Harry Potter and the Forbidden Truth

~ Chapter 1 ~

The Final Return to Hogwarts

Blurred images of fields, hedgerows, and distant houses passed by the window. For the final time Harry was heading to his home. That home being Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Number 4 Privet Drive had never been his home, although he did live there. The Dursleys had never once treated him as if he was part of the family, making him spend the first eleven years of his life with the cupboard under the stairs as his bedroom. This summer Dudley had insisted that Harry stayed away from him completely, he'd leave the room if Harry walked into it, he wouldn't travel in the car with him, he just wouldn't been seen within a ten metre radius of him.

But non-of that was important right now, Harry was just happy to be away from them once again. There had been a brief week's spell away from them when he had gone to the Burrow to visit the Weasleys. It was always good when he visited there, Mrs Weasley treated him like her eighth child, and Harry was pleased she did. It was a nice feeling, to be wanted.

He remembered the day Ron had rung up the Dursleys asking for him, Harry's Uncle Vernon had gone mad again; he hated it when Harry's friends rang the house. After a five minute long shouting match with his Uncle, Harry had managed to get to the phone finding a very excited Ron on the other end.

"Harry," Ron had said, "you can come and stay this summer, Mum wants you too."

"Are you sure that's OK?" he'd asked, remembering that fateful day just before his second year when Fred, George, and Ron had rescued him from Privet Drive in their dads flying car.

Ron had assured him that it was fine and kept on for at least half an hour about all the plans he had, it even included a weekend family trip to the beach. Harry had felt honoured to be asked to go, as it was a 'family' trip. Just before hanging up Ron had added, 'Oh by the way, Hermione's dropping down too for a while.'

And Hermione had stopped by for a few days. Mrs Weasley had nearly blown a gasket when she'd found out Ron had invited her without asking anyone's permission. But after ten minutes or so the occupants of the house, this including Harry and Ron, pulled her into several group hugs. It was easy to be accepted in that family.

The three of them had a wonderful time just walking by the stream, talking, and catching up. Hermione had been telling them all about her trip to New York with her parents. Harry loved hearing about Hermione's trips, mainly because he had never been anywhere away from Britain in his life. She was lucky to have a family that cared about her, even if they were Muggles. 'I really feel for you,' Ron had said, shaking his head, 'living with Muggles.' He of course said the same to Harry, but with about ten times more sympathy. Not that Ron had anything against Muggles, it was just that he'd been brought up in a Wizarding family and was pure-bred Wizard through and through.

But not all purebred Wizards were as excepting, take for example the Malfoys, the worst possible excuse for a Wizarding family. Yes they had the talent, without doubt they had the talent, it was the feeling and emotions they lacked. Harry had always though that was important, and for some spells it was number one in the list.

Shaking his head a little, Harry kept his eyes on the window where he could see an old church spire in the distance. Seconds later it was gone and replaced by a block of flats. Then the Hogwarts Express was speeding its way through the countryside again; clusters of trees, streams, and lush fields passed by the window. A blackbird swooped down past the glass, and then flew across the cornfield the train was passing and landed on an old oak tree in the middle of it. The cornfield was dotted with poppies, tiny glints of red in the mass of golden yellow. Harry smiled; it was times like this he could really appreciate sights such as that.

Turning his head back to the compartment, his eyes fell upon Ginny Weasley who was sat next to him sleeping soundly. Her long flaming red hair tumbling across her eyes and her head bobbing back and forth as the Hogwarts Express rounded corners in the track. She mumbled a little as Harry leant over her to pull the compartment door to. For some reason it had slid open slightly during the journey. He sat back in his seat carefully, not wanting to wake her, and then sighed gently.

Ron and Hermione were sat opposite; Hermione was also sleeping, with her head laid upon Ron's lap. He was dozing in and out of sleep. Once his head had smashed against the window and he'd almost jumped out of his seat, waking up Ginny and Hermione with his shout in the process. They'd all gone back to sleep straight away though.

The reason they were all so tired was due to last night, they'd spent it in Diagon Alley at the Leaky Cauldron, mass amounts of Butterbeer and mulled mead had been drunk and everyone was a little worse for ware. Ron had the idea a week or so before, that they should spend the last day of the summer holidays there together, getting the last of their school supplies, and just spending 'quality friend time', as Hermione had called it. Harry had loved the entire day and the night. The most stand out moment being when Ron had gone up the bar in the attempt to get them the mulled mead, and been turned away almost straight away. Hermione was the one who had succeeded in this task, she was pretty amazing really.

All things considered Harry was very lucky to have the friends he did, he actually considered himself luckier than those people that had about one hundred friends. He doubted very much that their friends would risk their lives to keep that person alive, in fact, Harry was sure of it.

The sound of a faint snore from Ron jolted him out of his thoughts and he looked over, trying not to laugh. The snore had actually woken Ron himself up and he was opening his eyes just as Harry looked over. He rubbed them while yawning heavily. "What time is it?" muttered Ron. "Was I asleep?"

"Sort of," replied Harry, "you were slipping in and out of it."

Shaking his head Ron placed his hand on Hermione's hair, stroking it gently, and closed his eyes again. "I'm just so tired..."

"And you were so drunk last night, and so awake until four this morning," continued Harry with a chuckle, "I'm definitely not shocked."

"Just because you were being sensible, didn't mean we all had to be," Ron mumbled as he stifled another yawn.

Ron was right, Harry had to give him that, but he himself wanted to be feeling fit, healthy, and wide-awake for his first day back at Hogwarts. After all it was the kind of place you needed to be wide-awake in, surprises galore and all that. He bit his lip a moment looking back to the window, where Ron was also looking.

"So, how long was I asleep? Are we near the station?"

Harry raised an eyebrow, shaking his head. "Not a clue, I haven't really been keeping an eye on the time, I was-"

"Too preoccupied with my sister," Ron interjected with a knowing nod. "I saw how you were looking at her while you were staying over, all starry eyed, as Hermione'd say it. Not that I have a problem with it, Percy maybe... or Charlie even, not sure about Bill..." he said thoughtfully. "But definitely not me. You've saved her life after all, what guy does that?" He laughed a little.

Blushing, Harry gazed over at Ginny again, she now had her head leant against the panel of the door, her nose twitching a little as she slept. It was true, he found Ron's sister very interesting, not to mention attractive, and of course he knew that she liked him too. A smile graced his lips and he quickly averted his attention to the window, taking in the little village they were speeding away from. Now wasn't the moment to drool over Ginny, they were travelling, he needed to keep a clear mind.

There was a rustling sound and Harry turned to see Ron settling back down to sleep, Hermione had edged a little closer, her hand now clinging onto Ron's leg as she slept soundlessly. It was a nice sight, his two best friends like that, they weren't involved but they cared about each other dearly.

He smiled again as his thoughts drifted to the first time he'd met them both, seven years ago, Ron on Platform 9 ¾ and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express when she'd been searching for Neville Longbottom's toad, Trevor. Three misfits brought together, Ron with his poor family forever being tormented by people such as the Malfoys, Hermione and her obsession with school work and reading, and then himself, the famous Harry Potter and the past of which he was still learning more about everyday.

"Oh look another Mudblood!" a voice came from outside, Harry's eyes shot to the compartment door. It was Draco Malfoy, the voice was unmistakable. Mudblood, the worst possible name to call Wizards or Witches whose parents were Muggles. Malfoy had called Hermione the same name back in their second year at Hogwarts, sending Ron insane and him trying to curse Malfoy. But the spell had unfortunately backfired causing Ron to bring up slugs for the remainder of the afternoon. Broken wands, never a good thing.

"One more year and then we're free of him," muttered Ron from opposite Harry as he got to his feet. "I'm looking forward to that day." He walked across the compartment smoothing out his robes a little; Hermione was now sat up looking very tired indeed.

Ron tore open the door his eyes darting to Malfoy who was stood just a few feet away from their compartment. Harry also scrambled to his feet and stood behind Ron, his hand hovering over his wand just in case. "Who you picking on now, Malfoy?" asked Ron, looking over the sorry sight of Malfoy then over to Crabbe and Goyle, stood a little up the aisle.

"Weasley," said Malfoy, almost as if he was greeting an old friend, "I missed you! How's the family? Still reading the hand-me-down books?" He grinned at Harry and Ron brightly, showing his shining white teeth, then leant against the edge of their compartment door.

Harry shifted his gaze to a young girl cowering on the floor to the right of the compartment, as Ron dealt with Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were staring at the girl like she was a piece of dirt. Her face was a shocking white, and long scraggly blonde hair hung down over her bright blue eyes. She struggled to her feet using the wall to help her, then wiped her watery eyes on the sleeve of her robes. Backing down the aisle a little more the girl fixed her eyes on the back of Malfoy, she looked scared stiff. Harry presumed she was one of the new first years, he'd never seen her before.

It seemed Ron was doing a pretty good job at keeping Malfoy at bay, so Harry slipped past them and to the girl. She backed away, her eyes darting madly as he walked towards her. "No..." she whimpered. "No... leave... leave me alone, I don't want to..." She shrank gradually back to the floor, covering her face with her hands. "Go away!"

Hesitantly, Harry crouched down in front of her; he hadn't planned on scaring her. "I'm Harry," he said softly, "and you have to ignore Malfoy, he's just a bully." Laughing a little, he smiled at her. "Do you want me to walk back to your compartment with you?"

The girl shook her head, blonde hair flying wildly as she did so. "Leave me alone..." she whimpered again.

"Do you want to see one of the Professors?" offered Harry, his brows knotting together with worry as she scrambled backwards again. "I think the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is on the train." He glanced around again, but his attention was brought straight back to her as she moaned loudly, putting her hands over her ears. "Are you OK?"

She nodded furiously then started crawling past him with her eyes closed. Ron had moved and was now standing on the other side of the compartment door blocking her route; he scratched his head as he looked down at her. Her hands collided with his feet and she gasped loudly, then looked upwards timidly. Smiling at her Ron extended his hand to help her up; she took it and slowly rose to standing, locking her ice blue eyes with his deep blue ones for a moment before dashing away with a squeak.

"Mental," Ron observed as he watched her run down the length of the train.

Ginny stuck her head out of the compartment door, and a lock of her red hair fell across her face, she blew it away. "No, she just needs friends. There was a girl like her in Ravenclaw when I first came to Hogwarts; she's changed a lot now."

That was debatable, a lot in Ginny's terms meant she'd started talking to a few people but still ran for cover around people she didn't know.

Harry frowned, he'd never seen anyone act so nervous, it was just unnatural.

Several minutes later they were all sat back in the compartment and Ron was explaining how he'd got rid of Malfoy, it seemed to be a very long story considering it had happened in the space of five minutes. Then Harry filled them in on the story of the blonde haired girl. Hermione had suggested they ask Professor McGonagall at the Sorting Ceremony if they could take her under their wing, so to speak. Ron was against the idea, 'She's crazy, do you really want to be seen with her?' to which Hermione had replied with a smirk, 'I'm seen with you, aren't I?'

Eventually they got off the subject when Ginny pointed out how they'd only be able to watch her if she was put in Gryffindor; it was a wait and see situation.

*

The Great Hall was packed full of students, second years all the way through to the seventh years. The first years had not yet arrived, they'd be getting their talk about the sorting process Harry had guessed. Hermione was looking around the Great Hall a wide grin spread across her face, she had been elected Head Girl and she loved the power of it, which was very obvious. Harry and Ron had congratulated her numerous times, saying how proud they were of her. Then Ron had whispered something to her, making her blush all the way to her ears, Harry didn't know what it was and he didn't want to either.

It was very strange how they were in the final year of Hogwarts already, and Hermione kept making out as if it was wonderful that they had the N.E.W.Ts to do, both Harry and Ron disagreed with her. Ginny was looking put out as one of the Gryffindor fifth years kept going on and on to her about the O.W.Ls and how it was fabulous to be doing them at last. She'd just been nodding in agreement for the last fifteen minutes. After all, Ginny had done the O.W.Ls, she was just waiting now until she moved into the seventh year. Harry often thought she'd be better off with them, but they couldn't do anything about that.

The main doors opened at the other end of the Great Hall, and hundreds of heads turned to watch the first years make their entrance, following Professor McGonagall hesitantly. Harry kept his eyes peeled for the blonde girl and spotted her walking very slowly behind a short, dark haired boy. She seemed less self-conscious and was staring at the enchanted ceiling as if it was the best thing in the world.

"I can just imagine her ending up in Slytherin, Malfoy'd be nice to her then." Ron snorted and shook his head. "It's just unfair."

Hermione nodded in agreement, a slight frown on her face. "Poor girl, Draco's unbelievable sometimes, he needs a new hobby."

A few minutes later the first years were lined up at the front of the Great Hall before the teachers' table. The usual sitting there, Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Professor Trelawney, Madame Hooch, Professor Dumbledore, Hagrid, and there was a female Harry didn't recognise, presumably the new DADA Professor. The Sorting Hat sat upon a chair on the step, and Professor McGonagall started calling names. The fourth person to be called, Rosemary Larter, turned out to be the mysterious blonde girl. Rosemary made her way to the stool very slowly, Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head, and then the tense wait began. It took two or three minutes before the hat finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR."

The Gryffindor table let out a huge cheer, especially Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. Rosemary made her was over to the uproar and sat down on the bench next to one of the second years. Hermione caught Harry's attention by clicking her fingers in front of him, then nodded in the direction of Professor McGonagall; she was obviously very sure about taking Rosemary under her wing.

Harry wasn't so sure, and he knew that Ron agreed with him, they didn't really know a lot about this girl and it wasn't like she'd given them a good first impression. He told Hermione to hold off until they were all free to leave and go to the common room, best not to interrupt Professor McGonagall during the feast.

Another seven first years joined the Gryffindor table, Kay White, Rebecca Hardwick, Stephen Hardwick (Rebecca and Stephen were twins), and Jacob James, all of which were from either half or pure Muggle families. The three remaining, Violet King, Isabelle Knight, and Nicholas Peterson were all born into Wizarding families as Ron had been.

By the time they were all tucking into the feast, Rosemary seemed to be getting along better, talking with the other first years, although her frail look was still there. Harry ignored it and continued talking with Hermione while enjoying his meal. Ron and Ginny were sniggering about something, occasionally making little gestures at Harry and Hermione.

"OK, what?" asked Hermione suddenly as she slammed her goblet onto the table.

Ron looked at her innocently. "We weren't talking about you..." he replied, his voice only a little louder than a whisper. "Were we Ginny?" Shaking her head Ginny picked up a chicken drumstick and smiled before eating. "See," said Ron with a very certain nod and winked at Hermione.

She sighed loudly and concentrated on her meal.

Harry often wondered if it was always going to be like that between his best friends, constant bickering, the occasional bit of flirting, and then back to the bickering again. Last year had been the worst, when they weren't at each other's throats they were whispering in classes and laughing about silly things that weren't really funny. Harry didn't understand it, so he just ignored them and went in search of Ginny when he could.

Suddenly Hermione jumped up from the table and rushed over to Professor McGonagall. Harry looked around and realised that he'd been so lost in his thoughts that he'd missed the announcement that the feast was over, and missed the first years leave the Great Hall. He watched as Professor McGonagall smiled while talking to Hermione, looked like it was going to be a yes to her request.

*

Hedwig was up against the bars of her cage, hooting softly as Harry walked into the owlery followed by a still very sleepy Ron.

"Hey, Hedwig," said Harry as he stopped next to the cage, tracing his finger along the bars. She nuzzled her head against him and nipped at his finger gently with her beak. Harry smiled and stroked her feathers. "Good journey?" he asked, but she didn't reply obviously, though she let out another hoot.

"UNBELIEVABLE!" Ron shouted suddenly from the other side of the owlery. "POSSESSED OR WHAT?"

"Who?" asked Harry, slightly apprehensive to if he wanted to know or not as Ron emerged from in-between the cages. Ron's hands were now soiled and there was a scratch on his left cheek just below his eye, he rubbed at it gently, wincing suddenly. "Pig," Harry said looking at him.

Ron shook his head as he watched Harry with Hedwig. "No. Hermione." Sighing he slumped down to the floor. "Anyone can see that Rosemary girl's lost the plot... why does she want to look after her?"

"Because she's Hermione, she does things like that," replied Harry before letting Hedwig out of her cage and watching her fly away and across the grounds, past the Quidditch pitch. "See you later, Hedwig."