Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to PenguinLord0029 and Gazaran, who beta this story.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Getting to Hogwarts

Harry was finding life at the Burrow to be a wonderful experience. He loved the fact that the Weasley lived far enough away from Muggles that the Burrow could be filled with magic in every corner of the house. He was especially interested in the clock in the living room that told not the time, but the location or emotional state of each of the Weasley. Mrs. Weasley had explained that Mr. Weasley had made that for her after Bill had gone to Egypt to work for Gringotts, because she was worried about him and Mr. Weasley had wisely decided to include all of the children to it.

It was the third day after he got there and Harry was down at the table eating breakfast with all the Weasleys except for Mr. Weasley because he already went to work.

"I was thinking we should play Quidditch today," Fred said to Harry. "I bet you haven't even been on a broom since the end of school."

"No, I haven't," Harry sighed, he really missed flying, but then he stood up excitedly. "Oh Merlin, I can try out the new broom Moony and Padfoot got me for my birthday!"

"You got a new broom! Which one?" Ron asked.

"It's a Nimbus 2000!" Harry said and the three Weasley boys (for Percy had just left to do Merlin knows what) mouths drop to stare at him. Harry heard a squeak of excitement from the end of the table and he saw Ginny, who turned red the moment he looked at her. He had really hoped that she would start talking to him after she had defended him at the bookstore but she was just as shy as ever.

"Do you play, too?" Harry asked her. He figured that if he made the effort to talk to her she might feel more comfortable around him. It did not seem to be working, since she just stared at him as the rest of the family answered for her.

"Of course not," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Yeah, she is too itsy bitsy to play with us," Fred chuckled as Ginny glared at him before she turned and ran from the table.

"That wasn't very nice," Harry sighed.

"Oh, does little Harrykins like our Gin Gin," George chuckled and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Shut up Georgie, or I just might not let you have a go on my new broom," Harry said with a smirk. George grimaced at him, but did not say anything to that as Harry went upstairs to get his broom. When he came down, the Weasleys spent five whole minutes just staring at it.

"Did you really get this broom for your birthday?" Ron questioned. His tone was awed and a little resentful.

"Yeah … and I imagine it will be part of my Christmas present too," Harry said. "Although it's completely worth it and Sirius said since I was going to be on the team I needed to have a good broom."

"If he had waited a little while longer he could have gotten you the new Nimbus 2001!" Ron said excitedly this time.

"No, he wouldn't have. He said that part of my punishment for nearly getting killed last year was I had to get the second best broom there was," Harry chuckled. "As if I care … I think this broom is brilliant. Well at least I hope it is … I haven't really had a chance to test it out yet."

He then went to fly his new broom and smiled broadly as soon as he was in the air, it just felt right to be up there. Not to mention the fact that the broom flew so smoothly and obeyed his ever command without hesitation that soon he was zipping through the air at ridiculous speeds.

"The cup will be ours for sure this year," Fred whistled as he watched Harry. Soon after that Harry landed and handed the broom to Ron who enjoyed his flight immensely, though he never reached the speeds that Harry had gotten. After the twins had their turn he and Ron played against the twins in two on two Quidditch, and Harry had to admit that it was a brilliant game.

O

It was much later that night after everyone had gone to bed that Harry was awakened by one of his weird dreams. He couldn't seem to get back to sleep, so he decided to go downstairs and get some warm milk. On his way out of the kitchen he nearly ran into someone.

"Merlin don't …" the someone said, then squeaked again and Harry realized that it had to be Ginny.

"I'm sorry … I didn't think anyone else would be down here," Harry said.

"It's okay," he thought he heard Ginny mumbled and Harry sighed.

"So you never answered my question," he said in the hopes he could get Ginny to talk to him if they were alone together. She looked at him questioningly and he added, "about playing Quidditch."

"Oh," she said, and then she paused to think, "no …"

"That's too bad," Harry said. "Quidditch is the most brilliant sport in the world. And flying … Well flying is the best! You should really give that a try at least."

Ginny nodded her head, unable to speak.

"Ginny," Harry sighed and she blushed more than ever when he said her name. "I would really appreciate it if you would stop treating me like I'm Harry Potter."

Ginny's face fell at that, she bit her lip looking miserable, and Harry felt like a jerk. He probably should have just let this go.

"I just meant … when you talked to me at the train station last year …" Harry said searching for the right words. "You even tried to help me … I wouldn't mind … well … if you acted like that again …"

Ginny looked more miserable than ever and as if she wanted to bolt from the room.

Harry decided it was best if he turned the conversation back onto himself. "It's just I've had enough people only pay attention to me because I'm the boy-who-lived, not that your one of those people, if you were you wouldn't have defended me in the bookstore … but I would kind of like it if you would just talk to me …"

"I'll try," Ginny said and then she did run from the room. Harry sighed, that really did not go well at all.

Ginny wouldn't even look at him the next morning, day, or even night. He felt like the biggest git in the world, and thought he should have just kept his mouth shut. That night after Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were asleep, the Weasley boys and Harry snuck out and took the old car of theirs for a joy ride. Harry was skeptical at first why the twins were so excited about this, but as soon as the car had taken off into the sky he understood completely. They were only out for a little over an hour, but it was thrilling to be flying in the car like that.

Ron informed Harry as they climb up to his attic bedroom that he and the twins were thinking about dropping by Harry's place after not getting any letters from him the whole summer. Harry felt it was rather lucky that Hermione got the owl to Ron on time to prevent that, but he would have loved to see Padfoot and Moony's faces if the Weasleys had arrived at their house in a flying car.

O

"You owe me one, Ron," Ginny said to her brother the next morning. She was trying to take Harry's advice and act normal around him but she was finding it difficult. She knew of course that Harry did not really like the fame that his past had given him and she didn't mean to treat him like that, but she just couldn't help it. She had always been fascinated with Harry Potter, and loved hearing everything there was to hear about him. She had imagined meeting him in person and impressing him with her wit … which obviously was not the case.

She had nearly cried as she told Tom, the magic diary that was in her cauldron after going to Diagon Alley, what Harry had said to her the other night. She had never thought she was one to actually write in a diary, and she was still convinced that she wouldn't be if the diary didn't write back to her. Honestly, she thought it was the most brilliant thing in the world, having a diary that talked back to her, giving her advice.

She had never been so embarrassed in her life after what Harry had said; she thought for sure she had lost all chances of befriending Harry because she had made such a fool of herself in front of him. But Tom told her that he was just trying to make friends with her and that she should take Harry's advice and treat him like everyone else. She was sure she would not be able to do that … her heart fluttered in her chest whenever she saw him, but she was going to attempt to talk in front of him at the very least.

"What?" Ron said looking at her confused.

"You guys made a lot of noise when you left last night," Ginny explained as Ron's ears turned red. "I knew it would wake Mum up so I made a show of going to the bathroom …"

"Oh … thanks Gin," Ron said carefully. "Er … and just what am I going to have to do to repay you."

"I'm sure I will think of something," Ginny smirked at her brother and she quickly left the room as she heard Harry chuckle. Nope, she definitely was not able to talk to him yet … or even look at him, but she did talk normal to Ron knowing he was there and that was a start.

O

"Come on, hurry up you lot!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, it was finally September first and things were, like always, chaos in the Burrow. Everyone was running around with last minutes preparations and it was already past the time they were supposed to leave. It was not long after that that the seven Weasleys and Harry piled in the car that had obviously been magically expanded (or at least it was obvious to Harry, but Mrs. Weasley didn't seem to have realized) and were driving to King's Cross Station. Luckily, they did not have to turn around and they were able to get there with fifteen minutes to spare.

However, something strange happened when he got to the barrier to Platform Nine and Three Quarter. Harry had run at it full speed, confident that he would get through the barrier, and so was greatly surprised when he crashed into the very solid wall. Ron, who was running after him, just barely had time to stop himself form crashing into Harry.

"What the hell!" Ron said, putting his hand against the barrier and it was just as solid as it was a second ago. "What's going on? Why can't we get through?"

"I don't know," Harry said frowning at the wall. "It worked fine for the rest of your family."

"Everyone's looking at us," Ron commented and indeed all of the people in the station were looking at him, shaking their heads at the immature boys causing a scene. Harry got up, tried to calm the streaking Hedwig down as he put his hand on the barrier one last time and then moved away.

"What are we going to do?" Harry groaned.

"I don't know, but we better think fast, we only have ten minutes before the train leaves," Ron said looking at the clock in the station.

"We can try again in a few minutes," Harry said, noticing that people were still looking at him. "And if we can't make it through the barrier after that, we will just have to go back to the car and then try to figure out a different way of getting there."

"The car!" Ron exclaimed with his eyes brightening, "We could drive the car there!"

For one full minute Harry smiled at that idea, it would be bloody brilliant to arrive at Hogwarts in a flying car, everyone would be talking about that for years, but he sighed shaking his head. "It's too dangerous … if we were seen …"

"There's an invisibility booster on it," Ron tried to argue.

"Even so, I don't think it's the best idea," Harry sighed. "Especially since I could just send Hedwig to someone and ask for help."

"Oh," Ron sighed, and then looked at the barrier, "hey look, there's someone going through the barrier … they didn't seem to have any trouble."

"That doesn't make any sense." Harry frowned. "Wait here for a second … let me check something out … if I get through you can follow me," he added before heading towards the barrier, this time causally walking towards it. Like he had expected he could not get through it. Frowning, he headed back towards Ron.

"Didn't work," Ron said to him frowning also. "Do you think whatever is happening is trying to keep you out?"

"Yeah I do," Harry said looking back at the wall knowing they only had a few minutes left. "Ron, I think you should go through …"

"I'm not leaving you," Ron said firmly.

"I wasn't going to ask you to," Harry said. "I'll be next to you under my invisibility cloak. Maybe if they can't see me, they won't be able to stop me."

"Brilliant Harry," Ron said smiling. Harry removed his cloak from his trunk, went to the bathroom to put it on where no one could see him disappear, and then rejoined Ron telling him they could leave. They ran towards the barrier for there was only a minute left now, only slowing down right before they would hit it. Cautiously, Ron walked through it with Harry following right after him.

"Ronald! Where have you been?" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.

"We had problems with the barrier … we'll tell you about it later, the train is about to leave!" Ron emphasized hurrying to the train and Mr. Weasley helped him put both Ron and Harry's trunk on the train as Harry took off his Cloak and rejoined them.

"Thanks Mr. Weasley," Harry said hopping on the train as it started to move. "And thanks for having me over … I really had fun."

"It was our pleasure Harry," Mr. Weasley said, half amused and half curious about what had happened.

Before he could do anything more than wave they were leaving the station.

"I suppose we should try and find Hermione then," Ron said turning to Harry.

"I supposed," Harry agreed as they took their trunks as they looked into all of the compartments for their friend, who were in the last one on the train.

"HARRY, RONALD!" Hermione said looking worried when they came in the compartment. "Where have you been? I thought that you might have missed the train!"

"We almost did," Harry said and smiled at Neville, Ginny, and a blonde haired girl that he didn't know.

"This is my friend Luna Lovegood," Ginny said, still blushing as she talked to Harry, but she had become much better at talking around, and even to Harry on occasion, over the last few days.

"Hello Luna, are you a first year too?" Harry questioned.

Luna stared at him for a ridiculously long time and Harry started to get uncomfortable. He had a feeling she was not looking at him because he was the famous Harry Potter, but for some other reason he didn't know. "You seem to have a lot of Nargles around you, is that why you were so late?" she finally said.

"Er … I don't think so," Harry said looking at her oddly, "but what are Nargles?"

"They're mischievous creatures that like to cause forgetfulness," Luna said.

"Are you sure … I've never even heard of Nargles before," Hermione frowned.

"No … most people haven't," Luna said sadly, "and yes Harry Potter, this is my first year here."

"Well … that's nice," Harry said sitting down next to Ron and Hermione looking at Luna, Ginny and Neville. "So what house do you want to be in?"

"Ravenclaw," Luna answered immediately.

"Are you sure you don't want to be in Gryffindor, it's the best house by far," Harry chuckled.

"As if, Hufflepuff is the best," Neville countered playfully.

"I wouldn't mind if you were in Gryffindor, I would like to have a friend," Ginny told Luna.

"Gin, I hate to break this to you, but you don't know you're going to be a Gryffindor either," Ron pointed out, "who knows, you might be in …"

"I'll be a Gryffindor!" Ginny said firmly, cutting him off. "I've been dreaming of being in that house since Bill came home after his first year."

"Gin, you were like one," Ron rolled his eyes.

"And you were like two, but that didn't stop you from wanting the same thing," Ginny countered and Ron chuckled.

"I suppose not," he admitted.

"Well, I would like it if you were in Gryffindor. It would be nice to talk to someone other than all these gits," Hermione said pointing at the boys in the compartment.

"You could always talk to your dorm mates," Harry said, as Ron pouted at Hermione's comment.

"As if, all they ever want to talk about is the gossip that goes around this school … most of which involves you," Hermione said shaking her head. "Which means they're not exactly the people I would want to confide in."

"And how do you know I'm not a gossip too?" Ginny asked.

"I can just tell," Hermione chuckled.

They talked throughout the trip, Luna would often interrupted stating some unknown and highly unlikely fact, which had everyone staring at her oddly, but Harry found that he was starting to like this girl. At least he had to commend her for not conforming to what everyone else thought … she was definitely one of a kind.

"You know you really should think about being a Gryffindor," Harry told her after they had all changed into their robes and they were almost at Hogwarts. "I have a feeling that you're definitely brave enough to be in it … and I know you will have at least a few friends in that house."

"Oh," Luna said, her eyes that were normally dreamy seem to furrow as she thought about what he said.

"Oh, don't let him sway you Luna," Neville said, "you're going to have a few friends in Gryffindor and at least one in Hufflepuff no matter what house you're in."

"He's right you know," Harry smiled at her. "It doesn't really matter what house you're in … it's just, I've heard that the Ravenclaw tower was full of Nargles and …"

"Harry!" Hermione reprimanded. "You heard no such things!"

"Okay okay, it was Blibbering Humdingers …" Harry said and Hermione really glared at him, which caused him to laugh louder than ever, "okay, I didn't hear anything like that …"

"That's too bad, I would like to have seen a Blibbering Humdinger," Luna sighed, and everyone chuckled, not sure if she was joking or not.

At the sorting Luna ending up going to Ravenclaw and everyone looked oddly at Harry, Hermione and Ron when they cheered for this fact (most people only cheer when they gain a house mate), but Harry didn't care, he was happy that she had gotten into the house that she wanted. When it was Ginny's turn it took her a surprisingly long time to get sorted, and she looked at the hat warily as she took it off, but when she turned to join the other Gryffindors, she was beaming.