Harry Potter and the Return to Godric's Hollow

CHAPTER THREE

Heading Back

When Harry and Sirius finally reached the twins' bedroom, they found only Fred and George working.

"Where's Remus?" Sirius asked the two boys, who were hard at work. He must have scared them, because they jumped when they heard his voice.

"Oh, it's just you!" George said gratefully. "I thought you were my mum."

"I think you've been working way too long," Sirius scoffed.

"Where is Professor Lupin?" Harry asked.

"I think he's downstairs," Fred said. "He told us that he didn't want to make mum and dad too suspicious of why he disappeared after dinner."

"Oh, that's right - a good idea," Sirius said, a little too quickly. "I have to go talk to Remus for a while. I'll see you all later." And with that, he took off down the steps.

"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked George - Fred was already laboring over a bubbling green and purple potion again.

"I dunno. They got bored so they went somewhere else. I don't think Hermione was that interested in the first place," George answered, sounding hurt.

Harry left the room and walked up the winding stairs until he reached the very top of the house: Ron's room. He walked in on Ron and Hermione, who were sitting on the floor talking and playing Wizard Chess. Ron was winning, as usual, and it looked as if Hermione was about to give up. They both looked up at him as he walked in.

"Where were you?" Ron asked, while at the same time Hermione shot him a quizzical look.

"Talking to Sirius; he gave me this ring for my birthday."

"A ring?" Ron asked, trying to stifle his snickering.

"Oh, shut it, Ron," Hermione scolded while motioning for Harry to let her see the ring. He shimmied it off his finger and handed it to her and she bent her head down to study it. Ron looked over her shoulder and examined the ring, too. Suddenly, Hermione gasped and whipped her head up, straight into Ron's chin.

"Ouch!" they both exclaimed at the same time. Hermione rubbed her head, while Ron rubbed his chin.

"Ooh, sorry Ron," she said apologetically, and then, remembering what had caused her to jump, "Harry! Is this a--"

Harry nodded his head enthusiastically, as Hermione widened her eyes.

"How did Sirius get you a Custos Pollentia?" she asked with disbelief.

"That doesn't look like any custard I've ever seen..." Ron put in, puzzled.

"It's a Custos Pollentia, Ron," Hermione said, exasperated.

"What's that?" Ron asked her.

Hermione launched into an explanation about the legend behind the ring to Ron.

"Wow..." Ron said simply when she'd finally finished. Then a dawning look of realization crossed his face. "Do you two know what this means?" Ron asked, looking frantically between Harry and Hermione. They both shook their heads no, so Ron went on. "This means that you, Harry, can do magic without a wand--"

"Oh, really? I had no idea," Harry said sarcastically, grinning all the same.

"No, I'll bet the Ministry won't be able to even trace the magic from the ring back to you. They can probably only trace magic from wands. We could get away with anything... We could use this against Malfoy!" Harry noted a strange glint in Ron's eyes. Apparently, Hermione had too, because she said, rather panicky,

"Ron, I think you're getting a little carried away. The Ministry would be able to trace the magic back to Harry - I read it in Managing the Ministry. They can trace any magic at all. Besides, that part is just a legend, remember? No one has been able to use it before."

"Well, there's only one way to find out. Harry," Ron commanded eagerly, standing up, "test that custard pollen out!" Hermione sighed at Ron and rolled her eyes.

"Alright, then..." Harry muttered. He steadied his gaze on a quill lying on Ron's desk. "Accio quill!" he yelled as he waved his hand manically towards it. The three watched as the quill stayed motionless on the desktop. Harry tried again and this time the quill rolled over. Ron let out a loud "Ha!" but Hermione pointed out that the window was open and the wind had just blown.

"Try some other spell, then," Ron encouraged.

"This isn't going to work. It's just a legend!" Hermione said irritably.

Ron glared at her. "Just try one more time."

Suddenly, a thought crossed Harry's mind. "Alright," he said mischievously. He turned on Ron and pointed his finger at him.

"Not on me!" Ron cried out before Harry drowned his friend's words with his own.

"Petrificus Totallus!"

Ron's face was contorted with incredulity, but then went slack; his entire body froze rigidly, and he fell flat to the floor. Harry stared in astonishment, his mouth dangling open.

"I can't believe it - it worked!" Hermione shrieked, hugging Harry while jumping up and down. Harry fixed his glasses, which had gone askew, and looked down again at Ron. To his surprise, his friend was no longer stiff on his back, but rather beginning to get off the floor while snorting with laughter.

"Hey!" Harry called out in shock.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. What were you thinking - trying to put me in a full-body bind?" Ron asked Harry, sounding a bit cross.

"Oh, I just thought it would be funny to see you fall flat on your face."

"I think Fred and George are starting to rub off on both of you," Hermione said, displeased. "It didn't work, then?" she added remorsefully.

"Nope," Ron mumbled, now with disappointed fluttering about his face.

"Oh, well, we can still get Malfoy; we always do," Harry said, trying to cheer his friends up.

"I don't want you two fooling around so much this year. You know how much trouble we got into last year, and we have the O.W.L.S. to study for, and the younger students--"

"Hermione, were you made prefect, by any chance?" Ron asked Hermione, cutting her off mid-sentence.

Hermione's eyes went to the floor and she looked a bit worried. "Er, no, not yet..."

"Oh... Well, don't worry, I'm sure you'll get the letter soon," Harry said encouragingly.

They sat there and, after talking a bit more, Hermione remembered she hadn't given Harry his birthday gift yet. She ran to her room and when she came back, she was holding a wrapped package. Harry opened it to find A Guide to Achieving High O.W.L.s, a book that helped you study for the highly important examinations that all fifth-years took. Harry thanked her, although he knew the book probably wouldn't be opened for ages - if opened at all.

It was getting late so Hermione excused herself while Ron and Harry changed into their nightclothes. Harry was about to wander downstairs, where he heard all the adults talking, when he heard his name called behind him.

"Harry!" It was Sirius.

"Oh, I was just coming to say goodnight to you," Harry said to him.

"Goodnight," Sirius replied with a smile before returning to the table with the rest of the adults. Harry had the urge to go listen, but decided against it. After all, it was none of his business, was it?

That night, Harry lay in bed thinking about everything that had happened that day. It was his 15^th birthday, and it was the first time Harry had spent his birthday with people who cared about him, besides Hagrid, and the feeling was wonderful. He twisted the ring he'd gotten from Sirius around his finger, while slowly drifting into a fit of sleep.

~*~

Two weeks later, Harry, Hermione, and the rest of the school-bound Weasley children sat around the kitchen table at lunch talking briskly. They were interrupted, however, by a pleasant melody drifting through the window.

"Do you hear something?" Ron asked nobody in particular as he craned his neck around, trying to find the song's source of noise. They didn't have to wonder long...

"Hullo, there," Hermione said uncertainly as a small glowing creature landed on the table in front of her, holding a familiar-looking envelope. The creature looked almost exactly like a fairy, except for the fact that it had wings and was - singing - the Hogwarts School song in its own beautiful tune. Ron's eyes lit up as he realized what was going on. He'd in fact witnessed the same thing four years ago when one of these flying beings had landed on this very table in front of Percy.

"I know what that is!" Ron yelled excitedly, his eyes shining. Hermione looked hopefully at Ron, and he nodded his head. Beaming, she hastily took the envelope that the fairy was bearing. The creature flew out of the window and into the sky as Hermione snapped the wax seal on the note open.

Upon unfolding her letter, a shiny silver badge with the letter P glinting on it tumbled out, as did a message, which was written in the familiar green ink that official Hogwarts letters were usually composed in.

"Dear Hermione Granger,

We are pleased to inform you that you've been selected to be a Prefect for Gryffindor House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please report to the front compartment of the Hogwarts Express at 11:15 A.M. sharp on September the First.

Congratulations!

Professor Minerva McGonagall

Professor Albus Dumbledore"

"Wow..." Hermione exhaled heavily after reading the letter aloud. "Wow... I've been made a Prefect!" she exclaimed happily before jumping up and giving Ron and Harry both hugs.

"You? Prefect?" George said with a fake tone of shock.

Hermione pinned her badge on her shirt proudly, and then trooped upstairs with Ron and Harry to show Sirius.

***

Harry woke up suddenly in a cold sweat. He looked frantically around him, and, to his horror, realized he wasn't in his bed at the Burrow. He vigilantly stood up from the dusty spot where he'd been lying and took in his surroundings. He was in a burned down house, crumbled at his feet in rubble. Beside him was a small crib with a baby wailing inside. He slowly walked towards it and looked into the bassinette. A familiar tuft of jet-black hair stuck out; glowing white-hot on the small baby boy's forehead was a scar - a well-known scar in the shape of a lightning bolt, which would someday make that particular baby famous.

"It's - me..." Harry said to himself so quietly, so tentatively, that he could barely hear himself speak. He delicately started to reach for the baby's tiny waving fist, when an unrecognizable male voice broke into Harry's thoughts.

"Ad nocendum potentes sumus," the lethal voice whispered in a dead tone over and over, all the while being joined with other unknown voices. Harry looked frantically around again to see ghastly black, hooded figures forming a circle around him. He was faintly aware of a stinging pain in his forehead, which was beginning to get stronger and stronger. Dazed, Harry fell to his knees and closed his eyes. The baby's cries - his cries - were ringing in his ears, with the undistinguishable phrase. The voices got louder and louder, faster and faster, until only a buzz of jumbled words droned in Harry's mind. He clasped his hands over his ears, opened his eyes, and screamed.

Two acid-red sardonic eyes stared into Harry's - eyes that could only belong to one person, if you could say he was still a person. Voldemort.

Then everything plunged into darkness.

***

"Harry! Harry, wake up!" Ron shouted frantically.

Harry groaned and rolled over, clutching his throbbing head. The pain was unbearable.

"He's had a dream again, I expect," came a deep voice; it was Sirius.

Harry sat up and laboriously opened his eyes. Everyone was crowded around him, looking concerned.

"I - I had another dream," Harry stammered finally.

"Come on, kids. Leave Harry alone," Mrs. Weasley said as she shooed everyone, including her husband, out of the room. She softly closed the door behind her, leaving Sirius and Harry alone.

"Harry... I'm sorry, but what happened?" Sirius asked in a regretful tone.

Harry was beginning to calm down slightly, as was the ache in his head. He was wide-awake and knew he was going to tell Sirius what had happened anyway, so he went off into the whole dream, starting to when he "woke up" at the burned down mystery house, finding himself alone and crying in a crib. Then he told him of the voices and mysterious figures, and that they were saying some sort of phrase that he didn't know. He couldn't even remember what their exact words had been, just that they had sounded threatening. Finally, Harry told Sirius that he had looked straight into Voldemort's eyes.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and then Sirius shook his head.

"I have no idea what this could mean. Do you?" Harry shook his head no in an attempt to answer Sirius's question.

"Alright then," Sirius said, "I'm going to go owl Dumbledore. He needs to know about this."

"What? It's," Harry glanced quickly at the bedside table, where a clock was sitting, "three in the morning! You don't have to; it's not that important."

"Yes, it is that important, Harry," Sirius said grimly as Mrs. Weasley opened the bedroom door and peeked through, then walked into the room. She gingerly handed Harry a cup of tea, and Sirius went back to his room to start on his letter to Dumbledore. Harry sipped at his tea and drifted into a troubled sleep while Mrs. Weasley watched over him. He was so tired that he didn't even hear Ron re-enter the room and climb into bed, or Mrs. Weasley exit and move down the stairs, sit down at the table, and start talking to Sirius, Arthur, and Percy about something he would have been very interested about.

~*~

The next morning, Harry awoke early, even though he'd slept uneasily and woken up countless times the night before due to his dream and the uneasiness that had settled upon him. He quietly walked downstairs in the soft dawn light, careful not to wake anyone. He crept past the couch, which Percy had dubbed his temporary bed ever since Sirius had arrived. This was one of the few occasions when Harry had seen the older Weasley since the day of his arrival. Percy was very busy with work now, and was often gone before the sun rose in the morning and home after it had set.

Harry made his way silently into the kitchen. He was surprised to see Sirius already seated at the table, sipping on a steaming mug of tea.

"Morning," Sirius greeted Harry as he took a seat.

"Morning."

"Why are you up so early? After last night, you should be getting plenty of rest," Sirius said, worried.

Harry just looked at the table and said, "I don't know. I woke up and wasn't quite tired. Did you ever write to Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, I got his response a while ago."

"What did it say?" Harry asked with trepidation.

Sirius smiled meaningfully at Harry.

"I figured you'd want to know," Sirius responded with a flicker of a smile. His face straightened out again as he sighed and retold what he'd read. "He said that even though your dreams usually bother you, there's no reason to worry about it. He thinks they may become more frequent now that Voldemort is regaining strength. All you can do is keep telling us about them."

Harry shook his head to show that he understood, but wondered, how good could these dreams really be? And what was really going on?

"What did he say about that phrase those people were chanting?" Harry asked, remembering the most mystifying part of his dream.

"Dumbledore thinks that, based on their appearances and the fact that you saw Voldemort with them, they were probably Death Eaters. That, or," Sirius shuddered, "Dementors. As for the phrase, we can't find out much about it since you can't remember the words."

Harry thought vigorously about the chant that he'd heard in his dream but couldn't remember any of it. He finally gave up because a slight pounding was starting in his ears. Just then, Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen and looked at the two guests sitting at the table, surprised.

"My, you two are up early! Don't worry, I'll have your breakfast ready for you in no time," she said hurriedly.

"Oh, Molly, it's alright. Wake yourself up first; we don't need to eat right away," Sirius told her.

"No, no, I'm rather hungry myself. It's no trouble, really. It'll be done in just a minute."

Sirius gave in as his stomach growled and let her prepare their breakfast. While frying the bacon, she told Harry they'd be going to Diagon Alley that afternoon to get his school supplies. Harry bowed his head towards the table and stared at its surface, which he'd grown to know well; he loved Hogwarts and longed to go back to school, but couldn't help but feel disappointed at the thought of leaving Sirius and the Burrow. He'd been having a wonderful time and realized that now he only had a single week left before September the first, on which he would be boarding the Hogwarts Express to go to school.

After eating their breakfast with Mrs. Weasley, Sirius and Harry retired to their rooms again. Sirius wanted to make a small list of items he desired to be bought at Diagon Alley, since Mrs. Weasley offered to do a little shopping for him; Harry went to change into some robes and wake up Ron for a change.

After finally getting his friend out of bed (with a nice, fluffy pillow) and dressed, Harry led him downstairs to the table for breakfast, which Ginny and Hermione had already dug into.

Harry sat and waited for everyone to finish eating while Mr. Weasley and, finally, Fred and George ate too. Nobody was very talkative and they all, somewhat to Harry's annoyance, seemed to avoid Harry's eyes. Once everyone had filled up on food, they prepared for their day at Diagon Alley. After Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron had fetched what they needed for the trip, they sat at the kitchen table again.

"I'm so excited to be getting our new course books!" Hermione said eagerly.

"I'm not," Ron grumbled; Hermione scowled.

"How could you not be? They'll be full of so much interesting information, and I'm sure most of it will be on the O.W.L.s too. I can't wait to read through our volumes and start studying. You two do know that we'll have to start studying right away for our exams, don't you?"

"Ugh! Hermione, must you talk about these bloody O.W.L.s every minute of the day? I think I've only heard about them a few hundred times since you've been here!"

Ginny snickered at Ron and Hermione arguing about the O.W.L.s, a subject that had been coming up quite a bit lately. Harry knew better than to get into the middle of the heated debate and stood up as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, and George entered the room, ready to go to Diagon Alley. Ron and Hermione abruptly stopped their spat and stood up with Ginny as they all walked to the fireplace.

"We'll be traveling by Floo Powder again," Mr. Weasley warned Harry, while conjuring a small fire in the grate. "Remember to shout 'Diagon Alley' clearly into the flames. Alright then, who's first?"

Mrs. Weasley Disapparated to the Leaky Cauldron to wait for her family. Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione followed her, using Floo Powder to get to the bar. It was Harry's turn, now. He said goodbye to Sirius, who was sitting at the table alone, watching them wistfully.

Mr. Weasley looked encouragingly at Harry as he took a handful of powder and threw it into the flames. They roared high into the chimney and turned green, and Harry yelled, "Diagon Alley!" as clearly as he could. He heard Mr. Weasley tell Ron to get ready to go next as the world around him began to whirl and blur into a blob of different colors. The familiar nauseating feeling of traveling by the Floo Network settled into Harry's stomach until he finally lurched out of a fireplace and into the Leaky Cauldron, the famous wizard pub. He rushed out of the way as Ron tumbled out of the fireplace behind him. In an instant, Mr. Weasley had Apparated in front of the fireplace, smiling.

"Mum, do you have that brush? Thanks," Ginny said, as she took the brush and dusted the soot off her robe, then passed it around for all the kids to use.

"Have a nice day!" Tom, the bartender, called after Harry and the Weasleys as they exited through the back door. Soon they were all standing in the bright light on a crooked street: Diagon Alley. They all split up to go buy their things for school; Fred and George set off together, heading towards the joke shop; Mr. and Mrs. Weasley took off to buy a few things and start on Sirius' list; Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny started on their lists. They headed to Flourish and Blott's first, by Hermione's request.

"You're taking Divination again?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron indignantly after looking at their book lists.

"Yeah, why not? Professor Trelawny will pass us as long as we predict our deaths once every few weeks," Ron replied matter-of-factly.

"We have great powers to see into the future... And to make things up," Harry scoffed.

Hermione huffed off, dragging Ginny behind her, into the back of the bookshop. Ron shrugged his shoulders and the two boys got the rest of their books. They trudged out of the store after paying for their schoolbooks and waited for the two girls. Hermione came out balancing a large stack of books and received strange looks from Harry and Ron.

"What? I got a few extra books," she explained as they started to walk along the crowded street once more towards the Apothecary.

"We shouldn't even refill our potion ingredients," Ron said angrily a few minutes later at the Apothecary. "If we don't make our potions, Snape won't treat us any differently anyway."

"That's right, Weasley," a silky voice drawled behind him. Hermione's eyes went large, Ginny's mouth turned to an "O," and Harry and Ron whirled around.

"Malfoy!" Ron shouted furiously.

The voice's owner was none other than Draco Malfoy, a slimy boy that went to Hogwarts, too. He lived up to his house's reputation of what a Slytherin should be like: he was cruel, manipulative, and was always causing trouble. Especially with Harry and Ron.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked him maliciously.

"Buying a few things for school; why else would I be here?" he replied derisively.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe you owe your fellow Death Eaters a favor, and decided they might like a nice vial of Combustion poison?"

"Wouldn't be a bad idea, especially if it was used on you," Malfoy said coolly as he took a step towards Ron and Harry. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ron clenching and unclenching his fists.

"You filthy--" Ron started fiercely, but was interrupted.

"Draco, there you are." Harry watched as Lucius Malfoy walked over and stopped beside his son, narrowing his eyes at the group of them whom were all staring resentfully at Draco. "What are you doing, Draco?" He looked around at the group and shot Hermione a disgusted look as Ron became even tenser, "We must be going; I need a few things that can't be found here."

Lucius sniffed snidely before turning on his heel and walking away at a brisk pace. Draco smirked at Ron and Harry before strutting off behind his father and out into the street.

"I swear, one of these days those slimy gits are going to get what's coming to them, and would I love to be the one to do it..." Ron said heatedly.

"I know just what you mean," Harry said shortly, his face still slightly red.

"I wonder what Malfoy's stupid dad meant when he said he needed something that wasn't here at Diagon Alley?" Ginny said.

"Maybe," Harry said thoughtfully, "they were going to Knockturn Alley. You know, with all the dark wizard stuff."

"He probably wanted a few Acid Solutions to bathe Muggles in," Ron spat wrathfully. "I wouldn't be surprised! That stupid," Ron called Malfoy a word that caused Hermione to bristle and Ginny to stop him from going on.

"Ron! Calm down! I'm sure you'll get him back at school. You and Harry always do!" Harry smiled gratefully at her and she turned a bit pink and busied herself into filling up a bottle with beetles. Harry tried to block his mind from going any further into the row and his nose from the reeking smell of the store. Pushing Ron to continue with restocking his potion ingredients, they soon finished their business there.

Once they got out of the Apothecary and into the warm sun again on the street, everyone's moods improved greatly. They conversed cheerfully as they passed the stores' attractive displays and happy people crowded in the street.

The group entered Madame Malkin's Robes. Harry had grown quite a bit over the summer and needed new robes. Ron had too, and because there were now no robes in the Burrow that seemed to fit him right, his mother had given a bit of extra money for some new ones. While in there, the troupe met up with Fred and George.

"How's the shopping going?" George asked cheerily.

"Not so good," Ron replied dryly, still tinged with anger.

"We ran into Malfoy," Harry explained to the twins as he and Ron were directed onto stools and slipped new robes over their heads. Madame Malkin pinned the robes here and there, then had them carefully slip them off.

"Oh, well maybe this will cheer you up a bit," Fred said to Ron while George handed him a box. Inside was a black velvet dress robe to replace Ron's old frivolous one.

"What? How did you afford this? Thanks guys!"

"Our business is doing pretty well. And it was no problem," Fred said as both twins winked at Harry. Apparently, they had followed Harry's directions and bought Ron new dress robes with part of the Tri-Wizard Tournament earnings he had given them last year.

A good while later, subsequent to buying their new robes, they all made their way to Quality Quidditch Supplies. After spending almost an hour in the shop and not buying anything, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George were finished with their shopping.

They left the Quidditch store and met up with Arthur and Molly Weasley in the Leaky Cauldron. Mrs. Weasley was laden down with packages for herself and Sirius, and Fred and George's pockets were slightly bulging, no doubt stuffed with products from Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop. Harry somehow managed to keep hold of his purchases while he traveled back to the Burrow by Floo Powder.

When they arrived, there was a lonely note lying on the kitchen table that looked, from where Harry was standing, like it was from Sirius. Mr. Weasley picked it up and furrowed his brow while reading it.

"That's too bad," he commented sadly.

"What is it?" Harry asked anxiously.

"It's Sirius; he had to go on some business and he doesn't know whether he'll be back before you all leave for Hogwarts. He said he hopefully would, but the way things are looking..."

There was a long pause.

"The way what things are looking?" George inquired.

"Nothing. Don't worry, Harry," Mr. Weasley said when he saw the apprehension on Harry's face. "I'm sure he'll be back before you leave."

Harry nodded solemnly but decided to look on the bright side. He knew Sirius would want to see him before he left for Hogwarts and would probably do whatever he could to finish what he was doing so he could get back quickly. He has a week, Harry thought to himself, and he'll be here before September first.

But Sirius never came.

Harry had spent his last week of summer holiday watching Hermione bury herself in her new schoolbooks and go on telling everyone about everything she'd read. She'd tried to coax Harry and Ron to start reading up for school, but they refused; they still had a week of freedom left and weren't going to waste it. However, Harry found it hard to have fun when he was worried about Sirius.

His godfather hadn't owled him or anyone at the Burrow to say how he was doing or where he was. Mr. Weasley said he didn't know where Sirius might be, although Harry thought he knew more than he was letting on.

When September first came around and Sirius was still not back from his trip, Harry couldn't help but feel bad. He was certainly excited to be going back to Hogwarts, and couldn't wait to see all his friends, but he couldn't believe he wouldn't be seeing Sirius again for a long while and never even get to say a proper good-bye. Harry looked at his Custos Pollentia he'd gotten from his godfather for his birthday.

Everyone in the Burrow ran around like crazy that morning, getting ready to go to Hogwarts and packing everything up in the bewitched trunk of a car Mr. Weasley had borrowed from the Ministry. They were about to pull out onto the road when Percy came running out of the house, yelling for them to stop. He decided he would miss an hour of work to come and see everyone off, after all. The back seats seemed to instantly expand when Percy got in, and they were off again.

They reached King's Cross Station at 10:30. They had half an hour before Hogwarts Express left, so everyone took their time while loading their trunks and cages with owls onto trolleys and rolling them to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Fred, George, and Percy went through first, followed by Hermione and Ginny, Harry and Ron, and finally Arthur and Molly.

Harry stared at the crimson steam engine, the Hogwarts Express, which he took to get to Hogwarts every year along with the rest of the students. He noticed that the platform seemed to be a bit more crowded than usual. Percy and Arthur helped everyone load their trunks onto the train and into different compartments. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took a compartment close to the front and started to settle in. They had just put down their owl's cages and Crookshanks when Mrs. Weasley called them back out to say goodbye once more. They passed Ginny on their way out, who seemed, by the looks of her, to have already gotten a farewell speech from her mother.

"Fred, George, you two behave yourselves this year," their mother commanded them. "I really don't want to get anymore reports from your teachers, and please, no more tricks sent with your letters. Those flowers you sent me last year that made me sneeze for days on end were not funny. Oh, stop laughing Arthur. Now I know where they get this behavior from."

She stared at her twins for a small moment before her eyes filled with tears. She grabbed them into a hug and tried to hold back her crying.

"Really, mum, must you go through this every year?" George teased.

"Yeah, we thought you'd be glad to get rid of us!" Fred added.

"Yeah, Percy there is looking pretty jolly about it!"

"Oh, you two! Now remember, be good! And don't give me that look, I mean it. It's your last year at Hogwarts!"

"Alright, mum," Fred and George agreed with serious faces, but as soon as they turned around, they started to whisper excitedly as they spotted a small first year boarding the train.

"And you, Ron, please try to keep them in line. Heaven knows I have enough trouble with those two. All three of you," Mrs. Weasley said to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "stay out of trouble. You always seem to get into something, and you three very well know the danger that's coming upon us." She glanced at Harry, and then hugged Ron. "And because Hermione is a Prefect now, I'm sure you won't be able to get away with as much as you usually do."

Harry and Ron exchanged hidden grins.

"Thank you for letting me stay at your house, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said politely, Harry nodding his thanks as well.

"It was no problem, dear. And you either, Harry. I enjoy having you two come and stay. You're welcome to come whenever you want."

Hermione gave Mrs. Weasley a quick hug before boarding the train with Ron. Harry was about to follow them when Molly called him back.

She said, "Harry, I'm sorry you didn't get to see Sirius one last time before today. But don't worry; I'm sure you'll be able to see him soon. And do watch yourself this year. I'm sure with Albus at Hogwarts you'll be safe, but don't put yourself into any danger."

She pulled Harry into a hug and her eyes threatened to spill over with tears again. She sniffed and said, "I should be going; Arthur left for the car a while ago and is probably wondering what's taking me so long." She waved goodbye to Harry as he got onto the Hogwarts Express once more.

Harry entered his compartment to find Ron and Hermione vacant from it. He took a seat by the window and looked at the clock. One minute to go...

Suddenly there was a loud bark outside and the few students left out on Platform 9¾ all looked at a srange black dog that was bounding towards a spot underneath Harry's window.

"Snuffles!" Harry called out of his open window, now also receiving looks as the students hurried onto the train.

The dog simply barked knowingly once more and looked up at Harry. He knew it was Sirius, and it looked as though he was grinning. The train started to slowly pull away and Harry pressed himself against the window. He watched, laughing, as a guard ran towards Sirius and tried to catch him; he was too fast for the old huffing man. Sirius wove in and out of the waving parents on the platform and towards the barrier. In an instant, he was gone, and the old train guard flopped down on a bench in defeat.