Chapter 34

It was very noisy on the platform. Dozens of Hogwarts students were milling about, greeting friends and excitedly discussing what prospects the coming school year would hold as their anxious parents attempted to check and double check with their children that they had packed everything that they would need at the castle. Voices shouted, people laughed and various owls hooted and cats mewed. In just five minutes time, the Hogwarts Express would be departing, beginning on its long trip north from Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station in London to Hogsmeade Station, somewhere up in Scotland.

A second year girl ran along one of the carriages, screaming out excitedly to one of her friends, and in doing so she also woke up one of the occupants of one of the compartments she passed.

Harry blinked a couple of times before sending a glare towards the door of the compartment. This was pointless of course as the girl who woke him was now three doors down.

Harry was currently seated in a compartment with Susan and Hannah. The three had arrived two streets over from the station with Sarah twenty minutes ago. For security reasons Harry had entered the station, and Platform 9 ¾ two minutes after Sarah, Susan and Hannah. He was once again disguised, but this time through the use of Polyjuice potion. The extra precaution of his arriving separately was used in case the platform was being watched. On his own, Harry could simply blend in with the crowd and likely draw absolutely no attention to himself. However had he entered with the others, any half observant watcher would note an unknown travelling with the small group.

The precaution was proved to have been necessary when Harry spotted Alastor Moody lurking on Platform 9 ¾, no doubt keeping a close watch on the barrier for Harry's arrival.

With his disguise in place Harry was able to walk straight across the platform and get onto the train without Moody noticing.

Once he was on the train, Susan had voiced the opinion that her Aunt would be most interested in the fact that it was Moody who had been on the platform on Dumbledore's orders.

Harry had taken a seat and closed his eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night as he had spent most of it going over his plans in his head. Even though there had been much preparation during the previous month for coming events, today was the day where all those plans kicked into gear. Thankfully the meeting with the journalist from the Daily Prophet at the Ministry that morning had gone off without a hitch, with Harry giving a prepared statement, followed by one of two follow up questions that had not been too hard to answer.

The really difficult tasks, however, were still lying ahead of him. The prefects meeting would be first, and was not entirely sure whether he was looking forward to it or not. He had been informed that Draco Malfoy was one of the new Slytherin prefects, and Harry could hardly wait to see the look on the ferret's face when he realised that Harry ranked above him. However it would also be a moment of reckoning, the moment that his new position would be revealed to everyone. And that was when the real pressure would begin.

He would have to make a lasting impression on the prefects, and a fair few of them were older than him, making that task harder. He would lay out the new rules for them, and leave it up to them how they responded. If he ended up having to take one of their badges in order to get his point across then so be it. If he had to make an example of one prefect to ensure that the rest fully understood the situation, then Harry had no qualms about doing so.

"Feeling sleepy?" asked Susan.

"No," Harry replied "Just practicing my occlumency."

"Sure you were," replied Hannah with a smirk.

Harry's occlumency had taken a definite upturn in the time since the Horcrux had been removed from his body. Just the night before Cyrus Greengrass had announced that Harry's shields were now strong enough to keep out gentle legillimency probes, the kind Harry was slowly becoming certain that Dumbledore used on him on a regular basis.

Sarah had mentioned that she was surprised at how quickly Harry had mastered the basics of occlumency, but Cyrus suggested that Harry's magic probably already had a grasp of the basics, even if he himself did not know it. Harry had managed to prevent Voldemort's soul fragment from taking over his mind for nearly fourteen years, after all. And most of that had occurred before Harry was even aware of his magic. Harry had asked and Cyrus confirmed that this was likely why Harry had been able to throw off the imperius curse on several occasions in the past. Harry's magic knew how to shield his mind, even without his knowledge of it happening. Now he just had to take all of that magic that once kept the soul fragment blocked off and train it to protect his entire mind even more strongly than before.

Aside from learning occlumency, Sarah had insisted that Harry learn several important spells as well. Madam Bones secured a temporary permission form from Mafalda Hopkirke that allowed Harry to practice these spells only. They were revealing spells, designed to detect potions and poisons in his food and drink, as well as any compulsion charms or similar enchantments on objects. With the potions that had earlier been found in his system almost certainly having come from Severus Snape, or someone else in the Dumbledore-Worshippers (D-W) Club, the learning of these spells were deemed to be just as necessary for Harry to learn as occlumency was.

"They're here." Susan announced.

Harry leaned back in his seat. His disguise was still in place, but he did not want to be seen looking just in case.

"Who, exactly?" he asked.

"The Weasley family" replied Susan "Well, most of them anyway. Ron, Ginny, the twins, both parents and the older brother who turned up to watch the third task of the Tri-Wizard tournament."

"Anyone else?" asked Harry.

"Looks like our defence professor from third year is with them as well," said Hannah "Lupin."

Harry nodded to her before Susan added "Our defence professor for the coming year is out there as well. And Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"Who?"

"He's an Auror," said Susan "Supposed to be one of the best. I wonder what Auntie will make of that?"

"There's a big black dog too," said Hannah "Oh, and there's Granger. She's got your owl with her, Harry. In a cage."

Harry's eyes darkened. So Sirius could not be bothered to make contact with him all summer, and yet here he was now, hoping to ambush him with the rest of the D-W Club on the platform. And Hermione was with them all as well, having kept his beloved Hedwig a prisoner all summer.

"They're all making their way over to Moody." observed Hannah "Must be wanting to know if he's seen you."

"Looks like your two old friends both made prefect this year." said Susan.

Hannah turned to Harry and commented "I do so hope that you won't go giving them special treatment now, Harry."

He snorted derisively and replied "Not likely. But I won't be biased against them either. All prefects get the same chances. Three strikes and they're out."

Susan nudged her friend and said "Hear that Hannah? Three strikes only, so don't you go embarrassing Hufflepuff house, alright?"

In reply the new Hufflepuff prefect stuck out her tongue at her best friend.

Harry rolled his eyes at their antics and commented "I very much doubt that many will push me that far. A couple might get to two strikes, but three will be rare. Hopefully."

"So who do we think will be first to go?" asked Susan.

"Malfoy or Weasley, most likely." replied Harry "Depends who abuses their position the most as to who gets stripped of their post first. And it depends on other students reporting misdemeanours by prefects. I expect that Malfoy might be able to bully others into keeping quiet, but I expect that the Gryffindors might be more willing to complain about Weasley."

"What about Granger?" asked Hannah.

"I may end up having to give her at least one strike before the message sinks in as she can be quite stubborn at times," said Harry "But she is also sensible enough that a strike will make her realise the reality of the situation."

"Do you think that she'll ever come around to your way of thinking?" said Susan.

"Maybe," said Harry "I don't know if she will ever see Dumbledore from my point of view, but hopefully she will realise that what I am trying to do is the right thing."

"You think she could still be useful to you?" said Susan.

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