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Chapter 11

The summer was finally drawing to a close, and with that Harry and Hermione were starting to get rather clingy with Fleur, the three of them not looking forward to being separated again. When they Floo'ed in and out of the Leaky Cauldron to do their book and robe shopping (Diagon Alley being too public for Harry to risk Stepping without a good reason), they saw Mrs. Weasley working behind the bar. Harry instinctively tried to offer the woman a friendly wave, but she scowled at him and if he wasn't mistaken her hand twitched for her wand for a moment. They left quickly after that. Harry was a little disappointed not to see the shop the Weasley twins had planned to open, but he knew they had written to Sirius saying they needed time to process losing their father and sister, and they didn't think they could get themselves put back together enough for opening before September. As the back-to-Hogwarts crowd was their main target audience, they were better aiming for being open next year.

September 1st came, and Fleur had given them each a long goodbye before heading to work. She had tried to get the morning off so she could see them off at King Cross, but it hadn't been allowed. The goblin she had worked with the same day of Voldemort's attack had asked for her help again with some more documents written in French, and that was apparently high priority. Harry and Hermione, as they were living in Hogsmeade, technically could have stayed home all day and joined the students as they got off the train. However, as prefects they were expected to attend the prefects' meeting and patrol the train. So they had left from Grimmauld Place at ten that morning, with the two of them, Dan, Emma and Sirius all piled into the Grangers' car. Daphne and Tracy had asked Dobby to drop them off right on the platform and the little guy had agreed, so they were leaving from Potter House instead.

Thanks to a quick Notice-Me-Not charm from Sirius, Emma was able to park the car next to King's Cross Station, not entirely legally but without having to worry about getting a ticket. Dan ran to get a trolley and Harry dragged the two trunks out of the back of the car. They still had forty minutes until the train left, so they went to the tea room and took twenty minutes to have a cup of mediocre tea and just be together as a family. They watched some coming and going and spotted quite a few students they recognised on their way to the platform. Hermione was happy to see two students standing by the barrier to help the new first generation students through the barrier. When she pointed it out to Harry, he also was happy that something they had started last year was going to keep going.

With twenty minutes to go, it was time to get on the train. Hermione gave her parents one last rib-cracking hug each and they made their way to the barrier. Right after they passed through, they saw Ron and his mother appear in the apparition point. Mrs. Weasley just gave her son a quick hug before she spun on the spot and disappeared again.

Ron looked like someone had just kicked his puppy. The one time he wasn't late for the train was because he was the only Weasley going to Hogwarts that year. This was something that Ron was never meant to experience, that feeling of being alone. Harry understood right away and pushed the trolley he was controlling over to where the redhead was standing.

"Hey Ron, ho-want to pop your trunk on top, save you having to grab another trolley?" Harry almost asked how his summer was on reflex, then caught himself. Ron looked at Harry like he had a second head for a moment before he shook himself and offered Harry a smile that was obviously a mask and heaved his trunk onto the stack. Luckily both Hedwig and Crooks were close enough to Hogwarts to make their own way to the school so there were no animal cages to contend with.

The three of them found Tracey and Daphne holding a compartment for them all, so they stowed their trunks in the overhead racks and talked for a few minutes about nothing important before Daphne, Harry, and Hermione had to beg off to go the prefects' compartment at the front of the train, promising to be back later. On the way they ran into the new Gryffindor prefects Demelza Robins and Colin Creevey, and Harry thought both were good choices for the job. The other new prefects Harry and Hermione only knew by sight. Being a year below and in different houses meant there were very few opportunities to get to know them.

Both the new Head Boy, a Hufflepuff, and Head Girl, a Ravenclaw were prefects last year so Harry wasn't surprised to see them and knew that they were decent enough at their jobs. The meeting was pretty much a copy of last year, and Harry realised that it was more to bring the new prefects up to speed and to make sure they all knew each other. They were given a run down of the duties, told how to go about assigning a detention, and were given a time table for patrolling the train. After that Harry, Hermione, and Daphne made their way back to the compartment with Ron and Tracey. The two of them weren't alone when the trio got there, the compartment had collected a few more people. Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, and Neville were all sitting in there chatting, and the room was at least twice as big as it was before they left, still leaving plenty of bench room.

"Hey guys, how was your summer?" Harry asked as he took his seat.

The three of them exchanged glances before Susan shrugged and answered for them. "It sucked. Auntie practically lives in the Ministry now. She literally has a hidden bed in the minister's office so she can grab the odd hour of sleep because she is working twenty hour days with everything that's going on. As the only family of the minister I'm considered a security risk, so I haven't had any privacy all summer because I have had bodyguards following me everywhere." She really didn't look happy as she recounted that last bit.

"Neville was just telling us his gran is extremely worked up over the war. She doesn't think the Ministry is doing enough…" Hannah started saying.

Neville took over. "It made her a real bitch this summer and I was trapped in the house with her, not allowed to go anywhere because it wasn't safe. Let's just say I could now probably brew a headache cure in my sleep." The way he said anywhere with a quick glance at Ron was enough to tell the rest of them he meant Ginny's funeral but didn't want to mention it out loud around Ron.

Hannah then gave her part. "Mine wasn't as bad, but I was under house arrest just like Neville. Couldn't go anywhere or see anyone either. What about your summers?" She asked.

"Well after…" Harry couldn't help glance at Ron. "After the end of last year, we were all rather beaten down. Fleur finally moved to the country and her parents and sister came over for a few weeks. I did some work on mass production of my drying doorways, but I need to check some books in the Hogwarts library to build one last piece of equipment I need to make them quickly and easily. We were able to have a few days out by sticking to the mundane world, places where there was a low chance of any other magicals around, let alone Death Eaters. We had a few nice picnics in the Lake District where we think we were the only people for miles." Harry purposely left out the trip to the beach and the other dates they had been on. A picnic miles away from anyone would be less envy-inducing than actually being able to be around people.

The eight of them chatted for a while about what classes they were taking this year. Harry had settled on Runes, Charms, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Potions. Five classes seemed about right for him, and as much as he hated Snape the man was a lot less vitriolic with Professor McGonagall as headmistress. Harry was sure it was in part because neither McGonagall or Babbling were going to cut him any slack in bullying Gryffindor. Plus, Harry had to admit the subject was useful. He also had a theory that you could add a subtle change to how a rune behaved in an array if you filled the carving with a potion. If he was right, it could help make certain runes like the triquetra more useful as it would allow the person building the array to select one of the many meanings the rune could have.

Hermione was almost a copy of Harry's but she had added Arithmancy to her schedule. Tracey had one of the lightest loads, only taking Charms, Arithmancy, Potions, and Defence. These were the classes she thought would be the best to help her run her family business, plus Defence because they lived in dangerous times. Daphne was taking Arithmancy, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, and Defence. She intended to set up her own trading business and fold it into the larger Greengrass business when she was returned to the family. Her subjects were to give her a solid understanding of what she may be trading. It was a bad idea to trade potion ingredients, for example, if you couldn't tell your shredded mandrake leaves from chopped parsley. Defence was added because she refused to be helpless during the war.

Neville was taking Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, and Defence. Hannah was by coincidence taking the exact same classes as Neville. Neville wanted to become a Herbologist, and the wand subjects were just because they made life easier, and again the same reasoning for defence. Hannah didn't know what she was going to do; she was just taking subjects she liked. Susan and Ron were both taking the same classes as well: Charms, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Potions. Though for them it was less of a coincidence, as they both confessed to wanting the same job when they left Hogwarts, an Auror.

Once they had exhausted that conversation, it was one o'clock and Sassy popped in. The wonderful elf had taken it upon herself to make lunch for them all. It was nothing complicated, just a couple of roast chickens that had been quartered and served with a rice salad and a few large bottles of pumpkin juice, but it was way better than a lunch entirely made up of sweets from the trolley. Though Susan did take the opportunity to buy everyone a cauldron cake for dessert when the trolley came around.

Over the meal, the conversation turned to Harry's little defence club from last year. "Can we do that again this year?" asked Neville. "I'm sure I only passed my Defence O.W.L. because of all the help you gave me."

"I have to agree with Neville, it was a great help," Hannah added.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea. Anyone training with me is likely to become a target if any of the Death Eaters find out, and given that Malfoy and his friends all report to their fathers that's likely to happen." Harry didn't want any of his friends to have a larger target on them.

"Well that's ridiculous," said Tracey. "I'm practically your sister now, you gave shelter to Daphne after she was unhoused, Hermione is (no offence) a half-breed mudblood dating Death Eater enemy number one, Ron is from the biggest family of blood traitors in the country, Susan is practically the daughter of the Minister of Magic, the Longbottoms are pretty much at war with the Death Eaters. The only one of us that even has a chance to walk away is Hannah." Tracey was always ready to call Harry on his hippogriff shit, especially when he was hippogriff shitting himself.

"No, I'm a target too. My older brother got married over the summer to a mundane woman. It was made clear to my father by an acquaintance that unless he disowned my brother the whole family would be considered blood traitors and would be wiped out. My father broke the man's nose, stunned him and delivered him to the D.M.L.E. Turned out the man was under the Imperius curse, he voluntarily confirmed it under Veritaserum, but the message was clear. The line has been drawn and my family is on the same side as all of you."

Seeing that his friends weren't backing down, Harry relented. "Fine, we can do it, but I don't think it will work the same way as last year. Last year Hermione and I knew a bunch of stuff you didn't. This year we don't. Let me have a chance to think about it and I'll work something out. Hannah, what's your new sister-in-law like?" Being as there were five girls in the compartment, bringing up a conversation about relationships and weddings worked well to change the subject, though he did get a couple of glares from Tracey and Hermione for that trick.

-ϟϟϟ-

When the train pulled into Hogsmeade and they were leaving their compartment, Harry was surprised to see Tonks and another Auror both dressed in full Auror robes leaving the compartment next to theirs.

"Hey Tonks, what are you doing on the Express?" He asked.

"Bodyguard for the minister's niece." She answered simply, all business.

"Told you, no privacy this summer," Susan complained. "Though I did get a glance at their protection orders, did you know you're considered a good backup for my bodyguard if something really goes wrong? Something about it being extremely unhealthy to be a Death Eater around you. It's an option of last resort, but it's there." Harry couldn't be happy about that. He had had to kill too many monsters masquerading as people already. Yet he also couldn't help but feel a small welling of something like pride, maybe satisfaction? It was a bad job to have to do, but he had done his part well.

They made their way out to the carriages, staying together as a group. There were also a lot of Aurors on the platform. After the attack that happened at the end of last year, it was clear that the Aurors were taking no chances. They all filed into a single carriage as Susan waved her wand, muttering a spell to expand the interior. Harry knew that was a sixth year charm that they would be learning this year, but it seemed that Susan was either practising over the summer or was good enough at Charms that she found time to learn it last year when they were focusing on O.W.L.s.

Tonks and the other Auror who had ridden the train with them both jumped up into the normally vacated driver's seat and the carriage was off. "So will your Auror shadows be joining us at Hogwarts?" Tracey asked Susan.

"Not specifically, there is a team of thirteen stationed here to protect Hogwarts and Hogsmeade though, so you'll probably see them around," Susan said.

"Pity no one thought of that last year," muttered Ron, and his statement left them in an awkward silence for the rest of the journey to the castle. The attack last year had cost the lives of too many students, yet to everyone in that carriage Ginny, their friend, was the symbol of everything that could happen.

They got to the castle and split up as soon as they reached the hall, heading for the different House tables. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville joined Lavender, Parvati, and Kathryn, who were all sitting together in the rough area that sixth years sat during the welcoming feasts. This was a tradition that persisted because it left the part of the table closest to where the new first years were sorted free for them to sit at when they joined the house. Hermione greeted her dorm mates, glad to see that Kathryn, while looking thinner than she did at the end of the year, didn't look starved like she had last year.

"Hey Kathryn. How was your summer?" Asked Harry. He had actually seen her in the distance once after he, Hermione, and Fleur had moved into Hogsmeade when he had popped to Honeydukes a few times, but they hadn't been close enough to say anything.

"Boring as hell. Had to help mum by working in the Three Broomsticks washing dishes. How was yours?"

"Not bad." And Harry gave the 20 second rundown of his and Hermione's summer. "Oh, when's the next full moon? Got to make sure any new first year lycanthropy students know the drill before then." He felt like an idiot for losing track of the full moon over the summer.

"Plenty of time. The next one is almost at the end of the month," Kathryn answered, knowing from experience that Harry was genuinely asking so he could help, and not to be discriminatory. The rest of their Gryffindor year mates soon arrived, along with all the other students. Harry couldn't help but notice that the fifth years looked rather depressed and left Ginny's usual spot between Colin Creevey and Demelza Robins empty.

The sorting itself was over pretty quickly. There were a few more lycanthropes joining years other than the first. Harry guessed that they hadn't trusted the offer the first year, but after a successful year last year they were now willing to give it a shot. Yet even with those extra students, the number of students to be sorted was down by almost a tenth from last year. A number of parents had probably decided to homeschool their children given the events at the end of the previous year.

The feast was just as grand as usual, and soon hungry teenagers were doing as hungry teenagers have done for thousands of years, eating everything in range. Some with more gusto and less grace than others, but all eating plenty. As they ate, the talk turned to Quidditch. The Gryffindor team had lost four players last year with the twins, Angelina and Alicia, and the most promising replacement had been Ginny. But the first question to answer was who got the captain's badge? Harry knew it wasn't him, so that left two possible candidates: Katie and Ron. Ron showed everyone the badge, and both Harry and Katie congratulated him, silently agreeing he was the best man for the job after his speech before their last game last year. They talked about tryouts, and Ron said he would have to talk to Professor Hooch about booking the pitch for a day.

Once dinner was finished, Professor McGonagall stood up to give the usual welcome and start of year announcements. Don't go in the forbidden forest, no magic in the corridors, all individuals on campus infected with lycanthropy must be evacuated to the designated transformation site at least one hour before moonrise on a full moon, anyone found responsible for delaying a lycanthrope from leaving on time will be expelled. The new Defence professor was a lanky witch named Professor Knight, and the new Transfiguration professor was a wizard named Professor Macey who would be teaching O.W.L.s and below, as Professor McGonagall still wanted to keep teaching the N.E.W.T classes for now.

There was also the introduction of new parent teacher conferences, which caught the attention of the older students. Apparently Professor McGonagall was going to adopt the practice she had heard about from the mundane parents she had visited. During the first half term break of the year, the same week they held the first round of Quidditch games, all the parents and guardians of students would be invited to the school to talk with their child's professors. It was an entirely new concept to the magically raised, but Harry, Hermione, and all the others who had been through it before groaned. They knew just what it was like to have your teacher tell your parents about every one of your failings in class. For Harry it had always meant at least two days in the cupboard. That wasn't a worry any more, but he still had an instinctual dislike of the idea.

After that, it was perfect duty herding the firsties up to the common room, but Colin and Demelza took the lead on that while Harry and Hermione just walked behind them and watched for anyone who got broken off from the main group. Once everyone else was through the portrait hole, Hermione decided she wanted to be a super prefect and asked to see the Marauders' Map to make sure that there were no first years who had gotten separated from the rest on their way to their common rooms. What they saw surprised both of them, there were students everywhere. It seemed that it was rather well known that the prefects didn't patrol the first night back, and a lot of students were taking advantage. Nearly all of the usual hiding spots were taken by a couple of students obviously eager to get reacquainted with each other after the summer holidays, but none of them were the names they had just watched the sorting for. At least Hermione didn't think they were, and Harry put more stock in her remembering the names than him.

Hermione looked tired, and even though it was clear she didn't want to tonight she asked, "Should we go send them to bed?"

Harry seriously considered it. It would be a brilliant opportunity to put a few Slytherins in detention, especially as more than one name they had seen was a child of a Death Eater, but in the end he decided against it. Besides, he had a bit of a headache from everyone talking during the feast. "Nah, let the couples have one night to reconnect after the summer, imagine if we hadn't spent it together?" Then Harry got a massive grin. "Speaking of reconnecting. I have an idea." He pulled his two-way mirror connected to Fleur from his pocket and called her name.

About thirty seconds later Fleur's face appeared in the mirror. "Hi Harry, Hermione, have you settled in yet?"

Harry didn't answer; the reason he made the call wasn't to talk to Fleur, though he would do that in a second. It was so that he could see where she was. Fleur was currently laying in their bed with a large book open that she was reading for her apprenticeship. Harry grabbed hold of Hermione and Stepped the two of them onto the bed next to Fleur. Knowing Hermione would need a few seconds to fully realise his intentions, Harry moved first. He closed the gap between him and Fleur, claiming her lips with his own for a long moment as he tried to convey how much he had missed her that day in one single kiss. "Bonne nuit, mon amour." (Good night my love.)

Then he rolled over Fleur, being careful not to put any weight on her so that he was out of Hermione's way, as she had realised what Harry had done and was going to take full advantage of her turn. Harry waited until the two girls broke their kiss and Hermione had also said her goodnight before he said, "Wish we could stay longer, but we need to get back to the castle before we are missed." With that, Harry took Hermione's hand and Stepped the two of them right back to the corridor outside the Gryffindor common room. The two then went to bed, where they did their normal evening routine of setting the mirrors over their beds so that the three of them could talk.

-ϟϟϟ-

The next few days were fairly normal. With them now N.E.W.T. students, there was no pressure for Harry to do another personal project. That's not to say Harry couldn't if he wanted to, but he wanted to see how much free time he was going to have before he decided how he was going to use it. One thing he did do was talk to Professor Babbling about remote activation of runes for his attempt to build air pressure to run the old dental drill. She told him exactly what book he needed from the library to construct a remote switch, but she also warned him that his magical air compressor might fall afoul of the law as it would be considered an enchanted muggle artefact. Harry was going to continue anyway, as once he got the rune sequence working he could transfigure the metal of the air compressor tank to a new shape that looked nothing like an air compressor. Then it wouldn't be a muggle artefact any more, but a wizarding one constructed of scrap metal.

The new defence teacher Professor Knight was apparently a genuine member of the Dark Forces Defence League, an international group who helped deal with dark magical problems. For the most part they focused on creatures, like if someone had to stop a rampaging nundu or had to keep erumpent herds away from muggle villages. There were a few that dealt with dark witches and wizards, but they tended to be needed in poor countries where they didn't have a large enough magical population to support having their own Auror force. The best way to describe the group was a combination Auror and Control of Magical Creature Department that operated around the world where they were needed most. Lockhart had apparently gotten his honorary title by buying it. He had split the proceeds from one of his books with the charity, a stunt that had increased the sales of the book, improved his image with the public, and gotten him an honorary title to throw around.

Professor Knight had retired from the group as she was tired of running around the word and had accepted the job at Hogwarts after reading about the attack at the end of last year. Whether or not she was a good teacher was still to be determined, but tentatively Harry had put her in the same category as Mad-Eye and Lupin, he just hoped she stayed there. The last thing he needed was another Defence professor trying to kill him, especially as over the last week in the castle he had been suffering with quite a few headaches