Disclaimer: All characters from the first six books in the Harry Potter series by Joanne K. Rowling, to whom I am deeply indebted, belong to her exclusively; © 2007. I am simply playing with them for my amusement, and to see what kind of reaction I can get.
Not Another Author's Note: Many thanks to the_scribbler for his kind assistance with this chapter. You the reader get to enjoy an extra 700 or so words and well as other corrections and enhancements.
40a - On the Hogwarts Express
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Monday, September 1st
Neville generally arrived in plenty of time for the train and this year was no exception. Ginny thanked Neville's Gran for the wonderful time she had touring around the country with them and for last night as well. They both said good-bye and made their way to the last compartment in the last car of the train. The compartment that Harry, Ron and Hermione usually had. When she was almost to the last car, Ginny saw something that shocked her. Molly was watching someone who appeared to be Ron; disappearing up the steps and into the last car. Never in all her days had any Weasley been to Kings Cross this early on September first.
Ginny shouted above the din of background noise, "Mom!" Then ran the last car length and over to her Mother. They both had their arms outstretched in anticipation of a huge mother-daughter hug. Finally, Neville, pulling both their trunks behind him got too close and was brought into the hug by Molly and then Ginny. Augusta had been watching and slowly began to make her way over to have a word with Molly about the pair once they had boarded the train.
Luna, of course was the reason for Ron being ahead of time. The brilliant, though odd, Ravenclaw was always more than prepared for any eventuality. She and Ron found Remus Lupin snoozing in the last compartment when they entered. Luna sat herself opposite the Professor at the window and Ron snuggled in beside her.
The next thing Molly knew, the final boarding whistle sounded and she hustled both kids towards the train. Neville took charge of their trunks while Ginny looked after their familiars. The train was underway by the time they reached the last compartment. The door was still open when they looked in to find that Luna had climbed atop Ron, her robes were hiked up in the front. They couldn't tell about Ron's robes. Their arms were hidden by their robes and their faces were joined, open-mouthed. Remus was still asleep. Neville and Ginny both shook their heads and backed away in anticipation of making some noise. When they looked up the train they saw an old Wizard that looked like Merlin, walking towards them and he had, of all things, a white Phoenix perched on his left shoulder. There was a girl walking ahead of the Wizard, it was Jeannette. Ginny realized now that the white Phoenix had to be Hermione, which meant that the old gent must be … Harry, using his metamorphagus ability.
"Hello Harry…Hermione…Jeannette?" said Ginny. Neville looked at her for the briefest moment before realization dawned on him as well. Merlin {Harry} smiled and greeted them both with a good morning.
Harry had been practicing by changing into Albus; each of the four founders; Merlin; the young Tom Riddle from the Chamber of Secrets; and Voldemort from his resurrection in the Graveyard, as well as a few of the Professors. He had also been practicing animating the Hungarian horntail image on his chest. Ginny didn't know anything about that - because Jeannette had not told her that Hermione had found a new game on Harry's chest. The purpose of being able to change into Voldemort was in case he had the opportunity to confuse or misdirect some Death Eaters.
Ron and Luna, amazingly enough, had overheard the greetings outside in the corridor and had rearranged themselves as if nothing unusual had happened when Jeannette entered the compartment next. They recognized each other, having met yesterday in Diagon Alley. Jeannette sat down opposite them, next to Remus, who still hadn't stirred. Ginny and Neville sat next to her. Merlin with the white Phoenix took the remaining position diagonally opposite Remus, beside Ron. Remus finally woke when the door closed and locked, then sat up with a jolt at the sight of Merlin before he realized it must be Harry.
Harry and Hermione had been almost the first on the train after the Aurors gave the all clear to start boarding. They entered at the front car and stowed their trunks in the Prefects compartment where they would hold the meeting to organize the prefects. Harry morphed into Merlin while Hermione transformed into Caledfwlch and perched on his shoulder. Harry was getting much faster at morphing, he made this change in well under thirty seconds. Just as the final boarding whistle blew, the unlikely pair proceeded down the train, acquiring startled looks from most of the students while making sure that all the students were finding compartments and settling a few disagreements in the process.
Once closeted in the end compartment with their friends, they both transformed back into the Head Boy and Girl - complete with robes and badges. Hermione properly introduced Jeannette to Professor Lupin; their friends had met her before. Soon they had to leave for the Prefects meeting with Ron. Although Harry had been made Head Boy, Ron was still a seventh year Prefect and this year's Quidditch Captain - provided he could keep his grades up.
On their way to the Prefects Meeting, they spotted Draco Malfoy in a Slytherin-filled compartment that included Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson and Nott. Hermione thought about the staff meeting yesterday, when the Headmaster had told them all that Draco Malfoy would be returning. The rational that they had been given - which sounded sketchy to all of them - was that since he didn't actually kill the Headmaster last term or hurt anyone else that they could determine, there was no reason to prevent him from returning. Dumbledore had acknowledged, after a considerable amount of turmoil during the staff meeting, that there had been considerable pressure put on him over Draco's return, since he had actually helped the Death Eaters enter the Castle. The concession to that pressure, he told them all, was that Draco would be on a very short leash and not allowed a wand except in classes.
As they passed by, Draco looked up and gave them his customary sneer. Harry was eager to jump down his throat right then and there, but Hermione caught him by the sleeve and diffused the thought before Harry got a chance to act. "He's not worth it, Harry. Save your energies for those who really deserve it."
A minute later and a few cars along, two small children, Ron thought of them as midgets, burst through the door of a compartment, glass from the still-closed door flying everywhere. Ron quickly sent a spell that hoisted the little boy up to the ceiling by his heels and when the girl attempted to continue her attack, Hermione tied her up with ropes from her wand. Harry repaired the compartment door with a casual flick of his wrist and then looked in, to see if there was anything else that needed his attention. When the combatants were separated and the story began to unfold, the three elder students found out that the girl had a much older sister that graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago. Hermione, Ron, and Harry listened patiently as the girl told them that her sister had, while she was home from school, explained the term 'Mudblood' and had impressed upon her the vileness of the insult. Carol Taylor, the little girl, took exception to the insult and when the little boy wouldn't apologize freely she decided that she would make him do it.
Afterwards, Harry got basically the same story out of Trevor Goyle - except, of course, that Carol attacked him for no reason. Trevor explained that 'yes, of course he called her a Mudblood'. His father, mother and brother all used that term at home, so it must be all right. She said she came from two Muggle parents therefore she was a …
Harry cut him off there and read him the riot act in no uncertain terms while Hermione sent Carol off with her trunk, lightened to a feather's weight, to the last compartment of the last car to get her cuts cleaned up by Professor Lupin. Trevor was told that if he ever used that word again, he would loose his house fifty points for each time he used it, and would serve significant detention time. Then he was sent back to his compartment, to contemplate what he had been told.
By the time the trio made it to the first compartment of the first car, the Prefects were getting anxious and some were ready to leave in search of the Heads. Upon calling the roll, Slytherin was short a Prefect because Malfoy had had his badge revoked by the Headmistress, and Gryffindor had an extra Prefect because Harry stepped directly into the Head Boy position. Hermione paired up Prefects from different houses for the rotating patrols of the train and told all of them that she and Harry would take the last patrol. Hermione gave out the House dormitory passwords and the fifth year prefects agreed to lead the new first years to their dormitories.
A rotation schedule was agreed to for the first week of nightly patrols in the Castle after which they would have another meeting to consider any changes or amendments. The conditions under which Draco Malfoy was allowed to return were explained, including that he was to collect his wand from Professor Slughorn after breakfast and return it to him after his last class of the day. If he was caught using his wand out of class or without the supervision of a Professor it was to be confiscated and turned in to the nearest Professor along with Draco himself.
The meeting ended and all the Prefects disbursed, including Ron, who wanted to get back to Luna. Once they were alone, Harry morphed into Merlin again and Caledfwlch perched on his shoulder for the walk to the far end of the train. Everyone who was in the corridor gaped and stared as Harry and Hermione passed through. A few of them had sworn to their friends that they had seen Merlin walk up the train less than an hour before. The moment that Merlin {Harry} stepped between the last two cars, he disillusioned himself and Caledfwlch. By the time they arrived at the last compartment they had both changed back to Harry and Hermione, though they were still disillusioned. Entering the compartment, they checked behind themselves to make sure no one could see or hear them other than those in the compartment and announced themselves to the small group, "Hey guys, it's just us", before cancelling the disillusionment charm and taking the last two seats.
Remus had patched Carol up a while ago, he knew he was no Poppy Pomfrey, but these were simple cuts and bruises - well within his capabilities. Once Carol had calmed down, she had a bright and bubbly personality that got along well with everyone in that compartment. Just before Harry and Hermione came in, they had been talking about Hogwarts and the Sorting Ceremony. Once everyone settled down and the new arrivals were seated, Carol wondered aloud, "I hope I'm not in Slytherin, anywhere else would be alright."
"Ha!" said Harry, "You'll be a Gryffindor … like most of us!" He exclaimed.
"Ha…..h….how do you know?" asked Carol.
"Easy," Harry replied, "You've already attacked your first Pure-Blood, Bigoted Slytherin and …"
"HARRrrrEeeeeee!" Hermione shouted, interrupting him, then she looked at Carol, "Carol, you can be in whatever house you want, if you want it badly enough to convince the Sorting Hat to put you there." Luna, Ron, Neville and Ginny all looked at Hermione as if she was loony.
"Hermione's right, Carol … the sorting hat wanted to put her in Ravenclaw, she convinced it to make her a Gryffindor and I'm really happy about that. We've been the best of friends," He smiled at Hermione and gave her a squeeze, Hermione smiled back and blushed a little when he raised his eyebrows and added, "With benefits."
"Hey guys," Ron said grinning, "Find yourselves a private compartment."
Remus stood up and offered his hand to Carol while saying, "Come with me Carol, we'll find a compartment for you, with people your own age and leave these hormonally-challenged adolescents on their own … though it's against my better judgement to leave them unsupervised."
At the far end of the magically enlarged compartment, Jeannette was sitting beside Ginny, talking quietly about Gabrielle and Fleur and no one was paying them much attention other than Neville, who couldn't help but listen in and offer the occasional comment.
Shortly after Remus and Carol left, Rose Zeller found them. She had gone up to the Prefects car at the front of the train first, but the meeting had already broken up by then. It dawned on her, after she had passed Merlin and his white Phoenix making their way to the back of the train, that it must be the same white Phoenix and Merlin should be long since dead. Her attempt to follow Merlin was sidetracked by friends trying to show her their new owl. When she was finally free of her friends she had lost all track of Merlin and had to search each compartment along the train for either Merlin, Harry, Hermione or a white Phoenix until she finally arrived at the very last compartment.
Rose stood outside the door looking in, relief flooding her face, then the door slowly opened. She looked up the car to see if anyone was there before saying, "I won't ask who Merlin was, but I'd know that white Phoenix anywhere now. "Hello Hermione, Harry …", Rose looked around the compartment only to see the others looking at Harry. She recognized the other faces, but couldn't put names to all of them, then looked back to Harry and Hermione, "I had to come and thank you guys for your help earlier this summer … Thank You."
The others watched and looked confused, Harry had mentioned the trouble with his cousin and Uncle, but had not specifically mentioned that the young lady that was hurt was a Witch or her name. Hermione introduced Rose to everyone present; Harry then explained that Rose Zeller was the young lady that Dudley and his gang beat up.
The next thing they heard, in the distance, was Draco's muffled voice telling off Vincent Crabbe for not having his wand out. Hermione pulled Rose in from the door and closed it before pointing to the seat that Remus recently vacated, in the corner by the window.
"I am going to disillusion myself and morph into Voldemort, when I reappear you will see Voldemort sitting here, act normal, like he's been here the whole trip and were all buddies." Hermione and Rose were horrified; the others were still grasping the idea when Harry disappeared under a disillusionment charm.
Neville warned Rose to hide behind him and not to stick her head out for any reason, then the doors crashed open. Draco Malfoy, with no apparent wand stood there flanked by Crabbe and Goyle … both had their wands drawn and pointing into the compartment.
"Mudbloods and Blood Traitors, where's Potty we Potter?" scathed Malfoy. "Too scared to show his face I expect." Draco added as he stepped through the door.
Harry had severed the Gryffindor patch from his robes and removed the Head Boy badge while his head and hands morphed into a resemblance of Voldemort that he had seen the night of his resurrection. The rest of his body was hidden under his school robes so it didn't take more than a few long seconds to morph.
As the disillusionment charm ended Voldemort {Harry} reached out with his long spindly pale fingers to grasp Draco's arm. Crabbe and Goyle back peddled out of there and running and stumbling they made their way back to their compartment. "Draco," hissed Voldemort {Harry} in the voice from Harry's dreams. Draco turned, his features, starting at surprise then turned to shock followed by some actual pink colour coming to his sallow face. A moment later a pool of yellow liquid overflowed his shoes onto the floor.
Ginny noticed the expanding pool on the floor first and while looking at the yellow pool she raised her feet and said, "Yeeewwww!", scrunching up her face.
"Draco … you are a lot of talk and very little action, not unlike your miserable excuse for a Father." Hissed Voldemort {Harry}. "You couldn't even murder the defenceless old man you were supposed to kill. You're a waste of Wizard flesh, I should kill you here and now, but you're not worth the effort. These young people however, are willing to help me, and they have a track record of getting the job done. Leave my sight and don't bother these people again!" commanded Voldemort {Harry}.
Draco turned and ran as fast as he could, slipping and sliding in the corridor. Voldemort {Harry} motioned with his hand, causing the door to close, then locked it and pulled down the blind to keep nosey eyes out before relaxing for a moment. Hermione banished the mess on the floor while Ginny freshened the air in the compartment. Rose, the only one that hadn't seen Harry morph before was hiding behind Neville holding him tight around the waist. Harry returned to his normal self in a few seconds then everyone began to relax. Because Harry warned them all, Hermione knew very well what to expect, the others of the group had only seen Harry morph once or twice. Poor Rose was frightened out of her mind. Once Ginny pried Rose from around her boyfriend, Neville got out of the way and the three girls calmed Rose down in short order.
A knocking on the door got everyone's attention; Harry made a show of pulling his wand out and unlocking the door which slid open a moment later. Remus looked around then spotted a young girl. Ginny introduced Rose to Professor Lupin who made a comment about every time he turned around there was another young girl in here.
"It's all his fault," said Ron, pointing to Harry, "They all come to see Harry. Everyone laughed except Rose and Harry.
"I saw Crabbe and Goyle racing up the train, followed a minute later by Malfoy," said Remus. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" he questioned.
"They could have been running from someone who looked very much like V … V … Voldemort", stuttered Neville.
Remus looked down at Harry for a moment as a smile slowly crept onto his face. A moment later he started to laugh then his hand reached out and ruffled Harry's hair. "A true Marauder, your Father and Sirius would be proud of you." Remus eyes shifted towards Rose and he said to her, "I hope you know not to talk about this to anyone except those in this room?"
"Yesssss Sir," she said while trying to make herself small and inconspicuous.
"Would you like an escort back to your friends Rose?" Remus asked.
"That's fine Sir, I can get back there myself." She said as she got up and made her way past Remus and out the door.
"Rose …" Jeannette hesitated a moment before continuing, "Can you help me find some second years to meet?"
Rose looked at her as she stood up, appraising her height and build, "Second year … are you sure?" Jeannette nodded and Rose held out a hand for Jeannette to come with her.
"I spotted some second years on my way here that I think you'll fit in with." Rose said as they walked out the door. Jeannette waved at the group she left behind and the pair made their way through two cars before they found the group that Rose remembered. She knocked on the compartment door and it opened. Rose introduced Jeannette to those she knew and the rest introduced themselves. There were now four girls and four boys crowded into the compartment and they would get to know Jeannette by the time the trip was over. The compartment that Jeannette was introduced into was mostly second year Ravenclaws with a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor added for colour and flavour.
When Rose and Jeannette left Remus claimed his seat in the corner and they spent a while talking about the prank Harry played against Malfoy and his cronies. Since no magic was used against anyone, there was very little Remus could to do as a teacher except laugh along with the teenagers. Ron commented at one point that Fred and George would have had a hard time topping Harry's prank and they all agreed.
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The train ride went smoothly after all that; Ron made his tour of duty at the appointed time, with Luna at his side. The pair met up with Terry Boots - a third of the way up the train and from that point the three carried on together. He reported back that they had heard some sixth and seventh year Slytherins talking about 'He Who Must Not Be Named' being on the train and a few mentions of Merlin with a white Phoenix. Through the afternoon, Harry and Hermione made a few unscheduled rounds up and down the train and near the end of the trip they made their scheduled inspection reminding those that still didn't have their robes on that it was time to be ready.
"We're probably lucky that no one saw Snape or Sirius." Said Harry with a smirk on his face, "Or maybe Dumbledore."
"Don't push it Harry," said Hermione, "It won't be good for you if I wake up and see any of those people." Harry nodded back to her and smiled.
The Hogwarts Express slowed as it approached Hogsmeade Station and the whistle blew to announce their arrival. People started hoisting trunks, bags and other packages out of the overhead racks and hauling then towards the exit doors. Once the train stopped there was a mass exodus out the doors and onto the station platform. When most of the students appeared to be off the train, Hagrid announced that they should leave their trunks and pets on the platform and they would be taken to the castle separately. A few moments later they heard the familiar announcement from Hagrid, "Firs' years over 'ere ... firs' years ... firs' years over 'ere." Harry and Ron spotted Hagrid near the front of the train before he bent down, and that was the last they heard of Hagrid due to the noise and bustle of all the other students making their way to the carriages. Charged with making sure that everyone else found space in the carriages, Harry and Hermione were the last to leave and therefore missed the ride with their friends and ended up with a group of Hufflepuff sixth years. They all had a pleasant ride and enjoyed the rumors of Merlin and He Who Must Not Be Named being on the train.
Once the second year group arrived at the castle, they were surprised that Jeannette knew her way around. It took some careful explaining to conceal the fact that she had been there with Harry, and she had been asked not to mention that Hermione was her cousin. She simply told them that she had been here over the last week with a DADA instructor to catch up in that course.
"I heard last year that the most useful defence instruction was from Harry Potter and his group of friends including Hermione Granger. I do hope they will have that Defence Club this year, I want to join it and learn something useful." Said the blonde second year girl.
"I did hear something about a Duelling Club this year, if that's what you're referring to?" Responded Jeannette, "The teacher I had last week mentioned it. He suggested that I should join."
"Oh good, don't go without me, I think it'll be very popular this year ... a good chance to meet some boys from other houses too", said the blonde.
"I see you have your priorities straight." Jeannette commented, and they both giggled as they walked into the Great Hall.