Book 2: Binds of Blood

Chapter 2 - A Thirst for Freedom

Dean Thomas hated packing, he considered it one of life's worst mistakes. Which is why when Neville's grandmother walked into the spare room he had been staying in for the last week of summer, around an hour before they were all set to depart for Hogwarts and saw Dean fighting a losing battle with his clothes, pulled out her wand and gave it a flick which caused all of Deans clothes to neatly tuck themselves into the case. Dean could have kissed her, he however didn't because she looked over seventy and would kill him if he dared.

"Come along now dear, the floo line has opened up and Neville is waiting downstairs for you."

Dean thanked the women and grabbed his case. He had been grateful when Neville sent the letter asking him if he wanted to join his Grandmother and himself at the Longbottom estate. Apparently Neville had also invited Seamus but since his Hogwarts letter the young Irish boy had been dying to spend more time with his mother, something both boys could understand. Dean had agreed and two weeks before returning to Hogwarts he had meet the Longbottoms at Diagon Alley with his mother who had asked a few questions before departing. They had spent the rest of that day getting all of their Hogwarts supplies, Lady Longbottom had insisted on buying everything, stating they had enough money and not nearly enough people to spend it on.

The rest of the holiday had been spent enjoying the large estate that Neville lived on. While Dean was aware of his best mate's status, actually seeing it was quite surprising. The house itself was large but nothing compared to the ground. The fields, where the grass was kept in order, the forest nearby was left to grow wild and then there was the greenhouses which Neville was obsessed with. According to Neville, his gran had built them for him when he was about seven, it had been a birthday surprise. Dean had gotten a second hand bike for his seventh birthday but it wasn't a competition.

Dean loved being friends with Neville. His best friend was always a little on the quiet side, not because he was scared to talk, the nervous stutter he had at the start of the year had almost completely faded. No Neville was quiet because he took his time with his words, only saying something after carefully selecting each words. He found the calmness of just being around Neville to be very relaxing.

Seamus however was the complete opposite. The boy never shut up. Constantly going on about something random, every day Dean hoped he would run out of words yet it seemed impossible for the boy to do anything other than talk. Dean couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and see what rubbish Seamus had found to talk about over the summer.

Making his way downstairs Dean found the pair of Longbottoms waiting for him by the main fireplace, Lady Longbottom asked if he had everything ready and after agreeing she handed him some floo powder, smiling Dean entered the fireplace and threw it down.

"Platform nine and three quarters!"

LINE BREAK

Hermione give her parents a big squeeze before finally letting go. Honestly this was one of the best summers Hermione had ever had, the trip to France had been wonderful and the rest of the summer had been a treat. Saying her last goodbyes and promising to write more than she had done last year Hermione finally climbed on bored the Hogwarts express.

The train was alive with energy as students reunited with friends they hadn't seen all summer and first years bounced through the corridors with a mixture of excitement and nerves. Hermione couldn't blame them, it felt so much longer than a year ago that she had been one of them but now she was walking through the train trying to find her own friends.

"Sorry." Hermione quickly said, she had almost run into the Slytherin prefect, Vinda something. Her last name escaped Hermione.

"Granger, right?"

"Yes." Hermione said, slightly shocked that the now sixth year prefect knew her name.

"I'm actually glad we ran into each other, though this is slightly more literal than I imagined." She said with a polite laugh, one Hermione thought was very clearly fake. "I wanted to congratulate you on your exam results. I must say considering your heritage, they were really impressive."

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione quickly asked, her flushed face giving away her clear annoyance at the comment.

"Oh nothing like that. Now don't let me keep you, go and find your friends. Maybe change into your robes I think you would look better." The prefect walked off leaving Hermione to stew in her own anger.

How dare someone who is meant to be a role model for all students talk to her like that. She wasn't an idiot, Hermione was fully aware of the fact that many students in her house looked down on her because she was a muggle born but the idea that one of those individuals who is meant to be someone Hermione was meant to turn to when she needed advice was outrageous.

Taking a deep breath and trying not to let this ruin her trip Hermione pushed the frustration down and continued on her search for Harry or Ron.

She had done a full sweep of the train yet couldn't see either of them. Ron was most likely running very very late, he had warned Hermione in his letters that his family was very rarely on time to the Hogwarts express but she couldn't understand why Harry was no were to be seen.

It wasn't until her second pass of the train that she spotted him, sat in a compartment that she could have swore was empty the first time round was the black messy hair of her friend. He had the curtains drawn so no one could see him from the outside and was facing away from the door so he didn't see Hermione until she pulled open the door.

Hermione's excitement died as soon as she got a look at Harry. All of the things she wanted to tell him disappeared as she saw how thin he had become, the deep bags under his eyes showing how little sleep he must have gotten and the slight wince that had flashed when she had opened the door meant the loud noise had hurt him in some way.

"Harry what happened?"

LINE BREAK

Ron hadn't been looking for Daphne and Tracy. When he had gotten onto the train, with just a couple of minute to spare, he had planned to find Harry and Hermionie first but while walking down the corridor of the train and looking briefly into each compartment too see if he could spot them he saw the two girls sat together, they seemed to be having a rather heated debate but it stopped when Tracy spotted Ron outside. Deciding to pop in and catch up with the girls quickly he opened the door.

"Hey girls, how was your guy's summer?"

"Hi Ron," Daphne answered. "It was amazing, such a shame you couldn't visit even once." She sounded disappointed.

"I am really sorry about that Daphne. Honestly I kept trying but my mum and dad were against me even writing to you in the beginning and convincing them to let me come over was impossible."

"Well what's your excuse for not coming to see me then Weasley." Tracy asked, clearly faking being annoyed.

"Well Davis, you never offered."

"Hmm excuses."

"My dad was not pleased when he found out I was writing to you. Apparently he was angry at your father for something to do with the Wizengamot."

"Shouldn't you know what your dads annoyed about, since you're his heiress and all?" Ron asked, he had never really paid much attention to his dads work, mainly cause he found it boring but he had assumed that since Daphne would be taking her fathers seat on the Wizengamot she would pay more attention.

"Well maybe but honestly dad is not too fussed yet. Mum makes sure I know all of my etiquette and has done since I was five but dads has always said he would wait until I was a third year before bothering to tell me about that sort of stuff." Daphne did not seem too excited about this fact.

"Ah fair enough. Thanks again for the books, almost all of them were on the assigned reading list. Apart from Lockheart's of course."

Daphne smiled. "Happy to be of service but it was a gift, no need to thank me. Were your parents okay with it?" She asked with uncertainty in her voice. Ron had never been open about it but from the way he sometimes spoke it was clear that the Weasley family disliked any form of charity, not that what Daphne had done was charity but she was still worried.

"Well they couldn't get more annoyed at my friendship with you so not really, though I did get a long lecture from my dad about how we don't accept or need handouts." Ron had to bite his tongue a lot during that one. It wasn't that he disagreed, in fact he hated thinking that Daphne had only given him the books as an act of charity, he saw it as her way of apologising for the first argument they had.

Daphne went to reply but before she could the door to their compartment was slammed open and a panicked Hermionie Granger stood at the door.

"It would have been polite to knock." Tracy teased yet Hermionie completely ignored her.

"Ron, come quick. It's Harry.

LINE BREAK

Harry Potter's head was killing him. It had been for a week and the compartment door slamming open for the second time today really didn't help it. The door slamming closed again helped even less. Turning his head caused the aching sensation in his neck to worsen and Harry winced slightly. Looking at the small group that had filled his compartment Harry was really regretting not hiding under the cloak.

"Bloody hell mate, you look awful."

"Thanks Ron, really making me feel better." Came Harry's reply to Ron's statement. A small laugh came from Daphne.

"I came to get you guys as soon as I saw him. He won't tell me what happened and claims he is fine." Hermione was rambling and it was clear she was on the verge of a full blown panic but Harry was currently lacking the energy to do anything other than watch the girl.

"Breath Hermionie, he's not dying." Ron's attempt to calm his friend failed as Hermione turned to him and began to berate the boy.

Harry's head was pounding now and his temper was rising. "BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP." He snapped, feeling immediately bad about it.

His two friends turned to him and both seemed shocked. "Sorry, just my head is pounding and you guys bickering wasn't helping at all."

They both mumbled out apologies, clearly unsure what to say next. It was Tracy who actually broke the uncertainty.

"It was them wasn't it." It was not phased as a question. Ron and Hermione looked at the girl confused before Hermione's eyes widened in shock.

"Your aunt and uncle did this to you?" The statement made Ron swear under his breath.

"It doesn't matter, they weren't happy with me over summer and then something happened. I will be fine."

Tracey walked over to the boy and sat down, careful to not sit too close. "Harry I don't know you very well but I can tell you are pretty stubborn and I am sure you will be fine on your own. However, everyone in this compartment would love to help you if you're okay with that?"

Harry watched the girl for a minute. Her glasses were pink rimmed and her brown hair was tied in a simple ponytail. He was aware of everyone watching him and waiting for Harry to speak but he simply studied Tracey before nodding.

"They have always disliked me," Harry paused to swole, his mouth felt very dry all of a sudden. "I always knew that, even before I knew why. Finding out about magic actually helped because I could finally give a reason as to why they hated me, that wasn't just me."

Harry turned towards the window, not wanting to look at the others, the train was travelling through the countryside and Harry watched hills pass him by.

"It got a little better after Hagrid came to visit me. I got to move out of the cupboard and into Duddly's spare room which was nice but I wasn't an idiot, I didn't expect it to last and I was right. Got to keep the room though which was a bonus." Harry ignored the gasp from Hermione and due to the way he was faced he didn't see the quick glare Tracey gave the girl.

"They sort of just left me to do it in the beginning of the summer, I had to do my list of chores but nothing extra and I was kept fed so it certainly beat a couple of my previous summers but then there was this dumb work social event for Uncle Vernon. I was meant to be hiding in my room and I was, being quiet and pretending I didn't exist."

Tracy flinched, the way he had said that. Like it had been a mantra he repeated often.

"It was all going well but then I was an idiot and broke something in the room. It caused a loud noise and Uncle Vernon just flipped, he locked me back in the cupboard under the stairs and my food and water was quickly cut down."

There was a stillness to the carriage now. No one wanted to interrupt Harry else he stop yet they hated what they were hearing. Children were special, that's what those in the magical world were raised believing, cases of child abuse were rare. Hermione, as the only person besides Harry raised in the muggle world, could not even begin to imagine why someone would treat a child like this. Her parents had never been cruel.

Harry hated the silence, he felt open, exposed and this was a feeling he wasn't used to. He wanted to stop talking but knew that if he did then he would never have the strength to tell them.

"So yeah. That's why I look like shit. I have barely been eating or drinking. I hate them, I hate how they keep me trapped, how pathetic it is. I.." Harry broke into sobs. The emotions of the summer which he had pushed back for so long finally caught up with him. Harry was scared, scared that even with his magic and his friends the chains of the Dursleys would never break.

He felt a soft hand on his shoulder and slowly turned to face the group. Ron sat across from him, his eyes wide and his hands clasped together, shaking slightly with rage. Hermione had been the one to touch him, their eyes met and Harry could see the tears forming in her eyes and Harry allowed himself to be wrapped into her arms. The trio sat for a while like this. Harry being held by Hermione and Ron watching, Daphne and Tracey simply stayed back, allowing the three of them to have their moment.

"Sorry for that." Harry said, when the tears had stopped falling and he untangled himself from Hermione.

"No need to apologise." Tracey said, "I am guessing you don't want anyone from Hogwarts seeing you like this. It's why you were hiding in here before Hermione found you."

"Yeah, I got to the station under my cloak."

Daphne raised an eyebrow at Ron who gave a small shake of his head. Harry was a very private person and clearly wasn't in his right frame of mind or he never would have been so open about the cloak.

"Okay, well I think it's a good idea if you go to Madam Pomfry as soon as we get to the castle but until then why don't you let Daphne place some small glamour charms on your face."

Hermione, who had been quiet until this point, asked a question. "What are glamour charms?"

Daphne answered as she pulled out her wand. "It's a form of charm which people use to mask the appearance of something without actually changing it." Daphne looked to Harry who nodded. Muttering the spells under her breath the compartment watched as they took affect.

Harry's sunken eyes disappeared along with the bags under them. His gaunt face faded until Harry looked almost normal again. Yet something was wrong, he wasn't right, each time he moved there was a slight delay before the charms took effect again.

"Sorry but that's the best I can do. Normally most cosmetic glamorous are for small areas, such as spots." Daphne smiled. "I remember when just before one of the parties my family host I had such a bad breakout that I convinced my mum to glamour my whole face. It was so obvious that Tracey spent the night tricking me to move my face as quickly as possible. I was so annoyed at her."

Tracey laughed at the memory. "Sometimes it looked like she had two faces, it was brilliant." Harry smiled at the two girls, the ease at which they spoke made it clear that they had been friends for ages.

"Thank you, both of you. I really appreciate your help."

"No worries, my mum would kill me if I didn't help you." Tracey could see the puzzled look on the trio's faces. "She works with the department of magical law enforcement. Specifically with cases involving children."

Ron seemed to understand what she was implying but before he could ask for any more follow up the compartment door was opened. All of the occupant turned to face it. Standing in the doorway was Cassiopeia Black.

She looked over each of them before facing Harry. "Mister Potter, most people would be very upset with you for how rude you have been to me and my family." Tracey and Daphne seemed confused by the comment, Ron tensed at her words and Hermione looked back and forth between Harry and the slightly imposing third year.

"I hope you haven't been too upset Miss Black, I meant to come find you but it must have slipped my mind." Harry's reply was quick and gave away no hint that he had been crying, in all honesty it had completely slipped his mind.

"I am sure you meant no harm. How about we arrange a date to talk so as to avoid it slipping your mind again. The first Friday." Her tone gave no hint that she would take no for an answer.

"Perfect, can't wait."

Smiling Cassiopeia nodded before sharply turning to Daphne. "Impressive charms work." Then she shut the door.

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