It didn't take long for them to make it back to the Great Hall, and Harry was shocked to see it transformed into a massive hospital ward. The benches and tables were pushed to the back of the room and beds covered the floor. Many of the younger years were clutching their heads groaning and even a few of the older students were just sitting there crying. Between the dementor exposure and any injuries from first-time portkey travel, many of the students were injured. Thankfully, he didn't see any funeral shrouds, but the hall was filled with pained moans. He hadn't considered it initially, but his difficulty waking probably made Professor Lupin stay with him longer than before. It was likely that more dementors got on board or they ran into more students this time around.

The doors to the Great Hall burst open and Tonks came running in. Her hair was a shocking shade of white and it looked flat and muted for once. An older woman wearing a monocle was keeping stride beside her, she looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't really place her. A sea of aurors and mediwizards came bursting in behind her. "I'm here Harry, I brought the cavalry! Sorry, I can't really remember who you are, but I came."

Harry moved towards her quickly, flashing her a smile. "We never met actually. I knew you worked with the aurors though, so I gave you a call. Thank you for coming, Tonks."

"How did you know I was training to be an auror if we've never met? And how'd you know who I was to begin with, you're what, a second year?"

He couldn't help but blush, "I'm a third year, thank you very much! I was researching my family last year and you came up, I was just too nervous to reach out… It didn't help that half the Hufflepuffs wanted to murder me last year for the whole 'Heir of Slytherin' bullshit."

She tilted her head, "We're related? You're not secretly a Malfoy, are you?"

He laughed, "No, I'm a Potter. Harry Potter," he lifted his fringe to prove it.

"Blimey, Harry Potter!"

A faint cough interrupted them, and the older woman finally spoke up. "While I'm glad you both were able to finally meet each other, but I would very much like to find out what happened here. I'm Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE."

He straightened, "Right, of course! Sorry for getting distracted. We were about half-way to Hogwarts when the express just stopped. All the lights went out and everything seemed to frost over. That's when the dementors came. One of them came into my compartment and grabbed me, I passed out shortly after. Apparently, Professor Lupin was able to drive them off and then Hagrid gave us all portkeys as soon as we pulled into the station. They didn't want to risk anything during the lake crossing, too dangerous I guess. Anyway, Professor McGonagall said she was going to send the information to DMLE but not actually request aurors. I got a little upset and called Tonks… In her defense, I don't think she knew it was this bad. We only knew about my compartment at the time."

Miss Bones nodded, "You did the right thing Mr. Potter. As of right now, aurors are going to be stationed in and around the castle to help deter further attacks. Unfortunately, I cannot remove them without written orders from the Minister of Magic. For the moment, the Dementors are still tasked with searching the grounds and surrounding area for Sirius Black. I'll start an investigation into why the attacked the express and I'll try to lean on the Minister to remove them from the school, but that may take some time… Tonks, I'm putting you on the docket for guard duty. Feel free to catch up with Mr. Potter, but remember, you are guarding the students, not playing with them."

Tonks smiled and gave a cheeky salute, "You got it Boss!"

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AN: So, I know it's pretty short but I was drawing a blank on what else to write. Please don't kill me!

Also, to those that missed it, I did change the ending of the last chapter based on LunaM303's comments. I pretty much changed the entire interaction with McGonagall and tried to make it fit more within the character for both Harry and Hermione.