Chapter 2: Settling In (Edited : June 25, 2015)

The Hogwarts express pulled into Hogsmeade station, coming to a screeching halt a few seconds later. The usual white steam from the engine filled the air around the platform as herds of students emerged from the train. Footsteps and chattering filled the air as students from years two to seven made their way towards the carriages whilst the first years were collected by Prof. Grubbly Plank.

Harry Potter was one of the last to fill the last of the carriages owing to the fact that he had occupied the last compartment on the train. He got onto the last carriage expecting it to be empty, only to be surprised on seeing two Slytherin girls both of whom instantly snapped their mouths shut seeing a Gryffindor in their presence.

'Guess I have no choice, well, other than to reach the castle on foot I suppose' he thought, making himself comfortable, an awkward silence settling inside the carriage.

The carriage started towards the castle with Harry determinedly staring outside the carriage pretending to watch the scenery assuming him being able to see anything other than the darkness filling his surroundings while contemplating his course of action for his fifth year.

He had no idea on how Tom was acting, thanks to Molly Weasley, who had insisted on Harry staying out of the Orders business. What she didn't know was the fact that Sirius had made it his personal mission to fill Harry in on every miniscule detail of the Orders meeting. He claimed that Harry had earned the right to learn such information after the Triwizard Tornament. His lack of surprise on seeing Prof. Grubbly Plank on the platform was due to the fact that he knew that Hagrid and Madame Maxime were on a Giant-Recruitment trip.

Sharing the room with his Godfather hadn't helped Mrs. Wealey's cause. The two of them spent most of their time chatting, catching up on old stories, etc. The rest of the Weasley's had spent their time cleaning the house, ridding it off of the filth that had accumulated over the past years. Whilst it was true that he felt a tad bit guilty for not joining them in the work, he suppressed the feeling knowing that every second that he spent with his god-father was precious. The others had some family or the other to be with, Harry only had Sirius and to an extent Remus. It was his right to spend the minimal amount of time with his family rather than on chores.

His luck hadn't lasted long enough though for, Ron had pointed out during dinner one day that they were doing all the work and that Harry was wasting his time fooling around. Before an argument could break out, Mrs. Weasley had stepped in scolding Ron, telling him off to mind his own business though Harry could easily sense the small edge in her voice. Her scolding had been halfhearted since he could feel she shared Ron's opinion on the matter but had chosen to be polite.

The next day he had gone down and had helped her clean out the kitchens where the maniac of a house-elf that Sirius owned had stowed dozens of heirlooms and dark artifacts which had once belonged to Sirius's mother. He had been bitten by a more than a few Doxies, but luckily enough Mrs. Weasley had been prepared with a few concoctions' she had purchased from Diagon-Alley that counteracted the Doxi-Venom. He suffered the most at the hands of a few pixies which had taken to throwing stuff on him which included knives, blades, Kreacher, etc. before Sirius had come to his aid, immobilizing them with a wave of his wand.

Cleaning the house had taken a toll on him, true, but he had been more irritated at the fact that it had taken away most of the time he had been planning to spend with his godfather. He shook his head wearily wanting nothing more than to head straight to his Gryffindor dorm room, where his beautiful four poster bed would be waiting for him.

Harry was shaken out of his thoughts as the Carriage buckled a bit due the uneven road to Hogwarts. A small frown adored his features as he took in the silence surrounding him, 'Have my ears gone deaf? Where are those insults?' With a confused look he turned to look at the two Slytherin girls sharing the compartment.

He caught the blonde haired girl staring at him though she abruptly turned away pretending to be interested in her handbag. He raised his eyebrows, noticing for the first time that she had deep blue Cerulean eyes. He remembered meeting her eyes a few times during the past few years. She was wearing the usual school robes, with the Slytherin crest engraved on it, confirming his suspicions as to why he had never talked to her before.

He rarely interacted outside of Gryffindor, not that he didn't want to but rather that he was content to follow the unspoken rule since first year. Interaction between the houses was minimal and strained due to the looks it drew in from both houses. He had always stuck with Ron and Hermione, rarely going out and talking to a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff though interacting with the latter had never been voluntary on his part, due to the happenings in his second and fourth year.

Harry turned to look at the other girl who simply smirked at him, boldly staring into his eyes. She had Raven black hair with Hazel eyes that sparkled with mischief or was it amusement. She opened her mouth to say something but seemed to decide against it, opting to keep her mouth closed. He didn't recognize either of the girls but he knew that both of them were in is his year. He remembered seeing their faces in the background of the classes he had shared with the Slytherins in the past years. Ah yes, Daphne Greengrass was it, the Ice-Queen and her friend Tracey Davis who were among the top five in their year. Hermione had many a time grumbled about the threat they posed to her First Rank title. No matter, she needn't worry about them anymore, as suffice to say he was the one who was going to knock Hermione out of her first place.

Thinking about Slytherins, Malfoy the amazing bouncing ferret came to mind. He was glad that he hadn't encountered the prat up until now. If only the ferret would leave him alone this year, but no, his ego would have doubled with the return of Voldemort. He would have without a doubt spent the entire summer learning how to kiss Voldemort's feet from Daddy, who had proven to be an expert in such matters time after time, dating from Voldemort to Fudge and then again to Voldemort.

He absently glanced back at the blonde haired girl. He raised his eyebrows catching her cerulean eyes focused on him once again. The carriage stopped at that precise moment diverting his attention away from the two girls, making him bite back a snappy remark. Seeing that the girls weren't going to make a move, he gathered his trunk and jumped out of the carriage making his way towards the entrance hall ignoring a few stares.

He had less taken less than 5 steps before coming face to face with an irate Hermione. She emitted a low growl but didn't say anything otherwise, motioning him towards the feast. He sighed following her like a loyal puppy. He didn't know why, but he felt the sudden desire to turn around, an eerie feeling of having someone's eyes on him. Giving into his desire, his head rotated by ninety degrees with his body finished the remaining ninety while his eyes scanned the area only to land on the same Slytherin girl. Cerulean blue eyes met Emerald Green for the briefest of seconds before the contact was broken by the crowd of students.

"What are you looking at, Harry?" called his friend.

"Ummm … Nothing" he replied, allowing himself to be steered towards the feast.

The welcoming feast went, more or less as Harry had expected. The students barricaded themselves from him, which was expected considering the stories the prophet was printing about him. It had bothered him a bit but he had shrugged it off claiming it off as their loss. He had Hermione by his side, with Neville on his opposite and Ginny by his other side.

Neville for that matter hadn't asked a single question regarding the rise of the Dark lord and Harry had mentally applauded the boy for it. A boy whom he hadn't properly acknowledged save for a handful of times since coming to Hogwarts was willing to accept him, while ...… Harry glanced at Ron who was busy at the moment trying his level best to strike a conversation with Seamus and Dean.

"Harry, where were you on the train? I was looking for you everywhere." Hermione scowled.

"I was in one of the last compartments, towards the end of the train" Harry replied offhandedly, remembering himself casting the Notice-Me-Not charm, 'But the charm should've failed if she was deliberately looking for me' he thought.

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "So you want me to believe that you sat with a gang of Slytherins for the entire train ride, you must have had more than a few pleasant conversations"

"What …No, I had a compartment for myself" he replied before adding "As I cast a Notice- Me-Not Charm on my compartment"

"Figures, if you had cast the Charm on yourself I would've probably found you seeing as it doesn't stop people who are seeking you out. But wait, how did you manage to cover an entire Compartment with such a basic spell"

"Drop it Hermione, It's time for Dumbledore's Welcome speech and am not really in the mood to discuss academics" he said giving her a pleading look.

Deciding to drop it for the moment, Hermione started describing her vacation with her parents during the end of June and the first three weeks of July. She had spent the rest of July and August with the Weasley family at Grimmauld place. Harry politely nodded asking a few silly questions here and there, though most of his attention was focused on a new face sitting at the staff table.

She was dressed in all pink and had a distinct toad like face. She held her head high, gazing around the staff table as though her going-to-be co-workers were beneath her. Harry had a distinct feeling of seeing her before but he couldn't quite place his finger on the time and location. He unconsciously bit his lip, his forehead scrunched up in concentration as he sought out memory after memory searching for her picture.

His eyebrows shot up past his forehead as he remembered the same toad like woman he had spotted sitting near Fudge at his hearing. She had been one of the first to raise her hands in favor of his conviction and had worn a look of triumph, though it had turned to a look of defeat and anger when he had been cleared. She was Fudge's senior undersecretary, and if his memory served correctly Sirius had warned that Fudge might post a spy within Hogwarts to monitor Dumbledore's actions.

The hall fell silent as the ancient Headmaster rose to his feet, "To all the new students 'Welcome' and to all others, 'Welcome back' to another year of magical education. Now as per usual, our caretaker Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that magic in the corridors is strictly forbidden and …." The customary instructions were given, though Hermione and the others got a shock when the headmaster announced that Hagrid was on temporary leave and that a substitute professor had been arranged. She felt ashamed that she hadn't noticed Hagrid's absence both at the platform and at the staff table though she didn't enquire on his casual look.

Harry watched in amusement as the toad was introduced by Dumbledore as Dolores Jane Umbridge who would be filling in as the Defense against the Dark Arts professor for the year. The student body got a huge surprise when the toad had the audacity to interrupt the headmaster, starting her own introduction speech. The teachers wore identical expressions of fury. While three-fourths of students gave the woman curious and annoyed looks, the Slytherins looked positively gleeful at seeing the toad disrespect the Headmaster.

Harry tuned out most of the speech as he couldn't make head or tail of the riddles she was talking in though he could see that Hermione was paying rapt attention, the frown on her face increasing with each word. He snorted when she ended saying "…. I am sure that we will all be the best of friends" earning a disapproving look from Hermione.

The feast ended with Dumbledore continuing his speech from where he was interrupted, before dismissing them off to their dorms. Hermione leaned in towards Harry's ear and whispered the password to the Gryffindor common room giving him a slight nod. He gave her a small smile, though she would never know how much he had appreciated her presence of mind. This way he would be able to put off the interrogation and the stares, or at the very least postpone them till a later date.

He didn't expect the Gryffindor's to side with him, no, that would be naïve of him, and he was past those silly expectations. Ron's behavior had shown him all that it was better to not have any expectations than face the cold truth later on.

He hadn't shown it, but he had been greatly annoyed by the glares that Seamus had sent his way during the feast. He was sure that his perceptive bushy haired friend had also noticed seeing as she wasn't one to break the usual custom of the first-years being the first to enter the common room.

He slipped away from the crowds into one of the many secret passages of Hogwarts and appeared at the foot of the Gryffindor tower. He raced up the constantly changing staircases to reach the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Grindylows" he muttered the password making the Fat Lady aware of his presence.

"My, my, Harry, What brings you to the tower so early on?" she asked in her chirpy voice.

He chose to ignore her and repeated the password, eyes fixed on the floor below.

She sighed, but relented by swinging forward allowing him into the common room. He did hear her call out that she was on his and Dumbledore's side making him reconsider whether or not, he and Dumbledore were on the same side. He didn't mind the portraits opinion as it wasn't going to play much of factor in reducing his problems, seeing as he couldn't imagine Fudge being convinced to draw the stick out of his arse by a portrait.

He entered his dorm room to find his trunk and belongings, safely delivered by the house elves at his bedside. Whipping out a towel from his trunk, he threw it over his shoulder, readying himself for a nice hot bath. He sighed as he heard footsteps, indicating the arrival of his year-mates. He slipped into the bathroom just as Seamus's head whipped into sight.

By the time Harry emerged from the bathroom, the other boys were halfway through their unpacking. Underwear's, jumpers, posters filled their dorm floor. Without as much as a word to anyone he hung his towel over his four poster bed. Ignoring the blatant stares he was receiving from his year mates he started unpacking his trunk.

Sirius had told him that both his mom and dad had gotten 7 O.W.L.S each. His mother had gotten O's in Potions, Charms, Defense and Ancient Runes while his father had nailed O's in Charms, Transfiguration and Defence. Sirius himself had gotten 7 O.W.L.S with three O's.

Compared to his parents and his Godfather, Harry deemed his grades to be decent or acceptable, though not good enough. He had by some sort of luck or other held onto the top grades for Defense in the past four years but he had barely scarped an E.E in Charms and Transfiguration. He considered himself borderline adequate in potions and was confident that he would have managed at least an E.E were it not for Snape's infuriating taunts and bullying.

Making up his mind to put a bit more effort into his academics for the first time in over four years was one of the few positive attributes he had gotten out of his fight with Ron. After all, he would need every edge he could get in order to come out alive after another encounter with Voldemort which he reckoned was earlier than most would expect. Sirius had claimed that his mother would have bitten his head off for his current grades. Though Sirius had meant it as a joke, it had served to only increase his sudden thirst to prove himself.

He had often wondered how his life would've been without Voldemort, with his parents alive. Would it have been his father who would've taught him to ride a broom? Would it have been his mother and not Mrs. Weasley who would hug him at Kings Cross? Would they be proud of him? What would they say to their son being the youngest seeker in a century? He could only speculate, for he would never have the right answers.

"My mum didn't want me to return to Hogwarts" Seamus declared loudly "She's afraid that it isn't safe anymore, with a 'Killer' in my dorm"

Harry knew without turning back that all four pairs of eyes were on him. He inwardly smirked at Seamus's pathetic attempt to get him riled up. He knew that though Ron didn't approve of Seamus's accusation, the red haired boy wouldn't be stepping in on Harry's behalf. Neville would remain neutral with Dean leaning a bit towards Seamus. Furthermore he had no intention of going to bed in a sour mood, for he was sure that if he started an argument with Seamus boy it wouldn't end without him hexing the Irish boy into oblivion.

Seamus however had other ideas, "Why are you back here Potter?" he yelled startling the other three.

Harry began whistling a small tune whilst rearranging his towels, robes and books in their respective places. He took out one of the photos of his parents whilst they were in Hogwarts, Lily snuggled up in James arms as they viewed the sunset at the Lake shore, letting out a wistful sigh before placing it on his bedside table. He knew that the Irish's boys face was getting redder and redder with each second, but chose to be indifferent. He showed no indication of acknowledging neither the other boys words nor his presence which only served to further infuriate the boy.

The best way to survive this year was by adopting an indifferent attitude. Sirius had briefed him on the basics of Occlumency, seeing as belonging to the Ancient and most Noble House of Black did have a few perks. His shields were fragile at best without any holes and would crack even with the slightest of probing from a sufficiently accomplished Leglimens, but that was completely beyond the point.

The reason for learning basic Occlumecy was for him to get a better control over his emotions as encountering a Leglimens wasn't that common. Should he encounter a Leglimens he would feel enough intrusion to break eye contact which would be more than enough to protect his mind suffice to say that said person wasn't a Master Leglimens. Nonetheless, control over his emotions did not prevent the springing up of a new emotion, hurt.

He calmly jumped onto his bed drawing the curtains around with a flick of his wand before whispering a one side visibility charm on the curtains. Hermione had come up with it for the sake of his easier navigation through the maze. Though she had suspected that the tall grass forming the maze would have been charmed against such simple spells it had still been worth a try. Hell, he certainly wasn't regretting learning the charm, for now he had an equivalent of Television, seeing the reactions of his dorm-mates.

Seamus was beyond livid. How dare that filthy liar ignore him like he wasn't worth his time? Damn, Harry Bloody Potter was the reason he had to literally beg his mother to return to Hogwarts. How the hell did Dumbledore believe his spewed up old story of You-know-Who coming back from the dead? Hadn't Moody made it clear last year that no spell could reawaken the dead? Which also implied that Potter had murdered Diggory for the sake of winning the tournament. He didn't think for a second last year that Potter would resort to killing for the sake of fame. Potter would have been in Azkaban right now, weren't it for Dumbledore's influence.

He scowled at Potters bed, deciding against setting the curtains on fire. He suddenly smirked remembering how three-fourth of the hall had glared at Potter's back at the Start of the Term feast. Hell the Hufflepuff's had looked murderous, more so than the Slytherins. The Ravenclaws weren't far behind, though their hatred was mostly instigated by Chang and her gang.

Potter had half of Ravenclaw and half of Gryffindor, which was roughly one-fourth of the school populous as neutrals while the rest of school as enemies. It was definitely going to be an interesting year, espeically with the attack that Chang and her friends were planning the very next day. If they were bold enough to plan something like that on the very first day of school, he shuddered to think of what they might be planning for the rest of the year.

Harry woke up at 6:30 A.M feeling refreshed and slightly energetic. He removed the silencing ward around his bed, though he doubted that he needed them at this point. Since the graveyard incident he hadn't had any of those bizarre dreams and had been getting plenty of sleep unlike last year, during which he had been tormented with visions of Wormtail, Voldemort and sometimes Crouch Jr.

'First day of class, best to get ready' he thought throwing a towel over his shoulders and marching towards the bathroom ignoring the Weasley boy's snoring which he found was a bit more infuriating than before, probably due to the row. By the time he finished his affairs in the bathroom it was 7:00. Throwing on his Hogwarts robes he collected his book bag, stuffing his wand into his robes. He admired his looks in the mirror for a few seconds before making his way out of the dormitory.

He arrived at the great hall to find a familiar bushy-haired girl with her nose in the books. Chuckling lowly he occupied the seat opposite to her observing the rest of the great hall.

"Someone's early today" Hermione commented, eyes not straying from her book.

"Well, I had a good night's sleep without any of those stupid visions and besides, I am used to getting up early at the Dursleys to cook breakfast" he replied spreading jam onto his toast.

Hermione frowned a bit, "How come you never told me that those visions stopped?"

"Well, it's not like I miss them much but …" Harry paused, "Come to think of it, I haven't had any ever since the graveyard" he ended with a frown, faking surprise.

Hermione's attention was now focused solely on him, her book aside. "Harry, you ought to report this to Dumbledore"

Harry's expression closed off in the blink of an eye, as he shot Hermione a look of distaste which didn't go unnoticed by the bushy haired girl.

"What?" she asked

"Nothing" he murmured, taking a bite into his toast.

"Parvati and Lavender asked about you last night?" Hermione continued.

"What? Oh right, they must have inquired whether or not I killed Cedric?" he drawled sarcastically.

"Actually yes, and they seemed to believe you. Parvati defended you, stating that you didn't seem like the kind of guy to commit murder"

Harry snorted, 'That's new' he thought.

"Harry, whether you believe it or not, some people really do hold you in high esteem. They have seen you for four years and they know that you aren't an attention seeking whore as most of the school or prophet so crudely put it. You really need to extend your relations beyond Gryffindor, me and Ron. I know that this year is …."

Hermione stopped seeing the look of anger on Harry's face. True, she hadn't really seen Harry getting worked up, unlike Ron who seemed to blow up at every corner, but the sight before her was a tad bit scary. She could feel his magic pulsating around them. Weird, she had never felt like this.

"You think that just because two of your dorm-mates say otherwise means that you can apply the same to the rest of the school. Hermione, why are you trying to pacify things between me and the rest of the … those idiots? Why do you want to pretend as though nothing is wrong between me and the rest of the school? I was accused of being a murderer by Seamus last night" Hermione gasped, as Harry's tone softened a bit "and he was a fellow Gryffindor. I am sick of being called those names. The fools can call me whatever they want, but the fact remains, that Voldemort is back and they refuse to acknowledge it. If they don't do something about it, people as well as the ministry is going to be ill-prepared for the war giving Tom a huge advantage"

Harry sighed, using his hands to cover his face. He shouldn't have taken it out on Hermione, Damn. He had been nonchalant to Seamus's words last night, but that didn't mean that he hadn't gotten worked up. More than anger, he was feeling hurt. The same boy who had cheered him on for supposedly putting his name in the Goblet of Fire, rooting for him throughout the tournament had to come to the point of accusing him of murder.

It just showed how naïve people were, or how naïve he had been. Hadn't the Dueling club incident during his second year proven how narrow minded people were? Ignorant fools, he could almost imagine the lot of them coming back, kissing his feet once Voldemort moved into the open making his return public knowledge.

"Look Hermione, I am sorry, alright?" he said, seeing the startled look on the girls face, "It's just this stupid behavior that's getting to me" eyeing a Hufflepuff with a dark look, whose eyes, he would have sworn was on him a few seconds back.

"It's alright Harry, I just want you to open up a bit more. You spent the whole of summer with Sir … Padfoot and sort of like avoided us. Even now I feel like you're kind of distant" she replied choosing her words carefully, "I understand that you're mad that we chose not to write to you during summer, but don't you think that you have punished us … me long enough" Harry's eyes softened a bit and he gave a huge sigh.

"No, it's not you I am mad with and I forgave you a long time ago Hermione, and as for … Hermione, there is something that i haven't told anyone, not even Dumbledore" he said with as a sacred look entered his eyes, though it lasted only for a few seconds before it was replaced with a look of uncertainty.

He look at her, straight in the eyes as though he were judging her very stared back into his green eyes with her brown ones undeterred, knowing that she would need to make a choice between the Headmaster and her friend, if not now, then very soon. It wasn't the Headmaster who saved her from the troll, nor was he the one to befriend Hogwarts resident bookworm. She had made the mistake once but not again, now that she knew how much she needed him.

"I … You know, I think I need to … go ... go get my Charms essay. I think I left it in my dorm" Harry stuttered, jamming the remaining toast into his mouth and gulping down his pumpkin juice before bidding a hasty goodbye. She watched with a sad smile on her face as he rushed out of the hall, knowing that there wasn't a Charms essay in first place.

Whatever that had been at the tip of his tongue, was something deadly serious. She had only once seen that look on Harry's eyes, the look of Death and that had been right after the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. He had been bursting to tell her, yet had held back after replaying her actions. She knew that Harry felt sort of … betrayed no matter how vague that feeling was, it was something she was sure that Harry must never again feel.

She frowned seeing Ron Weasley tagging along like a loyal dog, behind Dean and Seamus. The read head and her, looking back properly over the last few years, they were all that Harry had and that too had now been reduced to one. Sirius didn't count much, as he couldn't leave Grimmauld place.

'How thick can that boy be?' she thought seeing Ron laughing at Seamus's joke. 'Does four years of friendship account to nothing? How can Ron associate with that … that fiend … who had called their best mate a murderer?'

She shook her head in frustration; the school drama was dampening her mood. Ron Weasley was at the bottom of her problems. His attitude was going to be the death of him and besides, she had a strong feeling that his silly fight with Harry may have been due to his sudden unpopularity among the masses. She needed to regain Harry's trust, 'O.W.L.S, Dumbledore and Weasley be damn' she thought shutting her book with a small snap.