Hogwarts Express

His officers were not impressed with his decision to return to Hogwarts, his personal guards even less so due to the fact they could not follow. Aries however put his foot down, explaining that the opportunities that returning to Hogwarts would offer outweighed the risks. Many of the noble houses that he was either allies with or was trying to tempt to his side had children that attended Hogwarts, not to mention his wife Daphne still attended school. His guards had felt a little better when told that he would have private quarters as Lord Black, and that his status allowed him to leave the school whenever he felt was necessary to deal with any family business. He had left strict instructions to the Imperial officers under his command to continue as they were for now, recruiting and training new soldiers and building ships, not to mention tempting dissatisfied Imperials to their side.

He had sent an owl ahead with a notice to Professor Mcgonagall informing her of his new status as Lord Black and requesting private quarters for himself and his wife. He had a feeling that he would be fought on this, but he was unwilling to compromise. A private room accessible only to himself would be necessary for his meetings with potential allies. He had already received a letter from Josephine Rosier, requesting a private meeting. This had baffled him slightly, considering talks were still ongoing between Lord Rosier and Lord Greengrass, who was acting as an emissary of sorts. He had yet to inform Daphne of the meeting, considering her reaction to her back in Diagon Alley.

As he stepped onto platform nine and three quarters with Daphne at his side, he immediately spotted the Weasley family along with Hermione, all making a scene of saying goodbye to each other whilst looking around searchingly, it was almost too obvious. Along with several Ministry Aurors dotted around the platform, he could see several Order members amongst the crowd, looking over the heads of the parents and students, clearly looking for someone. Aries grimaced, pulling Daphne towards the train. "Come on, I'd rather not get caught up in whatever it is them lot have planned." Daphne simply smirked at him from the side, finding the situation entirely too amusing for his tastes.

Boarding the train, they quickly found an empty compartment and sat themselves down besides each other, Daphne leaning her head on to Aries' shoulder. Aries couldn't help but smile and began stroking her hair. They had not had much time together due to the sheer amount of work Aries had on his plate. He treasured moments like these, moments he thought he would never have after hearing the prophecy at the Department of Mysteries. Both of them were determined to not allow House lines to come between them, considering they could guess the reactions of their peers. Their marriage hadn't exactly been widely advertised outside of the political circles, so quite a few people were in for a shock once they arrived.

Before long, the train pulled away from the station and began the long journey to Hogsmeade, and Daphne quickly fell asleep leaning against his shoulder whilst Aries read through a sheet of notes left to him by his Grandfather. Apparently the notes had once belonged to an ancient Sith Lord who was alive during the time of the Sith Empire, something Lord Kallig had dedicated his life to reviving. Using the Empire that Palpatine had established was merely the beginning. A new generation of Sith would need to be trained to counter the New Jedi Order that had been established by Luke Skywalker, a Jedi who apparently was a War hero to the Rebellion, according to his officers.

He was disturbed from his reading by the door to the compartment being ragged open by an irate looking Hermione Granger, with Ron and Ginny hovering behind her.

"Harry! Why didn't you come and find us?!" She screeched, waking up Daphne in the process and causing his wife to scowl.

Aries shot her a bemused look, totally befuddled by her behaviour. "Why on earth are you shouting? And clearly I am spending time with my wife whilst I can."

Daphne chose then to speak up herself, her tone cold. "Surely you were taught manners when you were younger? What right do you have simply barging into our compartment?"

Hermione's face turned bright red in anger before lifting her nose up in a superior manner, her voice condescending. "We are Harry's best friends! And we need to talk to him privately, so if you could please leave."

Aries' eyebrows rose at that. "Best friends? You can't even get my name right. I haven't gone by the name 'Harry' since the start of Summer. My name is Aries Arcturus Black, I suggest you remember that before throwing out statements like that. And besides, anything you want to say you can say in front of my wife."

Ron then decided it was time to say something extremely stupid. "But you can't trust her mate! She is a Slytherin, they are all rotten to the core!"

The temperature of the compartment lowered significantly, causing everyone except for Aries to shiver. Aries glared at Ron, his eyes flashing crimson for a moment, causing the red head to back away quickly. "Daphne is my wife, Ron. If you cannot accept that and be respectful, then I have nothing to say to you." His voice became a hiss at the end of the statement, slipping slightly into parseltongue, causing Ron to pale. He simply gaped at Aries before Hermione dragged him out of the compartment, throwing both Daphne and Aries a dirty look. Ginny lingered behind, throwing Aries a longing look before following the other two up the train.

Aries simply waved his hand in the direction of the door, using the force to shut it. "I swear, all these years I didn't realise just how irritating they are."

Daphne chuckled next to him, her cold demeanour having vanished as soon as they had left the compartment. "I must admit, many of us have always wondered why you put up with them. And I'm not just talking about those of us in Slytherin either."

Aries simply shrugged. "I guess I know better now. When I first came to Hogwarts, they were the first friends I had ever had, so I guess I kind of latched on to them, if that makes sense?"

Daphne nodded in understanding. "Well, now you know better. In fact, this year you will probably find quite a few people attempting to befriend you. Not only are you the 'Chosen One' but you are also Lord Black. Add into the mix the fact that you haven't got Weasley and Granger scaring everyone off, and I imagine you will be quite popular. But if the youngest Weasley keeps looking at you like that, I may need to introduce her to my spell repertoire."

Aries chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about Ginny. Even discarding the fact that she is Ron's sister, she isn't my type."

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you have a type? Do tell."

He simply smirked in response, waving his hand once more, using the force to lock the compartment door and close the curtains. Moving closer to his wife, he whispered in her ear "Blonde with blue eyes, my dear." before pulling her onto his lap and kissing her passionately.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Scene Break

It was a rather dishevelled Aries and Daphne that stepped onto the platform at Hogsmeade station, having spent the last few hours together alone. They both received several surprised looks from other students, clearly surprised that a Gryffindor and Slytherin were walking and talking together. Other students who were in the know simply nodded respectfully to them, a couple of them even bowing to Aries with a murmured "Lord Black" something which garnered more attention from the other students, much to Aries' annoyance. Whilst he had learned to enjoy the privileges that came with being a noble Lord, he didn't exactly want people bowing to him in the halls and at school, it would simply make the teachers and most importantly, Dumbledore, even more suspicious.

Making their way to the carriages, they got into one of the last ones in the line, discovering much to their delight that they had the carriage to themselves. It wasn't long before they were at the entrance to Hogwarts itself, something that would have made Aries smile a few months ago. Now, he felt only annoyance at having to return. Now that he had a future planned out ahead of him that he was in control of, he found the fact that he would now have to answer to the professors of Hogwarts detestable. He would have to sit in pointless classes whilst he could be back at Grimmauld Place, planning the coming war.

They stepped into the castle and into the great hall, and with a small goodbye kiss, went their separate ways to their house tables. Spotting Hermione and Ron already sat at the Gryffindor table looking at him expectantly, Aries sighed out loud. He was not in the mood to deal with those two right now. He looked up and down the table and spotting a space by Katie Bell, promptly made his way to sit next to her. Katie smiled brightly at him and made to greet him, but was cut off but Albus Dumbledore standing at his podium, speaking to the great hall at large.

"Welcome once again, to Hogwarts! I am sure you are all looking forward to hearing my oh so exhilarating speech, but alas I have been advised that it is better to do so on a full stomach. So, tuck in!" And with that, the plates and bowls that were empty mere moments before were full to the brim with food of all kinds.

Aries was about to start piling meat onto his plate when he felt a tap on his shoulder from Katie "Uh… Harry, I've got to ask…but… when did you get so yummy?!" Aries snorted and chuckled lightly, causing Katie to blush.

"I uh… didn't think I was if I'm honest. Oh and Katie, I've actually changed my name. Did it when I became Lord Black. So please, call me Aries." He shot her what he hoped was a charming smile, which apparently worked as Katie licked her lips in an almost hungry manner, her face still red.

"Aries… like the constellation?" She asked

Aries paused a moment before asking, smirking slightly "Yeah. It's a Black family tradition to be named after the constellations…"

Katie cocked her head slightly to the side before leaning in to speak into his ear. "I wouldn't mind finding out a bit more about your traditions, if you get my meaning." This time around, they both blushed. Aries turned around slightly to look over at the Slytherin table, spotting a very irate looking Daphne glaring over at him. 'Oh dear' He thought to himself.