Chapter 4: Carraige Ride

"Actually, I-" Harry began. He wasn't quite sure what to answer to that, but he had a feeling that riding up to the castle with a Slytherin as a carriage mate wouldn't go over very well with some of the Gryffindors.

"Harry? Oi, mate, over here!" Ron's bellow carried easily over the crowd.

It was just the distraction that he needed. "Ron?" Harry turned and braced himself for the armful of bushy-haired witch that usually followed. It didn't come. He was mildly surprised when Hermione didn't launch herself at him the way she usually did. A closer look showed that, in fact, she wasn't even near him yet. She held Ron's hand as they approached and was busy looking over her shoulder into the crowd for something that Harry couldn't figure.

"Harry?" Ron tried again.

"Hi Ron." He managed.

Hermione turned around and her eyes lit up as they landed on Harry. "Harry!" She gushed and promptly swallowed him in a hug. He flinched, but barely—he knew she wouldn't notice it. She never had.

He gave a soft sigh as he felt the temporary tension melt away while he hugged her back, relieved to find comfort in the familiar routine. "Hey Mione." He murmured.

"I brought your birthday present." She said, releasing him. Her face was a happy flush of red and her hair was in its usual wild curls frothing about her cheeks. "Did you finish all of your summer-"

"I did!" He interrupted before she could get started. That was the only way to spare himself a lecture. "I did every single assignment and except for one halfway-essay that I'll finish tonight, I'm all done. I just couldn't finish it on the train." He added the last bit when he saw her about to comment on it. It worked, for she blinked and promptly changed course with whatever she'd been about to say.

"See, I told you , Ron." Hermione turned to the redhead who wore an expression of longsuffering on his freckled face. "I told you he'd do the smart thing and finish his work. I hope you at least did your reading, because I'm not letting you copy off of my-"

"Harry!" Ginny came barreling through the throng of students and she also flung herself at the green-eyed boy and hugged him tightly. She pretended not to notice his usual flinch. He pretended that he didn't know she knew. She'd never said anything. She certainly wouldn't start now. "I brought your birthday present too!" She crowed, giving a little bounce as she held him. "How was your summer? Are you okay? You look…different. Why do would you look different when you—oh! Where's your glasses? Did you get taller?" She reached out with a hand to check his height in relation to herself. "Yeah, you did. You look…good, I think. Ron—how could you walk off and leave me all by myself to-!"

"I guess I knocked them off." Harry lied, fumbling to grab them out of the pockets in the folds of his robes. He slipped them on and grimaced. His vision went all haywire and he scowled. Thankfully, Ginny was too busy arguing with Ron to even pay attention to his lame excuse.

"Harry?" Hermione waved a hand in front of his face as she caught sight of his expression. "What's the matter?"

Harry squinted and then stared in surprise as his vision adjusted itself and he could see fine through the glasses that had just given him a near headache moments before. That was wonderful. He'd never guessed he'd be able to do something like that and it sure went a long way in making sure that he could keep up appearances in spite of his creature inheritance. That was wonderful. Most definitely quite wonderful. "Er, it's nothing, Mione. I just…had a moment." He smiled, knowing he'd have to distract her quick before she decided to pry. "C'mon, we'd better get a carriage quick." Harry looked up as Theodore's carriage lumbered off, filled with a few Slytherin second and third-years to make it up. He felt his stomach give a little twist at that and he pushed the feeling away.

He shouldn't have any feelings towards that at all.

None. Zip.

He shook his head.

Whatever it was—if there was a whatever—he'd deal with later, right now, he needed to keep his head clear and focused. He couldn't afford to give himself away.

They found a carriage and managed to catch each other up on the summer. Harry was very careful not to say much of anything, and the new version of Ginny was far more animated than he ever remembered her being—that worked quite well for him—until she finally ran out breath for a long moment.

"You're awfully quiet, Harry." Hermione eyed him critically. She hadn't given it up after all. She'd merely been biding her time waiting for the right moment. "Did something happen?" Her question drew Ron's questioning gaze and even Ginny's own concerned one. "Is there anything you need to tell us-"

"What? No, no, no! I'm fine." Harry stammered out, avoiding the brown eyes that drilled meaningfully into him. "Really, it's just been a really long…" He trailed off and pounced on the next logical thing that slipped into his head. "Actually, I couldn't find you guys on the train and it kind of threw me off. We always sit together, I mean, even when you have prefect stuff to do. Where were you? Was everything alright?" At that, both prefects blushed a bright red.

"Ah, er, never mind it, Harry. We were fine." Ron tried to smile, but he suddenly couldn't look his best friend in the face. "I guess we were distracted…too. So, ah, have you seen the latest Quidditch-"

"Is that Malfoy?" Hermione interrupted as she half-stood in her seat, craning her neck to see out. She nibbled her lower lip, her brow furrowed in concentration as she strained to see something that was too far away. "Bother that, I can't tell! Ron, is that him? Take a good look!"

"Where? Why?" Ron stretched his neck to see. "What for?"

"Didn't you hear? His father's been thrown in Azkaban with all the other Death Eaters from that recent raid, but last week there was almost a huge breakout. Again."

"Again?" Harry frowned. "What do you mean again?"

"Remember the first time the Death Eaters were released?" She perked a brow. "Bellatrix and all that? That time. Apparently, it was something like that again, only it didn't succeed. Word has it that Mrs. Malfoy is missing and up until this morning, so was Draco, but Dumbledore said that he was coming back and I haven't-"

"I saw him on the train-!" Harry began.

"I'm pretty sure that's him up there though." Hermione frowned. "Wait, you saw him on the train? How did he look?"

"What? Mione, you're not making any sense." Ron looked at her, reproachfully. "And why are you so-"

"Oh hush up, Ron." She smacked his knee, a gesture that seemed more familiar than it would've been since the last time the Golden Trio had been together. "Rumor has it that it wasn't a regular breakout in Azkaban. No one got out, but they say that something…" Hermione swallowed and lowered her voice. "Something got in."

"Something really bad." Ginny picked up. She twisted her hand together on her lap. "They say they let loose a real…monster on them. Mum wouldn't say anything else, just told me to be real—careful—this year. Said to look out." Ginny wrinkled her nose. "She had us all stay in the living room for the night too, wouldn't let us out of her sight."

Ron stifled a shudder . "I've never seen her like that. Thought she'd start crying on me or something when we had to leave. Left Fred and George to deal with her."

"Ron!" Hermione smacked his arm. "It wasn't that bad. She's just worried and I can't blame her. Whatever it is, it's got to be bad if it's got your Mum that-"

"Dementors?" Harry said, confusedly. "I thought that they couldn't-"

"No, Harry." Hermione said, patiently. "Demontor's may have some corporeal existence, but there's no way they could've done the kind of damage that Azkaban claims. It's something worse. Real monsters. Something with sharp teeth and claws and a lot of really dark magic. I think Dumbledore might know what it is, but he won't tell us. He hasn't said much of anything lately, just that this year's going to be very dangerous and different." She nibbled on her lower lip, her brow furrowed together.

Harry stared at her until she looked away uncomfortably. She knew something else, but she wasn't telling him yet. He knew that look too well and a few careful whiffs gave him all the scented confirmation he needed. She wasn't lying to him, but she'd come awfully close. A few more whiffs helped him to organize her in his head. It pained him slightly to notice that their scents had changed—how he knew they'd changed, he didn't know—but he was certain of it.

They smelled just like Ginny did and while Ginny was a friend, she'd never been as close as the other two. It didn't escape him that Hermione was set in one of her modes—he knew that look as well—Dumbledore was hiding something from them and she didn't like it. Of course, Harry reasoned, she would probably be the only one to really pick it up—and if Dumbledore had been obvious for Hermione to pick up, well, Harry didn't like that at all. He resisted the urge to shake his head to clear it. He tried to focus instead on something in the present instead of the speculations chasing each other 'round in his head. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because Dumbledore stopped at The Burrow a few times." Ron shrugged. "He didn't sign your birthday letter though, he had to leave while we were packing the parcel, said he felt something important was about to happen. We haven't seen or heard from him since-"

"Why was he there?" Harry interrupted.

"He said that Malfoy decided to come over to the side of the Light." Hermione took a deep breath. "He asked us to keep an eye on him and see if he really meant it and if he did anything…unusual."

"Unusual how?" The feeling of unease turned to ice in Harry's stomach. "Mione, what aren't you telling me?"

The redness flew from her face and Hermione took on a rather pale hue. "Er…not here, Harry." She said, at last, when it looked like he was about to demand more. "Not safe enough." Her smile was strained.

Harry forced himself to nod in return and turned to stare at the scenery until they reached Hogwarts.

Safe.

He wondered exactly how safe was safe—new Dragel attributes and all. This year was certainly setting itself up to be a miserable headache