Guards! Guards!

Frog Soup.



*********** The Hogwarts Express, Yorkshire Dales ***********
March 3, 2007
11:43 AM

No one spoke as they sat on the train, they just gazed out of the windows, or read, or simply thought. The students had been told to go home for a few weeks after the funerals, but as it was only March, they would need to return to school afterwards, no one really knew what for though, they weren't taking lessons, maybe it was just to keep that feeling of unity, of security, it felt better to mourn and celebrate with others than to do it alone, Harry had enough experience of that. Harry kept glancing at everyone, thinking about them, wondering what they were all going to do now that it was all over, maybe they would get jobs, even though once they had received their rewards between them they would probably have enough money to buy Latvia. One thing he did know was that he no longer wanted to be an Auror, he wanted to sit back and relax, have children, watch some films, drive a car, go on holiday. All the things he had missed out on for seventeen years. During his musings he glanced at Hermione at the most interesting of times, unconsciously, when he thought of a family, his eyes snapped to her, and back again in a millisecond, not even long enough for his conscious mind to notice. Luna did, even though she didn't know what he was thinking, she realised that he was looking at Hermione more than anyone else, and she at him, she decided to say something.

"Harry?" She asked softly, as to not disturb the silence too much.

"Hmm?" He replied, removing his gaze from the window to acknowledge her.

"Can you come outside for a moment, there's something I want to ask you?"

"Can't you ask it here?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No, it's a little bit private,"

"Sure then." He replied, confused as to what she wanted. They both left the carriage and closed the door quietly, Harry turned to Luna.

"Harry." She began in her usual blunt, down to earth manner. "This is getting out of hand."

"What is!?" He asked, amused once again at Luna's, uh… individuality. He was nevertheless quite curious as to what exactly she assumed he'd done. Whatever he had expected, he wasn't anticipating the answer he got.

"You and Hermione."

He did a double-take "Excuse me?" He asked slowly, "We haven't done anything!"

"Exactly!"

"Wait- What!?"

"You and Hermione are on the wrong paths! You should be together! Everything's gone wrong!"

"What're you talking about!? We are together, she's right in there! We aren't too far apa-" he suddenly stopped himself. "Oh. You mean, erm, in… you know, that way. Don't you." He said slowly, nervously.

"Yes I do." She said matter-of-factly.

"You know what?" said Harry, as though choosing his words carefully. "If you think that, then I'll have to disagree fervently," he was purposely trying to choose the most high-brow vocabulary he could think of to make his opinion sound more solid. "It is my opinion, that anyone who believes that I belong with anyone except Ginny, in absolutely mental."

"Excuse me?" she asked. Obviously not expecting this, and clearly more than a little offended.

"Listen to what you're saying!" he said, making it plain that he wasn't actually insulting her in any way, merely pointing out the fact that her theory was incorrect in the extreme. "You're trying to tell me that Hermione Jean Granger, smartest student that's been to Hogwarts… pretty much ever, funny, intelligent, loyal, brave, a skilled fighter, comes from a fairly wealthy background, and she's… well, really beautiful. O.k? remember all that. You're trying to tell me that she is perfect for a scruffy, messy-haired, stupid, magically inept orphan who spent almost all of his childhood hiding in a cupboard and only got into Gryffindor by asking!?" he finished, drawing breath.

Luna smiled. "Yes." She said. "I am. Except you left out a few details. The fact that you were the second highest predicted grades in your N.E. in your year, after Hermione of course. And that's saying something, because apparently your year was on of the best that's ever gone through Hogwarts. Also your magical skills are really good, even if you weren't the best at Transfiguration and Charms, you were top, and I mean absolute top at defence against the dark arts. And I really mean that. I was taught Defence by Professor Lupin, Barty Crouch Jr, Professor Snape, and Amycus Carrow. And you could teach better than any of them, and I think you could hold your own in a fight with all except Snape. Also the fact that you are," She blushed lightly "rather attractive, and I happen to know that Hermione thinks your bad hair and scruffiness makes you look cooler, and they're some of her favourite qualities about you, aside from you being the best seeker ever and the bravest person she's ever met and a whole long list of other things she rambles on about whenever you're mentioned."

Harry sighed. "Fine." He said in a defeated tone, although he wasn't done yet. "Let's just imagine for a second that me and Hermione both love each other, and are perfect together. What about Ron and Ginny?" He smiled, confident that she would have no response to this. He and Ginny were in love, and he thought that Hermione and Ron were as well. Even if she convinced him and Hermione to get together, then it would be cruel and heartless to Ron and Ginny, both of whom had had crushes on them for years.

"Look Harry, If you put a frog in hot water, it'll just jump straight out again. But if you put a frog in cold water, and heat it up gradually, it'll just sit there and slowly boil to death."

"What's that supposed to mean Luna, I've had enough of riddles and people speaking in circles to last a lifetime, and I don't need you to give me your recipe for frog soup!"

Luna smiled triumphantly. "It's my recipe for disaster. If you and Hermione were to meet for the first time here, now, today, you'd realise you were in hot water and do something about it."

"I'm not in hot water! The water's cold, freezing, it isn't even water, it's ice." That sounded like a denial which was a little too desperate to him, so he decided on damage control. "Okay maybe the water's a little warm, room temperature at most." Finally, all of Luna's arguments together brought down a crashing wave of reason which blew down his barrier of resolve with ease. "Aah, who am I kidding!? It's a freaking sauna, but what can I do about Ron and Ginny!?"

"Think about it Harry, Ginny and Ron have crushes, they aren't in love-"

"Neither am I!" Harry interjected.

"But you will be, just think about it, this is the rest of your life, Ron and Ginny may be sad for a few weeks, months at most. It's worth it Harry. And it stands to reason, that if you and Hermione are with the wrong people, then they are as well. They may not realise it, but the break-ups will help everyone in the end." She turned to leave, just as she reached for the door to the compartment Harry caught her arm.

"How d'you know all this?"

Her eyes closed, and when they fluttered open again, they were a brilliant golden colour, and looked deep, really deep. The entire corridor lit up with their light. Harry felt as though he was gazing into eternity, as though if he were to just reach forward, and peer a little deeper, he would find answers, answers to questions he didn't even know he wanted to ask. As she closed them again, and they reverted to their normal state, he was brought down from his trance. "I saw it."

******************* The Burrow *****************
31 May, 2007
04:32 PM

Harry had contemplated his discussion/argument with Luna, he was so engrossed in his thoughts, that he got all the way to the burrow on autopilot. But in the time it took he considered lots of things. Hermione was pretty, nay, beautiful was the term of choice. She was very, very, very intelligent, she was perfectly curvy, not overly so, but just right. These were things he had known for a long time, but then he began thinking about her personality. The words he came up with to describe her were as follows: funny, witty, smart, caring, inquisitive, a fantastic listener, loyal, tender. and above all else was that loving kindness which Harry had needed so much over the years.

His thoughts were interrupted by a jovial voice as he stepped off the triple decker Knight Bus.

"Harry! So good to see you, wondering when you'd stop by, I decided to skip the train and prepare your gift!"

"What gift?" Harry replied, confused.

"The one I have waiting in the woods as a thank-you present for saving the world and rescuing us all from the clutches of an evil and dictatorial tyranny, so nothing too important, so if you've got other plans I'll be sure to wait." He said in a sarcastic tone.

"Sorry," said Harry, exaggeratedly slapping himself on the forehead, "I should have known!"

"Yes you should. Tsk, tsk." George waved a finger at him disapprovingly. "It's impolite not to realise when someone's doing something nice for you." He became slightly more serious. "All this aside, I believe you should see it alone first."

'What is it with people wanting to speak to me alone today, if this is about Hermione then I'm gonna go spare.' He thought agitatedly. "Okay then. Fine, I'll catch up with you once I've got unpacked at the burrow." He said.

Once they had arrived and he had unpacked he followed George to the woods behind the house, and then into a clearing about one hundred yards in, all the while talking. "You see Harry, I knew people were going to get you presents, mostly it would be orders of Merlin, or flowers, or chocolates or money. But I wanted to get you something you could use. So…" He pulled out a key ring with a small cuboid on it. Harry took it from George and had a closer look.

There was a symbol on the cuboid, it was a pair of wings, and written across them, were the words Aston Martin.

Harry looked up with a smirk. "You're kidding right? Is this a joke?"

"Nope." Said George, a huge grin splitting his face. "Just press the emblem in."

"You're sure it's not going to turn into a giant porcupine and attack me?" he asked.

"Promise." George replied.

"Or a chicken?" he was going to cover all the bases.

"Just press it!" he said urgently, obviously very exited at this.

Harry pressed in the Aston Martin Logo with his thumb, and suddenly, about ten feet to his left, a beautiful car materialised. "I… It's, uh… invisible?" he asked slowly, awestruck.

"Yeah, it's got all kinds of fun extras, but I'll let you find those for yourself." He smiled.

Harry wasn't really sure he wanted to find out what kind of stuff George would have put in his car. Then a lead weight sank his enthusiasm like a concrete ship with a hole the size of the moon in it.

"Erm, George." He asked slowly. "Just one problem, I don't have a driving license." He sounded quite dejected. 'Come to think about it, it would have stupid to drive a car like that without being taught how properly anyway.'

"That is part two of my gift Harry. Having a father who is the head of the muggle artefacts office at the ministry has its upsides. Such as being able to enchant a car, or getting hold of a muggle driver's licence as a present for a friend who I owe a lot to." He said, as though it was a pretty common problem. "You know, those sorts of things."

Harry laughed. "I still don't know how to drive properly. In theory I can, but I've never actually tried. I know what all the pedals do and stuff though."

George smiled. "Don't worry, it'll come to you. If my moronic brother could figure out how to drive at twelve years old, then you can at seventeen." He turned and began to walk back towards the Burrow. "One thing." He said, looking back over his shoulder as he walked. "Just don't crash into another whomping willow. Some of the modifications on that car will explode from even the slightest collision."

Harry opened the door and climbed inside. "I'll keep that in mind." He started up the engine. "Wow." He said to himself.

A/N I know that it has been a long time, but there have been problems at home, like my parents splitting up and so on, and there is pressure on at school, so it took a while to get my head straight and for this to make back into my list of top priorities. Anyway, to make up for it, I'll try to post the next three chapters by the end of the week.

Remember, leave a review if you have any advice, criticisms, praise (yeah right), suggestions for the story or any number of other things which you might want to say.