Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Harry Potter. However, I'm slowly going crazy from all this waiting for book 5. From what I've heard, it will either come out February or July 2002. Grr! Okay, enough with that, on with the fanfic. I hope you like the new characters in this chapter.



Chapter Ten- Joshua, Lili, and Emily



A few days later, Harry and the others were on the weekend Hogsmeade trip. Ginny hadn't told Ron and Hermione about the dreams Harry told her about, but on their way to Hogsmeade, she kept glancing at Harry nervously.



They made their way inside The Three Broomsticks. It wasn't very crowded there on this particular day, but still pretty busy. They waved to Madam Rosmerta, the barmaid there with a pretty face. As Ron was about to order four butterbeers for the group, Hermione pointed to two people by Madam Rosmerta.



"Hey," she said to the others. "Who do you think are those two. I don't think we've ever seen them before, have we?"



The two people that Hermione pointed at was a boy and a girl who had to be in their late teens. The boy and girl both had the same brown eyes and auburn hair (except the girl's hair was long and arranged in ringlets); Harry supposed they were siblings. They both wore orange robes that were rather shabby.



"I wonder who they are?" asked Ron. "I guess they must work here."



The girl came over to their table with a notepad. "What will it be?" she asked them.



"Er- four butterbeers," said Ron. "Do you work here?"



"No, I'm just here for a visit," said the girl sarcastically. "Yeah, I work here."



"Sorry," said Ron. "It's just that none of us have ever seen you here before."



"Well, up til now, me, my brother--..." (she pointed to the other boy with auburn hair) "and my sister have been washing and drying glasses up til now. My brother and I just got promoted to help Rosmerta out."



She stared at their uniforms. "You're from Hogwarts, then?" she asked the group.



"Yeah," said Harry.



The girl sighed. "My brother and I used to go to Hogwarts. Then our parents died and we had to drop out because we couldn't afford to pay for all the stuff we needed. Shame, really. We were doing so well. The teachers said that I was Head Girl material! But I had to drop out in sixth year."



"So you're poor?" asked Ron curiously.



"Not necessarily," replied the girl. "We got jobs to earn more; the money our parents left us is being saved so that my sister can go to Hogwarts when she's old enough. It's her dream to go."



"I can relate to that," commented Ginny.



The girl left and returned seconds later with their butterbeers. "So, what're your names, anyway?"



The four introduced themselves. To his surprise, when Harry told her his name, she didn't make a fuss like people usually did when they met him. It was quite a relief.



"I'm Lili Baudelaire," the girl said. She pulled back the sleeves of her robes, revealing a wristwatch. She checked it and called out to her brother, "Joshua, it's our break! Come here and meet these Hogwarts students! And bring Emily too!"



Her brother nodded, went into the back, and returned with a little girl about the age of seven. She had frizzy hair the same color that her brother and sister had. When she saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, her face broke into a very sweet little smile.



Lili introduced them all and they sat down. "So what House are you guys in?" asked Joshua.



"Gryffindor," the four said in unison.



"I was in Hufflepuff and Lili here was in Ravenclaw," said Joshua, looking as though he was remembering something very distant.



"What House do you want to be in when you get to Hogwarts, Emily?" Hermione asked her kindly.



"Gryffindor," Emily said shyly.



"You know, I can relate to you guys," Ron said slowly. "Being poor sucks."



"Hear, hear!" Joshua grinned.



"I mean, my parents had to get all my Hogwarts stuff second hand," Ron went on. "In my fourth year, I got these maroon dress robes with this lace on!"



Joshua's grin suddenly changed into a stern look. "You still have your parents?"



"Well, yeah...."



"Then, no offense, but it sounds like you're being pretty ungrateful."



Ron looked rather annoyed. "You don't get it. You don't know how embarrassing it is to have stuff that's rubbish."



"Oh yeah?" Lili asked, an eyebrow raised. "How about having no stuff at all? Once our parents died, the house we lived in had to be sold, along with most of our belongings, just so that we could have enough money to get stuff to eat. So I'd think about that before you start saying that you've got it bad..."



"I do!" Ron exclaimed, ears reddening. "Some of the students at Hogwarts keep making fun of me for being poor!"



"Well, the hell with them," replied Lili dryly. "They don't know what it's like. They've got it lucky... and since you still have your parents, so do you. Those students that make fun of you don't have to be arrogant about how lucky they've got it."



"Hey, Harry," said Joshua loudly, clearly changing to subject to stop the arguing between Lili and Ron. "who is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year?"



"Her name is Professor Fiona Clark," explained Harry. "She's pretty nice... and she has this weird power over the dementors that are staying at our school... you know what's been going on during the past two years, do you?" He dropped his voice down to a whisper as he asked this.



Lili nodded. "We know all right. Dumbledore came here not too long after You-Know-Who came back to warn us all. All of us here had to keep it quiet from the Ministry because... you know, the Minister is denying the whole thing."



"How do can he do it?" Joshua asked furiously. "How can the Minister just deny that You-Know-Who didn't return? Doesn't he care what might be the consequences of doing that?"



"Apparently, he doesn't want anything to disrupt his career," Hermione said grimly.



Joshua pounded his fist on the table. "Why don't they just impeach the Minister of Magic? Then we could get someone who will know how to deal with this situation!"



"It isn't that simple, you know. Fudge is here with the dementors, and he's threatening to fire Dumbledore if he does any more 'interfering'," Ron whispered. "And without Dumbledore... well, who knows what You-Know-Who could do!"



"So, what exactly can this Fiona Clark person can do to the dementors?" asked Lili.



"We're not sure," admitted Harry. "All we know is that every time a dementor comes near here, she pulls out something attached to a black cord around her neck, there's a flash of bright light, and the dementors leave."



"Sounds kind of dodgy to me," said Joshua. "I've never heard of anything like that before."



"We know," said Hermione. "Whatever Professor Clark has that scares the dementors, she's certainly not about to tell us."



And then there was silence between the group. After a while, Lili said suddenly, "Our break is almost over. We'd better get back to work. It was nice meeting you all."



"Yeah," said Joshua, standing up. "Maybe we'll see you next time there's a Hogsmeade trip for the Hogwarts students."



Emily stood up with her sister and shyly waved goodbye to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. The four Hogwarts students waved goodbye back, finished their drinks, and left The Three Broomsticks.



"They were very nice," said Hermione, on the way back to Hogwarts. "I do feel rather sorry for them. Imagine having no parents and being poor at the same time!"



"I liked them too," agreed Ron. "But Joshua had some nerve to say that I was being ungrateful. That's not true... is it?"



Suddenly, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were kind of uneasy.



"You do complain about being poor a lot," confessed Hermione.



Ron's ears reddened again. "You don't know what it's like for me..."



"No, Ron, I don't," said Hermione sharply. "But I think you should at least be lucky that you still have parents. Lili, Joshua, and Emily don't! So think about that the next time your parents have to get one of your school things second hand!"



"Besides, it isn't Mum and Dad's fault," piped up Ginny. "You know perfectly well that the Minister holds Dad back in his position because of his fondness for Muggles! And Lili's right! You shouldn't pay any attention to Malfoy and those goons."



Hermione and Harry were both shocked and impressed at the same time. Ginny never referred to Malfoy or any other of the Slytherins as "goons" before.



All the same, Hermione and Ron didn't talk to each other again until they got back to Hogwarts.



***

"I still say I hate being poor," Ron grumbled to Harry that night in the boys dormitory. "Maybe Ginny doesn't mind getting stuff second handed, but I..."



"Well I hate being an orphan and living with the most foul Muggles I've ever met, but you don't see me whining about it," Harry snapped wearily.



Ron stared at him. "Oh great, now you're siding with the girls?"



About a year ago, Harry would have kept his mouth shut when it came to fights between Ron and Hermione, considering the fight he and Ron had in fourth year. But this time, he stated, "Yes, I am."



Harry would have thought that Ron would work up a suitably savage reply to that; surprisingly, he didn't. Harry went on:



"Do you have any idea how lucky you are? Living with people who actually like you? Having a whole group of siblings who you can talk to, in case your friends are unavailable?"



"And who get to tease you whenever you want," Ron mumbled under his breath. Harry heard him.



"I would rather have ten brothers like yours then having Dudley "I get to do whatever I want, whenever I want, including kicking your behind all the time" Dursley for a cousin," Harry said as calmly as he could. "And if you say, 'You don't know what it's like for me', remember that I had to get made fun of from my taped up glasses down to my baggy old clothes, and that up until six years ago, I didn't have enough money to buy a single Mars Bar. So yes, Ron, I *do* know what it's like for you!"



Ron asked, "What's a Mars Bar?" but Harry didn't hear him. All that he was aware of was that he was marching off to his bed, pulling the drawings around him, and lying there fuming for at least an hour before he got to sleep.



To be continued...



Okay, I hope you readers enjoyed this part. First of all, I'm going on vacation for a couple of days next week, so the next part of the story probably won't be up until the 26th, at least. I apologize for this, and I will be working hard on the next part. To give a brief summary of what's going to happen in the next few parts, Voldemort carries out his plan to get Harry, and at the same time, proves to be a vile villain. More people will suffer the consequences of Fudge's failure to accept that Voldemort has risen again (yeah, yeah, more people are going to die, that part will be very dramatic. Rest assured, it will not be Ron, Ginny, or Hermione, that much I can say). But Voldemort isn't the only thing that's putting Harry in danger... Can Fiona save him? Well, you're going to have to stay tuned! Once again, I apologize for the upcoming delay.



P.S. About the part where Harry seems a bit touchy towards Ron, if Ron can be touchy about being poor, then Harry can be a bit touchy about being an orphan, can't he? Besides, we all know that if the Dursleys were Harry's Secret Keepers (and thank God they're not), they'd turn him over to Voldie so fast... you get the picture.