Disclaimer: All of these characters are created by JK Rowling, except for Holly. All settings and such and such are also hers

Secrets

Chapter One

"C'mon, Ron. We're going to be late for the train."

Harry wheeled his trolley quickly through the brick wall, Ron following right after. Fred, George and Ginny Weasley had already passed through to Platform 9 ¾. They passed their trolleys to one of the train workers and ran towards the entrance of the train.

"Goodbye dears!" Yelled Mrs. Weasley, through the window. "Be safe!" They all waved through the windows.

As the train started moving Ron, Harry and Ginny took their seats in their own compartment.

"Well, we're off," said Fred.

"Yeah, we'll see you at school, then" added George.

"Wait, where are you going?" Ginny asked.

"Well we've got some work to do. We're going off to look for Malfoy and his cronies; we want to test out our new product."

"And what would that be?" George pulled out a package of, what seemed to be, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"Every Flavour Beans? Those aren't new." Ron pointed out.

"Well obviously," Fred rolled his eyes. "They're disguised as beans. But with the flavour you also get–" George stopped him.

"Hold on. Let them see for themselves. We'll be back." They headed out into the corridor, leaving Ginny, Ron and Harry.

Harry sighed; he was glad to be back into the sane world of wizardry. But he couldn't help but remember what happened the year before. He hadn't stopped thinking about it all summer. Seeing the look in Harry's eyes, and to her own curiosity, Ginny asked, "Have either of you seen Hermione since we got onto the platform?"

The boys stopped and thought. They hadn't been on the platform for more than a minute before they boarded the train.

"No, actually-" Ron was cut off.

"Hey guys!" a familiar voice came from the doorway. It was Hermione. With her bushy hair, which had become less, well, bushy, and her robes already on and ready to go, she greeted them all with hugs.

"So," she asked, "how were your summers?"

"Not bad," started Ron. "Harry came over in the beginning of August. That was lucky; before he came it was pretty quiet at out house." They all knew why. The last year wasn't exactly something to shout about. "What about you?" Ron said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Well, my family headed to Paris again. This time to visit some of my cousins. It's really hard not talking to them about school and magic. But that wasn't a problem."

"Why was that?" asked Ginny.

"Well I wrote to people from the wizarding world."

"You didn't write many to us," pointed out Ron, "'cept the prefect thing".

"Oh yeah," said Harry. "Congratulations, again, Hermione. You and Ron will make great prefects." He smiled.

"Thanks, Harry." Hermione smiled back as well as she could; she really thought Harry would be prefect this year. Ron, however, beamed. He finally was being recognized for something; his parents were ecstatic, of course. 'Another prefect in the family; we're so proud of you Ron' said Mrs. Weasley earlier that summer when the letter arrived. Ron spent most of his summer polishing and wearing coughshowing offcough his new prefect badge.

"Who were you writing to then?" Ginny asked. Hermione looked at her, then Ron.

"Well…"

"Oh my god. Not Vicky!"

"His name's not Vicky, its Viktor."

"You still talk to him?" asked Harry.

Hermione blushed. "Well, yeah. He went back to Bulgaria and sent me a letter. I had no one else to talk to, so we started writing letters to each other through the summer. It's really nothing. It was just something nice I could do during the summer."

"You could have written to us you know!" exclaimed Ron. Hermione turned an even deeper shade of red.

"I know, but-"

"It's okay, Hermione." Harry stopped the rebuttals. He didn't want to start the year with an argument. Hermione smiled with gratitude. "You were probably busy. And it wasn't like we didn't have a good time during the summer anyways. It would have been nice to have gotten something though." Hermione sighed.

"I know guys. I'm sorry. It's just with the prefect thing, and my parents, and being in Paris, everything was really hectic. But we're here now, together, like it should be, so let's make the most of it. This year's going to be difficult enough without us being so stressed." Everyone agreed. With Voldemort back, they all had to be extra cautious and alert. Who knew when something horrible was going to happen? Not to mention Harry, Ron and Hermione had their OWLs this year.

"So where are Fred and George?" asked Hermione. Just then, Malfoy opened the door to their compartment. Everyone burst into laughter. His face was a deep blue, but behind it he was a deep red with anger.

"What did you do to my face, Potter?" He glared at Harry. When Harry calmed down a bit, he replied.

"It's great to see you too, Malfoy. I did absolutely nothing." They all laughed again. It really was great to see Malfoy already getting messed up in the start of the school year.

"Oh, I'll get you, Potter. I'll be back." He turned and ran down the hallway to the washroom. The laughter continued. As it ceased, Ron's smile faded. Ginny noticed.

"What's the matter, Ron?" He turned to Harry.

"Did you see what was on his robes?" Harry shook his head. "A prefect badge. He's a prefect! Great…"

"Well, weren't you expecting it, Ron?" Hermione asked. Ron faced her. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is it was kind of obvious that he would end up being a prefect this year." Ron still looked confused. "Oh my god, Ron. How can you not know this? The prefects are chosen according to their marks from the previous term. They choose the boy and the girl who had the highest marks from their houses in fourth year, and they become prefects. It's really common knowledge, Ron. We all know that Draco Malfoy is as smart as he is… uh..."

"Evil?" Ginny suggested. "prude? Sinister, conniving? Menacing, disturbing?"

"Uh, yeah," replied Hermione. "Looks like you've been catching up on reading the thesaurus this summer, Ginny. Anyways, it was only a matter of time before he got a badge."

Ron looked concerned. "But wouldn't that mean that Harry should be prefect? He got better marks than I did last year." Harry looked up. It was true. He should be prefect. But the situation last year didn't really make him think about it that much. But know that he thought about it…

"Then it was probably something else," added Ginny. They all looked at her. "Well, considering who Harry is, and his situation, I really don't think any of the teachers thought Harry should have the extra load of prefect duties, as well as, er…" she paused. She really didn't know how to explain it, but she was sure they all understood. Hermione nodded.

The door opened, breaking the silence. It was Fred and George.

"Hey, did Malfoy come past here?"

"Yeah," Ron replied. "What did you do to him?"

"What makes you think it was us? I am shocked Ron. You, our own flesh and blood!"

Ginny sighed. "Fred, George."

"Alright, alright. Remember those beans?" Fred asked. "Well, we swapped them with a packet on the food cart and he bought them. Totally not our fault." George nodded. "He took them willingly."

"Well I have a question," Hermione started, "what's in them, and where can I get some?" They all looked in shock at Hermione. She looked at them all. "What? I'm sick of being pushed around by those guys." Fred and George smiled.

"Good on you Hermione." said Fred. "I completely encourage this behaviour. It'll take a lot of effort to not completely blow up those buggers heads, though, you better be careful… especially since you're going to be prefect." Hermione shrugged. "Well we can get you some when we get to school. We have to come out with a new batch."

"Hermione, you're a prefect! You can't do this," said Harry.

Hermione sighed. "I know. Somehow, I'll get them back."

"Another day, Hermione," said Ginny, "another day." She smiled.

"Wait a minute," Ron cut in. "How did you get the money to make those? Mum and Dad would have never let you buy those things." The twins looked at each other. Only they and Harry knew that they had the Triwizard tournament winnings. Harry looked at them sternly. Then George said:

"That's for us to know, and for you never to find out. See you then." Fred winked at Harry, and then they were off. Ron still looked curious.

"Forget it Ron," said Harry, "we'll probably never know." Ginny nodded. She knew her brothers, and if there was one thing they could do, it was keep a secret.

"I was thinking," said Ginny, changing the subject, "who do you think will be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year?"

"You know, I have no idea." started Hermione. "I don't expect they'll bring back Professor Moody, or whoever he was."

"I guess so. I really hope they bring in someone who will actually teach us something; Merlin knows we all need to brush up on our Defence skills." added Ginny. That's for sure, thought Hermione. The best Defence teachers, Lupin and Moody had taught them a lot, but every year the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would leave. They didn't mind about Moody, considering he was Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise. Lupin was definitely the best, but they lost him to the world of being a werewolf.

"If only there was another person like Lupin out there" said Harry, "we'd be ready for anything."

"Definitely." Hermione sighed. She stared out the window. The familiar rolling hills passed like they went on forever. But she knew beyond them was the place she called her second home: Hogwarts. She couldn't help frowning a little. Last year hadn't been the best one of their lives. The Triwizard Tournament couldn't have gone worse. She didn't know the whole story, but she knew enough. Cedric Diggory had been killed by Voldemort; Harry had come face to face with Voldemort again, but this time he was in full power; and the Ministry was in denial of the fact that Voldemort was back. She believed Harry of course; how could she not? Everything made sense; everything that had happened in the past was justified.

A knock from the compartment door disturbed her thoughts. She looked up. A girl about her age was looking in. Ron who was sitting closest to the door opened it for her.

"Hi, sorry, I couldn't find another free compartment. Do you mind if I sit here with you?" She looked around.

Who is this girl? thought Ron. She's definitely our age, but I don't know her. I definitely would have remembered this girl. She was around Hermione's height, but not very much like Hermione. She had blonde hair, startling green eyes; she was sporting a Gryffindor tie and robes, but she definitely did not go to Hogwarts.

"Sure, you can sit here." Hermione said, finally answering the girl. She and Ginny were in less shock of her good looks, but Ron was almost entranced. Harry just looked at her with curiosity. They all did; who was she?

"Hi, I'm Ginny Weasley," she started, "this is Hermione Granger." Hermione waved.

"I..I'm..muh..I…" sputtered Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"That one there is Ron, my brother," Ginny continued, "and this is-"

"Harry Potter." Harry reached out his hand. The girl took it.

"Yah, I noticed your scar," she pointed at it. "So you're Harry Potter. It's really nice to meet you. All of you." She smiled. "I'm Holly, Holly Jones."

"So Holly," Hermione said what they were all thinking, "I've never seen you around Hogwarts around here. And I'm pretty sure you're not a first-year."

"No. I'm 15," she said, trying to explain, "I'm actually transferring here from Durmstrang." Hermione looked excited.

"Durmstrang you say. So do you know Viktor Krum?" asked Ron. Hermione looked at him.

"I knew him. He graduated last year. Oh, yes, you must know him from last year, at the Triwizard Tournament." A chill went up Harry's spine. He didn't exactly like hearing about last year.

"So Holly, why did you leave Durmstrang?" Ginny asked. Holly sighed.

"It was too much," she started, "the people there are very intense about their learning and especially Quidditch. I couldn't handle all of it. Plus, my father wanted me to go to a school closer to home. He feels safer that way. Durmstrang isn't the safest wizarding school there is. The things people do there." She shook her head. "You couldn't even imagine." They probably could, but didn't say anything.

"So-" Hermione tried to start a conversation, but before she could say anything else the door slammed open. It was Malfoy again, but this time he was followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Hey Potter-" Malfoy looked into the compartment, now noticing someone who wasn't there before. He stared for a moment, as if trying to register something in his mind.

"What do you want, Malfoy? We're in the middle of a conversation," said Harry.

"Uh…" he tried to regain his composure.

"I see you got your regular face back now," stated Hermione. Draco's face turned pink.

"Well?"

Malfoy took a quick glance at Holly, and then turned to Hermione.

"What I was trying to say was, Granger," back to normal, "you and Weasley have to meet with Dumbledore and the rest of us prefects before the feast, as soon as you get off the train." He stopped. Looked at Harry, and said "See you later, Potter. C'mon Goyle, Crabbe." He shot one last glance at Holly, then left.

"What was that about?" Ginny said.

"Who were they?" asked Holly, flushed by the sudden interruption. Harry explained.

"The short one was Draco Malfoy." He wasn't really short, he's actually pretty tall now; just in comparison to Crabbe and Goyle he was tiny. "The other two were his 'friends' Crabbe and Goyle. They're all in Slytherin house. They're not exactly our chums, you know." Harry warned. Holly nodded.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that. I'm in Gryffindor, apparently with you all", she said looking at al their ties.

"You've already been sorted?" asked Ron.

"Well actually," Holly said, "Dumbledore just put me in a house. I know you usually have a sorting ceremony of some sort; we did too in Durmstrang."

"Well at least you know some familiar faces now," Hermione added.

"Thanks." Holly smiled. And soon enough, they arrived at Hogwarts.

(a/n): That's the first chapter. I hope you liked it. The next chapters will be a lot better. I've been thinking about this story for…(calculating) more than two years! Please R/R. Also, I am going to change the title, I just can't think of it right now.