Family Ties

Chapter 1 - Helios and Extras

Dean Thomas opened his eyes, blinking dazedly in the September sunlight shining feebly through his skylight window. He was trying to remember the dream he'd been having about a dark, shadowy corridor with a matching figure, always ducking out of sight.

Someone was knocking on his bedroom door hard enough to rattle it in its hinges.

"Dean? DEAN! Aren't you up yet? I've been calling for half an hour! You know what the traffic's like into London!"

"All right, I'm up!"

Adding to the noise was a tawny owl, tapping insistently on the small round window beside his bed. He reached over and unlatched it, letting the owl in. He always got the same delivery owl. Dean had no idea what the owl's real name was, but he called him Helios, which the owl responded to. Dean gave him a rabbit flavoured owl treat he kept especially for him, put three Knuts in the little pouch on his leg, and unrolled the newspaper.

Dean had been subscribing to the Daily Prophet since the end of the previous school year; he needed to keep up with happenings in the Wizarding world. He flicked through the paper quickly, seeing nothing to really grab his attention. The Prophet had been denying You-Know-Who had returned, and had steadily been eroding the reputations of his headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and his classmate, Harry Potter, all summer.

He wasn't sure what to think about it. After all, it wasn't as if Harry had explained what had happened during the Third Triwizard task from which Harry had emerged clutching Cedric Diggory's dead body. Dumbledore had asked them to leave Harry alone, and the student population had done so, hoping he would give them some kind of explanation. When Dumbledore relayed Harry's version of events at the leaving feast, everyone had been mostly convinced. Over the summer, Dumbledore had lost many of the prestigious posts he was known for. Now Dean wondered, like most people probably would, if it was possible for anyone, even someone with You-Know-Who's power, to rise from the dead.

"DEAN!"

His father was calling him now, which meant it was really time to get up. He threw on jeans and his West Ham t-shirt, ran a hand through his curly black hair, grabbed his trunk from beside the door, and pelted downstairs, where his mother was waiting with the car keys. "You know, Mum, this would be so much easier if you'd just let them connect us to the Floo Network..."

* ~ *

Walking up platform nine at King's Cross Station, Dean said goodbye to his mother and walked straight at the solid wall between platforms nine and ten, dragging his heavy trunk behind him. The platforms vanished and he found himself on a different one, rather crowded and noisy with various animal sounds. A scarlet steam engine was puffing quietly, waiting patiently to get going.

He wove his way through the crowds, spotting several people he recognised. Lee Jordan, best friend of the Weasley Twins, was carrying a long black box. Dean suspected there was something in it the caretaker, Filch, would not be happy about. He saw the Patil twins, talking rapidly with their mother, Angelina Johnson talking excitedly to Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet, Harry Potter with a large black dog reared up with its paws on his shoulders, and finally, he spotted his best friend Seamus Finnegan. He waved as he approached. "Hey mate! How was your summer?"

"It was all right 'til we got back from Scotland. That was when the Prophet started with the 'Dumbledore is a loon' campaign! Me ma went mad! I'll tell ya all about it; we'd better get on before all the seats get taken." They climbed aboard, dragging their heavy trunks with them. "God, I'll be glad when we can do this by magic."

They found an empty compartment, dumped their stuff, and went back to the doors to wave at Seamus' mother, who had come to see Seamus' little brother onto the train for his first year. As they made their way back to their compartment, they passed Harry and Ginny, who were apparently looking for somewhere to sit. Dean opened his mouth to tell them there was room in their compartment, but Seamus elbowed him in the ribs and whispered "No... I have to tell you about me ma."

Shrugging, Dean ducked into the compartment, put his feet up on the seat, and started rummaging in his trunk for some money for the lunch trolley. "So, what happened with your mum?"

"Ah, she was quick to believe everything written about Dumbledore and Harry; she questioned me like I was under arrest! 'What's he like?' 'Does he really complain of pain in that scar?' 'Does he try to attract attention?' No matter what I told her, it didn't matter, besides..." Seamus glanced at the open door, got up and closed it, then sat down again, leaning forward to whisper, looking anxious. "Don't you wonder? How did he get into the Tournament in the first place? Let alone come out the winner! I bet he cheated. And how could You-Know-Who possibly be back? He was dead; and if he was back, the Ministry would be involved."

Dean was uncomfortable. For once, he was glad he was from a Muggle family; his own mother would never have let him come back to Hogwarts if she knew a student had died last year, let alone that the Ministry was questioning the sanity of the headmaster and a boy who shared his dorm.

"I don't know mate," Dean said, "I think we should wait to hear Harry's side before we make any judgements. Hey, did you get anything... extra in your Hogwarts letter?"

"No, why did you?"

"Yeah, apparently, I failed History of Magic, gotta go see McGonagall tomorrow morning."