"Why don't you just give her a chance?" Abigail asked.

"It's complicated," Lupin replied.

"You sound like me when I'm trying to avoid an uncomfortable conversation," she pointed out. "She cares about you, dad. Why can't you let her?"

"I'm no good for her," he pointed out.

"Oh come on, you know that's not true."

"It is true," he shook his head, "Like you love to point out, I look like a homeless man. I'm old, poor and I'm a werewolf. What more do I need to say?"

"If she doesn't care, why do you?" Abigail inquired.

"You're too young to understand," Lupin frowned, "Trust me when I say it's better this way."

"But-"

"That's the end of the conversation, Abigail."

"Fine," she muttered, "I'll see you at Christmas then. Have fun with whatever it is your doing for the Order that you won't tell me about. Even though I'll know soon enough."

"Hey," he called after her. "No snooping around where you don't belong."

"Wouldn't dream of it," she rolled her eyes before rejoining her friends.

"Is everything alright?" Harry asked as they made their way to the train that was preparing to depart.

"Everything's fine," she mumbled before walking ahead of the boy and boarding the train quickly.

She made her way toward the back and smiled tightly at Hermione and Ron but continued walking seeing as they wouldn't be sitting with each other till later.

"Where did Abigail go?" Harry asked quickly as he passed by his friends.

"Oh, she went that way," Hermione explained, pointing behind them.

Harry said a quick goodbye and walked in the direction that Abigail went, looking in compartments here and there to see where she had gone.

"Hey, Ginny," Abigail spoke quickly and the Weasley girl turned to face her. "I know you're going to sit with Dean but do you think I can join you?" she requested, glancing behind herself briefly.

"Yeah, of course," the girl agreed and made their way to the compartment where Dean was. Inside the compartment already was Dean, Seamus, Zacharias Smith and some boy Abigail couldn't remember the name of.

Ginny took a seat next to Dean and Abigail was able to sit next to Ginny seeing as the three other boys were sitting on the other side.

"So what exactly happened at the Department of Mysteries?" Zacharias asked Abigail and Ginny.

"That doesn't exactly concern you now does it, Smith?" Abigail inquired.

"Lighten up Abigail," Smith commented, "It won't hurt for you to just fill us in."

"Yeah, come on girls," Smith's friend smiled, "Tell us what happened."

Abigail and Ginny exchanged a knowing look before pointing their wands at each of the boys and waving them. Before either of the boys could do anything, bats had grown from their nose made out of their boogers.

"I still can't get over how absolutely disgusting that is," Abigail grimaced.

"Yes," Ginny agreed, "But it certainly does the job, doesn't it?"

"Wow," the old man gaped from outside their compartment the girls looked up, "That was simply extraordinary!" He turned to the girls, "I'm Professor Slughorn. Would you two care to join me? I've invited a few other students and I would love for you to join us."

"Oh, uh," Abigail began, unsure of how to turn the man down. "That's okay..."

"You really must," he tried again, "There's no harm in just stopping by, is there?"

Abigail glanced over at Ginny who shrugged before replying, "I suppose not."

"Come, come."

Ginny said a quick goodbye to Dean before the two girls got up and followed the man to where his compartment was located.

They took a seat on one side of the compartment and waited for the remainder of students to arrive.

Ginny and Abigail were alone until Cormac McLaggen and Blaise Zabini showed up a short while later.

Cormac took a seat across from Abigail and smirked at the girl. He looked the girl up and down, "I don't remember you being so-"

"I'm going to cut you off right there," Abigail spoke up, "Keep the chauvinistic comments to yourself."

"Feisty, I li-"

The compartment door opened to reveal Harry and Neville's arrival.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Abigail mumbled and Ginny snickered from beside her.

Harry took a seat next to Abigail and Neville took a seat on the other side of the table.

Abigail turned to greet Harry but stopped when she felt something rub against her foot. "Touch me again-" Abigail sneered at the amused boy across from her, "-and I can promise that you will regret ever even looking at me."

This seemed to only amuse him more and Abigail moved to take out her wand as Slughorn re-entered the compartment. Harry placed his hand on the girl's arm to stop her from doing anything stupid. He looked over at McLaggen with a raised eyebrow. Abigail dropped her arm as Slughorn passed around plates of food and started discussing the reasons for them all being there.

Abigail gripped Harry's arm instinctively. The boy turned to her in confusion and seemed to realize what was happening.

"Is she alright?" Slughorn inquired as he watched the girl curiously.

"She's fine," Harry replied quickly, "She tends to, um, zone out."

Abigail could see that she was now in a dark cave. There were animalistic noises echoing throughout. It took her a moment to register who exactly she was but as soon as she saw what was creating the noises, she knew who she was. Her father.

"No..." Abigail muttered and Harry looked across the compartment at Ginny, hopeful that she would know the best way to fix it. Ginny shrugged but she was clearly worried as well.

Everyone else in the compartment was watching her in intrigue and Harry squeezed the girls hand. He looked up at Slughorn, "Uh, we'll be back."

Harry pulled the girl from the compartment and moved to an area where they were away from prying ears, "Abigail?" He lifted her head by her chin carefully and saw that she was still elsewhere, "Abigail, come back to me."

After a moment, her eyes seemed to return to normal and she looked around until her eyes landed on Harry, "How could he be so incredibly stupid?"

Harry grew confused at this, "Who?"

"My father," she scowled, "He's living among the werewolves underground. Trying to get them on our side."

"That's a good thing isn't it?"

"How could that possibly be a good thing?"

"Well, I mean, we need all the help we can get, right?"

She glared at the boy, "He could die."

"Or he could get them on our side."

"I don't think the 50/50 odds is making me okay with this plan."

"He wouldn't have done it if he didn't think he had a chance," Harry pointed out. "Maybe you just need to trust him this time around."

Abigail took a deep breath and frowned, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He raised his hand so that it rested on the side of her face and she leaned forward so that her forehead was resting against his, "Don't go pulling away from me now, okay?"

"I'll do my best," she replied and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and let out sigh, "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

Abigail pulled away and opened her mouth to reply when Ginny appeared, "Abby, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she smiled tightly, "I just had a moment."

"Well, Slughorn dismissed us, said we ought to go change into our robes because we're almost there," she explained, "Oh and Harry, he wanted me to tell you that it was nice to see you again."

Abigail moved to follow Ginny out but Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him. "I have to change into my robes," she explained, "I'll see you when we get off the train." He nodded reluctantly before they parted ways.

"So, McLaggen..." Ginny trailed off as they arrived at their compartment.

Abigail rolled her eyes, "Don't even get me started."

They all changed into their robes as the train came to a stop and they made their way.

"Neville!" Abigail shouted once she got off the train and he turned around as she approached, "Have you seen Harry?"

"He never came back to the compartment after Slughorn's lunch," he explained, "I don't know where he is now."

Abigail frowned as the boy rejoined the crowd of students flooding into the school. She made her way back to the now empty train and saw that Draco Malfoy was coming down the steps and somehow knew that he had something to do with Harry's missing status.

"Where is he?" Abigail demanded as she blocked the boy from exiting the train.

"By the time you find him, the train will have already left," Draco pointed out, "You may as well just leave him there."

Abigail pulled Draco down by his jacket and pushed him down so that he was no longer on the train. She stepped up onto it and glared down at the boy, "Screw you, Malfoy."

She ran onto the train and searched for him. "Harry!" she exclaimed. "Harry, where are you?"

"Okay..." she trailed off as she took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and focused and eventually she could see the inside of the train from a different perspective.

It took her a moment to process but eventually she realized that she was staring up at herself. She knelt down quickly and pulled the invisibility cloak off of him as the train started moving. She pulled out her wand as she quickly undid the spell that paralyzed him.

Abigail helped Harry to his feet, "You really need to be more careful."

"I was being careful," he countered, "But Crabbe hit me with his luggage and-" He stopped when he saw the look on the girls face, "Yeah, right...What are we going to do now?"

"You can jump off here," a voice suggested and the two turned to see Tonks was right behind them. Her hair appeared duller than it had before, if that were even possible, and her usual eager demeanor was more bland.

Harry nodded and the three of them hopped off the train. "How did you know we were on the train still?"

"They moved me to Hogsmeade so the school has more protection, I saw Abigail go back on the train for you but she didn't return before it started moving."

"Oh, Harry," Abigail spoke up and he turned to face her. She raised her wand up to his face, "Episkey."

His nose healed and he opened his mouth to thank her but she flicked him in the ear, "Ow! What was that for?"

"Pull something like that again and it'll be more than your ear that's hurting," she pointed out before she walked ahead of the two and up to the gate, "How are we going to get in?"

Tonks waved her wand and her patronus appeared before running off toward the school, "Someone will come retrieve you two." Abigail frowned slightly when she realized that Tonks patronus had changed into that of a giant wolf.

Abigail stepped to the side as the other two conversed as she looked up at the school. A moment later the outline of a person was walking out and down toward them.

"Snape," Tonks greeted as he unlocked the gate, "I intended the message for Hagrid."

"Hagrid was late to the feast himself," he explained, "I liked your old patronus much better. Your new one is weak."

Abigail scowled at this and spoke, "Would you please escort us inside now? We're already late as is. Small talk isn't getting us in there any sooner, Professor Snape."

"Hmm," he responded before opening the gate and turning to Harry, "I see you couldn't be bothered to put your robes on."

"I'll see you two around," Tonks nodded before she disappeared, the usual frown plastered on her face.

Abigail and Harry followed Snape toward the Great Hall as he made comments about Harry's behavior.

The feast had already started when they entered the hall and people turned to stare.

"Will you stop eating?" Hermione exclaimed, hitting the boy with her book, "Your best friend's are missing!"

"Why don't you turn around, you lunatic?" Ron replied, gesturing behind the girl where the two were approaching.

"Why is it that he's always covered in blood?" Ginny inquired.

"Looks like it's his own this time," Ron replied.

"Where have you two been?" Hermione inquired, "What happened to your face?"

"Later," Harry shook his head as they both took a seat, "What did we miss?"

"Sorting Hat says we ought to be brave and strong in these troubled times," Ron explained, "Easy for it to say, though. It's a hat, isn't it?"

"Very best of evenings to you all," Dumbledore announced from the podium pulling everyone's attention toward him, "First off, let me introduce the newest member of our staff. Horace Slughorn. Professor Slughorn, I'm happy to say, has agreed to resume his old post as Potions Master. Meanwhile, the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts will be taken by Professor Snape."

"I was actually kind of hoping I was wrong this time," Abigail commented as she poked at her plate of food.

"As you know, each and every one of you was searched upon your arrival here tonight. And you have the right to know why. Once, there was a young man. Like you, sat in this very hall. Walk through this castle's corridors. Slept under its roof. You see, to all the world, a student like any other. His name: Tom Riddle. Today of course, he's known all over the world by another name. Which is why as I stand, looking out upon you all tonight, I'm reminded of a sobering fact. Every day, every hour, this very minute, perhaps...dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle's walls. But in the end, that greatest weapon is you. Just something to think about. Now off to bed, pip-pip."

The four of them all exchanged looks and Ron spoke up, "That was cheerful."