“You all will be careful this year, won’t you?”

“Of course, Mrs. Weasley,” said Harry and Niamh at the same time.  The two teens grinned at each other then at the older woman.

Mrs. Weasley smiled at them then hugged Harry, resting her head against his shoulder before she pulled back from him.  She looked up at him with a concerned look on her face.

“You will be especially careful, won’t you, Harry?”

“Of course, Mrs. Weasley.  Careful as a Slytherin may be.”

Ginny snorted and chortled, “We’re devious, not careful!”

Mrs. Weasley smiled at her daughter then looked at Harry.

“She had a point.”

Harry laughed and shrugged, saying, “Okay.  Then as careful as a half Gryffindor may be.”

Fred and George laughed as Ron said, “You’re just digging yourself into a hole, mate.”

“So quit while your ahead,” said Niamh with a grin and a touch to Harry’s shoulder.

The teen shrugged and said to Mrs. Weasley, “I’ll be careful.  I swear.”

Mrs. Weasley smiled at him then cried, “Oh!  Hurry now or you’ll miss the train!”

Harry, Ron, and Niamh all grinned at each other at that, remembering their second year.

“Goodbye, Mum!”

“See you at Christmas!”

“Goodbye, Mrs. Weasley!”

“Well,” said Ginny as they walked through the barrier and headed towards the crimson train.  “Another year.”

< Another year of mischief, you mean, > said Jardin from his perch on top of Harry’s trunk.

“Only from them,” said Niamh, jabbing her thumb over her should at the twins.

“Didn’t we make a bet with them last year?” mused Harry.

“You did!” exclaimed Ron.  “You bet to see which pair of you could lose more points.”

“What were we thinking?” asked Niamh, shaking her head.

“I believe my exact words were ‘We’ve lost more points than you two have in three years’,” said Harry.

“Oh.  That bet.”

“Remember now?” asked Ginny.

“Yep.  Don’t think the twins do, though.”

Harry chuckled and said, almost to himself, “No.  No, I don’t think they do.”

He strode forward and clambered aboard the train, leaving Ron, Niamh, and Ginny to look at each other in confusion.  They then ran hurriedly after him.

“Hey, Harry, wait up!”

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Harry, Niamh, Ginny, and Ron managed to snag an empty compartment and relaxed in it.  Then Niamh leapt to her feet, eyes wide.

“Bloody hell!”

“What?” asked Ron.

“I can’t believe I forgot!” exclaimed Niamh, scrambling for her trunk.  Ginny pulled her legs up into the seat as the older girl dived under it.

“Forgot what?” asked Harry as Ginny peered down at Niamh’s head.

“Your…present,” replied the girl’s muffled voice.  She then crawled backwards, pulling her trunk after her.

“Present?” said Hermione as she opened the car door and entered.  “Hello all.”

“Yes,” grunted Niamh, giving a short wave as she settled back on her heels and snapped the locks on her trunk open.  “Harry’s.  I completely forgot about it with – well, everything.”  She looked over her shoulder at Harry as she said this, giving a half-smile.

Hermione settled into the empty space beside Ginny as Niamh pulled everything out of her trunk then pried up a board at the bottom.

“A hidden compartment?” said Hermione.

“Yeah,” said Niamh as she sat the board aside.  “Nosy parents, y’know.  So, when I found this trunk in our attic, I asked my cousin Donovin if he could build a little compartment into it.  He’s a master carpenter, my cousin.  He fixed it and I use it to hide everything important to me or that I don’t want my parents to find.”

“Like this,” she continued, holding up a wrapped packed triumphantly.  She handed it to Harry then replaced the board and began to throw everything back into her trunk.  With a flip of the locks, she shoved it back under the seat then sprang up into the seat beside Harry.

Grinning brightly, she cried, “Open it, open it!”

“Before she has a meltdown,” quipped Mika as he entered the cab, earning a friendly slap on the arm from Niamh.

“Shut it, you,” snapped the dark-haired girl without force.  Then, with force, to Harry, “Open it, damnit!”

“You keep pushing me and I’ll leave your Christmas present in the dungeons and buy you some socks,” growled Harry, mock glaring at the girl beside him as his fingers found where the wrapping paper overlapped and tore.

It was a picture frame.  Harry flipped it over and was surprised to see himself, Niamh, Ginny, Mika, Hermione, and Ron all in the picture.  It was from the end of the year before, just before they had left Hogwarts.  They were all sitting outside by the lake underneath the shade of a huge oak tree, the leaves of which were moving because it was a wizarding photograph.  All of them were laughing at some joke Ron had made, Ginny falling back onto a surprised Mika and Niamh totally on the ground, her head lying against Harry’s knee, who was also laughing uproariously.  Hermione was laughing behind her hand, her brown eyes dancing.

Harry turned to the girl beside him as the inhabitants of the photo waved at him.  He looked at her for a long moment before he said, “Thanks, Ni.”

Niamh smiled at him and said, “Your welcome, mate.”

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Here we are again,” sighed Ron as they climbed down out of the horseless carriage and look up at the looming castle once more.

“You sound disappointed,” said Niamh as she scrambled down, followed by Harry and Ginny.  “Were you expecting fireworks?  A parade, perhaps?”

“Is sarcasm an automatic Slytherin trait?” asked Ron.

“No,” said Mika as he exited the carriage, followed by Hermione.  “It’s a trait we picked up from Harry.”

“Ha ha,” said the dark-haired boy, rolling his eyes.  “C’mon.  If we don’t get inside we’ll miss the Sorting.”

“And the Feast!” cried Ron as they mounted the steps.

Ginny rolled her eyes as Niamh asked, “Do you always think of your stomach?”

“Yes.”

Hermione shook her head while Mika said, “Stupid question.  Right, Harry?  Harry?”

No answer came to Mika’s question and the five of them stopped, looking behind them.

Harry stood at the bottom of the stone steps, one foot on the first one and the other still on the grassy ground.  He was turned away from them, his face looking across the grounds to the barely visible Quidditch pitch.  A blast of wind ruffled his short hair and the five of them all felt as though he was completely out of their reach.  Almost like he was in another world.

“Harry?” said Niamh, moving down a step.

The boy at the bottom of the steps turned his face up towards her and other others.  Niamh swore that for a moment his eyes were flooded black before they snapped back to green.

“Are you okay?” asked Hermione in a worried voice.

“Fine,” replied Harry, taking the steps up in twos and threes.  “Let’s get inside.”

As he shoved past them to the great oak doors and disappeared inside, Mika said, “I’m beginning to get worried.”

“About what?” asked Ron.

“Harry.”

“He is acting strange,” said Ron.

“Wouldn’t you if you’d seen a friend murdered in front of your eyes?” snapped Niamh, blue eyes flashing as she turned sharply on her heel and banished after Harry.

“Well, I feel like an arse now,” said Ron.

< When don’t you? > said Jardin suddenly.  The raven flapped down from atop a gargoyle and landed on Ginny’s shoulder.

“I resent that!”

Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed Ron’s arm, saying, “C’mon before we’re late.”  She dragged him inside, followed by Mika and Ginny.