Harry Potter and
the Answer
"Get out of here, boy! Get out! Out!" Harry Potter's muscles tensed as his uncle continued to scream at him to get out of the house. He had just caught Harry giving his pet owl, Hedwig, snacks while writing a letter to his friend, Hermione Granger. Harry was in his aunt and uncle's custody because his parents had died when he was a baby. His aunt and uncle had always hated Harry, and it had only been five years before that he found out why his relatives all hated him so much. It was because he was a wizard.
Harry was also a very famous wizard. He had brought about the downfall of the evil wizard, Voldemort, when he was only a baby. Voldemort had killed many great, full-grown witches and wizards, but when he tried to kill Harry, he nearly evaporated. No one knew what happened to him. But Voldemort was back again, and Harry had battled him only a short two weeks ago.
Now his aunt, uncle, and cousin, Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley, were immensely scared that Harry would write to his godfather, Sirius Black, and have him come and turn them all into fruit flies. Harry could not do magic out of Hogwarts, his wizarding school, but Sirius was a fully qualified wizard and could do magic anywhere he wanted.
Sirius was also an escaped criminal. He was the first person in history to break out of Azkaban, the wizard prison. What they didn't know was that Harry would never do that for fear that the Dursleys would call the police, because wizards and muggles, nonmagic people, were still searching for Sirius.
So Harry had been pushed out of the house, along with his few belongings, and a trunk that he had never seen before. He heard his red- faced uncle yelling out to him, "That's yours. Get it out of here and don't ever come back!" His relatives were all muggles, and Mrs. Dursley had hated her sister, who was Harry's mother. She did not like that her sister was a witch, and that she had powers that Mrs. Dursley did not have. This was when she became prejudiced against all wizards and witches.
Harry examined the trunk. The Dursleys had an attic that Harry had never been in, and Harry supposed that was where this dusty thing had come from. Harry cleared one of the many cobwebs to read a name engraved on the lock. It said very clearly "J. Potter." Harry assumed that it must have been his father's. He tried to pick it up, but it was far too heavy for him to carry. Harry knew that he was not supposed to, but he put a charm on it to make it featherweight. He did the same to the trunks containing his clothes and his magical equipment. Harry would go over to his friend Ron Weasley's house, ask directions to Hermione's house, tell her what he had been planning to tell her in the note, and stay there until the new school year began. So he started the long walk to Ron's house.
Harry did not get there for a very long time. When he finally arrived, it was very late, and also pitch black. He gathered up all of his energy and raised a fist to knock on the door, but before he did the door was flung open.
"Harry!"
"Ron!"
"Come on in! I am so glad you're here. Why are you here?"
Harry was extremely tired and wanted to say flat out that he wanted to stay the night and just walk to Hermione's house the next day, but he tried to be more tactful.
"I. I'm really tired. The Dursleys kicked me out, gave me this trunk, and now I'm here." Harry yawned.
"Okay, you can stay here for the rest of the summer! You will stay in my bedroom. I'll go take your stuff in there." Ron said it as if he had all the energy in the world. Harry sleepily replied, "Actually, I'm not planning on staying here for too long. I'm going to Hermione's house because she invited me over for the summer. Besides, I shouldn't just show up here uninvited and expect your parents to feed me and take care of me all the rest of the summer." Ron looked slightly hurt, so Harry quickly added, "But I love your house and everything. It's so cozy." Ron's face lit up. "Well, I'll take your stuff to my room for now." So he picked up Harry's feather light trunks and almost ran to his room with happiness. Harry followed. The moment he laid down on the piled-up blankets nearly half an hour later, he fell right asleep on top of the covers, still in his dirty clothes and glasses.
The next morning Harry woke up around ten o'clock. He didn't quite remember where he was. Then he remembered. His first thought was that he should immediately go to Ron and tell him that he would be leaving as soon as possible. But he decided to have more subtlety, and tell him after breakfast.
So after a hearty breakfast of bacon and pancakes and orange juice, he quietly mentioned to Ron that he would probably leave today. "What? Already? Well, can I at least come with you?" Harry felt so bad that he assented. "After all, you're her friend too."
____________________________________________________________
Harry Potter and
Hermione's Big Secret
"Get out of here, boy! Get out! Out!" Harry Potter's muscles tensed as his uncle continued to scream at him to get out of the house. He had just caught Harry giving his pet owl, Hedwig, snacks while writing a letter to his friend, Hermione Granger. Harry was in his aunt and uncle's custody because his parents had died when he was a baby. His aunt and uncle had always hated Harry, and it had only been five years before that he found out why his relatives all hated him so much. It was because he was a wizard.
Harry was also a very famous wizard. He had brought about the downfall of the evil wizard, Voldemort, when he was only a baby. Voldemort had killed many great, full-grown witches and wizards, but when he tried to kill Harry, he nearly evaporated. No one knew what happened to him. But Voldemort was back again, and Harry had battled him only a short two weeks ago.
Now his aunt, uncle, and cousin, Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley, were immensely scared that Harry would write to his godfather, Sirius Black, and have him come and turn them all into fruit flies. Harry could not do magic out of Hogwarts, his wizard school, but Sirius was a fully qualified wizard that could do magic anywhere he wanted. Sirius was also an escaped criminal. He was the first person in history to break out of Azkaban, the wizard prison. What they didn't know was that Harry would never do that for fear that the Dursleys would call the police, because wizards and muggles, nonmagic people, alike were still searching for Sirius.
So Harry had been pushed out of the house, along with his few belongings, and a trunk that he had never seen before. He heard his red- faced uncle yelling out to him, "That's yours. Get it out of here and don't ever bring it back!" His relatives were all muggles, and Mrs. Dursley had hated her sister, who was Harry's mother. She did not like that her sister was a witch, and that she had powers that Mrs. Dursley did not have. This was when she became prejudiced against all wizards and witches.
Harry examined the trunk. The Dursleys had an attic that Harry had never been in, and Harry supposed that was where this dusty thing had come from. Harry cleared one of the many cobwebs to read a name engraved on the lock. It said very clearly "J. Potter." Harry assumed that it must have been his father's. He tried to pick it up, but it was far too heavy for him to carry. Harry knew that he was not supposed to, but he put a charm on it to make it featherweight. He did the same to the trunks containing his clothes and his magical equipment. Harry would go over to his friend Ron Weasley's house, ask directions to Hermione's house, and stay there until the new school year began. So he started the long walk to Ron's house.
Harry did not get there for a very long time. When he finally arrived, it was very late, and also pitch black. He gathered up all of his energy and raised a fist to knock on the door, but before he did the door was flung open.
"Harry!"
"Ron!"
"Come on in! I'm so glad you're here. Why are you here?"
Harry was extremely tired and wanted to say flat out that he wanted to stay the night and just walk to Hermione's house the next day, but he had to take a more tactful approach.
"I. I'm really tired. The Dursleys kicked me out, gave me this trunk, and now I'm here." Harry yawned.
"Okay, you can stay here for the rest of the summer! You'll stay in the guest bedroom. I'll go take your stuff in there." Ron said it as if he had all the energy in the world. Harry sleepily replied, "Actually, I'm not planning on staying here for too long. I'm going to Hermione's house because she invited me over for the summer. Besides, I shouldn't just show up here uninvited and expect your parents to feed me and take care of me all the rest of the summer." Ron looked slightly hurt, so Harry quickly added, "But I love your house and everything. It's so cozy." Ron's face lit up. "Well, I'll take your stuff to the guest room for now." So he picked up Harry's feather light trunks and almost ran to the guest room with happiness. Harry followed. The moment he laid down on the bed nearly half an hour later, he fell right asleep on top of the covers, still in his dirty clothes and glasses.
The next morning Harry woke up around ten o'clock. He didn't quite remember where he was. Then he remembered. His first thought was that he should immediately go to Ron and tell him that he would be leaving as soon as possible. But he decided to have more subtlety, and tell him after breakfast.
So after a hearty breakfast of bacon and muffins and orange juice, he quietly mentioned to Ron that he would probably leave today. "What? Already? Well, can I at least come with you?" Harry felt so bad that he assented. "After all, you're her friend too."
After Ron had packed all of his things, they set off. It took them all day. When they arrived, it was again pitch black, but in the light of Harry's flashlight, they could at least see parts of the house. And it was very obviously huge.
It was entirely white, with giant white columns, an amazingly large veranda, huge steps leading up to the house, and a mammoth lawn which Harry and Ron were standing in front of. It had at least three stories, not counting an attic right under what looked like a newly-tiled roof, and wings on either side. In the middle of the front yard there was a large marble fountain surrounded by bright, cheerful flowers. There was a large U-shaped driveway going in front of the house. Heavily loaded fruit trees were on either side of the magnificent lawn. There was only one thing that kept Harry and Ron from sprinting up to the front door.
"There's a gate! What do we do now?" Exclaimed Ron.
"Wait. I've seen these before! Here's what you do." And Harry smartly stepped up to the small dial on the gate and rang the bell so that he could talk to someone to let him in.
"Hello?" Came a voice. It definitely was not Hermione's, and it did not sound like her parents' either.
"Cool! It must be a butler!" Ron nearly shouted. Then he said, more loudly than necessary, "Can you let us in?" To which the butler sleepily replied, "Who are you and why are you here?" Harry was beginning to wonder if Ron had the right house. "Are you sure this is the right one?" He whispered. "Positive." So Harry said, "Well, we're Hermione's friends. she does live here, doesn't she?" They didn't need an answer from the butler. Hermione herself ran out the double front doors and flicked a switch that opened the gate. Just as soon as the gate opened wide enough for them to fit, Ron and Harry dropped all of their bags and trunks and ran as fast as they could to Hermione. They all hugged. "Do I look different?" She asked. "Wow. Your hair! It's so straight! And your face is much longer! You look great," Harry said. Ron nodded in agreement. She invited them inside.
"Wow!" Ron said. Harry was beyond words. He had heard of big, grand houses with servants and maids and butlers before, but this was beyond his wildest dreams. There were maids running around, dusting things like mad. The stiff-looking butler who had answered the speaker at the gate was dressed very formally, in a suit, shoes polished, and everything. Just like the shoes, everything else in the whole house was polished. Large, fancy vases stood on decorative stands, and there were many portraits on the walls. A few of the subjects even looked like Hermione, only much younger, and in frilly dresses. While Ron and Harry had been looking around, Hermione had been talking. At last she stopped, mid- sentence, and said, "Do you two hear me? Hello?" Finally they came out of their trance. The most intelligent thing they could say was, "Is that you in that fancy-looking picture? Look at that dress!" She told them that it was her, and it had been a real pain to stand there in a frilly, itchy dress while the painter had made the picture. "Well, do you two want to stay in the guest bedrooms or the guest houses?" They both looked at her, bug-eyed. After a very long time, they both said, at the same time, "Houses!" So the butlers took their cases inside, wondering how they could be so light, and followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the guesthouses.
It was a very long walk, especially for so late at night. They passed at least four pools, a tennis court, a basketball court, a gym, a volleyball court, and many more gardens and lawns, all of which seemed to have fruit or vegetables growing in them. When they finally arrived, it was nearly one in the morning, and all of them were very tired. They all said goodnight and settled into their beds.
Harry woke up late again the next morning, but this time, so did Ron and Hermione. After breakfast, which had been superb omelets and tea, all served on fancy dishes, the three of them tried to decide what they would do that day. Finally, they all decided to put on their bathing suits and sneakers, and have a tour of the house.
This tour lasted for a very long time. They had hardly seen half of the land by lunchtime. Finally, mid-afternoon, they had seen it all. They also had gone swimming in a few different pools, played basketball and tennis, and were very full from tasting nearly all of the superb fruits and vegetables that grew almost everywhere. The rest of the day, they were so exhausted that they just rested for many hours in Hermione's huge room, thinking about what to do tomorrow when Hermione suddenly got the idea to-
"Have a party!"
"What?" Harry and Ron both said. "Have a party! Here! We'll send out owls today!" Hermione said quickly. Harry and Ron agreed that this was a great idea. It would be a pool party for all of Griffindor, some Hogwarts teachers, and a few other close friends. They designed the invitations and told Hermione's parents that they would all go to Hogsmeade.
They had all just stormed out the front door (the prim butler scowling at them) when Harry said, "Wait just one second. How are we going to get there?" Hermione gasped. "What?" Asked Ron, to which Hermione replied, "Well, I know. There's a way that we, er, I can use magic without the Ministry knowing and expelling us for using magic when we're not supposed to. But for me to do it, you'll have to turn around, I don't want you to see it." Harry and Ron gave each other very confused looks, but turned around nonetheless. A moment later they were in Hogsmeade, the only all- wizard town in the world.
"Ah, just like I remember it. Well, not much could have changed, since we were here two weeks ago," said Ron. He hadn't noticed that no one was standing next to him. Only seconds later, though, Harry and Hermione showed up next to him. "It worked!" She said. Harry looked confused again, and he said, "Well, of course it did. Why wouldn't it have worked?" Hermione's awkward reply was, "Oh. Oh, never mind. It's nothing." And she set off in completely the wrong direction. Ron and Harry had to grab her and remind her that the wizard post office was the other way.
When they got there, it took them only a few minutes to select the hundreds of owls to deliver everyone the letters. Once they were done, they went to a store called Quality Quidditch Supplies, just to look around. By the time they came out with a new practice snitch for Harry, it was nearly ten o' clock. Ron was extremely fatigued, and he asked Hermione to magic him back to her house. She agreed, but she made him stand in a corner and turn around so that no one could see what she did - or so she thought. Harry had been standing right behind her. When Ron was gone, he very gently said, "How did you do that?" She gasped. "Well. you're not really supposed to know, but. well, let's go get some butterbeers, and I'll tell you." So they went down to get some butterbeers.
Harry and Hermione were already half done with the butterbeers when Harry asked how she had done that magic. Hermione took another sip and carefully said, "Well, Harry, before we get to that, I think you should know that I really like you." There was a long, uncomfortable pause before Harry said, in just a whisper, "Really? Like really? I like you too. Wow. So what does that have to do with how you did that magic?" Hermione sighed. "Everything, and nothing. It's just something about me that you should know before we start dating, or whatever. It's that. that. well."
"Spit it out."
"Well, I'm an angel."
Harry was even more surprised and awed than when Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, told him that Harry was a wizard. All that Harry could say was, "Oh. okay. uuuuh." Then Hermione cut in and very softly said, "Have you ever felt like you've seen something happen before, even though it hasn't?" Harry was about to say yes, but Hermione jumped and said, "Oh, my gosh. Harry, I really shouldn't be doing this. I have seen this before, sort of. I really have to go." And she paid for the two butterbeers and stormed out. "Wait! What do you mean?" Harry called after her. She turned around and said, "Come here!" Harry walked over. Hermione magicked them home with a simple flick of her finger.
"So?" Harry began.
"Well, it did happen before, only with someone else. and it was a little bit different. It was. was. Viktor Krum. He's an angel too. He showed me. And he also told me how he knew he's an angel. He told me that he can do this." And she used magic just coming out of her index finger to pluck an apple off of a tree and bring it to her. She didn't need her wand. All that Harry could say was a very amazed "Wow." So Hermione gently continued, "Well, he said that you can tell if you're an angel if you're very good at something earlier in life than most people, if you feel like nothing could bring you down on Christmas day, and if you have all of the friends you could ever want. And I realized that all of that is true for me. This is so weird." She sighed. "That's why I can do this magic. And by the way, angels start looking a lot better when they're teenagers." They turned to leave. Just then a butler came, looking disgusted, and said, "Excuse me - this owl just arrived with a letter for you, Mr. Potter." He held up the extremely tired and dirty-looking owl. Harry and Hermione had never seen it before. Harry thanked the butler and pulled out the letter. He and Hermione read it. It said:
Dear Mr. Potter,
You have been chosen to be head of the Gryffindor quidditch team. You must conduct practices, pick players for your team, and be in charge of them. To make a practice date, you must ask permission from a teacher or the headmaster. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of your holidays.
Sincerely,
Professor M. Mc Gonagall
P.S. Sports advisors from the Ministry will be watching your team for recruits for the England Quidditch team. I think that they will try to get you out of school before the year ends, so please try to play well and get ahead on your schoolwork.
When Harry and Hermione had finally finished reading the letter, they both were in shock. "But if you go away to play Quidditch, then. then." Harry's reply was very confused. "Well, uh, um, er, uh. Here. I'll make you a promise. No matter what happens with all of this, I'll come back. Here. Where's that necklace you've always got on?" He pulled a small, sparkling angel-shaped charm out of his pocket. Hermione pulled out her necklace. She undid the clasp. Harry slipped the charm onto the necklace. "As long as you wear that around your neck, I'll come back. If you take it off, I can't." She nodded. "It's really late. We'd better go. I'll see you tomorrow." They finally parted, and walked away.
The next morning, Harry and Hermione woke up before Ron did. They had to go and tell Oliver Wood, the handsome, sports-obsessed Head of England's Quidditch that he could watch Harry play Quidditch and possibly recruit him for England's team. Harry knew Oliver because two years ago had been Oliver's last year at Hogwarts, and Harry had been on the team that Oliver had been the head of. Harry had won the tournament for his team, and Oliver had never forgotten Harry's skills. So Harry and Hermione woke up and dressed at about four AM, grabbed some fruit, candy, and crackers for breakfast, wrote Ron a note, and ran out the front door. They went to her brand-new Porsche, got in, and buckled their seatbelts. Hermione made the car go with a simple flick of her finger, and they sped away.
When they finally arrived at Diagon Alley, a place that only wizards and witches could see, Hermione made the car park itself. The two of them walked inside a store selling Quidditch supplies. It wasn't exactly surprising to see Oliver Wood looking at new broomsticks for sale. Hermione ran up to him and said softly, "Um. Oliver?" He turned around and saw Hermione and Harry. "So Harry, what's your decision?" He sounded like a hyperactive five-year-old, and he definitely looked like one, jumping all around and waiting for Harry's answer. "Well, yes, you can come and watch me. I just don't know if I'll be able to join England's team before the year ends." If possible, Oliver looked a bit happy and a bit sad at the same time after Harry said this. "Well, that's good enough. At least we can watch your team." After this, Hermione and Harry left.
When they arrived back at Hermione's house, less than five seconds later, Ron was running around, a letter in his hand. "What is it?" Asked Hermione. "I'm supposed to come home right away. it's You-Know-Who. He's supposedly hanging around these parts, so I have to go home." He said all of this very quickly, running around and putting his few belongings back in his backpack. He had a very worried look on his face. "Well, Ron, um, bye. We'll see you in a week. Come to the party, okay?" Ron probably did not hear a word of this, however, as he was running to the gate so that he could go. "It'll take him much longer to get home if he's running," Harry said. "You're right. I'll give him a bit of help." Hermione zapped him home. "I wonder what the rush was all about."
The next day, Harry and Hermione had resolved to go to the muggle mall and buy some clothes for Harry. When Hermione first woke up, however, she did not have much time to get dressed before a mob of owls started cooing excitedly outside her window. She opened the first, read it, and immediately started crying. She quickly dressed, told the other owls to wait in a bathroom adjacent to her room, and ran outside. She didn't notice that the blue shirt that she was wearing, which said 'Princess' on it, didn't match with her bright orange jeans. Her face was red and blotchy and she was crying hysterically. She ran all the way to where Harry was staying, still crying the whole way, the letter in her hand. Harry, still in his pajamas, got drowsily out of bed and drew the blinds just as Hermione came running over to his guesthouse. He put on some jeans over his boxers and a t-shirt and ran out to her.
"Hermione! What happened? You're acting like someone died or something!" Hermione, lost for words, could only point to the letter she still held in her hand. It read:
Dear Hermione and Harry,
I regret to inform you of the deaths of the entire Weasley family. Last night, Voldemort turned up in the Burrow and killed almost all of the Weasleys, including Percy and Charlie, who were unfortunately at the Weasleys' home for vacation. I know that you two were his best friends. Please come to pay your respects to all of them on July 30.
God bless you,
Professor Albus Dumbledore
Harry had only read the first line when he started crying, just as hard as Hermione. They sat on a nearby bench and wept for many hours. After a long time, Harry got up, wiped his face with his sleeve, and said bravely," Well, we can't go on like this forever. We have to get on with our lives. Come on, let's go change. We both look absolutely terrible. And we should have breakfast." But this wasn't very hard for Hermione. She gave both of them drier, more matching clothes and fixed their hair with a simple flick of her finger. Many different types of fruit and vegetables growing nearby were pulled out of the ground and off of trees and flew onto the bench. They ate all of it, and it helped them to stop crying. They decided to go to the mall after all, just to take their minds off things.
In their rooms, later that night, both of them started crying again. This time, it was Harry who walked into Hermione's house, past a scowling butler, up three flights of stairs, and down four halls to go to her room. He didn't bother to knock, and just let himself in. They sat on a cream- colored couch and sobbed for many more hours.
When Harry woke up the next morning, it took him a while to remember where he was, and most of all, why he was there. He nearly started crying again, but noticed that Hermione had not yet awoken. He didn't want to have her wake up to him crying, and remind her yet again of the tragic events that had taken place the day before, so he stopped himself. He quietly let himself out of the room.
When Harry saw Hermione at breakfast, her face was all blotchy again, so she must have also been crying. There was a miserable, empty look on her face that made Harry miserable and empty too. He put a comforting arm around her, even though both of them didn't feel like either of them could ever be comforted. "What's the problem?" It took a long time for Hermione or Harry to realize that Mr. Granger was asking them a question. At last, Harry jolted back to reality. "Oh, well, Ron's dead." He said it very quietly, as though he was afraid to speak. "Oh, that's terrible! Are you two going to his funeral?" They both mumbled, "Yes." All three of them now had pained looks on their faces.
That day, Harry and Hermione sat around and didn't do much again. The next day would be the day of the party, and the day after that would be Harry's birthday, July 31st. The maids were rushing around, setting out tables, and buying food, Hermione and Harry in the middle of it. Occasionally, a maid would come along and ask a question, and Hermione would mumble an answer back. It was one of the gloomiest days of either of their lives.
The next day, the day of the party, Harry and Hermione were both running around, trying to figure out what to wear, until about ten o'clock in the morning. Finally, they both had it all worked out. Hermione would wear low-cut bellbottom jeans and a big, jewel-studded belt, a red tank top that said '2 cute' on it, and with it she would wear a brand-new pair of red Adidas running shoes. She went out to have a facial and a manicure a few hours before the party. By three-thirty, half an hour before the party began, she looked great in all of her new clothes, with her freshly curled hair and professionally done fingernails. She was also in a better mood than she had been in for a while. Harry was wearing a pair of khaki cargoes, which could unzip into shorts, a Quiksilver tee shirt, and a backwards Old Navy baseball cap. He, too, was wearing new clothes and awesome new Vans boarding sneakers.
Hermione was running around frantically, quite the opposite of what she had been doing yesterday. Harry thought she was really overdoing it. Her backyard looked amazing, all of the trees and marble fountains and swimming pools in order, and tables loaded with food as far as the eye could see. Harry went over to her and tried to calm her down. It was then that he realized that the real reason for her panic was something that he had never considered before, and it was such a large issue that it obviously had to be addressed quickly. As Harry noticed on his new watch that they had only fifteen minutes before everyone started arriving, Hermione was muttering, "Oh, my gosh! What are we going to do, Harry?"
"About what?" Harry questioned mildly.
"No one knows that Ron and his whole family are dead except for us and Dumbledore! Everyone's going to be asking where they all are, and if I tell them, everyone's going to start crying at my party!"
"No wonder you look so stressed. I dunno what we're gonna do. Well, can you just get Dumbledore over here? We can ask him." Hermione simply clicked her fingers. Dumbledore showed up, looking quite flustered, right next to them. "Oh, hello. did you need me for something?" Hermione was the first to talk. "Well, everyone's going to be asking where Ron and Ginny are, but we shouldn't tell them, because then they'll start crying. What do we do now?" "Hmm. Well, just let me handle that, and. tell the truth. But how did you get me over here?" Hermione gasped. "Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. I was going to tell everyone later, but you can know now. Harry already knows, and he's the only one who knows besides Danny, er, Viktor. Well, um, see, Viktor and I are angels. Now Viktor's called Danny and I'm called Hermione." Dumbledore looked surprised. "You two are the only ones in three hundred years, you know. There may be more, but no one knows where they are yet. Quite fascinating, how they only show up every three hundred years like that." Hermione nodded and checked the Baby G watch on her wrist. "Oh, my gosh! We'd better get to the door. Everyone's going to show up soon." She and Harry ran to the door just as Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, two other fifth year Griffindor girls, showed up. Hermione welcomed them in and led them to the backyard while Harry stayed at the door. Everyone that came in was amazed at the grandeur of Hermione's house. There were hundreds of people, including all of the Griffindors, the teachers, except for Harry and Hermione's least favorite, Snape, and Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher who loved predicting tragic events that didn't ever come true. There was Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, a young French woman with beautiful blond hair and a pretty smile, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, and many others (mostly from the Ministry). Hermione was very involved in talking to Parvati Patil and Fleur Delacour the whole time. Harry wondered what they were talking about. When he walked over to say hello, they changed the subject. He walked away, still curious. Everyone was chatting, eating, dancing to the loud music blasting from invisible speakers, or just admiring Hermione's backyard.
About fifteen minutes before the party would end, Hermione and Harry and Dumbledore went up onto a stage that had been set up against an iron fence that led into another garden. Dumbledore tapped a microphone to make sure that it was on. Then he said into the microphone something that made Harry and Hermione gasp. It was such a simple solution. He told everyone there that they should come to the cathedral in which the funeral service would be held, but not why. He also told all of them to wear black. This made all of the guests gasp in horror, but they calmed down.
Once everyone left, Harry and Hermione still had a lot of energy. They decided to go to Hogsmeade again. When they were there, Hermione went to go look at quills and books and Harry went to look at quidditch supplies again. They had a great time just walking down the busy cobblestone streets at Hogsmeade, and stayed until midnight. It was Harry's birthday. When Harry's watch flipped to 12:00 p.m., he told Hermione that on that second, five years ago, Hagrid had come into a hut that he, Harry, and the Dursleys had been staying in for the night. He told Hermione the whole story upon realizing that she had never heard it before. She said that it was even more exciting than she had imagined it. They decided that they didn't need sleep, and stayed there until late afternoon. When they got back, their hands were full of shopping bags holding the many items that Harry and Hermione had bought. In fact, the only reason that they went back to Hermione's house was because they couldn't carry anything else. Once inside the house, they both emptied their bags on the nearest possible table.
"Wow, Hermione, look at everything that we bought!"
"I think we went a little crazy."
"How are we going to get all of this to Hogwarts?"
"Harry, you're forgetting what I am again."
"Oops. But we still overdid it."
For Harry and Hermione had just emptied loads of things onto the table. Loads of new robes, plain robes and dress robes, a practice broomstick for Harry (which was a Nimbus Two Thousand Three), and a new broomstick for Hermione (a Comet Three Hundred, which had glitter all over it). As for books and school supplies, they were everywhere. All over the table were books in different languages, about everything from how to curse muggles without getting in trouble with the Ministry of Magic to how to make one's fingernails turn a certain color so that it always looked like they had nail polish on. Their brand-new school supplies included a quill that took notes on its own, paper that did nearly the same thing, only in different colors, books that could remember lessons from up to five hundred years ago, etcetera. Harry and Hermione didn't have their school lists yet, so they decided to just get everything. They were presently dividing up all of their new things to try them out. Then an owl flew in through an open window.
"Oh, my gosh- I forgot about those poor owls that I put in my bathroom!" Hermione squealed. She read the message that the new owl was holding, and shrieked with happiness. "Harry! I'm going to be head girl!" She didn't hear Harry mutter "Figures, with all that girl's done, getting perfect marks on all of the papers." After that, she ran up the split spiral staircase to her bathroom. She looked over the message that the first owl had strapped to its leg. It was the same as the one that she had just read downstairs. The next owl had a new message. This one made her gasp and run down the enormous stairs again. When she got to the bottom of it, she nearly ran over Harry with excitement and hugged him. "You're going to be Head Boy!" She kept shouting in his ear. "Great! That sounds awesome!" was Harry's only reply, because he was so lost for words. They would be Head Boy and Girl, just like his parents had been. Harry wasn't sure what to think.
After that, Hermione sped upstairs once more. The last owl was from Bill Weasley. It made Hermione start crying again, and she did so for a long time. She was up in her room for so long, in fact, that Harry came up to see why she was taking so long. When he read the letter, he started crying again too. They forgot about why they had been so happy just moments before. The letter was about all of Bill's family being dead, and how Bill felt about it. It said that he thought that his life could never be great again, and that Harry and Hermione were the only other two people on earth who knew exactly what he meant. Hermione and Harry kept crying, for Bill, for themselves, and for all of the Weasleys whom had died. They wouldn't have been crying, however, if they knew that Bill Weasley was perfectly happy right then, having a cup of coffee at a coffee shop with Fleur Delacour.
The next morning, Harry woke up wondering where he was, again, and quietly got off of the couch in Hermione's bedroom, again. She was sleeping on the carpeted floor in the worst state that Harry had ever seen her in. Her hair looked perfectly horrible, her makeup was smeared, and she was lying on the ground with her eyes closed and her mouth open just a bit. Harry considered lifting her onto the bed, but decided against it for fear that he would wake her up. So he slipped back to where he was staying and got dressed.
Harry had just picked out what to wear when he saw Hermione walking toward the guesthouse. She looked normal again, with her hair in a ponytail and her makeup done. She didn't bother to knock on the door, but instead just came right in. "Ron's funeral today. Wear black." Hermione was obviously angry that Harry had seen her looking so terrible that morning, and didn't say hello. At once, she saw the chest that Harry had never opened. She completely lost her attitude and asked curiously, "Haven't you ever opened that trunk?" Harry was brushing his teeth, so he just grunted a no. Hermione walked over to it. She tried opening it, but it was locked. By that time, Harry had finished with his teeth and was sitting on the rug next to her.
"I can't open it, Harry. It's locked."
"Now you're forgetting what you are."
"Oops." The lid automatically flung open, hitting Harry's glasses. They broke in half. Hermione tapped his cheek with her finger, and Harry immediately stopped groping around for his glasses. For the first time in his life, he didn't need them. He was so amazed that he was speechless. After a while, he said, "Wow. Thanks." But Harry could now see that there was absolutely nothing inside the trunk but pockets. All sizes and shapes of pockets littered the brown leather sides of the trunk. "Well, I guess we should start looking. The funeral's in half an hour." So they looked and looked and looked. They started to become frustrated after about twenty minutes of looking. Finally Harry found something. It was a very mashed piece of paper, but its message amazed Harry and Hermione. It was written by Harry's father.
Dear Harry,
No matter how old you are when you read this, your mother and I both want you to get our point. We knew that we would die someday, and we just wanted to write a letter before we died to tell you that we love you. No matter what ever happens, we will always love you and we will continue to watch over you from Heaven when we die. We will always love you and we will continually be there for you during the best and worst times of your life. When you have your first girlfriend, when you get a job, when you get a home and a family of your own, we will still be watching you.
Love from your parents,
Lily and James Potter
"Good lord, your parents must both have been seers! That's the only way to explain this! I think that they could see their own deaths! There's probably something else in this trunk about that, I'll have to check it every way I know how later. That's amazing! But we'll come back to this later, we have to find that chapel." Hermione was already reeling off, talking the way that she did the day that she and Harry had met.
A second later, they were at the chapel. Harry muttered, "Oh, yes, finding that chapel, we had a really hard time doing that." Hermione elbowed him and shushed him. They walked inside the tiny chapel and took a seat on one of the pews. It was almost hard to be sad, thinking about the letter, the trunk, and most of all, what they could do now that they had the letter and the trunk. But in a moment, Bill Weasley walked up to the podium, his face very red from crying. Hermione didn't notice right away that she was sitting next to Fleur Delacour, but when she did, they smiled at each other in a way Harry found quite annoying. He thought that it looked like they had a secret that they were keeping from him, or at least the majority of the people packed in the tiny chapel.
The eulogy was very short, and Bill Weasley had spent most of his time at the podium sniffling. When Hermione and Harry realized that nearly everyone else was sniffling too, they shot each other nervous faces and tried as hard as they could to keep their minds off of their newfound discovery and look properly sad. By the time Bill Weasley was done talking and sniffling, they still hadn't been able to start crying. Harry and Hermione left as soon as possible, hoping that no one noticed.
Once they were back at Hermione's house, they began digging through the trunk again. Or rather, Harry dug through the trunk while Hermione was re-reading the letter over and over to try to pick up something she hadn't noticed before. She was muttering insanely to herself, and he was rummaging through the trunk, turning it upside down, and shaking it.
"You know, there's no point in doing that."
"What exactly?"
Hermione just pointed at the trunk. Another piece of paper flew out. Hermione grabbed it first, which was lucky. It said:
Dear Hermione,
By the time you are reading this we will already be gone, but not forever- if you can help it. Please DO NOT SHOW THIS LETTER TO HARRY, at least until the time comes. We assure you, it will. There is a legend in an ancient book that tells of a great evil. This evil must be Voldemort. The legend says that if you kill this evil wizard a certain way, all of his victims shall come alive once more. No one knows what the way to kill him is, but we think that you are clever enough to find the book and learn how to deal with Voldemort before it is too late. Please begin looking right away, because there is never a better time than the present.
Sincerely yours,
Lily and James Potter
Hermione squealed. She could bring Ron back to life! And Harry's parents, and his grandparents, and some of the greatest wizards and witches of modern times! Harry, trying to look over her shoulder with interest, asked her what the note said. "Oh- it's nothing. It's just a bunch of scribbles. But your parents were definitely seers." She immediately folded the note and put in into her pocket.
Much later, at about midnight, Hermione was re-reading the letter just as she had the other one. She understood her mission quite easily now; she just didn't have a clue in the world as to how she would do it. Although she had loosened up now quite a bit, she would have to go back to her old standby- books. But she would only have to read ancient books. The problem was, she had no idea where she could get such books. But in only four days, she and Harry would go back to Hogwarts. Then she could read as many books as she liked- at least until she ran out of ancient- looking books. But why should I wait, when I can just get the books now? She thought to herself. With a simple click of her fingers, she was in the middle of piles of ancient books- at least all of the ones that she could get without getting in trouble.
Hermione was up reading all night. She started reading the books that were about great evils that would someday take over the world, but none of the described evil forces sounded remotely like they could have been Voldemort. Then she read all of the books that looked the most ancient, but there was nothing in those books either. She was about to go to bed when the sun began to rise. She just took a shower to try to wake herself up. It didn't work, and she was still drowsy when another owl flew in through an open window. Although she could hardly see straight, she automatically untied the letter from the bird's leg. It was a letter from Hogwarts. She sighed and sat down on her bed. But she did not have a chance to read it, however, because the moment she sat down she fell asleep.
Hermione slept for only three hours. When it was finally ten-thirty in the morning, Harry came into her room to see what had been keeping her. He was amazed to find her asleep amid piles of books that he had never seen before. He took the letter gently from her hands and told the owl to go back to Hogwarts. The letter told him that there would be an all-school ball on the first day of school, so he should wear dress robes and already have a dance partner. He remembered last year, how he wanted to go with Cho Chang, a girl who was now in her sixth year at Hogwarts. He was amazed at himself for being so stupid. Why had he wanted Cho Chang, when the perfect girl had been right under his nose since he was eleven? It was ridiculous, really, he thought, looking at Hermione sprawled on her bed, fast asleep. So ridiculous.
"Oh, my gosh!" Hermione's eyes popped open. "What was I doing all night?" Then she gasped, remembering the note. "Harry, um, I'd better get back to work. I have to read some more." Harry still had no idea where any of these books had come from, or why they were here. "Well, okay. But there's going to be an all-school ball on the first day of school. . . Do you want to go with me?" " Of course," She answered at once. She leapt up and kissed him and then grabbed another book. "Why exactly did you bring all of these books here?" Harry wondered why she suddenly needed piles and piles of books filling her usually spacious bedroom. "Well, I just wanted something to read, you know, to get ahead on schoolwork." Harry knew Hermione too well. He could tell that she was lying, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he changed the subject back to the ball. "What are we going to wear?" "I don't know. I just have to keep reading this stupid stuff. . . argh! This is terrible!" " Are you feeling all right?" Harry questioned. "No, I'm not! I don't get this, I slept for about three hours last night, and we're going to school in a few days!" After that, Harry wisely left her alone.
Hermione was reading all the rest of the summer vacation. Harry still didn't know why she was so obsessed with reading, but he didn't let it get to him. After all, he thought, that was what she had been like before. Maybe she was just going back to her old ways. But he still couldn't convince himself not to wonder about it so much.
The first day of school finally came. Hermione didn't bother to pack the normal way, but instead just flicked her fingers without even looking up from her book, which Harry thought to be very disturbing. Why was she so into these books now? But he didn't have long to wonder about it, because he had to pack the normal way as fast as he could, because they both would have to be back at the train station at ten o'clock. And he also thought it strange that they still had nothing to wear to the ball that night, but he knew that coming up with something to wear would be no problem for Hermione- in more than one way.
So at ten o'clock, Harry found himself at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, just as he had been every year before except his second year. However, this time he arrived very confused because Hermione had not even warned him that she would send him over there. But there she was, next to him, a book still in the crook of her arm.
"Hermione!" Harry called her name to see if she would listen.
"Hmm?" She said, by way of an answer.
"What are we going to wear to the ball tonight?"
"I'll think something up on the way." Parvati Patil, who was standing nearby, giggled. She was always giggling, something that Harry had found annoying in years past.
Hermione had finally slapped the book shut, and Harry noticed that the pages were falling out of the book. "Parvati, would you mind telling him what you know?" She asked, a peeved look on her face. Parvati leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear, giggling again. "I know," She just barely got out between giggles, "That Hermione's an angel." She stopped to giggle again here. Then she leaned over and whispered to Harry, "And so am I." Then she couldn't hold it in anymore and started giggling insanely again. This time Lavender Brown, her best friend, joined her in the giggling. Harry looked at the two giggling girls, bewildered, and then looked at Hermione, just as bewildered, and mouthed, "You told them?" Hermione giggled, too, and nodded. Harry rolled his eyes. They got on the train.
The train ride over started normally- everyone was saying hello and jumping around and screaming. Harry and Hermione just thought that the train felt almost empty without Ron eating sweets endlessly. But then Cho Chang came into the compartment that Harry and Hermione were sitting together in and said that she wanted to speak to Harry privately. Harry got up, confused, and did what she said politely while Hermione looked as if she was getting ready to kill Cho.
"Um, Harry, hi," Cho started. Harry just nodded, very embarrassed. "Well," She continued, "I just wanted to tell, or, ask you, um, do you remember last year. . ." Her question just sort of ended there in a way that Harry thought was very odd. He nodded, fearing that what he thought might be coming next might actually come next. He just let her continue. "Um, I just wanted to see if you still like me, and um, do you want to go to the ball with me?" Harry could feel all of the blood rising to his head. Say no, he thought, and do the right thing. She's not your girlfriend, you don't want her to be your girlfriend, and you definitely don't like her anymore. Last year she had her chance. This year, I'm moving on. Finally, the words reached his mouth. "Um, actually, I'm already going with someone else, and that was kind of last year. . . but I'm really sorry." Cho looked absolutely heartbroken. Just as it had happened last year, she asked Harry, "Who are you going with?" And Harry replied, "Hermione." It was just as it had been last year, only this time the other way around. But the biggest difference was that Harry wasn't sorry the way that Cho had been last year. They walked away.
Harry sat back down with Hermione once Cho had left the compartment. "What happened?" Hermione asked, looking amused. "Your face is beet red." Harry still had a worried look on his face as he explained what had just happened. "Oh, well. Okay, then." Hermione looked down at her fingernails. "And by the way, I've already packed what we're going to wear tonight. I hope you like it." The train had come to a complete stop, and they got off of the train together.
Just about an hour later, Harry and Hermione met at the bottom of a long staircase that led into the Griffindor common room. They looked great, and everyone in the common room was staring at them, bug eyed. Hermione's hair was now completely a beautiful shade of brown with golden streaks. It was in a beautiful bun high at the back of her head, pinned in place with diamond clips. Her dress was midnight blue. The bottom of it was puffed-out silk lined with beautiful, sparkling diamonds. The strapless top was also blue silk, with diamonds everywhere all over it. She was wearing white silk gloves, also with diamonds on them. Her eyelashes were big and dark, and they looked as if glitter had been arranged perfectly on them. Her face was bright and happy, her complexion perfect. She held a tiny handbag the color of her dress. Harry looked wonderful too, in a black suit with newly shined shoes. They went down to the Great Hall.
Hagrid had again outdone himself with decorations. The hall was perfect, with little lamps hanging from the walls. The ceiling, which always looked like the skies above it, was beautiful and starry. Small, dainty tables were all along the sides of the Great Hall, leaving room for the partners to dance. There was already food on the tables. The feast this year was huge, stuffed turkeys, salad, soup, other side dishes, and dessert on all of the small tables. Everyone sat down to eat and the sorting began. The first person to be sorted was Andrea Allbright. She sat down on the stool, had the sorting hat placed on her head when it had finished its song, and was sorted into Gryffindor. Harry and Hermione were watching her the entire time, amazed.
"She looks just like you!" Hermione whispered.
"Shh, I know. It's almost scary." Harry was amazed too. Hermione motioned for her to join them at the empty seat at their table. She took a seat to the left of Hermione, and to the right of Parvati Patil, who was going to the ball with Seamus Finnigan.
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger. This is Harry Potter. It's awesome that you're in Gryffindor. You'll love it at Hogwarts. It's like a second home for me, because I'm in my fifth year here." Hermione said this with such a strange look in her eye that Harry almost felt like asking her if she was sick. She looked so gentle, as if this girl was her pet or something. Harry had never seen her being so nice, except for to him. And, of course, her new friends, Parvati and Lavender. Harry guessed that it was only because the girl looked so much like him that Hermione was treating a complete stranger so nicely. Although it seemed very unfair to him, Harry didn't say anything. After all, this girl had to be pretty nice, to have been sorted into Gryffindor. The sorting continued, and Hermione and Andrea talked in hushed voices the entire time. Harry could hardly hear what they were saying, because he was on Hermione's other side.
"What do your parents do? Mine are both muggle dentists."
"Mine are both dead, actually. They were killed by Voldemort, so I live with my muggle aunt and uncle. They're both so strange- they hate each other, but they don't want to get a divorce because then they'd have to be in a court room together at the same time." Andrea giggled. "So instead they just keep away from each other, even though they live in the same house. They separate their money and keep to themselves. I know that I have a dead aunt and uncle from my father's side, but I can't get my aunt or my uncle to tell me who they were. I don't know where they lived or if I've got a cousin or anything about my family."
In Harry's opinion, Hermione looked so sorry for Andrea that she probably would have started crying any minute if she hadn't stopped eating and asked Andrea what she was wearing.
"Um, it's just my normal black robes."
"Are you going to dance with anyone tonight?"
"I probably will, even though I'll look really ridiculous, dancing in a short skirt like this. Some guys here were looking at me very oddly." Andrea giggled again.
Hermione could see why the boys wanted to dance with Andrea. She was very pretty. She had dark brown hair just a shade lighter than Hermione's. She had a long, thin face, high cheekbones, and a smile that lit up her entire face. She and Hermione looked as if they could have been sisters, with their almost identical face shapes and smiles.
"Well, I can do you a big favor, then. As long as you don't tell anybody, I can kind of give you a new outfit, if you'd like. What's your favorite color?"
Andrea looked at Hermione like she was her fairy godmother straight out of a book. She just managed to get out, "Purple."
"All right," Hermione whispered. "Not everyone here can do this. Just Parvati and Lavender. So please don't tell anyone." Hermione gave Andrea a new, beautiful purple dress and earrings that went with it perfectly. Just then, two large, strong hands grabbed Hermione's shoulders. Hermione turned around and jumped about a foot in the air.
It was Viktor Krum. He wasn't as Harry had remembered him; obviously it was because he was an angel that he looked so good. His hair had gone quite blond, and his sharp features had turned softer and his nose was smaller. Harry groaned inwardly and kicked Hermione under the table. She kicked him with the heel of her shoe, and because the heel was so sharp, that was all that Harry needed. He stopped being rude immediately, but still hoped that Viktor would go away.
Before Harry knew what was happening, Viktor was dancing with Hermione. He thought that it was very rude for Viktor to dance with Harry's dance partner. After all, he had his chance last year. But that made Harry remember that he, Harry, had actually tried to hook up with Hermione while she was with Viktor. Just because it had worked for him didn't mean that he had been polite about it. But Harry hadn't danced with Hermione when she had been Viktor's dance partner last year, so Harry still had an excuse to think that Viktor had been rude.
When Harry and Hermione were dancing together, less than four minutes later, they were having a whole conversation mouthing at each other while they danced. Harry was absolutely freaking out with anger, and Hermione was trying to explain to him that she couldn't have done anything about it.
"You can't just tell them 'no, I don't want to dance' if you were their dance partner last year and you never actually officially broke up with them."
"Oh, so you wouldn't be mad if I just went up to Cho Chang and asked her dance?"
"That's different! You would be asking her to dance!"
"I don't see how different that is."
"Let's go outside and fix all of this."
So they went to the garden right outside the Great Hall and sat down on the wall of a fountain. Both of their faces were turning red with anger, and they each thought that the other was wrong and that they hadn't done anything bad. It was not a good way to behave at the first school dance that they went to together.
"Look, that was really annoying. Just don't let it happen again, okay?"
"It wasn't my fault! When are you going to understand that?"
"When you understand that you shouldn't do that to me!"
Hermione stood up. "Okay, okay. I'll stop it if you will. Neither of us did anything too wrong, except for getting mad at each other." Harry still said, "I'm not convinced. . ." Hermione kissed him. Harry promptly let the issue go. As they headed back inside the Great Hall, Hermione asked, "What do you think of Andrea? She's pretty nice, and it's so amazing how she looks just like you." Harry just nodded. There was something strange about Andrea, but he couldn't quite find out what exactly what it was.
When Hermione and Harry came back to the Great Hall and sat down at their table for some dessert, neither of them had time to even cut a piece of pie and put it on their plates because they were surrounded by a horde of people asking each of them to dance. "We'll both be guilty this time," Hermione whispered, "And now you know what it feels like." They danced and danced until they felt like their legs would snap. Both of them danced with some of their old friends, but they also ended up dancing with some people that they would never dance with. Hermione danced with Draco Malfoy, her enemy, three people she didn't know, and Neville Longbottom, a clumsy, forgetful boy who was always losing his toad and usually couldn't find his way to the classrooms before class began. Harry danced with Millicent Bulstrode, a fat and mean Slytherin fifth year, four people he didn't know, and Cho Chang.
Finally, everyone stopped dancing and Dumbledore went to the center of the room to speak. "Hello, again, everyone, and welcome, first years, to Hogwarts. This year has already been very hard for some of us, and we hope that our troubles are over. However, we cannot ever be sure of that, so we must always be alert for anyone that is not supposed to be at Hogwarts. And now, may I reintroduce Professor Lupin as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, because a spell has been performed on him that has made him fully human." Hermione giggled, and Harry knew at once that she had done the spell. "And," Dumbledore continued, "Miss Fleur Delacour will be our new social activities director." There was applause for both of them. "We have no potions master right now. Severus Snape has resigned to go on to something else. If you ever cross paths with him again, be warned. He can be very dangerous. Now for our Head Boy and Girl, they will be Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. The prefects will be Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown for Gryffindor, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson for Slytherin, Elizabeth Ross and Matthew Richards for Ravenclaw, and Timothy Smith and Diana Hausler for Hufflepuff. The quidditch captains will be Draco Malfoy for Slytherin, Harry Potter for Gryffindor, Cho Chang for Ravenclaw, and Nicolas Du Vier for Hufflepuff. I hope that everyone will have a safe and happy year. Now up to your dormitories you go. I'll see you in the morning.
All of them trudged up to their dormitories, half-asleep. Harry and Hermione were very awake, however. They felt like they could dance and sing all night. Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnigan, and Andrea Allbright also felt like dancing all night. So Hermione made a magical radio, and they did dance almost all night. They got bored at about three a.m. and decided to play Truth or Dare. Parvati magicked up some sleeping bags for all of them. They just lay in their sleeping bags in the Gryffindor common room, playing Truth or Dare until all of the best truth questions and dares had been used up. Once everyone had put Neville's toad on his face at least once, gone outside of the Gryffindor tower to carve something in a wall, played a trick on the Fat Lady, the woman in the picture that let people into the Gryffindor tower, and turned their hair purple and back, everyone was getting bored again, and tired too. So they fell asleep in their sleeping bags and slept for only four hours until they heard Neville scream because he had just discovered that his toad was on his forehead.
"What?" Andrea said sleepily. "Wha's going on?"
Everyone from Gryffindor was now coming down the staircase and staring at everyone in the sleeping bags that hadn't been there the night before. Hermione remembered that they were all still in their pajamas and flicked her finger under her pillow. Now Harry and Seamus were wearing tee shirts and cargo pants, and she, Lavender, Andrea, and Parvati were wearing matching tank tops that laced up the sides and said 'Cowgirl' on them, brown leather pants that also laced up on the sides, and brown leather robes with hoods. They all crawled out of the sleeping bags, said hello to everyone else, and went up to the dormitories to pack all of their school books into their backpacks.
Before they headed out for breakfast, Andrea called Hermione over into a corner. Harry wondered what they were talking about, but he wasn't too concerned about it. He went down to breakfast, entranced by the smell of pancakes.
Harry noticed that Andrea and Hermione behaved very oddly when they were around him. They would both get silly grins on their faces when they looked at him and run away, giggling. Harry found this not only annoying, but also mean. When would they tell him what it was that they were laughing about?
All day Harry wondered about this. When they had all finished eating dinner, Harry pulled Hermione and Andrea over and asked what was so funny.
"Do you think we should tell him, Andrea?"
"Do you think I should? This is so weird! And he doesn't even know!"
"Now that you said it that way, we have to tell him! Go ahead!"
"Me? You tell him!"
"This is about you, girl! Go!"
Andrea stepped forward and whispered something so quietly that even she couldn't hear. "What?" Harry asked. "If you're going to tell me, just tell me!" "Um," Andrea said, her face turning bright crimson, "I think- and Hermione thinks too- that maybe you're, like, just maybe you're, um, my- " She couldn't finish the sentence. "We think you're her cousin, actually," Hermione stepped in, a smug look on her face. Harry was stunned. He stood there with his mouth open for a very long time. Then he hugged Andrea and Hermione.
"Wow! How did you find out?"
"Well, I look a lot like you, and we Hermione somehow gathered that your dad and my mom were siblings. I don't know how she did it." Andrea was grinning from ear to ear.
Hermione looked away, as if she didn't want Harry to know how she had found out- after all, she didn't. "Well, we've wasted enough time here. Goodnight, Harry." She kissed his cheek and pulled Andrea up the stairs. Something's definitely fishy here, Harry thought later that night. He was in his dormitory, wondering how Hermione had found out that Andrea was related to him. Obviously, Dumbledore himself hadn't known that Harry and Andrea were related, or they would have grown up in the same house. His dormitory felt empty without Ron there. Seamus and Neville were very quiet too, only they were awake at eleven-thirty because they were studying, not thinking.
Harry sat up. "Hey, guys, it's so weird. Ron's not here, and it's so quiet. We would have been having much more fun if he was here. What should we do?" The only answer that he got was a long, loud snore from Neville. He sighed and went to bed.
the Answer
"Get out of here, boy! Get out! Out!" Harry Potter's muscles tensed as his uncle continued to scream at him to get out of the house. He had just caught Harry giving his pet owl, Hedwig, snacks while writing a letter to his friend, Hermione Granger. Harry was in his aunt and uncle's custody because his parents had died when he was a baby. His aunt and uncle had always hated Harry, and it had only been five years before that he found out why his relatives all hated him so much. It was because he was a wizard.
Harry was also a very famous wizard. He had brought about the downfall of the evil wizard, Voldemort, when he was only a baby. Voldemort had killed many great, full-grown witches and wizards, but when he tried to kill Harry, he nearly evaporated. No one knew what happened to him. But Voldemort was back again, and Harry had battled him only a short two weeks ago.
Now his aunt, uncle, and cousin, Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley, were immensely scared that Harry would write to his godfather, Sirius Black, and have him come and turn them all into fruit flies. Harry could not do magic out of Hogwarts, his wizarding school, but Sirius was a fully qualified wizard and could do magic anywhere he wanted.
Sirius was also an escaped criminal. He was the first person in history to break out of Azkaban, the wizard prison. What they didn't know was that Harry would never do that for fear that the Dursleys would call the police, because wizards and muggles, nonmagic people, were still searching for Sirius.
So Harry had been pushed out of the house, along with his few belongings, and a trunk that he had never seen before. He heard his red- faced uncle yelling out to him, "That's yours. Get it out of here and don't ever come back!" His relatives were all muggles, and Mrs. Dursley had hated her sister, who was Harry's mother. She did not like that her sister was a witch, and that she had powers that Mrs. Dursley did not have. This was when she became prejudiced against all wizards and witches.
Harry examined the trunk. The Dursleys had an attic that Harry had never been in, and Harry supposed that was where this dusty thing had come from. Harry cleared one of the many cobwebs to read a name engraved on the lock. It said very clearly "J. Potter." Harry assumed that it must have been his father's. He tried to pick it up, but it was far too heavy for him to carry. Harry knew that he was not supposed to, but he put a charm on it to make it featherweight. He did the same to the trunks containing his clothes and his magical equipment. Harry would go over to his friend Ron Weasley's house, ask directions to Hermione's house, tell her what he had been planning to tell her in the note, and stay there until the new school year began. So he started the long walk to Ron's house.
Harry did not get there for a very long time. When he finally arrived, it was very late, and also pitch black. He gathered up all of his energy and raised a fist to knock on the door, but before he did the door was flung open.
"Harry!"
"Ron!"
"Come on in! I am so glad you're here. Why are you here?"
Harry was extremely tired and wanted to say flat out that he wanted to stay the night and just walk to Hermione's house the next day, but he tried to be more tactful.
"I. I'm really tired. The Dursleys kicked me out, gave me this trunk, and now I'm here." Harry yawned.
"Okay, you can stay here for the rest of the summer! You will stay in my bedroom. I'll go take your stuff in there." Ron said it as if he had all the energy in the world. Harry sleepily replied, "Actually, I'm not planning on staying here for too long. I'm going to Hermione's house because she invited me over for the summer. Besides, I shouldn't just show up here uninvited and expect your parents to feed me and take care of me all the rest of the summer." Ron looked slightly hurt, so Harry quickly added, "But I love your house and everything. It's so cozy." Ron's face lit up. "Well, I'll take your stuff to my room for now." So he picked up Harry's feather light trunks and almost ran to his room with happiness. Harry followed. The moment he laid down on the piled-up blankets nearly half an hour later, he fell right asleep on top of the covers, still in his dirty clothes and glasses.
The next morning Harry woke up around ten o'clock. He didn't quite remember where he was. Then he remembered. His first thought was that he should immediately go to Ron and tell him that he would be leaving as soon as possible. But he decided to have more subtlety, and tell him after breakfast.
So after a hearty breakfast of bacon and pancakes and orange juice, he quietly mentioned to Ron that he would probably leave today. "What? Already? Well, can I at least come with you?" Harry felt so bad that he assented. "After all, you're her friend too."
____________________________________________________________
Harry Potter and
Hermione's Big Secret
"Get out of here, boy! Get out! Out!" Harry Potter's muscles tensed as his uncle continued to scream at him to get out of the house. He had just caught Harry giving his pet owl, Hedwig, snacks while writing a letter to his friend, Hermione Granger. Harry was in his aunt and uncle's custody because his parents had died when he was a baby. His aunt and uncle had always hated Harry, and it had only been five years before that he found out why his relatives all hated him so much. It was because he was a wizard.
Harry was also a very famous wizard. He had brought about the downfall of the evil wizard, Voldemort, when he was only a baby. Voldemort had killed many great, full-grown witches and wizards, but when he tried to kill Harry, he nearly evaporated. No one knew what happened to him. But Voldemort was back again, and Harry had battled him only a short two weeks ago.
Now his aunt, uncle, and cousin, Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley, were immensely scared that Harry would write to his godfather, Sirius Black, and have him come and turn them all into fruit flies. Harry could not do magic out of Hogwarts, his wizard school, but Sirius was a fully qualified wizard that could do magic anywhere he wanted. Sirius was also an escaped criminal. He was the first person in history to break out of Azkaban, the wizard prison. What they didn't know was that Harry would never do that for fear that the Dursleys would call the police, because wizards and muggles, nonmagic people, alike were still searching for Sirius.
So Harry had been pushed out of the house, along with his few belongings, and a trunk that he had never seen before. He heard his red- faced uncle yelling out to him, "That's yours. Get it out of here and don't ever bring it back!" His relatives were all muggles, and Mrs. Dursley had hated her sister, who was Harry's mother. She did not like that her sister was a witch, and that she had powers that Mrs. Dursley did not have. This was when she became prejudiced against all wizards and witches.
Harry examined the trunk. The Dursleys had an attic that Harry had never been in, and Harry supposed that was where this dusty thing had come from. Harry cleared one of the many cobwebs to read a name engraved on the lock. It said very clearly "J. Potter." Harry assumed that it must have been his father's. He tried to pick it up, but it was far too heavy for him to carry. Harry knew that he was not supposed to, but he put a charm on it to make it featherweight. He did the same to the trunks containing his clothes and his magical equipment. Harry would go over to his friend Ron Weasley's house, ask directions to Hermione's house, and stay there until the new school year began. So he started the long walk to Ron's house.
Harry did not get there for a very long time. When he finally arrived, it was very late, and also pitch black. He gathered up all of his energy and raised a fist to knock on the door, but before he did the door was flung open.
"Harry!"
"Ron!"
"Come on in! I'm so glad you're here. Why are you here?"
Harry was extremely tired and wanted to say flat out that he wanted to stay the night and just walk to Hermione's house the next day, but he had to take a more tactful approach.
"I. I'm really tired. The Dursleys kicked me out, gave me this trunk, and now I'm here." Harry yawned.
"Okay, you can stay here for the rest of the summer! You'll stay in the guest bedroom. I'll go take your stuff in there." Ron said it as if he had all the energy in the world. Harry sleepily replied, "Actually, I'm not planning on staying here for too long. I'm going to Hermione's house because she invited me over for the summer. Besides, I shouldn't just show up here uninvited and expect your parents to feed me and take care of me all the rest of the summer." Ron looked slightly hurt, so Harry quickly added, "But I love your house and everything. It's so cozy." Ron's face lit up. "Well, I'll take your stuff to the guest room for now." So he picked up Harry's feather light trunks and almost ran to the guest room with happiness. Harry followed. The moment he laid down on the bed nearly half an hour later, he fell right asleep on top of the covers, still in his dirty clothes and glasses.
The next morning Harry woke up around ten o'clock. He didn't quite remember where he was. Then he remembered. His first thought was that he should immediately go to Ron and tell him that he would be leaving as soon as possible. But he decided to have more subtlety, and tell him after breakfast.
So after a hearty breakfast of bacon and muffins and orange juice, he quietly mentioned to Ron that he would probably leave today. "What? Already? Well, can I at least come with you?" Harry felt so bad that he assented. "After all, you're her friend too."
After Ron had packed all of his things, they set off. It took them all day. When they arrived, it was again pitch black, but in the light of Harry's flashlight, they could at least see parts of the house. And it was very obviously huge.
It was entirely white, with giant white columns, an amazingly large veranda, huge steps leading up to the house, and a mammoth lawn which Harry and Ron were standing in front of. It had at least three stories, not counting an attic right under what looked like a newly-tiled roof, and wings on either side. In the middle of the front yard there was a large marble fountain surrounded by bright, cheerful flowers. There was a large U-shaped driveway going in front of the house. Heavily loaded fruit trees were on either side of the magnificent lawn. There was only one thing that kept Harry and Ron from sprinting up to the front door.
"There's a gate! What do we do now?" Exclaimed Ron.
"Wait. I've seen these before! Here's what you do." And Harry smartly stepped up to the small dial on the gate and rang the bell so that he could talk to someone to let him in.
"Hello?" Came a voice. It definitely was not Hermione's, and it did not sound like her parents' either.
"Cool! It must be a butler!" Ron nearly shouted. Then he said, more loudly than necessary, "Can you let us in?" To which the butler sleepily replied, "Who are you and why are you here?" Harry was beginning to wonder if Ron had the right house. "Are you sure this is the right one?" He whispered. "Positive." So Harry said, "Well, we're Hermione's friends. she does live here, doesn't she?" They didn't need an answer from the butler. Hermione herself ran out the double front doors and flicked a switch that opened the gate. Just as soon as the gate opened wide enough for them to fit, Ron and Harry dropped all of their bags and trunks and ran as fast as they could to Hermione. They all hugged. "Do I look different?" She asked. "Wow. Your hair! It's so straight! And your face is much longer! You look great," Harry said. Ron nodded in agreement. She invited them inside.
"Wow!" Ron said. Harry was beyond words. He had heard of big, grand houses with servants and maids and butlers before, but this was beyond his wildest dreams. There were maids running around, dusting things like mad. The stiff-looking butler who had answered the speaker at the gate was dressed very formally, in a suit, shoes polished, and everything. Just like the shoes, everything else in the whole house was polished. Large, fancy vases stood on decorative stands, and there were many portraits on the walls. A few of the subjects even looked like Hermione, only much younger, and in frilly dresses. While Ron and Harry had been looking around, Hermione had been talking. At last she stopped, mid- sentence, and said, "Do you two hear me? Hello?" Finally they came out of their trance. The most intelligent thing they could say was, "Is that you in that fancy-looking picture? Look at that dress!" She told them that it was her, and it had been a real pain to stand there in a frilly, itchy dress while the painter had made the picture. "Well, do you two want to stay in the guest bedrooms or the guest houses?" They both looked at her, bug-eyed. After a very long time, they both said, at the same time, "Houses!" So the butlers took their cases inside, wondering how they could be so light, and followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the guesthouses.
It was a very long walk, especially for so late at night. They passed at least four pools, a tennis court, a basketball court, a gym, a volleyball court, and many more gardens and lawns, all of which seemed to have fruit or vegetables growing in them. When they finally arrived, it was nearly one in the morning, and all of them were very tired. They all said goodnight and settled into their beds.
Harry woke up late again the next morning, but this time, so did Ron and Hermione. After breakfast, which had been superb omelets and tea, all served on fancy dishes, the three of them tried to decide what they would do that day. Finally, they all decided to put on their bathing suits and sneakers, and have a tour of the house.
This tour lasted for a very long time. They had hardly seen half of the land by lunchtime. Finally, mid-afternoon, they had seen it all. They also had gone swimming in a few different pools, played basketball and tennis, and were very full from tasting nearly all of the superb fruits and vegetables that grew almost everywhere. The rest of the day, they were so exhausted that they just rested for many hours in Hermione's huge room, thinking about what to do tomorrow when Hermione suddenly got the idea to-
"Have a party!"
"What?" Harry and Ron both said. "Have a party! Here! We'll send out owls today!" Hermione said quickly. Harry and Ron agreed that this was a great idea. It would be a pool party for all of Griffindor, some Hogwarts teachers, and a few other close friends. They designed the invitations and told Hermione's parents that they would all go to Hogsmeade.
They had all just stormed out the front door (the prim butler scowling at them) when Harry said, "Wait just one second. How are we going to get there?" Hermione gasped. "What?" Asked Ron, to which Hermione replied, "Well, I know. There's a way that we, er, I can use magic without the Ministry knowing and expelling us for using magic when we're not supposed to. But for me to do it, you'll have to turn around, I don't want you to see it." Harry and Ron gave each other very confused looks, but turned around nonetheless. A moment later they were in Hogsmeade, the only all- wizard town in the world.
"Ah, just like I remember it. Well, not much could have changed, since we were here two weeks ago," said Ron. He hadn't noticed that no one was standing next to him. Only seconds later, though, Harry and Hermione showed up next to him. "It worked!" She said. Harry looked confused again, and he said, "Well, of course it did. Why wouldn't it have worked?" Hermione's awkward reply was, "Oh. Oh, never mind. It's nothing." And she set off in completely the wrong direction. Ron and Harry had to grab her and remind her that the wizard post office was the other way.
When they got there, it took them only a few minutes to select the hundreds of owls to deliver everyone the letters. Once they were done, they went to a store called Quality Quidditch Supplies, just to look around. By the time they came out with a new practice snitch for Harry, it was nearly ten o' clock. Ron was extremely fatigued, and he asked Hermione to magic him back to her house. She agreed, but she made him stand in a corner and turn around so that no one could see what she did - or so she thought. Harry had been standing right behind her. When Ron was gone, he very gently said, "How did you do that?" She gasped. "Well. you're not really supposed to know, but. well, let's go get some butterbeers, and I'll tell you." So they went down to get some butterbeers.
Harry and Hermione were already half done with the butterbeers when Harry asked how she had done that magic. Hermione took another sip and carefully said, "Well, Harry, before we get to that, I think you should know that I really like you." There was a long, uncomfortable pause before Harry said, in just a whisper, "Really? Like really? I like you too. Wow. So what does that have to do with how you did that magic?" Hermione sighed. "Everything, and nothing. It's just something about me that you should know before we start dating, or whatever. It's that. that. well."
"Spit it out."
"Well, I'm an angel."
Harry was even more surprised and awed than when Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, told him that Harry was a wizard. All that Harry could say was, "Oh. okay. uuuuh." Then Hermione cut in and very softly said, "Have you ever felt like you've seen something happen before, even though it hasn't?" Harry was about to say yes, but Hermione jumped and said, "Oh, my gosh. Harry, I really shouldn't be doing this. I have seen this before, sort of. I really have to go." And she paid for the two butterbeers and stormed out. "Wait! What do you mean?" Harry called after her. She turned around and said, "Come here!" Harry walked over. Hermione magicked them home with a simple flick of her finger.
"So?" Harry began.
"Well, it did happen before, only with someone else. and it was a little bit different. It was. was. Viktor Krum. He's an angel too. He showed me. And he also told me how he knew he's an angel. He told me that he can do this." And she used magic just coming out of her index finger to pluck an apple off of a tree and bring it to her. She didn't need her wand. All that Harry could say was a very amazed "Wow." So Hermione gently continued, "Well, he said that you can tell if you're an angel if you're very good at something earlier in life than most people, if you feel like nothing could bring you down on Christmas day, and if you have all of the friends you could ever want. And I realized that all of that is true for me. This is so weird." She sighed. "That's why I can do this magic. And by the way, angels start looking a lot better when they're teenagers." They turned to leave. Just then a butler came, looking disgusted, and said, "Excuse me - this owl just arrived with a letter for you, Mr. Potter." He held up the extremely tired and dirty-looking owl. Harry and Hermione had never seen it before. Harry thanked the butler and pulled out the letter. He and Hermione read it. It said:
Dear Mr. Potter,
You have been chosen to be head of the Gryffindor quidditch team. You must conduct practices, pick players for your team, and be in charge of them. To make a practice date, you must ask permission from a teacher or the headmaster. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of your holidays.
Sincerely,
Professor M. Mc Gonagall
P.S. Sports advisors from the Ministry will be watching your team for recruits for the England Quidditch team. I think that they will try to get you out of school before the year ends, so please try to play well and get ahead on your schoolwork.
When Harry and Hermione had finally finished reading the letter, they both were in shock. "But if you go away to play Quidditch, then. then." Harry's reply was very confused. "Well, uh, um, er, uh. Here. I'll make you a promise. No matter what happens with all of this, I'll come back. Here. Where's that necklace you've always got on?" He pulled a small, sparkling angel-shaped charm out of his pocket. Hermione pulled out her necklace. She undid the clasp. Harry slipped the charm onto the necklace. "As long as you wear that around your neck, I'll come back. If you take it off, I can't." She nodded. "It's really late. We'd better go. I'll see you tomorrow." They finally parted, and walked away.
The next morning, Harry and Hermione woke up before Ron did. They had to go and tell Oliver Wood, the handsome, sports-obsessed Head of England's Quidditch that he could watch Harry play Quidditch and possibly recruit him for England's team. Harry knew Oliver because two years ago had been Oliver's last year at Hogwarts, and Harry had been on the team that Oliver had been the head of. Harry had won the tournament for his team, and Oliver had never forgotten Harry's skills. So Harry and Hermione woke up and dressed at about four AM, grabbed some fruit, candy, and crackers for breakfast, wrote Ron a note, and ran out the front door. They went to her brand-new Porsche, got in, and buckled their seatbelts. Hermione made the car go with a simple flick of her finger, and they sped away.
When they finally arrived at Diagon Alley, a place that only wizards and witches could see, Hermione made the car park itself. The two of them walked inside a store selling Quidditch supplies. It wasn't exactly surprising to see Oliver Wood looking at new broomsticks for sale. Hermione ran up to him and said softly, "Um. Oliver?" He turned around and saw Hermione and Harry. "So Harry, what's your decision?" He sounded like a hyperactive five-year-old, and he definitely looked like one, jumping all around and waiting for Harry's answer. "Well, yes, you can come and watch me. I just don't know if I'll be able to join England's team before the year ends." If possible, Oliver looked a bit happy and a bit sad at the same time after Harry said this. "Well, that's good enough. At least we can watch your team." After this, Hermione and Harry left.
When they arrived back at Hermione's house, less than five seconds later, Ron was running around, a letter in his hand. "What is it?" Asked Hermione. "I'm supposed to come home right away. it's You-Know-Who. He's supposedly hanging around these parts, so I have to go home." He said all of this very quickly, running around and putting his few belongings back in his backpack. He had a very worried look on his face. "Well, Ron, um, bye. We'll see you in a week. Come to the party, okay?" Ron probably did not hear a word of this, however, as he was running to the gate so that he could go. "It'll take him much longer to get home if he's running," Harry said. "You're right. I'll give him a bit of help." Hermione zapped him home. "I wonder what the rush was all about."
The next day, Harry and Hermione had resolved to go to the muggle mall and buy some clothes for Harry. When Hermione first woke up, however, she did not have much time to get dressed before a mob of owls started cooing excitedly outside her window. She opened the first, read it, and immediately started crying. She quickly dressed, told the other owls to wait in a bathroom adjacent to her room, and ran outside. She didn't notice that the blue shirt that she was wearing, which said 'Princess' on it, didn't match with her bright orange jeans. Her face was red and blotchy and she was crying hysterically. She ran all the way to where Harry was staying, still crying the whole way, the letter in her hand. Harry, still in his pajamas, got drowsily out of bed and drew the blinds just as Hermione came running over to his guesthouse. He put on some jeans over his boxers and a t-shirt and ran out to her.
"Hermione! What happened? You're acting like someone died or something!" Hermione, lost for words, could only point to the letter she still held in her hand. It read:
Dear Hermione and Harry,
I regret to inform you of the deaths of the entire Weasley family. Last night, Voldemort turned up in the Burrow and killed almost all of the Weasleys, including Percy and Charlie, who were unfortunately at the Weasleys' home for vacation. I know that you two were his best friends. Please come to pay your respects to all of them on July 30.
God bless you,
Professor Albus Dumbledore
Harry had only read the first line when he started crying, just as hard as Hermione. They sat on a nearby bench and wept for many hours. After a long time, Harry got up, wiped his face with his sleeve, and said bravely," Well, we can't go on like this forever. We have to get on with our lives. Come on, let's go change. We both look absolutely terrible. And we should have breakfast." But this wasn't very hard for Hermione. She gave both of them drier, more matching clothes and fixed their hair with a simple flick of her finger. Many different types of fruit and vegetables growing nearby were pulled out of the ground and off of trees and flew onto the bench. They ate all of it, and it helped them to stop crying. They decided to go to the mall after all, just to take their minds off things.
In their rooms, later that night, both of them started crying again. This time, it was Harry who walked into Hermione's house, past a scowling butler, up three flights of stairs, and down four halls to go to her room. He didn't bother to knock, and just let himself in. They sat on a cream- colored couch and sobbed for many more hours.
When Harry woke up the next morning, it took him a while to remember where he was, and most of all, why he was there. He nearly started crying again, but noticed that Hermione had not yet awoken. He didn't want to have her wake up to him crying, and remind her yet again of the tragic events that had taken place the day before, so he stopped himself. He quietly let himself out of the room.
When Harry saw Hermione at breakfast, her face was all blotchy again, so she must have also been crying. There was a miserable, empty look on her face that made Harry miserable and empty too. He put a comforting arm around her, even though both of them didn't feel like either of them could ever be comforted. "What's the problem?" It took a long time for Hermione or Harry to realize that Mr. Granger was asking them a question. At last, Harry jolted back to reality. "Oh, well, Ron's dead." He said it very quietly, as though he was afraid to speak. "Oh, that's terrible! Are you two going to his funeral?" They both mumbled, "Yes." All three of them now had pained looks on their faces.
That day, Harry and Hermione sat around and didn't do much again. The next day would be the day of the party, and the day after that would be Harry's birthday, July 31st. The maids were rushing around, setting out tables, and buying food, Hermione and Harry in the middle of it. Occasionally, a maid would come along and ask a question, and Hermione would mumble an answer back. It was one of the gloomiest days of either of their lives.
The next day, the day of the party, Harry and Hermione were both running around, trying to figure out what to wear, until about ten o'clock in the morning. Finally, they both had it all worked out. Hermione would wear low-cut bellbottom jeans and a big, jewel-studded belt, a red tank top that said '2 cute' on it, and with it she would wear a brand-new pair of red Adidas running shoes. She went out to have a facial and a manicure a few hours before the party. By three-thirty, half an hour before the party began, she looked great in all of her new clothes, with her freshly curled hair and professionally done fingernails. She was also in a better mood than she had been in for a while. Harry was wearing a pair of khaki cargoes, which could unzip into shorts, a Quiksilver tee shirt, and a backwards Old Navy baseball cap. He, too, was wearing new clothes and awesome new Vans boarding sneakers.
Hermione was running around frantically, quite the opposite of what she had been doing yesterday. Harry thought she was really overdoing it. Her backyard looked amazing, all of the trees and marble fountains and swimming pools in order, and tables loaded with food as far as the eye could see. Harry went over to her and tried to calm her down. It was then that he realized that the real reason for her panic was something that he had never considered before, and it was such a large issue that it obviously had to be addressed quickly. As Harry noticed on his new watch that they had only fifteen minutes before everyone started arriving, Hermione was muttering, "Oh, my gosh! What are we going to do, Harry?"
"About what?" Harry questioned mildly.
"No one knows that Ron and his whole family are dead except for us and Dumbledore! Everyone's going to be asking where they all are, and if I tell them, everyone's going to start crying at my party!"
"No wonder you look so stressed. I dunno what we're gonna do. Well, can you just get Dumbledore over here? We can ask him." Hermione simply clicked her fingers. Dumbledore showed up, looking quite flustered, right next to them. "Oh, hello. did you need me for something?" Hermione was the first to talk. "Well, everyone's going to be asking where Ron and Ginny are, but we shouldn't tell them, because then they'll start crying. What do we do now?" "Hmm. Well, just let me handle that, and. tell the truth. But how did you get me over here?" Hermione gasped. "Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. I was going to tell everyone later, but you can know now. Harry already knows, and he's the only one who knows besides Danny, er, Viktor. Well, um, see, Viktor and I are angels. Now Viktor's called Danny and I'm called Hermione." Dumbledore looked surprised. "You two are the only ones in three hundred years, you know. There may be more, but no one knows where they are yet. Quite fascinating, how they only show up every three hundred years like that." Hermione nodded and checked the Baby G watch on her wrist. "Oh, my gosh! We'd better get to the door. Everyone's going to show up soon." She and Harry ran to the door just as Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, two other fifth year Griffindor girls, showed up. Hermione welcomed them in and led them to the backyard while Harry stayed at the door. Everyone that came in was amazed at the grandeur of Hermione's house. There were hundreds of people, including all of the Griffindors, the teachers, except for Harry and Hermione's least favorite, Snape, and Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher who loved predicting tragic events that didn't ever come true. There was Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, a young French woman with beautiful blond hair and a pretty smile, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, and many others (mostly from the Ministry). Hermione was very involved in talking to Parvati Patil and Fleur Delacour the whole time. Harry wondered what they were talking about. When he walked over to say hello, they changed the subject. He walked away, still curious. Everyone was chatting, eating, dancing to the loud music blasting from invisible speakers, or just admiring Hermione's backyard.
About fifteen minutes before the party would end, Hermione and Harry and Dumbledore went up onto a stage that had been set up against an iron fence that led into another garden. Dumbledore tapped a microphone to make sure that it was on. Then he said into the microphone something that made Harry and Hermione gasp. It was such a simple solution. He told everyone there that they should come to the cathedral in which the funeral service would be held, but not why. He also told all of them to wear black. This made all of the guests gasp in horror, but they calmed down.
Once everyone left, Harry and Hermione still had a lot of energy. They decided to go to Hogsmeade again. When they were there, Hermione went to go look at quills and books and Harry went to look at quidditch supplies again. They had a great time just walking down the busy cobblestone streets at Hogsmeade, and stayed until midnight. It was Harry's birthday. When Harry's watch flipped to 12:00 p.m., he told Hermione that on that second, five years ago, Hagrid had come into a hut that he, Harry, and the Dursleys had been staying in for the night. He told Hermione the whole story upon realizing that she had never heard it before. She said that it was even more exciting than she had imagined it. They decided that they didn't need sleep, and stayed there until late afternoon. When they got back, their hands were full of shopping bags holding the many items that Harry and Hermione had bought. In fact, the only reason that they went back to Hermione's house was because they couldn't carry anything else. Once inside the house, they both emptied their bags on the nearest possible table.
"Wow, Hermione, look at everything that we bought!"
"I think we went a little crazy."
"How are we going to get all of this to Hogwarts?"
"Harry, you're forgetting what I am again."
"Oops. But we still overdid it."
For Harry and Hermione had just emptied loads of things onto the table. Loads of new robes, plain robes and dress robes, a practice broomstick for Harry (which was a Nimbus Two Thousand Three), and a new broomstick for Hermione (a Comet Three Hundred, which had glitter all over it). As for books and school supplies, they were everywhere. All over the table were books in different languages, about everything from how to curse muggles without getting in trouble with the Ministry of Magic to how to make one's fingernails turn a certain color so that it always looked like they had nail polish on. Their brand-new school supplies included a quill that took notes on its own, paper that did nearly the same thing, only in different colors, books that could remember lessons from up to five hundred years ago, etcetera. Harry and Hermione didn't have their school lists yet, so they decided to just get everything. They were presently dividing up all of their new things to try them out. Then an owl flew in through an open window.
"Oh, my gosh- I forgot about those poor owls that I put in my bathroom!" Hermione squealed. She read the message that the new owl was holding, and shrieked with happiness. "Harry! I'm going to be head girl!" She didn't hear Harry mutter "Figures, with all that girl's done, getting perfect marks on all of the papers." After that, she ran up the split spiral staircase to her bathroom. She looked over the message that the first owl had strapped to its leg. It was the same as the one that she had just read downstairs. The next owl had a new message. This one made her gasp and run down the enormous stairs again. When she got to the bottom of it, she nearly ran over Harry with excitement and hugged him. "You're going to be Head Boy!" She kept shouting in his ear. "Great! That sounds awesome!" was Harry's only reply, because he was so lost for words. They would be Head Boy and Girl, just like his parents had been. Harry wasn't sure what to think.
After that, Hermione sped upstairs once more. The last owl was from Bill Weasley. It made Hermione start crying again, and she did so for a long time. She was up in her room for so long, in fact, that Harry came up to see why she was taking so long. When he read the letter, he started crying again too. They forgot about why they had been so happy just moments before. The letter was about all of Bill's family being dead, and how Bill felt about it. It said that he thought that his life could never be great again, and that Harry and Hermione were the only other two people on earth who knew exactly what he meant. Hermione and Harry kept crying, for Bill, for themselves, and for all of the Weasleys whom had died. They wouldn't have been crying, however, if they knew that Bill Weasley was perfectly happy right then, having a cup of coffee at a coffee shop with Fleur Delacour.
The next morning, Harry woke up wondering where he was, again, and quietly got off of the couch in Hermione's bedroom, again. She was sleeping on the carpeted floor in the worst state that Harry had ever seen her in. Her hair looked perfectly horrible, her makeup was smeared, and she was lying on the ground with her eyes closed and her mouth open just a bit. Harry considered lifting her onto the bed, but decided against it for fear that he would wake her up. So he slipped back to where he was staying and got dressed.
Harry had just picked out what to wear when he saw Hermione walking toward the guesthouse. She looked normal again, with her hair in a ponytail and her makeup done. She didn't bother to knock on the door, but instead just came right in. "Ron's funeral today. Wear black." Hermione was obviously angry that Harry had seen her looking so terrible that morning, and didn't say hello. At once, she saw the chest that Harry had never opened. She completely lost her attitude and asked curiously, "Haven't you ever opened that trunk?" Harry was brushing his teeth, so he just grunted a no. Hermione walked over to it. She tried opening it, but it was locked. By that time, Harry had finished with his teeth and was sitting on the rug next to her.
"I can't open it, Harry. It's locked."
"Now you're forgetting what you are."
"Oops." The lid automatically flung open, hitting Harry's glasses. They broke in half. Hermione tapped his cheek with her finger, and Harry immediately stopped groping around for his glasses. For the first time in his life, he didn't need them. He was so amazed that he was speechless. After a while, he said, "Wow. Thanks." But Harry could now see that there was absolutely nothing inside the trunk but pockets. All sizes and shapes of pockets littered the brown leather sides of the trunk. "Well, I guess we should start looking. The funeral's in half an hour." So they looked and looked and looked. They started to become frustrated after about twenty minutes of looking. Finally Harry found something. It was a very mashed piece of paper, but its message amazed Harry and Hermione. It was written by Harry's father.
Dear Harry,
No matter how old you are when you read this, your mother and I both want you to get our point. We knew that we would die someday, and we just wanted to write a letter before we died to tell you that we love you. No matter what ever happens, we will always love you and we will continue to watch over you from Heaven when we die. We will always love you and we will continually be there for you during the best and worst times of your life. When you have your first girlfriend, when you get a job, when you get a home and a family of your own, we will still be watching you.
Love from your parents,
Lily and James Potter
"Good lord, your parents must both have been seers! That's the only way to explain this! I think that they could see their own deaths! There's probably something else in this trunk about that, I'll have to check it every way I know how later. That's amazing! But we'll come back to this later, we have to find that chapel." Hermione was already reeling off, talking the way that she did the day that she and Harry had met.
A second later, they were at the chapel. Harry muttered, "Oh, yes, finding that chapel, we had a really hard time doing that." Hermione elbowed him and shushed him. They walked inside the tiny chapel and took a seat on one of the pews. It was almost hard to be sad, thinking about the letter, the trunk, and most of all, what they could do now that they had the letter and the trunk. But in a moment, Bill Weasley walked up to the podium, his face very red from crying. Hermione didn't notice right away that she was sitting next to Fleur Delacour, but when she did, they smiled at each other in a way Harry found quite annoying. He thought that it looked like they had a secret that they were keeping from him, or at least the majority of the people packed in the tiny chapel.
The eulogy was very short, and Bill Weasley had spent most of his time at the podium sniffling. When Hermione and Harry realized that nearly everyone else was sniffling too, they shot each other nervous faces and tried as hard as they could to keep their minds off of their newfound discovery and look properly sad. By the time Bill Weasley was done talking and sniffling, they still hadn't been able to start crying. Harry and Hermione left as soon as possible, hoping that no one noticed.
Once they were back at Hermione's house, they began digging through the trunk again. Or rather, Harry dug through the trunk while Hermione was re-reading the letter over and over to try to pick up something she hadn't noticed before. She was muttering insanely to herself, and he was rummaging through the trunk, turning it upside down, and shaking it.
"You know, there's no point in doing that."
"What exactly?"
Hermione just pointed at the trunk. Another piece of paper flew out. Hermione grabbed it first, which was lucky. It said:
Dear Hermione,
By the time you are reading this we will already be gone, but not forever- if you can help it. Please DO NOT SHOW THIS LETTER TO HARRY, at least until the time comes. We assure you, it will. There is a legend in an ancient book that tells of a great evil. This evil must be Voldemort. The legend says that if you kill this evil wizard a certain way, all of his victims shall come alive once more. No one knows what the way to kill him is, but we think that you are clever enough to find the book and learn how to deal with Voldemort before it is too late. Please begin looking right away, because there is never a better time than the present.
Sincerely yours,
Lily and James Potter
Hermione squealed. She could bring Ron back to life! And Harry's parents, and his grandparents, and some of the greatest wizards and witches of modern times! Harry, trying to look over her shoulder with interest, asked her what the note said. "Oh- it's nothing. It's just a bunch of scribbles. But your parents were definitely seers." She immediately folded the note and put in into her pocket.
Much later, at about midnight, Hermione was re-reading the letter just as she had the other one. She understood her mission quite easily now; she just didn't have a clue in the world as to how she would do it. Although she had loosened up now quite a bit, she would have to go back to her old standby- books. But she would only have to read ancient books. The problem was, she had no idea where she could get such books. But in only four days, she and Harry would go back to Hogwarts. Then she could read as many books as she liked- at least until she ran out of ancient- looking books. But why should I wait, when I can just get the books now? She thought to herself. With a simple click of her fingers, she was in the middle of piles of ancient books- at least all of the ones that she could get without getting in trouble.
Hermione was up reading all night. She started reading the books that were about great evils that would someday take over the world, but none of the described evil forces sounded remotely like they could have been Voldemort. Then she read all of the books that looked the most ancient, but there was nothing in those books either. She was about to go to bed when the sun began to rise. She just took a shower to try to wake herself up. It didn't work, and she was still drowsy when another owl flew in through an open window. Although she could hardly see straight, she automatically untied the letter from the bird's leg. It was a letter from Hogwarts. She sighed and sat down on her bed. But she did not have a chance to read it, however, because the moment she sat down she fell asleep.
Hermione slept for only three hours. When it was finally ten-thirty in the morning, Harry came into her room to see what had been keeping her. He was amazed to find her asleep amid piles of books that he had never seen before. He took the letter gently from her hands and told the owl to go back to Hogwarts. The letter told him that there would be an all-school ball on the first day of school, so he should wear dress robes and already have a dance partner. He remembered last year, how he wanted to go with Cho Chang, a girl who was now in her sixth year at Hogwarts. He was amazed at himself for being so stupid. Why had he wanted Cho Chang, when the perfect girl had been right under his nose since he was eleven? It was ridiculous, really, he thought, looking at Hermione sprawled on her bed, fast asleep. So ridiculous.
"Oh, my gosh!" Hermione's eyes popped open. "What was I doing all night?" Then she gasped, remembering the note. "Harry, um, I'd better get back to work. I have to read some more." Harry still had no idea where any of these books had come from, or why they were here. "Well, okay. But there's going to be an all-school ball on the first day of school. . . Do you want to go with me?" " Of course," She answered at once. She leapt up and kissed him and then grabbed another book. "Why exactly did you bring all of these books here?" Harry wondered why she suddenly needed piles and piles of books filling her usually spacious bedroom. "Well, I just wanted something to read, you know, to get ahead on schoolwork." Harry knew Hermione too well. He could tell that she was lying, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he changed the subject back to the ball. "What are we going to wear?" "I don't know. I just have to keep reading this stupid stuff. . . argh! This is terrible!" " Are you feeling all right?" Harry questioned. "No, I'm not! I don't get this, I slept for about three hours last night, and we're going to school in a few days!" After that, Harry wisely left her alone.
Hermione was reading all the rest of the summer vacation. Harry still didn't know why she was so obsessed with reading, but he didn't let it get to him. After all, he thought, that was what she had been like before. Maybe she was just going back to her old ways. But he still couldn't convince himself not to wonder about it so much.
The first day of school finally came. Hermione didn't bother to pack the normal way, but instead just flicked her fingers without even looking up from her book, which Harry thought to be very disturbing. Why was she so into these books now? But he didn't have long to wonder about it, because he had to pack the normal way as fast as he could, because they both would have to be back at the train station at ten o'clock. And he also thought it strange that they still had nothing to wear to the ball that night, but he knew that coming up with something to wear would be no problem for Hermione- in more than one way.
So at ten o'clock, Harry found himself at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, just as he had been every year before except his second year. However, this time he arrived very confused because Hermione had not even warned him that she would send him over there. But there she was, next to him, a book still in the crook of her arm.
"Hermione!" Harry called her name to see if she would listen.
"Hmm?" She said, by way of an answer.
"What are we going to wear to the ball tonight?"
"I'll think something up on the way." Parvati Patil, who was standing nearby, giggled. She was always giggling, something that Harry had found annoying in years past.
Hermione had finally slapped the book shut, and Harry noticed that the pages were falling out of the book. "Parvati, would you mind telling him what you know?" She asked, a peeved look on her face. Parvati leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear, giggling again. "I know," She just barely got out between giggles, "That Hermione's an angel." She stopped to giggle again here. Then she leaned over and whispered to Harry, "And so am I." Then she couldn't hold it in anymore and started giggling insanely again. This time Lavender Brown, her best friend, joined her in the giggling. Harry looked at the two giggling girls, bewildered, and then looked at Hermione, just as bewildered, and mouthed, "You told them?" Hermione giggled, too, and nodded. Harry rolled his eyes. They got on the train.
The train ride over started normally- everyone was saying hello and jumping around and screaming. Harry and Hermione just thought that the train felt almost empty without Ron eating sweets endlessly. But then Cho Chang came into the compartment that Harry and Hermione were sitting together in and said that she wanted to speak to Harry privately. Harry got up, confused, and did what she said politely while Hermione looked as if she was getting ready to kill Cho.
"Um, Harry, hi," Cho started. Harry just nodded, very embarrassed. "Well," She continued, "I just wanted to tell, or, ask you, um, do you remember last year. . ." Her question just sort of ended there in a way that Harry thought was very odd. He nodded, fearing that what he thought might be coming next might actually come next. He just let her continue. "Um, I just wanted to see if you still like me, and um, do you want to go to the ball with me?" Harry could feel all of the blood rising to his head. Say no, he thought, and do the right thing. She's not your girlfriend, you don't want her to be your girlfriend, and you definitely don't like her anymore. Last year she had her chance. This year, I'm moving on. Finally, the words reached his mouth. "Um, actually, I'm already going with someone else, and that was kind of last year. . . but I'm really sorry." Cho looked absolutely heartbroken. Just as it had happened last year, she asked Harry, "Who are you going with?" And Harry replied, "Hermione." It was just as it had been last year, only this time the other way around. But the biggest difference was that Harry wasn't sorry the way that Cho had been last year. They walked away.
Harry sat back down with Hermione once Cho had left the compartment. "What happened?" Hermione asked, looking amused. "Your face is beet red." Harry still had a worried look on his face as he explained what had just happened. "Oh, well. Okay, then." Hermione looked down at her fingernails. "And by the way, I've already packed what we're going to wear tonight. I hope you like it." The train had come to a complete stop, and they got off of the train together.
Just about an hour later, Harry and Hermione met at the bottom of a long staircase that led into the Griffindor common room. They looked great, and everyone in the common room was staring at them, bug eyed. Hermione's hair was now completely a beautiful shade of brown with golden streaks. It was in a beautiful bun high at the back of her head, pinned in place with diamond clips. Her dress was midnight blue. The bottom of it was puffed-out silk lined with beautiful, sparkling diamonds. The strapless top was also blue silk, with diamonds everywhere all over it. She was wearing white silk gloves, also with diamonds on them. Her eyelashes were big and dark, and they looked as if glitter had been arranged perfectly on them. Her face was bright and happy, her complexion perfect. She held a tiny handbag the color of her dress. Harry looked wonderful too, in a black suit with newly shined shoes. They went down to the Great Hall.
Hagrid had again outdone himself with decorations. The hall was perfect, with little lamps hanging from the walls. The ceiling, which always looked like the skies above it, was beautiful and starry. Small, dainty tables were all along the sides of the Great Hall, leaving room for the partners to dance. There was already food on the tables. The feast this year was huge, stuffed turkeys, salad, soup, other side dishes, and dessert on all of the small tables. Everyone sat down to eat and the sorting began. The first person to be sorted was Andrea Allbright. She sat down on the stool, had the sorting hat placed on her head when it had finished its song, and was sorted into Gryffindor. Harry and Hermione were watching her the entire time, amazed.
"She looks just like you!" Hermione whispered.
"Shh, I know. It's almost scary." Harry was amazed too. Hermione motioned for her to join them at the empty seat at their table. She took a seat to the left of Hermione, and to the right of Parvati Patil, who was going to the ball with Seamus Finnigan.
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger. This is Harry Potter. It's awesome that you're in Gryffindor. You'll love it at Hogwarts. It's like a second home for me, because I'm in my fifth year here." Hermione said this with such a strange look in her eye that Harry almost felt like asking her if she was sick. She looked so gentle, as if this girl was her pet or something. Harry had never seen her being so nice, except for to him. And, of course, her new friends, Parvati and Lavender. Harry guessed that it was only because the girl looked so much like him that Hermione was treating a complete stranger so nicely. Although it seemed very unfair to him, Harry didn't say anything. After all, this girl had to be pretty nice, to have been sorted into Gryffindor. The sorting continued, and Hermione and Andrea talked in hushed voices the entire time. Harry could hardly hear what they were saying, because he was on Hermione's other side.
"What do your parents do? Mine are both muggle dentists."
"Mine are both dead, actually. They were killed by Voldemort, so I live with my muggle aunt and uncle. They're both so strange- they hate each other, but they don't want to get a divorce because then they'd have to be in a court room together at the same time." Andrea giggled. "So instead they just keep away from each other, even though they live in the same house. They separate their money and keep to themselves. I know that I have a dead aunt and uncle from my father's side, but I can't get my aunt or my uncle to tell me who they were. I don't know where they lived or if I've got a cousin or anything about my family."
In Harry's opinion, Hermione looked so sorry for Andrea that she probably would have started crying any minute if she hadn't stopped eating and asked Andrea what she was wearing.
"Um, it's just my normal black robes."
"Are you going to dance with anyone tonight?"
"I probably will, even though I'll look really ridiculous, dancing in a short skirt like this. Some guys here were looking at me very oddly." Andrea giggled again.
Hermione could see why the boys wanted to dance with Andrea. She was very pretty. She had dark brown hair just a shade lighter than Hermione's. She had a long, thin face, high cheekbones, and a smile that lit up her entire face. She and Hermione looked as if they could have been sisters, with their almost identical face shapes and smiles.
"Well, I can do you a big favor, then. As long as you don't tell anybody, I can kind of give you a new outfit, if you'd like. What's your favorite color?"
Andrea looked at Hermione like she was her fairy godmother straight out of a book. She just managed to get out, "Purple."
"All right," Hermione whispered. "Not everyone here can do this. Just Parvati and Lavender. So please don't tell anyone." Hermione gave Andrea a new, beautiful purple dress and earrings that went with it perfectly. Just then, two large, strong hands grabbed Hermione's shoulders. Hermione turned around and jumped about a foot in the air.
It was Viktor Krum. He wasn't as Harry had remembered him; obviously it was because he was an angel that he looked so good. His hair had gone quite blond, and his sharp features had turned softer and his nose was smaller. Harry groaned inwardly and kicked Hermione under the table. She kicked him with the heel of her shoe, and because the heel was so sharp, that was all that Harry needed. He stopped being rude immediately, but still hoped that Viktor would go away.
Before Harry knew what was happening, Viktor was dancing with Hermione. He thought that it was very rude for Viktor to dance with Harry's dance partner. After all, he had his chance last year. But that made Harry remember that he, Harry, had actually tried to hook up with Hermione while she was with Viktor. Just because it had worked for him didn't mean that he had been polite about it. But Harry hadn't danced with Hermione when she had been Viktor's dance partner last year, so Harry still had an excuse to think that Viktor had been rude.
When Harry and Hermione were dancing together, less than four minutes later, they were having a whole conversation mouthing at each other while they danced. Harry was absolutely freaking out with anger, and Hermione was trying to explain to him that she couldn't have done anything about it.
"You can't just tell them 'no, I don't want to dance' if you were their dance partner last year and you never actually officially broke up with them."
"Oh, so you wouldn't be mad if I just went up to Cho Chang and asked her dance?"
"That's different! You would be asking her to dance!"
"I don't see how different that is."
"Let's go outside and fix all of this."
So they went to the garden right outside the Great Hall and sat down on the wall of a fountain. Both of their faces were turning red with anger, and they each thought that the other was wrong and that they hadn't done anything bad. It was not a good way to behave at the first school dance that they went to together.
"Look, that was really annoying. Just don't let it happen again, okay?"
"It wasn't my fault! When are you going to understand that?"
"When you understand that you shouldn't do that to me!"
Hermione stood up. "Okay, okay. I'll stop it if you will. Neither of us did anything too wrong, except for getting mad at each other." Harry still said, "I'm not convinced. . ." Hermione kissed him. Harry promptly let the issue go. As they headed back inside the Great Hall, Hermione asked, "What do you think of Andrea? She's pretty nice, and it's so amazing how she looks just like you." Harry just nodded. There was something strange about Andrea, but he couldn't quite find out what exactly what it was.
When Hermione and Harry came back to the Great Hall and sat down at their table for some dessert, neither of them had time to even cut a piece of pie and put it on their plates because they were surrounded by a horde of people asking each of them to dance. "We'll both be guilty this time," Hermione whispered, "And now you know what it feels like." They danced and danced until they felt like their legs would snap. Both of them danced with some of their old friends, but they also ended up dancing with some people that they would never dance with. Hermione danced with Draco Malfoy, her enemy, three people she didn't know, and Neville Longbottom, a clumsy, forgetful boy who was always losing his toad and usually couldn't find his way to the classrooms before class began. Harry danced with Millicent Bulstrode, a fat and mean Slytherin fifth year, four people he didn't know, and Cho Chang.
Finally, everyone stopped dancing and Dumbledore went to the center of the room to speak. "Hello, again, everyone, and welcome, first years, to Hogwarts. This year has already been very hard for some of us, and we hope that our troubles are over. However, we cannot ever be sure of that, so we must always be alert for anyone that is not supposed to be at Hogwarts. And now, may I reintroduce Professor Lupin as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, because a spell has been performed on him that has made him fully human." Hermione giggled, and Harry knew at once that she had done the spell. "And," Dumbledore continued, "Miss Fleur Delacour will be our new social activities director." There was applause for both of them. "We have no potions master right now. Severus Snape has resigned to go on to something else. If you ever cross paths with him again, be warned. He can be very dangerous. Now for our Head Boy and Girl, they will be Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. The prefects will be Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown for Gryffindor, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson for Slytherin, Elizabeth Ross and Matthew Richards for Ravenclaw, and Timothy Smith and Diana Hausler for Hufflepuff. The quidditch captains will be Draco Malfoy for Slytherin, Harry Potter for Gryffindor, Cho Chang for Ravenclaw, and Nicolas Du Vier for Hufflepuff. I hope that everyone will have a safe and happy year. Now up to your dormitories you go. I'll see you in the morning.
All of them trudged up to their dormitories, half-asleep. Harry and Hermione were very awake, however. They felt like they could dance and sing all night. Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnigan, and Andrea Allbright also felt like dancing all night. So Hermione made a magical radio, and they did dance almost all night. They got bored at about three a.m. and decided to play Truth or Dare. Parvati magicked up some sleeping bags for all of them. They just lay in their sleeping bags in the Gryffindor common room, playing Truth or Dare until all of the best truth questions and dares had been used up. Once everyone had put Neville's toad on his face at least once, gone outside of the Gryffindor tower to carve something in a wall, played a trick on the Fat Lady, the woman in the picture that let people into the Gryffindor tower, and turned their hair purple and back, everyone was getting bored again, and tired too. So they fell asleep in their sleeping bags and slept for only four hours until they heard Neville scream because he had just discovered that his toad was on his forehead.
"What?" Andrea said sleepily. "Wha's going on?"
Everyone from Gryffindor was now coming down the staircase and staring at everyone in the sleeping bags that hadn't been there the night before. Hermione remembered that they were all still in their pajamas and flicked her finger under her pillow. Now Harry and Seamus were wearing tee shirts and cargo pants, and she, Lavender, Andrea, and Parvati were wearing matching tank tops that laced up the sides and said 'Cowgirl' on them, brown leather pants that also laced up on the sides, and brown leather robes with hoods. They all crawled out of the sleeping bags, said hello to everyone else, and went up to the dormitories to pack all of their school books into their backpacks.
Before they headed out for breakfast, Andrea called Hermione over into a corner. Harry wondered what they were talking about, but he wasn't too concerned about it. He went down to breakfast, entranced by the smell of pancakes.
Harry noticed that Andrea and Hermione behaved very oddly when they were around him. They would both get silly grins on their faces when they looked at him and run away, giggling. Harry found this not only annoying, but also mean. When would they tell him what it was that they were laughing about?
All day Harry wondered about this. When they had all finished eating dinner, Harry pulled Hermione and Andrea over and asked what was so funny.
"Do you think we should tell him, Andrea?"
"Do you think I should? This is so weird! And he doesn't even know!"
"Now that you said it that way, we have to tell him! Go ahead!"
"Me? You tell him!"
"This is about you, girl! Go!"
Andrea stepped forward and whispered something so quietly that even she couldn't hear. "What?" Harry asked. "If you're going to tell me, just tell me!" "Um," Andrea said, her face turning bright crimson, "I think- and Hermione thinks too- that maybe you're, like, just maybe you're, um, my- " She couldn't finish the sentence. "We think you're her cousin, actually," Hermione stepped in, a smug look on her face. Harry was stunned. He stood there with his mouth open for a very long time. Then he hugged Andrea and Hermione.
"Wow! How did you find out?"
"Well, I look a lot like you, and we Hermione somehow gathered that your dad and my mom were siblings. I don't know how she did it." Andrea was grinning from ear to ear.
Hermione looked away, as if she didn't want Harry to know how she had found out- after all, she didn't. "Well, we've wasted enough time here. Goodnight, Harry." She kissed his cheek and pulled Andrea up the stairs. Something's definitely fishy here, Harry thought later that night. He was in his dormitory, wondering how Hermione had found out that Andrea was related to him. Obviously, Dumbledore himself hadn't known that Harry and Andrea were related, or they would have grown up in the same house. His dormitory felt empty without Ron there. Seamus and Neville were very quiet too, only they were awake at eleven-thirty because they were studying, not thinking.
Harry sat up. "Hey, guys, it's so weird. Ron's not here, and it's so quiet. We would have been having much more fun if he was here. What should we do?" The only answer that he got was a long, loud snore from Neville. He sighed and went to bed.