The Summer Before the Sixth Year
Chapter 1
"Ouch!" Harry yelled as he swerved on his broomstick out of the way of a flying bludger that missed his face, but hit his foot.
"Sorry, mate." yelled George Weasley. They were playing a game of Quiditch in the backyard of the Weasley's house The Burrow, with his new set of Quiditch balls he had gotten for his birthday. It was the summer after Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was staying with his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger at Ron's house before school started on September 1st.
"Harry, do be careful." Hermione yelled from the side of the yard. Harry rolled his eyes and replied. "Hermione, I'm fine. I've played this loads of times, and have gotten hurt a lot worse." Hermione sighed as she sat with Ginny, Ron's younger sister. She knew Harry was right. Just last year he had faced Lord Voldemort for the fifth time and survived. She knew she shouldn't worry about him, but she still did. She always worried about Harry.
"Boys and their games." Ginny remarked.
"I know what you mean." Said Hermione. They smiled. Over the summer Hermione and Ginny had developed a friendship. Ginny was a year younger than her, but she had matured quickly in the last year and acted older than she was. Hermione was glad to have a girl to confide in, she could finally tell someone that she liked Harry, and was surprised to find that Ginny liked him too.
They heard a cheer. The game was over. Harry and Ron had beaten Fred and George. Harry had caught the snitch.
"Good game, Harry." Ron said to Harry as they slapped each other's hands while still flying on their broomsticks.
"They must have cheated." Joked Fred.
"Yeah, the dirty rotten cheaters." Said George. Fred and George were twins and were a year older than Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They were constantly joking, so everyone knew not to take them seriously.
Suddenly Harry sped straight up on his broomstick. Fred and George saw this as a challenge, and sped after him, they flew up as high as they could and then sped down again, then flying as fast as they could around the house. Ron decided to follow them too, but could not quite keep up with them. Harry landed first, then George, and then Fred, and lastly Ron. Harry's hair was sticking up in the front, and Ron's was blown all over the place, and looked quite messy. The girls laughed at the site.
"Ron, you look like one of those nutter muggle clowns dad was telling us about," laughed Ginny. Ron scowled at her.
"Children! Dinner is ready," yelled Mrs. Weasley from inside the house.
The boys rushed inside, fighting over who could wash their hands and get to the table first. They had built up an appetite playing Quiditch all afternoon.
Arthur, the Weasley's father, and the three older brothers Percy, Bill, and Charlie were already sitting at the table when the twins, Harry, and Ron got there. The girls joined them soon after.
"Harry, you were bloody brilliant out there," said Bill.
"Thanks, I love Quiditch," said Harry.
"Bill and I might just have to get out there and help Fred and George to even out the teams," said Charlie.
"Me and Ron aren't good enough to beat you two and the twins," said Harry.
"Sure we can, mate," Ron said. Hermione and Ginny stifled a laugh. Ron was not very good at Quiditch. He could hardly watch all the balls; much less fly after them trying to get them through the hoops they had made for goals.
Mrs. Weasley served them Ham, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans for dinner. They were delicious. Everything tastes better when it is cooked using magic.
"Make sure you enjoy the green beans and potatoes, I had to fight for them from those pesky Garden Gnomes, although Crookshanks did most of the fighting," said Mrs. Weasley. Crookshanks was Hermione's fluffy cat. He meowed loudly at the mention of his name. Mrs. Weasley reached over and petted him. He purred loudly and walked off looking quite happy.
"Have you guys finished your homework yet?" Hermione asked Ron and Harry.
"Finish? We haven't even started," replied Harry.
"That is quite irresponsible," stated Hermione.
"Oh, shut up, Hermione, we'll get it done eventually" said Ron as he grinned at Harry. Harry grinned back.
"At least start on it tonight," said Hermione.
"Okay, Hermione." Said Harry reluctantly.
"Harry!" exclaimed Ron, giving him a disbelieving look.
"She is right, Ron, if we do it now we can have more time for Quiditch later." Said Harry. Hermione smiled at him, and he gave her a small smile and then looked away. He didn't know why, but recently every time Hermione gave him that certain smile, he got a weird nervous feeling.
"All right." Said Ron, even though the last thing he wanted to do at the moment was homework.
After dinner Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat in the living room around a small coffee table. Harry and Ron had both lugged all their books out of their school trunk, where they had been since the end of school. Hermione, of course, had already completed all her assignments and had a couple of books she wanted to read in preparation for the coming school year.
"So what do we start with?" Ron asked Hermione. Hermione pulled out her notebook and looked at a long list of assignments. She had organized them by what was required and what was extra. She had completed almost all of them including the unnecessary ones.
"First is an essay for Professor Snape, Write a two thousand word essay on the uses of the Hildenbarruycan plant. Of course I don't know how you could possibly discuss all the uses in only two-thousand words, I of course wrote six thousand, and still left out a couple uses." Hermione stated. Harry and Ron just stared at her.
"Two-thousand words? About a stupid Hidabarrican plant?" Ron said.
"It's not a stupid plant, Ron, for your information it is a Hildenbarruycan plant, and it would be very useful if you ever got bitten by a Guvest Fish, which could kill you if you didn't have it." Retorted Hermione
"Thanks, I'll remember that next time I get bit by one of those fish things." Said Ron. Hermione sighed in frustration.
"Ron, it is not just for curing the bite of a Guvest Fish. Here read about it in my book." She handed him a thick book entitled Magical Swamp Plants and their uses.
"How am I supposed to find information about that plant in this huge book?" asked Ron.
"Oh, honestly Ron, have you never studied before? Look in the index at the back of the book." Said Hermione. Hermione settled down in an overstuffed chair, and started reading one of her books. Ron and Harry started to read the book. After they had read the section Harry whispered to Ron.
"Did you understand any of that?"
"Not a word, mate." Replied Ron. Harry sighed. He wanted to get his homework out of the way. It was hard having a brilliant best friend and a slacker best friend. He felt stuck in the middle. Ron never cared too little about his homework, and Hermione cared too much.
"Hermione, I need help." Harry whined to his friend.
"Sure Harry, let me finish this page and I will be right over." Said Hermione. She finished the page and came over to where Harry was sitting on a couch with Ron.
"Why don't we move to the table so you can concentrate." Said Hermione. Together they gathered Harry's things and moved them to the kitchen table, which had magically cleared itself after their meal. Hermione explained in detail to Harry what the book was saying, and helped him write a paper, just over two thousand words.
"That's really good Harry." Hermione said, as she smiled at him.
"Thanks, lets see how Ron is doing." He replied. They walked over to where Ron was sitting and saw that he had fallen asleep with his head on his book like a pillow. Hermione picked up his paper and read.
"The Hildenbarruycan is very useful for many reasons…"
"At least he started." Harry said with a smile. Hermione laughed.
" That's all he said he would do." She smiled at Harry, and his stomach flipped. He looked at the clock.
"Oh, it's 11:30 we should be going to bed." He said.
"We don't have to do anything tomorrow morning. Do you want to stay up and play wizards chess with me?" Hermione asked.
"Sure," was all Harry could say. They stayed up until two in the morning, and played three games of wizard chess. Harry won the first two, but he let Hermione win the last game. After that they went to bed. Harry slept peacefully, and dreamt about Hermione.