"Hey Harry! Long time no see."

"Hey Ron, how was the ride?" questioned Harry as he greeted his friend coming off the train at
King Station in London.

"Horrible, Hermione wouldn't shut up the whole ride here and I was trying to sleep," Ron complained.

"Oh please, Ronald was the unbearable one. His snoring is utterly ridiculous. I don't know how you ever dealt with sleeping in the same room as him for all those years at school. It must've been absolutely dreadful. How are you? We've missed you so much," Hermione said as she stepped off the train.

Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry's two best friends in the whole world were going on the trip of a lifetime with him. Ron was a very tall redhead who grew up in a small magical house with a pureblood family. He and his family were not like most pureblood wizards though. The Weasley's couldn't care less about how much of your blood was magical. Ron grew up with his mother, Molly, his father, Arthur, his five brother's Charlie, Bill, Percy, and the twins George and the late Fred, and his sister, Ginny, also known as Harry's ex-girlfriend. Hermione was a smart girl with bushy brown hair and newly normal-sized teeth thanks to a helpful nurse after being cursed by Draco Malfoy. She grew up in a muggle town, like Harry, and with parents who knew nothing of magic or wizards until she received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts, like Harry's mother, Lilly.

"Ear plugs, Hermione. I'm great. You know, you two argue like you've been married for seventy years," Harry laughed as Ron proceeded to wrap his arms around Hermione and pull her into a deep, loving kiss. Harry had to look away for his heart ached with thoughts of Ginny. He remembered exactly how it felt to be with her, touch her, and kiss. He also remembered exactly how it ended, or rather how she ended it, but he couldn't think of such painful things when he was supposed to be happy. He then put on a smile but his friends knew him far too well and caught him in his mascaradial lie.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, Ron and her both with concerned visages.

"It's my sister, isn't it?" Ron questioned. All Harry could do was simply nod. He dared not think about her so he promptly directed the subject away from himself.

"Are you guys ready for the trip?"

"Hell yeah!" Ron's eyes lit up with what could only be pure testosterone and adrenaline as he yelled and everyone on the train station looked at the three people who were strange in more ways than they could even imagine. Hermione just put her head in her hands and tried to look nonchalant.

"Not only are you guys embarrassing me, but you are starting to make us look conspicuous. Let's go back to Harry's now. The boys laughed as the three headed toward the car.

~*~

"The car ride to Harry's temporary apartment in Surry was fairly uneventful. There was, of course, the minor bickering that was somehow loving between the Ron and Hermione. It was easy enough for Harry to tune out; he'd been doing it for years at school. He still remembered his first wizard, Mrs. Weasley, who taught him to walk through his first wall. Meeting Ron was great. It had been nice to finally have a friend to talk to and to tell him about the wizarding world. Meeting Neville had been interesting; he had grown much more confidence over the years, thank goodness. Seeing his first spell and getting his glasses repaired thanks to the finer sex of his duo of best mates. She was always so gifted and Ron was always so jealous. He remembered meeting Draco Malfoy and his side-goons, Crabb and Goyle, for the first time as Draco tried to make friends with him and Harry promptly rejected his offer. He also remembered meeting her, Ginny Weasley, she was excited and visibly nervous to meet the great Harry Potter, the boy who lived. She seemed to like him and he wondered why it took him so long to feel the same way about her. Maybe if he had seen it sooner, he would've had more time with her before it ended, then again maybe she would've ended it sooner. Harry was known as one of the greatest wizards of all time when in reality it was not him who was responsible for the prolonging of his life. It was his mother and the fact that she loved him so much, enough to sacrifice herself for him. He thought he understood the power that love had held, how strong it could be. But his recent unluckiness in love had him questioning that strength.

When they got back to Harry's apartment, Harry slept on the couch and Ron and Hermione slept in his room. He could only hope that sleeping was all they were doing in there. Unfortunately, there was no time to socialize; tomorrow was going to be a busy day.