Home is where the heart is

Harry, Remus and Sirius didn't speak of the strange woman from Diagon Alley again - but Harry still often wondered about her identity. However, he became distracted as it was the end of the holidays, and soon he would leave to go back to Hogwarts.

The last day of the holidays was spent packing Harry's trunk, and a last-minute Quidditch practice, with Harry and Sirius versing each other and Remus as the referee. Of course, Harry spotted the snitch long before Sirius did, and went into a spectacular dive. Sirius took his defeat rather well, and ruffled Harry's hair.

"At least we know the quiddich set I got you for your birthday works," he laughed.

Late that night, Harry and Remus held one more chess game. They sat in a comfortable silence, while Sirius was reading through the Daily Prophet for the second time that day. Harry suddenly felt a pang of sadness, as he realised that tomorrow he would be back at Hogwarts, and it might be a very long time until he ever had a chance to relax with his godfather and Remus again.

Harry and Sirius hadn't really known each other before the holidays. Sure, Sirius knew that he was much like his father, that Harry loved quiddich, and that he was stubborn, but they had still been virtually complete strangers. That had changed. Over the weeks, they had become closer than Harry had ever thought he could be with an adult - he had never known what it was like, to have a parent, but now Harry thought he had a fairly good idea. Harry privately wished that the holidays could go on forever.

"Checkmate," Remus said finally, moving his rook and effectively checkmating Harry's king. Sirius peered over the top of his paper and grinned.

"You're good, Harry. But no-one's as good as Moony." Harry shrugged good-naturedly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'd bet that Ron could have won, though. And I wouldn't be so smug, Sirius. I don't think you've ever won a chess game in your life."

Remus chuckled, as Sirius clutched his heart in mock-horror. "You wound me. I have won a chess game, for your information," he paused, and then grinned sheepishly. "Against your father, actually. Then again, I only won because I was playing your father. James was worse than me at chess. Must run in the family," he added, as an afterthought.

Harry gave him a look, and then started to pack up the chess pieces. Remus stretched from his position on the floor and heaved himself up, sinking into an empty chair. It was quiet, before Sirius spoke up. He had been watching his godson through the chess game, and was content in seeing Harry's obvious happiness. It felt like a typical 'happily ever after' scene out of a storybook. Except that 'happily ever after' didn't apply to their situation.

"Well....fifth year, Harry....." Sirius said quietly, looking at him fondly. "It's hard to believe you're there already. Our fifth year-" At this, he winked at Remus. "-was one of the best. We must have gotten more detentions that year than the rest put together."

He paused. "It was that year that we all learnt to be an Animagus. It was probably the most informative time of our lives....." Sirius looked at Harry mournfully. He would miss the carefree days they had spent with each other. "Just....make sure you look after yourself, Harry. I know you're more than capable, but that doesn't stop old men like us from worrying."

Remus patted Sirius on the shoulder. "Keep in touch, Harry. Don't send us owls every single week - it could be intercepted or thought suspicious. But anything that worries you or is important, don't hesitate to send word," he said. Harry blinked, and then (to his shame) he felt tears prickle in the corners of his eyes.

"I'll miss you both. You're the only family I really have." At this, nobody had a dry eye. They ended up in a three-way hug, before Sirius shooed Harry off to bed. They would have to be up early the next day.

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Morning. And chaos ruled inside the cottage.

They had all overslept, and it was 10:00am. Remus was the only person with a calm head, and the only person remotely organised.

"Harry, Hedwig is already in her cage. Yes, your trunk is padlocked. No, I haven't seen your sock. Sirius, for God's sake, man, brush your hair - it looks like a birds nest. No, I'm not being overly critical - it's the truth. And there's a clean shirt hanging over that chair."

Harry and Sirius dashed around, trying to wake up properly and get ready. Thirty minutes later, Harry stood in the front garden with the two Marauders and his trunk. Sirius borrowed Remus' wand and transfigured himself into the man with a blonde crew cut.

"Girls love blondes," he grinned, winking at Harry. Holding onto Sirius' arm, Harry apparated in a small side street opposite King's Cross Station.

"Okay, let's get you in there." Remus grimaced, and started to haul the heave trunk across the busy road - Harry and Sirius following.

"One of the advantages of having a werewolf for a friend," Sirius muttered out of the side of his mouth to Harry as they crossed the street. "-is that you hardly ever have trouble with luggage. Special strength and all of that."

Once they entered the station, Remus found a trolley and heaved the trunk onto it, with Hedwig in her cage, perched on top. Wheeling the trolley around, Harry caught glimpses of other students with trunks and the occasional owl.

Eventually, they halted a short distance from the barrier. Harry turned to the two men, and Sirius embraced him. "Remember to write....and look after yourself," he whispered, gripping Harry tightly before letting go. Remus then hugged him too.

"Try not to put yourself in danger......have a good time," Remus added, looking a bit teary himself. It was a strange sight - two young men looking like they were about to start sniffling in the middle of a busy train station. They strongly resembled a worried mother sending her sons off to war. Harry grinned at them crookedly one last time, before gripping his trolley and walking straight into the barrier, without looking back.

Blinking, Harry looked around the platform. As usual, it was utter mayhem. Children hugging parents; Parents hugging very embarressed childen, owls calling to each other, people lugging trunks onto the scarlet Hogwarts Express.........Harry was happy to see it again.

He started to wheel the trolley down towards the end of the train, where there was some empty compartments. Harry ignored the fearful and apprehensive stares he was getting from both parents and their children as he passed. Sirius had already warned him about the welcome he was likely to receive from those who didn't know him well. But Harry felt indifferent from those around him - if they didn't want to believe the truth, that was their problem. Harry lifted his trunk with some difficulty, and heaved it into the train.

Glancing into compartments, Harry saw they all had occupants - but where were Ron and Hermione? Frowning, he was just about to settle into an empty compartment, when he heard Ron's voice coming out of the doorway of a nearby compartment.

"-well, what'd you reckon this one is? Okay, hang on, I'll try.......Uuuggggghhhh!!! Gross! Brussel Sprouts!" choked Ron. Harry started to snicker, and poked his head through the door. He found Ron holding a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, and Hermione wearing a bemused expression as she stroked Crookshanks, who was sitting on her lap.

Looking up at the shadow in the doorway, Hermione's eyes lit up in a welcome. "Oh, there you are! We thought you were going to miss the train...."

"I almost did," said Harry, grunting as he tried to store the trunk above their heads. Ron got up and gave him a hand, and together they both managed to stuff the trunk into the space. Sighing, they both slumped back onto the seats.

"What took you so long?" asked Ron, who had wisely decided to put the Bertie Botts beans aside.

"We all overslept......" Harry sat down next to Ron.

They were chatting about their summer, when the compartment door opened to reveal Fred and George Weasley standing there. "Hullo there, Harry," said Fred, looking a bit shifty. "Just thought we'd come by and say hello..." Hermione and Harry looked at each other sceptically.

"Alright. What have you two done now?" sighed Hermione, fixing them with a stern look.

"Er, we 'accidently' let off some dungbombs in the Prefects compartment....they 'fell' out of our pockets when we were, ah, 'passing by'. The head boy and girl aren't too happy with us," admitted George, looking quite pleased with himself. Harry and Ron laughed, while Hermione rolled her eyes expressively. "Spitting fire, practically."

"Do you mind if we stay here for a bit?" asked Fred, looking around hopefully. "We'd rather not bump into any of the prefects right now.....not to mention those beans look good." Ron shrugged, so the twins sat down next to Hermione and to Ron's annoyance, began to eat all of his Bertie Bott's beans. Crookshanks was giving them an evil glare.

"Speaking of prefects.....didn't you get to be one?" Ron suddenly asked Hermione. She frowned.

"No. It's quite strange. You would think, with my record, that I would have made it to prefect status....." she trailed off, looking disgruntled. Fred and George exchanged a smirk.

"Oh well, better luck next year, old chap," commented George, who was peering into the nearly empty box of Bertie Bott's beans.

"It's better this way. Life is more interesting when you're not a prefect," scorned Fred, who took out a pack of exploding snap.

"Game, anyone?" Harry and Ron nodded, but Hermione was still looking quite unhappy.

"It's not fair - I deserve to be a prefect," Harry heard her mutter, as she stared out the window. "Haven't I done enough work? Haven't I gotten top marks in everything?"

She continued muttering to herself on that thread for quite some time, glaring out of the window. Harry, Ron and the twins silently decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to disturb her in a mood like that, and so focused on their Exploding Snap. They were halfway through their fourth game, when someone knocked outside, the glass doors opened again.

This time it was Neville Longbottom. "Hi Neville," said Harry, smiling up at the timid boy.

"Oh, hello everybody," greeted Neville. He was holding his pet toad, Trevor, and was looking around at them nervously. "Do you mind if I sit with you? Only it's rather boring in the other compartments.....and I can't find Seamus and Dean anywhere."

"Sure, Neville. Over here." Harry moved over for Neville to squeeze in beside him. Needless to say, six people, a cat and a toad in one small compartment was crowded, but nobody seemed to mind. Hermione and Neville were talking, while Ron, Harry and the twins continued to play exploding snap. Neville was telling them about his summer with his grandmother.

"Oh, we went for a week or so to the seaside - it was brilliant! Especially since there was all these whales just off the coast - you could see them from the cliffs."

(A/N - I don't know if or when whales migrate near England - I just made it up for the sake of the story ^_^)

"I even tried some surfing." Neville grinned self-consciously. "It was fun - although I was absolutely hopeless. You should have a go sometime."

Hermione giggled. "It's a bit hard to imagine me surfing......." she laughed. "My holidays were pretty basic really - my Great-Aunt passed away so I had to go to her funeral - that was why I couldn't come until later to your place, Ron. Oh, and I had some cousins over from Paris."

"Really?" said Fred, looking up from his cards. "Didn't know you had French relatives."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Who ever said you knew everything about me? And yes, I do have some French relatives. I learnt a bit of french when they were with us, actually. It's quite useful."

The group of six kept talking, as it became later, and started to get darker. When the train began to slow down, Fred and George left, followed by Neville. Hermione excused herself to change into her robes, and the two remaining boys did the same.

When it was time, Harry, Ron and Hermione hopped off the train. Surprisingly, they couldn't see Hagrid's huge familiar figure anywhere. "Wonder where he is?" said Harry, frowning. However, before they could discuss any further, the new head boy came around and ushered them into the horseless carriages. Once inside, the carriages started to move instantly.

"As I was saying - where could he be? Hagrid's always taken the first years across the lake," continued Harry, who was beginning to feel worried. It was Ron's turn to frown.

"Hey, do you remember at the end of last year, when Dumbledore gave Hagrid a job over the summer? With Madame Maxime?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "What if......he's still negotiating with the giants? It might be taking a long time. Or maybe he's having problems?"

Harry relaxed. "Yeah. That might be it. Or maybe Dumbledore's asked him to do something else tonight." He looked out the window, and saw the looming gates of Hogwarts ahead.

As they passed through, Harry saw surly-looking goblins guarding the gates. "Seems like there's extra security," Ron commented, observing them. Once all the carriages had stopped, everyone got out and climbed up the stone steps through the entrance hall and into the great hall. It was magnificent, as usual, and the stars shone in the blue twilight from the enchanted ceiling.

After sitting down, Harry looked up at the staff table. Every teacher was there except Hagrid. And.....the new Defence teacher. Hermione noticed the same thing. "I wonder who we'll have this year?" she whispered to Ron and Harry. Many people in the hall were obviously wondering the same thing. At the Gryffindor table, Harry noticed that many of the students that came in were eyeing him with obvious mistrust and suspicion.

"Stupid gits. Honestly, are the Gryffindors the only people in this school with a brain and common sense?" Hermione hissed, also picking up on the vibe that was coming from the other houses. Ron scowled at the Slytherins, who, unlike Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, were looking at Harry with nothing but a mixture of glee and malicious intent. Harry tried his best to ignore all of this and instead concentrated on the head table.

Eventually, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Attention, please. It is time for the Sorting, so please settle down." On closer inspection, Harry thought he looked tired....and worn, somehow. The strain of fighting against Voldemort with no support from the Ministry was showing on Dumbledore's aging face. Professor McGonnagall led out a gaggle of tiny first years, and inwardly Harry felt stabs of concern.

The disturbing thing was that there was a surprisingly small amount of new students. Harry and Ron glanced at each other quizzically before watching the few tiny first years. McGonnagall brought out a stool and the dirty, ragged sorting hat.

"When I call your name, come over and sit on the stool and place the Sorting Hat on your head," she said primly. Unrolling a scroll, she started to read out the names.

"Brinksley, Sarah." A very small red-head came forward and sat on the stool, shaking.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat. And so it continued.

"Donaldson, Jack."

"Gunnel, Amy."

"Harrison, Jessica."

"Lexton, Grant."

"Martian, Sam."

"O'Reily, Elizabeth."

"Why is there so few first years?" asked Ron, looked puzzled. At this, Neville leaned over.

"It's because of You-Know-Who," he whispered in a hushed voice, not meeting Harry's eyes. "People are afraid that they might not ever see their families again. Some are even moving to America, to try and escape the danger."

Harry was very unsettled to hear this. It was becoming more and more serious every day. But how could anyone run away from Voldemort? All too soon, McGonnagall rolled up the list and took the Sorting Hat and the stool away. Dumbledore then stood up.

"I would like to make a few announcements," he declared, his bright blue eyes twinkling around the hall. "Firstly, Hagrid, our gamekeeper and current professor, will not be present until next week due to some Hogwarts business. Professor Grubbly-Plank will be supervising Care Of Magical Creatures until his return. Next, I must ask, as a precaution, that you must be accompanied by a teacher if you are on the grounds. You may have noticed our new guards at the gates. This is for your own safety against the growing threat of Voldemort."

At this, the entire hall flinched, except for Harry and Snape, who was looking like his evil, surly self. "And lastly, I would like to introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was a storm of whispering throughout the hall.

"May I present to you Professor Danielle Rivendale? She should be along any moment......ah, yes, here she is...." The side door opened, and a short, fair-haired woman stumbled in, her long hair plaited and held at the back of her neck in a messy bun. And she was very short.

Harry drew a breath in shock. "It's her! That woman from Diagon Alley!" he gasped. Hermione and Ron stared at him quizzically, and then stared at the new professor.

She stopped, taken back by the spectacle of hundreds of pairs of eyes on her. Then, she cautiously smiled, and waved energetically at the whole of the great hall. Immediately, half the students smiled back, some returning the wave. Her pleasant face was enough to convince some that this DADA teacher wasn't evil. The boys at Gryffindor table were spellbound.

"Whoa! She's a babe!" exclaimed Lee Jordan, who didn't bother to lower his voice. "I didn't know that we were getting a girl professor!"

"Yeah........" George Weasley was goggling, and Fred wasn't much better. "I guess it's true, what they say about older women......"

Katie Bell thwacked him across the back of the head. "Pervert!"

Meanwhile, Professor Rivendale leaned over and mumbled something to Dumbledore, most likely an apology for her lateness, and then took a seat between Professor McGonnagall and tiny Professor Flitwick. "I hope everyone welcomes her properly into Hogwarts. Now, enough talk, and let's begin our excellent feast!" cried Dumbledore, and the tables were instantly stocked high with delicious food. Hermione was looking delighted.

"Why are you so sunny?" asked Ron, as he piled food onto his plate, certainly not holding back.

"We finally have a woman teaching us.......hopefully she'll be better than some of our previous teachers," said Hermione, pouring herself some pumpkin juice. "Or didn't you notice that every time we had a male teacher, something always ended up endangering us?"

"Well, Lupin wasn't bad - in fact, he was the best teacher we ever had!" objected Ron.

"Yes, but he could only stay a year. Maybe this teacher will stick around," replied Hermione. Harry snorted, but he still watched the teacher's table intently. He had come to the conclusion that from now on, whenever he had a new DADA teacher, it would be good practice to study them carefully. Then, Harry noticed that Snape was gazing at Professor Rivendale as intently as he was. Snape had a slight smirk on his face, and his eyes were narrowed, although there didn't seem to be any malice. But Harry didn't like the look in his eyes at all.

Professor Rivendale was meanwhile chatting animatedly to Professor Flitwick, waving around her fork and making the Charms professor laugh at something she said. What was so special about her? Shaking his head, Harry dug into his own food, only listening with half an ear to the conversations around him. Once everyone had finished their meals, Dumbledore stood up one last time.

"Now, it is time for the school song!" he said, beaming. The majority of the teachers looked stony at this announcement, but obediently stood up with the rest of the school and hollered along to the words. Professor Rivendale was singing in the tune of the national anthem with Professor Flitwick, whose squeaky voice was heard easily over the racket. They sang so slowly that it was them who finished last. When the song was over, everyone flooded out of the hall and started to make their way to their common rooms.

When they reached the Fat Lady's portrait, Lavender Brown pushed through. "Excuse me - excuse me, the password is 'bongo drums'," she called. Hermione gaped at her.

"I don't believe this!" she hissed to Harry. "Lavender?! How could she possibly have been chosen over me?" Harry winced. Hermione was in a fury, and it wasn't wise to try and reason with her. Instead, he clambered into the common room, and went up to his dormitory, hastily bidding her goodnight. He didn't envy Lavender in the least.

With the five familiar beds and trunks scattered everywhere, Harry felt content - he was back.

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