The Enchanted Demiguise Pelt Archway
AN: The following story may not be strictly consistent with all events and timelines in the Harry Potter world, as I do not have a good a memory as original authoress JKR or the die-hard fans. I intend to create a story that is just fun, so if it doesn't line up on the timeline properly somewhere, I apologize, but do let me know if I slip up. I am more concerned with writing a really good storyline, without placing emphasis on a lot of background fact. This is my first fan fiction attempt, after reading loads of excellent ones myself. All positive and negative criticism welcomed, as long as it is constructive. Thanks! I hope you enjoy my story.
PS. I also apologize if it seems to take a bit to 'get into the guts' of the story. I always have and always will write far too much more than is necessary, as I go into a load of detail. This is just my writing style, so far.
Disclaimer: No profit made from this. Just fun. All characters belong to JK Rowling. However, I own the plot. So no ripping it off! This disclaimer applies to the entire story.
Chapter One: Sixth Year
Hermione craned her neck over the crowd of wizards, witches, steam, luggage trolleys and the noise of shouts and laughter, searching.
She had just arrived on Platform 9¾ ready to begin her sixth year at Hogwarts, and was feeling, for the first time on this platform, apprehensive and nervous. For it was not with happiness she searched the crowd, it was concern. She was looking for Harry.
After the tragic death of Sirius, Hermione's little world had been turned upside down in shock. Her best friends, Harry and Ron, and the Weasleys and the rest of the Order were devastated. He had only been out of Azkaban a short while, and was enjoying a second chance at being godfather to Harry for an even shorter while. Hermione had been sad for the loss of a great man, but even sadder when she thought of the future that had been stolen from him and Harry.
Sirius' death had hit Harry the hardest, of course. Harry was disbelieving, then angry, then in shock. Finally, Harry had turned quiet, and returned to his relative's house for the summer. He didn't spend long there, in fact he hadn't wanted to go back there at all. But for some reason he mumbled something about 'Dumbledore said' and, until Molly Weasley sent for him to come to the Burrow, Ron and Hermione (and presumably the others, as well) sent him letters of comfort. Remus Lupin had gone to fetch Harry, and by the time Harry arrived at the Burrow, he was somewhat more talkative, although at times he would slip into vague daydreams and often wouldn't respond to anyone talking to him, until the third or fourth time they attempted it.
Hermione nervously twisted a lock of hair around her finger and placed her last suitcase on the ground, where the Platform's steward retrieved it to place in the luggage compartment. Hermione hadn't seen Harry in the summer holidays, apart from briefly in Diagon Alley the day before, when they purchased all their supplies for the year. Hermione initially stayed at the Burrow, after which, leaving before Harry arrived, she had been obliged to follow her parents to France, where they holidayed in a small resort which was in fact rather wonderful, but Hermione spent a lot of her time indoors writing to Harry and Ron.
Suddenly, Hermione had a pair of arms flung around her from behind and Fred's voice laughed, "Don't scare too many years off the poor girl's life, George!" As George released her, she swung around to be confronted with half of the Weasley clan.
"Fred! George, you scared the life out of me!" Hermione exclaimed, "Hi Ginny," she grabbed her hand, "Ron!" Hermione pulled him into a one-armed hug.
"Ha ha! Hello Hermione," George laughed, and received a smack on the arm from Ginny.
"Where's Harry?" Hermione immediately asked, looking to Ron, "Isn't he with you guys?"
Ron shook his head, "In a minute, he's with Mum and the luggage." Ron pointed over to where they were standing, unloading the luggage at a steward's feet. Mrs Weasley was chatting and smiling encouragingly at Harry, who had a half-hearted smile plastered to his face but kept his head down.
Hermione nodded. "Has he gotten any better over the holidays?" she asked, "I mean, I know I saw him yesterday but surely he hasn't been like this the whole time? His letters seemed very short and vague, even more so than yours, Ron," she added, teasingly, a playful smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
Ginny exploded into laughter, quickly shoving her hand over her mouth as Ron glared at her.
Turning back to Hermione, Ron sighed, "Unfortunately not. He's been fairly... depressed the whole time. Understandably," he added, "but at the same time, even Mum thinks he should have at least started to cheer up a bit more now that we're heading back to Hogwarts. If there's anything that can cheer him up, that will."
Hermione nodded in agreement, smoothing her voluminous hair, "I suppose we'll just have to wait and see once we get there."
Ron smiled at her wistfully, and Fred and George nudged each other.
Mrs Weasley and Harry walked up to the mostly red-headed group, where Hermione enveloped Harry in a soft hug.
"Hey Harry," Hermione said softly, "How are you?"
Harry gave her a squeeze and stepped back, looking at her with sad and slightly vacant eyes. "I'm okay, thanks Hermione," he mumbled, "It's good to see you."
Hermione glanced at Ron, and as Harry turned to speak to Ginny, Ron looked at her pointedly, which seemed to say, 'See... I told you so'.
After a buoyant (Fred and George) and emotional (Mrs Weasley) goodbye, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny stepped onto the Hogwarts Express.
As Harry and Ginny headed off down the corridor with Ron on their heels, Hermione grabbed the back of his robes and reminded him, "Ron, we have prefect duty, we have to go up the front, first."
Ron groaned, "I forgot."
"How could you forget, we've been prefects for a year, now!" Hermione snapped, in mock annoyance. "We'll see you guys in a bit," she added to Harry and Ginny.
Ginny waved them on and took Harry's arm, leading him down the passageway.
Ron and Hermione weren't the first prefects to arrive in the front compartment. Ernie Macmillon was there, along with Hannah Abbott and Anthony Goldstein.
"Hi guys," Anthony said, "Have you seen Padma? She's usually first to arrive anywhere and the Express has just started to move!"
"Sorry Anthony," replied Hermione, "I haven't seen her."
Just at that moment Padma squeezed into the compartment closely followed by Pansy Parkinson, who was carping about the way Padma's hair was done.
"It's so lame, I can't believe you actually think that looks good!" She squealed, reaching over to tug her twisted plaits, "You look like one of those pasty muggle porcelain dolls!"
"Funny," Padma retorted, scowling, "I thought pasty muggle porcelain dolls consisted of a white-skinned complexion, but I suppose I'm wrong."
Pansy's smile slid off her face, realizing her blunder about Padma's darker complexion. She sat down in a huff, next to Malfoy, who had entered unnoticeably throughout this brief exchange.
Before anyone could say anything else, their instructions appeared in mid-air from a burst of flames.
Ernie reached out and grabbed the sheet of parchment, stood ostentatiously in front of them, cleared his voice and recited the instructions.
"Ron, Hermione, you two are to patrol the first two hours of the journey." He said.
Ron grinned, and Hermione agreed, get the work over with then relax the rest of the journey with their friends.
"Myself and Hannah, the second stint…" He continued.
As the instructions were read out, Hermione couldn't help but notice Malfoy's vacant expression. It was strange, he had not said anything patronizing to Ron or herself, in fact he had not said anything at all. If anything, she noticed because his behavior reminded her of Harry's. He sat there, boring a hole into the floor with his eyes, not even flinching when Pansy nudged him, after they received their instructions to work the third stint of the patrol.
Hermione shrugged inwardly, and put it from her mind. She stood up with the others, and left with Ron to begin their patrol.
"I wish you could have stayed at the Burrow for longer," Ron was saying, as they strolled along the passage of the Hogwarts Express, "It was so hard dealing with Harry a lot of the time, you would have known what to say to maybe wake him up a bit."
Hermione sighed, "Well, possibly, but it seems as though we are just going to have to wait for him to perk up in his own time. Everyone grieves differently, and for Harry, it may take a lot longer than we expect."
"He'll be better once we're at Hogwarts," Ron began indecisively.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Hermione reassured him, placing a hand on his arm.
Ron paused, looking dumbly at Hermione's hand.
"Um..." He stuttered, looking up into her eyes, blushing, "Hermione, I... Um..."
"What?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Oh, isn't it disgusting," Malfoy said, appearing behind them, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, "Weasley is hitting on a Mudblood."
Ron spun around, red in the face, "Shut it, Malfoy!"
They both leaned in threateningly towards each other, and Hermione grabbed Ron's shoulders and pulled him back, "No Ron," she started, "Malfoy's just being his usual self."
About time, she thought, He's snapped out of his 'Harry' mood.
"Gee, thanks Granger," Malfoy snapped, his eyes narrowing, "I appreciate the compliment."
And the three Slytherins pushed past them, sneering, and continued down the passageway.
Hermione released Ron and turned him to face her, "Don't worry about it, Ron," she pressed, "It's okay."
Ron shrugged, his head down, "I wasn't hitting on you," he mumbled.
Hermione stifled a laugh, not entirely believing him, "It's okay." She repeated.
And they continued their rounds, Hermione changing the subject to Hogwarts, although Ron continued to blush for another ten minutes.
Ron and Hermione encountered little trouble on their first patrol of the school year. Apart from telling off a second-year Hufflepuff hanging off a luggage rack to impress his female classmates, and dealing with a fourth-year Ravenclaw's charmed shoe running down the passageway, biting people's ankles, they came across no serious problems.
As they entered the compartment occupied by Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna, Ron sank down onto a seat in mock exhaustion and Hermione giggled.
"It wasn't that bad, Ron!" She exclaimed.
She took a seat next to Neville, who was nursing a strange red ball of fluff in a pot. It made a noise like chik chik every now and then.
"Neville, what on earth have you brought with you this time?" Hermione said not unkindly, genuinely interested.
"It's called Gemroot," Neville replied, "It's supposed to assist as a sort of calming draught when you squeeze it and breathe its fumes."
Before Hermione could reply, Luna interjected placidly, "It's a sister root to Gurdyroot, although the Gurdyroot's fumes are primarily used to ward of Gulping Plimpies."
Ginny shoved a fist in her mouth while Ron snorted, then coughed.
"Ah, I see." said Hermione, at the same time Ron mumbled, "I thought Gurdyroots were just big onions that strange people ate."
Harry shoved Ron in the ribs, with a slight smile on his face. Ron looked up surprised, but soon grinned. Harry had actually paid attention to the conversation!
To the other side of Harry, Ginny slightly leaned down onto his shoulder in lassitude.
"I'm so lethargic," She yawned, as Ron cocked his head at an angle, defiant at this obvious flirtatious act from his baby sister.
Harry replied quietly, warmly, "You haven't eaten yet, silly, that's probably why."
Hermione raised her eyebrows and Neville blushed, whilst Luna stared directly at Harry and Ginny, obviously wondering.
Ron stuttered, "Uh..." Before Hermione interpolated, "Any gossip circulating yet? Ron and I haven't heard anything."
"Dean Thomas is dating Lavender Brown," Luna stated, still staring at Harry and Ginny. "Ginny broke up with him, you know."
Ginny sat up slightly startled but nodded to Hermione, shrugging, "He was smothering."
At that moment, the door opened and the food trolley appeared, earning a huge grin from Ron and a chuckle from Harry, "There you go, Ginny!" He said.
They all purchased some Pumpkin Pasties, Orange Juice, Licorice Wands, Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, with Luna making Neville turn green by filling her Pasties with Beans and taking a huge mouthful.
Finally, the small group arrived at Hogsmead Station and was conveyed by the horseless carriages to Hogwarts. Of course, Harry, Neville and Luna could see the Thestrals. Luna chatted to Harry about them and he didn't seem to mind.
Once settled at the Gryffindor table with the others (minus Luna, who had trotted off to her Ravenclaw table), Harry surprised them all by instigating a conversation, albeit just with Neville.
"Neville," Harry started, "You aren't really going to give her that Gemroot, are you?"
Neville dropped his gaze to the funny plant still in his lap and sighed, "I thought she might like it."
"Who might like it?" Ron butted in tactlessly, ignoring Hermione and Ginny's glares.
"Neville has this thing for Hannah," Ginny said, glancing apologetically at Neville's horrified expression.
"I do not!" Neville exclaimed, "It's just… just…"
"It's okay!" Harry actually laughed, "It's extremely obvious, only to us, though. I'm sure she still has no idea."
Neville sighed with relief.
"It's actually a really good gift idea, Neville" Hermione reassured him, "Hannah is… a lovely girl and everything, but she does seem to be a very highly strung person sometimes. The calming properties you were talking about are very thoughtful and suitable."
Harry's eyebrows rose, impressed, "That's true. Good one, Neville!"
Neville beamed and turned pink.
Ginny giggled, until Ron whined, "When does the feast start, I'm hungry!"
Ginny narrowed her eyes in annoyance, but Hermione burst out laughing as she thought how typical Ron's words were of him.
"Honestly," Ginny said, "You'd think we were starving him at home."
After the sorting, and Gryffindor received their new first-year members, the feast began. They filled their tummies burstingly full and once again, the girls marveled with distaste at where Ron managed to fit his third and fourth helpings.
While Ron was shoveling the last dregs of pudding into his mouth, Harry spoke again, "Malfoy doesn't look very happy."
Hermione looked over to the Slytherin table, where once again, Malfoy was vacantly boring a hole into the floor with his eyes.
"No," she agreed, "he was like that in our prefect meeting, too."
"Budd-he wazzan ass-toowus o'thatrain," Ron attempted, spraying pudding onto the table.
Hermione looked at Ron blankly, "Excuse me?"
But before Ron could swallow and answer her properly, she realized what he had said.
"He was rude to Ron and me when we were patrolling the Express," She confirmed to Harry, "But other than that… it's strange."
"Who cares?" Ron declared, obviously still stung by Malfoy's comment on the train.
Harry just looked thoughtful, and frowned in Malfoy's direction.
Dumbledore stood, quieted the crowd, and began the start-of-term announcements.
AN: In the real Harry Potter Series: (Information from Wikipedia...)
Gurdyroots: We first see the Gurdyroot when Luna Lovegood produces it from a pocket of her robes while searching for a message for Harry. She hands it to Ron, explaining that it is good for warding off Gulping Plimpies.In appearance, the Gurdyroot looks like a large green onion.
Prefects: In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ron Weasley is appointed Prefect for Gryffindor, much to the amazement of everyone; it had been thought that Harry would be tipped for that job. Of course, nobody is surprised that Hermione Granger becomes a Prefect as well, and there is equally little amazement at the selection of Draco Malfoy for Slytherin House. Other prefects appointed at the same time are Pansy Parkinson from Slytherin, Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff, and Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw.
Hannah's Highly Strung Personality: Hannah is named a Hufflepuff prefect and later joins Dumbledore's Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, yet she also appears to be rather high-strung: she is so worried about the upcoming O.W.L. exams that she suffers a nervous breakdown because she feels she is too stupid to take exams, and has to be given a Calming Draught by Madam Pomfrey. During her practical Transfiguration O.W.L, she turns her ferret into a flock of flamingos in an errant attempt to vanish it.
Ginny/Dean/Harry: In The Half-Blood PrinceGinny has just broken up with Dean Thomas, and she and Harry begin dating.
Neville/Hannah: Hannah, as an adult, married Neville Longbottom and became the landlady of The Leaky Cauldron.
Thestrals: They are visible only to those who have witnessed and accepted a death. In Order of the Phoenix several characters were shown to be able to see Thestrals including Harry Potter, Rubeus Hagrid, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Theodore Nott.
