A Fresh Start

Daphne Greengrass admired the beautiful room she was going to be sharing with her best friend Tracy, it had the Slytherin dorms beat all ends up with even it's own on-suite and a balcony. No more sharing a shower block and, with the boys being on the other side of the corridor, no worries if they decided to sunbathe for an hour or three.

With Susan and Hannah on one side and Lavender with the Patel's on the other she didn't even have to endure that troll Millicent or Pansy 'when Draco and I are married' Parkinson.

Her only concern was the reaction of her parents, she hoped they'd understand but if not she would be doing her schooling in France next term, even without the oath stepping back into the Slytherin dorm would probably cost Daphne her life.

Dean Thomas thought he'd made one of the best decisions of his life, even though Seamus and him were sharing a room with Colin he still considered himself to be streets ahead of where he was this morning. All three boys had muggle backgrounds and had phoned home, getting immediate permission to stay there for now and continue their schooling with Harry next year. Potter was apparently the new magic word for opening doors in their world and all the parents were delighted their kids were associated with him.

Dean was also re-assessing his choice in girls after that narrow escape and realized he must have been blind; there were currently four single guys here, and Colin. There were seven unattached females; each one of them gorgeous, and Dean liked those odds a lot better.

Neville and Luna hadn't stopped holding hands since this morning and after his wicked take down of Malfoy he would have been serious babe competition but the little blond former claw looked to have him off the market.

Dean couldn't remember the last time he looked forward to classes as much.

Neville's whole world had been turned upside down, he'd just left Hogwarts after knocking Malfoy's lights out and it looked like he had a girlfriend as well. He glanced at the little blond who just smiled and nodded, yip – he had a girlfriend!

It was amazing how well they just fitted together after only speaking to each other just a few days ago, Neville sensed in his new girlfriend the same fragility that he had in abundance, and he was sure combined they could be greater than Neville and Luna alone, they complemented each other so well.

Luna walked hand in hand along the corridor with her first ever boyfriend and wondered how she got this lucky, one minute walking along the Hogwarts corridor in pain from being forced to wear the wrong shoe to then watching her tormentors fall over themselves trying to make it up to her.

When Harry and Hermione left she had gravitated towards the wizard by her side, he came with excellent references so she gave him her trust. They had rooms next to each other on the same floor as Harry and Hermione because they had been expecting to leave Hogwarts; the rest of the morning was just plain crazy.

Watching Neville beat his tormentor was hard and she knew he would have felt terrible if he'd hurt Malfoy any more, Luna was sure it was in reaction to the curse Hermione was under that Neville acted like he was possessed and holding him as he cried confirmed this.

Once he trusted her enough she would hear the story behind it but what she really wanted to listen to was the promised explanation from Harry and Hermione – her friends.

Sirius arrived in the château and only Moony holding on to his arm stopped him from making a run for it, there seemed to be people everywhere before he noticed McGonagall smiling at him then his godson and new betrothed held him in a hug.

"Harry James Potter if you don't tell me what the hell is going on right this minute then your godfather is going to deliver you a smack round the head."

"Relax Sirius, the manhunt is called of and you have been placed in my custody until a trial can be arranged, so if there's any smacking to be done I will be the one doing it dear godfather. Looks like your coming to stay with me rather than the other way around" Harry's laughter could be heard in every word.

"Welcome to the Potter Institute of Sorcery and Spells," Hermione laughed.

Sirius looked to his oldest friend, "Remus what's going on? Are these two taking the piss?"

"No but every one else is!" the laughter spread as people started getting Remus's joke, Dean had just thought of a brilliant idea for a t-shirt.

....

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