Harry Potter and The Tomb of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and

The Tomb of Hogwarts

Chapter 10

Siege at Kings Cross

The next ten days creeped by like a spider with five broken legs. Each day seemed to last ten times longer than the day before.

There were a few things that were able to keep Harry from going completely insane.

First was his mirror which Sirius given to him last year, which he used to talk to the portrait of Sirius at least twice a day.

Second were the two or three times a day that Dudley was able to sneak away and visit with him, either in his room or at the park, and they would talk about Hogwarts and all the things that Harry had seen and done in the past five years there. Dudley was most impressed when he heard that there really were dragons, and not only that, but that Harry had taken on one of the most fierce dragons known to wizard kind, and survived.

And then there were his walks to the park. Here he could read his books under the sun and just enjoy the pure nature of things. This seemed to be the most soothing thing for Harry as there were no reminders of the chaos of life that he was about to endure back at Hogwarts.

Harry hadn't mentioned it to anyone, but he was really beginning to get nervous about the prospect of teaching other students how to defend themselves when most of the time when he was in for a fight he wanted nothing more than to run away. But then, he didn't run away when Voldemort returned, he stood and fought. And when he was in the ministry, hadn't he fought off several Death Eaters in order to help the others escape?

His real worries ended up being much more personal. He kept thinking about his conflicting thoughts about how happy he was that he had Sirius back, followed quickly by the realization that it was not really Sirius, but rather a talking picture of Sirius.

Then there were the nagging worries about Dudley once they got back to school. Harry had to admit that the time they had spent together recently was fun, but he had to accept that things would probably change once he was at Hogwarts. After all, it was likely that Dudley would end up in Slytherin, and then it wasn't likely they would be hanging out much.

And there was Malfoy. How would he deal with things now that his father had been sent to Azkaban? At the end of term last year he had vowed to take revenge on Harry for what had happened to his father. Now he was going to have to watch his back twice as hard as last year.

But at the park, none of these thoughts were able to creep into his mind. A large portion of the reason for this was that at the park, many people thought that the Occlumency lessons Harry was practicing some kind of the Buddhist Meditation exercises or something, so most everyone who saw him simply ignored him. This was great for Harry, because he really didn't want to talk to people much anyway.

Unfortunately, Wednesday brought forth Snape, as well as a surprise visit the night before.

Harry had been able to take control of Snape's invasion, but only after nearly half an hour of flowing through half a dozen different memories. Oddly enough, Snape seemed to be more impressed than annoyed with Harry.

"You are beginning to take absolute control over your mind, Potter, although you should be able to catch me a bit fast than that. However, you have at least made enough progress so that your new instructor will not be completely disappointed in you."

"Thanks. Coming from you, I'd almost take that as a compliment," he said with a smirk.

Snape didn't comment. But the next day Harry was once again surprised when Snape did not arrive with his Pensieve.

"Dumbledore suggested that it might be prudent for us to take some time to prepare for the Duelling class at Hogwarts. But before we begin on that I wanted to speak to you about the class, and more importantly, your instruction. You see, Mr. Potter, the Order has recently received intel that there may be some students at Hogwarts who are looking to join the Death Eaters. Unfortunately we are not quite sure who these students are, but one thing we are most sure of is that it is likely that one or more of them will be asked to study your duelling techniques in classes."

Harry nodded shortly. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, but he was not about to interrupt Snape.

"Therefore, Dumbledore has suggested that you and I may want to make sure that our duelling skills are at least a few levels higher than what we teach. He has also remembered me that we are to help these students to defend themselves. We are not here to train Aurors, so you need to watch what we are teaching them."

"So, what? We're only supposed to teach them how to run away or something?" He didn't know why he was getting upset so quickly, but somehow this just didn't sound right.

"No, that is not right, Potter. We are to teach them the complete basics on how to duel. We are not, however, trying to teach them how to take on The Dark Lord single handedly. That is what the Aurors are paid for, and if the students want to become Aurors, they can do so after they graduate. But for now, we shall settle for them being able to escape with their lives."

Harry agreed with a nod, but inside he was fuming. He could read between the lines, and he didn't like being reminded of his obligation to kill Voldemort. But at least when he got back to school he would be able to look up spells that might allow him to find another way to deal with him. But Harry wasn't able to think about Voldemort much longer as he was soon going over a layout of what they would teach each class over the next four months.

When they were done they had settled on pairing Hufflepuff with Ravenclaw and Slytherin with Gryffindor. They had also separated the first and second years into one group, third through fifth years in a second group, and sixth and seventh years in the third, which totalled out to six classes over the week. This meant that even though Harry had given up two of his classes to teach this one, he was still going to be busier than last year.

They finished up around seven thirty and worked on a few basic Occlumency lessons for another half-hour. Snape had nothing bad to say.

Thursday and Friday dragged on slowly but without incident, but Friday night Harry learned that one of his reprieves was to be taken away from him. A very formal Muggle looking letter arrived for him just after dusk for Dudley. When he came up just after dinner under the guise of working on his computer, Harry gave him the note.

Dear Mr. Dursley.

In order to keep the illusion of your going to Stepford's School for Gifted Children in London, I will be picking you up Sunday night to bring you to school. We will then bring you to Hogwarts where I, with the help of Professor Severus Snape and Hagrid, will help familiarize you with the school, as well as several other aspects of the wizarding community. Fortunately, we will have some other students that will be arriving on Sunday as well, so you will not be the only student here, and we have several activities lined up for until the rest of the students arrive on the first of August.

Now an official letter will be arriving by messenger in a few minutes to inform your Mother and Father of when we will be picking you up on Sunday promptly at six o'clock in the evening. And if you could please remind Mr. Potter that he is to be making his decision of which Animagus for he will be taking before he arrives at Hogwarts, it would be appreciated.

Finally, since we would be unable to ask for permission for you to go to Hogsmead, the local town where students visit from time to time, we have instead enclosed a permission form allowing you to go to any school related outings. This would be sufficient for our needs if you would be able to procure a signature for us. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Yours truly,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Dudley gave the note to Harry who quickly read it over and dropped his head. Now he was going to be all alone with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon for the next six days. But Dudley looked excited, so he smiled at him and told him about all the things he would probably see over his first four days at Hogwarts.

A few moments later Harry and Dudley heard the doorbell and Dudley used the distraction to sneak out of Harry's room. A moment later Harry could hear Vernon yelling up for Dudley to come down. Harry was barely able to live with the Dursleys over the next twenty-four hours. Every time he passed his Aunt or Uncle they would reminded him, Our Dudley is going to a school where the Deputy Headmistress of his school will be picking him up personally. But we still have to drop you off at that ruddy train station so you to go to that weird school of yours."

At first Harry was able to just shrug it off, but within two hours of Dudley leaving, Harry ended up breaking out his wand and promising to blow them up as he had done to Aunt Marge three years ago if they did not blood well shut up. They said nothing to him for the rest of the week.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the sweet release of Thursday came.

As he was so tired of the Dursleys by then, Harry told them he would find his own way to King's Cross.

It was still dark out when Harry had finished gathering all of his things into his trunk. He let Hedwig out of her cage, gave her a quick treat, and told her to meet him at Hogwarts. Then he used the mirror to say a quick goodbye to Sirius and Remus, picked up his trunk, and headed out.

Since he did not want to bother Mrs. Figg, he decided he would use the Night Bus. He walked down to the end of the street, checked that noone was about, and held out his wand. A moment later, a thunderous BOOM nearly knocked Harry out of his shoes as a large triple-decker bus suddenly appeared before him.

"Welcome to the night bus..." began Stan, the Night Bus conductor. But Harry was already stepping in and dragging his trunk behind him."

"Well what do you know, Ern," said Stan when he saw Harry coming on the bus. "It's Harry Potter. Welcome back to the Night Bus, Mr. Potter."

"It's good to be back. Heading over to Kings Cross today, if you don't mind. And I need to be there by..."

"Eleven. Not a problem, Sir. We've got a few students already in the back there. In fact..." he dredged on, "little Neville Longbottom's back there right now. You know Neville Longbottom, don't you Harry?" he drew out with a huge smile spreading across his face.

Harry smiled back. Two years earlier, when he had first used the Night Bus, he thought the Ministry of Magic might be after him, so he told Stan that he was Neville, just in case.

He headed back and, as he knew the moment he heard that Neville was here, he found the only bed left was the last one in the back, smack dab next to Neville.

"Hello, Harry," he said genially.

"Hello Neville. Have a good summer?"

"Well, sort of. It started off good enough, anyway," he said is his normally distressing voice. "But about a month ago, just before my birthday, Grams tripped over one of my Devils Snare plants and well, you know how they are. She broke her leg right good. It's happened twice since then, and then just last night it happened for a fourth time, both legs no less, and it was so bad she had to go to St. Mungo's and grow whole new legs. She wasn't too happy about that. Lets just say, even if I had wanted to bring it to school this year, there's wouldn't have been a whole lot left to bring. That's why I'm taking the Night Bus. Grams is still growing her new bones."

Harry knew how bad that must be. He had to re-grow his arm bones after Professor Lockhart had removed them during his second year at school, and that was only one arm. Two legs would be darn near torture. And that Skeli-gro didn't taste very good, either.

"Well, that's okay. We can keep each other company until we get to King's Cross. By the way, who else is here? Stan said there were a few students on the bus."

"Well, let's see. I saw a second year Slytherin up on the second floor, and I think the Patil twins are up on the third tier, and there's a third year Gryffindor up there too, and that's about all I noticed, but I didn't really look much, you know. Still thinking about Grams."

"Yeah. Say, any word on your Mum and Dad?" Harry was one of the only students at Hogwarts who knew what had happened to Neville's parents, and he knew it wasn't much of a happy topic, so he was mildly surprised when Neville perked up a bit at the mention of his parents.

"Oh yeah. You know, with all that happened at the party, I didn't get a chance to tell you. They're starting to show improvements. And all because of some American chap who was visiting the hospital. He's from some other school out there, and I head he might even be bringing some students to Hogwarts."

"So that's who those students are that'll be there with Dudley." Harry thought about it. His eyes narrowed for a moment, and he had the district feeling that Hermione had had some kind of hand in this, but he didn't know how. He shook his head, and came back to the discussion at hand. "So what happened with your Mum and Dad?" he asked excitedly.

"Well, it's not much, but when I went there a few days ago, they remembered me pretty well. They even remembered that I was going to Hogwarts, though they thought I was a third year," he said in a softer voice. "But still," he said, his voice raising, "The time before that it took them half an hour to remember who I was. And you should see Lockhart. He's making tons of progress. The nurse said if he keeps it up they might let him go home by the end of the year."

"Good lord. That's great, Neville. Next time you go over there, tell them I said hi."

"Oh, they would love that. That's one of the things they asked me. If I knew you and all. I told them you were in my class, and for a moment it was as though they had remembered everything. They knew who you were, a that you had defeated You-Know-Who, and well... Anyway, they'd love to hear that you said hello."

"Sure. Maybe I can come by some time and say hello."

"Wow. That would be great. Really great. So, are you ready for the new year?"

Harry smiled broadly. Neville had no idea that in less than twelve hours he would be at the great feast and finding out that Harry would be the new Duelling Class Professor.

"Yea, I think I'm ready. Or at least as ready as I can be." Something suddenly struck Harry, and he dove into his bag. A few moments later he pulled out a small box and handed it over to Neville. "I know it's a bit late, but Happy Birthday, Neville."

Neville's shock was apparent. It was obvious that he had no idea Harry would be giving him a present, and Harry hadn't actually thought about it. But after his birthday remembered that Neville's birthday was the same day as his, so he wanted to get him something. He'd found it in a shop when he went out with Remus a few weeks ago, and he knew it would be perfect.

Neville opened it up, looked at it for a moment with a look of confusion, then looked up at Harry and put on a happy face.

"It's great, Harry. But, uhh, well, what is it?" Harry smiled. For once, Harry knew about something that another wizard didn't.

"It's a Remeberwatch. It's just like a Rememberall, but with a few extra features. Put it on and I can show you a few things it does."

Neville pulled it out and put it on his arm. It automatically wrapped itself around his arm closed locked itself up. They both looked down at the watch with its stone looking numbers flipping over with the passing of the seconds. Then Harry began to point out the different jewels and showed Neville what they did.

"The red one works like an alarm, only instead of ringing it recites whatever it was that you were supposed to do. And the green one directs you to anything you have lost. And that gold one, that's my favourite. That one works like a miniature Pensieve. It can hold up to five memories at a time. That way you don't have to worry about forgetting, because there it is."

Then Harry pulled up his own wrist and showed Neville his own blue watch with black marble numbers. "I got one for myself too," he declared, "to replace the one I broke during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. But mine's only got three gems, like those, but there's more of them. I've got five of the white ones, two red ones, and one green one. Those others, I don't know what they do, but you can read about them in the rest in the manual. It should be right there on the bottom."

And so they spent the rest of their ride to King's Cross looking over the manual for the watch and finding out what else it could do. Finally, just before ten thirty, they heard Stan announce their arrival at Kings cross in two minutes.

As they pulled into King's Cross Harry noticed that there seemed to be a bit of noise coming from the front of the bus, but he figured it was the students piling up to get out of the bus. However, when he and Neville arrived at the front of the bus he saw just how wrong he was.

A family of five Muggles was floating five feet off the ground with two men, both masked and in dark cloaks, waving their wands overhead and directing the family members to crash into each other.

Behind them Harry could see black clouds of smoke coming from trains and buildings. Harry's eyes went wide.

Harry knew immediately what he had to do.

"Neville, get back to your seat." he called out loudly.

"Stan. STAN!" he shouted louder, finally snapping Stan out of his daze. "Let me out of the bus, then get everyone out of here. Take them to the Leaky Cauldron until you hear the all clear from ***.

"Harry. You've got to be kidding. I'm not letting you out of..."

Stan was cut off as Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Stan in a threatening manner.

"You touch that pedal before I get out and you'll be in St Mungo's for the next six months."

Harry didn't give Stan a chance to respond, but bent down and dove into his chest. He pulled out a small mirror and stuffed it into one of his pockets while he grabbed the invisibility cloak in the other. He noticed Stan eyeing his cloak as he finished stuffing it into his pocket, but he paid it no mind.

"Now let me out, and then get out of here, and I mean now."

Stan didn't say a word, but reluctantly opened the door. The moment Harry's feet hit solid ground, there was a loud bang that emanated from behind him, and the Night Bus was gone.

And then the fear set in. He wasn't quite sure where all of the bravery was coming from just at the moment, but wherever it had come from, it seemed to be leaving faster than the Night Bus.

He quickly pulled over the invisibility over himself and headed for any cover he could find, which in this case was a spot between two cars.

It took less than ten seconds to reach the cars, but it seemed like an hour. He looked around everywhere to make sure that nobody had seen him put on the cloak. It seemed nobody had caught sight of him, though what he saw nearly made him sick.

To his left he saw a pair of Death Eaters, huge ones he assumed were Crabbe and Goyle's fathers, each laughing as they fought a swordfight in mid-air. But instead of using their swords, they were using a pair of Muggle children, and it seemed this amused them greatly.

To his right Harry saw another Death Eater, this one much shorter, and she had a small group of Muggles standing on their heads, spinning quite fast, as though they were tops.

And in front of him was the most disturbing sight. Three Death Eaters had put a leg-locking charm on a pair of Muggles, a man and a woman, while they took turns casting the Cruciatus Curse on two children. From the look on their faces, Harry could only assume the adults were the children's parents.

When he reached the space between the two cars he dropped to his knees which would surely leave them bruised in the morning, but he paid it no attention as he pulled out the mirror and called out for Sirius.

It was then that he realized where this sudden boost of bravery and stupidity had come from. It was the boiling anger built up inside him from losing his Godfather these very same monsters. That's what had driven him this far, and that's what was going to keep him going.

"Hello Harry. Didn't expect to hear from you quite this soon..." Sirius began, but then it seemed he could read the panic in Harry's face, and he quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

"Death Eaters. They're all attacking at Kings Cross. They're everywhere; at least two dozen of them. You need to get Dumbledore. Send the Order, Lupin, anyone. They're levitating Muggles all over the place, half of the trains are on fire, and I think they're already getting tired of things. I think I saw a couple of people who were..." he trailed off. It was obvious to Sirius what he was getting at. "You've got to get someone over here now."

"Harry. Where are you?"

It was Remus. He'd just come into view in front of Sirius. He heard Sirius say something he couldn't make out, but he knew what it was all the same. Sirius was already on his way to Hogwarts.

"I'm at King's Cross. The Death Eaters are attacking. This must be what they were talking about when they said that they were going to start up again. I've got to get out there. I've got to do something."

"Harry, I want you to get out of there. I don't want you risking your life ..."

"Don't worry," Harry interrupted, "I've got on the invisibility cloak. They won't see me coming, and by the time they do, I'll be somewhere else. It'll just be until help gets here, I promise. But I've got to go. And please hurry."

"But Harry. I don't want..." Remus interjected, but it was no use. Harry had already de-activated the mirror and put it back in his cloak. He was not going to watch anyone else get killed because of these monsters. He was going to put a stop to it. Besides, there were no other wizards or witches about to do...

And that's when it struck him. He didn't see any other wizards around anywhere. But where were they? This day more than any should have this place crawling with wizards and witches, but where were they now?

There had to be some at Platform 9 ¾. But did they not know what was going on out here? He had to get there. He had to find out why there were not there.

He would find the Weasleys. Mr. Weasley worked for the Ministry. Surely he could help. And he could make sure that everyone else was okay.

Then he thought about Hermione and her parents. They were Muggles. Dear Lord, let them be okay Harry prayed.

And then, just as his courage had began to overtake him and he made stand up he saw something that chilled him to the bone.

A shadow was passing over him, followed by a second. He turned his head around to find himself face to face with a Death Eater.

But the Death Eater didn't seem to notice him. He was simply laughing and looking at something in the air above him. That's when Harry saw another Muggle child, this one no more than six, bobbing up and down overhead.

Harry had not time to think. He quickly drew out his wand, aimed it, and cried "Expelliarmus" as softly as he could. It seemed the Death Eater heard him as he began to turn and look down at Harry, but before he could find his unknown foe, he was being knocked twenty feet away, his wand landing in Harry's outstretched hand.

Unfortunately, this seemed to have the opposite effect he wanted, as the Death Eater landed just in front of the other three he had seen before. Apparently, this was the Muggle's third child.

Suddenly, instead of one Death Eater, he was not facing three. His only advantage was that they didn't know where he was, but that would only last until he attacked one, then the other two would go after him. He had to find a way to attack them without exposing himself.

He looked around for a moment, then came up with an idea. He only hoped he could pull it off, as Transfiguration was not his strongest class. But he had no other choice that he could see. And so he concentrated. For fifteen seconds he kept the same picture in his mind, and finally he took his wand and tapped the nearest car with his wand, still concentrating.

And slowly, very slowly at first, it began to change. Then, as though time suddenly sped up, the car started to shrink a bit and grew a great deal of hair. A moment later, where the car first stood, now there was a large brown bear.

Immediately the bear shot out at the closest person, that being one of the Death Eaters. As the bear charged, the other two Death Eaters spread out and started sending spells at it.

While they were distracted with the bear, Harry used the summoning spell to pull the Muggles to him. When all five were safe, he released the leg-locking charm. Before they even had a chance to figure out what had happened, Harry had used Petrificus Totalus on the two Death Eaters still standing against the bear. The third one, while obviously a bit hurt, was playing dead on the ground, which left him prone to a third petrification spell.

He then transfigured the bear back into a car and headed for Platform 9 ¾. But he had run less than twenty feet when he saw something he couldn't ignore.

A pair of Muggles were floating in mid-air, two more Death Eaters using them like sword to battle each other, all the while laughing wholeheartedly. Harry couldn't have stopped himself if he wanted to.

Then, just when he thought he could not have been more angry, he heard a voice that had haunted his dreams for the past two months, and an anger grew even stronger, threatening to overwhelm him. Before he could stop himself, he cried out, "Hey Bellatrix. Laugh this off!"

One of the two Death Eaters turned suddenly, searching around for her antagonist, but too late. Harry had already launched a spell at her.

"Rictusempra!" he cried loudly. By the time she saw the spell soaring toward her, all she could do was whisper a quick curse before it landed on its mark. She had been hit square in the chest and flew back at least thirty feet, landing hard on her back.

She raised her head up for a moment, looked around, then fell back down, completely unconscious.

The other Death eater, however, had seen where the spell had come from and sent a spell which had just barely missed Harry, though Harry hadn't noticed. He was too busy casting a cushioning charm on the ground below the Muggle Bellatrix had been hexing a few moments earlier.

Another spell shot towards Harry, but this one was coming from his back, and instead of hitting him, it hit the Death Eater in the legs.

"Harry?" called a voice from behind him.

He turned to see a man looking straight at him. For a moment this offset Harry, as he was still wearing his invisibility cloak, but then he realized who he was looking at.

Mad Eye Moody's eyes were filled with worry and concern, but then Harry noticed a sudden change in Moody's attitude; from concern to anger. Without having to be told, Harry knew what he needed to do, and he hit the floor just as Moody sent another spell over his shoulder.

A moment later a gruff voice came from overhead as a large hand picked him back up.

"I can handle things down here," he said. "You get to the train and find some help. Go now. There should be at least a few wizards at the platform by now."

Harry nodded once and headed back towards the wall. He made it there without any problem until...

"Oomph."

He had slammed right into the wall instead of running through it, and fell flat on his rear. After taking a moment to recover himself he stood up and tried, at little slower, to put his hand through the wall. It hit solid wall.

"Bugger!" he shouted. Suddenly he heard a loud voice call from over his shoulder.

"Who's over there. Is there a little Muggle who wants to have a little fun?"

It was another Death Eater. But this time, Harry knew who he was up against. He wanted to hurt this man more than any other Death Eater in the world, but bit back his anger and kept quite. He kept thinking Stay calm. You have to get to Ron and Hermione. Don't go after him. Just stay calm and wait for him to leave.

It seemed like half an hour versus the half minute it really was for the Death Eater to look around for its prey, but finally he turned around and headed for the parking lot. And as he turned, Harry saw the silver had of Peter Pettigrew, the man who had betrayed his father to Voldemort. You'll get it some day, Wormtail. Maybe not today, but some day, you and me will dance, and that's one dance I plan to win.

And still, as Wormtail walked out of view, Harry could still feel the anger and desire to jump up and choke the life out of his parent's old time friend. But now was not the time. He needed to call home. He needed to talk to Dobby.

And at that moment, wave of happiness flowed over him for a moment, followed by a burning sensation in his head. He grasped at his scar which felt as though it might make his head explode.

He tried to block it, closing his mind as he had practiced so often with Snape, and the burning began to subside.

As soon as he could bare it, he reached into his cloak and pulled out the mirror again. Again he called for Grimmauld Place, but this time he was looking for Dobby, hoping and praying that he had not yet returned to Hogwarts. It seemed like days, but after only a few moments, a head popped into view for just a moment, then disappeared, then reappeared once again. It was Dobby, and his head was bouncing in and out of view.

"Hello... Harry Potter Sir... How is you... Doing? Is you already... On your way... To Hogwarts?" he said each time his head came into view. Once again it seemed that Harry was wearing his emotions on his sleeves because abruptly Dobby stopped in mid-air and looked suddenly very upset.

"What is it, Harry Potter Sir?" he said in a very worried voice.

"Dobby, I need you to come here as quickly as..."

POP!

And without warning, Harry found himself staring at a light cloud of smoke where Dobby had been, directly followed by a strong tugging at his leg. He looked down to see Dobby who's fright was immediately obvious.

"What is wrong, Harry Potter sir. How cans Dobby help?"

"Remember when you blocked my and Ron from walking through the wall to Platform 9 ¾?" he asked quickly.

"Of course, Harry Potter Sir. But Dobby is only meaning to help Harry Potter by stopping him from returning to Hogwarts," he replied in an apologetic voice.

"I know, Dobby. But now I need to get through, but it's blocked like it was before. Can you open it back up?"

"Dobby can try's sir," he replied with a smile. He turned and placed his hands on the wall.

"Ooh. This was Dark Magic that sealed this. Very dark magic," he continued to repeat, shaking his head. But after a few moments Harry saw Dobby's hand begin to pass through the barrier. A moment later he pulled his hands away.

"It's done, Harry Potter sir. Dobby is breaking that evil charm."

"That's good Dobby. Now I need you to go home and wait for me there. I'll call you when it's safe to come to Hogwarts."

"But what if you is needing Dobby again, Sir. Dobby is wanting to stay with..."

"I don't have time to argue. Go home. I'll talk to you when I can," Harry replied, then walked through the barrier before Dobby could argue.

When he came out on the other side he was very surprised by what he had seen. Everyone was walking normally and acting as though nothing were happening. He saw Hermione and Ron with their parents over the near the front of the train, including Ron's dad.

Harry ran all out. One of the nice thing about Harry being so small and wiry he that it made him a pretty fast runner. He ran balls to the wall straight to the Weasleys and was completely out of breath when he arrived and threw off his cloak.

"Harry," everyone cried out.

He tried to catch his breaths between words, but couldn't seem to get then out quite right.

"Death eaters... Flying... Muggles... tried killing... Blocked the ent..."

"Calm Down, Harry," said Mr. Weasley. "Take a few moments to catch your breath and tell us what happened."

Harry took three quick deep breaths and said in one quick breath, "Death Eaters are outside attacking the Muggles and they tried killing me but I got away with the cloak and Dumbledore's on his way and I had Dobby open the barrier so I could get in and tell you," then collapsed onto the floor, panting hard and trying to catch his breath. But he had gotten his point across.

"Everyone into the train, right now. Boys, you help Harry into the train. Molly, I'm going to the Ministry to get help. You go outside and see if you can help."

Before anyone could respond, though, Harry had caught his second wind and burst out back towards the barrier as fast as his legs could catch him. Even the twins, who tried running after him, couldn't catch up, and Mrs. Weasley told them to get into the train.

"I'll get him. You get in the train and stay there until we come get you," she ordered, and nobody objected.

The moment Mr. and Mrs. Granger got on, a loud alarm went off, but it didn't phase Harry. He knew it was a Muggle Alarm, telling the conductor a Muggle was on the train, and that just meant that Hermione's parents were now safe.

He reached the barrier less than two minutes after he had arrived, and Mrs. Weasley was half way there herself when Harry ran through. What he saw on the other side stopped him in his tracks.

He'd heard all about it, how terrible of a sight is was, but nothing had ever prepared him for seeing it for himself. Only four feet in front of him stood Dumbledore, and Harry could see, even though he was to Dumbledore's far left, that he was truly furious. Scattered around the platforms were the bodies of no less than half a dozen Death Eaters, each incapacitated in one manner or another.

And when he looked back up at Dumbledore, the whole world seemed to slow to a near halt as he watched the next few moments unfold.

Dumbledore took on a near omniscient aura as he began firing off spells in seemingly random directions until they hit their marks, each a perfect shot.

The first shots hit a pair of Death Eaters hit square in the chest with disarming spells. Yet another pair of spells followed so closely that both Death Eaters had been bound in ropes even before they hit the ground.

Without missing a beat, Dumbledore whipped his around and pointed it behind himself, sending another spell into a third Death Eater. This one, directly behind Dumbledore, was hit with what looked like a version of the jelly-legs curse, only instead of it affecting only his legs, it affected his arms as well, forcing him to drop his wand.

Another three Death Eaters seemed to appear out of thin air, though Harry did not hear the pop that usually accompanied Apparition. They each tried to rush him with a collection of spells, but Dumbledore countered them all with a single swish of his wand. Each of the three spells were deflected right back to its caster, and each of them fell in varying manners.

It seemed two other Death Eaters had finally come to their senses and Apparated away before Dumbledore could take them out, and that left just two Death Eaters trying to take on Dumbledore and one other was duelling Moody.

The Death Eater attacking Moody was obviously outmatched as a moment later he went rigid, and Harry knew he had become petrified.

The final two seemed tentative to stay and fight Dumbledore, but they were probably more frightened of dealing with Voldemort if they left. Harry was sure they had made the wrong decision.

A blinding ray of light shot from Dumbledore's wand, followed by a single binding spell which pulled them together, back to back, and bound them with a shimmering white rope. And just for extra measures, they were lifted a few feet off the ground and flipped upside down.

Harry watched in awe.

Finally, after a final spell from Moody, it seemed the world itself gave a great sigh of relief, and everything went quiet. Dumbledore turned to face Harry, and he wore a look of unreserved disappointment.

He walked over to Harry and asked quickly, "Harry, is everything alright at the train?"

"Yes sir. Best I can tell, they never knew anything was happening down here at all."

"Very well. Now I want you to go back to the train and give the conductor this note." Dumbledore quickly pulled out a letter, tapped it with his wand, and handed it to Harry.

"He will understand what it means. Then I want you to have all of the students readied for the train ride and ask the parents to gather on the platform and tell them that I will be up shortly and that it would be best if they stay there until I arrive."

"Yes Sir," Harry replied quickly. He turned on his heals and headed back to the train.

When he arrived at Platform 9¾ it was completely deserted. Harry headed for the front of the train and gave the conductor the letter. Apparently is was a short note, as Harry had not even made it back out the door when the conductor stopped him.

"Harry, would you be able to tell the parents and students that we will be leaving fifteen minutes late? It seems some students may be running late, and he wants to give them some extra time."

"I'll tell them right now."

"Very good. Also, if you happen to see the trolley lady, could you ask her to come up front for me?"

"Yes sir." Harry replied with a nod.

A moment later he found himself in the halls of the train which were now packed with students and their parents. Luckily the first he came to was the prefect's compartment where he found Ron and Hermione. He told them quickly what he needed to do, and they helped go through the cars telling the students to get ready for the ride to Hogwarts while asking the Parents to gather outside the bus. Of course, the Wizarding parents were much easier to convince than the Muggles, but eventually they all met outside.

By the time Harry had made it through the cars and got back outside, a line of students had begun to come through the barrier and quickly boarded the train while their parents joined the others at the far end of the platform.

It was five minutes after eleven when Dumbledore finally came through the barrier with the last of the students and parents, Neville included, and all went suddenly quiet.

"I apologize for the delay, but there were a few things that the Minister of Magic needed of me before I was able to leave, and since we only have a few moments before the train leaves, I will be brief. Approximately twenty minutes ago, no less than a dozen Death Eaters blocked off the entrance to this platform and began to attack both Muggles and the few wizards and witches that happened to be present. It seems, however, that we were very lucky in that the Night Bus, carrying one Harry Potter, arrived mere moments after everything began, and he was able to contact me." Dumbledore waved his hand over in Harry's direction and a wave of both awe and gratitude swept the crowd.

"It is because of his quick response in reaching me, more than anything else, that helped ensure that no lives were taken today, and that most of the damage was kept to a minimum. It seems also that he was able to disable three of the Death Eaters himself before he was able to contact me. I assume that any concerns as to his ability to fill the new position at Hogwarts are no longer applicable, although if anyone has any remaining concerns, I will hear them now."

The crowd continued to remain completely still, so Dumbledore continued.

As for any concerns regarding the train's trip to Hogwarts, I have sent for Professors McGonagall and Snape who will aid me in inspecting the train before it departs. And as I am sure you all know, once the Hogwarts Express has departed, it is completely safe for the rest of the journey to Hogwarts."

Again, complete silence, except for the tapping of two pair of shoes which Harry need not turn to see that they belonged to Snape and McGonagall.

"Now, I understand that this has been a traumatic experience for everyone here, and though I would hope that this will not cause Hogwarts to lose any students, I will understand if any of you would want to take some time with your children and decide for yourselves if you believe there to be a safer place for them than at Hogwarts with myself and my staff."

Harry could see a few Parents shuffle as though they might object, but the mentioning of Dumbledore and his staff quickly stifled all activity.

"Very well then. If you wish to say your goodbyes to your sons and daughters, feel free to do so, but I ask that you be quick, as the train is set to leave in approximately," he looked down at his watch, "six minutes. Professor Snape, McGonagall," he said, and then headed towards the train.

It seemed most parents were too nervous to speak to their kids as only a handful came back on board.

Harry went over and talked to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, telling them how much safer Hermione would be at Hogwarts. It didn't seem that they needed much convincing, most likely because they had not seen what had happened outside. Harry was sure that, had they been out there with him, they would never let Hermione out of their sight again.

After the rest of the students finished boarding and everyone had said their goodbyes, Harry headed over to the train, and was about to step on when Dumbledore and Professor Snape met him as they were getting off.

Dumbledore, a softer look on his face now, put his arm on Harry's shoulder and asked softly, "Harry, could I speak with you for a moment?"

"Of course, sir," Harry replied.

"Harry, there are going to be a lot of students on board who will be asking around, looking for any information as to what happened. I know how well you handled yourself out there, and you have truly proven that you deserve the position you will be holding at Hogwarts, and it's for that reason I must ask a favour of you."

"Anything, sir," Harry replied instantly.

"I must ask that you not speak to anyone, even Ron and Hermione, about what happened out there today. Not until after the feast today. After that, you may feel free to tell anyone you wish."

"I won't say a word. But may I ask, why can I not tell Hermione or Ron? I mean, they are Prefects after all."

"Indeed. However, I would prefer not to risk anyone overhearing. It would take only one word about the loss of Muggle life to frighten the entire train, and that is something I would rather avoid if possible."

"I understand, Sir."

"Now Harry, I do understand that you may want to speak with someone about what you just had to deal with, and that is one of the reasons why Professor McGonagall had volunteered to stay onboard for the trip back to Hogwarts. If you feel like talking about it, she will be at the front of the train with the conductor."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, I believe it is about time to be off. Take care, Harry, and if you would please meet me and Professor Snape at my office after the dinner feast, I would like to discuss briefly your plans for your first few duelling classes."

"I'll be there, Sir. And sir, if I may say, you were bloody brilliant out there."

"Indeed. As my old Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor used to say, there is only one thing more terrible than having to face a dark wizard, and that's letting them win. So if you must fight, fight to win."

"I'll try to remember that," he said with a grin.

Harry shook hands with both Dumbledore and Snape, though he definitely spent less time shaking Snape's hand than Dumbledore's.

As he boarded the train he took a deep sigh of relief. He may have had one of the longest and worst days of his life, but now he was heading back to Hogwarts, and that alone was reason enough to celebrate.

The ride to Hogwarts was filled with more disasters than Harry could count.

First of all, there wasn't a single student that didn't seem to know that Harry had spoken with Dumbledore privately just before the train left. It took the combined powers of Hermione and Ron to stop them from hoarding him and asking questions, which of course made it twice as hard for him to keep quiet.

Then there were all the rumours about who the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, the most common of which was that there would be none. At least half of the students had been discussing a particular rumour that everyone Dumbledore had approached refused, and that finally the Ministry had come in and said that DADA would be cancelled if Dumbledore could not find a replacement Professor.

But the worse of all happened while Ron and Hermione were in the front cabin with the other Prefects.

Harry, Neville and Ginny were talking about Harry's birthday party when the door opened and a drawling voice said "Well, well. If it isn't the famous Harry Potter. I heard you met up with a couple of my father's friends earlier today. Did you have fun? Well, I hope so, because when my father gets out, it'll be lights out for you, Potter."

"G-Go to hell, Malfoy," Neville stuttered.

"Oh, no. It's the DA. Guess we're all in trouble now," Malfoy laughed.

"Neville, let him be. He's just mad because his dad's in jail, and you helped put him there," Harry shot back.

"Well at least my father will come back to me. You've lost, what, three parents now? You're racking up quite a score."

Harry's blood was boiling beyond anything he had felt before, but Ginny placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered, "He's not worth it, Harry."

Harry's blood didn't cool down much, but she was right. No matter how much he hated Malfoy, he just wasn't worth it.

Harry slowly pulled out his wand and pointed it directly between Malfoy's eyes.

"I would suggest you leave now, Malfoy, before you lose your ability to eat solid food."

"Really, Potter. Threatening a Prefect. That'll be ten points from Gryffindor for..."

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Malfoy, but you have no right to take points from any house, at least, not any more." It was Professor McGonagall.

"If I remember correctly, and I'm sure I do, Prefects do not have the ability to strip points. I think you may have forgotten that Professor Umbridge is no longer working at Hogwarts. In fact, it has come to my attention recently that the Ministry, in order to stop future problems like last year from arising again, the Ministry has signed away all right of control over Hogwarts, indefinitely."

Malfoy just sniffed. Harry knew he wanted to spit something back to McGonagall, but he wasn't quite that dumb.

After a few moments on intense staring, Malfoy took one last smirk at Harry, and left.

"Mr. Potter. I see your lessons with Professor Snape have come along quite well."

"What do you mean, Professor?" he asked.

"I was next door speaking with some frightened first years when Mr. Malfoy entered, and so I changed into my cat form and came to listen, and to assert myself if needed. I am pleased to see that my services were not required, though, for the record, I don't believe you needed to remind him of his father's incarceration at Azkaban. Off the record, I'd say the young man deserved a great deal more than you gave him. Speaking of Lily and James in that fashion, and right after Sirius's... Well, I think you handled yourself wonderfully, and if you handle yourself even half as well at school, I'm sure everyone will be looking forward to your classes. Well, I must be off, but if you need anything else, feel free to meet with me at the front of the train."

"Thank you, Professor."

"You're welcome, Professor Potter."

And with that, she smiled briefly, and headed out.

The moment the door closed, Harry heard a loud gasp come from behind him.

There, completely awestruck, was Neville Longbottom, wide-eyed and completely speechless.

Harry rolled his eyes. He had to spend the rest of the trip trying to convince Neville that he was not the next DADA professor. And, as he knew it would be, by the time they began to slow down at the Hogsmeade station, every student on the train knew that Harry was in fact the new DADA teacher. Ironically, though it was not at all true, it was much closer to the truth than anyone suspected.

However, as much as everyone loved gossip, when they all exited the train, most discussion had died down, as most everyone was exhausted from the day's earlier events. It seemed only Harry and Professor McGonagall were upbeat, and Harry assumed his excitement came from finally arriving back at Hogwarts. But what truly raised his spirits came not as he exited the train, but what happened a few moments later.

Hagrid had come to speak to Professor McGonagall before taking the first years across the lake, and when he saw Harry, he smiled brightly.

"Well hello, Harry. Good t' see you. Guess you'll be taking the front car today."

"Uh, I don't know."

"Yes you will, Potter. You will be accompanying me as soon as I am done here. If you can give me a moment, you might want to let Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Granger know that you will be meeting with them after the feast."

"After the feast? So I won't be there then?"

"Everything will be explained by Professor Dumbledore when we arrive. I must talk to Hagrid now, Mr. Potter. I will meet you at the front car."

"Yes, Professor," Harry said in agreement.

He headed over and told Ron and Hermione what was going on. Though they didn't seem to have any ideas, they didn't seemed worried either. So he said a couple quick goodbyes and headed towards the nearest car.

By the time he had reached the front car, Professor McGonagall was already inside.

Harry was about to ask what was going on when the car jerked forward. This was not like his past three experiences on the cars with Ron and Hermione. They seemed to be heading much much faster.

Just as he had composed himself and sat back up, the car was already coming to a stop.

"What was that?" he asked McGonagall.

"The first car always travels faster than the rest, Potter. It will give us an extra ten minutes before the rest of the students arrive.

"Wow," Harry said in amazement.

"Now," McGonagall said quickly, "I have some things to do before the feast, but if you would please meet Professor Dumbledore in the Great Hall, he has a few things to go over before things get started."

"Yes Ma'am." Harry replied.

McGonagall headed upstairs towards her office and Harry headed to his right, and walked through the doors of the Great Hall.

Up front was Dumbledore, Professors Flitwick, Snape, and Grubbly-Plank.

Harry approached the Head table and was welcomed quite exuberantly by Professor Dumbledore.

"Harry. Good to see you. Harry, you of course know everyone," he said, waving his arm around the table.

"My fellow Professors, I know some of you may have wondered whether young Harry here was up to the task of taking charge of the Duelling class we will be hosting this year. However, I believe that earlier events have shown that he is more than up to the task," he said brightly.

Leave it to Dumbledore to find the good in a situation like that. Harry thought.

"Now Harry, there are a few last minute things I would like to let you in on. First, though you will still be sitting at the Gryffindor table during our day to day meals, that chair over there," he said, pointing to the second one down from Dumbledore's left, "will be reserved for you. You should always feel welcome to use it whenever you like, though there would be some times where it would be most appropriate, as I feel it would tonight."

That explained a lot. He wanted to have Harry there early to prepare for being at the Head Table like the rest of the Professors. Of course, there was one other reason that Harry was about to discover.

"Ah, and here comes our new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, and your new Occlumency Professor," he said, looking over Harry's shoulder.

Harry turned around, and the moment his eyes locked on the new professor Harry gasped, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, and a moment later he found his voice.

"Charlie?" he gawked. "Charlie Weasley?