A/N: This chapter is brought to you by a bloodstream containing Jim Beam!
Chapter 36: Fourth Year Train Ride
"Oh, by the way, Who lives under us? Don't think I've ever asked." Tonks asks me as we walk through London towards Kings Cross on the first of September with Sirius and Hedwig.
"I don't know if anyone lives there, but Goblins go in and out a few times a week." I explain. "Usually at early hours in the morning, I've never seen 'em in person and there's never more than two together. No other discernible patterns, but I know that it's not the only way in or out, unless Goblins can teleport."
"Whad'ya mean?" She asks.
"I've seen a few Goblins go in, and then a few months later they go in again without leaving."
"Maybe it's a secret entrance to Gringotts?" Sirius suggests. I shake my head.
"No..." I say slowly. "They don't seem like they work for Gringotts. Maybe I could ask if I ever meet one of 'em." I shrug. "One was in a rush a few weeks ago, they dropped a galleon." Tonks almost trips over, which isn't saying much for her shock.
"A Goblin dropped a galleon?" I think she'd look less shocked if I were to tell her that Albus was actually a woman.
"Yep. Poor sod comes running out all bloodied with a fist full of coins and heads into Knockturn Alley." I try not to laugh at her face, she's still wearing the eye-patch, claiming to do so until my sight recovers beyond blurry shapes. "He didn't come out, so I'll assume he got whacked or something."
"Bloody hell." Sirius barks out a laugh. I dig into my pockets to fish for the coin.
"It's got a weird feeling to it as well, I meant to tell you when I found it, but I think you were working late that night. Ah!" I find the golden coin. Tonks looks a bit put out by missing something due to work.
"It feels weird?" Sirius goes to grab it, I snatch the coin away.
"He's the only human to ever touch it." Hedwig pipes up. "He's very protective of it." She smirks. But it's not that making it feel strange.
"Hey! Do you know how rare it is to find an unsoiled galleon?" I say indignantly. "All the dirty, sweaty palms that coins have sat in." I shudder. "I'm just glad that Gringotts cleans then every so often. I paid for my lunch with a galleon that'd been in a Knockturn Alley whore's arsehole for God's sake! That didn't make the sandwich taste any better." Sirius, predictably, howls with laughter, much to the irritation of the people nearby.
"Merlin, I'd not even thought about when all the money's been." Tonks looks a bit queasy after cooling of from her own laughter. Something clicks in her head as she turns to Hedwig. "Didn't you say you found one that Hermione had? That's it."
"Yeah, it was one of the coins she used to pay for her wand with." She nods happily. The chances of finding that coin by chance are absolutely tiny.
"I'm going to hang onto it until her birthday." I say, patting my pocket. It'd be a bit of a naff present on it's own, I'll get her a book or something.
"What about the 'unsoiled' coin?" Sirius chuckles as we descend into the train station.
"Not sure. I was thinking of boring a hole through it and wear it as a necklace. A lucky charm." I shrug. Most respectable wizards wouldn't believe an unenchanted object could bring luck … well I don't either, but as I seem to either have extreme bad luck or extremely good luck, I can just say it was the coin. That's it! I was hit with another unforgivable because I didn't have my lucky coin. Ingenious. "The platform is pretty busy now." I saw as we stop at the hidden gateway. "Maybe if you'd met us in the Leaky Cauldron rather than waiting for us to wake you up at home, we'd have been here earlier." I say accusingly to Sirius, who just laughs.
"You're not late 'til the train leaves." He proclaims, marching through the archway. Hedwig skips through after him.
"If you happen to find yourself patrolling the Ravenclaw tower this year..." I smile suggestively at Tonks.
"I might sneak up to your room, to check for intruders." She hooks her arm with mine as we walk through the gate.
"You? Sneak?" I snort, making her smile more. "My cloak might be better than most, but I think you could still overpower it." I smile affectionately, pressing a kiss to her temple.
"Oh, I could be Hedwig! Nobody would look twice!" Her eyes sparkle at the possibilities.
"Have I ever told you how brilliant you are?"
"You don't know the half of it." She says haughtily. It's now, as I look away from her, that I notice the plentiful looks cast at me. Can't a bloke just fight terrorists and be tortured without drawing attention? "Won't you be having a fun year, dealing with all these hormones." She laughs softly into my ear. She's a little bit shorter than me at the moment, sporting lightning blue spikes. I'd managed to talk her out of 'wearing' all black and acting like a soon-to-be army widow on the platform.
"Was that an invitation?" I ask just before spotting Sirius doing his best to rile up an, already scowling, Lucius Malfoy. "Oh, Lord Black, Lord Malfoy. So nice to see you again." I greet with my smarmiest smile. Sirius turns to me with a wide grin. Lucius glares at me with the utmost contempt. I should feel more hatred towards a man that tried to kill me, but I don't.
"Lord Potter! I see that you already know Lord Malfoy." Sirius and I both turn to the irate blond with matching smiles. Tonks is, of course, scowling at the man. He did attempt to kill me after all. Whilst I'd like to spill his entrails onto the tracks, the others on the platform might not enjoy nor understand. "Oh Lord, look at the time!" I exclaim. I probably won't use my new title for anything other than annoying people, it's best to get some practice. "I simply must be getting onto the train." Lucius, having apparently had enough, sweeps away, storming along the platform.
"Hah! To think James and I never thought to do that!" Sirius rubs his hands together gleefully. The train's whistle … whistles.
"Right, I'll see you at Christmas? Assuming I don't get killed or something." I smile, rubbing my half-blind eye. "Where'd Hedwig go?"
"On the train." Sirius supplies. She's probably found Hermione already.
"Alright then Anne Bonny." I flip Tonks' eye-patch and hug her. "As much as I'd love a good smooch, I think some of the old folk would faint."
"Might get their blood pumping a bit." She bites her lip and smiles. "I'll be around Hogwarts more in a couple of months." She adds quietly, the tournament is supposed to be a secret, after all.
"I'll miss you."
"Try and hold out for me, lover boy." She smirks as the train whistles again. "Try and find Hermione a man too." She pushes me towards the train. I climb up onto the step and slide my grip on the walking stick about halfway down as the train starts to move. Sure, it wasn't the most romantic send off, being watched closely by a dozen people, but at least I got to see her before she had to work today. The last thing she does before sliding out of view is flip her eye-patch back down and blow me a kiss. The smile persists on my face until I find Hermione sitting beside Draco with Hedwig opposite. Draco looks pleased with himself, which isn't uncommon, but he sports a bloodied lip.
"Harry!" Just a week ago, I'm sure one of Hermione's hugs would've felt like the second coming of the cruciatus. "Are you ok? Hedwig said you were completely blind and missing both legs."
"What? Who said that?!" I demand, waving my hand out in front of me, patting Hermione's head. "Ah, Cousin It!" Hermione slaps my hand away, giggling.
"I'm glad to see you're OK." She still watches me cautiously as we sit down.
"I'm ain't gonna snap in half, Hermione." I assure her, resting my cane on my knees, looking over at Draco. "So he's not told you what happened yet?" I make the assumption, looking at his busted lip.
"No." She huffs. Draco laughs. Not a huge laugh, but not the disgusted laugh he saves for most people.
"It's nothing noteable." He shrugs, serving to tick off Hermione further.
"Alright, spill the beans." I say, but the saying doesn't mean anything to him. "What happened? Try and feel up what's-her-name?" I ask enthusiastically. I'm not sure who else would hit Draco Malfoy. It doesn't look like a spell either.
"Who?" He looks affronted.
"Damn. I thought you fall for it and give me a name." I grin. I'm sure it'd work on some people.
"If you must know, my father was trying to … advise me on my choice of acquaintances." He gestures to the three of us. "I, quite defiantly, if I do say so myself, told him to reconsider some of his own." He says smugly, clicking his fingers once. "And then this happened." He points to his mouth. My jaw drops.
"What the...?" My shocked face slowly turns into an open-mouthed grin. I don't even have a meaningful equivalent in anything I've ever done that matches that. He stood up to his Father. I don't have anyone like that to clash with, it'd be like Hermione slapping McGonagall or something. "Draco, you are my idol for the day. Well maybe just the next few minutes.
"I always knew you were an annoying prick, but you actually managed to get slapped." Hedwig laughs. Hermione doesn't seem to find it all as funny.
"You should be more careful. With everything that's happened, he might've hurt you." She looks worried.
"Lighten up, Hermione." I nudge her shoulder. "He might be mostly insane, but he'd never properly hurt his son. It's like being spanked, it's for discipline." Hedwig mutters something about being disciplined by me, but Hermione ignores it.
"Would you at least let Harry fix it?" She continues to glare at Draco until he crumbles.
"Fine." He folds his arms. I pop my Holly wand out. "If you do anything other than heal the cut..." He glares at me.
"Wouldn't dream of it." My grin doesn't seem to make him relax. Why is that?
"I'm going to search for Crabbe and Goyle. Make sure they haven't forgotten to breathe in my absence." Draco smirks at the thought, leaving the compartment.
"Are you really OK?" Hermione asks me, almost immediately after the door closes.
"I'm fine." I smile at her. "A little bit sore and this eye doesn't work 100%."
"And the walking stick?"
"I'd still wager he can walk better than Tonks." Hedwig chimes in, smugly. Hermione turns back to me.
"I'm alright, really." I smile. "Better than the healers expected, but I might've helped myself along a bit." I admit ambiguously, leaning my back against the seat. It's good to be going back to Hogwarts, despite having a good summer. "So, how are you? Any summer romances?"
"Nothing as extravagant as yours." She counters.
"That wasn't a no." I say leadingly. "Who is it?" She doesn't look like she's going to tell me. "Tell me about him?"
"I don't know how to get their attention." She looks down at her hands in her lap. I look over at Hedwig, who shrugs.
"What's he like? Interests, hobbies – That sorta thing." I offer.
"Well... They like Quidditch." She frowns a bit. "But I'm not overly fond of it..."
"Opposites attract, or so they say." I shrug.
"Maybe." She sighs. "They're nice, kind, and the most wonderful smile." I think she's blushing a bit. "There's a bit of an age difference."
"That's nothing worry about." I assure her. "Unless it's somebody decades older... Wait, please tell me it's not Sirius." I clutch at my chest.
"No!" She slaps my arm. I slump in the seat dramatically.
"Thank god for that." I don't know what I'd have done if she'd said yes honestly. "He's in Hogwarts though?" She nods.
"What should I do?" Hermione Granger has a crush.
"You're a Gryffindor! Go up to him and do something!" I say enthusiastically. "Fortune favours the bold apparently." I shrug. "Until you get hit by the cruciatus, of course. Then not so much." I laugh.
A/N: I think i'm losing my edge a bit, Maybe slowing down will help.
In response to a review left by 'Azofeifa': Harry likes girls. Hedwig sort of 'inherited' this. Harry also likes himself, but not in the same way as Hedwig currently does. She was orginially an owl, but swans can be gay (Which i think is really nice) but the point is that she isn't an owl any more.
I think if you really read into this chapter you may be able to figure out who Hermione fancies, but it's vague, purposefully so. Don't fret too much, it'll become clear soon.
Enjoy.