Harry woke up on September 1st hearing Mrs. Weasley shouting at Fred and George. Exiting his room with his trunk, Harry turned to witness Ben standing to the side, looking down the stairs at Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ginny. He turned to Harry as he spoke.

"Fred and George charmed their trunks to fly downstairs to save time. The trunks hurtled straight into Ginny and knocked her down two flights of stairs into the hall."

Harry felt himself frown at what happened to his girlfriend, responding with "Ah."

He descended the stairs, trying to block out Mrs. Weasley's tirade.

"— COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS —"

Ginny was in the doorway to the kitchen, wincing occasionally while smirking at the twins. The smirk turned into a smile when Harry walked up and kissed her.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine," she replied, "Mum patched me up before turning to Fred and George."

Hermione came hurrying into the room looking flustered; Hedwig was swaying on her shoulder, and she was carrying a squirming Crookshanks in her arms. Hedwig obediently flew on top of her cage upon seeing Harry.

"Mum and Dad just sent Hedwig back, are you ready yet?"

"Yes," Harry replied after putting Hedwig in her cage.

"That's good," Hermione replied. "Mad-Eye's waiting with the guard, don't want to keep him."

"Guard?" said Harry. "We have to go to King's Cross with a guard?"

"You have to go to King's Cross with a guard," Sirius said, coming from the kitchen and clapping Harry on the shoulder. "It's an extra precaution, just in case to prevent a Death-Eater from getting any ideas. Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage.

"RONALD, WILL YOU GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed, causing Harry and Hermione to jump as though scalded.

"Harry, Ginny, you're to going with Sirius, Tonks, and I," Mrs. Weasley said as she turned to Harry, the sound of Ron's trunk thumping down the stairs echoing behind her. She wrenched open the front door and stepped out into the weak September sunlight. Harry, Ginny, and Sirius followed her. The door slammed behind them.

"Where's Tonks?" Harry said, looking around as they went down the stone steps of number twelve, which vanished the moment they reached the pavement.

"She's waiting for us just up here," said Mrs. Weasley stiffly.

An old woman greeted them on the corner. She had tightly curled gray hair and wore a purple hat shaped like a porkpie.

"Wotcher, Harry," she said, winking. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Sirius, Molly?" she added, checking her watch.

"I know, I know," moaned Mrs. Weasley. "I love my boys, but they're always late," - she turned to Ginny - "don't breathe a word of that to them, Ginny dear."

Ginny giggled at that, Harry and Sirius chuckling with her. It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross by foot and nothing eventful happened during that time. Once inside the station they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through onto platform nine and three quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam over a plat- form packed with departing students and their families.

"I hope the others make it in time," said Mrs. Weasley anxiously, staring behind her at the wrought-iron arch spanning the platform, through which new arrivals would come.

"Fred and George not join you, Harry?" Lee called.

"They'll be here in a bit," Harry called back, grinning.

A porter's cap pulled low over his mismatched eyes, Moody came limping through the archway pushing a cart full of their trunks.

"All okay," he muttered to Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, and Tonks. "Don't think we were followed …"

Seconds later, Mr. Weasley emerged onto the platform with Ron and Hermione. They had almost unloaded Moody's luggage cart when Fred, George, and Ben turned up with Remus and Sturgis Podmore.

"No trouble?" growled Moody.

"Nothing," said Remus.

"Good," said Moody.

"Well, look after yourselves," said Remus, shaking hands all round. He reached Harry last and gave him a clap on the shoulder. "You too, Harry. Be careful."

"Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled," said Moody, shaking Harry's hand too. "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, hugging Hermione and Ginny. "We'll see you soon, I expect."

"Remember your mirror," Sirius whispered to Harry as he hugged him. "Please try to call at least once a week."

A warning whistle sounded; the students still on the platform started hurrying onto the train.

"Quick, quick," said Mrs. Weasley distractedly, hugging them at ran- dom and catching Harry twice. "Write … Be good … If you've forgotten anything we'll send it on … Onto the train, now, hurry …"

"See you!" Harry called out of the open window as the train began to move, while Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Ben waved beside him. The figures of Sirius, Tonks, Remus, Moody, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley shrank rapidly, disappearing as they turned the corner.

"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.

"Well," Ben said, clapping his hands, "best we go to the front. If you could grab a compartment or two for us, that'd be wonderful."

"Oh," said Harry. "Right. Well then … you'll find Ginny and I later then?"

"Of course we will!" exclaimed Hermione. "Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."

As Hermione, Ron, and Ben dragged their trunks, Crookshanks, Baron, Ben's cat, and a caged Pigwidgeon off toward the engine end of the train, Harry felt an odd sense of loss. He had never traveled on the Hogwarts Express without friends.

"Come on," Ginny told him, "if we get a move on we'll be able to save them places."

"Right," said Harry, picking up Hedwig's cage in one hand and the handle of his trunk in the other. They struggled off down the corridor, peering through the glass-paneled doors into the compartments they passed, which were already full. Harry noticed a few odd looks being thrown his way, but didn't realize why until he passed the eighth compartment. He'd forgotten that Dumbledore had stated that Voldemort had returned, using his disappearance as evidence, even though he didn't make a collaborative statement. The Daily Prophet was occasionally oscillating between calling him a poor, misled scapegoat and a mad, attention-seeker.

In the very last carriage they met Neville Longbottom, Harry's fellow fifth-year Gryffindor, his round face shining with the effort of pulling his trunk along and maintaining a one-handed grip on his struggling toad, Trevor.

"Hi, Harry," he panted. "Hi, Ginny … Everywhere's full … I can't find a seat … "

"What are you talking about?" said Ginny, who had squeezed past Neville to peer into the compartment behind him. "There's room in this one, only Luna's in here - "

Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone.

"Don't be silly," said Ginny, laughing, "she's all right."

She slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside it. Harry and Neville followed.

"Hi, Luna," said Ginny. "Saving us some seats here?"

Luna smiled brightly. "Of course, though there appears to be a few missing."

"Ron, Hermione, and Ben are prefects this year," replied Harry.

"Oh, Ben's disappointed then," replied Luna.

"Disappointed's one way of putting it."

"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," said Luna dreamily. "You and Harry seem to have lost some Wrackspurts."

Harry exchanged an amused glance with Ginny before replying. "I think that confessing to one another helped with that."

Neville, startled by that statement, replied. "You two are dating? Congratulations."

Luna turned her pale eyes upon him at that.

"And I don't know who you are."

"I'm nobody," said Neville hurriedly.

"No you're not," said Ginny sharply. "Neville Longbottom - Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," said Luna in a singsong voice.

She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and fell silent. Harry and Ginny swapped another amused glance at Neville's clear bewilderment.

The train rattled onward, speeding them out into open country. It was an odd, unsettled sort of day; one moment the carriage was full of sunlight and the next they were passing beneath ominously gray clouds.

"Guess what I got for my birthday?" said Neville.

"Another Remembrall?" said Harry, remembering the marblelike device Neville's grandmother had sent him in an effort to improve his abysmal memory.

"No," said Neville, "I could do with one, though, I lost the old one ages ago… No, look at this… "

He dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip on Trevor into his schoolbag and after a little bit of rummaging pulled out what appeared to be a small gray cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked like boils rather than spines.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia," he said proudly.

Harry stared at the thing. It was pulsating slightly, giving it the rather sinister look of some diseased internal organ.

"It's really, really rare," said Neville, beaming. "I don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My great-uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."

Harry knew that Neville's favorite subject was Herbology, but for the life of him he could not see what he would want with this stunted little plant.

"Does it — er — do anything?" he asked.

"Loads of stuff!" said Neville proudly. "It's got an amazing defensive mechanism — hold Trevor for me… "

"Hold on a moment," Harry said as Neville dumped the toad into Harry's lap and took a quill from his schoolbag. "Do you know how large a reaction that'll have?"

Neville paused for a moment, considering, before his eyes widened. "Ah… right… well, it sprays Stinksap. I haven't actually tested it yet, though I know that it's not poisonous."

At that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open. Cho Chang stood on the other side smiling sorrowfully while greeting Harry.

"Hello, Harry," she said. "Doing alright?"

Harry noticed Cho was staring at the arm that Harry had wrapped around Ginny, who was smirking triumphantly at her.

"I'm alright, all things considered. And yourself?"

"Depends on the day," Cho replied, before gesturing to Harry's arm. "When did this happen?"

"This summer," Ginny replied. Harry had the distinct impression that she was repressing a smug tone.

"I see," Cho replied morosely. "Well, congratulations."

"Thanks."

With that Cho left. Ben, Ron, and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. Harry, Ginny, and Neville had finished their 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.

"Hello, all," Harry said before focusing on Ben. "Where's Baron?"

"With Daphne, who I'll be joining in a moment. It's been far too long since I've seen my girlfriend."

While Ben was saying this, Hermione looked thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. Harry was minorly confused. "Who's the fifth year female Slytherin prefect?"

Ben frowned as Hermione scoffed before responding viciously, "That complete cow Pansy Parkinson. How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll, particularly when compared to Daphne … "

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

"Malfoy," Harry and Ginny chorused.

"A bit obvious," Ginny added.

"Who's Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.

"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," said Ron thickly.

"And Padma's my counterpart for Ravenclaw," Ben added. "Hello, Neville, Luna, I completely forgot to greet you earlier."

"It's alright," Luna replied. "I'm glad you're prefect. Maybe the Wrackspurts won't bother me this year."

Ben shifted to an aggressive posture as he asked carefully, "Have they been bothering you?"

"Not greatly, at least, not since first year."

Ben nodded slowly before saying a brief goodbye, leaving to go sit with Daphne.

"Don't forget, we're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," Ron called after him. "And we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something… "

"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" said Hermione sharply.

Ron and Hermione got in a minor argument, ending with Ron making a joke that caused everyone to laugh. Harry had asked Luna to borrow The Quibbler to see if there was anything that captured his interest. After he'd returned it to Luna, the compartment door opened to reveal Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"What?" Harry said aggressively, before Malfoy could open his mouth.

"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his father's. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville laughed. Malfoy's lip curled. Before he could respond, a familiar voice sounded behind the Slytherins, "Is there a problem here, cousin?"

Malfoy and his goons turned as Ben and Padma Patil stepped into view.

Malfoy scowled. "What are you doing here?"

"Patrolling, cousin," Ben drawled in response before continuing normally. "You do know the Headmaster can remove a prefect if they're seen as abusing their power, right? Because it seems to me that you're trying to use it to continue your … what's th-asinine feud with Harry here."

Ron snickered before Ben turned to him, "Same goes for you, Ron, don't actively try to seek out Malfoy's friend group to try and get them into trouble."

Malfoy was completely red by this point. "Who do you think you are, tell-"

"A more neutral third party partnered with a completely neutral third party, at least when it comes to this feud."

Padma nodded in response, looking slightly uncomfortable.

Malfoy scowled before departing with Crabbe and Goyle. Ben and Padma continued on their patrol after chatting with the compartment for a bit. "We'd better change," said Hermione a few minutes later. She and Ron pinned their prefect badges carefully to their chests. Harry saw Ron checking how it looked in the black window.

At last the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready for departure. Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this; they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Harry and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.

"I'll carry that owl, if you like," said Luna to Harry, reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket.

"Oh — er — thanks," said Harry, handing her the cage and hoisting Hedwig's more securely into his arms.

After being briefly confused at the appearance of Professor Grubbly-Plank before remembering that Hagrid was still with the giants, Harry and Ginny got onto the platform, moving together as they moved towards the horseless stagecoaches. Once they were in sight, Harry then did a double take.

The coaches were no longer horseless. There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts; if he had had to give them a name, he supposed he would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister. Harry could not understand why the coaches were being pulled by these horrible horses when they were quite capable of moving along by themselves.

"Where's Pig?" said Ron's voice, right behind Harry.

"Here," Ben said from behind him, Luna, Blaise, Daphne, and Tracey in tow.

A short distance away, Draco Malfoy, followed by a small gang of cronies including Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson, was pushing some timid-looking second years out of the way so that they could get a coach to themselves. Seconds later Hermione emerged panting from the crowd.

"Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first year back there, I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever."

Ben snorted for where he was helping Daphne into a carriage. "That's got to be a new record. Why aren't you moving, Harry?"

"What are those things," Harry asked, motioning to the horrible horses.

"Thestrals," Ben responded, as most everyone looked around in confusion. "They can only be seen by those who've seen and understood death."

Hermione and Ginny both gained solemn looks before Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry as the coach departed.

AN: This chapter was a pain in the butt to try and get out, not to mention life continually disrupting my schedule since my last post. While I was making this chapter, I went back and looked at previous chapters and noted a few, relatively minor, formatting issues. I've edited out those that I caught. Hope you are having a good day.

Uploaded Jan 12th, 2025