Harry Potter and the Path of War

Harry Potter and the path of war

Chapter six: So it begins

Harry kept his eyes fixed firmly on Voldemort, who was surveying the platform with a sick, twisted smile on his face, but making no move. The parents, waiting to see their children off, were frozen with terror, and not moving an inch. Harry could see that Tonks, Nate, Kingsley and Mr and Mrs Weasley all had their wands pointed directly at the Death Eaters, although Mrs Weasley's was shaking in her hand. Harry glanced quickly to his side; Remus had drawn his wand, but had not yet raised it.

Harry began to walk forwards, towards Voldemort, but Remus grabbed his arm tightly.

"Harry, get on the train," he said.

"Remus, there is no way I'm getting on that train, I can fight them, I can fight him, I've been training all summer, and. . ."

"Harry, there's no time for this!" he hissed suddenly, not looking at Harry, but keeping his eyes fixed on Voldemort and the Death Eaters. "They haven't seen us yet, there's too many people in the way. Get on the train, and go straight to the driver. Tell him to leave the station immediately."

"But. . ."

"No buts, Harry. It's the only way your whole school isn't going to be massacred today." Harry swallowed.

"I can't just jump on to the train, they'll see me," he muttered out of the side of his mouth, even though Voldemort and the Death Eaters were all the way down the platform.

"Conceal yourself. Now!" Remus said.

Harry slowly twisted his wand round, so the tip of it was facing towards his hip, thanking the stars that the concealment spell he was going to use could be cast on any part of the body and still conceal the entire body.

"Abolesco," he said, as quietly as he could; he had turned himself invisible for thirty seconds.

Looking down the platform at Voldemort and the Death Eaters, he saw that no-one seemed to have noticed him. Wasting no time, he jumped through the train door and sprinted as fast as he could through the thin corridors to the driver's compartment. The spell wore off just as he flung open the door. The driver, a short man with grey hair and a bushy mostauche, turned around in suprise, reaching for the wand that was on the chair next to him. Harry put his hands up in peace.

"It's okay, I'm. . I'm Harry Potter," he said, grimacing as he said it. The man gasped in sudden recognition, gaping at his scar and opening his mouth. Harry growled, "don't start. There are Death Eaters on the platform. Get this train moving now."

The driver paled, and opened his mouth to say something else, but took another look at Harry's face and shut it again. He nodded resolutely. "Yes, Mr Potter sir."

Harry sprinted back down the corridor to the door he had entered on to the train from, almost falling over when the train suddenly started moving. On his way, he found many students in the corridor of the train, looking around worriedly; evidently, people this far up the train had felt the shockwaves from the collapse of the wrought-iron platform entrance, but had not yet realised that Voldemort and the Death Eaters were here.

"Get back in the compartments!" Harry shouted at them as he went past, praying they would listen to him. "It's for your own good!"

To Harry's suprise, most of them listened to him and quickly ran back into their compartments, although some just stared at him like he was a nutter and stayed standing where they were. Harry carried on running, and reached the train door he had entered the train from. It was locked.

"Alohomora!" Harry cried, but to no effect. He pushed and pulled at it, but it wouldn't work. The train was gaining speed.

There was nothing for it, he decided, raising his wand again. He needed to be fighting, and nothing was going to stop him.

"Reducto!" he cried. The door was blasted backwards on to the platform and Harry jumped out after it, losing his footing and rolling uncontrollably when he landed due to the speed the train had been moving at. He picked himself up. The train was still gaining speed, and he could see the other student's gaping at him through the windows of it as it passed him. Harry forgot everything else for the minute and watched the train's progress; it was halfway out of the station now.

Come on, come on, come on. . .

Harry looked down the platform. There were Death Eaters running alongside the train, trying to wrench the doors open and climb on, and Remus and Tonks were running after them, but the train was moving too fast now, it was almost out of the station. Harry watched it go, his heart in his throat.

Come on, come on, come on. . .

It was gone. The Hogwarts Express left platform nine and three-quarters, billowing smoke as it went, and Harry breathed again. Everyone was going to be alright, he told himself, Ron and Hermione are going to be fine. . .

A loud shriek brang him back to reality. Looking back down the platform, he saw that a real battle had now begun, and he saw Voldemort crying out, fury etched on his skeletal white face.

Harry ran to meet him.

As he ran, he passed Remus, who was duelling with one of the Death Eaters who had been running alongside the train. Harry did not stop, and Remus did not see him. He passed Mr and Mrs Weasley, who were trying to herd the shellshocked parents to the far end of the platform, away from the Death Eaters. They did not see him.

Nate was duelling with two Death Eaters at once, and seemed to be having no trouble at all, while a little further down from him, Tonks was being slowly beaten by a tall Death Eater with a strange object in his hand.

"Vapulus!" Harry cried, knocking the Death Eater to the floor and giving him the sensation of being kicked hard all over his body for the next five minutes. He dimly heard Tonks cry of thank you as he continued down the platform to Voldemort, who was now duelling furiously with Kingsley. Harry increased his speed. He had to get to Voldemort, he was the only one who could defeat him. . . .

"Percutio!"

The curse caught Harry off guard, and he barely dodged it by ducking; he felt the spell brush over his hair. Turning to his right, he faced the Death Eater who had fired the curse at him.

"Prosterno!" Harry cried, but the Death Eater blocked it easily and sent it back at Harry, who jumped nimbly out of the way, allowing the Death Eater to take a chance.

"Noceo!" the man cried, taking advantage of Harry's momentary pre-occupation with avoiding his previous curse and firing straight at him. Harry rolled to the side, and as he came out of the roll he pointed his wand at the Death Eater and cried, "Stupefy!" the Death Eater collapsed forwards on to the platform floor, and Harry continued on his way towards Voldemort, ducking a wayward spell from his left as he ran. He had almost reached Voldemort now.

Kingsley was struggling against Voldemort now, barely avoiding his spells and not even casting his own. Suddenly, Voldemort flicked his wand slightly, and Kingsley's wand flew out of his hand and into Voldemort's. Kingsley fell to his knees. Voldemort raised his wand.

"Crucio!" Voldemort cried, at the same time that Harry cried, "Declino!"

The spell was deflected away from Kingsley, which had been Harry's intention. Voldemort looked around wildly, his eyes widening when they finally rested on Harry.

"Well, well. . .we meet again, Potter."

Harry could hear the battle around him die down, or maybe the sound of it was muted temporarily for him, as he stared into Voldemort's pitiless red eyes, his wand raised and ready to attack. Voldemort stared right back, his wand at the ready as well. Neither moved. Suddenly, Voldemort sneered, and began to talk to Harry. His wand arm did not relax.

"Potter, I am giving you one last chance. End your life, and your friends will live. Join me, fight with me, and your friends will live. Fight against me, and I will kill every one of them, slowly and painfully, ending with you. The choice is yours." Harry stared back at Voldemort unflinchingly.

"I will fight you, Riddle, and you will not touch any of my friends. Not if you value your life," he said, more bravely than he felt. Voldemort sneered again.

"So be it," he said, and raised his wand.

"Crucio!"

"Protego!"

The Cruciatus Curse bounced harmlessly off Harry's shield, and Voldemort's eyes widened. He had obviously not expected Harry to be able to block the curse. He sneered at him again.

"Potter, you've finally learnt some skills," he said softly, a cruel smile playing on his face, "but it's time I. . ."

"Everbero!"

Voldemort barely dodged the spell, looking startled as he did so. He stared at Harry with widened eyes, and Harry glared at him. Voldemort raised his wand again, but before Harry could defend himself, Voldemort had Disapparated.

Harry twisted round, remembering Voldemort had used that trick in his fight with Dumbledore at the Ministry, but this time, he was nowhere to be found. Looking to his left, he saw another Death Eater running towards him, his wand raised. Harry quickly raised his.

"Prosterno!" the Death Eater cried, and Harry quickly screamed, "Protego!"

The spell bounced back at the Death Eater, who ducked.

"Reducto!" Harry cried, pointing his wand at the Death Eater's feet, who jumped backwards too late. The spell made contact with the man's right foot, and Harry winced at the sight and sound of his foot exploding loudly, with an odd squelching noise. The Death Eater slumped to the floor screaming, dropping his wand as he did so.

"Stupefy!" Harry cried, and the Death Eater collapsed and lay unmoving. Harry smiled grimly.

"Aperio!"

Harry heard the spell coming from his right, but he had no time to react. The spell made contact and the world suddenly went very blurry, and he could not see clearly; his glasses had been knocked off. He saw a black blur appear in front of him.

"Expelliarmus!" he cried, pointing his wand in it's direction, but the spell didn't seem to do anything to it, and the blur screamed, "Impedimenta!"

Harry felt himself being blasted backwards, and he collided with something hard. Everything went black, and Harry knew no more.

* * * * * * * *

"Don't know what he was thinking, he could been killed, and. . "

"Lay off him Remus, what did you expect him to do, just sit on the train and pretend nothing had happened?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I expected him to do! I thought he had more sense than this."

"That's enough you two, it's happened now, you can't go back and change it. Besides, any of us would have done the same thing in that position, wouldn't we?"

"Of course, but none of us are sixteen years old!"

"You must accept, Remus, that Harry is not an ordinary sixteen year old, no matter how much you want him to be."

There was a deep sigh, and then silence. Harry slowly opened his eyes; the world wasn't blurry anymore; got my glasses back then, he noted. He groaned.

"Harry!"

Seconds later, the concerned faces of Remus Lupin, Nate Gonzales and Nymphadora Tonks were peering down at him where he lay, looking worried.

"How are you feeling Harry?" Remus said, his voice soft and anxious. Harry smiled slightly at him.

"I'm alright." He sat up, swaying dangerously as he did so, and Remus took his shoulder and gently pushed him backwards, where his back connected with a hard surface. Looking down, Harry saw he was sat on a cold, metal bench on platform nine and three-quarters. Full memory flooded back to him, and Harry looked anxiously at the three adults in front of him.

"What happened?" he asked quickly, "is everyone okay?"

The three of them exchanged dark looks, and Remus turned to Harry.

"What do you remember of what happened?" he asked.

"Everything. Now tell me what happened after I got knocked out."

"Harry, I need to know what you remember, there might be a few memory problems from the knock you took. . "

"There's nothing wrong with my head!" Harry shouted, "just tell me what happened!"

Nate, Remus and Tonks exchanged looks again, and Nate turned to Harry with a grim expression on his face.

"The good news is that the train got out of the station, and nobody on it is hurt." A strong feeling of relief came over Harry, and he rested his head on the cold backrest of the bench he was sitting on. Ron and Hermione were okay, he thought in relief, and Neville, and Ginny, and Luna, and Dean, and. . .Harry suddenly started, and sat up to look again at Nate, who was still wearing a grim expression.

"Wait a minute. . you said that's the good news?" he asked. Nate nodded slowly, lowering his eyes. Harry took a deep breath, preparing himself, and said, "well, what's the bad news?"

"Not every student was on the train when it left the station. Seventeen are. .are dead. The rest we managed to protect."

Harry put his head in his hands, resisting the urge to break down and cry. It was all his fault, they would never have been killed if it hadn't been for him. It was all his fault. . .he felt like crawling into a dark hole and never coming out.

Suddenly, Harry felt extremely angry with himself. People had just died, lost their lives, and here he was, selfishly drowning in his own guilt over something that he could not have prevented. He quickly pulled his head up, startling Nate as he did so, and looked him in the eye.

"Who else?" he asked, "what about any of the parents? Did anything happen to them?"

"A few of them joined us in fighting the Death Eaters. Some were killed. The rest were thankfully herded to the other end of the platform by Arthur and Molly Weasley."

"The Weasley's!" Harry exclaimed, remembering seeing them as he ran to confront Voldemort. "They're okay? What about Fred and George?"

"They went to the Ministry at the beginnning of the attack, to inform Aurors of the attack. They didn't want to go, but they are members of the Order now, they'll do what their told. Now, Harry, are you. . ."

"How many parents were killed?" Harry interrupted.

"Harry, you need. . ."

"Answer my question." Nate gave him a startled glance, and relented.

"Eleven lost their lives." Harry sighed. Twenty eight all together. . .

"What are their names?" Nate gave him a puzzled look.

"The parents or the students?"

"Both." Nate sighed.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't." Nate gave him a strange look, but answered him anyway.

"Three second year Slytherins, Alastair Scrimgeour, Francus Murray, and Tom Ford. Four Ravenclaws, three third years, Joanne Methven, Rose Usilar and Janeeta Depitt, and a second year, David Scone. Four Hufflepuffs, two fourth years, Janey Quagmire and Maria Goudge, and two seventh years, Toby Reeves and Eric Tyler, who both joined us in fighting the Death Eaters. Two Gryffindor second years, Robert Jones and Edward Westwick, and four first years, Stan Thornley, Steven Blacklock, Emma Watson and Simon Adams."

Harry let out the breath he had been holding in. He did not know whether to be thankful or not that he had not known any of the people whose names that Nate had said. He had recognized some of them, but he was sure that he had never really spoke to any of them, and he felt guilty for being relieved when none of his friends were stated, because their lives were no more important than those who had died, so what right did he have to feel relieved?

"Harry?"

Harry looked up (he had lowered his head to the floor as Nate had spoke, unable to look at anyone) to see Nate looking at him with concern. "Are you okay?"

Of course I'm not okay, Harry thought bitterly in his head, you've just told me the names of seventeen people whose deaths I'm inadvertantly responsible for, but to Nate he simply nodded.

"What about the parents?"

As Nate recited the names of the parents who had lost their lives, Harry's head began to spin. So much death. . .how could people murder so easily? He wondered, disgusted. He didn't recognize any of the parent's names, and again felt guilty for feeling relieved that he didn't.

Nate finished, and Harry closed his eyes, vowing to the victims of the Death Eaters that he would seek revenge for them. Nate, who had been standing in front of him, moved to the side to talk to Remus, seemingly sensing that Harry needed some time alone, and as he moved to the side, Harry gasped.

Since he had regained consciousness, his view of the rest of platform nine and three-quarters had been blocked by Remus, Tonks and Nate, them having been standing in front of the bench he was sitting down on. But now that Nate had moved he could see the entire platform, and he could see the full extent of Voldemort's and the Death Eater's attack.

Death. That was the only word that Harry could find to describe the scene in front of him. Women were crying, men were shouting, children were screaming, witches and wizards with the emblem on their robes that he remembered from St Mungo's (of a wand and a bone crossed) were levitating bodies, all covered in thick white sheets, on to stretchers and to a sealed-off part of the platform. He could see Mrs Weasley, attempting to comfort a group of young girls who were crying hysterically (Harry recognized the two fourth year Gryffindor girls who had asked him and Ron who had tried to get into the girl's dormitories last year), and Mr Weasley, talking intensely to a group of Aurors, who were standing guard over five stunned Death Eaters.

Anger and hatred suddenly pounded through Harry, and he felt an overwhelming urge to run over to the Death Eaters and hurt them, to punish them for the pain they had caused to all these people, to hurt them so much they had wished they had never wished they had never been born. . .

The urge was so powerful that he stood up and began to walk forwards, his eyes focused intently on the stunned Death Eaters, but after only a few strides he found his way blocked by Tonks.

"And just where do you think you're going?" she questioned. Harry glared at her.

"Move Tonks. I'm going to give them a taste of their own medicine, see how they like being tortued and killed." Tonks widened her eyes and looked taken back by his answer, but quickly recovered. She did not move out of his way.

"You can't Harry."

"Why not? If they can do it so easily, why can't I?"

"Because if you could, you'd basically be a Death Eater yourself. Don't sink to their level, Harry. You're better than that."

"Then how are they going to be punished?"

"They'll be sent to Azkaban." Harry growled in frustration.

"What's the point? There's no Dementors there anymore, Voldemort's going to break it open soon anyway."

"Well then what else do you think we should do with them?" Tonks asked.

"Kill them." Tonks jumped back from him.

"You don't mean that," she said quietly. Harry looked hard at her, prepared to tell her that's exactly what he thought, but as he looked at her, suddenly very young looking, he came back to his senses, realising what he had just said. He suddenly felt lightheaded, and he swayed on his feet. Tonks gripped his shoulder.

"You alright?" she said gently. Harry said nothing. "Come on." Tonks guided him back to the bench he had been sitting on, and Harry gratefully sat down heavily and put his head in his hands, shaking.

How had Voldemort done this to him? He wondered. How had Voldemort turned him into someone who wanted to cause people pain?

But they deserve it, a voice in his head said, they've done it themselves, they deserve to feel the pain they've inflicted on others. Harry nodded. That's what I think too, he told the voice.

But then what makes you any better than them? A different voice questioned. If you tortue and kill them as well, what makes you the right side?

We didn't do it in the first place, Harry argued, they tortue and kill innocent people for fun, we'd just be delivering justice to people who are guilty.

What gives you the right to decide that death is justice?

Harry started. What did give him the right to say that? He wondered. What gave him the right to say that they deserved death? He wasn't God or anything, how could he decide who deserved to die and who deserved to live? And, if he and the Order and the Ministry did kill the Death Eaters after capturing them, what made them any better than the Death Eaters themselves?

"You'd basically be a Death Eater yourself. Don't sink to their level, Harry. You're better than that."

Tonks was right, Harry decided. By believing that death was the answer, he would be sinking to the Death Eater's level, and Harry knew he was better than that. He would not sink that low. Nobody deserved death. Hadn't he stopped that little rat Wormtail from being killed just two years ago, believing that he could be punished some other way without resorting to murder?

But isn't it your destiny to kill someone? Another voice said, this one painfully blunt. "Either must die at the hand of the other," wasn't it?

There was no answering voice this time, no argument to combat this statement. Harry felt like sobbing. He had no choice; no matter how much he hated it, there was no choice; he had to be a murderer. It was either kill or be killed, and he'd be dammned if he was going to die and leave the world with that monster. Might as well get used to it, he thought bitterly, I'm going to have to kill him. Harry buried his head deeper into his hands, shutting his eyes tightly, wishing for any other life than this one, wishing that he would never have to kill anyone. . .

He stayed like that for what seemed to be hours, but in reality was only five minutes. At length Harry shook himself and pulled his head out of his hands, telling himself over and over again that this was neither the time nor the place to fall apart. He stood up, looking at Remus and Nate, who were peering worriedly at him, looking like they had been watching him for a while. Tonks had gone to talk to the group of Aurors guarding the Death Eaters, but kept glancing back at him, and all the student's and parent's bodies had now been levitated to the sealed-off part of the platform. The witches and wizards with the St Mungo's emblems on their robes seemed to be attaching little coins to each of the bodies. The remaining students and parents were now at the far end of the platform, the students sitting on the benches that littered the platform, many of them wrapped in thick blankets, while the parents stood proctectively over them. Harry turned back to Nate and Remus.

"What's going to happen now then?" he asked. Remus seemed relieved to hear him speak.

"The Hogwarts Express is coming back for the other students. Well, the ones who are still going to Hogwarts," answered Remus. Harry was confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Remus looked grim.

"Well, a lot of these parents aren't going to want their children out of their sight now, are they? Not after this. . ."

Harry nodded glumly, looking towards the floor.

"Harry."

Harry looked up, to see Remus looking at him with a strange expression on his face.

"Yeah?" Harry said.

"What were you thinking, jumping off the train? Why did you do it?" he looked slightly disappointed. Harry bristled.

"What was I doing?" he repeated. "I was fighting the Death Eaters! What have you been training me for all summer if not to do that?"

"Yes, but you didn't need to fight them, we had it under control," put in Nate.

"Oh, you had it under control, did you? And what would you have done about Voldemort?" Nate flinched. He opened his mouth, but Harry guessed what he was going to ask. "Remus told me that Voldemort was starting to get scared of me and seeing me as a threat, so I figured that I could scare him off, even if I couldn't actually beat him."

The two of them looked at him incredulously.

"Scare him off?" Remus said, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Scare him off?" he repeated.

Harry was spared the trouble of defending himself again when a voice behind him made him jump.

Harry twisted round, to see Kingsley Shacklebolt standing there. He was no longer disguised as a Rastafarian, and he was wearing his scarlet Auror robes. He held out his hand to Harry. Harry shook it.

"Thank you, Harry." Harry guessed what he was thanking him for; for saving him from Voldemort torturing him and, without a doubt, killing him. Harry shrugged.

"No big deal." Kingsley nodded.

"It was a battle situation, you did your best to protect your allies while still avoiding harm yourself. Excellent. Although you should always remember that your first priority should be to keep yourself from harm more than your allies. And yet; you prevented me from being hit by a Cruciatus Curse cast by You-Know-Who. I am in your debt. What can I do to repay you?"

"Um, repay me? Well, you can stop calling Voldemort You-Know-Who. Call him Voldemort."

For the first time since he had met him, Harry saw a expression of fear on Kingsley's face as Harry named Voldemort. But he still nodded resolutely.

"As you wish, Harry." Harry gave him a small smile, and Kingsley bowed and strode away to another group of Aurors, who had just Apparated onto the platform.

"Harry!"

Harry turned to his left, to see Mr and Mrs Weasley running towards him. Mrs Weasley crashed into him, giving him a tight hug, and Harry saw Mr Weasley smiling at him over her shoulder. She broke away from him, and she seemed to be trying not to cry.

"Harry, what are you doing here? I saw you get on to the train!" Harry shrugged.

"I jumped off. I had to fight the Death Eaters. You understand, don't you?" he said, giving her a pleading smile. He was sick of defending himself for what he had done. Mrs Weasley gave him a small, sad smile.

"I wish I didn't, but yes, I do understand." Harry smiled at her, understanding what she meant. She looked almost closer to tears now. Mr Weasley clapped him on the shoulder.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, it was the right thing to do, Harry. Could you tell Ron and Ginny when you see them that we're fine? There's just too much here to sort out, we haven't got the time to see and explain everything to them. Tell them we'll send them an owl tonight."

Harry nodded, and after Mr Weasley had shaken his hand and Mrs Weasley had given him another bone-crushing hug, they walked away. As they did, Harry heard Mrs Weasley snifle, "he's so young," and he saw Mr Weasley put his arm around her. Harry watched them go, a strange feeling in his stomach.

A sudden loud bellowing sound made him jump, and he reached for his wand. Looking to his left, he saw the Hogwarts Express, in all it's glory, returning to platform nine and three-quarters. Harry breathed a sigh of relief to see it. The Death Eater's plan, for the most part, had failed; the majority of the students had escaped from being massacred, and the Death Eaters had not even managed to get on to the train. Still, twenty eight had been killed, and that was more than enough, Harry thought grimly, as he watched the splendid scarlet train move slowly into the station.

Suddenly, he jumped. He had instinctively reached for his wand when what he now knew was the train's horn had made such a loud, startling noise, and now he realised that his wand was not actually there. He turned to Remus, who was still looking startled at Harry's explanation and belief that he could scare Voldemort off.

"Where's my wand?" he asked. Remus started, and withdrew Harry's wand from a pocket in his long trenchcoat and handed it to Harry. Evidently, he had forgotten about it as well.

"I apologise Harry, I forgot." Harry shrugged.

"S'alright." But Remus didn't look like he was finished.

"I also apologise for asking why you jumped off the train. It was. . it was the right thing to do," he said, looking like he really did not want to admit it, however. Harry smiled, and held out his hand.

"Thanks again, Remus. For the summer, I mean." Remus smiled back, and shook his hand.

"The pleasure was all mine, Harry. Have a good year. Oh, and owl me from time to time, will you?" Harry nodded.

"Of course." Harry turned to Nate, and held out his hand again. Nate shook it without hesitation.

"Thanks again to you as well, Nate. Can you tell the others I said thanks?" Nate smiled.

"It will be my pleasure. I hope to meet you again some time, Harry. You are a remarkable young man." Harry blushed.

"Yeah, thanks," he mumbled, "do you two reckon I'll be able to go to Grimma. .the, uh, place, for Christmas?" Remus smiled.

"I don't think it should be a problem. I'll let you know." Harry smiled again.

The train had now come to a halt, and Aurors were approaching it and climbing on to it, their scarlet robes making them hard to see next to the scarlet Hogwarts Express. Both the victim's bodies and the witches and wizards from St Mungos were now gone from the platform, and the remaining students were now saying tearful goodbyes to their parents and clambering on to the train, many still wrapped in thick white blankets. However, some of the students did not move from the benches, and their parents were making no effort to get them to.

Harry turned back to Nate and Remus. "See you then." They both said goodbye to him again, and Harry walked towards the train. His heart sank again as he made his way there, seeing crying, distraught parents and students littered on the platform, and Aurors with grim faces looking suspiciously around at every shadow. Is this what my life's going to be like from now on? He wondered.

People were beginning to point at him and whisper to each other as he passed them, and Harry increased his speed, quickly jumping on to the train through the first door he saw. He leant against the wall of the train for a moment, breathing. The full extent of the attack was beginning to get to him again, as he saw all the faces of those who had been caught up in it, and the image of the victim's bodies with thick white sheets over them came viciously to the front of his mind. He felt sick.

After a moment he composed himself, and, still feeling queezy, he began to make his way down the thin corridor, glancing in the compartments he passed to see if Ron and Hermione were in them. He saw people pointing and looking curiously at him as he passed, bursting into excited conversation as he continued on his way. After a few minutes he found a compartment with only one girl in it, sitting alone with her head down. She had bushy hair. Harry slid the door open and entered, closing it behind him.

"Harry? Harry!"

Hermione jumped up and ran to him, hugging him tightly. Harry did not hug her back. She pulled away from him, looking up at him worriedly. Her face was blotchy, and her eyes were red; it was clear she had been crying.

"Harry, oh everyone's been so worried about you, what were you thinking, jumping off the train like that? Why didn't you tell any of us? Are you hurt? Harry? Harry?" she said uncertainly, for Harry had held up his hand to quiet her.

"Hermione, please, don't start at the moment, I feel bad enough as it is." Hermione's expression, if possible, turned even more anxious.

"Why?" she asked."What happened?" Harry sighed.

"Can we just leave it for a minute?" he said quietly. Hermione reluctantly nodded, slowly. "Where's Ron?" he asked. Hermione pointed down the corridor, the same way Harry had come.

"He went to look for you. So did Neville and Ginny. I stayed here in case you missed eachother and you didn't know what compartment we were in. The Aurors won't let anyone get off the train, but Ron said he'd just stun them if they tried to stop him from getting to you, and Ginny and Neville agreed." Even Hermione looked like she agreed, a sudden fierce look in her eyes contrasting strangely with the worry and anxiety etched on her face. Harry smiled, feeling a bit better learning of how much his friends cared for him. Hermione was still looking both fiercely and worriedly at him.

"Harry, please, tell me what happened." Harry sighed wearily.

"Look, just wait until Ron, Ginny, and. .did you say Neville? Just wait until they get back, I'll tell all of you then, okay? Is there anyone else?" he asked.

"Luna was here as well, but an Auror came and took her away, he said that her dad was on the platform and that he wanted to see her. She should be back soon."

Harry nodded, and was about to sit down when the compartment door slid open, revealing Neville Longbottom, looking the same as ever. He smiled at Harry.

"Hi Harry!" he exclaimed. "We've been looking everywhere for you, I'm glad you're alright! So what happened on the. .don't worry, Ron'll be back in a minute," he said, looking quite hurt as Harry suddenly looked over his shoulder to see if Ron was behind him. Harry flushed, and turned back to Neville.

"Sorry, Neville. Did you have a good summer?" he asked, feeling guilty. Neville shrugged.

"It was alright. I finally got a new wand, but the whole family's treating me like some sort of hero for going to the Ministry with you, which is just annoying. I mean, there was nothing heroic about what I did." Harry shook his head in disagreement, trying to stop his stomach spinning even more as he remembered the battle at the Ministry.

"You saved my life, with Macnair, didn't you? That was heroic, even if you say nothing else was." Neville started, as if he hadn't thought of this, and smiled bashfully.

"Suppose so," he mumbled, looking slightly pleased with himself, breaking off talking as a voice drifted down the corridor towards them. Neville, who was still standing in the doorway of the compartment, poked his head out.

"It's no use Nev," the voice said, "he's not on the bloody train, we've searched everywhere, he must be on the platform. You coming with us? Get Hermione out here as well, she'll be able to get past the Aurors easily."

"It's alright Ron, he's in here!" Neville called, his round face grinning. The voice muttered something quietly, and then there were sudden loud footsteps coming closer, and seconds later Neville had been pushed through the doorway into the compartment, and Ron Weasley was standing there, looking immensely relieved to see Harry. He strode over to Harry and shook his hand, and then, to Harry's great suprise, pulled him into a rough one-armed hug, quickly letting go. He smiled at Harry, who smiled back weakly.

"You alright, mate?" Ron questioned, looking anxiously at Harry, who nodded.

"Good. Now you can tell us WHAT THE HELL YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE DOING JUMPING OFF THE TRAIN LIKE THAT!"

"Ron!" Hermione said, looking scandalized, "what did I just say?" Ron's ears went red, and he visibly calmed himself down, and mumbled, "sorry" to Harry, but continued to stare at him, now with a hurt expression on his face.

"We're supposed to be friends, Harry," he said, making Harry's stomach churn even more horribly, "how comes you didn't say anything? I mean, you didn't even come to see us, you just jumped straight off. We could have helped." Harry sighed.

"I. .I didn't think about it like that. I mean, all I wanted to do was make sure you two and the rest of the school were safe, and when I saw Voldemort on the platform, I knew I had to. . .

"You-Know-Who was on the platform?" Ron said quickly in a high voice, quite unlike his usual tone. He seemed so suprised that he had even forgot to flinch at the name. Neville and Hermione gaped at Harry incredulously, while Ron stared at him in disbelief. "Are Mum and Dad okay? What about Fred and George?"

"There all fine, Fred and George went to get the Aurors from the Ministry, and your mum and dad are looking after the children." Ron sighed deeply in relief, and sat down hard. He turned to look at Harry again.

"You're serious? You-Know-Who himself was there? And Death Eaters?" Harry nodded.

"Yes, I'm serious, he was there. Anyway, did you want a explanation or not?" Ron nodded mutely, along with Neville and Hermione, who were giving Harry all of their attention. "Anyway, when I saw him there, I. ."

"What about my gran?" cut in Neville, looking like he'd just remembered about her, "is she okay?"

Harry thought for a minute, and then said slowly, "I don't remember seeing her on the platform. . . . is her surname Longbottom as well?" Neville looked confused.

"Yeah."

"Then she's fine." He breathed in relief as well, and Neville and Ron shared a quick smile, understanding what the other was feeling. Ron turned back to Harry.

"So, why did you jump off the train?"

"Well, when I saw Voldemort, all I thought of was. ."

He broke off in mid-sentence when another voice floated down the corridor to the compartment. Ron poked his head out of the compartment like Neville had done.

"Have you found him yet, Ron? I've looked all down this way, he's not here, maybe he's in the toilet or something. Have you checked the toilets on your side?" Harry saw the side of Ron's face scrunch up.

"Stop talking about Harry and toilets will you?" Ron said in a disgusted voice, "he's here now."

"Oh!" exclaimed the voice, and seconds later Ron was pushed through the doorway of the compartment, and Ginny Weasley stood in the doorway, looking out of breath. She smiled at Harry.

"Hi Harry," she said, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear, "why did you jump off the train like that? What's going on? They won't let us get off the train. Do you know what's going on?" Harry nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off yet again.

"Virginia, I would hate to resort to leapfrogging over you, but I will have no choice if you do not move from the doorway."

Ginny started and turned round, revealing Luna Lovegood standing there, her wand tucked behind her ear, a copy of The Quibbler under her arm, and wearing bright pink wellington boots that came up to her knees. Harry heard Ron stifle a giggle.

"Sorry Luna, didn't see you there!" said Ginny pleasantly, moving into the compartment to let Luna pass. Luna glided in and sat down next to Neville, and locked her eyes on to Harry, staring unblinkingly at him. Harry looked back at her uncertainly.

"Er, hi Luna," he said. Luna continued to stare at him for a minute before answering.

"Hello, Braveheart," she said simply. Harry was puzzled by her greeting, and by everyone else's faces, they were as well. Ron was gaping at her.

"Er, what?" he said to her, but she seemed to be ignoring him now, looking past Neville and Hermione and out of the window, twirling The Quibbler in her hands. Ron gave an irritated sigh and strode to the compartment door and slid it shut, and turned to face Harry, who was still standing. It was more comfortable to stay standing, he decided.

"So, what happened Harry? Was You-Know-Who really on the platform?" Ginny made a strange noise in her throat and stared at Harry. Luna too turned her head to look at him.

"You-Know-Who was on the platform?" Ginny squeaked out, in a strangled voice. "But. .but Mum and Dad were on the platform! And Fred and George! Harry, are they. . ."

"They're all fine Ginny, your Mum and Dad are looking after the adults and children who were on the platform, and Fred and George are okay too." Ginny's visible relief gave Harry a strange feeling in his stomach; it was nice to make someone feel like that, he decided. Ginny stood up.

"I'm going to see them." Harry shook his head.

"Your Dad told me to tell you and Ron that they've got too much to sort out out there to see you. He said they'll send you an owl tonight." Ron bristled.

"They haven't got time to see their own children?" he said in disbelief, also standing up. "That's rubbish, I'm going to. . ."

"They're looking after people who've just seen people they care about die, Ron," Harry said quietly, "seeing you two when they know you're fine is not as important as looking after them at the moment." Ron looked ashamed of himself, and sat back down and hung his head. Ginny looked ashamed as well as she sat down; she was probaly thinking the same thing Ron was, Harry reckoned. There was a moment of silence until Neville spoke in a quiet voice.

"So, what happened, Harry? You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," he added hurriedly. Harry sighed wearily, and leant against the compartment door. Everyone's faces, even Luna's, were fixed intently on him now. He looked at each of them in turn.

"First tell me what happened with you, what you know, it'll make it easier to understand what I tell you then."

"Well," began Ron slowly, "I suppose we should start when we first got on the train. Me and Hermione quickly found this compartment, which Neville and Luna and Ginny were already in, and I shouted to you to get on the train, and we saw you get on the train, after you'd finished talking to Lupin, and we thought you'd just come here to sit with us. Then there was that really loud crashing sound, and the train shook like there was some huge earthquake going on. We figured there was something definitely wrong, and we were going to come and find you, but the compartment door shut itself, and we couldn't get it open. We could hear adults outside in the corridor shouting for everyone to get in the compartments. Then the train suddenly started moving, and when we were out of the station Hermione finally found a spell to get the compartment door open, and we all came out to find you.

"But we couldn't find you anywhere," said Hermione, taking up the story, "and when we got to the door we saw you get on to the train from, we found there was no door there, but there was some sort of magical barrier preventing us from going near the opening where the door used to be. We heard someone banging on a window, and we saw in the compartment next to the opening Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchley banging on the glass. They told us through the glass that they'd seen you blow the door off with a Reductor curse, and that you'd jumped out on to the platform while the train was moving!"

"So we were really worried now," said Ron again, "but there was nothing we could do at that moment, so we went back to the compartment. About ten minutes later, McGonagall's voice suddenly sounded through the train, probaly magically magnified. She said that there had been some 'slight trouble' on the platform with the train, and that there was no need to panic. But that didn't make sense. If it was just a problem with the train on the platform, why would you have jumped off the train on to the platform? We all reckoned we knew what the 'trouble' was, but none of us said it out loud."

"And then," said Hermione again, "just as we were leaving the outskirts of London, the train came to a stop, and then began to move into London again, back to King's Cross. We were wondering what was going on, but there was no-one in the corridor and there were no more announcements from Professor McGonagall, so we didn't understand at all. When we arrived back on platform nine and three-quarters, all we could see out of the window was an empty platform, but then there were suddenly Aurors on the train, and people in the corridor, and Tonks came to see us and told us to stay in the compartment. She took Luna to see her Dad, but the rest of us got told to stay here."

"Well we weren't going to do that," said Ron, "not when we didn't know where you were and if there was anything wrong with you, so me, Neville and Ginny came looking for you. Hermione stayed here in case we missed eachother. And that's it, really," he finished.

"So," piped up Ginny, "what's your story?" Harry sighed deeply again.

"Are you sure you want to know?" five heads nodded straight away; even Luna looked vaguely interested. Harry took a deep breath, and began.

"I said goodbye to Remus and got on the train, and then there was that huge crash that made the train shake and cause shockwaves. I saw Remus's face outside; he looked terrified, probaly more for us lot than for himself, and I figured out that Death Eaters were probaly here. I jumped off the train, and saw about ten of the them at the other end of the platform. The huge crash was the Death Eaters destroying that iron entrance to the platform." Hermione gasped.

"They destroyed the entrance to platform nine and three-quarters?" she exclaimed. "But that's been there ever since King's Cross was built, it was one of the most powerful magical barriers in the world!"

"They probaly did it so everyone was trapped on the platform," cut in Ron, "they probaly weren't expecting the train to suddenly start moving, were they Harry?" Harry nodded at him.

"No, they weren't. Anyway, I saw that the Death Eaters had destroyed the platform entrance, and I saw them all standing in one long line. They parted, and Voldemort walked forwards."

Ron, Ginny, Neville and Hermione flinched and paled considerably, but Luna merely looked curious.

"What does he look like?" she asked Harry. Ron stared at her in disbelief.

"What does he look like?" Ron repeated incredulously, gaping at Luna, "do you really think Harry wants to think about that? What kind of stupid question was that? Why are you even here anyway?"

"Ron!" said Harry, Ginny and Hermione sharply, at the same time. Neville glared at Ron, suprising Harry; he hadn't thought that Neville was particularly close to Luna, or that he'd stand up for her. Luna herself seemed unaffected; she just stared at Ron, who glared back at her. Harry spoke up.

"She came to the Ministry with us Ron," he said sharply, "she deserves to know as much as the rest of you do." Ron frowned, but did not protest. He moved his eyes from Luna to Harry's face. Harry turned to Luna.

"Trust me, you don't want to know what he looks like," he said simply. She did not protest, just nodded at him, and Harry continued. "Anyway, Voldemort walked forwards, and. ."

* * * * * * * *

When Harry had finished talking, ending with when he had found the compartment with just Hermione in, the atmosphere of the compartment was one of stunned silence. Ginny was looking blankly at the floor, Neville was staring out of the window, not seeming to see the passing scenery (the train had left the station again while Harry had been talking), Hermione looked close to tears again (she had already cried twice through Harry's recollections), and Ron was sitting with his knees drawn up and his head in his hands. Luna had lost her permanently suprised look, and Harry could see tears rolling down her face as she stared still unblinkingly across the compartment at Ron's huddled form. Harry, still standing, was lost in his memories, continuinally going over the list of victims in his head. He had not forgot any of their names, nor what houses the students had been in, and he doubted that he ever would.

After ten minutes of silence, Harry caught a movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned, to see Ginny looking at him. She looked unspeakably sad, and Harry felt a sudden jolt of intense guilt as he remembered that it was him who had caused her, and the rest of them, to feel like this. Ginny shook her head at him, and mouthed no.

Harry jumped. Did she know what he was thinking? He wondered. He mouthed what? At her, and she replied with it's not your fault.

No, a voice in his head said, it's Voldemort and the Death Eater's fault, not mine. Harry nodded in agreement, with both the voice and Ginny. Although he knew that none of the others blamed him, it still felt nice to have it acknowledged by one of them. He couldn't believe that Ginny had known what he was thinking though. Am I really that transparent? He wondered. He mouthed thank you at her, and turned away. He did not see her smile sadly at him as she too turned away, to look unseeingly out of the window.

The heavy silence was broken after another ten minutes when Neville suddenly spoke, making everyone jump.

"Harry, are you going to teach the DA again this year?"

Harry looked at Neville in suprise, as everyone turned to look at him. In all truth, he hadn't even thought about whether or not he would continue to teach the DA this year. He supposed, with everything he had learnt over the summer, he could teach them everything they needed to know easily, and there was no doubt that they needed to know it all. However, it would be even more of a risk this time round, even without Umbridge around. . .

"Yes," he said, and all five of them smiled at him, "but it's staying secret." Neville looked puzzled, as did everyone else, with the exception of Hermione, who nodded in agreement with him.

"Why? Umbridge is gone, we don't have to keep it secret anymore," said Ginny. Harry stared steadily at them all.

"If Voldemort finds out who is in the DA, the fact that I'm teaching it will mean that those students who are in it are supporting me, and Voldemort will go after them, both to get to me, and to show people what supporting me means, and if he can't get to them, he'll go after their families. That's why the DA stays secret." Everyone nodded, all of them looking uneasy at Harry's dark explanation of why the DA would stay secret. Neville looked slightly green.

"Are you going to let Marietta Edgecombe back in?" asked Luna suddenly. Harry hesitated.

"I don't know yet. I'm not letting anyone in who I'm not sure is 100% trustworthy. We risked it last year, and look what happened there, with Dumbledore having to leave and everything." Hermione beamed at him, obviously proud of how thoroughly he was planning things.

"If you do let her back in, give her the explanation of why the DA stays secret, but make it much more graphic," said Ron viciously, and he proceeded to mutter a few curses under his breath about Marietta Edgecombe. Hermione scowled at him, and turned back to Harry.

"There's going to be a lot more people wanting to join this year, now that everyone believes that Vol. . . that Voldemort's back," she said, still not totally at ease with saying Voldemort's name. "Are you okay with that Harry?" Harry nodded.

"Of course, the more people I can teach to defend themselves the better. But remember, this group stays secret. If anyone asks, even some of those who were in the DA last year, I'm not doing it this year. I'm only going to tell people who I'm completely positive can be trusted. We'll tell people slowly, so nobody outside the group gets suspicious." Hermione nodded, and Ron shook his head at Harry, looking slightly impressed.

"Since when did you get so safety-conscious?" he asked. Harry shrugged.

"Just trying to learn from my mistakes, that's all."

The compartment lapsed into a dark, heavy silence again, until a few minutes later when somebody knocked on the compartment door. Harry slid it open, being the closest one to it, to reveal the dimpled woman with the food trolley. They all brought some sweets, Harry buying a large stack of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties for everyone to share, and their spirits gradually rose as they munched away and began to chat, although Harry was aware of a unspoken, dark atmosphere in the compartment under the pleasant chit-chat; the Death Eater attack was not forgotten between the group, least of all with Harry, who could not stop himself continuinally reciting the names of the people who had lost their lives in the attack. It was making him feel increasingly worse and worse, and his grief over their deaths was beginning to make him think of Sirius again, of how much he missed him, of how much damage Voldemort and his Death Eaters had caused him; Harry vowed revenge yet again.

As the Hogwarts Express moved steadily north Hermione's prediction was proved right, as everyone from the DA, besides Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe and Michael Corner ("he's probaly still bitter about our break-up," said Ginny matter-of-factly, making Ron fume at the mention of his little sister going out with boys) came by the compartment to ask Harry if he was teaching the DA again this year, and many more that had not been in the DA came round to ask if he was doing it this year, and if they could join. Harry informed them that sadly he was not, making many of them leave in a huff after telling him how selfish he was for not making the effort to help them defend themselves.

A few minutes after Zacharias Smith and Terry Boot had left, both of them looking very disappointed with Harry, the compartment door slid open yet again, and this time, it was most definitely not someone from last year's DA.

"You must be feeling great now, Potter," drawled Draco Malfoy, standing in the doorway of their compartment, and flanked by his enormous cronies Crabbe and Goyle. "Got to play the hero again on the platform, didn't you?" Harry sighed.

"Get lost, Malfoy," he said lazily, turning to look out the window, pretending not to care, although inside his hatred for Malfoy was rising to his head. He heard Malfoy make a noise of indignation at Harry's quick dismissal of him, and Ron sniggered. Malfoy continued.

"Got a nice little group together now, haven't you Potter? It's not just a Mudblood and a weasel following you around anymore, now you've got that pathetic excuse for a wizard Longbottom, a touched in the head Ravenclaw, and another Weasley brat licking your boots as well!"

Both Harry and Ron jumped up, and Harry, who was closer than Ron to the doorway, turned to face Malfoy, who looked suddenly disconcerted at how tall Harry was now. Harry heard movement behind him, and a second later Ron appeared at his side. Crabbe and Goyle balled their hands into fists, cracking their knuckles.

"Harry, Ron, sit down!" Hermione said sharply behind them, but Harry and Ron ignored her. Harry could feel hatred and anger pounding through him, his head throbbing with it as he glared at Malfoy's pale, pointed face.

"Get out," said Harry stonily, and Ron nodded in agreement, glaring at Malfoy, who smirked.

"Or what?" he drawled, "you're going to beat me up? Like Muggles? Typical reaction, can't even fight properly, no real wizarding blood in you at all." Malfoy looked like he wanted to spit at them.

"We can use wands if you like," said Harry, drawing his wand and pointing it at Malfoy before he could say another word. Ron drew his as well. "You might actually have a chance then," he added, feeling a sort of satisfaction as he looked down at Malfoy, who was only up to his nose now. Malfoy took a step backwards, withdrawing his wand and continuing to smirk.

"I might have a chance? I'd wipe the floor with the both of you," he said arrogantly, twirling his wand in his fingers nonchalantly. "But I'm not here to humiliate you two in a duel."

"Then what are you here for, Malfoy?" said Ron, swiftly cutting him off. Harry's hatred and anger was growing as he glared at Malfoy, whose smirk got even wider.

"I just wanted to offer Potter my condolences. You know, his dog died, didn't it? Poor Potter. You know what they say though, bad dogs have to be put down, don't they?" he laughed loudly, and Crabbe and Goyle chuckled stupidly along with him.

Harry leaped forwards, but Ron grabbed him immediately, sensing how out of control Harry was. Harry struggled wildly against him, forgetting about magic; he only wanted to cause Malfoy as much pain as possible, to grab that smirking face of his face and smash it through a glass window, or to rip him apart, limb by limb. Malfoy was smirking at him again, but backing away slightly as he did so.

"I also came by to congratulate you on being such a great hero, Potter, and saving so many Muggle-lovers and Mudbloods from being slaughtered on the platform. It's just such a shame that you couldn't rescue all of them, isn't it?" he laughed loudly again.

Harry lost it, and, without being aware of even doing it, he pushed Ron to the side suddenly, pulled his fist back and smacked Malfoy across the jaw as hard as he could, a sickening crack sounding through the compartment as his fist made contact.. Sudden pain blossomed from his knuckles, but the pain was satisfying he decided, as Malfoy flew backwards into Crabbe and slid down his body to the train floor, out cold.

Crabbe stepped forwards over Malfoy's prone form into the compartment and, drawing his large fist back, punched Harry hard in the stomach. Harry doubled over backwards and clutched his stomach, unable to breathe, and dimly saw Ron dart forwards and punch Crabbe hard on the nose, who stumbled backwards out of the compartment door at the impact of Ron's punch. Goyle took his place, and drew back his fist to punch Ron as hard as he could.

"Stupefy!"

Harry felt the spell fly past his nose as he stood gasping for air and saw it make contact with Goyle, who fell backwards on to the floor, narrowly missing Malfoy's body. He twisted round, to see Hermione standing with her wand out, still pointed at the place where Goyle had just been standing. He noted that both Ginny and Neville were also standing with their wands out. Luna was simply staring at Malfoy's still body. Crabbe seemed to have made a run for it.

"Hermione. ." gasped Harry, suprised at her, "what. . did. .you. .do. . that for?" he gasped out.

"How dare they!" she exclaimed. Harry had never seen her so angry; her face was white and her chest was heaving; she looked completely out of control. "How dare Malfoy say that about Sirius, and about. . .about those poor people!" she looked like she was having trouble trying to describe what she was feeling. Harry saw Neville back away from her slightly, looking startled.

"Hermione, Hermione, calm down, what did you expect?" said Ron, turning his back on Malfoy and Goyle's bodies and turning to Hermione. "Malfoy's scum, they're all probaly Death Eaters already, don't listen to them."

"Don't listen to them? Oh that's rich, coming from you Ron! You confronted Malfoy just because he insulted us, let alone people who were murdered no more than an hour ago!"

"He called you a Mudblood," Ron ground out, "and he insulted my friends and my sister."

"He's been calling me a Mudblood for years, Ron," Hermione countered, in a less rage-filled voice than before. She seemed to be calming down now, Harry noted. She had still not lowered her wand though. "Honestly, it dosen't bother me anymore, and you know that nothing they said about Ginny, Neville and Luna is true. Anyway, I. ." she gasped suddenly.

"Harry, look at your hand!" she exclaimed suddenly. Harry said "what?" and looked down, jumping when he saw his hand. The skin was split along all his knuckles, and there was blood dripping out of the split onto the compartment floor and down on to the palm of his hand. The pain, pleasant and satisfying at first as he released his anger on Malfoy, suddenly turned viciously painful, and not in a good way. He heard everyone in the compartment gasp.

"Bloody hell, Harry!" Ron exclaimed, peering at Harry's bloodied hand. Ginny stood up and went to inspect Malfoy's prone body, while Neville was still looking worriedly at Hermione, as if afraid she was going to turn round and attack him at any minute. Luna was seemingly reading The Quibbler again, although her eyes were fixed on Harry's bleeding hand over the top of it. "How hard did you hit him?" Ron said, in a awestruck voice. Harry shrugged, and Hermione took hold of his bloodied hand with hers, holding her wand steady with her other hand. She pointed it at the split skin on Harry's knuckles.

"Sano." Harry watched in fascination as the skin seemed to pull itself back together, leaving only a jagged white line across his knuckles.

"Cheers, Hermione," he said, shaking his hand to make sure it still worked properly. She frowned at him.

"That's only temporary, Harry, you'd better go to the hospital wing when we get to Hogwarts." Harry nodded.

A sudden noise from Ginny made Harry twist round, and he saw her looking at Malfoy's face with a smile on her face.

"Why are you looking at Malfoy like that Ginny?" Ron said quickly, his ears and neck quickly getting redder and redder. Ginny jumped, and looked away from Malfoy and up at Harry.

"You definitely broke his jaw," she said in an impressed voice, "looks like you knocked a tooth out as well," she added, pointing next to Goyle's outstretched hand, where a small white tooth lay. Ron visibly relaxed, seeing that Ginny was smiling because Malfoy was hurt, not for any other reason. Harry shook his head quickly; that image was sickening.

"So what are we going to do about these two?" said Ron, taking his eyes off of Malfoy and kicking Goyle's unconscious form, lying next to Malfoy's slighter body, blood trickling out of his mouth and down his pale, pointed chin. "Chuck them in the corridor?" he suggested. Harry nodded.

"Nothing better to do with them. Give us a hand, Neville, will you?"

"You can't just leave them in the corridor!" said Hermione. Ron turned on her.

"Got any better ideas then?" he challenged. Hermione nodded.

"Of course I have. Chucking them in the corridor, honestly," she muttered, moving over to Goyle's body and pointing her wand at his chest.

"Enervate."

Goyle gasped and sat up, and, with what looked like a great deal of difficultly, slowly hauled himself to his feet. He looked around at them all, his eyes wide and frightened.

"We aren't going to hurt you," said Hermione.

"Not unless you're stupid enough to try anything," Ron growled, interrupting Hermione. She glared at him.

"We aren't going to hurt you," she repeated, scowling at Ron, "just take your. .erm, friend, back to your compartment, and don't bother us again, and don't tell anyone about any of this, or next time, we'll all use our wands," she added threateningly. Goyle turned white, and, nodding stupidly, grabbed Malfoy's wand from the floor (it had flown out of his hand when Harry had punched him) and picked Malfoy's body up in his arms, and quickly ran out of the compartment. In his haste, he smashed Malfoy's head against the side of the door as he hurried away. The compartment burst into laughter, even Luna, and when they calmed down, Ron bent down to pick up Malfoy's knocked-out tooth and threw it straight out the window.

"He'll look like a right twat now," he said simply. Harry agreed.

* * * * * * * *

The rest of the journey passed uneventfully, with the exception of a few more people coming by the compartment asking to join the DA, and an Auror who was protecting the train coming by to shake Harry's hand and congratulate him on fighting in the battle on the platform. The passing scenery slowly faded as night set in and a violent storm began, and as if the dark night and storm had willed it another heavy silence descended on the compartment, and Harry knew that everyone, like him, was thinking again obsessively about the Death Eater's attack. Eventually the six of them pulled on their school robes as the train began to slow down, a voice sounding through the train to tell them that they would be arriving in five minutes. Harry noticed that neither Ron or Hermione bothered to check their prefect badges as they pulled on their robes, and that their faces were grave, as were Ginny's and Neville's. Luna merely looked thoughtful, but there was a strange, distant look in her eyes as she pulled on her school robes.

Ron and Hermione, as prefects, left the compartment to supervise the rest of the students getting off the train, and Neville, Ginny, Luna and Harry joined the crowd in the corridor outside of their compartment. The storm was now more violent than ever; Harry could hear constant loud claps of thunder, and the corridor was brightly lit up now and again when lightning struck outside. The rain was lashing down, making it hard to even see the platform beside the train through the murky windows. Luna, like last year, carried Pigwidgeon, and Ginny struggled with Crookshanks while Harry held Hedwig in her cage, finding it much easier to hold now that he was a bit taller. He stepped out onto the platform, forgetting the rain for a minute as he heard a familiar voice calling loudly above the violent thunder and lightning.

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here, this way! All righ', you lot?" shouted Hagrid, waving an enormous hand at Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna, who smiled and waved back. "See yeh at the feast, if this ruddy storm dosen' capsize all the boats! Oh, an' Harry, I need to talk to yeh abou' summat, come down fer a cup o' tea tommorow nigh' will yeh?"

Harry shouted that he would and turned away, smiling. Hagrid being on the platform when he arrived in Hogsmeade every year was one of the things that made Harry feel most like he was coming back to where he belonged, that he was coming home, and not seeing him last year had been a horrible shock. He was glad Hagrid was back; it didn't seem right without him, and the sight of him here to greet him had risen his spirits a bit.

The four of them passed through a narrow doorway on to the road outside, where Harry was confronted with the image of a hundred or so stagecoaches parked motionlessly, all with reptilian-like creatures standing between the carriage shafts in front of them.

Harry stared at the Thestrals, a thousand emotions going through him as he did so. If it hadn't been for these creatures, Harry thought, then Sirius would still be alive. He was filled with sudden loathing for the evil looking creatures, looking even more sinister in the pouring rain, lightning frequently illuminating their black coats and wings. He glared at them, and one of them turned their head to look at him, it's white eye pupil-less and blank as it stared at him.

Harry dropped his gaze, disturbed by the creature's strange eyes, and knowing deep down that what he had just thought wasn't true; if he hadn't known about the Thestrals, he would have found another way to get to the Ministry. It wasn't their fault, it was his; his stupidity at believing what people had been warning him about for nearly a year previously, his stupidity at not going to Snape straight away, or going down to Hogsmeade to make a firecall to someone who could help him, he could of tried the Burrow, for example. . it was all his fault. .

He jumped when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking down, he saw Luna standing there, not seeming to care about the rain beating down on her, looking up at him with a strange look in her eyes. He moved to the side slightly, and her hand dropped from his shoulder, making him sigh in relief. She did not seem to notice.

"I don't suppose you're very happy with them at the moment, are you?" she said, gesturing to the Thestrals. Harry said nothing, and turned his eyes away from her. "They like you, you know." Harry looked down at her.

"How do you know that?" he asked. She nodded for some reason, her eyes now on the Thestrals.

"They're all smiling at you."

Harry turned to look at the Thestrals. All of the ones he could see now had their heads turned to him and Luna, staring seemingly unseeingly at them, startling Harry. Why were they all looking at him? He wondered. He could not see any of them smiling though; indeed, how could they smile? He wondered. Their mouths were not shaped in a way that made it possible for them to smile. He turned back to Luna, who was now shaking her head at one of the Thestrals, as if having a silent conversation with it. Harry stared at her, and she gave him a small smile before strolling away to the carriages.

A sudden bolt of lightning suddenly illuminated the night sky, and Harry turned to see a large tree burst into flames on the grounds beside the Hogwarts lake. As Harry watched the tree blaze, his thoughts on the Thestrals faded, and he remembered the names of the students and parents who had been so brutally murdered no longer ago than this morning, by people who did not know or care what they were taking away by torturing and murdering these people. Harry knew they would not be the only ones to die in this war, because that was what he was in now, Harry realised, a real war, one in which he was the only one who could end it. The fate of so many people rested on his shoulders now, and the longer it took for him and Dumbledore to create the spell to defeat Voldemort, the more people who would die. He was filled with a sudden burning feeling of determination, and he vowed to both himself and the victim's of the Death Eaters that he would create the spell as quick as he could. He looked to the sky, not heeding the wind and the rain, his hair wipping around his head, and vowed to his parents, Cedric and Sirius that he would end this war as quick as he could, and claim retribution for their deaths.

The blazing tree's flames had been extinguised now by the storm's violent wind and rain, and Harry, taking a deep breath, turned slowly away from it, just as somebody called his name.

"Harry, get over here!"

Harry started, turning to his right to see Ginny poking her head out of a carriage and beckoning him towards her. Harry wrenched his eyes away from the now ruined tree, ran over to the carriage and jumped through the open door, finding the carriage already occupied by Ginny, Neville, Luna and a very wet and miserable looking Ron and Hermione.

"What the hell were you two doing standing in the rain like that?" Ron said, as Harry wrenched the carriage door shut, effectively blocking out the wind and the rain of the storm. Luna turned to look at Ron.

"I was telling Harry that the Thestrals like him," she said, with the air of telling someone a huge secret. Ron stared at her.

"Uh, okay," he said, looking highly disconcerted, glancing at Harry worriedly for some reason. There was a strange silence for a few minutes, as Harry stared at the floor of the carriage, until Neville suddenly spoke up.

"What do you think the new DADA teacher will be like?" he asked, looking round at them all. Harry shrugged, trying to shake off the dark, grim thoughts going through his mind.

"No idea. Hope it's someone who we can actually learn from this year, though." Ron looked up at this.

"That's an idea Harry, if they haven't found anyone decent to teach it, we can just get them sacked and you can teach it!" Harry laughed at Ron's joke, but was shocked when no one laughed along with him. Indeed, they were all looking like Ron had suggested something completely plausible.

"It's not a bad idea though, Harry," piped up Ginny, and the other four nodded. Harry stared incredulously at them.

"Oh come off it," he said weakly, "teaching the DA's one thing, but teaching the whole school Defence Against the Dark Arts? When I'm only in sixth year? That's just stupid."

"It's not that stupid Harry," said Ron, "after all, it was you who got most of our year through the DADA OWL last year." There was a murmur of agreement.

"Professor McGonagall told me in the summer at my careers meeting with her that our year had one of the highest DADA OWL results on average in the history of the school," said Hermione. "Maybe teaching is something you can think about doing after you leave school then, Harry," she said, smiling at him.

"Maybe," mumbled Harry. He still sincerly doubted that he would even live that long, to leave Hogwarts and think about a real career, rather than just a dream of being a Auror. Hermione glared at him, as if she knew he was thinking negative thoughts.

A few minutes later the carriages came to a halt near the stone steps that led up to the huge oak doors. Harry clambered out of the carriage last and stared gazing up at the castle of Hogwarts, not caring about the rain, a small smile on his face. He looked around, seeing students quickly running from the Thestral-driven carriages and up the stone steps to the warm castle, where warmth and a large feast awaited them. His friends stood on the steps, waiting for him. Harry loked around and breathed in the air of Hogwarts, a smile on his face as his dark thoughts of death and war faded from his mind for a while as the atomsphere and sight of Hogwarts filled his chest with happiness. He let out a deep, contented sigh.

He was home.