Hello reader. Thank you for pulling up this document, you won't regret it. I want to be a writer someday, and I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan, (hence my name "Merlin's Beard") and I wanted to combine the two to see the reaction in my audience. Sure, I'm only 13, but who cares? I'm pretty advanced in my ELA. You may recognize the title of the chapters from the lyrics of Before You Go by Lewis Capidele, one of my favorite songs. Enjoy!
Exactly one year ago, Harry had destroyed Voldemort. Hermione was finishing her last year at Hogwarts, he and Ron work at the Ministry Of Magic as Aurors. After Voldemort's death, the Death Eaters had scattered, or so they thought. The Death Eaters are planning to win the war, master, or not. Voldemort had said to carry on under Lucius Malfoy's rule. Unfortunately, their former gathering place was destroyed, and the new gathering place was at Malfoy Manor. They plotted many deaths of Mudbloods, but they were going to take a different approach, one person at a time, and Draco, who was currently doing community service in Hogsmeade for the summer, would enter the Chamber Of Secrets to revive the basilisk. This plot would be in effect, but there is one problem. All Death Eaters went into the Battle Of Hogwarts, and not as many limped out. They planned to first recover and recruit, which will take a couple of months. But Draco could get the basilisk back into the chamber before the end of the summer, giving those first-year students a big disadvantage.
"Blimey, Harry, it's getting late. Hermione should be coming soon" Ron said to Harry as they ran through the train station with pretzels in their hands. Ron had cheese on his nose, and Harry had accidentally Transfigured his hair blue, and they were in a rush to greet Hermione at Platform 9 ¾. They ran through the wall and they were instantly greeted by a toot of the Hogwarts's train horn. "Reparifarge," someone said behind him, and Harry spun around, Hermione was there with a Hogwarts uniform and a big grin. "I don't know why you would want to make your hair blue, it's quite ridiculous, really." Harry hugged her, and Ron followed. Ginny was among the last ones to step off the train and they hugged her too. "I thought I saw Harry's hair blue" she phrased this like a question. Everyone smiled. "What?"
They Apparated to The Burrow, which was fully repaired after it was burned the previous year. Bill's wedding was pretty much ruined, so they had a do-over earlier in the year. Mrs. Weasley greeted Ginny and led them inside. Harry was already situated; he was fixing up Grimmauld Place to house him, Ron, and Hermione until they could each find their own accommodations. Harry and Ron had some beds from Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall issued three to the students, saying they were "worn, and the least we could do" they were all in the room. Behind Harry's bed were his Quiddich broomstick and a flag supporting the Hollyhead Harpies. Hermione stacked a pile of books beside hers and got rid of the stacks of papers. Harry was a little bummed because he and Ron used it as their office, and when she swiped it off, the Ministry papers went flying, and she immediately started to pick them up. "Tracking down the Death Eaters, are you?" Ron nodded "We're starting to get a lead on Lucius's location" "Malfoy." She sighs; thinking about the way Draco treated her, and then smiled at the thought of punching him in the third year. "I think Draco's doing community service in Hogsmeade. Knowing there's never been a quiet year, you probably ran into him"
" Yeah. It was pretty awkward, running into him. He was in Honeydukes for the week, got fired though, and scared everyone off except the Slytherins. He was all 'Granger" she mimicked a weird impression, the trio chuckled "I was allowed in the Restricted Section, looked up a Horcrux, just being curious." Ron looked at her with wide eyes "Merlin's beard Hermione! What did you find out?" "Ronald Weasley! Not that loud!" she yelled back, and then she dimmed a little "Nothing interesting, really. Just the fact that when people are in the presence of a Horcrux, they get mad more easily." Ron looked up at Harry from his work "You were a Horcrux too, weren't you? Why weren't we affected?" Hermione flipped through a book, but found nothing, and replied "You were the first human Horcrux ever written, so I guess the effects are different if a person is a Horcrux instead of an item"
"Sounds legit." Replies Harry. Ron nods also. "How's the Ministry?" she asked Ron. "Pretty boring, but we got a hold of a fleeing Death Eater. He was quite frightened, said that he was under the Imperious curse, but broke out. He's in custody, but might be released soon."
"What's his name?"
"William. He's a nice fella, worked at Flourish & Blotts."
Mrs. Weasley called them downstairs for dinner, where they had some soup made of slugs that George had barfed earlier in the week. Hermione was a bit grossed out, but Harry ate, ignoring the juice running down his chin. Ron poked every slug before putting it in his mouth, and when one wiggled, he threw it across the room. Hermione delicately dragged each slug out of the soup and onto her plate, and then she cut it up into equal pieces to eat separately from the soup. George still looked a little green from the slug extravaganza, or maybe it was from the smell that leaked out of the slugs. Ugh. Bill and Molly Weasley was not bothered at all, they had activated a Bubble-Head Charm. Ginny gave them occasional glares, nobody but they were allowed to have their wands at the table. Afterward, they went to bed, of course having a mint before heading off to bed.
Ron looked out at the corn being grown by the Muggle farmers around them. It was 2 AM, but he didn't care. He was in his striped pajamas, as he looked out at the full moon. "What are you doing up at this time of night?" He looked behind him to see Hermione. "I'm on werewolf duty. Full moon." she raised an eyebrow. He sighed." I couldn't sleep" She went on her toes to get at his height. She wrapped an arm around him, and he did the same. "I never did tell you what I saw in the locket, did I?" he said. She looked at him like he was crazy. "The Horcrux locket, the night I came back. I was about to break it, but it erupted in this... fog. An image, you and Harry, told me I wasn't good enough. You and Harry snogged. It tried to turn me against you guys." Ron could tell Hermione was shocked. She gasped "I would never! Harry and I, it's just a friendship. Besides, he's hooked on Ginny." she kissed Ron on the cheek. "Besides, I'm hooked with you, Ronald." He blushed, and she walked away saying "See you in the morning, I guess." Ron felt warm, and he smiled at the cornfield.
Two weeks later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved to Grimuald Place to finish renovations. Hermione's wavy hair was pulled pack into a ponytail, as they prepared for a long day of work. Since there was no spell to efficiently paint the walls, they had to do it themselves, but they, of course, used Wingardiam Leviosa to paint the higher spots. It was a really big trust practice, trying to paint the walls as fast as she could before Harry could drop her. When they got to the next room, Harry looked around at the wallpaper and stared at the black hole with two words under it, a little blackened, disgraced by his family, Sirius Black. Harry's godfather. "Do you think we should take care of this thing?" Ron asked quietly. Harry bent down and took the edge of the paper, tearing all of it off. A nail was revealed under it, and Harry took a portrait of Sirius and hung it and sighed. "All right, let's get the rest of this room."
"Hermione. Hermione!" Ron shook her awake, and she sighed and said tiredly "Go away... I'm sleeping" Ron dragged her by her feet off the bed. "Wake up!" Hermione took her pillow off the bed and plopped it on her face, and her voice muffled through "Go away Ron" with a flick of Ron's wand, Hermione started to float. Irritated, Hermione stood and shouted "Whatdoyouwant?!" She's a little cranky Ron thought. "We got a meeting with Professor McGonagall. There's a situation. Wear your uniform, it attracts fewer people." She was instantly awake. "Accio mug!" A coffee mug flew into her hand and went into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. She slipped on her Hogwarts uniform in an instant, and went into her mode, with simple flicks of her wand as she walked down the hallway, got all the household chores done. In minutes they were out the door, Hermione had also stretched out Ron and Harry's robes to fit accordingly. They walked around the bend and Apparated by the Whomping Willow.