Harry Potter and a Bunch of Other People

A/s I am so pissed! My dad has just punished me. Of course, if it were only that, I might live, but I'm being punished because I was three minutes late for dinner! Now it's no TV, no books, no movies, no music for one week. Now you have to agree that my dad is a tyrant. Anyhoo, I'm very mad.

But thank you everyone who reviewed me, those reviews cheered me up.



Chapter 3; A New Acquintance

Harry, Hermione and Ron Weasley boarded the Hogwarts Express together. Vera, having done her job of being Harry's escort, had already hurried off to Hogwarts via her watch-portkey. The twins had gone off with Lee Jordan, and Ginny was with some friends.

The trio had had a hard time finding a not-full compartment. The train seemed unusually crowded this year. In the end, the best they could find was one with a girl sitting primly in a corner reading a book. She looked up quickly when they approached, but her face, which had seemed nervous and uptight before, soon relaxed. She smiled and went back to her book.

Hermione took out a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"So, what do think about this?" she asked cheerfully. Hermione was referring to an article in the Daily Prophet, which claimed that Rita Skeeter was missing. There were theories - based on hints from a malicious friend - that she had gone to live as a savage in the jungles of Africa, some said that she had commit suicide. Whatever it was, she was sorely missed by her friends and at her office etc.

"I hope she didn't do anything like, well . . . you know, I hope she didn't actually commit suicide." said Harry, he was rather appalled by the idea.

"Of course not." said Ron "Not her. She's probably pining away without being able to use her stupid quill." The idea undoubtedly appealed to Ron. The conversation continued in a like manner until the subject wore out. In the subsequent silence, Hermione glanced at the girl. She had given up the book and was now looking thoughtfully out the window.

"Hi," said Hermione with a friendly smile. "I'm Hermione Granger."

The girl flashed a sweet smile back. "I'm" she paused a bit "Rubina Diggory."

There was a sudden silence, it might have lasted one second, it might have been 1000. No one quite knew which exactly. And no one knew what, exactly, to say.

Rubina apparently understood the weight of her words for presently she said, "Yeah . . . Cedric was my brother."

Hermione was immediately sympathetic.

"Oh, it must be dreadful for you." she said. Ron seemed to want to say something, but he seemed also to have forgotten where his tongue was placed for his mouth moved but no sound came out. As for Harry, bits of memories, flashes of pictures, scraps of sentences, snatches of the pain he had felt from the Cruciatus Curse, all hit him like an overwhelming wave. It was the first time someone had mentioned the name since the beginning of summer vacation.

In a few seconds the wave passed, and Harry was ready to do or say anything. Ron seemed to have found his tongue first, however, and began his own speech.

"Sorry, but what's your name?" Rubina interrupted Ron who hadn't yet introduced himself.

"Oh, I'm Ron Weasley."

"And I'm Harry Potter." said Harry. Rubina turned her eyes on him, her eyes were gray with little flecks of blue in them and shaped perfectly like almonds. She did not look like Cedric in the least. Suddenly she smiled.

"Let's just forget about Ced. I mean, not forget entirely, but can't we put him aside for a while? I've been in mourning for three months now, and I'm still very sad about it, but I hate when people get all serious and pitying when I'm around, it makes me feel like some terrible disease that makes everyone relentlessly sad."

"Of course." said Hermione. "We won't mention it again. But I do think you are very big and grown-upish for a first year student."

"Actually, I'm not exactly a first year."

"Really, how stange, I don't think I've ever even heard of you before."

"It's like, well my dad didn't want me to go to school. He said I was too smart for that, and that I could make a lot better progress if he taught me himself. So basically I was home schooled till now. But with all this You- know-who stuff, he decided Hogwarts would be safer.

I was told to take a test to confirm my grade level. I'm going to be in fifth year even though I should be third, according to age. I guess dad was right about the home schooling thing."

"Wow" said Ron. Hermione didn't seem nearly impressed.

Just then, Vera Phoenix flew into their midst. Behind her stood Neville Longbottom and a Hufflepuff girl.

"Harry! There you are! And Ron, and Hermione. Oh, you must be Rubina Diggory. Alright, there's been an emergency, I need to take all of you to Hogwarts immediately."

A/n I guess it's sort of a cliffhanger. I'll leave it to you readers to try to find out what the emergency is and how they get to Hogwarts and such.