Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling
Time again chapter Ten
"Only two days left and then back to Hogwarts eh," grumbled Ron as he followed Harry and Hermione into the living room.
"You sound as though you're not happy to be going back," Hermione prompted him.
"Well with you and Harry living in your own quarters now, I don't really have anyone to talk to," Ron grumbled.
Without thinking Hermione commented "But you must have had someone to talk to when you deserted Harry last year."
Ron's face went slightly paler as he bit his tongue, he had just been about to yell at her but had remembered the discussion they had in the kitchen, he could hear Harry's voice 'he went through six racks and a partition and that was before she stunned him', the words made him shudder a little, then he had a vision of Malfoy hurtling backward through the great hall, an angry Hermione glaring at him, the thought brightened him up again.
"Well not really, everyone thought I was being a prat," he told them honestly.
"They got that right," George said as the other twin followed him in to the room.
Ginny joined them just after, Harry handed the butterbeer's all round.
George and Fred took the tops off their bottles then together they stood up and raised the bottles.
"To Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, due to open," Fred
"In two weeks time," George
"With a grand fireworks display," Fred
"Both in Diagon Alley," George
"And Hogwarts," Fred
The twins informed them "We will not be going back with you when you go, we have already Owled Dumbledore to let him know, tomorrow we head for London, fame and fortune," they said in unison.
"Does mum know?" Ron asked in between sips.
"Don't be thick Ron, you think we're crazy, mum'll know after we leave,"
"Good thing for you two, but it's gonna cause us all some headaches, mum's bound to blame one or all of us for not stopping you," Ginny moaned. Not looking forward to the prospect of an angry mother.
"Come on Gin, bet you a Knut they are rolling in money within the year," Harry laughed "I mean who can resist things like puking pastilles or canary creams."
"But what about your NEWT's, you'll never get a job with out them," Hermione commented.
"Hermione dear, when we are rich and we work for ourselves, I can not see what use it would be to have them," George said as Fred rolled his eyes.
A loud banging and knocking noise drew their attention to the window that always remained open for Owl deliveries, several charms around the window prevented rain, snow, and wind, entering the room, but did nothing to suppress the sounds from outside.
"Who's doing all the banging?" Ginny asked the room at large.
"Oh that's dad and Mr Granger; they've been out there ages messing around. No idea what they are doing but dad said something about a Muggle contraption," Ron told them as the knocking continued.
An hour later Harry noticed the silence from outside "Hey you guys listen, can you hear it?"
His friends looked at him as though he had gone silly, "The silence you twerps, they've stopped all that banging."
Every ones eyes turned toward the window as though they would see the silence, "You're right, Harry, they have stopped," Ron said as he turned back to the coffee table and his butterbeer.
Before they could restart their conversation about quidditch Mr Weasley poked his head into the window, "You lot get your coats, hats, and gloves, then meet me out front in five minutes.
After a mad rush fuelled by a desire to see what had Mr Weasley looking like he had just won the lottery again, had them all standing outside the front door waiting when Mr Weasley and Mr Granger both came from around the back pulling four odd looking things made of wood.
"Ooh dad, you made us a sledge," Hermione almost squealed.
"What's a sledge?" Ron asked eyeing the wooden contraptions.
"A toboggan Ron, blimey! don't you know anything," Harry laughed.
"Ah one of those," Ron said then he turned to Fred and whispered "what's a toboggan."
"No idea, but dad looks rather excited," Fred answered also whispering.
"Right come on boys, grab one each and let's go," Mr Granger said enthusiastically.
"Harry, one for you, Ron, one for you, that leaves one each for you two," Mr Weasley said rubbing his hands.
'It's been ages since we went sledging Harry' Hermione thought to him.
'I never got to try it, they always left me behind when they took Dudders, still I always wanted to try it' Harry sent back.
After a quick gesture to follow, Mr Granger led them to the top of a rather long steep slope with a fairly long flat stretch of field at the bottom, "This is the perfect spot," Mr Granger said rubbing his hands together.
"You want to jump on the back princess," Mr Granger asked Hermione as he sat on the sledge Harry had pulled.
Hermione did a little excited jump and clapped her hands like a little girl who just got a new doll. Without hesitation she sat down behind her father.
Mr Granger gave the sledge a few pushes with his feet helped by Harry pushing on the back end. Seconds later the sledge was on its way down the slope picking up speed as it went.
Hermione was squealing and laughing as the sledge sped through the snow, "Yahayyyyy," she yelled as they hit the bottom of the slope and slid along ploughing snow in front of them.
Mr Weasley watched in awe, "You've never been sledging then?" Harry asked.
"We don't usually do Muggle sports but Hermione's dad insisted its great fun, er, excuse me Harry," Mr Weasley answered then he grabbed one of the sledges and pushed his way off down the hill, giving out hoots and hollers as he to sped through the snow.
"Well looks like fun to me," George said as he and Fred sat on a sledge and followed Mr Weasley.
"Go on, Ron take Ginny, down with you, I'll wait and go with Hermione," Harry said as he eyed the last sledge.
Neither Ron nor Ginny needed telling twice, this Muggle sledging looked like tremendous fun.
Harry waited for Hermione to return then he sat behind her as he took his first toboggan ride, both arms holding tight around her waist, "I love you," he shouted as they sped down toward the bottom.
They all took a few tumbles as they learned how to steer their sledges, Mr Granger and Mr Weasley were like two young boys again, playing and laughing with the teenagers.
Mr Weasley became a little bit of a daredevil and tried doing various odd things that all seemed to land him face first in the snow.
With the help of drying and warming charms by Fred, George, and Mr Weasley they were all able to really enjoy the new found exciting pastime.
Ginny suggested having a race for which Mr Weasley duplicated two of the sledges, all six of them set off down the hill together, the race turned into something like a ride on the dodgems.
Half way through the afternoon Sirius joined them, an hour later Harry watched happily as his godfather laughed and fooled about, the haunted look in his eyes replaced by brightness.
'Your dad is a genius Hermione my love, I don't think I've ever seen Sirius so happy' Harry declared as he rolled in the snow with her.
'Did I tell you today I love you? Well I do and I think dad has begun to think of you as the son he never had' Hermione said as they lay in the snow and kissed.
Quite a few hours passed as they all enjoyed the sledging, tumbles and all, Harry, Ron and Ginny, complained along with Hermione, and Mr Granger, when Mr Weasley and the twins kept apparating up the hill, while they all had to walk up.
By the time the sun started to go down they were all tired but all agreed it had been one of the best days of the holiday.
Hermione suggested shrinking the sledges and taking them to Hogwarts with them, the snow so far north would be around for quite some time.
New life long friendships were formed during the holiday at Potter house, as all the adults became firm friends. Mr Granger and Mr Weasley became very close, almost best friends, Sirius had found new friendships that had helped him to shed some of the depressive attitude that being in Azkaban for so many years caused.
Dobby became like a son to Glanry, and a much closer and better understood friend of Harry and his three friends. Even the twins took a great liking to the little elf.
The train ride back to Hogwarts usually a rather happy reunion with old friends seemed a little less happy in the compartment they shared, Just after leaving the platform they were joined by Neville who after spending his Christmas holiday with his gran was happy to be back with them.
The first free weekend they had the two Potters and two Weasleys along with Neville headed off to find a good slope to do more sledging, Neville turned out to be extremely good at it and was the first amongst them to lie on his stomach and plummet head first down the hill. their shouts and yells and fits of laughter drew a large crowd of students who eventually began to ask for a turn. By the following weekend Hagrid had lost count of the sledges he had made, he had begun by offering to make Neville his own sledge and every thing seemed to just grow from there. When the snow finally began to melt the entire school seemed to be enthusiastic about the new pastime, house teams were organised and race meetings held.
Hermione watched it all and wondered what other Muggle sport or pass time her father would bring to this world he did not even understand.
On the first Monday back at school Harry began to wonder what Ginny's future would be like in this new life, he knew she would no longer die so young, the problem that had killed her before had been cured, and Albus had assured him that she would now have a long life, he found himself wondering who she was going to end up with and whether she would still have three children. By Friday of the same week Harry could see the beginnings of a romance between Ginny and Neville, 'Perfect for each other' he thought.
Hermione invited them to join them in their quarters some evenings to help them get away from Ron, who was over doing the big brother protecting little sister, quite a bit.
Half way through the term Harry and Hermione had a little scare, for a few days they thought Hermione might be pregnant, although they were almost sure they had done the correct contraceptive charm.
'Harry I don't want to go through that again, I have decided to go to see Madam Pomfrey for some contraceptive potion, it works for six months with no side effects is that ok with you' she asked him as they lay in bed the night they found out she was not pregnant.
'Well as long as it won't have any unwanted effects later, it's ok with me' he told her.
'What do you mean, unwanted effects later' Hermione asked.
'You do want children don't you?' Harry asked suddenly worried, they had never discussed having babies.
'Just a few' she smiled 'not a full quidditch team though'
The rest of the term seemed to rush by; Harry kept his class marks just below Hermione's though he did start to answer more questions in the various classes.
Ginny and Neville were invited for diner several times as they gradually became a couple.
Ron was also invited a few times; he occasionally brought Luna Lovegood with him. Harry noticed that Hermione did not appear to be as friendly with Ron as he might have expected and he commented on it one night.
'I hope my thing with Ron didn't influence you, or spoil your friendship with him' he sent feeling a little guilty.
'Harry, Ron came with the package, I fell for you and I wanted to be close to you, that's why we became best friends, Ron was your friend and as the saying goes any friend of yours is a friend of mine' Hermione replied.
'So you don't miss having him around then'
'Good grief no, I mean life without all those stupid arguments is great'/i Hermione laughed 'besides he would sort of cut down on our snogging time'.
Their O.W.L's at the end of term were a whole lot easier for Harry this second time around, he did his best to match what he thought Hermione's results would be, she was really pleased with him for finally getting down to his studying and complimented him on his hard work occasionally, he had to remind her that he had already done the exam once but as he had said before a lot of the spells never got used once learned so they were quickly forgotten, he just needed to read up on them.
The train ride home was once again uneventful and Harry almost missed Draco and his rude interruptions, almost but not when Hermione was kissing him silly, Ginny and Neville shared the compartment with them, Ron had gone off with Luna, Harry could only guess why.
The car ride to their home in Wales was rather long as there seemed to be no end to the holiday traffic. Arriving at Potter House was indeed coming home for Harry and Hermione.