Harry Potter and the Year of Searching

Chapter Two: The First Day Back

"Harry!" Mrs. Wealey called, rushing towards them from the burrow. "How are you? You look underfed. Arthur, there's been an owl from the ministry. Something urgent. Ron, why don't you help Harry put his trunk in your room?"

Grinning at his reception, Harry picked up one end of the trunk while Ron took the other. They carried it upstairs to Ron's orange room, covered in everything Chudley Cannons. Meanwhile Ron was giving Harry an update on the news over the summer. "Bill and Charlie are in Europe working for the Order, and Percy's still not talking to any of us. Hermione got here last week, she's sleeping in Ginny's room, and-"

"And," Ginny interrupted, "Ron and Hermione have been hol-" Ron covered her mouth his hand.

"That's-er-nothing mate. Don't know what she's talking about," Ron said hurriedly, but he was blushing and glaring at Ginny, who stuck out her tongue at him and stomped out of the room.

Ron slammed the door behind her at glared at Harry instead, as if daring him to say anything. Harry just set his trunk against the wall and pretended nothing had happened. "So," he asked, "did you finish that essay for Snape?"

"Yeah," replied Ron. "Well, no. I mean, Hermione finished it, so I just copied hers. Here, you can borrow mine," he said, pulling a roll of parchment off a shelf.

"Thanks," Harry grinned. "I didn't think I'd ever get it done."

"No problem, mate. You wanna go down and get something to eat? I dunno about you, but I'm starved."

"No, you go on, I just ate lunch. I'll just copy this over and then I'll be down, all right?"

"Okay then, see you." Ron left, leaving the door open. Harry pulled out his quill and ink bottle, as well as a fresh sheet of parchment, and started copying over Ron's essay. He was interrupted when Hermione ran in the room, followed by Ginny. Harry put down his school stuff and stood up.

"Harry, how are you? Are you copying Ron's homework?" she asked, eyeing the parchement.

"Well, yeah, but he copied it from you, didn't he?" Harry asked, grinning at her sudden change.

"Yeah, he did," she said, and she gave him hug. "Come on down. You can copy that later."

"All right, I'm coming." He followed the girls out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen, where Mrs. Weasley was explaining to Ron where Mr. Weasley had gone.

"There was a big attack in Germany this morning. Normally your father's office wouldn't be involved, but the Ministry needs all the help they can get right now, especially with Fudge still saying You-Know-Who isn't back, even after what happened earlier this year, it's really ridiculous-oh, hi, Harry dear, we were just discussing-well, you heard." Mrs. Weasley looked a little flustered, as if she didn't know what to do with herself

"Yeah, Mrs. Weasley. Have there been a lot of attacks like this? I don't really hear much with the Muggles."

"Oh, no, not many. Speaking of Muggles, how did they treat you? Did they let you eat properly this summer?"

"Well, Dudley's still on a diet, so that means I am too, but I ate enough, yeah."

"Well, you don't look like you've had any proper meals in weeks." Harry grinned at her mothering, declined any food, and went into the living room with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. They all sat down and started to talk about school, who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be, Quidditch, and the Firebolt, and soon the boys were in a deep discussion about broom tweaking, with Ginny adding occasional comments and Hermione dozing, curled up in a ball in her armchair. Harry went upstairs and fetched his Firebolt and his broom care kit, and Ron helped him polish it again and straighten its twigs.

After a while Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen to let them know dinner would be ready shortly. Ron woke Hermione up, and their eyes locked and Hermione blushed. Harry met Ginny's eyes and raised his eyebrows, and she looked back, grinning. Obviously something was up between Ron and Hermione. Harry resolved to ask Ginny about this later.

During dinner, Ron actually complimented Hermione, bringing Harry to lock eyes with Ginny again. He wondered how long this had been going on. About midway through the meal, Mr. Weasley Apparated in and sat down at the table, serving himself and giving the news about the attack. Some Muggles were injured, but the German Ministry had stopped the attack before any serious damage was done. All of the Death Eaters involved had Apparated when the Ministry officials had arrived on the scene. The British Ministry was in a state of chaos, with news going back and forth between the islands and the continent, and people leaving through the Floo to Germany to help out with the problem. Mr. Weasley, apparently, wasn't needed all that much, so he came home for dinner.

Conversation was subdued that night, and after dinner and cleaning up, the four teens headed back to their rooms to do their homework. It was around eight at night when Harry went back downstairs to the living room where Hermione and Ginny were talking. Ron came down shortly after, and they all talked about the attack, and the problems with the ministry, and the latest news. They decided to call it a night when Ginny dozed off, and they went to bed, their minds full of thoughts about the attacks and, in Harry's case, about Ron and Hermione. He finally fell asleep into uneasy dreams.

AN: Well, here's another chapter. Remember, I need reviews, all right? So keep 'em coming!