CHAPTER TWO

"...And look at this one over here! Did you see that one Ron? Huh?! Did you see
that one! Look how big it is. And this one over here!" Harry yelled to Ron, who
was yawning outside the store's door. "Oh, come on Ron! This one's gold...pure
gold..."

Hermionie was becoming agitated, and kept tugging on Harry's sleeve. "Harry
please. I want to go get our semester books. I don't want them to sell out
before we even get them." Hermionie started at her boyfriend. "Harry, are you
listening to me?"

Harry paid no attention.

Ron came over. "Stiff as a board, eh?"

Hermionie frowned. "He's staring at those snitches and broomsticks more then he
stares at me! He loves Quidditch more then he loves me!" Tears formed in
Hermionie's sensitive eyes.

Harry snapped out of his Quidditch trance and hugged Hermionie. "Now Hermionie,
you know that's not true!"

Hermionie sobbed. "Oh yeah? What color are my eyes?" She closed them to prevent
Harry from looking.

Harry bit his lip. "They're...uh...blue?"

Hermionie wailed. She turned to face Ron, who grabbed her and hugged her. "I
can't believe you, Harry Potter!"

Not knowing what to do, Harry just stood there, mouthing to Ron; "what did I
do?"

Ron cracked up, Hermionie too. Laughing uncontrollably, Ron turned to Harry and
said, "Harry birthday, Harry. We now know what age does to one's brain cells!"

"OY! POTTER!"

Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy, the evil Slytherin, come up to him. "What do
you want, Malfoy?" he asked.

"Oh, cut the crap, Potter. You know what I want."

For a few moments, Harry, Hermionie, and Ron started at Malfoy and Malfoy stared
back. It was Hermionie who finally broke the silence.

She threw her arms around Malfoy, and said, "Oh, Draco! We've missed you so
much! My mother was so upset you didn't come to visit this summer...and you
never showed up for my birthday party!"

Draco nodded. "Oh yes, I'm so sorry Hermionie. I was visiting my cousin in
America...I wasn't able to come. Do you hate me?" Draco gave Hermionie the
cutest puppy face.

"No," said Hermionie reluctantly, "I don't hate you."

"Great!" Draco turned to Ron. "What's Percy been up to, eh? Still causing
trouble I hope?"

Ron laughed. "Oh yes, it's been the usual. Blowing up the house, getting kicked
out of summer camp...nothing major!"

Draco smiled. "Did you get my owl on ordering his tongue-toffees? I really would
like to use them on my dad. He hasn't smiled in ages. He needs a good laugh at
some point."

Harry sighed. "You-Know-Who still out to get him, Draco?"

Harry remembered the horrible night when Voldemort realized his favorite Death
Eater, Lucius Malfoy, was really a spy for Albus Dumbledore-head of Hogwarts.
And Voldemort's one weakness. Albus was the only wizard Voldemort was afraid of,
and it was a blessing. Voldemort would love to be teaching all the students at
Hogwarts how do be proper Death Eaters. But with Albus there, Voldemort would
never be able to achieve it.

Draco's eyes became angry, and his voice harsher. "Yes. The bastard doesn't know
when to stop." Draco grabbed a book off the felf and used it as a fan. "Is it
just me, or is anyone else here hot?"

Hermionie shook her head. "I think it's just you Draco, sorry."

"Hey man, are you okay?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Draco nodded. He pulled up his sleeve to look at the
shiny watch which occupied his strong wrist. "Sorry guys, but I have to go. Talk
to you one the Hogwarts Express, eh?"

Harry replied, "yeah. Don't forget to sit with us. Remember what you did last
time?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I swear, I won't go hitting on any Ravenclaw chicks this
time, okay?"

Ron frowned. "Hey, you said that you'd take me chick hunting with you this
year!"

Hermionie stared at Ron. "Excuse me? 'Chick hunting'? What on earth do you men
think about when we girls aren't around."

Draco, Harry, and Ron all looked at each other, and in unison replied, "Chicks."

Hermionie rolled her eyes, and began to look through the shelves, while Draco
waved and walked away. She looked through each book, check titles and authors
for something to read. She then suddenly stopped and pulled out a book. She
flipped through the pages, and dropped it into her bag. And once again, she
began to look through the books.

"Harry!" she said in a shaky voice. "L-L-Look at this!" she held up a book.

The book was large, and black. It contained at least two-thousand, small print
pages, all on the dark arts. The cover showed no title, no author, no pictures,
nor any words. Yet on the title page, it said, "Mastering the Unbelievable By
Marvolo Rebelly".
Harry looked stunned. "Rebelly? You don't think that he's a master at the Dark
Arts, do you?"

Hermionie nodded. "Yes. I've never trusted that Professor. He's so creepy! And
his name...."

Ron blew Hermionie off. "Oh, c'mon Hermionie! You honestly don't think that our
potions teacher is evil...do you? You must be insane...he's the best."

"Yeah!" agreed Harry. "Hey Ron, remember last year when he taught us about the
boggarts? And he let Neville turn the boggart into McGonagall wearing the sumo-wrestler suit?"

Ron fell on the floor, he was laughing so hard.

Hermionie just stood there, ashamed of her boyfriend. "Harry! They man is
crazy."

"And what proof do you have of that?" asked Harry, now angry.

Hermionie didn't have time to answer, because suddenly, from the front of the
store, came a loud scream.

Harry looked at Ron, who had stopped laughing. "What was that?"

Ron shook his head. "I dunno. Let's go see what happened."

"HARRY! HARRY! GET OUT OF HERE!" screamed Mr. Weasley, who came running into the
store. "Where's Harry? Harry needs to get out of here...excuse me! I need to get
Harry Potter out of here! Harry! Harry, Ron, Hermionie, where are you?"

Harry ran to Mr. Weasley, and said, "What's wrong, Mr. Weasley? What happened?"

"Oh, Harry! Thank God you're alright!" Arthur grabbed Harry's sleeve and dragged
him out of the store. "Come on Harry, you need to get out of here!"

"Dad? Dad what's going on? Dad, come one you're scaring me...Dad?" Ron asked.

"Not now, Ron, not now. Is Hermionie here?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley," said Hermionie. "I'm right here."

"Good," Arthur said. "Then let's go."

^*^*^*^

"Harry!" screamed Lily, when Arthur returned Harry and Hermionie. "Oh, thank you
Arthur. When I heard about the attack...oh I thought I'd never see..." Lily
burst into tears and grabbed Harry. "Oh, I have to call your father...he's so
nervous!"

"What is everyone so worried about?! I'm right here! See? Nothing happened to
me!"

"And thank God for that, Harry!" said Lily. "Come in, come in Arthur. Would you
like some tea, or something?"

Mr. Weasley shook his head. "No, Lily. Better not. I should take Ron home. Will
you be taking in Hermionie?"

Lily nodded. "Is that alright, Hermionie? Would you like to stay with us,
tonight?" Lily then turned to Arthur. "Or would she be in danger here?"

Arthur shook his head. "I think with James here tonight it should be fine. And
you're amazing at blocking the Da-" He suddenly stopped when he saw Hermionie
and Harry looking at him. "Well, you know what I mean."

"Yes. Then I think it best Hermionie stay here. G'Bye, Arthur, Ron."

"Uh, bye Mrs. Potter. Bye Harry, Hermionie."

"Bye Ron," said Harry.

Lily took the two inside and asked as she dried her tears, "are you two hungry
at all?"

"Mom?" asked Harry, "what's going on? Why are you and dad so protective? What's
going on?" He then lifted his shirt so his six-pac and scar were visible.
Hermionie blushed.

"Does it have anything to do with this scar?" asked Harry.

Lily turned away from her son. "Your-your father will be coming home soon. Talk
to him about it," she said in a quiet voice.

"Alright. Hermionie," said Harry, "let's go upstairs."

Hermionie nodded, and walked up the stairs with Harry. Once in Harry's room, she
kissed him softly on the lips. "Don't worry, Harry," she said, trying to comfort
him. "I'm sure they were just worried like normal parents."

Harry grabbed Hermionie's waist. "I hate when they do this to me. I ask about
the scar, and they just blow me off. I want to know what's going on." Harry let
go of Hermionie and fell onto the bed. He laid down, and lifted his shirt again.
"I mean, look at it. It's not a normal scar."

Hermionie sat down at Harry's feet, and kicked off her shoes. "Harry, it's just
a scar. You probably fell when you were a baby or something, and you're parents
feel guilty, so they don't want to talk about it."

Harry put his arms behind his head. "I dunno, Hermionie. And what's with them
always trying to protect me from things that don't involve me? Like today-that
attack had nothing to do with me, yet Mr. Weasley wanted me out pronto."

Hermionie shook her head. "I don't know what's going on, Harry. But I'm sure
it's not as bad as you think."

Harry sat up, which caused his shirt to fall down. Hermionie frowned. "Darn," she said. "I was really liking tha-"

Harry had grabbed her around her neck and pulled her to him, and he kissed her to shut her up.

When they parted, Hermionie smiled, and pushed Harry back down onto the bed. She was about to kiss him, when suddenly, he cringed, and screamed.

"Harry? Harry I'm not that terrible of a kisser, am I?" asked Hermionie.

"N-No. It's just...OW! My scar! It feels like it's burning!" Harry grabbed his scar and screamed again.

Hermionie looked at Harry like he was nuts. "What? What do you mean it's burning? Harry, what's going on?"

"Go-Go get...get my mom..."

Hermionie nodded and ran out the room. "Mrs. Potter! Mrs. Potter! Something's wrong with Harry!"

Lily came running up the stairs and into Harry's room. "Harry? Harry what's wrong?"

Harry didn't say anything.

Harry was unconscious.