Chapter Two

~*~

         Sometimes, as I'm sure we all know, it is helpful to think things over. For instance, if you were an important business executive, and you had an important business meeting one morning, it would be helpful to think over all of your important business notes and letters and other things necessary for important business meetings beforehand. Or, if you were an old grandma or grandpa, and you were to babysit your little grandchildren one weekend, it would be helpful to plan your weekend accordingly, so that you have time to entertain the children so that they do not become bored and go get themselves stuck down a well.

         Or, if you were three newfound knights who were due to find a very important Grail, it would be helpful to think over your quest beforehand. It took  three weeks to get everything worked out with Dumbledore, Ron's cousin, and God. Well, maybe not so much God, but the other two for certain. But although they had three weeks, Ron, Harry, and Hermione didn't think over their circumstances one bit.

         Ron and Harry were packing frantically in the domitory. Harry was muttering all kinds of nonsense to himself, and Ron was going through his trunk, throwing everything he didn't need all over the room.

         "Ron! I know you're proud of them, but please keep your dainties to yourself," Harry said, pulling one of Ron's rather girlish-looking acticles of underpants off of his head.

         Ron turned bright red and retrieved his undergarmentry from Harry's disgusted-looking cranium.

          "We haven't had any time at all to think this quest over beforehand! What are we going to do? We won't be prepared if… if… say extremely rude Frenchmen fire livestock at us over a fortress?" Ron said all this very fast, and he had beads off sweat splashing off of him in a very cartoonish way.

            "Calm down, Ron," Harry said. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure no Frenchmen will… erm.. what was that?"

            "What?"

            "Ermm… nothing."

            "Right." Ron looked around. "Do we have any fresh fruit?"

            "Emm… not that I know of, why?"

            "I don't know, I just thought we should be prepared…"

            "Well, we'll pick up some on our way down."

~*~

            Meanwhile, Hermione was pacing the dormitory, lecturing herself on not thinking the quest over beforehand.

            "Hermione are you sure you don't need any help? You seem a little… distracted…" Ginny asked her, looking very concerned.

            "No, no… I'm… I'm fine. Really," she muttered.

            "Well… if you're sure…"

            "I have to go," Hermione said.

            "I hope you'll be okay…" Ginny whispered, but she didn't really mean to. It sounded as if she was… crying?

            Hermione hugged her.

            "I'll be fine. Trust me. Please don't cry… you're making me…" Hermione then fell captive to a series of soap-opera-like actions such as crying, hugging, and… what was that other thing? Oh well.

            "How long will you be gone?" Ginny asked, once the embarrassing As The World Turns episode was coming to an end.

            "I don't know," Hermione replied, emmitting one last loud sniff. "As long as it takes, I guess."

            "Please hurry up…" Ginny was about to start again.

            Hermione smiled. "I will. But I have to go now… see you later."

            Ginny just nodded, then gave Hermione another quick hug.

            "Goodbye," Hermione said, then headed down to the common room to meet Ron and Harry.

~*~

            Ron, Harry, and Hermione stopped in front of the front doors to have one last look at the inside of Hogwarts.

            "I'm going to miss this place a lot," Harry said.

            "Me too. I can't believe we're leaving," Hermione said, still with a little hint of As The World Turns in her voice.

            "Well, we're not really leaving… it's more like… like going on an involuntary holiday," Ron suggested. Harry and Hermione looked at him as if he had just said, "Look out! The rabid, disgusting, big, hairy, purple mongoose is about to fly into you!"

            "I can't stand all of this As The World Turns mush anymore," Harry said defiantly. "Let's just get it over with." And without any consent from Ron and Hermione, he opened the huge door leading out to the grounds.

            They were expecting a nice, peaceful, quiet walk to the train station in Hogsmeade, maybe to wander by the edge of the lake for a while. But when Harry opened the door, they were greeted by a deafening roar, which was not made by a lion or another carnivirous beast, but by everyone in Hogwarts, clapping and cheering and other things you might do at such occasions.  They were lined up on either side of the path, much like guests at weddings do when about to soil your beautiful gown with rice.

            Harry, Ron, and Hermione took one last look at Hogwarts, sighed, and started on the long, clichèd walk to Hogsmeade.

~*~

A/N: Well, that's the end of that chapter, but don't worry, I'll write the other one as quickly as possible. This one would have been up sooner, but my dad grounded me from the computer for two days, so I didn't get much writing time. Review and tell me your ideas for the other chapters. Should I put in some of those other MP skits like the Dirty Fork scene and the dead parrot thing? Or maybe you have others? Please tell me if you liked my Lemony Snicket impersonation. Obviously, I'll never be as funny as he is, but at least I tried. Hehe. :o)