The Champion's Legacy
Chapter 12: The Return to Hogwarts
Author's Note: There's not a lot of deviation from canon in this one. I'm sticking mostly to it because I don't think Luna could have been introduced in a more appropriate setting or manner than what JKR did in the books. That aside, there are a few changes, and these will be more apparent as the story progresses. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.
Grateful, as always, to Dorothea Greengrass for being my ever present beta-reader and confidant for this series.
Update (May 10, 2021): Thanks to a guest reviewer for spotting the gaffe on Ron's date for the Yule Ball in this series - it was Hermione, not Padma. I've updated the reference now.
Disclaimer: Recognisable portions in this chapter have been taken from the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling. I neither own nor intend to make any profit from the use of Harry Potter and the associated characters of the series, in my story.
Previously on "The Champion's Legacy"…
'Just to talk, you know,' he added hastily, wishing his face would stop burning. 'I mean, she's in Slytherin, and it'll be difficult to talk to her outside of classes…'
Sirius considered him for a moment – a moment that seemed to stretch for a long while in Harry's opinion.
'I'll see what I can do,' he finally replied, grinning broadly. Harry could tell he was thoroughly enjoying stalling on this.
Harry glared at him, but Sirius just laughed, ruffled his hair once more, then left the room.
The celebration dinner, by usual standards, was relatively subdued, due to the gloomy atmosphere in the house because of Iris' condition. Everyone tried to have as much fun as they could, however. Most of the core members of the Order were in attendance to congratulate Ron and Hermione. Mrs Weasley, ably assisted by Mrs Greengrass and Ginny, had outdone herself with cooking, while Kreacher and Sirius had decorated the dining room with scarlet and gold streamers and drapes. A large banner hung over the dining table that proclaimed – CONGRATULATIONS RON AND HERMIONE – NEW PREFECTS.
They talked, drank, and exchanged funny stories of prefects they had all known during their time at Hogwarts, so that it was quite late by the time they were done with dinner, and Mrs Weasley insisted that they all go to bed.
The next morning was remarkably chaos-free, which, Harry thought, was perhaps a first for the Weasleys. They were all down for a leisurely breakfast at eight in the morning, after which they returned upstairs to gather their trunks and bring them down to the dining room.
Mad-Eye Moody, who was handling the luggage transportation to King's Cross Station, stumped in shortly after breakfast and was directed to the drawing room by Mrs Weasley to handle the unknown creature in the writing desk along with Lupin. He returned a few minutes later, his job complete, and limped to the corner where Kreacher stood with the eight school trunks, three owl cages, and a wickerwork basket housing a spitting and hissing Crookshanks.
As Harry had been informed over breakfast, he was to go to King's Cross Station with a guard – Tonks and Mrs Weasley would be accompanying him. They could hear Moody muttering sullenly about Sturgis Podmore's absence. A mixture of the other Order members, comprising Lupin, Hestia, and Mrs Greengrass, would chaperone his friends.
Sirius wanted to come to see them off, but Harry was having none of it.
'You said it yourself, Sirius, they'll know your Animagus form already,' he told his godfather across the table, his voice full of worry. 'We can't risk them finding out where you are, or who you're with.'
'Alright,' grumbled Sirius. 'It was just an idea, anyway.'
As the others pulled on their cloaks and got their other belongings ready, Harry went up to Sirius.
'I just don't want you chucked back into Azkaban, Sirius,' said Harry.
Sirius gave a gruff laugh and pulled Harry into a hug.
'Don't worry about me, I'm not going anywhere.' He pulled back and looked Harry straight in the eyes. 'Look after yourself, and remember what Dumbledore and I told you.'
Harry nodded, recalling both pieces of advice.
'Oh yeah,' Sirius added as if in an afterthought. He reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out another, much cleaner mirror. 'Moony and I worked on these last night. I'll give the other one to her, don't worry.'
Harry grinned his thanks, gave his godfather another quick hug, and moved away to allow the others to say goodbye. He watched Sirius discretely slip the other mirror in Daphne's hand and whisper what it was. She smiled and nodded.
Harry stepped out of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, five minutes later with Mrs Weasley, looking as though he was simply out for a stroll. They met Tonks – disguised today as an old woman – at the corner of the street, and together they set off for the station on foot.
Half an hour later, he had reached King's Cross Station, slid through the ticket barrier into Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, stored his trunk on an empty compartment in almost the last carriage of the train along with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Daphne, and Astoria, then hopped back onto the platform to say goodbye.
'Look after yourselves, all of you,' said Mrs Weasley, her eyes bright. 'And you, Harry,' she added, giving him an extra hug, 'do take care, won't you?'
'I always do, you know me, Mrs Weasley.'
'Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled,' said Moody, shaking Harry's hand. 'And don't forget, all of you — careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don't put it in a letter at all.'
'It's been great meeting all of you,' said Tonks, a bright smile on her face, and hugged Daphne; Hestia nodded behind her in agreement.
'You too, Tonks!' said Astoria, grinning widely. 'Thanks for the pranking tips!'
'Tori!' said Mrs Greengrass. Astoria merely smiled sweetly at her mother's warning undertone, kissed her on the cheek, waved at the others and jumped back onto the train.
Lupin shook hands with them all, reaching Harry last and clapping his shoulder.
'Thanks for the mirror, Moony,' said Harry, addressing him with the name Lupin had insisted he use.
Lupin grinned. 'I remember James and Lily had made a pair of two-way mirrors for themselves as well. Padfoot was quite annoyed with it – said that that should have exclusively remained as a Potter-Black heirloom.'
Harry chuckled.
'Don't worry about Padfoot,' Lupin continued in a low voice, so that the others couldn't hear them. 'I'll be staying there for a while, I'll ensure he stays at home.'
'As long as he doesn't do anything rash,' said Harry.
'Padfoot and not being rash?' Lupin cocked his brow with a mild snort of amusement. 'Are you sure you know your godfather, Harry?'
The warning whistle for the train sounded.
'Take care of yourself,' said Lupin. 'Don't forget to work hard on your lessons, but don't forget to have fun either.'
Harry nodded, hugged Mrs Weasley one more time, waved goodbye to Tonks and Hestia, then boarded the train with the others. They continued to wave until the train rounded the corner and they disappeared from view.
'Well, can't stand around to chat,' said Fred, clapping his hands together.
'We've got business to conclude with Lee,' said George.
'See you later,' they said together, and they headed off down the corridor.
'I still can't work out how they do that,' said Astoria, shaking her head as they returned to their own compartment.
'I suppose it's a twin thing,' said Harry, shrugging.
As they passed through the carriages to get to their own, a lot of people stared at Harry from inside their compartments with great interest. Several of them nudged their neighbours and pointed openly at him as he passed with the others. It was only after meeting this behaviour in a few compartments that he remembered that the Daily Prophet had been writing about him as a lying, attention-seeking show-off all summer. He wondered if his fellow students now staring and whispering at him actually believed those stories.
Or maybe it was the fact that he was traversing the train corridor with two Slytherins – one of whom was none other than Daphne Greengrass herself.
They were about to enter their compartment when he noticed that Ron and Hermione were standing a few feet behind them, looking rather uncomfortable.
'What's up?'
'Well…' said Hermione awkwardly, 'we're – I mean, Ron and I are supposed to go up to the prefect carriage.'
Ron became extremely interested in his fingernails.
'Oh right,' said Harry. It felt a little odd – after all, he had never travelled on the Hogwarts Express without Ron – but it's not like he was going to be alone.
Right on cue, as though she could read his thoughts – which she probably could, thought Harry – Daphne intertwined her fingers with his own.
'Don't worry about it,' she said. 'We'll save you your seats. You'll probably be back by lunch, I think.'
'Yes,' said Hermione, 'we'll only have to attend the meeting, then patrol the corridors from time to time.'
'I'm not enjoying this, you know,' said Ron, finally looking up at Harry and sounding a little defiant. 'I'd rather, you know – I don't want – I'm not Percy,' he finished.
Harry grinned at him. 'I know you're not. Go ahead, we'll see you for lunch.'
They watched them head off toward the engine end of the train, then turned and took their seats in their own compartment. Ginny had let out Crookshanks from his basket and was now stroking his fluffy ginger fur as he sat curled up in her lap, purring contentedly. Astoria, seated next to her, was flipping through a Witch Weekly magazine.
Harry settled himself near the window opposite to Ginny, embracing the peace that the compartment gave him. Daphne was beside him, leaning against his shoulder as she perused Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard, one of their new books for the year.
'Oh, what rubbish!' she said after a while. Harry turned to see her glaring at the textbook in her hands, as though it had done her a great personal harm.
'What's the matter?'
'This book –' she jabbed a finger at it '– is the worst Defence Against the Dark Arts book I've ever read, including the one we had for our first year with Quirrell!'
Harry looked at the cover of the book. It showed a witch and a wizard standing opposite a person wearing a hood and a mask – seemingly representing someone on the Dark side. None of them were standing in a combat duelling position – wands over the heads, feet apart, arms raised to allow for better movement; indeed, it looked to Harry as though the witch hadn't even drawn her wand.
As he watched, the witch and wizard approached the hooded figure and began to speak with them; a few moments later, the three of them nodded, then walked away to the opposite edges of the image, stowing their wands in their robes as they did so.
'Is it just me,' said Ginny, who'd also leaned across to watch the moving cover image, 'or did they just talk their way out of a duel?'
'Without doing magic, yeah,' agreed Astoria.
'Well, that's exactly what this book wants us to learn,' said Daphne angrily. 'Negotiation tactics, disarmament, defensive theories, and a whole load of other rubbish. Nothing about using magic or performing defensive spells or anything!'
Harry opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of the compartment door opening. Everyone looked away from the textbook toward the door.
An unfamiliar girl was standing at the threshold. She had straggly, waist-length, dirty-blonde hair, pale eyebrows, and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. One hand was pulling her trunk, while a rather colourful magazine was clutched in the other.
'Luna, hi!' said Ginny brightly. Then, spotting her trunk behind her, she said, 'Would you like to join us?'
'Hello, Ginny,' said Luna dreamily. 'Yes, I think I'd like that very much, thank you.'
Astoria and Ginny got up to make room for Luna as she dragged her trunk inside, panting slightly. Harry stood up to help her stow her trunk in the overhead luggage rack.
'Thank you,' she said in the same dreamy voice, staring at him. 'You're Harry Potter.'
'Err, yes, I am,' said Harry. Behind Luna, Daphne was smirking while Ginny suppressed a giggle.
Luna continued to stare unblinkingly at him as he sat back down again, directly opposite her. That, coupled with the necklace of Butterbeer caps she was wearing and the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear – presumably for safe-keeping – seemed to contribute to her aura of distinct dottiness. He was starting to feel rather uncomfortable.
'Had a good summer, Luna?' asked Ginny, trying her best to keep a straight face.
'Yes,' she said. 'Yes, it was quite enjoyable. You're Daphne Greengrass, aren't you?' she added, her eyes having ranged over Harry to rest on Daphne.
'Yes,' said Daphne, a little primly.
'You're in Slytherin,' said Luna, but her tone wasn't accusatory. It was as though she was making a mildly interesting observation.
'I am,' replied Daphne.
'But I don't know who you are,' continued Luna, turning to Astoria next to her.
'I'm Daphne's younger sister,' she replied. 'Astoria Greengrass.'
Luna nodded, but did not seem to want to introduce herself.
Ginny, who had stuffed her knuckles into her mouth to stop herself bursting into giggles, composed herself and said, 'Everyone, this is Luna Lovegood. She's in my year, but in Ravenclaw.'
'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure,' said Luna in a sing-song voice.
She settled herself comfortably in her seat, opened the magazine upside-down, and raised it high enough to hide her face. Harry, Daphne, and Astoria exchanged bemused looks. Ginny had her knuckles in her mouth again.
The train rattled onward, taking them further and further north. They had left London a while ago and were now speeding through open country. The sky above was quite unsettled; one moment the compartment was full of blazing sunlight and the next they were passing beneath ominously grey clouds.
Astoria had given up on the Witch Weekly magazine and was now dozing against the side of the compartment nearest to the door. Ginny was perusing Daphne's copy of Defensive Magical Theory, her frown deepening with every other page she read; Daphne, meanwhile, had her eyes closed as she leaned against Harry's side, seemingly enjoying the gentle swaying of the train's progress across the countryside.
Neville Longbottom paid a visit to their compartment at around lunch time, his toad Trevor grasped firmly in his hand.
'Hi, Harry,' he said, smiling brightly. 'Hi, Ginny.'
'Hello, Neville,' said Harry. Ginny waved at him.
Neville's smile faltered as his eyes fell on the two apparently asleep Slytherin girls.
They widened as he saw one of them resting her head on Harry's shoulder.
They almost bugged out of his head when said girl opened her eyes and he saw who she was.
'Err –'
Harry looked on bemusedly at the various degrees of reaction on Neville's face, even as Daphne straightened up, smoothing her t-shirt down and looking politely up at Neville. After a while, he decided to take pity on his friend – he knew Neville didn't have the best rapport with anyone from Slytherin.
'Neville, this is Daphne Greengrass,' he said. 'And that's Astoria, her younger sister.' He indicated the snoozing girl on the opposite bench.
Neville nodded; clearly, he didn't trust himself to speak at the moment. Harry thought he knew what was going through his classmate's mind. Neville didn't particularly like Slytherins; they had made him the butt of many jokes during their time at Hogwarts so far. On the other hand, he was too nice to say anything rude to the girls, especially when they hadn't said anything to him, and after considering the fact that Daphne had been leaning quite comfortably against Harry himself.
'And this is Luna Lovegood from Ravenclaw,' said Ginny from her corner. 'Luna, this is Neville Longbottom of Gryffindor.'
'Your date to the Yule Ball, yes,' said Luna, still in that dreamy voice. She was staring unblinkingly at Neville now. 'You did say he wasn't a great dancer –'
'Luna!' said Ginny, looking quite mortified.
Neville had turned a bright shade of red at Luna's words, but to his credit, decided to ignore them, and instead turned to Harry.
'How was your summer?'
'Fine,' replied Harry, who couldn't really say anything else, as a true recounting of his summer would have taken up the whole train journey to Hogwarts. 'Yours?'
'Okay, I suppose,' said Neville. Then he brightened. 'My Great-Uncle Algie got me a really rare plant from Assyria for my birthday, though. I'll show it to you in our dormitory.'
'That's great, Neville,' said Harry sincerely. Neville's favourite, and best, subject was Herbology.
'Yeah,' said Neville happily. 'I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout, I don't think there's one in the Hogwarts greenhouses –'
He broke off as the witch pushing the lunch trolley came up behind him. 'Dear, if you don't mind –'
Neville mumbled a quick apology and made to leave, but Harry called out to him, 'Come and sit with us for lunch, Neville.'
'No, that's alright, Harry, I don't want to disturb –'
'Nonsense, Neville,' said Harry firmly, standing up to catch the boy's robes before they whipped out of sight. 'What do you want to eat?'
'I – just a Pumpkin Pasty, thanks,' said Neville, who looked very embarrassed.
Harry clapped him on the shoulder bracingly as he squeezed past him to the lunch trolley.
Ron and Hermione turned up in their compartment around half an hour after the trolley had left, by which time most of them had finished their lunch. Harry, Ginny, and Astoria were swapping Chocolate Frog cards, while Daphne slowly munched on her pasty. Neville was sitting in the corner, looking a little apprehensive in the company of three strangers. Luna, who had laid aside her magazine for lunch, was buried in it once again.
'Finally,' said Ron, squeezing himself between Daphne and Neville and grabbing a Chocolate Frog from the pile on the opposite bench. 'I'm starving,' he supplied unnecessarily as he ripped open the wrapper, bit off the Frog's head, and leaned back in his seat. 'Oh, hello, Neville,' he added. His eyes then fell on Luna, who had lowered her magazine to gaze at the new arrivals. 'Luna Lovegood, isn't it?'
'Hello, Ronald,' said Luna.
'You two know each other?' asked Harry.
'The Lovegoods stay close to Ottery St. Catchpole,' explained Ron, his mouth full of chocolate. 'Can't walk there, mind you, but close enough.'
'Luna and I used to play together before Hogwarts,' said Ginny.
'Well,' said Hermione, who had taken her seat near Astoria and looked thoroughly disgruntled, 'there are two fifth-year prefects from each House. Boy and girl.'
'And guess who's the Slytherin prefect?' said Ron, his eyes now closed.
'Malfoy,' said Harry and Daphne together.
'Obviously,' said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and seizing another. Harry and Daphne groaned.
'And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson,' said Hermione viciously. 'How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll –'
'Not Pansy!' groaned Daphne even louder this time. 'Ugh, she's going to be a nightmare in the dormitory!'
'It's rare that I feel sorry for you, Daph, but this time, I honestly do,' said Astoria sympathetically.
'I was hoping it would be Millicent,' sighed Daphne. 'At least she wouldn't be as annoying as Pansy. And Draco too – oh, this year is going to be terrible.'
Harry rubbed her back sympathetically.
'D'you think she knows about –' began Ron, but he caught the warning look on Hermione's face and fell silent. Harry knew Ron had been referring to Iris, but it was a good thing he'd stopped: neither Neville nor Luna knew what had happened, and they didn't want to spread the word around.
'Who are the Hufflepuffs?' asked Harry quickly to stave off any probing questions from Neville and Luna, the latter of whom had been gazing curiously at Ron.
'Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott,' said Ron.
'And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw,' said Hermione.
'They're not bad,' said Harry. 'Ernie's a little pompous, but he's nice.'
'Yes, Padma and Anthony are very nice people,' chipped in Luna vaguely. 'They've always treated me well.'
She raised her magazine to hide her eyes once again. Harry stared at her for a few moments curiously, then looked around at the others for some kind of explanation, but everyone else gave him a bemused shrug.
Ron checked his watch.
'We've been told to patrol the corridors ever so often,' Ron informed the others, 'and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something…'
'Ron!' said Hermione sharply. 'You're not supposed to abuse your position, you know!'
'Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse his at all,' said Ron sarcastically.
'So you're going to sink to his level?'
'No, I'm just going to –'
But what exactly Ron was going to do, they never found out, for at that precise moment, the compartment door slid open for the third time. Harry opened his mouth to retort at the visitor, perfectly sure it was Malfoy visiting with Crabbe and Goyle as they always did every year, but he stopped short.
Crabbe and Goyle were there, of course, looking as large and trollish as ever. It was the figure standing between them, however, that caught everyone's eye, for it wasn't Draco Malfoy.
A weedy-looking boy with straw-coloured hair stood with his hands in the pockets of his robes, smirking superiorly at all of them. He had a stringy look about him, which explained why Crabbe and Goyle appeared slightly shorter than before, but the dark grey eyes that gazed around the compartment were actually quite calculating and intelligent.
'So,' he said, and even his voice seemed sharp and cutting, quite unlike the drawl they associated with Draco Malfoy, 'looks like I'm gate-crashing a nice little party.'
Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly.
The boy's eyes lingered on the discard Chocolate Frog wrappers, then ranged over the other occupants before resting on Daphne. He raised his left eyebrow contemptuously.
'Greengrass,' said the boy, his tone dripping with undisguised disdain.
'Nott,' replied Daphne coolly.
Nott's eyes flickered between Daphne and the Gryffindors in the compartment, lingering on Harry a bit longer than the others.
'I didn't take you for someone who'd consort with this trash,' sneered Nott, jerking his head towards Harry. 'And the Mudblood too –'
'You watch your mouth!' said Ron, glaring angrily at the Slytherin boy. Ginny had actually pulled out her wand.
Nott smirked at Ron. 'So, it is true – Weasel the Prefect.' He turned to Harry, his lip curling. 'How does it feel to be second-best, Potty?'
'You seem to have become second-best to Malfoy, Nott,' replied Harry coolly. 'What, did he send you to do his dirty work for him?'
To their surprise, Nott's face darkened, as though the question had irritated him. 'Hardly, Potty,' he said coldly. 'Draco knows his place now.'
It was only because Daphne was sitting right next to him that he felt her stiffen at those words, but as he could not see her face, he couldn't tell if her expression had changed or not.
'Does he, now?' said Harry, sounding as though he were mildly interested in this. 'What happened, lost favour with Voldemort, has he?'
'Perhaps…' Nott said slowly, smirking again. His eyes were glittering maliciously now. He cast another derisive look around the compartment, his smirk widening, then departed. Crabbe and Goyle lumbered along in his wake.
Hermione got up and slid the door shut.
'What the bloody hell was that all about?' said Ron, the moment the door was closed. 'Since when did Crabbe and Goyle stop following Malfoy around?'
'And who is this nutter, anyway?' asked Harry.
Daphne was still staring at the closed door. It took a few moments before she responded, her voice low and slightly concerned.
'That's Theodore Nott,' she said. 'He's the son of Theo Nott Senior. His father was – is – a Death Eater with You-Know-Who.'
And then Harry suddenly remembered: a stooping figure prostrating himself before Voldemort in the graveyard, claiming himself to be Voldemort's most faithful servant before he'd been cut off.
'He was at the graveyard,' said Harry quietly, but everyone could hear him. 'He was with Crabbe and Goyle Senior there, too.'
Everyone was staring at him now. No one in the compartment apart from Ron, Hermione, and Daphne had heard him speak about that night. Harry shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
'That still doesn't explain how those two boulders –' Ron jerked his thumb towards the door, indicating the departed figures of Crabbe and Goyle '– suddenly decided to follow Nott instead of Malfoy. What's wrong with him?'
'You know, I just remembered something,' said Hermione thoughtfully, her eyes gazing at the opposite wall. 'Malfoy wasn't rude to us at all during the Prefect meeting, didn't you notice?'
Ron stared at her, his mouth slightly open; then, as though he was trying his best to find something to say about Malfoy, said, 'Yeah, but maybe he didn't want to do it in front of the other Prefects, or the Head Boy. Otherwise, he'd have been in trouble even before we'd reached Hogwarts, wouldn't he?'
'I suppose…' said Hermione vaguely, but she still looked to be thinking it over.
'Daphne?' said Harry quietly, looking at her with concern; Daphne had been quite pensive since Nott's remark about Malfoy. 'What is it?'
Daphne shook her head, her blonde hair catching the rare rays of sunlight streaming in through the compartment windows.
'Draco was the unofficial leader of Slytherin House, from our year down,' she said slowly. 'Even some of the older students listened to him – because of his father, you know.'
The others nodded.
'I think Nott is trying to take his place in the hierarchy,' she went on, a small frown creasing her face. 'I'm not sure why or how, but what happened just now –' she waved vaguely at the door '– was a show of power. He's got Crabbe and Goyle listening to him instead of Draco. That means he's got some support already.'
'How does that matter?' asked Ron. 'So, Malfoy's being put in his place, big deal.'
'It matters,' said Daphne patiently; Harry could see a flicker of worry in her sapphire blue eyes, 'because a power struggle within the House will affect all of us in it. We may be forced to choose sides, but I don't understand why Draco would let this happen in the first place…'
She trailed off, her concern evident on her face now. Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulder, drawing her closer to him. She sighed softly, resting her head against his torso.
'Maybe it's because of, you know, what happened last year,' said Ginny quietly. 'I noticed it during the Leaving Feast, a lot of them seemed a little…off.'
'Yes, I saw that too,' said Daphne, nodding in agreement. 'The fact that You-Know-Who could, well…' she swallowed, the events of last year still evidently painful. 'I think the rest of us realised that he doesn't actually care for purebloods. He only wants –'
'– power, yeah,' finished Harry. 'He wants to become the greatest sorcerer in the world, he told me so. The sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle, down in the Chamber,' he added, glancing at Ginny. Her face was set, but otherwise it betrayed nothing.
They lapsed in contemplative silence, each wondering about what Nott's supposed elevation in the Slytherin hierarchy could mean to the House, and the school as a whole. Harry gazed out of the window – the train was now rumbling past moors and the occasional isolated village, while the sky was as undecided as ever. Yet, his thoughts were on Slytherin House, Daphne, Iris, and Cassius…
Sometime later, Neville excused himself to return to his compartment; Astoria and Ginny, too, left to catch up with their friends, with Luna following Ginny out of the compartment.
After about another hour, during which it began to rain in a half-hearted sort of way, followed by the sun making a rather weak appearance, Tracey and Blaise showed up in their compartment.
'Finally!' said Tracey, after she'd hugged Daphne, and Blaise had, rather formally, shaken hands. 'Why didn't you meet us earlier? What's been happening? I haven't been able to send any letters to you, what's going on?'
'Calm down,' said Daphne with a small laugh. Tracey's appearance had relaxed her visage significantly. 'I'll explain…'
'Hold on,' said Hermione suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her as she drew her wand and waved it in a complicated manner, all while muttering something under her breath.
An odd sensation seemed to spread over the compartment, as though they were enclosed in an invisible, transparent bubble.
'What did you do?' asked Ron.
'Privacy charm,' said Hermione, pocketing her wand in her robes. 'Now we can talk freely without people listening in. Mind you, they can still see us, but this should do for now.'
Blaise was staring at her with something close to wonder.
'That's a NEWT level spell,' he said in amazement. 'How did you even learn that?'
'Oh,' said Hermione, trying to look modest. 'Well, I mean…I decided to do a bit of extra reading over the summer, and I came across this.' She shrugged. 'It's not that hard, you know – once you get the wand movement right, anyone could do it really. I mean…'
She trailed off, looking a little embarrassed.
Ron was now looking at her with an extremely fond expression. 'You're amazing, you know that?' he said.
Hermione beamed brightly at him. Harry shook his head in mild exasperation, and promptly received a punch on the shoulder from Ron.
The first fifteen minutes were devoted to Daphne explaining what had happened to her after Tracey had left Greengrass Manor, from Lucius Malfoy's second visit to their rapid travel across Europe and their return to London –
'– and then we ended up at Harry's godfather's place,' said Daphne. 'He's – err –'
She faltered and looked at Harry. The unspoken question was quite clear, but so was the answer: Tracey and Blaise could be trusted with the truth, or as much as they were allowed to share.
'His godfather's Sirius Black,' said Daphne. Her tone was tentative, and with good reason: Tracey and Blaise had been apprehensive about Sirius Black's escape and subsequent attempts to infiltrate Hogwarts. The general consensus, of course, was that he had been after Harry, so their reactions were not entirely blameless.
'What?' said Tracey in astonishment, her mouth having fallen open in shock.
Blaise looked suspiciously between Harry and Daphne, then to Ron and Hermione, as though trying to catch a tick that would suggest that they were all having him on.
'It's true,' said Daphne. 'Sirius isn't after Harry, it's actually Peter Pettigrew…'
The next fifteen minutes were spent on explaining Sirius' innocence, by the end of which Tracey's eyes were almost bugged out of her head; Blaise, however, was actually smirking.
'What?' asked Ron curiously, noticing this.
'I knew the Ministry was incompetent, but I didn't know it was this bad,' said Blaise. 'Although, now that I think about it, it's not really that much of a surprise, is it?'
They couldn't reveal the location of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, but they were able to give Tracey and Blaise a brief gist on what they'd been doing (mainly cleaning) and what the Order was doing (convincing everyone that Voldemort was back).
'Wow,' said Tracey, leaning back in her seat; she seemed overwhelmed by the amount of information that she'd just learnt. 'I mean, just – wow…'
'Well, Potter, no one can say you don't lead an interesting life, can they?' jested Blaise with a smirk.
'Don't I know it,' sighed Harry, rubbing his tired eyes under his glasses.
'You don't know half of it,' Ron told Blaise grimly. He jerked his thumb at Harry. 'He was almost expelled for doing magic outside school.'
'WHAT?!'
By the time they'd finished that story, Tracey was slumped in her seat, looking absolutely flabbergasted.
'There was nothing in the Prophet, though,' she said weakly. 'Absolutely nothing. You'd think they'd want to run that story, wouldn't you, what with the angle they're using these days.'
'The Minister wouldn't want it known that Harry got off,' said Blaise astutely. 'It would represent a blow to the Ministry if the public got wind of it. I think you're right, though,' he added, looking at Harry. 'Dementors don't usually act like that of their own accord, and if they're not outside Ministry control, it stands to reason that someone ordered them there.'
Harry nodded, feeling a sense of gratitude towards Blaise and Tracey for their agreement of his story and their indignation on his behalf.
'The question, though,' continued Blaise, 'is who did it?'
Harry shrugged. Ron, however, piped up, 'The Ministry is investigating that, apparently.'
'How do you know that?' asked Tracey curiously.
Ron opened his mouth but faltered at the warning look that Hermione gave him.
'Let's just say that the Order has its sources,' said Daphne, coming to Ron's rescue.
To the Gryffindors' great surprise, Tracey and Blaise accepted that explanation without question. It must have shown on their faces because Blaise chuckled.
'We Slytherins know the value of keeping things secret and hidden, Potter,' he said. 'And when it comes to such issues, the less people know, the better.'
Harry couldn't fault the logic in that.
'Speaking of Ministry investigations,' said Hermione slowly, and here she exchanged a meaningful look with Daphne. 'There was another incident that you ought to know about.'
Tracey and Blaise looked between the two girls, a mixture of curiosity and apprehension on their faces.
'It's about Iris,' said Daphne heavily.
By the end of this story, Tracey's eyes were filled with tears, while Blaise looked solemn and downcast.
'Do Adrian and Terence know?' he asked quietly.
Ron shook his head. 'We haven't had the chance to send them an owl about this, and we figured it'd be too much of a giveaway if we told them on the train. People would know something was up.'
'No, you're right,' said Blaise, rubbing his chin in a thoughtful manner. 'Best to tell them once we're back at school, at someplace private and secure.'
Tracey sniffled sadly. Daphne put a comforting arm around her. Hermione cancelled the privacy charm with another wave of her wand.
The mood in the compartment became decidedly gloomier after that. It had at last started to pour in earnest now – great drops of rain splattered the windows as the train rumbled further and further north. Darkness fell rapidly, and the lamps spluttered to life inside the carriages.
'We'd better change,' said Hermione at last, just as Ginny, Astoria, and Luna returned to the compartment. A quick round of introductions later, Tracey and Blaise bid goodbye to all of them and disappeared down the corridor. Harry and Ron stepped out to let the girls change into their robes, before switching places. Harry watched Ron carefully pin his prefect badge to his chest and check his reflection in the now black window.
At long last, the train began to slow down and the usual racket of students scrambling to get their luggage and pets echoed around it. Ron and Hermione disappeared amongst the students to fulfil their prefect duties of supervising the students disembarking, leaving Harry and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.
'Could you give us a moment?' said Harry to Ginny and Astoria, just as Luna dragged her trunk out of the compartment. They nodded, Ginny taking Crookshanks' wickerwork basket while Astoria took Pig's cage with her.
Daphne looked inquisitively at Harry as the compartment door slid shut, muffling the sounds of their fellow students dragging their trunks along the corridor outside, mixed with the hoots of owls, croaks of toads, and the yowling and hissing of other pets. Harry drew the blinds on the compartment door and the window, then opened his arms out wide. Daphne smiled, recognising the invitation, and stepped into his embrace.
'I didn't know when we would next be able to get some time for ourselves,' Harry murmured into her hair. 'I figured we'd make the best use of what can get right now.'
'Smart thinking. Not bad, Potter,' Daphne replied. Harry could almost hear the smirk in her voice.
He pulled back, leaned down, and captured her lips with his, pouring everything he felt for her in that kiss: the relief that he was back at Hogwarts, gratitude towards his friends, and the strong, powerful emotions that he felt for her and her presence in his life. He could feel Daphne responding with feelings of her own, cupping his face with her hands as she did so.
They broke the kiss after a good while, panting for breath.
'That was…' said Daphne, her face flushed and her eyes glittering.
'Intense, yeah,' supplied Harry. 'I just – I didn't know –'
'I know,' said Daphne, looking up at him.
The sounds of the students outside were slowly fading away.
'I don't want to hide this,' said Harry firmly. 'This – whatever we have between us – I don't want to keep it a secret.'
He could see a hint of worry beginning to fester behind her sapphire blue eyes.
'I don't know, Harry…' she said, biting her bottom lip in what Harry thought was an endearing sort of way. 'If what happened with Nott was anything to go by, Slytherin House is going to be very unstable right now. If we throw this into the mix…'
Harry sighed.
'Your dad told me not to worry about what would happen, if I thought what we had was worth it,' he said quietly, his forehead resting on hers. 'And he's right – I'm not going to worry about it. Not when there are much bigger things to worry about.'
He'd made his decision on this the night before they returned to Hogwarts. Sirius had told him, all those weeks ago, that he mustn't allow Voldemort to control his life – couldn't permit the fear of Voldemort to overrule everything that he wanted to do. He'd taken it to heart back then, enjoying his time to the fullest with the Weasleys and the Order, and he was determined to continue that even at Hogwarts. Whatever the Slytherins or even the Ministry threw at him, he could handle it – he'd handled Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse after all, and nothing else could possibly compare to that.
Daphne's eyes were glittering again, this time with pride and elation, but there was still a tinge of caution in her voice as she spoke.
'What Father said…I don't disagree with him, Harry,' she whispered, 'but even he would agree that in a situation as delicate as this, it would be for the best to wait and see how things pan out. Plus, we have the mirror to keep in touch for now,' she added.
There were more students on the platform than on the train now; they could hear a few carriage doors being shut at the other end of the train.
'I just don't want you to get hurt, Harry,' she said softly, staring straight into his eyes.
Harry nodded, a lump in his throat preventing him from telling her what her words really meant to him. The fact that she cared so much…that they all cared for him – it was more than he could express in words, so he did the one thing he knew would let her know how he felt.
He kissed her again.
To be continued…
