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.
.....
Can't wait to read more exciting chapters then what are you waiting for Join my p*atreon right now.
Get 60+ Premium chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/Earthly_Writer (Remove the *)
2 Chapters for all free members.