen even goes after those that are obviously missing the rings. Harry looked back. ~Love, I think it's your turn. Give them hell.~ He turned back to see Ron and McLaggen. "Ginny is going to make a pass on each of you. Then I will decide." Erik got down from the platform and cleared the way for the chaser. Ron went first. He hovered by the left ring. When Ginny threw he intercepted the ball to the right ring, but when he saw the glint in her eyes he pulled up and let the quaffle pass. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Cormac shouted. He took Ron's place and waited for Ginny's next pass. While she flew towards him he lectured her how she wasn't trying to confuse him with manuevers. "SHUT UP!" Ginny shouted as she threw. Cormac grinned as he blocked the ball, but his grin froze when he was ripped off his broom and hung from the ring. Harry shook his head. "My decision stands. You will know tomorrow."
The next day everyone looked at the new paper:
Gryffindor Quidditch Team
Keeper: Ron Weasley (#1)
Chasers: Ginny Potter (#2); Katie Bell (#3); Demelza Robins (#4)
Beaters: Neville Longbottom (#5); Seamus Finnigan (#6)
Seeker: Harry Potter (#7)
Substitutes:
Keeper: Cormac McLaggen; Ginny Potter
Chasers: Dean Thomas, Colin Creevy
Beaters: Colin Creevy; Dennis Creevy
Seekers: Ginny Potter
Any questions might be directed at the Second-in-Command, Ginny Potter.
The new team sat together. Daphne and Luna joined the Gryffindors for the meal. Harry was taking some fries when he spotted a fuming McLaggen out of the corner of his eye. ~Here he comes.~
"Why did that loser make it on the team! I demand a retry! His sister was taking sides!"
Ginny looked at him with a glare. "Are you implying something? We can discuss this in private to spare you the humiliation." Cormac paled. "No I demand the explanation from the captain."
Harry looked up from his plate. "Neither of you could stop the goal. But Ron was smart enough to realize the lost cause. He preserved his energy for later. You, however, chased after every ball, no matter where it was heading. You have an arrogance I don't like. We are a team and we should act as one. You brag about your apparent skills and criticize everyone. That is my job. Consider yourself lucky I kept you as a reserve."
Dumbledore looked at the argument with worry. Harry was a lot colder towards his fellow students since he returned from the training with the soldiers. He was moving down a dark path. Dumbledore would rectify that. He had stroke a compromise with the soldier, Harry would return to Privet Drive next summer for a last recharge. Then they would get him out and to the burrow. Mundungus had already suggested a good plan to use polyjuice. Something only a thug could come up with. He would evacuate him to the burrow and let him attend the wedding of Bill with the French girl. Then he would go on the horcrux hunt with him while the others waited. But first he had to locate them. He had expected one at the Gaunt Shack, but it showed signs of forced entry. The horcrux was gone. Whoever captured it was not in alignment with Tom.
Everywhere he searched for, others seemed to have been faster. He couldn't pinpoint who it was. The way they worked, it looked like military training. He ruled out the 13th Platoon as they were under the rule of the ICW and no one there knew about a horcrux hunt. Regular muggles would have been repelled by the charms in place and they would not recognize the magic anyway.
He had originally planned to get Slughorn back into the school to get information out of him and maybe influence Harry to get back to him, but Snape had refused to take the DADA class. Unfortunately, Horace was not skilled in that class either, so Albus had called Sirius. To have at least a loyal order member occupying the position. Especially after the disastrous last two years, he hoped to regain Harry's trust by that.
He couldn't have been more wrong with his assumptions.
Across the room Erik kept an eye on the headmaster. Snape had informed him about the plan for the next summer and the 13th platoon was already preparing their own operation. The war against Voldemort would be fought. But not the clean way Dumbledore envisioned. ~Anything is fair in love and war.~ He snickered at Catherine's thoughts. War was never pretty. There was always blood spill. And with the blood, loves vanished. Crushed under the cruelty of the battles. Lost as numbers in a statistic. A memory, painful to others. Erik checked his gear. At least he would try to minimize these losses. For the world. For justice.