Even though Sirius used Padfoot to survive his time in Azkaban, he was still weak from lack of food, sunshine and exercise. Hermione made him a bunch of potions while Harry gave Sirius a heap of chocolate before he began to explain how his freedom came about. Harry, Hermione, Dan and Emma all believed they could tell Sirius the truth but not until he was better. They had to make sure that Sirius knew he could never tell anyone, especially Albus Dumbledore.
Harry and Hermione were due to go to Hogwarts, so they spent the last couple of weeks explaining everything to Sirius. He gave a magical oath he would never reveal anything they said nor would he tell anyone anything Harry, Hermione or her parent's talked about. Sirius wasn't feeling very forgiving about people in the magical world, so he wasn't about to trust anyone apart from the four people who had helped get him free. They worked it out that Sirius would also be guardian to Harry since he was named by James and Lily Potter. This would give Harry more protection, he had a guardian in the magical world and guardians in the muggle world.
Early on the morning of the first of September, Harry and Hermione snuck into Hogwarts while the staff were having their last meeting before the students arrived. They had to work their curse on Snape. The curse would slowly kill him but it would be sometime during the night when the curse finished working. When they were done with Snape, they went looking for the cabinet, they found it easily enough then shrunk it down. They snuck it into one of the tunnels that had caved in, resized it then made sure it worked. They both went through and came out in the Grangers garage.
Harry and Hermione hugged Sirius, Dan and Emma before they apparated away. They arrived not far from Kings Cross station. They never slowed, just stepped through the barrier where they saw the Hogwarts express sitting there ready to go. They spotted Neville who waved but he still blushed making Harry and Hermione smiled. No matter how much they tried to get Neville to open up a bit, he was still a very shy and insecure boy. After greeting their friend, the three of them hurried onto the train and found a compartment where Harry helped Neville stow his trunk.
'Um, what's with the colour of your hair?'
'I just wanted to get settled without everyone knowing that the-boy-who-lived is in here. I don't want all that attention especially on my first day.'
'It just gives Harry a bit of security, no one will recognise him since the only thing people know about him is he looks like James Potter. With different coloured hair means most won't look twice at Harry.'
'Good thinking, but where are your trunks?'
'Sirius shrunk them for us, we know how to resize them so we figured it was easier than dragging them onto the train.'
'Um, could you show me?'
'Of course we will Neville. You've been helping us learn about plants, it's only fair we help you with spells you might not know,' Hermione smiled.
The three friends kept talking but Harry and Hermione noticed that the Weasley's were rushing to the train. Before they left the Grangers, Harry decided to change his hair colour, just enough so he wouldn't resemble James Potter. They didn't lie to Neville, but they also had other reasons to make sure Harry wouldn't be recognised. Harry was proud of his father but he wanted to make it difficult for people to recognise him. So right now he had very dark red hair like his mother's. Many students glanced in as they walked past, but so far no one opened the door. When Harry felt Hermione tap his leg he turned slightly so the people outside their door couldn't see his face. Harry knew it was Ron and that's why Hermione got his attention. It seemed to work as the red head walked past after a minute of staring at them. Now they just hoped they could get onto a separate boat to Ron, they might even be able to get one of the girls in their year to sit with them.
Twice Ron glanced into their compartment before he moved away. All Harry could do was smile at Hermione before he continued his conversation with Neville. When they heard Hagrid calling to all first years they made sure to stay at the back of the group. Ron was towards the front but he kept glancing around, staring at every student. He didn't stare at Harry more than a few seconds before staring at one of the others. They ended up with just the three of them in their boat, with Neville still holding tight to Trevor so he wouldn't escape. Hermione had shown Neville how to use a point me spell so the shy boy would always be able to find his toad. Harry and Hermione already planned to get Neville an owl for Christmas, so even though he loved Trevor, it would help Neville if he had his own owl.
Harry kept half hidden behind Hermione and Neville while McGonagall explained about the sorting and the houses. Ron was still looking around but so was Draco Malfoy. Hermione and Harry had decided to deal with Draco Malfoy before he ended up seriously hurting someone. They knew he would go after Harry but he would also go after Hermione for being a muggleborn. Harry and Hermione had their plans worked out for Draco Malfoy, just like they did for Snape. He had been dealt with, soon it would be Malfoy's turn. Harry had found just the right spells to use on Snape in one of the dark arts books from Grimmauld place.
When it was time for the sorting Harry made sure he remained at the back of the line with Hermione and Neville right before him. As they stepped into the great hall Harry removed the glamour he did on his hair.
One by one the first year students were sorted and just like last time, Hermione and Neville were placed in Gryffindor.
'Potter-Granger, Harry,' Minerva called giving Harry a smile as he walked up to the stool and allowed her to place the sorting hat on his head. Even though he could hear what the students were saying about him, he was listening to the sorting hat.
'Do you keep these conversations private hat?'
'I do, I cannot reveal what I find inside a student's mind.'
'Then I thank you.'
'I believe you are the first student to ever thank me. So do you wish to be sorted the same way as last time?'
'Yes, I would, thank you.'
'Gryffindor,' the hat shouted.
Harry handed the hat to Professor McGonagall then joined Neville and Hermione at the table, but he made sure to sit between them so Ron couldn't sit next to him. They noticed that when Ron hurried to the Gryffindor table he tried to get some students to move then he had a go at Neville and Hermione.
'If you speak that way about my best friends again I will hex you so you will never be able to talk again,' Harry glared, 'Now leave us alone.'
Ron went to say something but found three wands pointed at him so he moved down the table but Harry and Hermione noticed Ron stared up at the staff table. They knew he was staring at the headmaster. During the meal Harry did speak with Seamus and Dean, he made sure to mention that Neville was his best friend, and god brother. Harry hoped the other two boys who shared the room would help by making sure Neville and Harry had beds next to each other.
One thing Harry noticed, Parvati and Lavender were asking Hermione how she knew Harry. When they heard that Harry was adopted by her parent's they wanted to know why but wasn't sure they should ask. Hermione did mentioned that even though Sirius was also a guardian, Harry and Sirius lived with the Grangers. They seemed to realise that if they wanted to be friends with the-boy-who-lived then they would have to make sure they didn't upset Hermione.
'So how did you end up being adopted by Hermione's parents?' Seamus asked.
'I hope you don't mind, but that's private and it's quite an upsetting story, especially for Harry,' Hermione said.
'I love my adopted parent's and Hermione is my best friend but she is also my girlfriend. Her parent's know how we feel so they don't mind that we won't act like siblings when we get older. We also found out we're soul mates, something that is pretty rare in the magical world.'
Ron was fuming, first he was told off by Harry Potter, now he finds out that Hermione Granger's parent's adopted Harry. He had heard his mother ask about taking Harry into their family but the headmaster always said Harry had to remain with his blood family. Now he wasn't with them but with the girl with bushy hair. But Ron was also angry that Harry called Neville Longbottom his best friend, but also his god brother. Ron knew he was supposed to be Harry Potter's best friend, now he couldn't even sit with him.
Harry tapped Hermione once on the leg which told her he was going to stare at Quirrell and find out if they still had the connection. He stared then waited for Quirrell's back to be facing him.
'Nothing,' Harry whispered, Hermione nodded but kept talking to Lavender and Parvati.
After the headmaster made his welcome speech, the first years followed Percy to Gryffindor tower. Again Harry was between Neville and Hermione, but he kept hold of Hermione's hand.
Harry and Neville ended up the first boys to enter the dorm room while Seamus and Dean walked slowly up the stairs making Ron huff that they wouldn't hurry. When Ron got into the dorm room he found Harry's bed was next to Neville's bed, but there was no bed on the other side of Harry. One look from Harry told Ron that there was no use trying to bully Neville into moving. If he did he might just end up hexed.
Harry waited until every boy was asleep before he slipped out of the dorm room, slipped the cloak on then opened the map. He found what room Draco was in and what the password into the Slytherin rooms was.
Harry got himself ready and waited until all the Slytherin's were asleep. He then used one of the dark spells he found in the books from Grimmauld place to plant horrible visions inside Draco's mind. These visions would show him what would happen to him if he acted the way he planned especially towards muggleborns. When Harry was done cursing Malfoy he hurried back to Gryffindor tower.
The following morning, Harry was again between Neville and Hermione as they walked down through the castle to get breakfast. They kept talking about things they did during the holidays, they even mentioned how the Grangers liked having Neville visit. Hermione's mother loved Neville's advice in regards to her plants. That comment made Neville blush but he also smiled, feeling a little bit proud of himself.
When the three friends sat down they noticed that the headmaster and Snape was missing from the staff table. Apart from cursing Snape, Hermione had placed a time delay charm on the curse so it wouldn't begin to affect Snape until after the feast. They hoped it would take the suspicion off them, even if they didn't believe anyone would look twice at them.
Harry tried not to smile even though he knew why neither man was there. Now hopefully all students would have a decent teacher for potions.