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Chapter Two: The Return to Hogwarts

Finally it was time to head back to Hogwarts. I honestly could not believe it was my fifth year. The year of my O.W.L.'s. I wondered if anything would go wrong this year. Perhaps I should ask, 'what' will go wrong this year, considering something bad has happened every year I've been at Hogwarts. 

The second we arrived back to the Burrow, Harry told Ginny and I what happened. They followed Draco to Borgin and Burkes, from there the shades were shut and they lost him. So nothing really. Yet Harry formed a new conflusion, he believes that Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater. I didn't believe him, not a bit. Sure Draco was cold and seemed to be even colder this year, but I never saw him as violent. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny didn't believe him either, which surely pissed him off. He brought up how Draco flinched his arm away from Madame Malkin but that was just Draco being his usual picky self. Plus, I've run into him at Borgin and Burkes before, it wasn't his first time going to that shop. Harry simply hated Draco and thought the worst. 

"Hurry, the car is leaving!" called Mr. Weasley. I was upstairs shoving a few more things into my bag when I met Ginny out in the hall to go downstairs. We were talking two muggle cars to King's Cross. I loved riding in muggle cars. They were so fascinating. I can't imagine ever operating one, they seemed to be very dangerous. 

"He is," I heard Harry snap towards Ron in the back seat. He was probably talking about Draco again. I turned back to look out the window and continued petting my little pygmy puff Clover. There was just no way Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater. I wouldn't believe it.

After a long ride to King's Cross Station, we got out and rushed to Platform 9 3/4. It was interesting being in a big group this time. Usually I was by myself. We had to be careful with all of the muggles around. We didn't want them to see all of us disappear at once. Ginny and I went together, following behind Harry and Ron. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley followed shortly after. "Alright now behave," she said hugging each and everyone of us. "And be safe."

Mr. Weasley was off talking to Harry, probably telling him to be very careful. This was the first year back to Hogwarts where everyone knew the Dark Lord had returned. It was scary really. After the Weasley's left, Ginny spotted Dean from a far. She turned to look at me. "Go," I said with a simple laugh. She widely smiled and rushed over to Dean, hugging him tightly. 

Then I was alone, but as I looked around I noticed a lot of students were looking at me. More than ever. What changed? As they passed, they sort of stepped away from me. One mother put her hand around her child's waist as she passed and pulled them aside. How strange. "Everyone knows you know," came the pompous voice of Maeve. I turned to look at my ex-best friend standing there with a few others. 

"Knows what?" I questioned.

"Knows about your father of course," she replied rolling her eyes. "That he's a Death Eater." I blanked for a second. No wonder I was getting all the strange looks. I figured it would come out eventually, but not until after the war was over. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, or Ginny wouldn't have told anyone. Who could have found this out so suddenly? Then it hit me. Draco... I told him, but only because I knew he would have found out anyways considering his connection to the Death Eaters. It was definitely Draco who told everyone! "Funny you didn't mention that when we were kids," Maeve added with an eyebrow raise.

"Because I didn't know!" I replied honestly.

"Sure," she replied sarcastically with a laugh. She walked off with all of her friends. News really spread quickly in the wizarding world.

Walking over to the train, Hermione spotted me from a far. "There you are!" she said. "Follow me, Ron and I will show you to the Prefect cabin." I completely forgot about that as well. Smiling I took the pin out of my pocket and pinned it onto my robes next to the Ravenclaw logo. "Harry went to save us a compartment with Neville and Luna, although there seems to be a lot of extra room this year anyway," she pointed out.

I looked around and saw that it was true that not many were returning. Usually the Hogwart's Express was so packed that students were cramming into seats. Now everyone looked comfortable in their spacious compartments. How sad. "I wonder who the other prefects are," I said. Overall, I was shocked Ginny didn't get chosen for Gryffindor.

We arrived to the cabin and it was much bigger than the others. There was a comforable bench that wrapped around the entire compartment with a large table in the middle. Refreshments were out on the table and everyone looked happy to see everyone. "Welcome new fifth year prefects," the Head Girl from Hufflepuff said as we all entered. 

I smiled and took a seat next to Ron. I recognized the other fifth year prefects and some of the sixth year ones. The seventh years only looked slightly familar. Sitting next to the Head Girl was the Head Boy. I recognized his light brown hair and brown eyes. He was in Ravenclaw, we've never spoken before. He always looked really busy. I knew his first name was Cathal. "Alright just waiting on a few more people," he said looking around. "Then we can begin."

We waited about ten more minutes until, finally, who but Draco Malfoy arrived. I completely forgot he was a prefect. Draco didn't look like he wanted to be here, let alone be a prefect. Last year he always pointed out his pin to everyone but it seemed like he wanted to get out of here as soon as he could. As he entered, his eyes landed on me with nothing but a cold expression. He looked so miserable as he lent up against the wall, not even taking a seat. I returned the dark look and sharply turned my head, refusing to look back at him. I was sure it was he who told everyone about my father being a Death Eater. "Can we start this already? I have better things to be doing," Draco groaned. Better things to be doing? We were on a train for the next few hours. I hardly believe there was anything else to do.

"Of course Malfoy," Cathal replied coolly while raising his eyebrows. 

It took about a half an hour for them to explain all of the rules to us. We got to use the special prefect bathrooms, which I have heard were very cool. They handed out a bunch of papers which I would definitely be looking over later. The other Ravenclaw prefect was a quiet boy who was very studious. I wasn't surprised he was chosen. Right as we finished, Draco was quickly out the door. "Alright so see you all at Hogwarts," Cathal said to the rest of the us with a smile. I smiled back before following Hermione and Ron.

When we got to the compartment, Harry was arriving the same time we were. "Where are you coming from?" Hermione questioned him. Luna and Neville weren't inside, they must have been changing into their robes or chasing after the snack cart.

"Slughorn called me for some meeting," Harry said unsurely. "The Slugclub I believe. Ginny was there as well."

"Interesting," Hermione said nodding her head. I wondered what the Slugclub actually was. "Who else was there?"

"Cormac McClaggen, Ginny, Blaise Zabini, and a few others," Harry answered as we stepped inside and shut the door. "Anyways, was Draco there?"

"Harry you're being a bit obsessive," Hermione added.

"He was there but he didn't say much," I answered with a shrug. Draco was just in a bad mood because of his father. 

"So he was acting strangely?" Harry asked me.

"Well not really," I answered again. 

"He was acting as strange as anyone would if their father got locked up in Azkaban," Ron replied with a laugh. Harry didn't seem amused, you could tell he was taking this very seriously. "Come on mate, I don't like him either but Draco being a Death Eater is a little far fetched." Harry looked annoyed.

"It's true Harry," Hermione said. 

"Like You-Know-Who would have a sixteen year old join his army," Ron added with a laugh.

"Whatever," Harry replied standing up. "I need some air." He stepped outside the cabin and shut the door. Harry's a very passionate person, once he got something on his mind he didn't let it go. I suppose that was a good quality to have, but not when you're wrong. 

"I don't want to get him mad, but I honestly can't picture Draco being a Death Eater. It just doesn't seem like a possibility to me," I said turning to Harry and Ron.

"Plus he's only sixteen," Ron repeated. Then again, my mother was sixteen when she joined so the Dark Lord clearly doesn't have an age limit. Things were different then...I hope. "He's just a git, he's not a Death Eater." 

For the rest of the train ride, Hermione told me more about prefect duties and a little more about O.W.L.'s. Luna and Neville eventually rejoined us, but Harry never did. We waited and waited, but he never came back. "Is anyone else getting worried?" Hermione asked. We all nodded. "I'm going to go look for him." She got up and left.

Within fifteen minutes she was back looking even more worried. "I couldn't find him anyway, I even looked in the Slytherin compartment," Hermione said shaking her head.

"You don't think he-he went off the train did you?" Neville asked nervously.

"No way," Hermione said shaking her head. 

"The cloak," I added when it hit me. He had that invisibility cloak. 

"You're right Caoimhe!" Hermione said quickly. "That must be it. He's probablys eaves dropping and will show up at the feast." Harry always had that cloak around with him. When the train stopped, he would probably meet back up with us and everything will be fine.

Only an hour later, we arrived at Hogwarts and still no sign of Harry. We took the long way off the train and couldn't find a trace of him. We stepped off the train and looked in the crowd of students. "It's possible he may have been ahead of us," Luna pointed out. We were the last few standing here. Malfoy was trailing alone from the other entrance not even looking our way. He met up with Crabbe and Goyle.

"That must be it," Ron said. "He's probably saving us seats or something." The five of us got in one of the last carriages and headed off to the castle. It was amazing to be back at the castle. I missed my room and all the halls of Hogwarts. 

Once we got to the feast, Harry wasn't at his table. You could tell Hermione was worried beyond compare. This wasn't a good time for Harry to go 'missing'. I left them to go sit at the Ravenclaw table with Luna, hoping Harry would somehow show up. Looking up at the Professor's tables I noticed Slughorn, who Harry told me all about, was sitting up by Hagrid. Yet Snape was missing. I know it was strange for someone in a house other than Slytherin to like Snape, but where was he? Maybe he was just running late. Which would also be odd...because Snape was usually very punctual.

Dumbledore stood up at the stand and looked like he was ready to begin the speech when the Great Hall doors burst open and Harry walked in with a bloody rag covering his nose. He was still dressed in his muggle clothes. Of course. Draco. I turned around to look at the Slytherin table behind me. For the first time Draco held an expression other than a blank cold stare. He looked very proud of himself as the boys around him laughed. When he spotted me staring I quickly looked away shaking my head. "Nice to have you Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said with a smile as Harry sat down.

It was Snape who escorted him. I felt a bit of relief when he came back into the room, it would have been sad to not have him as my potions professor this year, especially since O.W.L.'s were coming. "Now that I have all of your attention. I would like to introduce you to Professor Slughorn," Dumbledore said motioning over towards the old man who awkwardly waved at us all. "Professor Slughorn will be your new Potions master."

Silence in the Great Hall. Everyone was looking up at the stand. "Isn't that Snape's position?" I heard someone say.

"And Professor Snape," Dumbledore continued, "Will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor." The Slytherin table errupted into a loud applause. Even Snape held a small smile, it was no secret he wanted that spot all along. I looked over at Harry, Ron, and Hermione who looked very unhappy about this.

It couldn't be too bad having Snape as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I mean, he was really passionate for the subject and knew a lot about the subject. Plus considering Umbridge taught us nothing, he may be able to catch us up. I knew a lot of students weren't going to be happy though. From there Dumbledore began his speech, and it was the darkest one I've ever heard. He mentioned Tom Riddle and his years at Hogwarts. It was eerie, there was nothing but silence throughout the hall. I looked around to see everyone's reaction, Draco's seemed to be the most prominent. He was staring down at the table and pretending as if he wasn't listening, but I could tell he heard every word.