Chapter 3: On the Train to Hogwarts.
Harry was yet again ready to leave. Yes, the last part of his vacation was fun, and the Weasley twins had taken a great liking to the McDonalds, creating more mischief than thought (Changing Ron's owl green), but he was worn ragged by the worrying stares and concerns made by the Weasleys and Hermione. Mr. Weasley was at his side the entire time and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny wrought their hands every time they saw him. Hermione was still thinking that something was fishy about Cho, but Harry thought that Hermione was just not adjusted well to the fact that Cho likes Harry.
With his suitcase packed, and Hit Wizards at his side, he made his way down the stairs. At the bottom, the crowd of Weasleys and Hermione were waiting, because he asked them to ride with him. The ride was quite enjoyable. Fred and George had decided to give Ron a few new robes for school, and had also invented a few new products for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Fred offered Harry some strange red gumballs, which he politely refused until he was told what they were. "Fireballs. We got the idea from a muggle sweet, but with these you can really shoot fire!" George explained happily, and Harry pocketed some free samples. He decided to try them later, in a wide-open space.
When they finally arrived at the Kings Cross station, Harry and the others gathered up their luggage and loaded it onto the train. When they found Platform 9 3/4, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley pulled Harry aside.
"Harry," Mr. Weasley started, "I know you did well last year, but you simply must be more careful than ever before, as I'm sure you know. We will always invite you over for the holidays, but you have to see what Dumbledore has toay first. He may either want you to stay there, or to go to the Dursley's home first. That is where you will be protected the best, even though he might arrange something at our house."
Harry was confused. "Why would I be more protected at the dursleys?"
Mr. Weasley sighed. "You don't know, huh? Well, that house is a lot more protected than you might think. You know Mrs. Figg, right? Well, she is your Secret Keeper. She didn't want you to know until you found out that you were a wizard, but you have not been to her ever since you turned 11."
"Really? Mrs. Figg is a witch? You couldn't tell by her house or anything!" Harry exclaimed, but Mr. Weasley only smiled.
Mrs. Weasley looked at the clock. "Well, we had better hurry, or you'll miss the train." Then she hugged and kissed all of her children, and Harry as well. They followed Harry to the train, and waved goodbye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry found the compartment where Ron and Hermione were waiting, and settled down to join them. They
seemed to be arguing once again. "Oh, come on, Ron! It was just a week there!"
"A week? He is from Durmstrang, and you know their reputation!"
"Yes, but he is totally different from others there! And I distinctly recall a star-struck Ron asking me for a quill whenever he passes by!" she added with a sly grin. Ron simply ignored that last bit. "Harry, did you know that Hermione went to Bulgaria to visit Krum over the summer?"
"That's great Hermione! Did you talk about Quidditch with him? Why didn't you write about it to me?" Harry asked. This was not quit the answer that Ron was looking for, and so he chose to ignore the lot of them. "He did ask me to tell you that you were very good at the First Task last year, but he didn't say anything else."
"I wonder who is the defense against the dark arts teacher this year," Harry pondered.
Ginny opened the compartment door. "May I sit here?" she asked Harry, who promptly scooted over for her to sit. She apparently wanted to ask Harry something, but no words came from her mouth. "What is it, Ginny?" Ron asked. She looked at Ron and pulled him outside to speak in private. After a while, the two of them sat down together, and acted as though nothing had happened.
"Chess?" Ron offered Harry, and they pulled out their chess sets and began to play.
After Ron had beaten Harry five times in a row, even despite Harry's cheating, there was a knock on the door.
Ron looked questionably at Harry, and said, "Come in."
It was Cho again. 'How did she know I was here?' Harry wondered to himself. She sat down beside him.
"Hi all," Cho said settling into her seat. "I've just decided to sit with you chaps for a bit. My friends were getting annoying; they were trying to make a love potion next door. Actually, would you mind if
I stayed here for the rest of the trip?" she asked.
They all shook their heads, but seemed a bit apprehensive of her. Ron and Ginny passed looks at each other, then to Cho and Harry. Hermione asked, "How was your summer?"
"Good, good. The Diggorys invited me to the funeral, and wanted Harry to come, but they could not contact him, for some strange reason," Cho answered. Hermione and Ron acted like they did not know anything about it.
"Really? What was it like? The funeral I mean." Hermione asked, ever inquisitive.
"Like any other funeral, I suppose, but they had constructed a flame near the gravesite that never dies out, even during the rains," Cho replied.
"You must be really sad, him being your boyfriend and all," Ron said with apprehension.
"Actually, he was not my boyfriend, but yes, I am quite sad. I was just a good friend of his, like Hermione is to you guys," She pointed towards Hermione. "But not a really great friend. We didn't have many classes together, he and I, but he asked me to the ball anyway. I guess he really liked me, because he had made plans to let me stay over at his house during the summer."
"Why couldn't the Diggorys write to Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Hmmm. I really don't know. I think the ... Dursleys, right?... Anyway, I think their house is protected by some class of a charm," Cho replied, thoughtfully.
"Then how could you have written him a lett--" Hermione covered her mouth; she was not supposed to
know about the letter. "Oh, Harry told you about it, eh? I thought he might," Cho said.
The door opened again, revealing Malfoy, flanked on either side by his faithful, albeit, quite dumb, sidekicks. Harry felt Cho bristle up beside him, but she didn't say anything. "Look, Goyle, another meeting of the Harry Potter fan club!! Can we join?!?!?!?!? Oh, and look, they've got a new member!" He pointed giddily at Cho.
Cho got up slowly, and grabbed at her pocket, where she had hidden her wand. "Get out of here, you mouldie git, or I'll rip you limb-from-limb." She didn't yet get her wand out, but kept her hand over her pocket as warning.
"Ooh, touché. But I seriously doubt a mudblood like you could do anything to me."
~~~~~~*******CRASH********~~~~~~~
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle flew across the hallway, landing painfully on the floor. Purple smoke billowed towards them in the direction of Cho's wand. The hallway soon filled with students of every flavor, wondering what happened.
Some Prefects made their way to their compartment, blazing mad. They all started yelling about detentions and were wondering who had done it.
After a couple of minutes of calming the Prefects down, Cho admitted that she had done it, but not without explaining carefully about the incident which had caused her to curse them, leaving out the language. They still had gave her three detentions, but promised to deal with Malfoy later.
When they had left, Ron and Harry were praising her about how excellent her spell had been. "Blimey! I'd
never seen that kind of curse before! What was it?" Ron asked in open admiration.
"It's sort of a more powerful Disarming spell, but has enough kick in it to knock the other person out. I learned it last year, when we were done with The Unforgivable Curses. Mr. Moody said I was the best with it in the class," Cho replied. Ron was mystified by Cho. "You should go with us more often. We'd love to learn that spell."
Cho blushed. "Thank you, Ron. I'd love to go with you three."
Hermione said, "I hope you don't plan on replacing me, Cho." A little serious, but mostly joking.
Cho chuckled. "I could never replace you, Hermione. The bond you three share is far too strong for anyone to break."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a few happy hours talking Quidditch (debating on the proper way to do the Wronsky feint, mainly)
with their new friend, they felt the train put on the breaks and roll to a slow stop. They introduced Cho to Hagrid, and all took a horseless carriage to the school.
When they got there, they said goodbye to Cho, who had to go to her House's table.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors note: Thank you all for reviewing my fanfic! I have to thank my BETA reader, LIN-Z, for revising my story and giving me wonderful advice about British slang. (I'm American)
Anywho, I had seen advice about to make more action in my story, and I hope Malfoy and Co. flying down the hall was exciting enough. :)
Some one had said that Hagrid, in the first story, had told them all about it. Well, I don't think that they were listening too much, especially Dudley, with a pig tail growing out of his arse. :)
As always, everything besides the plot here belongs to Jkrowling and Warner Bros. And I don't think that it would be right to sue me, for I was only *borrowing*, her stuff, and all I own is a pen and paper. ;)
Harry was yet again ready to leave. Yes, the last part of his vacation was fun, and the Weasley twins had taken a great liking to the McDonalds, creating more mischief than thought (Changing Ron's owl green), but he was worn ragged by the worrying stares and concerns made by the Weasleys and Hermione. Mr. Weasley was at his side the entire time and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny wrought their hands every time they saw him. Hermione was still thinking that something was fishy about Cho, but Harry thought that Hermione was just not adjusted well to the fact that Cho likes Harry.
With his suitcase packed, and Hit Wizards at his side, he made his way down the stairs. At the bottom, the crowd of Weasleys and Hermione were waiting, because he asked them to ride with him. The ride was quite enjoyable. Fred and George had decided to give Ron a few new robes for school, and had also invented a few new products for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Fred offered Harry some strange red gumballs, which he politely refused until he was told what they were. "Fireballs. We got the idea from a muggle sweet, but with these you can really shoot fire!" George explained happily, and Harry pocketed some free samples. He decided to try them later, in a wide-open space.
When they finally arrived at the Kings Cross station, Harry and the others gathered up their luggage and loaded it onto the train. When they found Platform 9 3/4, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley pulled Harry aside.
"Harry," Mr. Weasley started, "I know you did well last year, but you simply must be more careful than ever before, as I'm sure you know. We will always invite you over for the holidays, but you have to see what Dumbledore has toay first. He may either want you to stay there, or to go to the Dursley's home first. That is where you will be protected the best, even though he might arrange something at our house."
Harry was confused. "Why would I be more protected at the dursleys?"
Mr. Weasley sighed. "You don't know, huh? Well, that house is a lot more protected than you might think. You know Mrs. Figg, right? Well, she is your Secret Keeper. She didn't want you to know until you found out that you were a wizard, but you have not been to her ever since you turned 11."
"Really? Mrs. Figg is a witch? You couldn't tell by her house or anything!" Harry exclaimed, but Mr. Weasley only smiled.
Mrs. Weasley looked at the clock. "Well, we had better hurry, or you'll miss the train." Then she hugged and kissed all of her children, and Harry as well. They followed Harry to the train, and waved goodbye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry found the compartment where Ron and Hermione were waiting, and settled down to join them. They
seemed to be arguing once again. "Oh, come on, Ron! It was just a week there!"
"A week? He is from Durmstrang, and you know their reputation!"
"Yes, but he is totally different from others there! And I distinctly recall a star-struck Ron asking me for a quill whenever he passes by!" she added with a sly grin. Ron simply ignored that last bit. "Harry, did you know that Hermione went to Bulgaria to visit Krum over the summer?"
"That's great Hermione! Did you talk about Quidditch with him? Why didn't you write about it to me?" Harry asked. This was not quit the answer that Ron was looking for, and so he chose to ignore the lot of them. "He did ask me to tell you that you were very good at the First Task last year, but he didn't say anything else."
"I wonder who is the defense against the dark arts teacher this year," Harry pondered.
Ginny opened the compartment door. "May I sit here?" she asked Harry, who promptly scooted over for her to sit. She apparently wanted to ask Harry something, but no words came from her mouth. "What is it, Ginny?" Ron asked. She looked at Ron and pulled him outside to speak in private. After a while, the two of them sat down together, and acted as though nothing had happened.
"Chess?" Ron offered Harry, and they pulled out their chess sets and began to play.
After Ron had beaten Harry five times in a row, even despite Harry's cheating, there was a knock on the door.
Ron looked questionably at Harry, and said, "Come in."
It was Cho again. 'How did she know I was here?' Harry wondered to himself. She sat down beside him.
"Hi all," Cho said settling into her seat. "I've just decided to sit with you chaps for a bit. My friends were getting annoying; they were trying to make a love potion next door. Actually, would you mind if
I stayed here for the rest of the trip?" she asked.
They all shook their heads, but seemed a bit apprehensive of her. Ron and Ginny passed looks at each other, then to Cho and Harry. Hermione asked, "How was your summer?"
"Good, good. The Diggorys invited me to the funeral, and wanted Harry to come, but they could not contact him, for some strange reason," Cho answered. Hermione and Ron acted like they did not know anything about it.
"Really? What was it like? The funeral I mean." Hermione asked, ever inquisitive.
"Like any other funeral, I suppose, but they had constructed a flame near the gravesite that never dies out, even during the rains," Cho replied.
"You must be really sad, him being your boyfriend and all," Ron said with apprehension.
"Actually, he was not my boyfriend, but yes, I am quite sad. I was just a good friend of his, like Hermione is to you guys," She pointed towards Hermione. "But not a really great friend. We didn't have many classes together, he and I, but he asked me to the ball anyway. I guess he really liked me, because he had made plans to let me stay over at his house during the summer."
"Why couldn't the Diggorys write to Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Hmmm. I really don't know. I think the ... Dursleys, right?... Anyway, I think their house is protected by some class of a charm," Cho replied, thoughtfully.
"Then how could you have written him a lett--" Hermione covered her mouth; she was not supposed to
know about the letter. "Oh, Harry told you about it, eh? I thought he might," Cho said.
The door opened again, revealing Malfoy, flanked on either side by his faithful, albeit, quite dumb, sidekicks. Harry felt Cho bristle up beside him, but she didn't say anything. "Look, Goyle, another meeting of the Harry Potter fan club!! Can we join?!?!?!?!? Oh, and look, they've got a new member!" He pointed giddily at Cho.
Cho got up slowly, and grabbed at her pocket, where she had hidden her wand. "Get out of here, you mouldie git, or I'll rip you limb-from-limb." She didn't yet get her wand out, but kept her hand over her pocket as warning.
"Ooh, touché. But I seriously doubt a mudblood like you could do anything to me."
~~~~~~*******CRASH********~~~~~~~
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle flew across the hallway, landing painfully on the floor. Purple smoke billowed towards them in the direction of Cho's wand. The hallway soon filled with students of every flavor, wondering what happened.
Some Prefects made their way to their compartment, blazing mad. They all started yelling about detentions and were wondering who had done it.
After a couple of minutes of calming the Prefects down, Cho admitted that she had done it, but not without explaining carefully about the incident which had caused her to curse them, leaving out the language. They still had gave her three detentions, but promised to deal with Malfoy later.
When they had left, Ron and Harry were praising her about how excellent her spell had been. "Blimey! I'd
never seen that kind of curse before! What was it?" Ron asked in open admiration.
"It's sort of a more powerful Disarming spell, but has enough kick in it to knock the other person out. I learned it last year, when we were done with The Unforgivable Curses. Mr. Moody said I was the best with it in the class," Cho replied. Ron was mystified by Cho. "You should go with us more often. We'd love to learn that spell."
Cho blushed. "Thank you, Ron. I'd love to go with you three."
Hermione said, "I hope you don't plan on replacing me, Cho." A little serious, but mostly joking.
Cho chuckled. "I could never replace you, Hermione. The bond you three share is far too strong for anyone to break."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a few happy hours talking Quidditch (debating on the proper way to do the Wronsky feint, mainly)
with their new friend, they felt the train put on the breaks and roll to a slow stop. They introduced Cho to Hagrid, and all took a horseless carriage to the school.
When they got there, they said goodbye to Cho, who had to go to her House's table.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors note: Thank you all for reviewing my fanfic! I have to thank my BETA reader, LIN-Z, for revising my story and giving me wonderful advice about British slang. (I'm American)
Anywho, I had seen advice about to make more action in my story, and I hope Malfoy and Co. flying down the hall was exciting enough. :)
Some one had said that Hagrid, in the first story, had told them all about it. Well, I don't think that they were listening too much, especially Dudley, with a pig tail growing out of his arse. :)
As always, everything besides the plot here belongs to Jkrowling and Warner Bros. And I don't think that it would be right to sue me, for I was only *borrowing*, her stuff, and all I own is a pen and paper. ;)