The Ministry again sent a car this time to transport Harry and Hermione to King’s Cross. Mrs. Granger and Tonks were also coming and to Harry’s disbelief, his Aunt Petunia decided to see him off. Quite unlike his harried trips to King’s Cross with the Weasley family, between Mrs. Granger and Aunt Petunia everyone was ready by 8:30. The car was quickly loaded they were off by a quarter to nine. The car had been magically expanded on the inside so everyone fit in with room to spare. They had a very quiet drive to King’s Cross.
Once there, Tonks and the driver found trolleys for the trunks and the party was off. Before they got to the platform, they were ambushed by the Weasleys. Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, Percy, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley all surrounded them. There were lots of hugs, hellos, and general merriment. Mrs. Weasley even engaged Aunt Petunia is some very forced conversation.
They proceeded to the platform and one by one the Weasley’s disappeared. Then Hermione and Mrs. Granger went through the wall, and then all was left was Harry and Aunt Petunia.
“I can’t do this, Harry,” she said looking frightened.
“Yes, you can,” Harry said, “it’s easy. The wall isn’t really there. You just step through.”
“But I’m not magical, not anymore,” she said backing away from the wall.
“Neither is Hermione’s mum, and she did it. Come on,” Harry said taking her arm. “We have to go through to get to the train.” Harry slowly walked his aunt through the barrier. Platform 9 ¾ appeared before them with the train steaming waiting for its journey.
Aunt Petunia gasped as platform materialized. She collected herself well, and said to Harry, “Thank you Harry. I need to speak to Dumbledore, keep your eyes open for him.”
Harry nodded and looked around for all of his friends. The Weasleys and Grangers were getting their trunks and pets loaded on the train. Harry meant to follow when he was stopped by his aunt.
“Wait Harry,” she said warily. “You need to stay by me.”
“What? I’m not five,” Harry protested.
She gave him a nasty look and said, “Just stay.”
Harry shrugged and then asked, “Can we at least go and load my trunk on the train?”
“Fine, but please help me find Albus Dumbledore, its important,” she repeated.
They joined the crowd of people loading trunks on the train. Harry had just gotten his trunk loaded, when they spotted Dumbledore.
“Mrs. Dursley,” Dumbledore called over the crowd.
Aunt Petunia waved and gave him a sign to show that he saw him and she and Harry walked over to a quiet spot to wait for him.
“Good morning, Mrs. Dursley,” Dumbledore greeted, “you wanted to talk with me?”
“Yes,” Aunt Petunia said. “Thank you for meeting with me. Voldemort is obviously still coming after Harry. I don’t care what the Ministry of Magic says, he going to try for Harry again. What precautions have you taken for his safety?”
Harry reeled at the question. His aunt was concerned about his safety?
Dumbledore answered seriously, “As I explained in my last letter, Harry has two guards riding with him on the train, and there will be full squad of Aurors at Hogwarts defending the school. We will have extra guards on hand at all sports events.”
“What about the trips to the village?” Aunt Petunia asked.
Harry reeled again. How did she know about trips into Hogsmead?
Dumbledore looked at Harry sadly and then said, “Harry will not be able to attend the Hogsmead weekends. His permission slip is not signed.”
Harry fumed angrily; his slip was signed, from Sirius his godfather. Granted Sirius was dead, but it still was signed.
“That’s probably for the best,” Aunt Petunia nodded at Dumbledore. “I wanted to let you know one more thing, if you in anyway put Harry into harms way, I will pull him out of school. I allowed Harry to go to Hogwarts at your insistence, against my better judgment. If he had gone to the local high school in Little Whinging, like I wanted, this thing with Voldemort would be over. Harry wouldn’t be a threat to him and he would leave our family alone.”
“Like I said then, Voldemort would still come after Harry regardless of what school he attended. He wasn’t a threat when he was a baby, but Voldemort tried to kill him anyway. But I have no intention of putting Harry in harms way. I’m not going to send him after Voldemort. But when Voldemort attacks, and I guarantee that he will, Harry will be ready to face him. Harry is taking a set of special classes intended to prepare him for that day. Until then, I will continue to guard him at school.”
“All right then,” Aunt Petunia said seeming satisfied. “Thank you Professor Dumbledore.” She then turned to Harry and continued, “I’m going to take off now Harry. The Ministry driver is waiting for me. Have a good year.”
Harry nodded and said, “I’ll see you.”
She smiled at him and turned back to the barrier and walked back through without flinching. Harry joined his friends and their parents over by the luggage car. They had a nice half and hour discussing this and that until it was time to load the train.
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny this year too went to the prefect car at the front of the train. Harry wandered through the train until he found Neville, Seamus, and Dean all together in one car.
“Harry,” they chorused together excitedly.
Harry smiled and sat down in an empty seat by the window beside Neville.
“So are you all right Harry?” Neville asked as soon as Harry was settled. “They said you were pierced? In the paper it said that you were hurt by some Muggle weapon, snopped?”
“It was a gun Neville,” Dean corrected him; “Harry was shot. So are you okay Harry?”
Harry nodded and answered, “I’m fine now. I have a couple more scars I suppose, but at least no one can see the new ones.”
Seamus chipped in, “Well, it doesn’t look like the old one is doing too well, either.”
Harry’s hand flew instinctively to his head and felt the scab in the center of his forehead. Harry smiled sheepishly at them and said, “I keep forgetting about that.”
“So what exactly happened?” Dean probed.
Harry sighed, “It is a very long story.”
Seamus answered, “We have an eight hour train ride.”
Harry smiled at him, “All right, but I’m only giving you the short version. I got off the Hogwarts Express last June,”
Dean interrupted, “This is the short version?”
Seamus whacked him in the chest and he shut up. “Go on, Harry,” Seamus said.
Harry chuckled and said, “I got off the train and went home with my aunt and uncle. Before we got into our house, a gunman shot at my family.”
Neville interrupted then, “You didn’t even get into your house?”
“No,” Harry continued. “I was shot twice before I took him out. He got my uncle a couple hit of times as well. Before I knew what was happening, Professor Lupin showed up at my house.”
“Professor Lupin?” Dean asked surprised.
“Yeah, Professor Lupin,” Harry continued. “And then, like twenty death eaters showed up and Professor Lupin defended my family from them.”
“He certainly did know his stuff,” Neville commented.
“The Aurors arrived shortly after that, but I was taken to a Muggle hospital and then went into emergency surgery.”
“They said that in the paper, but I couldn’t believe it,” Neville interjected. “My gran said it too, why didn’t they take you to St. Mungos?”
“I was taken to the Muggle hospital before any Wizard could get to me. By the time they figured out where I was I was already in surgery and they were worried that the potions the Muggles gave me would react badly with the ones the healers at St. Mungo would give me. That and I would have had trouble at St. Mungos because my aunt and uncle were completely incapacitated and they wouldn’t have been able to give permission to treat me.”
“I can’t believe they left you in Muggle care,” Neville sighed.
Dean spoke up, “The Muggles do a good job with that type of thing. I’m sure it wasn’t too bad.”
Harry looked at him, “Have you ever been shot?”
Dean sputtered, “Well, no, but…”
“It hurts like hell, Dean. It’s not quite as bad the Cruciatus Curse, but that usually doesn’t last for too long. The pain from the hole in my side lasted for days.”
Seamus looked surprised, “You’ve been under the Cruciatus Curse?”
It was Harry’s turn to look puzzled, “Yeah, a couple times.”
“Really?” Dean asked.
“Yes, Voldemort hit me with it in the graveyard when he killed Cedric, and then at the whole fiasco at the Ministry of Magic,” Harry paused and looked at Neville, “Belatrix LeStrange hit me with it there.”
Neville demeanor changed instantly to one of hatred. He didn’t say anything but he clenched his hands into fists.
Harry continued, “Anyway, when we were at the hospital, a bomb went off. So they moved me back home. Then later that night, I was attacked by another Muggle, this one was like a ninja.”
“A Ninja?” Dean asked, “really?”
“That’s who got Ron and his brothers,” Harry added.
“What’s a ninja?” Neville asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Dean said to him. “Go on Harry.”
“Well, we managed to take him out, but then it was obvious that I couldn’t stay at home any more. It took about a week, but they found the old farmhouse, and we went to stay out there.”
“’His Last Stand,’” Seamus commented.
“Huh?” Harry asked.
“That’s what the papers called it, the battle at that farmhouse, ‘His Last Stand’.” Seamus explained. “I guess you didn’t get the paper.”
“No, I guess not, I didn’t see that,” Harry admitted. “Anyway, after that whole thing, I went back home, and now I’m here. There, that’s short version. Good enough?”
“No,” Dean answered, “How did your scar open up again?”
Harry thought for a minute and then said, “Do you remember that night when I had that dream that made me so sick?”
“How could we forget?” Dean answered, “That was pretty memorable.”
“Well, it was like that, only worse,” Harry answered. Harry didn’t want to go into the mental attacks. He wasn’t exactly sure his friends thought he was in his right mind to beginning with; he didn’t want to give them more reasons to doubt his sanity.
Neville looked over at Harry, his fists still clenched and with an unnerving look he said, “You and I are in this together Harry.”
Harry looked startled at Neville’s comment but didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say.
Neville continued, “I know Harry. My gran told me. My parents were tortured for the contents of that prophesy, which is why they are in bad way now. The Lestranges didn’t want to know where he was, they wanted know what the prophesy said and my parents knew, just like your parents did.”
Harry was painfully aware the Dean and Seamus were hanging on every word and that they shouldn’t. It was too serious to discuss in open company. Harry nodded, gave Neville a hard look and said, “Hey, could you help me for a minute Neville, I need to go get Hermione’s cat. I just remembered. They’re in the prefect car. We’ll be right back,” he said to Dean and Seamus.
Harry pulled Neville out toward the front of the car and looked hard at Neville, “You know what the prophesy said?”
“I do now.” Neville confided as they walked forward.
“Do not, under any circumstances, tell anyone you know. You’re right, it could have been either of us, but for whatever reason, Voldemort picked me. I didn’t realize that your parents were tortured for the contents of the prophesy. It does make sense. Keep it quiet and when we get back to school you and I should go talk to Dumbledore.”
“What now?” Neville asked.
Harry got a good look at him for the first time and realized that Neville was a lot taller than he remembered. His round face had thinned and he looked powerful, strong.
“We get Hermione’s cat I guess,” Harry chuckled. They kept walking toward the prefect’s cabin.
“Oh and Harry, I wanted to thank you. I got an O in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Gran about fell over. It’s the best mark I’ve ever gotten at Hogwarts.”
Harry smiled and grabbed an angry Crookshanks from a confused Hermione and returned to the compartment.
The train started a few minutes later and they were off to Hogwarts. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all dropped in after a bit. They had a very pleasant afternoon. When the lunch cart came around, Harry treated like he usually did, but to Harry’s dismay, Hermione pushed a sandwich in his hand.
“Mum made it for you,” Hermione said, “its ham and swiss.”
Harry smiled at her and said, “Thanks.”
“That’s what sisters are for right?” she answered smiling.
The train ride wore on into the early evening. The sun was beginning to turn the sky a violent looking red color as it sank to the west.
Hermione commented on it, “Looks like we’re going to get a storm.”
Ron was just standing up to look out the window when a piece of parchment appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the air with a red feather and dropped to the floor.
Ron fell backwards in surprise, “Bloody hell, what was that?”
Harry grabbed it, he had a rough idea. He unrolled the parchment and read three sentences on the page.
Harry swore under his breath and looked directly at Ron and Hermione. “We need to secure the train, now.”
Hermione looked surprised and took the parchment out of Harry’s hand. She read out loud, “’Voldemort and all death eaters have escaped. Prepare for another attack. Secure the train.’ Ron, Ginny let’s go and alert the other prefects. We have to protect the younger students.”
“No,” Harry said sharply. “You alert the prefects and you alert Malfoy. He’ll do something I’m sure. We’ll secure the train, but just the DA. Grab whomever you can find. Let’s go, we don’t have much time.”
Half of them ran one way, half the other and they were magically sealing compartments as they went. It wouldn’t hold off the Death Eaters for long, but it was something. Ron, Harry, and Neville were sealing compartments toward the back, when all the lights went out in the train.
“Lumos,” Harry, Ron and Neville yelled together as if by instinct. Once the wands lit, Harry could see a Death Eater walking up the train. It was Lucius Malfoy. He wasn’t even bothering to wear his Death Eater mask.
Malfoy didn’t hesitate, “Stupefy,” he yelled. The spell shot out and the three teens dove out of the way.
Ron was in front and he did a dive roll and got back up shooting. “Stupefy,” he called as the spell worked toward Malfoy, he ducked at it hit someone behind him. It was then that Harry, Ron, and Neville realized that there were at least fifteen death eaters behind Malfoy.
Harry swore and pulled Ron down, but not before a serious number of spells flew their way. They ducked again, and the spells all went high. Luckily for Harry, Ron, and Neville, there wasn’t a lot of room in the hallway and the Death Eaters didn’t want to hit Malfoy in the front.
Neville nudged Harry and pointed behind them. At least ten more Death Eaters were approaching from the back. It was like the Department of Mysteries all over again, except this time Harry didn’t have a bargaining chip. Harry stood up and faced Malfoy. There was no point crouching, they were surrounded. Ron and Neville quickly followed.
“Hello, Potter,” Malfoy drawled. “I’ve heard you’ve had a rough summer.”
“Not as bad as being in Azkaban,” Harry shot back.
“I didn’t suffer in Azkaban. For some reason the Dementors didn’t like me. But they do like you, don’t they Potter.” Malfoy waved his hand lazily and Harry felt the cold icy dread that meant a Dementor was near.
Malfoy continued, “I’m going to give you a choice Potter. Despite our reputation, we aren’t in the habit of hurting children, especially our own. The Dark Lord wants you, no one else. If you come with us now, no one gets hurt. If you fight or try and insight the other students to fight, we’ll give the Dementers one student every minute until you come. I don’t know if the Dementers kiss hurts do you? You had a close call a couple of times. Maybe we’ll start with this little girl?”
The Death Eaters from behind drew to with feet of Neville. Another Death Eater from in front brought forward what must have been a first year girl. She was tiny, with long black hair, and crying. She looked vaguely like Parvati and Padma Patil. Harry racked his brain, what could he do?
Malfoy held her close and then stroked her hair and waved again. “Such a pity, such a waste, such a beautiful girl, she would have made a fine witch.”
Harry felt the sinking feeling that a Dementor was approaching. Harry fought to keep his head as it approached. Malfoy gestured for the Dementor to take the girl and the Dementor started to lower his hood to her face.
“Wait!” Harry cried, coming to a snap decision. He dropped his wand held up his hands in surrender. “Don’t. I’ll come. I’ll come quietly. Just leave her alone, leave them all alone.”
“Good,” Lucius said, “I’m glad you came around to our point of view. I thought you would, Crucio,” he yelled and the spell hit Harry.
Harry fell to the ground, the pain coming from everywhere. It lasted for a minute which seemed like hours. Then the spell was lifted. Malfoy’s voice came back to Harry’s ears. “That’s for getting me locked up in Azkaban. Crucio,” he yelled again.
The pain came from everywhere, like his very blood was boiling. It stopped and Harry laid still on the floor, “That’s for everything you’ve done to my son. Come on Potter, you have a meeting to attend.”
Ron and Neville started shooting spells at the people coming toward Harry, but they were quickly hit by spells and fell on the floor. Harry felt rough hands grab him and put him on his feet. Malfoy magically tied ropes to his hands and pulled him to toward front of the train.
Harry saw as he passed each compartment the eyes of all the Hogwarts students watching him being led out of the train. Most of the eyes looked very scared. Some looked sympathetic, some looked angry. They reached the front of the train and Hermione, Ginny, Dean, Seamus, and several other DA members jumped out of the front train car.
Before Hermione could do anything, Harry raised his bound hands to stop her, “Hermione don’t! They’ll just kill you. They only want me. If I go with them, the rest of you are safe.”
Hermione was rooted to the spot, and said, “Harry, no. Don’t do this.”
Harry smiled at her, “Take care of Ron okay.”
Hermione and Ginny both started crying. The DA members behind her looked like they was going to try something, but Harry stopped them, “Don’t. Don’t give them an excuse to hurt you. Once I’m gone, they’ll leave you alone.”
Noise was building at the other end of the train. Malfoy, looking worried, pulled at Harry’s rope and then pushed him off the train. With his hands bound, Harry fell into the ground face first. Malfoy jumped down next to him and pushed him into a nearby field. Malfoy forced a bottle into his hands. In a whirl of color, the Portkey whizzed Harry and Lucius Malfoy away.