This story begins in "Chamber of Secrets" (Year 2). I do not own Harry Potter. Reviews are welcome!
Harry had just arrived at Ron's house for the first time ever after escaping Number Four Privet Drive with Ron, Fred, and George in their dad's magic flying Ford Anglia. It was a brilliant feat, and now he couldn't wait to get back to school. Dobby had told him not to return to Hogwarts, but Ron was one of the reasons this was an impossible request to make. Harry had too easily fallen in love with the magical world, and he would rather die existing in it than going back into any aspect of Muggle life, especially one with the Dursleys. Ron was his best friend, along with Hermione, but he and Ron saw eye to eye on a lot more things, seeing as they were both boys who were sports-lovers. Harry confirmed this as he entered Ron's bedroom on their house tour and saw how brilliantly orange everything was. (It was covered in Chudley Cannons Quidditch memorabilia). Ron was infatuated with Quidditch and was uber-impressed with how Harry had become Seeker for the Gryffindor team in his first year, something a first-year had not done in a century. Harry was impressed with Ron's knowledge of Quidditch trivia and history, as well as the family history of the Weasley's playing Quidditch at Hogwarts themselves. Harry assured Ron that he'd be on the team too one day.
"Not sure if I'm accurate enough with my throws to be a Chaser or stocky enough to be a Beater, but I've always thought being a Keeper would be pretty cool," said Ron.
"Well, you never know," said Harry. "As much as you eat at Hogwarts, you could still become a beater like your brothers."
"Watchit," said Ron, but he was grinning.
After another moment of gazing at Ron's posters, Harry said, "This is the best house I've ever been in."
Ron's ears turned pink.
Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were out De-gnoming the garden. It was of Harry's own volition that he was out there because he was curious as to what gnomes really looked like.
"They're nothing like what those Muggles put up in their yards," said George.
"This one," said Fred, heaving it up rather heftily, "has had a little bit too much to eat. Wouldn't be surprised if he had been eating from the Lovegood's stache."
"Who?" said Harry.
"A family that lives about five miles from here. They're totally insane," said George, before Fred could respond.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry curiously.
"Well we don't know too much," said Fred, "but they believe in conspiracy theories that most wizards dismiss as codswallop. Like that the Minister of Magic is actually a werewolf and is secretly plotting to overthrow Bulgaria. Or that whenever you can't stay focused on something, it's because Wrackspurts have crawled in your brain. The only reason I know this is because I've seen a few copies of the Quibbler magazine with Lovegood's name on it and tried to use it for good comedy fodder."
Ron snorted to himself. Harry gave a noncommittal grunt. Truthfully he wasn't surprised by anything anymore. He didn't know how to differentiate between what was weird and what was normal, having only been around magic for a year now.
"Most people would hex gnomes because they're a common garden pest, but dad thinks they're amusing, so we just pester them back so they won't eat our vegetables. The Lovegoods probably feed them bull balls or Mandrake urine thinking it'll be good for them or something. Who knows, but they always seem to stay around here between us and them," said Fred.
"Er-" croaked a small voice behind them.
"Lunch is ready," said a small, redheaded girl, but they barely heard her over a gnome saying, "Oi! Gerroff!"
"Ahh finally. Wondering what was taking Mum so long," said George. "Reckon she was gonna starve us like those Muggles did you, Harry. She's still mad about the car. I'm still rather proud of our achievement. What say you Fred?"
"I couldn't agree more."
"What do I do with this one?" asked Harry, but Fred and George had already skedaddled.
"Hold him upside down and shake him a bit until he passes out. Don't worry, it won't hurt 'em. He'll wake up soon enough," said Ron.
After taking care of the gnome, Harry and Ron made their way back to the house.
"What did you say your sister's name was again?" asked Harry.
"Ginny. She's been talking about you all summer when I was writing to Mum and Dad last year talking about how I had become friends with you. She's really annoying, but now that you're here, she hardly speaks. It's totally unlike her."
"Really?" said Harry. He couldn't help but notice her. It was the first time he had ever noticed a girl his age in this way. It made him feel funny inside.
"What kind of stuff does she say?"
"Just whatever comes up. She asked if you were ever coming to stay or if you liked Quidditch or what happened between you and Quirrell in the dungeons. Stuff like that. Guess it's because you're famous, eh?"
"Yeah...Right…" said Harry. Of course. It was only because he was famous that she was talking about him. It was only natural that she would talk about him. He was curious though. He didn't even know Ron's sister,yet there was something about her that he liked, which bothered him because he already thought that Ginny was beyond his territory. That would just be too weird to like Ron's sister, yet he had never noticed a girl like this before. Hermione was his close friend and happened to be a girl, but she could be bossy and interfering. He didn't think she was cute like Ginny though, although she could be fun and cool when she wanted to be.
After lunch, the family and Harry left to go to Diagon Alley to do the shopping for the school year. Harry and Ron couldn't help but laugh that every single book except for Standard Book of Spells, Year 2 was authored by Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Now even Hogwarts has gone yumpy," chortled Ron to Harry as they made their way to the fireplace front.
Unfortunately, Harry had a fiasco, accidentally setting himself in Knockturn Alley with Floo powder, but after spying on Draco Malfoy and his dad from inside a cabinet in Borgin and Burkes, Harry managed to sneak his way out, and find Hagrid before being molested by a nearby witch who looked particularly menacing.
"Hagrid!" shouted Harry.
"'Arry?" said Hagrid confused and sounding a little upset as the witch quickly lurched away from Harry. "Whad are yer doing down there? Skulking around Knockturn Alley? Ya need ter watch yerself before goin' down a place like that. Dodgy place. C'mon. Let's get outta here."
"Er, how did you know where to find me Hagrid?" asked Harry, running to catch up to him.
"Eh? Oh I was looking for Flesh-Eatin' Slug Repellant. I'm tryin' ter raise some flobberworms for a new project I'm workin' on, but an infestation of Flesh-Eatin' Slugs came up from the Forbidden Forest. Got ter take care of them before they attack my flobberworms. Just a coincidence I bumped into ya. Glad I did though. Blimey, how'd you end up down there?"
Harry explained to Hagrid about the Weasley's rescuing him from the Dursleys and how he used Floo Powder but said the wrong thing when soot got in his nose. Before he could mention the Malfoy's in Borgin and Burkes though, a girl's voice rang out from twenty yards away.
"Harry!"
Harry beamed. Hagrid as well. "'Ello Hermione!"
Hermione flung her arms around Harry.
"Alright then, Hermione?" asked Harry.
"Doing well! I just got Ron's letter. He told me about you being locked up by your aunt and uncle. Oh, Harry! We were so worried about you when you didn't write back to us!"
"Yeah, it was pretty terrible," sighed Harry, who for some reason didn't feel keen on telling Hermione about Dobby yet. He wanted to understand more before divulging to her about Dobby not wanting him to return to Hogwarts.
Hagrid chimed in and said, "Don't forget, Harry, the Dursleys don't know you can't do magic outside of school."
"Hagrid!" said Hermione in a surprised tone.
"Oh, alright…" said Hagrid, a little too disappointedly, as if he had a personal vendetta against the Dursleys. Then he perked up and said, "Right, I'll leave you to it Hermione. I've got my own shopping to take care of today. See you at Hogwarts!"
"Bye, Hagrid!"
On their way to Flourish and Blotts, Harry was explaining to Hermione about seeing the Malfoys in Borgin and Burkes. However, Harry couldn't help but notice that she seemed to get distracted as they got closer to the store.
"There you are, mate!" said Ron, coming out of the store in his traveling cloak. "Oh…hey Hermione. Uhh, how's it going?" he asked. His ears turned a slight shade of pink.
Hermione blushed. "Oh, hey Ron. I'm doing well. How are you?" They didn't hug or even shake hands.
Harry thought this formal greeting to be oddly stiff between them. Did something happen over the summer that he didn't know about? Hermione had flung her arms around him when she saw him just five minutes ago.
"Well, anyway, let's go Harry!" said Ron. And the trio made their way into the store only to find that Gilderoy Lockhart himself was in the store signing autographs in his many books.
After an embarrassing moment in which Lockhart pulled Harry to him for a publicity stunt, Draco Malfoy came in with his parents and made his way over to Harry to let off some steam, apparently upset.
"Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page, eh, Potter?" spat Draco nastily.
"Leave him alone!" said a girl's voice. Harry turned around to see that it was Ginny who made her way to stand next to him confronting Malfoy.
"Oh, look, Potter! You got yourself a girlfriend now?" said Draco, apparently looking for something embarrassing to say about this. Harry however, couldn't help but feel his heartbeat race to his neck thinking of how quickly Ginny had come to his defense. He had hardly even spoken to her, yet he suddenly felt a surge of pride at her coming to his aid against Malfoy.
"Now, now, Draco," said a cold, condescending voice. "We mustn't forget our manners?"
Harry glanced at the man with a skeptical look.
"Lucius Malfoy," said the man, introducing himself but refusing to shake his hand. "We meet at last. Your scar is legendary," he said with an awful reverence.
Harry wasn't sure how to take this statement. But before he could interject, Mr. Weasley had come over to see what the hub-bub was about.
"Arthur…" sneered Lucius.
"Lucius…" said Mr. Weasley, whose voice had become harsher than Harry had ever heard it.
Draco was watching the two men argue, while Harry motioned to Ginny that they should leave the scene, to which Ginny acknowledged. However, Harry could still hear a trace of their conversation. He also couldn't help but notice that Ginny had a small black book in her cauldron that was not previously there, but he didn't suspect too much of it, thinking he must've not noticed it before.
"We have different ideas about what disgraces the name of wizard, Lucius," said Mr. Weasley.
"Oh of course, of course," said Lucius condescendingly. "Well, I will let the proper wizards continue their shopping uninterrupted then. We purebloods wouldn't want to taint the company of these lovely Blood Traitors and Muggles. Come Narcissa. Come Draco. We'll darken the door of some other establishment," he said, in the most passive-aggressive way possible. He looked at Arthur with a sly smile.
"See you at work."
Eventually, the Weasleys made their way back to the Burrow after accomplishing their shopping in Diagon Alley. Harry thought it best not to try his luck with talking to Ginny about the Malfoy incident. She must have felt the same way because she was particularly quiet after their excursion.
Harry and Ron's troubles for the year were only beginning.
After arriving at King's Cross Station, Harry and Ron were busy talking, allowing all the other Weasleys to enter onto the Platform before them. When they were the last two remaining, they ran towards the wall only to collide into it and cause a small scene among them, not the least of which was that Hedwig was chirping loudly in her cage at the collision.
"Oh no! We must be late!" said Ron.
"How is that possible? We're not late! At least, I don't think we are!" said Harry. "What should we do? You're the one whose family has been coming to King's Cross longer than me."
"That doesn't mean anything!" said Ron, his voice frantic now as he was still feeling around on the solid brick wall as passing Muggles began giving them looks of disdain and confusion.
"Should we just go and wait by the car?" suggested Harry, finally.
"The car?" asked Ron, his gaze becoming unfixed. "Harry, I think we've missed the train! We've got to take dad's car to Hogwarts!"
"Are you mental?!"
"No! Mum and Dad probably can't get back! They can Apparate or use Floo Powder or something, but we need to get to school! C'mon!"
Before Harry could argue, they rushed to the car, threw their trunks into the back and got in. Ron forgot to turn the invisibility charm on before Harry reminded him. Unfortunately, it looked as though a few people had noticed and were looking up at the sky for signs of the now invisible car.
It took almost an hour and a half before they found the Hogwarts express. When they did, they soared high above it so as to not be seen (preferably so as to not get in trouble from any tattletales).
Finally, after the invisibility charm had long worn off, they saw castle towers in the distance after passing some tall, green mountains.
The car seemed to gain sentience as they descended, and Harry and Ron instead were heading towards the Whomping Willow on the edge of the grounds. To make matters worse, even the tree had now gained sentience and was apparently irritated at having a car flown into it because it began smashing its branches onto the Anglia.
"My wand! It's broken!" yelled Ron as the car finally lodged itself out of the tree and away from the tree enough to kick Harry and Ron out of it along with their trunks.
Miraculously, Harry and Ron emerged unscathed. Only Ron had a few cuts and bruises on his face and neck. They made their way up to the castle, to be discovered by none other than Argus Filch who promptly turned them in to Professor Snape.