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Plots and Plans

"Am I expelled?" Harry suddenly remembered to ask a few hours later. Once Ron had let go, he'd gone to sprawl at the end of Harry's bed. Moony had come to join Harry at the head of it, and Snuffles had been forced to go sit beside Ron because everyone's feet were in the middle. Ron had insisted on filling Harry in on what had been happening while he was unconscious, and Moony had joined in as well. Snuffles had even made his own contributions, barking or growling or huffing at them as they spoke.

Only three students hadn't participated in the defence of the train when it was first attacked, and that was because they'd been knocked unconscious. The rest of the school had pulled together, irrespective of House or age, and defended their fellows fiercely. Several of them had been hurt, one or two quite badly not counting Harry, and the green eyed teen was relieved to hear that no one had died, although it had been a close run thing.

The Death Eaters had port keys with them, and orders to send groups of children off with those port keys in random order. The port keys had sent the children to remote locations all over the British Isles, creating a lot of panic. This was the effect that Voldemort had apparently been aiming for without the need to actually deal with any of the children that he was terrorising; from what Moony said, the Ministries refusal to acknowledge his triumphant return to the corporeal world had angered the self declared Dark Lord, and this was his way of forcing the issue. Of course that didn't mean that the Dark Lord's plans couldn't change, and when Harry's attackers had spotted him and realised that an exception should be made they had therefore decided to torture him into weakness before sending him to their Master.

Harry had made them skip over that bit, not wanting to remember it in any detail while he was still enjoying the absence of pain.

Because the Minister had been so adamant that Harry and Dumbledore had been lying about Voldemort's return, the attack on the Hogwarts Express, complete with an ominous Dark Mark floating in the sky above the crippled train, was enough to get him removed from office. There was a temporary Minister in place, and elections were scheduled soon. Mr Malfoy's involvement in the attack was brought to light as well, and the evidence of his wand was enough to earn him a long sentence in Azkaban, along with Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle. That had rocked the social world somewhat and people were very carefully reviewing their acquaintances, anxious to separate themselves from any family with Dark sympathies. Mr Malfoy had claimed to be under the Imperious curse, but no one could cast Unforgivables under the Imperious, a well established fact that he had overlooked. Harry made a mental note to keep away from Draco Malfoy next year, as it was Harry's actions that had led to his father's imprisonment.

The teachers had apparated to their students assistance once the wards on the train managed to overcome the nullifying field set up by several of the Death Eaters. Snape had been hexed for his trouble, as had the Headmaster. McGonagall apparently had wicked sharp reflexes and an even sharper tongue on her, because she'd avoided the hexes sent her way and deducted House points all in one stunning movement. The students had realised that some of the adults were apparently on their side, and began to be a bit more discriminating in their aim. Only fifty or so students were still on the train at that point, the rest of them having fled into the woods, and the teachers had been hard pressed to locate everyone. They hadn't realised that the Death Eaters were randomly port keying people out until quite late in the day, and by that point Dumbledore had been so besieged by Fudge and the Press, not to mention frantic parents, that he'd been unable to send the assistance promised to Harry. A small part of Harry piped up with 'see? he did want to help' but the more cynical part of him racked it up as another reason Why Adults Could Not Be Relied On.

The Weasley twins had noticed Dobby skulking about, and had managed to convince him that as the older brothers of Harry's Wheezy it was their duty to help out. They'd followed the elf to the forest, and rescued Harry and Ron.

"What do you mean, expelled?" Ron frowned, "Why would you be expelled?"

"Harry got a letter from the Ministry, stating that his usage of under age magic was in flagrant breach of the Act and that he'd been expelled from school," Moony rubbed Harry's shoulder gently, "It somehow got leaked to the press that Harry was the only member of the school being prosecuted for his breach, and that he'd already been expelled. Further tracing of that order revealed Fudge's hand in the act, and the order was reversed at once. I'm afraid you're going back to do your OWLS after all, Pup."

Ron subsided, his angry glare draining away into relief, and Harry grinned up at the werewolf curled against him before assuming a mock look of disappointment.

"I thought I'd gotten out of them," he sighed, miming disgruntlement, "Oh well."

"Very funny, Harry," Ron scowled, "There's no way I'm going to cope with OWLS and Hermione's inevitable study mania by myself."

Harry mock shuddered and Moony and Snuffles laughed at them. Hermione in a mood to study was not something to be taken lightly, but they were Gryffindors after all, and they'd cope one way or another. If worst came to worst they'd use Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

"Thanks for collecting those wands," Ron said apropos of nothing, "Without them I'd have had to grow up again."

"How did… I mean, the spell is dispersed, isn't it?" Harry asked; worry surging to the fore again. He'd enjoyed his walk with young Ronnie, but much preferred having Ron around.

"Yes, completely dispersed," Ron nodded, "Though the twins haven't stopped teasing me yet, and Mum has a tendency to overreact at the moment. It took them several days to figure it out, and then another few to come up with the proper counter, so she had me as a four-year-old for about a week. I think Dad's worried that it's given her ideas."

"Be nice," Harry frowned, "She must have been really worried."

A mothers love was not something to be made light of, a least not to the boy who could not ever remembering receiving it. Lily must have loved him, but he certainly wouldn't class his aunt in that light. Ron gave him a soothing grin, and nodded, letting him know that the teasing was over for now.

"Why are the twins teasing you?" Moony asked curiously, and was treated to the sight of a proper Weasley Blush.

"When they went to pick Harry and me up, I sort of… told them that he was mine," Ron muttered. Moony and Snuffles shared a long look, which Harry took to mean that the claim was further evidence of the Bond they'd told him of.

"I guess we'll have to get the Marauders to help us prank them, then," Harry suggested, and grinned when Ron gave his very own version of the puppy eyes to Moony and Snuffles. Snuffles looked interested, and Moony only waffled for precisely as long as it took Harry to add his own puppy eyes to the mix.

As the conversation degenerated into a plot Harry settled more comfortably against his pack leader and basked in the sense that for now, everything in the world was as right as it could be.

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END

A/N - - - - - And no, I don't plan a sequel, or any one shots. Sorry!