"Quick, quick," said Mum distractedly, hugging them at random and catching Harry twice.

"Write. . . . Be good. . . . If you've forgotten anything we'll send it on. . . . Onto the train, now, hurry. . . ."

For one brief moment, the great black dog reared onto its hind legs and placed its front paws on Harry's shoulders, but Mum shoved Harry away toward the train door hissing, "For heaven's sake act more like a dog, Sirius!"

"See you!" Harry called out of the open window as the train began to move. while Ron, Hermione, and I waved beside him. The figures of Tonks, Lupin, Moody, Mum and Dad shrank rapidly but the black dog was bounding alongside the window, wagging its tail; blurred people on the platform were laughing to see it chasing the train, and then they turned the corner, and Sirius was gone.

"He shouldn't have come with us," said Hermione in a worried voice.

"Oh lighten up," said Ron, "he hasn't seen daylight for months, poor bloke."

"Well," said Fred, clapping his hands together, "can't stand around chatting all day, we've got business to discuss with Lee. See you later," and he and George disappeared down the corridor to the right. The train was gathering still more speed, so that the houses outside the window flashed past and they swayed where they stood.

Demelza and Amy had saved a compartment with Luna, Andrew, Magda and Stefan, and it would be especially interesting to see the latter two now after their Mum revealed herself.

"Shall we go and find our compartment then?" said Harry

Ron and Hermione exchanged looks.

"Er," said Ron.

"We're — well — Ron and I are supposed to go into the prefect carriage," Hermione said awkwardly.

Ron wasn't looking at us; he seemed to have become intensely interested in the fingernails on his left hand.

"Oh," said Harry. "Right. Fine."

"I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," said Hermione quickly. "Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."

"Fine," said Harry again. "Well, I-I might see you later, then."

"Yeah, definitely," said Ron, casting a shifty, anxious look at Harry. "It's a pain having to go down there, I'd rather — but we have to — I mean, I'm not enjoying it, I'm not Percy," he finished defiantly.

"I know you're not," said Harry and he grinned, though I had a feeling he was hiding his true emotions.

Come on," I told him, "they're waiting for us"

"Right," said Harry, picking up Hedwig's cage in one hand and the handle of his trunk in the other. We struggled off down the corridor, peering through the glass-paneled doors into the compartments they passed, which were already full. I could not help noticing that a lot of people stared back at Harry with great interest and that several of them nudged their neighbors and pointed him out. After we had met this behavior in five consecutive carriages we remembered that the Daily Prophet had been telling its readers all summer what a lying show-off he was. I had a horrible feeling that they all actually believed it.

"Where's Ron and Hermione?" asked Magda as we entered the compartment.

"Prefect's carriage" I said

"Oh they're prefects?" congratulations to them. I wasn't made one myself, unlike the lovely Demelza here I was never sensible enough"

Demelza was lounging on Stefan's shoulder, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze when he said this. "I'm not one yet, but thanks"

"We all know you're Prefect-elect mate" Amy said, "they'd be mad not to choose you next year. We may as well act like it's already the case"

"So, you two" I said to Magda and Stefan. "Your mother showed up at the place we were staying at this summer. Turns out, it's someone that was believed to have been dead for over a decade! What was that all about?"

"Huh?" said Luna and Andrew

Magda and Stefan looked very uneasy.

"Ahh... yeah, it was not easy to keep that quiet" said Magda

"We really didn't want to, but surely you understand why we needed to, right?" Stefan said

"Yes, really I want to know where Marlene McKinnon entered your lives. Just explain how it happened" I said

"Marlene McKinnon?" said Andrew "my dad used to know her, but she died in 1981, her house got blown up"

"Yeah, we all believed that, but she faked her death, fled to Sweden to avoid the Death Eaters going after her friends for info on her. So, Magda?

"There's not a whole lot to it really" Magda said "all we know is that Mum was working in a branch of Ollivanders in Stockholm when she met dad. He was the last customer of that particular day, and they really hit it off after she made the sale. They went out for drinks that night and the rest was history"

"How long did it take her to reveal who she really was to both him and you?" Demelza asked

"Oh she told all of us as soon as we were able to understand. She felt it wrong to keep a secret like that from her own husband and children, and she trusted us to not say anything, and we haven't, until now" said Stefan

"She's not told us what was going on at the place you were at though" Magda said

"We're not really allowed to say anything either sadly, as much as we'd love to" Amy said

"Come on, you can give us something, we won't tell" said Andrew, stroking Amy's hair and neck in a way that was making her feel very relaxed and comfortable.

"No" said Demelza in a tone of finality, as Amy had just opened her mouth again.

Ron and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. We had finished our Pumpkin Pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog cards when the compartment door slid open and they walked in, accompanied by Crookshanks and a shrilly hooting Pigwidgeon in his cage.

"I'm starving," said Ron, stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig, grabbing a Chocolate Frog from Harry and throwing himself into the seat next to him. He ripped open the wrapper, bit off the Frog's head, and leaned back with his eyes closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning.

"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each House," said Hermione, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. "Boy and girl from each."

"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron, still with his eyes closed.

"Malfoy," replied Harry at once, his worst fear confirmed. "

'Course," said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and taking another. "And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," said Hermione viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll . . ."

"Who's Hufflepuff?" Harry asked. "Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," said Ron thickly.

"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," said Hermione.

"Oh mate, you're gonna have to go up against Avery directly next year aren't you?" I said to Demelza

Demelza chewed her lip

"Seems like it" she said slowly, "if they're giving twats like Malfoy the job..."