Chapter 6
You would think that since there were only four of them going back to school that Molly would have had an easier time getting them to King's Cross Station. It was ten to eleven when they arrived and had to rush to platform's 9 and 10.
Harry had woken up to a dead house, which had been so lively with all its tenants all summer. Everyone had basically left already, even Aunt Sol and Sirius. Harry had even gone to the attic to check to see if Madison had made it back alright. Hermione was beaming with pride when Harry did that, for it showed his heart was big enough to even think about people he barely knew. But she wasn't there; all her stuff was gone as well.
Remus was still at the house and made a brief appearance to say good-bye to the lot, before he had to drag himself back to bed for some rest.
"Let's just hope that we can find a compartment," Ron said before he went through the barrier.
"We have to hurry Harry; we have to meet with the prefects in the forward compartment." Hermione said flustered.
Saying good-bye to Molly and Arthur the four Hogwarts students made it on the train with only a couple minutes to spare. Neville Longbottom was waiting eagerly with an open compartment that only he and Luna Lovegood had occupied.
"Saved you some room," Neville said, "You won't find any others. The Slytherins have been taking them over with only one or two inside. Down right nasty this year they are."
"Thanks Neville," Hermione said politely, "I hope you don't mind but we have to drop our thing and head to the front for the meeting."
"Neville will be fine," Luna answered for him, "Ginny can keep him company."
Ginny gave Luna a look but said nothing as she settled in. Luna, Harry, Hermione and Ron headed towards the front. Neville's face went suddenly pale as if he just remembered something dreadful, "I think I've lost Trevor again." He announced. He started to look around, under the seats and everything.
"Trevor wouldn't happen to be the toad I saw a couple third years dissection would it?" Both Ginny and Neville looked towards the compartment door that was still open. Ginny recognized Madison straight away, but instead of her usual romantic gothic style of clothing, she looked like a normal teenager. Her long black hair was braided and she wore sunglasses, hardly any skin was showing at all.
Neville had rushed from the compartment at her announcement. "What are you doing here?" Ginny asked. Madison handed her a small cage with Trevor inside.
"He forgot it on the platform. I'm attending Hogwarts this year." Madison answered as she came in, closed the door and with her wand she made the curtains on the windows close.
"How? Why?" Was all Ginny could say.
"Professor Snape has figured all the details on the `how'" Madison answered, "But as to the `why,' I'll be spying on the Slytherins from within."
"Brilliant, I suppose."
"I wanted to let one of you know, so you don't blow my cover. And the fact that I don't want any of you to take offence to the uber bitch Slytherin Queen I know I can be." Madison continued.
"You're going to be mean to us, aren't you?" Ginny asked.
Madison gave her a sly grin, "You mean, like this?" Madison opened the compartment door and with a wave of her wand the entire luggage in the compartment levitated out into the hallway. Ginny's automatic response was to go after it and as soon as she was clear of the door it slammed shut behind her. Curtains close on the clear windows of the door and a sign appeared that read `you have officially been evicted from this compartment, courtesy of Alexis Philana, self proclaimed Queen of Slytherin.'
Ginny, upon realizing her mistake, angrily tried to open the door, but Madison's locking spell was more powerful than Ginny's unlocking spell. "You'll be getting a bat bogey for that one!" Ginny called through the door. She then remembered where Neville had gone off to when she had his toad, so she went after him.
Twenty minutes later Harry, Hermione, Ron and Luna came upon Neville and Ginny sitting by the luggage waiting for them to return.
"What happened?" Hermione asked checking on Crookshanks in his carrier.
"We got duped by a Slytherin." Ginny replied.
"Who?" Ron asked.
"New student goes by the name of Alexis," Ginny pointed to the sign on the door.
"Did you at least hex her before?"
"Honestly Ron," Hermione scolded.
"What? Look was she did?"
"It's really Madison, but we can't let people know that," Ginny said smoothly, "I'll tell you latter, Malfoy alert."
"Oye, didn't know your family was so poor Weasel that you have resort to riding the train here in the hallway."
"Sod off Malfoy!" Ron snapped back.
Hermione was knocking on the compartment door, "We want our compartment back!"
The sign changed, `Sorry, there wasn't a reservation for this compartment under Bunch of Pansies!'
"Merlin, who's in there?" Malfoy inquired, "I want to thank them that was brilliant."
"I don't think you can go in there Malfoy," Harry said, "The sign said so."
"I wonder Potter, Dumbledore must have hit is head or something, making you Head Boy. You've only been here half the time any of us has been here." Malfoy sneered.
"Must have been my good looks, I won hands down." Harry responded. He saw Malfoy's face going red. "I wouldn't try anything Malfoy, there are more of us then there is of you."
"Let just go up to the front, there's some room for us." Hermione said.
Instead of a confrontation Harry's group picked up their luggage and went to the front of the train.
*
"Thank you very much for coming in."
"I curious as to why you asked me to Mr. Wilder." Solarea responded.
"I thought it best to come to you with this first before bringing Mr. Potter into this. As you know I have been a lawyer for the Potters for three generations now. And now that he has become of age… I had expected certain people to contact me already about Harry's inheritance, certain trust funds and responsibilities. But I've heard nothing about any of it." Mr. Wilder was in the process of shuffling papers around his desk.
"It appears that James Potter never got around to updating his will after his son was born."
"I'm well aware of that Mr. Wilder; you might recall I was here for the reading. Despite that it all went to Harry anyway." Solarea was confused.
"Between you, me and the walls around us, someone in the Ministry is trying to screw Harry over. I discovered that a law was passed recently called the Pure-blood Priority Law. Instead of everything being passed to the next of kin, in this case being Harry, it all goes to a pure-blood in the family first before any others. Harry is half-blood, and if you look at Edward Potter's will…"
Solarea looked at Harry's grandfather's will, trying to think of who in the Ministry would do this. Most likely Lucius Malfoy. Back when Edward Potter was still alive, he had a voice in the Ministry, very much like Malfoy did now. But Solarea was not interested in what political role Harry could play at the Ministry, just that Harry get what was rightfully his.
"Has she touched anything?" Solarea asked.
"I don't think she knows," Mr. Wilder replied. "Another three years and all of this can't be claimed anymore."
"I would like for this to be sorted out as soon as possible." Solarea told him.
"Yes, of course, except I can't seem to find her." Mr. Wilder explained, "And if we do find her; she's probably got a family by now, she might fight to keep it when she finds out. From what I remember of her she's a feisty one."
"I wouldn't worry about that Mr. Wilder. I think it's safe to say I can find her with ease." Solarea assured him. "I'll contact you with further instructions. We'll figure this out."
With that they shook hands and Solarea departed and headed to Hogwarts.
*
It was getting dark outside, Madison had just finished putting on her school uniform, and she had to admit, she did feel a bit naughty in it. She had enjoyed the privacy of being the only one in the compartment. It gave her a chance to recuperate from the night before.
There was a knock at the door. Making sure that everything was okay in the room for public viewing, Madison slipped on her night time sunglasses, they were less tinted than her day time ones. She opened the door just a little to see who it was. There was no doubt that this was Draco Malfoy. He looked just like his father, and Madison was all too familiar with his father.
"I was impressed with your little stunt earlier." Draco started off, "I don't believe I've seen you before, I'm Draco Malfoy."
"Alexis, and my `stunt' wasn't for your benefit." Madison replied opening the door all the way and sat down on the one of the seats by the window. At the window sat her trunk and she opened it to retrieve her green neck tie.
"You're in Slytherin then?"
"Looks like." She replied as sharply as he had asked, "You here to give me the official welcome, or the official `stay out of my way, I'm boss'?"
"Official welcome of course, we Slytherins stick together."
Madison remained silent after that, waiting for the moment he showed any sign of leaving.
"I'm sorry for being so short with you," Madison said as Draco started his awkward retreat. "My social skills are a bit…lacking."
"Don't play well with others?" Madison nodded shyly. "You'll be fine. If you want, I can't show you the ropes at Hogwarts."
"Sure," Madison replied, "Its better than embarrassing myself, wouldn't want to make the wrong friends."
*
Lord Voldemort, formally known as Tom Riddle, and mostly known as You-Know-Who, was brooding.
That chit of a girl had caused a major set back in his plans. His thoughts swirled in the Pensieve in front of him; of what he and others remembered from the book. Other things had been laid out on the table, maps and scrolls, all necessary to achieve gaining great power. Once he had this power it would be so easy to rid himself of both Potter and Dumbledore.
Bellatrix was in the room, Voldemort had heard the door open and she was waiting patiently for her presence to be acknowledged. The Death Eater had quickly learned never to interrupt their Master while he was thinking.
Voldemort motioned for Bella to come forward, she knelt at his side, "There is a man who requests an audience with you Master, he's says he's here about a book you've recently lost."
He eyed her suspiciously, "Well then, by all means, let him in," At the very lest he would kill someone today.
The man was a well dressed middle-ages man who had already began to show signs that his dark hair would soon turn silver. With him, he carried a package, covered in cloth.
"I bid you good day, Lord Voldemort, I am Rene. I understand that this was recently in your possession." Rene gave Voldemort the cloth covered package. Voldemort took it cautiously and unwrapped it, to reveal the very book that had been destroyed not a few weeks before.
"How is this possible?" Voldemort asked in disbelief.
"This book cannot be destroyed, the author made sure of that." Rene explained.
"Why did you end up with it, and why are you returning it?" he asked suspiciously.
"I believe that you are destined to achieve what this book offers, in fact I will help you."
"How can you help, no one has been able to read in or understand it." Voldemort asked.
"You know what this book contains as you have learned from these scrolls. But what you don't know is that no Wizard can read this, only a Mage, such as myself can."
*
It seemed to become tradition at Hogwarts, upon entering the Great Hall check to see who's new at the Head table. But instead of just one new face, as most expected, there were four new faces.
"No wonder the house was empty this mourning," Ron commented, "What the heck is Charlie doing here?"
"We knew Aunt Sol and Sirius were going to be here," Harry said, "But I never expected your brother and his girlfriend too."
"It's the safest place for her," Hermione noted. "It's not like she can go back to the way things were, she's a target."
There were many gasps of shock as people recognized Sirius Black sitting at the table, actually looking quite respectable. Solarea was sitting next to him, talking quietly. Dumbledore, who was sitting in his usual spot caught their attention and waved for them to approach.
"As Head Boy and Girl, I must inform you of a new 7th year student this year, which you might be familiar with."
"Ginny told us that Madison is here sir." Hermione told him, "We were at the meeting when Madison told Ginny why she was here."
"Year, and then she kicked us out of the compartment we where settled in." Harry commented. A muffled snicker came from opposite sides of the table, one from Sirius, and one from Professor Snape.
"Nevertheless, it is imperative that her identify not be revealed." Dumbledore told them.
"Obliterating their memories of her might be the best way of assuring their silence." Professor Snape suggested.
"Is that something your sister would agree to Severus?" Dumbledore asked him. He didn't reply he only reverted his gaze to his house table. Dumbledore turn back to Harry and Hermione, "Also, I must inform you that all the ghosts in Hogwarts have recently disappeared."
"Do you know where they went?" Hermione asked.
"I should have said they were taken by some unseen force," Dumbledore went on.
"Well, thank you for letting us know," Hermione said, "Um, sir, what about Peeves."
"Don't worry about Peeves dear," Solarea replied, "I'll be keeping him in check."
Harry and Hermione returned to their table, Professor McGonagall was about to bring in the first years.
"I swear," Hermione said as the first years came in, "they seem smaller and smaller every year."
"I can't even imagine us being that small." Ron said.
"Do you regret not coming here first year?" Hermione asked Harry.
"A little bit," Harry admitted.
"Well, you didn't miss much, other than Ron being a right arse."
"Hey, I resent that remark." Ron said defensively.
The Sorting Hat had sung it's song and the first years had been sorted. And after Dumbledore's choice of nonsense words the feast began. Throughout dinner Harry, Ron and Hermione were catching us with their friends that they hadn't seen since last term.
"Can you believe it?" Shamus Finnegan was saying to Dean Thomas, "We get not one, but two eye candy Professors this year."
"I had no idea you fancied my brother?" Ron said.
"Sod off Weasley; you know that wasn't what I meant."
"Well you can look all you want, but both of the `young-looking' Professors are taken." Harry burst his bubble.
"Taken?" Dean said, "That's a damn right crime to society." Mostly the guys laughed.
The feast was over and Dumbledore called their attention once again.
"I welcome you once again to another year at Hogwarts. As you can see there are quite a few new faces all around, and some familiar ones that are sadly missing.
"It would seem that our dear Hagrid has found new living arrangements in France, leaving the Care for Magical Creatures position open. Thankful we have Mister Charlie Weasley here who was only happy to take the position. And like Hagrid, Mister Weasley here is very fond of dragons." Charlie stood so everyone could see him. Then he sat back down as Dumbledore continued.
"And as some of you might have noticed, the ghosts of Hogwarts are missing from the festivities and the castle; while that is a sad note I'm sure they will turn up in due course. Professor Lena Marx will take Professor Binns place until he is found." Lena stood up; she smiled slightly when she got a few cat calls from the older students.
"Now, now, settle down. Last we have Professor Solarea and her teaching assistant Mister Sirius Black who will be taking the Defense against the Dark Arts positions leaving Professor Snape to retake his Potions class."
Through the last comment there were people talking, mostly about Sirius Black, but the announcement lead the start of applause, mostly due to Professor Snape not teaching Defense.
*
"It feels weird being here," Charlie was saying out loud. While Hagrid was gone, Charlie and Lena would be the new tenets of his hut. They had spent the day redoing the whole place so that you could not tell a half-giant had every lived there. The hut, both inside and out had been reconstructed. In fact it was more of a cabin than a hut.
Lena was at the table setting up one of her muggle devices, a laptop is what she had called it.
"Are you going to be able to get that thing to work?" Charlie asked.
"Why shouldn't I?" Lena asked in return still concentrating on what she was doing.
"I just thought with all the magic in the air, it doesn't get along with muggle technology." Charlie replied.
"It's magical technology luv, only based on muggle. It'll run completely on magic." Lena told him.
"Top secret?"
"Top secret." Lena repeated.
"It's really bugging you that you can't go back to work." Charlie observed.
"I hate hiding," Lena admitted, "I've been doing it my whole life; I'm just tiered of it."
"Maybe some things aren't meant to be hidden." Charlie said cryptically. Lena looked up from her work; Charlie has sat down at the table beside her and put a small black box on it. "I've been thinking about this for the past couple weeks."
"I thought you wanted to wait until this whole thing was over?" Lena asked hesitantly, they butterflies of hopefulness were in her stomach.
"I guess I was trying to protect you. My whole family is involved in this war, we're all Phoenix members."
"If no one knew about me, no one could use me to hurt you." Lena concluded.
"It's stupid, I know. It's not as if I didn't believe you could take care of yourself." Charlie went on.
"So why are we bringing this up now?" Lena asked.
"I don't think we should wait anymore." Charlie told her, "I want to marry you Lena, we should have been two years ago."
"Well good, I was beginning to think I had been planning my wedding for nothing," Lena joked as she grabbed the small box and opened it, she stared at it in shock, this was not the same simple small diamond ring she had put in the box when she decided, after too many people asking questions about, to not wear it.
The ring was in the shape of a dragon, as if it were chasing its tail and catching it in his mouth, with the same diamond from the ring before, right in between.
"Charlie?" she looked at him in wonder.
"I figured it wouldn't be fair for a guy to ask a girl to marry him a second time with the same ring." Charlie explained and he took the ring from her and placed it on her finger.
*
First night in the Slytherin Dorm and she had already pissed someone off. Not intentionally of course, she was just the new girl who came in, got assigned the privet girl's bedroom that Pansy Parkinson had been wanting ever since she became prefect 5th year.
"What make you so special to get that bedroom?" Pansy said in a snit.
"That funny, I was about to ask the same question about you." Madison fired back, "If I hadn't come, what made you think you were going to get it?"
"I'm a 7th year prefect, it's my right!"
"I happen to like my privet room," Madison told her, "And I also fail to see the point of this conversation, so I'll not be conversing anymore. I've got things to do." So far things were going well; this was a battle that needed to be fought in order to get close to Draco Malfoy. She had to take Pansy's place. Eventually Pansy would except her, or risk being shunned by those who matter. You didn't have friends in Slytherin.
Pansy stopped her from closing the door, "No, you are going to pack up your things and I am going to move in."
"That was so funny I forgot to laugh," Madison said as she stepped out of her room, closing the door behind her and warded it with her wand. "I'm late, Professor Snape asked me to come to his office tonight. If you're lucky I'll forget your insubordination." Madison slipped by Pansy and went towards the common room. There were people in the common room, including Draco, either she would stop this argument or she would continue.
"Insubordination?" Pansy came after her. People paused at the commotion, Madison whipped around to face the pug-nosed chit.
"Yes, insubordination, it means not submissive; mutinous; rebellious."
"I know what it means, but I don't see how that applies to me."
Madison sighed and continued on her way out, "Not my problem," she muttered.
Once she was gone Pansy turned to the others, "Can you believe the nerve of that girl, talking to me like that. She needs to be put in her place."
"I believe she's already there Pansy." Draco told her. Pansy stared at Draco in disbelief before walking away with a bruised ego.
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