A Different Beginning

Chapter XXXI - All Aboard

The rest of the summer went by pretty uneventful. The idea of having pictures of Fred and George that they couldn't find seemed to freak them out enough that the twins did not pull any pranks on Harry and Ginny, much to their relief. And Harry and Ginny managed to find quite a bit of time together on their own which they tended to use mostly for snogging.

When it came to lessons, the Marauders had indeed allowed Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in on becoming an animagus. They had thought that it was a great idea. Of course, it had been tricky as they had all decided to keep it a secret from Molly, Arthur, Fred, and George, but they succeeded. James had made the potion for them and they had each seen the animal that they would become. Ron saw a tiger; Hermione a doe; and Ginny saw two animals to everyone's surprise, a fox and an eagle. Ginny was shocked when she told everyone that she had seen two forms as was everyone else. More then one form was very rare after all. Ginny had questioned Harry about it after the first lesson.

"Why do you think that I can produce two?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe it has something to do with Voldemort."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you did sort of adopt some of his skills after the Chamber, right? So maybe you adopted a bit of his power as well which would increase your power or something and give you that second form. Does that make sense?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. It was just odd, you know? When Ron and Hermione only saw one form and you saw four and I saw two. I mean, I never expected to see two. Hey, with all of the power that your Da has, I wonder why he never saw more then one form."

Harry shrugged. "That's a good question. I'll ask him about that later."

"Ask who about what later?" James asked as he came into the living room and took a seat.

"Da, Ginny and I were just talking about our animagi forms and I suggested that maybe since she adopted some of the power and skills from Voldemort because of the Chamber that that could be why she has two forms. And then she asked why you don't have two forms?" Harry explained. "I mean, you have the same power that I do, right?"

James sighed as he glanced around the room for a minute before putting a silencing charm around it. "Actually, I have three forms."

"WHAT?" Harry asked in surprise.

James nodded. "But I've only ever tried one. You see, when I started the transformation I was thirteen years old and I hadn't yet learned all about the power that I had. I made the potion and I remember seeing three animals and thinking that it was brilliant but then Sirius and Peter only saw one. So I just chose one and pretended that I only had one as well."

Harry stared at his father in surprise. "Why have you never tried to learn them?"

James shrugged. "Well, I think originally I was too embarrassed to think that I was different from my friends or something I don't know. And then I just grew up and never really thought about it again. You two are the only people that know this."

"Oh," Harry replied. "I was also wondering, well, it took you close to six months to change your first arm, right? And Sirius said the same - why didn't you produce faster like I did?"

James grinned. "I did. It took me four months not six but I held back until Sirius caught up. I was good in school, Harry, incredibly smart and I didn't like to show it. I wanted to learn at the same pace as everyone else, so I held back. When I changed my arm I didn't tell anyone I simply waited for Sirius and then I did mine at the same time. I think Sirius was suspicious of me for a while but I always denied anything. It only took me a year and a half to fully do the transformation. You were still a lot faster then me."

Harry nodded. "So you just ... held back all of the time? In everything?"

James nodded. "Yes. I'm not saying it was a good thing to do, Harry, but I had all of this power that I didn't understand or how to use it. You never questioned it the way that I did, you simply accepted that it was a part of who you were. When you were twelve however, Dumbledore also told you that Voldemort channelled some of his powers into you. You accepted that that's why you were different then others as well. That's why I think that you never really noticed that you were more powerful. I did notice and I never understood until I was fifteen. But by that time, I never really considered working on my other two forms; I was much too focused on trying to win the heart of Lily Evans."

Ginny smiled. "That's sweet, James. Have you ever thought about trying those forms now?"

"I've been thinking a lot about it since Harry has mastered two forms. I think that I might tell Sirius and Remus about it and then try to learn it all over again. If I'm not too old."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Old? Please, you're only thirty-three. So what were your other two forms anyway?"

James grinned. "Well, the white stag as you know and then a raven and a panther."

"Wow! Da, work on the raven next. It's the most amazing feeling to be up there flying around. Trust me on this."

James grinned. "I will." He removed the silencing charm from around the room. "I will also tell the Marauders about my secret, I promise. Now for your lessons, I'm sure that you've been wondering how those are going to proceed now that you're going back to school, am I right?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I have been a little curious."

"Good," James replied. "Alright, Sirius, Remus, and I will be coming to Hogwarts once a week to work with you. We'll be working in Dumbledore's office every Sunday afternoon."

"Alright, that sounds good."

James grinned. "Good because now that you've mastered all of the spells and curses and charms from the last four years of school you're going to have homework from me. Whenever you learn a new spell or charm or curse, I need you to do it wandlessly as well. That will be up to you to teach yourself that. We don't have time to continue to go over new material with you. The first time we get together I'll be teaching you more about the elementals and creating them yourself. We'll meet the second Sunday after school begins, that way you've had two full weeks of school. Got it?"

Harry nodded. "Got it."

"Good. And I assume that you're going to continue to teach your friends on the animagus lessons?"

"Yup, all set. With this being O.W.L. year and all too it will be a lot of work."

James nodded. "Yes, it will be." He stood up and he smiled down at his son, who had his arm wrapped around Ginny as she cuddled close to him. "Harry?"

"Yeah Da?"

"Those dreams that you've been having lately, I want to know if they escalate as well."

"I promise."

James nodded and left the room as Ginny looked up at Harry. "The dreams about the corridor?"

"Yeah. I've had it twice already. It might not mean anything at all but ... it's always good to keep Da posted." He replied as he remembered the dreams that he'd been having about a long corridor ending at a locked door. After that dream about the Riddle House where he discovered that it had actually happened he made sure that any odd dream that he had he told his father right away. He figured it was better to be safe then sorry.

The two of them went up to bed for the evening and Harry made sure that he hadn't left any last minute packing for the morning before he climbed into bed. Tomorrow he would be going back to Hogwarts. He could only smile as he closed his eyes and dreamed of Ginny.

*********

The next morning was crazy hectic as Dumbledore had insisted that they couldn't head into London until they had a full guard from the Order. Harry knew that it was for his sake and he didn't really appreciate it. It seemed like so much more work and he hardly thought that he was likely to be attacked by Voldemort in broad daylight on his way to school, especially when Voldemort had yet to even show himself since the incident in June. So that morning, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Fred, George, Sirius, Remus, James, Molly, and Arthur all flooed to Grimmauld Place by nine o'clock that morning. Once they were all safely sitting in the kitchen and all of their trunks and things in the entrance way did Remus speak.

"Now, I know that the train doesn't leave for another two hours, however, we have to wait here for members of the Order who will be taking us all to King's Cross."

"Don't you Da, Sirius, Molly, and Arthur all qualify as Order members?" Harry asked.

James nodded. "Yes, but we need a few more. Moody will be coming in to help us, the real Moody, as well as Tonks. Only then will we be able to leave."

Hermione elbowed Harry at the table and he turned to look at her. "What?"

"Look at Tonks and Remus when Tonks gets here, I swear, there is some major attraction between those two."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'll look. But I still think that you're crazy."

"Who's crazy?" Ginny asked.

Harry turned to smile at her. "Hermione thinks that Uncle Remus and Tonks have the hots for each other. She wants me to look closely this time as last time when Tonks brought her to the manor, I didn't see it."

Ginny nodded. "Alright, I'll look too. Who's Tonks?"

"Sirius' second cousin. She's really pretty and weird and a little clumsy." Harry explained.

As if on cue, something was knocked over in the entrance hall and Mrs. Black's portrait began to shriek loudly. Tonks came into the room, this time with hair down to her bum and it was honey blonde. "Sorry, everyone."

"Hey Tonks! How did your hair grow so fast?" Harry asked.

Tonks grinned at him. "Wotcher Harry! And that's because I'm a metamorphmagus."

"What's that?"

Tonks took a seat across from him at the table. "It's a special skill that only a few witches and wizards are born with. It means that I can change my appearance at will. See?" She closed her eyes as if in concentration and then her hair was back to the short spikes and in bubble gum pink.

"Brilliant!" Ginny replied.

Tonks grinned. "Thanks. You must be Molly and Arthur's daughter, Ginny right?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah and this is my brother Ron."

"Nice to meet you," Tonks replied.

They all turned when they heard Moody's gruff voice in the doorway but Harry winced as he got another elbow in the rib. He turned to look at Hermione again. "Ow!"

"Look at Remus," she whispered.

Harry looked over at his honourary uncle, not quite sure as to what he was looking for. Remus' eyes had turned to that dark gold again and his eyes were staring directly at Tonks. He looked over at Tonks to see if she was looking at Remus, but she seemed to be blushing a bit and pointedly looking in another direction. Could Hermione be right? Was there more there then he was seeing?

"Well, do you see it? He obviously is attracted to her and vice versa." Hermione replied.

Harry shrugged. "Alright, yeah I see it. You were right. Happy now?"

Hermione only smirked at him as Moody instructed them all to come out into the entrance way with their belongings. Apparently they were taking the Knight Bus to the station.

They all headed outside and onto the bus that had appeared when Tonks held out her wand. They climbed up as James gave the conductor, some guy named Stan Shunpike, the proper amount of money for everyone aboard.

"I've always wanted to travel on this thing," Ron replied. "I heard it's a lot of fun."

Sirius grinned. "You won't think so in a minute."

Harry didn't have time to ask what Sirius meant by that as the bus took off at full speed and he flew back against the seat, Ginny spilling over into his lap. He placed his hands on her hips to steady her as they almost fell out of the seat. He glanced around at everyone else and was happy to see that it wasn't only he and Ginny that were having trouble. Hermione was practically in Ron's lap; Fred and George were in the aisle way; Sirius, James, Molly, Arthur, and Moody were holding onto bars on the seats but they were still sliding everywhere; and to Harry's surprise, Remus had his hands on Tonks' hips as the two of them tried not to fly around the back of the bus.

When the bus finally stopped at King's Cross station, Harry wasn't the only one who was glad to get off. They gathered up their belongings and made their way through the wall and onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. They said goodbye and then made their way up onto the train. Ron and Hermione headed into the prefect compartment while Fred and George went to go find Lee Jordan. Harry and Ginny continued to walk through the train until they found Neville standing outside of a compartment looking unsure.

"Are you going inside, Nev?" Harry asked.

Neville shrugged. "Well, I er ... I think that this one's full."

Ginny glanced inside and grinned. "Neville! It's only Luna!" Ginny headed inside and grinned. "Hey Luna!"

Luna Lovegood (better known as Loony Luna Lovegood), a pretty girl with blonde hair who had her wand tucked back behind her ear as if for safekeeping, turned to smile at them. "Hello Ginny."

"Hey Luna, this is my friend Neville Longbottom and my boyfriend Harry Potter."

Luna nodded. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." She turned her attention back to the magazine that she was reading. It was called The Quibbler and she was apparently reading it upside down.

Harry glanced at Ginny again as he took a seat next to her. It was the first time that he had been introduced as her boyfriend and he liked it. Even if her friend Luna was kind of odd. He only knew her briefly to see her. "So uh, Luna, how was your summer?"

Luna shrugged. "Dad and I went looking for a crumple-horned snackork but we didn't find one. He kept escaping us."

Harry nodded. "Uh, I see."

The train started moving and Neville pulled a plant out from his trunk. "Look what my Uncle Algie gave me for my birthday. He got it from Assyria. It's called a Mimbulus Mimbletonia."

"Does it do anything?" Harry asked, as he remembered Neville's love of Herbology.

Neville nodded excitedly. "It has a great defensive mechanism. Watch this." Sticking his tongue between his teeth, he carefully poked at it with a quill and it exploded sticky goo around everyone in the compartment. "Oops."

The compartment door slid open and Harry carefully wiped goo off of his glasses as he looked up to see who had entered. To his surprise, Cho was standing there.

"Er, hi Harry, is this a bad time?" She asked nervously.

Harry shrugged. "Well, probably not the best, yeah."

She nodded. "I'll talk to you later then." She closed the compartment door again and Harry looked over at Ginny.

"What do you think that's about?"

Ginny shrugged. "Who knows? Okay, let me fix this, Scourgify!"

The compartment and everyone in it became spotless once more.

"Thanks Ginny," Neville replied. "So, how long have you and Harry been together?"

Ginny grinned as she leaned back against Harry. "Almost three weeks now."

Neville grinned. "Well, congratulations. I always thought that you two would look good together. What happened with Michael?"

"Actually, it worked out really well as he wrote me almost at the same I was going to write him asking to break up. Apparently he met some girl in France who's supposed to be coming to Hogwarts this year." Ginny explained.

Neville nodded. "That's neat. I didn't know that students could come over and switch schools."

Ginny nodded. "Sure they can."

They all looked up when the compartment door opened again, this time Michael Corner was standing there. "Um, hi."

Ginny smiled at him. "Hi Michael."

He grinned and then let out a sigh of relief. "Good, you're smiling. I wasn't sure if your letter was serious or not. You're really okay with everything?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. Do I get to meet Dominique?"

He grinned. "Yeah," he reached over and pulled a pretty girl with dark black hair into view. "Dominique St. Clair, this is some friends of mine, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood."

Dominique smiled. "Bonjour! Eet iz neece to meet you."

Ginny smiled. "It's nice to meet you, too. Are you nervous about starting at a new school?"

Dominique smiled. "A leetle, oui."

Michael slipped his arm around her. "I told her that everything will be fine. I think that she's nervous about the whole house thing. I'm hoping she's a Ravenclaw."

Ginny grinned. "Well, good luck then." Michael and Dominique waved goodbye before leaving the compartment. Ginny turned to look at Harry then. "Wow, she was beautiful. Every guy in school is going to be so jealous of Michael."

Harry grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. "She was alright. I think I got the better end of the deal. Michael doesn't know what he gave up."

Ginny blushed and kissed him softly as the compartment door opened up again. Ginny squealed in delight when she recognized Colin and Demelza and she jumped to her feet to throw herself into first Colin's arms and then Demelza's.

"Oh, I missed you guys!"

Colin grinned as he pulled her back into his arms for another hug. "I missed you. And what's with the last letter I get from you? Are you trying to kill me with suspense?"

Ginny grinned. "Whatever do you mean?"

Demelza rolled her eyes. "Pul-lease! I quote: P.S. I'm dating Harry. How did this happen? When did this happen?"

Colin nodded. "We are insisting on details."

Harry grinned. "I am in the room too, you know."

Colin grinned and sat down next to Harry. "So I noticed after that kiss. Well, how did this come about?"

Harry grinned. "I just kissed her one day."

Demelza's mouth dropped open. "And?"

Ginny blushed. "And I kissed him back."

"What about Michael?" Colin asked.

"We broke up. He's dating someone else as well."

Colin grinned. "Well congrats to both of you. Dee and I have been searching the train since it started moving to try to find you two."

Demelza grinned. "We've been dying of curiousity. So, did anything else interesting happen this summer?"

Ginny shrugged. "Not really. That was really the most exciting thing. Oh! But Percy, my git of a brother, left the family."

"WHAT?" Colin exclaimed.

As Ginny began to explain the story about Percy, Harry turned to Neville. "So how was your summer?"

Neville shrugged. "It was alright. I didn't do anything interesting really. Gran wanted to hang out at home and redo the house. So my uncle and I repainted it and re-shingled the roof and stuff. It wasn't very exciting. You?"

Harry shrugged. "I didn't do much either. Just got Ginny."

Neville grinned. "You two really do make a great couple."

Harry grinned. "Thanks." He looked up when the compartment door opened once more and he grinned at Ron and Hermione. "Hey, how's life as a prefect?"

Ron groaned and sat down next to Luna. "So many rules! But you'll never guess who the prefects are from Slytherin? Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson."

Harry groaned. "Damn, rotten luck."

Ron nodded. "I know."

Hermione nodded. "Ravenclaw's got Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil and Hufflepuff has Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan."

"Interesting. I'm not surprised to learn that Hannah made prefect."

Ron nodded. "Well, you can bet that Malfoy's going to abuse his position."

"I wouldn't put it past him."

They all looked up when the compartment door opened again. This time it was Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Well, well, well, it's the compartment full of losers." Malfoy replied with a sneer.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You couldn't come up with anything better then that?"

Draco sneered at him and then he noticed the way that Ginny was leaning back against him. "Well, never thought you'd stoop low enough to date the Weaselette, Potter, but then again, I shouldn't be surprised."

Harry reached for his wand, but Ginny beat him too it. "At least Harry has a choice, aren't you betrothed, Draco?"

Malfoy paled. "Doesn't mean that I can't date other people!"

Ginny grinned. "Tell that to Pansy."

Malfoy looked sad for a minute before he masked it and slammed out of the compartment followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Harry grinned at Ginny. "Brilliant Gin!"

She grinned. "Well, he is betrothed to Pansy. He has to marry her straight out of Hogwarts."

Ron smirked. "No wonder he's so miserable all of the time. If I had to marry that cow I'd be miserable too."

Luna burst into hysterical laughter. "That cow! Ha! That was funny!" She exclaimed as she continued to laugh.

Everyone in the compartment began to laugh as well, though they weren't sure if they were laughing at Ron's face or Luna.

The ride went pretty smoothly after that and soon they were climbing off the train and making their way towards the school carriages. Harry stopped in his tracks when he approached them, however, because this year the carriages were not being led by themselves, they were being pulled by these gianormous black-winged horses.

"Hey, what do you reckon those things are there for?" Harry asked Ginny.

"What things?" Ginny asked as she held the cage with Ron's owl in it.

"Those horse things?" When Ginny only continued to look at him funny he gulped. "Can't you see them?"

Ginny reached up and kissed him softly. "No, I don't see anything. You're probably just tired." She climbed into the carriage and Harry watched her go, wondering what was going on.

"You're not crazy," Luna said softly from next to him.

Harry looked down at her. "I'm not?"

Luna shook her head. "I've been able to see them since I first came to Hogwarts."

She climbed into the carriage with Ginny, her butterbeer cork necklace rattling and Harry wondered if he really felt any better knowing that Loony Luna Lovegood could also see the horses. He shook the thoughts from his head and climbed into the carriage, wondering if there were really any creatures out there.