Four
Harry cast a nervous glance back at the Grangers as Tom beckoned him to follow. The Grangers simply returned his uneasy gaze and Hermione gently indicated that Harry should follow Tom. Shrugging to himself, Harry allowed Tom to steer him into the inn's grandest suite.
"Good evening, Harry, I am Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic," Fudge said from the desk at the far side of the room, staring out of the window. Harry knew who he was, having seen him from beneath his father's invisibility cloak last year when he had come to get Hagrid. Fudge, however, wasn't to have known as Harry was, well, decidedly invisible.
"Good evening, Minister," Harry replied politely. Fudge smiled, turned to face him, and took a few strides over to where Harry was standing, shook his hand and cuffed him on the shoulder like a father.
"Please, have a seat, Harry," Fudge said, indicating the chair facing his desk. Harry sat, and the two merely glanced at each other for a moment.
"Crumpet?" Fudge offered. Harry shook his head.
"Minister, er…I'm not in trouble, am I, sir?" Harry asked, unable to contain his fear any longer.
"What? Oh, no! No, no dear boy, you aren't in trouble," Fudge said, "no this is about…we—ahem—have a killer on the loose. Surely by now you've been informed of Sirius Black? I want to stress upon you Harry that it would be very unwise to wander off on your own. I also must mention the magic you performed. Technically, it is underage magic, so…"
"But sir," Harry blurted out, cutting the Minister off, "I wasn't even aware I'd done anything. In fact, until I spoke to a goblin today, I didn't even know I was bonded, so I shouldn't…you know, be punished, right?"
"Dear Merlin, no!" Fudge exclaimed, actually laughing, "I merely meant that it is amazing that you, someone only thirteen, could begin a bond. Normally, the Ministry would indeed suspect that it was a prank pulled by someone to taunt another, and would have sent you a warning; however a colleague who works in the appropriate department confirmed that your bond is no prank, so naturally, all punishments will be waived. A soul bond is a precious thing, Mr. Potter, and it is supposed to be impossible in someone as young as yourself. Please, pass my congratulations on to your bond mate, whoever that lucky person may be.
"Now, it's getting late, and I reckon you will want to go to bed. After all, you will be returning to Hogwarts tomorrow, and I'm sure you want to be well rested. Tom!"
"Yes, Minister?"
"Kindly show Mr. Potter to his room, please, Tom, and here is an extra two Sickles for your time tonight."
"I think I can do that," Alan Granger said behind Tom, "come on Harry." Harry bade Tom and the Minister goodnight, and followed Alan from the Minister's suite.
"You're with Hermione tonight," Alan explained as he and Harry walked, "and I trust you implicitly that you will not harm my daughter, but nevertheless I'm going to ask that you do not do anything bad to her, and I will check up on the two of you during the night. Don't worry, you are in two different beds, and Emily and I are next door." Harry nodded as they stopped outside the correct door. Alan handed Harry the key.
"Oh, and by the way, Hermione isn't feeling so well; too much ice cream, I'm afraid, so she's already asleep. Try not to wake her."
"How bad was she?"
"Well, she was being sick for a bit there. Had Emily in a right state, I don't mind telling you, but I think the worst has worn off for now." Harry nodded again.
"Good night, Harry."
"Good night, Alan." Harry inserted the key into the lock, and opened the door quietly. As he shut it, just as quietly, he saw Hermione had chosen the bed beside the window, and was bathed in moonlight. Harry could see that she was wearing her blue pajamas that he so loved, and her face showed that she was, for the most part, peaceful, but a slight crease in her forehead revealed her earlier upset stomach. Perhaps she had a headache as well? Harry suddenly had an impulsive and strong urge to kiss her exposed cheek, but fought it, sure that Alan would consider that one of the 'bad' things he had discouraged Harry from doing, so Harry merely stepped over to her, grinned at her sleeping body, and gently ran his thumb down her cheek, and then went into their bathroom to change into his own nightwear.
The next morning, Harry and Hermione were awoken by Emily who hurried them to take showers and get ready for breakfast. Both obeyed, Harry allowing himself to take his 10-minute limit shower which was a trademark Dursley rule for him, so that Vernon, Petunia and Dudley could be sure to have enough time and hot water to get good and clean. Now Harry wanted to make sure Hermione had enough time and hot water. The only difference was that Harry willingly gave up time for Hermione.
When they got to the tavern, Harry and Hermione were pleasantly surprised to see a group of many redheaded people around one of the tables chatting over cups of coffee.
"Hello, Harry!" Ronald Weasley called cheerily, "hello, Hermione!" Ron strode over to where Harry stood and cuffed him on the shoulder.
"Hey, Ron, it's great to see you, mate."
"Harry," Fred Weasley said, elbowing Ron out of the way and shaking his hand vigorously, "how splendid to see you."
"Absolutely spiffing," Fred's twin George agreed, elbowing Fred and bowing to Harry. Ginny Weasley, Ron, Fred and George's little sister giggled.
"Boys," Mrs. Weasley said warningly.
"Mum!" Fred said, turning and shaking Mrs. Weasley's hand, "how absolutely corking to see you!"
"Boys, I said that's enough!" she reprimanded, though she could not stop the corners of her mouth forming a small smile. Ginny was truly laughing now, and ran forward and embraced Hermione in a sisterly way, giving her just a little more than a peck on the cheek. When she faced Harry, her cheeks went pink, but Harry was quick to note that she didn't seem to be as flustered around him as she had been when she had been in his company last summer.
"Hello, Harry, it's great to see you!" she said cheerfully and earnestly.
"Thanks, Ginny, it's great to see you too." She smiled. Percy Weasley, the eldest Weasley sibling of the assembled group, stiffly and formally shook Harry and Hermione's hands and said a polite and diplomatic 'good day' to each in turn, causing the twins and Ginny to snort loudly into their plates while Ron rolled his eyes. Mr. Weasley made his greetings, completing the group, and everyone sat down together and tucked into breakfast. Harry and Hermione chuckled to see Mr. Weasley sit down beside Emily Granger and began to bombard her and Alan with questions about dentistry.
"Harry, Hermione, dears, did you get all your books and equipment?" Mrs. Weasley asked kindly, looking over at them.
"Yeah, thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied.
"I had too much ice cream," Hermione said grinning, "I wanted…" suddenly she blushed darker than a tomato and left the sentence hanging. Mrs. Weasley chuckled and winked at her. Ron, on the other hand, was looking at both Harry and Hermione in a way that bothered Harry a bit. It seemed a little too meaningful to be Ron. Mr. Weasley must have noticed, for he cleared his throat and said,
"That was a lovely breakfast, wasn't it, children? However, I think we need to be heading along to King's Cross." The others nodded and got up. Mr. Weasley and Alan got up to pay Tom, who accepted Alan's Muggle pounds without complaint.
Ron, however, mentioned something about his pet rat, Scabbers, being a little off-color, and Mr. Weasley decided that they had enough time to stop at the magical pets shop in Diagon Alley. Harry decided to keep Ron company, and his own supply of owl treats for Hedwig was running low. Hermione's father looked at her, and gave her some extra money saying that she should get herself a birthday present that would be applicable in the magical world. Hermione voiced a desire to have an owl like Harry's. A few minutes later, the three walked up to the counter in the magical creature shop.
"Can I help you?" the saleswoman asked.
"Yes, it's my rat. Ever since we returned from Egypt, he's been looking a bit bad," Ron said.
"Bang him on the counter," the saleswoman instructed. Ron placed him on the counter, and after a few minutes of examining him with a magical lens, the saleswoman indicated that he had already lived a very long life for a common or garden rat, and that his apparent sickness was to be taken in stride. She suggested some very agile-looking black rats in a cage on the counter. When Ron denounced them as show-offs, the saleswoman shrugged and offered Ron a rat tonic that might help Scabbers recover some of his energy. They were just turning to leave when a medium-large ginger-colored cat leaped out of nowhere, seeming to attack Ron, but missed as Ron managed to duck sufficiently.
"Crookshanks, come back here!" An elderly man called from behind a screen behind the desk, where he was tending to caged up animals of all types.
"It's okay, Dad," the saleswoman called back, "everyone's okay!" She did not appear to hear Ron's dark mutterings about homicidal cats as he and Harry left. Hermione, however, remained behind to buy her owl, and the two boys waited patiently for her.
She emerged from the shop a few minutes later cuddling the very same cat that had tried to attack Ron a few minutes earlier.
"You bought that monster??" Ron asked, aghast.
"Yes," Hermione said, beaming, "the poor thing. According to the saleswoman, he's been there for ages; no one wanted him. Isn't he gorgeous?" Harry noted a sneer, eerily worthy of his archenemy Draco Malfoy, curl on Ron's face. He also noticed that Hermione had noticed too, and seemed frighteningly taken aback.
"He's not bad," Harry said, intervening, and it wasn't much of a lie. Crookshanks was a bit bowlegged and had a noticeably squat face, but after Harry complimented him, he could have sworn Crookshanks cast him a look that suggested that the cat was smiling. "Believe me, Ron, Mrs. Figg, my longtime babysitter has worse looking cats than him." Crookshanks suddenly leapt onto Harry's shoulder, showing a very good sense of balance, better indeed than most of the cats Harry had ever observed before, and purred loudly in Harry's ear before leaping back into Hermione's arms. Ron looked skeptically at Harry, as though he wanted to make a sharp reply, but chose to say instead,
"Come on, we should be heading to King's Cross if want to make the train."
Soon, Harry, the Weasleys and the Grangers were all on platform 93/4 saying their various goodbyes. Emily hugged Harry, who tried not to blush as he watched Ron's eyebrows shoot upward into his hair.
"Goodbye, Harry, I really enjoyed having you over for the summer," she said.
"Thank you for having me," Harry replied, as Emily moved over to hug Hermione. She lingered in her embrace with her daughter a bit longer than she had with Harry.
"You'll always be welcome in future summers," Alan told Harry as he shook his hand.
"Thanks again, for everything," Harry said again.
"It was nothing," Alan responded smiling, "just be sure to write now and again." Harry nodded, and went over to bid Mr. and Mrs. Weasley goodbye, sharing an amused glance with Ron over Mrs. Weasley's shoulder as Percy walked over to his girlfriend, pompously puffing out his chest so that she could not mistake the Head Boy badge glistening on the front of his overly immaculate robes. The train whistle blew, and the children waved at their parents one last time before boarding the train.
The only compartment available to Ron, Harry and Hermione was already taken up by an adult, seemingly sleeping peacefully, despite the constant chatter and yelps from the students as they sat down.
"Come on," Hermione said quietly, "everywhere else is full." Harry followed her in and sat down beside her, immediately causing a suspicious glance from Ron, but he refrained from saying anything. Instead, he sat down on Hermione's other side and looked at the sleeping man.
"Who do you think he is?" Ron asked.
"Professor R.J. Lupin," Hermione answered at once.
"How do you know that?" Ron asked Hermione, who kept silent. He looked at Harry. "How is it she knows everything?" he asked Harry. Harry just shrugged.
"It's on his suitcase, Ronald," Hermione sighed.
"Oh."
The rest of the train ride was uneventful for the most part. Ron was quick to note that Harry and Hermione stole glances at each other more often within the train ride than they had all of last year. He also noted that they only made complete eye contact on one out of at least ten occasions. He sighed to himself, but said nothing, even though it looked like spending a summer together had changed his friends, and he didn't like it. All thoughts of his friends' peculiar behavior were driven out of his mind a few moments later when, for no reason at all, the train began to slow down.
"What's happening?" Hermione asked nervously, "we can't be there yet, it's too early." Subconsciously, it seemed, Harry found her hand and took it reassuringly.
"I think…blimey, I think something's moving out there…coming aboard." Ron said in a tense whisper. Suddenly, with an almighty bang, every light in the train went out, bathing everything in darkness. It was a strange type of darkness, though. It was cold, and Harry's skin felt unusually clammy, and a sense of fear was beginning to show itself in the back of his head and refused to go away. Haring her breath hitch beside him, Harry gave Hermione's hand a firm but comforting squeeze, and felt her return the gesture.
"Hello? Who's in here?" A familiar voice called out.
"We are," Ron responded.
"Honestly, Ron, it's dark, who's supposed to know who 'we are'?"
"Hermione?"
"Neville?"
"Come in and sit—ouch, Ron, that was my foot!"
"Hello, can I come in?"
"Ginny?"
"No, Hermione, I'm the thing that's making it all dark out."
"Yes, come in Ginny, you can—ouch—sit here."
"Not here! I'm here! Ouch!"
"Sorry, Harry."
"Ouch, Neville!"
"Sorry, Ron."
"Quiet!" Lupin had appeared to have awoken at last, holding a small amount of blue fire in his palm. He stood up, and started to make his way towards the door, when something got there first.
It was a monster…or that was Harry's first impression of the being. It sure looked like the monsters who evaded his dreams back when he was very young and afraid of the dark, towering tall above them all, hovering a few feet above the ground. The thing had no face, and it's death-black robes fanned out behind it like they were being rustled by winds, even though there was no wind at all just then. In the pulsating stillness, Harry could hear his heart beating many times louder than it should have. Suddenly, the thing turned it's head toward Harry and began to draw in a long rattling breath, and Harry felt himself loosing consciousness.
There was a woman screaming—he knew it—needed to get to her—she needed help. Badly. But he couldn't see her—desperate to find her—who was she? Suddenly, the scream was replaced by a much fainter sound—a train whistle—but why was there a train? He needed to get to the woman…
"Harry!" The voice was panicky, "Harry, wake up!" He felt a warm hand brush cold sweat off his face, and could see light coming inside his eyelids. Carefully, he opened them. He was in Hermione's lap, and she was gently rocking him. Neville was cuddling Ginny who, in Harry's opinion, looked far worse than he felt. Ron was sitting with a dazed look on his face.
"Are you all right?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded, and with her help, sat down on the seat, fighting a small bout of nausea.
"How are you? Are you okay?" he asked, resting his hand on Hermione's shoulder. She nodded. "Neville?" He nodded in the same way. "Ginny?"
"So cold," she whimpered softly. Harry reached out and squeezed her shoulder.
"Ron, are you okay?" Hermione asked him. He nodded, but his look was still dazed.
"What was that?" he asked absently.
"That, Ron," a warm voice said from the doorway, "was one of the guards of Azkaban prison. We call them Dementors. It was searching the train for Sirius Black." Lupin had returned, and began breaking a huge slab of chocolate into smaller pieces and handing them out. "Eat that," he said kindly, "it'll help. Now, I need to send an owl to Hogwarts. I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore will not be happy."
"He won't?" Harry asked.
"Oh, no. Dumbledore has never cared much for Dementors, and after seeing the effect that they have on most people, I can't say that I blame him." He turned to leave, and smiled at the group, none of whom had eaten their chocolate. "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know. Eat; it'll make you feel better." Harry obeyed and put the chocolate in his mouth, and was pleasantly surprised to feel warmth spread over his cold body.
"That was the weirdest sensation I've ever experienced," Neville said softly but vehemently. Ginny nodded.
"Come on," Hermione said softly, rubbing Harry's back a bit, "let's get changed into our robes. We'll be arriving soon." The others nodded, and began reaching up to get their trunks down. Neville and Ginny said goodbye and proceeded to return to their compartments to change.
Moments later, the train pulled up at the station at Hogsmeade, and everyone began disembarking. People were chattering as usual as they disembarked, but everyone, especially the first and second years, remained close together, their talk hardly louder than a whisper, showing their nerves from the Dementor on the train.
Stepping off the platform, Ron, Harry and Hermione waved cheerily at Hagrid as he shepherded the first years towards the boats that would take them to the castle, and then climbed into one of the many horseless carriages that took the returning students to the castle and began to move towards Hogwarts castle for what would turn out to be a very interesting school year.
