Disclaimer- None of it's mine- (sob!)
Chapter two- Who's Hemione?
Harry sat staring at Ron with a bemused look on his face, looking like he didn't have a clue what to say. "What do you mean?" He said finally. Ron stared back in disbelief.
"What do you mean 'what do you mean?' I mean, what's going on?" Ron said with a note of panic in his voice. Harry was acting really weird, why wasn't he worried about Hermione? Harry was still looking uneasy. Ron was obviously saying something wrong, so he took a deep breath and tried a different tact.
"Where. Is. Hermione?" He said slowly and clearly. Harry shot him a look of pure confusion. "Hermione who?" He said, completely bewildered now. He was, in truth, starting to get really worried now. He didn't know anyone called Hermione, although Ron obviously thought he did. And why was he acting like this anyway? They had just been sitting there, talking about Sirius' last letter to Harry, when Ron suddenly started going weird.
Ron looked at Harry as though he were mad. "Are you kidding? Hermione Granger is our best friend you twit." He said crossing his arms impatiently. Harry raised one of his eyebrows and sat back slowly in his chair. "Um, O.K." He said, looking anywhere in the compartment but at Ron. "I don't know about you mate, but I don't know anyone called Hermione. And you're my best friend."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but she was your other best friend. You seriously don't remember? Well, I'll go find her." Ron stood up and was just about to open the door when it opened and Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas walked in.
"Dean, Seamus!" Ron cried, before they could say a word. "Have you seen Hermione anywhere?" Dean and Seamus looked at each other worriedly, and then looked over at Harry, who shrugged helplessly. "Who's Hermione?" Said Dean finally.
Ron stared at them in disbelief. What the hell was wrong with them all? If this was some kind of joke, than it was a very bad one. Seamus and Dean left the compartment quickly, after shooting some very confused looks at Harry.
Ron sank slowly down onto a seat. Something was definitely very wrong. Nobody but him remembered Hermione, and she didn't seem to be anywhere around here. Ron felt his insides squirm at the thought. Where was she? Was she all right?
Remembering what Hermione had said just before all this started, Ron shuddered. 'I'll just go.' It seemed she was keeping her promise. Ron swallowed, hard.
Harry watched Ron closely. He could almost see the cogs turning in his head, but he couldn't see what the cogs were saying to his best friend. Harry didn't know what to say to Ron, and that was definitely a first. But he didn't know who this 'Hermione' person was, even though Ron really seemed serious. Harry could tell straight away that Ron wasn't joking, but he really didn't know how to help. Ron suddenly looked straight at Harry.
"You don't believe me, do you?" He didn't sound angry, or surprised, he just sounded hollow. Harry looked out of the window; he couldn't stand that helpless look on Ron's face.
"Do you?"
Harry looked back to Ron and took a deep breath. "I just don't know what you're…"
"Talking about." Ron finished the sentence and looked up at the ceiling. Harry sighed. "So nobody knows Hermione? Not even Ginny?" Ron continued. He looked at Harry to see his eyes open wide in shock.
"Does she?" Ron implored. Harry shivered suddenly and shook his head as though he was trying to clear his mind. Ron frowned. "Harry?" Harry didn't look at him. Ron leaned forward. "Harry? Where is Ginny?" Harry looked out of the window again.
Ron grabbed Harry's shoulder. "Harry!" He said. Harry's eyes met his as he shoved Ron's off of his shoulder. "You know where Ginny is Ron. You know she's dead."
Ron's hand dropped suddenly and he felt himself grow cold. Ginny wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. She was his baby sister, and he'd never let anything happen to her… and neither would Harry. Ron slumped back in his seat and stared at the table. "How?" Was all he could manage to say.
Harry was looking incredibly uncomfortable now. Ron could tell he was scaring him. "Please Harry, I, I really don't know." He stammered.
Harry bit his lip suddenly and rubbed his neck. He took another deep breath. "Our second year, in the Chamber of Secrets…" Ron looked up at Harry with a shocked look on his face. "What?" He gasped.
"The, the Chamber of Secrets. Her, her diary, Tom Riddle killed her, and he killed Professor Flitwick too, when he got out of the Chamber. And then…" Harry stammered to a halt, as Ron held up his hand to make him stop. He looked slightly green.
"Harry, do me a favour, O.K? Tell me a short story of your entire time at Hogwart's, and don't leave anything important out." He said, sitting back in his chair.
Harry was confused, but he nodded. If it helped Ron to remember…
"Um, O.K. I met you on the train on the first day. We became friends straight away. Most of the year was boring, I mean, I got onto the Quidditch team, and we ran into Fluffy. We found out at the end of the year that he was guarding the Philosopher's Stone. A troll got in at Halloween, but we didn't see it. I got given an invisibility cloak at Christmas. Don't know who it was from. At the end of the year, Professor Quirrel almost got the Philosopher's Stone, but Dumbledore came back and managed to get it away from him before he could. Dumbledore got injured though. He stutters really badly now. Um, second year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Lots of people got attacked and one girl, Penelope Clearwater, she, she died. Ginny was taken into the Chamber and she, you know. Um, Tom Riddle came out of the Chamber and he killed Professor Flitwick, and injured Professor Snape. He escaped, and he, well, he brought Voldemort back."
"In our second year?" Ron said in disbelief. Harry nodded slowly, and continued.
"So, um, in the summer before the third year, Voldemort attacked loads of families. The Spinnets, the Diggorys, the Bentleys, um, I can't remember any more of them. They all had kids at Hogwart's, and they died too. Third and fourth year were both hard. So many people died and loads of people left school. Professor Lupin's classes became really hard because everyone had to learn how to really defend themselves. Oh, and Sirius Black escaped in the third year. He tried to get into Hogwart's once, but security was too tight, and he had to run away again. Nobody was allowed outside and there were no Hogsmeade visits. Last year, Voldemort attacked the school. He got into Ravenclaw Wing and he killed sixteen of them before Dumbledore and all the teachers got there. Voldemort didn't hang around. The school was closed for three months while loads of enchantments were put on it. Then we only had a month of school left. O.W.L's are postponed until October." Harry shrugged. "That's pretty much it."
Ron sat and gaped at Harry. It was like a nightmare. But the only difference Ron could see in this place was that Hermione wasn't here. Ron didn't know she was so important to the Wizarding World. Well, there was only one way to stop al this nonsense. He had to find Hermione. Ron looked out of the window. They were speeding their way to Hogwart's, and London was being left far behind them. And Hermione was in London…
Ron stood up and Harry stared up at him. "Wha, what are you doing?" He asked as Ron started to rummage inside his trunk. Ron pulled out his moneybag, a small leather pouch and his winter coat. Harry watched as he put on his coat and put the things into his pocket. Ron looked up at Harry.
"I'm going to get Hermione." He said simply. He opened the compartment window and stuck his head out impatiently.
Harry sat rooted to his seat. Ron had just said he was going to go and get Hermione. Did he mean get off the train? Was he mad? Voldemort could be anywhere, anything could happen. But when he said this to Ron, his best friend had given him a sharp look and said; "look Harry, you might not remember Hermione, but believe me, please believe me, everything will be so much better if she were here." Then he had gone back to looking out of the window.
Harry frowned. 'Everything will be so much better…' Harry had been hoping for three years that things could be different from the way they were now. He and Ron had tried to help, but they could never put all the pieces of the puzzle together quickly enough. Everything was so wrong at the moment. There was so much hurt, so much worry…
Ron jumped as Harry suddenly stood up on his chair and began to rummage in his own trunk. He watched in disbelief as he pulled out his coat, money and the invisibility coat. "What are you…?" He started to say, but Harry cut him off mid-sentence. "I'm coming too." He said, shrugging his coat on. Ron grinned, and Harry grinned back.
Suddenly a hoot came from above their heads. It was Hedwig, who was looking extremely bothered they had forgotten about her. Harry opened her cage and she climbed onto his arm. Ron looked up at the luggage rack as well, but then frowned.
"Where's Pig?" He asked suddenly. Harry looked up from stroking Hedwig to stare at Ron. "Huh?" He said. Ron raised an eyebrow. "My owl, Pig." He said loudly. Harry looked at Ron as though he was mad. "Ron, you don't have an owl. You have a rat." Harry pointed at a snoozing grey rat, very comfortable on the seat next to Ron's, a rat Ron hadn't seen in three years.
Ron's hand automatically went for his wand, but he stopped himself just in time. Harry didn't know what he did, and the last thing he wanted was Peter running away. With Peter alive, they could prove Sirius was innocent. But, thinking about it, Harry didn't seem to know about Sirius being his Godfather. It was so complicated.
Ron reached out a hand and picked 'Scabbers' up, slipping him into his coat pocket. It took his will power not to cringe as he did so; it was disgusting even to have to take him anywhere. Harry let Hedwig soar out of the window. As he did so, the train started to slow down- there was a very sharp turn coming up and Ron had known this. He looked over at Harry, and they quickly covered themselves with the invisibility cloak. When the train got to it's slowest, they threw open the compartment door and jumped.
They landed on some (luckily) soft grass, though the cloak slipped off of them as they jumped. It landed a few feet away, flapping gently in the breeze. Ron caught it up, and they covered themselves up once again.
"What now?" Said Harry. He hoped that Ron had a plan, and also that he knew where this Hermione person lived. He couldn't see Ron, obviously, but he heard his voice answering. "This way, we have to get to a road." Ron started pulling Harry along with him, as they pushed their way through a field of ripe wheat.
Chapter two- Who's Hemione?
Harry sat staring at Ron with a bemused look on his face, looking like he didn't have a clue what to say. "What do you mean?" He said finally. Ron stared back in disbelief.
"What do you mean 'what do you mean?' I mean, what's going on?" Ron said with a note of panic in his voice. Harry was acting really weird, why wasn't he worried about Hermione? Harry was still looking uneasy. Ron was obviously saying something wrong, so he took a deep breath and tried a different tact.
"Where. Is. Hermione?" He said slowly and clearly. Harry shot him a look of pure confusion. "Hermione who?" He said, completely bewildered now. He was, in truth, starting to get really worried now. He didn't know anyone called Hermione, although Ron obviously thought he did. And why was he acting like this anyway? They had just been sitting there, talking about Sirius' last letter to Harry, when Ron suddenly started going weird.
Ron looked at Harry as though he were mad. "Are you kidding? Hermione Granger is our best friend you twit." He said crossing his arms impatiently. Harry raised one of his eyebrows and sat back slowly in his chair. "Um, O.K." He said, looking anywhere in the compartment but at Ron. "I don't know about you mate, but I don't know anyone called Hermione. And you're my best friend."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but she was your other best friend. You seriously don't remember? Well, I'll go find her." Ron stood up and was just about to open the door when it opened and Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas walked in.
"Dean, Seamus!" Ron cried, before they could say a word. "Have you seen Hermione anywhere?" Dean and Seamus looked at each other worriedly, and then looked over at Harry, who shrugged helplessly. "Who's Hermione?" Said Dean finally.
Ron stared at them in disbelief. What the hell was wrong with them all? If this was some kind of joke, than it was a very bad one. Seamus and Dean left the compartment quickly, after shooting some very confused looks at Harry.
Ron sank slowly down onto a seat. Something was definitely very wrong. Nobody but him remembered Hermione, and she didn't seem to be anywhere around here. Ron felt his insides squirm at the thought. Where was she? Was she all right?
Remembering what Hermione had said just before all this started, Ron shuddered. 'I'll just go.' It seemed she was keeping her promise. Ron swallowed, hard.
Harry watched Ron closely. He could almost see the cogs turning in his head, but he couldn't see what the cogs were saying to his best friend. Harry didn't know what to say to Ron, and that was definitely a first. But he didn't know who this 'Hermione' person was, even though Ron really seemed serious. Harry could tell straight away that Ron wasn't joking, but he really didn't know how to help. Ron suddenly looked straight at Harry.
"You don't believe me, do you?" He didn't sound angry, or surprised, he just sounded hollow. Harry looked out of the window; he couldn't stand that helpless look on Ron's face.
"Do you?"
Harry looked back to Ron and took a deep breath. "I just don't know what you're…"
"Talking about." Ron finished the sentence and looked up at the ceiling. Harry sighed. "So nobody knows Hermione? Not even Ginny?" Ron continued. He looked at Harry to see his eyes open wide in shock.
"Does she?" Ron implored. Harry shivered suddenly and shook his head as though he was trying to clear his mind. Ron frowned. "Harry?" Harry didn't look at him. Ron leaned forward. "Harry? Where is Ginny?" Harry looked out of the window again.
Ron grabbed Harry's shoulder. "Harry!" He said. Harry's eyes met his as he shoved Ron's off of his shoulder. "You know where Ginny is Ron. You know she's dead."
Ron's hand dropped suddenly and he felt himself grow cold. Ginny wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. She was his baby sister, and he'd never let anything happen to her… and neither would Harry. Ron slumped back in his seat and stared at the table. "How?" Was all he could manage to say.
Harry was looking incredibly uncomfortable now. Ron could tell he was scaring him. "Please Harry, I, I really don't know." He stammered.
Harry bit his lip suddenly and rubbed his neck. He took another deep breath. "Our second year, in the Chamber of Secrets…" Ron looked up at Harry with a shocked look on his face. "What?" He gasped.
"The, the Chamber of Secrets. Her, her diary, Tom Riddle killed her, and he killed Professor Flitwick too, when he got out of the Chamber. And then…" Harry stammered to a halt, as Ron held up his hand to make him stop. He looked slightly green.
"Harry, do me a favour, O.K? Tell me a short story of your entire time at Hogwart's, and don't leave anything important out." He said, sitting back in his chair.
Harry was confused, but he nodded. If it helped Ron to remember…
"Um, O.K. I met you on the train on the first day. We became friends straight away. Most of the year was boring, I mean, I got onto the Quidditch team, and we ran into Fluffy. We found out at the end of the year that he was guarding the Philosopher's Stone. A troll got in at Halloween, but we didn't see it. I got given an invisibility cloak at Christmas. Don't know who it was from. At the end of the year, Professor Quirrel almost got the Philosopher's Stone, but Dumbledore came back and managed to get it away from him before he could. Dumbledore got injured though. He stutters really badly now. Um, second year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Lots of people got attacked and one girl, Penelope Clearwater, she, she died. Ginny was taken into the Chamber and she, you know. Um, Tom Riddle came out of the Chamber and he killed Professor Flitwick, and injured Professor Snape. He escaped, and he, well, he brought Voldemort back."
"In our second year?" Ron said in disbelief. Harry nodded slowly, and continued.
"So, um, in the summer before the third year, Voldemort attacked loads of families. The Spinnets, the Diggorys, the Bentleys, um, I can't remember any more of them. They all had kids at Hogwart's, and they died too. Third and fourth year were both hard. So many people died and loads of people left school. Professor Lupin's classes became really hard because everyone had to learn how to really defend themselves. Oh, and Sirius Black escaped in the third year. He tried to get into Hogwart's once, but security was too tight, and he had to run away again. Nobody was allowed outside and there were no Hogsmeade visits. Last year, Voldemort attacked the school. He got into Ravenclaw Wing and he killed sixteen of them before Dumbledore and all the teachers got there. Voldemort didn't hang around. The school was closed for three months while loads of enchantments were put on it. Then we only had a month of school left. O.W.L's are postponed until October." Harry shrugged. "That's pretty much it."
Ron sat and gaped at Harry. It was like a nightmare. But the only difference Ron could see in this place was that Hermione wasn't here. Ron didn't know she was so important to the Wizarding World. Well, there was only one way to stop al this nonsense. He had to find Hermione. Ron looked out of the window. They were speeding their way to Hogwart's, and London was being left far behind them. And Hermione was in London…
Ron stood up and Harry stared up at him. "Wha, what are you doing?" He asked as Ron started to rummage inside his trunk. Ron pulled out his moneybag, a small leather pouch and his winter coat. Harry watched as he put on his coat and put the things into his pocket. Ron looked up at Harry.
"I'm going to get Hermione." He said simply. He opened the compartment window and stuck his head out impatiently.
Harry sat rooted to his seat. Ron had just said he was going to go and get Hermione. Did he mean get off the train? Was he mad? Voldemort could be anywhere, anything could happen. But when he said this to Ron, his best friend had given him a sharp look and said; "look Harry, you might not remember Hermione, but believe me, please believe me, everything will be so much better if she were here." Then he had gone back to looking out of the window.
Harry frowned. 'Everything will be so much better…' Harry had been hoping for three years that things could be different from the way they were now. He and Ron had tried to help, but they could never put all the pieces of the puzzle together quickly enough. Everything was so wrong at the moment. There was so much hurt, so much worry…
Ron jumped as Harry suddenly stood up on his chair and began to rummage in his own trunk. He watched in disbelief as he pulled out his coat, money and the invisibility coat. "What are you…?" He started to say, but Harry cut him off mid-sentence. "I'm coming too." He said, shrugging his coat on. Ron grinned, and Harry grinned back.
Suddenly a hoot came from above their heads. It was Hedwig, who was looking extremely bothered they had forgotten about her. Harry opened her cage and she climbed onto his arm. Ron looked up at the luggage rack as well, but then frowned.
"Where's Pig?" He asked suddenly. Harry looked up from stroking Hedwig to stare at Ron. "Huh?" He said. Ron raised an eyebrow. "My owl, Pig." He said loudly. Harry looked at Ron as though he was mad. "Ron, you don't have an owl. You have a rat." Harry pointed at a snoozing grey rat, very comfortable on the seat next to Ron's, a rat Ron hadn't seen in three years.
Ron's hand automatically went for his wand, but he stopped himself just in time. Harry didn't know what he did, and the last thing he wanted was Peter running away. With Peter alive, they could prove Sirius was innocent. But, thinking about it, Harry didn't seem to know about Sirius being his Godfather. It was so complicated.
Ron reached out a hand and picked 'Scabbers' up, slipping him into his coat pocket. It took his will power not to cringe as he did so; it was disgusting even to have to take him anywhere. Harry let Hedwig soar out of the window. As he did so, the train started to slow down- there was a very sharp turn coming up and Ron had known this. He looked over at Harry, and they quickly covered themselves with the invisibility cloak. When the train got to it's slowest, they threw open the compartment door and jumped.
They landed on some (luckily) soft grass, though the cloak slipped off of them as they jumped. It landed a few feet away, flapping gently in the breeze. Ron caught it up, and they covered themselves up once again.
"What now?" Said Harry. He hoped that Ron had a plan, and also that he knew where this Hermione person lived. He couldn't see Ron, obviously, but he heard his voice answering. "This way, we have to get to a road." Ron started pulling Harry along with him, as they pushed their way through a field of ripe wheat.