Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all
belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my
plot and my computer =).
Platform
Nine And Three-Quarters
&
On The
Hogwarts Express
Arriving on platform nine and three-quarters, they could
all see many students and parents there. The Hogwarts Express was already
filled with students streaming in and out. Dudley had prepared himself for
this, but his jaws still dropped as this was beyond even his imagination. The group
laughed at Dudley before pulling him over to where the elder Weasleys who had
apparated there were waiting. While Dudley continued to look about dazedly, the
Ron and Harry went to grab an empty carriage for them. Of course, they were not
going to do all the work of piling the trunks in. Harry was pulling Dudley over
to help them when Angelina Johnson, the Gryffindor chaser walked over.
"Hey Harry, can I see you, Ron and Hermione for a second?"
Angelina requested.
"Sure, so how's your holidays been? Had fun?" Harry replied
before hollering for Ron and Hermione and pointing Dudley to their carriage.
"It's great. I even spent some time brushing up on
Quidditch. We're going to win the Cup this year." Angelina grinned confidently.
"Of course. We have the best team around." Grinned Harry in
return.
"Oh, don't be so sure. We're ready for anything Gryffindor
can muster," came a voice from behind.
"Hi Cho," Angelina said.
"Hey head girl. How are your first few minutes in duty? I
can see you're already boasting of your Quidditch skills." Cho teased.
"What head girl? Ah, I see that you don't even tell your own
house member that you're a head girl. By the way, congrats." Harry lamented
with a grin on his face.
"Thanks Harry. I just didn't get to it yet." Angelina replied
before continuing in a mock-serious manner, "And beware Chang, I can take
points from you for that."
"Yes, madam head girl." Cho replied, a smile playing on her
lips.
"Anyway, what's taking Ron and Hermione so long?" Angelina
asked.
"God knows. But then I can think of many possibilities."
Harry said mischievously.
They all started laughing and were just talking about how
each of their holidays went when Ron and Hermione finally turned up. At the
same moment, a Ravenclaw girl called for Cho who smiled apologetically before
leaving to find out what that girl wanted.
"Hi Angelina." Ron said before turning to Harry to ask,
"What did you want us for."
Harry motioned to Angelina and said, "She wanted to see all
of us."
"So what's up Angelina?" Hermione asked.
"Well, just wanted to remind you guys of the prefects
meeting tonight and that there's a 'Prefects Only' carriage up front. And also,
the prefects' common room has no password. There's a square box outside which scans
for your handprint. All of yours are already programmed so it should be no
problem." Angelina replied.
"Oh alright, thanks for telling us." Hermione said.
"And before you ask, yes, I'm head girl. Roger Davies, the
Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain is head boy. See Harry, I said I was going to tell
you later." Angelina teased.
"Too late," Harry joked back.
"I'll see you all later. I got to check on the first years."
Angelina left on that note.
"So you two are prefects too, huh." Hermione said with a
grin before continuing, "I never imagined even one, much less all three of us
would be made a prefect after the amount of rules we have broken."
"Hermione, we both know that you were a shoo-in from looking
at your results." Ron groaned.
"And you did not even tell us that you were a prefect."
Harry added.
"Well, neither did either of you." Hermione retorted.
"I just thought…erm…I'd find out if either of you were one
first. It would be weird if only one or two of us were so…" Harry tried to
explain.
"We get what you're saying. That's what we thought too." Ron
said after sharing a mutual look of understanding with Hermione.
"By the way, what were you two doing earlier? Took you guys
so long to come." Harry asked.
"We were introducing Dudley to the rest of the Gryffindors."
Hermione replied.
"Oh, I thought it was something more interesting." Harry
said with a cheeky grin, while both Ron and Hermione blushed.
They started walking back to their carriage when Harry felt
a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and came face to face with Cho for the
second time that day. Ron saw who it was and started to pull Hermione, who was
staring at them, away. Harry was just staring at Cho, unable to think of a
thing to say. At least Angelina was with them just now, but now that he was alone
with her, he just couldn't speak. Owl correspondence was one thing but now she
was right in front of him.
"Let's leave them alone," whispered Ron to Hermione who
didn't budge from his discreet nudging.
"Huh…oh…alright," Hermione came out of her stupor. She had
been thinking of her strange feelings towards Harry over the holidays. She had
even broke up with Krum due to her uncertainty over her own feelings. Now
seeing him with Cho, she was more than certain that she had fallen in love with
him. She admitted to herself that she was jealous and even entertained thoughts
of snatching him away from Cho. She realized that she had started loving him
from reading about him in books and finally getting to know him in their first
year just sealed her feelings for him.
At that moment, Ron was also thinking furiously. Why does
Hermione have that dreamy look on her face? Who's she thinking of? He had
finally come to terms with his feelings for her and realized that he was
jealous over who Hermione was thinking of. "It's probably Krum," he thought as
he still did not know that they had broken up.
They both made their way to the rest of the Weasleys to say
their goodbyes and listened to another bout of warnings from Mrs Weasley for
the coming school year. After that, Ron and Hermione made their way to their
carriage where Dudley already was as he had already said his farewell.
Meanwhile, after their brief silence on meeting each other,
Harry and Cho were chatting like long-lost friends. They had many similarities
other than Quidditch and had fun teasing and just talking to each other. In the
midst of their friendly banter, the Weasleys came up to say goodbye to Harry.
They talked for a while before Mrs Weasley gave Harry a hug and they were off.
Turning back to Cho, Harry said, "I think the train's
leaving soon. We had better get back to our seats. Catch up more with you
later."
"But since you're also a prefect, won't you be sitting in
the prefects carriage too?" Cho asked.
"Nah, I'll be sitting behind with my friends where I can
have fun, break some school rules and still get away with it. I'll probably pop
by later though." Harry said with a naughty grin on his face.
"Oh, grow up Potter. Act like a prefect." Cho tried to fight
back an answering grin.
"Yes, mum." Harry said before they both burst out laughing.
After a few moments to catch their breath, Cho teased, "You
are impossible. I really wonder how you got to be a prefect."
"To tell you the truth, I don't know either. I think only
Fred and George have broken more school rules than me." Harry joked back though
Cho could see that there was a grain of truth behind his words.
Suddenly solemn, Cho said, "Don't beat yourself over it. If
you're chosen, it means that you deserve it and from my point of view, you
really do."
"I won't think too much over it if you won't too." Harry
said, knowing what Cho was thinking.
"It's a deal," Cho replied, smiling once again.
Just then, the last call for students to get to their seats
sounded. They both nodded to each other in mutual understanding and dashed off
in the direction of their carriages. In fact, they only made it back just in
time before the train started rolling out of the station.
"You nearly missed the train pal. Was too engrossed to even
notice the time huh?" Ron teased.
Just then Malfoy's voice rang across, as he entered their
carriage with Crabbe and Goyle, "Potter nearly missed the train! If only he
actually missed it."
Harry who was still in a happy daze after his conversation
with Cho barely listened to Ron but he immediately perked up at the sound of
Malfoy's voice.
"Get lost Malfoy. You're not welcome here." Harry
practically yelled.
"I can go wherever I want. You don't own the train, do you?"
Malfoy smirked.
"Neither do you," Harry replied in a similar fashion.
"Did I stop you from entering my carriage?" mocked Malfoy.
"Who wants to even enter your carriage?" an enraged Harry
said.
Soon, a crowd was surrounding them, watching them throw
insults at each other. They were on the verge of hexing each other when
Angelina and Cho who were patrolling the train, turned up.
"Break it up, both of you. Act like the prefects you are."
Angelina angrily said.
Seeing that he had no choice, Malfoy stalked out of the
carriage with his two cronies. Looking back for a second, he saw Hermione there
also looking angry and he felt ashamed with himself. "It's only that mudblood.
What's wrong with you?" Malfoy thought to himself.
Back in the carriage, Angelina said, "Don't make me take
points from my own house."
"Sorry, it won't happen again. It's just that he pushed me
to it." Harry tried to explain.
"I'll let it go this once but do be more responsible and act
like a prefect." The head girl allowed herself a grin before she left.
"Guess you were right about having fun, Potter-boy. And it's
so unfair, you did not call her mum." Harry heard a voice whispering in his
ear.
Knowing the bearer of that voice anywhere he hears it, Harry
turned to see Cho smiling at him before she walked off after Angelina. He was
confused for a while by her statement but then he recalled their earlier
conversation and started chuckling. He saw a few people looking at him weirdly
so he said to no one in particular that it was a private joke.
Just then Ron came up to him and complained, "I wanted to
bash Malfoy up but Hermione held me back."
"We're prefects and should act like one Ron. And that means
no fighting." Hermione reasoned.
"It's funny that so many people are saying the same thing
today," Harry mused.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Oh, it's nothing." Harry replied.
In the end, Harry and Ron spent the best of the next hour
telling Dudley all about Hogwarts. Hermione and Ginny were rather silent but
nobody noticed so they just kept to their own thoughts.
******************************
At one o'clock, the lunch trolley arrived at their door.
Harry went out with Dudley and they bought a huge load of food between them.
Dudley had never seen those stuff before except for some chocolate frogs Harry
had with him during the holidays and bought a little of everything to try.
Hermione and Ginny also snapped out of their thoughts and they all had a truly
enjoyable lunch. Even Fred and George, and their friend, Lee Jordan, came to
join them.
******************************
After some peaceful chattering, Ron happened to look out of
the window and saw many black specks in the sky. He noted them out to Harry who
immediately recognized them as death eaters.
Taking charge, Harry commanded, "Ron and Hermione, go down
the train and tell all the prefects you see to go to the prefects carriage.
While doing so, keep a watch-out at the sky. I'll be going straight to the
prefects' carriage. Hurry let's go now."
