Welcome to another attempt at writing a fanfiction, brought to you by me and Britaenny!
Yes, wonderful, ain't it?
Okay, all further authors notes will be posted in my profile, so please check there at every update, including this one! Cheers!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I'm not JKR. She is one of two people I'd like to meet – the other's Masi Oka. ::swoons::
"spoken"
'thoughts'
Harry whipped his car into the alley behind King's Cross. "I'm late! I'm late!" Turning the car off, he grabbed his shrunken trunk from its spot on the passenger seat and clambered out of the car. "Hermione's going to kill me," he groaned. Shrinking his car down to the same size as his trunk, he tore around the building. As he ran through the station, Harry shoved the two items into his jacket pockets.
As Harry reached the barrier to Platform 9 ¾, he searched for a clock. 'Quarter 'til eleven. Just in time.' Harry sighed. Pausing to catch his breath, he ducked through the barrier and headed toward the train.
"Harry!"
Harry turned just in time to catch a red – headed bundle that flew into his arms. "Hey, Gin," Harry laughed.
"How are you? Have you been eating all right? Have the muggles been treating you okay? Here, Mum will want to see you, come on!" Ginny dragged a confused but chuckling Harry over to Mrs. Weasley. "Mum, look who finally showed up!"
"Oh! Harry, dear! Come here, let me see you!" Harry quickly found himself being squished by the Weasley matriarch.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," he said, extricating himself from the embrace. "It's great to see you again."
"You too, dear, and it's Molly – you're of age now. Now, as much as I'd love to chat, you and Ginny need to hurry and get on the train! You cut it close this year, young man," Mrs. Weasley scolded.
"I know, horrible traffic. Tell Mr. Weasley I said 'Hello!'" Harry shouted behind him as the youngest Weasley dragged him onto the Hogwarts Express.
"I will, and it's Arthur for him as well. Have a good year!" Mrs. Weasley waved after the two as they boarded the train.
"Yes, Mrs. Molly!" Harry shouted cheekily. As she walked away, Harry could see her shaking her head at him. He turned to Ginny. "Are you sitting with us on the way up this year?"
Ginny shook her head, "No, Luna and I are sitting with some friends – Not that you guys aren't our friends, or anything, it's just – well, you understand, right?" Seeing him attempting to both nod and hide his chuckles, she continued. "Hermione and that boy who calls himself my brother have a compartment near the Prefect's carriage, they told me to tell you where they were."
Harry grinned, "Thanks, Ginny. If you're going past them, will you tell them I'll be there in a minute. I'm going to stop and change into my robes now."
After the two parted ways, Harry ducked into the loo. Having thought ahead to shrink his robes separately from his trunk, it only took him a minute to pull his robes on over the rest of his uniform and fasten his Head Boy badge onto them. Tucking the badge under a fold so he wouldn't be accosted the whole train ride, he headed on down to his friends' compartment.
He opened to compartment door to find a common scene – Ron eating a Chocolate Frog, and Hermione reading Hogwarts, A History. "Some things never change, right, you two?"
"Harry!" Hermione launched herself at him, giving him a tight hug. "It's great to see you!"
"You too, 'Mione," Harry said, while giving Ron the back slap/hug that only guys can do. "So how have you two been?"
"You mean, how have we been since we called you yesterday from Grimmauld Place? Very well, thank you. Ron and I were actually just about to head over to the prefect meeting. We're trying to figure out who the Head Boy is this year. Dumbledore only sent the letters out yesterday for some reason. I'm Head Girl, see!" Hermione pointed to her badge excitedly, bouncing up and down.
"Congratulations, Hermione!" Harry gave her another hug. "You totally deserve it. Dumbledore made me Head Boy, too. I'm not entirely sure, since I've broken so many rules… and… all – Hermione, are you okay?"
Hermione had tensed up something awful when Harry announced he was Head Boy. With a frightened look on her face, she stuttered, "W-What? You can't be Head Boy. I mean, I'm sure you'll do great, and you totally deserve it, everyone looks up to you, but, you can't be Head Boy! The curse-"
"What curse? Hermione, what curse?" Harry grabbed her shoulders to stop her from shaking. "Hey, look at me. It's all right. Whatever it is, I'm sure worse has happened to the three of us over the years."
Hermione shook his hands off. "No, you don't understand! It's like the DADA curse, but…" She trailed off, unable to continue.
"Hermione, just tell us already!" Ron pleaded, losing his patience with her refusal to answer.
"Well, maybe if you'd ever read Hogwarts, A History, you wouldn't need me to tell you!" Gesturing vaguely towards the book in question, Hermione attempted to bring herself together, but it didn't quite work. "You two'd better hurry over the Prefects' carriage… The meeting will be starting soon." She rushed off, a tear falling down her cheek as she did so.
"Hermione? Hermione!" Harry called after her, but she wouldn't stop. He turned to Ron, who stared back at him with a confused look that mirrored his own. "Ron, what just happened?"
"I don't know, mate, Hermione just freaked out…" Ron shook his head. "Maybe it's a girl thing."
"No, I think she was just a little more freaked out than if it was just 'a girl thing'." He picked up Hermione's copy of Hogwarts, A History. "I guess we'll have to find out what this curse is on our own, eh, mate?"
"But, we swore in our first year never to read this book! Remember, we thought it would bug Hermione!" Ron looked at Harry with big pleading eyes, begging Harry not to make him read it.
"It looks like we'll have to suck it up, then, Ron. Personally, I'd like to know what curse has 'Mione so scared." He opened the book to the index. Scanning under 'Curses', he saw the line 'Curse, Hogwarts Head – pg. 721'. "Well, here goes nothing," Harry said as he turned to page 721. "Here goes nothing."